dropping in ( nc17)

Chris had been mainly venturing out on his own to see what New York had to offer when not busy at work. He checked out the city, suburbs, and countryside having spent a weekend at Niagara Falls just to clear his head. On his travels, he hoped to come across other mutants to not only see what they could do, but not feel so alone. The hole that was left from Violet was ever-present despite having Skye close by and as a good friend he could share his struggles with his mutation with.

It was as if he would never find another mutant when low and behold, he did. Passing Payne Manor, he was forced to stop his truck and watched as a young girl transformed into a wolf and went about literally attacking a man. At first, he suspected him to be a mutant as well but judging by his struggle, he was human.

The young man stepped from his truck and made his way over to them, not interfering immediately and observing. He liked to act only when he had all the information at hand that he would need to make a logical choice. As the man reached for the weapon beneath his bike, the mutant moved in again and Chris walked over to the two of them, crossing his arms.

"Kinky...," he stated with sarcasm and an arched brow looking to the mutant, "what's the guy done to deserve being mauled?"

At the mutants words, he scoffed and shook his head having watched the scene and knew that her using the term 'unfinished business' was also one of the biggest cliches in existence. Chris took a look over at the obviously dying man and sighed. "It looks like your business is about to be finished - he's bleeding out quick. But you didn't really answer my question: what did he do to deserve it? And don't answer with some stupid cliche or the 'he's a human' bit - it's obvious this is more than that."

The young man wasn't going to lift a finger to help the man if he did anything to hurt the mutant, but wouldn't be doing anything to help the mutant either if she didn't explain herself. Chris didn't like those that made his kind look bad by preying on innocent people for no reason other then that they could could away with it. They had a term for those kinds of people: psychopaths. He looked at the man once more and shook his head, "You shouldn't move around so much."

Chris watched as the mutant shifted back into her human form and calmly walked away, naked as on the day she was born. He couldn't help but furrow his brows at the sight but shook it off and looked back at the dying man in the driveway. He was no medical professional, but at the rate he was losing blood, he felt he could safely assume he had minutes to live; at a stretch, maybe an hour if pressure could be applied to the wound but Chris stood there and did nothing.

Whatever business had gone down, it wasn't any affair of his own and he was about to turn and leave wanting to get out of the area when a blonde came out of the house and immediately over to the man. This made Chris look at them, torn between what was morally right and what he felt would protect his best interests.

It wasn't until the young girl looked at directly at him that his conscience kicked him hard to do something. He didn't have to be fluent in French either to know what she asked of him. He swallowed hard, looking back down the driveway contemplating running for it and pretending he was never there but he couldn't. He'd been a soldier and couldn't just let a man die for no reason other than another mutant felt the need to see him dead. Her fight wasn't his own; he made his own choices in life. I can't just let him die... I'm not a murderer... With that in mind, he took a deep breath and muttered beneath his breath as he ran over to the two of them, placing his hand firmly down on the wounds to stop the bleeding.

"You need to call an ambulance," he stated then looked back at the blonde, "now. I can slow the bleeding down, but if he doesn't get to a hospital, he's not going to make it with the blood he's already lost." He didn't wait for confirmation from her or not and looked down at the man. "You're likely going into shock. I'll stay here and keep pressure on your cuts, but I need you to stay conscious. Talk to me, let me know you're still with me." He thought about using electricity to cauterize the wound, but feared that even attempting to use his power on an already weakened human wouldn't do anything more than make things worse.

Chris put the pieces together rather quickly once she explained that the man, Alec, was her brother. She was the one that the shifter was trying to send a message to, but he couldn't imagine why. Thus far, she seemed harmless but he'd found out the hard way that even the most harmless in appearance were the most depraved behind closed doors.

He glanced over at her and nodded when she asked to use his phone, nodding toward his pocket. "Yeah, go ahead - it's in my pocket. I'd get it myself, but I can't let go." If he were to release his throat then, there would be no need to call for an ambulance and he'd bleed out in minutes. He only hoped that wouldn't be the case and, as he thought about it, he realized that he had the power to have stopped the mutant attacking him but didn't. Try as hard as he may, he was beginning to see humans as the enemy based on what a small handful had done to his kind.

"Your brother's going to be okay," Chris said to her in an effort to reassure her while, in the back of his mind, he truly had no idea if he would or not. "You need to try and keep calm. Once an ambulance is on the way, talk to him and keep him awake. He'll listen to you more than me."

Chris didn't really say anything else and kept his hand pressed firmly to Alec's neck to slow the bleeding down. It wasn't stopping it entirely as some was still seeping past his hand, but he was definitely doing some good with what aid he was offering. He hadn't taken the time to look at himself since he'd had blinders on from the moment he accepted his duty to help. It wasn't the first time he had helped someone with a gashed jugular though the other occasion was in wartime; he found concentrating on what he had to do was easier stateside with no gunfire going off around him. The only sound he could hear was the sound of the young man's sister speaking on his cell phone asking for an ambulance.

It wasn't until the sirens could be heard that he took a moment to look down at himself and realize he looked like a mass murderer. Blood was everywhere from his hands and arms as well as his shirt, pants and even his shoes from where he'd walked through some in order to reach Alec. Still, he remained calm doing what he had to do and only glanced over at his sister from time to time, noting the look of apparent shock on her face.

Once the paramedics arrived, he kept his hand pressed but looked over at them, "He's got arterial bleeding from the jugular. He was attacked by a dog, so a rabies vaccine may be a good idea." He didn't release Alec's neck until a paramedic had it covered at which point, Chris stepped back and let them do their jobs having done all he can. He turned to the girl out of earshot of the men and her brother included.

"I don't know what you did to anger that shifter, but she's not going to stop," he stated, "that much was made clear. For now, go with your brother - he's in good hands and he'll likely make a full recovery."

(OOC: Sounds good)

Wanting someone dead simply because they were alive was a sorry excuse to kill anyone. Even psychopathic serial killers had better reason to kill their victims than just because they're alive. Chris nodded slowly at her words, not holding back how disturbed his was at hearing them with an arched brow and wide eyes. "That's no excuse for attempted murder..."

"You should go with your brother. I'm sure he'll like having his sister by his side - that and you need to get your knees looked at," he pointed down toward them then to the ambulance, "are you okay to walk? Because you look uneasy - your tattoos are giving me that vibe as well." He mentioned her tattoos casually like one would mention sunshine in the morning having already seen various mutants and what they could do; nothing really shocked or surprised him in that area anymore and, with each mutant, he was realizing more and more that they weren't alone.

Chris watched her quietly, a hand habitually sliding into his pocket despite the blood. He didn't doubt the shock she had to be feeling and when she started walking toward the ambulance, he followed behind and moved up almost beside her. The young man wanted to be sure that she didn't collapse and hit the pavement and, since he'd already been there long enough to help her brother, the least he could do was catch her if she fell. Once she was within safe distance to the ambulance, he contemplated getting in his car and leaving, but couldn't.

He sat there for a moment before even cranking it and sighed heavily before cranking the engine and following the ambulance, unsure of why he was doing it; perhaps it was partial guilt for not doing something earlier, or a sense of duty to protect those he knew were in danger.