[hr][CENTER][color=silver][h1][b]Natalie Ellis[/b][/h1][/color][/CENTER][hr]


Natalie felt the tension explode the moment she opened her stupid mouth, and now one of the two men, had started shooting at the giant lizard. She was close enough to see the man on the ground clearly now. He had definitely been shot, so one of these humans was a murderer. Everything new she saw just gave rise to more and more questions. She didn't dare get closer. As strong as she was, bullets would still kill her. The man wouldn't even have to be close to her to end her life. That was infinitely scarier to her than the reptilian. She knew that it would usually be the other way around, but Natalie was anything but usual.

She watched the reptile attack this armed gunman, and the moment he was disarmed, she started to approach the house, and entered the porch. Not a moment too late, either, as she saw the reptile about to kill its prey. [color=silver][b]"Wait!"[/b][/color] she cried out, immediately feeling incredibly stupid. Luckily the reptile stopped, but now it was staring at her. Even now, what she felt wasn't fear, and no fear was showing on her face. Sure, she looked nervous, and sheepish, but her reaction was incredibly understated for how a small young woman should have reacted. The creature shook its head, then picked up the gunman's leg and pulverized it. Natalie winced and looked horrified as she turned away, but again, there was no screaming. Why was this woman behaving so...unorthodox?

The creature looked to the other human, then to her, and backed off. It was almost as if it was telling her to deal with him. She could see its eyes still watching her with what she assumed was curiosity. It was almost as if it was intelligent. Maybe it was. Maybe that lizard was one of the 'superpowered individuals' that had started to crop up in recent years. It was that same trend that cased to shady technology companies conspiring with mob bosses to artificially create superpowered individuals. 'Project Lion'. It was because of this that Natalie both resented Supers, and felt a kinship to them. Oops. She'd just caught herself thinking of Supers as other people again. Deal with it, Nellie. You're a Super now.

Natalie crouched down besides the guy with the sword, and with all the genuine warmth and friendliness of the fast food restaurant employee she was, she tried to talk to him. [color=silver][b]"Are you alright? Can you tell me what exactly happened here, or do you need some time to calm down? I'll call the police in the meantime."[/b][/color]

This snapped the swordsman out of his stupor, and he lunged at Nat as he tried to draw his sword. Before Archie could react to this in any way, and before Natalie could stop herself, Archie would see this skinny, frail-looking woman grab the guy by the neck, lift him off his feet and pin him against the wall. With her other hand, she wrenched his sword out of his grip with a loud pop as she'd snatched it with such force, she'd dislocated his wrist. Her hand squeezed the sword until it snapped clean in two, blood running down the broken blade as this woman had cut her hand on the sharp edge of the sword. She raised her bloody hand in a fist to punch her prisoner. Archie would notice her eyes. They were wide, suddenly terrified, and seemed to be staring miles away, through the man, and the wall..

Before she could land that blow, sanity came back into her eyes, which began to tear up as she let the man go. Just as he was about to bolt, she delivered a swift finger poke to the back of his head and he collapsed, unconscious but alive. She wiped her tears away with her sleeve. This is why getting involved was a bad idea. This is why trying to be a hero was a bad idea. She'd almost killed somebody again. When would she ever learn to always, always keep her head down.

She then remembered her bleeding palm, and the pain it felt. As she winced and sucked air through her teeth, she also remembered she was being watched. She looked back at the reptile, and gave it an incredibly lame little wave. [color=silver][b]"Hey...Um, should we call the police, or get out of here, or...?"[/b][/color]


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