Brothers in arms...Rivals in battle

Just like every morning Andy had slipped out of his warm bed, where he laid beside his beautiful redheaded goddess. Quickly and quietly he threw on his running shorts and smiled down as his love. Leaning in gently he brushed a kiss against her cheek, his heart warmed as she smiled against his touch. She was everything to him, and together nothing could come between them. The sun was just peaking over the mountains, its bright rays warming what they touched. With a soft jog he ran off from his recent home, starting with a soft pace as his muscles warmed, soon after picking up the pace and running for miles with no stop. His heart raced as sweat poured down his body, coming around his last bend home he noticed a lone figure waiting outside of his home...it wasn't Lexi...

Alarmed Andy sprinted faster to close the distance, no one knew they were here, let alone that a house was this high up into the mountains. His body tensed, ready for anything and everything that might happen, but soon he relaxed as he noticed the familiar figure. "Nighthunter" he whispered as a smile grew on his face. Nighthunter then called out "You know? you could have at least threw a phone call" as he walked to his old friend, grasping his had in a firm handshake. "Love the new place, but I was thinking about having that rematch we talked about over a year ago, you still up for it? I kinda miss my sword, damn great weapon". A small laugh escaped Andy's mouth as he smiled, right down to business as usual and to the point. If there was one thing Andy knew for sure it was that Nighthunter came prepared. There was no doubt in his mind that he knew the layout of this moutain as well as Andy did. Nighthunter was always prepared.

"Dare I refuse an invitation like that? How long has it been? A year, maybe a little more" and just as if Nighthunter knew his answer a reply came back "So...you ready for round 6 man? Oh and you better bring my sword, heard that you gave your shield to someone else". He paused at the mention of his shield. Andy's mind drifted off and wondered how the young Kadaj was holding up. Shacking his mind back to current affairs he smirked back at Nighthunter. "Someone had to keep up the good fight while we were both away right? Give me a few and I'll be ready ok?" Walking for the door Andy stopped before he walked in, turning to face his friend once more. "Oh and you better make sure to say hi to Lexi before you leave, it's rude to bleed all over her home without asking how she has been" Laughing he walked in and went about gathering his things. Preparing for what he knew would push the human limits... Human limits, that had a new meaning to Andy now, with the secret he now kept.

After a short talk with Lexi, Andy had reassured her that it was alright, and that Nighthunter was just here to collect his sword. A soft small sigh escaped her lips as she slumped back into bed. She knew well what that meant, there was going to be a fight. Shaking her head she wished her husband well, and begged for him to come back to her in one peice, or else Nighthunter would have to answer to her. Grasping the hilt of Nighthunters sword Andy blew a kiss back towards Lexi and headed for the door. Where Nighthunter was waiting, his legendary suit powered up and ready to go.

Unsheathing the blade Andy kept the sheath in his off hand, ready to use even it as a weapon. Perfectly balanced Andy circled his friend, the blade dancing in Andy's hands as he swirled it about. The last time these two fought Andy was just a sword novice, but now he held the blade with as much precision as a master of decades. If there was one thing for sure it was that Andy picked up the arts of war easily, mastering forms of combat after forms. His body was in perfect harmony, his mind sharp and his heart strong. With no further warning Andy sprung forward, his hair gushing backwards as he leaped towards his old friend. His right hand holding the sheath like a club reared back and batted down towards Nighthunters left knee, all while hidden by a dangerously placed slash at Nighthunters throat with the sword. Sunlight catching against the metal and reflecting up in sparkles, almost as if it was even planned to help blind Nighthunter. The blade however was never meant to actually touch his friend, but to just hide the oncoming blow from the sheath. He knew well that this would not end with one strike, no matter how well placed it would be. Both of their bodies would be taxed to the limit and beyond.

A fight against a master combatant like Nighthunter was all about the fient after a fient. A game of chess to see who could plan and manipulate the events the best. Both of them knew this would not end fast, or end well. On this warm morning in the moutains of Greece, these two legends would see who had perfected the human body the best.

Nighthunter stood waiting for Andferne to come back, he didn't waste time though, he looked at the area surrounding the house, the forest, where there were big rocks, mud, all of those things were factors that even when they were small, would influate the way the fight would be and also how it would end. Minutes later, Andferne emerged from his house, the sword of Nighthunter on his hands and a face of determination that only a few posses.

"So...I guess we can begin" said Nighthunter and as soon as that he started to jump backwards, showing a great display of his agility, the two of them were now consideraly separate for Nighhunter's idea to take place, he knew that Andferne not only had superior strength to the one of any human, he also had battle skills that could make anyone fear a battle with him by themselves, on top of that, he was now armed with Nighthunter's sword and Nighthunter could feel that somehow, somewhere, Andferne had learned how to use it.

As Andferne started to to circle Nighthunter, he stood without moving, but not without doing anything, Andferne couldn't know, but at  that exact moment, Nighthunter was elaborating and studying dozens of scenarios, how one of his actions would lead to one reaction by Andferne that could be any of a million of possibilities, that's the problem with doing an strategy based in how someone thinks his opponent will act, you can use probabilities, stadistic and other factors, but in the end you can't be sure and eventually, they do something that you don't expect or that you know will happen but can't stop it.

Many people seem to believe that Nighthunter comes up with his tactis with hours of preparation time, they are wrong. The tactics of Nighthunter come in a matter of seconds; true some of the devices he uses require hours of working on them, but the ideas are always there, they just come like a flash of light, in a matter of moments he thinks of many different situations and starts to pick the best one he can think of, using his enviroments and weapons the best way possible.

As Andferne started to rush forward, Nighthunter quickly grabbed a little knife that he had along with his gauntlet, using the knife to block the slash directed to his throat by Andferne, it had required all of Nighthunter's strength to just block the attack of Andferne, however that had left him vulnerable to the attack directed to his left knee, once it hit Nighthunter, he felt a great amount of pain, yet he saved it for himself, he had trained for years to become the best one there would ever be and this was just a step in that long road, a simple hit wouldn't be enough to make Nighthunter show pain, no matter how much it really hurts.

The hit in the knee had made Nighthunter lose balance just like he had thought it would, he then used that oportunity to use the gauntlet and use it to pull himself over a tree while he was starting to fall; he knew that Andferne was a superior fighter in many areas and that one hit of him hurted like 5 of Nighthunter together, which meant that he had to keep his distance, attack from far away to weak Andferne before he got closer.

"You know what your problem here is Andy? You lost your optic beams and you gave someone else your shield; bad choice, without them you lost your ability to also be able to hit from far away, you may be as lethal as before in close combat, but now I can use the environment and my agility to stay away from you and still attack while you try to hit me" said Nighthunter, soon after that he guarded his gauntlet and knife in his power suit and then grabbed a pair of guns, soon after that he started firing to Andferne, aiming at his legs and arms, after he had started his first wave of attack, Nighthunter started to jump from tree to tree as a way to maintain his distance and still shoot, somehow he was able to shoot while doing acrobatics at the same time without stoping or slowing down.

Soon after that, Nighthunter grabbed an explosive device and threw it aiming just infront of Andferne, as the device was at the height of Andy's chest, Nighthunter shoot a bullet directly to the device, making it explode infront of Andferne, taking this as a perfect chance, Nighhtunter started to reload his weapons and prepared himself for Andferne to emerge from the smoke that covered the area where the explosion had taken place, whetever it had been able to hit Andferne or not, Nighthunter didn't know, however he knew that even if it had effect against his friend, this was far from over, as he had yet to see the day where he he beats Andferne.

As the sword's blade raced towards Nighthunter's throat he instinctively revealed a dagger from his gauntlet. Its slender blade clashing and clanging against the sword. Sparks flashed out from the sheer force of the blades being pressed against one another. Andy couldn't help but be a little surprised as he thought "That's new". Then the sheath crashed against the outside of Nighthunters left knee causing him to lose ballance and almost fall over. Had it not been for the gauntlet then Nighthunter would of fallen and given a great tactical advantage to Andy. However that crafty device pulled Nighthunter over towards a far tree as he went about his inquiry.

Nighthunter's next words held merrit, they were the truth. "You know what your problem here is Andy? You lost your optic beams and you gave someone else your shield; bad choice, without them you lost your ability to also be able to hit from far away, you may be as lethal as before in close combat, but now I can use the environment and my agility to stay away from you and still attack while you try to hit me". As Nighthunter spoke those words of advice he pulled out his customary twin guns. A set of guns that Andy was very well aware of and knew it would only be a matter of time before he went for them. Completely on the defensive Andy angled his forward stance so that he was a smaller target to aim for. Round after round shot froth from the twin barrels at Andy. The sounds of the gunfire causeing a number of birds to squake and fly out from the trees. Bullet after bullet raced towards Andy as he dived down and around in a incredible display if his own agility. Even without his shield Andy was at the peak of human perfection, his muscles finally tuned and trained to be as reactive as any man could dream of. The fabled super soldier serum also gave him one other slight advantage. His eye sight was far better than Nighthunters, enough so that even the bullets seemed to move slower. Giving Andy the chance to dodge not just one bullet, but the entire barrage. A number of the bullets were extremely well aimed however. Andy had no chance what so every to dodge them, but with Nighthunter's adamantium sword in his hands he never had to.

Twisting and turning the blade, several of the bullets were deflected off, richocheting in different directions as Andy just held a smile on his face. As the last bullet raced for Andy he grbbed the sword firmly in two hands and sliced downward, splitting the bullet perfectly in two, the pieces fell helplessly down. At least Andy thoat that was the last bullet in the clip... Just as Andy's eyes set back on Nighthunter they widened, revealing the whites of his eyes very clearly as a explosive device was chuncked his direction. Once the device neared Andy's chest Nighthunter pulled the trigger releasing the last bullet in the magizine. He had shot the explosive device and made it detonate just a foot from Andy. On pure instinct the moment Andy's eyes had widened he began to back flip farther away from the approaching bomb. So once it exploded it was several feet away and not right up on him. The impact from the exsplosive still caught Andy though and sent him crashing to the ground as he balled up. Smacking against it and tumbling backwards like a ragged doll. Shrapnel from the bomb pierced through his body, and a number of wounds now scattered across his body.

Andy's body laid still on the ground, the crimson red liquid of his own blood was seeping out from the wounds and forming a massive puddle underneath him. There was no movement on Andy's part as his body laid sprawled on the moutain floor. His chest not even moving for breaths of air. It had seemed that with the exsplosion Andy had taken his last breath...But that was not the case, in all actuality Andy was just laying there. Trying to lure his old friend closer to him. In thrust Andy was hurt, badly. He did not think that Nighthunter would use that tactic so early on, and with no physical defense to it just one slip really would of ended Andy's life here on the side of the mountain. The sheath of Nighthunters sword was several feet away, but the actual blade was still very close to Andy, in fact just an arms length away on the opposite side of him as Nighthunter. Holding his breath and laying perfectly still as he tried to recover from the massive wound of his body he waited. He waited for Nighthunter to just get a little closer, close enough to where he could impale his old friend with his own blade.

The move was a tricky one, and he was not sure that it would work. But Andy was betting that their friendship meant more than just a fight, that there would be concern for his friend taking the brunt of that bomb. Andy was betting on the humanity inside of Nighthunter, if not then he would have to show him more than one way why looks can be decieving...

As Nighthunter finished reloading, he looked at the place where the explosion had taken place, it had been already been 2 minutes since Andferne had been hit by it and he hadn't emerged from the smoke yet, this made Nighthunter worry, in the past he had used the same tactic against Andferne and it had never done any real damage, sure, the explosion always considerably hurted Andferne but it was never able to put him down, nothing that Nighthunter has ever done has been able to put him down.

"What the hell?" said Nighthunter, it had already been 4 minutes and a half and his friend hadn't appeared from the smoke, deciding to don't wait anymore, Nighthunter sent a mental order to his power suit, ordering it to change to heat sensor vision in order to see where Andferne was without getting to close, however as soon as Nighthunter noticed that Andferne was down he changed to normal vision and run to where his friend was lying on the floor, jumping from tree to tree, showing a display of agility and acrobatics that only a few are able to. "Lexi is going to half phase me through a wall and leave me there after this" joked Nighthunter as he got closer to where Andferne's body was.

As Nighthunter entered the smoke that still surrounded the area, he started to look for Andferne, preparing to give him medical help if needed, he got down and prepared to examine his friend, he couldn't understand how this had happened, true, Andferne didn't have his shield for protection anymore, but even so it shouldn't have been able to take him down....and then Nighthunter realized that he has been played, he wasn't hunting Andferne, Andferne was hunting him.

However, before Nighthunter was able to react, Andferne had already grabbed the sword that was near his hand and using it against Nighthunter, stabing him just below the stomach. Nighthunter stood at shock for a few seconds and then finally was able to speak. "I guess you not only learned how to use a sword...you also learned how to fight dirty" said Nighthunter with a smile and then with all of his strength he pulled the sword out of his body, after that he started to move outside of the area and turned to see Andferne.

"On your feet, wouldn't like to don't even give you the chance to get up before I finally beat you up" having said that, Nighthunter started to run to the opposite direction in order to gain distance, the attack of the sword had been almost lethal so it wasn't a surprise that the pain was taking some of the concentration out of Nighthunter, he had to take the pain out of his mind, keep it from distracting him of the battle, he had to be completely aware of the fight because if he gave his old friend any good chance it could be the end of the fight.

"You ready? I'm really putting you down this time" said Nighthunter and soon after that he threw a flash granade that fell just infront of Andferne, as soon as the granade exploded, Nighthunter grabbed one of his knives and started to run toward Andferne, as he came closer he jumped high and sent a slash using that knife directed to the back of Andferne and as Nighthunter was landing he quickly grabbed one of his guns and pointed it to the back of Andferne, soon after that he started to shoot without stopping at close range distance.

It took almost all of Andy's concentration to not bust out into laughter when he heard Nighthunter's comment about Lexi. "Lexi is going to half phase me through a wall and leave me there after this". Inside Andy was smiling as he remember the time that Lexi had commented as to doing as much. When his mind had slipped and he had sent a tactical bomb against New York. There in Nighthunter's fortress he and Andy waged another war against each other, one much like what they found themselves in now. The keen senses of Andy's picked up the approaching Nighthunter as he leapt from tree to tree and entered the smoke filled area. Just as he inched close Andy grasped the sword and lunged up with it. Impaling Nighthunter just below his stomach, blood splattered out from the wound, the crimson liquid flowing down the blade to the hilt. Dripping across the hands of Andy.

The look of shock showed Andy that he had never expected Andy to play this card, his words proved it even more as he spoke to him "I guess you not only learned how to use a sword...you also learned how to fight dirty". Andy just glared up at Nighthunter, both of them new the risks associated with this fight, they both knew that there was no holding back. This would be the fight to decide he continued to carry on the mantle, he would still wage that war they fought over and over. This fight, would be thier last.

Nighthunter's hands gripped down on the blade and he pulled himself off of it. After Nighthunter had exchanged a few more words he backed away to allow Andy to get back to his feet. It seemed he wanted to win this fight more than he ever had, that he needed this fight. Using the sword as a brace Andy rose back to his feet, his chest was littered with shrapnel from the bomb. It had seemed that he did indeed catch the brunt of that attack. His breathing was short as his chest heaved up and down, gasping for air. With knife in hand Nighthunter lunged high up into the air and slashed towards Andy, without any hesitation he brought the sword up and across to deflect the incomming attack. A loud clash was heard as the two pieces of metal banged against one another, sparks flying about recklessly from the power of the blow.

Landing directly behind Andy after his linge Nighthunter pulled out one of his guns and unleashed a flurry of shots, almost at a point blank range. Instinctivly Andy went to drop down to the ground, causing the first burst of bullets to soar carelessly over his head. Swipping around he brought the blade to bear in effort to try and block the now incomming second barrage of bullets. Nighthunter was keeping Andy hard pressed with the stream of gunfire sent his way, more than anything Andy missed his shield right now. A bullet blasted straight into Andy's right shoulder as he tumbled forward to try and close the distance between him and Nighthunter. He gritted his teeth in pain and anguish as he rose up, blood trickling down both side of him where the bullet had fired straight through. Spinning upwards he slashed out with the sword in an attempted to sever the barrle of Nighthunters gun. Andy would take away one toy at a time if he had to, he knew sooner or later it would come down to hand to hand, both of them locked in mortal kombat.

Nighthunter knew that the battle wouldn't last much more, he was tired and still had to take care of the slash under his stomach, his blood was all over the place and if he didn't stop the bleeding he would have bigger problems than losing the fight, if things kept going like this he would probably lose this fight, Nighthunter however didn't care; there was no way he would leave the fight like that, he would keep going until one of them fell no matter the consecuences that could come after that.

Nighthunter stood watching as Andferne dodged the bullets sent to him, showing a great display of both agility and grace, the hero of heroes would without any problem avoid being hit by the bullets that Nighthunter sent like he had done many times in the past, he wasn't able to dodge all of them though; one of the bullets had been able to hit Andferne's shoulder, at that moment Nighthunter smiled, he knew that there was no way that Andferne would be able to move as good with an injured shoulder, that smile soon dissapeared though as Andferne charged and attacked Nighthunter with his own sword, cutting the gun that Nighthunter had on his hand in the progress.

"Very smart" said Nighthunter as he realized that Andferne was going to go for Nighthunter's weapons so that in the end it would be a hand to hand combat, Andferne with his superior strength and incredible fighting skills would have a big advantage, a good plan, an excelent one indeed but it had a flaw; if the weapons that Nighthunter carried and used against his opponents were lethal, the fighting skills of Nighthunter were even more so, with his great mastery over several different martial arts Nighthunter could go toe to toe against the best fighters in the world if needed..

"If you really want to go that way" joked Nighthunter as he got down and using his knowledge of tai-chi and pressure points he attacked with one of his fingers below the ribs in order to instill great hurt on Andferne, at the same time he sent an uppercut with his right hand against the jaw of Andferne.

This was it, the final battle, the time to prove if Andferne was still the best fighter out of the two of them, things had changed a lot since the time these two first met; they've been friends, enemies, comrades, rivals and so on, their relationship is one of the strangest one among the heroes of the vine, if someone saw how much they've battled each other over the years someone would think that they hate each other and they couldn't be more wrong. What some people may call hate and anger is actually respect, respect that both men feel for each other and for themselves.

The main reason why Nighthunter chose to fight Andferne when he was leaving the ICE Dragons wasn't only the skill or power of Andferne, if that was the case he could have easily challenged someone else from the team for that, it probably was because as they grew together Nighthunter always looked up to Andferne, one of the only heroes that stood without question to the code of them, the man that even when surrounded by gods, mystical creatures, etc was able to somehow shine and lead without anyone questioning his command.

"You won't need that for a hand to hand battle" said Nighthunter, as soon as that he grabbed his knife and sent a slash trying to cut Andferne's hand and make him drop the sword from the pain.

Blood was seeping out from his shoulder from where the bullet had shot straight through him. His body was still tattered and torn from the bomb thrown earlier that he had narrowly avoided. Small nits and cuts were littered all over his chest and arms from the shrapnel. Andy's chest was heaving up and down as he gasped for air, sweat was pouring down his well muscled frame. His body tensed up as Nighthunter jabbed his fingers below his rubs, slamming into a pressure point that sent a sharp pain throughout Andy's body. That moment of confusion and pain was all that was needed for Nighthunter so deliver his uppercut. His fist balled tightly as it slammed into Andy's jaw, hurtling him backwards and onto the ground. Blood gushed out from his mouth, splattering all across Nighthunter's face and chest.

The black blade of the adamantine sword flew out from his graps as he hit the ground. bouncing and crashing farther from his hand. Andy's eyes closed wincing in pain as he felt another sharp pain wash all over his body. Every inch of his body was telling him to stay down, not to get up, but his spirit raged on. That fire in him that always took the next leap, pushed him to the limits of his skill and beyond. As he placed his hands underneath him to stand once more he felt something wet and slippery as his hand slid out from under him, crashing him back down to the ground. He rolled over on his side and reached to his back, his hand finding a small piece of medal from the bomb that had lodged itself near his kidney. The fall had pushed the piece deeper in and causing it to bleed more. As he gripped it firmly in his hand he pulled it out. His teeth gritting and biting down as he fought back the scream on his lips. Black and white stars began to appear in his eyes, things began to look blurred and distorted. Shaking his head clear of it all he rose back to his feet ready to fight once more.

Just as Andy went to take that first step forward things went black, he felt his head go woozy and he once again tumbled forward, crashing back onto the ground. The amount of blood lose had taken its toll on his body, even the perfect human body could only sustain so much blood lose before it gave out. Andy's body grew cold as he laid there unconscious, he had fallen, he had lost...

As he laid there unconscious his mind began to wonder in the past. On five seperate occasions now he had fought with his brother in arms. Nighthunter and he had been through hell and back together, both of them losing friends. They had fought on opposite sides of a war, to the same side. Matched wit against wit, weapon against weapon, and will against will. There was no shame in Andy now, he knew that Nighthunter was one of the most gifted fighters he had ever fought against, or beside. There were not many who out thought Andy when it came to the art of war. Nighthunter had though, at least today, this day in far off Greece high up in the mountains overlooking the ocean Nighthunter had proven to be the better fighter. He was the perfect blind of physical prowess, and weaponry. His mind was as sharp as his sword. A sword he had rightfully earned back.

Nighthunter’s attacks had been effective and precise; they had been able to cause great damage to Andferne and made him fall. Nighthunter prepared himself by doing a battle position, waiting for Andferne to get up and continue the fight, however Andferne didn’t get up.

“Could it be?” said Nighthunter to himself, as he did he grabbed his guns and pointed them to Andferne in case that he was faking like the last time, however he soon realized that his friend and opponent had blacked out and that the fight was over.

“I…I did it…I beat Andy” said Nighthunter, then as he relaxed himself he also fell to the ground, he was exhausted and could barely move anymore, with the fight now over there were just three more things to do.

Nighthunter slowly got up and opened a containment on his power suit, from it he grabbed two serums of his project 3110 which would in just a few seconds help them recover of the injuries that both of them had caused, that’s why Nighthunter didn’t hold back, he knew that no matter the result Andferne would survive the battle like he has always done.

After injecting the serum to both him and Andferne, Nighthunter went to where his sword was laying on the ground; he smiled as he picked it up because he felt that he had recovered one part of him he had been missing, his sword was from all of Nighthunter’s weapons his favorite one, it wasn’t as lethal as others but it still was the one he knew the best how to use.

Having cleaned his blood from the sword Nighthunter looked at Andferne who like him had already been recovered from the damage. “You really have to return to the action bro, shield or no shield I wouldn’t have gotten you last year” said Nighthunter with a joking yet serious tone.

Nighthunter sat down in a big rock that was next to Andferne and looked at the clouds that were above them, later to the forest and beach near them and finally to the house of Andferne and Lexi. “Look, I can see why you would want to leave everything for something like this, a normal life but let me tell you something, you can’t have one Andy, for the simple fact that you aren’t normal” after saying that Nighthunter stopped for a second and then took his power suit off with a simple thought “You aren’t normal not because of your powers but because you can make the choices no one else will make,  there are barely heroes anymore and the ones remaining need leaders, they need people like you, you can turn away from all of this and I’ll understand, but you should atleast consider getting back to action. The world needs it and I’m sure that you also want it”

As Nighthunter walked over to his fallen friend, injecting him with the serum project 3110 it immediately began healing his mortal wounds. Unseen to the naked eye however it was doing more than just that. Over two years ago Andy had contracted a foul parasite known as Exodus, slipping him off into a long coma. Once he had come to Andy found himself the prisoner of a mad man known as Mr Sinister, a vile villain who had pleagued his and Lexi's life for years on years. During his time under Sinisters grasp Andy was brutally tortured and even killed, but the parasite needing a host brought Andy back to life. Upon finding this out Sinister went about extracting the symbiotic lifeform from Andy. When he ripped out of his very being it had done more than just hurt Andy, in doing so his body was cleansed of the mutant gene, leaving Andy without his trade mark optic blasts. The last several years had been Andy trying to cope with life without those powers. It was as if part of his life was still dead, taken from him. With the help of his loving and devoted wife Lexi he managed to move on.

As the serum was healing Andy's physical wounds it too was going through his system and not only regenerating his mutant genes, but healing the old ones that were left dead from the parasites removal. Andy's head began to hurt as he heard his friend speak, looking over at him with his eyes squinting from the pain he felt in the back of his head. His vision started to glare over with a resish hue and once he clenched his eyes shut tightly he looked up towards the sky and screamed as the pain climaxed. Opening his eyes a large crimson red beam shot forth from his eyes and blasted through the open sky. The blast was massive and seemed to reach on beyond the eye could see. Shutting his eyes hard he jerked his head back down, his chest was heaving as he gasped for air.

"It seems your little injection had a side effect on my genes Nighthunter, I thought I had lost these powers. When Sinister had ripped the Exodus parasite from my body I thought I would never know what this feeling was like again. Did you plan this? or is it just one of those risky things when dealing with mutant dna?" he waited for a pause for Nighthunter to answer and kept his eyes shut. "Be a friend and help me back into the house? I'm sure that Lexi will know where my old ruby glasses are". When Nighthunter had gotten close enough to Andy he whispered into his ear, his voice full of respect for the man beside him "Thank you my friend". As the two went inside they had a lot to discuss. If Andy was indeed going to return to action, he was going to need some help. Asking for yet another favor from Nighthunter he talked of his new idea, of the combat gear he wanted to sort out and get. Who better than Nighthunter to help Andy get his hands on another shield, .....and some vibranium. With Lexi finally calmed down from the excitment she insisted on the three of them all sitting down for a nice meal like old times, three friends, together again. No matter how brief it would be.