Later that night...

The city streets were quiet, bathed in flickering orange light from half-working lampposts. Lenny lumbered beside her, swathed in a trench coat two sizes too small, a battered fedora perched comically atop his head. His tail awkwardly trailed behind him, hardly concealed by the largest coat he could find.

He hunched low, trying to be inconspicuous.

"Totally normal. Just a tall guy with a skin condition," he muttered.

"No one's buying it," Amina whispered, watching people cross the street just to avoid them.

They tried to hail a cab.

None stopped.

After the fifth one zoomed past without a second glance, Lenny sighed.

"Why don't we just run there?"

Amina turned to him slowly, blinking. "What?"

"I can run fast. And jump pretty far, I think. I've… never really tested my limits, but I don't think it'd take long."

Amina stared at him like he'd just offered to fly there using his tail as a helicopter blade. "We're not Sven, Lenny. That would take hours. And what if someone sees us?"

He looked down. "Oh. Right."

A pause.

"…Maybe this was a stupid idea," she murmured, suddenly deflated. "I should've stayed. I'm not even sure what I'd do if I found them, and I'm probably just imagining things anyway. They always get into trouble and come out fine, at least for the most part."

Lenny looked at her. Her frustration. The self-doubt creeping into her eyes. And for the first time in a long time… he felt something else.

A need to protect.

"No," he said, stepping closer. "You said you had a bad feeling. I don't want you worrying about your friends."

She looked up in surprise.

Then he smiled - shy, unsure - and turned away, cheeks flushing beneath scales. "Just get on my back."

"What?"

"I haven't moved my body properly in years," he said quietly. "I've always been afraid of this body. Hiding it. Thinking it was a curse. But you guys… you made me realise it's a gift. I'm not a monster."

With each word, his voice grew steadier.

"I'm a mutant. And I shouldn't be hiding anymore."

He reached up and ripped off the trench coat. Tossed the hat into a bin. Scales shimmered under the streetlights. People nearby gasped and stumbled back.

A few pulled out their phones. Others ran. Some just stared, too afraid to even move.

Lenny didn't flinch.

He just stood there, proud.

"Let's go," he said, as he bent his knees slightly to lower himself.

Amina stared at him, heart thudding. Her doubts evaporated, but only slightly, as she took a cautious step forward.

"You're crazy," she muttered, eyeing the massive mutant before her.

"Maybe," Lenny grinned, trying to play it cool, but the moment she reached for him, that composure shattered.

As she climbed onto his back, her hands pressed against his scales - hard, ridged, and cool to the touch. It was like gripping onto armour made of living stone, with the texture of a reptilian hide polished smooth by time. She hadn't expected him to be that solid, and he definitely hadn't expected the jolt of awareness that shot through him the second her hands touched his shoulders.

His tail twitched uncontrollably. He stiffened. Not from fear, but from full-blown social panic.

'She's touching me, she's actually climbing on me. What do I do with my hands?! Don't mess this up, Lenny, just pretend you're a cool mount or something-'

He cleared his throat, cheeks flushed a deep purple beneath his scales. "Uh… j-just… hold on tight," he mumbled.

"Right," Amina said, wrapping her arms around his neck as best she could. "Wow. You're… sturdy."

Lenny's brain went blank.

'Did she just say I'm sturdy?! Is that a compliment? Is she being sarcastic? Wait, focus, Lenny! Focus!'

He bent his knees slightly, trying to look dramatic and powerful rather than like he was about to pass out from embarrassment.

"Let's go," he managed to say, his voice slightly higher than usual.

Amina barely had time to blink.

Whoosh!

He launched forward with a sudden, explosive burst of strength, his muscular legs propelling them up into the night like a rocket.

She nearly screamed as the ground vanished beneath them, and wind blasted against her face. Rooftops blurred past. Lights streaked like stars. Her arms locked tighter around his neck as the sheer force of their movement hit her all at once.

Lenny roared with joy, partly from exhilaration, partly to hide the fact that his entire brain was melting from the fact there was a girl holding onto him.

"Don't let go!" he shouted.

"I wasn't planning to!!" Amina yelled back, her voice somewhere between terrified and thrilled.

They were off.

The moment Lenny's clawed feet slammed into the pavement, a thunderous crack echoed through the street. The mutant's legs surged with power, propelling them forward with a velocity that caught even him by surprise.

"Whoa-!" Lenny barked, eyes wide as the wind howled past them. "I'm fast! I'm actually fast!"

His claws dug into the concrete with every step, leaving fractured craters in his wake. The world around them blurred. Streetlights became streaks. Buildings flashed by in heartbeats. Amina clung to him, both terrified and exhilarated, her face buried against his shoulder, tears welling up in her eyes from the sheer force of the air pressure battering them.

But power without control was chaos.

"Oh no, no, no. Left-!" Lenny yelled too late.

Crash!

They barrelled straight through a glass pane like a cannonball, bursting into a mid-tier office building in a shower of plaster and dust. It was mostly empty at this time of night, but there was a single startled office worker who screamed at the top of his lungs as the two tore across the linoleum floor - papers, chairs, and laptops scattering in their wake.

"Sorry! Sorry! My bad!" Lenny shouted, sprinting across the floor like a monster on a rampage.

Amina just screamed.

Then - Boom! - he launched again, legs flexing as they soared out the opposite side of the building, glass shattering around them in a glittering explosion of chaos. The wind rushed at them in a torrent, but Lenny didn't stop. His instincts were fully alive now. His blood pulsed with something ancient, primal.

'This… this is what I'm built for,' he realised. 'This body… isn't a curse. It's flipping incredible!'

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