He had almost all his ducks in a row, but was still missing the most important part: the muscle.

Leo packed his messenger bag and pulled up his least conspicuous hoodie pulling the strings tight. He had a Darth Vader mask and gloves in his bag that he'd don before they got into camera range. Did he need a real mask if he was going to be out in public doing good things? Maybe. Some of the X-men had secret identities.

He wasn't an X, though. Leo was human. That wasn't gonna stop him from making an impact. He just had to get more creative.

AudobonX had many sub forums. Through his contacts there, he'd gotten funding provided by a talented hacker named TechnoBabble. Thanks to the BirdWatchers in state, he'd found a suitable candidate that the teen intended to recruit tonight.

This was his first really illegal venture. Hopefully not his last. He'd survived visiting the Sanctuary, though, so facing down a couple walls should, in theory, be easier.

Leo took the 9 o'clock bus to the factory and warehouse district. His guy had been skulking around some boilers, at last mark. He wasn't known to be particularly violent and he was looking for work. Beyond that, Leo was just praying the money was enough. Plus, if he could find the guy before midnight, there was still time to take a train and do the job tonight.

Cold, thought Isaac. Far too cold.

He was beginning to wonder if coming to New York had been a mistake. Yes, winter was approaching. Yes, he needed money for new heat lamps and insulation. Yes, the casinos were starting to get wise to his usual schemes. And yes, there was a building just across the East River that had several thousand tons of gold in its basement. But it was looking like things weren’t going to be that easy.

Hugging the shadows in the twilight, Isaac moved swiftly down the docks toward the billowing smoke of the foundries. Toward warmth. Coming to one of the iron works, he traced his way along the walls of the building until he found a small locked door that appeared unused. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure he was alone, Isaac removed a glove and pressed his bare hand against the latch. His skin blazed like a flare in the gloom, melting the lock away like wax. Isaac replaced his glove and slipped inside.

Finding himself at the back of the foundry floor, Isaac quickly moved to the darkness behind the primary furnace, breathing in its heat like air. After checking that he was out of sight from the workers, he tore off his wool mask and immediately began to glow a dull red, visibly relaxing as he did so. It took effort to burn, but this was the first time since he’d boarded that bus in Nevada that he hadn’t felt cold. Isaac shed his overcoat, slumped against the furnace wall, and thought about his target.

The vault of the Federal Reserve was wrapped in security; armed guards were posted at multiple checkpoints barring the way to the single narrow shaft that provided access to the airtight room encased in bedrock. Blast-proof doors, time-secured locks, laser grid and airflow detection, SWAT teams, and snipers on nearby rooftops all served to deter potential thieves, and they had all been known to Isaac when he had decided to come. It was impressive security against attacks from above, but child’s play to a mutant who could melt a tunnel through the bedrock below.

Feeling along the back of the furnace, Isaac found a rear hatch and pulled it open. Heat blazed out in a gush of super-heated air and harsh red light. Isaac smiled. Pulling off his gloves and hoodie, he basked in the warmth.

The plan had been straightforward: find a nearby building with an unattended basement, melt a tunnel into the vault, fill a duffel bag with gold bars, and disappear into the streets. By the time the guards found out how he’d gotten in, he’d be long gone. But when Isaac arrived at the neighborhood to scope the building, he found the streets swarming with some kind of robotic security drones. He’d quickly steered away, and a few conversations with the local homeless informed him that he hadn’t been the first mutant to think of robbing the place.

Great.

Isaac reached into the furnace, idly digging his hand into the coals, and considered his position. The new security at the Reserve presented an issue. However, it was new, and Isaac knew that there was always a brief window after implementing unfamiliar measures when the security was actually weaker than before as everyone struggled to adapt. More troubling was the fact that they’d encountered mutants before. Did that mean they had anti-mutant measures? What kind of measures? There were too many variables now; Isaac’s confidence in the plan was growing thin. But he couldn’t return empty-handed.

Perhaps he could find something else. This was New York, after all, and men with his skills are always needed.

Leo cleared his throat. It would not do to surprise a man who had his hands inside a furnace.

Yeah. This was totally the right guy.

It had taken some time and a little luck. Leo tried to avoid the people of the area, he was only a kid and he didn't want to get jumped. This was a foolish enough idea without heaping on extra dangers.

Apparently, the guy had been thinking along the same lines because it was a back way blackened by soot where the teen had found a door with a blackened curl of a lock.

From there, he'd just tried to think like a heat-mancer.

"If you have some time," Leo began, "I have a proposition for you." Actually. Yeah. Sneaky, dramatic entrance aside, the teen was stammering to get his idea heard because the man was glowing softly and had his hands in the coals for fun.

"T-there's a couple people being held wrongfully in a minimum security prison one train ride away." It was hot, that wasn't the only reason the kid was sweating. "I'd like for you to take me there, bust them out, and get us all the heck out again. I have a plan." Oh. And most importantly, "And money."

Leo fished around in his pocket for a tense moment until he could bring out his cell phone. He turned the cell around with Android Pay up on screen, ready to transfer wherever he wanted. The account was one the AX-men had set up for these little forays Leo wanted.

There was an adequate number of zeros involved for this amount of calculated risk.

"Half now, half after." Incentive to not let Leo die, that was.

Isaac cast a disdainful gaze down at the boy stammering in front of him. Not thirty seconds after wondering if he should find a new job one had come looking for him. Were the people in this city really that desperate?

Isaac looked back at the impressive sum listed on the kid’s phone.

Am I that desperate?

Isaac pulled his hand from the furnace and straightened. The kid was green, that much was blatantly obvious. Inexperience radiated off him like stench. And if he was sweating this bad just trying to recruit, he be miserable in the field. And of course he wanted to come along.

Yet, green as he was, this kid had still managed to track him down. If it was that easy, Isaac considered, then the Reserve job was definitely out. Sneaking a bag full of gold out of the city after a high-profile heist was hard enough if you couldn’t be traced by a twerp with an iPad. And now said twerp was offering him a much more conveniently transferred sum.

It was a lot, especially for a simple jailbreak. Even the half in advance would be enough to get through the next few months if he stretched it. And if the kid managed to survive and Isaac got the other half… well, that would just be icing.

Fine. The kid’s plan was probably worthless, but minimum-security prisons didn’t really need a plan.

Isaac stooped to gather up his clothes. "Let’s go."

A caution flag sprung up in Isaac's mind: Never take a job blind.

"I want to see the place," Isaac said, pulling on his overcoat as his glow faded. "Then I’ll take the job."

Leo tried not to blurt out his disbelief. Was it really that easy? He was practically tripping over the glowing ember man's heels.

> "I want to see the place. Then I’ll take the job."

"That's a fair point. I, uh, have some schematics printed and there are a couple ways we can work it so hopefully we won't run into too many guards. I don't want casualties if it can be helped." Or at all. But he was trying to be realistic start out with an easy and achievable job. He was taking the liberty of inviting himself along so that he could see just how necessary any casualties might have been and change the next plan accordingly.

"Also, the money thing. I get the need for anonymity. I got the tech to make that happen." Leo put the phone away and started to rummage in his bag while the man fetched his coat. The kid had to be shining like a star at this point. He felt a trickle of sweat run in a long line down from his sideburns.

There! Leo pulled out a purple file folder and started to hand it to the guy, but paused. "Uhm. Do you...?" Well, there wasn't really a polite way to ask, was there? "Fahrenheit 451, right? You can hold paper okay?" The guy's jacket wasn't spontaneously combusting. So that as cool.

Wait. Hadn't he said he wanted to see the the place? Surely he didn't mean actually looking at the walls, right? "It's a train ride away, outside the city proper. And a bus to the station before that. And once you get close enough there's flood and spot lights, barbed wire, and cameras. Not to mention META bots. I assume they've got META on rotation where there are mutants, anyway. Conflicting reports at this point. Take the file, dude. It's all in there." He was nothing, if not thorough.

Isaac took the file in his gloved hands and leafed through the papers with disinterest.

“Listen, kid. It looks like you’ve gone to a lot of work to set this all up, and I’m sure that in your head you have everything planned just right.

But I don’t know you.” Isaac leveled his eyes at the teen. “I don’t even know of you. And it’s pretty obvious that this is your first time doing something like this.” It was also obvious that the kid was very excited about having Isaac for this job, so he could probably get away with sounding a little harsh.

But not too harsh. He’d have to put a bit of a positive spin on this; he did still want the money.

“I always finish the jobs I take-“ Loyalty was good. People liked a loyal mercenary. “So before I agree to this I need to be able to square it with myself that I can take care of things if the situation doesn’t go according to the neat little plan. And that means seeing the place for myself.

Now I can take your money, and I’ll tell you now that I can get you in, but I’m not going to promise I can get you and your friends out until I’m sure that your fancy diagrams match the address.” Isaac tried not to sound like he had no idea what the area was like, which was really the only reason he hadn’t accepted the money immediately.


“Now let’s catch a train.” Isaac shuffled through the last few pages, pausing on a diagram of the robots he had seen patrolling the Reserve. “And on the way, you’re going to tell me about these.”

That... was a good point. Leo tried not to be offended that he'd been pegged as a first timer. Sure, in retrospect, it was a little obvious that he was a newby at hiring a mercenary. What 16 year old would even have experience in that realm?

'A mutant one.'

There was a world of implications that came with that thought and he didn't have time to pursue it.

"My name's Rhett." Well, his DnD character's name was Rhett anyway. Leo knew there were mutants that could tell truth from lies and Rhett wasn't exactly a lie. "Now you know me."

Simple, right? Sorta like a kid introducing himself to the bus driver on the first day of school so they wouldn't be strangers. This whole mercenary thing was just bizarr-o world. There were just too many points for Leo to correct from the heat elemental's argument.

"Your stipulation sounds fair. Let's go see it. Then you'll know what I bring to the table here." Not that he had a choice, really. But maintaining the illusion of control was as much for his benefit as for this guy's. Leo was confident that anyone would come to trust his information once they saw the detail of it all. This wasn't just public access stuff. He'd had to dig for a while and get more than a little help.

He spared a glance for the size comparison chart of the META bots when the man waved it at him. "METAbots? Yeah. They're pretty tough looking, actually." He'd gotten to see them in person when they'd paraded them around for the X's. Hadn't gotten to touch one yet, but he still had high hopes. "Check back a few pages. There's a little on the design composition. Nothing on the programming, unfortunately, but looks like the "anonymous donor" used like actual spider silk and carbotanium. That stuff's expensive, yo."

Leo-called-Rhett tugged at the neck of his hoodie as they stepped out of the foundry. The night air was blessedly frigid by comparison, but it had the side effect of instantly congealing all that accumulated sweat. It was a little bit of a walk to the nearest station. Gave Leo time to air out a bit.

"You got a rail pass?" Because Leo did. He could probably swipe his twice if he had to, but his mom wouldn't be happy about it if it happened too often.

>”My name’s Rhett. Now you know me.”

“Call me Calcifer,” Isaac said. There was no reason to pretend it was his real name. Any mercenary who gave that away on the first meeting wasn’t one you wanted to hire. And he couldn’t care less who 'Rhett' was as long as he got paid.

>”Your stipulation sounds fair. Let’s go see it.”

Good. Things were working out. Honestly, as long as this prison wasn’t on an island or had an energy shield or some other crazy thing Isaac was going to take the job. Getting through locked doors was kind of his specialty.

Leaving the warmth of the foundry, Isaac winced against the night air as he followed his prospective employer outside. Several thoughts came to his mind regarding the cold, and all of them involved colorful language. At least he’d be able to leave soon.

The file with all of the kid’s plans was still in his hands. He separated out the sheet with the so-called METAbots and handed the rest back. He’d never really had a mind for schematics and blueprints, but material compositions-

Wait, did the kid just ask if he had a rail pass? He was ready to offer ransom-level money for a quick job but he was concerned about train fare?

“Take it out of my payment,” Isaac said and looked back at the drawings of the robots. Material compositions told him melting points, and that was information he could use. The boy was right- someone had put a lot of money and effort into these things.

But everything can be melted to slag.

As his eyes scanned the page, Isaac noticed that only the biggest one, labelled “For emergencies only,” had lethal capabilities. All the rest were built toward “Non-lethal takedowns.”

Isaac smiled. Poor things. If this was all he’d have to deal with, he might enjoy this little prison break.

“So,” ‘Calcifer’ asked. “What’s the plan?”

Take it out of his... "Oh." 'cause he could totally do that kind of thing. Since he was the Boss. It was silly that he hadn't even considered skimming off the top of the mercenary account. Probably a good thing he hadn't. The people that had pulled that money together had skills. It would be nothing for them to see where it went if he spent it on himself.

Leo scanned his pass twice and made sure to pick a seat well away from other passengers. It wasn't difficult. This wasn't exactly a popular route and this wasn't exactly a popular time. He took his file folder and went through to the section on guard rotation.

"So, they're on 8 hour shifts and the 7 hour mark for graveyard shift is our aim. It's not like anyone has been observed dozing off at regular convenient intervals, but they do take longer coffee breaks. Are slower to respond. That kind of thing.

The robots...? They don't take potty breaks, but they're not reliably on shift either. There's growing pains. Rumors of malfunctioning code." And even a couple rumors on who dun it. Leo smirked. It wasn't him, but man, did he wish he had even the slightest something to do with that bit of brilliance.

"So until we get eyes on the place, I don't know if they will be there or not. No known adapteds. Just regular guardspeople guarding a mixed bag of mutants and humans. I can't vouch for all the prisoners. I just want a few." The few he'd researched and deemed exoneration-worthy.

Of course, he had dossiers. And guard pathing. And many, many other papers that Calcifer seemed to not care about even though the train was pulling out of the station and now they had nothing else to do but learn.

The boy would not stop talking.

Over the entire course of the train ride, there were only two pieces of useful information that Isaac gained:

1) The only guard presence they could be sure of was the human night shift. The robots may or may not be present, but their purpose was to deal with mutant threats, so they would likely be called in once things got moving.

2) The kid only wanted to free a select few prisoners. This was annoying. It meant that the kid would have to come along to show him which cell locks to melt.

That was it. That was all he needed to know. And still the boy would not stop talking.

Isaac slumped against the window and glared out into the night. He was ready to get things over with. And then he saw the prison.

And then he started learning.

The outer prison wall was a limestone and cinder block square, roughly a half mile on each side. Barbed wire along the top with guard tower at each corner. Flood lights illuminated the area up to 100 yards beyond the wall; Isaac guessed they could reach out to 400. Scattered buildings and roads spread between the front of the prison and the train station. The other three walls opened to fields with varying levels of scrub brush.

Easy.

The train lurched to a stop and Isaac stepped out into the empty station.


“Transfer the money; I’m in,” he said, his breath turning to steam in front of his mask. “Let’s knock over a prison.”

Okay. So the guy was a bit prickly, but Leo was sure he wasn't the lash out for no good reason kind of guy so he continued to lecture on the off chance that something useful would seep down past his grump.

The train rolled to a stop and Calcifer was transfixed.

"Uhm. This is the stop."

It wasn't until the train had curled past the prison walls and on to the next, even less popular platform. Leo fiddled with his phone, installing and hiring an uber. They were going to need a ride now. And just as suddenly Calcifer was on the move and agreeing. Leo had to stuff his papers into his bag rather hastily and jog to catch up. "Great. Yeah, but whoah there cowboy. Just hold up for a mo."

Leo indicated that they should keep walking, but away from the platform and its many eyes.

"There's time in the window I wanted if we take a cab. Here." Leo held his phone out to the pay screen. Half up front minus the price of a rail pass and the cab estimate. All he had to do was put in the way he wanted to receive it. Paypal. Bank account. There were options.

By the time he'd finished, their taxi had arrived. Leo piled in first and gave directions to pretty much nowhere. They would have to walk after that.

"You know what to do?" He tried not to let his nerves show. His mom was gonna be sooo mad when she found out.

Fifteen minutes later saw them both crouched in the brush just outside the range of the lights on the east wall.

Isaac sneered to himself. You know what to do? What was there to know? Burn through the walls, follow the kid, open the cells, take care of any trouble. There was the implicit instruction to get everyone else out safely, but he figured that wouldn’t require much effort. As the brightly glowing mutant destroying walls and (hopefully) melting robots, Isaac anticipated that he’d be attracting most of the negative attention.

“Alright, Rhett, you ready?” Isaac asked the figure huddled next to him. “Won’t be much use in sneaking around from here on out.”

Isaac eyed the wall in front of them. On the other side, according to the kid’s drawings, was a 20-yard gap and then the back wall of the primary cell block.

Limestone. Melts at 1200 degrees C.

Isaac dropped his coat and started to unlace his boots.

“You’re going to want to at least wear my boots and gloves. My hoodie and pants wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.”

Isaac slid his boots and socks over to the kid and pulled of his mask and hoodie. The cold was bracing.

“This stone melts at well over a thousand degrees, so once I’m done with the hole the edges will still be too hot to touch with normal clothing or bare skin.”

Isaac slid off his pants and started on his shirt. Hopefully the stone will have cooled by the time they tried to bring the prisoners out.

“Stay clear of the wall until I’m done with the hole. If I’m going to make it big enough for other people, I’ll have to move some slag out of the way. Same goes for the inner wall. Once we’re in, you’ll need to guide me to the cells.” Isaac paused. “Stay behind me if you’re worried about getting shot.”

Isaac stepped out of his boxers, then held them and his shirt out to the kid with a stern glare.

“These are expensive. Do NOT lose them.”

Isaac stood up, the frigid night air clawing at his bare skin. He gave Rhett a stiff nod and sprinted into the light.

As he sped toward the prison wall, a wild grin spread across Isaac’s face; he didn't have to hold back anymore. He was free. Waves of heat rippled from his body as it leapt from a dull red glow to a brilliant white that outshone the prison lamps. Reveling in his chance to spite the cold, he burned hot enough to melt the stone twice over just because he could. Bramble gave way in flames before him. Soil fused into muddy glass under his feet. By the time he plunged into the wall, he was laughing.

If he hadn't had years of experience in answering to his Dungeons and Dragons character name, Leo was sure he would have fumbled. Instead, he was prepared.

Leo strapped on his Darth Vader mask and his gloves and then accepted the heat elemental's clothes. Leo dutifully shrugged into Calcifer's jacket, gloves, and boots, all of which fit over his own. He did not deign to do anything with the boxers except stuff them into his bag.

"Ready." He confirmed. Though the autumn night had a chill to the air, now Leo was broiling. Again. He tugged at the collar to his hoodie and supposed it was for the best. Safety and all that.

"From this entry point, the first target is one hall away. Cell 1226. One-two-two-six."

He couldn't be sure Calcifer had heard him. He was, after all, naked and off running mad into the night.

Was that... laughter?

Leo felt a trickle run down his spine. What had he unleashed here?

He'd said to stay clear for a while so the teen huddled in their brush trying desperately to hear and see something and yet not be heard or seen. Leo saw light. The floodlights kicked on after that. Sirens. No joke, the stealth thing was totally out. The question was, could Leo close the distance? Surely the people on the walls had guns.

Calcifer had said to wait. So he counted in his head to 500 from the moment he'd thought to.

1... 2... 3...

Semi-molten chunks of stone splattered on the ground as Isaac pulled them from the wall. His initial excitement had cooled and now he was just focused on getting the job done as quickly as possible before the guards caught on. Not that they wouldn’t; he was a brightly glowing mutant digging through the prison wall in full view of their lights, but any extra time he could gain was valuable.

The last of the outer wall slumped away in a reluctant landslide as Isaac pushed his way forward, kicking and bringing his arms down in an arc over his head to widen the opening for the others. Just as he was shaking the last globs of stone from his body, the area around him exploded in light from two large spotlights and a high-pitched wail cut through the air.

Well, here we go.

Isaac cooled his body a bit to add some resiliency against potential gunshots and ran to the cellblock wall. This time the digging was harder and his haste cause the hole to be rougher, but he was soon inside.

Ducking behind a pillar, Isaac took a survey of the building. He was on the bottom level. Above him, two stories of iron walkways circled an open center. The building was roughly half the width and length of a football field with heavy metal doors at the far end and a small guard room near where Isaac had come in. Cells lined the walls, and as he watched, guards were taking positions on the walkways, guns drawn.

Isaac glanced back through the hole in the wall. No sign of the kid.

This is no time to play a chicken, boy.

Maybe he was afraid of getting shot. Looking back at the armed guards, Isaac conceded that while not yet a concern, it was something they’d have to address. No doubt the bots had been called in, but this was a minimum security prison; no inmates would merit the lethal METAs, and as long as he and Rhett didn’t kill anyone, Isaac figured they wouldn’t either. That meant the only real danger came from scared humans with guns.

May as well fix that.

Spotting a guard in the nearby room who could be cornered, Isaac cooled himself to a dull red glow and took a deep breath. He wouldn’t be hurt badly in his colder state, but this was still going to sting. Leaving the pillar, he strode over the door as deliberately as he could and melted it open.

“Stop right there!” The guard was six feet in front of Isaac, his back to the wall and his pistol trained on Isaac’s chest. The guard’s eyes were shaking. His gun was not.

Afraid, but well-trained.

Making his stride as purposeful and intimidating as possible, Isaac took one step forward.

Two ste-

Three sharp impacts struck Isaac in the chest in time to the crack of the gun. Isaac forced himself not to wince; there would be some deep bruises once this was over, but right now he needed to appear invincible. Dramatic effect was important. One more step toward the cornered guard and Isaac’s hand shot out, grabbing the barrel of the gun and melting it closed. He locked eyes with the startled man.

“Don’t do anything stupid and everyone lives,” he growled.

Letting the gun drop to the floor, Isaac turned and slowly walked out of the room, silently praying that the guard didn’t try to tase him. Instead, the guard mumbled something into his radio, and Isaac saw the guards on the walkways pull into more defensive positions.


Come on, kid, Isaac thought as he walked back to the hole in the wall. We need to be moving NOW.

380.

Distantly, Leo noticed something like the bark of a gun muffled by distance and distorted through the sirens. So maybe he was imagining it. Maybe it wasn't a gun. Had he ever heard a real gun outside of CSI show?

390.

He decided that he had heard a gun. Or maybe a car muffler. Either way he needed to go. It was quiet now. Really, scary quiet.

400.

Leo raised his head and looked out over the expanse between his hiding spot and the wall. Of all the things he'd psyched himself up for, he hadn't expected the fear. He wasn't bullet-proof. He wasn't anything. He was just a dumb kid in 2 jackets and a Darth Vader mask. Well. And other precautions.

Distantly he realized that he could leave. If Leo's goal had been to get Calcifer into prison, he'd just done it. He could leave and then it'd be like one less morally ambiguous dude on the streets, right?

Uuuuuuugh. His guts got all twisty when he thought about betraying the guy. Crap. He'd also lost count. Before Leo could argue with himself anymore he made himself break cover. And then when a spotlight affixed itself to his position, he was scared so witless he ran quite possibly faster than he'd ever run before in his life.

Just like paintball, right? Try not to get hit.

Except no paintball game did he ever play while wearing someone else's shoes over his own. He tripped in the hot slag of the wall and bumped his shoulder into molten rock. Hot, hot, hot but surprisingly not dead, dead, dead or on fire, fire, fire. He felt the skin tighten on his face and ear nearest the rock like an instant sunburn, but that was the worst of it. Well, and his mask started to stink pretty bad. Cal's jacket, gloves, and shoes probably were expensive.

Sweating profusely, Leo tripped out into the hall.

"Cell 1226," he coughed when he spied Calcifer. Leo glanced around to get his bearings and then pointed the way. "C'mon, man." The kid loped ahead as if he'd been the one waiting.

One hall over, just around the corner. It was hard to focus with the blaring sounds, but there it was. A caged mutant with armored skin. He wasn't going to win any beauty pageants any time soon. Didn't mean he deserved to be stuck wearing orange. "We're here to get you out, Mr. Varghese."

Leo fished out his papers. Next was, "1573. Down the hall."

"Are you getting Gary?"

"Uhm. Gary Diederick?" Leo referenced his papers. That name was on page two, he figured. He'd prioritized by both proximity and perceived innocence.

"Upstairs," the armored mutant helpfully supplied.

"God willing, if our luck holds."