So maybe Rebecca was obsessed. She could not get that damn grin out of her head!

It had been two weeks since the Met Thief escaped her and ran off with priceless jewels. All those shattered cases broke in vain, because he caught her off guard. The leader of the X-Men hesitated because some criminal flirted with her at the wrong time and flustered her. She was better than that, and she was going to prove it.

Two weeks spent doing her homework and working on new contacts. The X-Men did not have official criminal informants, but there were unsavory types they could put pressure on. The usual go-tos would do her little good since they dealt mostly in street-level crime, and art theft was white collar crime. It was all parties and charm and sweet talk with people who had too much money. It was not Rebecca’s preference, but she had it in her. She could charm and flirt and fake it til she made it, because she had a goal.

To wipe the grin off that man’s face.

Of course, that was a ways down her plan. There was no good method of luring him out, so she would have to settle for one of his crew. If she could catch one of the Window Shoppers, (which she was totally calling them,) she could press them for information and get to her thief.

All the schmoozing put Rebecca in contact with a woman who ran a photography studio in the city. The woman was pregnant and annoyed that someone had outed her as someone who might have an in with the dark side of the art community. Begrudgingly, she fond Rebecca a means of contacting the crew on the stipulation that she left her alone. The woman was settling into a new life, and Rebecca could respect that. She had bigger fish to fry anyway.

Under a false name, she offered a job. Private collection; a priceless Degas owned by a media mogul with anti-mutant leanings. If the plan failed, (and it would not,) Rebecca would be happier with a rich bigot losing a painting instead of a museum.

The man was jetsetting off to Rio or Bali, which was another reason he was the proposed target. The painting was kept in a wing of his Mansion just outside of the city, and the only people who would be around would be staff and private security. The guards would not be a problem for the thief, she was certain, and they had a whole Mansion to watch over, so their response time should be generous.

Impact wanted alone time with the thief she hired. After getting to the gate of the Mansion dressed as a courier, it took knocking out three guards and sneaking through the building carefully to get to the art wing first. This was a dangerous plan, because Rebecca was definitively breaking and entering, but she was a woman on a mission. The guards would be fine. In time.

She got to the room holding the Degas, along with a few equally priceless paintings, and four sculptures in four glass cases. Perfect. Beating the thief to the scene was important. Impact was able to prepare, and when she was done getting the room ready, it was time to hide away and wait. Oh, how she hoped luck would be on her side and the brown-haired rogue with the smarmy smile would be the one to take the bait…

Jesse hated stealing paintings. They were large, cumbersome, and most of them did not look like they were worth the money and effort. Sure, as an art thief, Jesse had the skill to tell which ones were real, and likely to get the big bucks. Hell, they could have gotten an art history degree by now. They just personally did not see what the hoopla was about.

This one was for a new contact, too. Jesse was not sure who they were, but they clearly had money to drop, and knew exactly what they wanted. The private collection was a plus too, Jesse never had a problem liberating things from one rich douchebag and giving them to another. This was going to be a win-win situation.

The Mansion was huge. Jesse made sure to do her homework before she got there, knowing exactly when the owner was leaving, and which room she needed to find. She noted the distinct lack of visible security guards as she entered through a bathroom mirror - leave it to rich people to have full-length mirrors in the bathroom - and assumed they were either not well paid, or guarding other, more obviously valuable parts of the house. The painting was in a gallery room in one of the wings. Jesse guessed the guy must have called it his 'study.' As if people like them ever studied... Sadly, the study room did not have mirrors. Jesse wrinkled her nose as she noted that. She'd have to haul the darn painting down the hallway... She noted, too late, that she should have chosen a larger, more muscular body. She did not like bulk when she was on a job - today, she was blonde, snarky, and light - but sometimes it had its advantages.

She considered shifting, and borrowing some clothes. But she wanted to see the painting first. Maybe it was one of those Mona Lisa type situations: Smaller than it actually looked...

The time spent waiting passed slowly, but Impact did not care. She was waiting in a supply closet just out of the room holding her trap. The door to the closet was cracked open just enough for her to peek out in case one of the Window Shoppers passed through her field of vision. She needed nothing to pass the time, because she was filled with anticipation, and refused to be distracted and chance missing her opportunity.

Eventually, patience was rewarded and a thin woman with short blonde hair in appropriate thieving garb entered into the room. Impact took a quiet, deep breath, readying herself. It was going to be just like she practiced.

Once the blonde was in the room, Impact slipped out of the supply closet until she was occupying the empty doorframe of the art room. (Or maybe it was a Study? She was not versed in rich folk speak, after all.) If there was one thing the mutant knew, it was angles. She was no mathematical genius, but Rebecca could intrinsically sense how her optic blasts would bounce off surfaces in her field of vision. Using this talent, she could deconstruct an area and fire for maximum effectiveness.

She had prepped the room, positioning desks and chairs in necessary spots. Her beam traveled from her position in the doorway, passing through two of the display cases, shattering them. It hit the curved surface of a large wooden chair, ricocheting against a wall, heading straight through the third case and into a book case, a wall, and finally, the fourth case.

It took plenty of time to work out the logistics, but in one go and three-point-six seconds, all the glass surfaces in the room were destroyed. There was one way out of the area now, and Rebecca was standing squarely in the center of it.

”So I was hoping we could have a little chat.”

Of course Jesse had checked before to see if the house had security systems. She was not a damn amateur. After studying the Mansion's plans and financials, she had concluded that the owner was rich, but not too savvy about security - the heavy lifting was done by hired guards, rather than elaborate tech. Which was Jesse's favorite kind of stupid.

And yet, when she entered the study room, pushing her goggles onto her forehead with a satisfied grin, a laser beam came out of nowhere, and ricocheted around the room, shattering glass as it went. Jesse ducked instinctively, rolling even as the laser bounced around, and by the time things were suddenly quiet, she came up behind the heavy desk, staring, bewildered, at the figure standing in the doorway.

It was not a security system. It was a trap.

>>”So I was hoping we could have a little chat.”

"You?!" for a moment, Jesse was too shocked to keep up the usual charade of being multiple people. She was surprised to see the ginger girl from the Met, looking all business and no fun, having just blasted the whole room to hell "What the hell are you doing here?"

This was definitely not a chance encounter.

The way the other woman called out to her, like she was personally offended by Impact’s presence, was the best payoff the X-Man could hope for. The shock and dismay rivaled the reaction she got from the first thief when she revealed her power. In fact, it was oddly similar, but she would not dwell much on shared idiosyncrasies. There was a more pressing matter to focus on.

It was important not to get arrogant this time. Playing too loose and cocky was how she slipped up and let her prey escape the first time. Impact was blocking the only exit to the room, so she held all the cards. Nothing in her research suggested she would have to worry about knives or guns, though she was trained to handle armed threats if necessary. If she was bull-rushed this time, she could blast first and ask questions later after dragging the blonde woman to a windowless room for questioning.

Which was okay, because she was the good guy in all this, she reminded herself.

”So you know about me. Good.” Impact assumed the jewel thief would let the rest of his crew know about their run-in. It was fine, because the plan had no need for anonymity. ”I shouldn’t have to talk you through this, then. I want to have a little chat about one of your colleagues.” Of course, the blonde would be enjoying a trip to jail as well, but Rebecca was hoping to work some information out of her before they had to reach that step.

>>”So you know about me. Good.”

Despite her fumble with the initial reaction, Jesse realized that the girl did not yet know the truth about her shapeshifting abilities. It was a little bit amusing, given how obvious it was once the light bulb went off. Jesse changed her face often, but she rarely ever changer her attitude. Or her grin.

To mitigate the embarrassment caused by her reaction, Jesse sat down with a huff into the large leather office chair behind the desk. She was smart enough to know she was not going anywhere anytime soon anyway.

>>”I shouldn’t have to talk you through this, then. I want to have a little chat about one of your colleagues.”

Jesse tilted her head, and took her time leaning back and putting her boots on the desk.

"You are the girl that tried to stop him in the Met, aren't you." she smirked, folding her arms "I hear it was quite... the heated encounter."

The cat burglar settled down from her initial surprised reaction, regaining her composure and taking a seat at the desk she ducked behind. Her plan might be to buy time, and if that was the case, she could try; Impact had nowhere to be, so if she could get her talking now, that would just put her ahead of schedule.

Accepting the situation at hand came quickly for the thief, who was getting cozy and kicking her feet up. She clearly knew she was not running, so instead, she settled in and relaxed. It was a mildly annoying way to take the wind out of the vigilante’s sails as she celebrated her victory. The man from the Met would have been so proud; it was like undeserved arrogance was a requirement for entry into their little club.

As she expected, her thief gave his account of their encounter in the Museum, but Impact was particularly miffed by the impression he gave her newest captive. The best choice was to roll her eyes and avoid getting flustered; she had more emotional stability than that. ”I don’t know what he told you, but men like that are full of talk and no substance. We fought, he got lucky, he got away,” she explained dismissively. ”That’s all. But I’m glad to hear you know him. It gives me faith that we can have a productive chat together.”

Impact closed the heavy wooden door to the room on the off chance one of the last remaining guards might come around and look down the hallway. After all the planning, the last thing the Brit needed was an unexpected variable to throw everything off.

>> ”I don’t know what he told you, but men like that are full of talk and no substance. We fought, he got lucky, he got away,”

Jesse smirked a little, listening to the vigilante's hasty defense of the situation. It hadalways amused her, talking to people who knew one of her other faces and did not realize that she was the same person. It revealed all kinds of things about people that she would not have guessed otherwise.

"He did not get as lucky as he wanted to" she muttered with a chuckle.

>>”That’s all. But I’m glad to hear you know him. It gives me faith that we can have a productive chat together.”

The heavy door was closed, and now Jesse was alone in a room with no reflective surfaces and a slightly miffed redhead. The girl clearly had no intention of letting her get away without a talk, but she also had not picked up on the shapeshifting yet. Maybe if she offered up some halfway plausible info about the other Jesse, she would let her off the hook.

"Let's chat, then" she agreed, resting her chin on her knuckles "I'll do my best to help you with your little project. You're in luck. I make an excellent wingwoman." she added with an exaggerated wink.

The thief was quick to pick apart an opening handed to her by Impact and her poor word choices. Yet another banterer, looking to use her moderately quick wit to put herself on top of their conversation. Playfulness was evidently a shared trait in their criminal cabal, which left the orderly X-Man wondering how anything got done on the business end of things.

Escape was not going to happen. The exit was closed, and any attempts to open it back up would be met with a strong eye beam to the back of the head. There would be no careless misses this time.

To her credit, the blonde showed no signs of fleeing the scene. She was not an idiot; this was clearly a carefully plotted trap, so she was not going to luck out and find some hidden mirror or particularly well-polished metal surface. She could resist questioning or comply, and it seemed like she was ready to pick the smarter of the two options.

Of course, she was not going to make their conversation easy. The thief was still reveling in her jokes and implications that Impact’s interest in her colleague was something other than revenge justice. The over-the-top wink made her hard to take seriously. ”You’re a clever girl, aren’t you?” she asked, approaching the other side of the large wooden desk. ”Right now all you’ve technically done is break and enter in some asshole’s mansion. I can overlook something like that; I hate this guy anyway.” The latter statement was true, but the former was not. Rebecca was not going to just let this new thief off with a warning, but she was comfortable lying until she got what she needed.

”You’re not particularly attached to the bloke with the scruff, right?” Her hands were planted on the desk so she could lean further over the surface. ”I mean, you’re both clearly obnoxious, so that must get exhausting.”

>> ”You’re a clever girl, aren’t you? Right now all you’ve technically done is break and enter in some asshole’s mansion. I can overlook something like that; I hate this guy anyway.”

Jesse chuckled. The vigilante had to be conflicted at least a little, playing superhero while also judging the people who were getting robbed. In a world full of mutant-haters, protecting the law and doing the whole good mutant - bad mutant thing had to be exhausting.

"Good." Jesse chuckled at her last statement about hating the guy "You can help me haul this painting outta here when we're done."

They were not done yet though, not by a long shot. The girl cut straight to the chase... sort of. At least she was asking what was on her mind, now.

>>”You’re not particularly attached to the bloke with the scruff, right? I mean, you’re both clearly obnoxious, so that must get exhausting.”

Jesse bit back a grin at the accidentally hilarious accusation.

"Oh, we're very attached." she winked again, sitting back "But that doesn't mean I'm not happy to talk about him. Why do you ask?"

If Impact was ever caught and threatened with jail time for her acts of vigilantism, she hoped she handled the accusations and threats in stride like the criminals she caught. The blonde was in good spirits, joking about needing help dragging the painting away from the Mansion. ”I bet your client would love that, right? Think I’d get a cut of the payoff?” she asked sarcastically. She was sorely tempted to reveal herself as the client, but there was no benefit to being cocky yet. Why play her ace while things were still going well?

Going into the ambush, Impact was dead set on seriousness and keeping a clear head, but once again, she found herself across from some playful flirt. Did every art thief take their cues from every romanticized tale about charming rogues? It was always pivotal in any plan to be flexible, and her last experience with the blue eyed b****** was not a good excuse to hold back. Rebecca’s past week was spent charming socialites and businessmen. She could handle this.

”I have unfinished business with him. He and I got off on the wrong foot, but maybe you and I don’t have to.” Her tone was inviting, and she eased her posturing. Instead of leaning over the desk, Impact sat on the surface, her legs crossed one another over the edge. She sat at an angle so she could still look at the woman sitting on the other side. Even from a sitting position, she would be easy to pick off with an optic blast if she made a break for it. ”Surely you know where he is, right, luv?”

>>”I bet your client would love that, right? Think I’d get a cut of the payoff?”

"Seems only fair" Jesse shrugged. It was all theoretical, of course. Ginger was not going to help her steal the painting any more than she was going to walk out of here without some kind of a fight. Or a deal.

The girl sat on the table, settling in for a longer conversation, turning sideways so that she could look at Jesse. Jesse, on her part, gave an appreciative look at Impact's butt on the table. Those vigilante uniforms looked good on some people...

>>”I have unfinished business with him. He and I got off on the wrong foot, but maybe you and I don’t have to. Surely you know where he is, right, luv?”

"I surely do" Jesse grinned, sitting back to look up "But I'm not sure why I should tell you. You're going to arrest him, aren't you? What's in it for me, for telling on one of my team? Because him getting caught would not go well for me either... gotta be worth my while."

The woman was no fool; she was not looking at their situation from a point of loyalty, but a perspective of self-interest. Outing the first thief would put her organization at risk, and would certainly put her on the outs with her former colleagues. There was some honor among thieves, and turning someone in violated that, so to be convincing, Impact had to “make it worth her while.”

Still, there was something… familiar about their interaction. The tone she was taking, the give and take, and… the way she grinned. It sounded preposterous, but she could not shake the feeling that she shared her grin with Rebecca’s thief. Just how “attached” were these criminals?

Pushing the envelope was the only way to appease her suspicions. She needed a better look at that grin, and the last time she earned one of those, it was done by appealing to the playfulness of her prey. It could have been worse; Impact would have been lying if she claimed the witty blonde was not attractive to her.

”Worth your while? Let’s see… start with immunity.” Of course, Rebecca was not a cop, so her version of immunity solely meant she would not drag the blonde to the station like a neatly wrapped present. ”Hell, maybe a spot on the X-Men, if you’re really a thrill-seeker. Hell, being a team player can have its own perks.”

Impact leaned closer, which was now easier when she was on the desk rather than in front of it. She now found herself much closer to the blonde. ”Don’t think I didn’t catch you staring at my a**, sweetie,” she said in a knowing whisper.

She needed that grin. Just one more time. She had to be sure.

>>”Worth your while? Let’s see… start with immunity. Hell, maybe a spot on the X-Men, if you’re really a thrill-seeker. Hell, being a team player can have its own perks.”

Jesse arched an eyebrow. The girl cut straight to the chase. She doubted that she could honestly offer either thing, immunity or a spot on the team, all on her own, unless she was some kind of a leader within the vigilante group. Just how often did they accept criminals? Misfits, sure, but there had to be some kind of a limit. And if Jesse was going to be seeking thrills, she wanted to get paid for it in cash, not honorable mentions.

"Depends on how much the thrill pays." she smirked. The woman leaned over, closer to her now, and the position she was in made her look even better.

>>”Don’t think I didn’t catch you staring at my a**, sweetie,”

"What can I say" Jesse grinned, leaning closer too. They had been this close before, although the girl obviously did not realize that. "Righteousness makes your a** looks good."

Impact was not expecting to win the blonde woman to the side of good; some thieves committed crimes as a thrill, and some just cared about money. People with checkered-pasts were not excluded from X-Membership, but they had no use for people who cared more about paydays than making a difference. Self-interest was her thief’s M.O. and it was what Impact was going to appeal to now. She lacked money, but she did have something else to offer.

Her appeal pulled the blonde in closer, earning her a compliment and a brazen grin. It was the same grin. As close as they were, it was undeniable. Impact shared in the grin, moving closer to her thief.

The gap between them was bridged, with the thief standing and Rebecca shifting so she was sitting on her knees, positioning her higher than the other woman. She dangled her arms over the woman’s shoulders, clasping her hands behind the blonde’s neck. Bringing her lips within a centimeter of a waiting ear, she spoke in a coquettish whisper.

”How lucky for me... I found my thief after all." She pulled away so she could look into those eyes; still blue, but a new shade, and so full of unearned confidence. "Hello again, luv.” The brown-haired man and the blonde woman were one in the same. A shapeshifter. The pieces of the puzzle were so obvious when she could see the picture they formed. She had her prey, and they were going nowhere soon.