It was early in the morning on July 2nd when he met with Rebecca. He hadn't been able to arrange it the same day as his unforeseen guest. That had been too chaotic a scenario, too demanding, too confusing. While Kealey and him had responded to someone showing up on their balcony, several stories up, stabbed and bleeding, other X-men had been busy doing something else. The timing had been off. That seemed to be happening more and more lately.

He wasn't sure if Rebecca had been on the scene of the rip with the other X-men when they'd responded. Mirror, he knew about. Others? Details were still coming in. It'd probably be a while before they all got the full story about the events that had transpired that day. He'd called her to arrange a meeting so they could decide a game plan for dealing with the events that were transpiring. He'd called the previous day, during a break in the action of getting medical attention for their guest. Their mysterious guest. And called again to double check that they had their details right, and to be certain of when and where they were meeting.

The meeting place they decided on wasn't by the strange glowing portal. He wasn't sure if the x-men had surrounded it to protect it, if police had, or if the US government had stepped in to classify everything. There was no glowing portal. You didn't see a thing. That was just swamp gas reflecting off Uranus... had he gotten that Men in Black quote right? He had a feeling it had been a different planet. Whatever. The point was, they hadn't arranged their meeting to discuss their response plans by the creepy glowing portal, because it was a hotbed of activity that wouldn't be conducive to plotting. They'd arranged to meet at Starbucks.

"Hey there! Shin smiled. He leaned forward, resting a hand on the counter to brace himself while he talked. The longest Starbucks drink name in history is a double Ristretto Venti Half-soy nonfat decaf organic chocolate brownie iced vanilla double-shot gingerbread frappucino extra hot with foam whipped cream upside down double blended, one Sweet'N Low and one Nutrasweet, and ice. He, did not order this. "Can I get a large vanilla latte, please? Thank you." Shin looked back over his shouder, towards Rebecca. "I'll get you, too. What would you like?"

Once they had ordered and received their drinks, Shin lead them over to a booth by the window, so they could talk. He wanted to pool information and devise a game plan. There was a lot they could do, but a lot they probably needed to decide not to do as well. Their decisions needed to be educated, and decided jointly.

"Well, what do you know about what's happening? And what do you think we should do?" the Asian asked the redhead, proffering a bowl of sugar packets.

It was Day Two of a whole new world. Specifically, a whole new world on the other side of a giant tear in space-time that, in turn, made their world a larger, scarier place. Rebecca had been on the scene Day One, managing the crowds and the panic, providing aid to the police who were just trying to keep the peace amidst scared civilians. It was on the scene where Rebecca met her doppelganger and Jesse, the other Rebecca’s husband. (Or more accurately, spouse, since Jesse evidently lacked a permanent gender identity.) It was a very personal example of what could be on the other side.

It was also a reason to drink. Rebecca and Maya had to handle the news that they were married in another dimension on top of the many philosophical questions that came with the possibility of infinite earths. Maya had swiped some liquor from Cold Steel’s stash and they worked through their shock, glass by glass.

Unfortunately, the Rip was going to be waiting for her the next day, and she had a duty to be out on the scene. She took an early patrol shift with Shard, aka Tetsuya Shibo, aka Shin. Rebecca had not spent much time on missions with Shin, or in general since she moved away from the Mansion, so she was looking forward to some time with one of the more senior members of the team.

She just wished they could have started later in the day. Rebecca was not the best example of herself, still nursing the last stages of a hangover from her drinking session with Maya. They were going to operate in civilian clothing for the day; if they crossed over, the preliminary reports said the political and social climates were not friendly to mutants or vigilantes, so incognito might serve them best. No costumes also meant Rebecca could wear large sunglasses to hide her sensitive eyes from the cruel, unfeeling light of day.

Shin ordered a drink at the Starbucks counter and kindly offered to take care of Becca’s order. Coffee sounded like the perfect thing to pull her across the finish line of her hangover. ”Thenk ye! Ah’ll hae a grande s’mores Frappuccino, please!” She needed something cold, sweet, and loaded with sugar and caffeine. That would get her up to proper X-Man-levels of energy.

They received their drinks and gathered at a booth to plan out their day. From what she understood, Tetsuya and Kealey were dealing with some unexpected guest the day before who was also tied to the Rip, meaning they were too busy to catch many Rip updates. Rebecca could fill in some gaps. ”Sae Ah had a chat wi’ mah counterpart frae th’ other side. It was… interesting.” Of course their conversation had to wait until after Rebecca and Jesse had significant time for their “reunion.”

Still, both Rebecca’s knew time was of the essence, so they traded notes when they could. ”She leads an X-Team oan th’ other side, bit they ur a smaller operation. Low resources an’ nae government support.” The other X-Men were true vigilantes, working in secret and outside the law to make the world better. It was hard not to respect them. ”Ah hink mebbe we shoods cross ower an' see whit things look loch oan th' other side today? Mebbe see if we can make contact wi' other Becca's x-men, ur really jist gie a lay ay th' lain.” Reports were saying New York was similar on both sides of the Rip, but Rebecca was curious to see the world where the older, X-Leader version of herself was molded.

"Counterpart?" Again, this was about pooling information. Not everyone was operating on the same data, and until they sorted these things out, he was going to be scratching his head something most fierce. He took a drink of his latte, to mull that over. Then he shook his head.

What it sounded like, from Rebecca's explanation, was that there was another world through a portal with alternative versions of themselves, an alternate x team. A "grass roots" team, outside the law.

The whole portal to another world thing made his mysterious visitors sudden appearance make more sense. He'd shared bits and pieces of that with the team, but he'd been careful to avoid sharing too much. For numerous reasons they wouldn't get into here.

Rebecca wanted to go on over to the other side. She'd already met someone from the other side. She wanted to gather data. Since when had the younger team members started taking point on these things? He'd completely missed that crazy Atlantis mission. He had some negative feelings about that. There wasn't time to get into the why. Suffice it to say, missing missions and being behind the curve in situations like this made him really want to get more active and become a better member of the team. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Part of him felt like he needed to fix stunted relationships. His break with the police had left some avoiding him entirely. And the loss of power had been negative, too.

"I'll have to call in for a sub if we do that." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Multiple subs. And tell the wife. I've got it on good authority that there are some dangerous groups of people over there. A friend I recently made got stabbed by one such group..." he left that vague on the how and why. Well, maybe not the how. How'd he get stabbed? With a knife! There you have it ladies and gentlemen.

"You're right, though. We need to learn everything we can about this portal. If it's a mirror verse, one has to wonder if there are evil versions of people just like there are good... that might just be my OG Gundam memories acting up, though." Shin smiled wryly. One of the Gundam games had played with ideas similar to this one, including shadow Mirror dopplegangers. That's a word that doesn't really translate well into Japanese.

Rebecca was so excited to see the other side of the Rip, she might have been careless in laying out a potential mission plan. It had slipped her mind that, according to the rest of the team, Tetsuya’s powers were not working. He was still an X-Man and she was sure he would eventually figure out a way to overcome the block he was dealing with, but until then, he was as vulnerable as a human. A human with an understanding of jujitsu, but a human regardless.

Her enthusiasm also caused her to gloss over details that might be worth mentioning, based on Tetsuya’s reaction to her comment about “counterparts.” She nodded, taking a sip of her frozen drink. ”Aye. Some ay th' fowk oan 'at side ur loch fowk oan thes side, but different. Frae whit Other Rebecca explained, most ay th' members ay th’ X-Team ur entirely different.” Comparing rosters was a trip, particularly when Rebecca found out a version of Agnes was on the Alternate Team.

Alt!Rebecca also mentioned some of the hard times her team fell on, but those details did not feel relevant to the situation.

Tetsuya’s concerns about the other side were valid; the rundown she received came with a warning about a government organization that was kidnapping and experimenting on mutants. ”Yes, SUPER. They soond loch a problem,” she admitted somberly. ”Bit wi’ th’ Rip, they’re gonna become uir problem too, reit?” Nothing was keeping SUPER from crossing over into their world, and the potential for an enemy like that in a new world densely populated with mutants was significant.

Rebecca must have made a good point or two, because Tetsuya was on board with checking out the portal, or at least he was open to the idea. ”Ah’m nae sayin’ we gae full-oan, X-Uniforms an’ aw, bit security is still tryin’ tae establish around th’ Rip. We coods sneak over an’ check it et.” Tetsuya had to be at least a little bit curious, too, right? ”Who knows? Mebbe we cross paths wi’ Bizarro Tetsuya?” She was not as well versed in anime and mechas, but comics were right in her wheelhouse, and there were roughly five-billion comic references she could make about alternate realities and doppelgangers.

It's always hard to swallow when you learn you knew far less than you knew you knew, and even far less than your allies knew you knew you knew. He knew the feeling. Even worse was the feeling of knowing something, but holding back. Shin said nothing when SUPER was mentioned. He merely shrugged. Things went on, as if he had said more.

Eventually, he might share all of his data. For now, it wasn't something he could share. Like when Sam had quote unquote died. It wasn't his information to give.

Shin acted the part wonderfully. The part where he appeared to be a scatterbrained team member who did his best to help out. He was that, but he was also something more. At one time, he'd been a tough in underground mutant cage matches. He knew about acting and keeping secrets. Playing things close to the chest.

He even laughed at her weird bizarro joke. He had no idea what it was a reference to. He felt like it was from another world, because whatever comic or show it referenced wasn't in his memory banks. Maybe it was some new anime. He was too old, even around his younger peers.

"You've sold me. We need to know more. Give me thirty minutes. I'll call who I need to, then we can cross over." He said. There would be a reckoning and he would share what he knew. But not now, not yet. Soon.

Tetsuya allowed Rebecca to speak, listening carefully to whatever information she could offer from the other side of the rift. It was a fluke that she lucked into meeting Other Rebecca and Jesse, so it made sense to her that she might have stumbled into more information than most on day one of the event. Tetsuya had his own mess to deal with the day before, so she assumed if he had anything to say, he would. Otherwise, she just wanted to make sure she was sharing her notes with her teammates.

For all their lack of experience working one on one, Rebecca liked Tetsuya. He always struck her as kind, if not a little silly. On a team with some serious and brooding members, he seemed to be a nice change of pace. Rebecca was still one of the younger members of the team, (trainees notwithstanding,) so she worried her lack of seriousness would be seen as immaturity or naivety. She worried about that less around Tetsuya. Maybe that was why she found him easier to trust.

The plan to cross over was finally accepted, much to Rebecca’s appreciation. Tetsuya needed some time to get ready, which was fine by Rebecca. It was still morning and she could use an extra thirty minutes to wake up and shake off her hangover.

---

Rebecca looked out at the tear in the universe, or she tried to, at least. It had an eerie quality that compelled her eyes to try looking away. It was the kind of anomaly that was almost too illogical to comprehend.

Since the trip over had the goal of staying low-key, (unless they had to intervene in a situation,) Rebecca was wearing civilian clothes. The ruckus they would cause in costume would be a distraction and they would be obvious mutant vigilantes in a world that was not kind to mutants or vigilantes. It was summer, so she wore a peach camisole and black yoga pants. If something came up, Rebecca wanted freedom of movement, and yoga pants fit the bill.

She waited for Tetsuya to find her at the prearranged meeting place. The government was still working to set up a rudimentary checkpoint, so two interdimensional travelers could easily sneak by unnoticed. ”Okay, sae we’re totally nae X-Men. Jist unassuming, non-descript fowk crossing o’er tae check it th’ new world it ay curiosity.” In Rebecca’s case, at least, it was not all that far from the truth. She was not trying to take the lead so much as repeat the plan so she was prepared for how to handle a brand new experience without going off-book. ”Mebbe we gie an idea of whit the Rip area o’er there is loch an’ if we see any signs ay SUPER lurking? Dinnae make a scene unless we hae tae stop something.” If they saw something amiss, it was not like they could just let it happen for the sake of keeping their cover intact.

Rebecca felt a tightening in her stomach. ”Ah’ve heard th’ jump over feels weird,” she muttered, hoping she would not end up leaving her recently enjoyed coffee on the other world’s sidewalk pavement. ”Ye ready?”

It had taken self restraint on his part not to don the white overcoat Kealey had made for him. The one that looked like the main character's coat in the Japanese tv show GARO (or Kaiba's coat in yu-gi-oh, if you're more aware of cartoons). The coat had inserts that provided protection from various degrees of firearms, and flowed and felt like a dream. It also stood out like something, as previously mentioned, from a cartoon. Instead, he'd just worn the same casual sort of outfit from earlier, blue jeans and a white t-shirt for some Japanese pop band. Obscure enough another off-worlder wouldn't question its existence.

"Non-descript," he agreed nonchalantly. "Fowk."

They wouldn't make a scene unless they made a scene, got it. He nodded in agreement.

Was he ready? He glanced towards the rip, and tried to measure it mentally, but got some weird numbers and mental feedback. "Yeah." Shin said. "Let's go."

Casually, he snuck up to the tear in reality with Rebecca, and stepped between worlds.

---

Disorienting was a good word. So was disgusting. Or weird, he supposed. It felt like a head rush mingling with a head cold, with a dash of vertigo and spinning in circles, for good measure. In other words, describable, but not very well described.

The other side was similar, yet different. Tiny things that immediately made the traveler feel off by several centimeters. Like the sensation of the entire world jumping one degree to the right, and you being stuck in a strange, unfamiliar place.

No, he didn't get sick at the sudden motion. He really should have. But he'd mentally steeled himself for it. His wedding ring was on his hand, ready for anything.

Feet firmly planted on another world, Shin glanced around to see if anyone had noticed their arrival.

Rebecca was still clutching the side of her head, feeling like her body and mind were reorienting to a new time and space. The feeling was quickly passing, but for the moment, she was unsure if her brain or her stomach felt more out of sorts. Neither benefited from Rebecca’s hangover and it was all she could do not to vomit on the pavement.

The redhead finally came to her senses and looked around to see… New York. Other Rebecca had warned her, but both sides looked more or less the same in the grand scheme of things. She was unsure if she was expecting the lighting to be different or a vague sepia hue to distinguish the new world. ”Well, welcome tae New York, Ah guess.” she muttered when she realized Tetsuya was still next to her. It was fortunate the rip did not just throw them to the four corners of the city.

Things were starting to normalize and Rebecca was standing up straight, surveying the buildings and crowds nearby, looking for anything out of place. ”Hey! We dinnae hae a Peachflower near haur.” Not that it was a priority; frozen yogurt unimportant to the mission. She was just weirdly jealous of the convenience the other side had for dessert locations.

”Well, th’ city’s still th’ city, metal’s still metal,” she had noticed through her magnetic sense, ”an—oof!”

An older gentleman walked by Rebecca, clipping her shoulder with his and moving past like she was not there as he disappeared into the rift. ”And New Yorkers are still New Yorkers,” she grumbled. If not for her minor knowledge of SUPER, the differences might have underwhelmed Rebecca.

>>"Welcome to New York, I guess." Rebecca quipped.

She still seemed disoriented, but she was recovering. A snippet of the poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty escaped his lips, part of the first things immigrants saw when they entered the new world. Something about breathing free. It felt relevant, even if the new world seemed a lot like the old world. Thats the way it is sometimes. And sometimes, everything stays the same but you change...

The deep thought was solidly obliterated by Rebecca's musing about a frozen yogurt change. He smiled at her and his voice took on a teasing tone. "Careful. This is only a recon mission. Don't start planning to move, now. You hear?"

Idly, a passing thought struck him. Would germs and reactions to foodstuffs differ based on alternate realms? Like how in time travel movies, you never see it addressed but technically, if you went to the future you wouldn't have all the herd immunities to diseases future folk have... and if you went to the past, you'd bring future germs and viruses nobody had resistances to, and it'd be like Spanish explorers and indigenous peoples. But then, who wants to contemplate serious questions when dealing with fun elements of time travel? Don't give us ethical dilemmas to play with. We just want hover boards and cowboys.

A man ran into Rebecca while she was contemplating the great mysteries of tautology.

"Yep." He agreed, mouth quirked slightly in amusement. The half smile vanished as he turned to the subject at hand. "Let's go hit that Peachflower while we plot our next moves. Or at least, stop glowering at the city in front of a high traffic area." Around a trans dimensional portal between worlds, he finished mentally.

He stepped away from the portal, heading towards the street and the interesting things it held. He nabbed a newspaper from a vendor as he passed, and dropped some money down in front of him. Thankfully, earth money was accepted and this wasn't a Canadian quarter situation. He stopped against a wall and unfolded it, waiting for Rebecca so he could discuss the news.

Tetsuya quickly teased the younger X-Man for her unnecessary observation. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. ”Ah’m nae! Ah hink Ah’m allowed tae point it thes side has guid tase.” If a politician ran for office on a platform of “more frozen yogurt places,” Rebecca would have to consider what values were more or less important than access to delicious frozen treats.

Now on the other side, they had to consider their next move. The world was similar to the one they knew, but Tetsuya wisely grabbed himself a newspaper. As a member of “new media,” Rebecca had biased opinions about the newspaper industry, but it was still an undeniably convenient way to get a feel for the societal and political temperature of the new New York.

As a second wise decision, Tetsuya proposed a quick trip to Peachflower to come up with a plan away from the city crowds. Rebecca shrugged, but she was already smirking. ”Ah mean, yer really pull mah arm here, Tetsuya,” she replied sarcastically, following him to the shop.

There was something so vibrant about frozen yogurt shops. The walls were a bright white color, decorated with greens, pinks, and oranges. It was also nice to see the intuitive layout was apparently multi-universal, as Rebecca grabbed a small bowl and started contemplating her flavor options. ”Sae Ah was hopin’ tae tooch base wi’ th’ team oan thes side, bit shoods we dae ‘at afair patrolling thes area in case ay trouble?” Would they be able to recognize what trouble looked like? SUPER sounded like a threat unlike many Rebecca was used to; sneakier. For all she knew, they were being watched already?

The thought gave her a chill entirely unrelated to the low-temperature of the store or the frozen yogurt.

The paper sat on the small table he'd nabbed, unbothered. Lots of interesting things. Tiny things. Nothing too outstanding, that he'd been able to see, but worth mentioning eventually, maybe. Sports teams doing better or worse than in another universe, actors and movies slightly changed. In or out of theaters early. Weather differences. He hadn't delved too deeply into horoscopes but maybe Dear Abby had different problems to respond to over here, and Pearls before Piggies had some other snide self reference to make. The article by some Kent guy on the front page had certainly looked interesting... but the prospect of frozen yogurt for second breakfast after sugared up coffee had been too distracting for both Rebecca and Shin to pass up.

He held his cup and pondered the merits of birthday cake versus blueberry and cotton candy, or some suicidal mix of all flavors in one. The Asian glanced at Rebecca over the edges of the shades on the bridge of his nose. "We could check out the police blotter to get a feel for crime in the area." He suggested, using good old fashioned cop instincts. "That might give us an idea of missing persons, or areas of high crime." Which could be beneficial to the survey of an area. "Or, I suppose your contacts would have just as good a read on that stuff." He amended his thoughts.

Waking around for a bit while waiting on folks could get a lot done. They could watch out for anything spooky. He wasn't quite sure what she was looking for... other than dangerous organizations on the streets. Like SUPER (ugh). But he was fine with doing whatever. Both were excellent ideas.

Shinbo settled on birthday cake frozen yogurt with sprinkles and boba on top. He offered to pay for both of them, since it was that kind of day. Also, since he was the one American who carried cash.

Life could be challenging, but frozen yogurt made it seem a little better. Rebecca was a fan of filling her cup with as many flavors as she thought feasible. She ended up with raspberry, chocolate, cheesecake, and coconut cream flavors of frozen yogurt. With toppings of graham cracker crumbs, chocolate, and marshmallow, Rebecca was so pleased with her creation, it almost took her mind off the new reality she found herself in.

Curious about the world her doppelganger lived in, Rebecca took a brief turn with the newspaper. It was eerie to see so all the similarities alongside what would be inaccurate details on her side of the rift. Apparently, all it took to make a vastly different universe was a slew of small, seemingly insignificant changes over the course of human history. She wondered what innocuous change led to the other Rebecca being born years earlier, or what incident took her parents away. It was a scary thought.

As a former member of the police, Tetsuya had a mind fit for detective-work and deductive reasoning. Police reports and missing persons would give them a good starting point to understand what they were dealing with. Tetsuya proposed looking through the police blotter, but he also asked about the resources of the Alternate X-Men. ”Ah think Impact said they keep tabs on Scanners. Sae maybe we check current reports an’ follow up wi’ them tae see whit they awready know?” she asked, following Tetsuya back out into the city, froyo in hand.

"That sounds good to me," Shin agreed. They could glance over the newspaper while they walked and ate. It might have been simpler to do both while they sat in the frozen yogurt joint, but hey. That wouldn't expose them to the other world. "Soon as we're done with this yogurt, we ought to see if we can't call Impact up on a payphone. Not sure if we'll have cell service on another world." He said wryly.

Together, they walked and ate (and took turns with the newspaper). He couldn't believe some of the celebrity news in the paper. Some of it was just... absolutely insane. But far, far beneath their notice. Utterly unimportant.

"That's interesting." Shin paused, while reading a description of a current court case. "District Attorney Mellitus is working with the police on this... Guess Aurum went a different way, this side of the portal." He wondered what his bro was up to these days, in this place. Instead of a defense attorney, he worked with the prosecution. Truly fascinating. Though that choice could have been a coin toss.

"Oh, hey. Payphone. Those are a lot less rare here, I guess." It was totally a phone booth. Weird.

They could have sat down to eat their snacks, but they had things to do and Rebecca was feeling the buzz she got from X-Men business. It was not some city-saving, mayhem-preventing mission, but going to another world to investigate possible crimes against mutantkind was definitely X-Men business. If she was not excited about being one of the first people in history to perform interdimensional travel, the child in her heart was dead.

Tetsuya made a fair point about reaching out to Impact that prompted Rebecca to switch the yogurt from one hand to the other so she could check her phone. As expected, she had no connection. Her phone was not going to recognize the networks and satellites of a reality it did not belong to, so they would need a payphone after all.

In between large bites of sweet, frozen goodness, Rebecca and Tetsuya passed the newspaper off to take looks for arrest reports and missing persons, as well as passing glances at the entertainment section. Lexi Tambrey to star in the live action movie adaptation of Arachnachick. Rebecca chuckled, muttering to herself, ”She’d bloody loove tae hear ‘at.” It was a good reminder to check up on an old friend when she got the chance back on the other side.

Rebecca was not the only one recognizing names in the paper. He mentioned Aurum, who Rebecca vaguely recalled as Ami’s brother. The two never met, but mutants in New York were an interesting community: everyone knew someone who knew someone.

Much to Rebecca’s surprise, Tetsuya was right: they had stumbled upon a genuine phone booth. ”Wicked! Ah almost wish Ah’d’ve brought mah costume fur a cliché change. Really live up tae th’ trope.” It was a novel thought, but they had bigger things to think about than comic book logic.

Rebecca dug around her purse and was lucky enough to locate a quarter. Inserting it into the slot, she called the number on a piece of paper left to her by Impact.

”Hello, Rebecca? It’s… er, Rebe—” (Don’t they have codenames on your side of the rift?) ”Richt. Impact, it’s Lodestone. Shard an’ Ah’ve made it across. We were hoping tae trade notes an’ may—" (That should be fine. Ah’ll keep an ear out fur yer knock) ”Great, aye. Bit… where?” (Rebe—Lodestone. Turn the paper over.)

Curious, Rebecca turned around the paper with the phone number written on it. Sure enough, Impact had given her the address and name of the hospital where the base was located. Rebecca could feel blood rushing to her cheeks. ”Yes. Okay. Ay coorse. We’ll be there soon.”

Rebecca hung up the phone and stepped out of the booth, trying to act like she did not just make a fool of herself to her own doppelganger. ”Okay, the X-Men hae a base oan th’ top floor ay a Hospital. Nae tae be a product ay mah generation, bit woods ye believe Ah still use a GPS tae get roond New York?” Rebecca provided Tetsuya with the hospital name and address in hopes that he would have an idea of how to navigate the streets, assuming they were similar to their own world. So far, she was batting a thousand on their cross-realm outing.

Signature trope? He just snapped his fingers and changed clothes. Or at least, he had used to, when he'd played at shard armor. Though it had taken longer. Much longer than the cartoon character transformation sequence made popular by shows like Super Sentai and Sailor Moon.

"I remember when I just made my costume," Shin mused wistfully. "With my mind. Miss that." Kealey coat was amazing, but there's something to be said for making your own armor out of thin air. If you ever have the opportunity to try it... you're probably a mutant. Take it.

He waited while Rebecca placed a call. Thankfully, not Collect. Was that even still a thing? Sometimes, his memories dated him in time. Perhaps on this earth, some of the things he liked were still cool?

An amused half grin spread across Shin's face as Rebecca referred to him as Shard. First Tetsuya, now Shard. Both were names he didn't hear much. People usually opted for his nickname, rather than his first name or his codename... unless it was Kealey. And she gave it different tones than just a name. Shard was a cool codename. He ought to use it more. Streak had given it to him by accident, and it had stuck. Sort of. It was on his Xman file, at least. From the one time Streak had called him the name during his tryouts. Bring in the laser deathbots... He thought to himself.

Rebecca wrapped up the phone call, and came back with an address and a hope. So used to GPS, she was looking to him to be able to problem solve and navigate. If he could, he would have just flown them there. It was a little bit away. More than he wanted to walk. So, he did the next best thing.

"One moment, Lodestone." He smirked, stepping up to the phone booth himself. He popped a quarter of his own in, and again thanked past Shinbo for planning ahead and carrying lots and lots of cash. He quickly found the number from the ratty phone book hanging in the booth, and dialed a cab company. Gave their address and requested a cab. Then, he returned to Rebecca's side.

"Bit of a ways. Called a cab. They should know the streets. Tapping into our funds but I figured you'd rather not walk ten or twenty blocks." he teased warmly.