Combatant wasn’t looking for a new place to call home. Strangely, she was growing more and more comfortable with the home that she and the X-Men were carving out for themselves. But as much as Agnes wanted to believe that was where she belonged, she couldn’t allow her mind drift back to that, not after what she had done. Now, the only thing keeping her home an actual home was her staying as far away from it as possible. One would think that given her number of years on the run, of never really having a home for herself, that it would have been easy to leave that dank, ratty hospital floor. But it wasn’t.

She had done something that, in hindsight, could only be considered as bad. For years she had been on the run from SUPER and in all that time she had hurt so many of them -- but that had all been in defense. For the most part Agnes tried to avoid SUPER, to only focus on protecting her and her own. But this last trip to the SUPER facility, it had proven to be far, far different than anything she had done before. Agnes went in not only to rescue someone, but to make them hurt. That alone should have told her that it was a bad idea, that it would come back to haunt her, but she didn’t think that far ahead.

There was no telling exactly what was going to happen but she knew that if she were only somewhat on SUPER’s radar before, she was most certainly on it now. She hurt so many agents when she broke in with that mysterious memorymancer, and even more died when that russian blonde had touched her. It gave her access to nearly all of her fighting styles but it also had instantly started her berserk mode. So many people got in her way and she made each of them pay for it. Now she was most certainly wanted.

The only thing that Combatant could even think of to do once she had escaped from the facility in one piece was to protect the team. If they were after her then her patterns would be figured out and, eventually, it would lead them directly to the X-Men’s doorstep. There was already enough blood on her hands, she didn’t need theirs to be added. In this strange new world, the easiest way to ensure their survival was to leave...and where better to go than another dimension.

Adjusting to this world would take time but, if there was one thing that would help her feel at home, it was the crime. Before, in her world, Agnes would throw herself into patrolling whenever something like this happened or she was just feeling particularly frustrated. Now she was turning back to these old habits in seeking a balm for her wounds -- but would it work? She would only know by trying.

The first few days were difficult but Agnes eventually began to find her way around. There were a lot of similarities between this world and hers, but more than enough differences too. Once she got her bearings, a crappy place to stay, and nailed down a pattern for herself, she could start her work again. After buying a high-grade police scanner, Agnes started her task of finding someone, anyone, who needed to be taught a lesson. It would seem that on this particular night, said instruction would be taking place at the New York Modern Museum of Art.

Agnes wasn’t sure who they were but she had been watching the van the last few minutes. A reporting had come in through the police scanner about possible suspicious activity at the museum, a van had been parked in an alley for most of the day. Police investigated but, finding nothing really suspicious, left it alone. Whether they were told to ignore it or were on the take, she didn’t know, but there was clearly something wrong there. It was then that the van doors opened and men and women spilled forth. Yes, this was clearly not kosher.

The group, dressed in masks, made their way into a side, freight door, sealing it closed behind them. That would prove to be of little challenge to her.

Dressed in her usual X-Men attire (a skin-tight, black catsuit and a ninja mask over her face) the young woman left her rooftop and silently made her way down the side of the building, with all the carefulness of a shadow. Once she was on the ground, it only took her a quick moment to find an available vent for her to detach and climb into. She didn’t know what these people were here to steal, but she was going to make they were sorry for it.

Life was full of change and Rebecca was learning to live with that fact. She had an older, alternate universe doppelganger who led her own team of X-Men? Sure, she could roll with it. Said doppelganger was married and having a freaking child with the copy of one of her close friends? Weird, but good for them, right? Her ex-ex-ex-girlfriend vanished into the ether with a painfully true note explaining why? It was something she would have to learn to live with. Her role (up until the point where she threatened a monarch) in a mission to Atlantis earned her a spot as a Team Leader? She would take on new responsibilities to truly deserve her position.

Rebecca was learning to accept that life was full of surprises and subject to turn on a dime at any moment. Until it dropped another surprise on her, she just wanted to focus on living her best life. Being an X-Man and keeping New York safe was part of her best life.

It had been months since the Rip opened, so incidents at the checkpoint were finally growing less common, leaving Rebecca listening in on police reports for assignments to keep her busy on patrol. The department was handling whispers and rumors that someone was interested in the art museum. After breaking up fights, stopping rampaging mutants, and managing general panic, the idea of dealing with a possible art heist felt almost novel.

The police were going to stay nearby for backup, but they did not want to alert the potentially interested criminal parties of their presence. They needed to keep enough distance to allow for someone to walk into a trap. Still, having someone in the building was a smart backup plan, as long as they could get in and patrol covertly.

Lodestone was all over the job, which was how she ended up atop the museum roof, unaware of any recent visitors that might have stood on that very rooftop before she hovered over. The museum was kept unaware of her presence since there was some suspicion of an inside job, so the only way to access the roof door was to magnetically break the locking mechanism. They would have to replace one lock, but Rebecca still maintained it would be a worthwhile bill if they could prevent the theft of anything more valuable.

Keeping her feet hovering over the ground to eliminate footsteps, Rebecca hovered down the stairwell to the Museum itself, vigilantly watching for anything peculiar.

It was easy enough to get in. It seemed that this place didn’t hold up their security measures too well. Maybe this universe was just too trusting? Or maybe Agnes was just that good at what she did. Whatever the case, Agnes found it easy enough to slip in through a vent and slowly make her way into the interior of the building. Really, as she crawled through the cramped space and thanked her stars that she wasn’t claustrophobic, she had to wonder why anyone would steal from a museum. It was so...comic book-y that she would have doubted it if she hadn’t seen the criminals breaking in. Oh well, there will be time for interrogation later.

Making her way forward, she passed several grates that seemed to open up into nothingness, that is until she found one that seemed opened into a larger room. In it she could see a pair of men, standing over the fallen form for a security guard, stripping him of his jacket and badge. Really it seemed silly for the criminals to switch into a disguise now but if that was how they wanted to play it.

A roll of her neck and Agnes leapt into action.

A firm kick and her foot knocked the grate out of place, immediately drawing the attention of both criminals in the room. They barely had time to draw their weapons before the black-clad ninja fell through. Landing deftly upon her feet, she lashed out, a long, arching kick knocking the gun from one man’s hand and a carefully thrown ninja star disarming the other. Their grunts and cries were heard as Agnes flipped over the back of one, planting her heel directly into the back of the man’s leg, causing the muscles to immediately spasm and cramp into place. As he shouted in pain, Agnes wrapped her arm around the man’s throat, and in a fluid motion, turned and slammed him headfirst into the cool, tiled floor. He was out within seconds.

Flipping onto her feet, the young woman with the blazed eyes pulled another shuriken from her belt but stopped when she noted that the man dressed as a security guard was running from the room. She cursed under her breath as she bolted after him. She couldn’t allow him to alert anyone else.

Agnes ran fast, pushing through the door and following down the expansive hall that the wolf-in-security-guard’s clothing was wearing. As he burst through another door, the sounds of echoing footsteps reached her ears -- he ran into a stairwell. Pushing through after him, Agnes didn’t even bother to look where she was going, instead immediately she wrapped her hands around the safety railing, flipped over it, and dropped down a few steps below. It was there that she landed upon the man’s shoulders and removed a wire from her belt.

The man stumbled, but he was big. He pushed her off and immediately went on the offense, throwing out a few lazy haymakers. However, Agnes had her smaller size and speed on her side, as she turned and moved, managed to wrap one of his wrists around the wire. Once it was secure, Agnes held on, moving and slipping around him until she could wrap the wire around a railing as tight as she could. Taking an elbow to her back, she grunted, almost falling forward. However she used the momentum to snap out her leg like a rubberband, catching him across the jaw, and sending him sailing over the rail.

For anyone, it might have meant death, but to a victim of Combatant’s…

SNAP!!!! THUMP!!!

“AARRRGGH!!! MY F**KING HAND!!!”

Breathing heavily, Agnes peered over the edge of the railing. The much larger criminal dressed in the security guard jacket and hat, flailed in agony. He was dangling by his now broken wrist and close to passing out from pain. She snorted as she answered the man’s cries.

”Looks like you might have to date your other hand for awhile,” she growled with humor. She wasn’t normally one for one-liners, but even she had to admit that one was noteworthy.

Relations between mutants and humans were steadily improving over the years, but they were not “good.” There was so much tension and inherent fear to overcome when one group felt threatened by the presence of the other. Progress was hard to make, but regression was disappointingly easy. With the Rip increasing tension, with new mutants coming across and new humans bringing anti-mutant rhetoric, it was more important than ever for the X-Men to curb potentially mutant-related crimes, as well as crime in general. Even if no mutants were involved with the potential art heist, it would still be a reminder that some mutants were trying to be a force for good.

Good intentions only mattered with equally good execution, so Lodestone had to be cautious. The easiest way to damage the relationship the X-Men had with the Police would be to screw up their operation. She had no footfalls and she was hyper-vigilant of her magnetic sense. The last thing she needed was to come across a thief unintentionally if they had a belt buckle or tools she could track.

She was still descending from the third floor when she heard an altercation echoing through the stairwell. Lodestone’s first instinct was to intervene, but she had to play her role cautiously. If she jumped down to stop the fight, she could be hovering into a large group who could inform the rest of their team, (if there was a team,) about her presence.

Not acting was harder than Lodestone predicted. She winced when a man’s voice shouted about his hand. To her surprise, (quickly followed by some internal chastisement for her sexist assumptions,) the attacker was a woman. Lodestone needed to figure out what the woman’s plan was or if she was coordinating with a group. She was not going to be difficult to track; she had weapons on her person, though the size and presence did not seem to suggest guns or knives.

Things only got more interesting when Lodestone got to the floor with the dispatched guard. The man was large, so if he was taken care of by the woman, she was either very strong or incredibly well-trained. Lodestone used the metal string the man, who was already unconscious when she arrived, to lift him up and leave him slumped on the stairwell. She wanted to take care of the guard, but she had a mission to concern herself with.

She followed far behind the possible cat burglar, staying a safe distance away, but keeping her in the range of her magnetic sense. She needed to figure out what the woman’s plan was and if she was acting alone.

The first criminal / guard was handled, so now Agnes needed to delve deeper into the building to see what was happening here. Museums really weren’t the most ideal places to heist. Their valuables seemed far too specific for everyday criminals. However, she had enough experience with the underworld to know that it took all times to make the world go round. There were so many types of collectors and dealers who wanted the rarest of the rarest and would higher out to all kinds of people to get it. Was that the situation here? She guessed she would find out.

Thee first guard that she dispatched was probably knocked out by now and so the black-clad ninja didn’t think that she needed to fear anything from that end. But she knew that she needed to keep her guard up. She wasn’t exactly sure how many people got in here but she was going to make sure that she ferreted out each and every single one of them.

Rolling her shoulders, Agnes crept along the halls, moving passed exhibits of history and time that made little impact on her. It was not that she didn’t respect them, it was more that she was preoccupied with other matters in this moment. All her senses were focused on finding her prey and that alone. It wasn’t until she rounded a corner that she came across the sound of someone else -- and a voice.

A quick peek around the corner and Combatant surveyed the scene: it was a woman, thin and toned, dressed in dark, civilian clothing. Her long, blonde hair was tucked beneath her wool cap, and she held a walkie-talkie up to her lips. She held down the button as she spoke into it, seemingly irritated with being here.

“How’s everything down in the gem exhibit, you lucky bastards?” she grumbled.

”Haha, Bam-Bam. Sparkling…” a voice echoed out from the box.

“F**k you…” she sighed. “What’re we doing this for anyways? We don’t even know this guy.”

”He got us in here, didn’t he?”

Bam-Bam was about to reply but a sudden movement caught her eye. She didn’t have the chance to stop the shadow that came at her, down did she have the reflexes to keep the interloper from lashing out, kicking the walkie-talkie out of her hand and sending it skidding across the ground. The fight was one. Though Bam-Bam didn’t look like much, she was a mutant with a rather explosive ability, one that Agnes wasn’t all-together prepared for.

Thankfully, Agnes was fast. She flipped and dodged, maneuvering between Bam-Bam as she created spheres of unstable energy and hurled them at. These spheres exploded on contact with anything solid but she was skilled enough to move between them until she managed to get close enough to hurl herself at the woman. Legs wrapped around her neck, she used the momentum of her body to spin around her, flipping down and bringing the woman harshly onto the ground below them. The crack that resounded was horrific to hear but the woman would live -- barely.

Flipping onto her feet, Agnes turned and continued on, disappearing around a corner. So whoever these people were, they were working for some new person? Who was pulling the strings? She shook her head, leaving the walkie-talkie clicking as the man who Bam-Bam was talking to continued to try to raise her. But he didn’t need to fear, soon enough he would have other issues.

”To the Gem Exhibit,” she said to herself and made her way down the hall and on her way to her next stop.

The idea of an art heist seemed overhyped and romanticized to Rebecca, who thought the notion was impractical. Museums were often well-guarded and spared no expense with security systems. There had to be easier targets; small galleries and private art collections seemed like obvious alternatives. If she had to guess, Rebecca would believe major art thieves were risk-takers looking for a challenge. She knew Nate was a former art thief and he had the kind of confidence bordering on arrogance the job called for. If she was ever really curious, she could find out if he would let her pick his brain.

Whoever Lodestone was following through the museum, she must have been a pro. Without Rebecca’s magnetic sense, she would have been untraceable. Silent footfalls and careful movements were intentional choices. The X-Man had to be careful.

When the woman stopped at a corner, Rebecca stopped as well, trying to get an idea of what her plan was. Around the corner, someone had a mechanism at face level, give or take. A walkie talkie? Perhaps a guard. Was the thief going to take out yet another guard? There were other halls, so excessive altercations just felt messy.

Unfortunately, the nameless bandit was fine with messy. Rebecca could feel the walkie talkie flying through the air and clattering on the ground. She hovered closer so she could hear what was going on to determine if she would have to intervene.

She could have been hallways away and still heard the string of explosions. The thief was a mutant? Or maybe the guard was? Peeking around the corner, the blonde woman was not dressed like the last guard, so she could have been one of the thieves. If that was the case, who was the first woman? Did Rebecca just stumble upon some cat-burglar turf war?

The explosions stopped, but a more disturbing sound followed; crack. Whoever the blonde was, she hit the ground with dangerous force. The darkly-dressed thief ducked out of the room, giving Rebecca the chance to hover over to the blonde and check her vitals. Alive—barely.

Gathering information was important, but Lodestone was an X-Man. She could not let someone go on an unchecked rampage through the Museum. Hovering faster so she could gain ground, Rebecca relocated the thief by the arsenal she wore. She had sharp toys, but the wire she carried was more disturbing. It was also useful. Rebecca was still at least two halls back, but she had to slow the woman down somehow. Manipulating the magnetic fields around her target, Rebecca tried to pull out a length of wire to bind the wrists of its owner. It was finally time for the two women to have a chat.

Agnes was making excellent progress. She would tear through the ranks of these people with little care for their well-being. They were breaking the law and therefore she would break them. Maybe there was some frustrations that she needed to work out, but that was not at the forefront of her mind. She would focus only on getting the job done at hand. If she happened to knock out a few people in the process, well, then that was their fault for finding themselves on the bad side of her night.

Leaving the explosive mutant behind her, Agnes was on the run. Surely the sound was going to garner someone’s attention and she needed to cut off the head of this snake while she could. So, charging through the hallways, Agnes was ready to start making her way to the lower levels where the gem exhibit would be when she felt something odd tugging at her.

She came to a stop. Looking down at her person, she tried to figure out what the strange snaking sensation was. Honestly it didn’t feel like anything she was familiar with -- until she caught that glint of silver floating out from one of the pockets of her belt. That was certainly not supposed to act that way. A small growl on her lips, Agnes tried to put distance between herself and her possessed weaponry, only to find that it was persistent in its attempts to wrap around her.

”No…” she growled to herself. She flipped backwards, putting space between herself and her wire, unable to make heads or tales as to what she was looking at. What was she looking at?

Skidding to a halt, she tilted her head down, glaring at the possessed wire. This could only be the work of a mutant (or a ghost but that was highly unlikely). Invisibility? Telekinesis? She didn’t know how they were doing this but she was going to put a stop to it. Pulling a pair of shurikens from her belt, Agnes swept her arms out, launching both whirling stars in order to catch the wire and pin it to a far wall. She didn’t have time to waste and she needed to cut down her threats when they showed.

Whoever the thief was, she was moving faster through the halls, forcing Rebecca to float forward with more urgency. The increased speed was more impressive when Rebecca considered she could barely hear any sign of footsteps. She felt the nerves of an impending fight, but behind that, there was curiosity about who or what she was dealing with.

Using the wire to slow the target down seemed like the best nonlethal plan, but it did not go smoothly. The woman was agile and slippery, avoiding the wire until she pinned it to the wall. It was an annoying setback, but it let Rebecca make up ground and she was pleased to see the objects pinning the wire were also metal.

Turning a corner, Rebecca finally spotted the woman, but she had to double-take at the sight of a woman dressed head-to-toe in ninja garb. Two shuriken were lodged in the wall and holy ****, was Rebecca about to confront an actual ninja?

Apparently so. Flipping her hood back over her head, Rebecca hovered toward the woman, using magnetic force to pull the shuriken from the wall. Once she got them spinning, she started using them to circle around the woman in hopes of keeping her in place. They were alone in the hall, so for the moment, Rebecca was not putting any investigations in jeopardy by engaging.

”Hoo interesting. When they said there micht be art thieves tonicht, Ah didnae expect a livin, breathin’ ninja.” Rebecca pulled the wire back to herself, holding it between her hands to examine it. ”Ah main say, Ah’m a wee disappointed in th' state ay ninjain' these days.” Rebecca’s knowledge of modern-day ninjas was unsurprisingly lacking, but she wondered if they mostly occupied themselves with crimes that honestly seemed beneath them.

Motivations aside, the mystery woman was causing plenty of damage to civilians, and that was something an X-Man could not stand for. Rebecca had to be on her guard, because the woman already proved to be an adept fighter. It would be the safest choice to keep her distance so she could use her powers over her brawn, should the ninja make a move.

Combatant didn’t know what this was but she knew one thing; she didn’t like it. Arms up, ready for a fight, she managed to lodge the possessed wire across the room, embedding it into the wall. However, the shurikens that she had thrown also seemed to take on a life of their own as they began to dislodge from the wall. All three items floated outward, away from the wall, slowly and in an almost ballet. her projectiles stopped near her and began to circle, but the wire itself continued on until it landed in the hands of someone standing at the far end of the room, a newcomer clad in a cape and hood.

Turning her eyes upon them, the fighter narrowed her gaze from the slit in her mask. The newcomer was a woman, she guessed, a little too scrawny in some areas and she definitely had a flare for the theatric with that costume of hers. It made the warrior roll her eyes in utter annoyance but she was not about to charge into a situation unprepared. Rather, she would let the other monologue (the garish ones always loved monologuing) while she tried to figure a way out of this.

>>”Hoo interesting. When they said there micht be art thieves tonicht, Ah didnae expect a livin, breathin’ ninja. Ah main say, Ah’m a wee disappointed in th' state ay ninjain' these days.”

While the other talk, Combatant watched her closely. She was manipulating the wire and shurikens quite easily, but was it telekinesis? Clearly it was some form of manipulation but she didn’t know how far it extended. Was it small objects? Just metal? Did she have invisible clones running about her, doing her bidding? It could be any of that, really. So she needed to look beyond just the powers...what was she capable of?
Agnes gave the other a careful and scrutinizing look. She was fit, from what she could see, so she must be a fighter. However she didn't hold herself up as one. That's because she wasn't actually a fighter, she was a hero. She had seen similar stances in the X-Men back home. She was an enthusiastic hero.

Now she eye rolled. She could very well be wrong but Agnes rarely was whenever she read her opponents. And the more that the redhead talked, the more Agnes was able to scrutinize and learn about her. As fun as it would be to trade witty puns, it wasn't her type.

“Listen Tinkerbell. I can't understand a damn thing you said. ” she said with annoyance. “And maybe you have time to chitchat…” her hands feel to her sides. One reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose through the mask, the other subtly slipped into the pouch on her lower back. “... but I have places to be.”

She spun, throwing her hand out towards the newcomer. She was already preparing to dodge her floating shurikens, but she was thankful what she threw were small and numerous. Glad pellets that, when they collided with the ground at the woman's feet immediately hissed, the mixtures inside forming a speedy and thick cloud of smoke.

If she wanted to see a ninja, she'll show her one.

Lodestone wanted to focus her attention on the ninja in front of her, because honestly: ninja. It was a special moment for her as a superhero that had to be acknowledged. At the same time, she had to be aware of everything around her, because at a moment’s notice, another thief could appear and change the dynamic.

As much as the vigilante wanted to question the ninja, her target had better things to do, and before Lodestone could react, she was throwing pellets. Becca used her shield to, well, shield herself, but when the pellets hit the shield and the ground, a dense smoke spewed out, filling the air.

Without the use of her eyes and caught in a coughing fit, Lodestone could not help as the ninja escaped her. She thought of tossing the wire in hopes of catching the woman, but she had proven herself slippery enough to evade its grasp. The vigilante emerged from the smoke and took a moment to catch her breath, doing her best to stifle her coughing with her arm.

The key was keeping the ninja close, so Lodestone resumed her chase. Now that she had been discovered, the ninja was not going to walk or even jog leisurely. It was important to see where she went and who she encountered. If there were others, they would now be on their guard, so Lodestone had to anticipate a fight with an as of yet undetermined number of criminals, including a number of ninjas greater than or equal to one.

Lodestone was definitely living the life of an X-Man.

The pellets worked. As she thought, the heroine probably thought that she was throwing something deadly at her and lifted her shield instead of trying to dodge around them. Had she done that, she very easily could have avoided the brunt of the smoke. But, as fortune would have it, the redhead tried to block the pellets and a handful of them smashed against her shield. The glass easily burst, the chemicals inside mixing and combining with the air to form a quick acting smoke that filled the space. Agnes used this opportunity to slip between the rotating projectiles that the other was using against her and made a break for it.

The sound of the other woman coughing was like music to her ears. She grinned from ear-to-ear, smirking under her mask at the beautiful music of the other woman coughing through the plume she had aided in creating. Still, Agnes had to wonder exactly how the other had found her. She had been manipulating the wire she used in combat, as well as the shurikens, and finally the metal shield all seemed to be giveaways. Add to that the fact that she didn’t even try to stop the projectiles made things click in her head.

Metal. The woman was probably some kind of metal manipulator. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of it and immediately looked down to her belt. She had only a few shurikens left and a spare wire that she used for combat purposes. Other than that, the only other metal she had on her was attached to her belt and and the fillings of her teeth. She had to minimize her location.

Dodging around a corner and coming across a marble statue, Agnes slipped off her belt of equipment and carefully wrapped it around the nude statue’s waist. She would just have to make do with her fists.

Leaving the statue / decoy behind, Agnes broke into a run, making her way down to the ground floor and towards the gem room. It was probably one of the few things that thieves would break into a museum for, the gems. Fossils, valuable artifacts, they all had their customer base, but it was the gems that would always prove to be the most valuable. Leave it to the criminals to congregate where everything is shiny; like a load of crows.

Stepping into the exhibit room, Combatant snuck it very carefully. From the looks of it, she could already see several cases had been carefully emptied out. Her eyes followed the length of the room and towards the back she could see a group of three, these one cackling amongst themselves as they started to break into yet another case.

With a roll of her shoulders, and the fact that she didn’t have her equipment with her, Agnes decided to go for the direct approach. A warcry on her lips and Agnes tossed aside all pretense. She had already incapacitated two of the other members, these last three should be a cake -- so she engaged.

Lodestone wanted to call the smoke pellets a dirty trick, but she was facing off against a ninja; smoke pellets were so up that alley, they were almost a trope. It was her own fault for not preparing to deal with someone who excelled in misdirection. If she was not so frustrated, she might have been impressed or even excited about the encounter. Maya was going to flip when Rebecca shoved it in her face that she fought with an actual modern-day ninja.

Tracking the magnetic presence of the equipment on the ninja’s belt, Lodestone was surprised when, amidst her high-speed pursuit, her target seemed to stop in her tracks. Had they reached her objective or was she turning around, ready to ambush the plucky heroine? Lodestone proceeded into the next room with caution…

Only to find a belt of tools and weapons around the waist of a marble statue. Muttering some heavily accented curses, Lodestone pulled the belt off the statue carefully, seeing the benefit to bringing a host of metal items along with her. She needed to figure out a new way to track the ninja, which sounded like an impossible challenge.

It was at the very least improbably until the sound of conflict started echoing through the next hallway. Whoever the ninja came across, she was taking them on without much concern for stealth which seemed counterintuitive for an art thief. Why would she be making a commotion?

Floating fast through the halls, Lodestone poked her head around a corner and saw an unexpected scene. The ninja was picking a fight, but the people she challenged were not dressed as security guards and Lodestone had never heard of “undercover overnight museum security.” It finally occurred to Lodestone that she might have jumped to conclusions and the black-clad woman might not have been the criminal she initially thought. The people she was engaging had been gathered in the gem room and she could sense they had something metal holstered on their persons, though she could not decide whether they were guns, knives, or batons. All she could confirm was the suspicion she once held for the ninja seemed more appropriate on their shoulders.

Emerging into the room, Lodestone used the element of surprise she had as an opportunity to toss the wire she had borrowed from her first target, rotating it through the air to catch one of the thugs legs like a bola. She would still need a chat with the ninja to clear up how she ended up in the Museum, but she no longer struck Lodestone as a priority.

The bloodlust was pumping. Running into the thick of battle, the young woman could feel the adrenaline pouring through her veins. She wasn’t going to let anything stop her now, especially not these armed men who were clearly over their heads. Even as she collided with the first of them, listening to the sound of air bursting forth from his body, the ninja could see the surprise in their eyes -- she would give them no quarter.

There was confusion in their ranks as the trio was suddenly beset upon by a shadow. The first of them went down with a clatter and the other two turned to him in complete surprise. They shouted his name, and sought him in the dark room, but their search was in vain as one who got too close was quickly met with a heel into the jaw. The man’s teeth burst under the pressure as he stumbled back, a torrent of blood coming from between his lips. They finally understood then that they were under attack.

The last man pulled a telescopic, metal baton from his belt. With a flick the baton extended and his murderous eyes were dead set upon the small, shadowy creature that already harmed two men.

“The f*** are you?” the man grumbled with a thick, european accent.

Agnes didn’t bother to answer. Rather, she even restrained herself, waiting for the three of them to stand and shake off any of the dizziness from the encounter with her. Each gave her the most scathing of looks and, between the three of them, pulled out a switchblade, brass knuckles, and a metal baton. A shared glance between the three men reflected the fury that they felt towards this petite shadow, and the cruel things that would be done to her once she submitted.

But submission had never been in Agnes vocabulary.

The three men each attacked, first a pair at a time, both of which were immediately met with nothing but air. To any observer, this would look like a choreographed danced, with the ninja slipping and moved between clumsy strikes as easily as water flowing around stones. Combatant slide, flipped, and moved with such precision that she seemed almost impossible to perceive. The only evidence of her tampering would be the grunts and shouts of pain from her attackers. Each time they were hit, their bodies would twitch or stumble, but they were too arrogant, too self-assured to allow themselves to fall -- so she would make them.

As Agnes busied herself fighting, she didn’t nothing that gentle shift of air from the other side of the room, the appearance of another person, a woman, with a mohawk and one obsidian eye. Along her sleeveless arms one could see several thick, purpled hued stones jutted outward in jagged angles. Her fingers clawed as sparks hopped between the geodes along her body. The arcs of electricity crackled through the air, burning the ozone, as she readied to fire upon the unsuspecting ninja.

Lodestone’s wire bola found the ankles of the switchblade wielder, knocking them off balance. They were harmless prey to the black-garbed woman, who was making quick work of the criminals. The way she moved was something to behold, as she matched three foes with ease. The only testament to the men she fought was their stubbornness, as they seemingly refused to stay down.

It was not her place to stay behind and let someone else handle the fight, so Lodestone leapt forward into the action. She released a wave of magnetic pressure, knocking the switchblade and baton from their owners’ hands, but tragically, brass was on the list of metals that could not give a s*** about magnetism.

Giving herself a boost into the air with her boots, Lodestone soared over the ninja and toward the foe with the knuckles. Her metal boots collided with his chest and he staggered back, but did not fall. It was annoying, but it did separate the party. Something told Lodestone that the ninja would make quick work of only two remaining foes.

Punches were thrown quickly, and Lodestone did her best to keep away from any direct strikes, using her shield to deflect punches. The shuriken that swirled around the vigilante kept the man on his toes because he had no reason to believe she would not run him through with them. While Rebecca had a strict “kill only in self-defense” philosophy, the shuriken were still a helpful distraction she would have to remember.

Waiting for her opportunity, Lodestone took a risk by trying to intercept a punch with her palm. She momentarily caught the punch and the impact sent a shockwave through her arm, but it was worth it. An instant was all she needed to communicate her right magnetic charge to the man’s brass knuckles. Suddenly, she had control of his hand.

Wanting to waste no time, Lodestone used her control to bend the man’s hand back, which was met with the appropriate screams of pain. Stealth was already out the window, so she did not mind when his volume increased as she lifted him up off the ground by his broken hand. He was tossed hard into a nearby wall and collapsed on the ground.

Turning to see the ninja’s progress, Lodestone’s eyes instead caught a glimpse of the sparks coming off a newcomer. A mutant covered in conductive stones, Lodestone could actually sense the magnetic disturbance before she even laid eyes on the woman, who had the ninja in her sights.

Without time for words of warning, Lodestone moved to get between the two women, but she had no intention of taking a lightning bolt for a stranger. She tossed her shield forward, using her powers to keep it facing the mystery woman. An arc of electricity caught the shield, knocking it away, sending stray arcs around the room.

Who the hell were they dealing with?

If there was one thing that Combatant was good at, it was combat. While it would have seemed that the 5’5 woman was out of her element, rushing headlong into the heat of battle, the truth was that she was more than prepared for it. With decades worth of fighting experience under her belt, the young mutant threw herself into the fray, moving around so fluidly that it appeared like a dance. She shifted, moved, and slipped between her attackers, unfazed by their shouts and clumsy grabs for their weapons. They were her playthings now.

Throwing herself backwards and ducking low beneath a harsh swipe of a muscular man, Agnes fell down onto the ground where she started to lash out with her legs, catching her attacker behind the knee and knocking him hard onto his back. Rolling onto him, drove her knee, hard, into his chest before she palm into his nose, shattering it. The man screamed, gagging on his own blood and Agnes scrambled to her feet and prepared for the next attack.

It was then that a most interesting event occurred -- she received aid. Combatant blinked, watching as the cloaked woman from earlier slipped into the scene, taking on the man wielding brass knuckles. The woman had some surprising skill about her but Agnes couldn’t keep her eyes solely focused on her. Rather she turned her attention towards the last two people, one of which with a broken nose who turned hatefully towards her. Really, they just needed to give up by now.

As Combatant engaged the last two, she caught glimpses of the other as she fought against the last person. She was effective but sloppy. She had some skill but she seemed to rely so much on her abilities. At this point, finally, she deduced that it was to do with magnetism, or at least certain metals. The fight was bloody but impressive. Moving between the last two, she grabbed them both by the backs of their heads and slammed them solidly into one another.

They crumpled and while Agnes was prepared for victory, she couldn’t help the sensation of every hair on her body rising. She whipped back around, catching sight of an arch of electricity. Her mind ran quickly, trying to plot out a course to dodge, but it seemed she wouldn’t have to. Tinkerbell slipped between them, raising a metallic shield that deflected the electricity all around them. That was all the cover she needed.

Running forward, Agnes dropped down, sliding on her knees across the smooth floor and taking towards the newest challenger. Combatant swung her body around, planting her palms firmly on the ground and lashing outward with her feet, seeking to catch the crystal-covered woman off-guard. Her heel struck, hard, across the woman’s cheek, sending her spinning, firing off another arch of electricity that burned spider-webs across the walls and ceiling. A quick flip onto her feet and Agnes threw a knee forward, catching the woman in the gut, causing her to double over. A solid punch was aim but the second that it struck the woman’s crystal covered cheek, a bolt of electricity seized up Agnes’ body. k

”ARRGGHH!!” she shouted and was thrown back, hitting a far wall, arches of purple light surrounding her body. For a second she just slumped, wincing and struggling to get her head to stop spinning. That one hurt...