"Good lord." Lenna commented.

The S.U.P.E.R. operative assigning her mission nodded his head and agreed with her. "Ayup." He was 6'2", with a brown bowl cut. He wore a boring gray suit, and had a jaw like a cliff face. Lenna stared down at the write-up he'd handed her. The information they'd amassed was plentiful. There had been some sort of church murder, various instances of homicide, property destruction. The list of crimes was long and detailed. They even had a snippet on some of her past. Something the US Government had been willing to share. Also, something about gorillas. And a skunk? "That's just digging into the surface on this world's version of her. We'll give you a file on our world's Aura a few missions down the road. A lot nicer. But a vigilante. Pissed some people off."

"Huh." Lenna grunted. It was strange to her how different the two could be. From the way they had described her in the file, and compared the two of them, it seemed like night and day. "With how dangerous this world's version of Aura is, you have to wonder if the other one is just a ticking time bomb. The road to hell is paved in good intentions."

Bowl-cut didn't say anything to that.

They'd crossed the border onto the other side of the rip. She'd met with S.U.P.E.R. in the temporary SUPER opsec, and she'd been given THIS as a mission. Problem solving. Something to help out this side's government. The city wanted her out. It seemed a far better use of Lenna's talents than some bag and tag mission like the few she'd run so far.

Her eyes scanned page two. Listings of locations the woman had been sighted, patterns. Page three had a basic write-up up the mutation. "Close-range brawler." Lenna noted.

Bowl-cut nodded. "Stay out of range. She can make this nasty pink drill. It's just..." He shuddered visibly. "I've seen pictures of the aftermath."

Lenna smiled. "'Nuff said."

---

The woman hadn't been at the first location on the list, or the second, or the third. She'd run stake-outs at each place. Hours of her time had been spent hunting. Hours of SUPER's time. Fine by her. They were paying her. Shame it wasn't hourly. The next location on her list...

Lenna contemplated the location. "A warehouse?" Cliched, but to the point. Simple. "A traditionalist." She smiled. That was fine. If she actually caught the woman crashing in her abandoned warehouse hidey-hole, that wouldn't bother her one bit. The only downside to it was that it had terrible line of sight. She couldn't use her high-powered long distance government toy. The rifle stayed put in the concealed boot of her SUV. She'd just have to survey and jump the woman if she showed up.

Jumping the woman meant potentially getting into melee range. That was fine, too. She hadn't danced in a while.

Lenna kept her distance from the warehouse, watching the entrance from a nearby building through a pair of binoculars. A laptop sat on a table nearby. She'd hooked up a short-term camera to watch the only other entrance to the building. Other than the skylight, at least. And the windows.

Aura enjoyed the quite serenity that was her second home. No matter where she lived, this warehouse was always a place she could go. Close to old order territory police response time were still questionable. It also had one other advantage, it served as a place she could bring mutant's she helped and protected. A temporary solution sure but one that had so far worked well.

The particular mutant Aura had with her was a strange thing, that seemed to have been crossed with some kind of large cat. Aura actually semi recognized the coat pattern, despite not being able to identify the specific species. With a few friendly word's she walked the mutant top the door and checking first opened the door before letting her new friend leave. The gang would not bother the cat person again she knew, an incident which she could tell had shaken the cat as much as her kidnapping had.

With a smile she looked around and shivered slightly in the winter air. Not for the first time she wished her aura could block the cold as well. She could only hope her new charge would not need her again. Still her people were not so lucky.

Still she followed until the edge of the alleyway so he could see the other mutant off, but trying to stay in the shadows enough to make sure the police would not see her. She barely took notice of the van at all. It was not an uncommon site, still she put a thin pink aura around her which could almost be invisible in case it was gang members look for payback. Turning she made to head back torward the door further down the alley.

Enter, stage right.

Aura opened the door to the entrance, and briefly looked outside. Lenna's eyes narrowed at the followup. The woman was not alone. A mutant stepped out of the doorway, into the winter sun. The car mutant's fur shone briefly as it caught the light.

The mutant didn't look nervous as it left the area of the warehouse. She almost looked... empowered. Why she had been there, Lenna didn't know, but her gut told her Aura had been protecting the cat woman. It wasn't an unrealistic conclusion. With someone so obsessed with mutant supremacy, looking after one's own people seemed a natural extension of the ideal. That little detail made Aura a little more interesting. Still a scary powerhouse, there was no denying that, but potentially more... human? Did human even work as the appropriate word for what this was? Lenna meditated on that as she watched the mutant woman shivering in the cold.

Was humanity still the appropriate word for defining one's acts of understanding and care for others? Did they need to redefine? Add a new word? Mutanity? Mutantnannity? Munanity? Someone ought to call Webster. The dictionary needed a new word. Maybe this world's president could help them create a new fake word for the idea. Could help bigly.

Lenna went into motion the moment she saw Aura stray from the door. It looked like she was leaving for a walk. Maybe she was seeing her mutant friend safely down the alley a little ways? Out of sight, cautious, watching out for a friend? Maybe. All Lenna knew was that she ought to meet up with her before she was back behind the safety of thick warehouse doors. It was a lot easier to jump someone when you didn't have to bust down doors to do it.

The building Lenna had used as a vantage point was several stories tall. She'd been on the fourth level, looking out. When she got out, she hit the main stairwell. Taking the stairs would take too long. Without hesitation, Lenna jumped over the side of a railing. Her power snapped into focus around her body. In her mind's eye, she was outlined in a lightless orange glow. The woman levitated her body, dropping several stories at a controlled fall. She landed on her feet, and mentally took inventory of what she had on her person. Concealed knives, a gun, a few pieces of SUPER equipment for contacting base, or tagging mutants. Bond gadgets. Largely useless. A grenade or two, utility mainly. Not boom boom. For drama's sake, she wished she had her katana! Simply because it would have been intimidating to bust in like a blonde-haired bob-cut samurai in cargo pants and black turtleneck sweater with weapons rig. Maybe the guys at SUPER shouldn't have let her watch that Tarantino film?

The door to the outside of the building adjoined the stairwell. Lenna rushed the pushbar, and exploded outwards. Then, she slowed herself down, cooled her jets, and looked to where Aura was in the alley. Her trip hadn't lasted as long as Lenna had expected. She was already close to the warehouse door again. Her aura was up. It really was pink, wasn't it? Lenna was too far from the woman to rush her. Too far, even to get there just in time to slip in after her as the door closed. Even rushing, she had missed her window. The word 'window' brought to light another option. Lenna looked up. Then, silently, she lifted herself off the ground.

---

A minute later, a window pane in the skylight shattered. The smoke grenade that had broken the pane sailed neatly down the hole in a slowed and controlled descent, masking Lenna's entrance. As the smoke grenade hit the ground, spewing grey billowing smoke, Lenna hovered in the middle of the warehouse, several feet off the ground. She had her knives drawn, like some sort of avenging angel. It was all very dramatic. The best she could come up with to say was "Hi." Just typical.

Her Aura flared fully to life as she heard the glass break and she looked up, something passed her eyes and aura dove away from it. It was only after she rolled to he feet she saw the smoke and was a bit relieved having assumed it was a mortar round. Even as the smoke billowed out a figure, a lovely and familiar looking figure floating down from the broken sky light. The smoke washed over Aura at that moment and she coughed a few times. The smoke also made it tough to see and make out more about the figure who had invaded her home.

"Their are easier ways to show a lady you like her, but i like your style" she said with another cough and a smile. No one ever ambushed her for romantic reasons like that of course, though she wished they would. No instead this Mutant cute as she was and strangely familiar was prolbely trying to kill her for some some reason that amounted to righteous fury. Maybe she had killed someone important to her or maybe she was just out for a monster hunt, either way Aura would not make it easy.

Around her right hand her aura leaped forward from her fist quickly forming a cone like structure and forming a tip as grooved began to form in it and the aura drill began to spin. She did not use it much as it required more focus then the others but it held an intimidation factor to it that would be good to establish from the start. A scared opponent made mistakes and mistakes could mean stopping this would be assassin and keeping her alive while she danced with her.

Aura considered as well that she seemed alone at least so far. No sirens she could hear either. She brought her weaponless left hand up and offed it up to her assailant. "Shell we dance?" she asked keeping a defensive stance both because her eyes were watering from the smoke and because she wanted to see what she was up against. Come on, be a talker, she hoped to herself, it was always more fun to have a talk during a dance, it gave it a more personal touch.

"Dancing?" Lenna laughed. And hung there. Still. Maybe if she kept out of arms reach, she wouldn't have to play with that nasty pink punch drill. "You know, you've pissed a lot of people off. Both on this world, and-- I don't think dancing is what we are going for here."

The first knife sailed towards Aura's cheek, propelled by an unseen bubble of telekinesis. Lenna gripped the knife and controlled it with her mind. She watched for any attack on the knife, ready to divert the blade and change its course to weave into an open guard if she could. But she also distracted herself by landing on the floor of the warehouse, and launching the second knife spinning through the trail of smoke.

Hopefully, the two prong attack would keep Aura distracted. It's hard to divert ones attentions between two different attacks. She was controlling both blades with her mind. Aura could dance all she liked, but she'd be dancing with Lenna's daggers in her neck. If all went according to plan, that was.

"You would think someone would have succeeded in killing me by now? I am a child of battle, raised in combat" she said with a grin. She enjoyed fighting and while part of her hoped this woman could finish her, Aura however was confident their were few who had more combat experience then her. Most still felt something when they took a life, unlike Aura who death was like red water and her in the center.

Still the other woman was clearly a mutant and that often meant other issues. "Do your masters who wield you care so little for their weapon? I can deflect bullets" she said as she started her advance. Aura always talked in combat, it kept her calm and focused and often distracted her opponents. She was also curious if the woman was there for a check or id she owed someone a favor of if she was police.

As the first dagger approached Aura tried to grab it but she never saw the other dagger only felt it strike her aura in her chest which made her smile. it had been sometime since a dagger was an issue. The smoke still made it hard to see had she was unsure what the woman might be preparing. "So is this a suicide mission or do you have back up?" she asked as she began to move in the direction of the daggers.

A child of battle, raised in combat. My, but that was melodramatic, wasn’t it? And, she liked to talk. This would be fun.

And Masters? Lenna merely smiled at that. She didn’t care about them one bit. And deflecting bullets? Maybe they could test that.

”You know what they say?” Lenna asked breezily. ”A weapon that doesn’t get used is worthless to everyone. Better to have a purpose, I think.” As a child of battle, Lenna figured Aura would appreciate the thought.

The other woman talked as she advanced. In the smoke, it was hard to see the path her first knife took. Even with her control, the best she could do was make it fly past the woman, just out of reach of her grab. The second knife struck home, though. Aura took a dagger to the chest, and kept on moving.

The smoke was an issue for both sides of the conversation. She’d seen it the knife fly towards the woman, but hadn’t confirmed a kill. Which meant she wasn’t dead. Always.

Her second knife was coming back around now, pulled back towards Aura like a boomerang. Lenna mentally halted its progress, and tore it off to one side with a small smile. It floated there. She picked the first knife up off the floor with her mind, and let it join its brother, hovering in front of little miss Aura, child of battle. Little miss Aura, who wondered if this was a suicide mission. The knives, they were regrouping. Reassessing the situation.

Lenna liked to talk. It didn’t distract her as much as her enemies, usually. She had a feeling this woman was more like her than SUPER felt comfortable admitting. They both liked to fight and they both liked to kill. Whether it was a church massacre or an assigned target, it really didn’t matter.

She’d scoffed at the report on Aura initially, but honestly... if Lenna hadn’t had direction in her youth, she probably would have turned out similar. You don’t create a weapon, then leave it to rust. If Aura was a child soldier who’d escaped or been abandoned— was it wrong to identify with your assassination target? When she’d read the file, she couldn’t have helped but feel a little familiarity with the mindset. And the past. She’d still kill her target, sure, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get into the other woman’s head.

”Honey, If I’d wanted to kill you and worried about how dangerous you were, I would have taken you out with a silenced high-powered rifle from across the street while you weren’t paying attention.” She said. With a purr, she added ”But that isn’t fun.”

She could have used poison gas, or grenades. Set the warehouse on fire. Those would have been easy, but messy. Several paths had diverged in a forest, and she had chosen the most personal one. And in the end, that made all the difference.

Lenna walked around the woman and her pink aura, keeping her distance as the other woman approached. Her knives, they floated in place lazily, awaiting a fight. The smoke was starting to disperse, revealing bits and pieces of her through the gaps in cover now and then.

”This child of battle thing, Aura.” She said, as she circled the other woman. ”Tell me about it. Because the file on you was heavily edited and vague, and there was way too much on your time with the order than on anything else. Tell me,” The knives darted in on her, targeting Aura on either side and trying to jab at her face. ”about your childhood.” Lenna finished.

As the knives whirled on Aura, Lenna finally stepped free of the smoke.

((OOC: feel free to break the knives and attack Lenna, but let me know if I have permission to use telekinesis to push aura away))

Aura smiled a bit at Lenna's word's. It was a lessen Aura understood well. It was Why Aura had been so lost, without the Order her purpose and direction had all but evaporated. She had tried to hold the Order herself but Aura's strategy was good in an active fight not an over all game plan. Only her recent discovery of the Syndicate had that changed much. Aura felt she once more had that guiding hand.

So she was not a common lackey. She had a brain, distance weapons were one of aura's bigger weaknesses along with things like gas, extreme heat and cold. No one went to fist fight a bear without a plan. her eyes followed the woman as she moved around her. Their was something more at play here she felt.

Aura had told many people her origin and since it was worse then many Aura could use it sometimes to display humanity's darkness to Mutants or show just how bad things could be compared to what they were. Part of Aura simply enjoyed the conversation. "My powers came in a school yard fight. I meant to punch her, instead I cut her spine in two. I was arrested but broken out by a Woman named Miracle and her followers. We were trained in the forest to follow orders and to fight the humans who attacked us periodically. Miracle altered my memories to try and make me a perfect solider and in the end the humans killed them all and i alone lived. When i came out of that forest i did not know Humanity and Mutant kind were not in open warfare and by the time i did, the blood on my hands was to great"

This would be fun, her dance partner was quite the talker as well. Aura wondered if Lenna used it to distract like Aura did and to fish for information. She Moved when she saw the daggers move. Forming a blade opposite her drill arm, she swung at the knives cutting through one and taking an inch off the handle of the second. She barely felt what was left of the daggers impact her aura. She kept moving at Lenna, however her drill began to melt forming quickly into a hammer like shape, it was this rough shaped hammer she swung at Lenna. The sword She swung as well but it was clearly meant to try and force Lenna into the less dangerous hammer. "Did the file mention i try very hard not to kill my own kind?" She said wanting to read the file itself.

ooc feel free to push/send aura flying as you see fit.

Well her story certainly seemed like one sad story, didn’t it? Trained to think she was at war with humans, only to realize too late that she had been lied to and manipulated. Lies to and manipulation were things Lenna knew far too well.

Nothing of her thoughts made it to her face, but they were there. Understanding and a mild kinship her superiors would find horrifying.

Aura had killed, yeah yeah. She had broken spines and faces and the law. Someone had made her that way. Before all of that, she’d been a dumb kid. Just like Lenna had, before she’d been trained to kill in order to earn her bread.

Knives could be replaced. They didn’t get more than a passing thought, as Lenna fought. A two-pronged attack from the child of battle was clever... if her opponent had been grounded and without options. She was neither. The knives had never been her main game.

“The file,” Lenna said briskly. “Went to great lengths to be unflattering. They try not to—“ She cut off as she responded to the attack.

It would have been nice to say she’d deftly dodged the attacks, sliding between them by the barest of breaths with grace and poise. Poetry in motion. But there was no grace or poise in getting murdered, and aura could flare her aura, extending her reach to reach out and stab someone. Underestimating aura was a mistake you only made once. So grace and poise? None. The only poetry Aura got was a grunt of intense concentration as Lenna stood her ground, thrusting her arms out towards the little pink woman.

“Humanize,” Lenna said, as two bubbles of telekinetic energy surrounded Aura’s very visible pink energy constructs, to catch them mid-swing. The bubbles were orange, to Lenna’s eyes, and invisible to anyone else. She pushed.

It wasn’t a force push like you would have seen in a Star Wars movie. Lenna couldn’t throw out a wave of concussive telekinetic force. But she could surround bits and pieces of people, and shove those. To Aura, it would have felt like jelly had encased her arms and hauled her backwards to the nearest wall, at speed.

300 lbs was Lennas max weight limit. 150 for each bubble, divided evenly. But Aura wasn’t an overly large woman. As the girl flew backwards, Lenna took several steps away to put distance between them both.

On an average day, she might have drawn her sidearm and shot aura several times, at several different angles until the gun ran dry. On the assumption that Aura couldn’t cover every angle and still maintain control. But instead, she just crouched thoughtfully and waited for the woman to regain her footing. And as she did, she monologued. Because it was her way.

”Humanize.” She repeated. ”They try not to humanize. Probably on the assumption that learning about a target might make the agent empathize with it. Which is silly. Because most professional killers don’t really worry too much about a targets humanity, especially when their life is on the line. But whatever. She snorted. ”I was forced into the whole assassin thing after my parents were killed by pirates and some woman took me in. Only later, I learned my boss was the one who killed them, when he sent that woman out to kill me. Because I wanted to find out who had killed my parents. Surprise, surprise. It was him. And I wasn’t even able to kill him, in this reality or the next. He caught me. And sold me to people who have me running assassination missions on people they deem dangerous. So I completely understand being lied to and manipulated, then thrust into a world where people don’t get you and want to kill you or use you. He caught me and sent me to these people. And the money’s good. But personally, I’d rather not kill a mutant who reminds me of myself.” She stopped, suddenly self-conscious. ”You still there? People often tell me I talk too much.”

((OOC now would be a great time to have Aura realize Lenna reminds her of Lenna.))