...But the second mouse gets the cheese. 

At first, she hand intended on being the worm, but the bank was busy the last time she had stopped by to check it out. So, second mouse it was. 

Some all seeing deity hated her though, so the second time she swung by this particular bank to snoop around and check out security, it was actively being held up by some other bank robbers. 

What the hell, New York? This was the fifth time in a week over of her marks had been held up by someone who was definitely not her. It was making her grouchy, and she was starting to worry about her finances. 

She wasn't exactly sure what was going on in there as by the time she had shown up police were already on the scene with perimeters set up and everything. She was standing just outside of the yellow tape with a little crowd that was starting to form, sipping a coffee and watching a TV crew off to her left gabbing away details about the crime in progress. 

She half expected to see Xavier pop up out of nowhere with his cape flapping behind him.

Tucking one hand into a pocket of her coat, the same one which still had her guest sticker and full name emblazoned across it, she pondered what to do next. Especially since it looked like the cops were getting ready to start dispersing everyone from the area. Juniper started to turn to leave the area herself.

"-unknown number of hostages inside, but from reports we currently know that there at least some women and children--"

She paused, almost empty coffee cup hovering near her lips but not quite touching. 

--heavily armed group, all wearing what appear to be masks of some members of the X-men. We don't know much more, other than threats of retaliatory violence if police--"

Dammit, why couldn't people just wait until everyone was gone and then rob the place? Was he really necessary busting in during the lunch hour and throwing your weight around with weapons?  At the very least, even if she stole for a living, she went about it in a way that left the rest of the populations the hell alone. 

An officer was heading down the line, directing people to head along and leave the scene. She did as told, still mulling things over in her head about what she was gonna do next. Her empty cup landed in a can as she stepped on the curb, but she turned back to look at the scene one more time.

Rebecca knew her time was limited with the X-Men. There was honestly no way Maya was going to let her continue dangerous missions and patrols further into her pregnancy. She was probably only getting away with it now because she didn't exactly mention to Maya that she picked up a patrol.

Patrols were an almost mundane part of the job compared to big cataclysmic events and mutation incidence. They came with the relationship the team had developed with the police. Being deputized was its own process, but it helps keep the X-Men in the public eye helping with everyday issues.

It was a shame everyday crime was an actual thing, but people came in all sorts, And one of those sorts was Criminal. Driving around the downtown area, Valkyrie heard the report of a bank being held up. There were hostages, and they were wearing masks.

X-Men masks. How rude.

Pulling her motorcycle to a stop, she jumped off and approached the officer handling the scene. ”Heard th’ report on th’ radio, sir. Whit’re we lookin’ at?”

“Ah, Lodestone. Thanks for responding to the call.”

”Ay coorse, sir, though it’s Valkyrie noo.” Rebranding took time, and maybe it was silly, but she wanted her new codename out in the open as soon as possible. Lodestone felt like a younger, less in control version of Becca. Valkyrie was the name of a hero who would protect a bank full of hostages.

“Er, right, sorry. So there are at least six targets inside, but we cannot tell who is in the vault with the hostages.”

Valkyrie winced. ”Nae great. Sae th’ hostages ur aw…”

“Yes, unfortunately. The hostages are being kept in the vault at the back of the building. We can’t get any good angle to see what’s happening in there. They could be left alone, or they could have a babysitter.”

”Sae if Ah fly in there, there coods be consequences.” That was troubling...Her hands were tied if there was still unknown variables was willing to risk her own safety, but the hostages didn't ask to be there. If there was something putting them at risk, she had to keep it in the back of her mind when she made decisions. ”There’s gotta be some way tae peek in th’ back t’ know whit we’re dealin’ wi’ here.”

Juniper noticed the motorcycle, as well as quite a few of the remaining people starting to disperse. An excited murmuring sprang up and people started filtering back in. Well, if they weren't leaving, neither was she!

She recognized the woman who had joined the officers, but couldn't quite pin from where. She strained her ears to try and hear what was being said over the excited chattering all around her.

"Look! Lodestone is here!"

"No, you idiot. She's Valkyrie now! Get with the times!"

Ah, so that's who it was. Wasn't that the one Xavier has wanted to sign his little doll? Mrs.. Grey, if she was remembering what he had said correctly.

She shoved her way a bit closer to the super hero, managing to catch a few words here and there.

”There’s gotta be some way tae peek in th’ back t’ know whit we’re dealin’ wi’ here.”

Oh, well... if it was that simple. Juniper glanced toward the side of the building where a little alleyway led back to where the trash was kept, probably. She could probably poke her head in there and see, if she needed too... but how was she supposed to let them all know what she saw without outing herself? She chewed on her lip a little, ignoring Xavier's stupid face as it popped into her mind and quoted heroic things at her.

Women and children, Juniper. Women and children.

Shoving her way back out from the crowd, she hurried along down that little alleyway. A tall chain link fence separated one side from the other. She walked right through it while searching for a back door, or anything. There was a smaller, cramped walkway that sat directly between the back of the bank and the building behind the bank, just wide enough for a two people fit in side by side.

This would be her entry point.

Now, considering that she hadn't been able to scout the place out first before someone else robbed it, she wasn't entirely sure where the vault was. She did know a general area of where they tended to be placed based on basic architecture designs for banks, so she could start with that. Dropping down low, she crawled forward through the wall in order to peek inside.

She ended up in an office. There was a bank worker inside hiding under his desk, having locked his door the second the heist started. He physically jumped when he saw her, as did she when she was spotted.

So much for being sneaky. "Hey!" She whispered and waved him over. "Come here, i'll get you out!"

A moment later he was free, and she directed him towards where the police were all stationed outside. Maybe he had important information or something.

She crawled back into the office entirely, sneaking over to the locked door and poking her face through at a low angle to try and see what was going on outside the office. There was a very short hallway that led directly into the lobby itself. She could see where the tellers normally stood behind safety glass in the distance, and two figures stationed by the front doors. She seriously doubted there were four crammed in the vault with all of the hostages, so that meant there were two more lurking somewhere she couldn't see.

Slowly edging herself through the door since the masked figures were facing the outside, she crawled on all fours toward the other wall of her little hallway. That was probably where the vault was, in relation to the counters she had seen before, and the little row of office doors leading directly down from her.

Poking her head into a vault was not as easy as through a wall, as the metal used to protect all the money and valuables was often at least a foot or two thick. She would need to try and keep one foot on the outside, or else she'd get stuck.

Maybe, since freeing that one guy had been so easy, she'd just see if she could snatch all of the hostages out.

Being an X-Man was a stressful line of work, as was any role where you were put in positions to decide who might live and die. It was a responsibility Valkyrie took seriously. Sure, she could bust in there and fight the intruders. Taking them down was not the problem; the problem came if her decision pushed the hands of people who had nothing to lose.

While conferring with the police at the scene, hoping to determine the best course of action, a man ran up to the scene. Valkyrie raised her shield, but relaxed as the man claimed to be from inside the bank. She still had to be careful; this could be part of the team in this heist and she had to respect that. ”Let him through. Sir, ye said ye were inside th’ bank? Hoo did ye gie it?”

“Get it?”

Valkyrie resisted the urge to sigh; American accent it was. ”How did you get out, sir?”

“Oh! There was a young lady. She came in and helped me pass through the wall. Apparently she’s one of… you?”

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, which her mask sadly covered. ”An X-Man? A hero? Or a mutant?”

“The last one. Or, who the heck knows, maybe the first one-- you guys keep changing that team of yours.”

That was a fair criticism, actually. Unfortunately, no one on her team passed through walls. She passed the witness to the police who asked follow-up questions, including whether there was a criminal in the vault. He did not think so, but had no confirmation.

It did not matter now. This Good Samaritan was in there, which means she was putting herself at risk to handle the situation. Valkyrie got the go-ahead to get into the building to ensure the safety of as many people as possible.

Lifting herself into the air with her harness, looking for a vent into the building. It was at a time like this she wished she was on patrol with Mirror, but at least she made her way in.

Using her powers to keep from touching the sides of the vents, (though occasionally making an unfortunate but innocuous clink when her admittedly large shield hit the sides,) Valkyrie moved further into the building. Through an opening, she looked down and spotted a man in a cheaply made mask of… was that Cold Steel?

Oh God, people, pick less cliche masks!

The man was standing in an office, looking out a window. He was clearly… well, the lookout, so Valkyrie had to think about the best way to incapacitate him without drawing too much attention...

A quick peek told her many important things. There were two men in the vault guarding the hostages with guns, while also trying to get an employee to unlock all of the lockboxes. If there were six targets in total, and she had two here, and there were two out front... where was the last one?

She popped back out of the vault and fully into the hall, looking down at the small row of offices. One of the doors at the end was open, the rest were closed. Maybe in there?

She slunk back into the first empty office, silently counting rooms as she walked through one to another until she was at the dividing wall of the last. Sinking down low, she crawled through a bit to peek into the room.

One man. He was wearing the most ridiculous mask. He was also looking out a window, and not paying attention to what was behind him in the least.

She snuck a glance at the open doorway for a second. She was closer to the two other men now, as well. Any noise would probably draw their attention. Slowly she crawled into room on all fours, dividing her attention between the man and the open door. She decided trying to close the door was too risky, so she opted to just go for the man instead. With most of her weight gone, she tiptoes on silent steps behind him, trying to avoid casting a reflection as much as she could by staying low.

The dude was big, too. She hoped maybe his muscles were to make up for a lack of a brain in that meaty head.

Reaching out tentatively, like she was trying to pull off a priceless relic from a rigged pedestal, and snagged the weapon and it's strap from right off of him. He didn't seem to notice it was gone right away, enough time for her to phase it straight into the floor and out of reach. Then the lack of weight seemed to register to him and he reached to pat himself down for it.

"..What?"

She shoved him as hard as she could, phasing him straight through the window in font of him. She managed to reach out in a panic and snag his mask before he flopped out into the bushes out from.

Finally! A friggen mask! Why did it have an eyepatch?

She tugged it on over her head quickly.

Valkyrie needed to pick her opportunity. Time was of the essence and the man she was watching from above was not exactly attentive. Okay, that was not true; he was hyper-vigilant, but in the wrong direction. She could work with this.

Moments before she descended, Valkyrie froze. Someone else entered the room. Someone… crawling? A woman, from what she could discern through the grate. Was this another burglar, or was she watching the mystery woman reported by the hostage?

While she would have loved to tell the woman to stay back, saying anything would give her away so the X-Man held her breath and prepared to offer aid. Her warning bells were going critical as a hand tried reaching for the gun, until they were replaced by confused mental pinging. Did the gun just… vanish?

Did… did the thug vanish? She blinked rapidly, sure he went through the wall. Stunned, but hoping the immediate threat had passed, Valkyrie pressed an increasing magnetic pressure against the grate underneath her until it came loose with a kunk and she reversed the magnetic push to keep the grate from falling to the ground with a clatter. She squirmed out of the vent and floated to the ground, eyeing the door. She was not too loud, right?

Sparing a glance back, Valkyrie watched the mutant responsible for emptying the room and… she was met with Cold Steel’s face. ”A mask, really?” she whispered, approaching the young woman, bringing with her a noticeable lavender scent. ”Hoo are ye and are ye a bampot? Ye know this is an active hostage situation, right? Did ye escape? Are ye hurt?” The impulse to scold a civilian for risking her life was hypocritical, but quickly replaced by concern. This person, whoever she was, had proven to be brave. Now Valkyrie could do her job and protect her.

Outside, there was a slight ruckus as the one robber was seized at gunpoint by waiting police. They hadn't the foggiest clue how he had gotten outside, and to be honest neither did he, but one down was one step in the right direction.

Juniper turned to escape back into one of the locked rooms, but froze like a deer in headlights when she spotted the x-man slowly lowering herself into the room.

Oh @#$%, caught red handed! And in a crappy mask, no less!

Good thing she wasn't the type to seek attention for her actions or this would be more than a little embarrassing. Still, she floundered for what to do as the woman drew closer. Wasn't it.. um... Valkyrie, or lodestone. Gah, the one Xavier liked! The accent wasn't terribly hard to pick though, but the word 'bampot' definitely bounced around a few times too many. Juniper could hazard a guess from the woman's tone it was an insult of some kind and didn't really have room to blame her.

"Um... uh..." She floundered. Oh lord have mercy on her soul for what she was about to do, and please never let Xavier heard a word of it. "I'm... Shadowcat." Her was red as a tomato under her mask, but it was better than tossing out her real name or struggling to think up a fake one.

"I was a hostage, yes." Thank jesus she had thrown her that one. "I escaped when they weren't looking and thought i'd try and get the rest of them out, if I could. There are two in the vault guarding the rest of the hostages."

She heard the sound of the two outside starting to shuffle around, voices raising slightly. Without thinking twice about it she reached out to try and grab the woman's arm, thinking to drag the both of them through the wall into a more private room where she could explain her plan some more. If the hero didn't want to be dragged, well.. she'd just have to try and make it quick while in the room they currently occupied.

"I was gonna try and snag the hostages out the back of the vault, one by one.... or push the bad guys out instead. I don't know what else I could do."

Being an X-Man for years put Valkyrie in a position to view crises as her responsibility. When she arrived, it was on her to keep civilians, especially other mutants, from needing to fight. They did not sign up for that and they deserved to be safe nonetheless.

At the same time, if Becca found herself in this woman’s shoes, she knew the urge to do something would be too hard to ignore. Some people were like that. Whoever this girl was, she was trying to do good, and she even picked out a very familiar name.

Valkyrie grinned. ”Weel, glad ye slipped away, Shadowcat. We can workshop your name later.” Before they could continue, the girl reacted quickly, grabbing Valkyrie’s arm. She almost pulled it away before she realized what was happening. There was a sound outside and she was being pulled through a wall. It took everything in her not to pull back before collision, but her restraint was rewarded as no collision came.

”Wicked,” she mumbled, orienting herself to the new room.

Questions would have to be saved until later; there was still a crisis and it sounded like the people entering the room they abandoned were thoroughly confused. Made sense; whoever was guarding the room, they had made an unexplained exit from a room with no clear ways out.

Shadowcat had the start of a plan. She knew where the hostages were and the guard situation, and as much as Valkyrie did not want to pull a civilian into this, she was already here and had a talent the X-Man could not ignore. ”Weel, that’s damn heroic of ye, honestly. Bit Ah dinnae want ye gang in there and riskin’ gettin’ it frae th’ thugs in there. Sae… here’s th’ plan,” she offered, quietly but clearly. She did not want anyone in the next room overhearing.

”Lead us tae th’ vault. Ye can take me through walls wi’ ye, richt? We can jump through and Ah’ll engage th’ two men stationed in there. Ye’re ain and only job woods be evacuatin’ as fast as ye can. Daes ‘at sound doable?” It was one thing to make a plan, but it was another to be able to pull it off. If her nerves or mutation would not allow it, they needed a different plan.

See! She wasn't the only one who thought that code name was ridiculous!

Now that they were settled in a different room, Juniper hunkered down and tried to ignore the fact that her face was starting to sweat under her mask. She probably should have tried to find a different one, but... hindsight.

She listened silently to the super hero's plan, absorbing it. Then she nodded. It was solid and she couldn't see any glaring holes, so she would run with it. "That definitely sounds like something I can do. I'll send you though first and come in on your heels. That way you can engage before they spot me."

She eyed the door that would lead out to the hall, pondering what route they should take in... might as well just rip the bandaid off, right?

"We'll run straight from here into the vault. I can keep you phased with me, so even if they open fire nothing will hit us. I'll switch it to the hostages once you are ready."

With that plan in mind, she held her hand out again and CS' rubber face turned to the door. Juniper waited until she had a grip on the woman, then started running. They would pass through the door and wall easily, dart across the hall, and she'd drop back a little so that Valkyrie could go through the next wall first. With their hands joined breaching the thick vault walls was a cakewalk.

Juniper popped out behind the X-man, released her grip on the woman and bolted straight for the people on the floor. They had appeared behind and off to one side of the robbers, who turned the moment the both of them appeared, due to gasps from the hostages.

"I'm gonna get you out, but you need to follow me!" Juniper reached out for two of the closest ones. They had seen her pop right out of the metal security boxes lining the wall. When she grabbed for hands they followed along easily, and she dragged the two of them with her straight through the back wall.

They ended up in the Alley, where she promptly ditched them to carefully slide her way back in to snag the next group. There a total of nine hostages in total... she had a few more trips to do at the very least.

Whoever was behind that ridiculous mask at the very least latched onto Valkyrie’s plan quickly. That was good, because if the X-Man was going to bring someone else into the field she could not spend her day babysitting. There was too much else to focus on.

Thinking of ways to sneak to the vault, Shadowcat had a different plan. A crazy plan, or so Valkyrie thought. Dashing to the vault sounded risky to everyone, but it would keep attention on them. Knowing the young woman could phase them through bullets was important, too. ”Wow. Well, as lang as ye can phase them through aw ay me, an... “ she pressed her hand to her stomach. She would hold up her shield, just in case.

Before they left the room, Valkyrie looked at Shadowcat’s mask and winced. She reached to a compartment at the back of her belt and pulled out a green domino mask prepared with spirit gum. ”Before we gae, ‘at mask is creepin’ me it and Ah doubt ye can see well. Ye can use this.”

Valkyrie braced herself and, with Shadowcat’s hand firmly pressed on her, she charged into the hall. As expected, after the initial surprise, gunshots rang out. The redhead flinched, but she felt nothing. It was surreal, but the surreal was getting normal fast.

They made it to a wall and Juniper almost pushed Valkyrie in first. She found herself in a vault with confused gunmen and terrified hostages. Her instinct positioned her between the parties. Bracing her shield, she slammed the nearest man into the wall, giving Juniper time to focus on hostages. Kicking the gun out of the hand of the other thug, Valkyrie had to be hyper-aware; she was no longer bulletproof and neither were the hostages.

With a plan in mind she had been all set to go and then the woman had caught her off guard by offering her a smaller, less horrifying mask.

She was a bit trepidatious at first seeing as her hideous CS mask covered everything she wanted hidden, while the smaller green mask only hid the skin around her eyes and her eyebrows. What on gods green earth was the smaller mask supposed to hide?! She briefly wondered if she was being baited into exposing her identity, before her almost obsessive urge to collect trophies kicked in and trumped her want to remain anonymous.

Getting her hands on a mask like that was like, a once in a lifetime chance, wasn't it? Adonis would murder for something like that, probably, and here she was with one being literally handed to her.

Also, she'd sweat less in it, so there was that too. They both couldn't afford her getting sweat in her eyes and being distracted mid rescue mission.

"Thanks!"

Once they were inside and she was actively back in to try and retrieve more hostages, she found that she couldn't possibly have been more thankful for that mask. Holding multiple people in an intangible state was possible for her, but soooo much effort. She hadn't sweated this much in a long ass time.

Things didn't quite go as planned when she came back in... The first two had been easy since they were confused and terrified, and that made it easy for the to just go along with her at the fist chance of escape.

The others, upon seeing her, wanted out as quickly as possible. Bullets were flying, being more or less shielded from them didn't matter when sounds were everywhere. The children where crying, a woman had collapsed in hysterics. She was mobbed as soon as she was within arms reach.

Please! Get my son out first!"

"No, me! Take me out next!"

"You can get us all, can't you?! Take us all!"

"I don't wanna die!"

The teen froze, struggling momentarily with the uninvited hands gripping at her, tugging and pleading in seemingly every direction. She... she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to handle this. The hostages were rightfully panicked and it was rubbing off on her.

"Why are you standing there?! Do something!"

Do something! Dosomethingdosomethingdosomething!!

She tried to shake it off, but it stuck. She was going to have to work through it. She couldn't get them all at once; too many unknown variables. Someone could trip or let go and end up stuck in a wall, and she'd have to waste time trying to fish them out while Valkyrie fought the bad guys off. She tried to steel herself; wall the feelings off. She was supposed to be good at that, right!?

"The children first! I'll be right back for the rest of you, I promise!"

A boy was shoved at her. He couldn't have been older than five. She hitched him a little higher in her arms, before reaching out to snag the hand of a girl who looked to be in her young teens. "Don't let go of my hand, okay?"

They were off just like that, straight through the back wall again with a little resistance from the girl, who flinched. Once they were outside she went the extra step to run them around the side of the building and handed off the younger one to the teen.

"Take him over there to the police, okay? I'll be right back out with your parents!"

She hightailed it back out of there before the two cops that had been headed over could catch her. This was going to get awkward with others involved... would they try and make her give up her identity?

@#$%, she'd have to plan her escape later once everyone was out of harms way.

Popping back in she hurried over to offer her power to the five still left as a safety precaution of sorts, and take stock of the situation since she had last seen it.

Valkyrie liked having an extra mask or two on hand, either to help protect someone else's identity or to serve as a backup if hers was pulled off. Yes, her identity was public, but she liked to think of the mask as a symbol. It was also impressive how much an unassuming domino mask could affect someone's identity by concealing their cheeks and the area around their eyes. People joke about Superiorman using glasses to conceal his identity, but the public was not as good at recognizing faces as they thought, and there were hundreds of tests out there proving that.

With her younger companion's face concealed, (and some really nice blonde hair tied back by a spare tie,) they dove into the thick of the problem. The hostages were the goal and the criminals were secondary. Even with the vigilante jumping to fight the two masked men, her goal was just to keep them occupied so Shadowcat could do her own work.

The man Valkyrie disarmed moved to grab his gun, but a shove of magnetic force kicked it off into the distance. The other target, the one she had pinned to the wall, tried to raise his own gun arm. With a gauntlet-clad hand, she reached for his wrist, applying magnetic push to press hard on the tendons. Struggling to keep his grip, the gun clattered to the ground.

Looking at Shadowcat's situation, concern rose as their plan hinged on her. The crowd was panicking, and it was hitting her, too. "Folks, she'll gie ye! Just remain calm! Kitty, ye got this," she bellowed, trying to encourage the young woman to keep her head in the game. It was a lot; it was overwhelming, but she was here now and she would do it. The decision to take kids first was the best choice, and Valkyrie felt confident enough to return her attention to the perpetrators.

With a wrist locked down, he tried to free himself from the shield pressed against his chest by kneeing the X-Man. Now that he had no gun, Valkyrie was willing to step back, letting him move forward off the wall. They were still close, giving enough space for Valkyrie to throw a left-handed jab at his head. He raised an arm to interfere, revealing an opening for her shield arm. Even with the rubbery protection of his mask, the thunk of the metallic edge of her shield knocked him off his feet.

And there was no time to rest on laurels, as the first man she disarmed, clad in his Saph mask, charged back in and tackled Valkyrie. She hit the ground, but bounced back up by lifting the rings of her harness along with her boots and gauntlets. Anything to get her up in the air, even with his weight. The change of dynamic confused the man long enough for Valkyrie to push her shield, throwing him off and letting him fall back to the ground with a thud.

Drifting back down to her feet, she heard shouting and the approach of more baddies. She had a small window of time to turn to the hostages. "It'll be okay if ye stay calm, everyain. Cat's gonna do aw she can tae gie everyain it, and Ah'll be keepin' trouble on th' other side ay mah shield. Sae please keep calm. Help her help ye." She wanted this girl to succeed. She willingly threw herself into this mess to save people; Valkyrie wanted her to know how it felt after finishing the job.

Valkyrie, bless her, managed to get the people to calm down a bit. She was a known figure; someone they could trust in. If she said everything would be OK, everything would be okay.

The usage of the nickname Kitty helped to draw her out of of the danger zone of a looming panic attack with how absurd it sounded. Regardless of how she felt playing the role of a wanna be hero, she would never in a million year have expected to get saddled with Kitty as a nickname, even if it was a temporary one.

... Please, god, let that be a temporary one.

Once again able to form at least a few coherent thoughts, she managed to get out a plan of action. Kids first, everyone else after. Running with that plan was easy. Adults were harder to control.

Running back in blindly led her straight into a situation where the baddies has suddenly multiplied, but, despite the little surge of panic that came with that knowledge, she powered through. Hostages first. Innocent people first.

"Three of you next!" She reached out for the three closest people. The woman who has been hysterical before was barely holding on by that point. She was set to be one o the next ones, but couldn't seem to get her legs under her in order to get up.

Juniper made a split second decision to phase her entirely, lifting up her weightless body with hardly any effort in order to get her over one shoulder and then reached out her other hand for a man to take. She turned to the third man, "Grab onto my coat and do not let go!"

Once he complied she led them quickly to the wall, through it, and then they were out. The third man let go as soon as they were all fully outside and took off on his own. The one she had a hold of by the hand hovered for a moment after she released him.

"Can you take her with you? I need to get the last two out." She barely even waited for a nod, before shoving the woman into his arms and gradually solidifying her again. She didn't wait to see what he was doing, before hopping back through the wall.

In the short span of time that she had been gone one of the bag guys had pulled a cord on some sort of cylinder in his hands and thrown it into the vault. Deep purple, murky smoke started pouring out of it, and it wasn't taking long for it to start filling up the vault space. It was an effort to put the hero at a disadvantage.

Juniper ran headlong into plumes of purple smoke and spend a brief moment coughing when she got a lungful, but phasing herself kept it out of her lungs after that. The smoke make it difficult to see, sure, but there were little patches here and there where she could make out the shapes of the two remaining hostages and the back of the x-man.

"Grab on!" She reached, and the last two people grabbed desperately onto her hands. The three of them were out of immediate danger instantly as she phased them with her.

"Hostages secured!" She shouted into the smoke, before turning and fleeing with the woman and man toward the exit wall.

Getting those two outside and releasing them into the wild was... well, wild. A feeling like she had never encountered before. Her heart had been pounding away a million beats a minute the whole time, but watching the last two people run off and around the corner to safety was an entirely different feeling.

Still, there was an X-man in there that was still actively fighting off the bad people, so... she supposed she couldn't just run off now and leave her. What if it went south?

Charging back in was also a new feeling. There weren't any civilians to protect, well... other than herself... but she was pretty good at protecting herself now days.

The smoke was still thick once she was back inside, but already starting to dissipate. The grenade had been one of the kinds they used in paintball matches vs anything the police or military might use.

"I'm back, tell me what you need me to do." She wasn't gonna charge headlong in, just in case the woman had a plan already in action and she messed it up on accident. Instead, she'd wait to see what still needed to be done, if anything.

Valkyrie was lucky to be on this iteration of the X-team. They were deputised, with a degree of recognition and authority that came in handy in a crisis. It was not perfect; plenty of people were apprehensive of mutant superheroes, but when trouble was going down, they listened more often than not.

Kitty had her priorities in place once she calmed down, prioritizing children before adults, and then moving on to whoever she could grab. That was the philosophy: save whoever you could get your hands on. With her powers, that was literal.

While her defacto apprentice worked, Valkyrie was partially aware of her, because her priority was to stop the bad guys. Specifically, 3 bad guys who were getting in through the door. Well, they tried, but Valkyrie stayed close to the vault door to limit their access. One of them raised a gun to shoot and even got a shot off which thankfully crashed against her shield. Cafas designed it for this. She trained to read barrel angles so she could do this. It still scared her s**tless.

That was why she needed a burst of magnetism to knock guns out of hands. Guns in the hands of criminals were the problem, and one of them had a larger gun ready to fire. Her training was mostly against handguns; the barrel of a rifle would move too much to stop too many shots.

It was fortunate she knocked away the guns when she did, because a canister of some kind fell into the room. In a moment of definitely not panic, Valkyrie turned her shield toward the object and positioned herself between that and the last victims. Thankfully, there was no explosion; just smoke.

The smoke made Valkyrie cough, but she noticed she was not hearing coughing from her opponents. They must have had masks under their rubber masks. Dammit. The cloud made it hard to focus, between the coughing and the diminished eyesight. Her shield blocked her body, but a fist did catch her against the cheekbone. She fell back, trying to lessen the impact of the hit, but it still rattled her. The men were pressing forward on her, so she needed a way to deal with them.

Thinking about her options in the second or two she had, Valkyrie reached for a pouch on her belt. It had been a while since she used them, but she always kept a pouch of small metal ball bearings handy for jobs a shield could not do. She needed her shield for defense, to protect her, the victims, and her baby. Instead, she tossed the handful of marbles out, using magnetic pulses in different directions, shooting the small objects around the room, keeping them in front of her.

Sounds of pain told her, amidst the clouds, her plan was working. It was hard to go on the attack when it felt like a metalic swarm of bees was striking you. They could breathe, but their sight was still not good enough in the cloud to make out what was attacking. Of course, Valkyrie was still coughing up a fit, but the smoke was dissipating slowly. That was good and bad. They needed an exit plan.’

Fortunately, Kitty had done her job and escorted all the victims out. If she had time, Valkyrie would be proud. Actually, she would make time. ”Amazing job, kid!” Touching the earpiece she wore attuned to the police radio channels, she called out, ”Valkyrie to PD, clear to enter and engage.”

“Wha--ow! The cops are com--”

Valkyrie tossed a shield at the source of the voice, stopping it with a clang to the masked head. ”Kitty, if ye stick behind me, can ye control when Ah’m solid? Phase us while we run, unphase me when Ah swing mah shield? We can force them forward toward the police.”

Of course, that was proactive. She was thinking like this was an X-Mission, but she was working with a civilian. ”Or we can keep ye safe and gie it through the same wall we’ve been escortin’ folk it through. Ye did plenty, sae we can gie it noo.” At the end of the day, saving themselves was just as noble as wrangling bad guys.

The smoke didn't bother her any, and once she was within reach she made sure to pass along that luxury to the hero who had been keeping the bad guys at bay this whole time. Her fingers made contact with a shoulder gently, and just like that Valkyrie was phased right along with her. She listened to what the woman was saying. She could do more than that, honestly, but there was no time for a length explanation. Leaving her fingers as the solid bits tethering her to the world, she left the rest of herself phased and focused on just doing as the woman had asked.

"Lets push them out!" Was her answer back. She wasn't about to put all of that effort into saving those people and then run out the back without seeing them apprehended for their crime!

... Well, actually she probably should have done just that, but she wasn't thinking clearly. Adrenaline was a heck of a drug!

"I've got you covered, so don't worry about anything!" She'd keep the woman phased as much as she could, letting arms and legs be solid here and there like Juniper often did with herself most of the time. She'd focus on keeping her vital areas phased though, head and torso. A bullet in one of those was a definite no go and not something she would allow on her watch.

That strange sense of weightlessness would fall over the X-man, but halved this time since Juniper was actively working to keep parts of her phased while running, and solid while attacking.

This was quite literally the most effort she had put into using her power in a long, long time. Splitting her power between two people and then constantly turning selective parts on and off was not something she regularly did. She was feeling it in a weird kinda mental strain way.. but also in the sense that all this running around had made her physically tired.

And now here she was effectively playing piggy back, being dragged around like some kinda cape with powers, and unable to really regret any of her actions up to this point.

This was neat. Cool. She was getting to see an OG work first hand and...

Ah, poop. She wouldn't even be able to brag about this later.

Whatever. Focus, Juniper! Focus!