Veronica had spent a lot of time in the last couple of years hanging around spots that would make most parents flip out, mostly characterised by a persistent state of disrepair, broken windows and little fires inside of trash cans with groups of shady people clustered around them. Her parents of course, didn't know about it. She doubted they'd say anything to her about it anyway, you had to actually give a damn to have opinions about how your child lived their life.

It was definitely a good thing that she knew this area, and places like it in general. It made a big difference when you were running for your life, clutching a messenger bag that may or may not have contained illegally obtained goods.

Wearing a dark leather jacket, clothes that were most definitely not suited to the winter and torn black jeans, the bright haired girl dashed along the side walk from a group of 3 men chasing her, nearby sounds drowned out by a set of headphones planted over her head, just visible poking out from underneath her black beanie, probably more expensive than the rest of her outfit.

The street was suddenly graced with screeching tires as Veronica bolted across traffic, dashing and sliding over cars with little to no grace, stumbling and tripping as she went but still somehow making it to the other side. She was oblivious to the curses and shouts of the men chasing her, being stopped by the suddenly more chaotic traffic. She however was not deaf to the loud car horns honking at her for nearly becoming roadkill. Whatever, she made it. No biggie.

Scrambling down an alley like a terrified cat Veronica sprinted down to the end and rounded the corner. There were several abandoned buildings here, she picked one at random and dashed inside, confident that they would have to guess between multiple buildings and she could hide in one and leave when they're not around.

Of course what she didn't stop to think about was that the door of one of them had clearly been ran through. Oops.

Haven had a whole lot of real estate someone needed to keep an eye on. Some functioned as storage, while others were occasional or more permanent safe houses for mutants and assets that needed them. Some were in well placed buildings downtown, while others were in less savory neighborhoods, either because they served a purpose that way, or because they had been cheap and Devon snatched them up. Sveta was not very confident in the field of real estate dealing, but she made a point of knowing what was where. The abandoned properties doubled well as vigilante hideouts.

She was going to head out for some patrolling tonight. She had a bag slung over her shoulder with her vigilante outfit in it, and she was headed to one of the empty flats to change. She was not dumb enough to leave her stuff unguarded, and she was also not dumb enough to show in her vigilante outfit anywhere near Haven. So, here she was.

There were horns and screeching tires outside: usual New York evening traffic. Sveta was in the process of unlocking the apartment door on the second floor when she heard the footsteps, and a moment later a dark clothed figure came barreling at her. Acting on instinct, Sveta stepped aside, using the momentum to try and pin the person to the wall.

Veronica had always found the whole philosophy about actions speaking louder than words dumb. She was into music, music was kind of the distillation of both, which was part of what made it awesome. Crafting lyrics and music with her sister was one of the few things in life that brought Veronica absolute glee, and as a result she chose most of her words extremely carefully and smoothly, in a variety of situations.

Actions however, she did not.

Turning a corner she was sure there would be a good hiding place in here somewhere. The building was a reasonable size, and in a quite a state of disrepair- Wait no, all of it wasn't. Some of the doors looked almost new.

She barreled around one, frantically looking for some where to hide. There was a figure in the doorway and she was carrying so much momentum she couldn't quickly stop herself, she was going to crash into them. "Oh Shiii-" the words barely escaped her before the woman deftly avoided Veronica and knocked the wind out of her, pinning the teen to the wall.

She wriggled against the wall, her headphones coming loose, blaring music now audible. She was still holding the bag in her arms, very pale against the wall. Veronica definitely had more exposed skin than was advisable in this weather, and she was feeling very very energised.

Her heart was pounding so freaking hard. She'd had adrenaline rushes before, but this was freaking ridiculous.

Sveta slammed the person against the wall and kicked the apartment door closed before she realized she was holding on to a young girl. Appearances were not everything, but the way she stared at her, with wide eyes and loud music, did not immediately scream supervillain. Sveta was wearing gloves, but the contact was probably enough to make her adrenaline jump. She did not let go just yet. Brawling with someone was always a risk for a power booster, but so was allowing them a chance to clock you once you let go.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she questioned the girl, eyes narrowed. It could have been a complete coincidence, even in an abandoned building like this one. Or it could have been something completely different.

Veronica had spent so much time in the seedier parts of the city, in the underbelly, so much more time than most people her age, or most New Yorkers in general. She was pretty good at avoiding trouble, and very good at bugging out quickly when the trouble did find her. She’d spent an extensive amount of time in abandoned and derelict buildings like this one over the last couple years.

So generally, she knew what she was in for. At least, she thought she did until she ran headfirst into a fucking ninja. How the hell had the woman reacted so fast to Veronica barrelling past? What was she doing here? Why was she so strong?! Oh. Veronica was scrawny and the woman was not. That explained that.

Her mind and body were already jumped on up adrenaline before she was pinned to the wall, and now it was cranking up even more, Veronica felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest. “I-ugh-letgo” she wriggled against the wall frantically.

The girl wiggled, and look scared. Her eyes were wide. The skin contact was giving her a boost, but if she had offensive powers she probably would have used them by now. Sveta sighed, loosening her grasp, and leaned back, allowing the girl to relax a bit. If she made a run for it, or tried to attack, she was ready to take her down. She did not seem like much of a fighter, loud music and all.

"Alright, so. Let's try this again. What the hell are you doing in here? And if you try to start anything, I won't hesitate to knock you out."

She was pushing against the woman with all of her strength, frantically wriggling against the wall but the damn blonde just wouldn't budge! She was so strong, even with this adrenaline rush Veronica wasn't strong enough. She debated screaming. But it would give away where she was to the men that were chasing her. She didn't really know how to get out of this.

"T-" She gasped for breath. "Hiding" She hoarsed.

As if one cue a door slammed open on another floor, and several sets of footfalls were audible, as well as several sets of male voices.

She had loosened her grasp, but the girl still struggled; Sveta was not sure if she was scared of her, or just scared that she was caught doing... whatever it was that she was doing here. She did not seem like a stone cold assassin sent to take her down, anyway. Or she was just playing a very long game.

>>"Hiding"

Hiding? Here? Sveta was about to ask from whom, but then the sound of a door banging open resounded through the building, followed by footsteps and voices. Male voices. Sveta frowned, letting go of the girl as she tilted her head, listening. She nodded towards the sound. It was slowly getting closer as the men knocked down other doors in the building.

"From them? What do they want with you?"

Veronica scrambled a few feet away the second she was let go. God. That woman was so freakishly strong. Why was her heart pounding so damn hard? She could hear the people shuffling around on the floor below her, likely looking for her. Did they have guns? She actually wasn't sure. Normally that was the sort of thing that she tried to check before she swiped a stash from someone, but she hadn't really had the time today. 

"Stab me and leave me in an alley, and take this." She didn't see any point in lying to the woman, she definitely maybe totally had a bag of their drugs. The woman wasn't likely to turn her over, and even if she was the distraction would probably be enough for Veronica to stun everyone with a scream and absolutely bolt. It was much easier to do that sort of thing in doors. The bag just looked like a messenger bag, obviously the dealers didn't label things as 'big ol bag of drugs'. 

>>"Stab me and leave me in an alley, and take this."

"Do I even wanna know what dat is?" Sveta arched an eyebrow. Now that her hands were free, she dropped her bag to the floor, opening it to fish out her mask at least. If there was gonna be a fight, she'd have to protect her identity. Somewhat. She also pulled out her gun, checked it, and tucked it into the back of her pants.

The men kept banging down doors. "Are you armed?"