It was supposed to be a quick job. In and out in a flash; Grab the requested paintings, escape, drop them off at designated location where her money would be waiting, go home and celebrate with a yummy dinner. Easy, seeing as she had already done this three times in the last few months with no hiccups.

Right?

"Oh, sonuva- Comeon!" Who on gods green earth put very expensive artwork up on the walls with fricken 3m sticky tabs?!

"How absolutely careless do you have to be to risk ruining the painting just so you don't have to put holes in the walls. Really! How were they planning on getting this off again?!"

She was a bit grumpy about it, obviously. Both paintings on her list were easily worth 50,000 together and the dunces who worked at this gallery were gonna risk ruining them like that? Bah! Idiots.

She already had one off and safely stored in her painting space. It was creeping past midnight and she was getting pretty tired from being up all day working in her studio (her living room).

She'd been excited to get out, too, seeing as she finally had her new thief gear and was feeling pretty snazzy if she did say so herself.

Though...

Perhaps calling it "thief gear" was a bit of an exaggeration. Really she had just typed in 'Cat burglar suit' into an online shopping giant and purchased one of the customers that popped up that looked cute. (It was a Halloween costume.)

So... It had been a strange night. For one, he'd been mid school work when Megan, the goth girl at school that helped with mansion security as an elective. It had said- Some dork is trying to break into the art exhibit at 1326 S st. He had originally thought that it was a wrong number, but she'd texted a moment later with Well? Go fix it. She'd inside now.

It wasn't long before he was walking through the front door, with the help of the very friendly old security man who hardly questioned why he wanted in. It wasn't a huge exhibit by any means, but a quick google search on the way told him there were some valuable art pieces in it. So... some sort of cat burgler was after them, huh?

Apparently, literally. She was a cat burgler. He stood a good ten feet away, watching her little fake cat tail bob about as she struggled with the tape holding the piece up. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment as she cursed loudly. Was she... really wearing a cheep halloween costume? Seriously? She exclaimed loudly, and walked a few steps closer, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Well... The art's only supposed to be up for another week. The walls are going to be here forever..." What? Arcitecture was art too, right?

He frowned a bit, and looked to her with an unamused expression on his face. "So, what is this, some sort of prank? Did Megan put you up to this?"

Some unhelpful voice popped up from behind and she reacted to it instinctually like it was just your average day in the gallery. Sarcasm and griping, here we come!

"Oh, of course. you're absolutely right. What was I thinking? Silly me for being worried about literally thousands of dollars instead of the paint job on the wall." She managed to carefully pry one side away from the wall without damaging anything, and huffed loudly.

"You're supposed to mount these on a wire, just so, and with the proper equipment so as to not damage the frame. Do you know how tedious it is to re-frame a painting? Not only that, but it could lower the cost of the... whole..."

She paused, seemingly realizing for the first time that she was actually supposed to be alone.

"AHH!"

The pinkette, who had forgotten to try and cover her hair up at all, spun around and blanched at the sight of a giant boy behind her. One who looked none too happy to be there.

"Don't just sneak up on people like that, it's rude!" She was... just not going to mention that she was there to steal things. He questioned if it was a prank and Shelby pounced on the idea with some quick thinking.

"Aw... Was it that easy to see through it? Megan will be so disappointed in me." Whoever that was. "I;m not very good at acting."

Actually, she was decent at acting. Not so much at acting in the spur of the moment, but whatever. Blondie didn't need to know that.

"Did I fool you at least a little?" She half turned and started fiddling with the painting again, tugging it the rest of the way off the wall a little too hard. A bit of paint and paster came off with it. She turned back to face him fully while clutching it to her chest.

This... wasn't a prank, was it? His favorite hobby was going to comic shops and listening and talking to people who knew a lot about very niche subjects. As she carefully pried a side of the painting off of the wall, she explained to him how art was supposed to be hung. He learned something new. Neat. He Also completely figured out she wasn't just a strange, elaborate plant for a hidden camera prank or something like that.

His arms remained crossed as she realized the pickle she was in. "Rude, huh."

She picked up the thread he'd put down, and tried to roll with it, and he might have been convinced if she wasn't still trying to pull the painting off the wall. The look on his face was flat as she asked if she'd fooled him, standing there with a pilfered painting in her hands.

It was time to do his thing, but... she didn't seem like much of a fighter. He knew better than to relax, but he wasn't going to jump in swinging. Better to try and talk her down for now. "You might have fooled a less perceptive hero, but I see you for what you are, cat burglar! I suggest you unhand that painting, or face the JUSTICE... of ONE in a MILLION!" Pose, pose, point! Oh yeah. No way she was going to try and fight him after that heroic intro!

"Surrender, and prepare to be arrested for trespassing and attempted burglary."

She physically winced every time he shouted loudly at her, watching in a strange kind of fascination as the boy- now known as Mr. ONE in a MILLION- posed and pointed.

Oh.

Ah... okay! She could roll with this!

"HO HO HO!" Still clutching the painting with one arm, she lifted the other and turned slightly in a not-at-all-practiced pose of her own, laughing behind the back of her hand as shrilly as she could muster.

And then her voice cracked, and she coughed, waving at him in apology while clearing her throat. *cough*"Ack, sorry sorry. Ahem." She got her throat cleared, resumed a pose of her own, tossed in a few fancy arm waves and magical girl pointing. "You think you can order me around, One in a Million?! You haven't encountered the like of... uh.."

Ah, @#$% she was breaking character again! What was a good villain name? Quick, pick one on the spot!

"VOLEUR D'ART!" Pose, pose, wink.

Damnit, her whole face was red, wasn't it? This was embarrassing when he had his whole gig down with no issues.

He saw her wincing a little bit as he yelled, but still, he had to persist! A well placed heroic speech could quickly show someone they were in over their head. He'd gotten a few crooks to surrender immediately saying stuff like this. She... on the other hand.

She wasn't about to surrender. His eyes widened a bit as she let out a classic behind the hand villain laugh. No way... NO WAY. She was going retro, too?! Holy crap, holy crap! This was awesome! She faltered, and he reached a hand out. "No, no, it's okay, you're doing great. Keep it up!" What? I wasn't every day someone went full on retro who could still stand without at least a cain assisting!

His expression went from excited to slightly confused as she spoke her name. "Voleur... d'art. Art thief in french? I mean... Really?" You had to learn a little french if you were going to study medieval history.

"It's just... You know, what if you decided to go international? You have to think about that." She was new at this, wasn't she? Still, at least she was going for it, right? He had to respect that.

Oh, right. She was a criminal. "Ahem, Now! Place the painting on the floor and come with me!" He stepped forward to grab her shoulder. The jig was up. Megan had sent him on a pretty easy mission, it seemed.

Oh yeah, she was definitely blushing now. Cue defensiveness! "It's all I could think of, okay?! Besides, your average New Yorker barely even knows English, French is fine!"

Also, what? She blinked at the boy. "Are you really trying to coach me on how to be a better international villain right now? Isn't that the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing?"

Oop! He was back into it. She snapped back into her pose as well. Also, he was gonna try and grab her? HA!

"Too little too late, Hero~ I'm already out of your grip! HO HO HO~!" She attempted to wink cooley and wiggle her fingers at him in goodbye, before activating her power and vanishing into the painted ring on one of her fingers.

Only, oops! She was a tad too late and she ended up accidentally dragging him into her painting with her.

Shelby stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before ducking and grabbing the second painting on the floor and making a break for the nearest exit door. She could ditch him in her painting space as she escaped and he'd have to wait out the time limit before he was spat back out!

The painting that had been on her ring was that of a little city filled with little people. Nothing too complicated; simple enough to do on a small flat ring. The people were shuffling about quietly and it didn't take much to realize they weren't actually people, but moving art. The style was simplified realism and it was decently colorful.

Shelby was just focused on trying not to knock anyone over while she was running.

Wait, had she just come up with that name on the spot?! She adlibbed her villain name? His eyebrows creased as she insulted the general populace. "Hey, that's not very nice." If they could read they would be so upset right now.

She started the telltale signs of a villain escape monologue, and he, recognising this, jumped forward, barely getting a finger on her before she teleported away.

That was enough, though, as he found himself taken with her. She was some sort of teleporting mutant! He blinked a few times as he looked about... Wait a minute, where had she taken them? The setting around them slowly started to make more sense as he percieved it... The people were facsimile. The details around were... well, it was like being in a painting of a city.

"Wow... neat." He shook off the feeling of awe at their surroundings as he realised she was quickly leaving. "Hey! Wait!" He didn't want to get stranded here! Not only was she now a criminal he needed to catch, She was his way out!

He sprinted after her. He was... incredibly fast. Human fast, not supernaturally, but enough to make someone go, woah, that dude's fast. "Hold it there, D'art! You cannot win! Surrender and face JUSTICE!"

Shelby was... not a runner. She was barely a walker. Excercise to her was shuffling from the easel to the fridge and back. So, you can imagine how sprinting for her life was turning out for her with him charging after her like one magnet drawn to another.

"Sorry, but I can't! I've got plans tomorrow and jail would really get in the way of them!" She could practically feel him gaining on her and panicked, lurching toward one of the exit paintings close by and barely grazing it with her fingers. Unfortunately, he tagged her and she dragged him along again.

She landed the short drop the shifted brought with ease, and was all set to just keep running, until a large, burley, naked man stumbled out in front of them, with a large growling lion in a chokehold and a dead leopard at his feet.

"GAH!" Instinct wanted her to avert her eyes to the nudeness, but the lion that suddenly came flying at them was a bit more important. She ducked with a roll and clambered away.

"Ah! New prey!"

Mr. Lion, who was quite large and stocky himself, went on to try and attack One In A Million, while she found herself squared up with Mr. In-the-buff.

"...Wha-" The extra-large man lunged for her and she juked to the side to try and avoid him.

She failed, but hey, it was the effort that counted right?

"H-hey, lemme go!" Okay, so getting caught in a chokehold by a nude giant had not been in her plans for the night... but, what was a girl to do? Diving into other people's works of art was turning out to be a bit of a dangerous sport for her.

"Ah, but this one is weak of spirit and body." Her captor lamented before shifting his grip and straight up, lifting her above his head like she weighed nothing at all. "Not like the lion at all!"

Up in the air like that, she had an excellent view of the rest of the surrounding art, as well as the lion. She wracked her brain for paintings that were similar to this that had been on the list in the museum and just about had a stroke when she realized which one she had dragged them into.

"@#$%ING HERCULES?!" The Nemean Lion. They were boned. SO BONED, if the artist who had painted this picture imbued any of the original myth into the characters at all. Judging from how Nudecules was so easily balancing her weight on one hand, she was very worried.

The man, the myth, the legend himself too notice of the large blonde who was just taller than him and dropped Shelby gently but unceremoniously on her tush on the ground.

"You there! Fight me!" And then he marched his bare butt right on over to pick a fight with the guy who was after her. Shelby attempted to use that moment to sneak away toward an exit painting....

He got a hand on her once more, but unfortunately he wasn't able to stop her from pitching forward into a random painting and- What in the world?

There was a naked man chokeing a lion. Wait, he knew this one! History powers, activate! This was Heracles wrestling the Nemean Lion! So cool! Wait, this was dangerous, wasn't it? The big man threw the lion, and it turned his attention on Xavier, who dove out of the way, and then ducked to the side as the lion rushed at him. A quick poke sent the creature flying across the cave they were in.

The cat burglar was already being lifted into the air by the time he'd done that. He looked back to the lion, which was a little dazed, but recovering quickly. As he prepared for another attack, he heard the big guy demanding a fight. Oh lord, really? He stepped to the side as the big guy approached, looking back to the lion for a second, and then to the big guy once more.

Hey, he was taller than Heracles! Good to know! "Hey, that sounds really nice, but I'm honestly a little busy right now... Look at this, though!" He said as he used his power to suddenly throw himself to the side as the lion pounced toward him, hitting the legendary brute instead.

As he charged after the girl once more, the man started fighting the lion again, yelling in rage and pain as one of his fingers was bitten off. With immediate danger out of the way he reached out once more.

She happened a look behind her to see how her unintentional tag along was doing because she didn't really want to leave him behind to potentially fighting for his life for 15 minutes.

Surprise, surprise though! He was literally right behind her!

After letting out a deservedly adorable squeak at being caught off guard, she stumbled to a stop and craned her neck to make sure Hercules wasn't step-stomping after them. "Oh good!" This time she reached out to him, snagged his reaching hand, and pop! They were in a different painting.

They landed on something soft, and very furry. She sank up to her knees in hefty grey fuzz and blinked. Huh. What weird hills. Everything around them was either black or tan, and she had no clue what kinda painting this was. She hadn't really looked at it before touching it.

"Well that was horrible." She adjusted the paintings under her arms a little, awkwardly shuffling through the... uh... grass?... with her feet.

She took him along willingly this time. She was a chivalrous one, wasn't she? He noticeably relaxed as the atmosphere around them shifted, and he caught his breath with his hands on his knees. "Whew... Lady... I'm going to need you to explain what exactly is going on here."

He held that thought a moment as he toed the long grass at their feet. The... fluffy long grass at their feet. Sorta. Furry.

"Where... are we?" The land beneath them suddenly shifted, and Xavier went down to a knee to maintain his balance, reaching out to steady the girl as well. Looking around, he saw another large hill ahead of them... except, as the one they were on continued to shift, the other hill... spun. The hill wasn't a hill. It was a giant head. And they were on a giant back.

The head belonged to a crudely painted cat, with strange, penciled in figure and a warped face. It turned its head around 180 degrees and let out a loud. "Meeeerrooowwwwwww."

"What.... the."

"Oh, well. Um." How exactly did she explain? It was public knowledge that she was a mutant, but not exactly public knowledge what her power actually was. Hmmm.

"Well, we're in the paintings." She said simply. "I can traverse the universes in them if you will. Ah, to a degree."

She glanced around, noticing the multiple frames along the walls. Every wall. So many exits! "Every frame you see is a different painting in the gallery."

the 'ground' moved and she windmilled with one arm for a moment until he reached out and gave her something to cling onto. Was it an earthquake? Could there even be earthquakes in a painting world??

The realization that the hill she thought they were on was actually a giant cat was, uh, startling at first. Maybe a slight bit horrific due to the way the cat's head was drawn.

Then, it dawned on her.

"Oooh! This is the Purple Cat!" She nerded out for a moment, skittering toward the giant weird head of the cat to get a closer look at it. "Bill Taylor made this one. He used bits of things he found here and there to make his art. This one is Graphite and tempera on repurposed paper!"

You know, now that she was actually looking at it the "fur" was slightly purple.

She glanced around more. noticing that where they currently where there really wasn't a great way to get to any of the side paintings. They were a little high up.

"How inconvenient."

As she explained her power, he just sort of... stared at her. As she looked around, he joined her, viewing the frames and then landing back on her.

And then he exploded... with excitment! "WOW! That's such an AWESOME power! Oh, wait, oh wait! Do you paint? Like, could you make one of these?" He was on his feet again, his back to the giant head staring at them, as if he'd totally forgotten his surroundings.

He paused as she explained where they were, though, and looked back at the cat figure. "You, really do know a lot about all of this... I guess that's why you were stealing art, huh? I can't let you do it, though. I suppose the priority right now is getting us out of here safely. After that's done, though, you have to come with me to jail, agreed?"

Could he get down on his own from this thing? No problem. With her... That was more difficult. A quick glance around found a solution, though. The tail didn't quite hang to the ground, but he could use it to get lower and drop her down...

"Follow me."

He started carefully moving down the massive back toward the tail of the creature, which continued to stare at them, occasionally letting out a massive, warped mrow.

He was excited, and so was she. Hardly ANYBODY was excited by her power since it wasn't flashy or one of your typical strength-based mutations. His enthusiasm got a grin to spread across her face that threatened to knock her mask off. "I do! I did!" She lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at him. "The first paining we landed in was mine! Little mini cityscape painted on a ring I was wearing!"

She... probably shouldn't have told him that, but it was pretty easy to forget that she was technically the bad guy currently. "I can paint pretty much anything, and whatever I will into it comes alive on the inside like the Purple Cat over there." Really, she could go on for hours about how fricken cool that was but tried not to word vomit at him with all of her philosophical junk.

He brought up the jail thing again and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously, gripping into the frames in her arms a little tighter. "I mean... yeah, first priority is getting out." She wasn't about to tell him that she had on a locket with an exit in it, technically, or that she was holding two more exits and could probably pop away any time he wasn't looking. That just seemed... mean?

"But you know I'm not just going to agree to go to jail, right? I'd be a pretty poor excuse for a thief if I just caved like that." Still, that left them just sitting and waiting.

"What if, since I technically haven't stolen anything yet- We are still in the gallery, after all- you let me off with a warning and I will give the paintings back to you once we get out?"

She didn't wanna leave the poor kid trapped in a painting without letting him know there was a time limit after she left, but couldn't think up a way to bring it up without sounding super suspicious.

Still, she dutifully followed after him toward the tail. The painted cat didn't seem to be aggressive, which was good. She didn't want to find out if it has a stomach or not.

But, as they shimmied a bit down the tail the cat move again, and the tail started lifting up higher. Up, up, up, nearly vertically, and then started swaying side to side slowly; all while the twisted face kept staring.

MMMUUURROOOWWWWW

Shelby caught a fistful of fur and hung on for dear life as her feet dropped out from under her.

Buuuut, one of the paintings in her arms slipped and dropped, and in a panic not to see if destroyed by the fall she let herself drop as well. She caught it just barely with her fingers, and reached for her locket, vanishing entirely for a moment as the necklace fell the rest of the way to the ground.