Breaking and entering was a serious enough criminal offense that Sledge had been brought in for it when he was a teen. Several offenses had been ignored, or he was able to talk his way out of, but the first time he had been caught in someone else’s house police got involved. For the most part he didn’t bother with it these days. Running games of three card monte and white van operations brought in enough money that stealing from someone’s house was hardly worth the risk. There was hardly anything that could sell for more money than bail, and if something did have value it wasn’t somewhere he’d want to be bothered with. He didn’t much enjoy the whole concept in the first place. Lifting stock on Halloween had been one thing. Sledge was preparing for his usual Christmas holiday con when he went “shopping” with Seyta.

If not for the duties given to him at the Sanctuary, Sledge wouldn’t have even bothered with the job. In a safety deposit box resided some important documents that he was to retrieve. High risk with little payoff, nothing that he could sell or particularly wanted himself. Not worth his effort, nor a way that he would elect to spend his evening. On the upside though, he hadn’t been told not to make withdrawals from other deposit boxes. Actually it may be for the best if he did exactly that. Police would have a harder time trying to establish what the target was if he were to get things at random.

So for the better part of the day he had been hanging around the bank, wearing tattered jeans and an old gray sweatshirt hooded jacket, looking like any number of homeless men in the city. As always the devil was in the details, and he had purposefully not shaven nor washed his hair for a few reasons. Reason the first, if you look as though you will smell bad, nobody pays much attention to you. Second reason, with facial hair he looked older and less like his normal self. Reason the third, nobody questioned a homeless man sitting in an alleyway, even if the alleyway is within the visual distance of a bank.

Now with the bank closed for the evening, and the residents of New York City familiar with the sight of him faffing about, he meandered closer to the bank. It was one of those banks that had the lobby on the ground floor, and he wondered what the rest of the high rise consisted of. The way that he figured things, whatever the higher floors held, the security systems in them had to be less abundant. He was going to try and get into the bank from a floor above, then make his way into the vault.

Most villains seemed to do their best work at night. under the cover of darkness, they could execute their plans with an easier slight of hand. Tses had another reason for operating after hours: in the dark, she was her strongest. The full moon had waned, and the moon had a sliver taken out of it, a fingernail's worth of darkness obscuring the light from her eyes. But there was still plenty of energy for her disposal, and she'd need it if she wanted to get something done today.

Tses was low on money, and her apartment's rent was coming up in a few days. Normally, she would do some hacking and other side jobs to cover her expensive New York living, but the recent tensions in the city made her lie low. The last thing she wanted was to be on the wrong side of a human/mutant show down. Her only real options were some old fashioned stealing because money was one of the few things you could steal and use right away with no one tracking you.

Tses wasn't much of a planner on her heists. The most carefully laid plans could blow up in your face when you looked away, so she would keep a loose idea of what she was doing, and prepare for spontaneity. Robbing a bank was never the easiest task, but when you could create your own doors and paths, it was worth giving it a shot. Now, all she had to do was choose her path in.

Tses sat on the roof of a nearby building, calmly scouting the best path in. Thanks to the tightly clumped buildings here in the city, the bank was within a decent jump of her location. As the nighttime shadows trailed across her body, Tses took a run towards the bank, and used the bow staff she carried to increase the distance of her jump.

Tucking and rolling into a stop, she crouched and made her way to the rooftop door. Oblivious to the other figures moving in the night, she created a small explosive, and slid it into the door's keyhole, where it gave a pop and opened with a quiet swing. Without a glance behind her, she wandered into the darkness, and shut the door behind her.

There were disadvantages to his entering from above plan, mostly that he would be limited on his exit points. Punching through a floor and probably a steel enforced wall would take enough out of him that he would rather not have to make an entrance on the ground level as well. So, rather than first going down, Sledge intended to go up. The second floor looked like it was just desks that the bank brokers worked at during the day hours. Sledge sneered at them. Banks liked to screw over their members, and those who needed a loan the most, were never granted one.

He took a minute to look around his surroundings, and spotted a door that lead, he presumed, to the rest of the building. If this was the floor where clients were directed to for business transactions such as opening accounts, financial loans and whatnot, then there was a stairway inside the building that would connect the two floors. Even if the upper floors weren’t used for anything other than storages safety codes would demand that there were at least two exit points for any room. He took the only door in the room, heading up the stairway to the roof. The more doors and windows he could open for himself, the better.

As he made his way up, Sledge was, for a change, paying close attention to his surroundings. He could hear a door opening above him, and he froze on the landing. Throughout the day he had not seen any guards enter the building without leaving, but who was to say that he hadn’t missed one. Rather than waste one of his precious punches, he jimmied the doorknob, throwing some weight into it and stumbling into another desk filled room. Someday he was going to have to talk to those who gave him intel, because it seemed like they always wanted to throw a spanner into the works.

Enclosed by the dark of the room, Tses squinted and tried to see. But the upper stories of the bank allowed little outside light in, making them a tomb of black. Mentally reaching out for the sky, she felt the slivers of power enter her arms, and allowed a small glowing energy to trail along her hands. It was enough for her to see where she was stepping, but not so much it would catch a lot of attention... she hoped. She prowled forward carefully, keeping an eye out for motion sensors and security cameras, but as she hoped, this upper story seemed to have more rudimentary security. It didn't make her feel relieved, more like on edge. If there was one thing she knew, it was things never happened easily.

Passing the first few office doors, she couldn't shake the feeling something was off, and glanced from side to side, looking for the source of her stress. No blinking lights, no barking dogs. Things couldn't be going smoother.

And yet...It was just too calm.

Tses moved to one of the last cubicals, with open access and no door, and glanced across the desk hoping to find some misplaced security badges. It was a faint hope, but she enjoyed getting places with proper identification and less explosives. All she found were a few photos and some stale crackers. Boring. She turned, and started to exit the cubical, then paused and listened again. She couldn't get herself to move onward; she felt watched by an unseen eye.

This was no security guard, that much Sledge knew for sure. Security guards don’t dress in civvies and walk around with glowing marbles in their hands. Nobody had mentioned anything about providing him with backup, nor would there be much need for it. This was a simple in and out job, and while it had a high risk of being arrested, if he was wise about it, there was no need for fear. He didn’t want anyone getting in his way, or worse, going for the same loot that he was. Best to get her out of the way. Even better, subdue her and leave her behind for cops to find should they arrive. The bird looked young enough that she could get away with this better than him, and in any case, she was at much at risk as he was here.

The bird ducked into the same room he was in shortly after he found a nice hiding space. Keeping quiet wasn’t that hard to do, and he knew better than to try and make his body smaller by ducking behind something as she drew near. He kept his breath slow and shallow, letting it trickle slowly out of his mouth the way you would a cigarette’s smoke. Once she had passed him for the first time he remained still. Only once she had gone past him for a second time he stepped out from his hiding spot and tapped his shoulder.

When she turned to him he went for her hands immediately. He didn’t know what that glowing marble was about, but was willing to bet that she was a mutant. He’d never seen such a thing before in his life. Whatever the marble did, he wasn’t going to mess with it. Clasping tightly onto her hands he gave her a scowling study. “What ‘ave we here?” he asked.

Tses was not one usually taken by surprise: she was usually the one surprising others. Today seemed to be going in a different direction, however, because she had been quite certain she was alone in the room. One second, she was sifting through drawers looking for a security card of some sort, the next something tapped her back, she whirled, and her hands were clasped together with terrified tightness. The green light that shimmered around her hands flickered like an angry fire, but her palms, the core of her fighting, felt fuzzy and out of her reach. She didn't like this sensation, not one bit. It was worse than when she wore the wrong pair of gloves and going get her powers to start. It was almost painful; smothering her mutation.

There were few things Tses couldn't get out of without fighting. Normally, she could condense the green energy into yellow orbs in her hands and set them exploding in someone else's face. But the green energy couldn't compress without somewhere to go to, and this position definitely wasn't going to afford that.

The light flared slightly, as she snarled in his face and yanked backwards, trying to twist out of his grip. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" Her defense was two fold, both in her twisting action, and then as she tried to kick at his legs with her booted feet.

Understandably the bird was upset. She had probably thought she would be the only one doing a bank job here this night, and suddenly there's another person there, someone who looks as though they should be in a shelter, listening to a sermon in exchange for a meal and a bed for the evening. For a brief moment Sledge knew exactly how he must look, the memory of his dream haunting him. Anger looking much like wildness. “I think I'm the one who asked the first question, and I'm still waiting for an answer.” She hadn't answered his question, which probably wasn't too dim of her. There was no reason to tell a homeless man her name, or what she was doing here. The latter wasn't entirely difficult to figure out. What else would you be doing in a bank after hours, if not something illegal?

She kicked him in the legs. She bloody kicked him in the legs! Alright, so he had caught her unaware, and was keeping her from using her hands, but even with his arms turning into something slightly less then steel, but more than flesh and bone, he wasn't causing her any harm. As she twisted, trying to get free, he tightened his grip more. “Would you please just settle down?” Sledge asked, his tone not as friendly as could be, nor matching the politeness of the words. Before he let this girl go he wanted some answers as to why she was here, and what she was after. “Does it look like I'm a copper?”

Everyone has heard the phrase “You can't judge a book by it's cover.” but nobody said that the cover can't give you a good sense of the book. Even with facial hair Sledge had a youthful face, and looked on the whole, none too threatening. Beneath the layer of grime he still was the man who got strangers to trust him, even when doing so wasn't a prudent idea. The way he was dressed, and the way that he spoke shouldn't say high class. “I think you're here for the same reason I'm here.”

Tses squinted into the dark, the green light from her arms illuminating the strangers features. Beneath the unkempt hair and disheveled appearance, there was a sophistication to his voice that took her off guard. Something about him seemed wrong. He looked like a homeless man, and the smell that hung around him was definitely of an unwashed body and clothes. But his body was too lean, his eyes too strong, and his grip... His grip was definitely too powerful for someone who should be trying to live off the streets.

Realizing struggling wasn't helping herself get free, she gave a solid glare up at his face, and her blue eyes glimmered with the green energy. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to rob a bank." Her face pulled into a tight frown, and she stood as straight as she could, trying to make herself bigger. It was a silly little strategy you learned in the wild to protect yourself. Don't look helpless, you won't be helpless. Unfortunately, without her powers to dig herself out of this mess, it was more of a bluff than anything else.

She momentarily thought of how this would look if things went bad... 22 year old mutant, murdered by a homeless man trying to rob a bank... Cut down in her prime by a hobo... The idea was almost comical, and would have been funnier if he didn't have the upper hand. Normally, she was the one punching in faces and taking names. This didn't bode well for her, and certainly was a wound to her pride.

"How do I know you're not a cop? You certainly aren't a hobo, and you definitely don't talk like one." She contemplated kicking him again for good measure, but convinced herself not to; it would probably make things worse. Instead, she forced herself to relax, putting all her energy into her murderous glares. "If you're after the same thing I am, how does that help me? Want me to open the vault for you so you can scamper off with the money or something?"

"You'd do best to keep your thoughts in order," Sledge lectured Tses. If you were going to go about breaking the law at least do it in an intelligent way. Or, if you insisted upon being idiotic, do not get in the way of those who actually know what they are doing. If you do, expect to be taken advantage of. "If you're thinking that I might be a cop, it's not wise to tell me that you're doing a bank job." Couldn't this girl keep her story straight? How could she really think for a moment that he was a lawman? Even if, for some bizarre reason, or an odd twist of fate, Sledge were to become a police officer, he'd not be a very good one. He'd be a crooked cop, given that he was so prone to wickedness.

"I don't sound like a hobo because I'm not entirely local," he said, slightly irritated. Those Yank girls always fell for the British accent, at least she could acknowledge that he had one. So she was here to take something from the bank, but the more he thought about it the more that Sledge doubted that this unexpected complication was going after the paperwork that he had been sent to fetch. She said that she was here to rob the bank. Sure the word "rob" wasn't exclusive to money. Technically he was robbing the bank too, but nobody makes as much fuss over a scrap of paper. Not if it lacked a president's face at least. What was going to cause the larger stir was the miscellaneous things that he lifted as well.

"It'd be nice iffin you did pop open that safe for me," Sledge conceded. Call it lazy if you will, but he didn't particularly want to try and punch through a safe's door. Safes could have glass panels in them that, when shattered, kept the safe from opening up. Even if this vault didn't have one of those safety measures in it, he'd still be dealing with at least six inches worth of metal to try and batter open. "I'm not after the useless bits of paper and cotton. Too easy to be traced, iffin you manage to not set off the ink pack. I do need to get into that vault though."

Tses prickled at his scolding tone, and felt her shoulders straighten as he stung at her pride. She didn't like having someone treat her like a child, and she certainly didn't appreciate his belittling tone. Ok, maybe it wasn't best to admit to trying to rob something, but why should she care what she said? This wasn't exactly a planned job for her: more an adrenaline rush, a way to keep on her toes and flex her mutant muscles, if you will. This was a bit more than she bargained for, finding herself powerless and bettered by a foreign sounding thief. He was a pain in the ass that came out of nowhere, and she suddenly longed for a good opportunity to push him out a window and leave back the way she came.

"Can't pop a safe with you crushing my hands together." Tses said pointedly, but she was not at all resigned to helping him work. She had her feet firmly planted, her face set, and she was in that volatile place where she could blow up any minute. She didn't like this guy; his sly speaking and fast talking flew over her head and made her feel like a dumb blonde. All she wanted was a few stacks of twenties no one would miss, and this was definitely causing more stress than it was worth. She was fairly certain she could open a safe with her powers without damaging the contents inside.

Yet, as he was proving, she was not skilled at robbing buildings of this nature, and having someone with her could be useful in the end. She had the ability to get into secure boxes, and 'liberate' items from inside them, but the sneaky nature she possessed was limited to things like houses and home safes. This was a larger scale, a little pin on hat of conquests, a way to prove she wasn't just a petty thief... more and more, it seemed all she was doing was proving she wasn't cut out for this. Maybe, if it was successful, she could change that fate.

She couldn't pop the safe without her hands? The ladybird was telling him more information than she really should. Her powers must have something to do with her hands as he suspected, which meant that as long as his sledgehammers were holding on tight to her fists. Some sort of explosiveness he would reckon, given her choice of the word pop. Other than something going boom, he could only connect to “pop” bubbles. Sledge had seen her glowing marble, and that was no thin membrane of soap and water. While all the details of her mutation were still unknown, there was enough that he could make an educated guess. A small explosion, just enough that the pressure wave that it caused knocked the vault's pins out of the way, was a safer way to get to his goal than reckless smashing of the metal doors.

“I'm prepared to cut a deal with you,” Sledge said, still holding tight to her fists. If she thought that she could crack a safe with those little sparklies, he wasn't interested in giving her the chance to do the same to his skull until she had agreed to his demands. “You get me into that vault, I don't stop you from walking out of this bank with whatever your wicked heart desires, s'long as it isn't what I'm after.” Sometimes just the promise of not being turned in could be a reward for a crook. When he couldn't get the payoff that he wanted, Sledge satisfied himself with avoiding a mark on his criminal record. Just getting away with it could be better than winning.

But he didn't think that this would be all that ladybird wanted. She had taken a large risk in coming here tonight. Tears could only get you so far with police officers when you were caught. Money crimes were always taken much more seriously than say, taking someone's watch, or a traffic violation. Sledge was going to find out what, if anything else, she wanted of him. “Sound like a fair deal to you?”

This guy was exhausting. And he smelled funny, and he might have been ok looking if he wasn't still in his homeless type get-up. She was debating wrenching her hands free, and bolting, but then that would just ruin her whole plan of getting money for rent. She didn't need much, that was for sure, but with her failed loots in the past, she needed someone's experience to help her along. She could admit that much. She was no real thief. Just a petty street kid who was trying to stand on her own two feet. Stealing what she could was the only way of living she knew.

Criminal records didn't mean much to her. She never got caught before, so why should she worry about what a police officer could do to her? She could blow a jail cell wide open and clear her path home, if she needed to. Or at least, that's what she though, before she got cornered by this mutant. If someone could make her helpless just by keeping her hands together, she may not be as invincible as she liked to think. Maybe she should retire early.... Her thoughts were racing around in a slightly incomprehensible mess.

"It sounds like a fair deal." She found herself saying, trying to relax and not be pissed off at him. She longed to be back outside with the moon on her face, but at least she had enough energy stored to do what needed to be done. She would recharge a bit more later. "I don't care what you want, so long as I get some cash. You try anything though, I'll blow it all up. I don't need it that bad." She said the warning in a low voice, more business mannered than her prior words with him had been. She hoped things wouldn't go down that way; it would be unfortunate for both of them.

At last Sledge released the ladybird's hands. She had agreed to his minimal demands. Very nice, considering she could have asked for higher demands. He couldn't understand why people said that New York City was such a violent city, riddled with criminals. In his opinion the number of criminals that were doing things right was too low for all the fuss that you heard. She claimed that she didn't need the money. What a fibber. Surely she knew the risks of pulling a bank job. There were alarms, cameras, and police tended to come rather quickly.

"Agreed." Sledge said. Usually when agreeing to a business proposition one would shake hands. Instead of doing so, Sledge merely pulled the cuffs of his jacket. He might be dressed as a homeless man, and was in need of a shower and shave to get rid of the scruff look, but he still felt a certain degree of dignity. His look didn't match his natural behavior. "But I doubt that you'll really destroy everything."

Tses wiggled her hands once they were free, and rubbed her wrists a little. His grip had been strong, even a little abnormally so. But that could come in handy later if he really worked with her instead of against her. She picked up her staff from where it was still leaning against the computer, and collapsed the metal so it was easier to manage. Then she moved over to the next door and formed a little glowing orb in her hand. "Don't underestimate me." she said, putting it into the keyhole. The door gave a little pop, and swung open with a silent sway, and no real evidence from the outside what she had done.

She glanced behind her to see if he was coming, and also to keep an eye on him. The last thing she needed right now was him trying to blindside her and send her toppling to the floor and left to take the heat for this break in.

"It's not underestimating," Sledge said, watching as she managed to open a locked door quicker than he would have been able to pick it. There were advantages to her mutation, and she might be useful for more than just a scapegoat, though that option hadn't left his mind. "It's an observation. Robbing a bank is serious business, and usually not done unless you're desperate. Like I said earlier, money is easy to trace. They come with these tidy little serial numbers that get tracked after they leave the mint, so that when they go missing, they know from what truck, what bank, what store they were suppose to be in."

Speaking of observations, Sledge rested a hand on Ladybird's shoulder and pointed into the darkness of the bank's lobby. There wasn't any noise coming from in there, but there were such things as silent alarms. Banks usually had them so that the tellers could alert police without letting crooks know that they were doing so. He was going to operate under the assumption that they did set off some silent alarm. Next thing that would have to be dealt with was cameras. "Friends in the ceiling," he said, letting go of her shoulder and pointing up. There were some rounded domes, like someone had glued the brim of a bowl to the ceiling. "Kin you do anything about those?"