Tses wanted to roll his eyes at his assessment of traceable money. For her purposes though she doubted it would matter. How many store employees were checking the serial numbers of every $5 and $10 bill that came through? She wasn't trying to buy a mansion; just get a few necessities and make life easier. But the more he talked, the dumber he made her sound. She knew she was no skilled tactician; and if it was apparent to him, hopefully it wouldn't be to the cops.

When he put his hand on her shoulder, her skin seemed to bristle at his touch. First instinct was to punch him, but then again, that seemed to be her first response to everything. She opted for controlling her temper this time, and listening to what he had to say. She followed his hand, and squinted at the little security cameras. The orbs would be hard to hit with her energy blasts, at least without a little help. She took her staff and removed a segment of metal with a few clicks of the metal tabs, and had a short hallow metal tube in her hand. She then built an energy orb in her hand, giving it a medium explosion time, and slipped it into the tube. Acting quick and using it like a blow gun, she blew quickly into the metal and the light orb shot skyward, exploding on impact with the glass.

The glass pieces blew inward, and there was a small pop as the camera's red light went dark. The damage was minimal, which was nice, and she waited for some quip from her companion about her doing something wrong again. "Is that acceptable to you? She asked with her hand on her hip.

Ladybird was hardly pleased about the touching, not that Sledge particularly enjoyed physical contact while at work. He wasn't here to flirt with anyone, nor was he after making friends with her. When it was time to work, Sledge worked. While he might not have the same desire to join the working force like the rest of his family, he did possess the borderline obsessive work addiction. Whatever aspect of his life, be it work or play, Sledge went into it with his all. He focused upon what he was doing and wouldn't let himself get distracted. All he had intended by resting his hand on Ladybird's shoulder was to keep her from stepping into the lobby without first taking care of visual evidence of them.

Handy tool that, Sledge thought, nodding his head in approval. The visual might have been taken care of, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't something recording sound, or that she had managed to disable that aspect of the camera. An operation such as this called for careful risk calculations. Sledge could change his pitch, going higher and more panicked, or lower and slightly less of a blue collar boy, but he couldn't get rid of that English accent of his. He didn't want to either. It was too easy to forget who you are when you start over again. Sledge might have hated his youth, but he did not hate his country, nor his Queen.

He pointed her towards the vault, taking a moment to get familiar with they layout of the lobby. What he needed to find was the office where the security system would be based in. Technology was unfamiliar to him, but he could handle an alarm system. Amazing how smashing in the control box could keep things from working right.

Tses watched the expression of her companion thief, and he seemed to approve of her makeshift explosive launcher. Inwardly, she felt slightly proud to get some response from him that wasn't demeaning, and as he motioned towards the safe, she was too tired of him to argue with it. Walking carefully, and keeping an eye out for any form of hidden sensor, she reached the vault door, sighing to herself. It looked like a giant wall of metal, with complicated bars and tumblers and other mechanism blocking the path inside. Grumbling to herself, she examined the metal monster for any weak point that would be ideal for her explosive abilities.

She lucked out when she looked at the hinges of the giant door. The vault, which was a bit aged, had a small amount of space between the pieces of metal, and a well placed orb may just be enough to break them loose. Then again, there could be censors there to prevent something like that. The went to the front of the safe, and examined it as well, careful not to touch anything with her finger tips. There was only a small amount of space there where the giant handles met the metal plating, but it seemed like a better place to enter.

Pressing her palm against the crack, the fabric tight against the metal, she focused on the distant moon and felt its glowing energy run down her body. Her arms glowed green for a moment, before she pushed the energy into an orb, wedging the explosive object into the intricate mechanism. Forcing as much energy as she could, she quickly pulled back, and the door gave a muffle 'wmmmmph', followed by some metal sliding sounds, but the door still held shut. Stepping forward again, she repeated the action, and this time she wiggled the handle slightly, and felt it give way. To her surprise, the giant door swung outwards, and the delicate tumblers on the inside were mostly unharmed, except for a few slightly dented ones near the epicenter where her powers had been.

Inside the vault, there were rows of safety deposit boxes; not quite the stacks of money they showed on t.v., but that was ok for Tses. She moved to a few of the first ones, put an orb in each, and allowed them to pop open. the first had an old journal, the second had some jewelry, but the last had some cash that would be useful. Snagging the jewelry and money, she pushed them closed and glanced back for the mutant she had come with.

Amazing how little security goes into protecting a security system, especially for a s important a place as a bank. You would think that they wouldn't want anyone to just be able to shut of the thing that was suppose to keep everything inside the building safe and sound. Did people just assume that an alarm going off would be enough to discourage a thief? If that was all that they felt was needed, then they deserved to be robbed from.

Not that he was going after the money like Ladybird. There were certain aspects of money related crimes that Sledge chose to stay away from. When it came to taking someone's paycheck, he generally tried to get them to give it to him. Pick pocketing was a delicate operation that required a gentle hand and practice. He'd rather just have a pigeon pull out their wallet and fork over the cash. Doing so he could say that they had chosen to do so, that he didn't force them to do anything.

He didn't need to do much to disarm the alarm system. In fact he didn't even have to pull his arm far back for the punch. A short distance punch held enough power to crush the alarm controls, effectively shorting out the system for now. A soft "whump" informed him that Ladybird had done the job of cracking the safe for him. He held no delusions of piles of money stacked inside of them. He hadn't grown up watching cartoons. Instead he expected, and wasn't surprised by the neat rows of security boxes. Once more he gave her a nod of approval, and sifted through one of the boxes that she had blown open. There was a ring, silver he'd say, tarnished black, that he pocketed. Sledge then gestured to the wall of boxes and raised an eyebrow, a silent question of "More?".

With the man back in the vault with her, Tses started working her way across the back wall. Like putting coins in a vending machine, she went from box to box popping them open and revealing the contents inside. There was a variety of objects to look at. Old baseballs, some money, and a surprising amount of documents. She enjoyed the rush it gave her doing this in a strange way. It was like shopping, and feeling the adrenaline tickle her veins with every box. But she also had to stay focused as well. It was slowly sapping energy from her to do this, each one taking a bit more to create then the last, but luckily the objects didn't take much persuasion to unlock.

As she worked, she would occasionally pilfer a five or ten dollar bill, a coin or two. Her choices were probably confusing in the larger scheme of the burglary. What she was taking were droplets in this ocean of money. But that was the point. She didn't want to grab the Mona Lisa, because where would you sell it? No, she'd rather still all the little trinkets along the way no one would ever thing to track.

She paused after opening about another ten of them, and waved her hand against the wall. "Any box in particular that suits your fancy?" She asked. She didn't know if he would answer out loud or not. It was hard to function with a thief like this one. He seemed careful about talking out loud. Then again, he did have a rather unique sounding accent she had noted earlier, and her own voice had little to really distinguish it.

Sledge hadn't opened any of the security boxes yet, though he was reaping the benefits of Ladybird's work. While she was after cash, he didn't care what he took from the boxes. Some of the things he was grabbing he saw no value in. Such items would be left scattered around the general area of the bank, as though the thief had been unable to carry all of their loot. In his pocket he had something else to throw the police off from his trail. The longer that they were chasing their tails, the more he'd be paid for this night's work.

Ladybird wanted to know if there was a specific box that he was looking to open. He nodded his head yes, but held up a hand. She had done enough of the work, and it was time for him to play a part. While his powers could theoretically open up the boxes, that plan had been scrapped by having the girl do the job for him. There was a possibility that someone would notice that all the other boxes had been opened by an explosive force while his target had been smashed in. If he was going to use his mutation he'd have to have it as present as her little mess, or deal with the consequences of someone knowing two parties were involved. Ah well, in for a pinch, in for a pound.

He seized up the wall, studying the area surrounding his target. Seeing enough security boxes still in tact around it, he took two steps back, cracked his knuckles, and punched.

The force of the punch made a rippling affect, the target being not the box he wanted to get into, but one beside it. In the hush of the bank it echoed and made almost as much noise as the Ladybird's little explosives, and had the pleasing side effect of popping open the security box that he needed, in addition to the other boxes that surrounded it. He riffled through them, moving things from one to the other, adding somethings that he had pocketed from the other boxes. Finding the file that he had been sent to retrieve, he extracted it, then set fire to the folder that had held the papers.

After the man help up his hand, Tses took the signal and stepped back from the boxes. She was relieved, in a way. All her energy was training away and she would like to keep some of it in her 'just in case' corner of her body. If he opened the rest of them, it would lighten the load.

He moved with calculating interest, a more experienced thief in these matters, and then he struck one of the boxes, popping several others open. the noise rippled through the bank with a muffled echo, but she doubted it was enough to draw attention. If that did, hers certainly would have.

As he focused on the primary cluster of boxes, she picked out one or two items for herself: an aged pocket watch, a ring, and a small stash of smaller bills. Content, she moved away from the wall, and gave her companion a bit of space to finish what he needed. She didn't care what he was after, and it was in her best interest not to know. The best way to get away with a lie was to tell the truth, after all.

Moving out of the vault, Tses glanced around the empty room. So far, there were no signs any alarm had been triggered, but she was eager to get out of here. The streets outside were silent, and she could barely here the muffled hum of the city. If they managed to finish this, this would be the biggest place she ever tried to rob. The adrenaline pulsing through her veins was the biggest reward, however. It had a calming effect on her, helped her think clearly, and made her less confused about everything going on.

Mission accomplished, Sledge made his way to the vault's exit. There may or may not have been a silent alarm that went off, but he was going to get out of there as quickly as possible. His small fire probably wasn't enough to set off the smoke alarm, but with the security system disabled, who knew how other safety features might function. The small fire more likely than not was going to burn itself out, but he was thinking of the entire building lighting up like it was Guy Fawkes Day. Thinking in the extremes wasn't a habit that he would normally say to avoid. Being prepared was different than overestimating, and when you do the latter you often end up drowning in all the minute details. That was when you got caught.

Flamable things were a good idea to avoid though. Nobody particularly wanted to suffer from a burn, and given that Sledge's escape plan was up and out, he would rather get up the stairway before the risk of it collapsing underneath him. Swinging a fist at Ladybird's skull was a tempting thought. Thus far they had mananged to not get caught with their hands in the cookie tin, and the idea of leaving her to take the fall depended entirely on the police getting there. She could snitch on him no matter what the circumstances, but when the sirens are blaring, lights flashing, and the handcuffs drawing tight around your wrists, blurting out that you were not alone sounded more like an attempt to avoid guilt. And Sledge doubted that Ladybird would be able to keep her mind together enough to follow the right to remain silent. After all, she had kept giving him incriminating evidence against her.

While Sledge seemed to mule over his next course of action, Tses had gotten what she came for, and slipped out of the vault and back the way they came. She reassembled her staff as she walked, collapsed it, and moved her way swiftly up to the rooftop. She didn't know how he reacted to her quick departure, and really didn't care.

As she walked, Tses listened carefully for any movement behind her, and part of her was ready for the tide to turn again. She didn't trust the other thief, and she was intent on using her quick movement to get out before he decided he didn't trust her either. This was why she tried to work alone. Alone, you only had to worry about yourself and how you could screw things up. With someone else, they had the ability to mess it up for you as well. But she had to admit, there were some advantages to having another pair of hands.

The weight of trinkets and bills in her pocket was more than any other hull she would have had, and she was fairly sure the items wouldn't be tracked back to her. She was a bit curious of what the man had taken though. What file could be important enough to come to a bank for? Eh, didn't matter anyway. That was the thief's rule: if you didn't know, you were safer because you didn't have to lie.

The door gave a soft creek as she stepped onto the rooftop, and she breathed deeply, soaking in the moons light. It was like an energy shot, straightening out her thoughts and making things clearer for her. She paused, letting herself recharge, and it was long enough if the British pain in her butt wanted to, he could have caught up.