T'was the night before (the night before) Christmas, when all through the manor
Not a mutant was stirring, except an explosive planner
The scheme had been formulated in the weeks prior with care
In hopes that a shadow of a man would soon be there.

It was midnight. Christmas eve was a second old and Shade was standing outside the gates of the X-mansion in the chilly December air. Tiny snowflakes were falling from the black sky, littering the area with a thin layer of snow. A cloud of mist rose from the invisible mutant's mouth, the only mark that something was off in the night. Tonight was the chosen night for the shadow mutant's second infiltration of the X-men stronghold. He was just waiting for the appropriate signal from his accomplice inside the mansion which told him it was safe to proceed.

Shade subconsciously thought back to the last night he had to cross inside the large, wrought iron fence. That night he had been working for the Order on a mission that would launch their plans towards world domination; tonight, he was in search of something that might very well destroy it. The shadow stalker smirked at the realization. Irony was funny like that.

The previous night had also been pretty much a disaster in the making. Shade had barely escaped from the horde of X-men that had exploded from every corner of the manor like fire ants from an upturned ant hill. Hopefully, this night would be more of a success since he had inside help this time around. Last time, he had gone in blind, relying on his invisibility to keep him save from most of the dangers. Of course, the X-men had probably, also, increased their security since the last time Shade had broke in. Hopefully, the little thirteen year old was better than age would suggest.

Impatiently, Shade eye's traveled to the clock in a nearby store window. 12:03. This little partner was already late. The shadow mutant resisted the fight to immediately continue with the plan without the child's help or not. If she was late, there was probably a reason for it. A problem arising, perhaps? For that reason, Shade remained where he was at and instead watched the peaceful mansion as the anxiousness grew in his veins. He was ready for the night's show to begin.

(OOC: For all X-mansion residents, you are free to join in the thread. However, please PM for permission first. I want to keep things organized as possible, unlike the last time I was here.)

T’was two nights before Christmas, and outside Kait’s room,
A loud noise or misstep could spell the girl’s doom.
The previous night, she had stolen a file
That Shade had been coveting for quite a while.

Now that she had it, Shade wanted to come
So it could trade hands, but man, it would be dumb
If they failed to prepare, got caught, got in a fight,
So first, Kaitlyn needed to cut the floodlights.

Before she could do that, she had to make sure
That the cameras were off, since if they saw her,
Her actions that night would be there to review
And if anyone saw that, her life would be through.

If Alice had known what her roommate was doing,
Well, then, the whole plan would be in for a screwing,
So Kaitlyn decided that she would just wait
Until Alice was sleeping, then she would start late.

The stakes were so high on that fateful, cold night
That each unexplained noise made her shiver with fright.
Yet, still, she found the security office
Unoccupied, so then the lockpicking novice

Proceeded inside without much noise or fuss,
And deactivated the cameras thus:
Unplugged the computer that controlled them all.
Then she pulled out her cellphone, and gave Shade a call.

Then, she thought better, sent a text instead.
'About 2 cut lights. Meet @ b-ball court,’ it read.

Seconds after the message was sent, all of the lights that illuminated the Mansion grounds went out. Kaitlyn was standing under a tree next to the basketball court two minutes later, wearing a backpack that held the file Shade wanted.

The X-men were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of the Order's destruction danced in their heads.
And Kaitlyn with the files, and I in my cloak,
Had just met up underneath the big, giant oak.

It was almost 1 o'clock in the morning before Shade finally heard from his accomplice, in the form of a text message. By that time, the cold night air had penetrated through the shadow mutant's outer gear and was causing him to shake slightly. Therefore, it was a given that Shade was rather irritated when he finally got the information. Soon afterwards, the mansion's outside lights were all extinguished. A little smirk fell on Shade's invisible face as the darkness consumed the area. It was time to go to work.

In a 'jump' or two, the shadow mutant made his way to the basketball courts, but he did not see any mutant, let allow his tiny twelve year old accomplice. Reaching out with his shadow sense, Shade 'felt' in the dark for any humanoid shapes that might be roaming around the grounds in the general vicinity. Almost immediately, the small form of what had to be a small girl appeared in his 'sights'. She was standing beneath the large oak tree, just off of the courts. Saving himself the trouble of walking, Shade 'jumped' silently under the tree, picking a spot ajacent to the pre-teen. With the blackness of the night, it would be impossible for the shadow mutant to actually be seen.

"Kaitlyn." Shade said, announcing his presence softly as the smoke from his breath was the only visible indication of where he was residing. "Were you able to get those files I asked for?"

“Yep!” Kaitlyn whispered with cheer, giddy with her own successes, shaking with adrenaline more than with the cold. She pulled the folder out of her pack and presented it to him. “I got it last night, and no one saw. And I got the security cameras before I hit the breakers for the lights, so no one’s gonna find out you were here.”

The kid was so damn proud of herself, she was beaming. This was the part where Shade could eat everything he may or may not have said about her competence after the last time they worked together. Or perhaps shower her with praise? At least give her a cookie. Any of those things would be appropriate, really.

When out on the lawn, there arose such a surprise,
It had to be a miracle; I couldn't believe my eyes.
Away from the mansion I wanted to fly,
And tear open the folder to see what was inside

Shade slid an invisible hand out and maybe a little too eagerly snatched the desired folder from the small hands of the redhead. Withdrawing a small flashlight from his pocket that he had taken for this mission, the shadow mutant flicked it on to view the contents of the folder. In addition, the added light alluminated the front of Shade's figure, causing half of him to appear out of the darkness. Thumbing through the documents quickly, the shadow mutant began to recognize the document as the exact match to the once he had seen last time he wandered into the confines of the mansion, and this was exactly the information he so desperately after.

"This will do perfectly." Shade whispered in his harsh voice, smoke rising from his breath as he spoke. Flicking off the lights, the darkness once again consumed the night stalker. Tucking the flashlight and the folder containing the precious information into his cloak, Shade turned back to the red haired, little spy.

She seemed very pleased with herself, and Shade had to admit that he was slightly impressed with her skills, himself. Obviously, the explosive Orderling-in-training was a much better spy than a fighter. Their last mission, together, had been little more than controlled chaos with controlled being a very loosely-used term.

"Very good, Kaitlyn. I am...very proud of you, Kaitlyn." Shade said, trying his best to make his words sound encouraging. His invisible hand drifted above the red hair of the preteen for a moment as he contemplated ruffling her hair in congratulations. That was something that adults did with kids, right? However, Shade withdrew his hands without touching the child's head. It seemed for the better this way.

All the kids were quite, they weren't expecting a riot,
His day off had come, it was a long time waiting
Streak had spent the day not cooking or cleaning,
When he was asleep his alarm spoke out,
There were a few sensor that were in doubt.

Streak got up and groggily went to see what was going on. It was very unusual for his phone to ring, so it must have been something serious. When Streak was in the sensor room, he found that someone had broken in and turned off not only the lights but a few of the more obvious systems. The alarms were something that anyone expected to have; however, he did know that there were some that would be triggered if someone broke the wrong twig out there at night.

Soon the cameras were flipped back on and recording. He didn't bother to turn the lights on just yet. The silvermancer wanted to see if there was an area that stood out among the rest. Some of the cameras weren't very useful since they were designed for daytime only; others were designed for night and he was able to see most of the grounds. FInally they were located. Streak couldn't believe his eyes. He recognized the girl from her folder when she checked in. What she was doing outside at night he couldn't see; however, he was able to make out her handing something to someone. Streak couldn't tell who she was talking to. It was either someone that was well hidden, or someone that had a special talent in the night. That was all he needed. Streak put in a call to a couple of the team in case he needed backup. Then he flipped the switch.

The spotlights blared on and the grounds lit up. There wasn't an area that couldn't be seen now as Streak raced out to catch what was going on. He'd fixed a couple of cameras on the area that he was looking at in the dark so that when the lights went on there was no missed information. The silver mutant showed up under the lights. He was reflecting more of the light and almost like a moving mirror with a bad glare on it. He made a bee line for Kaitlyn and her unknown friend. It would be mere seconds before the was to where they were. Who knew what he would find there.

Everything was going perfectly. She even had Shade’s respect. He even said he was proud of her! It might have sounded forced, but he said it!

And then everything went to hell. The lights came on, Shade became visible, and Kaitlyn blew up in his face. Literally, not figuratively, with enough power to knock Shade off his feet. Kaitlyn’s face contorted in horror.

Then she realized that the cameras should be on again. She needed to put on an act.

Forced smirk. “They can see us. Pretend I’m trying to stop you.” Thankfully, the cameras didn’t record sound. She advanced on him, as threateningly as she could pretend to manage, mind racing to think up a lie to tell the X-Men.

The bulbs of the floodlights all over the grounds
Gave the luster of mid-day to everything around.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a silvery figure with a body like a mirror.

Every was going perfectly! Exactly as planned. Shade knew he could count on the little redhead. After all she had managed to infiltrate the X-men, along with other more dangerous organizations. The little pre-teen spy was turning out to be a good asset for the Order and a great asset to Shade. Maybe he wouldn't even have to go forth with his remaining plan. Well, it was better to be safe than sorry though after all. Wasn't it? And he couldn't just stroll into the X-mansion could he now. That would draw far too much of the wrong attention from both sides of the fence. So as Shade pressed the call button on the phone in his pocket, the shadow mutant faded the invisible smile from his lips. He did not want the little Orderling to catch onto anything unexpectedly.

It can safely be assumed that Shade was by far not prepared for the sudden explosion from the fiery redhead. He had forgotten how emotional she could be with her powers. The blast sent Shade back several feet before slamming into the ground and rolling over a few times across the frozen, lightly snow-covered grass. However, he quickly made his way to his feet.

"Easily enough." Shade responded to Kaitlyn's words. He admired her quick thinking. It seemed a gift of the tiny explosive expert. Drawing a dark blade from the inside sleeve of his jacket, the night stalker returned the child's smirk before sending the blade spinning towards her.

Obviously, it was not aimed at her. That would be preposterous! However, it might have been a lot closely aimed at Kaitlyn than she would have liked. Possibly even close enough to graze off her arm. But it had to seem like they were really fighting, right?

"How about you get out of my way before I have a kill you?" Shade exclaimed in a incredibly believable voice, even though it might have been a little louder than usual as he hoped his voice would carry across the frozen grounds of the mansion.

Streak was still running toward the mutant when he saw the blade thrown. There was nothing he could do about it; but luckily it looked like a miss. This kid didn't know who she was meddling with. It wasn't often that Shade missed and she should consider herself lucky that she did. The loud shouts fro shade seemed out of character for him. At least, any time Streak had come up against him it seemed that they always had a more subtle conversation.

He wasn't going to let this guy get away again. He'd slipped away one to many times for Streak's liking. He was nearing the area where the explosion occurred and both other mutants seemed to have their wits about them. There wasn't much time for him to waste. Streak needed to get the girl out and get this perpetrator before it was to late and he slipped into the shadows again.

Arriving on the scene, Streak immediately got in between Kaitlyn and Shade. "It seems we always come across each other like this. Wouldn't you agree?" He mainly meant that he seemed to keep putting himself between someone and Shade. It was only foreplay that Streak was dabbling in as he made the comment. There was really no need for it but it helped him cope with the facts of what was happening.

Unbeknownst to either of the others, Streak was a little hesitant to do this by himself. He remembered the last time something like this happened. The last time this happened he'd been jumped and kidnapped. Not only was he kidnapped, he had lost his powers for some time and had thankfully regained them after a lot of hard work. Streak really wasn't looking forward to any of this happening again. He hoped his backup would be coming soon. He could certainly take Shade by himself. He'd done it before. But he didn't know if there were more lurking in the shadows that his cameras or he wouldn't be able to see until it was to late.

Oh great, it was this guy again. One of the X-Men she bumped into during her last Order-sponsored field trip. Kaitlyn only remembered catching a glimpse of him before some green idiot tackled the back of her head into a chunk of cement and nearly killed her. She owed sparky for getting her the heck out of there while she was out cold. And for not telling any of the X-Men anything stupid. Thanks to that, Kaitlyn could get away with saying this:

“I guess. Except this time, I’d like it if nobody tackles me while I’m busy doing their job for them!”

That’s how Kaitlyn was going to spin it. She was a concerned citizen, a young mutant who thought of herself as a superhero, trying to protect her home.

“So, does the Mansion have real security people to watch out for stuff, or is it just whatever X-Men are awake?”

Without any help, of any other X-men freak,
I knew in that moment it must be Silver Streak.
More rapid than eagles across the grounds he came,
Separating, and shouting, and taunting me by name!

Shade wondered for a moment just how long he would have to put up this little charade. Of course, he did not want to seriously hurt Kaitlyn. He might need her later, to do more little tasks for him that he could not accomplish without some help. Lucky for the shadowy mutant, the goody-two-shoes of an X-men clad in silver arrived shortly. Shade's face turned into a snarl at the sight of Silver Streak. He had dealt with this little prick too often and to think that his plans had to include him made the night stalker a little less pleasant, but it would be nice to take out of his frustration out on the guy.

The X-men tried to antagonize him with a snippy comment, but it seemed Kaitlyn was playing her part as "security kid", because it was her that answered him. Shade was content to stalk back and forth, his cloak sweeping behind him as if sizing up his prey. The shadow mutant wondered if the silvery mutant had developed his skills any further since the last time they had tangoed directly. Although Shade would have loved to rip out the throat of the X-men before him, he needed him for a different purpose, but that did not mean they could have a little fun first.

"Little girl, why don't you run along while I carve up your friend here?" Shade countered, his gaze sneaking around Silver Streak to the redhead behind him.

"I'd hate for you to be the next X-men I kill." He added, smiling to himself at the memory. Shade wondered if the man before him remembered the incident from Mondragon Labs. Hopefully, Silver Streak would react emotionally, something Shade could to use to his advantage as he had a much bigger plan afoot than a simple knife fight.

It was so bright, so very bright. Regan rolled over in her bed to look at the clock for a moment. It was after 1a.m., why was it so bright? With a groan, Regan crawled out of bed and shielded her emerald eyes to the glare of the light that was coming through her window. After a few moments of squinting, her eyes adjusted to the light and she was able to see what was going on outside. There was a small child, a man made of silver, and a man that blended into the shadows, out in the basketball court. What on earth was going on?

Cracking her window open, she flicked her feline ears in the direction of the three. She could hear them taunting each other as well as dishing out threats. The dark mutant tossed a knife at the child and it made her fur stand on end. Fully opening her window, she judged the distance to the ground. It wasn’t that far down, she had jumped from higher trees before, she’d be fine. With that thought through, she balanced herself on the window ledge for a moment, and then launched herself to the ground landing in the snow with a thud.

On all fours she quickly closed the gap between herself at the group across the basketball court. She skidded to a stop in the snow and raised herself up into a standing position so greet them all. Her long tail flicked about back and forth behind her in a twitching pattern. “What’s going on out here?”

"Little girl, why don't you run along while I carve up your friend here? I'd hate for you to be the next X-men I kill."

Streak knew to what he was referring to. That was a dark time for him. Him and Fade had been really close before her death. It was never really determined what happened, but there was surely plenty of speculation as to what happened to her. It was the first time that he'd lost a person on a mission before. It hadn't really happened since then. He'd revised his plans ever since that fateful day and the teams never operated the same since then. But the day range clear in his mind now.

Streaks eyes, unconsciously, darkened to almost a black. His anger was now apparent and even the rest of his silver took on a duller tint than what it had been seconds ago from the light."It'll certainly be the last time you hurt an X-men." It seemed almost fateful now that these two met up here tonight. Plenty of other fights had been since that day but none had been as one on one as this one was.

Someone else showed up. Who's this kid? he thought. Streak surprisingly didn't know her except by face. The silvermancer turned to her, slightly. His dark pupil-less eyes showed nothing. He looked back at Shade. "This guys just lost. Right?" This was Streak's way of giving Shade one chance to get out of here without leaving in a pine box. He didn't think that Shade would take it but maybe this person would get the girl out of here and they could have this duel out in private.

Kaitlyn snorted. “Wow.”

Maybe Kaitlyn was having a little bit too much fun getting into character. Maybe she didn’t realize, at the time, that the silver dude was trying to give Shade an easy way to escape, and that Shade didn’t otherwise have one with the floodlights on. Maybe there was a part of Kaitlyn behind the act that was sincerely disgusted with how this X-idiot was handling the situation.

She turned to the tiger-lady.

“Basically, Regan, this guy” she pointed at Shade “broke into the Mansion, stole something, threatened to kill people, and threw a knife at me. So Mr. Champion of Friggin’ Justice here decides to let that slide, then tries to let him leave with the stuff he stole, since the lights are on and his mutation's worthless.”

With all the things Shade had just done (and pretended to do,) there was no good reason for the X-Man not to try to take him out. On top of that, Shade and this guy had a history of being against each other. Kaitlyn could think of so many reasons why the X-Man should want to catch Shade that it hurt to watch him being so unwilling to try it. Even if that unwillingness was in Kaitlyn and Shade’s best interests.

(Previous permission from Kaitlyn granted to stab her)

Shade's face broke into a wide smile as he noticed how his statement had a visual effect on the shiny silver mutant. Obviously, the silver mutant had not forgotten about the death of his teammate. However, with war came sacrifice, and the shadowy death dealer doubted that it would be the last of the goody-two-shoes that would meet the end of his blade.

With the arrival of another obvious mansion resident, the shadow mutant was now outnumbered two to one (as Kaitlyn could be counted out of the fight not to blow her cover). Shade felt his muscles twitch as the anticipation at the coming battle, which the silver mutant tried his best to avoid. However, the shadow mutant had come here for more than just the file he currently had stuffed in his cloak.

Pacing slightly as his anxiety rose, Shade searched for a possible opening to his fight. If Silver Streak was not going to fight him, then he would just settle for the new character on the scene. That seemed like the local choice. Especially with Kaitlyn being so kind enough to distract him/ her/ it. Shade really couldn't tell because the mutant was covered in fur.

Forming a dagger in his sleeve, the blade slid down into his hand before his arm swung forward, releasing the the knife. Although he was totally aiming for the large feline, the cold had crept into the fingers of the shadow mutant, numbing them. Without percise control of his weapon combined with the proximity of the Kaitlyn and the other mansion resident, Shade's blade took a turn for the worse.

Right into Kaitlyn's stomach.

The shadow mutant gulped at the sight. He would probably have to explain that one later.