It had been a couple of weeks since Shade had infiltrated the corporate headquarters of the 'fairest' news station on television, Wolf News. Things had not necessarily gone the way the shadow mutant had exactly planned them to go, especially the part where he was knocked out by a concoction of drugs that were slipped into his drink by a certain black haired beauty. However, the thing that had been bugging the slippery shadow more than that was the 'feeling' he had felt in the moments before he had entered the billionaire's office.

It had not felt like anything Shade had ever felt before in his many years of crawling through the shadows. The sensation had could be compared to oil moving through water. It felt like it was gliding through the night like only Shade thought he could. Yet, it was different. Where as Shade was a cloaked figure, a constant distinct feature; the presence he had felt that night was an ever-changing being of darkness. It moved like an amoeba, always changing shape and in no noticeable pattern. And while the presence greatly intrigued the darkness mutant, it also frightened him, as it was something unknown in a world Shade had believed held no secrets, to him at least.

If there was one thing the shadow mutant hated the most, it was the feeling of being scared. Shade was not suppose to feel frightened. He was one who struck fear into the hearts of others, because they never knew where Shade would appear. He was the shadow in the night, the predator. He was not suppose to feel like prey. And so that was the reason Shade was currently stalking the shadows of the skyscraper he had previously infiltrated on this night, because he had to find out what was it that frightened him so. What had been that presence he had felt? Shade had felt it enter the office of the Mr. McCarthy, but where had it gone afterwards? Was the business tycoon a mutant himself? Now, that would be a great headline! And- a smirk developed on Shade's face at the idea- a great blackmailing tool.

Shade had changed clothes since the last time his last mission here, changing old of the large cloak he wore for mission for his usual grey hoodie and jeans. It was chilly in the cold New York night air, but the fire of wanting to discover the identity of that gracious presence kept Shade from drifting too far from the entrance to the massive skyscraper. Positioned across the street on a local bench, every time someone would leave the office building, Shade would throw out his shadow sense, trying to feel for the being he had felt before he had entered the billionaire's office. Every time so far, he had felt something unusual so all he could do was sit and wait for the person to relieve themselves.

Surprises showed up every day and today was no exception. To be quite frank it seemed like the entire fiasco with Mr McCarthy seemed like one big surprise. However, things got a lot weirder when the businessman started investing money in children’s charity, more than what was expected of a rich man like himself.

To top it all off he had been quite a humanitarian as of late, far more than he had in the past. No one really knew what had inspired such great kindness from him. Interestingly enough, no one knew what caused this change of heart especially when it came to his wife, his relationship finally rekindled with her.

In fact, they would never no because the person that inspired this sudden change wasn’t telling. Yes, with quite a bit of diplomatic persuasion and an honest to goodness talk, Sapphire Lupin had actually convinced the businessman to start a new leaf.

Though he still didn’t know her name, still didn’t have any DNA of her or any trace of her left, the words she said stuck with him somehow. Maybe it was the fact that she drugged that strange young man who threatened him but whatever the reason, he had changed for the better.

Today was Sapphire’s last visit with him, making sure the contract he had signed from her employers had all the signatures that were needed. The elegant, darkness manipulator walked out of his office, sliding into her portal as she did so, allowing her darkness to consume and envelop her with its icy grasp.

Sapphire ported in an alleyway right across the street from the building wearing an all black ensemble, including a hat with a sort of veil pulled down over it. For anyone who didn’t know her, she looked as if she was going to a funeral in the most fashionable of dresses, but this was the normal garb for a multiple talented artist, like Sapphire.

With a content smile the mysterious artist strode out of the alleyway, holding herself as if she owned the entirety of NYC. The seas of people seemed to part as she passed and no matter what looks she got, Sapphire just kept walking.

Today was a good day.

Shade was starting to feel anxious. He had been outside for hours now, and the shadow stalker had not felt anything unusual. And now, he was second guessing himself that he might have missed the person responsible for the oily blackness he had felt the other night. Pacing back and forth, Shade was contemplating if he was ever going to find the person responsible. This was his only lead. If he could not find the person here, the shadow mutant was out of options. Maybe, that was for the best. Shade liked being the only shadow in the dark.

Just as he was giving up hope of ever finding the figure of darkness, the shadow mutant walked into a nearby shadow to 'jump' out of the area. Sensing for a choice location, Shade's senses suddenly stumbled upon that same strange feeling. However, as he did, it disappeared from his senses, and not like it had moved out of a shadow. It was like it had...teleported. A cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought. Was it possible that another mutant out there could really 'jump' through the shadows like him?

At the moment, Shade was more worried about where the other shadow jumper had disappeared to. Could they sense Shade like he could sense him? Were they stalking him now? The feeling of being watched made Shade spin around to look behind him, but there was nothing there. Could they turn invisible too?

No, there is was. That feeling of silky smooth darkness appeared only a hundred yards away from him. Maybe, the other mutant was after Shade. Deciding to be more cautious than usual, the Orderling backed himself into the darkness corner of the alley in case he had to make a quick get away. However, he was not expecting to see the black haired beauty the past night.

The idea that the other darkness mutant struck Shade like a slap to the face. Of course! It had to be her. She had been the only one in the office the other night. And the way she had dealt with him meant that she must have been a pro, or a very lucky rookie. Shade gritted his teeth at the thought of how she had embarrassed him the other night. She would get her payback. That was for sure.

Slipping out of the shadow, Shade fell into step behind the dark haired bombshell as she literally parted the street as she walked, turning every head in the process. Shade only played along with the act. The street was too busy a place for a showdown between the two mutants, and two bright. Shade would follow her and strike when she was more vulnerable.

It really seemed as if Sapphire was parting the seas of people just by walking through them. The woman was quite strikingly beautiful, if not a little ethereal looking. If she had a dollar for every time someone tried to ask her to model for them, she would probably be far more wealthy than she already was.

The darkness manipulator knew what sorts of attention she received from others and knew just how to exploit it. She had always been the "pretty" one out of her sisters and she knew it, so it made things a lot more interesting for her, especially when it came to her jobs. After some time walking, Sapphire made her way down the steps to a small staircase leading downward, there was a chalkboard outside with the words. "Serenity's Corner." on the outside of it with a small list of food stuffs.

If anyone just so happened to follow Sapphire inside they would find that she had made her way over to a table hat had a reserved sign on it. The sign was immediately removed when she sat down and a small plate of scones were place in front of her. The overall atmosphere very mellow and quite, people speaking in hushed tones most of he time. Various artistic looking people littered the place and most gave a small wave to Sapphire when she walked into the door.

A good way to describe this place was a more "underground" Starbucks that only a certain select group really knew/cared about. Most people that came here would be immediately turned off by the glares they would get and he rolling of the eyes they would earn if they asked for a hamburger or something like that. No, this was a place for the elite and the way that most people talked or reacted, this was clear from the moment someone walked into this place.

Sapphire lightly nibbled at her scone, taking to it as if she was some sort of small bird. Now was a good moment for her be recollecting the days events or just having a nice bite to eat of some expensive food or coffee, given at a hefty discount though considering just who she was.

Most of the people Shade passed on the street were too busy staring at the bombshell of a brunette to give the hooded man following behind her any concern. In the same sense, Shade was too preoccupied with watching the woman in front of him to notice anybody else on the street. As the mysterious woman disappeared into a dark staircase marked only by a single handwritten chalkboard sign, the shadow stalker felt the flowing darkness slip through the shadows and into the restaurant. Anger, nerves, and the unknown of what might be waiting for Shade down in that dark alley caused the Orderling to turn around and take one step before conquering his feeling of fear. Slipping into the darkness, the shadow mutant disappeared for a moment before reappearing in a small cafe.

To say the place was not Shade's kind of place would be an understatement. It was obvious he was the cheapest dressed patron in the restaurant and more than one person was staring at him in looks that were close to disdain. Pulling his hood down, Shade's piercing blue eyes screamed murder at a nearby woman who was gawking at him. She instantly returned to her suspicion-looking food. Sweeping the restaurant, Shade's eyes spotted his prey.

His immediate impulse was to strike before she had a chance to react. However, he stayed his hand. The woman fascinated him. The woman's mutation fascinated him, and if he killed her with a surprise attack, he would never know how she was interacting with the darkness like that. So instead, he decided to sit. He took a seat at the bar, sliding the bar stool underneath him. When the somewhat bewildered bartender asked him what he wanted to drink, Shade merely pointed at a appropriately looking beer.

"I'll take that one." He said simply. The bartender retrieved it with a sigh, now obviously annoyed at the commoner. However, Shade paid him no attention. He took the drink and gulped down a large shallow before he glanced over at the brunette. She was a rather peculiar one, that was for certain.

The mood of the place was calming, this much was sure and despite the dull roar of the people talking in the background this place was quite peaceful. It was one of those sort of snooty places that if you could get past the obnoxiously snobby attitude of it's patrons, you could really have a great time. Of course, there were always those troublemakers, particularly the group of men in the corner, in their suits and apple computers. They seemed to be looking at the patrons with distrusting eyes, particularly some of the more out there mutants. Yes, there were quite a few mutants in this place, which made this place like some sort of paradise where mutants and humans could be without any judgment...mostly. There would always be those guys that sort of hate everyone and these guys just happened to be them.

“You know, if it wasn't for the sheer amount of mutie stench in the room, we would probably be able to enjoy our Coffee and yet here we are,” Chet called out. He was blonde, fairly tall and in all honesty looked fairly intimidating.

Interestingly enough, the mutants in the place revealed themselves immediately, whether it was turning on flames or letting out a snake like his, almost every single mutant in this place seemed to be alive at these words. The groups got close to one another, the mutants, clearly wanting the humans to say something else to them. The groups exchanged words, but they were far too quite to hear, but one thing lead to another and soon, Chet shoved a green,scaled mutant and started to laugh.

“Dominant species? Your kind will never be welcome in this world! Right guys?” With his group in agreement, Chet stepped forward and would suddenly find a long, black tendril of darkness around his torso. It was a long, tentacle like thing, black as night and it appeared as if it was solid and gaseous at once.“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? HEL-AUGH”

Chet would find multiple tendrils wrap around his arms and legs and was then dragged over to the table of Sapphire, the darkness manipulator not even looking up from her scone to see him. He struggled of course, yelling out all sorts of swears and nasty worlds at the other mutants, seemingly not realizing who had grasped him. The artist let out a low sigh, finishing off her scone, icy blue eyes glancing up at her captive. Her body was completely calm, no emotion on her face, if anything she looked as if she was looking up at the evening news, rather than a man that she was holding captive.

“Chet, darling, may I ask you why you are ruining my meal,” Sapphire inquired, her voice as soft as the coo of a dove.

“Milady-” Chet began before getting cut off by the tendrill snaking it's way up his throat and suddenly grasping it roughly, causing him to let out a choked gasp.

“Darling, how many times have I told you to call me by name? Now answer my question please,” Sapphire explained, her pointer finger lightly moving to the side, causing the grip of the tendril around his throat to loosen.

“Sapphire, I had no idea that you were a mutant, if I had I wouldn't have said a world! I never knew a creature as beautiful as you could be a mutant. I thought they were all monsters,” Chet explained himself, painic clearly in his eyes.

“Of course not,” Sapphire began as she got up from her seat. She tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, gazing at the bound man with a small hint of humor in her eyes. The etheral woman let out a breath of air and Chet would let out a sudden cry, the horrifying tendrils constricting around his body, audiable cracks echoing in the room.
Sapphire smiled a little at this and approached him, wrapping her arms around him as if he was a lover. “Now I think, that you should apologize to everyone and get me a new meal because thanks to your poisonous words, mine turned into ashes in my mouth,” Sapphire whispered in his ear, nibbling on his earlobe lightly.

She smirked at the light whimper of agony he let out, just before she released him, with her arms as well as her tendrils. Chet fell to the ground with a low howl of pain and while everyone looked on in awe, the same tendrils propped him up, smaller skinnier tendrils wrapping around his skull and forcing him to stare at the mutants that had gathered. Tear rolled down his face and if one knew much about medicine, or at least had common knowledge, his left arm probably shouldn't be backwards

“I'm sorry everyone!” He exclaimed, gasping in relief as he was released from the tendrils grasp. A purple mutant immediately rushed to his side and began healing him, not even taking a chance to look up at Sapphire. One could possibly notice that no one was questioning what the darkness woman just did. In fact, they might even notice that they were treating this as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

Even as Sapphire sat down, people seemed to act as if anything was normal, the only thing not so normal was the fact that the waitress serving Sapphire was shaking a little. However, with one flash of a disarming smile the woman immediately relaxed. Throughout that whole incident even, Sapphire was fairly relaxed, she was in complete control of this place and she knew it. Everything was planned, everything was part of her design.

She controlled everything in this place.

The beer was adequate to say the least. However, Shade was not necessarily given the appropriate time to enjoy it fully as mutant haters had to ruin the fun, as they always did. A male member of a group of inferior subspecies of the genus Homo mouthed off his opinion of the presence of several of the more visible mutants in the underground bar. Of course, it was always the unseen mutants that one had to worry about. Shade had drawn a dark blade of his own as he readied himself to strike in necessary.

However, his senses suddenly went haywire as he felt the presence of that oily darkness. It radiated out from the midnight black haired woman. She seemed to be able to control them like dark appendages of her body. Impressive. Especially when she picked up the mutant hater, who seemed to be named Clet, and crushed him like an egg before making him apologize while puppetizing him. Then everyone went back to what they were doing beforehand, like this was a common occurrence. It was a little weird to say the least.

A nearby purple mutant saved the hater's day by coming to his rescue to heal him. It was something Shade never would have done. He would have let the human suffer for its stupidity. Drinking the remainder of his drink, Shade tossed a five dollar bill on the bar before making his way towards the black haired beauty. He paused a moment as the weak looking Clet was moved out of the way. Sliding into the seat across from the assassin artist, Shade had his classic half smirk plastered across his face.

"Well, that was rather entertaining. Do you crush men around here often?"

Sapphire had been expecting a nice quite day after what she did, considering how she decimated that man. Unfortunately, she was wrong as someone decided to sit in a seat near her like a fool. Normally, Sapphire had no problems with socialization, in fact she was by far one of the more social of her families but at the moment, all she wanted was to nibble and nosh in peace.

When Sapphire looked up from her scone finally, a small, slight smile played across those pale lips of hers. It was the man from not to long ago, the one that she had quickly disposed of when he was interrupting her work. Alas, things had been coming back to bite her as of late didn't they?

"Only the ones who interrupt the tranquil peace of this place. Quite frankly, he could have been a mutant saying the same thing and his fate would have been the same. I do not appreciate interruptions of any kind," Sapphire returned smoothly, her voice calm and collected.

Her gaze trailed upwards to the mans face, giving him a rather knowing glance. While hadn't researched who he was, she surely would now. The artist knew all about the Sanctuary and the Order, enough to know that they were a kind of mutant rights group that took things rather too far. Sapphire didn't appreciate anyone being an annoyance to anyone else so they weren't exactly on the best list for her. In her opinion, things needed to be taken care of much quietly and carefully rather than committing all sorts of very vibrant and public crimes. Those sorts of things got you in trouble and gave you rather unsavory attention.

While Shade's face retained its half-cocked smile, his eyes flared at her statement. He never could hide things from showing in his eyes. It was a habit that he had developed from his common practice of hiding his eyes. Had her words been a challenge? Threatening to attack him if he irritated her by not leaving? Well, he would love to see her try. He was not some pathetic human that could be squashed like a tiny ant. He was a mutant, and a deadly one, especially if she did not know exactly what Shade was capable of. However, Shade was not able to jump across the table. Well, maybe not yet. He was looking forward to giving the dark haired beauty a little payback for her little stunt that she had pulled, but not just yet.

"Yes, it would be such a shame to disturb such a thrilling place." Shade replied with a little of sarcasm, glancing around the cafe. However, he kept his sixth sense trained on the dark mistress in case she tried a small retaliation for his slight offhanded comment. Shade couldn't help by notice the eerie calmness of the place. It seemed like everyone felt safe as long as the woman across from him (Sapphire, was it?) was happy.

"So, I guess you are the one to thank for Mr. McCarthy's recent compliance? I was not so sure of his motives after our little incident." Shade said, bringing his attention back to the woman across from him.

Those emotional eyes didn't escape Sapphire's even gaze. She knew all too well what eyes could show, they were some of the most expressive parts of the human form. It was always fascinating to watch someone's emotions, no matter what they were. It was almost exhilarating in a way, seeing how someone felt in the heat of the moment was like watching the light fade in eyes of the enemy after an deadly encounter. No matter what the situation, emotions were the keys into someones inner psyche and Sapphire reveled in the thought of seeing inside of someone. It was like seeing a great work of art so clearly in her mind that she could practically breathe in the scent of the oils.

"Do not mock this places atmosphere, it can be quite a thrill on slam poetry night," Sapphire chuckled, her voice melodious.

This was different than what Shade saw at Mr. McCarthy's place, she acted so demure and helpless there but here, it was like a whole different side of her had awakened. Or was this something that certain people didn't see. A bemused smile crossed her lips when he mentioned Mr. Mcarthy, drumming her long fingers on the table aimlessly.

"Indeed, I had my own intentions for that little incident, unfortunately you were interfering so I had to get rid of you. There's no hard feelings I hope, we both got what we wanted after all."Sapphire replied smoothly, blue eyes gazing evenly at Shade.

There was nothing she wouldn't do for her ultimate cause so making some enemies wasn't exactly uncommon for her. While she wouldn't mind allies, Sapphire found that over the years she worked a lot better alone.

The shadow stalker chuckled at the night mistress's joke with half of the amusement coming from the shock that the mysterious woman actually had a sense of humor. It was indeed a side of her that Shade had not seen from her. However, he must say that he enjoyed this side more than her timid manner from the other night. She was much more fun to play with this way.

"Well I might have not got everything I wanted." Shade replied. The harshness of his voice accompanied with that evil grin of his made the shadow mutant's words seem almost threatening...or was that a compliment? It was hard to tell.

"I'm Shade." The night crawler said simply, hoping his acquaintance would get the hint.

It was so cute when people flirted with her, acting as if they were even worthy of her time. So far this "Shade' character hadn't proven a thing but she was a giving sort so she would humor him. This was certainly turning out to be an interesting day and while not everything was going her way, nearly everything seemed to be falling into place in some way shape or form.

Unfortunately however, her new companion heard her name from that poor stooge Chet, so she would have to introduce herself to him. Oh well, at least he didn't witness her killing anyone, then she would have to end his life and at the moment she really didn't want to do that. She was having far too much fun with this young man to do that.

"You didn't get everything you wanted Shade," Sapphire inquired briefly, her voice feigning the innocence that she had from the other night. "What is it that you wanted and is it something I, the great artist Sapphire can help you with?

This dark gemstone of a woman was certainly devious, Shade had come to that much of a conclusion about the black haired beauty at least. Her feigning innonence was very good. If he hadn't personally been poisoned by her and witnessed her little perform eariler, Shade would almost had believed it. However, the shadow Orderling was becoming increasingly knowledge to her ways.

The way she carried herself was almost like Shade's own leader, Syn; both of them having that incredible ability to get anything they wanted. However, this woman was potentially much dangerous that the gothic mutant zealot. For while Syn worked for mutant supremence, the woman across from Shade only worked for herself. Shade's smirk into a full toothy grin as Sapphire asked if she could do to help.

"Actually, there is." Shade replied as his eyes ventured over Sapphire's body. With his sixth sense active, the disappearing shadow mutant tried to trace the sense of darkness that seemed to envelop the woman like black silk. Bringing his eyes back up to Sapphire's striking blue ones, Shade continued.

"You see, we have something in common decides our mutual acquaitance, Mr. McCarthy." Drawing a darkness blade in his right hand, the shadow mutant showed the dagger to the other darkness manipulator before driving it into the table in front of him. As the light destroyed its structure, the knife slowly dissolved into smoke.

"You were not the only one creeping around in the dark that night."

This young man was quite interesting in Sapphire's opinion, he clearly had some sort of interest in her or at least her wares which wasn't something she exactly minded. The Artist was used to the attention, used to praise and in her own very humble opinion, she was one of the very best things to walk on two legs. Sure she had met those stronger than her before, but they never exactly lasted very long.

Sapphire felt his eyes on me and almost rolled her eyes, but she kept herself composed for the sake of politeness. She liked men with power behind them, it was quite a nice touch. It would also seem that Shade wasn't much of a push over if his connection to darkness could be concerned. He wasn't a darkness manipulator like herself though, he delved into a different form of the dark, one that Sapphire wasn't too fond of. In all honesty, the woman would much rather engulf herself in her tendrils and embrace the night as if it was a wool blanket on a cold winters night. She loved the dark and in all it's splendor, far more than she likes the shadows that gave from the absence of light.

The Shade plunged his oh so scary knife into the table and Sapphire covered her mouth to hold back a laugh. If he was trying to intimidate her, he would find that she wasn't exactly an easy woman to intimidate.

"That is Mahogany," Sapphire remarked, her pale white fingers traced the very slight nick he made in the table. Those blue eyes of hers focused on his with an amused expression. "We both were in the shadows that night, that much I knew, but we achieved our goals. So what is it that you think we have in common? Because I see a rather insurmountable difference between you and I."

"That is Mahogany."

Shade did roll his eyes at the woman's comment, not as kind to restrict his appearance as black haired beauty across from him. It was table. Nothing more. Sapphire acted like the little coffee shop was her personal domain, like she was the queen of the shop and everyone inside were her servants. Well, Shade was nobody's servant.

Her next words sounded almost like a challenge, or was that a rejection? Shade's mind could not really distinguish between the two. The shadow mutant had half a mind to jump across the table and show her how much more they could have in common, like how they now both had her blood of their hands, especially since she had that stupid, annoying grin on her face. Shade's eyes narrowed in anger while his other features remained unreadable. However, he managed to calm himself by remembering why he was here. Relaxing enough to put a charming smile on his face, Shade chuckled to himself as he changed his approach.

"Look, I think you are getting the wrong idea. You obviously have skills in the dark and so do I. So how about we...work together?" Shade replied, amazed the last words were actually able to escape his lips.