>>"I swear, if you leave me in a mirror..."

"No child left behind" Gawain muttered, focusing on holding on to her hand - from the squeezing he could tell she was not entirely comfortable with the mirror-hopping - and on keeping an eye out whatever was waiting for them in the next surface. And the next.

The first few rooms they walked through were empty. Apparently whoever broke in was not interested in paintings. Harder to sell, Mirror guessed, and also harder to carry...

"It looks like they went the other way" he muttered as they slipped through the mirrors and into the Asian exhibition "We should be out of... oh crap."

It all happened really fast. He saw the object - was that a soda can?! - hurtling towards the glass panel they were currently in. He yanked on Eve's hand, probably hard enough to hurt, and they both went tumbling into the next panel one room over, with the sound of shattering glass behind them.

"That ain't good."

>>"No child left behind."

If he wasn't the only way out of the mirror, Evelyn probably would have retrieved her hand and matched the other way. Obnoxious little brat. But under the circumstances, getting escorted out of the museum by the mirror shifter was her only option, and she grumbled under her breathe and followed with less enthusiasm, feeling that familiar frustration that had sparked an argument when they met. Before the frustration could fully build, however, her echoes picked up a movement as they passed through another panel.

The painfully yank on her arm sent her stumbling out of the frame, reopening the few cuts that started to scab and nearly knocking her to her knees. Before she could yell at her companion for the action, she heard the sound of shattering glass and her face lost it's color.

"Gawain... what happens if they break the mirror with us in it?" She said in a soft voice, glancing out the reflective surface they were now in. She thought she heard something coming, and got her feet back under her before Mirror could decide to take off again.

Gawain helped Eve back to her feet, and saw blood seeping through her bandages at a passing glance. He frowned. That must have hurt. But not as bad as a mirror breaking on them, and he knew that from experience.

>>"Gawain... what happens if they break the mirror with us in it?"

"Pain" he shrugged, trying not to scare her too much. He had only had glazing hits from broken glass, and he never wanted to experience a full impact. She had seen his scars the first time they met. She could put it together.

Pulling her into the next mirror, they heard the sound of shattering glass again. It was hard to tell if they were being targeted on principle, or if the people were just into vandalism that much. Either way, there was no reason to risk it.

"We gotta get out of here." he muttered, just before another thing shattered. This time, it came from somewhere ahead. Pulling Eve instinctively out of the mirror, they landed in one of the smaller, dimly lit exhibition rooms. He pulled her into the shadows between two cabinets, with an arm around her waist.

"We need a way they would not use."

Pain.

The stinging of getting yanked from one exhibit to the next seemed less of an inconvenience at this, and Evelyn tried to keep her face calm. But her mind flickered to the memory of his scars. They had looked like broken glass. Suddenly, she felt this was the worst soft of place for them to be.

As shattering sounded up ahead, she felt herself yanked into one of the rooms, leaving the reflective surface behind and stumbling slightly where she was pulled. Even while he commented on finding a direction the intruders wouldn't use, Evelyn was skimming her mind for an idea.

She was halfway between feeling comforted and irritated by the arm around her waist.

"If we can get to the gift shop you can jump us into the staff bathroom... they shouldn't be back in those corridors, the doors are all locked and employee only." She said quietly, listening to pinpoint whoever was following them. Because she was now quite certain that was what was happening; her echoes agreed. It was like a game; once they realized the two mutants were trying to escape, they were blocking them in.

The thought was strengthened as something clattered up ahead. It sounded like a piece of metal getting knocked to the floor. Someone chuckled, and she could make out the quiet remark to "Throw something else." Where were the guards? Why weren't they doing anything? Sounds echoes through the hallways, the sounds of sirens barely audible in the distance. At least most of what they were breaking seemed to be displays for the moment. Perhaps they understood the value of what they were messing with.

She clenched her teeth, and felt herself take an automatic step forward, arms trembling slightly with suppressed rage. "I can't just watch them do this..." She whispered, biting her lip. "It's like letting someone destroy my home. " Safety was important. But leaving behind the artwork, the pieces she knew by heart and had burnt to memory... it was a hard thing to do.

>>"If we can get to the gift shop you can jump us into the staff bathroom... they shouldn't be back in those corridors, the doors are all locked and employee only."

Gawain took a glance at the possible exits from the room. He could hear people talking now, and he could tell they were fully aware of the mutants hiding somewhere. This had just turned into a hunt.

"How far are we from the gift shop?"

At the next sound of shattering glass, Evelyn started forward.

>>"I can't just watch them do this... It's like letting someone destroy my home. "

"Oh hell no ya don't." Gawain still had an arm around her waist, so all he had to do is back up to the wall and pull herself back behind their cover. Now she was firmly held with her back to his chest. Great.

"I'm sorry but we gotta get out of here alive, artifacts be damned" he whispered. They were losing their chance with every second "Can you tell me how many of them are there? I can create a distraction while you make a run for it. I'll meet you in the gift shop."

Evelyn listened carefully to the sounds from nearby. There were only two exists from this exhibit (not counting reflective surfaces) and that included the one where the intruders were approaching. Skimming her mind for a path to the gift shop on foot, used it as a distraction to keep from resisting Gawain's hold on her. She didn't want to run and hid. She wanted to kick someone's butt but that wasn't really possible.

"The gift shop will be about 7 exhibits away, you have to kinda curve to the left to get there." She answered, and then listened carefully to the sounds of feet in the other room. There were four different footstep patterns her echoes isolated, one set heavier and with the jangling of keys and other objects as they moved. Her heart froze.

"Three intruders, and a security guard. One of the guards is with them." No wonder they were finding their way around so well. She hoped a distraction would work, as tired as she was of running. "Be careful, I didn't get a good enough look to know if any of them are armed. Our guards usually aren't given lethal weapons, just pepper spray and stuff like that."

As she was speaking, the figures in the other room started moving, and their voices continued. "When you said she came in here you didn't mention she was with another mutant. This hide-and-go-seek is taking too long."

"The mutant wasn't here when she came in. If you had arrived sooner, you wouldn't have anything to complain about." Grumbled the recognizable voice of the security guard. Evelyn clenched and unclenched her fingers.

>>"The gift shop will be about 7 exhibits away, you have to kinda curve to the left to get there... Three intruders, and a security guard. One of the guards is with them. Be careful, I didn't get a good enough look to know if any of them are armed. Our guards usually aren't given lethal weapons, just pepper spray and stuff like that."

Well, that was just splendid. One of the guards was with the intruders. Possibly with access to the restricted areas. Great. Gawain sighed behind Evelyn's shoulder, and braced himself for the next step.

"All right. Stay here. Give me a second to get their attention, and then run. Get to the gift shop."

He let go of her and shifted around so she was still in the shadows, facing him.

"If you run into any others, don't. Try. To fight. Scream. Make noise. I'll find you."

With that, he unhooked the bow from around his shoulders and opened the quiver on his side.

"Ready?"

>>Stay here.

Part of her wanted to sarcastically 'woof' like a puppy, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. As Gawain stepped forward and pulled his archery gear out, she felt that small twinge of pride getting pricked as yet again, Gawain had to be the hero. Must happen when you're named after a knight. You assume you need to be one. Then he instructed her not to fight and to scream if trouble happened.

Yeah, been there, done that. Still had the cuts on her arms to prove it and oh look, they were still bleeding. Screaming kinda sucked in the self-defense realm.

She looked back at him though, and managed to nod as if she would obey. She'd attempt to anyway.

Then he was making his move and after a few moments and the sounds of a commotion, she took off at a run. Her mind took her through the layout of the exhibits effortlessly, and she made it to exhibit 302 with no incident. But there in the crypt gallery, with the brick walls and spooky lighting at this time of the evening, she found herself face to face with one of the security guards.

Noted: 3 intruders, 2 security guards.

"Come on sunshine, let's not make a big issue out of this. wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, right?"

Scream. Scream. Scream.

Nope, nothing.

Evelyn dove forward before he could react, snatched the pepper spray from his belt, and unlocked it. In the effort, he managed to grab her by the arm, which drew a yelp from her mouth which was quickly buried under his yell of pain as the spray went into his eyes.

There, a scream.

And then she felt her arm painfully bent backwards as he snarled and spun her around. Blood ran down her arms, a few drops landing on the floor of the exhibit.

Gawain did not need echoes in his head to tell that Evelyn did not like the plan. He didn't care. She could not like it all she wanted, once she was safe.

He could tell from the voices that they were looking for Eve specifically. That made it a lot worse than just random vandalism. They actually cared about finding her, and him, and that was not good.
She really was not kidding when she said she was important enough to be kidnapped. Or worse.

Placing an arrow on the string Gawain stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the intruders.

"Looking for someone or just takin' a private tour? Break it ya bought it, you know that right?"

"That must be the other mutant" one of the men growled. He was carrying a crowbar. Classy. "So what's your trick, kid? Hide-and-seek?"

"Gender shifting." Gawain raised the bow. The arrow flew with a soft whirring sound and lodged itself into the man's shoulder. The crowbar clattered to the ground.

"You little ****!"

Gawain could hear Evelyn's running steps getting farther away behind his back. The two other men charged at him, so he shot at one - missed, dammit - and punched the other square in the nose.

Museum brawl...

**********************

The scream echoed through the exhibition halls. There were not many people around to hear it. A few seconds later the sound of shattering glass answered for somewhere in the exhibit, and then a voice.

"You can let her go now, or you can lose the arm."

With her arm against her back, her face staring at the floor, and the guard angrily breathing down her neck, Evelyn tried to consider her options. [Baton--] PAIN [--left side of--]PAIN! [--belt.] Tears stung her eyes and she heard glass shattering somewhere in the exhibit.

Mirror. Well, this is not the scene she was hoping to get caught in.

"This is personal punk. Stay out of it." Snarled the guard through his red eyes. His hold tightened, and she flinched as she struggled to focus on the powers trying to help her. Evelyn let her echoes lead her hand to the baton, and then slammed it into the side of his head. He let out a grunt of pain, his hold loosening slightly, and with the slick blood on her skin she jerked free and stumbled backwards.

>>"This is personal punk. Stay out of it."

Evelyn struggled free and whacked the guy upside the had with his own baton. Well, that was entertaining. And arrow shot out and pierced the man's leg. Already dizzy, he collapsed with a yell.
Gawain smirked as he walked closer.

"I am not entirely sure she needs my help. So." reaching down, he yanked the arrow out "Nothing personal."

He looked worse for the wear than when Eve had last seen him. His right side was slowly soaking on blood, with a few pieces of stray glass lodged into his arm. He also had blood on his face, and the promise of a black eye.
Another day on the job.

He did not reach for Eve's arm, it looked painful enough. Plus, now she was armed, and that was kind of a scary thought.

"Come on, we gotta keep moving."

Evelyn's eyes went gray as she did a quick skim of Mirror's condition. The blood was concerning, but the black eye would be colorful but heal. The best thing to do would be to find somewhere to hide and take care of some first-aid. She quickly started towards the gift shop.

She unlocked the door quickly, let Mirror in then locked it behind them. Not that it would slow down a follower much, but at least it was a start. She skimmed the shelves and the clothing, looking for anything they could use. It was suddenly too quiet, and she moved towards the back of the room where it was more heavily shadowed and they would be less noticeable.

"There is a mirror for trying on hats back there, then the door that leads to the back room..." She considered the escape options. She shot another glance at his injuries. "You gonna be ok? You look like you and that last mirror had a disagreement..." There was a flicker of concern in her voice, and she listened quietly for signs they were followed.

They made it to the gift shop. Achievement unlocked. Gawain looked around, scanning for movement or sound, while she locked up.

>>"There is a mirror for trying on hats back there, then the door that leads to the back room... You gonna be ok? You look like you and that last mirror had a disagreement..."

"I'll manage." He shrugged, although shrugging was not entirely painless. "We gotta find a place to bandage and regroup. Preferably a room that we can barricade ourselves in. Storage, maybe?..."

He walked over to the back and found the mirror. Reaching up he unhooked it from the wall.

"We'll take this as our way out, and then we don't need a door. Let's go."

Evelyn nodded, and moved to unlock the back exit. The hallway was dark, but that was better for the moment. The nice thing about having perfect memory was she didn't need light to know which way she was going. She could walk these halls in her sleep. "There is a storage room this way. That should work for now." She waited until Mirror and the... well, mirror, were through the door, then she secured it behind them again. A short way down the hall and they were in the storage room. It was filled with extra gift shop merchandise, and she locked the door behind them before shoving one of the heavy boxes of toys in front of it.

There were small flecks of red on the box when she moved away. A familiar murky sensation was starting to take hold of her echoes with the blood loss settling in. She sank to the ground near the back of the room and shut her eyes, breathing deeply.

"I never realized how generally unpopular my parents were until today... Guess I'm not the only person they pushed around." She remarked. She glanced down at her arm where the bandage was coming undone, and made the effort to re-secure it.

The storage room seemed out of the way and secure enough to do for now. Gawain watched Eve lock the door and push a box in front of it. Once she sunk down to the ground, paler than usual, Mirror put his good shoulder against a nearby cabinet and added that to the barricade before he sat down next to her, breathing heavily.

>>"I never realized how generally unpopular my parents were until today... Guess I'm not the only person they pushed around."

"Not surprised." Gawain muttered, looking around in the dim light of the EXIT sign. "All right. Not much of a chance of a first aid kit in here, huh. We'll have to improvise..." he glanced at her as she tried to fix her bandages.

"How are you holdin' up?"