>>"Uh, powering down? Doesn't exactly work that way. It's off, if that makes you feel better. And, uh, I can walk in front, I guess? Yeah, let's go, Any ideas?"

"Up" Maya glanced around, taking in their surroundings. Getting off the street and going up was usually a good way out. She was not going to take the kid to the Mansion yet, especially not since he tried to break in not long before. Talk first.

Maya nodded towards the fire escape, signaling him to start climbing. She could have taken him through the mirrors, but she did not trust him, or his powers, yet. She merged into a nearby window, though, and followed him on his progression towards the roof.

"Up. Of course up." The fire escape had been in his line of sight, but he hadn't considered it as an exit because he was rather slow when climbing a ladder. The woman nodded, clearly telling him to start moving, and so he rolled his eyes before proceeding to make his way up the rungs. It felt suspiciously like he was a prisoner, but he decided to just ignore that, convincing himself that this was a sort-of apology for breaking in.

He glanced down, and to his surprise, she had disappeared. He briefly considered fleeing (again) before telling himself that he had to stop doing that. It was a reflex, and not one that was flattering, but there was nothing he could do about it. It took him a moment to realize she was in a window again, which was actually quite terrifying from his end, so he steadfastly ignored her as he climbed.

Once he reached the roof, he pulled himself over the edge with a grunt, before straightening up. He could see flashing lights in the distance, but they weren't close enough to merit extreme worry.

Maya followed the guy up along the fire escape and hopped out of the last window to climb over the edge after him. Once they were both up and away from the edge, Maya turned to face him again, leaning against one of the small rooftop buildings nearby.

"Sooo, let's take this from the top, shall we? Hi, my name is Maya, I'm a member of the X-men, most people know me as Mirror. I was patrolling the neighborhood when I saw you attacked by a bunch of thugs, take them out, then get shot in the dead, die, blow up, and come back to life. That led me to the conclusion that you are probably a mutant."

She arched an eyebrow at the kid.

"Your turn."

"Sooo, let's take this from the top, shall we? Hi, my name is Maya, I'm a member of the X-men, most people know me as Mirror. I was patrolling the neighborhood when I saw you attacked by a bunch of thugs, take them out, then get shot in the dead, die, blow up, and come back to life. That led me to the conclusion that you are probably a mutant. Your turn."

He arched an eyebrow right back. Two could play at that game.

"Hi, my name is Danny, a lot of rather shady characters know me as Firebird. I was passing through the neighborhood when I was attacked by a bunch of thugs, took them out, got shot in the head, died, blew up, and came back to life. I am most definitely a mutant." He deliberately left out why he was passing through the neighborhood - that didn't seem relevant right now. "My turn for a question - if you're not pissed, why am I stuck on a roof with you? I discovered the hard way already that breaking into you and your crazy friend's house is a bad idea."

Wait. What if she asked why he was there? That would work him into a corner. Dammit. He hated when that happened and really hoped it didn't, instead trying to look as surly as possible.

>>"Hi, my name is Danny, a lot of rather shady characters know me as Firebird. I was passing through the neighborhood when I was attacked by a bunch of thugs, took them out, got shot in the head, died, blew up, and came back to life. I am most definitely a mutant."

The kid had sass. Maya smirked. He also had a mutant name, which meant that he had not just found out about his powers yesterday. He was clearly not in control of them either, which presented a really interesting case.

>>"My turn for a question - if you're not pissed, why am I stuck on a roof with you? I discovered the hard way already that breaking into you and your crazy friend's house is a bad idea."

"Dude. The first time I was at the Mansion, I broke in too." Maya chuckled "I just break less things. Because, powers." she motioned at herself in general, meaning the mirrorwalking trick. "You're here on the roof with me because you are a mutant that apparently blows things up, and you didn't seem to have a lot of grasp on the fiery bits. I wanted to get to know you and see what that's all about. That's part of what I do as an X-man. When we're not chasing down criminals, we try to help other mutants."

"Dude. The first time I was at the Mansion, I broke in too." Surprising, but not entirely unexpected. Break-ins had been the first thing on his mind when he had seen her travel through the mirrors. "I just break less things. Because, powers." He made a little noise of agreement - his entrance had probably been far less dignified than slipping through the mirrors. While he was suitably curious now, he refrained from speaking, letting her finish what she was saying.

"You're here on the roof with me because you are a mutant that apparently blows things up, and you didn't seem to have a lot of grasp on the fiery bits. I wanted to get to know you and see what that's all about. That's part of what I do as an X-man. When we're not chasing down criminals, we try to help other mutants." No, he didn't have a grasp on the fiery bits any more than he had a grasp on not coming back to life. The dying thing, though, he had that mostly under control.

"The fiery bits? I have about as much control over that as you have over your body not decaying when you die." He paused. "Morbid analogy, okay, but true. No matter what, whenever I die, I blow up like that. The blast radius isn't too big, but something almost always catches on fire, though that's not really my fault. And no matter what, I come back to life. Like a phoenix, you could say, hence the name Firebird." Then he held up his left wrist - and quickly realizing that could be taken as an offensive gesture, raised the other arm as well. Then he pointed to the gauntlet. "This - sure, it packs a punch in a fight, but it's mainly a suicide thingy. I push the button, a few thousand volts shoot through my body, I die. Instant boom."

He lowered his arms slowly before continuing to speak. "But I don't need help. I can manage perfectly fine on my own, as you saw in the alley. So we done here?" He was heavily aware that she might catch on to the more offensive aspect of his mutation - a walking, talking, easily-detonated bomb, like he'd done before. He just hoped she didn't catch on until he was well out of the area.

>>"The fiery bits? I have about as much control over that as you have over your body not decaying when you die. Morbid analogy, okay, but true. No matter what, whenever I die, I blow up like that. The blast radius isn't too big, but something almost always catches on fire, though that's not really my fault. And no matter what, I come back to life. Like a phoenix, you could say, hence the name Firebird."

The guy said weird things sometimes. The powers made kind of a sense, but Mirror was still fascinated by the magnitude of it all. That was one badass, scary mutation right there.
She took a better look at the gauntlet when he lifted it, and noted that that thing was also above and beyond many gadgets she had seen, including her own X-men gear.

>>"This - sure, it packs a punch in a fight, but it's mainly a suicide thingy. I push the button, a few thousand volts shoot through my body, I die. Instant boom."

... Suicide. Bomb. That's not a fortunate combination.

>>"But I don't need help. I can manage perfectly fine on my own, as you saw in the alley. So we done here?"

Instead of answering, Maya stepped closer, circling around him with a mix of fascination and disbelief showing on her face. She tried to wrap her mind around all the information.

"So... you literally cannot die." she noted "Or, rather, you can, and then you just come back to life." she had never seen a mutation like that before "How the hell are you still walking free? Apart from the suicide bombing thing, which, let me tell ya, is very disturbing. But still, holy sh*t, man. You have a mutation that cheats death. How's the Sanctuary not after you yet? Or... you know, the government or somethin'?"

When Danny had finished, the woman - Mirror - stepped closer, disbelief and something akin to fascination crossing her face. Which was creepy. He was now starting to regret telling her, but really, it wasn't like she could do much. He still couldn't die.

"So... you literally cannot die. Or, rather, you can, and then you just come back to life. How the hell are you still walking free? Apart from the suicide bombing thing, which, let me tell ya, is very disturbing. But still, holy sh*t, man. You have a mutation that cheats death. How's the Sanctuary not after you yet? Or... you know, the government or somethin'?"

Ding, ding. Question of the hour. Although she caught the suicide bombing aspect, her wonder over his mutation was stroking his ego a little bit. He schooled his face into a disinterested expression, but preening inside, replied, "Because I'm clever and I technically don't exist. Your Sherlockian friend has something of mine - if she runs fingerprints or DNA, she won't get anything. Maybe connections to a few...crimes, but nothing on who or what I am. Because, technically, I'm 242 years old, and was born during the American Revolution. No way I could still be alive, right?" He had almost said a few murders and/or robberies, but having decided that telling that to an X-Man's face was a bad idea, quickly covered it up. "Also, you would be surprised who doesn't notice a kid dying in a fiery blast of destruction and then getting back up again. And whoever does and tries to report it is easily taken care of."

Wait. That would definitely be taken the wrong way.

"Not that taken care of. I mean I explain that it was a publicity stunt for a street magician or something, and if they still don't buy it, there's always money."

Maybe he should shut up now. He was telling her a bit more than he would've liked.

>>"Because I'm clever and I technically don't exist. Your Sherlockian friend has something of mine - if she runs fingerprints or DNA, she won't get anything. Maybe connections to a few...crimes, but nothing on who or what I am. Because, technically, I'm 242 years old, and was born during the American Revolution. No way I could still be alive, right?"

The history buff in Maya stared at the kid starry-eyed like only someone named after a medieval knight can. This kid was not only immortal, he had also been immortal for a very long time. He was like a real-life vampire, without the bloody bits.

>>"Also, you would be surprised who doesn't notice a kid dying in a fiery blast of destruction and then getting back up again. And whoever does and tries to report it is easily taken care of."

Maya's eyes narrowed at that. Super cool or not, murderous tendencies were not okay.

">>"Not that taken care of. I mean I explain that it was a publicity stunt for a street magician or something, and if they still don't buy it, there's always money."

"That's... whoooookay." Maya shook her head, trying to keep up with all the information "You obviously got it all figured out. 242 years on the run is hellofa lot of time..."

She took a pause, thinking through her next step. There were quite a few options. Take him in? Let him go? Ask for an autograph? Push him off the roof to see if he blows up again?

"The 'Sherlockian' friend you are talking about is my girlfriend. Just so you now." she noted, folding her arms and still sizing up Danny with her head slightly tilted "Now, what the hell am I gonna do with you? To be honest, my first thought would be to invite you to the Mansion to teach history, but... you know. Fiery bits."

"That's... whoooookay. You obviously got it all figured out. 242 years on the run is hellofa lot of time..."

"No kidding," he muttered below his breath. There was a pause as Maya clearly sorted through her thoughts, trying to figure out something to do.

"The 'Sherlockian' friend you are talking about is my girlfriend. Just so you know."

That... was unexpected. Okay. No wonder she had been so pissed about him breaking a window. It wasn't like he had known at the time, though.

"Now, what the hell am I gonna do with you? To be honest, my first thought would be to invite you to the Mansion to teach history, but... you know. Fiery bits."

His eyes widened. Teaching human children was bad enough, but mutants? His age? That'd be a disaster of the highest level. "You do realize that, physically, I'm sixteen, right? I can't even drive a car, and I doubt that your students would respect a teacher around their age. Plus, yes, fiery bits, but what makes you think I'm interested? From what I've heard, the X-Men have all got sticks up their a**es, going for mutant equality and stopping criminals and all. Not really my field, if you know what I mean." For example, he'd hacked a bank account and wired quite a bit of funds to himself just last week. That was his field of expertise, not teaching.

>>"You do realize that, physically, I'm sixteen, right? I can't even drive a car, and I doubt that your students would respect a teacher around their age. Plus, yes, fiery bits, but what makes you think I'm interested? From what I've heard, the X-Men have all got sticks up their a**es, going for mutant equality and stopping criminals and all. Not really my field, if you know what I mean."

Whoa. For an ancient being, he sure talked like a teenager. Maya briefly wondered if people treating him like one for two hundred years might have made his psyche stuck that way as well.

"I never asked if you were interested" she huffed, he was really not making this easy "And frankly, it is not even my decision to invite or admit you to the Mansion at this point. But for the record, the stick up the ass thing if a whole lot of bullsh*t. It's what street kids say about us to have an excuse to not grow a pair and behave like people with brains in exchange for a safe haven."

So, maybe Maya was pissed.

"Believe me, we've seen and heard it all, and we keep patrolling the city anyway, even though most people we help teat us like sh*t after. And I'm gonna be the first person to tell ya that the Mansion is not for everyone. What I can tell ya, though, is that we're not a cult. With us or without us are not the only two options."

"I never asked if you were interested. And frankly, it is not even my decision to invite or admit you to the Mansion at this point. But for the record, the stick up the ass thing if a whole lot of bullsh*t. It's what street kids say about us to have an excuse to not grow a pair and behave like people with brains in exchange for a safe haven."

Danny looked at her, eyebrows raised. Apparently, she really felt strongly about this - even though he'd developed the idea himself, he didn't feel like it was the best idea to say that out loud now. The only reason he thought that way was because of the whole stopping-criminals thing, and... yeah.

"Believe me, we've seen and heard it all, and we keep patrolling the city anyway, even though most people we help treat us like sh*t after. And I'm gonna be the first person to tell ya that the Mansion is not for everyone. What I can tell ya, though, is that we're not a cult. With us or without us are not the only two options."

Seen and heard it all, he doubted somewhat. That the Mansion was not for everyone, he agreed to wholly. But the last part was what caught his interest. For a while now, Danny had actually been harboring thoughts of joining the Sanctuary, and he'd heard rumors about an Order, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure if they were true. But what if he could play for both teams? That always had been his modus operandi - help somebody from one side, then somebody from another, and boom, he was on both their good sides.

"I'm listening," Danny said, clearly interested. "I don't want to make a full-time commitment to the Mansion, so what's that about being with you or without you not being the only two options?"

>>"I'm listening. I don't want to make a full-time commitment to the Mansion, so what's that about being with you or without you not being the only two options?"

Maya exhaled slowly now that her rant was over. At least part of what she was saying got through.

"It means, that you are not required to move into the Mansion to get help from us if needed. You also don't have to live in the Mansion to... make friends with anyone from there. I know that after two hundred - something years you probably got things down pat, put that doesn't mean you have to do everything alone."

Okay, so it sounded cheesy. Maya was going off on her experience with living on the streets, and was saying what she thought he would want to hear. She knew she would have wanted to hear it, once upon a time.

"For example" she added with a small smirk "That mutant kung-fu you did with the thugs was impressive. And I'm always looking for new people to spar with. X-men training only goes so far if you always practice with the same people."

"It means, that you are not required to move into the Mansion to get help from us if needed. You also don't have to live in the Mansion to... make friends with anyone from there. I know that after two hundred - something years you probably got things down pat, put that doesn't mean you have to do everything alone."

Alone. That was something he was inherently familiar with. Immortality seemed fun to anybody not intimately acquainted with it, but as it turns out, it's not quite as fun as you'd hope. People's lives came and went - not in the blink of an eye, not yet, but he stayed eternally sixteen while anybody he ever got close to withered away and, eventually, died. Maybe he could work for the X-Men occasionally, in return for their aid when he needed it. That seemed like a good deal to him.

"For example, that mutant kung-fu you did with the thugs was impressive. And I'm always looking for new people to spar with. X-men training only goes so far if you always practice with the same people."

Danny raised an eyebrow. Again. She was surprising him, and often. Not many people he knew could take him on, seeing as he had a little over two hundred years of experience and practice under his belt, not to mention the fact that he blew up when defeated. So a challenge (because that was what it was in his eyes) was greatly welcomed.

"Alright then, say I were to agree to your terms," Danny said after a pause. "And say I'd want use of the X-Men database in return - that's all. I don't exactly need money or friends. Would that be possible?" He broke into the X-Mansion for some frickin' information and he would get it eventually. He simply widened the parameters a little bit so he wouldn't have this problem in the future, either.

>>"Alright then, say I were to agree to your terms. And say I'd want use of the X-Men database in return - that's all. I don't exactly need money or friends. Would that be possible?"

Maya arched an eyebrow. That was... not quite the reaction she had been aiming for. Apparently being on your own for two and a half centuries makes a guy... goal-oriented? Suspicious?... She sighed.

"They weren't really terms, I was trying to be friendly." she shrugged, and tilted her head "So... the database. Is that why you broke into the Mansion?" she asked curiously, rather than with accusation "I can't let you access that if you are not on the team, but if you tell me what you are looking, for, maybe I can help."

She looked at the guy who looked younger than her, and yet was so much older.

"Look, I know I can't ask you to trust me or become besties right away. That's not what I am going for. But being a mutant out there alone sucks *ss, and I think you know that. I'm not trying to recruit you or use your powers. Just trying to start a conversation."