>>"What options? We have massacre them, ineffectually bribe them, actually kill the guy and hope for the best, or...wait it out, I guess. They all have to die sometime, but if I thought that was a good idea, I wouldn't have gone and asked you for help."

"Yeah, and that's why I'm here" Gawain sighed, setting his archery gear down and sitting on a couch. The loft looked quite... expensive. Good for him. Still didn't keep him out of trouble.

"Conflict resolution is kinda the thing we do. So, let's see... You got something to eat? Kinda missed out on breakfast."

Gawain looked around, taking in his surroundings as he thought about the options.

[If Danny goes to the kitchen at this point let's assume Gawain follows]

"Well, one of them is killing out the mod, but as I said, I'd rather not until we have a very good reason. Alternately, I have two ideas... well, three. One, we find out why they want that particular guy dead, and see if we can fake his death, since it's probably better for him to go off the radar. If you don't kill him someone else will."

Probably.

"Two, we fake your death, and somehow convince them that this time it was real. And then you go off the radar."

Not ideal.

"Three: We scare the living crap out of them."

”Yeah, and that’s why I’m here. Conflict resolution is kinda the thing we do. So, let’s see… You got something to eat? Kinda missed out on breakfast.”

Danny winced somewhat apologetically, walking past the piano and into the kitchen area, Gawain trailing along behind, saying his ideas as Danny listened and rummaged through his panty. He didn’t eat too often, considering he flew through rebirths rapidly enough to negate the effects of hunger, and while he could cook well, it was hard to find something practical enough that would last for a long time. But he was sure he could find something.

”Well, one of them is killing out the mob, but as I said, I’d rather not until we have a very good reason. Alternately, I have two ideas… well, three. One, we find out why they want that particular guy dead, and see if we can fake his death, since it’s probably better for him to go off the radar. If you don’t kill him someone else will.” It was likely that he’d be a target in the future, but the man was a politician. Politicians didn’t just disappear, and Danny suspected that the reason the mob wanted this specific one dead was because he was pushing for a bill that would do something bad to the mob’s earnings, which meant the man himself probably wouldn’t agree with going off the radar just for Danny’s sake.

”Two, we fake your death, and somehow convince them that this time it was real. And then you go off the radar.” Also improbable. Because, for starters, Danny liked his place and would prefer to keep it.

”Three: We scare the living crap out of them.”

Now that was more like it.

“I can work with that last one,” Danny said, grinning, as he pulled out a blueberry muffin, tossing it to Gawain. He strode over to the fridge, opening the door and grabbing one of those little bottles of orange juice, tossing that to him as well. “I have plenty of experience in that department. But the main problem is that there’s not much you can do in intimidating criminals like them - they’re too stupid to know better. So what could we possibly do to scare them so thoroughly off me?"

Gawain finished his summary of the situation and started chewing on the muffin instead. His stomach made growling noises. Breakfast was a good idea.
Danny shook his head at the first two options but seemed to be excited about the last one. Gawain was not surprised.

>>“I can work with that last one. I have plenty of experience in that department. But the main problem is that there’s not much you can do in intimidating criminals like them - they’re too stupid to know better. So what could we possibly do to scare them so thoroughly off me?"

"We'll need to figure that out" Gawain said, admitting he had not gotten that far with the planning yet "But now you've got your powers, that they already know about, and I have got mine."

He paused.

"Not the gender shifting. The mirrors. I can also do this" he merged into the shining surface of the kitchen counter, and then promptly took on Danny's face in the reflection. After a few seconds, he merged out again.

"On top of going all Bloody Mary on them, I can also take people into movies. I don't know yet how any of this could be useful for us, but it's a start. Also, I have friends. With other powers. Do you know if any of these mob guys are mutants?"

"We'll need to figure that out." So this was not yet a full plan. Oh well. It was better than what they had five minutes ago. "But now you've got your powers, that they already know about, and I have got mine."

Danny raised an eyebrow. He was sure that gender shifting was vaguely freaky, but it wasn't exactly terrifying. Oh, wait, he'd forgotten about the mirror stuff Gawain could do. Which was also freaky, but not quite terrifying.

"Not the gender shifting. The mirrors. I can also do this." And with that, Gawain merged into the surface of the kitchen counter and...transformed into Danny? That was actually more than vaguely terrifying, to tell the truth. Gawain merged out again after a few seconds, but by then, Danny was duly impressed.

"On top of going all Bloody Mary on them, I can also take people into movies. I don't know yet how any of this could be useful for us, but it's a start. Also, I have friends. With other powers. Do you know if any of these mob guys are mutants?"

Taking people into movies. That was just plain badass. And Danny was sure they could figure something out with that set of abilities - they were almost meant to be used to terrify people.

"Nah, they're mostly terrified of mutants," Danny replied, referring to the mob after him. "They made an exception for me because my mutation is one that every member of the mob wants. And if you've got friends - we could always go in, guns blazing, and act as if they've drawn the wrath of some secret mutant collective. My mutation may involve me exploding, but I'm actually quite good with other explosives, and computers to top it off. That might help."

>>"Nah, they're mostly terrified of mutants. They made an exception for me because my mutation is one that every member of the mob wants."

Well, that was a slight silver lining right there. Mirror hated dealing with mutants of unknown powers, or going into a situation where he didn't know if they would have to face mutants or not. genetic diversity was too much of a wild card.

>>"And if you've got friends - we could always go in, guns blazing, and act as if they've drawn the wrath of some secret mutant collective. My mutation may involve me exploding, but I'm actually quite good with other explosives, and computers to top it off. That might help."

"I thought old people don't like computers" Gawain smirked at Danny, returning to the muffin "And the 'guns blazing' part is the part I'm trying to avoid. I've got some friends, but they're all over the place, and also, I'd like to drag as few X-men members into this as possible. Team's gotta keep up appearances."

Also, some of them were underage...

"Spooky probably beats violent, in this case. I guess."

"I thought old people don't like computers," Gawain said with a smirk, biting into the muffin. Danny just glared at him with more indignation than irritation. "And the 'guns blazing' part is the part I'm trying to avoid. I've got some friends, but they're all over the place, and also, I'd like to drag as few X-men members into this as possible. Team's gotta keep up appearances."

Well. Danny understood the whole "not dragging X-Men in" thing, but avoiding violence was a problem for him. He didn't actively seek it out, but it sure kept on finding him.

"Spooky probably beats violent, in this case. I guess."

Goddammit. He was used to spooking people with copious amounts of violence. In fact, his first meeting with Gawain - Maya at the time - had involved him easily picking off an entire gang of thugs.

That last one didn't count. He got him with the explosion in the end, anyway.

With those restrictions, Danny was kind of at a loss. He lived and breathed combat, and didn't do much else to solve a problem - that adrenaline rush was kind of the only thing he had to look forward to nowadays, and okay, maybe he was a little addicted to killing people. But only bad people, thank you very much.

Just as he opened his mouth to make another suggestion, though, the doorbell rang. Glancing at his watch, Danny saw with horror that it was six o'clock - his watchers were coming to check up on him.

"Sh*t," he hissed, motioning at Gawain to follow him. Without checking to see if he was following, assuming he was, he rushed to the office space down the hall. Moving to an old-looking bookshelf, he quickly pushed in a series of books in sequence, as if punching in a code - corny, but effective. The bookshelf swung outward to reveal a room illuminated by the floor-to-ceiling one-way window to the left of the door, with a bed tucked into the corner with a full-length mirror, and a door leading to a small bathroom on the opposite side. On the wall to his right, weapons of every sort hung mounted, from bazookas to a more classic katana. "In here," he called softly, only now glancing back for Gawain as the men outside his door started knocking loudly.