>>"You ready, girls?"

Jude had hauled Just Greg onto his feet, looking sufficiently drunk (and maybe as if they had had some rough fun time). Sveta looked at the larger picture. Almost believable.

"Wait."

She glanced at Rosa.

"Dey gotta believe we had some fun in here."

To her credit, the girl got the meaning, quickly tugging her dress out of order and letting her hair down. She wiped the back of her hand across her face, smearing some of the lipstick and the mascara. Sveta did the same, and walking over she also smeared some lipstick on Jude and Greg. They looked roughed up enough.

"All right" she said, looking at Rosa "You only have to make it out of here, and den we are safe. Can you do dat?"

Rosa nodded, with equal parts scare and determination in her eyes. Sveta smiled at her, and then put an arm around Jude's waist. Rosa took the other side, holding Greg up.

They all left the room together. Passed the guard, who looked away with a neutral expression on his face. Wobbled up the stairs, where they met the other host.

Greg stared.

Sveta reached over behind Jude's back and pinched him.

"I like this one" Greg muttered, nodding towards Rosa "She's a keeper. I'll take her to go."

Reaching under his suit he pulled out a roll of cash, and handed it to the host, who made a note in a small book, and glanced at the girl only long enough to see which one it was. Sveta felt sick, and turned to hide her face in Jude's shoulder.

"See honey, why don't you ever buy me something this nice, hm?"

It was surprisingly easy. They walked away. Just like they said.

"Wish I could get you more." Jude kissed Svetty's hair. This whole thing was sick. And they only got one.

Jude and company stumbled along the street until Greg was able to hail a cab and they all piled in. Four blocks away they booted Greg out on his ass.

"Where do you need to go? Can she come to the Mansion?" Now that they were in more comfortable company, Jude figured he'd ask. He would not tell Svetlana how he'd already harbored one homeless girl in his room. He figured she wouldn't understand.

If she would just leave him alone, Jude would totally go back to the brothel. With X-help, of course. Somehow he figured she wasn't going to want to let him.

>>"Wish I could get you more."

She wished the same. They understood each other; she knew he was sick of the whole thing as much as she was, it was a feeling as sure as the power boost. She could have been any of those girls, and he knew that too.

She made sure Greg hurt himself when they kicked him out of the cab.

"Remember what I promised!" she smiled and waved after him. Hopefully she wouldn't have to hunt him down.
She might anyway.

>>"Where do you need to go? Can she come to the Mansion?"

"We all go to the Mansion" Sveta decided "She needs a safe place, and we need to tell the rest of the team what's going on, a soon as possible."

The trip to the Mansion was not long. Sveta payed the cab, with the money she got off of Greg before they booted him. She did not like spending a lot of time at the mutant school, but this night was an exception.

"You'll be safe here" she told Rosa as they walked in, then looked at Jude "I assume you have to report in or someting?..."

Report in? Gulp. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting to be back so soon." Or with so much extra. The X's had been pretty sure the tip was a dud. No way would they be happy that he'd not only found something, but gone in without backup or supervision.

Of course he was like kind of sort of an adult now. Old enough to drive. That was a major milestone, right?

The Frenchman input the code for the pedestrian gate and showed the ladies in first. He left most of the Rosa herding to Svetty since the girl had already been traumatized by men. She would probably have to be in the meeting.

"If you're up to it, Ms. Rosa, the mutants in charge will probably want to ask you some questions." She had more information on this than anyone else. Also, the police would want a statement, though the Mansion wasn't in the habit of turning over mutants to the law so long as they weren't on the wrong side of it.

Bah. He would let Sam or someone higher up the food chain deal with that.

Jude opened the front door for the ladies and made sure they made it to the conference room. "I'll just... uh... somebody's probably awake or something."

>>"Yeah. I wasn't expecting to be back so soon."

"We did the best we could." Sveta said quietly. She would have liked to shut the whole thing down and take all the girls home too. But things didn't usually work like that. The X-men, maybe. But that was why she was on Sam's payroll and not on the X roster.

>>"If you're up to it, Ms. Rosa, the mutants in charge will probably want to ask you some questions."

Rosa nodded. Now that the adrenaline was ebbing away, she seemed exhausted, and she kept looking around, waiting to see what was going to happen next. If Sveta's own experience was any indication, she was not quite sure yet she did not just fall into the same situation in a different building.

>>"I'll just... uh... somebody's probably awake or something."

"Right here" said a new voice as Gemma Taylor walked into the room. She had been alerted that a new person arrived with one of the X-team and the Russian girl she had seen around with Sam. She was wearing her pajamas and a sweater, but smiled kindly at Rosa.

"I can wake up Sam if necessary. But first, I think the young lady needs a room and some food. I'll take it from here."

Gemma always made Jude squirm. Her power, or rather the fact that she shut his power down, did not sit right with him. And she knew everything. And now she was seeing Svetlana and Jude in the same room. And leaving them alone. In the same room. No masks. No mission. No pretending.

Almost like she did it on purpose.

Jerk.

Once Rosa and Gemma had left the room, Jude shifted on his feet with easily identifiable unease. "You want to talk to Sam?" He pulled his mask from his face wishing he had the power to age himself backward to the 16 year old he actually was. Maybe this would be a little less confusing then. He was sure that's how she saw him anyway, despite the strides he had made in the meantime to be more of an equal to her.

He still wasn't.

"I can go get him."

>>"You want to talk to Sam? I can go get him."

Sveta frowned. Why would she want to talk to Sam? Sure, she would have to report later, but she doubted Jude knew she was on the payroll. Just how much did he know about her meeting the ice mutant? The whole thing was uncomfortable.
She shook her head and pulled off the mask.

"No, don't wake him up. He's an ass when he's sleepy."

Or so she assumed. Right.

"I guess I'll go" she muttered, turning to walk out. Something bugged her, though. Not the mask, or the suit, or... Maybe all of those. She paused in the doorway to look back at Jude. He looked older than the last time... he was an adult, but not with much.

"So is dis what you do now?" she asked quietly "Adult missions?"

Maybe she'd wake Sam anyway, just to kick his ass.

His first instinct was to defend himself. Jude was only supposed to have been there to check it out and then call if he found anything interesting. But, for the most part, he was proud of how he'd handled himself. He might not have been successful without Svetlana's presence, but maybe he would have. Hard to say at this point.

"Only have to be 16. Besides. Don't see how it's much different from what you're up to." Considering they met each other there. That's what his raised eyebrow added to the conversation. Silent judgement.

>>"Only have to be 16. Besides. Don't see how it's much different from what you're up to."

He got defensive. It was not the right time to get defensive. On top of the adrenaline, and the absolute disgust over what they had seen tonight, Sveta was not in the mood to consider the nuances of age shifting.

"Oh no" she spun around to face him "Oh no you don't. You don't get to do dat. Sam doesn't get to do dat."

Because obviously it was Sam's fault too somewhere in there.

"It is different. You had a choice. You chose to have a childhood. Dat does not involve randomly growing up again, and going to... to missions like dat."

There were reasons to grow up, and that was not one of them.

“So, what? I’m supposed to walk into that kind of situation with my X-men uniform on? It’s a disguise, Svetty. Same as the mask.” Jude spun the flimsy cloth across the table toward Svetlana and took a grumpy seat at the conference table. He still had to debrief with someone. Maybe Gemma would come back and put a damper on this little sunshine-fest they had going.

“I don’t even see why you care, Russian Red, or whatever your name is now. You run around and put yourself in danger all the time.” And told him to put up or shut up about it. Hell, she’d even given him a little beat down once because he’d expressed concern, concern over her well being and lack of control of her power.

Jude ran his fingers through his hair in sheer frustration over the idiocy and double standards of women. He’d trained hard. He deserved to be able to make his own decisions now on when and where he would risk his life, no matter the content of the mission.

>>“So, what? I’m supposed to walk into that kind of situation with my X-men uniform on? It’s a disguise, Svetty. Same as the mask. I don’t even see why you care, Russian Red, or whatever your name is now. You run around and put yourself in danger all the time.”

"You are **** sixteen years old, Jude!" Sveta snapped "It's not the same! An adult..."

Body

"... growing up is not the same as the mask!"

And apparently everyone awake at the Mansion was going to hear about it. Good thing the conference room was sound proofed.

"And as far as I remember, putting myself in danger was de entire problem!"

That, and the fact that they literally had a fight about it, with guns involved.

"You tell me you can't be with me, if I do dat, and then you turn around and do the same! How is dat fair?!"

Double standards. They both had them.

"Growing up is exactly the same as putting on a mask when you can put it on age and take it off again." He probably shouldn't have grinned at her with that cheeky snark.

"Don't you think I know I'm 16 years old? You're forget the part where to be a legal citizen with all the benefits therein takes more than just marrying someone these days." Nobody knew how to drive the knife deep like an old flame. Which was dumb because Jude was carrying his torch just the same as usual. Heck, half the reason he wanted to be a legal citizen was so that he could get married someday.

> "You tell me you can't be with me, if I do dat, and then you turn around and do the same! How is dat fair?!"

Seeing her here dressed like that. The way she smelled. She was lucky he didn't try his training against hers now that he'd had some. She had a spark in her eyes tonight. He'd really pissed her off this time.

"I want you safe, Svetty, but I'm not stupid enough to lock you down." She was a capable lady. She'd proved that time and time again by not showing up dead in the two... three? years that they'd been mad at each other.

He lowered his eyes, not sure of his own expression any more. "I couldn't be with you then because you left me behind. You emasculated me. How could I stand with you when you sneaked out. You trained without me, wouldn't tell me who you were standing for... or against. Hell, Sveta. Was I just a nice roommate? Or did you ever see me as your peer?"

>>"Growing up is exactly the same as putting on a mask when you can put it on age and take it off again. Don't you think I know I'm 16 years old? You're forget the part where to be a legal citizen with all the benefits therein takes more than just marrying someone these days."

Ouch.

Sveta was so taken off guard by the jab that her jaw dropped.

Did he really just say that?...

Apparently he did. And he was on a roll.

>>"I want you safe, Svetty, but I'm not stupid enough to lock you down... I couldn't be with you then because you left me behind. You emasculated me. How could I stand with you when you sneaked out. You trained without me, wouldn't tell me who you were standing for... or against. Hell, Sveta. Was I just a nice roommate? Or did you ever see me as your peer?"

A series of emotions showed on Sveta's face. While a moment ago she had been flushed and ready to fight, not she was stunned into silence. The color drained from her face, making the change all the more obvious because she was dressed all in red.

It had been two years, and nothing really got better by thinking it over.

It wasn't really about the words he said. It was what they implied. It was the implication that he had never seen himself as equal to her. All that time together, he was struggling to catch up to something she had never been.

"You really think dat?" she asked finally, a lot more quiet out of pure shock "You really think I..."

She shook her head.

"I might be a mail order bride" she said finally, squaring her shoulders and looking up at him "But you were not de one that ordered me. I was not paid to be with you. I have a visa. You were a choice. You a**hole."

There was really nothing else to say. If he didn't get the point, it was useless anyway.

He watched what looked like horror dawn on her face. Jude was done being an adult now. Being an adult was complicated. Doubly so when Svetlana was around. The Frenchman slouched in his chair and rolled his shoulders forward, a posture not so becoming in the body of a 30-something.

She was still mad at him. He explained it as clearly as he could. She’d started cutting him out long before he moved out. “I didn’t mean…” He sighed, sullen, now. Why was this so hard? “I didn’t say you didn’t… AUGH!” He rumpled his hair with his hands. Work brain! He was doing this all wrong.

He tried coming at it from a different angle. A more positive one. “I liked what we did tonight. Not the setting. Or the reasons. I liked standing shoulder to shoulder is all.” Equals. Working together. She had needed him and he had needed her.

It meant something that they still had that spark.

Didn’t it?

>>“I didn’t mean… I didn’t say you didn’t… AUGH!”

Jude realized his mistake and was backpedaling so fast she could hear the wheels screeching. He might have looked like a grown-up at the moment, but he definitely was not fighting like one. Then again, maybe no men ever were. Or maybe she just always fought the wrong ones.

>>“I liked what we did tonight. Not the setting. Or the reasons. I liked standing shoulder to shoulder is all.”

Equal opportunity for all vigilantes, regardless of age and gender.
Great.

"I'm not the one dat decided high school was more fun." Sveta snapped. Jude made a decision to do things in chronological order for once - for better or worse, he was sixteen again, on his days off anyway. If she really wanted to be honest to herself, that was the choice that bugged her the most. But honesty was overrated.

"Shoulder to shoulder doesn't work if I can't trust you'll stay an adult when things get tough."

Or just stay an adult, period.