Cold streets, cold people, cold skies, cold limbs. Adder was used to it all, and he was familiar with it. It was what he expected, what he knew. He had found food once today, and though pizza crusts were a good find he was hardly going to stop looking now.

Adder took food as he found it, and fought for it when he couldn't find it. That was his habit and his tactic, and it had lasted for over a decade. The more he grew, though, the hungrier he became. The more food he needed to ease his stomach, the less easily he could swindle passersby for a meal.

That led to more wandering for Adder, more energy expended to find food, and often less food overall. He was quickly wearing through the reserves he'd built up during the past summer, and hunger lurked all around him again, eager with its sharp points and howling.

Well. He was still clean enough to walk a common street without feeling especially out of place; the scattered looks of discomfort and disgust he drew in his worn jacket and ragged jeans were things he was used to. Looks didn't bother him; it was words and actions that signalled true threat. Those were the things he watched for, eyeing the people around him. Most of them gave him lots of space, openly unwilling to risk brushing against a literally dirty visible mutant.

There were a few that didn’t, and Adder popped a wallet out of one such stranger’s pocket and into his own with only the slightest brush of pressure. Hopefully there’d be cash in it; plastic cards weren’t exactly easy for him to use.

Maya frowned at the weather in general as she trudged down the street. She had been running errands all morning, and the wind was chilling her to her bones now. She thought about mirror-hopping to cut down on the walk, but in this part of town showing up in someone's mirror unexpectedly could have had dire consequences; now that she was an Internet celebrity and a high-profile X-man and all that, she really needed to watch where she went. Sometimes she wished she would juts be one of the street kids again so that nobody would look twice.

Not that anybody looked twice anyway.

Maya pulled her hand out of the pocket of her jacket to zip up to her chin. The wind was cutting as she turned a corner, and other, similarly bundled up figures brushed past.

When she sank her hand back into her pocket, her wallet was gone.

"HEY!" she spun around, spotting the ragged figure walking away at a brisk pace. It was not exactly surprising to get pickpocketed in New York City - Maya had done her fair share of it back in the day - but it was annoying none the less, especially because her wallet contained her official MRC ID, among other important things.

Maya ran after the guy. Hopefully she could solve this without a fight.

It was cold and not for the first time Aura wished her aura would protect against heat. Still she was luckier then many who supposed as she continued on. If it rained or more likely snowed she would be fine. She had come out to blow off a bit of stress but had found few gang members who wanted to play. The incident with Hades was convinced many fighting was not the best option. She ignored the people around her, her long white coat hid most of her body and a floral scarf was wrapped around her neck hiding her face up to her eyes.

It was then she heard a girl shout which brought her to attention. Aura knew her from a brief time at the mansion. SHe had met her with another girl names amy she thought? she could not recall. She also did not know her power but knew she had been at Xavoirs.

She owed them no favors, no help. They had locked her away in a cage like an animal and while short lived Aura had never really gotten past it. Aura knew enough by her face however to know she was MRC. The man was an obvious mutant and one Aura would need to find and help after this was over.

She swear in three tongues almost silently to herself. She would regret this she knew. This was a bad idea and yet what choice did she have? The man was being chased by the MRC and the mrc were not to be trusted, not with the files she had obtained, Human lapdogs, nothing more.

Aura took a defensive stance close to the path the man would take, and without any flourish or show, the solid transparent pink light that was her Aura appeared around her body, two eight inch sword blades extending from her finger tips. "I am Aura, Defender of Mutants. Keep running kid, I will cover you" she said knowing this was a bad idea. This was far to public and other MRC officers would likely wind up inbound as well.

Adder slipped the wallet out of sight in his own pocket, tucking it in safely and casually bringing his hand out again to keep attention away from his pocket. Unnoticed, unnoticed, he was moving away -

Then the shout, and his ears tucked against his skull. Had she just noticed that her wallet was gone, or had he been spotted? The question hung enough to keep him moving casually for a moment, but then he heard his target's foot press against the ground with more force. She was after him, and he instantly bolted forward in a dead sprint.

Adder could run very fast, but lack of nutrition kept his stamina limited. He had to manage his resources, and he didn't know what value the stolen wallet had yet. He couldn't find out until he was well away and no longer in pursuit.

That was his expectation, but then someone else stepped out, and alarm at the swirling colour pushed carefully hoarded adrenaline into his blood.

And then her words caught him off guard enough for him to stumble. His bare toes caught on a rough concrete edge in the sidewalk, skin not tearing but sliding when he expected it to grip.

He shifted his balance, redistributing his weight and correcting himself before he could fall, and inhaled sharply. He was more than close enough to separate the woman's scent from everything else, and hold onto it. She would seek him out after to claim her perceived favour, no doubt, and he didn't intend to be surprised.

He nodded briefly to her, still in the first recovering step, and then darted around the corner.

Of course he ran.

Maya caught a glimpse of ears and canine features before the guy broke into a full sprint and rounded the corner. Mutant, then. She felt bad about it already; she did not mind the money in her wallet, but having the MRC badge out there could become a problem. Also, not she wanted to catch up with the guy just to see if he needed help.

Unfortunately, as she rounded the corner too she came face to face with someone else.

>>"I am Aura, Defender of Mutants. Keep running kid, I will cover you"

OH SH*T.

To say that Mirror was terrified of the pink serial murderer was an overstatement... but not a big one. She pulled up short, freezing up for a moment as the guy got away behind Aura, and the girl drew her blades.

"Oh come on" she protested, throwing up her hands "He stole my wallet! And honestly I don't even care about the money. Guy's gotta live right? But I can't let him run away with a police badge. Seriously Aura I'm not the bad guy here."

Because clearly, she was.

The girl stopped, that was good fortune for her. Aura's planned blow would have been crippling but not aimed to kill. Fighting people who had a healer on staff made things a bit more fun. In such an open area to she knew this would have to be quick or she would be covered in MRC agents and their was no point is dieing now.

Aura had to smile despite the situation. "Being the bad guy is perspective. To me your the evil one. A low life working for animals, who will try and kill every last one of us, an aide to future genocide. Be happy this vile woman before you tries not to kill her own kind" she said not making any move toward Mirror. Though her tone was very serious.

"Still if you report that badge missing and his description that guy will have every officer available looking for him. If we can find him, he will return the wallet, you have my word but i want you to look the other way and not report this. If you do i will have to defend him and well that would be a lot of funerals and hospital visits" she said even as the blades she had out seemed to flow back and fade into the rest of her aura. Her overall aura seemed to compress and then faded from view though the exposed parts of her face, barely noticeable.

"I would have stopped him if you had yelled thief. Your still Cute by the way " she said With a smile. Aura turned and began to move in the direction the Thief had gone. Weather Mirror took her offer did not matter, she could be dealt with later. The Thief however might not be able to defend himself as well as she could and if not would end up caged a fate Aura wished on no one.

Adder didn't slow down when he rounded the corner, but his ears turned back to keep listening as he ran. Did the two women know each other? Police badge?

Uh.

He'd just.

Stolen a cop's wallet.

On the street, in public, during the day.

He didn't care what she said about just wanting it back. Spending time with a cop you had literally just stolen from was not a good survival strategy. As soon as he was away, he'd ditch the wallet less whatever he could use, and lay low. Go into hiding for a bit, let her forget his face. He could remember her scent. Scents were easier than faces.

Adder glanced back to be sure that neither woman was in sight, then ducked into the hollow of an old building's basement window and tucked himself out of sight.

Pressed against the window, he forced his breathing to ease off and quickly shuffled through the wallet, stuffing the cash into his coat and avoiding even touching the badge.

>> "Being the bad guy is perspective. To me your the evil one. A low life working for animals, who will try and kill every last one of us, an aide to future genocide. Be happy this vile woman before you tries not to kill her own kind"

Maya couldn't help rolling her eyes. She should have learned long ago that you can't argue with crazy; this time she didn't even know what Aura was talking about. Animal? Genocide? Vile woman?... Did she miss the part about her being a mutant?
Just... whut?...

>>"Still if you report that badge missing and his description that guy will have every officer available looking for him. If we can find him, he will return the wallet, you have my word but i want you to look the other way and not report this. If you do i will have to defend him and well that would be a lot of funerals and hospital visits"

"I am not trying to hurt him." Maya frowned, not sure if Aura would believe anything she said "Seriously, did you miss what the Mansion is for? I wanna see if he wants help too."

Before he ends up in the Sanctuary.

>>"I would have stopped him if you had yelled thief. Your still Cute by the way "

"Whut?" Maya blinked, following Aura as she walked in the direction the boy had run in. The woman was clearly off her rocker. Threaten to kill her one minute, flirt with her the next?... The mirrorwalker shook her head. Just her luck.

"So... how do we find him?"

"Yes the Mansion trains mutants to control their powers and that Humans are as safe as house cats. The Human Animal will however one day betray us and try and kill every last one of us. That is evaluation and nature, the old species dies out and the new one replaces it." she said simply as she looked for clues where their runner might have gone. "Only difference is Humans are trying to wipe us out. They have even started work on a cure which after completion will eventually find itself into a bomb to cure us on mass" she shivered in disgust, leaving out the Mutant she knew headed that particular company was headed by an insane mutant.

Could they find him now? That was the question and one to which Aura had no idea. Their were few people on the street's and seemingly no evidence. "You won't like this....but go with it" she said her pace speeding up, not really wanting to spend more time this exposed then she had to.

Another hundred yards down the road A man stood outside a bar near an alleyway smoking a cigarette. Aura judged by the length that he had been outside a few minutes or so which might have been enough. Aura walked up to him and quickly forming an Aura blade brought the weapon to the man's neck. "Did you see a guy running in the last minute or two?" she asked the terrified man describing the person they were looking for as well. Shaking the man pointed to a building they had passed two doors down.

Looking back to Mirror she smiled. "Well we check's this guys information or keep checking but if the guy is still running he may be gone by now" she said looking back to Mirror to see what she wanted to do. Terrified people would lie to save their own hide after all. It was a gamble she knew but she had no other leads and any tracking she knew required dirt.

Adder had his weight shifted and was about to creep out of his hiding place when his nose and ears warned him to press himself back into the corner. The concrete bit into his flesh with cold and corners, and he quite literally held his breath as two particular sets of feet headed past.

He exhaled slowly to keep the sound down, waited a heartbeat more, and then peered out.

Only to curse his timing, for someone had just pointed right at him. He darted back in, hoping he hadn't actually been seen, and tried to figure out what to do next. Through the window? Noisy, and risky since he didn't know what was inside this building. If there was a route through it, then it might work - a lot of people weren't willing to crawl through broken windows - but that chance was, well, risky.

Back to the street, then. More running, which wasn't a great idea either. He'd have to slow them down enough to get properly out of sight, somewhere he could truly hole up. The wallet? He had what he could use out of it. She'd definitely check to see if her badge was still in there.

He quickly shoved the badge into a different spot, just to make that search take longer, and then dropped it in the middle of the sidewalk as he took off running again.

>>"Yes the Mansion trains mutants to control their powers and that Humans are as safe as house cats. The Human Animal will however one day betray us and try and kill every last one of us. That is evaluation and nature, the old species dies out and the new one replaces it. Only difference is Humans are trying to wipe us out. They have even started work on a cure which after completion will eventually find itself into a bomb to cure us on mass"

"I'm not... whut" Maya shook her head. She really was not equipped to deal with the amount of crazy this woman was. She didn't even know how Ms. Taylor managed to do it. Seriously.

"I can't even." the mirrorwalked sighed, happy that the pink horror was not actively disemboweling her, and followed in her footsteps. If Maya herself didn't scare the poor dog boy away, Aura definitely would.

>>"You won't like this....but go with it"

"I'd rather n..." Maya started, but Aura was already poking at someone's throat with a knife "... why do I even bother."

>>"Well we check's this guys information or keep checking but if the guy is still running he may be gone by now"

He wasn't. As they neared the building, the figure bolted from a small corner. Maya reacted a moment later, slamming a hand into a nearby shop window and merging out of another one a few second later, standing in the wolf-eared guy's way, with her hands held up. She was not trying to grab him, just slop him down.

"Hey! It's cool! We're cool. I'm a mutant too. I wanna help."

Turned out the guy was telling the truth. Aura took back her blade for a second before making a quick slice cutting the cigarette down almost to the man's lip. "This did not happen and your smoke break is over" she said and turned away from the man to look upon the Mutant they had chased. On the bright side the man got to live longer and Aura could only hope people chalked it up to him being drunk.

She watched as Mirror seemed to dissopear into the window only to come back out another one. She smiled seeing the power, it looked interesting and Aura wanted to know more about it but she had a strong thought that was unlikely to happen.

Aura caught up from the other side of Adder a few moments later but still heard Mirror's comment. "Buttercup here is A Mutant cop you robbed. Help likely includes bar's. I wish to help to and would never turn you in as i am quite wanted myself" she said proudly considering her options.

SHe had to wait to see how the kid would react and how well she could manipulate Mirrors reactions. She could only hope this guy distrusted police enough to side with her over her Mansionite friend. Perhaps she would get to see just what Mirror could do as well if things went to far south.

The cop's footsteps vanished, rather than paused. What happened? Adder risked a glance over his shoulder, but only the glowing dangerous-protective woman was there -

He smelled the cop again, ahead of him, FFFFFFF

Adder was better at starting to move than stopping, but he managed to drop his weight enough to not fly head over knees. She wasn't killing him, though, or immediately arresting him... although she might out of anger when she realized that he'd dropped her wallet well behind him, and no longer had it to give it back. Unobservant people, making things worse for him.

... of course, she had been unobservant enough for him to steal her wallet in the first place...

"I don't care if you're a mutant," he said flatly, ears trying to both pin against his head and swivel to keep track of every scrap of sound. "Mutants, humans, it doesn't affect what people will do, only what they can do."

He shifted to put both women in front of him rather than front and back. "What are you wanted for?" Besides, if she were wanted, she wasn't very good at going unblamed for things, and anyone who was known would eventually be caught. The more wanted they were, the harder it was for them to stay free.

He didn't want to be imprisoned, bound down and captured, but he also didn't want to get caught and probably killed for associating with someone with a price on her head. He just wanted out.

The guy skidded to a halt before he would have slammed into her, and Maya was grateful for that. She had enough training to deal with the collision, but tackles were not her favorite thing none the less.
Aura was close behind, and blocked the escape route from the kid.

>>"Buttercup here is A Mutant cop you robbed. Help likely includes bar's. I wish to help to and would never turn you in as i am quite wanted myself"

Whoa, way to betray some trust.

"I'm not a cop!" Maya snapped "I'm with the X-men."

Nuances. They mattered.

>>"I don't care if you're a mutant. Mutants, humans, it doesn't affect what people will do, only what they can do... What are you wanted for?"

He clearly didn't trust either of them. It sucked, but it could have been worse. He could have trusted Aura.

"What isn't she wanted for" Maya muttered, folding her arms "Look, kid, I'm not gonna arrest you. I've been exactly where you are. Three years, between Seattle and here. I wanna help. We have a safe haven for mutants. Food, shelter. School. Training. I'm not gonna drag you anywhere. Just wanted to make sure you knew it's an option."

"The same X-men who who work with the police. The X-men are so far the only people who have managed to take me to prison. The MRC is about as not cop as the FBI, besides the kid likely saw your badge already." she said honestly not seeing much difference. The MRC to Aura were a serious threat to Mutant kind and what's worse most of them were to foolish to know it.

"As opposed to our not cop friend over there, i have no issues with my record. I was found guilty of 147 homicides in which could be directly linked to me as well as 645 suspected murders, 23 police homicides, over 100 cases of breaking and entering, several counts of grand theft auto, extortion, a lot of robbery including a bank, a museum a hospital,a zoo....oh, and 459 cases of animal cruelty by means of cooking and eating said animals or did they drop that last one? Of course this is just what they could link me to" she said casually not really caring about the illegalness of her record.

"Our friend here left out two options I am sure by mistake. Their is sanctuary which houses any Mutant who requires it regardless of what people like her might feel. Sanctuary is easy to find if you want to, the other she might not have known about. Their is a housing area in the city in neutral hands. Either way food and shelter would be free." she said simply, though her eyes glanced at Mirror every few moments in case she attacked. She figured this was unlikely but she had no idea of the full depth of her power either, she might be a match for her.

"In the end it's up to you of course. You could just walk a way and do what you want. I would even be willing to provide cover should this lady decide to pursue you. I have collected a lot of badges over the years but never in MRC one. I try real hard not to kill mutants. " she finished. Now it was up to the kid to decided his path. She was pretty sure it would not be with her. "I am a terrible person but an honest one" she said simply as she let the weapons on her hand's melt back into her overall aura which seemed not to gain the mass it took in.