Shard huddled under an overhang from a currently empty shop as a light rain fell outside.  Most of the right side of her body was covered in red and purple crystal, shopping just at the crux of where her neck reached her head and around her elbow.  A green splotch of crystal covered her left cheek, slowly creeping its way down her neck.  She'd have to melt some of it off soon, her neck had gotten hard to move and soon it would overtake her elbow causing similar difficulties.  Beside her sat a red crystal wolf and upon her shoulder perched a blue crystal falcon.

For the past week, this had been Shard's home, such as it was.  Recently, she had found a warm hoodie and her pants were currently mostly without holes.  One of her pets had recently stolen her a pair of shoes, and they even mostly fit.  Her sleeping bag was beside her, protected from the worst of the rain by the overhang.  For most of her adult life and much of her pre-adult life she had lived on the streets, fending for herself with the help of her pets as best she could.  It wasn't an easy life, but it was the only one she knew.  At least her pets kept most of the riffraff away from her.  

Whenever she could, Shard panhandled for money, when her crystal was too visible, and when she couldn't she stole what she needed to survive.  It wasn't glamerous, it wasn't easy and some would say it wasn't ethical, but it was what it was.  There was a certain candor, a certain frankness to living on the streets: subterfuge and illusion were rare, it simply was what it was.  She wouldn't have known what to do in the larger world had she wanted to.

As Shard stood watching the crowds, dusk was slowly approaching.  Come nightfall, she'd go in search of food.  Sometimes she'd be lucky and find abandoned meals in the trash or on tables, but often it meant sending out a pet to steal what she needed.  Her stomach rumbled in hunger.  It wouldn't be long.

Lexi was five minutes away from the end of her shift. It has been a quiet day, which was why she was already seated in her car, keys in ignition, hand just hovering over them when the com buzzed into her ear, announcing an incoming call. Her hand slid rapidly to her ear, pushing the small, almost invisible indentation of the earpiece that allowed her to open up a safe channel for communications.

“Kappa-Three, confirm location.” The harsh, demanding voice of a male analyst rang into her ear. Her eyes darted to her surroundings as she automatically replied, giving the SUPER analyst her exact location. She felt her pulse grow faster, her body tensing up in anticipation of what would follow. Mutant sighting, mission assigned.

“Iota threat detected. Sending GPS coordinates and mission briefing.” The analyst informed her in his monotone voice. Lexi’s eyes darted over to her work phone, sitting in its support, over the air vent of the car, just as the display lit up, only one notification popping up – ‘incoming’. Her thumb found the home button, the screen filling up with information as her fingerprint unlocked it.

The phone chimed for a brief moment, notifying its owner that all data has been downloaded. “Download complete.” Lexi replied, her reply once again automatic. Her mind was already focusing on the information on the screen, her eyes skimming over the briefing – low level warning, crystal manipulator, crystal constructs – Lexi was absorbing all information available for as soon as she accessed the GPS coordinates, the mission brief was set to auto-delete as a security measure.

“Partner assigned: Delta-Nine.”

Lexi’s eyes went up from the screen, her eyebrows furrowing at the information. A Delta? A mutant? Kappas and any of the mutant agents working in tandem was not the most usual occurrence - for obvious reasons. It certainly was a first for her. Mentally, Lexi shrugged. As an adapted, her performance wouldn’t be affected. It was the Delta that had to worry about it.

“End transmission.” The emotionless voice of the analyst concluded, a clicking sound in her ear signaling the end of the conversation. Lexi pulled herself from her thoughts. She looked over the brief one more time before clicking on the GPS coordinates – the text disappeared, the map of New York replacing it, with directions on how to get from her location to the sighting place traced over it. It wasn’t far, not even a mile away.

Lexi looked up. The daylight seemed to disappear faster than usual. It meant she needed to get there faster – the lack of light wasn’t in her advantage – her assignment might relocate if given enough time.

Starting the car, she drove out of the parking lot and drove over as fast as New York traffic allowed her.

A stark contrast could be drawn between the reaction Delta 9 had to the dispatch, and that of the respectable Kappa three.

She had been patiently waiting to get off. He had already taken a seat a bar. He cursed audibly as he heard the voice ring in his ear just as he was about to clock out early. "Delta-Nine, confirm location."

"Son of a B#$^&, really?" There was a pause on the other side. Come on, it was almost the #$%&ing WEEKEND! He gave his location as outside of the bar on the sidewalk. The chip always had a little wiggle room in it's GPS tracking, so they couldn't say he definitely was in the bar.

His index finger tapped the bar counter angrily as they populated the information onto his phone, concealing the naked lady in the background photo. He'd been asked to remove it several times. #$*& em, no one was as good at what he did as he was. The information on the target, as well as his partner, appeared on the screen. What did they want this mark dead? They usually only put him on cases where they wouldn't mind if the target didn't make it out of the confrontation.

He shrugged, looked up at the bartender, who was staring expectantly at him, awaiting his order.

"Go #$^* yourself." He grumbled at the innocent bystander, turning to barge angrily out of the building. The rendezvous was only a few blocks away. He knew he was partnered with a Kappa. No surprise there. He'd gone most of his life without his mutation; his service in the special forces before his mutation manifested was more than enough to make him a very dangerous person, even while in an nullifying field.

Cole climbed into his car. He started it. He drove to the location faster than New York traffic would allow, disobeying pretty much every traffic law in the book on the way.

He made it to the area first, swerving into a parking space, and keying up his phone to notify his mystery partner that he was on location. He wasn't sure what to expect, but it would probably just be another boring Wick clone. As the Soldier climbed out of his vehicle he scanned the area for anything that stood out.

It was getting dark quickly. They better hurry with this one; he had 18 drinks and whichever easy woman he could find to get to tonight.

Once in her past, Shard had been hunted, and she still had nightmares about it.  It had been the middle of the day and he'd come, seemingly out of nowhere.  A young man with black hair and cinnamon skin, looking all official in his fancy uniform.  Flashing his shiny badge and demanding she surrender peacefully, of course that was never going to happen!  Almost before her defiant answer had been uttered, ropes shot out from somewhere on her person and tried to wrap themselves around her arms and neck.  The razor sharp edges of a blue crystal falcon pet saved her, severing the rope and allowing her to run.  How long the chase lasted after that she wasn't certain, but in the end she managed to escape with her freedom in tact.  Blood was spilled during the attempt, some of it hers.  She would not be taken and she would not be tagged.  After that, she was forced to flee to another part of the city and lie low for a time.  She thought she had escaped for good and that they had forgotten about her.

The sun fast disappearing, Shard decided that she just couldn't wait any longer.  Creeping out from her hiding place, her wolf padded along beside her and her falcon remained stationary on her shoulder, talons digging slightly into her flesh.  She ignored the pain, it was minor and she'd experienced much worse.  Shoe-less with her feet covered in red crystal, her footsteps tapped lightly on the concrete of the road.  She rarely wore shoes, finding them constricting and uncomfortable.  Instead, she simply didn't melt off the pyscrystal on her feet.  It was much more comfortable.

As she looked for something edible, she ignored the stares she received.  She got them wherever she went and none of the stupid, weak humans mattered anyway.  She and her pets could tear their flesh apart and there was not a thing they could do about it, if she wanted to.  They were bugs.  

It was still early enough that some of the nearby restaurants had tables with half-eaten food out.  There, most of a bowl of pasta just asking to be eaten.  Climbing over a low barrier meant to separate the patio from the the street, she picked up the fork and began eating while keeping an eye on the street just in case copse should come and try to stop her.  They did that sometimes.  Pigs.

Haste caved to inaction in mere moments as he resigned himself to 16 drinks instead. The other agent was taking forever. Probably some old guy driving like an old guy. Just his #$%$in luck. He lit a cigarette, taking a deep breath of the sweet nectar of life that was nicotine, leaning against his car and glancing around, boredom showing openly on his features.

That was... Until he saw a wolf made of crystal walk past. The cigarette fell from his mouth, and his hand absently caught it on the way to the ground. Sure, he was shocked, but a pack of Mrarb Reds ran for @#$&ing murder these days. He ducked behind his car a bit, eyes locked on the pet, and then the woman it seemed to be escorting. Jesus, she wasn't exactly shy was she? That hawk stuck out like a sore shoulder.

He pulled his phone, opening the dispatch app, and notifying his partner of the sighting with the simple touch of a button. Now that they were linked together by HQ, communication was pretty straightforward. He took another drag of his death stick, closing the car door, and waiting for the girl to round the corner before crossing the street illegally, and placing his back against the wall, glancing quickly to see her climb over a restaurant barrier to... steal some left over food?

"@#^&, gotta eat, right?" He muttered under his breath. The streets were pretty much empty in this area at this time of day; it was just after the 9'o clock rush.

He would stay and watch right now; it was better to wait for back up in these cases, and he still had to finish his #$%&ing cigarette. He watched as a large, tatted up man emerged from the restaurant to try and shoo her off.

If only people would just leave her alone everything would be fine.  It wasn't as if she was stealing something that wouldn't just be thrown out anyway so she wasn't depriving anyone of their livelihood or anything.  Not that she would have given a damn if she was, but that really wasn't the point.  Quite literally, she was eating someone else's trash.  Unfortunately, whatever dumb human ran the restaurant didn't see things quite the same way.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shard saw the large tattooed man walk out the the restaurant and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he wanted: Her gone.  Well, she wasn't ready to leave yet and he could pretty much just go screw himself, for all she cared.  Big scary thug he might think himself, but he wasn't going to intimidate her.  Ignoring him, she continued eating.  

"Hey, get the hell out of here!"  He continued walking, puffing himself up to look intimidating.  Really, he just looked ridiculous.

"No."  The word was said between mouthfuls of food.  

"If you don't leave, I'll call the cops, mutie freak!"

"No."  Still eating.  Still ignoring him.  What wasn't ignoring him was her wolf who proceeded to pad up a few feet in front of her and growl menacingly at the man.  If he left her alone he wouldn't get hurt. Probably.  Then again, the nerve of him thinking he was so much better than her, she kind of wanted to hurt him.

Truth was, she didn’t plan to do Fast and Furious 9 while driving to the sighting but Lexi wasn’t Driving Miss Daisy either. Obeying some common traffic rules made sure she wouldn’t be pulled over by over zealous NYC cops and further delay her arrival at the scene. The phone’s display lit up as she neared the location, notifying her that her partner had reached the location of the sighting. Lexi wasn’t far either – a two-minute drive at most.

The area wasn’t crowded, with only the occasional passer by rushing one way or another. After all, this wasn’t one of the nice sides of town. Spotting a parking lot, Lexi swerved that way, deciding to walk the remaining distance and check the surroundings. It wasn’t that uncommon for mutants to walk in packs and she didn’t want any surprises once she and the Delta engaged the sighted mutant.

The phone lit up again, just as she was locking her car. Her partner had confirmed the sighting. Checking Delta 9’s exact location, she began her walk, her steps rushed but her eyes scanning the area carefully. Fortunately, no mutants were lurking around, just waiting to save their friend from the two SUPER agents.

She looked at her phone – the pin on the map that marked her partner position told her that Delta 9 was just around the next corner. Showtime. She approached carefully, unsure of what she would walk into, and paused for a few moments to survey the scene.

Well. The mutant certainly wasn’t difficult to spot. Seated at a restaurant table, blue crystal falcon perched on her shoulder, red wolf by her side and a big tattooed man trying to kick her out. Neither of those were exactly subtle. Since the man at the restaurant would keep the target occupied for a few more moments, Lexi’s eyes shifted, looking for her partner. And she found him, not far away from the scene unfolding in the restaurant. Leaning against a car, puffing cigarette smoke. Yeah, he wasn’t exactly subtle either. She pushed a button on her phone, to notify him that she was there.

Taking a breath, she began to move, approaching Delta 9 from the side. “Surroundings are clear.” she announced, skipping straight to business – at the restaurant the tattooed man was shouting about calling the cops – it wasn’t the kind of audience the two SUPERs needed. She leaned against the car as well, her eyes focused on the mutant as the crystal wolf moved and growled menacingly. She and her partner would need to intervene fast. “I suggest you approach the target first. It’s best if we keep my nullifying ability a surprise.” Her eyes shifted to the Delta, not exactly looking like she was waiting for him to approve her plan.