The day started simple enough. She got up, did routine things like personal hygiene and breakfast, called family to get plans for the Fourth of July cemented, and so on and so forth. Uneventful. Work would come later. For the moment, Amelia was focused on her own things.

Then, her SUPER communications had called her to action. Be on the lookout for one, ex-Agent Tanner. Wanted for desertion. He'd even sent a giant middle finger of a video to the higher ups. To work, she had gone.

Amelia had spent several hours scouting various locations associated with Tanner's bio loadout. They hadn't turned up leads. She'd thought outside the box, and tried places she herself might have gone if she were trying to go into hiding. No dice. Then, her communications device had alerted her to the news. They'd found him. Agents were inbound to a location. A team was in place.

Amelia had hopped in her car the moment the notice had gone out, and gone to the place. It was now an hour since the notice had gone out. Details were sketchy about exactly what had happened during the altercation. And then, details got even hazier as strange things started happening.

Tanner and Stalker were nowhere to be found. SUPER didn't have much information. They weren't sharing what they had. The only thing they'd shared was that there was a strange glowing area. It was being secured. People had vanished around it... and people had appeared. We're still appearing. With all the commotion, it was practically impossible for SUPER to actually secure a thing. At least to her eye.

She could have sworn she'd spotted a freaking dinosaur at the eclipse festival, but that was probably just a misunderstanding. Tanner's power, from the bio, was listed as time related. But there was no way he'd summoned a freaking dinosaur into the middle of New York.

It was getting later into the evening now, and things still hadn't been resolved. Good lord. It was a mess. Agent Mellitus walked the grounds, careful not to be too obvious as she catalogued and handled new mutants on the scene. And then, one of them decided they didn't much like the situation there were in fresh out of the glowing area. They charged her, dropping to all fours like a rhino. Complete with horn. She shoved off against their clothes with her power to get out of the way of the charge (ole), and---


And then, because there was no better way to put it, something weird happened. Weirder, even. She was walking. And then, she was falling or it felt like falling, but suddenly her feet were planted firmly on the sidewalk by--- by ---- well, it looked to be by Madison Square park. By 23rd and 5th. But not the Madison Square park she was used to. For one thing, the ads were slightly different. And for another... well, she'd accidentally shoved off the clothes of the mutant using her power. And he'd been much larger than her, so for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. She had launched herself through the glowing air. Thrown herself via her power into the unknown. And now. Now, Amelia looked around and took a survey of the scene.

No SUPER agents. Lots of confusion. Remnants of an Eclipse festival. A lot of people she didn't know. Amelia walked away from the glowing mass behind her, to put some distance between that while she explored.

Who was in charge here, she wondered.

Madison Square Park was a mess. The moment things began to go to hell, the alarm went out to all possible parties involved - including the X-men. Mirror, who had been busy procrastinating the day away, was in uniform and geared for a possible fight in record time, making his way downtown through the mirrors of the city as fast as he could. It still took time to work his way across all the reflecting surfaces New York had to offer, before he caught the first glimpse of the...

"What the hell is that?..."

Portal, indeed. All the authorities were already on scene, but none seemed to know exactly what was going on, or who was supposed to be in charge. Gawain gathered in a short amount of time that there were people appearing and disappearing, and that the standing theory was that the portal led to some kind of another dimension, similar to theirs, but not quite the same. One thing people knew for sure what that some who crossed over were mutants, and some of their powers freaked out. It was an all hands on deck sorta situation.

Everyone had their hands full. Mirror, as the person with the fastest means of travel, took it on himself to monitor the perimeters the police had set up, make sure nothing got glossed over and no one snuck away with questionable intentions; he also kept his eyes on the media and other busybodies who were likely to create more distractions. He slipped from one mirror to the other, checking alleys and corners, until...

"Ami?" Gawain blinked, happy to see a familiar face in the field, and waved at the girl with a grin "Hey! All hands on deck, huh? How are things looking so far?"

Police were out in force. That was a good sign of who was in charge. Whatever had happened, local law enforcement could work with her to sort it out. She worked for the government. Some cooperation would be in order. Amelia started towards the perimeter where uniformed officers were working, passing a reflective surface, and-- she stopped. A man was standing in that surface, in a ridiculous costume. And-- he knew her name.

Amelia did not know this man in uniform. But he knew her. And from the uniform, she got the feeling he was probably some sort of vigilante with a bad record for covering their face to conceal their identity. Like one of those mutants SUPER makes extra efforts not to bother with. What were they? The X-men? Ignore. Disengage, if engaged.

6'2", short dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Average looking American male, somewhere in his 20s. Nice smile, but kind of boyish. How did he know her? Her face went blank.

This... this didn't seem like the same place she had been. And he knew her, but not her her. A version of her, maybe? That was so stupid. So silly. But she'd just gone through some sort of weird portal, and SUPER ops had said Tanner had time. Stalker had space. Behind her was a portal. Her mind ran a mile a minute as she concluded maybe he knew her but she didn't know him because this man was from the other side of the tracks, so to speak, and this was--- problematic.

Whatever this was, she needed to gather intelligence. A stitch in time saves nine. The more she knew when she returned through the portal, the better SUPER could respond to the situation. Recovering displaced mutants, tagging and tracking. Studying the effects. All of that would be good to had information on when she spoke to those in charge. The first thing on the agenda, though, would be dealing with first contact. The man she had stared blankly at for a good five seconds.

"Hey." Amelia tried for 'stressed but putting a good face on it' in a look, and probably pulled it off fairly well. Not much acting required. The woman glanced over her shoulder at the scene behind her, then back to the man. "Things are Problematic." She said. "Really need to contain this. Need to get with the person in charge and sort things out. Do you have any idea what's happening?"

Casual digging might get her information which she lacked. Hopefully, he might drop his name at some point. Until then, mentally she referred to him as Mutant X. Mutant X knew Mirror Amelia. Hopefully, Mirror Amelia wasn't wandering around in the background where X could see.

Gawain stepped out of the mirror to stand by Ami, taking a break from patrolling while they exchanged information. He had not met his ex-girlfriend very often since his return from the crazy trip, but they had parted on good terms, and Ami, from what eh heard, was dating a friend now. Besides, it really was an all hands on deck kinda situation, and at least Ami could be trusted, more than the police bots.

>>"Hey. Things are Problematic."

Gawain arched an amused eyebrow. To the point, as usual.

"Yeah. No s**t, Sherlock."

>>"Really need to contain this. Need to get with the person in charge and sort things out. Do you have any idea what's happening?"

"Well... my best guess is..." Gawain widely gestured at the park "Big a** rip in space and time with random people coming through? That's my scientific opinion anyway." he sighed "The cops are struggling to contain it, MRC is all over the place, and we are spread thin, especially with Sam awol again. Most of the X's are on perimeter duty, unless their powers are needed elsewhere. As for who's in charge... your guess is as good as mine." he shrugged.

This man, Agent Mellitus decided, was not someone that she cared for. Rude. Sarcastic. Dismissive and quick to judge. If her alternate self knew him, Amelia reasoned, it had to be in a friendship sense. Not the biblical. He really wasn't her type. If this frankness and his overtly- familiar time were the result of a relationship, past or present, Mirror Amelia had to have terrible taste in men. For her, he wouldn't have had a chance in a million years.

At least he confirmed her suspicion. "That'd what I was afraid of..." she said. Rip in space time. Portal. She had never heard of MRC, so that meant either she was uneducated, or this was another world. He was an X. She didn't know Sam. And he still hadn't figured out that she wasn't from around these parts. As for who was in charge--

"Us, then." Amelia said tersely. "Were in charge. Communicate with your people and let them know we're cordoning off the area until we can stabilize this. We need to take note of who is coming through, and make sure they don't cause trouble. Mirror world mutants are top priority. They're likely scared and confused."

She paused. This was how SUPER would handle it. Maybe they was too different from what this worlds Amelia would do? She could only hope her other self was sensible and in a position of power on this world. Because she was going to have to bluff and flaunt authority like she was.

"I can coordinate with police." She finished.

Humans were low priority. Mutants, high. She'd use the xmen because it was too important a situation to ignore them. Any Syndicate or criminals she spotted, she'd handle. Hopefully, X man would play along.

>>"Us, then. Were in charge."

Well, there was Ami, then. Less friendly than usual, but definitely on top of her sh*t, as ever. Gawain blinked. He was not entirely sure what she meant by us, but before he could ask, she already moved on with the to-do list.

>>"Communicate with your people and let them know we're cordoning off the area until we can stabilize this. We need to take note of who is coming through, and make sure they don't cause trouble. Mirror world mutants are top priority. They're likely scared and confused."

"My people?" Gawain's eyes narrowed slightly. Ami was acting... weird. She was not technically on the X-team, she used to be a police trainee, and she said 'mutants' in some strange connotation that was not very much like her...

>>"I can coordinate with police."

"Okay, whoa, hey, hold on a second" Gawain held up a hand before she could march off "Um... I know we have not met for a while, but... what are you doing here, exactly? I thought you were here with the police... Is everything okay? And what do you mean by us? Because if you think you and I should be in charge of this, I'm not sure I agree..."

It took a great deal of her resolve not to roll her eyes at the man and growl. Vigilantes, always shirking responsibility in favor of freedom of action. They didn't have to have defined responsibilities, no, they were helping the little guy as they saw fit. Who did they answer to? Themselves! Take charge of av ad situation? No... that's more a job for the police. Work with them? Um. Sorry. Too busy running from them because I am technically what we in the business call a criminal. Amelia cut her mental rant short before she started verbally digging at this mirror world mutant.

She donned her most winning sincere frown. "It's a really difficult situation," she said, tone one that hopefully made her comment sound completely fair. "Some assistance would be appreciated. I'm not quite sure how well the police are handling it, or if government agents are responding." She was a police officer, then? Okay. "I was off duty. I got here as fast as I could. Excuse the brave face, but I'm just trying to get this sorted out and help everyone get a grasp on the situation before it gets too out of hand."

Was that fair? Help getting a foothold by the portal front? Could he, would he do that? He hated the idea of leadership.

"I'm not asking you to lead," she sighed, acting best she could. They were old friends, right? "I'm just asking for a little help. For old time's sake. Come on, man."

---

Across the area, elsewhere and largely out of sight, the other Amelia worked alongside other officers to help get ahold of the situation. Some unknown mutants had shown up. There were acting strangely. Police on the scene hadn't quite known how to handle what was going on. About an hour after it had started, someone had shown up. A detective from the MRC branch in Richmond, Virginia. He'd seemed more aware of what was happening. Together, they were handling violent mutants and humans.

For some reason, the detective seemed familiar. But she couldn't place him. The detective seemed to think there was some sort of disturbance in time, and probably space. He'd mentioned something about an airplane and time... she really hadn't followed his logic. But it was true, these people were acting out of place. And she thought she could see some glowing area in the distance.

>> "It's a really difficult situation. Some assistance would be appreciated. I'm not quite sure how well the police are handling it, or if government agents are responding."

The police, in short, were not handling it at all. Gawain could see that. The X-men were better organized, but smaller in numbers, and even with the help of powers like his, it was not an easy task to keep up with the panicked civilians, the swirling portal thingy, and the random people that kept showing up out of nowhere. Today was looking to be a long day... And Ami was not making it shorter by acting weird.

>>"I was off duty. I got here as fast as I could. Excuse the brave face, but I'm just trying to get this sorted out and help everyone get a grasp on the situation before it gets too out of hand."

Gawain blinked. Okay, so emotions were running a little high, and Ami was trying to stay on top of things. Like everyone else. She was not currently an X, and apparently off police duty. And still, she was trying to do something, because it was all hands on deck. Gawain sighed.

>>"I'm not asking you to lead. I'm just asking for a little help. For old time's sake. Come on, man."

Okay, that sounded... both more and less like Ami. Gawain shook his head.

"Okay, fine. I'll go let the X's know... whatever you want me to tell them."

What did she want him to tell the Xmen? Well. Probably something similar to what she'd said to smirk man earlier. Eventually, she needed to learn his name.

But what she'd said earlier, she decided, might be too much for this group. Mutants on her side were more secretive, more dangerous, so that a group of mutant vigilantes had to hide their real identical rather than use them openly. This man wasn't wearing a mask.

Amelia looked at him, questioning with her eyes. "Whatever they can do to help the police, and to either set up a perimeter or to help the people displaced by that glowing thing--" she pointed at Tanner's damned monstrosity. She'd decided it was his fault, whatever it was. He'd gone so far off the reservation, it wasn't even funny. This breach was going to cause problems for days, maybe months to come. Amelia finished her sentence amiably. "--would be greatly appreciated."

It was up to his people how they responded. Clearly, she wasn't going to get him to man up and take charge. But then, on her side of things such an idea was a hilarious way to get yourself arrested or worse. She'd play things by his rules. When in Rome.

"If you've got comms, we should organize. You and I could communicate between your team and the police. And--" The sound of stomping hooves against grass brought a memory back to her.

Hadn't this whole mess started because she'd evaded a charging rhino mutant and crashed into this, for lack of a better term, portal? He's been charging... so where had he gone? She thought she knew. Amelia did not look behind her. From the X-man's position, he could see behind her without turning. Her voice was deadpan blandness as she asked him. "There's a rhinoceros mutant behind me, isn't there?"

There was. And yes. It had finally found her. It had a grudge. And it was getting ready to charge.

---

They split up, Amelia and the detective. Drake. That was the name. She'd finally placed the face. He was the jerk who'd nearly hit someone with his squad car on Halloween, during her date with Mirror. During the zombie outbreak. He'd been there when her power had activated. What a small world it was. He went to help out with setting a perimeter with an MRC unit that had just arrived . Which left her to coordinate with other responders, closer to the glowing area.

Amelia moved to talk to a group of EMTs. She helped them find the wounded in the area. With all the confusion, people were getting hurt. And some were simply acting out of their minds, talking about other worlds.

Ami had the upper hand this time. She was a police contact, which was useful, because trust between X-men and cops have been a little shaky since the METAs got introduced. Gawain was in no position, as an individual or as a member of the team, to decline doing whatever made the chaos a little less chaotic around the portal.
Talking about chaos, though...

>>"Whatever they can do to help the police, and to either set up a perimeter or to help the people displaced by that glowing thing--"

"Uhh..."

There were cars and people milling around, and also dust and some smoke, but some things were easier to spot than others.

>>"--would be greatly appreciated."

"Um... Ami?..."

Yup, that was... definitely not a car.

>>"If you've got comms, we should organize. You and I could communicate between your team and the police. And--"

"AMI?"

She finally got it. She paused, looking almost picturesque with the bulky shape in a cloud of dust in the background, and Gawain suddenly felt like he was doing a slow-mo routine.

>>"There's a rhinoceros mutant behind me, isn't there?"

"Yup, there is."

Gawain grabbed Ami out of the way just in time. There really was not much space to get away, other than back into the window that he had come from, and then immediately into the next as the previous one shattered behind them.

"How the hell did you piss that guy off?!..."

Well crap.

They hardly even had time to do the bullfighter routine before it was past them, a man in tattered clothing (though still clothed, thankfully!), with rhinoceros features that probably made life real difficult. His hands had shifted closer to hooves since last she'd seen him, and the features on his head had become more pronounced. His skin was dark gray, like stone, and yeah. He still looked mad. Even though it seemed like he'd managed to get back home without event. Some mutants have a nasty tendency to look gift horses in the mouth.

Into the glass, they went, and she hardly had time to contemplate the strangeness of this mutant's power. Little details came in as events happened fast.

She didn't like being manhandled. That was obvious from the way she grimaced and tried to shove him away, even though he'd probably saved her life.

The glass shattered as the rhino crashed into it... but she had suddenly switched vantage points, so that she was looking from a slightly different angle of another window nearby.

He was asking her a question. She still didn't know his name. For the moment, since he seemed to be able to travel between panes of reflective glass (and possibly mirrors?), she mentally called him... window pane. Windows probably would have rolled off the tongue easier, but... he was also a pain. So window pane it was. Now how would she reply to that query?

"Didn't I say people were turning violent?!" She changed the subject with a stubborn flare to her tone. "He's scared and confused. Whatever is happening with that disturbance, it's doing something that is really bothering people." More tactfully, and quietly, she added "I didn't do a thing to him. He charged me earlier and I ran away. He must have been affected by the disturbance. That's one reason I was trying to get us to coordinate. Because--"

The rhino turned towards their new position. He saw them. Stomped his foot, and let out a visible puff of steam from his nostrils. Amelia finished quickly. "Some people aren't handling this situation well, and need help! It isn't just crowd control. We need to help that rhino man help himself. But first, run!"

This was humanitarian in nature, in the same way hurricane relief was humanitarian. Tanner's portal was a natural disaster. Mutants and humans were both dealing with it in their own ways, and needed aid, whether it was providing support as they dealt with the sudden changes around them, or catching them and preventing them from harming themselves or others if they turned violent and forfeited their right of protection in the eyes of the law. It's just that humans are easier to give humanitarian aid, since they're human. Not mutant. And thus, don't have nuclear bomb punches or wombat hands to play with when they get mad. They just have regular punches, and mob violence. But SUPER can't account for every single problem. They were just one organization under the umbrella of the DOD.

Amelia extricated herself from window pane's grip, but held onto his hand so they could travel.

Ami squirmed in his arms, clearly not comfortable with being rescued in such a familiar manner. Well, tough luck. Gawain needed a grip on her to pull her into the next surface before the rhino smashed the first one, and the last thing he wanted was for her to slip out of his hold and get stuck in a mirror she could not get out of. Not everyone was as happy to be stuck in mirrors as Becca from the other...
Not the time.

>>"Didn't I say people were turning violent?! He's scared and confused. Whatever is happening with that disturbance, it's doing something that is really bothering people. I didn't do a thing to him. He charged me earlier and I ran away. He must have been affected by the disturbance. That's one reason I was trying to get us to coordinate. Because--"

"Um... Ami?" her explanation was valid, but it also drew the attention of the rhino mutant, who was clearly not done yet with being scared and confused. Or violent.

>>"Some people aren't handling this situation well, and need help! It isn't just crowd control. We need to help that rhino man help himself. But first, run!"

"Good plan" Gawain noted, before he pulled Ami into another mirror, then another, for safety's sake. The rhino guy was still smashing glass between them, so Gawain kept moving, hoping to lure it to a place where the MRC could take it down...

Amelia Mellitus... that's Amelia Mellitus, beat cop, of the Earth in which she originated, worked alongside MRC to resolve the issue of the portal. Reports had finally come in to confirm that it was, in fact, portal-shaped. Whereas the whole situation involving the portal could easily be described as having had gone pear-shaped. Which is to say, to crap.

Badly. Things were going badly. People were arguing and causing conflicts. On the outskirts of the area, people who had come through the portal were shouting, screaming, pointing out how disorienting this was, and also how it wasn't their world. There was a small amount of looting, also. It wasn't their world, to reiterate. Some felt that meant legal consequences didn't apply. As she marched her ass across the outskirts of the park, watching for anything of note, she, uh... noted something. There was a rhinoceros mutant charging mirrors and glass windows.

Charging mirrors could mean a very wide number of things, but her personal experience had pared them down to one of only a few. Mirror was being chased. He/She was in danger. And Amelia, ex-girlfriend that she was, ought to help. The woman was too far to see the mirror shifter in the glass, but that didn't stop her from getting close to a shop window and waiting until Mirror showed up. With the way rhino was charging, it was only a matter of time. Not too far away, MRC people coordinated. Maybe some time she ought to join-- it seemed smart. They were a lot better equipped to handle certain crimes than other forces. There also was no requirement of doing Peking ticket duties, or other grunt police work young officers had to do. It wasn't the time and place to consider that. She moved on.

---

They ran. They... teleported. They moved through a mirror world, from place to place. He was still being handsy. He had a strong grip.

The rhino was relentless. That wasn't a sentence she'd expected to think. They train you for all sorts of things in SUPER, but evading wildlife isn't one of them. Even mutant wildlife. It was lucky for them they were in an area full of window panes in which to evade.

"There," she pointed towards the front of the window, out at something not too far away shown in the distance. Part of her wondered if what she saw was flipped like a reflection in the mirror. If what she saw on their right was in fact on their left, or vice versa. Window boy was the one in charge of transport thought, so he'd figure out how to get to the group of police officers she saw was any way he chose.

---

Amelia stared at the window in front of her, waiting. "Come on, Mirror... get to me so I can help you." It was a shame they didn't have big game hunting tranquilizer rifles. Pepper spray and a TASER would have to do. Amelia focused on filling the leather gloves hovering in the air in front of her with psychic constructs. Then, a gloved construct reached down to take the pepper spray from her utility belt. Any time, now... her real hands took up the TASER. It was one that shot barbs and landed electricity into the target through a wire. Good for a shot. Difficult to reload. How would a rhino mutant handle that, she had no clue. But there was one way to find out.

Rhino guy was not giving up on the chase, and therefore was in the process of creating a whole lot of property damage. Mirror just hoped they would not blame the costs on the X-men when the smoke (and glass) cleared. For now, that problem took second place to the immediate need to get away from the beast, and into a safe location, with Ami in tow. Gawain jumped from one mirror to the next, focusing on the longest possible distances, to gain some headway. And then suddenly they made a skip, and another one, and Gawain left the mirrorworld, pulling Ami behind him, and...

... and there was another Ami.

Rhinoceros mutant behind, Ami in tow, Ami ahead, and a whole lot of confusion.

This was really not something any X-man could have prepared for.

She didn't see herself at first.

"Dive!" Amelia shouted, and shoved the man in front of her forwards, out of the path of the charging rhino man. Unknowingly, she shoved him towards her alternate self.

It all happened fast. The Amelia from Gawain's earth cursed, bobbled with her TASER grip, regained control, and moved to catch him. The rhino stomped past the intervening space between girls. SUPER Ami deftly avoided him, and shot out a psychic foot ahead of him to trip the rhino's ragged pants leg as he bumbled by. She let of a hiss of pain as the psychic feedback caused her to feel the sympathetic impact on her blue foot construct before she let it expire. Cop Amelia cursed some more, as she tried desperately to not become a tangle of limbs with her ex on the ground.

The rhino man tripped, and slammed hard on his face. He'd been moving fast. For the moment, at least, he was down. There was no telling how long that'd last, or if he were even unconscious. His horny head was probably pretty thick.

Two Amelias were on the scene, and it definitely wasn't a mirror illusion.