Pissed was an understatement.

Ranger wasn't going to die and that fact brought the brunette mercy. Mercy in the form of a Remington 700 Police in .300 Win Mag. If she could put Michael down at close range, Noel knew she had no chance. So, it was Noel's idea to go long distance with this relationship. Michael had his stuffed in a case under the bed. Noel noticed because she'd tripped on it in the dark. Twice. Now it coming with her for a little personal revenge.

The memorymancer started where the fight went down. While it wasn't a great idea to go around licking the asphalt, Noel had seen the places where the brunette had touched the ground, where drops of sweat had fallen, where the other woman had pinned and pummeled Noel's beau. It took some time and it wasn't pretty, but eventually Noel got a faint hit.

She called herself Combatant. She lived across the rift in the upper levels of a hospital. She'd been trying to do the right thing too, but sometimes she got carried away.

Noel pondered these details as she packed a bag around the rifle case. Combatant wouldn't be getting carried away any more.

In the weeks since the rift opened, the powers that be had set up a rudimentary check system: metal detection wands, pat downs, visas, and all the kinds of things a girl who had murder in her heart didn't want to see. Noel had packed a duffel bag around the rifle and that would have to be good enough. One on one was her best and only chance to take Ranger's rifle across the rift.

It didn't pain her to lie, but Noel had never been very good at it. She lost plenty of time for all the times she answered wrong and erased the memory of the question and her answer, or she may have erased the discovery of the rifle from both her memory and the memory of her security agent. Eventually, Noel's pat down had happened so many times that a supervisor came to shuffle Noel along with an apology.

Thanks to Party Devon's visit, Haven knew cell phones didn't exactly work right across the rift, so Noel had gotten a signal booster in the hopes that if she stayed within a certain radius of the rift, she'd get a relay to her own universes' towers. The extra antenna made her slim cell phone fat and dorky, but it was worth it when Jude called to let Noel know that Michael was very nearly healed and trying to get himself discharged from the hospital. He also caught Noel up on the end of the fight with gory blow-by-blow detail that ended with the girl taking Ranger's hand gun. Great. One more thing to collect and smuggle across the rift once the girl was gone.

Noel found the hospital, knowing the name made that easy. She cased the upper floors from the tops of nearby buildings until she found a spot to set up across the way. There'd been an earth mutant that wasn't her target and a few others that rotated through, but once Noel saw her every hair stood on end and she pulled out her choice of weaponry: a magnificent beast of premium penetration and long range stopping power. It was obviously Ranger's gun with a Nightforce scope and an oversized bolt for better lock up. That man couldn't resist customizing his toys. It was just plain gravy that it made them a joy to shoot. Poetic justice that his rifle would be the thing that put Combatant down after she'd put Ranger down.

Because Combatant had to be stopped... didn't she?

Noel choked up on the stock in order to see through the scope. Why Ranger had the scope positioned that way didn't matter. Noel just had to use it like he would. It'd been a long time since she'd operated at range and there were so many things to remember. The temptation was real to take a taste and get a refresher course, but she was pretty sure she remembered enough. At this point his trust was more important to her than even Combatant's life, which was was now observing at 25 times magnification.

She looked... normal. Small, brunette, female. Noel recalled the look on Combatant's face when she was breaking Ranger's arm and the memorymancer adjusted the height of the stock to account for the changes that would occur after firing. Really, she should sit down and do the math for all this, but Noel was impatient. She just wanted it to get done. To be done and to feel... safe.

That's what this was about, she realized— Ranger was the biggest, baddest guy she knew. He was her rock. It was unsettling that this tiny lady lady had broken him down like a rotisserie chicken. Noel followed Combatant's path through the upper levels of the hospital, tracking her from window to window.

The girl stopped and looked around. Was this it? Noel thought she might have a clean shot and if the girl was onto her, she had to take it. Now.

Combatant put her hand out and a tiny kitten rubbed against the girl's fingers. She smiled, the faintest of smiles.

****.

Noel took the shot.

And missed. She missed by so much, Noel doubted the upper floors had any idea what had just happened.

Pissed was an understatement.

She packed it up in a hurry and jogged down the stairs, through the front doors of the hospital, and up a million gazillion more flights of stairs until she couldn't go upstairs any more. She knew there were more levels. She knew it. Noel circled around to the elevator and took a long moment to taste and then ruminate on the fingers that had pushed the upper level buttons.

Combatant. There. She found the girl's memories and copied which buttons she'd pushed to get to the correct level.

Only, now Noel was seeing what this place actually was. What this place meant to Combatant. And who Combatant was running from...

Ding.

The elevator doors opened to a small hallway and doors that Noel now knew were locked.

This was always her problem. The more she learned about others by getting into their head, the more she sympathized with them. No! Combatant was dangerous. And she had to be stopped.

Noel's phone buzzed with a text message and she suspended her moral quandary while she read a garbled message from Sveta.

//Prisoner other side rift SUPER help

The elevator doors started to close and that prompted Noel to slap her hand against the doors to reopen them enough for Noel to step through. Combatant knew more about SUPER than Party Devon had.

If this was real... If this wasn't some kind of joke or a trap... She might just need Combatant alive.

Noel knocked on the metal security door that kept the X-men hidden away.

Finally she was done on the other side. Maybe not totally, but enough to warrant her an excuse to come back to her side of the dimensional barrier. Needless to say, her time in the other world had been…interesting. She scouted ahead, trying to pave the way for the X-Men to see where they would be needed, if at all. As it turned out, the worlds were surprisingly similar but with enough differences to still be noted. The most important similarity was that there was still rampant crime. Agnes liked to think that she did her part in knocking in a few heads, but at the end of the day, the criminal element was just everywhere.

Even though it was sobering to know that she had so much work to do, Agnes was actually relieved to have a bit of downtime. Creeping through another world was something that Agnes excelled at, but this was on a whole other level. Now that she was back in her own world, she actually realized just how much she mixed it. There was something, like a scent in the air, that let her know that she was home again. It was a state that she didn’t want to give up.

Of course, who would think the abandoned floor of a hospital was actually a good idea of “home” certainly needed to have their head examined. Of course, no one would tell that to Agnes’ face.

Moving throughout the floor, dressed in just a pair of black yoga pants and a sports bra on, Agnes moved with precision through the floors. She passed some of her fellow X-Men who lived here but didn’t stop to converse with them for more than a few seconds before she pushed on. She had training to do and, thankfully, neither Roach nor Geo were avid users off the gym. It would be her territory alone for the day. Solitude was certainly something she appreciated.

However it would seem that she wouldn’t be allowed total solitude. As she moved down the hall, near one of the large windows, she stopped when she spotted a small, furry head peeking out from her from behind some boxes. She arched her brow, observing Bijou as the cat approached. She glowered at the cat for a second but as the feline began to rub against her leg she sighed. The smallest crack of a smile formed on her lips, one of the few that she ever gave. Reaching down, she gently stroked the cat’s head – only once – and stepped back.

A lifetime without being able to really touch anyone and the one living thing she can was a cat who followed her around despite the fact that she disliked absolutely everyone. Shaking her head, she turned and moved back down the hall with the cat padding softly after her. Great – she was going to have an audience while she worked out. How perfect.

The time flew but Agnes had managed to get a small workout in before there was strange sound filling the halls. Honestly it wasn’t a sound she was often used to hearing because, well, the only people who came up here didn’t have to knock. That alone made her suspicious but she couldn’t just ignore it either. If anyone was the self-proclaimed X-Men security force, it was her. Without minding her lack of dress, Agnes moved down the hall, away from the gym and towards the door that led to the only elevator up here.

With a tightening of her fists, Agnes came to a stop at the door. She peered through the hidden peep hole and eyed the person on the other side. Who were they? Female. Brunette. Disgruntled chip on her shoulder. Agnes had no idea and, for a moment, wondered if it was SUPER. Her fists tightened as she ground her teeth and called through the door.

”This is private property, Miss,” she replied cordially. ”We don’t have any open appointments or walk-ins.” Usually that was enough to dissuade curious people, but would it be enough to shoo this person away?

Noel tried for a tight smile and whatever showed on her face didn't feel friendly in the least. Combatant, on the other hand, was perfectly friendly considering that Noel had shown up at her secret clubhouse.

Ah. Screw it. Noel wasn't going to be able to concentrate with the other woman's face being all in one piece so rather than bother with words, Noel acted. Noel's fist snapped out in something between a backhand and a straight out punch. Her stance hadn't been ready to transfer the whole power of her body, so it wouldn't do as much damage as Noel wanted it to, but it would mask the fact that it was coming.

Yes. Actually that was quite cathartic. If Noel didn't think know Combatant would wipe the floor with her, she would have done it again. As it was Noel had to settle with a very large heaving sigh.

Right. It was time to negotiate.

"I know where SUPER is and I need someone to help me beat their asses. If you die doing this, you're off the hook. As it is, I'm pissed at you for punching first and asking questions later. You coming or not?"

There are several things to expect when opening a door. Some of these things include salesman, someone demanding money, a lost individual, maybe even the odd girl scout or two (damn those delicious Samoa cookies). The last thing that someone would expect would be a fist to the face. Well, to be fair, Agnes always expected that because she was paranoid (or as some would say ‘paranoid AF!). However, even with her healthy levels of paranoid and distrust in humanity, Agnes could be caught off guard now and again.

She shouldn’t have opened the door. She knew better than that. When she had responded to the knock, no voice came back. She assumed that maybe it was just a mistake so, just to be sure, she opened the door and took a peek outside. There she was met with the stern look of another woman, dark haired and glowering at her as if she had run over her favorite puppy. Agnes scowled as she glared back at her.

”The **** is your probl—“

She saw the punch coming. If flew fast but it was fueled by frustration and emotion rather than any skill. Agnes reacted fast, her arm coming up to block and protect her face while her other attempted to deflect it. Unfortunately the woman’s punch/slap/grope was fairly undignified. Her hand bounced off Agnes’ arm and instead grazed her pretty noticeable into the side of her chest.

A hiss of irritation and Agnes stepped back, fists up and ready to throw herself at the woman in an attempt to begin a fight. However there was another hiss on her lips as he placed her hand over her breast that had been violated by the stranger’s hand.

”***hole,” she grumbled. ”You hit me in the boob.”

She sighed as she straightened up a bit before slipping into an offensive stance again. She wasn’t sure what this this. The woman could be a cop, could be government, hell, she could even be SUPER. If that were the case she would make sure to go down swinging because there was a lot of sensitive information in this floor that could lead to the rest of the X’s. That was something that she simply couldn’t abide by. Agnes had always been the one willing to throw herself on the grenade and that seemed to be a state of mind she wasn’t willing to change.

However, surprisingly the other woman didn’t go on the offensive again, didn’t shout about her being under arrest or try to scare her off by any other means. Instead she just narrowed her eyes and began to talk.

>> "I know where SUPER is and I need someone to help me beat their asses. If you die doing this, you're off the hook. As it is, I'm pissed at you for punching first and asking questions later. You coming or not?"

Punching first and asking questions later? As if that narrowed things down. Apparently she did hit her out of revenge, for something, but what pulled her attention the most was that she knew about SUPER. X’s had been doing their best to take down SUPER but their main bases were never known. Rescue missions on facilities had been done, but nothing that really gave them a true location. How did this person know? Was it just another trick? Another layer that SUPER possessed?

Always a woman of few words, Agnes slowly straightened up, relaxing her posture, but kept her fists tight. She wasn’t going to let this woman get the drop on her again but clearly some blanks needed to be filled.

”Who are you?” he growled. ”And what am I being allowed off the hook for?”

> ”***hole,” she grumbled. ”You hit me in the boob.”

"Shoulda been your face." It was interesting to note the woman falling into and out of her defensive and offensive stances. Noel made no move to defend herself. She was counting on the confusion to some degree, but also just too pissed to care. Somehow, she actually ended up in a position where she needed this woman on her side.

One big breath in. One big breath out.

Noel couldn't count on Combatant if Combatant didn't know anything. As much as it pleased Noel to hold the upper hand as far as information went, she needed Combatant's help more.

"On the other side of the rift, in defense of an old lady, you beat a man senseless and took his pistol. I'm not talking a couple punches and then you left, you systematically broke him down like a rotisserie chicken. For that, you are on the hook. I need the SIG you took off him if you still have it." According to Jude, he wasn't sure why she'd stopped. Noel was glad she did, but for all that Jude could see, she been on her way to hitting him more times than he could have taken. And then she stopped. No rhyme. No reason.

Noel shifted the duffle bag on her shoulder. She would wait here in the hallway if she had to. "As far as SUPER goes, I know you have a chip on your shoulder about them. I came across the rift to get intel and assassinate you at range so you wouldn't be breaking anyone else. Instead, I got a text message from a friend that needs help. I need you alive so that you can help me kick in SUPER's teeth. For that, I will let you off the hook." Noel clicked the screen of her phone on and turned it around to show to Combatant.

//Prisoner other side rift SUPER help

"I'm a cleaner, Combatant. I learn everything and eliminate what's no longer needed." Implied threat delivered, Noel clicked the screen of her phone back off.

"So. You coming?"

There were few things that Agnes liked. Surprisingly, one of them just so happened to be being punched in the goddamn ***. Still, while Agnes was revved up and ready to bust a head in, she paused when a quick glance at the woman in front of her seemed to prove that she was not in any more immediate danger. This wasn’t a fight about to begin, but rather it was the release of tension, a chance for vengeance, or something along those lines. The woman was trying to work out aggression, but for what, Agnes simply wasn’t sure.

As the other woman grumbled that her face should have been the target, Agnes narrowed her eyes. She was ready to take his fight further but the other woman seemed to be relaxing. Without the threat, so much so, Agnes relaxed as she just continued to bore holes in the other woman with her gaze. What did she want?

>> "On the other side of the rift, in defense of an old lady, you beat a man senseless and took his pistol. I'm not talking a couple punches and then you left, you systematically broke him down like a rotisserie chicken. For that, you are on the hook. I need the SIG you took off him if you still have it."

Her eyebrow arched. She knew exactly who the woman was talking about. Her first few days on the other side, she ran across a mugger that had knocked an old woman senseless. It had been a rough battle but Agnes came out on top, breaking the man down, piece by piece. As a matter of fact, his fighting style was still bustling through her head, gift she had decided to keep from the other side as it proved to be so effective against someone as strong as he was.

So was this woman his side piece or something? Not only that, she wanted the gun that she had taken from him. Crossing her arms over her chest and giving her a firm look, the warrior shook her head. ”Tossed it in the river on the other side,” he confirmed. ”I had no need for it and I wasn’t going to let someone else use it.”

Agnes only used guns when she had to. As a matter of fact, she was certain that a lot of the fighting style she pulled from the man she had defeated contained urges to use them. She was half-tempted to just give up the style but it was useful enough that she could hold onto it for a bit longer. Still, what bugged her right now was how the woman seemed so protective of a man who would do that to an innocent bystander. That annoyed her and she was more than prepared to say something, but stopped just as she opened her mouth.

>> "As far as SUPER goes, I know you have a chip on your shoulder about them. I came across the rift to get intel and assassinate you at range so you wouldn't be breaking anyone else. Instead, I got a text message from a friend that needs help. I need you alive so that you can help me kick in SUPER's teeth. For that, I will let you off the hook."

She eyed the text with glare.

>> "I'm a cleaner, Combatant. I learn everything and eliminate what's no longer needed. So. You coming?"

She eyed her. She eyed her hands, her form, almost as if judging her physical appearance before she raised her gaze back to the woman’s eyes. After a second of staring, Agnes stepped back and slammed the door closed in front of her. Her footsteps could be heard walking away from the doorway. Most would have assumed that to be the end of a conversation, but about five minutes later, the door would open again and Agnes would reappear, this time dressed in jeans, boots, and her leather jacket. Pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail, she ground her teeth as she eyed the woman.

”Just so you know, next time you want to defend your princess’s honor, maybe meet up face-to-face,” she said with a growl. ”Rather than be a ***** about it.”

Noel got a door in her face.

She hadn't realized how close she'd been standing to the threshold until the door very nearly knocked into her nose. The memorymancer took a full step back and tried to think through what her options would be as she heard the footsteps march away.

The woman tossed the SIG into the river and that was a crying shame, if only because Noel knew Ranger would be wasting his time finding and customizing another. Hell. Maybe he'd enjoy that. So Noel couldn't exactly hold that against Combatant. The other woman could have gone on a crime spree with all the barrel marks leading back to Michael. From the few snips Noel had of her life, Noel didn't believe Combatant would, but she could have.

So what if she didn't come back?

Noel shifted her weight and thought about sniping her way through at least some of the guard around the SUPER facility that was Noel's best guess. They'd probably have time to ramp up security in the time it took her to get in close. Of course, there was the issue that Noel had missed. Probably the scope. Why'd Ranger stuck it in such a dumb spot? Maybe she should adjust...

She had the case open and was fiddling with it on the floor when she heard Combatant stomping back in her direction. Calmly she finished her adjustments, not at all bothered by the other woman's vitriol. Noel had put her in a difficult position. And Noel was mad. Combatant could just be mad too.

"Why would I want to meet you face to face? You wiped the floor with a man that can benchpress a fire truck. If I need to kill you, it'll be at range and before you get a say in the matter, thanks. I'd rather have you on my side today." Wait. Combatant got things from the people she touched and Combatant had punched Michael's guts out. Did that mean she could work the rifle and adjust the scope?

"Catch." Noel tossed the Remington 700 Police at Combatant to see what she did with it. Noel'd already cleared the weapon and had all the .300 Win Mags in the clips in her pocket. The worst Combatant could do was hit her with it. Which she'd probably deserve.

"The SUPER facility we need is out in the weeds a bit. We can have one of us at range, one up close, or we both go in close. I only have the one rifle." She shrugged. "When I said I want to kick in their teeth, I meant it. No holds barred, I want in that facility and I want to release all the people who are there against their will." And Noel would just have to pray that was the right place. She couldn't know for sure based on the information she had. It was a best guess sort of scenario.

Noel cracked her wrists in anticipation. "These guys are a boil on the *** of the earth." She wasn't normally one to curse, but she'd been munching the memories of those who did recently. "Let's go make them hurt."

Agnes wasn’t the biggest fan of guns. She used them when she had to, specifically when someone’s combat experience demanded it (such as the man she was being pummeled for beating). But, even then, Agnes prided herself in being a warrior and a close-combat fighter, she didn’t rely on weaponry too much. The other woman had admitted to wanting to come her to snipe her for what she had done to her beau. While in some ways she could respect that, in others she was annoyed that the woman would consider a bullet over the satisfaction of trying to beat her down with her own two hands. So impersonal for an act of revenge.

>> "Why would I want to meet you face to face? You wiped the floor with a man that can benchpress a fire truck. If I need to kill you, it'll be at range and before you get a say in the matter, thanks. I'd rather have you on my side today."

Agnes said nothing but merely crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the woman. She was logical to a fault and while that was the smart bet, it wasn’t a bet that Agnes would have made. She always chose to go face-to-face with someone, especially in the name or honor or revenge. There was not satisfication in watching someone fall was from across the street or another building over; she wanted to feel the crack of their bones, the warmth of their blood splattering across her face. But she understood that that was not a state of being for everyone.

>>"Catch."

Shaken from her thoughts, Agnes looked up as an object was tossed to her. Grabbing it out of the air, her eyes dilated in familiarity as she immediately hefted it up into her hands. The fighting style of her beau immediately came to mind as she handled the rifle like an expert, adjusting the scope and preparing it for use. However, soon after hefting the tifle up, she sighed as she fought off the skills that flooded through her mind. There was something funny about how her mind was working with that man’s skills rolling around in her head; maybe she should consider dropping them.

She tossed the rifle back to the woman. ”Thanks, but I have my own weapons.” A gleam could be seen sparkling from the belt around her waist. The silver-handled shurikens were safely hidden and glance at the woman’s hands showed that they were taped up, offering her knuckles some protection but could still deliver the maximum pain she would need to.

">>The SUPER facility we need is out in the weeds a bit. We can have one of us at range, one up close, or we both go in close. I only have the one rifle…When I said I want to kick in their teeth, I meant it. No holds barred, I want in that facility and I want to release all the people who are there against their will.”

She nodded. In all fairness this was exactly the kind of thing that the X-Men were for but as much as the minuscle sensible side of her wanted to call this in to their red-headed leader, she knew it wasn’t the right call. This woman wanted to bring them down, no limits. Agnes was in a desperate need to let loose against those self-righteous a******s and now that she was being given a chance, she was more than happy to take it. Still, it probably would have been better to not go off with a woman who had intent to kill her, but she’d worked with worse.

>>"These guys are a boil on the *** of the earth…Let's go make them hurt."

Agnes stared at the woman for a moment, eyeing her up and down, before finally she nodded her head. She gestured past the woman. ”Lead the way, Sucker Punch.”

Combatant caught the rifle and worked the oversized bolt to clear it with movements that were practiced and smooth. Well. That confirmed that. She tossed the rifle back and Noel put it back in the case. She would have loved to thin the crowd a bit. Or have Combatant thin the crowd. That would require trusting a woman she'd already told she would kill if she didn't have need of her... what a strange alliance they'd come to.

"I'll take you close and we can check it over, but I want this done and over as soon as possible." The rifle was packed into the case, the case into the duffle, and the strap for both slung over Noel's shoulder. She would feel more comfortable if she had that pistol that was sitting at the bottom of some river somewhere. "That's probably just as well that you want to stay in close. It gives us the option for stealth. Plus, I don't know where my friend is and I'm gonna need a little touch time to find out." Touch time sounded nicer than tongue time... They needed a plan, most importantly an exit strategy. Worst case scenario, when they got to Muse, they had a whole new set of options on how to go nuclear.

It was kind of a miracle that Combatant had agreed. Sure, Noel'd threatened her, but the woman had a choice. She could have pummeled Noel before she'd had a chance. But she didn't.

Working from the few Party Devon memories she had left in combination with what she'd picked up just across the rift, Noel knew where to go: the training facility for new recruits. And she didn't really care how they got there so long as they stayed off radar. She had plenty of cash to get them a taxi ride or two for doubling back and throwing off any potential tails. It was enough to get them out to the middle of nowhere, but from there they had to go on foot. Noel lead the way through a wooded area without a thought as to the fact that they hadn't managed a single bit of small talk. That was 110% okay with Noel. Apparently it'd been okay with Combatant too.

The sun was just starting to dip down low when Noel stopped them from walking further. She had to trust that the memories she was following were correct at this time. "There's a facility ahead." Noel's eyes became distant as she described it. "There's a small area where the trees are clear, that'll be tricky. The front door is facing west. Not many windows." Noel blinked the memories away. They were too vague to know what they really needed, but it had been enough to get them here.

"I need to grab one of the security agents. Doesn't matter so long as it's done quietly and they're alive at the end. I'd prefer a smoker. Smokers know the best ways to sneak out when they're in a hurry. If we can leave them conscious, we won't put ourselves on any kind of timer. They won't remember us when I'm done."

In all fairness, no one would have blamed Agnes for laying the hurt down on this woman. She admitted that she was had been out to kill her and had even come close to taking a shot at her before she got the alert that a friend of hers was stuck on this side of the dimensional void. She could have beat her down, especially since she already admitted that Combatant could probably wipe the floor with her. After all, her friend-with-benefits was apparently far stronger than her. If Agnes could hurt him, what chance did Sucker Punch have?

Still, the woman saw value in her...they both did. While S.P. wanted to use her as a means to rescuing her friend, Combatant was willing to use the other in order to pay a personal visit to SUPER. It wasn’t the first time that she did it but it was the first time that she would be able to without having to hold back. SUPER deserved a bit of humble pie and Combatant just so happened to have a Baker’s dozen at the ready.

The trip to the facility was...well...awkward. It was almost as if the two of them were teenagers on their very first date; neither knew what to say and both were actually fine with just sitting in silence in the back of a taxi, staring out the window as the world slipped by. The driver themself was a little uncomfortable with the tension that was building in the cab, but with such a large fare, what was a little deafening silence?

By the two both women reached their destination, out in the middle of Nowhere’s cousin, Nothing, Combatant and S.P. were making their way through the brush, marching until, finally, a facility came into sight.

>>"There's a facility ahead. There's a small area where the trees are clear, that'll be tricky. The front door is facing west. Not many windows."

Combatant nodded as she looked ahead, eyeing the opening in the treeline. It was the perfect spot that snipers could keep an eye on. She rolled hers as she reached down, pulling a slip of fabric from her pocket. She placed it over her nose and mouth, covering the lower half of her face. S.P. may have been from another universe where SUPER didn’t exist, but Agnes lived in this one -- she needed to keep her anonymity.

Tying the handkerchief around the back of her head, she sighed as she looked out over the scene, her eyes roaming over the facade of the building, making mental notes, strategic ones about weak points and those that they would encounter the most hostility. While Combatant was all for the gungho attitude, they weren’t here to just pick off a few people, they needed to to rescue someone.

>>"I need to grab one of the security agents. Doesn't matter so long as it's done quietly and they're alive at the end. I'd prefer a smoker. Smokers know the best ways to sneak out when they're in a hurry. If we can leave them conscious, we won't put ourselves on any kind of timer. They won't remember us when I'm done."

She arched her brow as she turned to eye the other woman. It sounded like she had a means of getting information from another. Interesting. She didn’t say anything about it, though, as she focused her eyes on the side of the building, routing out a path for them to take through the high grass. Once she found one, she nodded.

”Follow me,” she instructed. ”But stay low and close behind. I’ll get us there…”

Noel watched as Combatant covered her face and frowned. She had a tee shirt stuffed in that duffle to pad the gun case. Several, in fact. Should she be covering her face as well? So long as she didn't cover her eyes, Noel figured she could get away with it and it would shield her from being identified by camera. Noel's power only worked on people, after all. So she followed Combatant's lead and pulled a tee shirt ninja, making sure to tuck her hair under and give as little away in how to identify her personally as she could. Too bad she hadn't thought to bring gloves. She felt totally ridiculous, but then, this whole scheme was a bit hairbrained. Noel also figured she could tug the shirt opening down when it came time to gather information. No big deal, really.

To Combatant's instruction, Noel only had one thing to say. "Hey." She hesitated, debating if she could say it given that she'd pressed Combatant into this position, but in the end relented. "I'm going to do my best not to screw this up." A thanks might have been more appropriate, but Noel wanted Combatant to know that Noel was in this 100% and that she could expect that, if nothing else from the woman. Her trust was in Combatant now and the fact that she believed the other woman wouldn't give her up to the people here.

When the other woman was ready to move out, Noel made sure she was too.

Agnes wasn’t going to say much during this trip, other than to issue commands to ensure that the woman behind her didn’t screw up and cost them both their lives. This was why Agnes worked alone, or at least if she had to work with someone, she understood their weaknesses and shortcomings. This was completely out of left field and not a state of affair that she was used to. While she was all for trying to bust in some SUPER heads, this was a rescue mission and they had to understand that there was more than just their own lives at stake.

Just as they started to clear the path, she paused when the other started to say something. Crouching down, Agnes peered over her shoulder, looking directly at the woman with her makeshift t-shirt mask (clever). What did she want now?

>>"Hey...I'm going to do my best not to screw this up."

She paused as she stared back at her. There was such honesty in her eyes that it was almost disarming. Strange to see something like that in someone who just admitted that they had wanted to kill you. Agnes didn’t give it too much thought, though, instead shifting her gaze ahead and towards the compound. In response, she gave a small, disregarding shake of her head.

”Then make sure you don’t,” she said firmly, but added, ”But if you do, don’t bring me down with you.”

With that she was in full stealth mode and slipped forward, moving through whatever tall grass she could find, melding into the very ground with a sheer impossible level of stealth. She was well trained and her mutation helped her to remember every aspect of it. The ease at which she traveled was unsettling and, for most, difficult to follow. If Noel was not paying attention, she would easily lose track of the ninja, so Combatant hoped that the woman was earnest when she said she wasn’t going to foul this up.

Before long, Agnes expert navigation of the field brought them to a large, chain link fence. Combatant waited until her companion was close, crouching next to her, before she pulled out a multitool from her belt. Snapping the wire cutters into place, she started to trim along the edge of the fence until there was just enough room for the both of them to wriggle underneath. It was only when her partner was on the other side did Agnes pull the rolled up edge back down and used the plier part of her multiple tool to loosely put it back into place. They didn’t need people alerted just yet.

Once inside the perimeter, Agnes sniffed the air. So far she just smelled the field but when she caught that whiff of tobacco, she turned back to the other woman. ”You said you needed a smoker?”

There was nothing left to say so they they started doing. Noel wished she hadn't brought the rifle by now, but was unwilling to leave the bag somewhere that they may or may not get back to. The two pretend ninja crouched and moved on cat feet through the little bit of grass cover between the tree line and the building, which wasn't much. If Noel hadn't moved the majority of her focus to watching Combatant, she was sure she would have lost the woman. As it was, Noel did her best to emulate her. She recognized many of the principles and techniques from her memories from ancient China in the way Combatant distributed her weight to avoid making sounds, in the way that she moved fluidly so that they might flow like the grass around them.

Noel didn't have the practice for this kind of stealth exercise, but she had the memories of an assassin that she'd visited time and time again. If anyone needed to be quiet and careful to avoid detection, it was someone trained to assassinate a target.

Her senses were on high alert and so the memorymancer jumped when Combatant breathed her question back to Noel. Nothing like infiltration to put a girl on high alert.

"Yeah. Take them quietly and hold 'em for me. When I'm done, we put a cigarette in their hand—" That was assuming they didn't already have one "—I wipe their memory and we're gone with them none the wiser."

She smelled it then, that caustic ash smell. So. It was close. And just as gross as Noel remembered. Blech. She would probably take a lick from their hand, then, rather than kissing an ashtray. Noel could use the cigarette transfer, but then she'd have to put a cigarette in her mouth and a that point, she'd rather kiss an ashtray. Noel nodded to the other woman indicating that she was ready. This was their first test.

Combatant was busy formulating a plan in her head. The other woman had said that she needed, or rather wanted, to interrogate someone who was a smoker. Something about her abilities allowed her to steal memories and smokers, apparently, knew the best routes through buildings like this. She wasn’t going to argue with her as the whole memory-wiping thing kind of freaked her out. Agnes had never liked psychics, or people who had those abilities. She found them tedious, if she were being honest. But the fact that she was now working with one, well, she didn’t want to think too hard on it.

>>"Yeah. Take them quietly and hold 'em for me. When I'm done, we put a cigarette in their hand—I wipe their memory and we're gone with them none the wiser.

She nodded. Slipping back into whatever darkness she could find, Agnes moved swiftly towards the scent of burning tobacco. She hated the smell of it. As much as she wanted to punch the agent’s teeth in for engaging in such a filthy habit, she knew that she needed to control herself. He, or she, was needed conscious for her partner to work her magic.

Moving through the side of the building, staying hidden, hoping that the other was keeping up, Agnes came to a stop around a metal container. Peering over the side of it, she spotted the leather heel that was digging into the gravel. Following the pantyhose-clad leg up, she was met with a thin skirt and a black top over a blouse. The older woman, pale skinned with large glasses on, was idly smoking a cigarette as if it were god’s gift from heaven. However, even from here, Agnes could tell that the smoke saturated her clothing down to the very core of the fabric.

She hoped that this person would do.

With a gesture that she would stay behind, Agnes took a short breath, peeked to ensure no one else was outside, and there weren’t any cameras on them. Soon as she could tell, she took another breath, centering herself, and then pounced.

Leaping out from behind the container, Agnes caught the woman by surprise. She squeak, dropping her cigarette, and was just about to scream for help when Agnes struck fast, slamming the side of her hand into the woman’s throat. It was just enough to stop her voice and make her gag, definitely no permanent or lasting damage. As soon as the woman was sufficient silenced, Agnes moved fast, wrapping her arm around the woman’s throat and dragging her back into her hiding spot, holding her tight.

As she kept the woman subdued, Combatant glanced to her partner and nodded to her. ”Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast.” She said against the struggles of the woman who was slowly getting her voice back.

Noel stayed close, stopped when signaled, and then waited with surprise all over her face. Combatant had lept at the smoker like a bat out of hell. Or a cat out of a sack. Or a person with pogo sticks for legs? Before Noel had properly settled on a way to describe the action, the other woman was back and had their smoker in tow. The woman was older and absolutely reeked of cigarettes. No wonder they had smelled her from so far away.

> ”Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast.”

Noel shook herself from her judgy glare. "Right." She tugged down the faux ninja mask and captured one of the woman's flailing hands and popped it into her mouth. She struggled and wriggled and used her free hand to attempt to hit at Noel's face but between the memorymancer's vise grip and Combatant's choke, they had decent control of the woman.

The layout of the building wasn't complicated, but there were a few security check points: everyone had a security badge with an RFID chip and a photo ID, they had numerical codes to type in and this woman almost always flipped a few of her digits, each coming and going was recorded and some hallways and rooms required additional security measures that this woman wasn't aware of, but she had seen them and wondered. That was all well and good, but Noel delved into the trainees and where they were and what they were up to today... she was in luck. This woman was one of the training staff... One of the crueler parts of the training staff. She liked to use pain to reinforce her lessons.

Noel sat back on her heels and removed the woman's fingers from her mouth. The fingers were wiped clean on Noel's ninja mask before she pulled it back into place.

"I'm going to be confused for a few seconds. Drag me away. Get us to the door. I might need you to remind me to use the code and what we're here for. Just as a precaution." Noel dug her hand shamelessly into the woman's blouse and pulled out her TIC, trainer ID card, and made sure she could recell the number pairing that went with it. She looked around and grabbed the cigarette that had been dropped and then helped Combatant position the woman back onto her feet just around the corner from their entry door. From there Noel grabbed the woman's chin and got in her face before letting her eyes off their leash.

"I need you to forget, Maud."

Noel's irises vibrated back and forth in her sockets and her vision narrowed down as if she was looking down a long tube that ended in the other woman's eyes. Noel elected to erase the last twenty minutes of both hers and Maudline P. Talmadge's lives.

While her vision was still dim, Noel felt a nudge. Combatant. It didn't take more than that to get her moving around to the door. To the music of a smoker's harried coughing, Noel swiped the card, entered the code, and opened the door.

"Should have dressed as office ladies." Noel grumbled. The ninja mask was nice and all, but once someone noticed them on camera this little waltz through government property was gonna be done.