Since getting back on the right side of the Rift again Isabel had been feeling bolder and more energetic than she had in a long time. Lounging around the Sanctuary tormenting the other residents and seeing how many bottles she could empty in a night was becoming less and less appealing and she was getting restless staying confined within the building. She had a promising new faction at her back again and with it came a refreshing sense of purpose that she'd been sorely missing since the Order had disbanded.

She had begun trolling the local bars and the park more frequently, not working on any official business to speak of, but she was eager to prove that she was a worthwhile new member and keeping an eye out for local talent to build up the Syndicate's numbers on her side of the Rift seemed like a good use of her time. Murder was more her area of expertise, but for the sake of trying not to draw too much attention to herself until she was more firmly settled in the faction she could stick with pettier ways to entertain herself.

Of course it was hard not to draw at least a little attention with her reputation. Since the Rift had opened there seemed to be a cop on every damn corner, patrolling the borders they had set up and keeping watch for problem individuals that might have ended up on the wrong side of the universe. People weren't quite as uptight as they had been in the first few weeks, but there was still a lingering sense of tension as long as the thing stayed open. But it all suited her just fine. Cops and nervous civilians were the norm for her.

The bars were always the more tempting places to spend her time, but in the middle of the afternoon they were hardly as appealing as they first seemed, if they were open at all. There were only ever miserable drunks lazing around there during the day and none of them ever exhibited any potential for usefulness in her opinion. The park then was often her first stop for the day where she could spend some time watching more lively people and generally just waste a few hours outside of the Sanctuary.

It was also a good way to get some petty cash for the bars once a more appropriate time to visit rolled around. Most of the bars in close proximity to the Sanctuary still had owners that remembered the Order's brief stint with racketeering and didn't dare ask that she compensate them for anything requested, nor would they try to remove her either on their own or by calling the cops for fear of property damage or more harmful retaliation. The places further away weren't quite as cooperative, but she didn't mind opening a tab on someone else's dime.

All it took was a winning smile and a well-placed blade and most people were happy to help pad her pockets and walk away mostly unscathed.

Emma had seen Jack earlier that day and naturally, given her power, if she touches you then she copies the power of who she touches. Emma had given Jack a hug before she left and her hands reached around to Jack's back as they hugged. In doing so, Jack's power was copied. Emma was growing to be quite fond on seeing Jack, even as a prawn. She was still the same person that she met on that subway platform. Not human as she was then, but her heart and mind were still the same. Emma loved every moment she got to spend and get to know Jack. And she is just as beautiful as a prawn as she was a human. The end of the bestowal hadn't changed the way Emma felt abour her at all. And she hoped that Jack had continued to feel the same way.

After seeing Jack, Emma went to the park to do her usual workout of running and yoga stretches and maybe would get some walking in too. She was having a great day. She was thinking about what she would do later. Maybe she would call and talk to Jack and see if she wanted to make any plans. Maybe she'd come over and they could have dinner and watch a movie, or something like that. She wanted to be bold and ask her out on a date officially.

Emma's thoughts continued to dwell on that as she started her run around the park. She was doing pretty well now. She had managed to get a decent time on her runs and found that she wasn't getting as winded as she used to. Slowly, but surely ahe was getting back into shape. Plus, her kickboxing lesson's from Blaine were also helping. "I need to call him later and set up another couple of lessons to do this week.", Emma thought to herself. She ran by the usual guys with their dogs. Sometimes there would be a really pretty golden retriever that would run along side of her from time to time, but she never saw an owner for him. He was way too nice to not have one though so she figured he just must live close to the park and frequented there often.

Finally after about 4 laps around the park and a slow jog around the fountains, Emma decided to sit on a park bench to take a break before she layed her mat out for yoga. Heck, it was such a nice day out, Emma even thought about stretching out on her yoga mat afterwards and taking a nap like that cool gargoyle lady that she had seen here a little while back. She looked really comfortable and a nap on a day like today didn't seem like a bad idea.

Emma sat on the bench for a little while as she waited for her heartbeat to slow down some. She took little sips of water from her bottle now and then as she just watched the people around her.

It was just too easy. Even with the colder weather keeping most people indoors the Park still always seemed to have an abundance of others milling around. The extra layers they were wearing to keep warm slowed the whole petty theft process down quite a bit, but Isabel wasn't exactly in a hurry. Besides, it was sometimes amusing to watch them struggle in their rush to avoid being skewered.

And then there were the exercise nuts running around with their cold tech gear that mean fewer layers, but also a chase if she didn't time it right. It took less time to get the cash in hand with them, but a pursuit wasn't worth it. She was mostly doing it for fun, after all, so working hard for a few bucks wasn't all that appealing.

The real considerate ones were those lounging around on the numerous benches scattered throughout the park. That was where targeting the work out enthusiasts payed off. It was harder to jump up and make a break for it when they were busy nursing tired muscles and trying to catch their breath.

"Nice day, huh," she asked conversationally as she lazily approached and leaned over once such bench, eyeing the breathless blonde as she paced herself trough the contents of her water bottle. Already part way through a workout and with a yoga mat in tow. Tired and clearly not planning to go very far just yet.

A small blade slid into her palm as she straightened half way back up, not large enough to be immediately noticeable from a distance, but still big enough to be dangerous. "Nice for me anyway. Could be going better for you," she continued as she sidestepped closer to the woman and wound her arm around to the front of her body, pressing the edge of the blade against her neck. "At least you'll probably make it out alive if you got enough cash to keep me happy."

Emma was taking sips from her water bottle when suddenly she noticed that someone had spoken behind her and then was holding a blade to her neck.

Emma's heart started to beat quickly, but she tried her best to breath calmly and take it easy. She didn't want to react to soon and risk injury or death. She hadn't ever needed to use her kickboxing skills to defend herself before, but knew she had those skills in case she got into a better position. Ya know, without having a blade at her throat. She could maybe wait and kick whoever's ass this was later.

And then came the answer for why she was even being bothered...She wanted money. Emma calmly sat there on the bench as still as she could and said, "Well, honey I hate to break it to you, but have you seen how tight these close are? I don't have damn thing on me, but an Ipod, phone and keys. No money on me at the moment. I would maybe carry some on me in my bra if I don't have pockets, but I knew I was gonna be getting pretty sweaty and that's kinda gross."

Emma waited for other person's next move and hoped she wasn't gonna get stabbed. Maybe she could do something soon to create a distraction. She did still have Jack's mutation she could bestow, but she didn't wanna move too quickly or spring surprise in the situation currently. The edge of that blade was certainly sharp and she could feel it rub slightly against the skin of her neck. Was she starting to bleed?

Isabel scowled at the undesired response she was given. Nothing on her person at all. Most people carried at least a few bucks on them just in case and it was almost unheard of now for someone not to have their phone on them, no matter how tight their outfit was. the blade angled further, pressing harder into the woman's skin in her irritation.

"How unlucky for you," she sighed, briefly weighing her options with no real concern one way or the other for how things went from there. Blood or no blood it would be a scene either way so she might as well do as she pleased.  "I probably would've let you go back to doing whatever it is you're doing if you cooperated, but I guess now I'll just have to main you to make this whole thing worthwhile."

Emma's mouth ran dry as the seriousness of the situation sank in. She didn't know what to do, but she wouldn't just sit there and let this woman cut her up and gut her like a fish. Emma knew she had to fight back in some way. She didn't give the woman the satisfaction of a response to her taunting and threats.

Emma reached up and grabbed the woman's arm that was around her neck. She pulled and twisted her arm back away from her neck, trying to get the knife away from such a vital area. While her hands were on the other lady's arm, Emma bestowed the only power she had stored, which was Jack's shrimp-like mutation.

She hoped that the sudden change and awkwardness of it would be enough of a distraction to allow Emma to escape. Maybe somehow she could gain control of the knife and her attacker would run. She just had to see how this would all play out. As soon as Emma saw she had an opening though, she was gonna run like her life depended on it. Because in this very moment, it actually did depend on it. For heaven's sake, the lady talked about maiming her right there in the park around plenty of people and in broad daylight. How many different kinds of crazy was this woman? Emma knew it was just too many to stick around and find out. She was not about to be the turkey at Thanksgiving dinner. Noooo ma'am.

The odd angle of leaning over the back of the bench afforded the other woman just enough leverage to throw Isabel off balance and get out from under her blade. Irritated, she makes a move to hop the bench but before she could manage to so much as swing a leg over she was hit with an intense feeling of vertigo and went toppling over it head first.

Once the world stopped spinning she shook her head and rolled off her back, wanting to get back on her feet as quickly a she could before the other young woman had a chance to get very far. But the sight of the hand she planted on the ground stopped her in her tracks, eyes widening at the sight of the alien appendage.

Lifting it to her face she turns it this way and that, wiggling the fingers as if to confirm that it really was her hand. With growing dread she managed to wriggle up onto her rear and sit while her gaze dropped and wandered over the unfamiliar form she suddenly found herself in, panic steadily rising as the reality of the situation sank in.

"What did you do?" she demanded, the words garbled into more of a growl than clear speech as she turned to find the other woman. Unsteadily she started trying to get to her feet, the odd shape and bend of the legs giving her difficulty. "What did you do?!"

Emma had found her moment. When she bestowed the power to her attacker, she managed to get out from underneath her blade, but not without getting a cut along the top of her shoulder. Emma cried out in pain as she felt the blade slice into her skin. She fell to the ground, putting her hand over the cut. She felt blood against her hand and a searing pain at being touched. She quickly staggered back up to her feet and ran off. Emma didn't even really pay attention to which direction she was running. She was just trying to get away as quickly as possible.

Emma eventually found a monument that she ducked behind. She tried to calm down and gather what she would do next. She peeked around the side of the monument to see what had happened of her attacker. She hoped that she wouldn't be spotted and came after again. She saw that the woman was struggling to get up with now having shrimp like legs to work with. And she could overhear the woman shouting, asking what Emma had done to her.

Emma then ducked back behind the monument and examined the cut. It was still bleeding and it was long, but it didn't seem to be so deep that she would need stitches. Nonetheless, she would have a scar. Emma knew that it would scab up and clot on her own, but she needed to know what the woman was up to or what she would do next. She didn't seem like she was just a typical run of the mill mugger. She seemed more evil, like she took pleasure in hurting people. Emma peeked back around the monument to see what the woman would do next. If Emma needed to keep running or if Emma could somehow follow her.

Getting her feet under her was a more arduous task than she could have imagined, made all the more difficult by her hurried scrabbling, wanting to get herself moving before the object of her anger managed to get too far.

She scratched and scrambled, leaving deep gouges in the dirt as she struggled to get moving, the new form too tall, too big. The limbs were awkward and oddly shaped and her center of gravity was off, making it difficult to find her balance. Curses spilled from her mess of a mouth in a jumble of growls and chitters.

"Run all you want, you're still dead!" she shouted, finally managing to get on her feet and slowly stand. She took a few tentative steps, testing her new weight and the odd new legs before gradually picking up speed, wavering and stumbling here an there. I hadn't quite processed yet, but she was following the mess of heightened senses that had been afforded to her, having seen which direction the girl had run but not exactly where she'd hidden.

Emma watched and knew she would have to run. When the woman was still struggling to get up and moving, Emma took off into the wooded areas nearest to her. She had to find a better area to conceal herself and a flat open area wasn't going to help.

Once she managed to get into the wooded area, she could still hear the woman's screamed threat. Emma's heart raced even faster, becoming more scared than she was before. She was however free for the moment and knew she needed to put some distance between them. Emma ran and ran, not really knowing which direction she was going, but making sure to stay in the wooded area.

Eventually Emma had the thought to climb a tree. She found one to climb amongst a pretty dense section of trees. She ran ahead a bit through another section to trick the woman into thinking she had gone that way. She then carefully circled back around to the dense area, making sure to not break low hanging branches or leave gouges in the ground as she walked. She found the tree and climbed a good ways up. She sat on a huge limb with her back against the tree. There were lots of branches and foliage from the nearby trees to help hide and camoflauge her position.

Emma sat and waited. She tried to focus on slowing her breathing to a more normal rate. She didn't know if she would be found, if the woman would be able to climb in her new form or not, or what would happen next, but she had to calm down and think straight. Otherwise, the now shrimp lady would definitely find her and kill her. Emma breathed slowly into her nose and slowly and quietly out of her mouth. She sat quietly and listened, holding her breath at times if she heard something she thought was suspicious. Sometimes it was just animals playing on the ground or on branches and Emma would relax again for a moment. Happy that it wasn't the lady, but also still scared cuz she didn't know where the evil woman was. All she could do was wait and hope she didn't have to spend all day and night up in this tree.

Tracking wasn't exactly a new thing for Isabel. She'd chased and been chased for years. However, even when sporting an unusual set of limbs she was still in control of them and their movements. This was something entirely new.

It was also slow. Much too slow. Trying to gain any kind of real speed just sent her stumbling and scrabbling to get herself back on her feet. Her center of gravity was all off and the overly-large arms she was now sporting were throwing her off balance when they swung. the digitigrade feet were a whole other issue all their own. So she had to force herself to slow down, to find her balance and move forward just carefully enough to stay on her feet.

But she was making progress none the less. she followed the general direction the girl had run, unsurprised to find a wooded area interrupting that progress. So the girl was only mildly stupid, but those fight or flight instincts were leading her in a not-the-worst kind of direction.

Trying to move off of the pavement was even more difficult, the soft, uneven ground tripping her up and messing with her balance again. The trees were just as much of a nuisance, but even when they got in the way of her larger frame they at least offered something for her to brace herself against while she tried to navigate.

The girl was around there somewhere. Her senses were a confusing jumble, too strong to try to sort out on the go, but there was enough information processing to somehow know her quarry hasn't gotten away just yet. It was just a matter of spotting her and getting close enough before she took off again.

Emma sat quietly in the tree and she waited. She was thinking about how she should have at least rolled around in the dirt and leaves to try and get rid of her scent. She couldn't do anything about it now though. If she moved and got out of the tree, she risked giving her position away and that just meant that she would have to try and run more.

So she stuck with what she was already doing. She listened and could hear some in the distance that her aggressor was still on her trail. She hadn't given up yet, but Emma could tell that her new form was still giving her problems moving around. "At least she hasn't figured that out fully yet. Maybe she'll get tired of falling and tripping over stuff soon and just leave.", Emma thought to herself, "Maybe if she walks past me and keeps going, then I can climb down and go back out the way we came in."

Emma stayed quiet. She didn't wanna even think about what the now shrimp lady would do to her if she caught her. And she prayed that she wouldn't be able to climb a tree in this form. Otherwise, Emma was screwed. Emma was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as she heard her assailant getting closer to where she was hiding. Emma's heart began to race as fear began to wash over her again. She peeked down and around the side of the tree slightly to see just how close she was getting.

It was like having a homing beacon in her head. she didn't understand it, didn't know how it worked, but it was like playing a game of hot and cold in her own head as she circled and backtracked and circled again. Searching, closing in, getting warmer.

But then she seemed to hit a dead end. Here said that sense in her head. Right here. But where? There was nothing around that she could see except brush and trees ad the nose from the pen areas of the park made it difficult to listen for individual sounds. but she was here. Somewhere.

Frustrated, her large hands brush across her head, catching uncomfortable on the antennae that had sprouted there, head tilting back sharply as they tugged and twitched. That was when a splash of color among the foliage caught her eye and she froze, eyes narrowed and an irritated growl building in her throat.

The girl had treed herself like a cat, which was convenient enough since the only way out was down. Troublesome because Isabel doubted that she'd be able to climb up after her with the limbs she could barely manage to walk in. So it would have to be a waiting game. For now.

"Looks like you've backed yourself int a corner," she called up as best as she could, still having trouble with the new mode of speech. "You slide your ass down here and fix this mess and I might let you get away alive."

Emma sat frozen in the tree when suddenly the familiar sound of a specific speech pattern called up to her. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit.", she thought to herself. She had been found. "Dammit.", she thought as she tried to figure out what the hell to do next.

Emma called down, "It's pretty comfortable up here. I think I'll stay for a while. And ya know what they say about karma, don't ya? You got what you deserved. Crazy ass tryin to pull a knife on me." Emma knew that by saying that she probably ticked her off, but she was being honest. You had to be able to defend yourself somehow. And it was in cases like this that she kinda liked her mutation.

She looked around at some the limbs and branches around her. She was trying to devise a plan to maybe manage to jump from one tree to another or any means to keep from having to climb down and deal with her. Emma could try to attempt using her kick boxing skills to get away, but because she had Jack's power, she was now a whole hell of a lot taller than Emma. On top of that, her carapace would be hard to penetrate some sort of pain unless she managed to grab her antennae or something.

Emma sat there contemplating her next moves. It was either wait or attempt some crazy ass idea. It all depended on the now shrimp lady's next moves as well.