Erik sincerely hoped this would be the most ridiculous fight he ever got into. Blind and deaf. Had anyone ever won a fight almost completely caught off from their selves? He was no martial arts master from a kung-fu movie. Regardless he threw out fists and feet with the hope that Panu was figuring something out. Pure intuition and instinct guided him for good or bad. A desperate fight for survival and if Erik was anything he was a survivor. The angry Russian missed more then he hit, but when something connected it was backed by his full furious grab at hope. 

Then there was light. Erik wondered for a moment if he should have prayed more until something registered that perhaps Panu had succeeded. Anything was better than his current situation. The nameless thing grabbed at his leg once again and he snapped a furious kick to break its hold and scrambled on all fours towards the light as he regained his sense of up and down. He finally found his feet underneath him and sprinted towards the light. The short dark silhouette he assumed was Panu revealed itself to him in short order as he closed the distance. "Go!" Too slow.

His leading arm picked up Panu as the following closed the door behind him in his furious dash. Blinded and off balance he fell to the floor cradling Panu and slid across a squeaky clean floor, well at least until his cuts dirtied up the place that is. Tears welled in his eyes at the sudden difference of illumination. He gave Panu a pat on the back, "I seem to keep grabbing you." He mentioned wryly as he unwrapped his arms from the kid again and flopped to the floor. Waiting for his vision to waver back into focus. The only improvement Erik felt over the previous area was that he could see. Recognizing the general setting almost immediately.

Neutral colored floors, bump guards on the walls, and efficient but discreet lighting. A hospital hallway if he ever saw one. He felt his teeth clench involuntarily at the few and uncomfortable thoughts that came to mind that awaited them through the only set of doors at the end of the hallway. Eventually he pulled himself up to a sitting position and stared at the doors he knew he would have to go through and did not want to with every fiber of his being. "This one is mine. I do not expect anything remotely pleasant for either of us."     

The ground was suddenly sideways and he was floating above it and he did not know why for the one-two-three milliseconds it took for him to realize that Erik was carrying him.

The Finn flailed, it was instinct, he could not help it, he did not want to help it he was being carried why was this happening put-him-down put-him--.

Erik set him down on some kind of hallway. The new lights did not hurt his eyes, that was just one more way his cameras were much better than stupid overrated organics. Probably if one day he could be a cyborg he would be, because if his lungs were machines too than maybe he would be able to make them stop gulping breaths so big they made his chest hurt.

Erik patted his back. This is when Panu realized he could feel again.

>> "I seem to keep grabbing you."

"It is bad habit," the technopath said. He got to his feet and he stood not-close because all this picking up needed to stop. (But maybe he also stood not-far, because all this picking up was maybe helpful. But it was not something that needed to be encouraged.)

They were in a new place. A hospital, maybe. He had never really been in one; villains did not go to hospitals unless something was very very wrong. There was nothing super scary here yet, but it was not hard to guess that probably something would come.

>>"This one is mine. I do not expect anything remotely pleasant for either of us."

"…What is fear?" Panu asked. And suddenly his fear was the answer to that question, because there was something in Erik's voice that sounded like maybe he wished someone would pick him up and run.

"It is necessary." The older Russian responded flatly. In most any other situation Erik would have had some mildly amusing reply or retort. The surrounding environment made the hairs on his arms stand up. Too many bad memories lingered in the reminiscent walls, of loss. Of fear of loss. Somewhere deep inside himself he knew it would not be something so simple as that. This was a game where the rounds got harder and the points didn't matter. Perhaps he should feel honored that the beginning of this challenge was so specifically tailored to be some of the greatest things he hated and feared.

The little Finn's voice seem so far away when he asked. His eyes moving to meet the camera around the neck "Does knowing make it easier?" Regarding his own question for a moment before shrugging. "To be dissected and harvested, of course." So matter of factly it struck him as though someone else said the words. His body felt so heavy, lethargic. Like he had just run the world's most intense workout session. Logically he knew that couldn't be possible. He didn't get tired. Now even his body was fighting him as he labored for breath. First one foot slid under him languidly slow, then the other. Everything about him felt like it was in slow motion as he finally fought himself to standing. "If they are trying this hard we must be on the right course." The words a cold comfort to himself in the heat of the moment.

It would be so easy he thought. Just stop and let his fears overcome him to let them pass as a wave crashed on the shore. To give up. Finally he took a step towards the perfectly harmless set of double doors. A pitch whine rang out in his ears sounding far too much like a power tool to his liking.

"Panu talk to me, don't let me think. Anything." More sounds than a sharp pain in his chest that froze him in place with a cry of pain, hands clutching at his chest for a moment before coming away bloody. He looked sharply over at Panu. Did the kid see the blood too or was it just him? Nothing had touched him it had to be fake. He trudged another defiant step towards the door. So far away they seemed, so impossible it would be to endure. Despair slowly creeping into him as he stopped walking yet again and finding his breaths increasingly more difficult.

>> "Does knowing make it easier?"

The Finn was not used to people looking him in the actual eye. Normally they looked at his face, even if they knew that he was really seeing through his cameras. It was strange and a little maybe-take-a-step-back to be looking the Russian right in the eye, but the Finn made his shoulders square and answered. "Knowing is always better. Knowing is be prepared."

>> "To be dissected and harvested, of course."

"…Oh." He… was not sure how to be prepared for that. Also that was a really strange fear. Had Erik watched the wrong horror movie as a little child, and now he was afraid of this? Because it was scary, but it was one of many many scary things that fit under the big category of 'and now you are dead'. Panu was scared of most of these things, but there were ones that were much more likely, like being hit by a car because the stupid driver was texting as they approached the crosswalk (which is why he liked to shut off the screens of phones that were on in cars), or being shot by police (a perfectly natural way for a villain to die, Panu had not seen it because there had been Adapteds in police, but he knew what it sounded like to die this way). Being locked up in laboratory and dissected wasn't even that scary, and what was with harvesting fear? To be harvested he would first be dead--

Unless he was a healer. Like Erik. How fast could the Russian heal?

…Probably, somewhere, there was a less-than-legal doctor who would like very much to find out.

>> "If they are trying this hard we must be on the right course."

Erik's words were sounding strange and weak and slow. His body, too, was moving strangely. Like maybe a doctor had already snuck up and put a needle in him, and now he was slowly going to sink to ground.

This was 250% Not Allowed.

>> "Panu talk to me, don't let me think. Anything."

"What should I…?" No no, Erik had just said anything. So anything. "My family lived very far north in Finland. During summer we could move fast and hit targets in southern cities, but during winter sometimes we got snowed in, and we would watch police search on news from inside of cabin far far away. These were my favorite days. The snow was maybe taller than me, or it felt that way, and very white, and there were so many stars that even with bad camera I could tell they were there. And—"

Erik staggered. He touched his chest, and there was red on his hand, and Panu knew that nothing at all good would come from stopping to make sure the bleeding stopped. They had to keep moving. But Erik was going so, so slow now. The Finn got under one of his arms and tried to push him up or push him forward or just stop him from falling.

"—and at midwinter, the sun did not even really rise. It was dark the whole day, like we never had to wake up or maybe never had to go to sleep. We always had a sauna, and it was so hot inside, like breathing in a dragon's lungs, and—"

Erik's breathing was ragged. The Finn tried to shove him on. Another hallways, more doors, more sounds of drills and meat-under-knife and things that couldn't be real. He was speaking very fast now. He didn't know if it was helping, but Erik had asked for Panu to keep his thoughts away, so Panu tried to make so many words that they would be a flood.

"—and outside it was cold, cold so that it felt like fire on skin, and the best thing was to get really really hot in the sauna and then run out and roll on the snow which also burned, and then run back into the sauna and drip snow everywhere. And maybe throw snowballs at anyone who had stayed inside, so that they had to chase you. Winter was the time we didn't have to hurt anyone or kill anyone, we just found cabin closed for season, and it was ours until we ate all their food and moved somewhere else. In Finland there are more saunas than people, so there was always someplace new we could move."

They had turned a corner, and it was a dead end. An operating room was ahead, and something was inside and waiting for them. Shadows moved against the glass of the windows. Panu's camera swung at his neck, turning the hallway and the thing in the operating room into crazy spinning images that made him sick and scared.

He stopped walking, so that the camera could bump to a stop against his shirt. So that he could ball up all that stupid sick-scared into something hotter, like coals. Then he did not have to think about what would happen if the thing inside the operating room took Erik. He did not have to think about losing someone else, or of being alone, because he would not let it happen.

"I think you are maybe right about being on right course," he said. "One of my family in Finland, he was very strong. And one time when we got him with ice-snowball in the back of the head, he got so angry he started to break everything down. Sauna and house and everything, he broke. I do not know what is real here or what is fake but it is making me angry. I wonder what person doing this would do if we broke everything."

It took all Erik had to listen to Panu, shuffling along and supported by the more diminutive boy. It was such an interesting story it keep his mind on the now and of what truly was allowing him to fight back against the double vision he started to receive. Everytime he wanted to stop the gentle pushes kept him moving if for no other reason then to keep from stopping. His chest felt like it was being hollowed out piece by piece and watched the procedure through his mind's eye, the twists and turns they were taking barely registering. Just a story of better times and his own suffering.

"I know what it is like to fire skin." his tongue felt swollen and his words sounded odd even to his own ears as he stared at the shadows upon the glass. The promise of further torture and pain. "What could they know of pain?" his thoughts uttered aloud without meaning too. Then there was something there, a thought that defied formation through his addled mind. "Break?" He reached a hand up to his scalp and started scratching softly at first then harder and more furiously. "Something there." Fingernails dug deeper until they drew blood. 'So close, just a little more.' The thought teasing him beyond his mental fog. Suddenly he felt the sharpness in his scalp and stopped looking at his blood covered hands and his labored breathing lessened. "This is not my biggest fear it is.." It drifted back away his idea. Frustration mounted and he clenched his fists so tight they turned white and he slumped to his knees and punched the ground. Clarity dazzled in his mind for a brief moment as the fog evaporated somewhat. 

"Fake pain not real pain. To know fear one must know mind. Yet.." The words coming difficulty his thoughts threatened to drift away again and he simply took a pinky in his hand and suddenly it was bent at a very not normal angle for a moment, but long enough to regain his senses. "Not my True Fear." The Russian continued, the pinky popping back into place and fixing itself even as he reached into his pocket with fumbling fingers and pulled out a swiss army knife. His fingers felt so wrong and he fought to try and unclasp the blade before shoving it into Panu's hand "Need blade to fight." He growled urgently and as soon as the Finn had it undone he hastily took it back only to drop on the ground with too numb fingers. He forced himself to slow down and almost as if he was watching someone else do it slowly closed his fingers, one at a time, around the handle.

Then suddenly and without warning plunged it into his own thigh with a small yelp. His mind perfectly clear as he twisted it, sweat beading on his forehead as he concentrated on an idea. "I must become Fear." It came to him at last. He felt almost at peace as he handed his phones and wallet to Panu with his free hand in an almost robotic manner. "Please hold." He didn't even know if it was possible, but he had to try. Better to become a monster then die a slow mental death in this place! "Come on Erik. To survive." Trying to psych himself up and relinquish his real fears, his true fears. "Let us give them pain. This is nothing. Erik you coward! They want to show you monster. Give them a real monster! Let's go! Come on come on come-on comeoncomeon, AAARHG!" Finally he found it, his pain, his anger, his frustration coming to a head and shoving aside the last of the fog in a blood red haze of hate.

His blood suddenly looked as if it was boiling beneath the surface of his skin and with it his limbs to ballooning larger. A red pigment far too akin to the color of blood appeared like polka dots and spread out in blotches across the entire surface of his skin. Suddenly a bicep exploded larger then it had any right to be shortly followed by a thigh causing the Russian to list over and support himself against a wall. He lost track of when his lungs run out of oxygen from yelling out in pain until all that remained was the burning of his lungs inside of a rapidly expanding torso as his whole body sounded like it was breaking and healing over and over. Clothes split, and all he felt was pain and fire for what felt like an eternity, but lasted only seconds. Thick fingers sank themselves into the drywall as if it was wet paper and a a single jerk sent his fist deeper and leaving a large arm sized crevice as he swung and pulled it out. A huge bellow like breath sucking in before exhaling in a deep roar of pure anger. The pain forgotten as his adrenaline and endorphins worked overtime and filled him with feeling of invincibility and euphoria. "FEAR THIS!" Taking a moment to stand and offer the Finn a nod before launching himself chest first through the doors with a protesting squeal of metal as the hinges popped off. 

Any perceived threats he launched himself at and when he couldn't perceive any he concentrated on making himself into 9' of pure muscle destruction. Hands peeled through walls and fists shattered larger objects. Erik ran amok with his fear replaced by anger that he might never look human again now that he had given himself to this form willingly. When hospital walls faded into a more realistic setting it simply gave him more objects to pick up and throw through walls or use as weapons until they broke apart and he was forced to find new ones to improvise.  

Erik was scratching himself so hard he was bleeding. Panu didn't think many things were real here, but probably the things they did to themselves were. He wanted to reach up and grab the Russian's hand, make him stop, but it seemed to be helping the teen focus.

On what, Panu did not know.

When Erik fell to his knees, Panu did too, because always it was a fake hope that he could keep the much bigger teen standing, moving. The Finn tried to make him stand again, he pushed upwards all he could, but it did nothing.

And Erik was talking to himself, words that didn't make any sense, fear and pain and—

>> "Please hold."

The other mutant shoved things into his hands. The phones came alive again, joining the network in his head. The other thing was a leather square; a wallet. Why…?

The Russian was getting louder and louder. Panu did not know how to help him, didn't know if helping him would be good or only distracting. He took one step away, then two, then—

>> "AAARHG!"

Panu did not jump. That old family member of his, the one who got very angry and broke things a lot, he did not like children very much. But little blind ones who jumped when he made loud noises, those he liked maybe too much. Panu had learned to stay very very still and not-at-all-fun-to-scare when mutants started to be scary around him.

There was blood on Erik's skin. Rips like a package tearing from inside, and then he was growing too big for his own body, clothes tearing and muscle cords bare until the skin healed over them again.
And screaming, more screaming than could fit in one body, until there was no more inside of him but still Panu could see his mouth open like screams would keep coming forever.

>> "FEAR THIS!"

Panu did.

But as Erik started to break the world down around them, as pieces of another scene opened up, the Finn realized it was the good kind of fear. The kind where if he was afraid, then anyone else would be terrified.

With each wall broken, the hospital fractured around them. Sunlight poured in, and… and blue wallpaper with flower print, and people shouting and trying not to be where Erik's fists were. One of them already had been, and she was on the ground now, and there was blood that came from her mouth as she tried to breath. A man knelt by her side with closed eyes, and where his hands passed her ribs went from looking like a smashed-in cup to being almost normal again.

"Stop!" A man with very yellow hair waved his arms in what might have been surrender, or maybe just that was how he acted when he was trying to dance out of the way of a very strong very angry Russian mutant. Electric arcs crackled between his arms like even the air was nervous. "Jesus, just stop! This was not supposed to get violent, we were just trying to separate you. We're only here for the kid, okay?"

Panu panned his borrowed cameras over the scene. There were only the three of them that he could see: the hurt woman and her healer, and the electric man who was trying to stay between his friends and the Russian while also not getting punched. Probably he had a little super speed, because he was always just an inch out of reach and making this look easier than it should be. They were in a regular normal house, though now it had a much more open floor plan and new windows in many walls. Through them Panu could see the crashed motorcycle out on the street. It had not exploded, but it maybe needed a new paint job now. Panu's elbow was scraped and bleeding from where it had hit the pavement, so at least part of the crash had been real.

And all three of the people had phones, and so did so very many neighbors in his range, including some who were talking very frantically to the police about the house that had suddenly gotten holes in it.

"I think this is real," Panu said, and made sure to keep Erik between himself and the three just like the electric man was keeping himself between Erik and his friends.

"Nobody said anything about the f***ing Craigslist bodyguard having decent powers," the woman on the ground rasped. And then she coughed blood. And then she opened her eyes and squinted up at them, and in her gaze was darkness and terror and clouds of black like nightmares turned to fog, and also very pretty violet irises.

It took a few moments and an equal amount of swings to realize that he wasn't connecting with the annoying yellow thing in front of him. Heaving great angry breaths as some of the red faded from his vision and he looked around, a more pronounced snarl appearing on his face as he saw the floral print and some people in various stages of broken. Quickly, and without letting the yellow man out of his sight, he checked to make sure Panu was okay before looking back to the nearly broken woman and figuring she must have been only clipped if she wasn't dead. Good on her. Yellow fast insect spoke and he growled in reply. A bestial I-will-eat-your-face-if-I-get-you sort of growl. 

Realizing he was getting nowhere he finally stopped punching at the greasy streak and looked over at the two on the ground, eye narrowing some as he took in the scene more fully and backed off half a step. Wait wait wait. Floral print wallpaper? His head snapped to a wall then looked outside to see another house on either side. Then he looked to the trio and came to the fast conclusion these three were amateurs and an almost choking sound escaped him. Then she who was dying decided to be snarky and the big man finally spoke. "Not 'uch of a conlinent coning 'rom noobs. 'irst tine?" He meant the last as a joke, but seeking the glance shifty made to violet he groaned and his mind kicked into overdrive.

After a fast thought he set his jaw firmly and looked between the three. "I 'in and you lose. Not 'aid to kill anyone today." Glancing back at Panu to see if the kid agreed. He was pretty sure if he had to he could kill at least one of them before Twitchy grabbed the survivor and ran off. Which if he could do in the first place he would have done so already Erik figured. The left potentially only fast boy alive and he doubted he could get far carrying even Panu. Erik put down his fists, but remained in a bit of a half crouch incase he had to move quickly in any particular direction if his next news didn't go over well.

"Titchy, get a sticker 'rom kitchen or sonethin. Healy aint gon' to fix Nightnare afore she runs out of air. Gotta let out 'lood. Sonone set you up for wolves." Of course Twitchy wasn't having any of Erik taking command over the situation. Waving those annoying arms of his as the crackled with electricity in an almost threatening manner. "Who made you the boss?!" The much larger red man gestured to Nightmare "You want dead? I dun." Erik felt for the group. No doubt a group of (most likely recent) criminals not entirely like he was or still was depending on whose perspective you looked at. Most likely refugees from the rift that got lost in the system or had no worthwhile life to return to on the other side. "We goin ta get outta here, together. Nothing I hate worse then oinkers. Get her goin." Turning his back to the trio in a gesture of trust as well as so he could check over Panu more closely. It wasn't hard to guess that the cute fear lady was giving the go ahead for saving her own life. A visible relaxing of his features present when he noticed he he was mostly unharmed.

He spoke low enough for just the kid to hear which was a small feat in of itself. It felt like he was barely letting out any breath. "Newbs. You use 'owers how think 'est. Goin' try an get us all out. Not real eneny." Erik was a survivor and being a survivor meant doing whatever it took to make chances greatest of getting out of any situation. In this case he had every intention converting the opposing team of this contract onto his own. He tried to think of anything better to say and coming up with nothing stood and looked to see if Nightmare was taken care of. Instead he saw a shaky Twitchy trying to figure out just what he was supposed to do and Healy concentrating on doing his thing. A sigh escaped him and he doubted it would be the last before they got out of this mess the amatuer kidnapping team had created. Who tried kidnapping people in the middle of the day in the sururbs!? He asked himself as much out loud and in russian and with far more colorful language that would have impressed a sailor. 

Twitchy was even moreso of his namesake as he tried to approach. Another sigh. "Give knife, save cute girl." Too bad Nighty had lost enough blood or was too weak to blush he figured. "Hurry up, need to leave soon." Gesturing for the knife a bit more pronounced without taking a step like he was going to strike the man. It wasn't the greatest of neighborhoods but he only gave them about 15 minutes to be safe to get out of there. The spike of activity from the rift closing did come in handy for less then legal pursuits. After what felt like forever the mutant bug zapper finally gave Erik the knife and knelt next to the woman and peeled up part of her shirt and felt very very carefully for the right place. "Not ny idea of a good 'irst date."

"F***er think now is good-ack-" Erik pushed the knife into her chest carefully and blood bubbled out and after a moment she took a far less shallow breath. "Tine ta joke? fuhlurt? Yes." Heck the big man was basically in his special elastic undies. He figured that gave him free reign to crack as many jokes and flirt as much as he wanted. He stood back up and looked between the others. "So this is to do. Torch house, get cycle, leave area." The first he felt was self explanatory, and violet asked the important question about two. "How are we getting out of here?" 

"Carry all under curtains. No see, no know who we are." True it would end up making them look like the most ridiculous cheap cosplay ghost in existence, but noone would ever see their face. "One huge sonethin. Not fuhive" Erik knew it seemed so simple it was stupid. "That is a dumb plan." Twitchy articulated with some more flailing of his arms. Time for another sigh. "Duner than tryin this is daytime in nirst 'lace? Sinle not dunb. Take a netter one." Opening up the floor for any discussion or better ideas.

Somehow, with the threat of Erik's punching gone, the yellow haired man was crowding him even closer. Like an electric gnat to a big red lamp.

"I maintain that this was not dumb, it simply hit unforeseen complications."

"We're getting carried out like laundry because we're too pathetic to stay angry at," the healer said. He stood slowly, keeping one hand on the ground until he was sure he had his balance. He looked significantly more tired than his bushy-tailed co-worker. " 'Dumb' seems an appropriate adjective."

"A bike crash and two people walking into a house wouldn't have been a problem. A bike crash, two people walking into a house, and then--BAM! Demolition Derby!--that's the problem. We totally could have pulled it off if Big Red here wasn't here. Also, I could totally take you, big guy. I'm just not going to, out of respect for my mobility challenged colleagues." He tucked his hands into his back pockets. This had the effect of moving his electric arcs down to his legs.

The violet-eyed girl starting swearing at him, just about as proficiently as Erik's swears, though in a mix of English and Spanish that Panu found very enlightening (just as he had found Erik's Russian. He had not known that word could be both verb, noun, and adjective.) This proved to be very good for coughing out the last of the blood in her lungs, which she did after rolling to her knees. She didn't seem likely to get up any further than that on her own, but she was glaring horrific nightmare purple at any of the menfolk who came close. It was hard to tell which of them she hated most, at present (the swaying-on-his-feet healer excluded).

Panu, meanwhile, handed Erik his phones back. On the screen of the burner phone was a text: Agreed, killing them is like drowning puppies. Do you have somewhere we can take to talk to them?

With the nightmare girl still coughing, the healer dead on his feet, and the electric guy… smiling literal sparkles, Panu would not dignify this situation with words like 'interrogation.'

"I can make cameras forget they see us," Panu said out loud, because if they had been after him than probably they already knew things like this. "Probably if we just cover faces and leave very quickly, witnesses will not be able to help much. ...Also you should stop sparking, it is very distinctive."

"Whaaaat?" yellow hair protested.

"Please," the nightmare girl said. She squinted skeptically up at Erik. "...I might need that carry. But if you touch anything, I swear to god, you're going to be seeing maggots in your food and rotted faces on everyone you love for the rest of your life."

Erik was quickly beginning to wonder if these people had any sort of book smarts to go with their lack of street smarts. He was leaning towards no if the speedster's annoying ramblings were any indication. Why did the fast ones always have to be so annoying. He was about to respond with an appropriate quip when the healer attempted to shut zippy's trap. Erik wondered idly what made healers more full of wisdom then others. When that wasn't good enough and the man rambled more Erik sighed yet again. His usual speech impediment sounding like a strange ventriloquists act. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy." Erik was most certain he could take flappy gums so the rest wasn't even worth responding too. Speedsters were always cocky until they got a 2x4 shoved through their torso and turned into a macabre kabob. 

Unexpected reinforcements arrived from violent violet. A most eloquent dirge of swearing he might possibly ever heard or never fully understand. Her glares doing little to sway him away from her immediate vicinity. She had played her hand and almost died for it at the current moment. Wondering somewhat at the cause for hate. He had just been protecting his MVP. Of course as Panu approached he did move away some to take his phones back like they were toothpicks halfway to breaking already and read the message and after a moment shrugged. "Place to lay low at least." he mumbled back. He gave everyone an address to meet up at.

"Twitch and healer take the bike. I will take super kid and Nightmare with me." They hadn't bothered to give their names and he wasn't inclined to ask. Nightmare was being peevish and he rolled his eyes as he tore down the the white curtains in the big bay window (one that he had not made), ripped a hole in it and threw it over him to give a good facsimile of a roman demon of some kind. "Are you angry at me specifically or angry you lost? Unlike some others I could mention I am a professional despite my earlier teasing. I helped save your life, maggots are full of protein and your assuming there is anyone still alive I love." His words getting increasingly terse as he talked until he finished. Erik gave it a whole fraction of a moment to sink into her brain before picking her up bridal style protests from any member be damned!

"Lets go." he said to the others in a tone that said, 'one more damn complaint and i will paint the walls red.' Once he made it to the door he kicked it out of the way and consequently off its hinges so he could get out and leaving the others to complete the plan. Once outside he gesture to Panu and plopped the kid behind his head and sitting on his shoulders. "Hold on tight." Fully expecting his hair to be used like reins before he started off in a strength assisted loping sort of run that left the suburbs behind as quick as he could and towards the abandoned building he told the other two to meet up at.

>> "Twitch and healer take the bike. I will take super kid and Nightmare with me."

"I'm driving!" the electric guy shouted.

"No you're not," the healer said, but his co-worker was already out the front door and propping the bike back up. The tired man ran a hand down his face, and trudged towards the door. "...Yes he is."

>> "Are you angry at me specifically or angry you lost? Unlike some others I could mention I am a professional despite my earlier teasing. I helped save your life, maggots are full of protein and your assuming there is anyone still alive I love."

The violet-eyed girl turned her head away. "Didn't need your life story. Just need a lift."

She barely even squeaked when Erik picked her up. Her blush might have been embarrassment, rage, or a grab bag of both.

"You know they're stealing your bike right now. Making a get away," she taunted.

"Are you sure they are that smart?" Panu asked, his words every bit as skeptical as his body language as he tried to find a comfortable way to sit piggy-back on a giant Russian. He was 450% past his daily quota for touching people and wanted very much to curl up alone somewhere, but first he needed to know what these stupid people had been doing, if only so he could take almost-kidnapping back to X-Man Mirror and rub it in the man's face. (Except that he had been the one leaving school without real permission, so maybe they should just… not talk about this. Ever.)

She crossed her arms, and made no reply.

Her companions weren't that smart. They were, in fact, waiting at the location Erik had given them. Random pieces of metal were sticking to the bike's frame, like it had gotten magnetized during the brief ride. Twitchy was experimentally shocking the warehouse's doorknob to see if it would open. The healer was sitting on the curb, his head between his knees, and his hands in his very wind-swept hair.

"...You didn't steal the bike," Nightmare gritted her teeth. "Why didn't you steal the bike?"

"I wasn't driving," the healer said.

>>"You know they're stealing your bike right now. Making a get away,"she taunted.

>>"Are you sure they are that smart?" Panu asked.

Erik wondered what the groups obsession was with making any money they could even if it meant getting seriously injured in the process or making someone more powerful then them mad. Given Panu's recently gleaned history he left the stinging retort to the world wise Finn even if it wasn't anything he would have said it worked well enough. He would have found them eventually if they made off with his bike not that he was too terribly concerned about the loss of such a material possession. Most thives past and present he found had a aching obsession in the security of their own hoards.

Seeing the state the bike was in he let out yet another sigh that lent itself to the following eye roll as she obsessed over the lack of theft. "I am guessing your group is newly formed if you can't predict what the others will do in an unknown situation." Letting that do as it will to their already diminished moral. "And stop zapping the doorknob. What idiot just tries the front door when they are trespassing?" Grumbling as he let the Finn of his shoulders with the care one extends to a porcelain doll. "Twitch grab the bike and follow me. Stitch over there looks like he is about to pass out." 

He led the trio around the side of the building and past an awful smelling dumpster to a chain link fence that had been pre rigged to open from the building side. "Fix it once your through." He called back and moved around the backside of the building and passed another door that matched the front, instead moving to slide up the garage door with a hand and motioning them all inside and shutting it behind them once they were through. Inside was as empty as one would expect for a defunct building and just enough light filtered through dirty skylights to light their way. He gestured for Twitch to leave the bike and went through another door where he finally flicked on some lights to reveal what had been an old breakroom at some point. All the usual stuff present and even a little kitchenette. He set Nightmare on the couch very carefully as to not disturb her majesty or touch more then he had to though he did give her a light smile before making his way over to a running fridge. "Anyone hungry? Got some leftover pizza and uncooked eggs." He pulled out a pitcher of some green.. muck and proceeded to chug down half of it with a mild grimace before putting it back and closed the fridge as he turned to regard the group. "Of course food should probably wait till after you all tell me why you would take on such a tough job with three people and who gave it to you." A grin present on his huge face as he probably could have managed it better with the same crew and far more planning thanwhatever they had put into it.

>> "Of course food should probably wait—"

The yellow-haired man was already at the fridge, pizza box in hand.

>> "--till after you all tell me why you would take on—"

The healer stole the box. When he wasn't slumped over, he was tall enough to play an effective game of leftovers keep-away with the shorter electricity user.

>> "--such a tough job with three people and who gave it to you."

"Fine, whatever," Twitch grumped. Not to Erik, but to his own teammate. As the healer brought the pizza box over to the couch, and offered the violet-eyed girl the first slice (something she managed to sit up for), Twitch pulled out an egg. He held it between his hands. Electricity arced around his fingers, and with a distinct pop, he revealed a crack-shelled and steaming flash-boiled egg. Which he proceeded to start tossing between his hands like a one-man game of hot potato. "Oww, oww, hot—"

Panu pointed his phone between their almost-kidnappers, then at Erik. The little Finn stuck close to his new broth—his bodyguard. Not because he was afraid of the three people in front of them, but because he did not want to associate himself with idiots.

The healer took a seat on the floor next to the couch, where he and Nightmare could share the pizza box. Nightmare hadn't moved enough for him to sit on the couch, and he hadn't asked.

"Grabbing a kid with no offensive mutation isn't supposed to be hard," Nightmare growled, her mouth full of pizza. "Especially not when the kid wants to be grabbed."

"What." This was the only appropriate response Panu could think of. If this had been the internet, he would have spelled it wut.

It was maybe probably true that he wasn't opposed to getting taken away from the Mansion. But it was also true that he only wanted to be kidnapped by the Most Competent Baddies Ever, which this group was definitely not. This kidnapping was an insult and he wanted a refund.

"We were hired by the Orphans," the Healer said, actually bothering to chew and swallow before talking. "Most of us are from across the rift. Got caught on the wrong side when it closed. No ID, no money, and—"

"The X-Men are a bunch of sell outs," Twitch said, tossing his egg between his hands with each point. He seemed too, well, twitchy to sit down. "Working with the police? Please. They're up the street playing house, ignoring that fact that SUPER hopped over with us, that they're bagging and tagging mutants on this side, that we've got a chance to stop it now before SUPER gets rooted in--"

"I'm just getting paid," Nightmare said, sounding a lot more like mm jus' 'etting faid as she shoved pizza crust into her mouth.

"Same," Stitch shrugged, then reached for another slice.

"Guys," Twitch said. "You can get paid and still believe in the cause. You can also share the pizza."

Neither of those things looked likely. Twitch started peeling his egg, blowing on it a little grumpily.

Panu turned his head to Erik, but he kept his phone pointed at their would-be kidnappers. He spoke in Russian, hoping none of the three could understand. "What do we do with them?"

At first Erik didn't say or do much of anything as the circus played itself out. A part of him swore it had to be some sort of illusion from Nightmare or one of the other two. People couldn't be this ridiculous could they? The huge red man took a moment to pinch his arm. Nope definitely real. By the time they had all started actually talking instead of raiding the fridge his anger was simmering. Which in his current form he found was all too easy to do. He had to keep hunched over to keep his head from brushing the ceiling which he found most irritating. Now he was trying to extract information from green amateurs who were acting like they were at their parents house like invited guests. 

He felt his teeth clench as he kept himself from exploding in anger and hoped his little buddy Panu couldn't hear it.  AS they finally got to the important relevant bits he sighed inwardly. Even more players in an already annoying game. While he could agree with Twitch he wasn't about to say so right at this moment. Erik figured he would have to find a way to disband or take over this Orphans group before they made a mess by hiring amateurs simply out of acts of mercy. 

What to do with them indeed. "The Red part of me wants to finish what we started in the house." He replied as calmly as he could, which wasn't all that much. Then twitch became even more well Titchy and his fist clenched before deciding to finally respond to his guests. "You think justifying the existence of SUPER by being a bunch of incompetent criminals or terrorists is a good way to shake them loose? The government may not be actively helping them, but they aren't openly opposing them either. Doing things like say kidnapping people in broad daylight in the f*(&ing suburbs gets soccer moms calling people all scared about the mutant 'problem." His words fast descending into a growling purr of anger. "You have two choices work for me and get paid all the time or retire, NOW. Help you get set up with new identities, but I don't need idiots like you taking a dump in the front lawn of my city." He took a deep bellowing breath as he looked the each of them in the idea. "Greed I can work with." Looking to Stitch and Nightmare before following up with Twitch. "I can even manage a certain level of idealism, but not incompetence. So think carefully on your choices. I have a job to finish. If you leave before I get back and find you later causing problems I will finish what started at the house." 

Gesturing for Panu to leave before he lost his cool and started breaking furniture over people. Grumbling under his breath about idiots as they made their way back towards the bike. Taking a almost sigh of a breath he looked to the Finn. "You still want to try hit a few places to shop before your time is up?"                                                                    

Erik had many good points, and saying them while Very Large and Very Red and Very Angry made him Very Convincing. Not-Said threats of violence were very good like that, in Panu's experience. The Finn stayed at Erik's side, and all was well with the world, because his side was the one that could crush everyone else in the room if something went wrong.

"…How much money are we talking, here?" the healer asked, after a shared look with Nightmare.

Numbers were tossed out. Very low ball numbers, mostly insults in Panu's eyes, but the two seemed very happy with them. As Erik said: amateurs. Twitch was unusually quiet, like a puppy who had lost his favorite toy. When Erik and Panu left, all three stayed behind, but Panu did not think Twitch would be staying long. Probably only until the food was gone.

Hopefully Erik did not mind having all his food be gone.

Outside, the eleven-year-old asked what any reasonable (villain) child would: "Where do you get money to pay them from? Are you secret member of criminal faction?"

>> "You still want to try hit a few places to shop before your time is up?"

On one hand: electronic stores. On the other: curling up under a blanket and never moving again (at least until dinner) (but only if the Mansion was cooking something good, so help him if they had mac and cheese again, he would order takeout for everyone with Gawain's credit card and deny 130% that it was him).

"Maybe just ATM, then back to school? I need to withdraw money for paying you."

When they got to an ATM, Panu would quickly and very-no-frills demonstrate his own method of paying employees: after making sure Erik's body blocked people on the street from seeing what he was doing, the Finn simply held out a hand, and collected a generous stack of hundreds that the machine was very happy to print for him one after another after another until the pile was too big to fit neatly in his hand. Using debit cards, or—shudder—pressing physical buttons, was for non-technopath plebeians. So was having bank accounts. So was worrying that cameras would see anything but an empty street, or machine records note anything but regular transactions.

"Thank you for very good job," the Finn said, handing over the stack like it was small money. "Included is hazard pay bonus. My apologies, job posting maybe understated danger level. …Would you be willing to work again with me, sometime? You were very good Responsible Adult."

And now that it was time to leave, Panu maybe did not want to. Erik was Big and Red and Very Safe.

When one threw meat to wolves the wolves ate. Though in this case Erik would be hard pressed to consider the group in front of him anything more then stray dogs fighting over scraps. Still the potential was there to make wolves of dogs. He would just have to make sure they didn't get hungry and turn into strays in the meantime. He kept the numbers low as he felt he could afford with his current activities which he would have to ramp up and include the two in as well. As they made their way back to his bike he was lost in thought to just what he was going to have his new employees do. He took a fast moment to change into clothes for his giant size before leaving.

Panu's voice brought him out of his scheming and the big bushy eyebrows rose curiously at the question or more accurately at the curious question itself. "Jobs both legit and not. Sorry no secret criminal faction. Wouldn't join one anyway. Busy trying to set up legit front for some.. gray area dealings." Unable to help a big split face grin at Panu before shrugging. 

He could understand the younger one's desire to just return 'home' and just process the events of the day. It had been a very trying day for his own nerves and was looking forward to finding something particularly mind numbing to do. Most likely that would be working out or finding something to read. So they trudged off to an ATM. As Panu worked his magic on the machine Erik noted he really didn't do anything but just hold his hands out like a poor person asking for alms. He quickly made the stack disappear into his backpack and chuckled. 

"I am glad you are pleased with my services even if it got a bit crazy. Was not expecting any mind stuff today. Not like a guy can prepare for that anyway." He replied in an offhand manner and gave a nod. "I wouldn't mind at all you got my numbers. You're far more professional then some adults I might mention. Even if you fall into the same trap as other mutants do." Smiling a bit on his huge face regardless of his brutally honest statement. Erik ruffled up the Finn's hair some before they set off to return him to his current place of residence. "You were a very good non-whiny kid." Red teased. "Get close enough where I can see you enter the mansion but I won't be getting close like this."