Sveta was still working in the same place she had been when they first met, and so was Matt. And yet, so many things had changed in a year. For the worse, first, and then, quite unexpectedly, for the better. After that first night in his apartment, Sveta found that she liked spending time with Matt. He was caring, and gentle, and messed up about as much as she was. His adapted aura was by far not the only thing that allowed her to relax around him.

It was lunch time, and Sveta decided to take a break from Haven work, and walk down to the bar where Matt was working. It was not supposed to be a big surprise thing, but lunch on a weekday was always slow hours, and she genuinely felt like eating some questionable bar food and seeing her... um, boyfriend?... seeing Matt for a few minutes.

"Hello" she smiled as she walked in through the door. The bar was indeed mostly empty, except for Matt, one of the regulars in a corner, and two burly men in suits who were on their way out. Sveta stepped out of the way, glancing over them as they left, before walking over to the bar and taking a seat. "Hi there, handsome. Are you serving food yet?"

Lunch was usually decently slow at the bar. They weren't exactly known for their food, and despite the kitschy decor and mood lighting that always threatened to put Matt to sleep, they weren't quite underground enough to be a tourist location. The bar truly was just a run-of-the-mill neighbourhood joint, with nothing more than the odd expected regulars on a Wednesday afternoon. The girl who worked on her laptop was back for her regular order of fries and a beer, and the day drinkers were enjoying their regular booth in the corner.

By all means, it had been shaping up to be a regular day.

That was, of course, until about 20 minutes before, when two men had walked in on that fateful afternoon. Their suits stuck out like sore thumbs, and their ugly mugs really weren't fitting, either.

There weren't many things that could shake Matt those days, but he had to admit, the slight tremor in his hands was unusual, and he wasn't used to hearing the flow of his own blood through his ears like that.

The men left, and as they did, another unexpected form made her way through the door. It had been a few weeks since he'd met back up with Sveta, and he had absolutely no regrets about the situation. He'd felt even more of a drive to pull up his socks in this second chance at life since she was in it, and she was a more than welcome distraction from the monotony that had become every other aspect of his days on that planet. Besides, he was pretty sure he would never find anyone else who understood him like she did.

That being said, he wished she had waited maybe an hour or so before coming into the bar. He held his palms flat to the countertop as she entered and flashed her a half-hearted grin, trying to hide whatever anxiety had shot through him minutes before. "Hey gorgeous. We're always serving food when you come in- I'm pretty sure I have pull in the kitchen." There was something off about his tone, and he knew it even as the words came out, but there was nothing he could do. There was no way to right the course from the diverted path.

The constant coffee buzz of Sveta's powers was cut off as she walked inside Matt's aura. She took a seat on one of the bar stools with a little sigh and a smile, shrugging her jacket off. She was definitely not here for the gourmet cuisine.

>>"Hey gorgeous. We're always serving food when you come in- I'm pretty sure I have pull in the kitchen."

Even with the coffee buzz gone, she could sense the tension around Matt. She was about to talk about food, but she changed her mind mid sentence when she saw him bracing himself against the counter. "I was thinking I could go for some..." She had been in trouble often enough to recognize the signs. She tilted her head, and reached over, resting one gloved hand on Matt's.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

For a brief second, Matt wondered whether Sveta wouldn't notice that something was off with him and breeze past the topic. That would be the best way to deal with the issue, in his opinion. Wasn't that how he got past everything in his life, anyway? Push it down until he could forget about it all for a little while and pretend that it wasn't an issue.

Unfortunately, he knew deep down that he wouldn't be able to ignore this problem for long. Especially since the cook, Corey, had probably hadn't disappeared after seeing the men because he needed a bathroom break. It had been far from a pleasant conversation.

Sveta put one gloved hand on his, and he stopped his pacing and stood very still where he was. There was no need for the protection from skin-to-skin contact between the two of them, since Matt's abilities cancelled out Sveta's, but it was another reminder that her whole life was built around taking precautions. Perhaps he could stand to take a page out of her book.

"Hey. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," he said, unconvincingly, as he turned around, slid his hand out from under hers, and busied himself by organizing two mixed up bottles. "Why? Is everything okay with you?"

Okay, so Matt was definitely acting strange. Sveta had seen him stressed out before, but that didn't help in guessing why he was acting this way. Should she not have come to visit him? Did something happen? Was he in trouble with the law again?

>>"Yeah, yeah, of course. Why? Is everything okay with you?"

He turned away to rummage around, and Sveta sighed, resting her elbows on the counter. Men needed to learn how to talk about their feelings better. She felt a pang of worry about Matt. Leaning forward, she tried to catch his gaze again as he moved around. To an outside observer, she might have looked like she was trying to flirt.

"Hey, Matt? Remember when we talked about not keeping secrets to protect each other?... This is not one of those times, is it?"

It wasn’t hard to tell from her sigh that Sveta was disappointed with his reaction, and Matt knew exactly why that would be. They had agreed a few weeks ago that they wouldn’t hide things from each other anymore, and that they would be honest. So far, Matt was doing a shitty job, and he felt like a shit... boyfriend(?) because of it.

What was he supposed to do, though? Sveta had come in on her lunch break for food, and Matt would feel bad dumping his crap on her when she was just trying to have a good day.

Still, he felt like he owed her, and what the hell? He had learned by now that there was nothing he couldn’t trust Sveta with. She was the only person he had felt truly comfortable around in a very long time.

“Okay, you’re right,” he admitted with a sigh. “Those guys you passed on your way in.... They had just been here trying to... intimidate us, I guess.” The street was controlled by gang territory, which most people knew, but up until that point it hadn’t really mattered all that much to the bar- he supposed they had finally reached the point where they were in too visible of a location to keep going unchecked by those who wanted control.

The “intimidation” was nothing that would have made Matt scared back in the day, but now, he wanted no part of this, especially since he was still on parole. This was the last thing that the bar needed, especially since they didn’t have the money to pay as much as the gang wanted, and they really didn’t have the manpower to do anything else about it.

When Matt appeared again at the bodega robbery, things somehow took a drastically new direction. Part of that change was that they made a pact not to try to save the other against their will. They both had seen many dangers, and tended to attract trouble - but there was no point in making themselves even more miserable by denying the small good things that came along. Case in point: shortly after making that pact, they spent an entire night making up for lost time.

>>“Okay, you’re right. Those guys you passed on your way in.... They had just been here trying to... intimidate us, I guess.”

Oh hell. Talk about trouble.

"Who? The suits?" she should have known there was something wrong with the suits. They looked cheap. Sveta scoffed, glancing at the door, even though they were long gone. "Protection money? Who sent them?"

Who was the idiot trying to make a few bucks off a run-down bar?

Matt hated the fact that he was now bringing Sveta into the drama at the bar, but he knew that bottling it up and hiding it from her wouldn't end well. Plus, he would have expected that she would share something like that with him so he could help in any way that he was able to, and lord knew that Sveta had more than a few resources at her fingertips.

"Protection money? Who sent them?"

"One of the local gangs. Seems like the bar is pretty much on the line between two territories, and, well, they want us to pay them each month so we don't have to be involved with anything that goes down." Otherwise... well, who knew what would happen when something ramped up. "Apparently they've been coming around for a few weeks now, but it's always just been one guy sitting in the corner. Until now, that is."

This time it was different. Apparently they were getting tired of the bar's non-answers and wanted to speed the process along a little.

"I'm not sure why I can't seem to avoid this shit. Seems to be my lot in life." Matt cleared his throat and grabbed a menu from one of the displays next to Sveta and set it down in front of her. "But it'll get dealt with, and you'll need to get back to work before long. I wouldn't want, uh, Dawson thinking that I'm keeping you from your job or something."

Sveta wished she had taken a better look at the suits. Haven had been tracking some criminal activity in the area; Matt's bar was not far from their headquarters, and if they could not keep their own neighborhood safe from thugs, then what was the point? Sveta worked the cases from both ends, as a Haven IE member and as a vigilante during her extracurricular activities. The big guns were hard to pin down, though, without starting a turf war.

>>"One of the local gangs. Seems like the bar is pretty much on the line between two territories, and, well, they want us to pay them each month so we don't have to be involved with anything that goes down. Apparently they've been coming around for a few weeks now, but it's always just been one guy sitting in the corner. Until now, that is."

"There's probably a good chance the other side is gonna show up soon for the same reason" Sveta sighed. If this was contested territory, paying one side for protection was the business equivalent of an umbrella in a tornado.

>>"I'm not sure why I can't seem to avoid this shit. Seems to be my lot in life. But it'll get dealt with, and you'll need to get back to work before long. I wouldn't want, uh, Dawson thinking that I'm keeping you from your job or something."

"Devon is busy with his own stuff" Sveta smirked, taking the menu. Tempest had been awol for a while now, taking care of higher business in the name of Haven "I have time for a burger and fries. And don't worry, I don't think it's you. This kinda shit comes with the territory in a city like this..."

It was nice to have Sveta there in the middle of his workday, even if it was after some strange events. There was nothing normal about their relationship, but moments like these teased a hint of normalcy that Matt didn't think he'd ever find again. Call him a softy, but he liked the idea of having someone there in the midst of everything, and not having that personal always be running from danger.

"There's probably a good chance the other side is gonna show up soon for the same reason"

Matt nodded with a sigh. She was probably right - being in the middle of two territories was a dangerous place to be, and they could hardly expect that the other side was just going to let them be, especially as soon as they noticed that their opponents were already trying to sink their teeth in.

It sounded like Sveta's boss was a bit of a punk, especially since he had taken his money and run a little while ago, which meant that Sveta was free for extended lunches. Matt liked that he could steal her away without someone noticing if he wanted to, but he also had to wonder what was actually going on at the head offices of Haven. It all sounded a little shady to him.

"I have time for a burger and fries. And don't worry, I don't think it's you. This kinda shit comes with the territory in a city like this..."

"Yeah, but I've got my own personal lightning rod, I think. Bar fights, bodega robberies, arrests, gangs, ninjas..." he shook his head with a smirk that was a little more jovial than how he was actually feeling. He turned around and hit his fist on the door of the kitchen, hoping that it might catch Corey's attention. "We've got an order!" It was hard to blame him - this shift had been well above his pay grade.

Turning back to Sveta, he shrugged gently and cocked his head. "Hopefully he'll get it started in a few minutes. I think he's still spooked."

There was no arguing that the mob showing up for protection money made for a shit day, no matter which mob it was. Sveta made a mental note to look into territories, one way or another.

>>"Yeah, but I've got my own personal lightning rod, I think. Bar fights, bodega robberies, arrests, gangs, ninjas..."

"Alternate universes, government agencies, psychic mutant witches..." Sveta added to the list with a smirk. She was no stranger to the idea of feeling like every form of bad luck and surreal enemy centered on one's own life. Matt banged on the kitchen door, making note of an order.

>>"Hopefully he'll get it started in a few minutes. I think he's still spooked."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Those guys can look pretty tough." she nodded "May I get a drink in the meantime?..." she leaned against the bar "So, how are you thinking about handling this? Paying them is probably the most peaceful solution, but you'll end up paying both sides eventually either way. Thinking about going to the cops?"

Sveta was someone who intimately understood the feeling of running from one's demons, both literal and metaphorical, and that was something that Matt really appreciated about her. Matt often felt as if there was a level of separation between himself and most people that he would never have a hope of tearing down, but the same couldn't be said when he was around Sveta. She understood. Better than he could have asked for.

She added to his list with things more outlandish than he had listed to begin with, which made him smirk. It was easy to forget that when she was deep in the bowels of the mutant underworld, she saw crazier shit than he could even dream of.

It was nice to be candid, though - to feel as though he didn't have to put on some sort of front or to hide what was actually happening. What did he do to deserve having her walk into his life on two separate occasions? He'd likely have to chalk it up to some damn good karma after all the bullshit he'd been dealt before.

"May I get a drink in the meantime?..."

"'Course. On the house. What do you feel like?"

"So, how are you thinking about handling this? Paying them is probably the most peaceful solution, but you'll end up paying both sides eventually either way. Thinking about going to the cops?"

Matt ran his hands over his face with a heavy sigh. What was his plan? He didn't own the bar, so it technically wasn't on him, but he'd talked to the manager, and it really wasn't as if anyone had any sort of clue as to where to go next with everything going down. "Fuck.... I don't know. Cops are a non-option since we're pretty sure they've been paying them off for years, and there isn't the money to pay off even the one side, not to mention both." Peace was the ideal outcome, but it wasn't likely, and Matt had never been a pacifist anyhow. "Don't suppose you have a handbook for how to deal with gang territory lines lying around, do you?"

>>"'Course. On the house. What do you feel like?"

"Beer's fine." it was too early for liquor yet, and she was not in a cocktail kind of mood anyway. Plus, bars like this usually had beer as their most reliable option. Couldn't go wrong with that.

>>"Fuck.... I don't know. Cops are a non-option since we're pretty sure they've been paying them off for years, and there isn't the money to pay off even the one side, not to mention both... Don't suppose you have a handbook for how to deal with gang territory lines lying around, do you?"

He was right on the first two counts. The cops were questionable at best, and the bar definitely did not have the funds to pay double the usual protection money, in a prime downtown location like this one. Sveta smirked at the last question, though.

"It depends. Which playbook would you prefer? We've got Haven, SUPER, or friendly neighborhood vigilante..." she took the beer and took a swig before she continued "As much fun as it is to suit up every once in a while, mob versus vigilante rarely ever ends well. And SUPER is... well. But I can definitely bring this to Haven. Your turf is kinda our turf too, anyway."

“You’re definitely not going vigilante on this one,” Matt warned, his brow furrowing. It wasn’t that he doubted Sveta’s capabilities, but he also knew that there were many risks involved in this situation, and he really didn’t want to risk losing her over something that he could just as easily have moved on from. He didn’t technically have to work at that bar. If he wanted to, he could walk away then and there and work on finding something else to focus his life on. Provided, of course, that he could find somewhere else that would overlook his criminal record.

But hey, he hadn’t planned on bartending for the rest of his life, anyway.

"As much fun as it is to suit up every once in a while, mob versus vigilante rarely ever ends well. And SUPER is... well. But I can definitely bring this to Haven. Your turf is kinda our turf too, anyway."

“I mean, you don’t put yourself out over it,” Matt feigned, ignoring the nagging feeling in his stomach that she was absolutely the bar’s best option in all of this. He felt bad dumping his drama in her lap and leaning on her to find a solution, though. Especially since, despite their history, they had really only been “dating” for a few weeks. “Is this the kind of thing that Haven does? I feel like I don’t even really know what it is you guys do.”

He lifted the corners of his mouth like a shrug, unsure of how to take the offer. Part of him wanted to jump on it, but another part needed more convincing.

>>"You’re definitely not going vigilante on this one,”

"Yes, sir" Sveta smirked at Matt. If she really wanted to do it, there was precious little he could have done to stop her. But for now, they agreed it was not the best option. Especially if she did not want to get Matt involved in any physical capacity.

>>“I mean, you don’t put yourself out over it. Is this the kind of thing that Haven does? I feel like I don’t even really know what it is you guys do.”

Sometimes even Sveta didn't know all the things Haven did... but as the only active member of the IE at the moment, she had a decent idea at least.

"This kinda stuff." she responded with a chuckle "I mean, officially, mutant outreach, advocacy, support, fundraising, the like. We worked on the fires out in California with Devon... and we have been helping mutant get out of countries where they were hunted, and get US asylum. It's less vigilante-like than the X-men, and not law enforcement like the MRC. It's... a civil organization type thing. But we are well connected. Remember the Sanctuary, when you... got shot? That's ours too."