Lenna ran across the roof tops, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as she went.

That had gone terribly well. Used the credit card a little. Read the address in the ID, and went there with all her stuff. She’d just settled down after a little bit of nosing around, and then—

It just wasn’t fair, how they had found her where she thought she’d been safe. Woken her up. Scared her.

They had not bothered her when she had stayed with Megan at the motel. But then, Megan had paid hadn’t she? Or had she? That was all a blur.

And the restaurant. Nobody had broken down any doors to interrupt her and her Whopper! She had used the card there.

Maybe she’d left before they could trace the card being used.

Stupid, stupid. Whoever this person was, whose card she had, people wanted her. And that was fskkked up!

Why, why would they have been watching the apartment? It had been a nice apartment! Pretty sterile, by her standards. Nice things, nothing real personal left out. The food in the fridge was fresh, and simple. Enough to make a few things if the mood struck whoever had lived there, but somehow she got the feeling it was a fake face. Like a mask. Because there were takeout boxes in the trash and it seemed like the woman did that, more than she cooked for herself.

The woman hadn’t lurched out of the woodwork to jump her and scream GET OUT! The place had seemed safe. Blank, and safe.

Nothing personal. That was what really hit her.

No diary. No pictures of the woman with any friends or family. Not even any pictures of her, by herself. Maybe riding a horse or in front of some sort of tourist destination?

No books. No movies sitting out on a stand. It was almost as if the woman spent no time at her place of residence, except to sleep.

The bedroom had been the only place in the apartment that had looked “lived in.” Unmade bed, clothes in the closet. A dirty clothes hamper. Furniture that was comfortable, rather than modern and uncomfortable. The whole space just looked lived in. And the wardrobe—

Honestly, this mystery woman had style. There were articles of clothing that she, herself, might wear. All too big for her, sadly. Especially the jackets.

She had planned to investigate further in the morning.

Bastards.

They had woken her up just a few hours after she had settled down. Broken the door down with some sort of invisible battering ram, and—

She had had zero idea who they were. In the heat of the moment, she had not gathered her things. Nothing, save the purse by the bed and the clothes on her back. Clean, thankfully, but still.

She left all the new clothes she’d bought just a day ago behind. Lenna was not pleased about that fact. Especially once it sunk in that if the card wasn’t safe, there wouldn’t be any easy ways to make money. Maybe she could just buy a bunch of crap, then ditch the card and run.

Lenna busted past the person at the door, narrowly avoiding getting snagged by him. Her knives were buried in the purse, or else she’d have gutted the man. She settled for kicking in the back of his knee as she passed him on the way into the hall.

The guys buddy stood in her path a few feet down the hallway. Lenna executed a quick takedown maneuver, and slammed his head into the carpeted floor, once, twice. She stepped over him. Fool hadn’t even used a power, if he’d had one.

Neither had his buddy, even with the door. Almost like they’d wanted to take her in alive. But she couldn’t think of that, then. So, she ran. Down the stairs, back up the stairs when she saw another pair of guys, up to the roof, and across to the rooftop of the next building.

She was a good jumper. And focusing hard on jumping far, she almost felt like she gained an extra bit of power and speed. A push in the right direction. Probably just luck and the wind on her side. She was a good jumper.

Running across rooftops, fleeing from a pair of agents who leaped like cats behind her. And one of them kept setting off fireworks that exploded several feet away from her, scaring Lenna to bits. That was how her day had begun. And it was only 7AM.

On 5 hours sleep. It was going to be a long day.

She needed a hero. And she hadn’t met any streetwise Hercules or Cowboy to fight against rising odds. She would settle for anyone larger than life, truth be told. Or at least a fire escape so she could get off these damn rooftops.

Maybe she should just turn to fight the two guys?

Sidewalks were for wimps.

In a city as compact as New York, Tses couldn’t remember the last time she actually walked at street level. Okay, there was that one day she just walked thru a number is buildings, but that hardly counted. Today she was retracing her usual haunts, slipping from one place to another, occasionally blowing up someone’s coffee cup (whoops) or stealing something when she felt like it. The freedom was exhilarating and it made her feel alive again.

Things could have continued this way for the rest of the day if given the chance, but fate or some other cosmic forces had other plans. Out of nowhere strangers came running along the roofs, along her roof. One woman and a handful of bad guys.

What made them bad guys? Tses decided so.

Like a cat she made a drop on the situation, first using her light form to phase through the leader, then catching the following man in the face with a very solid crack. Damn that felt good! He hit the roof with a thud and the second guy swung, only to pass through her. He staggered and she kneed him hard in the backside. The cry of pain was great. Just like a comedy special.

Okay, this was ridiculous. Enough was enough. As she ran, Lenna dug in her purse. Her hand brushed the gun, grazed over it carefully, thoughtfully, then moved on to her knives. More personal, less loud.

She turned to face her assailants, ready for lethal measures. Ready to take them out! And—

The torrent of words that spilled from her mouth was both profane and colorful. And in Spanish.

Someone had beaten her to the beating. The men lay, unconscious, soon to be unconscious, or dead. Orange, against the orange background of the roof and a woman stood over them against an orange sky. Orange.

Orange roof dust drifted unnoticeably by her shoes and a pebble almost rocked. Dark orange. Only she could see all that orange. It was all in her head.

Unbeknownst to her, Lenna was targeting every thing in view with her Telekinesis. At all times. And due to her weight limits, that effectively meant nothing. She could not move the world. Some dust, maybe. Almost a pebble. But not the world.

Upon further inspection, one man was down. The other had just fallen, but was trying to rise to his feet. The light-haired woman stood between her and the two men. Lenna made a quick judgement call. She rushed to help finish them off. Non-lethally, of course. Her knives slipped back into her purse.

She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to kill them. Gut feeling. It just seemed like, if she killed them, others would keep coming and never stop. So she darted past the woman on her right and snagged the man’s head as he was rising. Then she drove a knee into his nose, and followed it up by snagging him as he reeled and slamming him face-first into the rooftop.

Thud!

As Lenna kneeled to check their statuses, she glanced towards the unnamed Swiss-Miss Mystery Woman.

”Thanks.” She said. Her voice had a slight Spanish lilt to it that would become apparent the more she spoke.

It was a pity she hadn’t seen the woman take down the two men. It had probably been bad ass. Lenna had merely taken her scraps.

Her hand reached into a man’s pocket, looting a wallet. She stuffed the cash away. Then stared at a piece of identification.

”What is SUPER?” Lenna said aloud.

The Guy’s name was Kyle. And he worked for something called SUPER, which sounded like a joke.

Midway through the fight, the girl turned around and joined the pray. There was a knee to a nose, then a thud, and the second guy was down. Tses looked at her momentarily, raising one eyebrow. "If you could do that, why didn't you just fight back before? It would have saved you an awful lot of running." Tses commented, looking bored now.

Tses let the stranger raid their pockets, wondering if it was time to go about her business already. The question from the girl made her brow furrow though. "SUPER? Pretty sure that's some local group or whatnot. I am still catching up on all the politics, personally. I never had much need to care before." The only reason Tses knew as much as she did at this point was because of Chrys. But her connections were primarily with the Syndicate. SUPER, that was a different team. Tses had no interest in associating with anything unless it was to keep Chrys happy.

"Did you piss off the wrong person or something? Because generally, this is a much more peaceful walkway," the moonlight mutant made a broad sweep from one side of the roof to the other. She tried not to sound accusatory, but there was a little edge to her comment. In other words, why the heck was this woman on the run in the first place?

Her features gave away no clues of the dress Lenna was feeling. They were placid. They were cool.

It wasn’t apparent to her how far she could trust this strange woman who had appeared from out of nowhere to help her knock out the two men. As far as she knew, the woman could have been working alongside them and knocked them out to establish trust, in order to get close. That did not make sense with how things were going, though.

She had been helped. The woman had sacrificed time from her no doubt busy day in order to offer aid. Some trust should, then, be extended.

The fact Lenna has not desired to turn and kill them would not be a part of this sharing of information. The girl had some desire to some day make connections and continue the line of work she had trained her entire life for. Assassination was almost a trade skill and abandoning it would simply be a waste. Future assassins do not admit a hesitancy to kill.

”There were two men before those two men.” Lenna stated, with confidence. ”As far as I knew, there could have been more, beyond those. This man here also had dazzling lights.”

She patted the man whose wallet she had just obtained. He was in his mid 20s, with a ruddy beard and a handsome face.

”It was very much a tactical retreat.” She concluded. Not one of fear.

Something about her statement regarding men, men, and more men bothered her, but the strand of thought was rapidly lost as Lenna flipped open the man’s old brown wallet.

The man’s name was Kyle Tannenbaum. He had a library, card, about 130 dollars in cash, several credit cards, and an identification card for... what was SUPER?

She asked.

The woman thought it was some local group, but did not know or care. She did not pay much attention to politics, it seemed. Cortez has always said politics was important. You had to know how things were going to best understand whether killing someone for one client would cause another to seek recompense. Or whether it would alienate a great swathe of business associates from your services. Even people slated to be slain had friends.

The ID did not seem local to her. Lenna did not know any locals, but it seemed more like a card for a member of a law enforcement group than that of a member of the mob. Criminals and vigilante groups rarely tote cards of identification.

She slipped the wallet away for further perusing at a later date, then moved on to the next man.

As she bent to rifle through his pockets, the woman asked a very thought-provoking question. What HAD she done to cause such a reaction from this large group of men? Whose breakfast cereal had she pissed in, as Eliana had often said. Or as this woman put it, who had she pissed off?

Telling the truth might gain her answers. It might also gain blank looks. The events of the past few days were tiresome. To deal with this whole situation... it was just exhausting.

In the end, it was the fact that she simply did not care about secrecy at that moment that decided her. She could doubt and worry all she liked, but that was boring and more trouble than such things were worth.

”I do not know.” Lenna stated blandly.

The other man’s name was Bob Mann. He had more money for her trouble. He was short and bald. She left him his computer phone. She had already taken Kyle’s. Megan HAD made her jealous, after all.

”This past couple of day’s have been both confusing, and exhausting. Usually, I operate out of Columbia. But suddenly, I appear here with no memory of how I arrived. To me, it was in the middle of a fight. And then when I went to the address on the card in my purse... this happened.” She made a disgruntled face.

Lenna did not clarify that the ID had pictured a woman with a face different than her own, and a name different than her own. Or that she had utilized this woman’s cards of credit in order to make several purchases of clothing. If laid out in that way, how could she not have made an enemy somewhere? But no. She was the victim. They had interrupted her nap.

Lenna had several words to describe these people and none of them were pleasant.

Tses listened to the explanation, trying not to let her doubts show in her face. If she had already defeated the first two, why run? Tactical retreat was not what it looked like from her point of view, but Tses happened to be a somewhat cynical person. She honestly really didn't care about the explanations. She was bored with no one to hit now.

"There has been stuff happening all over the city. The amnesia bit is getting a little old. You aren't one of those adult turned kids that's been popping up everywhere, are you?" It was possible, honestly. She seemed young. And the whole 'Lack of memories' was a sign she had heard a bit recently.

Without waiting for an answer Tses walked over to the side of the building and sat down, studying the girl. A responsible person might direct her to some place safer if random bad guys were chasing her. Tses was probably not responsible. "So, you have a plan from here or are you just going to keep running?"

~Several Minutes Earlier~

The man in the center of the hallway stirred, then rose with a groan. He rubbed at his head.

Had a runaway train gotten him? All he could remember was the girl, then the floor. He smacked his lips. His mouth tasted like carpet. Balefully, he looked to him partner.

“We lose her?” He asked.

The man nodded once, twice, then held his hand out, palm up, and mimed a set of legs with two fingers, running away. He pointed down the hall.

“And you let her?”

In answer, the man gestured at his knee and tried to take a step. He winced.

“Sprained your knee, looks like.” The other man rubbed at the stubble on his chin. It was red, like his eyes. “Opsec isn’t going to like this.” His friend by the doorway pasted a look of horror on his face. Stubble chin grins ruefully at him. “We’ll keep chasing her, of course. Get over here.”

The man by the door swept a hand in front of his face. As it passed over him, the look of horror melted like water, into a look of calm.

Red stubble inwardly rolled his eyes. Effing mime. Then, he stepped forward and placed hands on the man with the pasty white complexion and the lavender eyes.

A low pastel yellow light lit the hallway as it surrounded pale-face. A moment later, stubble chin stepped away, dry washing his hands. “That should do it.” He said.

Pale face took a cautious step, then a more earnest one. Then he jumped in the air, capering like a fool. A stern look from his partner brought THAT to a quick finish. The mime mutant gestured towards the hall and ran in place again. Nodded. Pointed up.

With a sigh that spoke of long suffering, the two men in suits headed down the hall and up a stairwell. They’d have to move fast in order to make up for lost time.

~Now~

”It is not very likely.” Lenna said dismissively.

An adult, turned to a kid? What sort of lunacy was this?

Very purposefully, the girl subdued the memories of the whole world shifting around her, mid-fight. Of the sudden disorientation, the clothes that fit poorly, the similar situation of her companion, and the way the world had seemed more modern, changed, from her point of view.

”It is far more likely an enemy of my employer did something to me, as some sort of insult. Transported. Temporary memory loss.” Orange.

Was the orange mess bathing the world a side effect of the sudden amnesia-inducing transportation?

”Occam’s razor states what is simplest is usually the best explanation. What is simpler than an enemy taking revenge?” she asked.

For the other thing to be true, she would have had to have somehow lived, wound up in America, gotten a job, settled in, changed her face, acquired enemies capable of altering her age and removing memories, and... no. Her idea was simpler. For her. It involved fewer lifestyle changes. Like having once been an adult and living with the fact.

Lenna moved over to crouch on her haunches not too far from the woman, near the roof’s edge. It was a ready crouch. Not too comfortable. One where she would be able to spring up at nearly no notice at all.

A hand slipped into the purse hanging from one arm, and she extracted one of her knives. Calmly, Lenna began strupping it against her sharpening stone.

What would she do next?

”Probably, I will try and get into contact with my employer.” She said, Spanish accent heavy. ”Or my friends. Get back where I belong. Resolve problems. Deal with fallout.” She finished sharpening her blade with one final scrape.

The girl seemed inclined to dismiss what Tses thought was an awfully logical possibility. Then again, Tses had seen enough strange things in her life that she didn't label one situation as complicated and another as simple. Magically wake up younger? Totally a rational possibility for memory loss. Heck, her powers saved her from a gunshot and her brain spent a significant period of time as moonlight. She was not about to try and rationalize things.

"I guess your enemies commit to things more than mine ever did. Either that, or you're too easy to find. They can't get revenge unless you suck at hiding," Tses remarked. She could practically see the gears turning in the girl's head. What made someone think that hard about life? Tses generally responded to life with a 'seat-of-her-pants' philosophy. If she couldn't keep one foot ahead of danger, it was her own fault. She had to be faster, and so far, she had been.

Tses did have the rationale to look concerned when the woman mentioned contacting her employer though. For some reason, that seemed like all sorts of red flags. "You're all doing that based on the assumption you know who is your enemy and who is your friends. Someone is chasing you, and you're in danger. Contacting anyone seems like a sure way to wave a flag of 'I'm over here!', especially if you lost memories. I mean, I didn't want much T.V. or anything, but a general rule of thumb is to assume everyone is the enemy until proven otherwise."

Tses stood, shoving her hands in her pocket. She wondered if the woman was just by the books to the point of foolishness. Tses wondered if she should leave the other way before she got stuck in a bigger mess. But, really? Call her boss?

"Logically question, let me just throw it at you. What year is it?" Always a good test to support the 'I must just have amnesia' game. "What year were you born in? We can narrow down some possibilities really quickly if you answer those things honestly."

While it would have been far too easy to take offense at the comment about her sucking at hiding, Lenna tried not to take it personally. After all, she had not been hiding. It had not been evident to her that her enemies were trying to locate her at all. Thus, she had been sloppy. It would have been illogical to state anything else.

That her enemies committed themselves far more than this other woman’s enemies was interesting, if only for the admission the woman had made. That of having enemies. Plenty of people have enemies, this is true. People who help others tend to gain them as often as those who hurt others. The fact she had enemies told Lenna nothing of the woman’s morality, but it did tell Lenna the woman made a habit of Pissing people off.

Lenna did not shrug, or frown, or react in any notable way to the call out. Other than a grunt. ‘Mm.’

Her comment on contacting her employer caused the woman all sorts of concern. Was her enemy her enemy? Was her friend her friend? With people chasing her, how could she be sure who was on her side? And getting in touch with them at all would only draw people to them... that last one made sense. She did not like it, but it made sense.

She did not know who SUPER was, though. And that was who was chasing her. In theory.

Her general rule of thumb was basically to trust no one?

”Fair.” Lenna said. ”I do not think he would betray me after going to the trouble to train and raise me, but it is worth thinking about...”

It was her first time off the island, in the real world. Maybe she was being too gullible. But to do what had been done, and strand her somewhere foreign on her first mission. Maybe it was a test...

The woman’s next question perplexed Lenna. What year was— but yes. If the woman’s theory were correct, there would be a discrepancy. Perhaps she should have checked newspapers, but much had been on her mind.

Lenna told her the date. The year was 2008. Before she could state her birthday, something caught her attention. A movement she noticed from the edge of her vision.

Not too far away, two men in black suits were making their way slowly and cautiously across the gap between rooftops. They moved with a purpose, like they didn’t wish to attract any undue attention... although the pale-faced lead wobbled, arms spread widely as though he were crossing a balancing beam. Behind him, a ruddy-faced man walked stoically. As if he had not a care in the world that would weigh him down. This was, of course, in spite of the fact that both men stood upon nothing at all. They were already 2/3 of the way across.

Lenna swore.

If she’d been but a few moments faster to notice them, she might’ve been able to rise and easily make her escape. A minute before that, and she’d have seen the pale faced man come to the edge of the roof, and struggle as if supporting something heavy and long. Would have seen him pose like a Pirate, then fling down the gangway plank for boarding their building. Could have seen him pantomiming the step up, and noted their crossing. Should have, could have, would have. But she had not.

Lenna drew her knives and rose from her crouch as the two men stepped over the ledge and onto the rooftop. Her purse lay discarded by her side.

”This time,”Lenna said mildly. ”I will stay and fight.”

She had already mastered herself after the surprise. Now, would come the violence.

The pale-faced man was to first to walk towards them. Red stubble sauntered after.

Pale face brought up one hand and splayed his fingers, fanned them quick, then flicked!

On an instinctive impulse, Lenna threw herself to one side. The world turned on its head for a moment, as her mind strained to focus on something that simply was not there. Orange receded from her vision. Did not find a focus. The power failed. The orange surged back to encompass it all. And unseen blades tore through the arm of her orange hoodie.

Lenna turned her fall into a tumbling roll. As she came up, she took quick note of herself. No injuries were felt. Whatever the attack had been, it had not hurt her. It had merely shredded the forearm of the sleeve on her right side, by her elbow. Knives? Invisible shuriken?

The pale-faced man smiled, and flipped something in one hand. He watched it as the unseen object spun up in the air. He caught it, then took aim at the blonde.

Behind him, red stubble glowered. And the whole area was bathed in a low yellow light. When it faded, he stood with a yellow heater shield strapped to one arm, and a yellow spiked flail made of light in his left hand.

Lenna rose again, and spun towards the blonde. ”Watch out, Swiss Miss! Ninja and Paladin!”

This kid was oddly stubborn, in a way. Like she had one thing set in her mind she was holding onto and didn't want to let go of. Why did she want so badly to think she just needed to contact the right person and everything would be fine? Why was she so keep to trust with no promise that would bring safety? If Tses woke up with no memories, she would spend much more time figuring out the world for herself before deciding who she wanted to trust. Even people she cared about had harmed her in the past, heck, a boyfriend even shot her. Maybe she had the unusual experience in the life department, but it was sitll a good example why things weren't always what they seemed.

Just when Lenna started to answer, Tses caught site of something odd happening. The two approaching strangers made the date seem a bit unimportant for now. Although clearly, Tses had been right. The date was certainly NOT 2008.

"Hey, I never turn down a brawl, but don't stand behind me if you don't want to get caught as a casualty." It was the only warning Tses would give. She was here not to help, but because she enjoyed things that tested her abilities. What was life without a fight from time to time.

Tses was not afraid of the first attack. The unseen weapons did not concern here. Tses was familiar with the ability of her light form to stop any physical damage from occurring. The only thing she needed to find out, however, was if the other guy was energy based, or if his attacks were solid too. There was some grey area about whether something too similar to the moonlight could harm her. Was this a time to test it? That seemed risky.

The mime did his thing and Tses was already wispy green energy. She ignored Lenna's nick-name and took a running jump at the Mime. He tried to create a shield, but she just dove through him, sending a kick backward with a now solid leg. SLAM! The guy tucked and rolled, looking comical as he tried to recover his bearings.

Turning to the second guy, Tses had to dodge as the flail came flying down. She felt a little PUSH from the weapon, not that it hurt, more like her body was being shoved out of the way. It was, strange. Like two lights being turned on in the same room, competing for the same space. She tried to reach out and grab it, but their mutations repelled like magnets, refusing to contact. That was good or bad, depending on how she looked at it. If he swung at her could he push her away? If she swung at him, what would she contact? The other guy seemed equally curious, perhaps a bit too focused on her to notice what Lenna was doing.

Do not stand behind me unless you want to be a casualty. Get out of my way or I will run you over. Both phrases had similarities, though only one had used. And Lenna would have figured it to have been the latter, rather than the former. She had figured incorrectly.

Do not stand behind me, do not stand behind me... the words had pulsed in her mind as she flung herself out of the way of the first attack of the fight. She had tried to warn the woman of things.

Ninja would be a helpful summary of the man and his powers, right? Unseen weapons and surprises? And paladin? One of her classmates at the school in Cartagena had loved the pen and the paper role playing games. She’d been spoken at about such topics, in vivid detail and at great length. Fighter of light with a large shield and big weapon had screamed paladin to her. So that’s what he was.

From the ground off to one side, Lenna watched the first brief clash between Swiss Miss and the ninja.

Lenna was familiar with her own style of fighting, but had not had the pleasure of witnessing Swiss Miss’s style until that moment. And the comment about not being behind her when the attacks began to fly suddenly made sense. If attacks passed through the woman, Swiss Miss would be no one’s meat shield. They would bear the brunt of any attack that passed through.

Paladin, she was not.

The ninja tumbled forward, and part of Lenna wished to surge towards him and pounce, sinking knives into him again and again. Another part told her that she needed to fight far smarter than she had so far fought. She could not do much against invisible attacks if he threw them... and she had fallen near an old friend.

”Hello, Kyle.” Lenna smiled darkly. The blood on the knee of her jeans from the nose bash earlier smeared across the roof top as she crawled towards the unconscious man.

She pressed one of her knives into the palm of the other hand, then reached into his pockets. ”What have you got for me...? Ah! Yes. Good.” That would work.

Lenna slipped her second knife away into her hoodie pocket as she took up what she’d found. The knife clinked against something. Pushing off the ground, she got to her feet.

Paladin and Swiss Miss were fighting. Mime was still struggling to get his bearings and return to his feet. Missy was struggling. Or at least, she was at a disadvantage because their powers... seemed to repel each other in some strange way Lenna did not wholly understand.

If they were at an impasse, Lenna would shatter that impasse and give the woman a little help.

While the two pressed each other, each competing to see who could be the brightest and the best lightbulb, she crept along the rooftop silently, to attempt to flank the paladin from behind. It worked.

She switched the grip of her one knife to icepick style, with the blade’s tip facing downwards in the grasp of her left fist. Tightened her hold on the object in her right. And waited.

She did not have to wait long. The man drew back his flail, readying it for an overhead smash. Lenna moved quickly, rushing forward and lashing out with the object in her right hand. At the same time, she drove the tip of the blade into the man’s left shoulder with her left. The end result was this: as he drew back, a set of steel handcuffs flew up to ratchet into place on the wrist of his left arm. A hair’s breadth later, he felt a blade dig into his left shoulder and find purchase. He bit off a scream of pain.

The knife stuck fast. One quick pull, and she realized it would not come loose. Rather than make another attempt that might fail, Lenna hauled back on the other end of the handcuffs, and utilizing the knife’s handle as a grip, she wheeled the man backwards and around like her own personal meat shield.

Hey, it was dirty. And she’d cut in on the other woman’s fight like a filthy animal. But the other woman was no Norse shield maiden and Lenna did not wish to get cut up by any further mime shuriken.

The ninja mime stared at them as Lenna placed his partner between both girls and him. If he could have spoken, he would have cursed.

”You were having trouble with the Paladin.” Lenna grimaced, as she fought the struggling light man for control of his motions. ”Ninja man’s invisible sh$+ gives me headaches. Switch?”

Paladin man growled. Perhaps he would talk to her if she asked nice?

Fighting with a stranger meant planning for unexpected things to happen. Unexpected right now happened to mean a knife and a pair of handcuffs snatching the light-man away from Tses mid fight. If she had an ego she may have complained. One of those 'this is my fight' type situations. But Tses was happy kicking anyone's butt, really. Even if it meant finishing what she started with the Mime.

"I wouldn't call it trouble, but have fun with your glowstick. I still have some tricks up my sleeves," Tses laughed, and the glowing condensed around her hands. She could have tested their power balance further, but that was more for fun and less for practical reasons. She could at least take care of any other danger first.

Several handfuls of explosives formed, and the eyes of the Mime went wide as he saw it. "How good are you at catch?"

She unleashed the fist of orbs, and then scattered across the rooftop in front of the mime. He very comically tried to mime some type of protection, but as they started going off he was thrown backward several times and hit the rooftop hard. Tses was already on the move, and a fist caught his unprepared jaw, sending him reeling. One more hit and he was out. Turning, she faced Lenna and the other mutant, waiting to see if she was needed. She cracked her neck and yawned. This had been a fun workout after all.

“Glow stick,” Paladin muttered.

Lenna smirked.

This man was stronger than her, physically. So she utilized leverage, the human anatomy, and pain to give her an edge. The positioning of his arm behind his back meant a bit of pressure could cause discomfort, and potentially, a break. It limited mobility, and allowed Lenna to maneuver him mostly how she wished. The knife and the arm were both sources of pain. She utilized both.

The man screamed.

”Good! You can talk. That means you can tell me what I want to know. First off, why are you all chasing me? What do you want?” She asked.

He grimaced, but did not speak. Lenna sighed. The light energy flail whip construct dangled by her shoulder, insistently. It annoyed her.

”Talk!” She wrenched his body backwards a little. It would be quite uncomfortable.

He said nothing. The flail nearly bumped her cheek. She had to pull her head back a little, in order to avoid it.

”Drop your weapons,” she said blandly. Interrogation was a tedious process. This could go on for hours.

The sounds of explosions drew her attention and she glanced Swiss Miss’s way. Inspiration struck. With a grunt, she turned Paladin in that direction. It was just in time to see the man’s colleague get blown to hell.

”My friend over there sure is good at making things go boom, yes? Dismiss your weapons. Or else I will tell her to come over here. I do not think you need all of your fingers...” Lenna noted darkly.

“Fine.” He said. The shield and flail went away.

That... had been far too easy. Not that she was going to complain. Perhaps, he simply liked his hands.

”Answer.” she said.

For a moment, she thought he would stonewall her again. So she gestured with one hand for Swiss Miss to come closer to them. He started talking, as if on cue.

“One of our people went missing.” He said. “A day or so ago.”

”And this involves me, how?” She cut in with impertinence.

He grimaced. “We tracked you down because her credit card had been used multiple times. We thought it was her. But it was you.”

Tses made herself comfortable leaning against a nearby AC unit, and watched Lenna torture her captive. She was unmoved by the cries, and maybe it was perhaps why he seemed to quickly give in. She let green light crawl along her body, and her eyes had a green shine as well. Considering Lenna didn't know the full extent of her abilities, it was also easy to frighten the man. Tses was a wild-card here today, and had made use of her unexpected nature.

Then, the news arrived: there was a credit card Lenna had been using. Tses shot the woman a look, and rolled her eyes. "Really, a credit card? What are you, 12? That's like...rule one of...anything." She rubbed her forehead, trying not to look embarrassed. Tses was secretly hoping the amnesia had been to blame, not that the kid just thought using a card with no repercussions was easy. If it was the later, there was serious learning for her to do.

"This does seem a little overkill. And what organization carries business cards when they attack people," Tses let the green light lick up her arms like flames. It was flashy, there for nothing more than to look tough.

Oh. Yes. She had already figured that the credit card would have figured into the reasoning behind their attack. But still.

Lenna pointedly ignored the age comment. It was not helpful. Even if her mistake had been foolish. There had been circumstances.

What would Swiss Miss say if she told her the thing had been in her pocket when she had woken up? The most likely reply was ‘that is suspicious’. Which was why Lenna did not respond to the comment. No need to make this SUPER man suspicious. Lenna focused on another question, instead.

”You attacked us... that seems to be an extreme response for credit card fraud.” She stated.

>>”That does seem to be a little overkill...” Swiss Miss agreed.

Lenna looked to the man. ”She has a point. What is SUPER, any way?”

“We’re public now.” He said. “You haven’t heard of us?”

She wiggled the knife. ”Do NOT fskk with me, SUPER man. Tell me what I wish to know.”

With pain in his voice, he hurried to tell her. “Government agency. Here to ensure the safety of all. Human, and mutant. From potential mutant events. To prevent tragedy. We also monitor dangerous mutants and investigate mutant-related crimes. Sometimes, we even recruit people we see promise in. Keeps them off the streets, gets them on our side.” It almost sounded as if he were reading a script.

“Your friend is nice.” He said. “Is she looking for work?”

”That is a thing you would need to ask her, yourself. I do not speak for her. We will get back on topic. Why did you attack.” She glowered at him. ”Do you always attack first and ask questions some time after that? It seems dumb.”

“We thought...” She tugged on his arm. “We thought you had killed her and taken her identity.”

”No.” Lenna said. ”I did not steal her credit card or her identity. You are wrong.”

“Then why do you have them!?” He shouted, straining to break free of her grasp.

”I have them!” She snapped back. He was getting on her nerves. ”How I got them is a mystery to me.”

That made him really mad, for some reason. Without warning, he lurched backwards, throwing himself towards Lenna. There was a crack, and another as his head knocked against hers. She stumbled back. He stumbled forward, left arm dangling, cuffs hanging off his wrist.

There was a low yellow flash. A click. The sound of a gun being cocked. Lenna had recovered in the moment, and drawn her gun. It was a tiny thing, sure, but it was pointed right at the SUPER man’s head. He was facing away from her, towards the will-o-the-whisp. Nothing in his left hand, sword in his right. He gulped.