It wasn't her fault. That was a nice pivot for the usual reaction. He didn't even pick her up again, which was kind considering. It was too bad Zero felt a sincere twinge of guilt anyway.

"Hey. I was in cheer, too. I just don't think a double back handspring has any business getting worked into a street fight."

And, there was their exit cue. Sirens sounded and Sam offered her a lift.

"Allow me." Zero tucked herself up under Sam's arm and gave him a sort of side hug before tapping him on the chest to place a gravity tether. "Just hold on tight and be ready to run." Zero pulled back her arm and threw... nothing. But whatever nothing she threw caught and as soon as it did that delicious first falling rush of adrenaline hit.

Zero whooped and they fell as a single unit up toward the point she'd thrown. He likely wasn't ready. She hadn't prepped him all that well, but... if he trusted her, if he knew her face... maybe he wouldn't freak out too bad.

”Only if you can do it right.” Sam said smirking, ”I mean you were practically dancing on bull head here.” Sam said with a little laugh.

Sam let out a little surprised gasp as he felt her under his arm. ”Whoooa!” Sam said as he quickly felt his feet leave the ground. He didn’t like this not being sure what was going on he liked to be in control of where he was going one of the reasons he preferred to fly. His stomach churned and he felt dizzy for a second till he found his footing on the side of the building.

Still holding on tight to her he started to kick his legs out as if he was trying to run. ”Is this the part I’m supposed to be running!?!?” Sam said a little panicked. If he needed to he could form an ice slide but with the way he was facing the building he wasn’t sure how the ice would form under him.

The more he thought about it the more out of it he felt. ”Not sure I like this.” Sam said closing his eyes for a second before quickly relying on his training to ‘keep eyes open’ his body still working to be attached to Zero.

"I was not dancing! I was keeping my feet from getting grabbed thankyouverymuch. Usually I can increase gravity for that extra oomph, but I spent my extras on making his friends walk away."

His reaction to her power was every bit as satisfying as she’d hoped. Zero whooped in joy while his was a far more cautious sort of Am I dying now? Is this how I die? kind of sound. She was only slightly alarmed when his legs started pumping mid-air.

"Whoah. Hey. Hold on, lil fella.”

Without letting him go, Zero turned and lobbed an opposite tether that arrested their momentum mere inches from the upper lip of one of the tall brick apartment buildings that overlooked the alleyway they’d just been at the bottom of.

They hovered, suspended in zero gravity together while police cars screeched to a halt at the mouth of the scene. One expertly dropped tether and Zero and Sam fell the last couple inches to land on their feet perfectly sideways.

“Wait. Do you see that?”
“Police! Freeze!”

"This is the part where we run.” She reached up to her shoulder and toggled her costume’s switch that controlled the lights. She set them to be off, instead of on as they were previously, and pulled Sam up a few more steps toward the top of the building where she could let go and let normal gravity resume.

It wasn’t often he let people get away calling him ‘lil fella’. In fact he hadn’t heard it since he was a kid. Normally he would have come up with some kind of witty retort for her however seeing as the only reason he wasn’t falling till he could get his powers in play was her powers. That and if he opened mouth he might have lost his stomach.

”Sure.” Sam said as he iced his feet and hands up forcing them to quickly become mist to help hide their get away. Not like it was going to be easy to get away or anything. Cops couldn’t wall walk. ”But they said freeze. I had more puns.”

Sam felt himself right in the world again when she pulled him up and the building was under his feet the right way. ”Next time you got to give me a heads up if you are going to pull me around like that. I probably didn’t sound ‘cool’.” he grinned that he got to use some wordplay.

”I have more questions but we should probably keep moving.” Sam said more comfortable talking after they were clear even though he technically didn’t need to run. He was supposed to work with them.

Zero laughed at the boomer-level cold pun. Oh. He he opened the floodgates for bad jokes. This was a pandora's box that could not be shut.

"Yeah. Puns not guns, bro!" She shouted back through the mist, but ducked back when she thought she heard another shot before a sharp rebuke came from below. Whew. Almost as dangerous as the cops on the other side!

He said that he hadn't sounded cool, and she snorted. That much was obvious. Didn't mean he wasn't cool. "I dunno. You've got cold, at least let me have the element of surprise." She teased. "Oh! Or I'll boss you around and you could always go sub-Zero." She waggled her eyebrows at him as she turned to look for the next jump. It just felt right.

She readied a tether, but Sam had more questions... "Yeah. Proooobably a negative if you want to stay here. For me, at least. I'm not a spiffy certified public revenger." She threw her tether, an invisible handful of nothing. "You wanna talk? Then don't get too cold or too far behind." Zero jumped and whizzed toward the next closest building with one last shout back toward ColdSteel.

"You'll get ice-olated!"

Sam tried not to laugh at Zero’s response to the police, he didn’t laugh when he heard something hit below them. They were shooting. Fare thing to do when someone was running and you didn’t have a clear shot. Sam immediately decided it was better to get someplace else she agreed.

”Sub-Zero?” he frowned, ”I’m no one’s side kick.” his ego wouldn’t allow it. He had more training probably than anyone in the city and he was Sam ******* Johnson. Nope he was a leader. However she was dropping some awesome puns so while he wanted to argue about who’d be in charge he let it be. Element. Heh.

Sam followed when she launched herself using her invisible grappling hooks. He followed by catapulting himself with ice to the next building. He hit the roof and rolled next to her. ”Ice-located?” he laughed, ”People say I’m bad.”

He started to run but changed direction thinking of the next best place from the mansion to lay low and talk to someone. His bar. The iceberg probably didn’t have too many people there and there was his office, which hardly anyone was ever in. ”Got the best chill spot.” he launched himself and called back, ”You wouldn’t find it heavy.” he shook his head at his bad pun. He’d have to do some research on gravity words if he was going to keep running into her.

"You could totally be my sidekick. C'mon. You were getting your butt handed to you and without me you wouldn't even know why Argentina's been so cold lately." She followed when ColdSteel made a sharp turn and zipped the between buildings. "In fact it's bordering on Chile."

Honestly, so long as she kept moving, her power was a breeze. Stopping was where the trouble came in. For a while, she forgot she had set up the joke. But when they stopped near an absolute dive with a ice-related name... "Ugh." She face palmed at the attempt at a gravity joke. Zero deserved this.

"As your new boss, I'm gonna have to ask you to drop the mutation jokes." Zero dropped to the ground in front of the bar and inspected the front, unwilling to go in first. She had her doubts. If this turned sour... It... really needed to not turn sour. "They're starting to weigh on me. Gettin' a lil heavy."

The only reason he would become her sidekick would to be able to get more jokes like that. Chile… he never heard that one before. Even when he was in Chile. Sam smirked to himself as he leapt from his ice slide then landed with a small pillar of ice in front of his bar. Sam threw his hands up in the air as if he just stuck the landing. He would have gotten a perfect score.

”I was going easy on him. Still trying to figure out how hard I’m supposed to hit them.” Sam said grinning. ”Could have giving him a pretty bad cold, but I hear you. Can’t make light of the situation.” His ice armor dropped and fell to the ground around him he was in a friendly area now, he was safe. ”You got a change of clothes or do you need a hoodie?” Sam asked mocking the helmet with a gesture. He had one inside the bar. It was his after all.

Pushing open the bar door to his bar with an overly dramatic push he grinned while he walked in. ”Drinks are on me.” he said as he walked to the bar and sat down in front of it. There were some bikers and younger college kids in their own perspective corners. The bikers were the only ones that nodded to them.

”Usual and whatever she wants to pull.” Sam to the bartender, ”She’ll push the tab to me.” he said smirking more at the mutation related humor. Those two counted in his opinion. ”So how long have you been putting on the gear?” Sam asked his questions only adding to the queue.

"Hoodie? Is... I guess?" All he had to do was drop his power and poof. He was a perfectly normal looking dude. Actually, she'd classify him as a normally perfect looking dude. The heck?

She shuffled along nervously moving after him. She wasn't exactly out of vigilante adrenaline and the cat suit wasn't exactly bar-appropriate. On the ground, the outfit felt a little silly. It was meant to be seen at a distance. At speed. Now, suddenly, she was afraid she might have too much of a hip dip and too much in the shoulders.

"Can I keep the mask? I have... I'm not the most beloved person to- to people in the circles that you move in. You know?" She had enemies. Totally not her fault enemies who wanted one Lori Faust dead. Only, she wasn't Lori. She was Raine. Except right now she was Zero. The hero. It was surprisingly hard to just turn it off and grab a beer.

Sam did not have the same compunctions. Zero trailed him to the bar and he even had a 'usual.' With a name like Iceburg, of course he did. But he didn't have an order for her. Luckily she knew what she wanted.

"Uhm. A, uh- A cider? Something sweet, I guess?" Zero pulled her hair free of its ponytail. She could at least relax a little.

To Sam, she answered about her vigilante street cred. "4? Years? I think? Off and on. The universal shake up sort of threw me off. The team here... it's just not the same."

The bartender nodded and tried not to stare too long. ”And can do you mind grabbing the hoodie I have here from the office?” Sam followed up. The bartender nodded and scurried off after retrieving the drinks for them. A beer and a shot of whiskey for him and a cider for his vigilante-dancing partner for the evening. ”You can wear whatever you want.” Sam said smirking raising the shot in a cheers motion. Ice starting to form on the sides of his face in solidarity if she wished to keep the mask on.

”Safe place here.” Sam said grinning as he did the shot knocked it back then held on to the beer not chasing the drink. He liked the burn it was, comforting to him for some reason. Maybe it was left over from his older self but he tried not to think about it. ”Cops for the most part stay clear cause I’m here, that and the guys in the back there don’t really like trouble.” Sam said mentioning the bikers. Local biker gang, they showed because they knew that cops didn’t show up unannounced and as long as nothing went down Sam kept to himself. They were paying customers after all.

”Oh yeah, this is my bar.” Sam said gesturing to the place. ”or rather, old me’s bar.” he kind of inherited so to speak. Sam took a sip of his beer. And raised an eyebrow to her. ”Universal shake up and you have the same face as cheerleader who apparently was not someone that would want to hang out in his circles. But you aren’t her. You are zero.” Sam said with a little smirk, which made him feel less guilty about checking her out.

”So what’s so different about the team? What team we talking by the way?” he thought about it. ”Did you have a me where you are from?” Sam asked but then dismissed it. There was only one him. He was Sam ****ing Johnson.

The exchange with the bartender and the hoodie and the usual order made perfect sense once he admitted the place was his. "Old me" his. Zero slipped into the hoodie, slipping the extra material up so her hands were showing, and pulled up the hood.

Only some bikers who were trouble, but not trouble for them. And no cops unannounced. Maybe... she could take off the mask. After a while. Zero tugged the hood forward a bit and tried not to be too paranoid.

"What do you mean 'old me'? I mean, I thought you were older. But we haven't exactly hung out."

> ”So what’s so different about the team? What team we talking by the way?”

"The X-?" She cut herself off, looking around. It was hard to just... say it. She nursed her cider and leaned in to talk lowly. "Look, on the other side, we couldn't just say it. People with abilities were shunned, hunted, abused? I was a part of a secret x-men team. Not some pony show with press releases and police badges and funding."

The transition wasn't an easy one. Sure, it was nice to not be the enemy of every policeman she saw, but she just hadn't been able to make the switch to public life. Zero was too entrenched as a vigilante.

"Nope. No ColdSteel that I knew." Zero picked up her bottle and offered to clink it against his. "You're my one and only." She teased.

Sam sipped his drink and shrugged, ”Guess there was some airborne drug that de-aged mutants that inhaled it.” he smirked, ”I was one of those mutants. Lost ten years, but I got an eye so that’s something.” he said covering the eye that wouldn’t be if he were in his older form. ”Can’t imagine having to getting used to over turning.” he said over exaggerating Old Sam’s predicament.

”I was older and whose fault was that. I’m sure I would have loved hanging out with you. You probably could have been his sidekick.” he said trying to keep the joke going. ”Sub and Zero.” Sam smirked more, ”He’d hit on you though, he isn’t as charming as me.” Sam said with a wink and another sip of his drink.

Sam took the offered clink and smirked at her joke. ”Be still my heart, such a blessing.”

He shifted back to the conversation of the secret team vs. his team, ”From my understanding about it that was the way things were going but after so many cops were killed from a group of mutants I guess older me and his team decided enough was enough and they’d handle the dangerous mutants so no one had to die. After that it kind of turned into a pony show.” the whole situation wasn’t really his cup of tea however he understood it. After it happened more mutants joined the police and there seemed to be some kind of balance. He was sure though that if the police started to abuse the power he wouldn’t be on board with them.

”and that would also explain the hood up.” he said smirking into his drink poking a little fun at her paranoia. ”Also it doesn’t sound too far off from here. I’m pretty sure if we decided not to help the police we’d still be watched. They had camps here not to long ago, more in Romania even more recently.” he said as he started to stare into his drink.

The camps in New York only happened a few months ago for him. More than a decade had passed since then, it was awesome they did away with them. Luckily for him he was being hunted for a different reason. He wasn’t sure if he’d have the same sunny disposition for humanity if he had been caught and put in the camps.

”Looks good on you though.” Sam said gesturing to the hood.

"Oh yeeeeah. The eye patch." She'd sorta not remembered that part. Honestly, she hadn't thought of ColdSteel at all since she'd seen him in passing at the Mansion. She sipped while he told her he'd hit on her... while hitting on her. Ehhhhh. She wasn't sure about the chemistry there.

She got her drink clink, though. They were at the very least bros.

"Going from camps being the now to camps being the ten years ago... I dunno. My universe never got this far and I don't trust it." She was glad he sorta 'got it.' She hadn't really expected that. Actually, she didn't really know what to expect. If they were back home and she'd met such a veteran X, she'd be begging for pointers. More than a year had passed and she'd been successfully vigilante-ing on her own.

"I wish people didn't know my face. I'd just fade into the background if I could, you know? Do my own thing."

Oh. But her hood looked good according to CS. She reached up and tipped it to him. It was his, technically. He could compliment the hood all he wanted.

"So... how'dya like being a kid again?"

Sam sipped his drink. She didn’t trust the fact that the camps were a decade ago. His old self lost his eye in Romania, which was maybe five of six ago right? So clearly not everything was rainbows and sunshine on this side. He also still had to deal with Amanda and T.A.T. on occasion so there was that to consider too.

”How far did it get?” he asked curiously. Wondering from the way things sounded mutants were still being hunted. At least in this world when mutants were hunted he knew his team would do something about it. They have done it before and he hoped they do it again. Sam still considered his debt not paid in full. The young icemancer had too much to make up for and his older self had a head start.

”It’s not a bad face. Never thought cheerleader was ugly. Maybe you just need to give them a reason to forget her face?” he said shrugging. ”What did she do?” he asked not thinking Cheerleader could actually do anything wrong. Granted Sam was a kid and the old saying never meet your heroes came to the front of his mind.

”About as much as I like being called ‘kid’ again.” Sam said giving her a smirk and then looking down to his bottle. ”It’s weird being told you did great things when you were older. Half of the school wants the old me back and almost the entire team treats me like a kid now. Despite me being the best damn piolit we have to offer and I could take most of them on with my eyes closed.” he might have been exaggerating his skills in hand to hand. Serena and Mirror were both trained by him and had been doing their own training. ”I’m not like the old Sam.” he said finishing that with more venom than he could muster.

How far did things get? "There was no school, for starters. We hid. We lied. This being 'out' stuff is unfathomable. Good... or better, I guess? Definitely different." It was hard to say exactly how "far" something went.

"I've seen labs. I've been in fights that felt way more life and death than what I've dealt with over here. The actual governing body of the USA wanted me and people like me dead. So. I can't say I want to go back." So here she was. Just sorta stuck between words. People she knew over there didn't know her here. And the ones that knew her here didn't know her. They knew Lori.

She snorted in amusement over his comments about her face. "It's not a bad face, but she seems like a real bad dude. Kidnapping and stuff. She was also a big employer to a lot of people and nobody likes their boss."

> ”I’m not like the old Sam.”

She took a moment to study this Sam and take a sip of her drink.

"Oh? You're not like other girls?" She settled for teasing as a way to pry him out of whatever mental sinkhole he was falling into. "Look, I don't know old Sam. I've seen him, like, once. You don't have to live in his shadow. Not everybody knew him."