It was a bit of a later night than usual, but Seven had already texted Mae to let her know they were going to be late, and may have thrown in a little something to look forward to? They were getting better at being romantic. Well, not really but they were trying. 

As it was, they were walking down an alley, wearing a black hoodie, black jeans and their usual dirty white sneakers. Their hood was down, and their headphones were down around their neck, listening for a signal. The job was easy. Get into some not-quite bigwig's apartment, steal his laptop, deliver it to their contact who was waiting a few blocks over. Easy money. 

Once near the apartment, the blond pulled out their burner phone, and then...disappeared. They listened for a specific station as they traveled, and appeared in the guy's living room, as planned. He was gone out, as was also the plan. On the desk was a laptop, which they grabbed and stuffed into their bag. Bingo. Then, they walked over to the radio, and disappeared again. Only to reappear...next to the window in the same apartment. The radio was smoking.

"Well well...We've been expecting you..." A voice said as they appeared out of nowhere, with someone else stepping out of the shadows, eyes glowing yellow. 

"S***..." Quickly they pulled out their burner phone and it clattered to the ground, and the reappeared in the alley, right beside their original phone. Right before something hit them head on and sent them flying, crashing back first against a dumpster. 

In a flash, brass knuckles and switchblade were both out, right as the large guy who ran into them stomped the phone, taking away Seven's teleportation. Then, they rushed again, but Seven thought quickly, stepping forward and hitting him square in the jaw with the brass knuckles, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap, just as a yellow stream of light singed their shoulder. 

F***!" They recovered just as the two from the apartment entered the alley, the laser-eyes still smoking. They rolled out of the way just in time for another blast to burn a hole into the dumpster where they'd just been. 

Standing to their feet, they spat on the ground, assuming a fighting stance, knuckles on their right hand, new, red switchblade in their left. Inwardly, they thanked Mae for replacing the blade they'd lost in the fire. She was right: red really was their color. 

It had been a while since Tses had listened to music, and frankly, she forgot how much she missed it. When you were legally declared dead, most of your belongings (okay, all of your belongings) tended to disappear. Tses hadn't exactly been rich, but the one or two CDs she had and the old CD player were sort of nostalgic.

Tonight, that was a problem she intended to fix.

Tses had just walked out the back of a music store, an MP3 player tucked in her pocket and headphones strung up to her ears. She couldn't turn much into moonlight with her, but thankfully, her new acquisition seemed to count more as 'clothing' and less as 'stolen goods'. She was learning more as time went on. Coffee cup? Couldn't get it through a wall. But MP3 player, cash, and wallets, those were fair game.

She was in the middle of looking for a new song when a commotion caught her attention, and she found herself wandering, quite literally, into a fight. A blond haired mutant was on the defensive, and several other mutants were approaching.

The green glowing blond ended up somewhere between the groups, and paused, facing the larger pack.

"Now, I may not be good at math, but this doesn't look like a fair fight to me..." She slowly pulled her headphones out, and crossed her arms, looking at the strangers.

"Get out of the way b*** if you know what's good for you!"

Tses blinked with a bored look, and sighed. "Did your parents ever teach you not to call names?"

"What, you want to teach me some manners? Does that hurt your feelings ghosty?"

Tses took several fast strides forward, dove through the man, and solidified on the other side. "Words hurt, asshat." She slammed a fist into the back of his head, and then turned back into light before retaliation could come. Suddenly, the attention was on her, but she didn't mind.

They wanted to pick on someone? She would give them a fight to remember.

Seven didn't know who this chick was, but someone out there was smiling down on them as they were down...three on one. They closed the switchblade and put it into their pocket, still wearing the brass knuckles, but while the newcomer was tangling with laser eyes, all attention was on her, giving Seven the opportunity to slip up and pat down the fallen musclehead. They pulled out the phone, and focused, honing in on the buzz and chatter of the different signals in the area. Everyone had a phone, but they just needed one signal....there. They disappeared, and reappeared behind the psychic, who was in the process of mentally lifting the dumpster, right as the meathead's phone clattered to the ground.

The dumpster, which suddenly clanged to the ground as the telekinetic found herself gasping for air as Seven grabbed them in a choke-hold, their arm tightening on her throat. Their body started to go limp, and Seven hung on, the fist with the brass knuckles connecting with the side of her head before tossing the now unconscious body to the side.

"There's another one somewhere. Invisible. I can't get a bead on their phone though," they snapped at the blonde, cold blue eyes scanning the area as they pulled out their switchblade again and flipped it open, taking a defensive stance.

Tses watched the other mutant fight, impressed enough by what she saw. Given the situation, they had held their own. Sometimes losing in a numbers game sucked. Tses was more annoyed than ever they chose tactics like this.

"I can handle invisible, if you can clear out for a moment," Tses hoped her companion would listen, but didn't wait. Quickly forming two handfuls of tiny explosives, she threw them in all directions, letting the tiny pops fill the alley with noise. Tses melted back into moonlight as the laser eyes flashed their way. Then she heard yelps and curses, and took a run that way.

"Marco..." She muttered, and then solidified her fist, letting it connect with something that sounded like ribs. The figure flashed visible for a second then vanished again, but it was enough. She slammed a fist into the side of a head, and they collapsed on the ground.

One left.

Quickly, Seven took the stranger's advice and slipped into the cracked door of the building, shutting it behind them and waiting. They knew better than to ask questions when told to clear out. There was no window, and no way for them to see what was going on, but they heard...several small explosions? When nothing else exploded, the door of the building flew open and Seven rushed out into the alley, leaping out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by laser blasts.

They hit the ground and rolled to their feet, switchblade in hand as they rushed the laser eyed mutant, hitting him with a flying tackle. Once they hit the ground, Seven scrambled to their feet, getting behind the guy and putting him in a chokehold, with their knife to his throat. "Okay, Stink-eye. Start talking or I'll give you the closest shave you've ever had. How'd you know I'd be here, and why were you waiting?" they hissed.

"Heh....wouldn't you like to know, Seven?" They pressed the point of the blade into his neck.

"Yes, I would, and it's in your best interest to tell me. I'd also like to know how you know my ****ing name."

"Easy...you pissed someone off, and now they want your head. But this ain't over. And your name ain't that big a secret."

With a sigh, Seven pushed the knife the rest of the way in, and stood to their feet, cleaning off the blade on their shirt. They checked their backpack, spotting a place on the back where it was singed. "Well, there goes my ****ing payday," they grumbled as they chucked the burned laptop into the now bent dumpster, then turned their attention to their unexpected ally.

"Hey. Thanks for the backup," they said with a nod as Seven put away their knuckles and switchblade.

The fight ended fairly fast once things were down to one mutant, and Tses let the stranger take over at that point. She was all for helping create a fair fight, but no use taking a dog’s bone. She didn’t need to know what started it. She just leaned against a wall and waited for it to end.

The backpack, whatever had been in it, and an alleged ‘payday’ all went in the dumpster. Tses nodded at the thanks and finally pushed away from the bricks she had used as a backrest. ”You weren’t doing shabby on your own, all things considered. You fight professionally?” She was curious. More than that, she had ideas. Chrys has tasked her to keep an eye out for mutants the syndicate could use. A teleporter, and a thief, were always good things to keep on your payroll.

Tses wasn’t jumping to bringing just anyone to the Atlantis, however. She had met some strong mutants, but that didn’t mean they had the decision making skills necessary to be of use. If she was going to throw a name out there, she wanted to make sure it was a good one.

Seven chuckled lightly. "That depends on your definition of professionally. Am I officially trained, go to gyms, win fancy belts? No. But I know enough to handle when a job goes sideways, and every now and then I might enroll in an...unsanctioned fight, bet on myself, and take home a nice chunk of cash for my trouble," they said with a nod, not giving away too much information. She may have helped them, but in Seven's line of work, that could change in a heartbeat.

Brushing themselves off, they stood to their feet and stretched, patting down their face and checking for any damage besides the few burn marks on their shoulder, their back and their arm. "Didn't come out of that too bad, all things considered," they murmured. Bonus points, their face hadn't been touched, so Mae would be happy about that, at least. Also meant Seven kept their promise!

"It's pretty obvious you have an idea of what went down here, so uh...if any work comes up needing an infiltrator or someone to get their knuckles dirty, mind putting a word in for Seven?" they asked, figuring they might as well try and get that out there. After all, tonight's fiasco wasn't going to be paying any bills.

Tses felt the answers given were straightforward, which honestly was hard to find in her line of work. Less than legal, fighting for money, and willing to take a job for a payday. After considering it, Tses made her choice.

”Actually, I may have a proposition for you. I don’t have jobs directly, but if you want to come along for a chat, I can introduce you to people who can always use good talent.”

Tses knew the Atlantis was in walking distance. She tended to stay close to work even in her days off. When it seemed the other was willing to bite the bait, Tses led the way. There wasn’t trust between them, more like a businesslike manner. Tses had stepped in and earned a right to be heard. Now it was up to them whether they maintained interest.

At the bar, Tses greeted Willow and made the introductions. Then she took a seat, leaning back on the counter.

”What I can offer for now is a sort of trial run for you. We will give you a coin that can get you access into this bar, marks you as one of our associates. There may be jobs we can use you for, and if you price yourself, it goes from there. You seem like you got a few enemies, but maybe having a bigger fish behind you could be an advantage. But I’m sure you also realize we have to watch our side of things too.” a big fish didn’t just go around protecting guppies. It would be a testing process to see how Seven would do.

Only recently was Seven realizing that there were perks to not having to be alone. While they had Mae for their personal life, maybe they could use something similar in their professional life in a sense. Besides, Seven recognized that had this woman not been there, they might not have made it home at all tonight. So, they didn't have to chew on the offer very long before giving a nod in agreement and following her, keeping their ears open and their eyes peeled. Trust wasn't something that Seven handed out freely, this was more professional in nature.

The walk was made in silence, and Seven made their way to the bar, taking part in the introductions in their own, socially awkward way which was just a nod and their name. When Tses spoke, they listened, chewing on every word.

"Ya don't get far in this business without pissing a few people off, yeah?" they replied. "You make an interesting offer," Seven mused with a nod before offering their hand. "I accept."

The coin was given, and Tses had finalized her first official recruitment. She hoped it would pan out. She would be pissed if she disappointed Chrys because she chose to hand off the coin to the wrong person. "Just keep that with you at all times. Easy enough not to lose unless you plan on going to Canada sometime soon." That seemed to be the running joke among the Syndicate. One of these days someone was going to end up there and ACTUALLY lose a coin at this rate.

"If you need anything, you can swing by here. I'll be spending more time manning the bar, I here. If not, Willow knows how to find me." There wasn't much to do other than show the mutant out. "Until then, we'll be in touch." When Seven turned to leave, Tses would have disappeared the way she came.

About what you'd expect from a will-o'-the-wisp.