Getting back from vacation had been a reality check for Mae. First, there was work. In the short weekend it felt like all of her paperwork had magically gone missing. Files were missing, customers were confused, and she had her hands full getting things sorted. Then Seven had come home the night before and had been scorched by lasers. Scorched. By. Lasers.

Yeah, sometimes having a less than legal career had interesting side effects.

Opening the door to the apartment, Mae let her powers wash outward into the space, finally releasing the hold she had on them. It felt good to be back. She was so thankful to be in her safe space she almost missed the little thunk as something impacted her jacket. Two little barbs had dug in, a wire leading away.

A…Taser?

F***

Mae dove sideways before the incoming dart could hit her, cussing as she did. The object came from near the bookshelf, so Mae did the logical thing and grabbed the coffee table, flipping it that way. There was a cry and a crash, and someone hit the floor. Invisible? Had to be. She was more grateful than ever her powers had stopped the first attack from working.

“It’s not Seven! Hey! Can you hear me? Get the hell up here!”

Mae heard the name and rage flashed in her vision. She launched herself to where the voice was, pinpointing where the table was lifted and resting on the invisible figure. There was swearing and a struggle as she tried to find a hold on someone she couldn’t see, finally wrapping an arm around their neck. “What do you want with Seven?! Answer me?”

“Nothing we can’t use you as a replacement for,” snarled the stranger, slamming his head back into her face.

Mae fell backward into Seven’s room, seeing spots in her vision. The second the wall crossed between them, she heard a radio come to life. “Are you there? We’re coming up! What’s going on? Answer!”

She needed something to defend herself. She had enough common sense to know her fists were not the best course of attack. Wait, knives! She scrambled to where Seven had put all the extra switchblades she acquired, and quickly pocketed two, opening the last one. When there was movement in the doorway, she dove, slashing out with abandon.

There was a scream, and blood splattered, then the mutant was suddenly visible. Mae didn’t hesitate as she drove the knife into his exposed hand, earning more screams of pain. She gritted her teeth, body checking him into the wall next to the pinned limb. “No one will hear you scream when you’re inside the dead zone, buddy. Now hold still if you know what’s good for you!” she found a sharpie sitting on the end table, and yanked the cap off with her teeth. Without releasing the man, she scrawled a phone number directly onto the wall of the room. Seven would have to figure it out from there. The front door had opened, and although she couldn’t hear them, she could see the figures rushing in.

She dove away from the formerly invisible mutant as a dart landed near his shoulder, and he sank, bloodied and hanging against the wall. Reaching for another knife, she slashed out as someone new entered the room, and then the fight flowed back into the living room. Furniture crashed, books fell, and finally someone got a hit in that sent Mae to the ground. The first attacker was standing over her now, looking down with deep hatred. “What was that about no one hearing me scream?” They snarled.

When Seven came home they would find a destroyed apartment, blood, and one phone number as the only clue.

Having never been on a vacation before, Seven was not expecting that post-vacation drag. Today was considerably better than the day before, all things considered. Better meaning they didn't get ambushed and stiffed on a job while being burned by laser vision. That...was a hard one to explain to Mae, even though they told the truth. They remembered using the phrase "It's too stupid to make up," a couple of times at least. Though now they were a part of something bigger that would hopefully benefit them. Having backup from that blonde chick saved their ass, that they were sure of.

Today was pretty slow. Steal this, beat up that guy, deliver it to this other guy, collect your money and repeat.

Or it was supposed to go that way, anyway. Their last job didn't quite go sideways, but someone they were fighting accidentally discovered the burn on Seven's shoulder and took advantage of it. So, needless to say they were happy to get home--and apologize to Mae for the bloody nose. Wait...when they got upstairs, the apartment door was open, making Seven's blood run cold. In a flash their switchblade was out as they stepped inside. "Maebell...? You there? Everything okay?"

They froze in their tracks, feeling their hair bristle up on the back of their neck and their blood begin to boil. Coffee table was flipped over, there was blood scattered about, things had been broken...Their room had been hit too, in fact that's where most of the blood was, and their black handled switchblade with the skull emblem lay on the ground, open and also covered in blood. And on the wall in sharpie...was a random phone number?

Whatever happened here...Mae didn't go quietly. "That's my girl..." they murmured, trying to shake aside the gripping fear as they pulled out their phone, hoping Mae left them a good lead because Seven was going to find whomever was behind this. And they were going to pay in blood.

Seven dialed the number. "Hey...I don't know you, and you don't know me, but something's happened to Mae, and this is the number she left for me to find." Their voice was firm, though not demanding, and trying not to show any fear though there was definitely a lump gripping their throat as they waited impatiently for this to resolve so they could go kick some ass.

Cora has just gotten home for the night, keys still in hand, helmet under her arm, when her phone went off from her pocket. A boring day at work and a long bike ride had been all she had to show for her day. She should have known that was all too simple.

Cora wasn’t big in answering unknown numbers, but she didn’t have a spare hand to really check with, and hit answer before she could think twice. The voice on the other end surprised her, as was the news that came with it. There was a strange roller coaster of thoughts she had to process as she let her head hit the wall behind her. ”F***. She’s still smart as hell then. Where are you? Pack what you need because we’re going after her.” Cora was already hurrying through her apartment, snatching a bag and shoving supplies inside. She looked at the black string on her right hand and focused, watching it trail out the window.

How far? She could see the tiny trail of red, and cursed again, zipping her bag and bolting out the door. Within moments of getting the address, Cora wove through traffic until she arrived at the right apartment.

Walking upstairs, Cora found the place, blood boiling when she saw the scene. It had been years since they broke up, but the other girl clearly still had a temper to be reckoned with. ”You have a name? Better to get a few things in the open before we get much deeper into this.” Cora commented when she was in the doorway.

Seven was met by an unfamiliar voice, but it was obviously an old acquaintance of Mae's. In a less tense situation, they probably could have put two and two together, but when there was something to be done, Seven didn't waste time thinking on things unrelated to the task at hand and getting Mae back was the most important task they could think of. Seven gave the address, and went into their room, opening a drawer and grabbing a few burner phones which they stuffed into their backpack. Headphones went over their ears, and the hood of their jacket went over that. Just in case they packed an switchblade, and cleaned off the black one, putting that one in their jeans pocket too.

The remainder of the time, they spent pacing the floor, hands in their hoodie pockets as they swore under their breath. Alone there was nothing they could do, but they hated relying on someone else, especially somebody they didn't know. But as established, for Mae, there was nothing they wouldn't do.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, the short-haired woman walked into the room, a little taller than Mae but still shorter than Seven's five-foot-nine.

"Seven," was their simple answer, followed by a nod. "Since we're going to be working together, that makes sense."

Cora set her helmet down on the couch for a second, and nodded as she was given a name. The figure in front of her had a dark energy currently, which made sense given the apartment. Now that they were standing close enough, Cora could see a dark red thread around the other's pinky finger. It was going the same direction one of Cora's was. She cursed under her breathe.

"Well, this is going to require a bit of a truce, I'm assuming... You're dating Mae." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Cora sighed and reached out, catching the end of the thread coming off from Seven and letting it become visible. Her own right hand showed a darker black string that went out the door, both taking the same path.

"She gave you my number because my power makes this simple: follow the thread, she's at the other end." She tucked her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and released the threads, letting that sink in. Seven seemed smart. It would be a very quick game of connect the dots.

Seven quirked an eyebrow at the statement of truces, and then with her demonstration, it became pretty apparent. However, their desire to get Mae back far overpowered the desire to punch Mae's ex, so Seven merely nodded, waiting for the woman to finish speaking.

"The infamous ex, I presume?" they said after a moment of thought. They bristled a bit, but they managed to remain calm--well, as calm as they could be. "I've got no problem with a truce; I'd make a deal with the devil himself if it meant getting her back. Any issues we have can be sorted later," they added.

"Lead the way. I got your back." Though it probably wasn't necessary, Seven turned and locked the door behind them as they left before stuffing their hands in their hoodie pocket, adrenaline still pumping through their veins.

Cora escaped getting punched. Honestly, that felt like a victory. Based on the reaction and the sort of suppressed rage, it was evident that Mae had mentioned her. Which meant she mentioned the cheating. Great way to start a friendship, clearly. But they had bigger problems.

Heading downstairs, Cora retrieved the second helmet she had brought. It wasn't as flashy as her own (no led lights), but it would keep the attention away from them. "Gonna be cozy for a little bit, hopefully you can ride." Cora climbed on and waited for Seven to join her. Then she started the engine and focused on the thread leading to Mae. The trail wound East, and she hoped it didn't go where she suspected...

Having a motorcycle made avoiding traffic easy. They traveled through downtown, and eventually the path was pulling them toward the coast. Cora was cursing inwardly. If they had gone mainland that was one thing, but Mae...Mae hated water. That made her feel even angrier. Neither said anything until they reached the docks, and she lifted the thread, watching where it led to water. The actual boat was gone, and that would pose a problem.

"F*** a****." Cora snarled, setting her helmet on the bike and trying to think. "Of all the places to take her. A frickin' boat." she leaned on her knees, trying to compose herself. "Ideas? My mutation is just here to point the direction."

They weren't thrilled about working with Mae's ex, but they understood the importance of the uneasy truce. Sometimes, things had to be done so the job could go without a hitch. And this was no ordinary job. They grabbed the bike helmet and put it on. "It's been awhile but this ain't my first ride by a long shot," Seven replied as they climbed on behind her, hanging on. Their mind briefly flashed back to when they were younger, living with a guy who had a bike. In fact, she drove sort of like him. Granted, this was urgent, so maybe not like him at all.

Water. They'd taken her on water. "Sonofa---" They clenched their fist, thinking. "Boats have radios. And I'm sure those thugs have a phone. I can get us there." They pulled out a burner smartphone, opened up the music app, and pulled up a...polka station on very low volume. "Hang on. This may be bumpy. I'm gonna try to get us to the boat, but I don't know where on the boat we're gonna wind up, so be ready." With their free hand, they grabbed onto Cora and focused, the phone clattering to the ground.

Seven honed in on radio waves, hopping from one to another until they picked up a communication signal. That sounded right. There was another signal that sounded close, so they hopped to that one and moments later the two of them materialized on the boat, next to a radio blasting rock music. No one else was in the room, luckily, but they had their knife out anyway, just in case.

"Okay," they whispered. "Now for the fun part. Hope you can fight."

Traveling via sound waves was a new experience for Cora. Honestly the whole thing made her feel a little queasy, but throwing up in front of Mae’s new other was not in the plans. When they arrived, Cora checked the thread. She wished she could tell how close they were, but she would have to settle for being in the right direction.

”I can hold my own. But let’s try for a discreet approach first. You really think they would just let us come get her that easily?” she fished in her pocket and pulled out a hand mirror, flipping it open and walking to the door. It wasn’t shut, thankfully, so she was able to use it to look around the corner. There were several figures in the hall, one sporting a fresh black eye and a busted lip. Cora tilted the mirror so Seven could see.

”Anyone you recognize?” she mouthed.

Cora couldn’t shake the warning signs going off in her head. They had moved fast, but catching the boat like this felt... odd. Her brain was screaming trap. From experience, that was never a good sign.

Seven didn't often carry people with them when they traveled, and the one person they were willing to carry couldn't go very far before the signal kicked out. So aside from what they felt when traveling, they didn't know much about the side effects, and Seven felt they were better equipped to deal with it, making them a poor source of advice.

"No, I don't. But I also don't know if they expected...you know, us."

When Cora used the mirror to peek around the corner, Seven bristled at the sight, and held up two fingers in response. They pointed out the guy with the black eye and busted lip and mouthed "Meathead," then to one with a freshly broken nose and a bandage on their head. "Psychic," they mouthed, before motioning to themselves as if to say 'I did that.' And then, Seven paled, biting their lip and internally swearing.

"I think they were after me," they mouthed, clenching their fist and flipping open the switchblade. Then, they pulled out a flip-phone with their free hand and disappeared, reappearing behind the psychic and sinking their blade into his chest from behind before pulling the knife out and disappearing again, reappearing back in the room and preparing for the other thugs to find them.

The news wasn't surprising, honestly. Cora didn't know Seven, but she did know Mae, and while the girl was a walking danger magnet, it had never accelerated to this point. The situation felt far too personal, far too planned. If they did it to get back at Seven? Well, that was a different ballgame.

Seven disappeared while she was thinking, and she watched as the one man was taken out by a blade. The one dubbed Meathead grabbed a radio and started calling into it before the attack could go any further.

Cora swung her backpack off and yanked out what she had brought: a can of spray paint, and her own knife. It was a low budget option, but about all she could think of, stabbing the can quickly then chucking it into the hallway. Paint exploded in a small but effective cloud, and meathead yelled, dropping his phone as paint hit his face. The response was genuine fear at first. Obviously, he had not expected to be attacked by something so amateur, probably expecting pepper spray or something more damaging.

During the confusion, Cora waited until a silver thread linked her at the attacker, then took her fingers and cut it. The confusion the man experienced doubled as she hurried closer, and slammed an elbow into the back of his skull. He hit the ground hard, and just the radio was left making noise, a few muffled code words being exchanged by the other men on the boat.

"Next level?" She asked pointing to the radio. She lifted the string showing Mae was somewhere above them, but it was still unclear where.

Okay so the girl could hold her own and was very clever to boot. While Seven didn't fully understand her powers, they had admit that she knew full well how to use them. Meathead was down, and Seven smirked. Seemed the poor guy's mutation was just being a gigantic punching bag. In the moment Seven sort of forgot that they owed Cora a punch in the face later. But that wasn't relevant to the task at hand, anyway.

Seven nodded. "Yeah. Just know I can't tell where we're gonna come out exactly, so...be ready for anything," They instructed, free hand grabbing Cora's as they disappeared again, this time appearing in a corridor on the level above. This boat was surprisingly large, and there was really no telling what the hell they'd gotten into.

When they reappeared, they were directly behind a lone woman that Seven didn't recognize, with short black hair that was spiked, a black leather jacket with silver studs on the shoulders and cuffs, matching gloves with studs on the knuckles, and leather pants, boots, and a belt, also outfitted with studs. Before Seven could react, the girl turned around and Seven threw a punch, which hit thin air as she split into two. Two, they could still handle as they threw another punch, but the two became four. And then eight. Sixteen.

In a flash the corridor was full of these admittedly somewhat attractive biker girls, all of them wanting to kick their asses.

"Oh goddamn it."

Cora hung back when they arrived at the next landing, letting Seven take the lead. It seemed smarter to have a teleporter run point, and she was even more relieved when the mutant being attacked multiplied. Well, that was fun. Cora focused on the threads, noting only one of the figures had any tangible links. The rest were just sort of ghost vapors.

One target, she could handle that. She would just let Seven handle giving the duplicates the beat down for a moment...

When she was close enough, she used her right hand and trimmed a few threads. The woman staggered, as did the clones. Then one by one, the extras vanished. With no tangible connection to their source, they had no reason to 'be'. Cora already had the confused original in a headlock, and a few moments of struggling ended with her dropped to the ground. She checked Mae again. The direction was going up, and slightly to the right now. She sighed.

"This is starting to feel like a video game. I hope we find the boss level soon."

Whoa. Okay that was really cool, even if Seven still wasn't a hundred percent what was going on there. They gave Cora a rare, impressed nod of approval. "Yeah, me too. Though knocking around peons is good stress relief..." They sort of growled as they searched for duplicate-girl's radio, once again taking Cora by the hand and teleporting. It seemed like they were close now. They'd come out in what looked like a bunk-room, with a cell phone, a radio, and a laptop all on the table. The door was closed.

Carefully, they walked to it, not picking up any signal besides the ones on the table right now. As they reached for the door, it swung open, and there was a mutant dressed in ragged clothes, hunched over but just a little shorter than Seven and built like a tank. Their body was splotched with black fur in places, and their flat-top hair had a white streak going down it At the end of their hairy fingers were large claws.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Hufflepuff..." they groaned, stealing Mae's nickname for him.
"I knew I smelled ya coming, Seven. You looking for another ass-kicking?" he growled.
"Funny, from what I remember you spent the end of that fight on your face," they spat in response, aiming a kick for his midsection before jumping back, narrowly avoiding the swipe of Badger's claws in retaliation.

They prepared to teleport behind him, but there wasn't a signal coming from him. Shit. He got smart. Badger took advantage of this pause and pounced, tackling Seven to the ground and swiping at their face, but Seven managed to rock him with a punch so he staggered back a bit and only just barely broke the skin of their cheek. But he was still on top of them, and they had the size advantage to begin with. Thinking fast, they dug both thumbs into his eyes before managing to roll on top and wrap their hands around his throat, but he answered with a slash across their ribs that knocked them to the ground. Seven coughed, bleeding from their face a little as blood soaked through their hoodie. It wasn't too deep, just enough to hurt.

They took a fighting stance, waiting for the Badger to make a move. They hated playing the defensive, but they were hopefully going to turn it around.

The moment the door opened, Cora knew she needed a plan B. Cutting threads would only work up to a point, and she had a feeling an angry confused badger would not benefit anyone. Flipping her backpack to the table she yanked out her rope and a quickly prepared a length of it while Seven took the first few parries.

She climbed mountains, right? Same technique was needed: just hang on!

As the badger circled Seven Cora moved, jumping onto their back and quickly wrapping he rope around their throat. She hung on with her knees forming a knot even as a hand slashed back her way. Fu** She took a shallow hit to the shoulder, but it proved useful as she slung the length of rope under the arm, wrenching it back with a skilled execution. With the knots in place she jumped back, dragging the man with her. She landed on her feet, he slammed into his ass.

She was hoping Seven had another knife on them. She couldn't reach hers now that she lassoed herself a very angry mutant.