Kicking his feet off the ledge of the building he waited, apparently the most boring part of being a situational vigilante was the waiting. Sure he was listening to earpiece his older self had that had transmissions from the police scanners. Nothing, he also was staring at his X-communicator, nothing. He even checked his phone. Nothing.

Cora hadn’t texted back and Becca hadn’t responded to the text he sent her earlier trying to figure out how to get closer to someone who had an aversion to relationships granted he wasn’t sure how to encroach on this subject either because he was more worried he’d re-age or have to leave before anything serious could happen. Other than the occasional kissing and hand-holding.

Swinging his feet back and forth he chewed his slice of pizza and cracked open a root beer waiting for someone to respond or something to happen. Granted he felt bad as soon as he wished there was something for him to respond to. Usually that meant someone was breaking the law, or setting something on fire.

Half tempted to just give up and head back to the mansion for some danger room training he decided to enjoy the slice just a little longer hoping he’d get in some more field practice than just a danger room session. Field training in his opinion was far better to get more practical response training.

Running Haven was like playing chess. Boring and overly complicated, most of the time, as far as Sveta was concerned, but every once in a while, you got to take out a pawn to change the bigger picture. Or something like that.

Chess metaphors sucked as much as chess.

Point is: Sveta was out in her vigilante gear, looking for a very specific person with a very specific purpose. L had been delivering good intel on the convoluted turf wars raging in the shadows around Haven holdings, and while the whole issue was too big and deep and dumb to go away with any easy effort, one could make slow progress if they knew where to apply pressure.

Right now, Sveta was stalking a low-level bodyguard from one of the mob organizations in the area. He was no one special, not even work working for information. But if he got taken out of commission, at least for a few weeks, then someone else would have to step up to take his place, and then like dominoes, other people would fall into new places. Some of whom with allegiances more than questionable.

Sveta moved smoothly in the shadows, following the man who was taking a shortcut across the alleys on his way home from some dive bar. She would find a good place, secluded, no cameras or witnesses, and rough the man up a little. Piece of cake. Nothing major.

She did not think to look up as she approached the man from behind.

Sipping his root beer he looked down when he heard a bottle being kicked on accident or not but he noticed the stumbling of a man coming from some sort of bar. Wondering if this would be a good location for another bar he decided it wouldn’t. This area it seemed was a hotspot for trouble, which was why he decided to park it and enjoy his dinner here.

If a drunk leaving a bar was the most action he got tonight he’d be more disappointed with himself but seeing as he was interested in a woman who wanted to keep things they way they were meant that he was hoping he’d at least get a little action. Even if it was in the form of a fight.

The icemancer watched casually as someone followed the drunk. He was determined to finish his pizza before doing anything. It wasn’t like he stopped and took breaks often, this also might have been the first meal he had in a few hours. Slowly standing he pushed himself up and continued to chew and sip on his meal, conflicted because he kind of wanted something to happen.

Sveta followed the man into an alley. Off the main streets, quiet, mostly in shadows. A few dumpsters for extra cover. She picked up pace, getting ready to hit him hard and fast.

And then she made a mistake.

The empty soda can was invisible in the shadows. It crunched under her heel, the sound echoing down the alley. The man froze, then turned, staring right at her. Both confused an instantly on high alert.

"Who the hell are you, lady? What do you want?"

It was clear she was not a fellow pedestrian. Sveta had left behind most trappings of vigilante gear; she was wearing jeans and a jacket, sensible boots, and her hair in a ponytail. But she was still wearing a mask, and that was a dead giveaway.

She smiled, trying to look more seductive than deadly.

"Well... I thought you and I could play a game, handsome. If you're up for it..."

They exchanged dialogue as Sam chewed his pizza watching. It was the city so he didn’t hear every word but could make out the meaning good enough. It was like watching a movie from far away but he knew the outcome. The woman was sneaking up on him for one reason she wanted the drop on him and before she could get it the guy noticed. Sam finished his soda and was now on the crust of the pizza.

Sighing he jumped crust still in his mouth. He landed few feet from behind the woman on a dumpster top. The weight of his body caused it to bow a little and he suddenly wished he didn’t eat the entire slice. Ice covered his lower torso ready to catch him if he ended up caving the lid in.

”If he doesn’t want to play I’d like to throw my hat into the ring.” he said still chewing on his crust so his words sounded more muffled than anything else. He swallowed and added, ”**** you’re beautiful.” he put the crust back into his mouth and started to chew again.

The man seemed hesitant for a moment, probably trying to gauge if she was a vigilante or a hooker who is into kinky stuff. She smiled, but the moment was broken by a loud banging sound as someone landed on top of a dumpster behind her. Sveta spun, backing up to the wall so she could keep an eye on both people. She hated being caught in the middle of something.

>>”If he doesn’t want to play I’d like to throw my hat into the ring. **** you’re beautiful.”

The voice. The face.
The ice.
...
The face.

"Oh, f*** seriously?!" Sveta burst out "You too?!"

The mafia thug looked wildly between the two of them.

"Who the hell is that guy? You two know each other?!"

This evening was not going well.

The icemancer smirked through the crust. Good for his older self. Apparently he had run into her before. He gave a slight wave and then hopped off the dumpster lid that gave a slight pop as he took his wait off of it. He stared at the dumpster for a second as if to say something funny however he couldn’t think of anything and the crust was still lodged in his mouth.

”She might know me. Haven’t had the blessing yet myself.” he puffed out his chest a bit in a slightly heroic pose at least one he thought was heroic while he held on to the crust in one hand. ”I’m Rime.” he answered waving to the guy who was more surprised than everyone.

Still holding his crust and maintaining the pose Sam raised his eyebrow his face still free of his ice. ”Now what game you want to play? Because I’m pretty sure the one you were thinking is illegal in the state of New York. At least last time I checked.” he said grinning more this time through the crust again. He was determined to finish the crust.

Oh goodie, Discount Cold Steel was striking a pose while eating pizza crust and ruining her carefully laid out plan.

>>”She might know me. Haven’t had the blessing yet myself. I’m Rime.”

"No you're not."

>>”Now what game you want to play? Because I’m pretty sure the one you were thinking is illegal in the state of New York. At least last time I checked.”

"What, you're the moral police now?" hopefully he was not actual police, that would have sucked. The other guy was slowly backing away. Sveta had to think quickly if she wanted to salvage this situation. She turned to Sam again.

"Tell you what, handsome. You help me out here, I'll remind you of exactly how well you know me." she grinned. It was half a bluff; they had never done more than a kiss, but it was not like he remembered any of that anyway. "Help a fellow vigilante out, hm?" she nodded towards the thug.

Sam was Rime. Maybe her Sam wasn’t Rime but he was. No matter what she thought he wasn’t the same icemancer that he knew. In fact when she asked him to help he just smirked. He was already smirking from her calling him handsome and when she said she’d remind him of how well he knew her he just dropped his crust.

His arms folded and he squinted at her. ”I know what you are doing.” he said shooting a beam of ice past her hitting the guys feet freezing in him in place he ended up turning and face planting into a bunch of garbage bags. He let out a grunt. He wasn’t out because he was moving but Sam wasn’t taking any chances. He was supposed to uphold the law and be a vigilante.

”I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. Not because you are smoking hot. Only because you seem to know the old me.” he said as he walked towards her, ”I’m also sort of seeing someone so if you could make this easy on me and just remind me by telling me instead of showing it would be sooo helpful.”

The ice-mancer walked closer to her. ”So… why are you chasing the guy?” he asked as the man attempted to drag the blocks of ice.

Bless him, Sam could always be swayed by promises from the fairer sex. He shot some ice at the guy so that he couldn't escape. That was progress in Sveta's book. She would have hated having to deal with Small Sam while her target got away after weeks of careful planning.

>>”I know what you are doing. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. Not because you are smoking hot. Only because you seem to know the old me. I’m also sort of seeing someone so if you could make this easy on me and just remind me by telling me instead of showing it would be sooo helpful.”

"Ooh, seeing someone" Sveta cooed with a grin. "Go figure, baby you still has faith in relationships. Alright, I'll tell, not show." Even better. Considering she wasn't gonna show anyway.

>>”So… why are you chasing the guy?”

"It is a... very long and complicated story." Sveta sighed, lowering her voice "Basically he is a small piece in a large chess game. I need him out of commission, just for a little while, a week or so. He's... sort of a bodyguard for important people. Bad people."

Sam feigned some bashfulness when the woman called him baby. He gave her the ‘aww shucks’ hand gesture and smirked. ”As you can see I got better looking. Both eyes and less jaded with those sorts of things.” he said deciding that they never dated. The way she made it sound at least.

”Also not a baby.” he said looking down he thought his clothing didn’t include a diaper it didn’t. He also over gestured looking down so she’d get what he was joking at.

”You know what’s great. I love, very long and very complicated stories.” he said looking at the guy that was attempting to crawl away. Sam looked past the woman and then back to her. ”I could just arrest him.” Sam offered deciding that was better than her or him just beating the tar out of the guy. It wasn’t his fault, okay maybe it was his fault he was being targeted. ”Important and bad?” he smirked, ”Babe, you are checking all of my boxes.” Sam grinned.

”Care to elaborate more?” he asked as groaning could be heard from the man. He even yelled out a ‘help’ before Sam shot another beam of ice encasing his whole body to drown out his voice. Now it was just muffled.

>> ”As you can see I got better looking. Both eyes and less jaded with those sorts of things. Also not a baby.”

Sveta rolled her eyes. Sam might have been less jaded, but he still had the same kinda ego. He was a baby in her eyes, which made her feel terribly old. All those de-aging people just reminded her how she was definitely not de-aged. Probably for the better. If she got hit with whatever hit them, she might not stop before she was an infant.

>>”You know what’s great. I love, very long and very complicated stories. I could just arrest him.”

"Important and bad people." Sveta repeated, arching an eyebrow "He'd be out before you blink. Or they'd decide they can't risk him talking. Trust he, he'd pick the broken legs too."

Sam froze up the rest of the guy in some kind of an ice coffin. Oh well.

>>”Important and bad? Babe, you are checking all of my boxes. Care to elaborate more?”

"I really don't." she sighed "You're still running with the X's, right? Well, let's say, once upon a time you had me off the books to do this kinda stuff. And I can do it on my own as long as you don't try to stop me."

”Important and bad. Vague, I know a lot of those though so if you don’t want to tell me…” Sam said shrugging it was possible she was in that kind of situation. He knew of mobsters and bike gangs. He was hoping the guy he was freezing to the ground wasn’t part of that group. They tipped well at his bar.

”Would he?” Sam asked wondering. ”Must be involved with some really bad people then.” Sam smirked heading her way. His face still uncovered from the ice.

”I see.” he said. ”I’m starting to see a trend with me doing that.” he stopped when he was within a arms swing of her. He wanted to keep some distance because he didn’t really know her. Even if she was off the books. Sam wanted to see what those off books looked like.

”I’m sure you can.” Sam smirked back trying not to stare. She was more beautiful up close and he wasn’t really prepared for it. ”Right.” he cleared his throat, ”I’m running with whoever needs me the most.” Sam said, ”Right now that’s them.” he folded his arms.

”I never said I was going to stop you. I just want to know about the off-book stuff now.” he said still grinning. Sam snapped his fingers and the ice that was covering the man shattered letting his voice be heard again as he was still attempting to drag the his ice covered feet. ”I mean… you don’t want to tell me he might.”

>>”Important and bad. Vague, I know a lot of those though so if you don’t want to tell me…”

Sveta was not about to lay out the entire web of turf wars around Haven to Sam Lite. He seemed cockier than the old version, and a lot less willing to listen. Then again... so was she, back when she was a teenager. She was thanking her good stars every day that she did not get de-aged to pre-Matchmaker street punk Svetlana.

>>”I see. I’m starting to see a trend with me doing that... I’m sure you can. Right. I’m running with whoever needs me the most. Right now that’s them.”

So, the X-men managed to keep Young Ice-box on the roster. Good on them. Maybe he was sifter at heart than he liked to think. Wasn't that the eternal dilemma of the de-aged? Deep down, they already had the makings of their adult selves.

Sam definitely had the flirting down.

>>”I never said I was going to stop you. I just want to know about the off-book stuff now. I mean… you don’t want to tell me he might.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, you can put him back on ice. Maybe being caught by an X-man will be bad enough that he'll be useless... I'll tell you what you want to know. But not here."

”Then where?” Sam asked giving a quick wave of his hand causing the ice blocks to spread out again covering the guy. Mobster thrashed under the ice, Sam ignored him and looked back to the woman. Again, her beauty threw him off. Only for a second.

”I don’t’ really see why this is bad place. He can’t hear you and…” Sam didn’t look but he sent out a wave of cold the windows of the buildings in the alley way frosted over. ”I don’t feel anyone. Just us…” he paused and added again, ”Seeing someone… didn’t mean it that way.” he had to correct himself before anyone else needed to.

”So what am I supposed to say to whoever picks him up? Don’t have much of a reason yet.” he folded his arms and puffed out his chest the cold still billowing from him.