Too much happened behind the scenes when catching a high-threat criminal, and unfortunately for Sabine, she spent more time behind the curtain now. After independent investigators brought samples of the de-aging serum and information on the origin, SUPER and organizations throughout the government spun into action.

Federal health organizations got to work on a vaccine or an antidote or whatever was possible at this point. Internal investigations took place within SUPER, finding any connections between the black site origins of the serum and any related parties. Those parties were on the receiving end of some SUPER hospitality now.

Sabine had a hand in most of the goings-on now, for better or worse. She missed when she was the last person to be told where to go and who to shoot. (Or whatever.) She had Agent Gage on intelligence gathering, checking leads and questioning suspects. It helped having an inquisitor who could taste lies. She paired great with Agent Hunter, breaking down doors, apprehending suspects, and doing a bang-up job in his own right as an interrogator.

She really did have to thank Sveta again for these two. Particularly when testing gave her hope they could be her secret weapon here.

Finally, after chasing down strands of nothing, they had something tangible. The intelligence appeared credible enough for backup to be arranged. With how few people Sabine trusted these days, she was the backup.

Checking and double-checking her new tranq gun, she felt the weight of a more heavily loaded weapon strapped to her in the event taking the suspect alive was completely unavoidable. She wanted to do this by the books, but had to be prepared for any outcome. ”Alright. We have two strike teams on standby in case we need backup. We could also be barging into a truly abandoned mall and we’re back at square one. Are you two prepared, one way or another?”

It was the calm before the storm. Ranger had his gear all ready and was waiting to begin the operation. The one behind the deaging had been tracked down and cornered. It had taken months of intelligence work. Chasing down leads, leaning on assets, and combing through petabytes of data. All done while following proper procedure, obtaining warrants. Keep it all above board, legal, and beyond reproach.

And do all that, and what came next, without revealing that he was a mutant.

Ranger’s power worked well with hiding that he was a mutant. Unless he was clearly shot while not wearing a vest or slashed by some blade, he could easily conceal his power. When questions arose, Ranger could deflect that his skill as a former operator is what allowed him to accomplish some of his feats. In truth it was all planning ahead of time. Setting things up so that when he did use his power it was unseen or could be explained somewhere else.

To that end, Ranger had kit himself with a bullet resistant vest with strike plates, a kevlar helmet with a pair of NODs, and a magazine fed shotgun. It limited his ability to engage with targets, but it gave him versatility in handling situations. Different magazines could carry different loads. Buch shot for breaching, XREP for neuromuscular incapacitation, and so on. He had a match saver attached to the rifle in front of the ejection port loaded with a single slug in case of emergency.

He didn’t need to use the equipment. He just needed to be seen with it. And it was useful to have on the off chance there was an adapted inside the mall.
Sabine asked if him and Noel were prepared for whatever happened after they went in. Ranger nodded as he press checked his shotgun, opening the breach just enough to see the glint of brass. ”Ready.” Ranger moved his arms, going through the motions in his mind of transitions. Switching from his shotgun to another weapon, reloading. He mentally walked through everything, his arms moving with his mind without actually grabbing anything. All motions needed to be completely rote. No thought involved. ”We need t’ kill the power an’ then I’ll breach in darkness. When the lead starts flyin’ I suggest havin’ the teams block off all other exits. Once we’re in, move fast. Speed an’ aggression ‘re our friends. When we slow down, that’s when things get nasty.”

Ranger took position at the entrance to the mall they had selected. The door was locked. It was also metal. No breaching with the shotgun. It was a good thing Sabine had given him the ability to requisition anything he would need. Ranger pulled a small object out of a vest pocket. It looked like a half sphere with a small opening where something could be plugged into it.

The object was stuck to the door and another small cylinder with a small antena poking out was slid into it. It was a shaped charge made with detonation cord. Ranger took a couple steps away from the door and waited for a go ahead from Sabine. She was the final go, no-go on the mission. When it was time, Ranger needed to blast open the door at the same moment the power went out.
Taking the moment to breath, Ranger relaxed. There was always nervous tension before a breach. Some stress was good, it kept you alert. Too much was bad, it led to sensory exclusion. He couldn’t allow for his reality to squeeze down to what he saw through a coke straw. He wasn’t running this operation alone. To mix military metaphors, he was the tip of the spear and the hammer driving their opposition against the anvil of their backup.

When Sabine gave the go ahead, Ranger turned his face away from the door and hit the detonator.

The next few seconds felt like minutes to Ranger. He turned and pulled open the door. As he entered the dark of the building he clicked his NODs up and out of the way. They provided vision in low light and were good when you had to look through glass. Ranger was entering a dark room, without windows, where mannequins were set up displaying clothes. He wanted to see heat.

As Ranger powered forward his eyes changed. Away went his ability to see visible light as his vision shifted to infrared. Not only could Ranger see where any hostiles were, he could see where they were. Everything they touched was warmed and his eyes were sensitive enough to discern very minor differences in heat.

Which meant that when a man with a gun jumped from behind a mannequin of a man high fiving a woman, Ranger was ready. His shotgun was raised and he fired. Less than a heartbeat later the man fell to the ground convulsing as the shotgun shell proceeded to tase him for the next twenty seconds. Long enough for Sabine or Noel to follow up with restraints or tranquilizers.

Ranger kept moving. A rhythmic near run from which he could stop, change direction, or fire without breaking cadence.

They'd been over their checks and, on a more personal note, they'd made their peace. This was a job. Dangerous and risky, yes. But they had to trust that everyone involved knew what they were doing and worry about their own damn selves. If Noel went out of her way to baby Ranger, he'd never forgive her. The reverse also being true, but this was their first big risky joint mission where their professionalism would be put to the test.

Mounted vision on her helmet, plate vest, speed, and aggression. Yeah, she had her weapons, but Noel wasn't specifically here to smash skulls in the same way that the Ranger was. Her strength was more in digging around inside those skulls. She looked at Sabine to confirm they were still on the same page, where Sabine would cover her if she found a promising target. They hadn't worked together much--yet--but Noel hoped today would help them arrange the first foundations of mutual trust.

She breathed and shook out her arms, forcing herself to relax the muscles that'd been threatening to lock up as the seconds ticked and the tension ramped. Noel was professionally ready by the time the door was blown.

The Ranger was off like a bolt, Noel was in next, keeping low and sweeping wide. Night vision or not, there was a lot of area to cover and far too many good hiding places. The field of vision wasn’t natural with a set of goggles in between. Ranger would have discarded his NODs by now that he didn’t have to worry about keeping his power under wraps, but without them or power to the mall, she’d be totally lost. So hers stayed.

Sabine was likely behind her, keeping close as they were supposed to be running together, but she didn’t dare waste a glance backwards. That wasn’t the way they were running. She skirted by the front of several shops, unable to tell if they were occupied, but seeing no one. It would take forever to sweep this place store by store, but the Ranger had darted straight for a single store.

The echo of a shotgun confirmed that’s where the action was. By the time Noel made it into the clothing store, there was a gift wrapped convulsing body. Still alive, the perfect gift.

She kicked his unfired weapon further away, flipped him, and chicken winged him, holding him still so Sabine could restrain him. Awake or unconscious didn’t matter. This was what she’d been brought into the operation for.

”To the wall.” and a more defensible position. Once there, she dumped him back on his face, sat on his butt, and worked one of his sleeves up past the elbow so she could latch her mouth on a patch of skin that a) wouldn’t be so dirty as his hands or mouth and b) wasn’t in range of a part that might scratch or bite her.

Now it was up to Sabine to keep watch while Noel skimmed for relevant information.

”Security office.” She saw that there were people supposed to be stationed there. Oh but those cameras might not matter since they’d cut the power. Either the cameras were dead or they were watching darkness. ”Headcount… more than 8, less than 20 security. At least 4 in the science… stuff.” Geez, he didn’t know what this crap was either. The man beneath her bucked, but was too pinned to do more than complain. ”Science is set up in home appliances section of the big box store JC Nickles, South side of mall.” That was it as far as easily skimming got her.

Watching Agent Hunter take command of a situation in the field, Sabine was glad she made the choice months ago to bring him onto her team. He had the tactical experience to handle high pressure situations, and he and Agent Gage worked well together, bringing their unique talents to the cause. This was why she needed extremists out of SUPER; working with mutants to stop mutant threats was better than making all of mutantkind the enemy.

Without the ability to authorize the Ranger’s use of his mutation, he had the equipment necessary for a flashy breach of the building. He led the charge in, with Sang and Gage following close behind as backup. His more subtle powers caught out an assailant. They were likely in the right place, and as expected, they were not just dealing with the primary target.

With Gage’s assistance, Sabine dragged their apprehended target to the wall. Sabine leveled her weapon and watched for any new arrivals looking to give them trouble. Gage did her part, gathering intel in her own unique way.

Security team. Science team. It was good intel. Maybe they wouldn’t need…

Dim emergency lights flickered on through the mall. An emergency power generator, Sabine assumed. A youthful voice spoke through the dull static of the Mall’s PA system. ”It appears we have intruders looking to cause trouble for our mission. They fear the youth of mutantkind; we who inherit their broken earth. The kind of humans who cast the gloriously de-aged from their homes. It is here where we stand and reclaim this world.”

Sabine looked up at the second level of the mall. The guard had it right; the leader and her security were in the security office, with some patrolling. But they were not the only ones at the mall. Young mutants, looking confused and angry, emerged from abandoned stores in the mall. That was why she chose this place; to house homeless, de-aged mutants.

Sabine enabled her comms. ”The target is in the Security Office with a guard detail. Agent Hunter, lead the charge. Up to twenty guards. Additionally, we’re seeing a handful of displaced de-aged mutants in the main floor of the mall. No confirmation on powers for any parties, so it’s time for backup.”

They had to be careful who they called in. The guards knew what they were getting into, but these homeless mutants… well, they were confused and misled. Misguided innocents. ”Agent Manning, lead your team in to back up Agent Hunter. Agent Gage and I will proceed to the science team. As for these homeless followers… well, sounds like it’s time for do-gooders to do some good. Strike Team X, you’re in. And all teams, we’re authorized for non-lethal response. Let’s do this right.”

The scared mutants were looking around, hesitating and unsure of where the problem was. The heavy stepping of guards running to find them were less hesitant. Off comms, Sabine finished restraining the captured guard and turned to Noel. ”Okay, Gage, you know where the science squad is. Lead the way, keep us as out of sight as we can be,” in a big abandoned mall, ”And I’ve got your six. Let’s move.”

((OOC: X-Men and SUPER Agents, feel free to hop in! We’ve got Ranger and the SUPER team going after the de-ager and her guards, and X-Men, we have an assorted collection of scared and angry mutants to be subdued and taken into custody peacefully! Have at it!))

Ranger trusted that Noel and Sabine could manage behind him as he moved. After dropping the first target, he moved through the department store they were in to clear it. Noel would be acquiring intel from the downed man. This meant Sabine had to cover her. There was a feeling of concern for Noel but Ranger had to squash it. He had to do his job and she had to do hers. If Ranger acted on the worry and attempted to stand as a shield for Noel it could endanger not only the mission but also Noel and Sabine.

Their entrance was loud, the number of hostels was unknown. If Ranger didn’t leave Noel and Sabine to do their jobs he would not be acting to force the hand of their OpFor. By advancing deeper into the mall, Ranger was redirecting where their opposition would be directed. Until Noel reported in, Ranger would have to handle any other opposition on his own.

Movement. Ranger fired. A man fell as the electricity from the shotgun fired taser round interrupted his nervous system’s ability to control muscles. Ranger closed on the man, he had twenty seconds before the XREP stopped discharging. Ranger wrenched the man’s arms behind him and zip tied him. The man had been carrying an AR. Ranger pushed out the takedown pin so the receiver opened. He removed the bolt carrier from the weapon and hurled it

That was when the lights came on. Dim, emergency lighting. Then the PA system for the mall switched on to call out to… mutants? Ranger looked around. People were walking out of stores. Not all of them were traditionally human shaped. Visible mutations. They were exploiting those mutants who had slipped through the cracks when thy were deaged. That or they were gaslit. Told they slipped through.

Ranger swore quietly to himself. The operation had just gone pear shaped and there was at best a slim chance that Ranger could accomplish the objective but only if he blew his cover. There was support outside, but that only made things worse. Ranger would have to choose between blowing his cover or risking more lives.

He could shrug off bullets, fire, electricity, spikes, and more if he was smart about how he proceeded. The other agents couldn’t.

Sabine saved Ranger from having to make a hard choice. Noel must have had intel and Sabine had an ace in her sleeve.

Ranger was to make his way to the security office where there was the target and a guard detail. It was complicated by Agent Manning joining, but that was workable. Sabine and Noel were proceeding to the science team. An Xmen strike team was being utilized to handle the mutants.

The security office would take some moving to get to. From studying the blueprints Ranger knew where he had to go. Switching his mic to a side channel Agent Manning would be on, Ranger said, ” Manning, this is Hunter, I’m Oscar Mike t’ the Security office. ETA two-minutes. I’ll swat the hornets nest. Yall catch ‘em as they break.” Ranger broke into a run, he had ground to cover and didn’t want to get caught up dealing with the mutant youth.

As he neared the security office, a young man stepped out in front of Ranger and raised his hands like he was going to fire something from them. Ranger poured on the speed and chopped the side of his hand into the kid’s neck. Brachial stun. The kid’s eyes rolled back in his head and the light that had been building in his hands evaporated as he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

From there he saw the door to the security office. Three men with modern sporting rifles stood outside. Ranger fired at one and dove behind and column as rounds came at him from the other two. The fire kept coming in as more security streamed out of the office. Ranger, exercising extreme caution, would poke out from the column long enough to fire a few XREPs down range before ducking back behind the column. When his back up arrived Ranger had kept them faced away. In a clear line of fire for them.

The security team, caught between Ranger and Hugh’s team, were easily handled. Ranger left the securing of the downed men to Hugh’s team as he bee-lined for the door. Locked. Ranger swapped mags to one with buckshot, worked the action to dump the XREP from the chamber and load in a shell of buckshot, then fired at the hinges. The door was tough. The hinges, not so much.

Ranger turned to Hugh, ”Give me a ten count, then come in.” He swapped his mag again and worked the action to eject the shell with buckshot from the chamber. Ranger put his hands on the door and pulled it from the frame. It fell to the ground and Ranger tossed a flashbang through. After it blew, Ranger charged in.

Inside he walked through a short hall with doors to the side, they were shut, Ranger moved forward knowing Hugh’s team would clear behind him. He hit a left turn and it opened into a room where a blond woman stood. Ranger raised his shotgun and moved forward, ”It’s over. Down on the ground.”

“Yes, it is.” The woman replied as a gas started flowing out of the vent above him, “for you. Enjoy being a toddler.”

If Mirror had been told a few weeks ago that the X-men one day would cooperate with SUPER, he would have called bullsh*t on the whole thing. And yet, life had a funny way of throwing wrenches in neatly established battle lines. Like, the de-aging problem. With more X-men and Mansion staff affected than how many they could do without, with a few notable examples such as Teen Sam, it was in everyone's best interest to find the culprits and figure out a way to reverse the whole thing. And, like it or not, all agencies were in this together.
Yes, even SUPER.
Especially SUPER.

Gawain did not trust the Sang woman as far as he could throw her, but Haven had stepped in to act as a liaison between them. It took some convincing, but it was for the greater good. Or lesser evil, or whatever. The few people the X-men could rustle up (minus teenaged members and Becca on comms) were ready as backup for this operation. It was going to get messy and violent, but luckily SUPER was willing to handle that part. As for the X-men, they were on crowd control and collateral damage duty.

>>"Strike Team X, you’re in. And all teams, we’re authorized for non-lethal response. Let’s do this right."

Gawain was already standing by in the window of a nearby building, waiting for the heads up. Lots of reflective surfaces in a mall.

"Copy that. Try to let us know if we have science incoming."

The last thing they wanted was for the de-aging virus... serum... thing to turn the rest of the team into toddlers too.

Gawain moved through the mirrorworld, landing on the entry floor of the mall, looking for cover as he tried to assess the situation. There was movement and some sounds and lights... it seemed like some confused people moving around the area. Not SUPER, and not really security...

"Hey there! You okay?" Gawain called out to the nearest mutant, a confused-looking teenage girl. Did she even know what she was doing here?...

The Masochist was in ready position atop the very same building Gawain was waiting in, staring intently at the target location. He couldn't see much from here, but watching kept him thinking too deeply about who they were working with. SUPER. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

A strong tingling sensation all the way up his arm reminded him he was loaded up with tons of kinetic energy, having had plenty of time to prepare for this mission. His teeth chattered lightly as he let the energy jitters take effect, and lowered his binoculars as he heard a call over the radio.

It was go time. Gawain would likely be in first; Mirror travel made that incredibly likely. Saphirus would not be too far behind, however; how, you ask? Simple. He threw himself off of the roof, launching himself up and into the air, and then allowing himself to fall before catching himself with his powers, and gliding to the roof of the mall structure. A quick hobbling jog later the tunnel vision from using his powers had fully worn off, and he was dropping through the skylight into the mall.

This mission was crowd control and subdual, so he wasn't even sporting his crowbar. Instead, in his hand he gripped a hand full of rubber pellets that could be thrown if needed. "Everyone remain calm and lay down on the ground! We are here to help!" Odd, coming from a man who just dropped from the ceiling wearing a super hero costume.

"Any hostiles?" He called over the head set, his guard up and ready. Most of these people just looked confused. It was important to be ready for anything, though.

It was strange working with SUPER. Very strange. On the one hand, they had kidnapped him in another world and held him locked up for over a day. On the other hand, he had unlocked his mutation once more during that lockup period. He owed it to them. For forcing him to focus on what he had been unable to do for several years on his own. On the other hand, not all mutants could say SUPER had helped them. Some would say SUPER had kidnapped them and locked them up for experimentation. Wasn’t that what some press release had said? He couldn’t recall. On the other hand, hadn’t they also said they would not do that any more, and— That was way too many hands.

He wasn’t sure of the logic behind them working alongside the government agency. He just did as he was told. But apparently, they were working alongside another group and something something something? Whatever. He knew people who had been affected by this person. And in the end, that was all that mattered. He could sort through his love hate relationship with SUPER another day.

The call came in. Non-lethal takedown. They were up. The Asian let the construct he had been focusing on coalesce on his body in a sudden snap of color and light. Shard armor. Simple diamond-hard plate made of layer upon layer of small triangular barrier, arranged in such a way the razor sharp edges would not kill him.

He had not opted for his traditional gold and chrome lion-faced armor that was his signature look. The one with the giant sword. Too notable. Too dangerous. No. He had opted for something akin to a Power Ranger costume (or Super Sentai, if you will). It had pants, a belt, a top, and a helmet. What ranger did he favor, you ask? Well. There was not a specific design overall. He did not have a pterodactyl or a tyrannosaurus or a mastodon on his chest. Not even a dragon. Though his armor WAS green. Mainly, he had focused on a triangle theme. Triangle on chest, within triangle, with triangular shoulder pads and a triangular visor. It was more one of the later motifs than anything. With white diamonds on his chest.

It coalesced. He looked around the rooftop. Saw Saphirus jump off. Just jump off the roof to almost fly down through a skylight majestically. And— he decided power rangers were lame. So he shifted the entire costume’s design from what he had originally planned, to something else. On the fly. If anyone wanted to know what the new look was, they could google Kamen Rider Ichigo. It was still green, but now it had silvery boots and black leather pants, along with a black biker jacket type top with sleeves and green body armor. Silvery big helmet, big red and silver belt, and a long flowing red scarf. Of ass kicking. That was why he’d changed the whole look on the fly. The scarf would be SO much cooler, as he flew down through the broken skylight after Saphirus. And, it did.

He took a running jump, and kicked out with one leg. Sailed through the air, through the skylight. Scarf flowing behind him. Shin landed about 100 feet from Saphirus, in the classic super hero pose. One knee on the ground, one arm bracing himself. He stood up quickly, and struck a few poses. Just to get in the mood. That was why. No other reason. Certainly not because it was fun to play Superhero.

”Lets do this!” Shin shouted. After a moment, he started to repeat Saphirus’s line. Then he saw one. A giant gray shape in the darkness. With a massive horn.

”Um Saphirus. I think this rhino is for you.”

Shin leaped over the rhino’s charge. He slapped it on the back as he flew over the shifter mutant. Ole!

Strike Team X. Of course he jumped at the chance to be part of the team what he didn’t know was that he’d be working with SUPER. Police okay, stalker bots (call them what you want) hold up... SUPER? If the others didn’t voice their opinion he did. Sam didn’t care for them. Apparently his younger self had bumped into one of the agents and did not like the sound of them and his feelings for them didn’t age like wine. More like spoiled milk. They just reminded him too much of what he was raised in.

When he first heard of the team he also thought he’d be more involved than crowd control. He didn’t like crowds. They didn’t listen. The icemancer however was a team player and seeing as he had recently re-aged he wanted to make sure that no one else would be affected. Who knows maybe he’d be able to hit something.

Gawain responded on the coms meaning that he/she would get eyes on the scene before everyone else who was assembled meaning if there was an immediate issue they’d know about it before they got there. Saph leapt off the roof and Shin followed after a costume change. The older icemancer smirked. He missed this.

”Hope so.” Sam said to Saph via coms as he created an ice slide and touched down near to the other two. Less flashy but Sam always preferred the cooler approach. ”They turned me into a ****ing teenager.” he said still a little bitter about missing those months of his life. Turned out his younger self enjoyed himself a little too much.

”Damn, dibs next!” the icemancer called as he leapt in the opposite direction of Shin as the Rhino charged. They were Strike Team X. Of course there was a Rhino waiting for them.

”No casualties and no one else gets younger. First round will be on me.” he said his cold extending outward giving everyone a glow only he could see. Someone ran at him and slipped on some ice.

The instructions were clear. The execution was... less so.

Noel pulled herself off the combatant and resettled herself in the here and now while Sabine gave out instructions and made sure he was secure. Touching a few key stones of her reality gave her a solid set on what was now and who she was— her hand, her weapon, her night vision goggles. She left her coms on the channel with the X's to hear the banter and get a guess for what was out there in the expanse of open that they had to cross.

Like... a rhino. There was supposed to be a charging rhino-shifter out there.

"Should be fun." The real trick would be to not get mistaken for one of the aimless wandering threats.

Noel nodded to Sabine and when she got her nod back, they edged to the front plate window of the store. There was a yawning open space like a hall that lead to the main attraction of action. She had to orient herself to be sure of the maps she'd studied before hand. They needed to find an escalator, escalate, and that would get them to the home center of JC Nickle's. Or, if they wanted to risk the melee, they could find the escalator inside the store.

Something hit a wall or maybe the floor hard enough that the plate window in front of Sabine and Noel them rattled in its housing.

"Up then over, I think." They were both as fragile as humans. No way they should be walking through fire needlessly. They would just have to cross carefully and then they'd be out of the X's way.

And Noel lead the way. Keeping low, Noel made it past a dark echoing store and a boggy nail salon before she stopped to watch the chaos of the open mall where the X-team had been let loose. There wasn't time, but there could be novels written about what was going on in there.

She waited while a teen stepped fully past the opening of the escalator before running behind her. She seemed foggy and not at all very present, but Noel tased her to drop her anyway. She hadn't gotten on the ground when the X-men were shouting about it, either.

The escalator wasn't moving, of course, but it still functioned as a way up. Again, she kept low which royally sucked since the escalator rails were less cover. Her thighs could complain tomorrow, but she was determined to live today.

She got to the top and scrambled backwards into Sabine before she actually hit the top step. Something flung toward the pair as soon as Noel's head had crested the top of the stairmaster and splattered against the toothy metal top step, a tiny droplet ricocheting onto Noel's headgear.

It sizzled and started steaming almost immediately.

She'd already launched her stun gun cartridge. The base would arc and she could press that into a body to get the same result, but... a chunk of metal fell from the top of the escalator down into the mechanism that would normally make it move.

After working with a government agency that tried running like a serious, well-oiled (if brutal) machine, there was something awe-inspiring about listening to the X-Men work. They were competent, adaptive, and cavalierly casual in the face of madness. They were unorthodox, and in a way, it made them a good team to throw at unorthodox threats.

Time would tell, but for now, that was shaping up to be a good decision on her part. Now she had to survive to review this potential partnership in the aftermath.

Gage took the lead, not because of rank, expendability, or experience, but because she was inoculated against the de-aging serum. If a syringe came from the shadows or a gas cloud hit them, Sabine needed to stay back. She was of no use to SUPER as a confused teenager.

Despite being newer to tactical field training than Agent Hunter, Gage had good instincts, keeping them out of the fray, and when a potential threat came by, she did not take risks. Sabine wondered if the X-Men would gripe about tasing first, but not everyone could sweep in with invulnerability or ice powers.

They made their way up the escalator; a necessary evil. It was not the ideal cover, and it showed when they reached the top and the top of the escalator was burned out from under them. Acid ate away at the escalator quickly. They had to act quickly or the escalator would likely fall apart and drop them to ground level.

Following the curve of the acidic attack, Sabine spotted a young man whose throat was bulging, growing as it filled with more acid. They had to act fast and the X-Men had their own mutants to worry about.

”Forward! Flash on, flash on!” Sabine grabbed a cylinder hooked on her belt and leapt over the gap in the elevator. She could take a shot with a non-lethal round, but that throat bulge was large and the skin appeared stretched thin. A bullet would likely pierce it, and she did not want to cause serious harm to the young man or pop an acid balloon.

Instead, she attached the strobe attachment to her firearm, pointing it at the target. A bright light flashed sporadically, giving them a window where the acidic boy was disoriented. Sabine kept the light on him and moved toward their goal. There was no time to waste, so she had to give Noel a chance to get behind him.

Gas filled the space Ranger was standing in. It blurred his vision and filled his lungs. Through coughs Ranger radioed back to Hugh Manning , ”Deagin’ gas. Hold back.” The woman laughed, confident in her defense. Ranger could watch her even as she lost sight of him. His infrared vision allowed him to see through opaque cloud aerosolized drug.

After a moment the woman turned to a guard in the room with her, “When the gas clears, handle him.”

Ranger smiled. The gas had no effect on him. SUPER had used an incredibly small amount of the gas to test if Ranger’s deaging would make him immune to further deaging. They had found that the gas form of the drug was temporary so there would only minimal issues with testing it if Ranger proved susceptible.

Testing had confirmed that Ranger’s prior deaging had made him immune to the gas form of the drug. That was why he was the tip of the spear. Experienced in counter-terror operations and immune to their weapons; traditional and chemical.

As the gas began to dissipate Ranger raised his shotgun and fired at one guard then the second on the other side of the room. The concussion in the smaller space was teeth rattling. The pair of them dropping to the floor, Ranger stepped forward and fired on the woman as she yelled in surprise.

Unlike her guards, the woman didn’t go all the way down. The taser effect caused her knees to buckle but she was able to knock the device off her chest. Ranger fired again as he approached. Again she appeared to be affected before removing the taser.

Dropping his shotgun, Ranger adapted to the situation. The woman seemed largely unaffected by the taser. Ranger would simply take her down the old fashioned way.

Ranger surged forward as the woman produced a handgun. As he brought his hand up to deflect her arm he noticed it was a HK VP9. Extremely reliable, 9mm, lower than normal capacity for a full size. She fired just as the muzzle was pointed over Ranger’s shoulder. Ranger drove his palm into her sternum. The blow sent the woman back toward the wall behind her.

Not stopping, Ranger followed the woman. She attempted to fire on Ranger again. He wrapped his left arm around her gun arm and to keep it from pointing at him again.

The woman kneed Ranger in the crotch.

Even with a cup on, the vibrations still had Ranger squinting. He retaliated with a brachial stuff with his right arm. The woman’s body snapped in the way of the force, but she did not go down. She turned her head back and punched Ranger square in the face. Ranger headbutt her. She punched Ranger in the face again.

Ranger snapped her arm.

Using an inhuman level of force, Ranger drove his right hand into the woman’s left humerus. There was a loud crack, a scream of pain, and the sound of the pistol hitting the floor.

”Give up. It’s over.” Ranger said as he wiped blood off his face.

The woman laughed as her arm seemed to snap back into place. Did she look younger?

“This has been fun, but you can’t stop me.”

A round struck Ranger in his side plate. One of the guards had recovered from the taser round from Ranger’s shotgun and had fired on him. Ranger moved dove out of the way before another round flew through where he had been standing. As he landed on the ground, he drew his SIG P226 from a drop leg holster and fired at the guard before rolling over to fire on the other guard who was also recovering and raising his rifle.

Ranger had aimed for hands. They likely wouldn’t be Picassos later in life, but they should live.

When Ranger was back on his feet, the woman had a rifle in hand. Ranger took a deep breath and charged toward her again. The rifle barked. The round struck Ranger in the arm but his power gave his skin the hardness to deform the round and send it rolling off on a modified trajectory.

In two heartbeats, Ranger was on the woman. One hand on her throat as he drove her into the wall and then lifted her feet off the ground. He fired his pistol into the woman’s shoulder and she dropped the rifle. The wound healed. The woman looked younger still. From the wall, the woman kicked, hammer fisted, and yelled.

Ranger called out over the radio, ”I have the target.” From there he used overwhelming strength, and knowledge that if something broke she would heal it, to force her to the ground, and snap a pair of hinge cuffs on her wrists. Once she was detained he called for Hugh’s team to come in and secure and see to the medical attention of the two men he had shot.

Of course there was a freaking rhino. The X-men came in in a fashion less organized and more flashy than the SUPER team; superhero landings and shard armor and ice slides and whatnot. If Sang was going to use them as a distraction for low level goons, her plan was working. The rhino definitely picked out Saphirus from the crowd, and Gawain moved out of the way just like the others. That guy could handle a rhino. Bless the X-men.

"Hey!" he called again to the confused-looking young woman instead "It's alright, we're here to..."

The woman finally turned to look at him, tilting her head. Then, for good measure, her back erupted into a tangle of tentacles, sweeping the mirrorwalker off his feet.

"Oh s**** nope nope NOPE - RIME!"

Saphirus' teeth chattered with energy as he looked back at Shin as he landed a ways off, chuckling as he struck hero poses, and shaking his head.

Shin and he were polar opposites when it came to approaches to heroism. Shin's style hat a finesse to it, Saphirus liked to get down and dirty. So... When the shard slinger informed him of the charging Rhino, he simply smirked, and cracked his knuckles.

"On it."

He looked back to see Sam appear on a slide of ice. "Good to have you back, chief."

As he looked back, he felt the large horned beast approaching with his sixth sense. In a neat movement, while still looking Sam's way, he spun and stepped to the side, allowing a grazing hit to his right side. Which only served to grow his power.

With the slightest brush of the fingers of his left hand he gave that force back, and then some. He kept walking even as the Rhino took a few more faltering steps and lost form, turning into a gangly teenager who collapsed in a heap, a large bruise developing on his temple.

The experienced member of the X-Men patted his hands, and turned to look back at his handiwork. "Looks like it's gonna be a fight, then." He reached into his pocket, pulling a handful of rubber balls out, and flinging them at a tangle of tentacles lifting up Gawain.

"Yer welcome." He said before turning and jumping into the fray.

The rhino went down without much of a fight. Shard watched it for the briefest of moments, just to make sure Saphirus had it under control. Then, he turned his focus back to the mooks.

Tentacle backs were one thing. But while Mirror and Saphirus tangled with the creepy woman, they did not notice the person watching them. The person watching them did not notice the person watching him. And in addition to that, the person watching him watch them didn’t notice yet another person watching him watch them. Then, they all noticed each other.

The little man who had been watching mirror lurched into action. Shard moved. And the third person acted in turn. As he came in to intercept the little man, he realized what he was fighting. The mutant was about three apples tall, with blue skin and a pointy white hat. He blocked a straight punch from the mutant with his forearm, and threw a counterpunch. Before he realized what was happening, the backup guy punched him in the back. Shin got sent tumbling.

As he rolled and got to his feet, his eyes settled on the other person. It was a gnome. For lack of a better word, it was a gnome. Like the kind you see in children’s books and on front lawns. Brown pants, blue shirt, red pointed hat and a big white beard.

He was fighting a gnome and a freaking smurf. Shard struck a quick pose, and grinned beneath the helmet. Then, he gestured with the first two fingers on his right hand. A “come on” gesture. Then, they got it on.

The clash was quick and frenetic. Full martial arts. The two fighters worked like a team. A ninja team. Shin blocked and spun, punching, kicking, blocking. He wasn’t overwhelmed. He had it under control. Still, it wasn’t easy.

Shard fought. He’d end it in a few. Better he keep them under control them let them take out one of his teammates while they were distracted. After all, who wanted to get taken out by a gnome or a smurf with super strength?