Cora was nervous. Sam had invited her to the Mansion to discuss something, which, in her mind, never seemed like a good thing. ‘Not related to us’ had been reassured, but Cora felt herself tapping her foot anxiously at a red light, regardless.

She had on jeans and a tank top, and the summer air was humid today, her helmet stuffy as she tried to stay calm. She had taken the bike, since speeding seemed to help her nerves. But the red lights had not aided the speeding, which in turn had not helped her nerves.

Had she been less distracted, she would have noticed the car pulling closer...

---

Behind her, two men were comparing a photo, muttering to themselves.

“Are you sure that’s her?”

“Woman has amnesia abilities, how the hell am I supposed to remember? But, she looks right. And the bike matches the photo....”

The image was taken from the docks on the night Cora and Seven had rescued Mae. There was the distinct blue motorcycle with Cora standing beside it, and Seven not far away. The men noted the helmet, the woman, and finally decided it was evidence enough.

“Take her out,” a third man remarked. 

---

It was luck that caused Cora to look back at that moment. As the car lurched forward, she swore, and ditched her well-loved bike to dive for safety. With skinned hands and knees she rolled quickly to her feet, ready to yell at the imbecile driver who almost hit her. But a car door was already opening, and someone made a grab for her arm.

”What the f—“ Cora grabbed the man’s wrist and dragged him to the pavement. She barely had him pinned when the driver swooped in behind her, and she was forced to break the hold with the back of her head. She hoped his nose broke. Idiot deserved it.

While the helmet protected her, it also made it harder to see what was happening. She could have thrown a decent punch if she could have actually seen the target, rather than blindly trying to pull free. The struggle drew attention before a smoke cloud appeared, hiding them.

Not a smoke cloud, a mutant. A giant black cloud mutant that both hid the chaos and forced the air from Cora’s lungs.

Run!

Cora did the only thing she could thing of, and blindly cut with her free hand. It was a panic move, as she frayed both the memories of her attacker, and herself. She latched onto the thought of fleeing, even as the memories escaped. The hold of the smoke cloud released. She ran. With distorted thoughts, bleeding knees and a wave of confusion, she raced to get away.

Several alley's later, she flattened against a wall, unable to remember who she was running from.

Call Sam... she thought, fumbling for her phone. Ego be damned, she needed backup, and Sam was the best option she had. Cora swore as her pockets turned up empty. It wasn't there. She didn't know why. She tore off her helmet, noticing the blood on the back of it. Why was there blood? Probably for the same reason she was running. Probably for the same reason her phone was missing. Probably for the same reason her bike was missing.

She put the helmet down, and noticed her jeans. She swore again. Picked a direction, and kept going.

Could Sam find her before they did? And who were they? She kept moving, only certain that was the best idea.

It was an awkward conversation to have given any circumstance. Even worse to a girlfriend who was afraid of commitment. Nothing says commitment like bringing a child into a relationship, which Sam had done recently by adopting his recently deaged friend Eve. She was a kid now, worse alone. Her fathe-ex-father, was a piece of work and had no business being around her.

How do you explain to someone the situation? Over Coffee? Drinks? No, Sam had something else in mind he was out on the mansion grounds with two punching mitts waiting patiently for his girlfriend to arrive. Of all the ways to tell someone anything Sam found it easier to be hitting something while doing it.

The two ice clones attacked sporadically as Sam adjusted his small gloves each time a frozen fist entered his line of sight a gloved hand was there to meet it instead of his face. While his clones usually worked with him it was good to let them attack him freely they didn’t generate any body heat being made of ice so it made it harder to dodge.

Cora was riding to the mansion, given the hot day even for him he could have taken a care or asked for an ice slide pickup, which he would have been more than happy to do. Some time passed and he looked upwards to the sun. A half hour passed. Still no Cora traffic must have been bad.

The icemancer looked down at the hand that was connected to hers with that funny invisible thread only she could see unless she wanted others to see it. He hoped she wouldn’t try cutting it once he told her he just adopted Eve.

His eye lit up as he noticed a flash of red on his hand and then nothing again. He frowned and shook it once more. Nothing. Sam looked up and was smacked in the side of the head with a hook punch made of ice. He tumbled to the side looked up then snapped his fingers causing the ice clones to shatter. He cursed and adjusted his jaw while pulling out his phone.

The call went to voicemail and he suddenly had a bad feeling about it. Very rarely did he see the thread and she didn’t’ pick up that was usually her way of getting his attention. Sam looked at his wrist again hoping there was another flash of red.

Shades of blue erupted from his hands and feet as he ripped the punching mitts. Ice under his feet launched him upwards. He didn’t have a shirt on, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Cora needed him.

When dealing with an a mutant known to have amnesia abilities, thugs tended to be prepared. It didn't take long for them to find the documents about who they were pursuing, and why, then leave the scene of the crash that had drawn so much attention. The smoke mutant quickly got information from bystanders to follow the blue-haired girl, then they took off behind her.

Several blocks later, the figure was in view, a visible limp now slowing her down.

Cora was trying to stay calm, despite the pain making itself known through her side. You didn't dive off a bike onto pavement without facing some repercussions, and her leg was protesting from the treatment. She glanced at her hand, pushing small amounts of energy to make the dark red thread visible, hoping Sam would notice it. Come on...get the hint... she though, just as a dark thread reappeared on her wrist.

Damn it all! Cora dove as a shot went off where she had been standing. She made a move to cut the string again, when someone slammed into her at inhuman speed, smashing her hand into the nearby building.

Something broke. Cora yelled and twisted, using the momentum to push the man into the wall in front of her. There was a thud that sounded worse than her hand as his head hit brick, and he fell.

There were no pedestrians this direction, figured. The dark smoke cloud was taking over the street, this mutant opting for a more calculated attack.

Well, at least she knew who she was running from...Sam, you better get here NOW!

Few times he moved this fast he didn’t know exactly where to start looking but he knew she was coming from her apartment. She had the day off today which was why he asked her to come over so they could talk. Man, even when he thought about it that didn’t sound good. Next time he’d choose his words more carefully.

Sam was falling now having ramped himself upwards; he caught himself on an ice slide again and repeated the launch upwards hoping to zero in on something, a car crash, and a thread a fire. Anything.

The icemancer was moving so quickly and scanning outwards he almost missed the bright red that appeared on his wrist. He changed directions and hauled off towards the direction of the thread as it started to fade again from view. ”Come on baby…” he said trying to convince himself everything was fine. ”Show me where you are.”

A gun-shot rung out, it was faint but it was from the direction of the thread. Sam’s stomach dropped when he heard it he kept his wrist high so he could see if the thread appeared again. It didn’t. He wasn’t ready to lose her.

That’s when he saw it the cloud of smoke. ”CORA!!!!” Sam yelled as sped towards the center of the street where the smoke was coming from. The air got cold, he looked at his wrist again hoping she would notice the cold or his voice.

Cora couldn't cut threads. Cora couldn't punch smoke. Her brain was trying desperately to think of some way out of this situation, even as the black cloud rushed around her. Had this happened before? Was she attacked like this the first time? Cutting her own threads was like a lizard removing it's tail to escape: it was desperate, and now that she was caught, it did little good.

Then, it was cold. Cora let the energy push back into the thread, wishing she could physically pull Sam down into the street where she was. The smoke loosened it's hold at the temperature drop, as if sensing the impending danger. Cora swatted out like a cat, hoping something she hit would make a difference. She heard one man whisper to the other. "Isn't that...one of those x-men?" he remarked.

Ah, so their reputations proceeded them. Cora sneered at the jerk through gritted teeth, "Yeah and I hope he kicks your ass."

She wasn't one who liked being the damsel in distress, but knowing karma would be served let her accept the role.

The thread lit up again and Sam dropped down into the smoke his bare chest exposed while ice started to coat his hands and feet. The cold got more intense till he felt her. She was there the red around his hand dissipated but it didn’t matter now. With ice protecting his legs and softening the impact a small thud could be heard where he landed a few feet from Cora. The black smoke made it hard to see so he kept his eye shut as he slowly approached trying to feel for any impending danger.

There was a thermal image of someone loosely floating around his girlfriend. Sam approached without hesitation till he was close enough to see her. His eye opened as he saw the state of his girlfriend all banged up. She was injured. The air around them got frigid except for right around Cora that he did his best to not effect the area around her.

”Cora…” he got closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. The ice momentarily dropping from his hands. ”What happened…” he pulled away from her and grabbed her face in his hands and studied her with his lone eye. Making it seem like he was ignoring everything else around him. ”How bad?”

Maybe it was the ice, or maybe it was the general uncertainty now that Sam arrived, but the smoke mutant let Sam reach Cora. The cloud retracted in one direction, taking more of a form of a man as he tried to decide what to do. Cora's brain tried to process the question. What happened?

Cora gave a nervous laugh and shook her head. "I...don't know. I seem to have opted for the 'cut first, ask questions later' strategy today."

One of the men still had a gun in his hand, but didn't raise it. At least this one was smart enough to realize a gun against Sam would do little good. He still had a bloody face, nose clearly busted from something. Cora's helmet? A vague fuzzy memory was trying to reform.

"I...I think something happened to my bike..." She muttered, trying to shake off the effect of her own powers. She kept her hand close to her stomach, feeling the throb of pain now that Sam was here.

The icemancer let go of her face and then took a step back to look at the rest of her his eye quickly shot from the scratches to her hand, which was being held to her stomach. His thermal sense was busy keeping an eye on the two that were attacking her both seemed to hesitate when he arrived. Not like Sam viewed them much of a threat anyways.

He tried to smile to reassure her but it quickly faded as he turned his back towards her. ”Well. It’s a good thing these two decided to stick around to help explain what’s going on.” A beam of ice shot out from one of his hands and hit the guy holding the gun. His finger pulled the trigger but both his hand and the bullet were now encased in ice.

Sam turned his other hand towards the smoke mutant who seemed to reform as the cold beam made contact he let out a shout then tried to form into his smoke state again. Before he could dissipate Sam turned his hand slightly as if he adjusted the cold to shape into a dome over the smoke, which seemed to be trapped for the moment.

Sprinting quickly to the gunman who was struggling to get his hands free, it was too late though his bloodied face got hit again with Sam’s fist before he dropped to the ground Sam followed up with another fist as he pulled him from the ground. ”Why did you attack her!” he shouted as he pulled him up again hitting him.

Cora could sense Sam was angry, which wasn't a surprise. Cora felt pretty pissed off too, especially as her brain lingered around the memory of her smashed motorcycle. Why was the motorcycle smashed? Intentional? She had wanted to run, so she suspected it was intentional. And the way they attacked her hand first this time suggested they learned the lesson from the first amnesia. So, they came prepared?

She was still considering it as Sam started his interrogation. The man grunted in pain, the only one of the group that seemed to have no visible mutation. Or, no mutation he had chosen to use. "We...we were asked to...take care of her. She got involved in a business transaction we had, a few months back. Lost some good men, so we were settling a score. We didn't know...she was with you." He seemed increasingly unhappy with the situation. The mutant made of smoke didn't give any input.

"We don't mess with x-men. Believe us, she won't have problems again as soon as they know!"

Cora remembered the boat. Rescuing Mae, helping Seven. That was all still there, which proved these guys hadn't been involved that day. Ironically, that had been when younger Sam was still around. Cora rubbed her forehead, trying to clear the fog. Damn, now she knew how Sam felt when she got him out of that warehouse via thread cutting.

"Pretty sure we are past the 'don't mess with the x-men' bit!" Cora snarled. She flipped off the two mutants and they had the good sense to look afraid. "You...you ran over my bike!" Cora snapped, the rush of rage coming back as the memory started to clear. The man with the busted face seemed to remember at the same time, and frantically struggled to get away.

They didn’t mess with the X-men, however they had no problem chasing Cora down. They apparently ran over her bike and were willing to shoot at her but they didn’t want to mess with the X-men. ”That makes this easier on me then.” he said as he dropped the gunman snapped his fingers and the ice incasing his hands and gun broke apart.

He let out a gasp his hands numb to the cold. The gun clattered to the ground and was frozen again in a small patch of ice, which was then stomped on by the icemancer causing the gun to break into several pieces. ”Like to imagine no one would have problems with you two out of the picture.” Sam said in a somewhat seriously a low growl entering his voice to show how upset he was with them attacking Cora.

Sam stepped onto the wrist of the former gun wielder and pinned him. He turned his back to him and focused his hand on the dome of ice holding the smoke mutant. The dome started to shrink in size. Looking back to Cora he nodded his head, ”Way past that.” he said aloud agreeing with her. ”At the point you guys give me one good reason not two arrest you or let my powers slip and turn you to permanent icicles, I know not very X-menly. However I think I stacked up a few ‘oops’.” The tone in his voice let them know he wasn’t joking.

The ice dome stopped shrinking once it was the size of a bowling ball. A small fissure of smoke appeared which was quickly sealed by the now frozen escaping smoke mutant, Sam didn’t have time to deal with him. ”You could start by apologizing to Cora. My girlfriend, maybe pay to fix her bike.” Sam knew she hated when he through around the title but if they weren’t willing to mess with the X-men Sam decided to let them know why not to mess with her.

The gunman had the sense to be afraid. Having your weapon broken into several pieces was a very clear threat, even more than the punches he had already taken. His nose was still bleeding everywhere, but he kept negotiating, ignoring the injury. He saw hope of getting out of there alive, and took it, quickly trying to appease Sam.

"We replace the bike! Newest model. I... don't think it can be fixed, but, maybe that will help? I'm very very sorry we attacked you Cora, it was a misunderstanding, please. Just, let us go. Consider,you can have an IOU with us if things ever came up. You let this slip, and maybe someday we help you back?"

Cora was angry, but she was also exhausted. Fighting, running, using her powers, getting injured... her body was running out of adrenaline to deal with this. Having the bike replaced would help, but her hand still hurt, her body still hurt. It was hard to think rationally after all that. But she knew Sam was facing the same struggle. "You so much as tailgate me in the future, I'll let my boyfriend turn you into icecubes in the bottom of a lake somewhere," she warned. Heck, she'd find some way to have them dumped in a desert with no threads to point them in the right direction. She was not above getting even, despite how un-heroic it was.

They’d replace the bike with the newest model… The icemancer’s lone eye looked up to Cora and waited for a nod one way or the other. No it wouldn’t help much in his opinion. Even if he was supposed to be a good guy one of the things he feared the most was losing someone else he cared about. Sam cared about Cora; they shot at her, ran over her bike and if he didn’t get involved the some mutant might have choked her out. A cold breeze waved off Sam reflecting how he was feeling about the situation.

Sam smirked at her threat but changed his expression when he looked back to the punching bag that hadn’t been hit enough. ”She’s being nice. I’d let you loose in the artic. You’d be a nice warning to everyone else.” Sam said partially joking about it.

The icemancer stared at the thug for a moment and felt her wrist pull into her stomach. She was still injured… maybe he should just break them then call the cops. Be easier than explain to anyone why he didn’t take them, to the police and went some far, far north. Sam reached down and grabbed the gunman and flipped over. Reaching into his back pocket he grabbed his wallet.

Sam stepped away from the gunner and grabbed a driver’s license, another sign of proof they weren’t trained well. Other than the bullet missing (still thankful for) only a moron would bring any state id on a hit or kidnapping. ”Well,” Sam looked at the name on the id tossed him his wallet and the rest of the contents. ”I got you’re address and name.” Sam bent over and threw him over.

Yelling, ”If Cora is ever injured I’m going to hold you personally reasonable.” he leaned in closer to the punching bag and stopped yelling, ”I’ve been dying to test out my powers more.” cold erupted outward from him and some of the blood from his nose froze. ”You deal with me from now on, I’ll be coming for that new bike. Have it ready in a week. Top of the line.” Sam smirked, ”and count yourselves lucky she didn’t want me to do anything else.”

As he walked back to Cora his face changed to one far more sincere and caring, she didn’t need him to be angry. He didn’t’ want to be angry, ”Can I see?” he asked offering to take a look at the wrist. He was gentle; his fingers exhumed cold every time he adjusted to study it in hopes to make it less painful.

He sighed loudly, ”Well there goes my plans for some intense training today.” he forced a smile, ”Let me take you back to the mansion. Doc will fix you right up.” he said as he walked around her and gently scooped her up. His ascension into the air far slower than usual he didn’t want to cause any more pain than he had to by moving her.

”You had me worried.” Sam said holding her close to his bare chest.

Cora didn’t feel like she was being nice. She was actually secretly pleased with the number of times Sam punched the guy, which in turn made her question whether she was a bad person or not. Still, the pain in her hand reminded her how much worse this could have been. They hadn’t run the bike over just to make a point, they were trying to run her down with it. Her hand was just a way of stopping her from escaping while they finished the job.

”They are just lucky I know the benefits of letting a bug live if it will keep worse pests away,” Cora growled. She didn’t resist when Sam came back, but flinched as he touched the broken bones. She couldn’t bend her cutting fingers, bruising already starting to form and swelling evident. She was glad Sam knew mutants who could handle injuries, otherwise she would be done climbing for a good month or so. Then they would really face Cora’s wrath, even more than now.

Pulled off her feet, Cora let herself relax once they were airborne. She put her head on Sam’s shoulder, a rare action for her. ”Sorry, I already had one hell of a training session today. You know I like to brag I can take on 3 thugs at once? Yeah, I don’t think I want to actually DO that again.” She shut her eyes, finding it hard to stay awake now.

”Wait, how does training fit in with ‘we need to talk?’” Cora interjected.

He didn’t answer the last question right away instead he decided to give her a moment as they hit the point where gravity started to take more effect. Before they fell anymore an ice slide appeared under his feet. Widening his stance and leaning forward more ice appeared before him propelling them forward back towards the mansion.

”You did just fine, fine enough for me to get there in time.” he said giving her a slight squeeze as he started to think what had happened if the gunman was a decent shot or the smoke mutant did something to her before he could get there. He had a rule about not thinking about what ‘ifs’ it lead to regrets and he had enough to on his plate to add more but he couldn’t help but think about what would happen.

He thought of his not-real family briefly before forcing a smile, ”Sides they were ready for you. Knew what you could do. Even I’m never ready when someone attacks me after doing their homework.”

”But that’s why I train like I do and why you’ll be training with me.” he forced a laugh, ”Had a bad feeling when you didn’t answer your phone. Glad you had other means of calling me.” he squeezed her again before getting to the reason they were supposed to hang out today. ”How else am I supposed to talk about a awkward subject.” Sam asked hoping she had an answer for him.

”I… might have adopted a kid.” he said forcing the words out before letting them hide behind a joke. He knew what he was doing, at least he hoped he knew what he was doing. ”You were actually supposed to meet her today, why I wanted you to come to the mansion.” he paused, ”She doesn’t know yet though. Wanted you to know before you two met. You know, since we’re dating. I’m told this is a pretty big deal.” he said with a smirk.

Cora had to reminder herself not to try asking more questions until the drop was over, thinking it would be pretty embarrassing to accidentally bite her tongue at this point in the day. She already had injuries, a self-inflicted one would be even worse. She let the cold numb some of the pain in the meantime, grumbling a little at his answer.

"Still a kick in the ego. I'll try not to take it personally though," she sighed. She would keep training, not just because of this, but because she enjoyed it. But it didn't stop her from wanting a more useful power for situations like this.

They went back to the 'talking'. Awkward subjects were not Cora's forte, but she let herself be open minded. Then, he dropped it. Adopted...a kid? Cora had shut her eyes momentarily, but they opened again and she tilted her head at Sam. Her brain was still processing the revelation. "Adopted a kid? Ah, I guess it's a good thing you work at a school? I feel like there is a story here..." She paused, waiting for the rest of the information before her brain went into overdrive. The sluggish feeling after fighting was definitely helping keep the situation smooth.