Was this a date? 

I mean... in a certain context. They had planned it before hand. They were doing something together that they both enjoyed. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. So... Like... Fighting crime on the streets of NYC could be a date in that context, right? 

They were on a date. 

"So... Uhm... Is this just like... A normal patrol? Did you have something in mind?" He was following Elke through the back alleys of the city in one of the admittedly seedier areas of town. She hadn't provided him any context for... anything, really. It was a sort of, hey, tomorrow, you and I hit the streets, sorta thing.

He'd said yes without really giving it much thought. Why wouldn't he want to go out with his girlfriend? It was a totally normal thing for two people to do. "I've had a lot of luck on the north side, if we are just patrolling. There's a cat that gets stuck in a tree every day at 6am, and a group of purse snatchers that I've keyed into pretty well..." He'd caught three this week! They kept getting slaps on the wrist, but he kept catching them, so it all worked out in the end!

Well, the Masochist had broken one of their wrists the other day, so they had slown down a bit. What a terrible thing to do... Was it really worth maiming someone for petty theft?

Anyhow, they had just finished passing through another alleyway, now thirty minutes in without much said. He figured he had to ask these questions at some point, right? It seemed like she was looking for something.

"Nah. I'm not looking into small fry right now."

She was stalking a little bit ahead of him, eyes trailing after dark corners as they neared the location she was after.

"Been a lot of murders in the city lately involving fire. Targeted people who are presumably stalked and attacked with Molotov's." It was a bit personal now considering one of the people who had been attacked was someone she cared about on some level.

"Word on the street is that some creep named Azar is taking all the credit for it. He's got some fire-related power he likes to threaten people with."

She had a little picture, which she fished out of a pocket of her jeans and handed back to him.

"The plan is that we get him to confess, and then you citizens arrest him with your shiny trainee powers."

She had quite a few of her weapons on her but had left a majority of her more lethal items home... If only because she was currently working with the sissiest future X-man out there.

"That make sense? I get him to confess, you to the rest of the work." Easy peasy, unless something burned downsy.

"You saw a blue fire baby?"

.... desperate people were the worst.

"I could show ya if you'd come with me. We could find somewhere nice and cozy to play and get warm."

Why were all the miscreants allowed out at the same time, it seemed? Here she was, walking home with a bag of fruits in one hand, and a loser easily keeping pace with her. Apparently just ignoring the annoying ones wasn't a tactic that worked anymore.

"I like the haircut. Edgy. Are you a freaky chick?"

If she could have rolled her eyes into the back of her head and let them stay there, she would have.

"Depends on what you mean by freaky." She drolled out, voice full of boredom.

"Ooh, I think you know what I mean Baby. You into tattoos? Wanna see mine? I've got em all over. I'll let you touch them if you want."

Ick. She could visualize the typoes in his speech like physical objects. ur so hawt. Pics? plz, bb, U so btiful

"I'm pretty sure nothing you have is anything I haven't seen before, but thanks."

They stopped at a light as it shifted to red and late-night cars zoomed past.

"Ouch, baby. Sharp tongue. That's okay, I'm into that though."

She glanced over at him. He was average height and completely bald, with an assortment of piercings and tattoos all over him. The power child of what wealthy conservative families wanted you to believe criminals looked like.

"What if I wanted to buy you a drink, huh?"

.... Well, damnit, consider her interested. Free drinks were hard to turn down.

"Two drinks, and you have to show me your dumb fire trick."

He grinned, and she had to admit that he had really pretty eyes even if the gold teeth were a bit much.

"Deal, baby! My name's Azar... what's yours?"

Small fry? Well... He supposed all of that stuff up north was more... general maintenance? Oh, so were they after a big villain?! The Golden Bloodfist? The Orange Meranguer? Voleur D'art?! He smiled widely as he walked after her.

She started talking about murder. Oh. They were after something much more serious than the usual offenders. The flame attacks. He'd read about them. His face became more serious as he followed her further, eyebrows raising as she said she'd found out who was taking credit for the rather gruesome murders.

"Yeah, they often found glass with signs of flammable accelerants around the scenes. You've found out who did it?" His expression shifted into a slightly nervous one as he scratched his cheek. "Shouldn't we... tell the police?"

She explained that they were aiming to get him to confess... Ah. Right, they had no proof other than rumor, then. He raised an eyebrow at her mention of him having trainee powers. "Oh, well... anyone can make a citizens arrest... Though I guess they will ask less questions if I'm involved."

They turned another corner as he took up the picture she held out. Oh, wow... He... certainly played into the modern villain stereotype, didn't he? Only problem was he sort of went... full henchman. "Sorta... Underwhelming, isn't he? I mean... Visually. He sorta looks like... That henchman the villain leaves behind to buy time?"

He felt mean saying it, but he was a murderer after all. He needed to be stopped. "Okay, I'm on board. Lead the way!" Did he notice she left the sharp and pointies at home? Yes. Yes he did notice. He'd had a smile on his face for it at the start. Not that he wasn't smiling most of the time anyway.

"Exactly. @#$% knows they aren't going to take my word for it alone."

She glanced over at him when he made comments about the guy's appearance and snorted. "Yeah, his type always seems to try and cover up perceived inadequacies with something visually threatening or striking. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that, based on rumors, he's got some issues with his own masculinity."

Actually, that brought up a good point.

"We do need to be a bit careful, though. If we're dealing with a fire that could end up with a few buildings that come down if he loses his sh*t, which, apparently he does quite often. He's apparently got a hair-trigger temper if he feels slighted. A few chicks who'd dated him before said that he'd start fires out of spite, and some ended up with some burns."

A jackass, for sure. The details of how his power was a bit of a mystery. He always seemed to have lighters or other flame starters on him, but no one had ever puzzled it out all the way. He was apparently very tight-lipped with his power.

Elke fiddled with a pouch at her hip for a second, palmed a few decent sized ball bearings to hold in one hand, and turned to look at Xavier.

"Should only be a couple of blocks more. He likes to hang around some hole in the wall bar, apparently. This is why I asked you to come in regular clothes."

This bar was...

so gross.

It looked dirty, smelled dirty, and all the bottles behind the bar looked questionable at best. Heck, even the people in the bar looked questionable, and Juniper had hung out in some pretty bad places before.

Azar had given her some kind of fancy cup with a rich amber liquid inside, out of an unlabeled bottle that she suspected of being moonshine. It smelled and tasted like hellfire, so... it probably was.

"What do you think of his one? Got it to cover up a stab wound from a job gone wrong."

"...Mmmm... pretty cool." Also pretty crooked. She was starting to think that the same person who tattooed the monstrosity she still had on her butt was also running around tattooing all the criminals.

"yeah, and, Oh! What about this one?" He turned and showed off a piece along his ribs that was decent if a little cheesy. The dude could really give Xander a run for his money on the cliche tattoo race.

"So.... you into guys with like, dark pasts and stuff? Troubled men?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and sipped from his beer.

"Sure, do you know any?" She laughed. He didn't. Oof, tough crowd.

He did, however, lean in a bit more. "Your lookin at one, babe. I'm a real king around here, ya know? The people? Afraid of me. No one wants to mess with Azar. They know i'd burn em down to cinders."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah. I just put three guys down a few months ago. It was all over the news. Burned em so bad they melted into the @#$%ing ground."

...The... what now? Oh. Oh no. He was not referencing the.... was he??

"Yeah, and people I don't like? Up in flames! Catch em unaware and put em down before they even know what hit em. Good ole bottle and rag."

She sipped a little harder on her drink, trying to decide if this was really happening. Was some guy she'd just met really claiming to be the one who committed a murder she was there for?

"..So, are you afraid of me now, baby? Did I scare you?"

...


"Eh, not really. Got anything stronger than this?"

"Well, after looking at him, I'd probably believe pretty much anything you'd be willing to tell me... Oh, that's bad isn't it? Shouldn't judge a book..." If he saw himself as having one bad habit, it was that... Sometimes he just made unfair judgements about people based on how they were on the surface.

He nodded as she brought up caution. "Sounds like he's a real badguy, then... We'll be best off luring him out into the open where he can't cause too much damage, then..." He felt a little out of place, doing this without his uniform on. Elke seemed to always want to play things a little more lowkey.

Also... It was a date, right? No need to dress like a super hero for a date. Was this a date?

He turned another corner with her, eying the ball bearings she was grasping. He tilted his head a bit. Didn't the Masochist always use those sort of things? She must have gotten them from him. It made sense that they might pull from the same equipment pool.

"Yeah, I'll be ready... I'm guessing this place... doesn't card?" If they were getting in, there must not be anything stopping them. "Hey, uh... You know... I would take your word for it. For what it's worth..."

The Native turned around to squint at him. Don't judge a book...? Really? "Stop that. It's cute."

After turning a corner she stopped fully and turned around again. "Happens more often than you think. Sh*tty little holes in the wall like this place don't bother with carding. Some places hire doormen that don't care, some can tell fake ID's from real ones."

She thumbed herself in the chest, "I am a pretty girl, and pretty girls don't often get turned away whether they are underage or not. It's 'better for business'."

His last comment gave her pause and she considered him silently for a moment. Yeah, it made sense. She appreciated it, even if it wasn't something exclusive to just her. It was plain to see that he quite often took people at their word.

"Thanks." She went up on her tippy toes to peck him on the cheek, and then turned to head back off toward their seedy destination.

"Kiss for good luck. Let's go break some legs."

CUTE?! His face went red immediately, but he shook it off, turning away, and playing it off like he was checking behind them to make sure they weren't being followed.

He frowned as she mentioned the bars like this not carding. "Well, why doesn't someone shut them down?" She further explained that she was pretty. He nodded at that. Well, that sort of made sense in a terribly wrong kind of way.

He froze up at the sudden show of affection, and turned beet red. "Oh, uh, yes, yeah. Thank you. Good luck. Cool." He followed her, rubbing his cheek slightly.

He... honestly... hadn't expected that from her. It was nice. "Only if it's neccessary, though. Who knows, maybe he'll come peacefully." Even he doubted that.

He tried to size up the bar as they walked up. What kind of place was she taking him to? How dangerous were the people in it? How many looked armed. You know, all of those things the super hero manuals told you to do, that Elke likely just did naturally.

It was kinda adorable how he just went all red like that. Reminded her a bit of her dad whenever he got flustered around Andrea or Shelby.

"I dunno. Probably have to ask that question to your local government official, or follow the paper trail."

She flat out laughed at the notion that their target was gonna come peacefully, but.. whatever. Everyone played their game different, she couldn't exactly fault him for wanting to go a nonviolent direction... even if it was dumb as @#$%.

"When the local pigs learn how to fly, maybe."

Dim neon lights lit up the alley with a glow as they approached the entrance to the place, and even from outside you could tell it was a rowdy place to be. The shouts and laughter that somehow managed to make it through solid brick walls belonged in a sports arena versus anywhere this small in the middle of the city. There wasn't even a doorman outside as they neared, just a ringer and a solid metal door with a very old, dingey peephole.

Elke hit the buzzer without any hesitation. After a moment someone piped up from behind the door, "Wasthe password."

"GEIM-EN-SR-1E."

There was a clunk, a creak as the heavy door swung inwards, and they were allowed in.

It was smokey and smelled like cheap cigars inside, and notably, it was packed. So many people were crammed in that it was hard to figure out which way the bar was at first.

Elke grabbed onto Xavier's hand, dragging him along with her, and as soon as they were out of earshot of the guard at the door, she edged in to tell him something.

"When we get to the bar, order a beer, just like me. Don't drink it, obviously, and keep an eye out for our guy."

The tall, good-looking blonde was already getting a lot of attention just for being more attractive than 80% of those around.

Their man, as it were, was at the bar. A way down and still hunkered deeply in the throes of trying to impress a short blonde with a bag of apples in one hand and a strong drink in another.

"Yeah, my brother owns the bar so... I just get to do whatever I want, basically. We're twins." Azar thumbed behind him to where a slightly less tattooed man with marginally more hair was currently screaming his head off at someone who had apparently passed out at the bar.

"...That's neat. So. uh." She blinked at him, couldn't think of anything to say, and covered it by downing the rest of the liquid in her glass. He sounded like such a keeper.

"Yeah. So, you-"

At that exact moment, a tall, very familiar head of blonde hair entered her field of vision, and she spat out most of a mouthfull of liquor right into Azar's face.

XAVIER?!

"WHAT THE @#$%?!"

Azar jerked back, wiping his face and blindly searching for something to soak the liquid up with.

"Oh god! Sorry! I, uh, It was just so strong. I wasn't expecting it to burn my throat like that."

"Why the hell did you order it then?!"

"...I wanted to... impress you?"

...

"Oh. Well, why didn't you say so? You don't need to impress me at all baby. You're already a solid 10."

Azar proceeded to remove his wet shirt and coat, exposing a figure that was... eeeeh... lacking in some ways and completely average in others.

"Why don't we find somewhere more... private, sugar?"

"What, like Skippy the wonder pig? You didn't see that bit on channel five?" Yes, there was a local flying pig. This was not cannon. Fly on, Skippy, you shiny diamond.

Surely the local officials didn't know about this, or it would be shut down by now, right? They approached the bar, and he immediately identified that it was a scary place. Yep. All of these people were tough looking. Scary looking. Like... they probably compared scars for fun.

He tried not to look like he was staring at people as he walked. Elke had given some sort of special code to get them in, and they were invited into an atmosphere of smoke and people. So many people. He saw the bar immediately, as he could see over everyone else's heads. He didn't quite catch the familiar jagged sort of strange pixie cut until after he had arrived at the bar, and found him self staring at the face of a beefy man with a glass in his hand. Oh that was the bartender. He could see him because he was so incredibly tall and handsome.

"Uh... I'll, uh. I'll have a brewskie... Made it... tough. A tough brewskie." That was how someone asked for a beer, right? He looked to Elke to see if he was doing a good job. He heard a loud curse, and turned to see... Juniper?

Here?

What would she be doing in a place like this?! A confused expression crossed his face. Was she... with... Azar? Oh... Had... Had her mother been right about her?

He looked down, and then to Elke next to him. "Found him..." Were they about to head off to the back room?

It was hard not to groan and slap herself in the face at how her boyfriend had just tried to order a beer. The Bartender blinked at the tall undercover hero as if he was puzzling over whether or not that had been a joke when Elke cut in. "Don't mind him, he's a terrible comedian. Two bud lights please."

Two dark bottled were fetched from behind the bar, un-capped, and slapped on the counter before them. Elke took hers and paid, before sliding into a seat and turning back to Xavier. "...A tough brewski... really?"

Xavier was looking somewhere else, though. Something was off. He'd spotted him? That was quick! The Native glanced in the direction he had been looking and momentarily stalled when she spotted none other than the trouble maker herself sittng beside their target, who was shirtless and... posing? ... The @$%&.

"....why am I not surprised. Hold up, let's wait to see where they are going."

She watched as the short blonde slid off her seat and hurried to follow Azar toward the back of the bar, through an exit door with a 'Employees only' hanging over it.

Oooh, she scuttled like she knew she had been caught. She'd spotted them, then. The jig was finally up and Xavier was about to see that his bestie wasn't the troubled little dove he thought she was.

Elke patted him on the arm, sliding out of her own seat and grabbing her un-touched beer to take with her. "Let's go."

of course, they weren't with a murderous criminal with ties to the place in order to get into the bad area, so... she would have to be sneaky. She slipped her small, sturdy slingshot out of her pocket and loaded one of the ballbearings she had into the little leather pad where ammo went. Using Xavier as a shield of sorts, she took careful aim at a hanging lamp across the bar. A second later the light shattered, spooking everyone nearby, and the bartender stomped over to see what all the fuss was about.

Elke took the chance to slip into the back area without hesitation.

What, Tough brewskies. It sounded right. People called beers brewskies, and they would look bad if they got a... weak one? "Okay, I admit, I'm out of my depth, here." He hesitantly grabbed up the beer, feeling a little funny holding it.

Elke wasn't surprised at Juniper being there. He was. He sighed a bit, looking to Elke as she suggested they wait. "...What if she needs help?" He paused, looking at the man trying to make a show of posing. "Nevermind, she doesn't need any help... You sure this guy is as dangerous as they say?"

He looked as she started moving, hustling to catch up, and noticing her shenanigans, he puffed up to act as a view blocker before heading toward the back after her.

"I honestly thought that only worked in video games..." Distraction achieved, they headed into the back area. They were standing outside of some offices at this point. Probably where they counted the money, and the, uh, beer and stuff. He awkwardly set his beer down on the floor and followed his girlfriend, whispering. "Did you see where they went?"

"The problem is that nobody I spoke to really knows how dangerous he is. He's a bit of a wild card that tends to brag a lot about all of the horrible things he's done to try and scare people."

She moved forward carefully, keeping an eye peeled for all of the doors they passed and any threats possibly hidden inside. The fact that his home base apparently was his brother's bar made her think that more than a few people were in on whatever criminal activities he was a part of.

"More importantly, if your friend does end up being a part of this... how exactly are we gonna apprehend her, too? You think she'll listen if you talk to her?"

the question of the night... which way had they gone?

She listened and from further in she could hear the sound of a door swinging closed.

"Further in." She lead the slow, quiet charge.

The close they got, the louder the guy's voice eventually became.

"-like that, huh?"

Elke steeled herself against the horrors she might see as they approached one of the last closed doors, from which the guys voice was emanating out.

"They all like that one. Yeah. You'll like this, too."

"In three... two.... one."

She reached for the handle and shoved the door open, and what greeted her was....