As much as Sveta tried to clean up her act as a responsible, above-board CEO to Haven, she could not completely let other parts of her life go just yet. Namely, the vigilante patrols. She liked the... hands on approach. Sometimes when working for Haven, results were very distant from her daily responsibilities. On the other hand, when you kicked someone's ass to save someone else, the result was right there. Simple. Easy. And a great way to work off some frustration and pent up rage.

Tonight, she was perched on the lowest tier of a fire escape in an alley just around the corner from a popular mutant club. She knew the idea way not original, that's why she chose it. People who liked to attack mutants often went for the easy pickings: people heading home late at night, possibly inebriated, through dark alleys like this one. If nothing happened, good. But if someone decided to pick a fight with some mutants leaving the club, well, Sveta would be there to intervene.
Sure, she was going for the easy pickings, too. Sometimes you just needed the comfort food.

It didn't take long before someone rounded the corner, bursting into the alley at a scared run. Someone was chasing right behind him. Sveta's muscles tensed, waiting to see who the attacker was. Or were. This was clearly not a negotiation.

"Come out and play" she hummed, eyes narrowing behind her mask. This vigilante thing was straightforward. Never a dull moment. That was what made it liberating.

Working for NYPD’s Mutant Related Crimes was truly a blessing for Sam. He was able to work to help the city as a police officer while encountering more mutants than the other departments. These encounters often gave him opportunities to test the development of his spells. Specifically the spells that worked to restrict or restrain a mutant’s power. Perhaps one day, even to completely nullify or eliminate their powers by removing their X-gene.

This meant Sam didn’t mind so much when the perpetrators ran or fought back.

Feet pounding on pavement, Sam pursued a perp that he had been working a case against for several weeks. He wasn’t the heart of some criminal enterprise, but he was smart enough to hide enough evidence that pinning crimes to him had taken a little time. That night, Sam had all the evidence and had approached the man, Timmy “The Tatman” Tobias.

Timmy had covered much of his body in tattoos which he was able to animate as shadowy constructs. While they appeared immaterial they were very much solid. Timmy used them to assault, rob, and worse.

When Sam confronted him leaving a mutant club he frequented, he expected Timmy to run. Oh, he had hoped for it. A special bullet was loaded in the first few rounds of his service pistol’s magazine. It should limit the man’s power without harming him. Making the arrest easier and helping Sam understand how the changes to his spell had worked.

”C’mon, man. You’re only gunna tire yourself out!” Sam yelled as he charged behind Timmy into an alley. All Sam wanted to do was test his spell, but he still had to follow the force continuum. He needed… There!

Timmy’s tattoos came to life as he approached a chain link fence halfway down the alley. Dragons, swords, and tigers lept from the man. All shadows, all connected by a thread to Timmy.

Sam smiled and drew his pistol, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

The attacker rounded the corner, sprinting after the guy who was probably a mutant. Sveta saw him bounce off the chain link fence down the alley, and then watched as he suddenly summoned shadowy constructs. It reminded her of Nate a little, except Nate would not have been stupid enough to run into an unknown alley when chased. Oh well.

The man chasing shadow guy pulled a gun. Sveta sprung into action. The shot went off before she landed, first on top of a tactfully placed dumpster and then on the ground, but her momentum carried her enough to get there before he could squeeze off a second shot. She heard the shadow mutant cry out, and then she slammed a fist into the ribs of the gunman, her other hand coming up to grab his arm, and hopefully twist it to get rid of the gun. Or at least aim it away from the victim.

The pistol barked. In the brief moment before Sam had reaquired his sight picture for the follow up, he felt something strike his ribs. Hard.

In reaction to the impact, Sam involuntarily squeezed off his second round, sending it wide and ricocheting off the brick of a building before harmlessly depositing its energy into a dumpster. Sam doubled over, and brought an arm in to cover the spot that had been hit. His vest distributed some of the force, but it was built for bullets not... a woman just shy of a foot shorter than himself.

Sam backpedaled a few steps. Making distance between him and the woman who had sucker punched him. His eyes shot from the masked woman to Timmy. From the look of Timmy’s shadows, Sam had hit his shot.

Timmy’s shadows looked… pitiful. Like each one was having a little performance anxiety. A little trouble staying up as they flopped and shrivelled before feebly taking shape again only to lose cohesion. Timmy was also feeling around his chest, looking at his hands after touching his chest. Looking for the blood from the wound Sam’s bullet didn’t create.

Pointing at Timmy, ”You, lay on the ground and stay there!.” Sam pointed at his assailant, his sidearm tucked close to his side, his body bladed off so if she rushed him, the firearm would be across his body from her, ”You… Ow. Gunna, go with ow. This doesn’t concern you.”

The man backpedaled and took up a defensive position. The shadow mutant was down, the shadows weakening. Was he seriously injured? Sveta had no way to tell. The wobbly shadows did not indicate anything good. But she couldn't really go check on him while the gunman was still standing, even if he had definitely felt the punch to the ribs. So did Sveta. Dude was wearing a vest.

>>”You, lay on the ground and stay there!.”

Sveta took on a defensive stance too. She did not have the element of surprise anymore.

>>”You… Ow. Gunna, go with ow. This doesn’t concern you.”

"It does now. Since you are running around shooting mutants in alleyways." Sveta noted, taking a step closer. "Get lost."

The woman met Sam’s defensive posture with one of her own. She was clearly bent on helping Timmy.

Wait, Sam realized there was a chance he could de-escalate. He was plain clothed, she thought he was just some gunman chasing a mutant. Vigilantism. That was a first for him.

Sam hooked his thumb under his collar to catch the chain his badge was hung on, ”You have the wrong idea, ma’am!” he tugged to pull the badge out. He kept his stance, pistol ready, she could not care. There was a non-zero chance she was a mutant supremacist.

>>”You have the wrong idea, ma’am!”

It was the ma'am that did it.

"Do I?" Sveta snapped, and when he reached for something, she lunged on instinct. He was clearly not here to play games. She covered the distance between them, and when a shot went off, the momentum carried her or, right into a punch, before she registered the impact in her side.

Right after that, she did notice it, though.

Sveta staggered back, grasping at her side, looking for a telltale red bloodstain on her green jacket. She felt pain, but nothing was leaking. Something... was off. Was she hurt? Her coffee buzz aura... flickered. Didn't disappear, like with adapteds, but... blinked.

"The f*** did you do to me?!" she looked up, her words echoed by the shadow mutants somewhere to the side. "... the f*** are you doing to us?"

Being polite wasn’t gaining any ground. The woman almost seemed more put off by him minding his manners and saying “ma’am”. It could have been her snapped reply that clued Sam in, or maybe it was her lunging at him. Regardless of how he knew, Sam knew it… and was being lunged at.

Instinctually, Sam fired his service pistol. He didn’t need to aim. When sub ten yards, instinctive fire at a human sized target can land a round on target pretty consistently.

The round connected. If the woman was a mutant, her power would be severely reduced. If she wasn’t, she would be just fine. The round did not stop her fist coming at him. Sam barely sidestepped away from the strike. He kept moving, laterally away from the woman. Moving at speed away from someone was how you fell.

Sam kept his pistol tucked into his side and pointed at the woman. Every shot from the magazine would now be vanilla mortal rounds. No magic.

The woman grasped at her ‘wound’. The lack of blood to go along with the sensation of the bullet impact must be confusing her. She demanded to know what Sam was doing to her and Timmy.

”Look-” Sam, tactfully, refrained from calling her lady, ”this isn’t your concern. The Tatman here is finally being brought to justice.” Sam took a step toward Timmy, who was backing away toward the fence to climb up and escape.

There was no blood. Sveta thought she might be in shock, adrenaline masking the pain... but she couldn't find the injury. Sure, her ribs hurt, but... the blinking in and out of her power was way more concerning. She kept an eye on the gun. She wished she would have brought hers, but she expected it to be a slow night. The vigilante outfit was usually enough to make people run.

>>”Look- this isn’t your concern. The Tatman here is finally being brought to justice.”

"Well it is my goddamn concern now!" she snapped. She was in the literal crossfire, with her powers being messed with. "I am sick and tired of you people hunting down mutants and calling it justice."

She moved as he moved, using his glance towards the shadow guy to lunge again. To the side, hopefully away from where the gun was pointing. She had been in fights before where the opponent was armed. Obviously it was not the best tactic to keep attacking, but she was flat out of f***s to give tonight.

The woman just wouldn’t listen. She was clearly hell bent on being in the middle of the situation. A situation she clearly didn’t understand. Timmy wasn’t being chased because he was a mutant, but because he was a criminal.

”His mutation is irrelevant.” Sam said. He reached again for his chain to pull out his badge. Before he could produce it, the woman was after him again.

He could have fired, but he didn’t want to shoot the woman who was maybe just misunderstanding the situation. The problem with officer involved situations is that there is always a firearm involved. The officer brings it to the situation. Sam didn’t want to fire, but it was there and he had to make sure he kept it under his control.

When Sam had to turn to keep bladed off to the woman, he brought his support hand over the top of the pistol. It allowed him to lock the pistol into his possession, but it meant he only had his elbows to fight with and if he did fire he would have to work the pistol action by hand.

Sam was trained in muy thai, the art of eight limbs. Not having his hands to fight with was not a large handicap. As the woman closed, brought his right leg around in a spinning heel kick at the woman’s face.

He didn't shoot again. Sveta was not sure if it was out of surprise, or caution. He must have been using some kind of a rubber bullet since it didn't penetrate but it still hurt. Maybe he was not the outright killing kind. Not that she cared.

Sveta had learned to fight from several people who were experts in their field, from Cold Steel to Sabine Sang. And yet, at heart, she was still a brawler. The man spun and kicked at her face; she dodged in the last moment, but he still caught her in the shoulder, throwing her off balance. "Ow! Screw you!" Sveta crouched, catching herself, and then lunged up, aiming to jam elbow and shoulder under his arm to dislodge the gun. She was smaller than him, but she was good at using momentum and leverage, so she had learned to rely on those in a fight.

The woman ducked the kick, but it still connected with her shoulder. Sam let his momentum carry him around and whipped his elbows around in case the woman tried to immediately move in. She did not. The woman took a moment to curse him before lunging at him. The lunge came from a crouch and went for his his side or shoulder, under his arm.

Not willing to risk losing his sidearm, Sam fell back on his training and clamped his elbow to his side while also pinning the pistol as tightly to his chest as he could. In the same motion he dropped his glock’s magazine. When the woman hit Sam, the magazine was launched away from him.

He let the impact move him. It hit his support arm that was wrapped over the pistol, he moved with the hit, cycling the slide of the pistol. His hand blocked the ejection port but with the magazine empty the cartridge fell down the empty magazine well and clinked against the pavement.

Sam stumbled backwards. Retreating from the woman while he attempted to holster the pistol under his jacket. It was unloaded but it could easily enough be reloaded.

”Stand down, or you’ll go down as an accomplice to Timmy.” Sam said as he stopped retreating and brought his fists up to fight, considering using his knife to enchant her clothes to restrain her.

Sveta slammed into the man's side and he was moved by her momentum. Something clattered to the ground, but as she looked she could see he was still holding the pistol. Did he just... unload it? That was not the reaction she had expected. But it made sense in a way, if he thought she had a chance of taking it away from him.

>>”Stand down, or you’ll go down as an accomplice to Timmy.”

"Are you kidding me? I've never even seen this guy before." Sveta smirked, taking up a fighting stance too as the guy faced her with his fists up. No gun. Good.

"And you sound awful official for a dude who chased a mutant into a dark alley and shot him." she added. Her coffee buzz was still flickering. Was this what people felt like when they ran out of caffeine? Sveta frowned. "What are you, some kind of low grade adapted?"

”You’re knowing him is irrelevant. You’re assisting him.” Sam said before bringing his hand back up to his neckline, ”Good thing I am official then.” Sam pulled out out his badge more quickly this time so the woman wouldn’t be able to stop him with an attack. ”NYPD, on the ground. Both of you!” Sam said, his head turning so he could yell at Timmy who was trying to quietly grab at the fence to climb over.”[/color]

”I was undercover and you stopped me from producing my badge earlier so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on attacking an officer.” Sam lowered his fists marginally and moved toward Timmy to pull him off the fence.

Sveta's day had just gone from meh to clusterf*ck in one fell swoop when the police badge came out.

>>”NYPD, on the ground. Both of you!"

"... oh f*ck me sideways."

Haven PR and Legal was gonna need some serious overtime if she did not handle this well.

>>”I was undercover and you stopped me from producing my badge earlier so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on attacking an officer.”

Sveta, out of shock, decided to stand her ground and watch the guy deal with Timmy.

"You're MRC?" she stared. Police standards had definitely gone to hell in a hand basket. "What, the police has new weapons that f*** with mutations? How many times are you gonna try that? Because the last two upgrades have not gone over so well with the public..."

Collars and robots. Neither was a huge success.