(Right after Cocktails, dresses, and blunt force trauma)

It was early in the morning by the time Sveta made it back to the Haven building. It had been an intense night. Productive, sure, but not exactly fun. Not in the way it had been intended, but PR could sort that mess out later.

It had started out as a Haven auction. And then the auction got crashed by the mob. And then Hercules... did the Hercules thing, and Sveta fought a bunch of goons, and then she got kidnapped along with a kid, and taken to another location. Where she kicked more ass, along with Hercules, and managed to have a short but intense chat with the mob boss. Who agreed to leave Haven alone, and thus did not get his face bashed in with a crowbar. And then Sveta and Hercules went out for burgers. Joy all around.

It was the quiet hour before dawn now. Sveta knew the cops were already at the auction gallery, but she was way too tired for any of that now. No one had gotten hurt, but they probably had a whole lot of stories to tell about the giant glowing super strong guy. They probably didn't even notice the Haven CEO kicking ass alongside him. Hopefully. Maybe. Probably no such luck.

Sveta looked worse for the wear as she walked in. The front desk night shift knew better than to ask questions. She made it all the way to her office, hoping for the booze and the change of clothes she kept there, and a few quiet moments before the business day kicked off...

... and as she walked in, all of those dreams went up in smoke.

Someone was sitting at her desk.

That guy was sitting at her desk.

She glanced down at herself, assessing the post-vigilantism walk of shame look. She was still wearing her golden dress with the green trimming, but it was not as artfully arranged as it had been at the beginning of the evening. One of her long green gloves was missing, her hair was down, and she was sporting a few new bruises. Oh, and she was barefoot. She looked back up at the visitor.

Damn, he's fast.

"Detective Samuel Travis." she sighed. "If you have questions, I'm going to need coffee."

The idea when speeding in a car is that you may be faster than the officer but you aren’t faster than the radio. It held true for other things. When the call came out about a certain blonde CEO opening a can of whoop-ass, Sam put two and two together and came up with vigilante.

Sam didn’t have any proof. All he had was circumstantial, but his gut told him it was worth a shot. He jumped in his car and drove to Haven. He wanted to make it there before Svetlana could make it back, herself.

A flash of his badge to the front desk and ordered them to not say anything. From there he went to Svetlana’s office and took a seat in her chair. Sam felt almost giddy. It wasn’t often as a detective he got to confront the powerful like that.

A smile crossed Sam’s face when he heard someone at the door. When Svetlana stepped in, Sam stood.

”Good evening.” Sam said, ”Certainly, take your time. Get some coffee… We might be here while.”

Sam moved around the desk to give Svetlana her own chair. The power play of sitting in her chair had been made. Sam took a seat and pulled out a small notebook and a pen. ”Let’s talk about your extracurricular activities. Head of Haven, punching criminals is an odd image.”

Well, at least he had the decency to get out of her damn chair when she walked in. Clearly, he was making a point. The point was hard to miss: while Sveta was eating a burger downtown with a god and a wizard, the police was already all over the gallery attack.

>>”Good evening. Certainly, take your time. Get some coffee… We might be here while.”

Sveta said goodbye to sleep with a sigh, and turned on the coffee maker. Her coffee buzz aura was all good and nice (and probably sensed by the detective), but there were times when actual coffee was needed.

>>”Let’s talk about your extracurricular activities. Head of Haven, punching criminals is an odd image.”

"So, I am guessing you heard about the ambush at the gallery" she guessed, nodding at the small private bathroom tucked away at the back of her office. "It was self-defense. Mind if I go change? It doesn't have an escape route, I promise."

Sam nodded, ”Yes, I heard about the ambush at the gallery.” He then waved a hand dismissively, ”Go ahead. I’ll wait.” Sam decided he would wait until she was ready to talk before bringing up exactly what he was talking about.

While Sam waited for Svetlana to change, he checked his email on his phone. The emails never stopped. It was as if there was a mutant conspiracy to flood MRC with near useless emails to bury the important ones.

When Svetlana returned Sam said, ”I was actually more interested in what you get up to camped out on fire escapes… picking fights in alleys. With me as I try to make arrests.”

Sveta got permission to go change, which was good, because being tired and battered as she was, she needed to feel semi-well-dressed for the upcoming conversation at least. In the bathroom, she peeled off the gala dress, washed up, and put on a pair of black slacks and a green button-down shirt she had stored there for... situations not quite like this. She also had a pair of heels and a pair of gloves, the latter of which she put on as she walked back out of the bathroom. She poured coffee and sat in her own damn chair, running a hand through her hair.

"Ready."

>>”I was actually more interested in what you get up to camped out on fire escapes… picking fights in alleys. With me as I try to make arrests.”

Well... damn.

Sveta gave the detective a completely deadpan look.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I was inside the gallery, not on a fire escape."

Of course Svetlana wouldn’t just admit to her being a vigilante. Sam knew Svetlana was smarter than that but why not start with the easy route? Sam sighed softly.

”Not tonight. On other nights. I recognize that aura you seem to have. I felt it that night in an alley, I felt it when I came to your office before, and I feel it now. It is rather distinctive. ”

Sam leaned forward, ”There can’t be two crime fighting blondes that make people around them feel like they just had coffee in the city.”

Svetlana knew she was fighting a losing battle, but she was too tired and cranky to just give in. The Detective had the advantage of being rested (kind of) and being, well, on the right side of the law. But she was not going to go down easy.

>>”Not tonight. On other nights. I recognize that aura you seem to have. I felt it that night in an alley, I felt it when I came to your office before, and I feel it now. It is rather distinctive. ”

"So you see auras now? Also read palms?" she quirked an eyebrow at her. For some reason, taking shots at him felt satisfying. Even if petty.

>>”There can’t be two crime fighting blondes that make people around them feel like they just had coffee in the city.”

Yep. There it was. Sveta gave him a level look for a long moment, before she leaned forward against her desk, mirroring him.

"Alright. Let's say that you are right. In theory." That was a legal thing, right? Not admitting anything outright? "What then? You arrest me?" she tilted her head slightly "Do you have magic handcuffs too?"

It was a shot in the dark. But not entirely unfounded.

Sam raised an eyebrow. He didn’t expect Svetlana to just admit to being a vigilante, but he hadn’t expected her to lean into his description as if he was some flea market psychic.

”And tarot cards on the second Tuesday of next week.” Sam said with a small smile. Svetlana was trying to obfuscate from the thing that surrounds her by targeting his words. Sam would lean into it because why not have a little fun while grilling someone.

Svetlana then decided to discuss the issue in hypotheticals. Which was an improvement.

”I guess it depends.” Sam leaned back and put a finger on his chin. Putting on more of a show of thinking than he actually was. ”There are legal allowances a viginate could operate in. Defense of a third party for example. The few allowances made for a citizen's arrest. So it depends more on the actions of the vigilante in this hypothetical.” Then as an afterthought he added, ”If only the handcuffs were magic. I’ve already had someone melt through a pair.”

>>”And tarot cards on the second Tuesday of next week.”

Svetlana bit back the next comment about flea market mystics. She could only push her luck so far, and she was not going to waste it on snark, as appealing as that felt.

>>”I guess it depends. There are legal allowances a viginate could operate in. Defense of a third party for example. The few allowances made for a citizen's arrest. So it depends more on the actions of the vigilante in this hypothetical.”

Sveta knew there was leeway in being a vigilante. Hell, that was the whole point. Hell, the damn X-men who invented that game now collaborated with the actual police (more or less). This guy was not going to drag her ass downtown, not unless he was the overzealous type.

>>”If only the handcuffs were magic. I’ve already had someone melt through a pair.”

They were both playing the same game, and they both new it. It was almost amusing.

"So, here's another theoretical scenario." she noted, sitting back too and folding her gloved arms. "There is a vigilante with a very distinctive aura that, for whatever unknown reason, craps out in a fight. It has only ever done that around an adapted before, but the... opponent is not an adapted. So, three options are left: rare opposite mutation. Secret tech. Or... magic." she counted, ticking them off on her fingers. She knew which one her money was on, but she was not going to elabroate. "Because apparently magic is a thing now. Which I learned, tonight, while taking down the mob alongside a glowing dude. In self defense."

Sam nodded as Svetlana told a hypothetical that was not actually hypothetical. Distinctive aura, stops working right during a fight, no adapted around. Leaving mutation, technology, or magic.

Svetlana was fishing for what had happened that night. Why her power stopped working right. Sam wasn’t about to admit to his magic being the cause.

”All sound likely. Though, as I understand it, sometimes mutations just go on the fritz. Often when they are growing. That is always an option. Besides, I don’t think Penn, Teller, or Copperfield could make a mutation stop and they’re the best magic acts I’ve ever seen.” Sam wasn’t sure how widely knowledge of mystics had spread. It was possible Svetlana had met another. It was easy enough for Sam to pretend he didn’t know of nor believe in magic himself.

Sveta was beginning to get the feeling she had survived an entire night of fighting the actual mob just to die of a pokerface overdose. Her hand twitched. Throwing punches was so, so much easier.

>>”All sound likely. Though, as I understand it, sometimes mutations just go on the fritz. Often when they are growing. That is always an option. Besides, I don’t think Penn, Teller, or Copperfield could make a mutation stop and they’re the best magic acts I’ve ever seen.”

Svetlana exhaled slowly, and drank a few gulps of her coffee.

"The best I have ever seen was a stripper who gave herself rainbow freckles. But that is beside the point." she noted, leaning her elbows on her desk again. "A charity auction Haven put on just got hit by one of the local crime families. People were getting hurt, so I defended them. I had help. There was magic involved. Obviously. And you are here, making yourself at home in my office, so something tells me the magic part was not as interesting as a blonde woman kicking ass." She smirked at him.

It was pretty clear Svetlana suspected Sam was up to something that previous night when he had reduced her power. Her having had an experience with magic was now leading her to suspect he had used magic, which he had. Point to Svetlana, though Sam wouldn’t let her know she was now on the scoreboard.

”There are other detectives investigating what happened at the charity auction. Some MRC, some more traditional detectives. I’m a detective for MRC, the M doesn’t stand for magic. A vigilante who claims she has powers gets my attention. When it becomes clear that the vigilante is the head of Haven.” Sam shrugged, ”I have to look into it. And advise against further vigilante action. Excuse me, any further hypothetical vigilante action. Sometimes hypothetical vigilantes can catch good people or law enforcement in their hypothetical crossfire.”

>>"There are other detectives investigating what happened at the charity auction. Some MRC, some more traditional detectives. I’m a detective for MRC, the M doesn’t stand for magic."

"Maybe it should" Svetlana muttered. She knew the entire legal department was going to have a collective headache by the afternoon, once the investigation expanded to Haven witnesses. And why the mob would target them specifically without really stealing anything...

>>"A vigilante who claims she has powers gets my attention. When it becomes clear that the vigilante is the head of Haven. I have to look into it. And advise against further vigilante action. Excuse me, any further hypothetical vigilante action. Sometimes hypothetical vigilantes can catch good people or law enforcement in their hypothetical crossfire.”

"So, this is a 'straighten up and fly right' kinda visit?" Sveta smirked, drinking more of her coffee. "Just so I know what I am dealing with. Is it more 'cease and desist' thing, or an 'I do you a favor, you do me a favor' thing?... Excuse me, I have dealt with a lot of different kinds of law enforcement over the years..." she added, batting her eyelashes in a polite, innocent way.

Svetlana wanted to know what kind of visit it was. Sam tapped a finger on the desk lightly a few times, his hand bouncing up and down with it. After a moment he tapped one last time and pulled his hand back from the desk and leaned back in his chair.

”I should tell you to cease and desist, that this is a warning… But the police can’t be everywhere at once. Having a little help out there is good for the citizens. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement where you can keep up your extracurricular activity. The question is, what do I get out of not arresting you now or in the future were I to come across you in the act?” Sam threw out a possible option, ”Perhaps an easier route to possible criminals attempting to find safe harbor here?”

Weakening a known safe haven for mutants was very appealing to Sam. He would rather bend it than break it. Institutions could serve a purpose. Criminal mutants thinking Haven was safe but it easily handing mutants over to Sam would be an ideal situation to keep their evil powers off the street.

She could tell he was thinking it over. He had either not walked in here with a plan, which would have been strange, or he was pretending to give it more thought, which he probably wasn't. Svetlana waited for him to tell her exactly what the hell he wanted from her.

>>”I should tell you to cease and desist, that this is a warning… But the police can’t be everywhere at once. Having a little help out there is good for the citizens. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement where you can keep up your extracurricular activity."

And there it was. Sveta bit back a smirk, and worked really hard to not laugh in his face. For someone who had been on unofficial dark X-men payroll, had been a SUPER asset, a mail order bride, and a Haven IE member, it just felt funny to once again be taking time out of her schedule to do some... more vigilante work on the side.

>>"The question is, what do I get out of not arresting you now or in the future were I to come across you in the act?”

Please never say 'in the act' again.

>>”Perhaps an easier route to possible criminals attempting to find safe harbor here?”

Sveta shook her head.

"No. I am not going to start ratting out mutants who come here for asylum. Lawyers and procedure. I can't give you a shortcut." like hell she was going to break one of the main thing Haven existed for. But she also did not have much room to negotiate. "How about help getting to people who are not seeking refuge here? I mean, in theory, a vigilante in these parts would know basically everything that happens in the city underworld... and could get to places where cops can't. Or... make citizen's arrests that cops can't?"