Working with Svetlana was beneficial to Sam, but Svetlana was also a roadblock. Svetlana was in an excellent position to provide Sam with information and had her as a lynchpin for Haven. Yet Sam lacked enough information to truly work her.

The main thing Sam needed to understand was her power. There was something intangible to it that Sam felt he would use to his advantage if he could understand it. To that end Sam sought out an aceision user. While Sam could use his somation magic to puzzle out Svetlana’s power like a researcher in the field, an aceision mystic could do the magic equivalent of Googling her power.

Finding the mystic took time, then building trust took longer. Finally, after months, Sam had struck a bargain where he would exchange services with the fellow mystic. Everyone wanted the services of a somatist to address some perceived imperfection.

The aceisist ritual worked and it laid out the general form and function of Svetlana’s power. However, it fell short of providing the limits. How powerful could Svetlana make a mutant. Better said, how much of a threat to everyone could she make someone’s power.

Svetlana’s power existed to add fuel to the fire of the curse of mutation. She actively worsened people as they were near her.

Sam maintained his arrangement with Svetlana and they continued to meet. THey exchanged information and Sam made arrests of dangerous mutants and was even able to test his spells on a few. See how his experimentation was going along. All the while he was coordinating with a gang of mutants.

The gang were rolled up by Sam and he was holding the threat of prosecution over them. All they had to do was pick up and hold a certain person who would be at a specific place for a predetermined amount of time and he would make the evidence and case against them disappear.

Easy.

When everything was arranged, Sam arraigned a meeting with Svetlana. They needed to meet near an abandoned factory. Sam said he was going to discuss sensitive information with her. Information she would want to help other mutants but he couldn’t be overheard telling her. Even being in Haven wasn’t safe.

---

”Here.” Sam handed a manilla envelope to Svetlana. It bulged where a thin NVMe external drive sat. ”The information is on the drive. Straight from One Police Plaza. I could lose my ass giving you this so make good use of it. And for the love of God, don’t plug it into a computer connected to the internet and destroy it when you’re done.”

Sam had given her the quick and dirty on a few mutants who he felt were being framed by another mutant that was being politically protected. Sam’s hands were tied but Svetlana could apply pressure with Haven and as her vigilante self.

”I have to go.” Sam placed a key to his chest and it passed through his chest. He turned it and with a flash of light he turned from his normal self to a scruff looking man in his 50s. One who had lived a hard life and been in the sun too much.

Then he turned and left.

((Svetlana Sergeyeva ))

Detective Travis and Svetlana had kind of a routine now. They would meet in clandestine ways that bordered on noir movies, and exchange bits of information both of them tried to pass off as more significant than they were, while keeping a whole lot of secrets. It... worked, more or less. It was better than the alternative, anyway.
This time, Travis seemed more on edge than usual. He had info the police could not use. Sveta did not like the sound of that. But it was information anyway.

>>”Here. The information is on the drive. Straight from One Police Plaza. I could lose my ass giving you this so make good use of it. And for the love of God, don’t plug it into a computer connected to the internet and destroy it when you’re done.”

"I'm not an amateur" Sveta smirked at him. He used magic to shift himself - something she was also getting used to - and left. She paused, letting him shuffle away so that she could leave some time later, in another direction. She strolled slowly in the opposite way, turning the corner of the factory building to head down an alley back towards Haven.

She didn't make it far.

Sam leaving was the cue to action.

The gang Sam had recruited took their positions. One was on overwatch, his task was to spot and direct the others where to go to hit their target. When the overwatch saw their target move into an alley he radioed and the gang sprang into action.

Vans slid into place blocking off both ends of the alley and several large men wearing balaclavas stepped out. They advanced on their target quickly. They’d heard the woman they were after was good at self defense but it didn’t matter. Going hands-on was the distraction. Force the woman into engaging with them and then tranquilizer dart from above.

While they were a gang, military strategy not being their strong suit, they had 25 to life riding on this working out.

They moved towards the woman with a semi-coordinated strike. All they had to do was make her hold still or be predictable. So they grabbed at her. Large, hands and small.

Sveta recognized a kidnapping when she saw one. And she had seen a lot of them. That didn't make her hate them any less, though. At least these guys did not seem efficient enough to be SUPER. That would have just added insult to injury.

She drew her gun and fired, dropping two men before something hit her in the neck. F**ck. What she shot?... Nope, she would be dead if someone shot her in the neck. What the... Her gloved fingers found the dart as her vision began to grow fuzzy around the edges. She forced herself to take some steps but she knew she could not get far.

"Oh, sh***." she muttered in Russian before she collapsed.

****

Sveta blinked slowly as she returned to consciousness. Where was she?... Kidnapped. Right. Must be Tuesday. She was sitting in a chair, tied up. She looked up, trying to focus her vision through the pounding headache.

"Who are you morons?..."

Sam had told the crew to wear soft armor. He knew that Sveta would be armed. The men who decided not to wear any, they could have nice scars to remind them to listen to their betters. If they survived that was.

Once Sveta was down for the count, the gang quickly moved her into one of their vans and bound her hands and feet as well as gagging her and putting a sack on her head. Overkill is underrated.

An hour later one of the gang members set a metal chair in an empty room with one door in and a few cameras in the corners. Another man slumped the unconscious Sveta onto the chair before the pair added to her bindings by handcuffing her arms and legs to the chair. Once she was secured they removed the sack and gag.

When Sveta woke up, one of the two men in the room cracked the door and yelled, “She’s up.” The other man pulled his balaclava all the way down with a sigh and muttered, “I guess dinner is over.” as he wrapped up the burrito he had been eating.

“We’re-” the first man began before the door opened again and a third man in a suit and a black and white oni mask stepped in, cutting him off with a simple

“Enough.” Which was followed by, “Leave.”

---

Sam stood in a room with several monitors on the wall. He could see Sveta from several angles and hear everything that was said. He watched as the leader of the gang shut the door behind his men and then turned to Sveta.

“Welcome Svetlana. So sorry to bother you but we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.” The gang leader took off his driving gloves and stowed them in a pocket. “My name is Spectre, I’m your quality satisfaction specialist. Are you comfortable there?”

"Always one for the theatrics" Sam said as he shook his head.

"Is that an American joke?" Sveta shot back, watching the man warily. The fancy one were always a little unhinged. Much worse than the goods. Her eyes followed his movements, wondering what exactly he was. Mystic? Mutant? Adapted? Mafia? A combination of the above? Damn, the list of her enemies was long.

Sveta sighed, sitting back as much as her bindings allowed her.

"You might be new to this, so I'm gonna tell you how it works. I get kidnapped on average once a year, sometimes more. Mutant extremists, human extremists, whatever, you name it. Eventually I always get out, with or without help. And yes, I have failsafes in place. So. Why don't you cut the sh*** and tell me which brand of idiot you are and what you want from me, and then we can go on our merry way?"

Spectre gave Sveta a disappointed look. It was an excellent joke. Maybe the woman just didn’t answer her cell phone enough. When Sveta decided to try and explain how it would all go down, Spectre gave a dismissive hand wave.

“Hey, hey, hey. Svetlana, do you mind if I call you Svetlana- Actually, who am I kidding. I don’t care. All I want… Is to learn about you. And here’s the best part. You don’t have to do a thing!” Spectre gave Sveta a thumbs up. “No need for you to lift a finger, and it is better if you don’t.”

---

”Just hurry up with it.” Sam muttered. He wasn’t worried about anyone finding and attempting to rescue Sveta, but the longer this took, the longer he was there.

---

“Let me start with a statement then a question.” Spectre stood behind Sveta and put his hands on the chair. An ethereal copy of him walked around in front of her. “You increase mutant powers. The question is, by how much? Just tell me how it all works and we can let you go now.”

Sveta's eyes narrowed. So, this guy knew about her powers. Damn. That was not unexpected - usually the reason why she got abducted - but she disliked that information leaking anyway, and it had been a while. She had been careful not to tell people anymore. She just hoped this did not mean Haven had a mole.

"Tell you what, you tell me where you got that intel, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

“Now now. I can’t go revealing my sources. Where’s the mystery in that?” Spectre said as his ethereal copy held its hands behind its back and leaned in close to look at Sveta. “So I guess I have to do this the harder way.”

Spectre used an ungloved hand and reached from behind Sveta to touch her face.

“Oh! Well this is interesting.” Spectre said as the ethereal copy became more solid in appearance. At the same time a pair of copies of the ethereal Spectre formed. “Is there more? Is this the limit? Please, tell me there is more.”

Svetlana watched the shadow-like copy solidify as her powers boosted the man by touch. Mutant. He had a convenient way of testing her abilities. Damn. She jerked her head away as he touched her face. He didn't need to be that creepy about it.

"It does have limits. I'm not a god. Whatever you think my power can do for you, gotta tell you, boosting's not gonna make you a god either. I suggest Viagra."

“Oh. Feisty.” Spectre laughed. “I don’t want to be some god. I just want to run my own corner of paradise and leave my mark on the world.”

Sam walked around in front of Sveta and rested his head on a fist. “There has to be more. Is it time with contact? Type of contact? Please, just tell me what I want and you can leave. Holding you doesn’t help me. The information is what serves me.”

Sveta glared at the man. Why would he test her and let her go? There had to be more to it. Most kidnappers at least wanted to take her blood or something.

"You basically figure it out. Skin contact, the longer the contact, the longer the effect. Doesn't really go longer than fifteen minutes, maybe? It's really not as glamorous as people make it out to be."

Spectre cocked his head and made a long sound indicating his disbelief. “No. I don’t think that’s true. Rather, I think that’s true but you're not telling me everything.”

The ethereal copies moved in around Sveta and placed their hands on her head. They didn’t hold the head in place but provided a resistance like her head was held by a highly viscous material. A strong resistance that allowed a slow movement through it.

“Let’s try fairy tale rules.” Spectre placed his hands on Sveta’s arms and leaned in for a kiss.

The guy either knew something, or he was just lucky at guessing. Sveta struggled as he leaned in. His aim was a quest for power, but that did not make this feeling any less awful. Being forced to kiss someone... "F*** you" Sveta spat, jerking her head forward, aiming for his nose.

’Remember to punch him in the nose.’ Spectre thought to himself as he took the hit to the face as he brought his hands up to grab Sveta’s head. The impact hurt but thankfully was slowed by his ethereal copies.

Spectre placed his lips on Sveta’s.

A moment later, Spectre let go of Sveta and moved away. Then more copies appeared. Several at a time. Soon the room was filling with copies that appeared almost real. Only a close look at them could see that they weren’t wholly corporial.

“This is amazing!” Spectre exclaimed. “My power. My copies!” Spectre turned to the camera and grinned.

---

Sam’s mouth opened, aghast at what he had just seen. ”That’s- That’s too much.” Sam’s hand closed into a fist. ”I never imagined it was this bad.”

---

Turning back to Sveta, Spectre clapped his hands once and said, “Well. Had you told me, I never would have believed it was this…. Glorious. Now, how long will it last? Seconds, minutes, days? No, that seems too long. If you won’t say I guess I can just wait and find out.” Spectre put his gloves back on, “You have no idea how much of a headache you just spared me from.”