Aiden was relaxed as he drove to the Mansion. The weretiger in him had been at ease for the longest period of time that Aiden could remember. Even the voice at the gate didn't bother him as it had earlier when he had picked up his date.

Everything seemed perfect, until Aiden parked the car and got out to open Arielle's door. The weretiger grew restless for some reason. Aiden looked around and saw nothing that looked out of the ordinary. He simply dismissed the weretiger's stirring because the reason for it's long silence (Arielle) was about to be gotten rid of.

He opened the door and offerred a hand to Arielle as she stepped out of the car. As they began to walk up the stairs that led up to the front door the shifter stopped suddenly. He couldn't place it but something felt wrong somehow.

The whole ride home, Arielle kept thinking about this evening and periodically looking over at Aiden and smiling. Then dreading the fact that she'd have to part from him. She wasn't ready to quite yet after all. Maybe I should have spent the night... she thought to herself. It was too late now so she shrugged it off, just as they pulled up to the mansion.

Taking his hand, Arielle climbed out of the car and walked towards the door. This was it. The end of their night together. "Call me, when you get home? Just to check in" she turned to him, but grew worried as she saw the worried look on his face. "Is anything wrong?" she asked.

‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’ Sam thought as he munched on an apple walking down the pathway that was outside that followed the mansion to the main entrance. A cool breeze fell upon Sam that sent a chill up his spine. It was a warm enough day by his standards but others would think differently. The moon was high in the cloudless sky, which was reflecting off of the snow that lied on the mansion grounds.

Feeling the snow crunch on under his bare feet Sam froze as he dropped an apple, something was wrong. He didn’t know what the feeling was but it was one he felt before. One he felt before and didn’t like. Something bad was about to happen…

Slowly Sam steeped forward his feet always leaving him in a fighting stance, he didn’t know what this feeling was but it scared him. On the corner of the house Sam pressed his back against the wall and poked his head slightly around the corner to spot someone he thought he wouldn’t see in a long time…”Aiden…” Sam said as his fists clenched, ‘what the hell is he doing here?’ wondered Sam as his powers started to activate on their own.

The lighting was bad but he was sure it was Aiden, ‘the Tiger of T.A.T. is here for me…’ Sam waited to see what he was doing here, without actually showing himself. But knowing Aiden he was sure that he would have picked up on his scent now. After all they had worked together before and Aiden did have a great sense of smell.

No longer moving Sam waited, waited to see what the cat would do.

Something was wrong. Aiden knew it. And the weretiger knew it. The shifter picked up the man's breathing before he smelled him. Aiden only heard one person near them. He figured that the bystander wouldn't bother with the couple.

That was until the feline mutant caught the familiar scent of the man. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up then. He wondered what Sam would be dong here. Aiden couldn't thinkg of any other reason but because of him. Aiden didn't want Arielle to have any part of it. Whatever was going to happen.

The shifter turned his back to Arielle making so that he stood between her and Sam and tried to make it seem like nothing was wrong. "Nothing's wrong. Just get inside the Mansion ok?"

Not bothering to see if she took his suggestion or not Aiden walked over to the corner of the building where the scent had come from. He wondered how he had not smelled it before when his scent was thick over the whole grounds. The shifter figured the snow had something to do with it.

As he walked Aiden let the weretiger take over. His bones cracked and reformed and his skin began to sprout fur as the corner came closer. His shirt became a piece of tattered cloth as his form grew.

Hoping to get the jump on Sam, the weretiger exploded into motion and rounded the corner quickly to take a swipe with it's claws at the former agent.

"Nothing's wrong? Why are you wanting me to go in so badly?" Arielle asked as Aiden started to walk away from the steps. Something had to be wrong. She wasn't a psychic, nor did she have the heightened senses of a Tiger, but she knew that something wasn't right.

Her eyes widened watching Aiden's transformation from human to beast. She knew about his mutation, but she hadn't actually seen it in person. It's like he's a completely different person... she thought hearing the Weretiger's growls and jumped as he exploded around the corner of the mansion.

"Aiden! Come back!" she called chasing the creature, but was careful to keep her distance. She had to find out what had gotten him so worked up.

Speed was something Sam didn’t have when it was fighting with the tiger of T.A.T. Aiden had always been faster. Sam had flashbacks to when they were on missions together Sam could remember the white blur that was Aiden pouncing on the prey. Sure Aiden had the speed but Sam had gotten stronger than he was from the last time he had seen the tiger.

There would be a few tricks in store for the tiger if he planned to take Sam alive. He knew that T.A.T wanted him alive he was still useful, but why send Aiden? He was a hunter that killed without mercy, he was almost as good at killing as Sam was if not better.

Sure their mission success rate had always been near flawless but the kill rate that these two had for a long time had been almost identical. Sam however had defected from T.A.T. so he figured that Aiden had finally had beaten him score wise.

This time however Sam had the full intentions of beating Aiden, he would rather die than go back to his old life. If he had to he would kill Aiden here. Then go back even if it meant everyone at the mansion discover what a monster he really was.

The claws came in fast, it was a lot different seeing them coming towards Sam then it was seeing them go into the throat of someone else. A thin layer of ice already covered Sam’s forearm plus with Aiden’s speed it was a lot easier to block than to dodge.

It felt like razor blades were etched into his forearms as Sam brought them up to block the first strike. Even with the thin layer of ice it still hurt like hell. He’d rather have it hurt than be able to use them especially when fighting someone like Aiden.

As the claws were stuck in Sam’s skin Sam kicked out his left foot aiming it square in the chest trying to push the tiger back. Weather it worked or not Sam didn’t know all he was concerned with was increasing his armor.

The air around the two got colder as ice started to from on the ground, “Why the hell did you come here?” Sam yelled at the beast with the familiar cat like eyes.

The weretiger grew vicious as it's blow connected to Cold Steel's forearm. It was enticed by the smell of blood that now hung in the air. The weretiger wanted to end this fight quickly. That was his style. Get them before they can get you.

Aiden remembered the few occasions that Sam and him had sparred. Sam always had more finesse in his his style than Aiden liked. It was always more of a drawn out fight with him. He liked to bleed his opponent dry. Aiden was all about the quick death. Both styles were quite effective though as shown by their number of kills.

What is he doing here? He should not be here. He must have come for me but why? To prove he was the better agent? Sam always did have his pride come to think of it. Was he trying to capture Arielle to entice me? Thinking clearly, Aiden would have realized that capturing the girl was absurd. Why go through that much trouble and play a game when you could just walk up and get the prize? But Aiden was not thinking clearly.

The thought of Sam going after Arielle only seemed to fuel the weretiger's rage even more. He would win this fight whatever it took from him. He would protect Arielle. He was going to kill Sam.

Aiden recalled having read about how wolves hunt once upon a time. The book had said that wolves always hunted in packs. Their favorite method of killing was to hamstring their opponent, crippling them. Then they would go for the throat. Well, Aiden knew that giving Sam time mount a defense wasn't a good idea. He opted instead for going straight for the throat.

Sam should have known better than to address Aiden when he was in his weretiger form. Aiden had not yet gained enough mastery over it to speak in English. The only language he knew was a series of growls and guttural noises that every tiger possessed.

The weretiger's claws being stuck in Sam's arm were removed when Sam's kick connected with the beast's chest. The blow did no lasting damage to it. It merely knocked it back a few steps. The beast quickly made up the lost ground when it rushed at Sam in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. A fatal bite to the neck would be so much easier to execute while his opponent was helpless.

Arielle chased behind Aiden and saw he had stopped running and seemed to start an attack on something or someone. Whatever or whoever it was, Arielle didn't waste any time and scrambled over to see who her date was conflicting with. Her eyes widened at who it was.

"Sam!?" she screamed and gasped when she saw Aiden's claws embedded into the ice mutant's arm. Then Sam delivered a hard kick to Aiden's chest knocking him back a few steps. This was wrong and uncalled for. Why was he attacking Sam? Maybe he had trouble with his transformation? Either way she couldn't let Sam get killed or vice versa

"Aiden, stop it!" she screamed and ran in between the two mutants and stood her ground. "Both of you! Get to your senses! Why are you fighting?!" she demanded, feeling completely lost in this scenario.

The kick did what it needed to be done, it bout Sam seconds if that and that was all he needed for the moment. The air around them had gotten colder, as ice started forming all around Sam instead of just the forearms. It wasn’t thick as he would like it but he had to be able to move as fast as he could, after all Sam was more dangerous in distance fighting compared to Aiden.

Breathing heavily trying to fight back the pain from his forearms Sam saw Aiden already on the move. Throwing up a thin layer of ice in front of him Sam duck tucked and rolled into a few summersaults all the while picking up the snow as it turned to ice around him. ‘Armor up’ thought Sam as he took off running away from the wall.

"Sam!?"

Sam tuned his head as he was running to the open where he hoped to get some distance from Aiden, “GET INSIDE NOW!!!” yelled Sam with all the authority he could muster while trying to focus on his tiger friend. ‘I’m going to put this kitty down for good…’

The snow under Sam seemed to solidify turning to ice under his feet giving him the several ideas how to cope with the jungle cat’s speed. Concentrating as hard as he could while still running the snow in his radius solidified to ice, ‘step one complete’ thought Sam as he continued to run forcing more snow into ice.

Sam turned and waved his hands franticly as ice pillars spikes and walls shot out of the ground. Normally Sam wouldn’t have been able to work this much of his mutation so face but he didn’t have to create the ice from scratch like he normally has to do. He only manipulated the snow into ice and then shaped them.

Looking at his work Sam nodded and smiled, the ice was thick if the kitty wanted to break them it would take him a little but the cat was fast and agile which was the main reason he turned the ground to ice. ‘step two almost complete’

The shifter knew that with it's thick coat along with the collaboration of it's body mass that it's internal temperature would remain fairly constant. If Sam decided to lower the temperature of the surrounding area in hopes to make the weretiger more sluggish then he would have a surprise coming. The shifter would have thought that Sam already would have known that. But I hoped that he would still waste his energy in an attempt at the least.

The ice elemental had created a pathetic wall in an attempt to impede the advance of the weretiger. The feline mutant proved it was the quicker though by reacting immediately to the new obstacle. The barrier was nullified when the weretiger's leg exploded with motion and leapt over it to land safely on the other side.

The shifter evaluated the new obstacle of the now ice covered ground as well as the frozen stalagmites. It took less than a second for the weretiger to renew it's motion while devising a way to overcome this new test. The feline mutant sprinted around the outer edge of the frozen parameter.

Unless Sam wanted to surround himself completely with the frozen spikes there would be no way for him to protect himself from the flanking maneuver that Aiden was performing. The weretiger would be on him before he knew what hit him.

The familiar female voice rang in the head of the feline mutant. It caused the weretiger to slow down slightly. The more human part of the animal gained a new level of rational thinking. Damn it Arielle. Do as Sam says. Get in the Mansion now!

Of course the only sound that came from the weretiger's mouth was an unintelligible growl. Part of it was the 'kitty' remark by the ice elemental. He should have known better than to taunt a weretiger. But that insult caused the weretiger to take control again, burying Aiden's thought in animalistic brutality after they had resurfaced.

The pause in the weretiger's gait from Arielle's voice put the timing of the flanking maneuver off. The weretiger was no longer certain the plan would work due to the interference of the more human side of it's personality. But it was confident enough to keep pressing it's attack.

Having circled the barrier of frozen spikes, the weretiger ran and launched itself at it's opponent. There would be blood this day. But this beast had every intention of making sure that none of the blood belonged to it.

"Get inside?!" Arielle curled her fists at Sam's statement. Did she really think she would listen to him?! She wasn't just some helpless little girl and she wasn't about to let him put Aiden on ice or allow Aiden to tear Sam apart. Both men were too important to her to lose and she cared for them both a lot.

Sam did a defense maneuver by building up walls and pillars of ice, but the beast in Aiden was apparently smarter than he though and she gasped watching Aiden circle around the ice and launching for Sam.

"No!" Arielle screamed, she melted her legs to water and jetted over in front of Sam and paused, holding her arms out to protect the ice mutant from the weretiger. "I'm not going inside. I don't bail out on my friends. I'll be damned if either of you die tonight!" she said holding her ground, watching Aiden closing in on them.

Sam knew full well that there was a possibility Aiden would run around the area that was covered in Sam’s ice and pillars. That why he had a back up, a back up was always necessary, and with this back up it would make things that much more difficult for Aiden.

Turning his head Sam spotted Aiden charging at him knowing full well that the cat did have speed Sam just turned his body to face him and let the cat come. Sam bent his knees a bit and lifted his hands up to protect his head and neck. As he did this small razor sharp ice spikes began to cover his body. ‘Stronger than I used to be…’ thought Sam as he waited for the attack.

As he was ready for the attack he noticed something appear in front of him, “Arielle?” Sam asked surprised. The intense look he had on his face faded into something kinder under his ice armor. “Arielle!” Sam yelled as he ran forward and placing his hand on her body freezing her over, “I SAID GO BACK IN THE MANSION!” Sam yelled as he ran a few feet towards Aiden and getting back into a fighting stance with the small razor sharp pinpricks all over his body.

Waiting for Aiden to come Sam was slightly worried about Arielle, sure she was a mutant made of water but would she be fine after or would it take a while for her to go back to normal? he didn’t have time for her right now he had to get rid of Aiden.

The feline mutant slowed as Arielle flowed in front of Sam and stopped. The ice elemental seemed to not like that too much for he froze her over. That only fueled the weretiger's rage even more. Urging the feline to even greater speed and strength than was normal for it.

The shifter noted the pin pricks of ice now covering the ice elementals armor. It knew that it could no longer attack him directly as long as those spikes protruded. The weretiger still had hopes of overpowering the weaker mutant though.

The weretiger launched itself at Sam. Their hands locked together just as the shifter had planned. And now began the struggle of strength between the two former agents.
OOC: Enter the Ghost

It was another long day. Ghost was tired and frustrated and the last thing she expected to see was a fight out on the Mansion lawn. She should have known better by now. Apparently this place couldn't go two weeks without some altercation of some kind. She hadn't seen much, but it was enough. More than enough. Ghost was done. No more. No more mansion destruction. No more traitors. No more bad guys. No. More.

"GET. OUT." The words echoed like a cacophony through the molecules of air in the immediate 20 foot area. It was astoundingly loud like a fog horn except so much more angry. "Go away and leave us alone!"

Ghost was ethereal, almost invisible against the darkened sky near the trees along the driveway that had somehow survived the Birthday rumble some months ago. She may have been hard to see, but it was definitely her voice, her power. Twin blasts of wind circled around and slammed into the boy's stomachs, one dull sucker punch each. The rest of the collision of air funneled and circled forming a widening barrier between the two. If the sucker punches had not separated them, this would. She poured her frustration and anger there.

"Come back when you can behave." Ghost wasn't messing around. If they tried to pull something, even if Sam tried to pull something, they were both going in time out.

One minute Arielle was in between Sam and Aiden, the next, she was frozen. Sam actually froze her? She knew he had her best interest in mind from his words.

"Go back in the mansion? How can I when you froze me..." she thought to herself in her ice prison and she could hear Sam's grunts and Aiden's growls through the layer of ice around her body. Then she could hear the winds howling and Ghost's voice echoing in the air. Now she was getting involved? Most likely taking Sam's side too, thinking that Aiden was just some beast itching for a fight. Now she was furious. Instead of listening to reason, everyone decided to settle things with violence. she wouldn't have it anymore. That was when she channeled her rage into her power, her body turning liquid inside of Sam's casing of ice around her. The pressure built up was well as her temper until they finall both exploded, and so did Arielle from the ice.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!!" her consciousness screamed as she recalled her water particles to reform her human body. Though she was mildly surprised when she found out Ghost wasn't attacking just Aiden, but Sam as well in an attempt to keep them separated. Finally, someone who had some sense. Still, Arielle was still pissed about what had just happened. Taking a couple of deep breaths to lower her rage, she began to speak loudly and clearly for all three mutants.

"Why are attacking my friend, Aiden!? And Sam, why are you attacking my date!? Have you lost your freaking minds? I mean, I know men can be bullheaded, but Jesus Christ! Both of you are going to stop this right now! I won't have it! Bring your testosterone levels down, or I swear, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!"