Romania beckoned and Meld needed money. Her instructions had included winter clothes, something warm and something that would obscure her identity, neither of which she currently possessed. The problem, unfortunately, was that she needed these things by tomorrow and she was lacking in anything resembling money. As per usual. Buying large amounts of titanium in order to create flesh melds was expensive and she had spent the remainder of the money from the long ago jewerly store robbery months ago and had been living off of the generosity of the Mansion ever since. And anything the Mansion didn't provide her she stole from anyone who had a bad word to say about mutants and happened to be alone.

Now, however, Meld needed more than just a few dollars of spending money. She needed enough for an entire winter wardrobe and enough food to last for a lengthy ocean voyage from America to Romania. Luckily she had been scouting out possible targets for just such an eventuality. The target she had in mind, not sufficient to give her more than a few hundred dollars, was a convenience store whose owner was certifiably anti-mutant. Normally she would have prefferred to plan things out days in advance in order to assure a seamless operatioin but in this instance speed was more important than planning.

It was currently only a couple hours before dawn and getting to the store proved to be relatively simple. That wasn't, after all, likely to be the most difficult part of the operation anyway. The store, Jerry's Gas and Mart, was located in one of the lower income areas of the city so a robbery wasn't likely to be noticed. It was something that happened regularly in the city and the trick was merely to remain hidden. Not that it mattered if she was connected to yet another in a string of crimes, the least of which was robbery.

Meld crouched on the far side, tail peeking around to view the door and the parking lot. All she had to do was wait for the last customer to clear out before making her move. At least it wasn't too busy at this time of night and she wasn't likely to have to wait for long. So long as no cops became involved and no one tried to play hero, all should go well.

Van had been on a quest all night. A quest for fulfillment that had began at the impromptu show in the warehouse and was slowly winding down in the crappy little gas station/convenience mart/gasing-station-for-your-convenience-mart(?). Oreos. All he wanted were some damn oreos. Ever since the crappy pseudo grunge band that opened had sang a song that through the mass amounts of noise sounded like it was about the delicious little cookies the boy had suffered from a major cookie craving the likes of which he had not experienced before. When he had walked through the door still glowing from the after show rush the man behind the counter had given him a dirty look, but this had not deterred Van from his quest. It was oreos or bust and some middle-aged guy with a gut was not going to bust him. No siree, uh-huh. Not. Gonna. Happen.

“Do you have the time, to listen to me whine...” Van half sang half mumbled the lyrics to the Green Day cover that had been the last song of the evening. The boy's hands trailed on the shelves behind him as he lazily looked for the cookies. And then he spotted them. Victory, thy name is chocolatey cream goodness...or at least it would be if your name wasn’t already Victory. Now the only pressing question was: stale Christmas colored oreos or Double Stuffed? Decisions, decisions. They both had their merits–double Stuffed was double the best part and the Christmas looking ones were such pretty colors. Hmmm...This would take a while.

After almost five minutes of visually analyzing a package of each type (overseen wearily by the grumps behind the counter) Van decided that the best way to determine the value of the cookies would be to taste test. The only problem, he’d have to open them to find the better cookie which would force him to purchase both bags. He patted the skinny wallet in the pocket of his ripped black jeans. There was enough cash in there to gain him some well earned deliciousness, right? Without bothering to check, Van acted on faith (and late night impulse) and ripped open the plastic surrounding both packages.

“Hey! Kid you have to pay for those!” Grumps apparently could be roused from his angry glare trance if there was the possibility of lost profit. “I know!”The reply from the cookie filled mouth was fairly calm as the replier swallowed. The Cookie Monster wanted cookies and Grumps would have to deal with that as the boy popped another oreo in his mouth and slowly made his way up to pay.

For nearly half an hour Meld sat crouched to the side of the convenience store, watching as customers came and went. In an operation like this it was essential to make her move at the right time, to ensure that there was no one to interfere. Unfortunately dawn was fast approaching and, more essential than ensuring that there was no one in the store along with her, was the necessity of making her move at night. Things simply got far more complicated than was necessary when night turned into day and complicated was something that she wanted to avoid at all costs.

With that in mind, Meld entered the store at a time in which she knew there was only a single customer inside. Optimally she wouldn't even have had that, but time was running out and she was in desperate need of the money. Hopefully the man would prove to be smart and leave her to her actions. While she had no qualms about hurting or even killing the owner of the establishment, known anti-mutant that he was, she had no desire to kill an innocent. Still, there was always the possibility of things getting out of hand and if that possibility came to pass she would deal with it in the most effective way possible.

Meld entered the store through the front door, casually and confidently, taking no pains to hide her numerous shining metal weapons. The time for stealth and waiting was over and, with her face being as known as it was anyway and given the visible nature of her mutations, it didn't seem worth the effort of trying to hide her identity. She swiveled her tail eye in the direction of the customer, blinking it to get a good look at him. He didn't appear a threat but she would, nevertheless, keep an eye on him. One couldn't always tell what a person was capable of based on appearance alone.

“Hey! Kid you have to pay for those!”

A moment after those irritated words were uttered the man noticed Meld, paled and then scowled at her. She didn't give him the chance to say or do anything further. "You are going to give me everything you have in that cash register. If you do as I say you don't have to get hurt. Consider yourself fortunate that I'm here only for the money and not on the behalf of the mutant cause." The words were said calmly and coldly and she stood there, awaiting his response. Her tail blinked once more at the customer, ensuring she was prepared should he try to do something stupid like play hero.

Van was still making his merry way to the front of the store when the bell above the door went off, pulling his grey eyes from the packages of cookies to the front of the store and inevitably the door. The cyborg/android/terminator/woman(?) that had entered the store was more metal than person and she had a tail with some sort of red orb on the end of it. This red sphere was fixed on Van, who had stopped walking at the sight of the metallic woman. Oh, it’s an eye...or something. The boy realized after a second. It was around that same moment that he realized the woman was speaking. Apparently he was now a witness to some kind of hold up and the metal woman was some kind of mutant criminal.

Well this is something I’ve never seen live. The young mutant thought to himself wryly, maintaining his sense of humor even though he was starting to go into shock.

Grumps had gone about as pale as Van figured himself to be but had retained his charmingly unfriendly attitude–at least that’s what the boy got from the scowl. The tail eye blink at Van, reminding him of himself. There was probably something he should have been doing...like using the thin cell phone in his pocket to call the authorities or something. That would be the responsible thing to do. Glancing at the man behind the counter again he saw that he was starting to get angry and his face had screwed itself up into a look that was not dissimilar to that of a baby fixing for a tantrum.

What if he didn’t call the cops? What would the strange woman do then? Take the money and leave and by the way she said ‘the mutant cause’ led Van to believe that Grumps wasn’t very mutie-friendly. Maybe he deserved to be robbed by someone he obviously wasn’t a fan of? He supposed that wasn’t his call, no matter how much he wanted it to be. Slowly, very slowly, the boy distributed the cookie packages to his left hand and lowered his right to the pocket of his jeans.

Grumps was set to explode, and then he did. “Listen to me, freak. You don’t scare me–neither does your kind. You’re just a bunch of genetic defects, the lot of you!” And that was when the creeping hand stopped. Something cold filled up the young man’s stomach. He could wait to make his call...not that he thought Mega-Mutant would allow him to. I should probably be afraid of her. Van noted through the initial shock and the sudden distaste/anger/hatred(?) for the man who was still red in the face behind the counter.

Meld could see the indecision written plain in the other customer's expression and way of moving. She could see that he wasn't sure how to react, wasn't sure if he should call the cops, perhaps assault her, or leave her be. He didn't seem likely to assault her, hopefully he had enough common sense to realize coming at a bladed cyborg mutant while unarmed wasn't the smartest thing he could do, but calling the cops was still a risk. Well. She would be gone before they could do anything to stop her anyway and it wasn't as if she was any stranger to the police. No, she was well known by the local force and possibly farther away than that. Still, it would be easier if he just remained where he was, nice and quiet and meek.

"You in the back." Meld's voice was calm and businesslike. "I would appreiate your understanding and cooperation in this. I have no issue with you and, as you can see, this disrespectful racist deserves everything coming to him. If it makes you feel more incined to be cooperative, I will do my best to ensure no real harm comes to him." It was a bit of a gruding statement but, given the current need for haste, a necessary one. Normally she would have no problem killing him and dealing with the consequences but she just couldn't afford that right now, not with Romania and her first paid mission for Lenna and her organiztion looming.

“Listen to me, freak. You don’t scare me–neither does your kind. You’re just a bunch of genetic defects, the lot of you!”

Even through her speech Meld hadn't taken her eyes off of the shop owner. Human and electronic eyes bored into him and tail eye blinked on and off, watching the stranger. She smirked at his words. "You threaten me? How very amusing. What a shame that I just promised to save your worthless life. Or perhaps your customer over there would be willing to oblige me the death I would so dearly love to gift you with?" She jumped from the floor onto the desk, claws and shield out in front of her.

Does he deserve it? On some level Van thought what Mega-Mutant was saying made sense. It's not like the man was losing anything but money. He could get the money back and she wasn't going to outright hurt him. There was some kind of karmic logic in it. An eye for an eye and all that. Not even an eye for an eye--the man with the paunch was probably getting less than he deserved. Her logic made sense...

Right?

Van wasn't sure but he didn't have time to organize his thoughts because right after Grumps uttered his stupid speech the metal woman jumped on the counter and Van noticed her feet. He remembered them from somewhere...a half watched news program perhaps? This woman was definitely someone to be afraid of if what the boy was remembering was true. She was some kind of wanted mutant criminal.

The man's anger had left him and his body was slowly deflating under his sudden panic. He backed up a step or two when his counter was used as a springboard. "Wh..where do you g..g..get the right? Robbing from average folks..." His speech had a lot less umph behind it this time around but he didn't look like he'd give up his cash register if he could help it. His tiny eyes somehow found those of the boy on the other side of the counter. Grumps looked terrified but there was still something cold in his gaze that Van couldn't put a name to.

But did that mean that he deserved to be robbed?

More importantly, did that mean that she had the right to deal out justice?

"It's not your place to say what he deserves." The words were out before the boy could filter his mouth with the proper amount of healthy, pain abiding fear. I should be scared of her. he reminded himself. The man behind the counter looked at him and there was a glint of hope in his small eyes that was soon stomped on by the cold look on Van's face. He hadn't said what he said because he cared about the fat man, he'd just said it when he came to his conclusions. Just because the store owner was a racist didn't mean he deserved punishment. Sure, Van didn't like anti-mutant humans but at the same time everyone was entitled to their opinion right? Even if Grumps had done something illegal, that was for the proper authorities to deal with...right?

"It's not your place to say what he deserves."

Meld almost couldn't believe that the customer at the back of the store had had the gall to say such a thing to her. She was, after all, the one with the metal and blades and he was just an unarmed innocent. Clearly he had no conception of what men like the store owner had done to her kind, to mutants. He had no idea the evil that men like him had committed. He chose to judge her actions even after she had agreed not to hurt him, which was far more than the man deserved. Far more.

Meld didn't move from her place, crouched on the desk in front of store owner. Her claws remained in front of her, ready to act if the man should so much as move in the wrong manner. She focused her attention on the stranger, however, opening her red ruby tail eye and staring at the man. Who was he to think that he could judge her? Who was he to think that he could make a difference. For a long moment she stared without saying anything, trying to impart, by a look alone, just how dangerous she could be. He didn't want to become her enemy, of that she was certain.

"If its not my place to say what he deserves, a mutant and thus the party injured by his actions, then whose place is it?" A blink of Meld's human eye showed the man trying to move, having seen her eyes closed. She shook her head and moved to the side, mirroring his attempt. "You won't be getting away so easily," she warned. The man froze and she returned her attention to the brash stranger.

"This isn't your fight. I'll give you one chance to either flee this building now and forget about this, or to stand by and do nothing and allow me to do as I must. I promised not to hurt him too badly and I'll keep that promise. But if you try to stop me I promise you that not only will this man die," (a wonderful thought, that) "but you will also suffer my blades." She awaited his decision.

If Van hadn’t had such prolific bladder control he would have pissed himself when he realized what he’d said. There was a long moment where no one said anything–Van because he was in shock about what he’d just said and the other two people in the store for their respective reasons. When the metal woman spoke again her words were posed as a question. The boy didn’t respond right away, as his attention was focused on Grumps, who had apparently seen some kind of opportunity for escape/a weapon/a phone call(?) and moved behind the counter. This caused the mutant on the counter to move with him and effectively stop what he was doing with her words of caution.

Before Van had collected his sporadic panicked thoughts, Mega-Mutant spoke again. This time she told the young man that either he needed to leave or shut up, or he could attempt something brave which would result in the death of the piggy man (who paled even more at the thought). For all the immoral aspects of it, this robbery was very ethical–if that was possible. Or at least, the robber had some kind of ethics that were preventing her from simply killing the witnesses to the crime. What a strange concept.

Finally Van found his opening for more speech, not that he used it right away. There was no way he could save the man from something, obviously the woman was set on what she wanted, but at the same time...the young mutant didn’t like the idea of running away. No, that wasn’t true, a very large part of him wanted to flee, there was just a more idealistic and prideful section of his mind that wished that he could do something for Grumps. He made sure not to look at the man as he spoke. “If, as the injured party, you get to decide what the man deserves won’t that make his hatred for people like us grow–making more room for more...whatever he’s been doing?” Van’s voice was confused, as he was half asking the question of himself. The boy didn’t realize he had used ‘us’ instead of ‘mutants’ in his question but the man behind the counter did and something in his tiny eyes went hard again.

This guy’s got nothing to do with me, why do I care anyway? Van used his own brand of uncaring logic to convince himself to leave the shop. The oreos were dropped onto the floor as the boy began walking for the door like the cowardly person he was.

I think the idea ‘brave or stupid’ isn’t reversible. Coward. Part of him was Not Pleased with his current game plan. Not Pleased at all.

“If, as the injured party, you get to decide what the man deserves won’t that make his hatred for people like us grow–making more room for more...whatever he’s been doing?”

Us? Well, now wasn't that interesting. That meant, apparently, that the other person in the store was also a mutant; a fact that, unfortunately, only served to complicate matters in Meld's mind. For one, she had no idea what kind of power he might have and that made him a threat, something he hadn't been only moments before that revelation. For another, it made her promise to him not to hurt the store owner all that more more important for her to keep. A promise to someone merely human was one thing, a promise to a fellow mutant was something else entirely. In truth she found it rather sad that he wouldn't simply allow her to eliminate a threat to their kind and be done with it. So many, just like him, were naive in the belief that violence wasn't necessary and was something to be avoided. Certainly it wasn't something to undertake lightly, but there were times, such as this, when it was necessary. Well, perhaps he would learn one day.

Meld transferred her attention from her target to the mutant behind her and back again, a trick she had been working on since the acquisition of her tail and a trick he hadn't yet completely mastered. Nevertheless, her partial familiarity with her third eye was not apparent except to the most observant of people. Hopefully the man behind her, mutant or not, was not that. Weakness was not something she appreciated showing to potential enemies, it wasn't even something she was comfortable showing to allies.

"The minds of men like this cannot be changed; an unfortunate truth. If you would allow me, I would put him out of his misery right now and he would be one less person to worry about spreading hatred towards our kind. If you will not permit me this act, then what difference will my theft make to him? He will still hate us, that will be unchanged. I give you one last chance because you have revealed yourself to be a mutant, either stand aside and let me take what I need or leave. If you choose to act against me then be aware that I will defend myself in whatever means are necessary." The man before her blanched even further and the sickly scent of urine filled the air. Humans. Disgusting creatures.

The boy didn’t agree with the other mutant’s statement, not at all. Humans always had the ability to change. Whether it was something small–like changing opinions or something more complex–like mutations, he believed that humans always had the capacity to change. Just like he himself had the ability to change. Change could be good or bad, but it would happen eventually–the rules weren’t set in stone but that didn’t mean Grumps couldn’t change his views. “Any man’s mind can be changed...” He muttered, but with a lot less feeling behind it than his famous last ejection.

Mega-Mutant’s musings on human nature and her explanation of what she would or would not do given the situation had taken up some time. More time, Van assumed, than she had wanted to take for her little operation. She seemed like a very plan and thought oriented person to the boy, which is why he assumed she had entered the store when he was there so that she’d have some night left for cover after she robbed the place. That night was slowly dwindling away to early morning and that meant a shift change. Van would not have come to this conclusion if he hadn’t been in the process of sticking his tail between his legs and walking out the shop.

When he looked out of the glass pane in the push door he saw a young woman teetering in six-inch heels and a name tag heading straight for him. She was looking down at her cell phone, long nails furiously typing something with the tiny keys. As soon as she looked up she’d have a clear view of the boy, and what was going on inside the shop. Van tried to act natural as he fished for something else to distract the metal mutant with. “So...is this the justice you dish out often? I think I’ve seen you or the news or something...” Grey eyes hurriedly glanced away from the view and back towards the counter.

((Let me know if this is not okay, and I will fix it.))

“Any man’s mind can be changed...”

Meld smiled and the smile was not pleasant. Not that the mutant behind her could see her smile of course, but her potential victim certainly could. "And are we to take that risk? That, perhaps, he might change? But perhaps not and in not changing he will continue to make things difficult for our kind, for mutants the world over. It is his type," accusation was heavy in her voice, "that make life for our kind as bad as it is. It is his kind that cause mutants to live in terror, that cause mutants to die for no reason aside from the fact that they look a little different from the humans around him." In many ways Meld was fortunate. Visible though she was, she knew how to take care of herself, knew how to protect herself and it was apparent in her blades and in the way she carried herself. Many were not so fortunate.

Meld became aware of the fact that, outside, the night was slowly turning into day and daylight was her enemy. It was time to end this. Her fair warnings had been given, as well as her fair promises. If the mutant planned to act then he would, but she could delay no longer. Her tail eye remained trained on the stranger so that she would be prepared, but her attention shifted focus back to the shop owner in front of her. The shop owner quivering in terror and standing in his own filth. Disgusting. He deserved to die but she had given her word. Most unfortunate but Meld was nothing if not honest.

“So...is this the justice you dish out often? I think I’ve seen you or the news or something...”

"Oh I'm sure you have. Unlike some I actually fight for what I believe." Accusation there, but she didn't allow her words to slow her down or distract her any more from her task. She didn't need the store owner conscious to gain access to the cash register, her claws would accomplish that feat, and although she had promised not to kill him, she hadn't promised to leave him completely unharmed. And so, in one swift action, she clenched her metal hand into a fist and hit the man in front of her over the head, causing him to crumple in a heap of stinking flesh. He deserved death but all he got was a bump on the head and a possible concussion.

Van was getting tired, the buzz from the show and nerves was starting to wear off. He was still pretty much scared out of his pants but that feeling was second to the tired. Mega-Mutant with her lofty logic and harsh justice was just too much for the boy to deal with at the moment. Part of him wanted to reply against her judgment of the man with some lofty, flowering speech of his own but he was too spent and a lot less mature than the woman to come up with good arguments. Mutant rights and anti-mutants and racist humans and all of that were things Van avoided thinking about. Why bother when there was always something entertaining to do in New York City? He was one of the luckier kids–he could hide his mutation in most situations–what did it matter to him if other people had problems?

It was supposed to matter a lot. On some level it did, but that level was constantly being pushed underneath simpler ones. Sometimes that level got very angry and he'd even felt similar to the mutant with the metal limbs at times. It was just that Van's anger was fleeting, like most things he let it go when he got bored with it.

Distraction a go. The woman kept talking and– Ohmygod she just hit him across the head with her...claw thing. Despite her previous promises not to kill the store owner Van didn’t trust the mutant, not after she either killed or knocked out the man in one hit. The boy honestly couldn’t tell which from his vantage point. Fighting for what she believed? Yeah, hitting aging men on the head was fair fighting. The boy was now more freaked out than he had been a second ago, and this sudden pump of adrenaline woke him up again. Well, the adrenaline and the clinking of the door opening. Apparently the texting employee hadn’t looked up to open the door but had simply pushed it open and now she was standing just inside it–totally unawares of the situation.

“What the hell!?” She screamed, almost dropping her phone in shaking hands. Within a split second she had typed in a number and had it next to her ear. “Oh my god, my name is Karen Baker and--” Apparently she’d had the guts (or the instinct) to call the cops before asking questions.

Daimon was being sitting in back of his stretch limo, looking out the window as the sped along the streets of New York. Daimon was deep in thought, "Ah, the big apple... the city so nice, they named it twice... Just wait a little while longer and i'll be running this place..." when out of the corner of his eye he caught the sight of an establishment he passed everyday, Jerry's Gas and Mart. But tonight was differant , tonight some one was paying it a visit for their midnight special, a till full of cash with every fill up. "James... Pull over to the side of the road, I want to watch this..." His driver did as he was told, pulling up right infront of the mart, his window rolled down. Daimon sat back and looked totally relaxed, as if he was watching his favorite television program.

"My, my, my..." he muttered to himself as he watched the chaos unfold inside the store. "What do we have here? More weapons for my arsonal?" he chuckled. He even let out a loud belly laugh when an energetic young lady bonked a man on his head, dropping him like a sack of potatos. "Wonderful, simply wonderful... I can't wait to see what happens next" Daimon commented. "Oh, if only I had better seats... I can barely see whats going on"

Meld cursed under her breath as another woman entered the shop. It was her own fault that she had allowed herself to become distracted enough that another was given the opportunity to enter before she had commited her act of criminal theft and left, but more so it was the other mutant's fault for distracting her. Another person might have gotten angry and turned to take his or her frustrations out on the other mutant, but Meld was more practical than that. As much as she wanted to lash out and cause the man to suffer for his attempted sabatoge of what she needed to do, she did nothing of the sort. Far more practical to continue with what she had planned, steal the money and leave. She would not, however forget his face and if she ever encountered the man again, that's when she would show him just what a dangerous enemy she could be.

In similar fashion Meld did not acknowledge the presence of the woman who had just entered, instead choosing to continue with her business. She continued blinking with her tail eye, however, transfering her awareness back and forth between her human eyes and her tail eye in order to keep an eye on the woman. She didn't think the woman was the type to play the hero, but then one couldn't be certain of such things and it didn't hurt to be prepared for any eventualities. It was irritating that the woman had, it seemed, immediately chosen to call the cops but Meld planned to be nowhere nearby when the cops eventually arrived.

"You almost succeeded in distracting me from my task," Meld spoke conversationally to the man behind her. She jumped down from the counter and around the body of the owner and approached the cash register. In one swift action she impaled her clawed metal hand through the cheap plastic cash register and opened it. First estimation was that there was around $200 inside. Had she time she would have gone for the safe as well, but time was sadly of the essence, especially with the cops on their way and while she had dealt with the police successfully before, she had no real desire to do so again.

Cash in hand, for the first time Meld turned to face the mutant stranger and the woman directly, seeing them with normal human eyes instead of the constant red tinge of her ruby tail eye. "I won't forget you," Meld informed him with icy coldness. She smiled at him, a smile utterly devoid of warmth or emotion. "Nor will I allow my affection for your mutant heratage to get in the way if we ever do meet again. I hope for your own sake that we do not." She made to exit the building, walking towards the door.

Van didn’t say anything reply as he watched the woman rip apart the cash register and take whatever was in it. It surprised him that she didn’t try for the safe, where there would be a lot more than the she retrieved from the register. Then again...if the police were coming she didn’t have much time. It sounded like they were, based on the constant panicked babble from ‘Karen Baker’ into her pink cell phone. When she was done passing Go and collecting her money she turned on the boy and the babbling woman next to him. Her next words sent an icy tingle down his spine. She meant every word she said and he could tell.

“Me too...” He muttered, not realizing that his thoughts had manifested into words as he watched her walk towards the door. He made no move to stop her, he didn’t want to push his luck. The quick and frantic speaking of the woman next to him increased and she looked at him like he was a leper. Apparently she’d made the connection that Van was a mutant like her employer’s attacker. The look on her face screamed that she thought he had something to do with the situation and this idea was backed up by the words she was pouring into the receiver.

The next question was: did he stay and wait for the cops to come? He was a witness to a crime after all. Did that mean he’d get in trouble if he left? Yes. Most certainly. The only issues he had with this were the ones that were worried that someone would blame him for the incident, since he had been there and he was a mutant. Karen seemed to think that was reason enough for his guilt. That of course wasn’t fair, he hadn’t called the cops but he wasn’t planning on letting Mega-Mutant walk out...well, he had been.

Decisions decisions.