Half an hour ago Blackwing had spotted something he liked. Normally Raven would simply allow Blackwing to go about his business, passively taking any anything interesting he happened to share with her. However, this was something he wanted more than usual, it was shiny and colourful and, to be honest, after a little persistance from Blackwing, Raven discovered that she wanted it almost as much as her familiar did.

The first glimpse had been gotten from above. It was a bright pink crystal, as best as Raven was able to tell. The crystal had been left on the ground by a man and, as soon as th eman had walked away, the great raven had tried to swoop down to claim the crystal. But, inixplicitly, the crystal had disappeared. With a forlorn caw, the bird caught a second glimpse of the man who dropped another crystal, this one bright green. But, like the first time, as soon as he went to claim his bright crystal prize, it had vanished. The bird, with its simple childlike mind, simply couldn't understand what had happened.

It was after the second mysteriously vanishing crystal that Raven's interest had been piqued. Not only did she appreciate shiny and colourful oddities, even though she rarely held onto any of them for long, she also enjoyed a good mystery and this certainly was a mystery. So, following the directions of her familair, she got on her bike and began following the strange crystal man.

The moment the crystal man came into view Raven noticed things about him that Blackwing wouldn't have. Specifically, his hair was made of crystal, though it was of the clear variety and thus wouldn't concern the raven at all. Following him, she decided, was the best bet and so, stealthy as possible, that's exactly what she proceeded to do. For the past half an hour, in fact, that's what she had been doing, confident in the fact that she wasn't seen at all.

Raven didn't really notice as the area she was in slowly turned darker and more ominous, nor the fact that the man, far from being oblivious to her presence, had in fact deliberately led her to a rather dark and ominous alley that only had one exit. Finally at the alley he turned an accusitory eye towards her. In his hand she held a rather large bright red crystal. "Why are you following me?"

They were setting up a classic scenario for mister tall, dark and crystal. They would corral him into a one-exit alley, tag him, wipe him and then let him go his own merry little way. That was assuming that he hadn't murdered, maimed or dismembered anyone in their sight. That was always the worst. Then they actually had to take the dangerous ones into custody and nobody wanted that. Well, except for his typical victim type...

So far so good. Mister crystal headed into a one exit alley. It wasn't the one they had already pre-set up, but then how often did fish swim straight into the net? Noel climbed the fire escape ladder and offered a hand down to Kael who was following her. It was his last dangerous mission and she was determined to have him end on a high note.

That was why she ran on ahead, up and over the building top. That was why she looked for the best way down, behind the man. That was why she was going to keep that wolly-brained girl who followed a dangerous mutant into an alleyway safe. All she needed was for crystal man to be distracted and then she would make her move...

As soon as the man confronted Raven, she jumped back in surprise. Hadn't she been stealthy enough? Hadn't she been tracking, just as a proper scavenger should, without being seen or heard? Clearly she had made a miscalculation somewhere. Well, crystal man was a mutant so maybe his crystals had special powers of observation. That would explain how he had spotted Raven. It all made perfect sense now and she sent a feeling of distaste back through the connection to Blackwing.

"I was hoping to get myself a crystal," Raven answered. She knew how to lie, of course, but usually didn't see much point in it. She had been caught, after all, and didn't think that any excuse would really make the fact of her stalking any less stalkerish.

The man stared at Raven and blinked in confusion. What could have been going through his head she had no idea and didn't really care, besides. All she really wanted was a crystal in order to make Blackwing stop bothering her. He really could get annoying at times, when he found something he wanted but was unable to get for himself.

Seeing that the man was not about to answer Raven right away, she dug into her pocket, trying to find something to bargain with. Humans, unlike ravens and crows, wanted money and unfortunately she had that in short supply lately. In truth, the times when she had little money far outweighed the times when she had a lot of money. However, since coming to the Mansion she had managed to do a few fortunes and had acquired at least a little bit of cash. Out of her pocket came a $5 bill which she proceeded to show the man. "You have so many crystals, surely this will pay for one of them?"

She waited and, a moment later, the man smirked, the smirk decidedly cruel in nature and a crystal appeared in his hand. The idea that the crystal might be somehow dangerous didn't even cross Raven's mind.

Whatever they were talking about, it probably wasn't good. The man was forming crystals. The girl pulled out money. Was he mugging her? Blackmail? It didn't really matter. This was a bad man. The girl should just leave.

Noel slithered down a fire escape as quietly as the rickety structure would allow. In the end all that was left was the sliding ladder... which would make noise. It was that or jump. Noel prepared herself and prepared the tag. If she could make this quick, no one would get hurt. That was the theory anyway.

She swung around onto the rungs of the sliding ladder. It rumbled loudly down with her weight like a crappy elevator going down at a break neck speed.

Crystal man looked up and tossed the red crystal from his hand at Noel. The girl probably would look up too. Noel was arriving in true kick butt fashion— excepting her not so graceful plunk from the end of the ladder to the ground, Noel was ready to battle.

"Let her go." He held the small tagging gun out as if it were something truly dangerous. If she shot it now, it would be useless. He shouldn't know that, though. What he did know... and what was making him smile so large was that the red crystal that had settled on Noel's shoulder in a fold of cloth, had started to super heat. In mere moments, her shoulder was on fire.

Not that she knew that...