The gentleman was not being very co-operative if Shula told the truth. In fact, he was being downright rude. He had some strong opinions on mutants, and he wasn't shy about voicing them. He was a man who thought himself brave and superior to the mutants. He would soon find out he was not. She had publicly had a fellow mutant at the company ask him to shut his mouth. The mutant had been new to the company, no-one knew him, he'd come out of it scot free, there would be no evidence to support any claims made by people who saw the incident. Shula had been following the man ever since. She saw her opportunity as he turned down a shortcut behind the HQ building. It was only ever used by their employees. Even the low lives avoided it, because it was barely beyond shoulder width, offered no place to hide and from any given direction you entered it seemed to be a dead end. The man had left early, enraged by the confrontation.

So now I strike.

Shula approached him quickly from behind. He spun to see who it was. In the deserted path Shula saw that glint in his eye she was well accustomed to, the will to purge. That and fear were the only ones she saw often enough to recognise, except for lust or, worse still, love. But this was the look of the bigot, of the KKK member. Shula broke the silence. "Now now, what do we have here? What's wrong, don't like mutants? Well then big man, do something about it, as you can see, we're alone. So go on, you pathetic human worm." The man sprung. A gun came out, a gun he wasn't licensed to conceal, something Shula knew for a fact. He brought it up, pulled the action back on the large pistol. Shula didn't move, she'd dealt with it before. Before the man could pull the trigger and orb of molten glass engulfed his hand and arm, another going into his mouth and throat. All of the appendages, still within her range of control, were burned to the bone. A final ball of glass engulfed the man’s entire torso. From there it dripped down to his legs until nothing but his bones remained. They were beautifully encased in a human shaped glass figure, held perfectly in place, the only piece of him remaining the top of his head, which had somehow survived the radiant heat.

You should have picked you battle you insignificant worm. How long till they notice you're missing? It won’t matter by then.

She had picked the spot for its convenient sewer access via manhole. She removed the plate and toppled the glass statue over, causing the brittle material to shatter. She moved the smaller pieces individually into the sewer. The glass would sink to the bottom of the muck stream and never be seen again. Replacing the lid Shula stood up and smiled. Another righteous victory for her kind over the scum the preceded them, another moment of pride in what she was. He had no friends, he had no family, they had all abandoned him when he became the bigot he was. No one would notice, no one would care, and he would disappear of the employee pay roll mysteriously. Power, unlimited POWER!

Assassins be damned, Meld was not about to hide out in Sanctuary for the rest of her life praying that no one else was going to come out of the shadows and try to kill her. So what if they had all ready tried twice and might have even succeeded the second time if not for the fortuitous presence of the metal mutant Nathan. She had never been the type to run and hide and she wasn't about to start now. This was her city and not only did she have a life to live, but she still had work to do for her mutant cause, work that couldn't' be done hiding behind the golden doors of Sanctuary.

If Meld was more weary than usual in walking down the night time streets of New York, one might even say bordering on paranoid, then it was for good reason. She had, stupidly perhaps, let two of her would be assassins live and she was certain that sooner or later they would send more after her. She didn't even know who had sent them though she could guess why. She and Aura both had done significant damage to those with an anti-mutant agenda and that, almost certainly, was what had drawn her enemies to her. So, as she walked down the street, her tail blinked frequently, gathering snapshots not only of what was behind her, but also what lay down any ally or side street she passed. Dying was simply not an option.

It was only because of Meld's paranoid vigilance that she caught her first glimpse of a very interest scene behind some large office building. It was a confrontation between two individuals and, after hearing the word mutant thrown out (she was too far to hear much of anything else) she decided to get a closer look. It was a simple thing to climb onto the roof of a low building near the office building. Once she had her perch, she silently observed the scene occurring below her.

It didn't take long for Meld to realize exactly what was going on. The woman, it seemed, was a mutant and the man wasn't exactly friendly towards mutants. The fact that she was confronting him spoke highly enough of her character that Meld would have spoken to her afterwards regardless. What happened at the end, however, sealed it. Something, more than one somethings, shot out of the woman's hand and proceeded to engulf the man, turning him, most fascinating of all, into a brittle glass statue which the woman then proceeded to shatter into a thousand different pieces. Now that was impressive.

The enemy of the woman dispatched off, Meld finally jumped down from her perch, titanium talloned feet thudding on the concrete ground. "Now that was a most impressive display."

Shula spun around at the sound of something very heavy landing. The moment she did, it was clear she was a mutant, just something about all the metal parts. The woman complemented her. Well that was a step in the right direction. She made sure there was no glass left on the ground before replying. "I want it understood that you never saw that if anyone enquires about that man. But thank you. He was spreading his disease of hatred around my employees, he could not be tolerated. I am to assume you are as myself, superior?" The words came out without any hesitation; she had no reason to hide her beliefs now. It was clear the other mutant despised the human vermin as she did. Like minded people were good. Shula found she could manage not to dislike the woman, although her unsubtle appearance surely didn't intimidate any more than Shula's own aura of power. She couldn't see how the woman could be useful, but she could see they could be, oh what were those things? Friends? Well, acquaintances until she proved to be of the type of person Shula enjoyed the company of.

And now begins the intricate game of cat and mouse that is conversing.

Shula knew she couldn't run, even if she tried, the alley wouldn't allow it, so if this all turned out to be a ploy she would have to fight, which, after the previous expenditure, wasn't as feasible as she would have liked. Shula examined her new found tolerable person once more before speaking again. "So did you make all those yourself?" The veritable armoury was quite astounding, even if Shula found it to be tacky and showy. The other woman couldn't control the gift she was born with however, so at least she worked well with what she had.

Now, where will this be going?

"I never saw a thing," Meld agreed with a smile. The smile couldn't exactly be termed innocent because that was something she had lost almost the moment she discovered she was a mutant, but it could be termed authentic. Pretending to be something or someone she was not had never been an interest to her. Besides, she knew the value of silence, her own line of business often demanding it.

"I do, in fact, consider myself to be numbered among the superior," Meld agreed easily. Of course, she rarely termed it in such a way as that tended to be off putting to many of the mutants she helped, but it was true enough and the woman in front of her didn't seem the least bit phased by the fact. "Its refreshing to see a mutant standing up for her own kind, especially in such effective fashion, and far to rare now days." How exceptional that her power seemed to take care of nearly all evidence of the fact that there even had been a previously living man. He was nothing more than shards of glass now, easily disposed of.

"Every one of my flesh melds were specially crafted," Meld agreed, with a note of pride. She extended her titanium hand for shaking. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Meld." She studied the other mutant carefully, taking note not only of her distinguishing features but also the way she carried herself. The woman had confidence, that was certain and an aura of power that was most certainly appealing. She had all ready proven herself willing to go all the way when it came to defending mutants; so few mutants, even those who purported to support the mutant cause, were actually willing to kill for her. She might just have potential. Lori, the Order leader, would definitely be hearing about this one and, just perhaps, she might even try to arrange a meeting between the two of them. Once they had had a little more time to converse. One needed to be certain about these things, after all.

Shula simply nodded to the other mutants acceptance of her saw nothing clause, and to the compliment. She did however study the intricate work of the woman's metal attachments. She was like a Swiss army person, minus the life saving bits. When a hand was offered though, Shula was hesitant. A razor sharp claw didn't seem safe to be touching under any circumstances. So the Woman's name was Meld, or at least that was her alias. It was rather fitting. She decided, given the circumstances, to accept the hand, although she quickly formed a protective layer of glass over her hand. Cooling it so rapidly however required precise timing. She barely got it to the right temperature by the time their hands met. She shook twice, a brisk business shake, and let go, bringing her hand to her mouth to consume the glass. Waste not want not.

Well, maybe myself and this metal woman will get along fine.

When she had finished her glass glove, Shula actually offered a name "I'm sorry how rude of me, I'm Shula Nasser, Chief Operating Officer of this company." The title was just something she was used to giving with her name, it wasn't horn blowing, just habit. She considered the woman before her more carefully. "So where does one like yourself find sanctuary? Surely your rathe unsubtle appearance gives you away, so I doubt you're just covering up and leaving no reason to suspect you." Shula wanted to know, because one day she might need it. Then again one day she may just buy an island or something. With money, power and intimidation, anything was possible.

An Island, now that would be nice, a private sanctuary without those I deem unworthy present. Paradise.

Seeing the glass mutant's studying of Meld's flesh melds, she didn't feel the least bit intimidated or nervous by the gaze. Even confronted with other mutants of obvious power, she wasn't an easy person to intimidate nor did she have any reason at all to feel embarrassed. One could say that they were her life's work, or at least her secondary life's work. Her first mission in life would always be the mutant cause, but her precious flesh melds were a close second. They were what made her primary cause possible and what made her as dangerous as she was.

"A pleasure to meet you," Meld answered and the words, for once, were entirely true. The choice to shake hands with her metal hand had been a deliberate one. Most found her mutant hand to be less intimidating, but the fact was when it came to mutants safety was most important and in her experience most mutant powers that worked on touch didn't effect her metal limbs. At least not to the degree they effected regular human ones.

"One such as myself finds sanctuary among my own kind," Meld answered, taking no offense at the insinuation regarding her lack of subtlety. Her appearance was, after all, anything but subtle. "When I go out into the world its usually at night when my 'unsubtle appearance' as you put it, isn't as much of an issue. Do you do this sort of thing often?" She gestured vaguely at the area in which the bigot had previously stood. Given the way she acted and how casual she was about the man's death, her guess was yes. And if that was the case, well, Lori would find her very interesting indeed. The question was, was she the type to be willing to work within an organization? Even one as open as The Order was? And, would she be willing to accept a position less than that of the leader?

"Likewise." Shula smiled, although it likely seemed out of place on her face. She wasn't used to using the seven muscles being contracted. Pleased with the answer she received, Shula was of course obliged to return the favour. She wasn't much for obligations however. She liked the idea of not telling this woman if she had multiple counts of murder against her name, it seemed illogical to do so for one. No she would not answer that question. Not directly anyway. "No comment." It was the age old fallback of all criminal everywhere, when directly asked about the crime, refuse comment, and everyone blames the lawyer. No she would not directly incriminate herself further. it would only be implicit in the comment.

If she has any kind of criminal brain she will understand.

"Among our own kind though, now there's a novel idea. However I fell I'm far too attached to my penthouse suite to live elsewhere, although that would of course be dependent on the other location." Shula returned to her less hurting serious face, or neutral as it had become over time. "Although supposing what you say is true a hierarchy must be in place certainly. I'm impressed that you have a self sufficient mutant government set up that I have not heard of. Then again you are yet to name it. I hear so much about them from my co-workers, most of whom are tragically missing, no doubt murdered by the supremacists among us." Shula nodded gravely, but her facial expression switched from neutral to having a tiny hint of pride. A tell, something no criminal needed, but all criminals had.

If only the rest of the plague would bow before us, it would make my life simpler.

'No comment' of course meant, 'yes I have killed, yes I am experienced, no I'm not going to tell you about it.' It was a fine answer as far as Meld was concerned, speaking not only of experience but also intelligence. There was no way for her to know what Meld might decide to do with such information and she smiled back at the other woman, the expression dark and sinister. It was an age old response in criminal circles and those were circles she had a great deal of experience navigating.

"If you live in a posh penthouse then I don't blame you for leaving," Meld replied. Sure, it wasn't the type of life she would ever find herself living, but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate the merits of living such a life. Besides, The Order needed its soldiers everywhere, not just centered around Sanctuary. If, as she was coming to expect, Shula was Order material.

"If you have an interested, I might be able to get you in touch with the individual at the top of that hierarchy," Meld suggested. She wasn't about to go into the details just yet, that would be up to Lori to do. "I believe you might just have what it takes to contribute to the mutant cause. Clearly you're all ready doing good work, so much the better to have an organization behind you, don't you agree?"