By the look of the buildings and the people that surrounded him, Mat had managed to stumble his way into a wealthy part of the city. Natives strolled the street with their confident, some would say arrogant, strides. Noses turned up, chins held high, and draped in designer clothes. Contemptuous glares hidden behind hundreds-of-dollar sunglasses. Well, so he assumed. After all, rich people all reserved their glares for the commoners and the riff-raff, right?

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Mat tucked his arms tightly against his body and shivered as a cool breeze slapped him in the face. The warmth of summer had given way to the chill of autumn, and now winter was peeking its ugly head around the corner. He had always thought that Melbourne winters were cold, but if the weather was going to continue the way it was going then Mat was going to find himself in some serious strife.

Since his arrival to the City in summer, Mat had managed himself alright. The temperature had been warm enough for him to sleep outdoors for the most part, allowing him to make his home in the various parks and alleys of NYC. With the summer weather, people had flocked outside to soak up the sunlight and warm air. And when people flocked outside, that meant more potential customers for Mat to sell his art. That, combined with the fact that there was an abundance of new sights for Mat to be inspired by and to recreate, meant that his sculptures had been of a higher quality than usual. And that meant that his art had been a more reliable source of income than usual.

The problem with being a person who wasn't accustomed to having money? Not being accustomed to saving money.

Thus, Mat was broke once again after blowing everything he had earned. Not that it bothered him of course, he was used to that. But still, it would have been nice to be able to buy some warmer clothes now that the seasons were changing. Perhaps a trendy suit? Not that a suit was a practical choice for the streets, especially with the cold weather on its way. But practicality was for chumps. And hell if he didn't want to look good for the first time in... Mat's mind drew a blank. And if he couldn't remember the last time he looked classy, then that meant it had been far too long. Which meant it was about time to rectify the problem.

The street he was on was lined with an array of boutiques. Each looked expensive, and each bore a name that meant nothing to him. Stopping in front of one window, Mat peered inside. The store was split down the middle, menswear to the left, women to the right. The cashier's desk was perched neatly in the centre. It was a large store, racks spaciously spread out from one another. It must have been a popular store because there was a decent number of people strolling from one item to the other. That was good. It would detract the attention from himself. And, most importantly of all, the floor of the shop was made from beautifully polished marble.

Yes, this would do nicely.

Dusting off the front of his hoodie, doing his best to ignore the stains and grime that had accumulated, Mat pushed the door open and strolled into the shop, head held high. Like he actually belonged there. Glimpsing the dirty looks that greeted him as he entered was almost enough to make him lose him composure and break into fits of laugher. Let the snobs glare.

“Ahem, can I help you, sir? Directions perhaps?” A middle-aged woman spoke to him through her clenched jaw. Mat idly wondered if she hadn't tried to mortar the wrinkles on her face with concealer. Did she use a trowel as an applicator?

“No, thank you, ma'am,” Mat smirked, smugly, “Simply here to browse your wares. Your assistance will not be necessary.”

Before the woman could say anything else, Mat had turned his back and began wandering towards the suit section, the shop assistant's glare burning into the back of his head.

Two could play the holier-than-thou game.

One of the things Cosmina enjoyed about money, and there was a long list of them, was the wonderful things it could buy for her. For example the clothes she was browsing. They were well made, used the finest materials, and were very fashionable. But such things came with a price tag. As loathe as Cosmina was to part with her money it was worth it for fine goods. She was browsing the blouses on the women's side of the boutique. One could never have too many blouses. They could be worn casual or dress if you picked the right one. The point was unfortunately moot since Cosmina spent more time in crude black knit wear than her fine clothes. A small price to pay for her job. If she wore better clothing then she might stand out if she left behind some trace evidence on a job.

The brunette smiled cheerfully as she brushed those thoughts away. Death and blood money were topics for another time. Right now she was shopping and enjoying it immensely. She'd moved on to slacks and skirts during her little mental dialogue. While she perused these the electronic door chime sounded to announce the arrival of another customer. Nearly everyone else in the large shop turned to see who it was. Cosmina didn't look until she noted the looks of disdain directed toward the doorway. Her curiosity was furthered by the tone of voice that the sales woman took with whoever it was. It was warm and friendly but entirely fake. The sort of tone you used when you wanted someone to go away.

As Cosmina turned the man, for that was the person's gender responded. His tone was smug and seemed to cut straight to the core of the middle-aged store associate. He was smirking and smug. He put the woman in her arrogant place. Whoever he was he made Cosmina smirk. Cosmina loved money but often the people that had it weren't worth associating with beyond work. Easily killed things that didn't even make her blink. For now Cosmina would keep her distance and study him, this man that turned her smile to a smirk. He seemed young. Some years younger than herself at the very least. Not that such a thing mattered to her.

As soon as his back was turned, Mat began to giggle to himself. The woman was so uptight, he just could help himself. It was too damn funny. Feigning that he was rubbing his cheek, he covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle the laugher. Probably best not to earn too much attention. He already had nearly every eye in the store on him. Not the most incognito profile there was. Approaching the racks, he made his way over to the suit section.

Mat may not have know a whole lot about fashion. He may not have even known a single thing, truth be told. But there were two things he could do. He could tell when something was designed to look sexy on whoever wore it, and he could read a price tag. Both of these things caused him to grin when he inspected the various garbs in front of him. Most of these suits could have afforded him a few months rent in Melbourne.

Perfect!

As he pawed through the racks, Mat quickly glanced around the shop. Most of the eyes had gone back to the inventory rather than him, which was good. Several still flicked his way, but really, with the way he looked at the moment, coupled with his entrance, it was to be expected. The shop assistant was still glaring at him, but the moment Mat turned and flashed her a wide grin she muttered something to herself and stormed off to the opposite side of the room.

Turning back to the racks, Mat began to look for suits in his size. Well, close enough to his size anyway. The ones he liked, he dragged to the front of the rack. Lifting one of them from the rack, Mat held it against his body, trying to gauge whether it would fit. It was a dark charcol colour, with delicate pinstripes stitched in. Glancing around the room once more, Mat spied the changing rooms at the back of the shop.

Making his way towards them, he stopped to grab a slim-cut white shirt and a tie, with lime green and silver stripes runnng diagonally. He eyed a rather trendy coat that sat alone on a rack, handsome and warm-looking. Shaking his head, he disregarded it for now. Clothing in his grasp, he snuck one last glance around the store. The attention he had garnered on entering seemed to have died down now, leaving him relativly unsupervised. Seizing the moment, he stomped his foot hard against the shining marble floor. Then again.

Three times. Four. Five... He began to notice the attention once again turning his way. With a sheepish grin he began to rub at his thigh with his free hand and an exaggerated wince. “Leg's asleep,” he explained to no one in particular. Six stomps. Aaaaand seven.

Should just about do it.

Starting a mental count in his head, Mat raced into the changing rooms and locked the door. As fast as he was able, he started to change into the suit. A image began to form in his imagination. And he made sure he kept counting.

Twenty seven...twenty eight...twenty nine

For some minutes it seemed as though the entertainment had ceased. The young man went about his shopping. Cosmina eyed him at leisure and went back to her shopping. If he wasn't going to be amusing then she saw no need to watch him. That is until the sales woman had apparently had enough of him and stormed to into the women's section. That earned him another smirk. However after that he went back to shopping and so did Cosmina. She was entirely content to go back to her shopping. There likely wouldn't be anything more.

So it was that Cosmina's shopping was interrupted yet again while she was looking at the shoes. Cosmina already had a couple of shirts selected as well as a skirt and a pair of pants. The interruption was the same man yet again. He was stomping on the floor. Cosmina quirked an eyebrow and abandoned her shopping to see what this would lead to. He claimed his leg had fallen asleep. That was hard to believe considering that he continued stomping until his stomps totaled around six or seven. Afterward he raced to the changing rooms and Cosmina watched him go.

There were some fairly odd triggers for mutations. Cosmina had once met a man who could create fire but he had to snap to do so. His name was Roy and, among other things, he'd had a fascination with women wearing mini-skirts. He'd been in some military or another. She didn't remember all the details. The point of her mental tangent being that Cosmina had seen many interesting ways to use a mutation. She was half expecting something odd to occur on that last stomp. Well if nothing happened soon then so be it. Cosmina kept an eye on the dressing rooms and the spot on which the odd young man had stomped while she pretended to go about her shopping. There was little point in actually shopping now. She was too curious.

Forty six...forty seven...forty eight...

He had torn off his dirty, stained clothes as quickly as possible. Sliding into the trousers, and throwing the shirt on, Mat didn't bother to tuck it in. He slipped his arms through the jacket. Picking up the tie, Mat slung it around the back of his neck, both ends dangling over his shoulders, ready to knot. Not enough time, his minute was nearly up. In his mind, Mat found his image, and hoped that his timing hadn't been off. And that he had used enough force. Closing his eyes, he focused on the point where he had stomped his foot. As he felt the familiar sensation of the marble beginning to multiply itself, shifting and forming into shape, a smile tugged at Mat's lips.

That was the easy part.

Pushing the door to the changing room open, Mat stepped out and strolled casually to a mirror that hung on the back wall. Whistling tunelessly to himself, he began to knot his tie, using the mirror to check out what was happening behind him.

On the spot where he had had his stomping fit, a large marble hand began to sprout, attached to a thick marble arm. Another came up from the floor, right next to the first. And then two more, just behind that. The arms bent down, stone hands resting flat on the floor. They pushed against the floor and soon two hulking bodies began to rise from nothing. As they straightened themselves up, their full size was revealed. They stood around 10 feet tall, with broad shoulders, thick limbs and carved muscles. Mat had made sure that their faces were not left blank, giving each a unique face. One had a large hook nose, the other a smaller button nose. Heads were shaped to look like both had slicked back hair. Both wore severe scowls and expressions that brooked no argument.

To Mat's eye, they seemed to be a successful pair of creations.

As he turned to face them, the corner of Mat's lips curled into a smirk. The knowing smirk of a father, amused by the mischief his children were about to get into. Taking a deep breath, Mat forced his face to drop. Now it was time to play it serious.

“Oh my God!” he screamed as loud as possible, his voice filling the store. As eyes once again turned his way, Mat pointed a trembling finger to his massive creations. Struggling to keep an expression of fear, and to not burst out laughing, Mat let the silence that followed his exclaimation linger for maximum dramatic impact. Now, the final stroke. With any luck, this would be the catalyst that created the panic and chaos he was after. He took another deep breath.

“MUTANTS!”

It took a while. Cosmina was just about to give up yet again on the man doing anything interesting. Until she noticed the hands. Her eyes darted to the dressing rooms where the man stood, adjusting his tie and watching the arms rise out of the floor. He'd fool the humans. They were stupid and easily tricked most of the time because they never bothered to actually learn about mutants. They simply condemned them without studying them. It was stupid. If they were going to make an enemy of an entire race of humanity then they ought to be trying to find out everything they could about mutants.

Cosmina was unconcerned by the titans that were rising from the floor. She knew their maker and if they threatened her she could simply take him out. They were what Cosmina would term golems. They appeared to be composed of the marble of the floor. He'd been smart in their creation. They looked as though they could have been people. The marble creatures were tall. Cosmina would guess about nine to ten feet and the expressions he'd given them were fairly foreboding.

While others went about their shopping Cosmina turned to look at the man. She was no longer concerned over the creatures. She wanted to see the man's face. He turned, he smirked, and Cosmina laughed. She kept the laugh low, so as to not disturb what he was about to do. Instead, she set about removing the tags from the items she was carrying and folding them up. Once the shirts, skirt, and pants were folded she stowed them in the fashionable tote she had with her. If he was going to cause a ruckus then she was going to take advantage of it.

He performed marvelously. At the cry of mutants every head in the store save for Cosmina's whipped to the two marble monstrosities. The panic was immediate. Rich folks screamed, dropped their things, and ran. The sour faced sales associate fled with them. Cosmina decided to take further advantage of the situation. Several of the ladies had dropped their purses. Cosmina calmly went about collecting wallets from the purses and looting the money from them. Once she finished that Cosmina looked back at the man.

"Shall we split it fifty fifty?"

She smiled brightly at him.

As the screams began and the panic set it, Mat silently congratulated himself. Not only had the plan gone perfectly, it was hilarious to boot. Patrons and staff alike all scrambled for the door in a rush of hysteria. He spotted the store woman, plastered face twisted in fear as she struggled to push through the crowd, attempting to save her own skin. Mat felt a pang of disappointment. It would have been fun to mess with her a bit...

Still, he had achieved what he had set out to achieve. The store was empty now, and he was free to pillage some fancy clothes. He hadn't even needed to do anything with his golems. The mere sight of them had been enough to clear out the store of every, single...

Wait a second...

Mat stood rooted to the spot for a moment. This was something he hadn't expected. Turned out he hadn't emptied the place. Mat watched, dumbfounded, as a woman began to rummage through fallen wallets and purses, unburdening them of any and all cash that was contained within. He gave a small chuckle, thrown by this unexpected turn of events.

There seemed to be only three explanations as to why she had not run like the others. She was either incredibly brave, incredibly stupid, or was no stranger to mutants. Like, say for instance, someone who may have been a mutant herself? Or at least somebody who spent a lot of time around mutants.

She turned to face him once she had finished her looting and asked him if he wanted to split the share, fifty fifty. Then she smiled a smile so bright that it was impossible not to grin back. And what man could resist an offer from a such a beauty?

“Sure, why not,” he replied. Although his original plan had simply been acquiring a few new clothes, it seemed a bit hypocritical of him to not take the cash as well.

After all, if you're going to do something, do it properly, right?

He made his way over to the cash register, which had been left open mid-transaction. Stuffing as much as he could into the pockets of his pants and jacket, Mat sat the rest of the money on top of the counter for the woman to take. As long as had enough to keep himself set for a while, he wasn't too concerned over whether it was an even split. If she ended up with more, so be it. The money was merely an added bonus to his first objective.

Eyeing off the warm, handsome coat he had spotted earlier, Mat made his way over to it. “Name's Effigy,” he said over his shoulder, as he slid his arms into the sleeves. He had given her his mutant name. Regardless of the fact that they were now comrades-in-larceny, he wasn't so naive as to give his real name to a klepto-inclined stranger so early in the relationship. Besides, if she really was a mutant herself, she'd recognise his name for what it was. And if she gave one of her own, well that would clear up some of the questions he had.

Coat fitting snugly over his suit, Mat held out his arms, and turned to the woman, as if asking for her opinion on how it looked. The twirl he added was for his own amusement. He had to admit to himself, there were certainly worse options for an accomplice. A lot worse. He noticed that she did seem some years older than him.

Not that such a thing mattered to him.

He probably hadn't been expecting someone to stay. That she did stay would say something about her character to the insightful person. He returned her smile with one of his own and agreed to sharing the take. He took his share out of the register and left the rest on the counter for her. Cosmina counted it out and stashed her take. If he wasn't going to insist on a fairly counted even split then Cosmina wasn't going to either. She was getting the better end of the deal anyway.

He made his way over to a coat. Cosmina recalled him looking at it earlier when she'd been watching him. He introduced himself as Effigy while he slid the coat on. That elicited another smirk from Cosmina. He knew how this game worked. He wasn't a naive newcomer to his powers or a sheltered innocent then. Cosmina took a seat on the sales counter and swung her legs a little.

"Mute."

His mutation was obvious. There was no need to ask it yet. If their association continued past today she would inquire as to the specifics. As mutant sobriquets often had something to do with the power of their owners he ought to have some clue to her own ability. Mute was not a mutant name that left much doubt as to what it's possessor was capable of. It was often her talents unrelated to her mutation that caught people by surprise, not the mutation itself. Effigy presented himself in his new outfit for judgment. He even twirled on the spot. Cosmina giggled at him.

"It looks good on you."

It would be a good idea to leave the store soon. They didn't want to be caught here when the police arrived. With that in mind Cosmina hopped off of the counter.

"We should leave soon. It wouldn't be fun to have to deal with pesky cops."

Mute.

There was something simple and elegant about the name. And in one word, she had made it all clear. She was a mutant too. That was good. That was very good, in fact. Mutants knew the score. Birds of a feather, and all that.

Mute.

The name, being what it was, meant that she more than likely had the ability to control sound in some form. Whether in an offensive capacity, or some other supplementary fashion he wasn't entirely sure. The good thing about mutant names was that they gave you an idea of what powers lurked behind the face. The bad thing was sometimes these names misled to the specifics of a power. It seemed to be an unwritten law in the mutant world. First and foremost, your name had to be cool. Accurate description came second.

Still, if he had to hazard a guess...she made things nice and quiet?

She giggled as he twirled, and complimented how the coat looked on him, which caused him to grin. Always nice to have an ego-boost in the middle of a heist. She then mentioned that it was probably time to call it a day, lest the police show up. Sound advice. He walked back over to the counter where she was standing.

“Good idea, we can --” Before he could finish his sentence, a shrill siren cut through the air. Flashes of blue and red light alternated through the window, and Mat felt his stomach drop slightly. A distorted voice crackled from a loudspeaker and confirmed his worries.

“Mutants, this is the police! Come out with you hands in the air. If you do not comply--”

Mat didn't bother listening to the rest. He knew what would follow. He had seen COPS once or twice in his life. He knew that American police didn't screw around. Sparing a quick glance at Mute, Mat began trying to think of a plan.

“Get down, they probably haven't seen us yet,” he half whispered, half hissed. It was at that moment however that Mat saw a group of dark uniforms gathering outside the door. If he got caught, chances were he'd be in a lot of trouble. Not only was he in the midst of a daylight robbery, he was an illegal immigrant with no identification, and ties to a massacre in his home country.

His options seemingly decreasing, Mat finally reached out to his golems. One took point, a few meters in front of the sales counter. The other, Mat made stand directly behind him. As the first police officer broke through the glass of the door, the electric chime ringing absurdly, Mat compelled the golem behind him to wrap a thick marble arm around his neck. The action was a little rougher than Mat would have liked, but it had to look genuine. A few bruises were nothing compared to deportation or prison. He glanced once more at Mute, and prayed she knew an escape route.

It was a desperate plan, Mat had to admit.

“Don't shoot!” he cried, as police began to file into the room.

“Hold it, men,” came the response. “They've got a hostage.”

Beautiful.

Before Effigy could finish agreeing with her the sirens sounded. A few choice words echoed through Cosmina's mind though she uttered none of them. Before she had a chance to hide the police were outside the doors shouting for the mutants to come out. She was out of options. Thankfully Effigy was able to to fake a hostage situation and that gave Cosmina all the cover she'd need to figure out a way out. Her smile was gone in an instant, lest the cops see it. Now was the time for acting. Cosmina adopted a frightened look and posture as the lead officer told his men not to shoot.

"Please just let them go! Don't make them kill my brother!"

Cosmina's voice was full of fear and urgency. Her eyes were wet with tears. In short she looked the epitome of the frightened hostage. The act worked. The police revised their statement from one hostage to two.

"They'll kill him if you don't back off! Please!"

The lead cop didn't like it but he didn't see much choice. The police went outside and began setting up for what could possibly be a long hostage situation. As fast as she could Cosmina made her way back to where Effigy stood, playing the hostage.

"Here in a minute or two send your golems out front and have them attack the police. That should buy us enough time to get out the back door while the cops are distracted. My car isn't too far away. We can head to my place and lay low until the police forget about this whole thing."

Cosmina thought over the plan. As long as his range was enough to get the golems out front and have them attack long enough to draw the attention of the police then it should work.

"That is, if you've got the range for it."

She was back to smiling again, now that the cops weren't in immediate danger of seeing it. This sort of thing was where she was at home. Admittedly Cosmina preferred not to deal with the police at all. Usually she was far away before they even knew a crime had been committed. However she could work with this. The important thing was to get away. Chances were that there would be police guarding the back door. Hopefully Effigy's diversion would draw them away. If not then Cosmina would simply have to take them down.

And the Oscar goes to...

Mat had to admit, she was good. In the blink of an eye, she had taken his cue and transformed from the smiling robber into the scared, helpless little girl. Her expression, her posture...were those tears? If he hadn't been the one to take himself hostage, he might have fallen for her act himself. With unhappy glances to one another, the police slowly backed out of the store and began clearing the area out front. They were going to be in this for the long run. Which meant that Mat and Mute needed to act fast, while the cops were still distracted. Almost immediately after the police had left, Mute had made her way back to Mat and his 'captor' with a plan.

Mat raised an eyebrow and threw a curious glance in the woman's direction. True, he was a robber. True, he was a petty criminal at times. But attacking the police? Things seemed to be getting out of hand, real quick. Problem was, time and options were limited. His eyes flicking from the woman, to the door, and back again, Mat scratched his head and let out a quiet sigh.

“I've only got a 30 foot range, or so. I can keep them busy for a while, but once I run for it we're going to be on our own.” Unless he could find another suitable source to make more golems. He decided not to phrase that thought. If he couldn't find one, then they'd be left high and dry. If he could, well then she'd soon figure out that he could.

A thought crossed his mind. “I can use one of these guys,” he inclined his head towards the golem in front of him, “to block the door while the other attacks. That might buy us some time, or at least give you a chance to bring the car closer.” He didn't like the idea of having to split up. That would give her a chance to flee and leave him holding the bag. Not that he didn't trust her but, well, he didn't really trust her. Yet if it was his only chance at escape, then he needed to take it.

There was just one ground rule he needed to set.

“I'm not killing any cops, by the way.”

Cosmina gave a nod. That would have to do. He was willing to split up. He'd be the diversion while she brought the car closer. That was a little foolish. He didn't know her. She had no reason to come back for him. Those golems wouldn't keep the cops busy for long. It would be so easy to abscond with her share and leave him to take the fall. The only downside to that plan being that he would then have no reason not to tell the cops everything he could about her. It wasn't much but if the cops started looking for a brown haired woman who called herself Mute in the right places they'd learn things she didn't want them to know.

So in the end she would come back for him. It was better to leave people feeling well disposed towards you. Besides that, he could prove to be interesting. New people generally were. Once she knew everything there was to know about them then they got boring quick. If he got boring then she could just kill him. After all, he did know what she looked like and could associate her with the name Mute. It would be in his best interest to stay interesting then. Either that or find a way to make money for her. He expressed a desire not to kill cops. Pity that but she could work around it.

"Alright then. If it comes to killing cops I'll do it."

With a smile she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'll go get the back door open and bring the car around. You keep the cops busy as long as you can and then head for the back door."

With a playful wink Cosmina activated her mutation on herself and headed into the back of the store. It was a stock room with a safe. Pity she didn't have time to crack the safe. As it was she made straight for the back door and disengaged the locks. Thankfully they weren't electronic. A store this expensive really should have better locks. Cosmina silenced the door as well in preparation for opening it. If there were cops out there she would rather get the drop on them if she could.

Things were really starting to get out of control. She was actually willing to kill police? Had she done so before? Now that Mat thought about it, she had no hesitation in asking him to attack the police in the first place. She had even started smiling the moment the cops had left the building, as though she thrived in situations like this. Did this happen to her often? Had he partnered up with some kind of smiling, crazed, cop-killing professional who...

Oh... Oh... Well, that certainly changed things, didn't it?

She had kissed him on the cheek. With a wink and a smile, Mute turned and headed for the back of the shop. Mat watched her as she left, unable to take his eyes off her, a goofy grin on his face. Well, if she wanted him to act as the diversion then he could put on one hell of a show. He wasn't one to disappoint. Especially when it came to a beautiful woman such as Mute.

As she left the store, Mat noticed that Mute made no noise whatsoever. Not even a footstep.

Alone now, not counting his two marble comrades, Mat began taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He would need all the focus he had to pull this off properly. Commanding the golem holding him to release its grip, Mat took one more deep breath. For luck. His line of sight clear, it was now or never.

With a speed that contradicted their size and composition, the two giants began to run for the door, long strides carrying them swiftly. Each footfall of the sculptures left the smooth, gleaming floor cracked and scuffed. The sound of marble smacking against marble echoed loudly through the room. With a great crash, the lead golem charged through the door, causing glass to shatter and metal to buckle. Its momentum at full, it barrelled into the policemen directly in front of the door, knocking officers aside like bowling pins. The second golem brought up the rear, pausing at the threshold. It lifted the twisted remains of the door frame from the ground. Twisting the upper half of its body back, frame clutched in both hands, the golem swung the frame and released it like a discus. The frame wobbled and spun in mid-air, before planting itself through the windshield of a police car. As officers ducked for cover, the golem in the doorway planted its feet, stood up straight, and stretched his arms across the threshold, barring the way. Mat broke his mental connection to it, and his makeshift barricade was now complete.

Mat quickly rushed to the side of the room, finding a spot where he could see the action through the window. Now all he had to do was keep the attention of the police on his remaining golem. Sending his mental command across, the golem lifted an officer and threw him into his squad mates.

Now all Mat had to do was create complete and utter chaos without killing anybody.

Piece of cake, right?

There were cops beyond the door after all. Cosmina could not hear them as they spoke. When she was silenced she could hear nothing. However she could see the lips of two of the three cops and that was enough. They spoke about a plan to infiltrate the store from the back entrance and take the kidnappers by surprise. It was good that she had acted as swiftly as she did. Otherwise they would have come busting in and everything would have been ruined. Moments after she began watching them through the cracked door the cops started. Possibly a large noise had distracted them. Cosmina was willing to bet that it was Effigy.

Two of the cops hesitated a moment before running down the alley way to go and reinforce their compatriots out front. That left only one cop and his gun was slack in his hand. Not only that but the commotion which she could not hear had his full attention. That would make it a simple matter. Slowly she crept up behind him. As soon as she was within grabbing distance she wrenched the gun from his hand. Remembering her accomplice's unwillingness to kill cops she debated for a few seconds on whether or not to shoot him. He turned as she thought and threw a punch at her. Cosmina easily dodged it.

She swiftly and fluidly threw a kick at his head. That knocked him to the ground. Cosmina took aim then and fired. A single bullet between the eyes. Effigy may not like the dead cop but it was either that or she took time that she didn't have to find a way to bind and blindfold him. This was swifter and more sure than any ropes could be. The gun she tossed into a dumpster and she ran down the alley. It took a minute to realize where she was. Her car was parked close. She ran down the street, having deactivated her mutation, and looked for all the world like just another hurried New Yorker. Her 2007 Jaguar XKR Convertible awaited her where she'd left it when she'd come shopping.

The car had been new when she'd bought it a few years ago. It had been her gift to herself for several jobs gone very very right. Now it would get her and Effigy far away from the crime scene before anyone realized what had truly happened. She hopped in and started the car. Not a minute or two later she was parked at the entrance of the alley, waiting for Effigy. Cosmina would leave if he took too long. Eventually someone would realize what was happening and if a cop came toward her in her car while she was waiting she'd drive off. She stashed her tote in the back seat and tried her best not to look as though she had anything but good intentions.

The distraction was working. Outside the shop, Mat had made his golem climb on top of a cop car, one that didn't have a shop door impaled in it. The golem was stomping its heavy feet, one after the other, caving the roof in in a scene that bizarrely resembled someone crushing grapes to make wine. The order for lethal force must have been given, because it hadn't taken long before Mat could hear gunfire open up. Not that it was going to do the police any good. The statue at the door was doing a good job of acting as a deterrent, and no police had yet approached it or the windows. Which meant they still thought it was alive. That was good, it would buy him even more time.

Bullets ricocheted off of the golem, chipping the marble, causing tiny showers of debris. The car underfoot now totally demolished, Mat commanded the golem to jump off. He saw one bullet lodge itself into the golem's face. A twinge of pain flared up in Mat's head, a microseconds worth of a headache. He was probably using his powers too much. He needed to leave soon. The longer this played out, the more likely it was that the cops would figure out what was really going on. It was time to end things.

With a final command, the golem lunged towards a kneeling police woman who was firing her weapon. Too slow to react, she let out a scream as the golem wrapped a massive hand around her arm. The other grabbed her leg. With very little effort, the golem lifted the woman in the air. Mat heard someone shout out an order and the gunfire stopped. From where he stood, Mat could vaguely make out the fear etched onto the woman's face.

The golem held her up in the air. And held her. And held her...

Breaking the connection to his golem, Mat ran for the back door as quickly as he could manage. It would take a few moments for the cops to realise that nothing more was going to happen. With any luck, Mute would be waiting for him out back and the pair could make their escape. With any luck...

Bursting through the doorway and out into the alley, Mat stopped dead in his tracks. A police officer lay dead on the ground, eyes glazed over. A single wound in the man's face told Mat all he needed to know. A chill ran down Mat's spine and he felt the bile rise from his stomach. He wondered briefly whether the man had a family.

His awareness coming back to him, Mat glanced around for any sign of Mute and a car. He spotted her at the end of the alley, sitting in a very expensive looking convertible. He spared one last look at the dead policeman, frowning down at the corpse, before he turned and ran to the car. As he neared, he felt his head spin and stumbled to the side. Creating two golems that large had fatigued him more than he had realised. It'd been a while since he had needed to do that. Dragging himself to the car, he hopped into the passenger side and slumped back into the seat. He gave Mute a look that made it clear that he wasn't thrilled about her killing the man, but said nothing. There was no point. What was done, was done.

No point crying about it.