Fire burned up her lungs and heated her body against the cold. It was unsafe to be out on the icy sidewalks so they were mostly empty excepting frantic last-minute shoppers. A New Year's resolution was forming in the back of her mind.

She needed to run more.

Ahead a mutant with a far too springy skeletal system was running up cars, jumping between sign posts and rebounding off of building walls. It was probably safer for him up there, away from the ice.

Down below, Noel slogged past another heaping mound of snow. She had long since broken the heels off of her sensible pumps and had considered ditching her suit coat if it hadn't been holding her cellphone in the breast pocket. She was panting, the cold was so cold that it burned, but her cheeks were red and steaming.

He was not going to get away from her this time.

She saw her opportunity not too far away and put on a burst of speed as her quarry paused atop a flag pole to get his sense of direction. Noel took a leaf out of his book and jumped. Sensing her nearness, the springy one jumped too, but not soon enough.

Her foot had dented the newspaper box that she had thrown her feet against and used to spring off and upward in a wild grab that earned her an ankle.

Time seemed to slow with her elation! Followed by a sudden rock-solid sense of doom. They were both air born and neither had enough momentum to get them anything put pavement. Her hold on the target was one handed and tenuous. They both saw it coming.

The mutant scrunched his legs under him.

And kicked.

Noel shot toward the ground with fresh momentum. Her face had been the springboard of the mutant's escape.

Bears day so far was starting off pretty well, he went job hunting for the first couple hours of the day and decided it was time to get some food. New York is a great city with all kinds of amazing food stuff. His mind was racing with the goings on of the previous day spent with Andrea and it was his second day in this huge city. The only bad part about being in New York right now was that last night he found himself sleeping on the street alone. By this time 2 years ago, Bear already had an apartment with Calley and he found his child hood friend Aris and was unhappy and uncomfortable with his mutation.

"The only way this day is going to get better is if I can get me a job so I can get a place to stay. If only things were that easy." Bear shrugged lightly and continued his trek through New York, enjoying the fresh snow on the ground and the cold air around him. As he was walking, he saw a thin young woman sprint past him, her eyes focused on the sky the whole time. Bear glanced up to see what this girl was running from or chasing and saw what could only be explained as a mutant leaping from wall to wall to lamp post and so forth. His eyebrow raised and the joints in his hands felt tight as he watched this. Bear contorted his fingers in odd directions and felt the popping of the skin and the air sacks between his fingers before his stomach tingled and he took off in a sprint after the girl. I dont know what's going on, all I know is this girl looks like she needs some help.

Bear did the best he could to keep up with the girl, all the while, trying not to plow through pedestrians in his pursuit. After a short time, he saw the girl jump to the top of a news paper box and leap from it, grabbing at the ankle of the man in the air. Her hand grabbed it tightly and the two began to fall to the ground before the pursued mutant kicked the girl in the face, pushing off of her and leaping away quickly. His eyes wide, Bear pushed himself harder and found himself under the girl as she was falling, his arms stretched out and he caught her but the momentum of her fall brought him to the ground, her landing on top of him harshly.

Bear let out a breath of air from the impact and sighed before sitting up, bringing the girl with him. "Are you ok? Do you need some help?" Bear smiled lightly as he looked over his shoulder at the mutant leaping away still. Trying his best to get away from this girl that was pursuing him. Bears mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to help the girl catch the mutant before remembering the knife he kept on his person, in his pocket. His eyes lit up as he waited for the girl to respond, he knew he could probably throw this girl far enough and hard enough for her to catch the mutant if he activated his ability more than it already was from the fall.

She landed hard on something... soft? Oooof. It took her several moments to figure out what had happened. Someone had... caught her.

Had to be her partner... what was his name? Didn't matter. No New Yorker went out of his way to help anyone they didn't know. He had to be from HQ or something. "About. Time." She wheezed every word as he sat the both of both of them up. It would have been better to simply roll off and lay in the snow for a while. Instead now she had to find her limbs and make them work again. Also, someday she would have to get off of this gentleman's lap.

Someday.

For now she scrabbled for her phone out of her pocket. "Think I hooked a tag." She still didn't quite have her breathing under control. Come New Years, she promised herself she would go to the gym... and get a membership to a gym. She mashed the stitch in her side and fumbled with her phone until—a ha!

"Bingo."

It was only then that she looked up at who had caught her. She took her time looking over his features. Yep. She had absolutely no recognition of his face and she didn't have time to go one-by-one through her phone. She needed that phone to track Jello Legs McGee. Noel scrabbled up on her feet and wobbled for lack of heels on her shoes. Sprinting on her toes, she hadn't missed them before. She removed her hand from her side and offered it to the large man.

"Coming?" Her other hand waggled the phone which had a blinking dot on a rudimentary looking street map at him like a carrot on a stick.

"About time." The young woman wheezed and continued to sit on his lap, her phone came out and Bear did the best he could to glance over her shoulder to see what she was doing. "Think I hooked a tag." Bear tried to figure out what she was talking about as she fiddled with her phone, still breathing heavily from the chase, he could see she was in a slight amount of pain. more than likely a cramp or something. For such a slender woman, she was obviously not in the shape she wanted to be, not for chasing after a Rubber Mutant.

Finally, the young woman turned to see who she was sitting on and Bear sent a wide smile her direction, he began to try and introduce himself when the woman clambered to her feet and wobbled a bit on the heel-less shoes she was wearing. Her hand extended and Bear happily accepted, climbing to his feet as well, the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain from the fall began to set in, forcing a groan from Bear as he rose to his feet. All it would take though is one jab from his knife and he'd be right as rain for the obvious chase to come from her question of whether or not he was going to follow her.

"Of course I am.. You seem to need some help and I'm in the helping mood today... I'm Nick.." Bear smiled and looked off at the mutant running from the young woman. "So... Are we gonna give chase or not?" His eyes quickly shot to the phone in her hand and he saw a small dot moving through what looked like a map of New York. "Or do we not have to chase?" A puzzled look reached his face as he waited for her answer, wondering what her plan was in the current situation.

((Sorry for the short post... Didnt want to get them off an running till I found out what your plan was...))

Nick? "Ha. Ha. Saint Nick. I get it. Hold this." She handed Nick her phone apparently under the impression that because of the season and her own name, he felt the need for a Christmas-y name too.

As Noel bent down over one of her legs, Nick asked an astute question. What was the point of chasing someone down if she had already tagged them?

"He freaked when he saw me. I didn't get to assemble the subdermal. The other one I hooked in his sock or on his pants or something. There's no telling how long it'll last." She pulled out a little hermetically sealed packet and put it in her mouth as she fished around for something else, a little plastic cylinder. Then she zipped up what appeared to be an over-full ankle pouch and straightened.

Her fingers were cold and she had to fumble through the packaging but eventually she had it locked a loaded. "Spring loaded, but it's my last one."

She rubbed her hands together, re-did her ponytail and motioned for her phone back. "Hope you're in shape. I've been all over town after this schmuck." She oriented herself with the map and pointed to a spot. "I think we can head him off if we haul booty." And so... she did. A short rest to catch her breath was good enough.

Bear laughed to himself when he was asked to hold her phone, he watched the dot roaming through the streets at a relatively quick pace. He couldnt help but to check her out a bit as she bent over her leg and pulled something out of her ankle pouch. His eyes went wide a bit and he let out a small sigh to himself before shaking his head a bit, making a note about how much fun it'll be just following her around while trying to help. Then she made a pretty good point, something Bear obviously didnt know, she tagged him but it was only attached to his clothing not in his leg.

"Spring loaded? What is that? The subdermal tag you were talking about?" Bear was a bit confused, he saw what looked like a gun but wasnt a gun by description. "I'm in decent enough shape, I spent the last few months walking around everywhere..." He glanced at the point on the map that she pointed to and was about to put in his two cents when she took off in a full on sprint. He paused a moment to watch her run away then shook off the daze and took off as fast as he could to catch up. A few seconds later, Bear found himself running by her side, headed in the direction of her old target, his new target.

Wait... Why am I chasing this guy down? I assume he did something wrong... Maybe she's just a mutant hunter.. Which makes me glad I can hide my mutation from people in general even if I do get hurt... Hmm.. I'm going to enjoy this day even more than I thought I would... Suddenly Noel changed direction to accommodate the route she chose and Bear fell behind a bit, getting another chance to check her out before catching up as quickly as he could. He may have been in decent shape before but honestly, he hadnt run in quite some time. It seemed as though Bear might be using that knife sooner than he thought, though at first he might try and do it only slightly so he can ignore the pain from the run and the fact that he's going to be out of breath soon. Walking does wonders but it does nothing for keeping a steady sprint going.

"So.. Why are we after this guy again?" Bear let out a few pants between breaths, trying not to show his lack of stamina just yet but knowing anybody would be slightly out of breath by now. Wait a little longer for the knife, when you start falling back, the knife can come out... But only then... Just keep it ready... Even his thoughts seemed to be slightly out of breath, with this he reached down into his pocket and un-clipped the sheath the knife was resting in, making it so he could pull it out quickly.

"Did they not...?" She was suspicious so she shut her yap and held onto the apperatus. What if he was just from out of town and she had dragged him into this by accident? That was a possibility. She hadn't asked to see any identification. But even then she could use his help and then wipe him when she was done with him.

This was getting a little more complicated than she had expected. As for walking everywhere? "This is New York. Nobody drives."

She juked just to see if she could put on a burst of speed and lose him if she really needed to. It worked for a short time, but he did catch up. The problem was, he was fresh. She had been doing this for a long time already.

> "So.. Why are we after this guy again?"

Talking while running was never her strong suit. "He's a dangerous mutant. We think he may be responsible for several crimes."

Her head snapped up as something clattered down a fire escape. Flower pot. She glanced at her phone and skidded to a halt. The dot was close... and no longer moving.

"You see him?" Or had the tracker fallen free?

"Well it's good that we're going after him if he's dangerous..." Bear panted a bit and just as he was about to say something else she stopped mid sprint, Bear being a bit bigger, couldnt stop so easily so he threw himself away from her and into the brick building in the alley they were standing in. Looks like I wont be needing the knife... That kinda really hurt.. Bear panted a bit and looked up when she asked her question. He couldnt see anything right away but at second glance he saw a foot disappear over the top of the roof.

"He went on the roof... We gotta do something..." Bear looked around and saw the fire escape, he leaped towards it and looked up, it must've been a good ten feet up at least. He looked over at Noel and motioned to her to come closer. "C'mon I'll give you a boost... We arent going to catch him down here and I bet he thinks he got away... He's probably just as tired as you..." Bear got in a position, with his hands clasped, to help boost Noel up to reach the fire escape.

After giving Noel the boost up to the fire escape, the joints in his fingers seem to get tight again and he twists and contorts his fingers stretching out the skin between them and giving himself maximum mobility. After doing so, Bear looks up to see that Noel had climbed high enough for him to jump up and grab the bottom rung, before pulling himself up and climbing up the ladder behind Noel.

"So.. You think he stopped? Or do you think your tracker thing fell off? If he didnt stop it wont be easy to catch him..." Bear continued to pull himself up the fire escape, speaking as low as he could so Noel could hear him but nobody else could.

The roof? But the flower pot was from a window or a fire escape unless it was from a roof garden? Noel wobbled in her less than whole shoes. Nick was sure, though. He had told the truth. So she didn't question his leg up.

Noel pulled herself up as quietly as possible. She had to put the phone away and use both hands. She expected to give a hand up or push down the ladder which would have been quite noisy. Luckily Nick had his own way up.

She gave him a look and put her finger up to her lips.

Only one way to find out now.

The brunette readied the cylinder and reached inside her coat as she tip toed toward the roof. There wasn't a way to keep completely silent on a rickety fire escape.

Noel popped above the roof edge, gun and cylinder in hand. And fell back as a leg caught her in the chest, gun flying out of her hand.

Bear slowly and, as quietly as possible, followed Noel up the ladder, trying not to stare at her back end the whole way up. He saw her look down and put a finger to her lips before continuing the climb, trying to be quiet herself. She readied herself a moment, pulling out her weapon, before popping up over the edge of the roof, but to her surprise a boot landed on her chest and sent her flying backwards. Bear's eyes went wide as she began to fall but luckily he was far enough behind her to try and catch her. Much to his surprise though, Bear didnt have as good a grip on the ladder as he thought and when he went to catch Noel, he lost his grip completely.

A look of, 'oh well, go with it', crossed his face and he pushed off of the ladder completely, getting himself under Noel and catching her in his arms. The two fell all the way to the ground from the near roof and Noel landed on top of Bear forcing a cough from his lips and a thud on the concrete alley. Blood found it's way onto the lips of the big man as he let out another cough before sitting up as the pain passed. Bear shook his head slowly, knowing this was going to hurt when the ability wore off, but at the current moment in time, he knew he had to help Noel catch the dangerous mutant.

"Noel, please jump on my back..." Bear groaned a bit as he forced himself to stand up, setting Noel on her feet in front of him. He turned around slowly so his back was facing Noel. "Just trust me, I'll get us up the ladder quickly so he wont get away..." Bear waited a moment for Noel to hop on before looking up at the ladder and leaping up, grabbing the fourth rung before launching himself up the ladder even further and faster than before. His strength and speed kicked in from the fall, allowing him to nearly sprint up a ladder it would take any normal person a bit of time to climb.

When the two reached the top of the ladder, Bear launched himself up over the edge of the roof before landing on the roof and looking around, hoping to see the mutant they were chasing. His mind raced with thoughts of what Noel would think of him being able to just stand up from a fall like that before he realized he still had blood on his lips. His hand shot up to his lips quickly and he swiped the blood away before looking back at Noel.

She went back. No big deal. There was a railing. The problem was that she kept going back. And back. And even after she collided with Nick, they went back some more. And teetered in a somewhat more downward fall. When gravity finally took over and they started to go down, Noel was really getting tired of how very long this fall was. She could only gasp in horror for so long and she could only remember enough of her life that it probably cycled twice before they finally hit pavement.

She thought her heart was going to bust out of her chest or at least they would spill some brain on the concrete.

When breathing resumed (and she wasn't entirely sure where in the process it had stopped) Noel flipped around to inspect her landing pad. To her increasing surprise he talked. And then... and then got up. She was still mucking around on her hands and knees in the snow and he stood up and wanted her to get on his back. Noel, government agent, self sufficient woman and mutant hunter did NOT ride on people's backs.

She stood and clutched her chest to calm her heart. She was still in awe that no one had gone splat.

And her gun...

And the tracking injector!

The agent fumbled around in the snow until she came up with both. She needed her phone to see where he'd gone if he hadn't already thrown the temporary tracker, that was.

This... really wasn't going to work out.

And the urgency and clean sincerity of his voice made her want to take a leap of faith. "Augh! Fine! But I'm keeping my gun!" Because nothing said giddyup horsey like a gun helping along a sleeper hold. She put the tracking injector away (it was close range only) hopped on and they were away after the bad guy. It was quite obvious that Nick was a mutant by now. A mutant not likely sent from the agency, but a mutant that was still helping. She didn't trust mutants as a general rule, but this one had not yet led her astray in anyway.

It was almost like he was... reliable, in a reckless abandonment sort of way —that was more than she could say of many of her previous partners.

Noel held on for dear life, loosing a shoe somewhere around the second flight up. When they reached the roof again rubberband boy wasn't anywhere in sight. Nick turned to her for direction, but she had already seen it. A flash of tracksuit.

"There!" She leaned forward as well as pointed. She may as well have shouted 'High-ho Silver! Away!'

Noel shouted in Bear's ear, surprising him slightly by her still being on his back, he shot his head in the direction she was pointing and took off in a sprint towards a corner of the building where someone could have hid where he couldnt see. One thing popped into his mind as he took off running in the direction she pointed, Mech Warrior.

His legs moved quickly and they bound across the roof top, he shot his hand out and gripped tightly onto the wall where rubber-band-boy must have run and whipped himself around the corner of the building. He checked behind him quickly to make sure Noel was still there before continuing in his sprint, he could see the mutant jumping across a gap in the roof. Running in full sprint, Bear had a feeling he would make the jump but didnt know for sure if he would make it. Mid-sprint, Bear decided on going for the jump, "Hold on!" He shouted back at the girl riding on his back before increasing his speed as much as his body would allow, leaping across the gap in the roof, the ground was very far down, his eyes went wide as his foot barely gripped the edge of the second building.

As he continued his chase of the mutant, he carefully reached down into his pocket and unsheathed his knife, making sure to speak quickly so Noel wouldnt get the wrong idea. "I'm a mutant, I have the ability to get stronger and faster the more physical damage my body takes but it doesnt last forever... Take this.." Bear held the knife up as he continued his heavy sprint, chasing after the mutant. "When I tell you to, stab my arm or cut me or something, if I fall down in pain or scream out in pain stab me no matter what. The guy could get away if you dont."

Bear grunted a bit, looking ahead of him as the mutant jumped the gap in another roof before dropping down between the two buildings. Bear couldnt help but regret what he was about to do as he leaped across the gap, missing the building slightly before sliding down it and pushing off to a nearby fire escape. As he did this the mutant rebounded off of another fire escape and sent himself back up to the roof. Bear growled loudly before looking to the building across from himself and spotting the fire escape. He checked to make sure Noel was still attached before leaping across the gap towards the ladder, he fell a few feet before grabbing hold of the ladder and hearing some sort of pop come from his hands. A sigh escaped his lips at this sound before he launched himself up the ladder using both his arms and legs, exploding over the edge of the roof with amazing power.

"He's ours!" Bear sprinted after the mutant, surprising him with the speed at which he caught up before diving out, lunging at the legs of the mutant on the run. He could feel the mutants leg in his hand before slamming down on the ground, still holding on.

And away they went! Holy crap he ate his Wheaties! And HOLY CRAP THEY WERE APPROACHING A LEDGE! She gripped tighter and tighter and then they were in the air and her panic seemed for a brief moment unfounded. Just like they were ungrounded. She tightened her choke hold as they landed and then again (on purpose this time) when he drew out the knife. It was a miracle he was able to get anything out at all let alone a quick synopsis of his power set.

Oh crap. She had already guessed he was a mutant but had forgotten about the no touching rule. Here she was with all kinds of skin contact. What if he had been a mental invader? A body snatcher? What if he still was?

Well, if he was, then he probably wouldn't be giving her the knife and telling her to stab him with complete honesty in his voice. This was certainly an unusual situation. "Will you heal?" But they didn't really have time for twenty questions now did they? She took the knife and... well, she held it. She wasn't a knife person. More of a gun or fist person. Hopefully all the jostling wouldn't make her drop it.

As a side note, being a backpack was a lot more bumpy and a heck of a lot less dignified than she had imagined.

But their brief respite was over. Their quarry had been spotted and the dogs were loose.

Is he a masochist? She wondered because the sighing was all just a little on the creepy side for her tastes.

But she had to focus. The rubberband man. Nick lunged and Noel was just sure they would come up short. So she did what she thought was best. She loosened her chokehold and put her hands on his shoulders. Her legs she drew up between herself and Nick's back. She wasn't exactly done geting ready when they all went plop but she did manage to get some forward push.

So when Nick caught his leg, Noel caught the back of his britches. And she had a pretty wicked knife.

"You—" Rubberband man huffed and hawed from the exertion, but edged his hands upward. "You guys are CRAZY!"

Bear growled as he looked at the Rubberband man, "So what if we're crazy... Everyone is crazy and I highly suggest you not try to run again." Bear rolled away from the man and slowly stood up before looking down at him and Noel. "Now... What do we do with him?" Bear knew his mutation would wear off soon but he also knew he had to help Noel keep this man captive. He looked at his hand and saw it was already starting to swell a bit from the ladder, his fingers also looked a little loose. He felt around at his ribs and places were softer than they should have been, his hand then went up to his mouth so he could check for blood. He felt some moisture from his lips and pulled his hand away to spot some blood.

"No I dont heal... Well... Not faster than everyone else.." Bear grumbled to himself, trying to think of a way to keep his adrenaline going long enough to not collapse in pain and pass out. "Would you mind handing me my knife?" Bear moved over to the Rubberband man and pressed his foot to his chest. "So.. We need you to tell us everything you've been doing the past few days.. There have been reports of a man that could do things no other could breaking into peoples homes and a few businesses. Now, we think this man may very well be you. Admit to it and we'll talk about some kind of leniency."

Bear could feel his heart pounding away, this made him happy, knowing he wasnt going to collapse soon because his adrenaline was still pumping hard. His mind raced as he hoped Noel would hand him the knife he asked for without too much of a problem, there wasnt anything he would do to her more or less he was going to do it to himself. He knew he needed to cut himself a bit to keep himself going but doing it in front of Noel didnt seem like too much of a good idea. He wanted to be able to stay conscious long enough to make sure Noel made it wherever she was going safely, he also wanted to make sure he wouldnt just fall down and die on this roof top, the knife was quick becoming the most important part of the day and himself.

"What do we do now?" Bear kept his foot pressed into the chest of the Rubberband man just trying to make sure not to let him get away.

Now what did they do with him? Noel considered driving the knife down, not into the rubberband man, but near enough to him that it would scare him. Something must have given away her intentions because rubberband man moved back. Nick put his foot on him before he did something drastic and Noel backed off.

She handed the knife to Nick after he'd asked for it without hesitation. He had proved himself. Noel had made her judgement to trust him and there was no reason to change that now. Except that he started demanding answers. "Whoah-hey."

The ground was cold on her one bare foot, but she stepped over the prone man to make eye contact with Nick. "That's not how we do things. It's catch and release. We're not a judge or a jury. Guilt is somebody else's department. This is a bag and tag procedure only." She uncurled her fist from around the tube she had loaded at their last stop.

"So you're letting me go?" He sounded suspicious. Noel ignored him.

"This is a tracking node that can help somebody else prove this schmuck is somewhere he isn't supposed to be."

She knelt next to the man who now had hostile eyes. They may have been letting him go, but it was definitely conditional.

"Ease up your foot, Nick. I need to put this in a spot he can't reach." Rubberman may try to throttle her, but she preferred to put the tag somewhere that they would never naturally notice. There was a spot between the scapula offset from the spine that was really a pain to reach when itchy. To plant to node there was her aim.