The mention of the X-Men was turning the man around. It was clear: whoever it was the young man was taking orders from, the loyalty did not come from devotion. This guy was scared of the one pulling his strings, and the idea of the Xes running in and dealing with him apparently gave him comfort.

The trouble was, could they contact the X-Men soon enough before this thief decided to cut his losses and run? He was their only lead after all.

Rebecca was not a fan of lies or deceit, but she settled on a gambit, hoping she would not impede on the dark-haired girl's plans. "Well, we may nae look like much, but we are part of th' X-Men Training Team. Let us help." She glanced back at the other girl, before settling her eyes on the thief, waiting to judge his reaction.

Amelia nodded. Because continuing with a lie was the method of the day. And she did train with Gawain, didn't she? Yup. There was plenty of training involved.

The dude did a double-take, then sighed. He smoothed back his hair with a dark laugh. "Figured you chicas weren't fresh off the street."

He was suddenly feeling a lot less pain from the whole below-the-belt hit... they were giving him too much time to walk it off. He was sure he'd feel like hell later, though. That sort of thing brought about all sorts of painful bodily reactions. But would their skills be enough?

"One does not simply nut-punch into Mordor." He commented. "You sure you two can help if I ask? Or are you gonna be all forceful and make me let you." A small smirk oozed onto his face. "Gotta love the initiative."

Amelia almost rolled her eyes.

She did not catch on to the reference to Mordor, but his comments forced Rebecca's skin to crawl, dripping with dirty sleeze. She was committed to helping the young man, but he was not helping his own case. Rebecca's patience was usually impressive, but this man had stolen from her and was now belittling her and treating her like an object.

Rebecca did her best not to get flustered, but replied bluntly, "Well, it's up tae ye, but Ah personally dornt feel like letting ye die."

She looked back to her fellow "X-Man" for reassurance that they were indeed going to do this. The dark haired girl seemed confident with the facade, and Rebecca was willing to let her take the lead. "Sae are we helping ur is it jist gonna be his problem tae deal wi?"

Amelia raised her arms in a shrug.

"I dunno. Turning him in to the police is looking more attractive and more attractive. Maybe we should just cut out losses and turn in the dirtbag."

The smirk quickly faded. Amelia continued.

"... And I'm sure MRC can handle this. If we turn him over to the police, some cute detective will probably be able to pry the information out of him and do everything themselves. If he doesn't want our help."

"Hey. Wait."

"... I mean, really. Who would want help from a couple of ass-kicking girls?"

He sighed.

"Shut up. I get it. I get it. If I want your help, I've got to ask nicely. You aren't going to make me."

"Bingo. You win the prize." Amelia glanced to the redhead. "So, how should we handle this. Waltzing on in doesn't seem as strategic to me as acting like we're a pair of new recruits, and tricking this 'king' of yours." Although, really. Maybe calling the police would have been the cleverest course of action.

Aw, hell. Calling the police wasn't fun. If Gawain could do this sort of stuff, then so could she.

Rebecca liked this girl, who seemed more mentally equipped to lie and manipulate the thief than the naive Scot was. Not only did she sell the idea that they would leave him for the cops to deal with, she came up with a plan that involved subterfuge and trickery. She was clever enough to be an X-Man. Rebecca needed to get her name at some point, but there was no way to ask now if they were supposed to already know each other.

She figured out one way of going about fishing for her name, or at least something to call her by. "Tha' sounds like th' best plan. Mah skirt's already ripped, sae Ah'll dirty up this shirt." Ruining her top was not ideal, but she would live. "Mah codename is Lodestone," she said to the thief, making up a codename she had put thought into at the comic shop. She continued, but looked at the young woman, directing the next comment to her. "Fer th' sake of th' mission, call me Becca." Either the girl would figure out this was her real name, or she would at least have a name to call her by.

She looked at the slimy thief, pointing to the nearest manhole cover. "If yoo're ready tae behave, lead th' way."

Lodestone? Seriously? He tried not to roll his eyes. They would probably not help him if he rolled his eyes. And that was equivalent to them kicking his ass.

Okay. He rolled his eyes anyways. Screw them if they thought they could tame him and break him just because he'd asked for their help.

"Ami," the other girl said. She didn't explain what the hell an 'Ami' was, so he didn't ask. It wasn't obvious like Lodestone. Who really cared?

The thief slicked back his hair and followed through, leading them down the hole. "Watch your steps," he commented. "Oh. And be prepared, because it stinks. You'll probably regret every step you take." He'd gotten used to it. He could deal with slimy.

Amelia could deal with this, too.

Down, they went.

The shady man was not lying; the scent was not pleasant. Well, not pleasant was less accurate-- it smelt like every scent society discarded. Rebecca was clearly put off as they walked through the sewer system, but she kept from grimacing. She would endure what she must for the sake of the mission.

She was totally on a mission.

Now that they were on their way, it would be beneficial to know what they were walking into. The thief was stuck helping them now, for better or worse; if he betrayed them, he would still be out of favor with his Sewer King, and that would shorten his lifespan considerably. "So this Sewer King... I'm assuming he's a mutant. What is it that he can do?" Rebecca was not optimistic, since the thief feared his boss to such a degree.

The thug scrunched up his face as he turned back towards them. "Dunno," he said. "Most of the people who see it don't end up writing tell-all exposés."

So, it was impressive, whatever it was, Amelia noted. "Guess we'll just have to be ready for everything," she commented. God, she hoped it wasn't nudity...

On and on, on and on. As they went, the paths curved, turned, and went downwards. Sometimes, they sloped up. 'Mazelike' was the best word to describe it. If he hadn't been there to guide them, they would have been hopelessly lost. At times, they reached dead ends that looked like they'd caved in. They'd turn, revise their plan. Some places looked like they'd been built over, built around. There were big pools, tiny tunnels. Everything one would expect from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book, and more. It was stomach-turning as much as it was head-turning.

Amelia suppressed the thought that the jerk could just as easily shove them off or get them lost as he could turn them over to his king and get them killed. This could very well have been a bad idea.

But hell. She was the main character. Bad ideas would just have to get out of her way.

There was no reason to be surprised that the thief offered nothing helpful in the way of information, but she did allow herself to be disappointed. The worst situation to find yourself in was entering a room blind to the possibilities, much less a dank sewer.

Ami was handling the situation with what seemed to be confidence. Maybe she really was a trainee? Hopefully she was not judging Rebecca's every move; she would not want to feel all that pressure.

The scent of the sewer never got better, but after a long enough time navigating through twists and turns, it was as though her sense of smell just dulled, giving up. Rebecca was feeling less confident in her guide with every mistaken path and every descent. "Ye sure ye know where yoo're taking us?" There was a discarded piece of metal pipe on the ground nearby, so Rebecca called it to her side, where it levitated. If things went wrong, she was not going to turn down something a bit stronger than marbles.

A glance over his shoulder was all he needed to convey that message that, despite the stench of the air in the sewer, her attitude was what he thought truly stunk.

"Yeah. We're nearly there. Just a few more turns. Keep your voice down. When we get there, you two will want to hang back. I've got to let everyone know we've got some new recruits coming. And some of these people are a bit quick to react when they see faces they don't know down here. Wouldn't want either of you sweeties getting hurt." Even though robbing them was perfectly fine.

One turn became two, then three. Finally, they reached the fourth corner. He popped his head around and held up his hand in the jive for stop. Amelia rolled her eyes.

"You wait here..." He said quietly. The guy slipped around the corner, leaving the two girls to their thoughts.

The journey was not much longer, just as the thief said. (Come to think of it, she never bothered asking if he had a name.)

He told the two girls to hang back until the time was right. She understood the reason for the choice, but it was not comforting to trust that the sleazy man would not just run out and give them up. She took a deep, sewery breath and nodded. "Good luck."

His fingers came together forming a steeple as he leaned forward, listening. Two girls. One lackey. He was somewhat impressed. He'd known the kid was slick, but this... usually, he might have been upset about outsiders in their midst. About the possibility of betrayal, of not knowing the new players or having someone truly trustworthy to vouch for them. But according to this guy, they were really, really, really cute. So he dismissed logical questions and hesitancy, as he was a bit of a perv.

Sewer King grinned. "Bring them to me." He wanted to see their darling faces.

The oily lackey nodded obediently. "Yes, my lord." And off he went.

***

He came around the corner, jerking a thumb over his shoulder back towards from where he'd came. "He wants to meet you," he said. "Don't muck this up."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "What, me worry?" She quoted Alfred E. Neuman. They had this one in the bag.

They waited impatiently until their guide finally returned to lead them out before the "king." Rebecca left her pipe on the ground; it would be suspicious to bring a weapon in with her, but it would remain in her reach where she left it. "Jist keep playing yer part," she warned the young man.

The two girls followed him into the grimy court of the would-be king. Catching her first sight of him, she fought the urge to grin at the Burger King crown. He had a few young guards at his sides, possibly also mutants. She was not sure of much, but she knew she did not like the look he was giving her and Ami. To avoid his eyes, she bowed her head in faux reverence.

Now she would wait to see what he said. Their first goal was accomplished: getting close enough to the Sewer King. There was no real "set plan" after that, so if things went south or if Ami attacked, Rebecca would be ready to go on the offensive.

Both girls bowed their heads. Not bad. Not bad. Sewer King inclined his chin towards the two of them, then jerked his head towards his wing men.

"Avalon. Atropos. Check them out."

A sign of intelligence? Of caution? Nope.The two young mutants on either side smirked little fanged smirks. They approved. One also had a bit of caution, more than his boss thought to exercise. His red eyes scanned the duo. For a moment, Amelia felt hot. He shook his head upon finding nothing, but did not mention a thing.

His twin smiled all friendly-like at them. "So, what are your names?"

Rebecca knew what it was like to be creepily checked out by guys who were the equivalent of sewer scum, but this was the first time she could recall them actually being in a sewer. The whole thing was grimy, but Rebecca kept her head down in reverence.

She caught a brief look at the off-putting red eyes of one lackey before her body felt like it was heating up. Rebecca was not sure whether the heat came from a mutant ability or the skeeziness of the guy, but she endured it and remained with her head down.

The other lackey asked what their names were, but Rebecca was still not a fan of giving her real name to low-lives, and a codename would be out of place here. "Ah'm Mackenzie." Her mother's name was a safe bet considering she was in another country.

She wanted to seem desperate enough for the Sewer King to lower his guard, so she raised her eyes to him while her head remained bowed. "Ah hae nowhere else tae go..."