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How and why did Sabine ascend to some degree of importance in SUPER? This was never her goal and it came with way too much busy work and public relations handling. Who decided this was to be the rock upon which she built her legacy? She was willing to blame Kristoff. Damn him.

Still, she would suffer her position because she still believed in SUPER. They had a murky past and a litany of issues to deal with, but the core of the mission was what mattered. It had to be; she had spent almost half of her life devoted to it. Maybe now she was in the right place, with the knowledge and experience to bring that mission to the moral grounds it always should have occupied. If she was going to save SUPER’s soul, it would take a lot of work and she could not do it alone.

Discreetly, Sabine was working with recruitment to find people potentially useful for her cause. She was wary of who to trust in SUPER’s tenured ranks, so in her eyes, it was best to work with talented, experience agents she had a hand in bringing in.

Agent Kent Beyers, a man of impressive track record and experience, was arriving for his first day with SUPER. Sabine made it a point to be the contact bringing him in and showing him the ropes. To his credit, the man was prompt and from what she read on his face, eager.

Good, she could work with that. Reflecting, she matched his grin. ”Agent Beyers. Pleasure to meet you; I’ve been impressed with what I’ve read.” She stood from the desk and offered him her hand as a greeting. ”Welcome to the SUPER team. Come in, please. I hope the first day jitters aren’t too bad, because I’m not about to waste time before putting you to work.”

Yes, this was going swimmingly. Honestly, everything about this meeting was falling in line with Sabine's expectations. She would try to work her way toward the reasons Svetlana should listen to her. Svetlana would retort with whatever dig at Sabine's moral failings came to mind first. Yes, this was according to the script.

But at least she was being humored, which was the other thing Sabine was depending on here. "The common enemy is bigotry," she explained simply after her order was taken by the waitress who seemed nervous around the obvious tension of the table.

Svetlana folded her hands on the table and leaned forward, because she did want to keep this part of their conversation to a lower volume. She kept this meeting off her itinerary, but in this day and age there were eyes and ears everywhere. She should know. "Some of the big decision-makers from the other side stayed there when the rift closed. As you're aware... their decisions were extreme. Some of them thought it was practical and I did my best to stand by that because I and many of my peers wanted an end to mutant disasters." It was always how Sabine justified the methods of SUPER because no one else was doing anything proactive.

"Obviously, those tactics also appealed to agents with... lesser motivations." Sveta, of course, counted Sabine among them. "Believe what you want, but as much as my mother's tragedy motivated me to push the limits of personal liberties, I was never motivated by a desire to hunt or hurt mutants. Many of us weren't. Anyone in SUPER who spoke ill of our mutant recruits or people like my mother... well, there are benefits to working in a place that includes hand-to-hand combat." Sabine never blamed her mother for what happened to her father. She blamed the world for not keeping her powers in check.

Sabine let herself get on a tangent, which was pointless because Svetlana was no going to believe her intentions. "I've been part of the team trying to push SUPER in a better direction. Voluntary enrollments only. No catching mutants deemed to be a potential threat; containing mutant threat as they present themelves, not before. And most importantly, none of the mad science at mutants expense. I acknowledge this is a chance to be better."

This push was approved by almost all of the remaining board, and they were going to address the holdouts soon, but there was another pressing matter. "As you can guess, for the people who joined because they hate mutants, this news is not going over well. I'm dealing with anti-mutant extremists in my organiization, but they've been literally trained to hide in plain sight. Rooting them out... it has been a challenge."

The transition to this new universe was not an easy one. Sure, the odd political climate here played a role, but that was an external force and Sabine did not blame her problems on those. She had limited control over those. She did have some control over the agents and personnel of SUPER, and they were enough of a problem to demand addressing.

Their new home had a kinder relationship to mutants, even if this was not universal and not necessarily the majority opinion. Mutants lived better lives here, which Sabine was fine with. She always found the inherent second-class citizenship of mutants on her side concerning.

That said, it made policing mutant threats easier. Even thumbing through the history of this world, mutant incidents were common and often devastating. Had even this city gone a full year without some nightmare scenario? SUPER had to adapt to keeping peace while adhering to the social norms of their new home. If SUPER could not play nice, their probationary existence would come to an end.

Sabine would not have that. She believed SUPER was meant to serve a greater good. More importantly, if the organization ended, she worried about what the determined or fanatical members of SUPER would do left to their own devices in a world that did not understand the mutant threat.

The fanatics were, therefore, Sabine’s concern. Some people understood SUPER was not meant to be “anti-mutant,” but rather, pro-security. Others saw mutants as an inherent threat, and of course, saw SUPER as a vehicle for that. These were the people who kept finding ways to cause her trouble.

As a begrudgingly appointed problem-solver of the group, Sabine had to think out of the box, and when she thought of unexpected ways to fix the problems of SUPER, she dove right into crazy ideas.

Calling Svetlana? A crazy idea. It would have been a nightmare dealing with the pretty boy of Haven, but he seemed to be away doing something or other. The person currently directing things at the main Haven office instead was a morbid example of irony.

And okay, maybe Sabine was intrigued. This would at least be more fun than dealing with Devon. Time would tell if that also kept it from being productive. After getting confirmation from Svetlana’s secretary, which had not been guaranteed, Sabine waited in a red dress at the backroom table of her favorite French restaurant. The place was actually out of her day-to-day budget, so it helped having an excuse to pull from her SUPER discretionary fund for dinner.

Sabine did not bother to stand when Svetlana entered, because she doubted Svetlana would accept a handshake. ”Ever the charmer, Svetlana.” Sabine apologized only when something was done for the wrong reasons. She did not see herself as a bigot, so most of her actual apologizing came in apologizing for her subordinates.

”I actually needed to speak to someone from your organization who has the authority to make or consider decisions,” she corrected, pouring and sipping her wine. She had picked out the bottle before her guest arrived, but waited to pour until Sveta could see her pour her own glass. She actually would not blame the mutant for being wary of the wine if she did not watch Sabine drink it first. ”The fact that the person ended up being you was just an added bonus. Congratulations on that promotion, by the way.” The power booster had come a long way since her premature retirement from SUPER. (That was, oddly enough, how HR recorded it.)

Preparation was important. Preparation kept great agents ahead of the game and good agents alive. Sabine had no data for how preparation helped mediocre agents, because they were the ones who never took the time to properly prepare. D9 did her prep work and brought enough to share, making sure Sabine was not in the dark. The senior agent appreciated going into the field with someone who did not strike her as mediocre; there were enough of them around already.

Sabine smirked. ”If Zombies were more widely considered in Schrodinger’s time, it could have unraveled his whole theory,” she muttered, thumbing through the last of the reports.

They were investigating Central Park at night to chase down monsters. It sounded ridiculous, but from what Sabine read about this universe, Central Park was accustomed to hosting peculiar events and creatures.

Sighing, Sabine pulled out her sidearm and ejected the magazine, inspecting it. ”I’m willing to try anything that theoretically might work. With that in mind, I’m requisitioning incendiary rounds. You’re welcome to claim some with my sign-off. Depending on the variety of spooky we’re dealing with, some aren’t fans of fire.” Sabine rolled her eyes. ”Sadly, I don’t think we keep silver bullets in stock and dear God, I can’t believe that’s a thing I seriously considered.” This job was unpredictable and hard to believe sometimes.

”Alright, let’s gear up and move out. We’ve got vamps to hunt.”

Diana was not as inexperienced with woman as Sabine, but she was still trying hard to act confident and playful with Roxie, who clearly knew what she was doing. It was nice to see how Roxie handled her. She felt safe enough taking the risk of being so forward. It was possible Roxie had a dangerous mutation, but she did not have a bad heart. Diana hoped Sabine could take that into account with whatever decisions she made with the mutant.

>> ”Please, don’t apologize, I prefer upfront honesty than trying to navigate it alone. And, really, if any any point that you’re uncomfortable, just tell me. I don’t bite.”

Roxie squeezed Diana’s hand, which was as reassuring as her words. ”Well, don’t rule anything out,” she teased in a breathy whisper, before more genuinely adding, ”And thank you, seriously. Upfront honesty, I can do.” Diana meant it, even if Sabine would make her a liar.

>> ”Would you...care to dance? I think I can break away to share in one.”

Diana looked to the dancefloor. Sabine was not getting conclusive data. No one was starting a fight, so it looked like the night was a wash from an observer’s perspective. Still… Diana was still here, so why let that stop her? Maybe keeping positive contact with Roxie would help Sabine get more chances to observe her further.

Diana would not oppose, of course. She simply smiled and gestured to the dance floor with her free hand, keeping Roxie’s in her other, fingers interlaced. ”Lead the way, hun.”

Diana had Roxie’s attention, which was how she liked it. Maybe she was playing herself up a bit, but she deserved this after a long day. Her boss, Kris, told her she needed to relax and get herself out there, and though she was not usually the one to approach a woman at a bar, she was doing a pretty good job.

Occasionally, Diana noticed Roxie breaking eye contact to survey the dance floor before returning to her. It was nice to see the dutiful security woman was vigilant; Diana would have felt guilty if a fight on the floor escalated because she was too much of a distraction. Flattered, but guilty.

As exciting and appealing as Roxie was, she was still a mutant. Diana had nothing against mutants, per se, but she did know how dangerous they could be. All it took was one bad date with the wrong mutant and you’re stuck with a burn mark or worse. Before moving forward, Diana wanted to be sure she could feel safe knowing Roxie had control over her powers. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sabine was curious about that as well.

The gentle sensation of Roxie’s finger tracing between Diana’s fingers sent her stomach fluttering. Roxie had experience; from how she said it, Diana could assume she had plenty of experience. Was she the next in a long line for Roxie? Was that even a problem? She was there to loosen up, and she was feeling loose around Roxie.

Perhaps not the best phrasing.

Unfortunately, Roxie pulled back and Diana realized she had left the other woman thinking her mutation might be a problem going forward. Diana shook her head quickly, wanting to put a stop to that. ”Oh, it’s not a problem at all. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just nervous. I… well, I don’t really do this.”

Diana took Roxie’s hand gently into her own, smiling. ”You’re making it easier, though. Fun even. Thanks, Roxie.”

The paperwork on Sveta was just fine, thank you very much. It was not the fault of SUPER that they could not test for every conceivable application of someone’s power. Mutations were too varied, which was half the reason they were so dangerous. How were they supposed to test an ability to potentially manifest a latent X-Gene?

Well, in theory, Sabine could test it, but if she proved Sveta’s claim right, that would alter her life forever. The thought terrified her.

But she would know.

That being said, the condition Sveta introduced gave Sabine second thoughts. ”Oh my, you don’t mean… wow, that could get very awkward in the bedroom for you, huh?” She was not an expert on sex, but she was willing to wager a power manifestation between the sheets could lead to a disastrous night and no chance of a second date. No wonder the girl had dating woes!