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>>"You've caught me; I've never really been a gardener, but I'm a quick learner. Plus, you clearly enjoy it enough to invest in cute overalls, so I'm confident I can follow you're lead."

Cute? Pippa blushed a little. That was the second compliment on her outfit in so many minutes, and Sabine was not that much of a fashion connoisseur. She was used to being complimented by various people (usually when she was dressed for work), but she did not really expect it from Sabine. She busied herself with opening the bottle, wondering why she had come over, suddenly interested in gardening.

>>"I know this may come as a shock, but I've never been big on investing in what you'd call a 'social life' outside of work."

Sabine paused, as if it had been some kind of a confession. It was not exactly news to Pippa.

>>"Considering you've kind of built up that social life from scratch, it made sense to drop by when I found some time. I... I hope you don't mind?"

Pippa blinked. Built up a social life? She had, since she had moved over from another universe, but Sabine didn't...

"I... not really from scratch" she hurried to note. Pop went the cork. "Well, unless you count AJ crashing through the roof. But that was not exactly planned." There were more conventional ways to build a social life, really. "And no, I don't mind. I think I have had all the downtime I can handle in one go..."

>>”If there’s a fight, I’m handling it and AJ is getting you out of here,”

"That is not reassuring at all" Pippa noted with a frown. She did not want to leave Sabine behind to heroically (and blindly) fight off a bunch of goons. She was good at fighting, but she was not... well, a superhero.

AJ had other ideas. Pippa thought he was joking, until Sabine seemed to consider the option seriously.

>>”We could… take a firetruck... We could take a firetruck. We’re being targeted and I should have the authority to commandeer it, which is slightly more ethical than stealing.”

"Wait, you should?" even amidst danger, Pippa was already thinking of the fallout of a SUPER agent driving away in a firetruck from a crisis site. Yikes. Granted, the three of them seemed to be the sole targets of the crisis.

>>”Yeah. I like it. That’s the plan. Lead on, AJ. I hope one of you feels comfortable driving a fifty foot vehicle.”

"We are stealing a fire truck" Pippa repeated to make sure she was on the same page. In a few moments, the truck was already looking in front of them. Oh, lord. "AJ can you drive it?" Because I don't think my feet would reach the pedals...

It had been a strange few weeks. Sabine and Pippa decided to rethink public appearances, since two out of two murder attempts were not a good look anyway. Instead, Pippa was back to more traditional office work, and less time spent around her boss. Which made her feel a little bit useless, and also a little bit left alone. Wasn't her whole job to help with the PR of SUPER? And now she was slacking off... for a good reason, though. At least, both of them staying alive and un-shot was a good reason. She did not want to experience that again.

But it also meant she was spending a whole lot of time lounging at home instead of going out. Right now, she was preparing to go up to the rooftop gardens to occupy herself, when the doorbell rang.

>>"Hey Pippa! It's Sabine. I was just around and thought we've gone a whole month without almost dying. Figured that was worth celebrating with a bottle of wine."

Pippa blinked. Oh crap. She looked over herself. She was not exactly looking professional... or anything like she usually looked at work. She was wearing pink gardening overalls and a white shirt and ballet flats, which probably made her look like some kind of a tiny magical creature. Dammit. And Sabine was at the door with wine. Pippa was not sure how she felt about that, so she decided not to overthink the whole thing. It would have been awkward to say no anyway.

"Come in" she replied, pushing the buzzer to let her boss in. She ran her hands through her hair nervously before she opened the door a few moments later. "Let's try to keep up the winning streak, huh?"

Pippa winced and yelped as AJ pressed on her wound; it felt like her skin was on fire. But he probably knew what he was doing, even if it was not extremely pleasant. It was good to know the darkness did not extend beyond the stadium. So they just needed to make it out there.

>>"She can move. We should move. She'll need an x-ray to rule out intrascapular fragmentation and a hell of a lot of antiseptic. They repelled down from there."

Pippa blinked a little slowly as AJ gave a report on her to Sabine. Damn, that woman had a commanding presence. Or something. Things were fuzzy around the edges.

Sabine took the gun and helped her up, AJ still holding on to the back of her shoulder. They were going to make quite a spectacle inching their way out like this. But at least she could see.

"I could check the gun" she noted as she started walking, trying to not look wobbly. "To see how many people... but he'd have to let go for that."

Sabine laid out the plan. Carrick was offered the opportunity to become a SUPER asset. They had talked about this before; it was still a risk, having someone like this kid officially affiliated with SUPER - but on the long run, it was bound to be less of a headache than a kid with an ankle tracker. And hopefully, he'd learn. Eventually.

>>”Sorta like at the mansion.”

"Less high school, more training. But yes." she nodded.

>>”I like the sound of Asset though. Sounds important, better than Agent. This will really piss off the old man, better than the alternative right?”

Pippa nodded. It was better than a lot of alternatives. Even though she still could not quite believe that she was sitting here, talking a mutant into joining up with SUPER.

>>”Do I get a gun?”

"Yes. Because we really want to give New York City the gun-wielding gryphon it deserves." Pippa deadpanned. She knew he was joking. He had to be, right?

>>"Comms say HQ isn't reporting a random blackout. I think you have the right idea of it; let's just Binge and chill until I'm wonderfully non-threatening."

"I don't think that means..."

The seats shook again. People were still in a panic, but mostly gone from their section, making for the exits, Pippa assumed. Sabine was still holding her hand, which was good, because they were not going anywhere anytime soon. It wasn't a blackout. It had to be a mutant thing.

>>”Pippa get down!”

Suddenly, Sabine's hand was gone. Pippa yelped and curled into a ball, lying down on the seats; she did not dare throw herself to the ground, too afraid people were still fleeing. She felt helpless and useless, lying there with the sounds of a struggle over her. Sabine was fighting blind. Maybe she should be fighting too. But she was not the one yelling. It was another familiar voice.

"... AJ?..."

>>”I think you’ve successfully ruined used clothes for me, Pippa. I already miss living in ignorance.”

"There goes your PR campaign about SUPER going thrifting to save the environment" Pippa smirked. She could have ruined a lot worse than clothes if she wanted to. She could have ruined basically literally everything. People were disgusting.

The raft, however, inflated on its own. Small victories. Sabine helped Pippa down, and she unceremoniously plopped down in the middle, rather than trying to balance. They must have looked miserable, all disheveled in torn dresses, and soaked. Sabine more so than her.

"We look like the worst walk of shame in history."

>>”You know, I’m usually thankful I didn’t inherit my mom’s X-Gene, but now would be a great time to find out I can control water.”

"Your mother is a mutant?" Pippa blinked. That was new to her. It put a lot of things into perspective.