Money. The mean green monster that kept the economic boundaries of modern society in check with its paper thins walls so few had the courage to try and break through. The poor, the rich, the difference in influence easily marked in the difference of income. Of course there were more things to life then money, but to a teenage boy working three jobs to pay the rent and feed his mother, money, or more specifically the lack of money, stood at the forefront of his mind. Shaun had always considered himself a good man, a man of faith, someone who wouldn’t let the weight of the world drag him down to a level that was beneath him, but what he had planned to day might very well prevent him from becoming the man he wanted so desperately to become. He had never complained about his monetary insufficiencies, not because it didn’t bother him, but because he was the type of person to put on a brave face so that others wouldn’t worry. But masks and morality could carry a person only so far, in the end, when the chips were down and the rent was do all a person could hope for were that the ends justified the means, and the transgressions that come to pass will not lay perched upon your shoulder for the remainder of your days.

He leaned against the smooth concrete of the Starbucks that were scattered across the streets of Manhatten, one hand tracing the outline of the thin silver cross he had wrapped around his arm connected to a long line of rosaries. He had always despised mutants who used their powers carelessly, unnecessarily, to further own ends at others expense. But, now that he had lost his job at the ice rink, and with medical bills beginning to pile up thanks to his mothers recently acquired illness, if he didn’t make some serious money, and fast, then chances were he wasn’t going to have a roof over his head at the end of the week. So, it would seem money, even to the most noble of individual’s overruled morality.

He sighed as he stepped forward, his feet on the edge of the sidewalk as he began to count the rosaries on his arm. One, a large armored truck from a fairly respectable security firm rounded the corner of surprisingly deserted streets, thanks to the relatively slow early morning traffic, a prayer for his contemplations. With a deep breath he stepped into the street, his eyes closed deep in concentration as he judged the distance to him and the approaching truck. He made sure the duffle bag was wrapped around him tightly before opening his eyes, all his dark with determination. Two, a prayer for his sincerity. The portly security guard that had once been behind the wheel of the armored truck now stood, confused and disoriented, at the spot in the street Shaun had been just moments before, and in the seat of the truck, buckling the seat belt as tight as he could, sat a nervous and excited Shaun Doherty, a.k.a Lucky Strike. He slammed down on the gas pedal making sending the truck lurching foreword as it picked up speed. Three, a prayer for his sins.

“What's going on?” came an annoyed voice from inside the trucks back compartment. The second security stepped through the doorway separating the back of the truck from the cab as the truck hit fifty-five, then hit a towering steel street light on the side of the road. The second guard flew face first into the reinforced bullet proof window with a sickening crunch before the airbags went off. Shaun had never been in a car crash, and was surprised at the ferocity of the airbags. The safty device went off like a shotgun, slamming into the side of his face leaving a shiny red spot of polished skin along the left side of his forhead. A few quick stabs with his pocket knife and the bag was deflated, and Shaun was free, if only a little disoriented. He stumbled to his feet as he grabbed the keys to the cash boxes from the unconscious guards belt. Within a few moments he had his duffle bag half filled, he would have liked to take it all, but he didn’t have enough time, closing his eyes, Shaun disappeared from the armored truck rematerializing beside the Starbucks wall where he had been standing earlier. The guard he had switched with was trying to pull his partner from the wrecked vehicle, as a crowd of early birds had begun to form the curious and concerned circle that appeared to be a shared human trait.

He hefted the bag of cash over his shoulder and hoped that the gains had justified the means of acquirement. With the sounds of ambulance siren growing ever closer, he was beginning to doubt that it would. He let out another heavy sigh as he turned towards the nearest subway entrance, and consequently ran face first into a person who very well might change his life for ever, more then likely for the worse.

The had been a boring and weary one, but of course that never stopped Darklight. She had managed to get away from the compound when Avalanche sent her on another recruiting mission of sorts. She was told that a mutant was robbing a cash truck, and she was to catch and recruit this mutant. Great, just what she needed, a theif. Of course, if she so wanted to get back into Magneto's good graces, she'd have to do some more recruiting.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she shadow-ported from her room to a shadowed corner in th subway into town. She made sure no one saw her, and even ifthey did, they'd be too scared to do anything. She always did like that though, it made them leave her alone, just the way she liked it, to be alone, save for her teammates.

As Darklight brooded over this incessant mission, some guy ran face first into her, and knocked her to the ground, luckily the sun created their shadows beneath them, and she melted into her shadow and then emerged from his shadow, as she then stood behind him.

"Watch where you're going will ya." She spat, noticing that this guy was suspiciously carrying a large bag of who knows what over his shoulder. A slender black brow quirked. Perhaps this was the mutant she was sent after. In which case, she didn't much regret shadow-porting behind him. Of course this also made her question. What could he do that was so important enough that she of all people was sent after this guy?

Shaun was surprised enough to have run into some random, and surprisingly attractive young lady, but when she fell into a shadow and popped up behind him....well it was damn unnerving to say the least. Shaun spun on heel, his eyes wide in shocked amazement as he performed an odd sort of hopskip backwards and away from the new arrival.

"What the hell?" he cryed out in surprise, his left hand checking the duffle bag to make sure she hadn't tampered with it. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the battered old bag was just as he had left it. Who was this girl he wondered as he took another careful step backwards.

"Sorry darling, guess I'm to clumsy for my own good," he said with a toothy lopsided smile, as the rattling roar of the approaching train grew closer "Have a good one!" he shouted as he did his stereotypical, and in retrospect rather odd two fingered wave goodbye. He turned on heel, intending to cut this conversation short and board the approaching train. He didn't know how she had, well teleported behind him, niether did he care. Mutants were everywhere, it was only a matter of time before he encountered another, hopefully this would be the last time he ran into her, a mutant who would relveal themself over an incident as tivial as a collision was one he didn't care to associate with. People that careless usually had a reason, and it if she turned out to be one of those mutants who could disintigrate things with their minds then Shaun had a mind to be as far away from her as possible.

Of course, his escape was cut short by the fact that his train, while close, had yet to arrive. As a result he stood there atop the yellow line waiting her his train to come in, feeling very, very foolish. Stupid train taking for ever he thought angrily as he looked over his shoulder and shrugged in embarassment.

She with-held the smirk that was trying to surface when he said that. Well, wasn't this one easily surprised. Slender hands brushed herself off again and gave an embarrassed shrug. "Eh, sorry about that. Hate it when that happens." Her smooth, cool vocals cooed. She was about to say something when he quaintly cut her off.

A slender raven brow arched at this. Her head also tilted as she gave him a strange look. What the heck was his problem? The train approaching was noted, but she just looked at him oddly. Like he was out of it or something. However, he suddenly turned and took off into the subway toward the train.

With an annoyed sigh she took off after him "Hey! Wait a minute! Stop! She shouted, hiding the sheer annoyance her cool, smooth vocals. She actually ran after this guy. What the hell man? Avalanche was sooo gonna hear about this. Damnit. Get back here. She thought as she ran through the seemingly empty subway, which was good just in case she had to use force. Finally she caught up with him, standing at the subway line of tape.

She hid her growing annoyance for this under a cool, calm stone fascade as her firey gold flecked emerald hues looked into his eyes. "Sorry, I hate it when that happens." Great, looks like she was gonna have to put on the 'whoopsy' act. Oh joy. So, in lieu of that option, she gave him a sheepish smile. "Sometimes its hard to control when someone knocks me to the ground and scares me." She said softly, hoping she would have to use force on this guy, of course, she wasn't exactly opposed to the idea.

Damn it! he thought angrily as the girl caught up to him. If the train had arrived already he could have been well on his way back home, with the money, and more importantly away from all the police that were gathering above them. Maybe he should have planned out his escape a bit better. True, he could just, teleport away, but he didn't want to chance teleporting back to his house and ending up inside a coffee table, thereby cutting parts of him off that he had grown rather attached to over the years.

This statement brought with it a sudden rush of guilt, not enough guilt to lets say give her all the money he had stolen, but enough for him to smile apologetically. as he leaned over the safteyline to see if the train was close yet. It sounded like it should have been here minutes ago, but Shaun assumed that sound must travel alot farther down here.

"Sorry bout that dear one," he said, as he turned back to her, flicking his tongue against his teeth as he offered her his hand in apology. "Guess I wasn't paying attention." As he said this he cast a quick glance over her. She was really, really attractive. That much was obvious, of course so was the fact that she was trouble. It wasn't anything in her appearance so much as in the way she carried herself, the way she chased after him. Mutants didn't generally seek people out who had seen them performing there powers by accident, especially with the world as it was. To many pitchforks and torches Shaun mused.

"Nice trick though," he said nodding at her, "the shadow bit I mean," he clarified unnecesarily.

Deep gold streaked emerald hues studied him for a moment. He was a bit flightly, perhaps he wasn't such a good idea to recruit. What if he ran in battle? That wouldn't reflect well on her choice of recruits, but this one, she was told he promise and she blindly went after him, wanting to stay in Magneto's good graces, well, at least get back into his good graces, after how the training sessions went.

She gave a kind of half smile half smirk, as she looked at him. "You do that often?" She queried with a light chuckle. He was awefully sincere and apologetic. maybe he belonged better with the X-Men? No, she would get him, and would let those goody goodies get him, they wouldn't claim another one. "Don't worry about it." Her soft, smooth lulling siren vocals flowed from her soft, lush blood red lips.

She shrugged. "Meh, it's noting that great, well, at least nothing to brag about. Gets me from point A to point B." She said with a shrug. It looked like he was buying this fascade, so that much was good, as long as she didn't have to hurt him, though she wasn't opposed to it, she was fine.

"Really?" asked Shaun, as he glanced around to make sure no one was watching him. The platform was nearly empty, and those that were around stayed true to the unwritten urban social norms of keeping to their own business. With this realization a devilish smile spread across his face before he disappeared suddenly, reappearing instantly beside her. "What a coincidence," he said softly, wondering why she was being so persistent in pursuing him as he checked her out from the back, his smile growing even wider as he did. She didn't know about the money did she? It was only like four, five thousand dollars at most hardly worth stealing unless you were desperate, which Shaun just so happened to be.

"So," began Shaun again, as he adjusted the step of the duffle bag to allow him more maneuverability. "What brings you to a nearly deserted subway platform at this time of day?" he asked. If all she could do was teleport then he was confident in his ability to escape her if the need arose. Teleporting was great, but if you didn't know where you were going it was damn near useless, which made tracking a teleported nearly impossible even for other teleporters. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though, this girl was attractive, and her voice was positively intoxicating. Who knows he thought optimistically, maybe she was trying to hook up with him in her own odd way. Besides, she was just a girl, how much trouble could she be?

"Yes really." Darklight replied simply, watching him with intent orbs. She ondered what was so special about this guy. What made him so special that she had to be sent out to retrieve his ass, which was, slightly attractive nonetheless. Not that she cared, her only objective was t bring him back to the compound so her ass didn't get chewed out by Avalanche, mister big all high and mighty, hah! He was only in charge because Magneto was out. Stupid self-centered prick. Though, he did have his perks.

Suddenly, she found out what was so special about him. Her golden fire emerald hues darted from the place he had been, to the place he appeared, beside her. A wicked grin spread across her lips. So, that was it. He was a teleporter as well, like her, except he didn't need the shadows to do it. "Nice, very nice." Her vocals cooed softly whilst she looked a him. The was dually noted. Was that all he could do? She hoped not, because teleportation was her gig, although she required shadows to do it, and he did not. Whatever.

"Oh, nothing...." She began whilst she positioned herself to face him once more, this time a bit closer since he had appeared that close. "...just out and about for a couple errands, nothing special." She said non-chalantly with a simple shrug. Yea, an errand to catch your sorry ass. She thought while keeping that friendly smile on her lips whilst her deep gold streaked fire emerald orbs glanced at the bag on his shoulder then returned their gaze to hie orbs. "How about you, what brings you out here?" Her sweet, smooth siren vocals cooed as she looked at him.

The slim blonde was starving, worse, Badger was starving. She looked around the subway, looking for something, anything to steal. She just needed to eat anything. She swallowed hard, pushing her hair out of her eyes. There. A man and a woman talking. The duffel bag that the man was carrying, well, maybe it had something of value in it. Even if it was just clothes it would be helpful. She knew that she stank, knew that the delectable odour coming from her was similar to that of wet dog, oil and sweat. She looked down at the mech dog by her side. "What do you think Badg?"

The dog gave a soft whine, and Flux slid the knife out of her pants leg and tucked it into the sleeve of her jacket. She gave the dog a nod. "Chase" she whispered, pulling a tennis ball from her pocket and pegging it. The dog did what dogs did best, diving past the pair, even as Flux ran after, blade ready to slice through the duffel's straps so that she could take it with her.

Of course, things don't always work out well. Instead of continuing to run, Badger turned, leaping up with a very wet tongue to lick at the pairs faces, leaving Flux holding the bag, so to speak. "Ooops?"


ooc: thought I might throw her in honey. She is supposed to get picked up by the b'hood at some point too.

He had always had a weakness for pretty girls, especially for ones who showed an interest in him. So it was not surprising that, as enthralled by the close proximity of this attractive and flirtatious woman, the great bounding beast caught him by surprise. Even though he had heard the ball bounce somewhere beyond them his mind didn't process its importance until after the creature had leapt between them, through the narrow space that required Shaun to recoil so as to not be knocked onto the subway tracks.

Today was getting curiouser and curiouser. He thought as the mangy beast turned on heel and leapt towards him, its massive salivating maw stretched into an odd smile as it came. "Not so fast there Fido," chided Shaun as he teleported behind the creature, grabbing it by the scruff of its neck as he did. Of course, this position not only allowed him to avoid the dog, but also gave him a wonderful view of yet another girl charging his way. Curse my good looks he thought sarcastically as he looked over the new arrival. Unlike the first girl who had chased after him like a bedazzled school girl, an act he beginning to become suspicious of, this girl genuinely looked like trouble, or at least desperate. Neither were states he wanted a person to be in while he was trying to escape with a bag full of cash.

"A friend of yours?" he asked Darklight, wondering if she had been trying to distract him so that the second girl could snatch his stolen goods. No that didn't make sense, they were not only dressed much differently, they carried themselves differently to, and from the look on Darklights face he could tell she didn't know much more about this then he did. Still, Shaun made a vow to ditch these two sooner rather then later. The one was cute enough to be sure, but there were other fish in the sea, and he had his priorities.

While Darklight waited for an answer from this, rather, interesting fellow teleporter, a strange dog came charging at them, tongue ready to lick. She much disliked dogs and rather preferred cats and birds. So, when this mangy beast came runing at them, she shadow-ported out of the way and appeared through the shadow next to the young man she was after.

"Oh great." She groaned distastfully. Her angel carved features skillfully hid the distaste and dislike she otherwise might have shown toward the dog, as she watched him take the mutt by the scruff of it's neck. Her golden emerald hues shifted to a blonde girl that was also heading in their direction. She didn't know her, so that fact that she was cominig toward them out Eva on mod-alert.

She shook her head, and shifted her hues back to him. "Nope. Can't say she is." Her smooth, cool vocals replied whilst she placed her slender hands upon her toned hips. Whoever this girl was, she was in the wrong freaking place, at the wrong freaking time, and if she wasn't careful, then she'd find herself on the wrong end of a few hundred sharp shadow tendrils. "I take you don't know her either." She glanced at him before shifting her gaze to the girl.

The mech dog twisted, snapping at the hand that had it. He was moist definately not a normal dog, for the metal plating over him was organic metal, a strange melding between flesh and steel. He was stuck however, and could only twist and whine.

"Let him go" Flux offered the bag back to them "Please, I'll give it back, just let my dog go" Panic filled her features as she beseeched them "I just wanted something so I could get some food, we haven't eaten in days" a poor excuse, but it was the pne she gave.

She touched the mans hand, "Please, don't call the police:" she didn't know what the hell would happen if they did, didn't know if she would be able to keep her dog safe if she was arrested. Anyone who saw the beast would know that there was something not so normal about the owner.