From the outside the building was simply an old warehouse once used to house bricks while they waited to be delivered too the city when the demand for housing ended so did the building however it was located facing out too the water. However in the past thee years it had been bought over by entrepreneur Antony Garcia. An intelligent investor who had recently opened up a website called Mutant Hunt.com in which mutants were hunted down and killed for a prescription charge. It was phenomenally popular, People even paid to be the hunters in a sick game of cat and mouse.

The warehouse tonight was being used as the location too launch Garcia’s fashion label. The warehouse was converted into a blacked out room with only two sources of light, a huge skylight that had been cut into the steel roof and the illuminated catwalk that would soon host some of the world’s greatest models and many up and coming as well.

The organizers believed the front door to be the only point of access, thus was the only entrance protected with armed guards however with the help of Magneto X had discovered the sewage systems. She clambered through the human waste as rats scuttled around her, she could smell the champagne and cigar smoke over the wretched smell of the faeces.

She climbed up a sewer pipe and into the toilet area of the warehouse, X tore of a lycra like second skin and the smell of the sewage was gone. Her uniform was a simple black one piece her face was visible and a simple domino mask covered her face. Silently she snuck from the toilets into the pitch black room full of very powerful New York socialites.

The catwalk was about too start as X snuck through the room, she wanted to kill Garcia before the show had finished, Magneto told her that she would only have to kill the Garcia but if she wished she could kill some others.

The hustle and bustle back stage was a dull roar but nothing compared to the noise the spectators outside were making. This show was said to be the biggest one of the year and not only because the clothes were amazing, which they were…Vixen thought as she looked down at the deep yellow dress that she wore, but because the designer, Antony Garcia was the man behind the all too infamous Mutant Hunt.com. Of course this infuriated Vixen but in her line of work she couldn’t just not perform at this show, it would seem way too suspicious. The last thing she needed was to be accused of being a mutant especially in the current company which undoubtedly consisted of many anti mutant humans and hunters.

Outside the lights on the runway shined down full force, dipping everything else into darkness. In sync with the lights, a score of music fired up and with it came the first model. Because of the time of month, much of the line consisted of fall colors, deep golds, reds, oranges and the like but since the turning of winter was just around the corner, the second half of the line consisted of more winter colors like cool blues and white. Because of her own skin color, Vixen would mainly be feature in the beginning since those colors went so much better with her skin and only be featured in the second half of the show in the last dress of the evening, a stunning black and crimson dress.
The main of the event went flawlessly, the dresses looked gorgeous and out of all of them, only 2 of the girls had managed to mess up but of course she wasn’t one of them, her passes were flawless and of course drew all of the attention which is most likely the reason they chose her for the last dress. Another good thing, at least for those gathered here is that there had yet to be any conflict there either. With the amount of people here that were extremely important to the whole mutant hunt it was actually very surprising that no one had attempted anything yet. She herself was tempted to do something but not until after the show. She had already tapped into the red around her and had several templates at her will and she would use them soon enough.

The music above changed and Garcia stood, signaling for her to begin her walk. Strutting out, her black heels clicked on the stage, the train of the dress trailing behind her, swishing with her motion. Upon reaching the end of the stage, Garcia ascended the steps to the stage and stood next to her and it took everything in her to not cringe as he wrapped a slimly arm around her waist. Flinching only slightly, she regained her smile and peered out into the crowd.

X watched the show completely enthralled by the parading girls, it was something she had heard of but seeing it up close was something else. There was a degree of exploitation evolved that X could relate too but the girls seemed to be enjoying their walks down the runway in front of the beady eyes of the pitiful humans. X restrained herself as she acutely scanned the room looking for security and noticed some high tech machinery and some hired muscle, more like man-mountains. But if there was one thing X knew for sure was that size was not an issue, when speed was your main attribute.

She watched as Garcia walked onto the stage and slinked his arm around the model, a young black woman. The displeasure was apparent on her face although her micro expression however it was quickly covered up by a false smile, well what a runway model could consider a smile. X gnarled slightly as she did all she could too keep her claws in her wrists as she walked closer too the stage.

Her senses began to react, she could smell at least another mutant amongst the audience of over a hundred, maybe she wasn’t the only one with a plan assassinate Garcia. Not somebody from the brotherhood, magneto warned her she was the only one capable of such a mission and it didn’t seem like the X men’s style to kill in cold blood.

Flash photography blinded X for a few seconds as a tremendous uproar from the audience for the designer as all the models made their way too the runway, now was X’s chance. In the commotion she made her way through the audience, she saw that she had been noticed by several muscular security guards as she drew her claws and made for Garcia stabbing him in the chest with her claws; only to be met with thousands of volts of electricity he had obviously expected something of this sort. The charge sent Laura flying across the crowded warehouse as the audience and models fell in a stony silence.

X recuperated herself her burnt flesh healed, specifically around her hands that had taken the brunt of the assault as several security guards pointed guns at her. Past the guards she could see Garcia push through the models making his way backstage where he would no doubt escape as X fought the guards.

Vixen glanced around, the flashes of the camera’s doing little to her eyesight after such a long time in the business. Letting her powers move a bit, her eyes changed slightly, the pupils moving and widening allowing her not only a larger view of those gathered here, but a sharper view. Allowing her eyes to move, she glanced about, counting the remaining guards that she had been unable to count during her actual passes on the runway.

Only half way through the count though, the guards began to shift from their spots, some even reaching into the sides of their jackets for their likely concealed weapons. She thought her plans had been discovered as they moved closer to the stage but out of the corner of her eye she caught a smaller much more feminine figure moving her way, a death look in her eyes and it was obvious who she was after. Pulling herself from the grip of Garcia she got away just as the claws revealed themselves, pushing their way through the girls skin. Another mutant…with the same idea that she herself had but apparently Garcia had thought the same thing, a shockwave rippling out from Garcia just as the girl’s metal claws plunged their way into his chest.

The shock threw the girl back and immediately she was surrounded by guards with guns drawn, Garcia fleeing backstage and overall complete panic filling those in the warehouse. Looking towards the girl she decided that she was the first priority. Regardless of how good she was, there were too many men and moving behind one of the curtains near the end of the runway and tapped into her storage, pulling from the red she had used in Africa.

In moments, a large black leopard emerged, its low throated growls clearing a path to the girl as the still panicked patrons scattered. Jumping onto the back of the nearest guard, vixen bit deep into the man’s neck, easily puncturing the main artery and before the body even hit the ground the great cat moved on to it’s next victim. Visibly shaken by the emergence of not one but two mutants, one of the guards bolted but the rest, trained for just this turned, half eyeing the leopard, half the girl on the ground. Using her sensitive nose, Vixen was able to tell that Garcia was still here, hidden away. The last thing he would do was leave and possibly expose himself to even more mutant attackers away from his security.

X let out a blood curdling roar as she quickly got too her feet, she was still burnt but she had dealt with worse. She pounced forward and onto her hands following through with a front flip wrapping her legs around the guard’s neck easily snapping it. She then leant back, her claws emerged and dug into the concrete floor as X mercilessly flung the lifeless body of the guard at several of the other guards.

There were ten guards in total; six were left alive and active, two incapacitated due to the dead body being flung on them and two had been mortally wounded. She imagined they knew the risks involved in working with Garcia, the fact they agreed to do so was enough incentive for X to take them out.

Her eyes connected with the Panther, she wasn’t completely aware of who was aiding her, her power was unique unlike anybody currently in the brotherhood. X didn’t speak but she looked directly into the panther’s eyes as if to say thank you. She leapt back into action slashing two throats in one swift roundhouse kick too two of the guards. Four left.

X slashed towards another of the guards but he was ready for her he held a hunting knife in his hand, her claws clashed with the blade creating a hideous screech noise as adimantium scraped against itself. X drew back her free hand intending to plunge her other claws into the man’s throat however before she had the chance a second hunting knife tore into her torso tearing her uniform as X’s blood spilled onto the floor. She was taken aback by the speed and ability of the guard but she recognised him, he was one of the mutant hunters, they all were. Their equipment was all designed to deal with mutants all of it far more dangerous than normal weaponry.

Then it struck her, this was planned. There guards wore small devices on their ears, cameras this was all being filmed and put on the internet, another edition of mutant hunt that Garcia had set up himself, he truly was sick.

Vixen’s dark eyes connected with the girl’s for a moment and she could read the look of thanks in them. It lasted merely a second before both were off towards their next “victims”. Thinking about her powers she realized she would have to stay completely animal, she could not risk exposing herself. Leaping into the air again, the panther’s form shifted, the bones cracking and hollowing out, thick black fur changing into a mass of black and white feathers. The legs that had once held claws turned the back two growing shorter, sporting a pair of long, deadly, razor sharp talons. The front two legs widened and expanded to a massive expanse of ten feet, powering the now giant condor off the ground and up higher to view the scene below but not before raking the scalp of one of the men causing him to drop to the ground, a pool of blood forming beneath him as he bled uncontrollably.

The lids above the beady black eyes narrowed taking in the scene noticing something extremely odd as one of the men trained his sight on her, something in his ear glinting suspiciously. A camera… Letting out an indignant sound, Vixen dove folding her wings to dive and unfurling them just before the ground, snapping her beak at those that past her. One of the guards leveled a weapon at her shooting an odd spherical object that exploded at the last moment, launching a net towards her. The large mesh encompassed her body sending her tumbling to the ground and like her companion she realized these were hunters.

Struggling for a moment she couldn’t free herself from the net in this form and once again shifted, the feathers turning to dark scales and slithering easily through the holes in the net a cobra emerged and Vixen fanned her neck wide, a low hiss emanating before a stream of venom flew from her mouth straight into the eyes of one of the men, defiantly blinding him and if left alone, most likely killing him.

Changing her throat, she allowed a smaller version of a human voice box to form and allowed herself to hiss out a sentence to her companion, ”We need to finish this game and find Garcia…”

As soon as the blade was removed from her side the wound healed, X savagely delivered a swift jab too the man’s neck destroying his wind pipe. X knew it was a painful death that would certainly make him suffer. She leant down and grabbed the adimantium knife. Her eyes darted around the room, the catwalk had completely cleared as people still tried to get through the door. Garcia had not left she could still smell him, his sweat lingered in the air as she slid the knife into her belt.

She calmly walked behind one of the guards who was preoccupied watching the beast change it’s forms, X simply drove her claws into his spine. She withdrew her bloodstained claws as the guard fell too the floor, X tore the camera from the guards face and placed it on her head and looked towards the snake that has doused the hunter in acid.

X smiled, she struggled to find the words, she often did when she was in battle her training required her to make little to no sound however she was trying to overcome it.
“Yes.” She said stuttered nervously, “F.. Follow me.”

Her claws withdrew into her skin slowly as she looked at the catwalk, and closed her eyes, in the complete darkness she could smell Garcia’s distinct odor, it almost relayed a path for her too see as she began to walk, keeping the hunting knife in her belt for when it would come in handy. She didn’t check to make sure if Vixen was following her but she was certain she was.

Vixen noted the slight stutter in the girl’s voice but didn’t think much of it, after all, who wouldn’t stutter in the kind of position they were in? Slithering close Vixen shifted again taking a feline form once more, this time as a lion. Padding quickly behind her she allowed her nose to lock onto the scent that she had found earlier but still allowed the girl to lead, she seemed like she was confident in her direction.

Vixen noticed the fact that the girl had pocketed one of the knives that the guard had used though she was unsure why. She herself hadn’t gotten on the bad end of one of them yet but she did note the girl’s powers which were quite blade like themselves so when this was all over she would be sure to find out that.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she focused her feline eyes ahead again, keeping a sharp look for any nook, cranny, or possible hiding place Garcia could have himself stashed in. It was unlikely though that they would find it by sight, smell being much more reliable especially since Garcia probably hadn’t thought to cover his scent to confuse them or perhaps he was just so cocky that he had truly believed that his little hunter pawns would have been able to do away with them. Her guess was that whatever his thoughts had been, he had seen the result of his arrogance and now was probably watching in fear as they came ever closer to him.

X followed the scent till it lead to a door, apparently the scent carried on but the path did not. “Behind the door.” X whispered too the majestic beast. She simply placed her palm onto the cold flat surface she could feel his heartbeat through the solid steel thumped on the wall as if a huge base speaker was on the other side, but there was something else.

“It’s a trap,” X murmured to herself, she thought for a moment and turned too Vixen, “How small can you become?” she asked as she walked closer too the beast, her skin was slightly bloodstained as she tore the material from her top revealing her midriff completely. There were no wounds or scratches on her skin.

Behind the door she wasn’t sure what but Garcia wasn’t stupid, he would have had a back up, and with the amount of weaponry and resources at his disposal it could have been anything. X removed her mask to reveal the face of a young girl. X used her palm too wipe some blood from her lip as she awaited Vixen’s response.

Vixen turned her head causing the massive main of the lion to fall to the side. They had both come to the same conclusion it seemed and if Vixen was in a human form right now a wide smirk would have crossed her features.

Manipulating her voice box again the lion opened its mouth and a growling voice emerged this time. ”As small as you need.” It was a simply response and 100% true. As long as they were connected to the red as everything was, she was able to tap into its template and use it.

X smiled and cracked her knuckles. She wanted Garcia too know she was behind the door, that he could possibly win this.
“Get as small as you can, he only thinks there’s one of us out here.” X said as she took the knife from her belt and into her hand, “Whatever he does to me ignore it, just make sure you deal with him.” X smiled almost devilishly as she placed her hand on the doorknob and shivered with anticipation. She turned the knob and threw the adimantium knife into the torso of Garcia knowing it would destroy the circuiting of his electric body armour. He was now defenceless.
But X had left herself open and she felt hundreds of bullets tear through her body. She could only see Garcia with two modified sub machine guns as she fell onto her back, she could only see red then black as she lay ‘dead’ on the floor as Garcia stopped shooting.
Her brain remained active however she could not tell what was happening as her senses had all shut down, only a few seconds after hitting the ground her bones began to put themselves back together as her organs began to heal.

Vixen nodded her head in response to her ‘command’ and in an instance the lion was gone, in fact it seemed that all trace of her was gone. From the floor everything seemed huge; the crack that had seemed so small when she was a lion was now a gaping opening. The multiple images that she saw now took in the scene as she moved quickly across the floor as only an insect could and trying to avoid the fire, the crawled up onto the wall and then up to the ceiling. From there her vantage was a bit a skewed but timing it just right she allowed herself to drop from the ceiling, hitting the floor at the same instance that the girl did as well.

Having already seen her healing abilities she hoped that they were strong enough to deal with it but regardless of whether or not it was, it was her job now to continue with their plans. Finally transforming back into her human form, Vixen almost towered over the shorter man and in one motion, she used multiple forms to disarm and place Garcia in check.

Using a prehensile tail she whipped the guns from his hands, sending them cascading across the floor and crashing into the wall. Wrapping the tail around his waist Vixen whipped him around, allowing him to peer into her now completely black eyes. Her hand snapped up, gripping his neck tightly. From her finger tips, her nails extended turning into dagger sharp claws. Digging into his flesh a low growl emanated from her throat as she squeezed, five trickles of blood beginning to flow from his neck.

She wouldn’t kill him, or at least not before he saw that he was useless against them and that the girl he had thought was dead actually was not.

X’s eyes opened, the dim light was blinding to her newly opened eyes blood still dripped from her stomach as her muscle tissue grew back. X found her feet, her balance was off as she found her surroundings and saw Vixen holding Garcia by the neck she could smell his blood in the air as her since of smell returned, shortly after she could hear again his cries of pain and mercy that rung through the air were almost like music to X’s ears.

She cracked her neck loudly as she waited for a few seconds listening too se if anybody was down the corridor, but there were no footsteps only the faint murmur of the hunter’s who were still alive squirming in pain.

“Looks like we win.” She said confidently too Vixen as she removed the camera from the side of her head and turned it too her face, she simply smiled as she clenched her fist destroying the camera in the process. She dropped the remains onto the floor as she popped the claws on her hands, X wanted too say something but she couldn’t find words she always felt the chase was more fun than the kill.

With silence she lurched behind vixen although she was not as tall as the model she made sure Garcia could definitely see her as their eyes made one final connection as she could see the fear in his eyes and smell something in the air that was rather foul, X didn’t even want to think about what it was.

Vixen’s senses returned to their human form though she retained a sharp eye out for anything else the man may have set just in case. The stench that rose in the air was just too much for her heightened senses.

”He was yours to kill so it is only right that you finish the job.”

She said, her African accent still reminiscent in her tone. The man in her grasp squirmed a bit at her words and in response she squeezed tighter on his neck, the still razor sharp claws digging even further into his neck, the blood trickling down her fingers to land either on the floor or on the front of the mans shirt creating a crimson smear down the fabric.

Once this was all over hopefully her mysterious friend would not disappear too quickly, she had questions she wanted answered. Who was she and who she worked for were on top of that list for Vixen knew there was no way the X-men would have condoned something like this, it was not their style to kill…

X nodded and approached Vixen, she placed her hand on the model’s shoulder, “You mite want to look a way.” X said solemnly as she grabbed Garcia by the collar of his shirt. She looked at him directly in the eyes, he looked so pathetic and worthless. A feeling she was once encouraged too enjoy however over time she had lost the desire too see this. She stood hesitant, if it was a simple kill it would have been fine but it wasn’t, it was an execution.

X knew it would be safer for mutant kind of this scum was killed as she drew in a deep breath and delivered an uppercut too Garcia with her claws fully extended, she fatally wounded the criminal as she withdrew her claws. She was silent for the moment that followed as Garcia fell too the floor a mess of blood occasionally joined by a spasm. She withdrew her claws forgetting completely that Vixen was in the room with her.

X grabbed a small device from her belt and pressed it too her face, “It’s done. I’m on my way too the pick up.” She said quietly as she placed the communication equipment into her belt. “Thank you for your assistance.” X muttered as she walked towards the doorway into the baron hallway that had been abandoned at first sign of trouble.