"Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that slice of cheesecake," I chastise myself, using all my strength to squeeze my ass through the air vent and into the corridor "I mean seriously, I slack off on being an assassin for a few weeks or days... or was it months? Whatever! I slack off for a little while and I'm already putting weight back on. Honestly."

Truth be told I'm probably still the same size as before, I just need something to complain about while walking alone through an abandoned school corridor which is as quiet as the dead. Tightly gripping a single katana in my gloved right hand, I pause my cautious wondering when something winks at me in a reflection of the light.

Silently slamming my body against the wall, I eye where the glistening came from, my breath hitching higher than the Empire State building when my focus finds an empty bullet shell.

"Lillian? Lillian? You there? My boss wants a status report," Colton's voice is muffled and disoriented through the earpiece, my head recoiling at the loud static that accompanied it.

I scowl. "Well tell him if he asks for one more bloody status report I'll personally come out of the building and be sure to fully inform him of my status in a colourful and eccentric report."

The silence is not uncomfortable, yet pertains a certain degree of shock, amusement and bafflement. "I uh.... I'll inform him in those exact words. Oh, and we've run another heat scan of the building. Unfortunately, he's somehow got another hostage. We haven't identified who yet but we do know said hostage is a young child. Possibly between seven and eleven."

My back remains against the wall. "How did he smuggle another hostage into the building? Surely the NYPD isn't that oblivious. You must have picked up on a missing person during your heat scans at some stage or—"

"We've covered all the entrances, yet somehow there's now another hostage and what appears to be another target with the first man. Two targets with five hostages, one which owns an itchy trigger finger. We don't know how the second got—"

"This is a school right?"

The question throws him off for a few moments. "Yes...?"

"Have you covered the sewerage entrances and all entrances that lead to the basement and boiler room through the underground tunnelling? There's the old subway tunnels right? Please tell me you've blocked them off."

Silence.

I exhale sharply. "Seal them. We don't need any more hostages or idiots who think they're smart enough to outsmart an entire police squad and yours truly."

Turning my ear piece off, I meld into the shadows as I approach the bullet casing at a steady pace, only withdrawing from them when I pick up on no movement or sound in the surrounding vicinity. Crouching down, my fingers deftly brush against the cool metal surface, and I can almost hear the gunshot blast from the shot drilling into my ears. Standing up, the bullet case left where I found it, I decide to survey the area.

Shifted lockers. Cracked window. Combat boot scrapings across the floor.

I spin my head around, surveying behind me.

Crooked locker door. Small almost unnoticeable chipped off piece of wood from the bench outside the office.

"Signs of struggle..." I breathe, coming upon a small pool of blood splayed out on the edge of the wooden bench. Running my fingers through it and rubbing them against each other, I pull a Stark phone out of my left combat boot, holding it out and quietly asking "Jarv, set up a forensics scanner and use it to detect traces of this DNA throughout the room and as far as you can currently go. Also identify whether we're dealing with a wounded target or vic here."

"Right away Miss Nightshade."

Emitting from the phone, a blue light scans the DNA splattered across the bench, finishing in under a few seconds and loading on the fluorescent screen.

"DNA sample belongs to a Miss Sophie Dixie. Six years of age, father is Daron Dixie, mother is Holly Dixie. Sister to one male older sibling, Thomas Dixie, and one male younger sibling, Anthony Dixie. Attends—ˮ

My breath hitches. "Wait, hold on a minute Jarvis. Sophie Dixie? Pull up a photo of her."

The screen in front of me flashes to show the face of a young six year old girl, her grey eyes reflecting like mirrors and her elegant blonde hair in waves cascading down to her petite elbows.

Sophie.

That poor little girl has been through enough during the past year, and now she must endure yet another kidnapping. Simon Zackery already put this girl through a living hell, having to watch me break down as Ally died before my eyes. Ally herself should have been enough to mortify her in the state she was in during the interrogation/kidnapping, but me turning dark like that? Simon's grotesque and disturbing appearance? Those HYDRA agents intimidating her so? No, that alone would require her to attend a therapist for the rest of her life, and now she is being put through another traumatic experience.

These two sons of guns are so dead.

"What directions does the blood trail to Jarv?"

"North-East Miss, and judging by the schematics of the school, down the hall, take a left, down another hall and take another left, then there should be the choice of four doors on the right hand side. One, by what Detective Mavericks has described, should have an open door."

My feet have already taken full jurisdiction of my movements before Jarvis even finished. "Thanks Jarvis."

"You can thank me by breaking their noses Miss."

My lip curls almost sinisterly. "Oh I'll do more than that Jarv."

Shoving  the phone back into my combat boot, I lightly jog down the hall, taking two lefts until I reach the hall with the open door on the right hand side. Once again melding into the shadows, my ski mask and hair cloaking my face, I creep closer to the door, listening intently to the conversation exchanged between what I presume to be the two criminals.

"Come on Summers, do what your name sake suggests and create 'havoc'. Why do we need to sit about idly and wait for this assassin to come around? Just kill them and be done with it." That voice wasn't male.... That was female.

"I swear Fingers, if you keep pressuring me to kill these people and disobey the boss' commands one more time, the only havoc I'll be wreaking upon anyone will be on you." That was male, no doubt about it. Not rough or aged, so a young man. Keen to please his boss, and apparently has the alias 'Havoc'. Havoc.... Why does that sound familiar.....

"Empty threats Summers, you don't have it in you." Her voice is stoic, no emotion. She knows how to get things done but is impatient. Certainly a downfall.

"You have no idea of the capacity of my abilities Fingers. My capabilities are higher than you think." Havoc.... It is on the tip of my tongue....

"Alexander Summers, also known as Havoc. Mutant, age 27, member of the Brotherhood of Mutants run by a mutant named Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto—"

"Shhh Jarvis!" I whisper-yell, struggling to turn the Stark phone off within my combat boot.

"Shhh Summers, did you hear that?" Dammit Jarvis.

"I think I did. Scout the corridor Fingers."

Panicking, I'm quick to survey my surroundings, smirking when I find the ideal hiding spot.

A woman whom I presume to be Fingers sneaks out, looking up and down the hallway of the school. Her greying blonde hair is neatly up in a bun, reminding me of a library lady, yet her tentacles bring out the colour of her—

Hold on a minute..... Tentacles?

Not octopus tentacles, but more so along the lines of squid tentacles accompany her human arms and legs, parts of her skin completely normal until they flash transparent like a jellyfish. Great, two mutants who work for a higher man, one who has an extra four tentacles on each side as well as two feeding tentacles, adding to a total of 10 tentacles and her arms and legs, and the other mutant is Alex Summers who I was sure was with the X-men last time I saw him. Make your bloody mind up Alex. At this rate though, I suspect everyone and anyone is working for this Amos guy, so my best guess, he's the higher man. If not, then Magneto.

Fingers walks a tad further down the hall, looking around more for the source of the noise, so I take my chance to jump down from my position hiding above the lockers and slip through the small window above the music room door, Alex not even allowed a moment to blink or gather his thoughts before I've shot my hand out and sent a small hurricane of wind in his direction. The air hits him square in the chest, inducing him to drop his gun in shock from the recoil and send him flying into a drum kit.

"Mmhh!" A muffled voice shouts out, and I turn to see little Sophie squirming in her binds with her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth secured by a gag. When I come to notice she's trying to gesture behind me, I've already been flung into a box of percussion instruments by a slimy tentacle.

"You didn't think it would be that easy did you Nightingale?" Fingers sneers, even her teeth appearing out of the ordinary.

I use my thumb to wipe a stray drop of blood coming from my lip as I leisurely stand. "Oh please Squidward, I'm just stretching."

My right hand reach to grab a katana from my back, I run and slide on my knees as I limbo under a tentacle attempting to fling me to the side again, slicing the katana against the tentacle as it swiped overhead. One long tentacle drops to the floor as the mutant screams, blue blood squirting from the severed tentacle stump and the cut off tentacle squirming like a grotesque blue worm on the floor.

Not failing to miss a beat, I click my fingers and ignite Alex's hair on fire as he stands up from his position in the drums, distracting him while my occupied hand swings again to slice a feeding tentacle off the female mutant. Whilst that one drops to the floor, she scowls and turns invisible, inducing me to shoot my hand to the floor and cover the entire floor with a thin coat of ice.

"Let's see you walk around without me knowing now Calamari." Yeah okay, not my best nickname but I'm in the middle of fighting two mutants. They're harder to fight than super heroes so cut me some slack.

When a crack so small it's almost unnoticeable forms in the ice a few feet to my left, I throw the katana in my hand in the general direction of the crack's source, yet when she's become opaque again, she seems to have caught my katana with another one of her tentacles, two on her right side flying and attempting to grip my ankles but I flip into the air and gracefully land on the teacher's desk.

Then it gets even more exciting.

She freaking teleports!

TELEPORTS I TELL YOU!

One minute she's standing a few meters in front of me with a look so smug it could rival Tony's then poof! She's behind me! I call a redo.

Her tentacles wrap around my entire body, tightening in attempts to make me pass out. Well, I hope she's only trying to make me pass out.

Heating my entire body up, fire almost lights everywhere on my skin but Fingers apparently has the decency and initiative to release me before she really does burn herself into calamari rings. I use my forearm to slice yet another tentacle off, considering my new suit has gauntlets which possess razors sticking up on each side.

I form a small tornado with the flick of my wrist in the classroom, sending it to engulf Alex who only just managed to put the fire out on his head. Him I constantly need to keep preoccupied because heaven forbid how long I would survive against his powers.

The tornado then creates a small hole in the far wall, exposing the music room to the crispy, chill winter air of New York. The tornado flicks him onto the street, the NYPD on him quicker than flies to a horse's... well... you know.

Turning back to Squidward behind me, she yet again flings a tentacle at me but I duck under and flip off the table, my hand pushing off against the back of the chair that one of the hostages are tied to when I start falling to the floor head first then spinning and landing in the centre of the room.

"You're a handful," she snarls, causing me to shrug as I pant a bit and nonchalantly reply with my hand on my hips "Says the woman with 14 arms. Oh wait.... its 11 now right?"

She growls, all of the tentacles flying towards me and—

They're tied together... by a spider web....?

True to his name, the Spandex king comes a swinging in in all his red and blue glory, shooting webs and tying Squidward Tentacles to the wall and various instruments in the room.

I raise a hand as if I'm in a class room. Well I am, but I mean as If I'm in the middle of a lesson and— you know what? I think you get the idea. "Hey um Bug boy? You do know she can—"

She teleports outside, using her tentacles to slide down the side of the school into the courtyard. I sigh, staring out as I teeter back and forth on the edge of the room, the super hero known as Spider-man jogging to stand beside me.

"Great, now I have to knock her out from here," I exasperate, throwing my hands up but commanding the grass and earth below to shake and cause her to stumble. Rocks and large chunks of earth rise and break from the floor of the courtyard, the grass giving way to the assault of the earth. They swarm around Fingers like the tornado from before, and during her distraction, they all fly towards her at once and knock her straight to unconsciousness, her beaten and tired figure collapsing to the floor while Alex admits his own defeat to the officers currently reprimanding him.

"Well that was quick," web-head observes, inducing me to snort.

"For you it was. Now, where did she throw my katana..." I glance around, suddenly remembering the tied up hostages. "Oh that's right! Bug boy, little help here?"

As we untie all six hostages, Sophie collapses into a heap in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Sniffling and nuzzling her face into my neck, her words are hardly audible when she says "Why won't anyone leave us alone?"

I pat her head soothingly, lulling back and forth as I becalm and hush her. "I don't know sweetie, I don't know."

Guiding the hostages including Sophie outside, Colton appears to be talking with his boss but gives me a thankful look and a wink for the getting the job done, just as Spider-man approaches me. "Sorry I was late. Was in the middle of grocery shopping for my aunt when I heard. Somehow hearing that you were hear made me all the more eager to come."

"Well I've heard many things about you Spandex-spider; getting bit by a radioactive spider must have hurt like a female dog."

He shrugs. "I would have gone for twenty wasps but yeah, that's good too."

"We have a lot of supers helping us with our current threat," I state, changing the subject "it wouldn't hurt to have one more."

I can almost see his eyebrow rising behind his mask. "Me? We just met and you're completely chill with me helping?"

I cross my arms, shrugging as he did before. "He's a threat to everyone and as far as we know, there's a traitor in our midst and he's got not only some of the world's deadliest criminals but controlling a few supers of his own. At the moment, you're more trustworthy than the majority of my team. Doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on you."

He rubs the back of his neck in consideration, glancing around then deciding "Sure. I always thought Captain America was like the coolest guy on earth. Now I get to meet him."

I smirk. "Great, then we'll—" I pause mid-sentence, groaning when realisation hits me. "I left one of my katanas in the music room, be right back." He nods, waving me off and helping a hostage into an arm sling.

Jogging back into the building and up a couple of staircases, I turn a few hallways with a certain degree of impatience before finally reaching the music room. "Where are you...." I mutter, scouring the room.

"Looking for this?"

I spinning, I face Colton who has his playful smug look on his face, swinging the katana back and forth. Grinning, I begin to approach him and tease "Colton you idiot give that ba—" I interrupt myself, again.

His original trademark grin turns to something more along the lines of a dark smirk, like a predator playing with its prey. "You just had to take down two of Erik's finest mutants, didn't you?" He almost angrily says, dragging out each word and step he takes like a cliché villain.

"You know, today was supposed to be the end of my charade. I could stop pretending to be the good cop working in the precinct and saving people, being a person. You had to ruin it though, didn't you?" His grip around my katana tightens.

"They were supposed to dispose of you. No one can so easily take down Ms. Fingers and Havoc like you just did. You are constantly surprising us though, aren't you Nightshade?" His words turn darker, more sinister by each syllable.

"Amos just can't seem to get his grasp around your pretty little neck. He wants to help you, you know. He has big plans for you, and that dagger that belonged to your weasel of a father," he spits the last word out like a snake would do with its venom, stopping his circling to do so.

I snort. "So... you're the traitor?"

He presses my sword against his lips as he laughs; bringing it down again as he sarcastically congratulates "Very good Nightshade. You know, it was quite enjoyable hearing about your team mates turn on one another with such ease. Given even the smallest reason, they will take it just so they can be at each other's throats. You, you I did not expect."

"You came to me for help. It would have been smart, if I wasn't playing for the other team. But it just so happens I am, which is a shame on your behalf, because I kind of started to like you."

Playing along for now, I decide to point out "I'm kind of taken, but there is something I'm curious about."

He gestures for me to continue. "Shoot."

I analyse his stance. "You're a mutant, I've gathered at least that much. A mutant who's in the Brotherhood of Mutants and currently working for Amos. Beforehand though, when you were looking over my data.... You said that the person who had to be the traitor had to be female. So unless you had a sex change, you are clearly not female."

He smirks, chuckling malevolently. "Oh dear Lillian," he starts, until his skin and body flashes blue, morphing into a blue skinned mutant with slicked back red hair, eyes as yellow as two polished gold coins and an entrancing arrangement of markings which remind me of a Frost Giant scattered across her whole body "hasn't your dear old friend Charles ever told you about his long time sister? Mystique?"

Well.... I'm not too sure what to say here right now....

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