Snatch and Grab (Open)

[Zodiac]

Alexander Rook, aka Zodiac, was making one of his infrequent supply runs in human society on his way to find the alliance of mutants known as the Brotherhood. He had already made into to New York, and this time he was rather out of his element with all of the large crowds and the endless maze of buildings and traffic. It was a wilderness all its own, and Zodiac could find his niche there and learn to use it to his advantage, but he would never be comfortable. As much as New York was a concrete jungle, it still felt to Zodiac like it was far too much a cage, hemming him in physically and keeping him lost in an inane maze of human artifice.

But at this time he was further away from the dense hub of the major metropolis, instead passing through that strange line between urban and suburban sectors, an area that was hard to stereotype or anticipate because of the bleed-over from the two different subcultures. Given his need to acquire items in a matter that shopowners tended to find rather… displeasing, Zodiac had to grab his things as fast as he could and get the hell out before the cops caught his scent. That meant he needed his targets localized, and that meant a shopping center.

Of course, his hairs started to stand on end if he even thought about stepping into one of this megastructures that constituted many of the shopping complexes across the country. That’s what had brought him to the here to the outskirts of New York, where they had enough traffic flow to justify a major shopping center but enough room to play with their aesthetics. Zodiac always preferred the outdoor shopping centers, where one had to go outside before they could go to another store. It’s why he found himself gliding along on his roller blades through a large but spaced-out crowd, eyeing the various stores and marking his likely targets.

To the all of the passerby, Zodiac was just another punk kid that had dyed his hair blue rather than a mutant, rolling along on autopilot, in a complete daze. What he was really doing, after he’d picked out his target, was casing all the major points in the area. With a hunter’s trained eye, he picked out exit points, escape routes, places to watch for ambush, choke points, and likely routes for reinforcements to arrive. Finally satisfied he had the lay of the land, Zodiac swept around to head for his first target: the bookstore.

The bookstore always had to be the first place he hit, it simply required too much time to browse and find the books he was looking for. At first he always had to hold his breath a little when he skated into the large bookstores that had what he needed. There was always the chance that they would simply throw him out for his appearance or his demeanor… he hated when that happened. He had to grab whatever he could and run… and he’d grabbed a lot of garbage because of it; though it was always still useful as fuel for a campfire if he needed it.

But Zodiac was safe this time, he knew that as soon as the girl behind the counter shot an approving smile at him, her own hair highlighted with bright streaks of purple and done up in a feathery look. He returned her smile with a carnal one of his own, waving to show that he acknowledged her interest, though a little disappointed that what he was about to do would shut down that door. Such a shame.

Twenty minutes later Zodiac walked out the front door of the bookstore, stuffing the dozen – twelve was his lucky number – books into a cloth bag, ignoring the girl yelling at him about not paying for anything. He hadn’t even taken a dozen steps before the security burst out the door behind him, having been wasting time in the coffee shop built inside the book store.

“Hey, stop!” one of the two men yelled, pulling out his taser and reaching for Zodiac. “If you don’t come with us now we’ll ha-.”

He never got to finish the thought. Zodiac’s rollerblade swept up and around in a spin hook kick, connecting squarely with his jaw. The mix of blood and saliva, complete with a couple teeth, caught the other security guard square in the face, shocking him into hesitating for a few key seconds. Zodiac took advantage of the distraction to bolt into the crowd.

The chase was on... and Zodiac just smiled.

[Rapunzel]

Erza was shopping at a shopping center. The usual thing she came looking for every single week. She hated having to spend so much money every much just for one thing. That thing was a brush. Her hair was difficult to manage. That was a bit of an understatement. Her hair was horrible. Sure, it had a natural brilliant red color most people were jealous of, but Erza never cared much about that. She did, however, care about her hair in a way most people couldn't possibly understand. Her mutation allowed her to Manipulate the follicles in her hair, but they didn't stop the quills from growing and the excess dandruff which no dandruff shampoo could cure from coming. It was such a nuisance.

Because of her hair, her hairbrushes broke rather easily. She could buy the best quality hairbrush and it wouldn't really matter. If her hair could break through concrete... well, a brush was nothing in comparison. One day she found a brush out of the thousands she had gone through that didn't actually break so fast, and they only sold it in one store. As it turned out, the store wasn't even that popular. She store manager knew her very well. Even the cute boy behind the counter was there, as always. He was a red head just like her, and he was secretly a mutant. Erza kept his secret safe with her because that is how he wanted it. They were friends, and he was only a year older than her.

"Hey, Erza," he said, "I got your brush ready for you so you don't have to look for it."

"Thanks," she said with a cheerful demeanor. "How are you?"

"Oooh," he said, "I'm fine.. you know... life sucks but that's normal for us, right?"

"Yeah," she said, giggling, "right."

"So did you hear about that incident with the Golden Gate Bridge over in San Francisco?"

The conversation was cut short when she heard a commotion outside of the store. When she looked over she saw a youth running away from two fallen police men with some other person yelling 'thief!'. Even though Erza had heard about the incident in San Francisco, she couldn't talk about it.

"Uhmm," she began, " could you hold that brush for me? I have to..."

"Right," he said, smiling, "no problem. Go do your thing. And be careful....."

"Thanks again!"

Erza ran out of the store looking to where the youth was running. He looked kinda wild and he had blue hair. Erza was a little unsure if she wanted to chase the youth, but she had to do something! He was stealing, and that wasn't good. Besides, she represented the X-men.... in a way. She ran after him and called out to him. "Hey! You! Please, stop!" She probably sounded pathetic. Her voice was pretty small and she wasn't used to this kind of thing. But she had to try anyway. The red head was unsure about using her powers in a public place. She had never done so before and they would know immediately she was a mutant. It didn't matter anyway, with the thing she wore on her wrist, everyone knew that anyway. Mutants were terribly discriminated wherever they went. Making a decision, Erza's hair grew longer and longer and reached forward at the thief and attempted to grab him.

[Smokescreen]

I do so love the city! The small figure thought to herself as she deeply inhaled the crisp, cool, New York air. It was so different from the warmer, more arid climate of her home in Egypt. Everything was different here. The girl had only been in America a few months, ever since she had joined the Brotherhood. Everything was so new, so different, so exciting.

Isar smiled as she climbed along the brick wall of a tall building, staring at the people below. All of them frantically running about, intent on getting to where they needed to be. Every one of them, lost in the monotony of life, falling into the same pattern they followed everyday. Even the ones who called themselves non-conformists fell into a conformity of their own. The girl wondered if any of them had ever truly lived, experienced all life could offer, all the excitement it could bring.

Momentarily, the little Egyptian thought about dropping from the wall in a cloud of smoke, just to re-appear in the middle of the street to shake things up a bit, but then she thought better of it. There were plenty of other, better ways to get a rush and shake things up. Besides, once nightfall came, it would be time for Smoke screen to strike. The young woman smirked at the thought. There was a wonderful motorcycle she had been eyeing for a while now, and tonight was the night it would be hers.

Isar was quickly dragged from her daydreaming by a random commotion in the street below. A boy running from a group of shouting men, and a girl, obviously a mutant, was trying to stop the boy as well. This could be interesting.. She thought as she climbed down the five story building and walked to a dark ally way near by.It just better not interfere with my plans tonight..

[Zodiac]

Zodiac skated between the people in the crowd, the people that heard the shouting and noticed him jumped out of the way, making his flight even easier. This was pathetic... just pathetic! Weren't any of them going to give him any real pursuit? Sure the hunt had gone off perfectly so far, but there wasn't much fun to it if this was the highlight of the whole endeavor. When he heard another voice, a young lady's, Zodiac had to wheel around to look at her, all the while still skating away and avoiding obstacles thanks to the map in his head.

The girl was young, pretty, and slight of build. Though she seemed to be stronger than she looked and she had such blazing red hair that demanded his attention, when he looked at her earnest face yelling at him to stop he found it hilarious. Zodiac burst out laughing, deciding to answer her pleas with a one-fingered salute.

If she even saw what he'd done, he wasn't sure, because what happened next seized all of Zodiac's attention. Her hair, that beautiful blazing-red hair of her's, suddenly sprang to life. It lengthened and reached out for him, numerous strands coming together to function like tentacles. Zodiac immediately stopped laughing, getting more serious.

So she's a mutant too... but the poor thing has no idea what she's gotten herself into.

Zodiac kept skating backwards, swerving in unpredictable patterns to keep the girl from getting a bead on his movements. While she was focused on him, he maneuvered her to someplace he could hope to trip her up. While he was skating backwards, he used his hips and knees to throw the lower part of his body outward, dropping into a skidding crouch and flying underneath a steel railing. If she hadn't been paying attention, that special hair of hers was going to get all tangled up in the steel, giving him the time he needed to get away... or to attack.

Zodiac's predatory grin returned.

[Rapunzel]

The boy was fast. Really fast. And he kept moving around in funny wys in order to try and lose her. Erza could barely keep up with him. She was already starting to get winded. He was laughing at her, which caused her to lose a bit of confidence, and he even gave her the finger! It made her blush. She really didn't like that at all, but she still had to stop him!

Erza's hair spiked and hardened and cut right through the steel, but she made sure to place them down so that they didn't fly off and hit anyone before running on. She just had to keep trying. He wasn't laughing anymore, which made her feel better. But she could hear the people screaming all around, screaming for their lives, screaming to capture and attack the mutants, even Erza. She shook her head, ignoring it. If she could catch the blue haired boy then they would see her as good, wouldn't they? They wouldn't try to harm her. She reached at him with her hair again and tried to catch him, this time her hair moving faster ahead of her.

[Zodiac]

When the mutant girl's hair simply sliced through the steel railing he'd hoped to trip her up with, he was more than a little surprised. He hadn't expected her hair to be able to do such a thing. But it didn't throw him off his game for long. In fact, when he recovered a second later, his predatory grin just returned ever fiercer.

Rook skidded to a stop, quickly reversing his direction. Now hurtling towards the red-headed mutant, he leapt up and landed his skated on her harder-than-steal strands of hair. He used his would-be captor's power against her, grinding up her hair to get in close. Almost on top of her, Rook braced himself and then straightened his legs, leaping over her and landing directly behind her. As soon as he landed, Rook swept his leg backward, his skate aiming to take out the back of her knees.

He was hoping that this hit would give him the critical few seconds he needed to get enough distance to get to freedom. The crowd around them was getting belligerent, hating him for being a thief and showing hate for the girl knowing she was a mutant, and confused about who they should hate more. Rook was hoping to get away without showing that he was a mutant too... that could end badly.

[Smokescreen]

Isar's bare feet hardly made a sound as she crept closer to the commotion. Watching, she smirked. The blue haired boy reminded the little Egyptian of herself in some ways. He was quick, cunning, skilled, he'd make a fine thief one day if that attitude of his didn't get him caught first. At this rate though...Isar glanced at the young female mutant. The girl was trying desperately to stop the boy, but it was obvious she was failing. The Egyptian felt a small twinge of pity for the girl as the blue haired thief aimed to take out her knees.

I just know I'm going to end up regretting this.... Isar inhaled deeply as her body tensed, ready to spring into action. Quickly she launched herself at the two, hoping to knock them into the adjacent alley way. It would give the little red head time to get away from the public eye. it would also give Isar a decent chance to talk to the cocky thief.

[Rapunzel]

Erza flinched as he hit the back of her knees but then was knocked over by something she didn't see and went flying into the alley way. Her high pitched scream did no good for helping her look a little better. No awesome maneuvering so she could land perfectly fine. No, she hit the ground face first. Uncertain of what would happen next she remained really still, awaiting her fate.

After several seconds went by of nothing happening, she crawled to all fours and sat on her legs. She turned her head to see a strange looking woman with weird skin and even weirder hair. She looked kind of... cool in a really interesting way. Erza didn't know what to do next. Should she run or stay? It would be better to run. All those people.... Her eyes began to water up. She couldn't even catch a petty thief! Erza felt lousy and weak and she hated it. What should I do?!

[Zodiac]

Zodiac's sweeping kick hit home, forcing the girl's knees to buckle and making her start to fall forwards. Zodiac planted his other skate into the ground and started to wheel back up, but something caught him from side blind spot, sending him and, from what he could tell, the mutant girl he had just been scrapping with. Being on wheels made it impossible to plant himself, or give him enough ability to keep from sprawling, so Zodiac planted hard against the pavement. But he still manages enough control of his falling body to make sure he landed off-center of his back and not on his arm, either.

Using the momentum of his fall, Zodiac rolled backwards, quickly catching himself in a crouching position, looking like a cat ready to leap on its prey. He quickly scanned the alley, focusing primarily on his two assailants. The one that had barreled into the both of them was a rather scruffy-looking girl, obviously mutant from her appearance, but still attractive in an exotic sort of way... especially to man with Zodiac's powers. She wasn't attacking them, so Zodiac just continued trying to weigh her. The other girl, the one that had attacked him with her hair for no good reason was starting to cry.

"Be silent, girl." Zodiac growled. "I don't want to have to put up with your tears."

He turned back to their assailant, who had remained silent so far. "And you, why did you interfere?"