Cashed-In Favor

Chris yawned, stretching slightly as he stood on the balcony of his apartment, a cup of coffee clutched firmly in his hand. Around his wrist, his watch beeped softly, trying to convey an important message to him. Chris continued to stare out into the city, trying his best to ignore it; if he refused to acknowledge it long enough, maybe it would go away. He'd been at it for about 15 minutes now, and the watch showed no signs of silencing its incessant beeping. Submitting to its tiny, inanimate will, Chris headed inside and sat down at his computer, typing a few well-chosen characters. A screen popped up, displaying the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning emblem briefly, before displaying a brief block of text. Sighing slightly, Chris finished his cup of coffee and began to read.

"Fantastic." Chris muttered, getting up to get dressed. "No address, no general location. I got nothing to go on, Professor. This doesn't help either of us." He said irritably as he slipped into a pair of jeans and a white tee-shirt. Checking his watch again, he shrugged and decided to head down the block to a popular cafe on the corner. If he hurried, he could get lunch before it got too much later. Grabbing his keys, he left, locking his apartment door behind him, and heading downstairs to the street.

Just he got there though, four police cars screeched to a stop infront, the police getting out quickly taking defensive positions, weapons drawn. The cafe was completely trashed, windows shattered, seemingly from the tables that were broken amidst the glass. Inside there was more crashing. Occationally the darkened cafe would be lit up from sparks from the broken lights. Inside was a woman smashing up the counter while a terrified man huddled behind it. She was screaming something incoherent at him though.

Chris sighed and assumed his semi-metal form, striding past the police blockade. When the officers turned on him, he raised a hand reassuringly as he strode towards what remained of the cafe. "Guess I found your missing student, professor. See, this is why I didn't join the faculty after graduation... " he muttered as he stepped over the broken glass and entered the cafe. "Excuse me, miss...?" he called, creeping towards her slowly. "My name's Chris... what seems to be the problem here?"

"Fuck off!" She ripped off a section of the counter and threw it at him before stomping through the gap she made, heading for the cashier.

The counter piece slammed into Chris's torso, leaving no visible mark on his otherwise pristine steel skin. He briefly liquified and reappeared in front of her, scowling slightly. "Now look here, lady. You've just gone and torn up my favorite cafe, and the Professor sez I gotta babysit you, so we're all havin' a pretty shitty day. So why don't you just sit your ass down somewhere and settle, before your ass is made to sit for you, comprende?" Chris barked, staring her directly in the eye.

"Who are you to make me asshole?!" She shoved him hard but then blinked as if she was expecting something to happen that didn't. "Huh?"

Chris smirked slightly, noting that whatever she was planning to do fizzled out. "I ain't no pushover, lady." He said, stepping towards her slowly. "As for making you an asshole, well..." he looked around at what remained of the cafe. "You did a pretty good job of that yerself. This'll set mutant rights back another 20 years, y'know that?" he said, folding his arms across his chest. "I oughta kick your ass to the curb on principle alone! But I'm a reasonable kinda guy, so if you decide to behave, I promise I won't hurt you..."

"...Much."

She thought for a moment and then smiled. It seemed like a nice smile but there was something off about it. "Oh I can behave myself..." She walked right up to him, almost leaning into him. That would let him get a better look at what she was wearing, tight fitting black leather pants and bodice and obviously nothing else.

Chris tilted his head ever-so-slightly, scowling a little as he did.

"Exactly what are you trying to pull with me, lady? You come into my town, trash my favorite dive, and then come onto me like I'm the last guy on earth? You need a new playbook kid, this shit don't fly with me." He barked, stepping back a pace or two.

It was mostly true, anyway. He wouldn't admit it to her, but she was kind of attractive in an 'I can break you with my little finger' sort of way...

She shrugged before grabbing the poor guy on the floor. "Worth a shot..." After a few moments the guy went gray, his life fading before Chris's eyes.

Chris growled irritably and forcibly removed her hands from his body, gripping her wrists in either hand. The effect was very much like being handcuffed with elevator cable.

"Lady, you'd best knock that crap off, or I'mma have to knock you out..."

She pouted slightly. "Spoilsport..." She looked healthier for having taken some of the man's life, almost having a slight inner glow.

Chris noted her improved complexion with slight confusion, but chose to disregard it for the moment. "Now, are you going to come with me quietly, or am I going to have to subdue you further?"

She grinned. "Oh please do try to subdue me further. Make it look good for the cameras out there." She tilted her chin twards the front of the cafe where a news van was pulling up.

Chris shrugged and pressed his thumb against the base of her skull, just below her right ear. Counting backwards from five, he slowly released pressure from that very specific point, hoping the intended effect of rendering her unconscious would take hold.

She squirmed for a moment before passing out, going limp in his grip.

Chris, wanting to avoid drawing any further attention to himself, stretched out enough to reach the roof of the cafe, and headed home by way of the rooftops, avoiding the curious and jeering onlookers. When he got her home, he sighed, realising that he would have to find a way to keep her here without interfering with her ability to move around the house. Deciding, he went down to the janitor's office and asked to borrow a length of lead pipe and some chain. Taking both upstairs, he absorbed the pipe into his metal body, reshaping it until it was anchored in both the floor and ceiling of the living room, next to the sofa. Next, he looped the chain around the pipe and fused it onto itself. Lastly, he measured out the chain, making sure it could reach everywhere in the apartment BUT the front door. Once he was satisfied, he cut the excess length off and fused the chain around the girl's ankle, binding her here until such time as the professor decided to collect her.

After seeing what her powers had done, Chris thought it wise to remain in metal form while at home. Setting his watch to bind him in metal state, even while unconscious, he sat down at his computer and proceeded to fire off an email to the professor.

Dear Professor,

I've located and contained the young lady you mentioned. She however, demolished a coffee shop and its patrons before I could reach her. For her sake and mine, please pick her up as soon as feasibly possible.

~Chris

As Vair woke up, she snarled and sat up. After noticing the chain and pole, she promptly went about smashing every single thing in the apartment. She did leave the tv though after turning it on and seeing a "special" report about the evil mutant cover-up and conspiracy with great footage of him taking her out of the broken cafe. It seemed to be the only thing on all the news channels. She started wrecking the kitchen, grabbing stuff to eat as she broke the fridge door off and in half. After she finished with the living room though, except the tv, she went into the bedroom, stole all his sheets and then went to take a shower, using up the current amount of hot water, steam filling the bathroom and filtering out into the hallway from around the door.

When Chris returned from the office where he sent off the e-mail, his knuckles cracked in reaction to the state of his apartment. Thankfully most everything of value in the apartment could be repaired or replaced with a minimum of effort. However, that was entirely beside the point. She had thrashed his apartment to deliberately spite him. Curious however that she'd left the tv on, tuned to the recurring reports of the 'mutant attack on the public'. She was proud of the chaos she caused out there, and evidently, the chaos she'd caused in his apartment too. Putting the refrigerator door back on its hinges, he retrieved a broom and dustpan, sweeping up bits of broken glass and plastic from the various items she'd thrown at or torn off the walls. Once he was done that, he followed the metal chain back down the hallway to the bathroom, where he rapped sharply on the bathroom door with the end of the broom.

"Come out here you delinquent, I wanna word with you." He demanded, folding his arms across his chest and stepping back from the door. As a precaution, he assumed his metal form, in case she decided to lash out at him as well.

She opened the door wearing nothing at all but the chain on her ankle, steam billing out from behind her. "What? I'm not done yet." The shower was still going, though now getting the bathroom wet as she left he shower door open.

At the same time a new email from the institute came.

Sorry, can't get her for a while. Part of the school had a transdimentional accident including the containment portions. I'm sure though you are quite capable of handling her.

Attached was her file from the school, detailing her powers as known and her mental split.

He blinks slowly, shaking his head. "Fine, whatever... finish what you're doing and, for the love of god, put something on. The sooner I hand you over to your zookeepers, the sooner I can get around to replacing everything in my apartment that you've demolished..." he says, blinking as he hears the computer dinging in the office. He walks away and returns to the office, swearing and snarling loudly as he reads the e-mail from the Professor.

"Right you... change of plans." He shouts as he reads the e-mail. "Seems the good professor can't take you off my hands yet. So we're gonna have to get chummy for a while. Also, best not slit my throat in my sleep; that tends to piss me off... Almost as much as demolishing my apartment." He mutters as an afterthought, pouring over the report the Professor forwarded, studying the nature of Vair's powers... and mental condition.

She shrugged as he left, finishing up her shower and coming out wrapped in a towel, dripping on the floor. She passed by him going to lie on his bed. "Whatever....why would you be bothered by me being naked anyways? It's not like you are organic anyways..."

He growls slightly, getting up to follow her, and allowing his metal form to recede back into his natural state. He appeared as he normally did, dressed in a pair of denim blue jeans and a white cotton t-shirt. Organic fabrics took better to his state-shifting than synthetics did, which made retaining his clothes during transformation easier.

"a) I am just as human as you are, debatably more-so, and b) just what the hell do you think you're doing in my bed, dripping all over my floors and my mattress... and for that matter, where the hell are my bedsheets!?"