At 11:15 AM the Liberty Savings and Loan of Dallas, Texas was a dull place. Four of the nine teller windows were closed and only seven people occupied the space between velvet ropes originally designed for more than thirty. More trickled in, but most stopped in the vestibule to use an ATM to conduct their business; standing in line at a bank was becoming as old fashioned as having a newspaper be your primary source of news—if it wasn't already. The people waiting patiently in line were mostly senior citizens except for a woman standing in the middle of the line, in front of an elderly brown skinned man and behind a woman with wispy gray hair.

What the hell is taking the lot of you so long? I'd rather not have to step over a dusty corpse to get to the teller.

Work on that power, Ash. We're already in the building. Jason is in the hoodie at the ATM, Langston is in line behind you and I'm walking in now.

At 11:17 AM a man with a blazer and a pair of loafers made his way into the bank and offered a soft smile to the security guard. The natural movement of his eyes across the bank brought a second guard standing behind the line to the tellers. Both were armed and both were sporting a bright orange logo with a red border showing off which security company they were contracted from. A tucked in button down shirt and a tie meant that the man was disregarded as a threat, even as he reached into his pocket and fumbled around for a few seconds. He retrieved an envelope from the pocket and took a peak inside. It was filled with pieces of paper that gave the impression that a thick bundle of bills was inside.

Haven't learned to put everyone to bed yet, have you?

No.

Work on it. This telepathic link up is cute, but we're gonna need more if we want to really get into some bankroll building. Send the left teller to the back and get rid of the security cameras. Once she's out of the picture I want Jason to jump on the guard by the entryway and Langston to drop the mook in back. I'll get the vault. Everyone clear?

Got it.

Yep.

Not a problem.

The raven haired beauty standing behind bullet resistant glass smiled at the elderly man standing in front of her and then promptly turned away from him and began to walk into the back. The man, confused, began to protest her sudden dismissal of his needs but she didn't hear him. Claire, the bank teller, moved around the back area as though it were her first time. She dismissed confused looks with an enchanting smile and eventually worked her way into the small security office where a third armed guard was located.

"Uh, something wrong?" The security guard turned in his swivel chair and stared up at the teller. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"Remember you asked me about drinks after work?"

"Well, yeah," The guard shifted a bit then decided to stand. "Change your mind?"

"No," Claire reached for the guard's holster, defeated the two pressure points and alleviated the glock from his possession. In a heartbeat she drove the butt of the pistol down against the guard's nose. She repeated this until his nose was a broken mess of cartilage and blood and consciousness had left his body.

Cameras are in our control.

Wunderbar.

"All four tangos are in the building—any movement inside?"

"Negative. They're standing around.. almost look like they're regular patrons. Wait one,"

Laying prone on the top of a building across the street were three individuals in street clothes. The presence of near invisible ear pieces and a handful of other high tech gadgets placed them well above local law enforcement and a few notches above federal authorities.

"Well?"

"Pulse is coming through," Six hundred miles high in low Earth orbit, a satellite fired a pulse undetectable by normal human senses. What exactly the pulse was comprised of, whether it was some type of radiation or light, was wholly unknown to the team on the ground relying on it. All that mattered was the instantaneous map that appeared on a tablet computer in their navigator's hands. "Teller took out the guard in the security room, they're making their move. Why didn't we grab them before this, again?"

"Because they haven't done anything wrong until right now."

"They've probably got stolen goods back at their places, we could hold them indefinitely over gross misuse of their powers."

"There's so much hypocrisy in this conversation I wouldn't know where to begin. Take it up with the big guy when we get back," The man pulled himself up from his prone position and shook his head. "Pipe, stay top cover. Any of these punks make it out of the bank you put them down. No fatalities unless they don't give you any other options."

"Roger," Pipe, a tall, lanky sharpshooter flipped the safety off on his rifle and set his eye against the scope. He was located on a roof two buildings over.

"Vector, get the suppressors in place and be ready to fire. They've got at least a twenty ton class heavy in there. That's your man, Ugly."

"Which one is it?"

"Unknown at this time. Either one of the adolescents. Preliminary reports lead us to believe it's the boy in the hoodie. When you take him down, take him down hard. Brawlers don't know when to quit."

"Roger," Ugly was, in fact, not ugly. Not by his own personal estimations, anyway. His call sign was derived from the exoskeleton attached to his six foot seven inch, three hundred ten pound frame. It was not of the sleek, sexy styling of an Iron Man suit and it wasn't supposed to be. It was designed to be wearable in a public situation without bringing attention to the wearer. An Iron Man or War Machine suit would stick out tremendously. As it were, Ugly only needed a trench coat one size too large to cover up the contraption that gave him the ability to level city blocks.

"Town, Reptile and I will be the main assault team. Tango 2 is a telepath, but is of no concern. Her powers aren't strong enough to break through standard psi-shielding,"

"Yet," Reptile shook her head. "Count your blessings on that."

"Still think we should be calling in an entire battalion for this, Battery. You never know when a mutant is going to manifest some world breaking powers and put the entire world on edge." Vector shrugged and reached for a bag to start setting up the power inhibitors.

"Hook up," A hook was fastened into the roof of the building so rappelling down the building was possible. "The reason we don't have a helicarrier hovering above us is simple: we don't give the rogue elements a reason. We're barely on speaking terms with the official X-Men, can you imagine what Scott Summers would do with a video of a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force taking down a sixteen year old mutant? I can. That's why we don't have on those tight uniforms you like so much. That's why we do this quietly. I don't want red beams up my ass and a lightning bolt down my throat. Got it?"

"Roger," Vector nodded.

"Don't kill him!" Wanting to strangle Jason with his tie had become a recurring fantasy in Tyler's mind. He had watched the boy grab the guard's gun and crush it between his index and pinky finger before punching him in the face. It looked like the type of a jab a boy threw at his father after watching his first boxing match, but the result had been horrific. The guard was lifted off of his feet and sent careening into the ATM machine, where his body crashed in a heap of broken bones and internal bleeding. "Jesus Christ, what have I told you about your power? You can knock over a building, what do you think happens to flesh and bone when you hit it?"

"I-I-I.. d-didn't hit him that hard!"

"Look at him! He's dead!" Tyler screamed even louder internally. "Go get the vault door off. Go!"

Jason didn't even look at the mangled body and took off for the vault. He passed by Langston who had simulated drowning on the guard he was assigned to take care of. He envied Langston and the control he showed over his powers. A bottle of water to Langston was a weapon; he manipulated the flow with a flick of his finger and had sent it into the guard's nostrils and down into his lungs. Once he was disabled Langston used a zip tie to keep the man subdued.

"You shouldn't yell at him like that, Tyler. He's just a boy,"

"Ashley, if I wanted your opinion on how handle a moron I would have asked for it,"

"The fact remains that you've become more like an angry step father than the mentor you promised to be for him. How long before he goes wild and starts smashing up houses? Children have tantrums. His tantrums attract the wrong attention—you think he'd last under interrogation? He'll give us up in a heartbeat. Be nice to him, if only outwardly. Fake it if you must."

Tyler grunted then relented. "Fine. Let's go."

Langston hopped to his feet and followed behind Ashley who was behind Tyler. There wasn't any need to deal with the mass of senior citizens, none of them were in any position to prevent what was happening. When the group reached the back of the bank they found Jason standing in front of massive fifty thousand pound vault door. A few well placed, block shaking punches provided enough finger space for him to form a grip and begin to pull the door open. The groaning of composite materials and metal breaking under the sixteen year old's strength was unlike anything he had ever heard before. Each and every mechanism was defeated by sheer strength, providing entry for the group.

"Good job, Jason." Tyler tapped the lightly exerted adolescent on the shoulder.

"Thanks.."

"Mind getting the gate?"

Jason nodded and stepped into the vault where there was still one layer of protection left. The vertical steel bars reminded him of every last depiction of prison he had ever seen. Who traps money? Ashley answered the question in his mind, People who have too much of it, love. Once the gate was was open the entire group was inside and Langston unfolded a pair of duffel bags.

"We should have brought more." Langston began to reach for the plastic wrapped bundles of hundred dollar bills. "Look at all this money."

"It's not like Jason couldn't carry it all," Ashley agreed.

"Not the point," Tyler started to pack money as well. "We only take as much as we need to get the second phase off of the ground. We're not going to be bank robbers for our entire lives, got it?"

Jason and Langston had yet to hit eighteen and didn't think much past today or themselves. Ashley just wanted a bit more change to weigh down her purse. Tyler on the other hand was thinking five, ten and even fifteen years down the road. A few good investments, maybe start a venture capital company—he wouldn't have to work another day in his life. If the rest of the group wanted to follow that was fine with him, if they wanted to blow all of their money and have to resort to this all over again then that was their problem.

"Bags are full," Langston zipped up both bags and handed them off to Jason to carry.

"Good, let's get the hell out of here. Fear only works but for so long. I'd rather not have to render the bank tellers unconscious."

"They're on the floor curled up in the fetal position." Ashley stepped out of the vault first. "As we left them."

"Good. Everyone remember where they're going?"

The group nodded and fell into line behind Ashley.

"Good."

"Wait, I can't feel the—"

A dart delivering antipsychic sedatives was lodged in Ashley's neck. She pulled it out immediately but what had made its way into her blood was enough to suppress her powers for at least thirty-six hours. She took a step forward, involuntarily wiggled her heel out of her shoe and fell to the ground in a heap. Ahead of her on either side of the hall were masked faces wearing a mix of leather jackets, denim jeans and boots. One was putting away what was obviously a dart gun to replace it with a steel pistol.

"Tango 2 is down!"

Battery shifted around the corner and tucked away the tranquilizer gun and yanked out his slimmed down carry 1911. "Put your nose in the floor and your hands behind your head!"

Formalities. Everyone on both sides of the confrontation knew that no one was going to be laying down and giving up. The two young boys on the other side were utterly confused, whereas the lone standing adult was fully aware of what was happening. His only question was which agency was coming after them and at what point had they been discovered. Battery shouted again, Lay down on your stomach and put your hands behind your head.

"Reptile!"

"On it!" A small canister was pulled from her waistline. The pin dangling at the top was pulled and the canister itself was chucked down the hallway where the three remaining tangos were still standing. Green gas began to spray from the top of the canister and enveloped the area just outside of the vault. "Ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven.. negative. No effect. Gas is ineffective."

The green gas swirled for four seconds before it went directly back into the canister. Langston scooped up the canister and tossed it back down the hall where he released the contents among their attackers. The gas was kicked away immediately and the group disappeared around the corners long enough for them to fix breathing masks on themselves. The seniors in the front of the bank and the tellers were all rendered unconscious in a under ten seconds.

"Jason drop the bags and give them hell. Langston, get the water out of the sprinkler system and get us the hell out of here. Now."

As ordered, Langston began to manipulate water that would have been used to put our fires. The pipes that led to the sprinklers began to hemorrhage water until the walls that contained them gave way. A torrent of water was manipulated in the air and used to punch a hole through a wall that was not shared with the vault. Office space was covered in soaking wet debris as Langston punched one hole after another until glass windows shattered and the final hole gave way to the street on the north side of the bank. Jason's job was just as violent, but he was instructed to bring harm to people rather than inanimate objects.

"Tango 4 and 1 making their way north," Battery informed the team members not inside the bank. "Ugly get your ass up here. Heavy is confirmed as Tango 3. Jesus—"

Jason ripped the vault door off and hoisted it above his head. The area was not designed with the door doing anything but swinging open and close, thus merely maneuvering it caused Jason to crush walls on either side as he stepped towards the group of gun-toting, gas-hurling assailants. With one great heavy he hurled the fifty thousand pound monstrosity through the bank, shattering light fixtures, banking stations, walls and everything else in sight until it crashed across the street in a minivan. A fire hydrant was knocked out of place, sending water into the sky in a voluminous geyser. The aftermath looked distinctly like an IED in Battery's eyes. People were shell shocked, the surroundings looked completely different and a few inches in the wrong direction could have meant death.

"Ugly, your ass up here and get this kid away from populated streets."

"Moving," Ugly stripped off his coat and sprinted towards the bank. With the exoskeleton he topped out at seventy six miles per hour before crashing through the bank and lowering his shoulder into the teenager. The sound of their contact made the assault team's ears ring while the expenditure of kinetic energy knocked them off of her feet. Two hundred feet away Pipe felt his bones ache as the shock wave reached him and shattered the glass on his scope. Windows exploded in what would later be observed in a twenty mile radius.

"Pipe do you have eyes?" Jesus Christ my ribs. Battery stood up, dizzy, and leaned against what was left of a wall. "Vector what happened to those god damn inhibitors?"

"The wave shattered my scope. 4 and 1 last seen moving north bound." Pipe went through the process of removing the scope from his rifle as quickly as possible only to find that the wave had shattered his spare as well. The rifle was placed in a bag, zipped up and tossed over his shoulder. A quick rappel down the roof onto a sidewalk littered with glass and he took off, boots crunching every step of the way. "In pursuit!"

"Tech fails in the field, you know that. Local law enforcement is on its way, we need to wrap this up fast, Battery."

"Reptile, Town—sound off. Vector get Tango 2 before the cops get here."

"We're good," Reptile coughed, but gave a thumbs up.

Town did the same. "They're on their asses too, we can catch up."

Battery stood up and checked his pistol then did a quick scan of the outer room where the seniors had been on the ground. If his ribs ached he could scarcely imagine the pain they were experiencing, but they were not the mission. Once the entire assault team was on its feet, the group took off through the massive holes in the walls that went through the offices and eventually out onto the street where they removed their breathing masks. A quick assessment of direction and the group took off north in the direction Pipe had directed them.

"Contact front!"

A silver German four door sedan came careening horizontally at the hard charging group. Battery slid as hard as he could while Reptile and Town ducked into a roll. The car flew over their heads and slammed into five parked cars until it came to a screeching metal halt down the block. Two street lamps were destroyed and an automatic walk/don't walk sign was obliterated. Ahead of the trio was Langston—Tango 4—pulling water out of the sewer to weaponize. Tango 1 was standing just behind him, screaming. Battery brought his pistol to bear and aligned the sights with Tango 4's leg. His finger was still extended over the trigger guard.

"Don't do it, kid! It's not worth it!" Reptile was standing, her own pistol, a glock, aimed at the adolescent as well. "Put.. put the water down." God that sounds ridiculous.

The brutal sounds of Ugly engaging Tango 3 roared behind the confrontation taking place in the middle of the street. Every three or four seconds there was a car alarm going off that was suddenly silenced. The going assumption among the five was that the car was rendered inoperable after being slammed over someone's head so many times. The louder and more furious the fighting became the more the assault team focused. Absolute trust was imperative when splitting off to engage multiple targets. Ugly was a trained soldier with his weapon up against a child who probably had no idea how to throw a proper punch.

"These people are not your friends, kid," Tyler watched the miniature typhoon swirl in the air in front of Langston. "Hit them and hit them hard or they'll kill you. These are not the X-Men, these are not the cops. These are trained mutant hunters and you need to drop them now."

Ten streets down Ugly was picking up Tango 3 by his hoodie. The adolescent was bleeding from his mouth and forehead but he was alive. Forty-two cars had been destroyed over the course of their battle and two buildings were going to be condemned by the city in a few hours. "Tango 3 is down."

"Roger that," Battery didn't budge. "Kid—"

The wild swirl of water shot forward and Battery instinctively dove out of the way behind the wreckage of a car that had been hit by the one flung at them. Reptile moved as well—though not fast enough. The torrents caught her leg and sucked her into the churning mass and grabbed Town as well. The boy controlling the water did his best to drown the two leather jacket wearing assailants.

Pipe came to the corner, brought his rifle to bear and shot immediately after a half second assessment of the situation. A dart slammed into the boy's chest and injected the sedative immediately, rendering the boy's powers inert, then dropping him to the floor. "Tango 4 is down."

Town and Reptile hit the ground with the suddenly calm water. Hitting asphalt from fifteen feet up was fairly painful, especially on bodies that had absorbed the shock wave from Ugly barreling into the teenager. Their lungs were robbed of air and they were left writhing on the ground in pain.

"Pipe, make sure they're okay. Ugly, intercept Vector and get Tango 2 and 4 to the safe house. Vector, get your ass to our location north of the bank and help Pipe exfil." Battery took off down the street, chasing after Tango 1 who himself was already running.

"Battery!" Pipe made his way up the street and knelt beside Reptile. "Battery!"

I knew it—I knew it. Who the hell trusts a bunch of kids and a housewife with robbing a bank? How could I be so stupid? Tyler peeked over his shoulder and saw one of the leather jacket wearers sprinting in his direction, a small black figure in his hand—a gun. He knew the man wasn't going to use lethal force unless absolutely necessary. He meant to take him alive and that was going to his downfall. Knowing that he wasn't any sort of trainer soldier, he understood that outrunning this man was not going to happen. Instead, he made his way around a corner and came to a complete stop.

Four seconds later the man came around the corner and Tyler swung a first where his head should have been. Rather than being satisfied by the bone crunching sound of contact, the man caught his arm, twisted it around and looked to throw Tyler down on his back. Rather than risk breaking his arm, Tyler went along with all of the motions and landed squarely on his back or he would have, had his body not disintegrated into a fine black mist. A mist that rose up behind the stunned man and formed Tyler's body once again. Tyler dug a clenched fist into the back of the man's head and then he was mist again. This dance was repeated over and over with Tyler landing punch after punch with no reprisal to speak of.

For Christ sake. Battery eyed the mist and backed away and began to glow faintly. The glow itself was difficult to notice from a distance with the sun nearly directly overhead, but it was there. Both of his hands were up as to defend himself but he presented his jaw as an open space to strike.

The black mist began to form a man that appeared to be reaching back to throw a punch before it solidified. The punch came the very instant the mist became solid. Tyler connected with the Battery's jaw and broke eight bones in his hand. His scream was pure agony. Battery grabbed him by his shirt collar and dug his fist into his face, his knuckles protected by a dual layer of hard light. Three punches was all it took. Actually, the first punch was probably enough to end the find but the second and third made him feel better about taking all of those blows before resorting to the power. Battery released the stumbling, jaw broken Tyler and watched him fall to the floor.

"Tango 1 is down." Battery reached into his pocket and retrieved a dart and promptly jammed it into Tyler's neck.

"Why didn't you just do that from the start?" Pipe appeared to have come out of a run. His chest was rising and falling at an elevated rate.

"Dart gun jammed."

"What was his power?"

"Turned himself into mist. Could have robbed the bank his damn self if he had better control over his powers. We're gonna need a special cell for him."

"We always need special cells for them." Pipe shrugged and reached down to check Tyler. "Rest of the team is already moving to the safe house. Cops are swarming all over, they'll be down this street soon."

"Any casualties in the bank?"

"A couple of concussions, probably Might be bad for some of the seniors, but everyone's alive."

"Were the estimates right for the kid?"

"Negative," Pipe shook his head. "Ugly says he was at least forty, maybe even forty-five tons. We were lucky he doesn't have any idea how to fight."

"Right. Lucky." Battery blew air out of his mouth and hoisted Tyler into a fireman's carry. "Let's get out of here."