Hide yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife

[Crow]

It was only after Crow had looked through the victim's wallet that Karima told her to not touch anything. Crow snorted in reply, but didn't answer. She wasn't in the habit of explaining herself, and this didn't seem like the best time to start. If Karima couldn't tell the difference between the scent of an adolescent and an adult, Crow wasn't about to start getting into the details on her behalf. She wasn't even sure it was something she was able to quantify. They just smelled different. Still, she refrained from touching anything else. Not that she had plans to fiddle with anything else, really. She'd seen what she wanted to.

Was Karima eating a hair? Well, maybe Crow had a free pass to the roasted corpse buffet, after all. She watched the girl curiously a she continued around the room, doing more typical investigative stuff. Crow watched her for a moment, and then eyed the john contemplatively. No. Bad idea. There was an all-night Chinese place not too far from here that she could hit, instead. Get some barbecued pork. It was then that Karima pretty much told her that her assistance was no longer required. Rude of her. Things were just getting interesting now. Not that she had any real desire to see a robot recruit an underage prostitute, but still.

Should she? Hmm. Crow tilted her head slightly as she considered the prospect. Outside, she could hear someone calling the police. They'd be here soon. And if the girl they were looking for was close, the police would catch up with her and Karima. Idiots would probably assume she was involved in some way. Well, she was. But they would probably try to question her, and then things would get messier than she liked. No. Better to avoid the police entirely. And she hadlearned everything vital about the robot. Not quite as much as she'd like, but enough. She was working for SHIELD, but not in any official capacity. SHIELD wanted her, but she wasn't about to accept their offer. That was good. For the time being, Karima was not a threat. Keeping an eye on her to figure out a weak point would be helpful, but not critical. Avoiding any further attention from her was probably the smartest plan.

On the other hand, Karima was fascinating, and Crow didn't have any other plans for the night. Except sleeping, of course, but she didn't need that. But perhaps avoiding the police and watching the robot weren't mutually exclusive. She was a spy, after all. Might as well do some spying. Crow could still keep a discreet eye on Karima without any actual interaction. That would still provide valuable information. Perhaps more valuable information, if she didn't believe she was being watched. Maybe she'd find something interesting yet. Maybe she'd even tell Todd about it. He was the one who had pointed her at such a fascinating subject.

The entire thought process took only a second. Crow nodded to Karima, and then strolled back towards the door. “You're headed in the right direction now. See you later.” Later, of course, being about five minutes from now. Not that Karima would know that. Crow had successfully baffled larger, scarier robots than this one.

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima had certainly been given the lead she needed, she would have the girl in custody within the hour, or less. She didn't bother waiting for the police, sure they'd be around shortly, but she would explain herself in due time and now was the time for action. She had just called them herself after all. Poor Todd would likely get called since it was his case they were dealing with. He'd show up to a cold corpse, a picked clean crime scene and no sign of Karima. Of course Karima also sent a text message to Todd letting him know that she would be apprehending the perpetrator in roughly thirty seven minutes. Some where a tired police detective wearing a pastel brown long coat smoking a cigarette is sighing at just how stressful and uncertain the world can really be sometimes.

Karima exited the cheap motel and hunted the girl. She was able to pick up the girls DNA, and what would take many computers several hours takes her only minutes and within seconds she has a reliable idea of how tall the girl is, what she looks like, her tone of voice, her hair color, eye color, height. All from a single strand of DNA. All that you are is in every single cell in your body, after all. Well nearly every cell. She could've done this from the cadaver's back at the morgue, except dna is a fragile thing, the decay rate is quite a fickle thing, not to mention a multitude of other factors. Being at the scene so fresh was like taking it right from the source.

She doesn't bother to walk or jog, she all out sprinted at full speed, following the trail like a blood hound. It leads not six blocks away to a small apartment complex. Karima takes one glance at the building in passing as she entered. It is surprisingly a rather nice place. She followed the scent to the elevator and meticulously searched each floor for the trail. When she found it on the top floor, she quickly followed it around the long hall way to apartment 918.

Inside Karima can hear loud music, several beating hearts. Illegal drugs, several food products and gun powder in the air. Six civilians, one of them is the potential perpetrator, one of them is a much lower rhythm than the rest, suggesting it is in a resting state, possibly asleep. It's also fainter, suggesting it's inside another room from the rest. As she determines all of this, she simply stared blankly at the door, standing several inches from it, close enough that her breath could quite possibly connect with the white paint covering the door.

Finally she knocked soundly six times. Nearly a full minute later, after Karima heard them announce a cop is at the door, and that 'the bitch had finally fucked up for the last time', a man answers the door with a large hand gun and puts the barrel right up against Karima's forehead, he is about to utter some witty quip, some choice words he no doubt found to be quite clever and hilarious, his lips move as evidence. Behind him, Karima can see two of the six civilians cleaning up what is obviously illegal drug paraphernalia, their dilated eyes and rapid heart beats suggest they are all on some form of stimulate, likely cocaine. Karima barely catches sight of a fourth exiting the main living room and entering another room. Her infrared can see the fifth nearly about to turn the corner from behind where a decorative drape hangs and separates a portion of the living room from the kitchen.

The apartment is lavish, many beautiful and stylish things. There are three African American and as near as Karima can tell, two Caucasian, not including the sixth who is apparently the one she is looking for, who she now recognizes as likely unconscious from severe beating. Though that last part is just a hunch. Before this big scary thug can even say a single syllable, Karima realized all of this, and responded with quite a savage lack of remorse.

Her left hand launched forward in a blur, a hallow snapping sound followed as the man's collar bone broke like a twig, his grip on the gun immediately loosens, Karima's right hand took the gun, he reeled backwards, one hand struggling for the near by counter, the other has not yet noticed he is no longer holding the gun, he tried to pull the trigger, but it's Eons to late. Karima lifts her foot and kicks him squarely in the chest, he flew backwards and collided with the thin drape, connecting with the man on the other side. The two who were cleaning the ritzy glass coffee table covered in white powder, pipes, pills and cash turned to the commotion just in time to see their friend literally flying away from the door. Karima quickly turns the large high caliber hand gun around in her hand. Before the other two men can even draw their weapons, Karima fired two excruciatingly precise shots. The screams of the man whose collar bone she just broke fill the room, and echo in cacophony with the loudly thumping hip hop music that's playing. The two shots fired hit both men in the arms they were using to reach for near by fire arms. One bullet strikes the man directly in his right fore arm and passes between his Ulnar and radius and punches out the other side, its journey then ends harmlessly in the couch. The other shot connects with the other man's shoulder, he's on the heavy side, so in reality, the bullet only connects with fat and barely grazes the muscle at all. Neither wounds are mortal, neither will have life-long lasting effects, though the one may never be able to grip a hand gun as tightly ever again, Karima is barely worried about that. Both are sufficiently disabled with pain and terror, which was Karima's goal. When the fourth man pushes his injured compatriot off of him, the one with the broken collar bone, and begins getting to his feet, Karima threw the gun at him, which struck him square in his head and knocked him clean off his feet into unconsciousness.

Upon hearing the gun shots, the last and fifth unsavory gentleman which had originally exited the scene upon Karima's entrance took reach for the largest gun he can find and bolts his door. Karima hears the bolt lock into place. She hears the man scream at the sixth. You see what you did freak, you brought the cops here. What'd you do, leave your purse behind you stupid bitch. I swear if I wasn't sure I needed every bullet in this gun, I'd put one in your head right now.

As Karima passed through the kitchen, she lifted a fork which is left over from a meal, crusted with dried food, left over Chinese, left lazily on the counter near the sink, and then launched it at the stereo, it does not stick surprisingly, instead, the blunt end you hold hit the off switch, and then it fell in a spiraling end over end tumble to the floor. Silence except for the pained groans of the injured men filled the room and since his buddies are not only not telling him through the door that the cop is dead, but their pained screams tell him they are likely about to be dead instead, he prepares himself for the worst. He made his way towards the window. The fire escape is his only option. You don't fuckin move outa that bed you hear me, you let those fuckin cops find you, and you tell em what you did, and don't even mention my name, or I'll find you and I'll kill you He then muttered a long string of obscenities about how he stuck his neck out, and the risks he took, and the nice things he did for the girl.

When Karima literally breaks the door down, she doesn't bother going after the man as he disappears out the window. She flicked on the lights to find the girl in the bed, her lip is bloody and swollen, here eye is black. She is sitting in the bed crying furiously. She is Hispanic, and as crow earlier hypothesized, she is very underage.

"You are under arrest."

Karima was already reaching into one of the pouches on her pants, from within she pulled a small dart, and simply threw it at the girl, it strikes her directly in her juggler, and she is rent unconscious not a second later. Before Karima even fired her first shot though, she telephoned the police. She informed them that paramedics would be needed. The girl fell over in an awkward heap. Karima did not want to take any chances with a girl that can literally end lives with electricity. It's her weakness, one of few, but as a machine, it is a calculated risk she is not willing to take, and so she simply rends the girl inert. She moves over to the girl and lays her properly out on the bed, and then sends a message to Shield letting them know that she has acquired the target. The girl sleeps peacefully.

From the last knock to that moment, only seconds had passed. It was like something out of a movie. Unfortunately, the two unsavory gentlemen she shot were not so crippled they couldn't run, and so they did. The man with the broken collarbone has passed out from pain and shock, the man she knocked unconscious lays atop him in a heap. The two whom she shot stand and stagger their way towards the exit of the apartment in the very same second that they realize that freakish girl who shot them isn't coming back outa the room after them.

Karima did in fact, not pursue them. Instead she stood beside the bed, staring down at the girl who she had laid straight and proper, hands at her sides, legs closed, neatly on the bed. Karima simply stood there and stared at her. Motionless. Empty. "Mission Complete. Awaiting further instructions" style.

Robot Indeed.

Almost ten minutes passed before the police finally arrived. Todd is at the forefront, rushing down the hall way with 10 armed boys in blue. Why he thought it was necessary to bring this many cops with him is as good a guess as anybodies, though Karima did suggest there were 5 potential unsavory fellows between herself and her target. When they arrive they find blood drips down the hallway leading away and an apartment turned crime scene. Several immediately fan out, while the rest enter the apartment and secure it as well as the remaining unconscious perps. Todd rushes around the medium sized apartment until he finds her. Her lack of reaction and movement almost startled Todd as he entered.

"Gah! There yous are. Man what the hell, you said there was five guys, and I only count two. What'd you do with the rest of em?! Don't tell me ya threw em out the window or somethin wicked like that."

As Todd is grilling Karima, several paramedics enter the apartment, they were on the heels of the cops, but still behind them to make sure things were safe.

"They left. It is neither my responsibility nor mission to detain them. One through the window, and the two that I shot out the front door."

Todd literally slamed his palm against his forehead, his gun hand droped to his side, still holding his gun, he turned towards the window and lets out an almost excruciating sounding sigh.

"You what? Guys with guns, who hurt this girl and, by your report, were considered armed and extremely dangerous? And you just let em go? Oh my gosh, you're a real piece of work you know that. I knew I shouldn'ta trusted you, the chiefs gonna have my neck."

As Karima and Todd talk, two officers enter the room and begin moving around it, but when they move to the girl, and stand on the side of the bed opposite Karima as though they were preparing to take her into custody or rather accompany her with the paramedics who will be taking her to a hospital, Karima lifted her head, moving for the first time since Todd entered the room and stared at them both of them.

"This girl is coming with me back to shield. There is no need for you to secure her."

The cops look at Karima, then at each other, then over to Todd. Todd stared back with his eye brows some-what furrowed. It was standard procedure, if shield wanted her they could pick her up later. Did Karima not know that? Karima is already telephoning Shield to ask for a deliberate authoritative response on the situation. What they tell her is not what she expected to hear. She was to allow the police to take the girl into custody and that shield would acquire the girl later after that point.

"Listen here, bot lady. There'sa lota say so you get, but this aint-"

"Never mind. I was mista- Relax! Do not move. We arggahhhh!"

Karima had not taken her senses off the girl, and when she heard her heart rate spike, her eyes shifted quickly to look at the girl, she was interrupted, before she could even finish her sentence the girl was awake again. She had clearly not had any sort of healing factor when Karima entered, the bloody lip and bruised eye was evidence of that, but now both of those are gone, in the time Karima took her eyes off the girl to look at Todd and then look back. The girl is already coming to consciousness, she sees she is surrounded by cops. They'll put her away for life or worse. Panic sets in. Karima is the nearest, she attacks her first. Maybe it'll set an example for the others. Good thing too really, Karima hasn't got enough of an organic nervous system left for the girl to latch onto with her power, so instead of fry what little brain tissue she has left, she just sends an erratic burst of electricity into Karima's entire body. She reached a hand out and grabbed Karima's thigh and shocked her good. Karima screams, her voice shrieked like a speaker blowing, and she lunged backwards.

The cops immediately, instinctively, back away and pull their guns. Her abilities with electricity are much more potent at touch, but she clearly has ranged abilities and shoots bolts of lightning from her fingertips at the two cops near her. They aren't fatally wounded, just shocked unconscious. Todd Pulled his gun and fired off a few shots, he winds up clipping her in the leg. She screamed, but the pain is gone almost before it begins. What ever Karima did activated some latent healing factor. It's true, healing factors typically were inspired into action by severe trauma, and what ever Karima had done, clearly qualified. In truth, the girl would've been unconscious for a very long time. Karima's own design. Most Sedatives do not subdue a person until several minutes have passed, at least seconds. Karima did not find that time frame acceptable, so she designed something else, something only some one with extremely precise aim could really make use of. Of course it wasn't really tested, Karima had run numerous simulations in her mind and Nick Fury had all but given her free run of the ship, what else what she going to do in her spare time?

Karima struggled to maintain consciousness now. She twitched hard as her back connects with the wall and she began sliding down it. One hand erratically opening and closing, her facial muscles going crazy. It's only a half a second maybe a full second at best, but Karima's attempts at routing the electrical discharge seem like minutes in her minds eye, she is unable how ever, and falls unconscious. Reboot initiated.

Todd ducked out of the room quickly and shouts something diplomatic at the girl, which she yells obscenities back at. She's already crying, but she's also driven, she's a survivor and she isn't going down now. She ran for the window and dove out of it onto the fire escape outside then immediately began descending. Todd brings a walky talky to his mouth.

"Barnes, Rushmore. Mutant perp exiting the building by fire escape, can you intercept."

"affirmative, we're in route, please advise?"

Todd shook his head, he looked stressed as -fuck-.

"I dunno, I just put a bullet in her and she didn't even blink, shot James and Clark with lightning then dove out tha window. Just. UHhhgg. Warn her, shoot her if you have to, but do not get close to her. I repeat, DO NOT get close!"

He briefly glanced at Karima as he attempted to advise his squad. Was she dead? Todd had no idea. He's pretty sure that shield is gonna literally have his head for breaking their billion dollar robot or what ever, who knows how much robots like that cost. He rushed over and checked the pulse on the cops who the girl downed earlier. Good not dead. Last thing he wanted was dead cops at the hands of a mutant. He didn't have nothing against mutants, but man they sure made his job hard. Outside he can hear gun fire. He can only assume that his officers have had no choice but fire on the girl.

On the other side of the room, Karima's reboot sequence finished quickly and she rises rather unceremoniously.

"Where is the girl."

Todd whirled around and stared at Karima like he was looking at a ghost. He just points at the window. This whole thing was spiraling out of control and Todd's just...He's just not equipped for this kind of situation. He's barely keeping it together. So many lives on the line. He doesn't break down on the scene easily, but this is all just a lot to take in. Especially when Karima literally jumps out the window immediately after he points. She misses the fire escape completely. Todd's eye's widen and he leans out the window like an old woman trying to scoop on some gossip below, his mouth agape.

"We are not here to hurt you, Please stop resisting us."

Karima shouted as she fell face first towards the earth. The girl looked up and saw. She is briefly distracted and motionless long enough for a bullet to finally hit her in the thigh. She knew Karima wasn't normal, but she can fly too? Is there any escaping her? The shot to the thigh is a jarring reminder that they are most certainly not there to help her, she shouts something in spanish back at Karima, and lunged towards the building for cover. Her leg healed quickly once again. She has no idea what's going on with her body, but what ever it is, it's a good thing it decided to pick the middle of a fire fight to kick in. Karima understood the spanish, It was a sarcastic quip about guns.

Karima grabed ahold of the railing, and swung in, her feet connect with the hand rails of the lower platform as if she had planned it from the start and it was all choreographed, aside from the part she grabbed bending a little under her weight and momentum, it was all perfect. She remains perched and stared at the girl. The cops below see Karima and stop firing. They're honestly a little stunned by how awesome that stunt was. They are still five stories up.

There is a window near by, but she would have to get closer to Karima before she could break into it, assuming she was even strong enough to break it down. She is a some-what frail girl after all. She is still crying, but her tears have dried some what in light of all that's happening.

"Shield intends to draft you into their tank program, but we can not do that if you continue resisting."

Of course, she's been lied to a dozen times before, abandoned, why should she trust a girl who is obviously there to hurt her? Mostly, the girl is just in shock and trying to reason with her at this point, will be some-what challenging. Karima does not really recognize this until it is too late.

The girl held up both hands and sends a blistering array of electricity at her. Karima had not seen that she had ranged capabilities earlier, or rather she did, but was in the process of an emergency reboot and simply did not record the data as a result. And now unfortunately, she's about to be sent into another one. The blast hits her and she flies backwards off the fifth story fire escape platform, twitching and shaking as she did earlier, but now also falling with the weight of three hundred and eighty pounds straight towards Earth. Afterwards the girl rushes to the other end of the fire escape then crashed into the window, it shattered and she disappeared inside.

[Crow]

Crow strolled away from the crime scene at a leisurely pace, carefully listening in on the robot girl while making a decent show of being completely uninterested in what was going on behind her. She heard footsteps moving away from the room. Fast. Crow spared a quick glance back, and found Karima sprinting in the opposite direction. Well, it was faster than walking. She gave a mental shrug, waited until the cyborg was securely out of sight, and ducked behind a dumpster to shift into a pigeon. Time to see what Karima acted like when she didn't think anyone was watching.

The girl was stupidly fast; Crow would give her that much. By the time she caught up, her wings were sore and she was panting heavily. By the time the robot slowed down, she was about ready to fall out of the sky. She dropped down onto a rooftop, thoroughly winded, as Karima entered an upscale apartment building. She spread out her wings and laid down to cool off, distantly realizing how much she was going to regret this chase in the morning. Crow shifted back into an owl, slowly and reluctantly. If she couldn't see what was going on, she wanted to at least be able to hear it.

Crow followed the sound of Karima's footsteps up to the top floor, and heard a knock. She shuffled over to the lip of the roof, and poked her head over the side. Through some windows, she could see several men. After an excruciatingly long pause, one of them opened the door, gun in hand. Almost instantly, he was disarmed and disabled. Crow's superior vision was able to track Karima's movement, and she watched the fight with interest for a few seconds before ducking down again. The robot was impressive. Crow made a mental note to avoid pissing her off when she was nearby. Pissing her off from a distance was probably still safe.

Satisfied that she'd seen enough of Karima's fighting ability to gauge her reactions, Crow stayed hidden beneath the ledge on the rooftop. Just in case. She could hear shouting and gunfire, and a few sets of footsteps. There as a screeching, and Crow looked up to see the fire escape being lowered. Interesting, she'd left the men alive, and she was letting them get away. Good to see that she had her priorities.

There was a long silence, and Crow spared another glance up to see Karima standing at a bed, staring down at what had to be their hooker. Just standing there. Odd, but whatever. The girl was obviously unconscious, but didn't look injured; whatever Karima had done to knock her out, it had been effective. Unless she'd just killed the girl. Although Crow's hearing was excellent, it wasn't quite good enough to hear heartbeats at this distance. She ducked back down, and began preening while she waited.

It didn't take long for the cops to arrive. Oh hey, that was Todd. She'd recognize his voice anywhere. It was so...annoying. He was obviously frustrated with this situation, and she felt a touch of smug satisfaction. Even if he had pointed her toward Karima, he was still irritating. Seeing him squirm always made her day. It was why she went out of her way to do it so often. Crow listened in on their conversation with interest, but kept her head down. She could just picture the expression on Todd's face right now. It was beautiful.

What? Screaming? That was new. Crow got up again in time to see the girl, awake and shooting electricity everywhere. Karima was down, twitching, and the cops were shooting. They didn't seem to be slowing the girl down much. Crow tensed her shoulders, ready to take off, and lowered her head slightly. This was getting interesting now. She hadn't anticipated a healing factor. A second later the girl was out the window, climbing down the fire escape. Slowly, but no one seemed inclined to follow her onto a metal structure. Todd was, as usual, dealing with the situation poorly. Crow considered stepping in to help, just to stop his inability to cope. But...nah. This was kind of funny. Besides, she was kind of rooting for the hooker now.

Amazingly enough, Karima was back on her feet. This was turning out to be an interesting show. Crow tilted her head, watching curiously, as the robot launched herself out of the window and grabbed onto a lower railing. Nice stunt. Karima had apparently learned her lesson about attacking the girl outright, though, and was trying a more diplomatic approach. It seemed to be working about as well as the cyborg's last attempt to negotiate with a prostitute. The girl responded with more electricity, and Crow gave a quiet hiss as Karima was hit by it.

She was falling. It wasn't a drop that an ordinary human would survive, and Crow still didn't know the limits of Karima's abilities. She followed almost immediately, not stopping to wonder why rescuing a robot had suddenly taken priority over sitting back and watching. Her wings closed tightly against her body, Crow gained enough momentum to outstrip the unconscious cyborg. There was just enough time for her to get into position. She flared her wings just enough to slow down before snapping into a much larger shape, shifting quickly enough to create an audible pop as air rushed outward. Lowland gorilla. Large and strong enough to catch a falling girl.

A falling girl. Not quite enough for a falling cyborg.

As soon as Karima made contact, Crow realized that she had made a very large mistake. Despite the way the cyborg moved, she was still made of steel and titanium, not flesh. Crow may have been able to stop two hundred pounds, but not double that. The girl crashed onto her, momentum breaking Crow's stance and plowing them both into the concrete. ~Ow.~

Karima twitched for another second before going completely limp. Conversely, Crow stayed limp for several seconds, stunned, before trying to wiggle her head out from under the girl's torso. Damn she was heavy. Maybe if she could get some leverage, getting free would be easier, but her arms and shoulders were just as stuck as her face. It didn't help that her arms were nearly trembling from the effort she'd needed to go through to follow Karima in the first place. Her legs were free, but she wasn't feeling anything close enough to get a grip on. Maybe she could shift her way out? Crow tried for a larger shape—she was small, for gorilla standards—but there was too much pressure on her head to complete the shift. Shifting into something smaller might just give her some space to wiggle free, but it might also squish her puny little head. Great. She was stuck.

[Karima Shapandar]

Todd finds himself totally impressed by Karima's little acrobatic stunt, he can barely hear what they are saying to each other down there but quickly realizes it's going south in a hurry as he see's Karima get blasted by another bunch of lightning. When Crow of all people move in to try and save Karima, Todd cringes when it all comes to bare. The cops down at street level also cringe and one of them says something about that having to hurt. Todd starts shouting at his squad to fan out and find the girl, but not to engage her.

There are eight cops left, two at street level, two combing the apartment building floor by floor, and several back upstairs with Todd. The bunch with Todd fan out and search for the girl, unfortunately, one of them finds her, or rather, she finds him. She shocks the hell out of him before he can radio in and continues her descent through the stair well. She bursts out the front of the apartment complex and by some miracle manages to get across the street and into a dark alley without any other cops or people noticing.

The two cops that watched Karima turn Crow into a hairy pancake move up to her. They're not sure it's crow, they aren't as familiar with her as Todd is. They're pretty sure though, that a bird just flew in, turned into a Gorilla, then got squashed.

"Uh Sir, there's a gorilla bird thing."

"Yes I know what and who that is. What ever you do, don't piss her off. If the cyborg aint moving, try and help get her up, but keep your eyes peeled for that girl!"

The two of them start to struggle to get Karima off Crow, they can't quite lift her by themselves, though. They're just cops after all, not body builders. They wind up resorting to tugging harshly on one of her arms to try and slide her off Crow.

"Uhhg, what the hell is this girl made a'. She weighs a ton!"

"Uhg, right? Reminds me a that scene outa robocop two."

As they do this, Karima's eyes open without a blink. She flicks her wrist forcing the cops to let go of her and fall back on their butts. Without hesitation she stands fluidly and looks around. First at the cops, then at Crow.

"You should have let me fall. I am much to heavy for you to catch, additionally, I can fall from a maximum height of seven thousand eight hundred and ninety two feet without sustaining significant damage. I estimate you may have cracked several ribs, or worse broken them out right, in addition to any internal organ damage. You should be hospitalized immediately, I will take you to an emergency room."

In reality, the distance Karima spouted is a distance she would fall from and survive, but her outer layer of skin would be utterly decimated as a result. Still her structural integrity is nothing to scoff at, the human body is incredibly resilient, just imagine that mechanical engineering genius, except reinforced with titanium alloy.

After Karima finishes her lecture, or rather, as she is about to, she starts to attempt to gather Crow into her arms, which is probably hilarious all by itself, seeing a small five foot six or so girl trying to pick up what is seemingly a four hundred pound gorilla. How hilarious that mathematically, those two statistics are literally reversed.

The damage crow actually sustained doesn't merit much beyond a few simple bruised ribs and some extremely brutal muscle trauma, like getting smacked around by a baseball bat, not something you recover from in a day, or even a week, but certainly something you don't -need- to be hospitalized for. Crow's life is not in danger and her ribs are certainly not cracked and she is not in enough pain to suggest her organs are ruptured or anything excessive like that.

[Crow]

Crow might have been pinned, but that didn't in any way mean she wasn't going to damn well try to free herself. She wiggled, mostly ineffectively, but she had a feeling she'd get free eventually. Muffled voices from around her made Crow realize that the cops had seen everything that just happened. Great. Two pairs of footsteps moved in closer, and she tensed, ready to try kicking, before she realized that they were trying to pull the robot off of her. Crow supposed that was better than nothing. Or almost as good as it. She seriously disliked spending any amount of time around cops, much less having them...help her. Probably something to do with being a career criminal.

“You know, when I said to keep an eye on her, I didn't mean shove it half way up her ass,” Todd called down from above. Crow gave a grunt in response that was muffled by cyborg ass. She was going to murder him later. Slowly. Possibly in front of his wife.

Even with the cops' aid, Karima's body mass was moving inches at a time. Ugh. Last time she tried helping a cyborg. Finally she managed to get a hand free, only to have the girl get up on her own. Now she woke up. Karima's sudden movement was almost as painful as the pressure had been, and Crow glared at her from the pavement as she began lecturing her. Yeah. She got it. Let Karima die horribly like she deserved. Acting as a robot cushion bad.

What? Was Karima trying to pick her up? Yeah, no way that was flying. Crow planned on leaving here with some dignity, after all. She pushed the cyborg away, and began the process of shifting human again. It was slower than she liked; the entire process took nearly thirty seconds. Worse, it hurt like a bitch. By the time she was done, she was breathing heavily again. That was a good sign she needed to hole up somewhere and sleep for a day or two. Unfortunately, the night was still young, and there was still an underage mutant hooker to catch. Wiping a trickle of blood away from her nose, she gave a ill-tempered glare to everyone around her. One of the cops took a few steps back. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a concerned glimpse from Todd, several stories up. Whether it was for her sake or the safety of his officers, she wasn't sure. Hopefully it was for his officers. She didn't need or want his sympathy.

“I'm fine. Would have been really nice to know that you could take the fall beforehand, lardass. Anyone know which way the girl went?” she growled at the group. The silence from the cops was disappointing, but pretty expected. Cops were useless. Crow tried to get a whiff of the air to discern her direction, and ended up with a throat full of blood instead. Dammit. Looked like tracking her that way wasn't going to work. She pulled out a tube of painkillers from one of her pockets, and downed the contents. Couldn't kick in soon enough. She shoved herself to her feet, ignoring the pain.

In her head, she had an idea forming about how to subdue the girl. It wasn't one SHIELD would like, but that only made it more appealing. The idea was also risky and stupid, but it couldn't top that last stunt, so she was probably safe. The fact that she could leave now and forget about this hadn't crossed her mind; it was personal now. Some stupid teenage hooker had just cost her some serious points with the cops. She glanced back to Karima, glare somewhat subdued. “You have a neutralizing collar on you, by any chance?”

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima's response was cold and immediate. It was more then that though, without Karima really meaning it that way, the content of what she said was also rutheless and eerie. Like she meant it, like there was some subtle vengeance in her voice, despite there literally being none.

"No, but I intend on breaking the girls neck the next time I find her."

She then turned and motioned for Crow to follow, and then she simply began walking, rather than leap away, rather than run or jog or sprint, she just walked. She understood Crow was putting on a bravado, a front, she had seen many do it before. She had broken bones and ruptured organs and watched thugs just like her continue their socioemotive displays despite the literal in ability to continue onward in their engagement. Still, given Crow's surface neural activity and general ability to move and speak, Karima assumes Crow is not nearly as injured as Karima originally suspected.

"Given the variables of the incident and the fact that I did not know you were following me, I could not have known to give you certain technical specifications about my weight and capacity to endure physical trauma. Should you like to know now, I will be happy to divulge the details while we track the girl. She is this way."

How Karima knew where the girl was was perhaps as good a guess as any ones, the fact is, she can smell her on the air, the perspiration from her heightened state of mind, her fear, anxiety, her sweat and physical activity, it's thick in the air like a home filled with the smell of dinner cooking. Karima is a tracker, part of her purpose was to hunt down and destroy targets given to her, now that she has seen the girl, has her DNA, and has all but gotten a blood sample, there's no where on earth she'll be able to hide from Karima for long.

The cops just kind of stand there. Neither of them are really Man enough to tell Karima to stop, they got a wife, kids, pensions to nurture, they aren't qualified to deal with murdering psychopath cyborgs, especially not ones that seemed to be vaguely on their sides in the first place. Though one had the brains at least to report.

"Uh, Todd, they going after the girl. That Robot chick said she was gonna break the perps neck. What do we do."

[Crow]

Crow nodded along with Karima's statement, immediately realizing what she intended. From the expressions of confusion and alarm from the nearby cops, Crow figured that they didn't understand. Idiots obviously hadn't encountered anyone with a healing factor before. At least, not anyone with a strong ability. Killing them was the fastest and easiest way to incapacitate them, if you could be certain they'd come back to life in a few minutes. Except, unfortunately, they weren't sure of that. Not all healing factors fixed death. Crow wasn't about to put a hole in the robot's plan, though. Or inform the cops that murder probably wasn't imminent. She didn't particularly care if the girl lived or died, after all, and it was possible she was misreading Karima's intentions.

Still, Crow followed behind Karima, appreciative that the robot was no longer sprinting to her destination. Although Crow was hardly about to admit how much pain she was in, there was no way in hell she'd be able to keep up with Karima's top speed again. As it was, Crow wouldn't be up for much action for a week or so. Continuing to hunt down this girl was probably a really stupid idea. And yet here she was, continuing forward anyway, mentally working on a plan that might just get them all out alive.

Crow snorted in response to Karima's offer, realizing a little to late that it would result in spraying blood everywhere. She wiped her face again before giving a verbal response. “Nah, I'll just avoid saving you from now on. Let me approach this girl first, though. She'll probably attack you on sight again. I don't look anything like a cop; I might be able to get her to let down her guard. Besides, you don't seem to mix well with electricity. I've been hit by far worse.”

Todd had heard the cyborg's remark, and he nodded towards the officer that called the report up to him. For a long moment, he stared at the two females walking away from the crime scene. He would have been hesitant about getting in either one's way if they were alone. Together? Not something he wanted to deal with. He'd had two good men injured tonight, and he didn't need more. In all honesty, he couldn't be happier if Karima, Crow, and the suspect all managed to kill each other. “She said that SHIELD was taking over. Let them. We'll secure the scene here.”

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima was happy to maintain the slow pace as they spoke. The trail the girl was leaving behind might as well be painted in fluorescent light, her newfound healing factor must have activated some enhanced athletic ability because she seemed to be running further and faster than a girl her age would be able to. Still, Karima doesn't even have to pause to sniff the air, the scent is so thick, even Crow might get a whiff here and there through her bloody nose.

"Do not think I do not appreciate your failed attempt regardless Crow, especially considering you were injured in the process, I am yet again in your debt. And you are correct. Electricity of certain voltages does not mix well with my systems. It can not permanently damage me in a meaningful way, but it does psuedo kill me every single time I am shocked by a sufficient enough amount. Of course as you saw, I wake up a short time later. It creates a buffer of errors within my operating system that takes time to work through and receiving two in such short succession has lessened my patience for dealing with the girl in any sort of gentle way. A third time may have unforeseen consequences, so any plan you may have I am more than willing to listen to. I have no desire to risk killing the girl by breaking her neck, but at this point she is to dangerous to be allowed to go free."

Karima didn't want to give specifics of her weaknesses to Crow, and while it might seem like she was doing exactly that, most of what Crow has seen so far, Karima wouldn't consider immediately dangerous. The shocks the girl had been giving Karima had only ever been enough to incapacitate her briefly, she wouldn't tell Crow that the harder the shock, the longer she was out, and she definitely wouldn't give the specifics of how hard a shock was required. She had no qualms about telling shield all her intimate details, but Crow is a known felon and is not worth the risk of trusting so easily. Still as we have seen time and again, Karima's version of trust is quite strange.

"And while I agree that the girl will most definitely attack me on sight, I am also certain that she simply will not see me. Unfortunately for her I am extremely patient, I do not need sleep, I do not need to eat, I do not get bored and lose focus, I do not get distracted and I will wait days if I have to, to strike. Her only advantage is one she does not even know she has, I calculate there is a 89.3% chance of success, and a 96.7% chance if your aid is given."

The advantage the girl has is, of course, if she attacks some one again, Karima will not simply stand by and let that person be killed. She has seen the damage the girl can do, Karima knows even if she's in the middle of another of her professional exchanges, it will take six seconds from the start of the murder to finish it, more than enough time for Karima to intervene on behalf of the victim she is currently frying. Of course, every millisecond in a time like that is the difference between just severe pain and say, permanent brain damage. How ever, this will rush Karima's plan of patience, and reveal her hand before she is ready, which will dramatically lower her chances of success given the girls ability to literally shoot lightning from her fingertips.

Note to self; acquire and install some form of lower tolerance grounds to deal with lesser voltages of uncontrolled electric burst damage.

[Crow]

From behind them, Crow could hear Todd's assessment of the situation. Smart man. Well, not smart smart, but it was nice that he was staying out of their way. He'd be less of a hassle, and she wouldn't have to turn into a bear at him again. Maybe the cops would be able to track down the guys that had gotten away, but she didn't have much hope for them. For the most part, the police were useless.

Karima gave some more specifics of her ability to withstand electricity, and Crow nodded in response. Right, don't get the robot the robot zapped. Solid plan. Crow, on the other hand, had gotten struck by lightning and had been mostly unscathed. She still couldn't really remember what had happened, but she didn't have anything more than some nasty scars to show for the encounter. If one of them was going to be attacked by this prostitute, she'd be the better target. Unfortunately. It was then that Karima confirmed her plans for the girl. As Crow had suspected, snapping her neck hadn't been meant as a way to kill her. Still, it didn't mean it wouldn't do so.

The corner of Crow's mouth twitched upward at Karima's assessment of the odds. 96%. Flattering. Still, she wasn't a fan of waiting several days to go after this girl. Patience was a virtue, sure, but this wasn't the time for it. The girl was young, spooked, and obviously new to her powers. Not a good combination. Besides, the more time they gave her, the more time she'd have to mull over her first encounter with a SHIELD agent. Not a good plan, if recruiting her was still a priority. Crow nodded thoughtfully, wondering if Karima had considered that angle. She seemed to be somewhat unable to predict human behavior. That was good to know. Potentially more useful than knowing her weight, or ability to withstand damage.

“Healing factors don't always fix death,” Crow replied finally, still contemplating how much she actually wanted to help Karima. She was pretty sure her idea would work, but there would be risk involved. Even if the robot girl was fascinating, Crow wasn't going to stick her neck out for her. “I've used neurotoxin on ferals before, that's pretty effective. Doesn't kill, but gives healing factors more to handle than they can deal with. Only issue is that it takes a few minutes to kick in. I should be able to get close enough to deliver it, but getting out afterward will be exciting without a good distraction.”

They were getting close. Even through the blood in her nose, Crow could smell the girl now. She looked around, trying to pinpoint a direction and ending up with only a vague sense. Why had the robot needed to land on her face? Having to rely on Karima for tracking was annoying. Still, despite Crow's current...disability...she was more than capable of picking up a few details about the girl's scent. She was terrified, which seemed like a pretty reasonable response, considering everything that had happened tonight. If Karima decided against waiting to strike again, the girl's night was about to get even worse. She was also tired. That was good; she'd be less capable of running or fighting. Maybe Crow would get out of here without fresh, exciting injuries.

[Karima Shapandar]

Given the nature of the situation Karima was surprised that the girl had stopped running. But then again humans do surprise her quite a lot. Perhaps the girl was confident that no one could have possibly found her after her clever escape, Karima had no idea and lacked sufficient data to really postulate on it, doing so would be a waste of time. As they came upon the building, it was quickly recognized as a church. The rear entrance to be exact, in her haste she hadn't even closed the door all the way, and so Karima simply stepped up to it, but stopped a moment later. She keyed her acute senses sharply. The girl was inside, by at the far end, nearer to the pews and the altar, she was praying.

"The distraction you require is currently active. The girl is praying by the main altar. A snake or small but highly toxic spider could easily attack, when you bite her, she will no doubt look to attack you, but I will further distract her so you can escape. Now that I know her abilities may be used at range, I will not make the same mistake twice."

Afterwards, she pushed the door open silently and began walking through the building towards the sound of the girls whispering voice. Karima was unbelievably quiet, like a ninja in the movies, despite weighing almost four hundred pounds, she didn't make a sound when stepping. It was uncanny. When they enter the main hall, they do so from the back, but not before passing through some kind of kitchen, many lights are off, though even in the dim light, it's still easy for the both of them to see. Karima moves in and ducks behind the rear most pew. There are close to forty of them, two rows, a good sized church but by no means the biggest.

[Crow]

Crow followed as Karima turned towards a building, using her own enhanced senses to pick up as much as possible about the building. It seemed their girl had stopped in a church. Smart choice, if running was no longer an option. The supposed sanctity of the building might prevent some from starting a fight in it, and outside of mass, it was likely to be empty. Running and hiding would have still been better, granted, but their target happened to be young and inexperienced. And the people tracking her had enhanced senses of smell. That helped.

She could hear a voice inside the church, repeating something about forgiveness. Crow could only assume she was praying; she'd never really been a church person, herself. She couldn't hear or smell anyone else nearby, thankfully. They could do this cleanly. Karima paused outside of the church, quickly filling Crow in on what was happening inside. Nice of her, but not exactly helpful. She nodded, but didn't say anything in response. It was a good plan. Naturally, she was going to ignore most of it.

Crow padded along silently after Karima, taking in the surroundings. Good place for a fight, if it became necessary; lots of solid cover, high ceilings, good acoustics. Someone less stealthy than her—and apparently Karima—would have a hell of a time hiding in here. It was also deserted, save for them and the girl. That would help. As Karima moved towards the back row of pews, Crow slipped around the side until they were nearly flanking the girl. She gave Karima a quick hand gesture of 'wait' before stepping around the front row of pews. Crow was nearly directly in front of the girl now, but she still hadn't given any sign of noticing her. Stupid. If she wasn't going to find a better hiding spot, then she should at least be damn wary of anyone else nearby.

“Hey,” she greeted the girl quietly, keeping a safe distance away. The girl jumped, obviously started, and she could hear a crackle of electricity. Crow held up her hands to show that they were empty, and took a step back. The girl paused, apparently willing to give her a chance. That was all Crow needed. She ducked her head slightly, and took a step forward. Nonthreatening. Friendly, even. Her usual, intense demeanor was replaced by quiet reassurance. From the girl's expression, it was pretty much the last thing she was expecting to see. She didn't back away, though. “Chill, I'm on your side. Were those cops outside looking for you? Redirected 'em down the street.”

“What—who are you?” the girl asked. It was clear that she was still nervous. It was understandable. She'd had a rough few weeks, after all, and nearly everyone Donna had met seemed to want to hurt her. Just because this one acted differently didn't mean it wouldn't come. Once she found out what Donna was—what she had done—her attitude would change. She clutched at the cross around her neck, staring back at Crow. Had she really pointed the police somewhere else? Why would she have done that?

“I'm Emily. I work at that place next door. Heard the commotion up the street, and the pigs said they were looking for a mutant girl. I figured hey, us mutants got to stick together, right?” There was absolutely nothing to mark Crow's words as a lie; no hesitation, and no body language to give her away. She gave the girl a tentative, earnest smile, as if wanting to be friendly but not quite sure how to go about it. It seemed to be working. Crow just needed to be friendly long enough to get the girl to drop her guard. Hopefully Karima was as patient as she'd said.

[Karima Shapandar]

Some might even say Karima's patience was legendary. Truth be told, she had the patience of a machine, she had no reason to become distracted, she was in complete control of nearly every single thought in her head and could direct them where she saw fit. It was also helpful that the small remaining areas of her brain that she could not control were easily entertained by a multitude of video games, chatting, web browsing and movie watching that she had all predownloaded and maintained doing nearly 24 hours a day. At any given moment Karima is simultaneously engaging in a dozen or more difference forms of interactive media, on top of what ever tasks she might be performing with her physical body.

So yes, Patience is a very strong suit of hers.

When Crow moves in Karima simply sits idly in the darkness shrouded by the darkest shadows in the room watching eagerly, she enjoys the social interaction between the girl and Crow. It honestly didn't matter what Crow did at this point, Karima was still commited and would not be changing course. If Crow did wind up betraying Karima, Karima wouldn't forget but she would also not retaliate. She knew it was unlikely and highly illogical for Crow to betray Karima, especially given her injured state, but Karima knew when it came to humans and social situations, anything was possible. If crow was actually betraying her and not using some kind of deception on the girl, then Karima would simply hang back and continue pursuit until such a time that she could strike in a more controlled way, at the moment, she had no idea what might happen, perhaps Crow was a friend of the girls and this was a trap? Anything was possible and Karima had already imagined some seven thousand different scenarios that could play out.

When Donna calmed herself enough to offer "Emily" the modicum of trust needed to listen to her words, her face became taunt with uncertainty. Her eye brows creased and her lips pressed and bunched slightly to one side with a palpable layer of anxiety written in her body language.

"w-well it aint me, so who ever your lookin for, go look some wheres else."

Donna put her hands behind her back, as if to hide the weapon which wasn't immediately visible any ways. Her hands were a weapon now though, her entire body actually, the only thing over powering her guilt is her fear, right now. She couldn't explain the blood on her clothes, or the scuff marks, or how she managed to have survived multiple gunshots and who knows what else, but she had. She felt volatile, and afraid, like a cornered animal. No one is here to help her, every one is out to get her, and she can't trust anybody, her vs the world and she knows best. She wont attack "Emily" unless Emily tries to make a move, but she's poised too, at least.

[Crow]

Everything about the girl read that she was thoroughly spooked. Understandable, considering what she'd been through, but it made Crow's job significantly more difficult. Somehow, she needed to get the girl to relax a little and trust her. She was sure that would prove interesting. Although Crow was very skilled at getting the reactions she wanted out of people, usually it was more along the lines of intimidation and fast talking. Neither would be wholly helpful here. She'd have to be understanding. Patient. Caring. It sounded awful.

Thankfully, though, the girl's first reaction was fear, not anger. She was denying the claim about her entirely, but she wasn't attacking. That was one positive note.

“Mmmkay then.” she replied with a shrug tone doubtful. Crow made it clear that she didn't believe the girl's words, but she didn't argue back. If she did, the girl would only get more defensive. “No matter who you are, though, you look like you've had one hell of a day. Enjoy the peace while it lasts. And I don't know 'bout you, but I'm starving. I'm gonna go see what this place has in the kitchen. You can come if you want, but I'll warn you I'm a terrible cook. Like I can't make scrambled eggs without burning everything.”

With that Crow turned back the way she came, towards the kitchen. She made sure she gave Karima's position a wide berth, just in case the girl did decide to follow her. Crow didn't really expect her to, but she had all the time in the world to gain this girl's trust. Well, at least all night. If she stayed near the kitchen and Karima kept her position, they'd have both of the exits covered. She was sure that Karima would either wait for her or just finish the job herself. Either option worked well for her. Besides, Crow actually was hungry. The last time she'd eaten was...a while ago, and she hadn't gotten to snack on the John barbecue they'd witnessed earlier. There had to be some sort of food in the kitchen here, even if it was just rice.

Crow rummaged around the church's kitchen, looking for food. It looked like there were leftovers from some function or another; there was a chicken casserole and some pasta left in the fridge. That would beat cooking. Another quick inspection yielded a bag of coffee. Yes. Coffee good. She set a pot on to brew, and stuck the casserole into the microwave. It smelled a little weird, but not old. Just...like vegetables. By the time she was done, she could hear footsteps approaching slowly, but ignored them; no point in creeping out the girl with preternatural senses yet.

“What happened to your nose?”

Crow jumped slightly, as if she hadn't heard the footsteps creeping up behind her, and turned around. After a second of feigned confusion she touched her upper lip, and wiped away what remained of the blood from it. “I said I redirected the cops. Don't have much reason to like pigs. Y'want some food?”

[Karima Shapandar]

At first Donna wanted nothing to do with the idea of this girl and food or any of it, and so when she started walking away, she just scowled, not at Crow, but in general, then turned around and began attempting to pray again, but she visited this church often enough that it was like a second home for her. When she wasn't out being a street rat, she was here, asking forgiveness for said street ratery. She felt responsible for the other girl who had so obviously helped her, the bloody nose kind of gave it away which was when another prang of guilt hit her. She had gotten hurt, a total stranger, had gotten hurt, protecting her. She sighed and cringed her eyes tightly at the anxiety and frustration of it all, then begrudgingly stood and chased after her with hurried steps.

When she got to the kitchen, and asked her question, the answer she received was all the indication she needed. Now she owes a debt to this girl, but that was okay, she would much rather do something nice for a fellow mutant and fellow woman than any of those slime ball men she's been forced to receive help from in the past.

"No I'm not very hungry, but don't eat that casserol, it has been in there since last Sunday. I will make you something propper, pastor Gains taught me how to cook in this very kitchen an this food is for anybody who is hungry. We have hamburgers, hot dogs, there's some canned chilli and beans, cornbread, rolls, Ham, we have some noodles, and spaghetti sauce, I could make you some spaghetti or some kind of stew, it might take about 15 minutes, but it'll be fresh."

Donna was already moving around the kitchen, flicking on lights, and moving things, and getting bowls and food out, and turning the stove on, and the hoven, she moved through the place like she knew it like the back of her hand. What's more important though, is the look on her face, the expression. She clearly -likes- cooking, and it's an obvious distraction to the guilt and terror she was feeling moments ago.

As for where Karima went? Well who knows, she isn't any where in sight though, and there were no footsteps. With how screwed up Crow's nose is, she can probably only barely smell her too, but then her ears are also pretty good aren't they? Where ever Karima is, her 'mechanical' insides are some where back towards the main hall area of the church, the subtle thumming hum of her nuclear reactor can still very clearly be heard in that direction, but its still very close. Strangely close actually, it sounds closer than it should be. She isn't in the same room but ... still, a little eerie, how close it sounds.

[Crow]

Apparently Crow's answer to the girl's question had been the right one, because her attitude had shifted suddenly. She was still a little upset, but the fear was mostly gone. Good, she'd be able to make her move soon. Even better, the girl had found something to distract herself, and she was being nice. Warning her that the casserole Crow had stuck in the microwave was old. That in itself was hilarious, but she managed to keep a straight face. Oh, she had eaten things far, far worse than a stale casserole. Dumpster diving came to mind. She decided against mentioning that to the girl, and instead stepped aside to let her begin her work. “I'll eat pretty much anything. Whatever you feel like making will be fine,” she replied with a shrug.

Crow leaned against the counter as the girl began bustling, still keeping a little distance between them. It wasn't the right moment to attack. Not yet. Donna clearly knew what she was doing, and there wasn't much Crow could do to help, so she just watched. She could hear Karima moving into a position closer to the kitchen, too; that was good. Even if the robot could run incredibly fast, a few seconds too long could be enough to give the girl a chance to attack Crow. She'd rather not get zapped any more than she had to. Last time that happened, she'd ended up with amnesia and then found out her only friend was a telepath and had been manipulating her for months. Electricity bad.

Donna was at the stove now, stirring a pot of...something. Crow wasn't quite sure, but it smelled decent enough. More importantly, however, the girl's back was turned. She was preoccupied, and there was a little noise coming from the stovetop. Enough to cover any noises that Crow made. Crow shot a quick glance to the doorway, but didn't see Karima there. “Get ready,” she murmured under her breath, barely making a noise. Hopefully the robot's hearing was sensitive enough to pick up on it, or this was going to be painful.

Carefully, Crow shifted her facial structure, growing a set of fangs and venom glands that were decidedly not human. It took a good deal more concentration than a full-body shift, but she had plenty of that to spare. It was just her physical stamina that was failing her. Besides, this meant she could produce far more neurotoxin. Not that a black mamba's bite needed any more power, but she wanted to make sure this girl stayed down for a while. Crow slunk up behind her noiselessly as she worked, paused, waited for her to angle her head down to the pot, and struck.