12185/I Need A Favor

I Need A Favor
Date of Scene:	17 September 2020
Location:	War Room - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	With her control crumbling, Jean makes one last check in regarding the ongoing coverup and makes a request that she hoped to never have to make to a woman that no one saw coming.
Cast of Characters:	Phoenix, Emma Frost, SpyderByte

---

Phoenix has posed:
A concert in Bushwick gone wrong. Magneto arrived, giving speeches of mutant rights. The police, seeing only a terrorist and war criminal, tried to break it up. The news was rife with the rhetoric of violent mutants, including one who interfered with the police doing their duty and letting criminals escape. Every time the news tried to play a clip from a body cam or a cell phone video, something was going wrong with it. They were corrupted, or the feed cut. A few bits snuck through, but within minutes they were gone. Recordings of those 'leaks', scrubbed. It was an active, frantic cover up attempt.

Jean Grey never returned to the mansion, though it was clear she was there. It was her alert that went out to the team, who had been commanding those others on the team who were present. Only closer to morning did she finally check in and say she was coming back, but it was through the underground hanger as opposed to the doors. She's in the War Room now, still in her civilian clothes from the night before, looking disheveled and dirty with bloodshot eyes under dark shadows. It doesn't look like she's slept one bit. There's a bottle of water next to her that's unopened, and her eyes are staring blankly at one unedited clip of the night. The X-Men helping evac people and Magneto, and her standing there black-eyed and her teeth bared in an inhuman snarl, facing down a line of riot police behind the barrier of her own shield.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma brings steaming cups of coffee down into the room. Her movements are incongruously quiet despite moving briskly on her heels. "You felt like you could use this," she comments as she holds one of them out to Jean. Arctic blue eyes study the frozen image on the screen and she purses her lips. "I don't know why you let it get to you -- no one looks good on camera when they're expending effort."

Does she know that's not what's on Jean's mind really? Sure. But Emma is nothing if not forthright when it comes to dealing with Jean Grey. Still, her tone is gentle.

"It doesn't make you a monster."

Phoenix has posed:
Normally Jean's closed off, but even a middling telepath could see the cracks in her armor. It's like a dropped egg still being held together somehow by the thin membrane. Between the cracks, the inside of the egg is magma.

Jean drags a hand across her face and through her hair as she slumps back into her chair, her sigh tired but still amused as she looks over to the arriving Emma. "Please, if you thought you looked ugly on screen you'd probably just let them blast you." She jabs, but there's no heart in it. She reaches out to take the mug with a murmured thanks before looking back to the screen, "I am one, I've just been able to keep it a secret. I don't think I can anymore." She reaches out to tap a finger against the tabletop and banishes the image.

"Emma, I need to ask you a favor."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma sips her coffee and she moves now to sit across from Jean. The White Queen, of all people, is probably a good one to talk to about this. For a lot of reasons. She holds off on the monsterdom conversation -- for this one moment -- to simply state, "Ask."

SpyderByte has posed:
The doors security doors swish open after a chime and a 'ping!'. Revealing the New Mutant known as Spyder Byte, Jeremy is in his 'uniform', which is really just a oversized black hoodie, a black long sleeve shirt with a power button logo upon it, and black pants with a pair of chains that dangle off the hips. He looks 'wired' in the way that is probably not healthy. His eyes are bloodshot and sunken and there is a noticeable electric twitch about him as he takes another long slug of the energy drink in his hand.

As he shambles forward slowly, he eases himself into a seat and looks over at the clip of Jean, then lets out a heavy breath. He slowly slumps forward, digging his phone back out of his pocket and squeezing it tightly as he focuses on the signal. The video begins to blur, twitch, then pixalate away into nothing as he gives a visible 'twitch' of his body, as if he just physically yanked the digital signal out of existance.

Snuffing, he reaches up to wipe at his nose, leaving a trail of blood along his palm before he digs out a tissue and wipes it off. It's almost as if he is just now noticing Emma as he looks up at her with his dark eyes, blinking one, then the other, slowly. Twitch.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey looks over to the door as Jeremy walks in, her expressions faltering and cracking further as she sees the state of him. She reaches over next to her to take the bottle of water and passes it over to him. "Enough, Jer. That's enough. The rest of the team'll take care of it." Her voice is low and flat as she murmurs, "You've done enough. More. I'm... I'm sorry."

She looks over to Emma across the table and without preamble she says, "I need you to look after the school. Hopefully not forever, but for a little while. I already risked enough by showing my face to the police," A face and name that are very public and on the school's records, "for all we're covering it. But that aside, I..." She presses her mouth into a thin line as her eyes drop away. "It's not safe for me to be here. Scott has enough on his plate with the team. You and I don't always see things the same, but I know that you know how to do this and I trust you to do what's best for the students."

Emma Frost has posed:
Almost as soon as Jeremy enters the room Emma is back on her feet and moving swiftly. She whips a handkerchief out of her pocket -- she carries hankies?? -- and presses it against the young man's nose, her other hand cradling the back of his head. Narrowing her eyes, she scans him without asking, verifying his mental condition. "Do not use your ability again for six hours, Mr. Statton." The words are given in the tones of a calm order that she expects to be followed. What will follow if he does not obey... well, he likely won't like it. Jean, with her shields at minimum, can tell that Emma will in fact shut the technopath's ability right on down if he doesn't obey.

As she basically cups the boy's head in her hands, dealing with the bloody nose, Emma looks to Jean. <<What happened last night?>> The demand is vaguely imperious, but she wants answers. <<Why are your restraints cracking?>>

SpyderByte has posed:
As he twitches, Jeremy finds his face covered and his head tilted back. Being that he can't speak, he has to use his powers to communicate through his phone. The voice comes out staticy, but as usual, modulated to sound 'happy' and 'chipper.'

<< I took everything and wiped it. Every report, every video, every picture, every street camera. It took me hours but I did it. Outside of word of mouth and gossip, I removed everything. >>

Physically he is fine, though a quick scan of the technopath's head would give off something like white noise coupled with 90's modem blips and boops. There must be millions of signals zipping in and out of him, 1's and 0's. He's literally hard wired to the entire mansion's network, security and terminals that he has to utilize to execute a job of his magnitude. His thoughts are machine like. Though somewhere tucked away in the back is that young man, broken and crippled and curled up somewhere in the dark.

<< I don't want you to go. I made sure everyone is safe. Right? Did I mess up? >>

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey leans forward to rest her elbows on the table, her hands wrapping around the heat of the mug. By her expressions, it's clear she hears Emma, but she squeezes her eyes shut and grimaces in a fleeting impression of a child not wanting to tell the truth. Her grip tightens around the mug as she clenches her teeth and then releases the tension with a loud sigh.

<<My codename. The team thinks it was a cheeky play on me coming back and the fiery side effect my powers had. It's not. It's not my name. It's the name of what came back with me. Something I was trying to keep contained. Something that is breaking free of the cage the Professor and I put it in. I don't know what it is or what it can do, but I can't be near here if it does get out. I nearly killed those police, Emma. I wanted to. I wanted to turn them into ash and scatter them to the wind like they were nothing, because how /dare/ they think that they could command mutants, that their laws /matter/ when we-- >>

There's the grate of metal chair legs on the floor as she pushes herself up from the table and takes several steps away with her back to the pair of them. She's quiet for a moment as she gets her breathing under control, but at Jeremy's words she turns back around and her face is distraught. "No! No. You did everything right. You did amazing. What I need you to do is rest, alright? Promise?"

She walks over to where Jeremy sits and reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder. "You've done enough. Me going, it isn't because of you. None of you, and I'm going to need all of you to stand by one another and keep each other strong, okay?"

Emma Frost has posed:
As Jean starts talking to her, Emma can *feel* the breadth of what Jean's talking about. It's not the redhead's telepathy, it's *Other*. <<Jesus Christ, Jean...>> Emma breathes out a long, low breath, still cradling Jeremy's head. She turns her eyes back to the student, adept at multiple conversations at once. "You did nothing except overextend yourself trying to help, Mr. Statton," she soothes. Her mental touch on him is like pouring oil over troubled waters -- she calms his fears, dulls the pain roaring through his head, and gently nudges him to disengage with the deeper levels of his ability for a time. Knowing how much of his ability to communicate relies on his power, though, she doesn't try to disconnect him -- the trauma of the silence would be almost as bad as cutting off a telepath or empath. Instead, she gently makes him back away from all but the most surface levels of his digital connections so that his brain can rest a little. "A little bit of rest and you will be fine. Jean's ability could get out of control and she needs a little bit of space to make sure no one gets hurt. It's nothing you did." The calmness imparted by the blonde may be false, but it will allow him to recover.

To the redhead, though, she reaches a firm touch to test the stability of Jean's shields and probe the edges of the strength she's containing. <<I can manage the school. If this breaks loose, though... are you certain anywhere will be far enough?>> she asks.

SpyderByte has posed:
As Emma's power washes over him, Jeremy's body slacks a bit as he eases up. The insect like noise in his mind starts to quiet and unravel, leaving behind only small beeps and boops in the backgrounds. He is just clinging to his phone now as he disconnects from the network one plug at a time so to speak. Once all the cables are untangled, there is just the young boy, draped in shadows and curled up within himself, holding to one single line of binary that is his phone.

<< I promise to try and rest. >>

It's like telling a rabbit to stop running when it comes to the technopaths mind. He does look concerned though as he peeks up at Jean behind wet, tired eyes, then reaches up with his free hand to take command of his nose. He gives a hard blow which comes out like a sharp noised flute, then wipes himself off a few times to ensure he's not leaking.

<< If you want to access the data, I have it stored in a heavily encrypted hard drive under my bed. >>

Phoenix has posed:
It's a long and uncomfortable silence from Jean as Emma asks that question. Emma would see into her mind, though the cracks to what's below. There's the impression of a room made of steel not unlike the cavernous Cerebro, and there at the center is suspended a cage of gold formed from the woven bonds of power that hum with the combined power of both Jean and Charles. Only the gold is flaking away, turning to cinders as it falls, and the bars are bending outward as something made of fire and fury and an eye-searingly bright light writhes and slams itself against the gilded prison. Jets of flames roar out from between the gaps, leaving scorch marks on the polished walls. It's like looking into the heart of the sun - or a nuclear reactor.

<< I-- I don't know. But, thank you for taking care of them, Emma. I'll owe you one when this is over. >>

Jean gives Jeremy's shoulder a squeeze and a smile that she pours every effort into making reassuring before she reaches into her pocket to pull out a set of keys on a ring marked with the school's logo. She sets it on the table. "If the X-Men need it, then they'll know where to find it. Just tell everyone to behave themselves for Ms. Frost until I get back, alright? Otherwise it'll be a chewing out of epic proportion and she'll never let me live it down."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma's eyes flicker to meet Jean's green ones, her concern for the woman evident only between the women. Her expression, for Jeremy's sake, is calm. Her smile is a touch forced, but again ... only Jean really will know that. "I will absolutely not allow you to live it down. It would reflect poorly on the manners we're teaching here." <<I've got them, Jean. For the love of God... if I can help, reach out.>> What she can feel caged within the redhead's mind is a terrifying amount of power. Will it destroy Jean Grey? And if it does, who is next? They are very real worries that she can do nothing about right now.

"Mr. Statton will hold the drives. I'll let Summers know where they are, but he's the only one who will have that information." Emma eyes Jeremy. "You... go rest. Right now. You're excused from classes for today."

SpyderByte has posed:
Reaching up to rub at his eye tiredly, Jeremy gives a nod as he pushes himself upwards to his feet. He lifts his drink up to take another long sip of delicious energy soda Suepr Jolt. It has a 1000mg of caffine per can. It can kill Gods.

<< Okay. I'm going to go to bed. >>

He is totally going to get sidetracked. Someone is going to send a meme and he's going to see it in mid-air and fall down a rabbit hole again. That's just how it goes for him. As he shambles up to his feet, he heads for the door, giving a wave of his hand to unlock the passcode so that it swishes open.

<< Bye. >> It's almost childish with the way the voice comes out through the speakers of his voice, drowsy and drawn out. Byeeee.

Phoenix has posed:
"Actually in bed to sleep, Jeremy, not YouTube." Jean watches the technopath head out the door before she gives her head a slow shake, grinning despite the heavy atmosphere. "He's not going to sleep. He's a good kid, just need to make sure he doesn't open the wrong doors."

She looks back to Emma then as she says, "I'm under strict orders from Scott to keep the core in the loop. I'm just going to go upstate for awhile, somewhere quiet. Charles already knows where I'm going and is going to meet me. I've had some close calls before, but this isn't going away and it's getting harder each time to keep it controlled. Now with Erik showing his face again... I can't risk it. I'm a liability, so I'm taking myself out of the equation."

"They're good kids. They shouldn't give you too much trouble. They have a lot of respect for Kurt, but he was always good at winning over the kids. So if you need backup, he's usually good at talking them out of bad ideas. Hank too, he just takes longer with all of his examples and stuff. Um.... shit, who am I fooling. You got this. Hell, you'll probably do better than I did. I'm not designed to run businesses."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma watches the boy go, but then her eyes track back to the redhead. Her worry furrow -- don't tell her that it's going to mar her features because the damn thing is becoming a permanent fixture around here. Her previous students would remember it -- is still present. "Your ability to run this school is not in question," she replies calmly. "You need to figure out how to either coexist with that," she nods toward Jean's head, "or set it free. Charles's instinct to *cage* everything he doesn't understand will not serve you for much longer, Jean." The warning is spoken in a neutral voice, but Emma understands wielding power. Not the level of power she feels off Jean right now, for certain, but ... "Caging parts of yourself never ends well."

Phoenix has posed:
"So I'm figuring out." Murmurs Jean as she turns to brush some dust off her pants, though the amount that remains makes it a losing battle before it even begins. "It was originally only until I recovered, but then as I got stronger so did it, and it because less holding it off until we could learn more and just... being afraid of it, I suppose."

It's a helpless shrug that she gives. "Anyway, I should go upstairs and get some things together and get out of here. The police shouldn't come knocking, but if they do an alibi is already underway that I've been at a retreat and wasn't anywhere near the city. I did spot one of our new students there, Mia. I checked to make sure she got back but someone'll need to go see how she is. She was loudly booing Erik while he was giving his speech. I have a feeling subtly may not be her strongest talent, but she's got spine. I'll have my phone with me, so if anything comes up then let me know. Scott's involved in all of the admissions, so he can fill you in on that part if you have questions."

Emma Frost has posed:
She doesn't stop Jean, but her mind now is on about a million different things at once. She doesn't bother to reiterate the offer of help if she can give it -- that is on the table for anytime Jean might need it. Emma drags a hand through her hair, an uncharacteristic movement that betrays distress. "Be careful." If one didn't know better, they might think she cares far too much.

Phoenix has posed:
"Yeah. Yeah." Jean says quietly. "I will. The Professor and I have been working on a few plans. If anyone can figure this out, he can." Blind faith still, but she doesn't sound quiet so blind as she once was. The words aren't spoken with the same conviction, only a fragile hope.

"Thanks again, Emma. I'll see you soon. ...and no stealing my Shrodinger's Cat mug. It's my favorite." And with one last wane smile, Jean turns to head out the door.