323/Rogue Meets Magneto (Backflash Scene)

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Rogue Meets Magneto (Backflash Scene)
Date of Scene: 08 May 2017
Location: Madripoor
Synopsis: Mystique takes Rogue to meet the Master of Magnetism
Cast of Characters: Magneto, Mystique, Rogue




Magneto has posed:
PLACE: Madripoor
TIME: Summer, 2023

"I must say, it's been awhile since someone paid with gold, but that's certainly no problem. Let me just check the exchange rate quickly and... this is enough to qualify for the Gold Pass, ironically enough. For just a few more ounces you'd be able to qualify for the Platinum Pass, which entitles you to ten extra grams of cocaine and a room in the Executive Suite of Madripoor's exclusive Orgy Palace."

The four-armed man busies himself with an abacus, a desktop computer, and the small bag of gold coins while somehow managing to have the presence of mind to try to upsell his customer. Only on Madripoor do the customs agents try to shake down visitors to the country in so blatant a fashion.

For some, it's part of Madripoor's charms. For others, it's one of the reasons they don't go to Madripoor.

The 'customer' doesn't appear to be particularly impressed by any of the offerings that come with the Platinum Pass, though he certainly looks like the type of customer the four-armed man is used to dealing with. He's old, well-dressed, and has a habit of sizing up people that would work well in a boardroom.

This, however, is no corporate one-percenter on a vacation. This is the Master of Magnetism, hiding in plain sight.

"No, thank you. I'm a bit of a germophobe. However, I'll need to place this case in your care while I roam the city, I'm sure... ten gold will be enough to ensure that its contents are not interfered with?"

Several minutes later, the Barely-Incognito Master of Magnetism is on his way out of the Madripoor Customs Office, minus his suitcase. With a dark red suit and a metallic cane, he looks like one of the many wealthy crooks who inhabit the island. However, he doesn't pay attention to any of the things that most of the wealthy crooks come here specifically for.

He walks past the drug dealers, the prostitues, and the casinos with his nose slightly upturned. It's as if the smell of the city is making him physically sick, and it's all he can do to contain it.

Past the ritzy, high-rise hotels. Past the corporate offices. Past the local Wolfram and Hart branch. On and on he walks, seemingly tireless, until he finds himself in one of the poorer areas of Madripoor.

The kind of place that wealthy older men usually stay away from, unless they want to risk having their throats cut.

Mystique has posed:
That's the type of neighborhood that the Brotherhood prefers to use for a base of operations. Less questions from the neighbors. The authorities in this area are practically non existent. Or as corrupt as those they are policing. Enough gold and they will will even follow orders. Such as blocking off streets.

As the man in red walks through the area, there will be a slowing of traffic from the path before him. Then the side streets seem to dwindle in population. Finally there is no one even following behind the Master of Magnetism. The street is soon empty of all but the visitor.

A moment later a brute of a man steps out of an alley, directly into his path. He is overly large, overly muscled and doesn't look too bright. He crosses his arms over his chest, placing himself right in the middle of the narrow path, effectively stopping progress of a normal person.

The man flicks a gaze to another figure nearby, signaling the girl.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was leaning back against a wall with her left leg up on the wall behind her, bent out at the knee. She had her cell phone out and was thumbing at it while not really paying much attention. The girl was dressed in blacks, greens and purples, though what color was there on her was mostly so dark it could barely even be defined as color. Her lips were painted a glossy-midnight-green and her eyes were surrounded by thick dark violet shadowing and her two-toned hair was... well, actually she had it in Princess Leia buns on her ears. No real reason either, she just thought it'd be fun.

When she was signaled, it took her a second to even realize it, she huffedout an exhale and finished her Tweet, then walked over to stand next to the man who'd signaled her... she looked over at the other person, glaring... a rather unpleasant look on her face.

Magneto has posed:
Despite his advancing years, Magneto isn't as oblivious as he might appear. So he certainly notices as the street starts to empty. But he's also not as helpless as he might appear, so he continues without acknowledging the changing conditions in any noticeable way. After all, one wouldn't want to project anything but an aura of royal indifference, would one?

Anyone watching the scene would think the old man had a death wish, walking right up to the much larger man and getting right within striking range of him before stopping. Looking up, he gives the man a hard, appraising stare. The kind a school principal might give to one of his naughtier students right before trying to scare him straight.

The younger girl gets roughly the same look, matching her bored scowl with the kind of frown one can only pull off when one has busy gray eyebrows and a face marked with lines.

"Unless I miss my guess, you two are my welcoming committee. You don't have that pungent human smell, at any rate."

Mystique has posed:
"I'm so glad you didn't call me human. I'd have to hurt you," the man growls in a voice like rocks rolling down a hill. He regards the older man for a moment then a ripple seems to pass over the man starting at the left side and moving to the right. As the ripple passes, what is left behind is a familiar blue form. It's but a moment before the familiar face of Mystique has taken the place of the man. She places her hands on the belt of skulls around the hips of her white dress, yellow eyes focused on the Magneto although it's hard to tell where she is looking with the lack of pupil. "I'm glad you could make it. I know you're busy." Governments to overthrow and things like that.

She glances over at Rogue. "This is Rogue." She uses that name. It is the girl's right to choose if she ever gives her real name. "I felt you may want to meet her personally. Rogue, this is the true leader of the Brotherhood." Even she answers to someone it seems. When she chooses.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had her phone still in her right gloved hand, the black glove that was on her right hand (dark green glove on the left) was rolling the phone in a slowly circle in her palm while she eyed Magneto. He made her nervous, but she was trying to hide it.

When Mystique shifted out of her form she looked over at the blue-skinned woman and stared at her as she made the introduction... Rogue didn't reply to her on them though, instead she put her green eyes back upon Magneto.

The young girl's eyes were surrounded by a lot of dark makeup, so it made the pale green pupils stand out in a much more starkly contrasted fashion. She had that youthful face about her, the kind that you could tell had some aging to do still, but that she was likely only going to see even more physical beauty in the years to come.

"Ah'm glad t'see that ya survived the Titanic, Mistah." She said in a heavily accented southern drawl. Looking up at Magneto's face then, she gave him a sweet smile to go along with the sour little tease at his age.

Magneto has posed:
As introductions go, it's fairly uneventful. Almost as if they were a group of acquaintances on their way to see a movie. It's a type of normalcy that Magneto wasn't really aware he was missing from his life, busy as he is overthrowing governments and things like that.

In short, he is taken aback. But it's clear from the way his stern eyes warm up that he's less 'taken aback' than he is 'charmed.'

"Survived the Titanic? Why, I'm the one who sank it, child."

He says it in a matter of fact way, as if his role in the affair was common knowledge. However, there's just a hint of a smile in his cold blue eyes, hidden amongst the stern eyebrows and cruel age lines.

Mystique has posed:
There is no hiding the smirk at Rogue's words nor Magneto's rejoinder. However, she holds her own tongue. For now, she waits. Her gaze moves from one to the other but she otherwise is careful to show no reactions. Rogue is important to her and she knows her particular power set will be valuable to Magneto. Perhaps in his current endeavors. It all depends on what the Master of Magnetism has going through his mind. Mystique learned quite some time ago she cannot predict which path he will take either, one of the reasons she continues to follow him. His goals match her own but he is also never boring, which is something her long life can become if she isn't stimulated properly.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue cracked a big smile at the response from the old man, it was a good one and it amused her. "Poor Leonardo Dicaprio..." She quietly said with a shake of her head. "He was so handsome back then." Its entirely possible that she believes he really was on that ill-fated British vessel from over a hundred years gone-by, she IS a junior highschool dropout afterall.

Rogue looked between the two of them then, and then around them toward the area they're in. "What are we doin' here, ya'll?" She asked in her young voice. "My reception here is terrible'n Ah was hopin' we'd be leavin' soon, t'be true. This place is kinda depressin'. Ah mean, Ah've counted at least ten porno stores since Ah even first started countin'. This place is given' me the creeps."

The young Goth girl with the touch of absorption, was kind of a chatterbox when she didn't have her phone in her face or cute guys to eyeball with lusty-eyes.

Magneto has posed:
Whether or not Magneto actually sank the Titanic will have to be answered some other time. But on the other hand, it's fairly common knowledge that he has killed people for speaking to him the way that Rogue did.

Of course, those were all humans. He seems to grade on a different curve entirely when judging mutants.

"Ah. So you haven't told her then, Mystique? I suppose it's best that way." We're all fortunate that he didn't say 'I find your insolence refreshing', but as much as he loves playing the part, Magneto's brand of villainy isn't 'quite' that theatrical.

That doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy being vague and evasive though...

"We are here because I've been told a great deal about you, and I came to verify the reports myself. I expect that you've prepared a place for an adequate demonstration?" He looks at Mystique, bushy gray eyebrows slightly raised. But it isn't really a question.

Mystique has posed:
"I have," Mystique answers with a brief nod.

A few minutes later, they are in an old abandoned warehouse. Most of the windows high up on the walls missing or just a few broken shards of glass remaining. Inside, the air is still and hot. Dust motes dance in the sunlight shining through those empty window panes. Strangely, it seems to almost absorb sound instead of echoing as one might expect in the vast emptiness. A few members of the Brotherhood are present, standing in a small group.

Mystique will take a moment to focus on her daughter. "You may choose how to demonstrate your abilities. This is just to show him what you can do," she says softly. Then she steps back, leaving everything in Rogue's hands.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue trailed after the other two as they progressed to the warehouse, she was back to typing things on her phone with her gloves that were made for that very purpose. But once they arrived inside the building she took her black hoodie off and laid it on a table and then set her phone down within the comfort of the body-heated fabric.

Rogue adjusted her gloves on her arms as she nodded over to Mystique. "Don't feel good about it... but Ah'll do it, Ah guess. He was given several chances, afterall." She muttered.

Rogue walked over to the mutants that were there and she spent some time talking to them, occassionally pointing back at Mystique and Magneto... it seemed as though she was telling them to test their abilities out. To show them off to Mags.

The mutants all lined up and turned toward old iron barrels across the warehouse. Moments later and they were doing their thing... One was firing off sonic blasts, another was using classic Telekinetic powers. The last one in the line was the one Rogue stood behind and he... leaned forward and spread his arms, then blasted a torrent of FIRE that funneled out of his mouth and launched across the warehouse to torch a stack of metal barrels!

Rogue... exhaled, took her right glove off and shook her head slowly. She reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck. "Sorry, Habanero. Ya shoulda stopped stealin' from the Bettin' Pool." She said to the spanish man who blew fire. And just a few seconds later, with minimal struggle, he was passed out on the floor at Rogue's feet.

The other mutants all stopped what they were doing and quickly backed up and away from the Southern Goth girl, who was now smiling back at Magneto and Mystique. But that wasn't it.

Rogue looked straight up in the air and she closed her eyes, then released that same TORRENT OF FLAME into the air above her.

Magneto has posed:
It speaks to the level of compartmentalization that the Brotherhood has developed that literally none of the assembled mutants seem to know Magneto well enough to go 'Hey look, it's Magneto!'. Of course, most people only recognize his helmet and cape, rather than the man himself. It's better this way, keeping the lower-ranking recruits in the dark.

But nobody is in the dark for very long. Not with a torrent of flame lighting up the place. From his position out of the way, posted up against a wall, Magneto gets to enjoy the show without getting too close to the action. He's far too valuable to risk a stray sonic blast, or so he tells himself.

"Most impressive..." He mumbles under his breath and casts a sidelong glance at Mystique. It's not the kind of sidelong glance that most men cast at Mystique, however. It's a look that's at once hopeful and sinister, delighted and... greedy?

"I'm convinced, Mystique. You may cancel the rest of the exhibition."

Mystique has posed:
"Rogue, well done. Thank you." Mystique wouldn't normally thank a member of her Brotherhood but she deals differently with Rogue. She's not fodder. Most of them are. Of course the way she is different toward the girl is likely to be noted by Magneto but there is no help for it. Glancing at the man who leads them, she catches that look. On one hand, she is pleased. She knew her adoptive daughter would be able to impress with her powers.

Yet, she also feels a moment of concern since she has no way to know what he has planned for the girl. Hopefully not something that will put them at odds. Their partnership has been too productive and profitable in her mind. She turns to the rest of the Brotherhood. "Take care of Habenero." It could mean to just remove him from the building or from the breathing members of the species.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue continued to play with the firebreath for a little while longer, even putting her barehand in front of the spout of flame to demonstrate that her body was immune to its effects as of now. BUT, when Mystique told her to stop she did and she started to walk back toward them, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her black denim short-shorts that she had on. A moment later and she did a little breathy-kiss toward a cigarette and lit right up with a small pencil-sized spout of flame.

Once she reached Mystique and Magneto she grinned, and started talking in Spanish. ~He'll be down for a few days.~ She said in the other language, having grabbed it from Habs as well.

Rogue then crossed one arm across her stomach and took a drag on the cigarette. "Oops." She said then, in a less-than-serious fashion, grinning all proudly of herself.

"Ah could take more than just him too..." She said in an awkward bit of phrasing. "It gets really trippy if Ah absorb several folks at the same time. Ice'n fire is probably my favorite combo though."

Magneto has posed:
"Indeed."

It's only one word, but when it's full of sinister intonation it takes on a whole range of meanings. Especially when delivered in Magneto's stiff, elegant, but ultimately low and scary voice.

"And the side effects to the victim are... minimal? Impressive. Perhaps we'll experiment further in the coming months..." Magneto's voice trails off, as if he's imagining possibilities. Or possibly trying to remember what his schedule looks like over the next few months.

"Plenty of time for that later. I'm sure we'll all be seeing much more of each other soon, but as Mystique mentioned I'm a... busy man. So busy, in fact, that I have two more appointments here in Madripoor today."

Aww... but we all wanted you to stay forever Magneto...

"No need to show me out, Mystique. I'll be in touch in a few days."

And without anything resembling a proper greeting, he heads toward the exit.