4636/Checking another off the box.

Checking another off the box.
Date of Scene:	12 June 2018
Location:	Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Power Girl drops by to see Andrea per earlier invitation. Andrea and Mason have the most emotional talk that was 2 years in the making.
Cast of Characters:	Rage, Mason Steele, Power Girl

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Rage has posed:
It may have took awhile and pulling some strings, but Andrea was finally able to leave a message for Power Girl at the Justice League headquarters. It was a simple one: 'Hey, wanted to meet you after the other day. Can you stop by sometime when you're not busy?' She left a forwarding address for Xavier's, the boarding school she will be now attending.

It's a warm and sunny afternoon and Andrea is settled on the porch in front of the front doors of the mansion, tapping away on her phone with a bored look on her face. Mutant lockdown due to the Reaver attacks, but it sure beats getting stabbed in the chest again. She has been chatting with Mason as well last night after the recent events. Dressed in a cute sun dress from Altar'd State and white leggings and sneakers, she looks ready for such weather, even if she can't leave the property.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason got the text from Andrea saying that he shouldn't go outside, but he wasn't there when her driver came to pick him up. He wasn't about to be stuck without wheels. So he drove himself. He remembered the general vicinity of where Xavier's School was, but when it came down to actually getting there...that's another matter. He wandered around for forty-five minutes before finally admitting he was lost and asking for the address. As a result, he is just now getting to the school. He pulls up out front, the top down on his red Ferrari. Not exactly a method that keeps him incognito. He wears a yellow polo that goes well with the blond messy hair, and camo cargo shorts with a pair of thong sandals. He hops out of the car, pulling his sunglasses off his eyes and refitting them over the back of his head so that they hang down across the back of his neck. He doesn't have his usual charming smile, he looks somewhere between annoyed and worried as he walks up the front walk of the mansion

Power Girl has posed:
    Power Girl isn't really a 'Meet the Public' type, unlike her cousin- even when she appreciates or respects the public she'd be meeting. She's just a little too brash, and a touch too busy, to ever really make it work. The first time she called someone a 'dickhead' on live television had resulted in Clark spitting coke. As a result, it took more than a little urging from Terra and a few others before she agreed to meet a person whose music wasn't really her thing.

    It probably comes as a surprise- but likely not a shock- to Andrea when Power Girl descends from the heavens, a sound similar to thunder echoing from the general direction of New York proper heralding both her arrival and her descent from several times the speed of sound. Her landing is slow and graceful, almost a touch languid- and it's about twenty feet or so out from the porch of the mansion.

    "You rang?" she calls, stepping forward towards the woman seated there, even as Mason approaches from the rear.

Rage has posed:
"Mason! I sent Jameson to pick you up. You twit. I /told/ you to not go outside. I /told/ you to keep your head down, and here you are, in a bright red fucking Ferrari with a ... yellow polo on. You know I like yellow." Andrea grunts out with a roll of her dark eyes upwards. "Dude, you may as well put a beacon on yourself that says: Hey bad guys, follow me here, come /slaughter/ all the mutants!" She flails her arms up in the air in frustration, then leans back to bonk her head against one of the porch railings. "Why can't you just .. listen to me... just once?"

As it looks like she is about to go round two in her verbal beat down, she pauses at the sight of Power Girl descending from the heavens in a crack of thunder, eyes widening. ".. Wow. I suddenly feel a metric ton safer. Hi!" She calls out as she pushes up to her feet.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason's expression neutral during the rant. The kind of neutral that is negatively charged, but whatever his expression may have been, he flinches at the sound of the sonic boom, completely unprepared for it, and looks up to see Power Girl descending. He is officially distracted. "Oh, wow," he says, not even engaging the previous rant. "Power Girl lives here too?" he asks. His expression lightens, and he quickens his pace forward. "Hi there," he offers, that charming smile he is known so well for reappearing on his face. He maintains a casual smile, as if he's not really excited to meet her. Of course, she can probably hear his heart speed up a little anyway.

Power Girl has posed:
    Reaching the actual front portion of the mansion, Power Girl raises a brow. She acknowledges Mason, but will allow Andrea to correct that statement. He gets a nod, for the moment- the incongruity between his quickening pace and presented demeanor not necessarily duplicitous... But a little common for people meeting her for the first time.

    Instead, she continues toward Andrea, keeping her attention there. "Yes, hi." she responds- not impatient, but she'd somewhat expected Andrea to be a little closer to the point than just a greeting. "So... You left a message for me at the Hall? Is there some sort of problem you're having, more threats, or...?"

Rage has posed:
"Oh. Well. I kinda died the other day, but you weren't there for that. Took two bullets in the back and ran through with a sword, in and out." Andrea says a she gives herself a pat down. "They call themselves the Reavers. Bunch of mutant hating cyborgs that have a target on me. Pretty scary stuff." Andrea says as she gives her a smile. "So now here at Xavier's, all of us students are on lock down until Miss Grey says the threat is over. I think it she has a means to resolve it but I'm not sure what that is just yet. But, she's pretty scary for a headmistress.

Giving Mason another 'look', the popstarlte says, "No, she doesn't live here. She is a member of the Justice League. Which is kinda the Avengers of Metropolis. They got Superman, we got Captain America. Anyways... I just wanted to personally thank you for saving not only me but all those other people at my concert when the Reavers showed up with those guns. So, I wanted to present you with something." She leans over to her LV bag and opens it up, rustling around until she pulls out a piece of paper. "With your permission, I would like to donate five thousand dollars in your name to the Starlight Foundation which helps troubled youths, mostly mutants, who have been kicked out of homes, bullied and thinking about doing things like killing themselves. I was pretty sure you wouldn't take money from me an I'm super passionate about charity. Also, maybe take you out to dinner on my dime as soon as lock down is over? I just wanted to do something nice, on behalf of New York and myself."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason rolls his eyes, "I know who the Justice League is," he says, directing the comment more to Power Girl than to Andrea. He then glances around at the lack of security on the campus. "For a lockdown, it sure is easy for someone to just drive up to the front door, nobody stopped me or anything," he comments to Andrea.
    "But wait, let's back up," the other pop star points at Power Girl, "She's the one who saved you at the rally?" He turns to her. "That is pretty exciting. I'm glad you were there. You a fan of Andrea's?" he asks. After all, she must be! She was at the concert.

Power Girl has posed:
    There's a short hesitation there as a level of cognitive dissonance kicks in. She's so used to Bruce Wayne, well, doing the things that he does. For a moment the idea of a few thousand dollars seems... Weird. It passes quickly- Power Girl isn't ungrateful, she just wasn't quite expecting this. "Yeah, sure. I'd be happy to do that." she states, picking up the piece of paper that she was going to be handed by the starlet. She scans it quickly, to ensure that she's not about to "sign" something that gives someone some ridiculous rights or something the like, before expecting a pen to be produced by Andrea. She's not exactly sure what the nature of the paper itself is.

    "As for the dinner, I-" there's something of a pause then, as Mason speaks up. "No, that's not quite- I was there with a friend, she is really fond of that kind of music. It's not really my thing." she notes, pausing a moment, "I think I saw your name on an album that I liked," she notes, "It was this piano thing." STAR Labs, admittedly, uses it for elevator music- but that's only because Karen Starr happened to enjoy it, rather than it being... Bad or boring.

Rage has posed:
"We're a fucking secret school, Mason! One that you told me you would keep your mouth shut about. I also told you that you're being watched, and here you are, in a FERARRI. No one knows I'm here!" Andrea just... seethes as she takes in a deep breath, closing her eyes and counting backwards. "I called you with a warning, because I have something to tell you, something big, and you pull a Mason Steele, as usual. I don't know why I thought I'd be able to think you could follow one small request." The paper she handed Power Girl is a check, made out to the Starlight Foundation with her signature on it. "And they let you in because I told them you were coming, I have you on the list of people approved to visit me."

She gives an apologetic look to Power Girl. "... Sorry for being upset. Just that something huge went down last night and I needed to try and handle this with some type of decorum and subterfuge. You see, Mason, the tape of us protecting ourselves at the coffee shop was stolen by dirty cops and turned over to the CEO of a genetics company who is holding it ransom unless I give him my blood, and if I don't, he's going to leak it to the media, showing me wolfing out, killing that cyborg lady and /you/, doing what you did to that counter, all of it, on tape. So, yeah. I wanted to tell you all of this quietly, without fanfare, so that I could safely help you out." She says as her voice trembles. "Because your life is about to be ruined unless Miss Grey can pull off what she says she can and make it all go away."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason arches his brow, "Thanks, not a lot of people know I did that Reflection's album..." he is about to continue when Andrea explodes. He nervously glances at Power Girl as Andrea has her rant. "I..." he starts, but wait, she's not done. "Andrea..." Nope, she's still not done. His face is turning bright red from embarrassment, and he grimaces toward Power Girl. "Sorry, she's really..." maybe he shouldn't finish that statement, whatever word he was going to place, it looks like he decided against it. "Maybe you should calm down, and we can talk about it in a little bit. I think you have a pretty important visitor that just flew a long way to come say hello."

Power Girl has posed:
    For a moment, Power Girl laments that she hasn't any popcorn. That is clearly shown on her face as she just watches Andrea attack Mason verbally- for a moment, she feels herself almost a third wheel to the whole exchange, akin to a supporting character on Days of Our Mutant Lives. Regardless, though, it eventually comes to an end. The only comment she made throughout was a quick, "Put down the shovel." said after the phrase 'she's really.' She does seem proud of him for doing so, even if it's only for a moment.

    "You seem to uh... Have a lot of reasons to be upset." she notes, finally placing the check into a compartment on the wrist section of her glove. "I'll get that delivered to them pretty quickly. You guys can, you know, sort out... This, however you need to. As for the dinner, I'm probably going to have to decline. I appreciate the offer, though."

Rage has posed:
Squeezing a hand shut tightly in a fist, Andrea gives a visible shudder as she tries to quell the beast that is determined to leap up out of her throat. After a moment, she breathes, then looks to Power girl. "No problem. I just wanted to do something nice for you in appreciation for your service. I don't know what it's like to be a super hero, but I'm sure they are like cops, and they go under appreciated for their efforts for when they do something good for the community. It's not just a job to me." She gives Mason another look as she rubs the back of her neck. "Thank you for coming by, Power Girl. It does mean a lot that I was able to thank you personally. I look up to you. The world needs more strong women as role models like you."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason seems to calm a little as Andrea scales back. "Yeah, it's been a tense couple of weeks," he helps defend Andrea's demeanor. "If you ever need someone to do a recital for anything events," he tells Power Girl," I'd be happy to help you out, any friend of Andrea's is one of mine. Not to mention it's nice to meet someone else who is a fan of the classics."

Power Girl has posed:
    Having stowed away everything she needed to, Power Girl starts to rise up into the sky. "I don't know about all that. I just do what I can, and I'm pretty good at punching people. It isn't a job to any of us- we're not really paid, after all. Plus, you can't really get a Bachelor's Degree in punching and spend six months as a suplexing intern before being sprayed down with black paint and shipped off to Gotham."

    She gives the pair a mock salute as a departing statement, and an acknowledging, "I don't really do... Anything like that, but if I get caught up in something completely different than anything I do, I at least know someone I can call."

    Then, she's just... Gone. Way too fast to be seen, with an echoing -pop- as sound caves to her rising speed.

Rage has posed:
Lifting her hand to wave as she goes, Andrea gives an honest smile, then glances over to Mason again. She takes in a deep breath, then reaches out and pulls him in for a firm hug. "I'm still angry, but I'll get over it. I'm just scared right now, for you and everyone else that is caught up in this." She says as she leans back to look at him. "But we gotta talk about what's happening and what to do next, because you are in danger." She says as she drops her hand down to his to squeeze them.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason gives a wave to Power girl as she raises up into the sky, his friendly demeanor fading a little as he looks back down to Andrea at about the same moment she pulls him into a hug. He returns it tentatively.
    "Yeah, about that..." he says, "I still have no idea what you are talking about. Someone is trying to blackmail you? And the video at the coffee shop, how did he get it? Are you sure he has it?"

Rage has posed:
"I saw it, and I have a copy of it. After I talked to him yesterday when he showed me the tape and told me what he wants for it, Jameson dropped some stuff off and found it on my bed. A copy of it." Andrea says with a frown on her face. "And I saw what you did. He saw what you did. He knows who you are and he wants the names of my friends. He wants your blood too." She stares at him for a long moment, shifting her jaw. "Why?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason's face pales. "It was an intense moment," he defends himself. "Adrenaline can be pretty powerful, I just swung." He's still trying to cover it. "He wants my blood? Is this like some creepy vampire or something? Who goes around asking for people's blood?"

Rage has posed:
"He works in genetics and biology." Andrea says, then glowers at him. "Why are you lying to me? Why are you scared to tell /me/ the truth?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "I'm not lying," Mason says with bravado smirk. "You're just determined that I have to be a mutant, like it makes things better. You've accused me of it like ten times now. I think we're getting off topic," he decides, changing the subject. "So why does this guy want your blood so bad that he is willing to blackmail you? Like, he wants all of it? Or just a sample? I'm confused."

Rage has posed:
"Because I'm a global superstar icon and he can black mail me and end my career if I don't give it up. It's easy for him. I may not be able to shoot lasers but I'm pretty powerful. I don't know what he wants it for, but he said to help people, which to me means probably take my DNA and try and create a werewolf army. I don't know. He's a bad guy!" Andrew throws her hands up in the air. "And you are still lying to me! My mom was Marine and she knows all about adrenaline and there is no way she could literally rip off a countertop of granite and swing it like a baseball bat and hit three people at once and take them down!" Whipping her phone out, she shows him the video with the images of him yanking out the granite.

She stares at him, her eyes wet, her emotions hurt. "Mason, you probably saved my life there. If you want me to keep your secret I will. I won't say a word to /anyone/. Not even Miss Grey who by the way would do everything in her power to protect you, but you don't have to lie to me. Of everyone in the world, you don't have to lie to me. Please." She says, her voice wavering. "Please don't do this to me, don't lie, don't mess with me. You have any clue how long I had to live with this without a friend to talk to? Always thinking if it got out, I'd lose everything? I'd lose my parents, I'd lose my friends, I'd lose my career?" She wipes at her face, followed by a loud sniff. "That I would lose you."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason's face pales further as he watches the video. "I don't want to relive that," he says quietly, looking away as his image swings the countertop. The silence between them seems to grow, and he looks at his feet.
    He puts his hands on his hips, and looks out over the yard, taking an stabilizing deep breath. "I thought that...if I just pretended. Never used them, never talked about them, never admitted them, then nobody had to know. Maybe I'd forget." He looks back at Andrea, water in his eyes. "I don't want to be one. You come out, loud and proud, fight for the rights. Andrea, I'm not you. I just. Don't. Want it." He walks away gripping the stone bannister as if it would give him emotional support, his hand running along it.
    "Maybe you should just give it to him. I mean, if that's all he wants, just do it. Let the superheroes deal with it if he tries to make something of it. Maybe he just wants to do what he says." He looks ashamed as he suggests it, and continues to look down at the railing, not daring to look Andrea in the eyes.

Rage has posed:
As she listens to him, Andrea gives another sniff as she brushes a tear from her face. She reaches out to take his free hand in both of hers, squeezing it as she leans in against him from behind. Her chin rests against his shoulder, her breath warm along his neck. "There is nothing wrong with you, Mason. There is nothing wrong in being a mutant, or being gay or being black or green or an alien from Krypton. There is only good and bad people. The entire world doesn't think bad about mutants. It's just a small population of bigots that do. They're scared because they don't get it. They are scared of the unknown. But .. it will get better. It will." She assures him softly.

"Mason, this school here is accepting of us because the teachers are mutants. Some of them very popular and well known. They are teaching us here how to take care of ourselves, to use our powers, to control them so we don't hurt anyone else. It's discreet. You could join us here. You'd just be a normal guy finishing up your last two years. You'd learn how to use your powers better, how to handle yourself in situations. After graduation you can do whatever you want. No one would care, but it's good for us here. It's an amazing experience. They have scholarships and hookups everywhere." She holds of on the other part for the moment, just trying to assure him.

Mason Steele has posed:
    There is a curl of his lip. "A small population," he echoes, his hand neither receding from her touch nor embracing it. "Small seems to be a bit relative, and small can kill you. Or did you forget that already?"
    "See," Mason explains, "Those people who are so scared and bigoted? Maybe they aren't that wrong. I mean look at some of the people who can do things. There are people who can control your mind like my mother. Tell me your first thought when you see her now won't be to wonder if she's manipulating you." He arches his brow, as if to challenge her to claim otherwise. "There's people like that magnet guy who can tear whole buildings apart by just wishing to do it. Can you really tell them there's nothing to be afraid of? So what about the people who lost someone they love because of a mutant who decided to rampage? Can you blame them for being afraid? It might not be fair," he says, gently pulling back from her, but not hard enough that he'd pull away if she continues to hold him.
    "It may not be fair that they hold all of us responsible, but it's not fair that we hold it against them, either. They aren't afraid of a danger that isn't real. They aren't making it up. It's not like being black, or being gay, where it's just prejudice or a difference in moral convictions about lifestyle. It can kill people. And let's face it, everybody has a button that would push them to the edge, to use whatever power they have in life to force what they want. It's the fact that most people have a relatively equal power that keeps it all in check. Some mutants...they don't have that check. There isn't someone who can stop them. It's not how mutants are different that makes them terrifying to people. It's how they are just the same as everybody else, we all have a button. What scares people is that they don't have a way to stop our button. And so that's their button."
    He looks back at Andrea. "So...I'm pretty sure I make a shitty mutant, too. Because what kind of mutant thinks that everybody else is right about them?" He shakes his head, a tear breaking free and rolling down his face.

Rage has posed:
As she listens to him, Andrea squeezes his hand tighter. "Mason, you can say that about anyone in the world. Superman can throw a moon into Earth if he wanted. The Hulk has probably killed more people by accident when he has a tantrum and goes on a rampage. Even Captain America, an icon to the world, is super powered up. What makes us different than them? Because one came from space, the other got hit with radiation? One got a shot in the butt with super steroids? People can be scared because they don't think rationally all the time. But you can change their mind through your actions. Your voice is strong, Mason. We have so much influence over young minds and if prove to the world that we are /good/, and if we can change just /one/ mind .. it's worth it."

Nuzzling gently against his neck, Andrea sighs. "And I don't care about your mother. She's a bitch who hurts people because she has no soul." Ouch. "But I also know she loves you a lot, and she did a lot of things to make sure you were safe. Look .." She guides his chin so that he can look at her again. "You are not a terrible mutant. You're just a scared sixteen year old. I'm scared too. Me being out and proud? Still scary. I wanted to be more like my mother. A hero. Someone that does the right thing. Maybe I did the wrong thing. But .. I wouldn't take it back. You do not have to go out and be loud and proud and wave it on your sleeve. You don't have to be that kinda mutant. You can just be Mason. Hottest guy in the pop industry, great singer, amazing artist.. guy I'm in love with." She says with a grin. "Talk to Jean Grey. Please? Give her a chance to show you that you can be apart of this. She has a plan to deal with this CEO guy. She's going to make it go away. Your secret will be safe and we can go back to our lives."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason pulls his jaw forward. "I just don't want any of it," he says. "I just want to pretend it's not there."
    "I don't even know how I feel about what happened. I didn't try to use my powers, it just happened. I think now about it, I don't know what else I could have done, and I was too late anyway. You got hurt. That whole time, all I wanted to think about was how to escape. I'm not ready for that sort of thing to be part of my life." Mason grips the bannister a little tighter. "I just want it to go away."

Rage has posed:
"You can't just pretend it's not there. This is your life. What is your powers anyways? You are super strong? You are invulernable? Is that how you didn't get killed when you jumped?" Andrea asks as she squeezes his hand again, then loops her arm around him from behind as she rests against his back. Just like the old days when she would comfort him after a bad day of taping or a bad day in general. "I did get hurt, but I'm not dead, right? I'm still here. God has a plan for me still I suppose. The kid that healed me is here with us in Xavier's. Just as scared as you if not more. He has no clue how to handle this. Could probably use a friend in the same boat as him." She hints.

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason's defenses seem to weaken. "I dunno," he says. "You know I'm not really good at sharing feelings." He doesn't stop her cuddle, but he seems still reluctant to embrace it. "And I don't really even know much about my powers. I know it has somthing to do with rocks. I didn't even know I could do what I did with that countertop. Seriously. When I fell..." he stops, as if having to force himself to admit it. "When I jumped... somehow the ground just turned into sand. as I hit it. I never really tried to learn more about it, and after what happened to Shania, I really didn't want to find out more."

Rage has posed:
"You should learn to figure these powers out, Mason, before you do accidently hurt someone. Powers are tied to emotions. You have seen what happens to me." Andrea says as she gives him another hug from behind, pressing a kiss to the back of his shoulder. "So your powers are linked to the Earth. That's pretty cool, actually. We have someone here named Boris that kinda does the same thing. He can even swim underground. You should meet him, even if he's .. ah.. a little strange at times. But he's a good guy. Can you do me a favor though?" She asks softly. "Pretty please?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    "I already just told you my darkest secret," Mason answers. "Asking favors right now is kind of pushing it." He gives a wry smile that might indicate he could be possibly joking, but then again, maybe he's not.

Rage has posed:
"Promise me you will talk to Jean Grey and listen to her?" Andrea says as she gives him a warm smile. "And promise me, no more lies between us, just truths? I'm here for you and I could use my best friend back in my life to have our famous talks over ice cream and movies under blankets on the couch. Please?"

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason frowns. "That's two favors. Don't do that smile, it makes it harder to make empty promises," he answers dryly. "You are asking me to do something that will pretty dramatically change my life. I mean, really change my life."

Rage has posed:
"I'm asking you to make me the person you can talk to about this stuff, and I'm asking you to talk to Jean, our headmaster, and maybe some other faculty here so they can show you that this is a great situation, where you can meet a lot of great people, get a good education, still go to Juliard, still be a popstar, and maybe learn a bit more about yourself in the long run." Andrea says as she gives him a smile. "If you don't want to join us here, then you can just .. walk away. We probably gotta use the Men In Black flash thingy on you so you forget everything you saw though." She jokes.

Mason Steele has posed:
    "Fine," Mason says. "Just, don't let that guy release that video. Give him whatever he wants. If he's good enough to sneak something like that out from under the cops, he's probably not someone to screw around with. I don't want my life screwed up because of some staring contest to see who will blink first."

Rage has posed:
There is a bit of a wolfish grin upon Andrea's face as she leans in and pecks him on the lips. "Trust me, it's all under control from .. our end here.. I was assured. I won't need to give up any blood and the tape won't be an issue. But, thank you." She says as she squeezes his hands. "Thank you for finally trusting me, even if I had to drag it out of you." She rocks on her feet a bit. "And you can hang out with Tyler here. You'll really like Tommy and Julian. You guys will get along great and bro out I'm sure."

Mason Steele has posed:
    Mason just grunts, looking back at the manicured yard. "Yeah, we'll see," he says.