4242/A Touch of Brimstone: The Subject

A Touch of Brimstone: The Subject
Date of Scene:	29 November 2020
Location:	Mission Center
Synopsis:	The X-Men meet and discuss plans for dealing with the HFC's mutant kidnapping. A mission to the streets of Mutant Town. Diplomacy in Europe. And perhaps an investigation of the local chapter to gain the information they need. Afterward, the remaining victim of the genetics program awakens from his stasis, only to go briefly berserk as he cannot control his 'chimeric' mix of genetically grafted powers. They're able to subdue him, and his last moments are spent peacefully in the med bay. In his last moments, his memories reveal a face, perhaps the engineer of this entire gruesome plot.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Remy LeBeau, Rogue, Scott Summers, Lorna Dane, Emma Frost

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Jean Grey has posed:
Weeks Ago: Two members of Xavier's School - student Noriko Ashida and counselor and X-Man Kitty Pryde - went missing. With the aid of some of their Avengers allies and the psionic-enhancing Cerebro, they were tracked to a nondescript facility in Long Island and rescued in a brief assault. The facility boasted cages, the use of inhibitor collars, and various gruesome signs of the experiments being carried out there, including the bodies of former prisoners.

It also had an unexpected captive: Emma Frost, the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club. Apparently she'd fallen out of favor.

The lab was staffed by human guards and several mutants. Of the latter, one was found dead as the X-Men reached the main lab and control station in the basement, and the other soon expired from his injuries. Both apparently died at the hands of the third, a Cryokineticist, who also triggered the destruction of the base. The team also found stasis pods containing experimental subjects, although these too were heavily damaged during the collapse. Several were recovered, but only one has survived until today- still under mild sedation.

Today: The X-Men have gathered in the Mission room to discuss their findings and plot their next steps against the Hellfire Club. Jean stands near the central table, just to Scott's left, and she glances toward him. "I think we were going to start by reviewing some of the information we have so far? I have some of Hank's medical notes."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Mutant Town, New York City.

Remy has been out doing a little recon of his own. Asking around seedy bars in the secular sections of the inhospitable underbelly that is the town built for mutants. Sometimes it takes a smile, sometimes large sums of money exchanges hands, but after weeks of inquiries, the Ragin' Cajun has come up with the kind of dirt for which the dirty handed former thief is known for.

Making his way to the X-Men briefing room, he looks like he just rolled out of bed. Bangs dangling across his stubbled jaw, he's wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans that could have come right off the floor of his apartment. He's wearing his coat and he's fiddling with a deck of cards as he enters, cutting them across his finger and reshuffling them into his palm one handed. Big, semi-charming grin on his face.

Once he finds a chair, he settles into it and acts like he's just here for the free snacks... Hopefully there's snacks? "Are dere snacks?" It's a fair question, glancing hither and fro across the table, frown systematically replacing his grin.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's green and gold suits had been destroyed this past week, and though she's having more made, she's opted in to wearing a different uniform for today. Dressed in a green suit with white trim, her brown hair tied back behind her head, with her white bangs loose and framing her face, she's stepping in to the mission room just a few paces behind Remy. Her green gloved hands go to the back of one of the chairs where she holds on to it before she leans over and just folds her forearms together, electing to remain standing in a casual position looming over the chair.

Her green eyes start to look around the room after she hears about snacks. "Are... are there snacks?" The Belle asks.

Scott Summers has posed:
Usually Scott would give Emma a friendly nod. After all, they bonded on their common infinite hatred towards Nathaniel Essex and her relationship with his little brother. But not today. Scott is slow to trust, and he needs to know the enemies of mutant kind. Emma had some of these in her club, and that is a big mess up for a competent telepath.

So, she gets the Summer's disapproving glance so many here have already experienced at least once. He probably practiced it watching army drill sergeants apply it to recruits.

"What did we get, Jean?" He asks, turning to the redhead and magically losing his frown. "Who owned that warehouse, and who are the dead?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Joining the gathering, Lorna Dane leans against a wall not far from Jean with her arms crossed. She glances down briefly, giving her white button down a small adjustment to avoid wrinkles. "I wish I had more for you all. Just some potential leads on the equipment manufacturers. And potential might be a bit of a reach at that."
    Glancing at Remy as his grin wilts she gives him a lopsided grimace of her own. It could be the lack of snacks, or just how messed up things are looking at present.
    She switches to inspecting her nails in the meantime. "I don't suppose, well, does the Hellfire Club have substantial German ties?"

Emma Frost has posed:
    The woman arrives nearly a minute after the meeting was scheduled to begin and as such, she's aware most eyes would be upon her as she steps into the briefing room with her custom heeled shoes clicking against the tiles. She's not wearing all white, instead it's a charcol business suit with a light blue, semi-gloss blouse beneath and a pair of teasingly shiney red pumps that give her outfit that final dash of color.

    Frost steps in, pauses to give Scott the return nod, but acting aloof as ever as she walks behind the rest of the teammates already in the room and finishing upon Jean as Scott asks her the pressing questions, so Emma simply finds a seat and takes it, remaining quiet and paying attention to those within the room as well as the intel.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean is here, so of course there are snakcs! Everyone is more likely to show up if you tell them there's going to be punch and pie.

Well, it's hot chocolate, tea, coffee, as well as some cookies and crackers. She slides the plate over to the spot between the Belle and Beau with a wordless grin. "You find anything?" she asks the latter.

But soon it's quickly back to reading through some of the data she has. "The warehouse itself was mostly a dead end," she answers Scott. "Shell companies and that sort of thing. Security guards were paid through the same avenues. You might be able to tie it to club money, but it's thin? Meanwhile, the two dead mutants have been difficult to identify- probably not local. Among their victims, well..." She shakes her head. "Plenty of variety in their backgrounds. Mostly from here in the city."

Then she looks over at Lorna, quirking her eyebrows slightly. "I'd be surprised if they don't have business ties just about everywhere. Emma?"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Speakin' of Germans..." Remy says, reaching out greedy for some cookies. Several of them set in his palm like a stack of pocker chips, he's nibbling at the corners in a circle. It leaves crumbles all over his chest, which he brushes right off onto the floor. "Dat blonde fella, da one who blew up da werehouse?" Crunch, noisely sucking cheese powder off his thumb, "He seen aroun' Mutant town wit some european, usually in snatch'n grab scenarios wit some of dem locals."

He turns red eyes around in a wry stare that ends on Emma, doubling down the grin with a little hint of white teeth.

"An' plenty of fundin', ye no?" Flicking his wrist, fingers waving absently. Flampent. Does he even know this is serious? Of course he does, but he's pretending to be aloof. "Some dem out in da city lured off wit promise dey get fancy doctorin' wit secret-" Quote fingers, "-fundin'. Deep pockets, wit a hit squad." Another cookie thrown into his mouth, "shawnsh shik cruub."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma lifts her chin towards Jean when addressed and licks her lips before speaking. "The Hellfire Club itself is certainly on the level as far as any crooked dealings or permits. That's on purpose. Any above ground dealings through the club are meant to be legimate, except that it's one of many money laundering fronts." Emma explains as she sits perfectly straight in her chair and closes the distance between her at the table top.

    "The business ties are everywhere. Some corporations are shells, some are favors through true companies. So many loops and redtape within the legal red tape, it's nearly impossible to track back." Emma notes, her eyes dancing over to Remy with a glance.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes light up when the tray of goodies is sent toward she and Remy. She straightens up off of the chair and steps around it then to reach for a cup and some tea to pour in to it. Rogue's involvoement in this sort of thing is 'Go where you're asked, punch what you're told' and so far there hasn't been any laid-out targets for her to punch.

She sits herself down on the edge of the chair beside Remy's and crosses her legs at the knees, raising her new cup of tea up to her lips to sip from it. She does look over to Emma and smile at her. "Nice duds, Frosty." She tells the lady quietly whilst the serious business unfolds from the others.

Scott Summers has posed:
"We can put Shadowcat and Cypher after those shell companies," decides Scott. What looks like dead end trails for most often aren't for that pair. The X-Men don't need a judicial order to start busting heads, but Scott, at least, wants some solid proof.

He blinks behind his fancy glasses, surprised Gambit had something really important to add. "Would you grab that guy for us, Gambit? Alive, of course. I'll assign whatever assets you need. Take Rogue, or Wolverine, with you." Beat, "or Iceman, whatever that guy is, he will be no match for Bobby in cryokinetics."

Jean Grey has posed:
"So we're hearing European connections," Jean emphasizes, as Remy's comment seems to echo after Lorna's. She looks from one to the other, and to Emma again. "It makes sense, to a degree, that if you were going to do something this blatant, you may want parts of it off US soil. Adds a layer of obfuscation to everything."

And when Scott brings up Kitty and Doug, she nods. "That brings me to what I had in reports from other departments. I had our IT people working on the recovered hard drives. They say the encryption isn't a problem, so much as damage caused during the self-destruction and flooding. There's file corruption. And apparently to reconstruct the data they'll need- well, more data. Honestly the explanation was a little complicated for me, something about cloned installations..." He holds up her hands. Not a tech person! "And then there's Hank's work, which I mentioned to begin with-"

But then she's distracted again, this time with Scott and Remy. "If they're still active in the city, a bit of snatch and grab would be a great place to start."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Two people talking about snacks, two people talking about Eurpoean connections, two people talking about rebuilding damaged data cores. Emma, simply turns her head towards Rogue and whispers, "Thank you." Before pressing her lips flat and turning back to Jean, waiting and listening further before spotting the frustration potential and speaking up. "What is it the Doctor has found?" Emma inquries in a dramatic authoritative tone.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"I can look into those German supply companies. It might be the Jew in me, but German's supplying goods to do shady testing on people? It hits the personal nope scale pretty high." Lorna doesn't indulge in snacks but after seeing Rogue get herself some tea, the green haired woman peels herself off the wall and ambles over to see to that. "Ripping apart factories sounds cathartic anyway." She looks back to the others taking in the news about dubious people in mutant town. "How alive is alive?" She wonders to Scott and looks about for some cream to put in her cup first before getting herself tea.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy tosses half a cookie in his mouth and up nods at Scott, playing at being disappointed when he clarifies he wants him brought in alive. "Way to take da fun out of it..." After brushing his fingers together to get rid of any excess crumbs, the cajuns arm lays across the back of Rogue's chair. "I take Rogue /and/ Bobby. T'ink Logan too busy tossin' back Canadian beer." Pantomiming with his other hand, holding a can and chug-a-lug luggin'.

the arm settles on his abdomen, laid across the t-shirt just above his waist line. Slouching low in the chair, just as lazily as he can make himself appear, but it's pretty clear that he's /making/ himself appear lazy. More so than usual since he actually did something both useful and selfless. "Does feel good to respond in kind." Nodding to Jean, "Mon chere..." Glancing up and over at Rogue, "How you feel bout doin' a snatch'n grab, eh?"

But Lorna? Lorna coming in with that fire.

Remy points two fingers out at her, balls his hand into a fist, and taps it against his chest. "Zone libre de Facist. Fuck'em."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks over to Scott when he suggests going with Remy to do whatever it is the Cajun is assigned. So naturally, Gambit gets a smile out of the Belle too. Her eyes subsequently drop down to her drink then to sip from it when Lorna approaches to get a cup for herself. "Try the hot chocolate too, if you're so inclined." She tells the green haired Lornaneto. "Jean makes the best in the school."

Her gaze goes back to Gambit then, and she grins lopsidedly. "Snatch'n'grabbin' is one'a my specialties. Or, ya know... rippin' apart factories, that too. I'm up for any'a that." She states before favoring another sip of the tea.

Jean Grey has posed:
Lorna's comment makes Jean wince. No doubt Kitty's reaction would be similar. "I can't imagine that sort of thing being tolerated there, for exactly that reason, so we may want to pursue some diplomatic avenues as well? See if we can secure local support, rather than doing this entirely covertly. The Hellfire Club thrives on the kind of 'hiding in plain sight' behavior Emma mentioned, but part of combatting that is showing the public what's really happening."

And then, finally, she gets to the medical report: "Hank has been working on keeping the last subject alive-" This makes Jeans' expression darken: she was there during the rescue, and had ripped the stasis pods out of the walls in the hope of saving them, but only one survived it all. "-as well as handling autopsies for the others. The two who were running the show were natural mutants, although there's some... enhanacement that may have happened. The subjects are a different matter. Some were apparently attempts at bonding different mutant abilities in a single individual: he called it genetic chimerism. Others were artificially-grown from what he believes are edited genetic profiles."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott directs a 'don't you start' glance to Lorna. Sometimes she is far more Magneto than Xavier. "I won't complain if you had to knock him out, but lets try to follow the League's code of behaviour, not the Punisher's, you know what I mean."

He finally leans forward to grab a cup of coffee. One spoonful. He likes it bitter and black. Probably it powers up his seriousness and general unfun attitude. The red-eyed man is not joining the friendly banter this time, there are dead mutants in line and possibly conflict with a massive secret society of mega-rich crooks friendly with the President of the US.

Emma Frost has posed:
    This is where Emma can shine. "Marie, you're dog has such a beautiful coat doesn't he?" The blonde woman notes and asks in the same moment as she stands to her feet. "That pristine yellow white coat. Cute." Emma slides her hands behind her back as she somehow acts as if her section of the table is the main side, the head of the presentation, her hands fanning out as she bends slightly to rest on the tabletop. "What if we did the same things for mutants. Some of Remy's explosiveness working in tandem in a second generation mutant beside Lorna's ferrokinesis. Able to charge and blow up metal from a distance. Or any combination of designer mutations... Without having to wait the eighteen plus years for the next generation of mutants to be bread and born." Emma explains.

    "It's the same thing. Evolution on our timeframe for our benefit."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Listening to Jean, Lorna turns a little green-even for her. "Right. So that takes diplomacy off the table." She adds some sugar to her cup calmly before pouring herself some tea. "Granted, I would be pleased as punch to inform the Germans after we leave everything in tatters." Strolling back to her claimed bit of wall, she resumes her lean and holds her tea cup gracefully. "I vote we hit them hard in the wallet, smash all their toys, and then let them go to prison-if we must." She looks at Emma and lifts a green brow. "In a cheery Captain Planet sort of way or in a that's not just the family dog anymore kind of way?"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Dat a t'ing dey can do now?" Remy blinks rapidly at Jean, "Hold on, dey can grow mutants by messin' wit peoples genetic makeup?" More rapid blinking and a side eye glance at Emma before red stare is back on Red head. Leaning towards the table, "An' recombinin' a bunch of enhancements into a single mutant?" The full scope of precisely what experiments had been done in that warehouse were, probably intentionally by Remy, unknown to the cajun.

He's had manipulative surgeries done on him to 'limit' his power, but this? Even his devil may care attitude can't withstand this kind of revelation. Unable to actually summon up words...

Until Emma.

"Is... is de Douchess of Douches callin' me a dog?" Glancing at Rogue with a frown, "..." The rest sinks in and he's giving her a red eye stare, "I take it back, Queen of Douches. I done da experimentin' on me t'ing... t'anks, but I pass, ye no?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes look up and then over at Emma as she pays her dog a few fairly random compliments. "Uh, yeah, I suppose." The Belle replies. "I'll tell him ya said such nice things about him." She says back to the former White Queen, before looking back down at her tea. Lorna's talking of destroying things makes the Belle perk up again and look over to the green haired woman. "I'm all for smashin' stuff, don't forget t'bring me along now." She says to the other in a slightly sassy sort've voice.

Gambit's question about Emma makes her look back over to him then and she reaches her left gloved hand over to place it on top of his arm. "I think she meant Jeepers, Sugah." She reassures him. Jeepers being the Yellow Lab that Remy brought Rogue over the summer, as a random gift, because she'd gushed about the puppy when they'd seen him through a pet store window a day before.

Jean Grey has posed:
"... well, I was getting to the reason why not," Jean cuts in after Emma. "The chimeric approach is apparently rather brute force. This is more like grafting, splicing, making a patchwork mutant out of parts of several. They were able to get results quickly, but they weren't terribly stable. It's why most of them died, apparently." She sighs. "The 'clone' style approach seems more stable, but I suppose it's also more resource intensive- since they're artificially birthing and growing them. Those died because they were in early stages and still heavily dependent on their artificial birthing systems."

"Regardless, we're not here to admire the theoretical value of their work. There are respected geneticists like Doctor McTaggert and Charles himself," she points out, "who are studying the mutant phenomena and its consequences ethically. But this sort of work is dangerous. And they're kidnapping mutants to carry it out."

But it's Lorna she returns to, looking uncertain. "I'm not sure I follow. Is there a reason we can't deal with the authorities? Or do you suspect they're compromised? Even if the Hellfire Club boasts the President as a member, I don't think there's any reason to assume he's signed off on the project personally. Everything Emma's told us about the history of the club suggests that it's always been factional, full of in-fighting."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "More, compartmentalized Jean." Emma notes, looking back and frowning at those present, Lorna certainly included. "Going to Germany, as much as your blood might tell you is a good thing, isn't the right move right now. Do you want to be labelled as a terrorist, because that's how you do it." Emma says with a passion in her voice that's been rare for her since coming to join the Xavier's team.

    "I know how you all feel about me, and I don't need to read your minds to know." She takes a breath, "But I'm here now, trying to do the right thing. They're trying different ways to get the powers they want into bodies they can control via brainwashing or ... any methods, though they'd prefer simple faith or near religious methods. Or so I was lead to believe." Emma says, letting her words linger a moment, "They're wrapped in the armor of law, I think getting something truly damning, like the records and paper trails, and even some of these clone and test tube victims would be the best way to change minds and hearts..." She doesn't exactly sound like she's in her field of expertiese but she's cetainly passionate.

Scott Summers has posed:
"Lets stop talking of Eugenics right now," grunts Scott. "That was human trafficking, monstrous experiments like old the Genoshan regimen enacted, or certain older German monsters, yes. Anyone involved in that crap will be given Marauder level attention and to the hell with their 'human rights'."

Scott can be a little Magneto too. It just takes a lot of provocation. Genosha was a very tough pill to eat.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"Jean, if we turn this over to the authorities, how long before some slime stain picks up where things left off? By any standards this is sick-tear it down to rubble sick." She looks over the rim of her tea cup and looks side long to Rogue. Giving the Southern Belle a small grin, she diverts her attention over to Emma.
    "I don't have beef with you, Emma. It looks like they f-hurt you too." She notes and lifts a shoulder. "What can we do diplomatically? In the time it would take to get some kind of action on these monsters they have the funds and resources to have set up somewhere else."
    Lorna looks at Scott. "If we limit the fox holes they can run to and then go through proper channels doesn't that up or odds of catching them? That would be a hell of a win."

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Oh, right, Jeepers." Remy inclines his head as if he only marginally remembers earlier today, much less several weeks and gifts ago. "I knew dat. Course I knew dat." Play it off, lounge back in his seat like a greaser in the cafateria. Why not? He whips out a comb from the pocket of his coat and runs it through his hair just to solidify his position as the cool guy.

One could even imagine, if they wanted, he has a pack of Malboro cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve.

If he smoked.

Which he doesn't.

Smoke cigarettes.

Then, once again, Emma captures his attention. Narrowing red eyes as she speaks with conviction and passion. Those red eyes move in an observatory manner, sizing up someone who could have just as easily stood across from him on some hypothetical battlefield rather than a mission briefing room. The lines of his jaw stand out just so as he works it side to side thoughtfully beneath the brown coat of fuzz that is ever present like a favorite shirt.. Shade knows shade.

Once more the cajun points to Lorna. "She right. If dere's even a small chance dat dey hidin' somewhere, we gotta look... even if it aint wit a strike team, ye no? Send me in, coach.. I can ask question aint nobody gonna even know I dere."

Jean Grey has posed:
"There are legal concerns," Jean concedes, nodding along with Emma here. "We operate in a gray area as it is. But once we're acting on foreign soil, that's pressure for OUR government to take it very seriously, to avoid charges of sponsoring terrorist activity." She holds up her hands, as if the increased argument is getting away from her.

"Lorna, I know your instinct is to charge in and tear these people apart, and I share it," she offers, her voice expressive with emotion, "And I'm not saying we leave it to the authorities. But we may have to work with them, in some part. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the only -Queen- in this room. It gives you a diplomatic clout the rest of us lack. And maybe there's an angle there, via their own intelligence services or the like? Surely they'll want to know if they have some Nazi wannabes playing at eugentics all over again, except now with super powers."

She shrugs. "And if they say no, then we do it covertly, and hope no one catches us."

Bringing things back, she catalogues the various items they seem to have on the table: "Remy, your operation -here-, in Mutant Town, I think that's already approved. Let's focus on that first, because who knows what it will turn up. At the very least, we can hopefully protect some of our own. We have outstanding digital data we can't use. And we have vague ties to the Hellfire Club's involvement that we want to un-vague." She glances toward the door. "And we have one of their victims."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue leans back in her chair then, reaching her right hand up to her collar to adjust the white silk scarf she has wrapped around her neck, letting it drape down the front of her chest over the white X inlaid in to the otherwise emerald green uniform. She raises her cup of tea up then to sip from it, her eyes glancing over to Remy again. "You sure you want that much danger on your shoulders, LeBeau?" She asks him before Jean reminds him of his duty in Mutant town. This gets a grin across the Belle's lips. "You lack focus, Grasshopper." She teases him.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott nods to Remy and Jean. "Lets no take extreme measures yet. Investigate, pepare for the worst, but keep playing nice for now." He sighs, for a second looking like a normal young man trying to fix a very fucked up world.

"But if this is the same kind of crap..." he states, clenching his jaw. "We will destroy the Hellfire Club and Lex Luthor like we destroyed Genosha. I will eat my pride and personally call Magneto for assistance. And I will try to draw in the League and the Avengers into the battle too. I am quite sure Captain America will not stand this kind of inhuman experimentation. Be from wealthy Americans or the government itself."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma gives Jean a knowing sort of glance, the kind that telepaths are often seen giving each other in times of stress, like when someone speaks a foreign language around you and you assume it's about you because you can't understand it. That's the look. Emma then turns her icy blue eyes towards Lorna, "If you're open, I'd like us to arrange a trip to Germany, learn what we can about this company. I sincerely doubt the news of my Benedict Arnold nature hasn't made it to the lowest totems of this outlandish pole." Emma notes, looking towards Lorna, "I feel a pair of Queens could make some headway and even some change." Emma notes with a twitch of one of her eyebrows upwards, maybe she has something in mind Lorna, might be in line with before a sudden speach and promises cause Emma to look towards Scott, and then past to Jean.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy smirks over at Rogue, "Excuse to go ta Europe on someone else dollar?" Never let it be said that the cajun can't play off his selflessness as supreme selfishness. Flampantly waving his hand in a pseudo dismissive flip of his fingers. "I spend most dat time eatin' an' enjoyin' full body beer, ye no?" The op was denied, however.

And he nods to Jean, leaning back in his seat. "Offer dere if ya change yer mind. Ol' Remy go in, snoop aroun', back before samedi, oui?" Now he's just playing, even if there's a note of seriousness in his gaze.

Two fingers run down the corners of his mouth, then out to grab another cookie. Following Jean's gaze back to the door when she reminds them all they have on of their victoms. Over to Emma, not eating the cookie he grabbed, but spinning it with his pinky between his thumb and index finger like a fidget spinner everyone was into like four years ago.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna sips on her tea and turns her head to look at Jean. "Do you want me in here in a Queen capacity?" Lorna taps a finger against her tea cup. "That's a different sort of help and since what you have is all on American soil at present, not the sort of help I ought to offer before we get the a-ok to meddle in that capacity." Shifting her gaze to Emma, Lorna considers and then nods. "A trip to Germany, and we could both use a bit of beer and holiday." She murmurs with a little glance towards Remy. "Very well, I will withhold the temptation to flex on German factories." She looks to Jean and hold up a hand of her own. "Unless they try to mess with me. Then-" She shrugs.

Jean Grey has posed:
"At the very least, going and doing some information gathering on the ground before we fly in might be worth it," Jean agrees, nodding at Emma's suggestion. Then she grins at Remy. "You can go -with- them, if they can stomach your company on the flight. But it makes sense to me, to do the job here first. And for dealing with things in Mutant Town, I want our people with street smarts. That sounds like you, oui?" she wonders, still smirking at him.

She looks down at the screen in front of her, where no doubt she has an outline for this, along with her various notes and report. "So the main outstanding item I have is the files, as well as trying to sort out any of the HFC financials that we can, figure out who exactly is running this. Emma, do you know much about the... computer facilities, whatever you'd call them, that the club maintains here? Or their security overall? Because while we've got our eyes abroad, we do have our very own branch of the club right here on Fifth Avenue."

Also, there's a light blinking on the table. It's an alert, and it started up, dramatic timing wise, right as she'd mentioned the surviving subject earlier. She just now notices it, while glancing at her notes. "Oh-"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's life long dream growing up was to go to Paris, as it was her mother's dream too, but sadly her mother never got to see it through. So even just the thought of going over to Germany, may not be the same, but it's way closer than New York, and it appeals to her. "I'll go and make sure ya'll don't get inta any trouble ya can't get outta. I mean that's always my role in all'a this, isn't it?" She smiles around at everyone, then leans forward to pick up a cookie off of the plate between she and Remy, slowly sliding the cookie in to her ownership before leaning back again and raising it up to slowly bite off an edge of it.

"What's that?" She asks of the red light that just drew Jean's attention. "Did someone leave somethin' in a microwave in the lounge?"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Dat hurts, red." Remy feigns indignation. Deep frown, hand on his chest. "Of course dey can stomach my company. I bring a little.. je ne sais pas quoi.." Kissing in his fingers and flowering them out from his return smirk.

"I I look into t'ings in Mutant Town. Got more threads to tug.. I will unravel dis sweeter."

Raising a brow at the alarm, the Cajun glances back at the door again.. Twisting out of his seat with a look to Rogue and his head jerking in the direction of the doorway. "Dis da sound of burnt popcorn? Cus.. I honestly not so surprised if it is..."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "We'll see..." Emma says blinking a few times towards Jean, then Rogue, and lastly Remy, "If you do get approval to join our excursion, you'll need to dress and act the part of royalty or extreme wealth... that means showering." She says with that look still locked onto Remy though Emma does look towards Lorna, begging briefly for some help.

    She glances towards the signal and finally allows a long breath out as she lowers her head and her hands hold her up on the table still. "Oh no."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Alarm sounds. Lorna sucks in a breath and looks around at the others. Concluding the mansion isn't about to come down above them she loosens her shoulders. "What's the word, Jean?" She presses and looks back to Rogue and Remy together before sliding her gaze to Emma. "Something's run afoul before we could even lay out a plan?" She gives Emma a sigh and puts her tea cup down. "My crown is in my other pants anyway."

Jean Grey has posed:
"No, it's a monitor for the remaining subject. His vitals are-" Jean's look immediately falls, as she no doubt expects the very last of these rescued victims to succumb, as the others did. She presses a button beside the light, bringing up a digital display of various biometric readings and life signs. If one knows how to read that kind of thing, they do look heightened, erratic. But one stands out.

"Look at this, he's conscious."

The initial light had in fact only been a light, not an audible alarm at first, which is why it only caught Jean's attention when she looked to her notes again. But by now it's beeping, as things are obviously more critical. For the subject? Or the rest of them. "Something's very wrong."

Almost immediately, she's moving around the table, for the doors. As she does, ANOTHER alarm goes off. Not a little 'beep beep beep' on the console, but a full out base security alarm.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
"Oh, you mean a grift... Dey call dat a turtle dove, turtle dove..." Remy smirks at Emma trying to dress him down, rolling the cookie he snagged between his palms, right up onto his edge of his finger. Then down the other side, rolling it over his knuckles. "I can dress... any... p...art..." Furrowing his brow, looking up and around as first Jean heads for the door and then the base security alarms go off all around them.

He was already standing, but now he's moving with Jean, tossing the cookie back onto the plater before doing so and adjusting his coat collar out and down. "I guess we not expectin' company den?" Casual, cavalier, it's only his urgency that betrays that this isn't a regular ol' walk in the park.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes are down on herself as she brushes some cookie crumbs off of her new suit after biting in to the cookie caused them to rain down upon her form. She isn't really one to take a small medical reading all that seriously. Some guy in the medbay waking up doesn't really do a lot for her personally... "Sounds like someone's ready t'talk then."

But when the actual base alarm goes off, that's when Rogue's eyes shoot up and she sits forward to sit the cup of tea down, and drop the once-bitten cookie down on to the table beside it. A base alarm IS much more her thing to react to.

She literally flies out of her chair. Floating up above it and turning around to glide near silently toward the door now herself. "God, if this is another thing that blows up in my face and burns my new suit, I'm gonna be so pissed." She mutters whilst gliding onward, her head ducking under the doorframe.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna is close on Rogue's heels. "How do you not have a shielding ability?" She wonders behind the power house Belle and looking to Emma as she passes her for the door. "Guess we're about to see what the e-z-bake version of a mutant can do." She doesn't look pleased about that, but it could just be the alarms and how her year started out.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma takes a breath, the hair bun she wears holding solid except a few strands loose around her face that flow when she blows her breath out of her mouth. "This better be good." She murmurs to herself as she's the last one in the room when she looks up. Stepping out, adjusting her suit jacket with a tug of the hem and she makes sure the buttons down the front are fastened and smoothed out, Emma steps in behind the group.

    "Your suit I can afford." Emma says meaning she'll handle Rogue's bill, but she does fall in behind the near invulnerable woman. "Just don't let me get burnt." Emma propositions in the heat of the moment, her heels clicking once more on the tile as she follows.

Jean Grey has posed:
As the X-Men (and Emma!) scramble out the door, they reach the shiny, sci fi aesthetic corridor just in time to see the medbay doors a bit further down the hallway burst open. A figure staggers out between the broken, bent-out metal.

It is very strange, and in a way, very sad.

If one had read the files (they've been available, although full of medical jargon as to make them less than fascinating reading for attention-deficit crowd), they would have seen information on the sole subject. Name: Cyril Aloysius Morgan. Age: 17. Background: reported missing to police several weeks before Kitty and Noriko's kidnapping by roomates in Mutant Town. There's information on his family, too, pulled from a public database, although it's unclear why he wasn't living with them. Well, there are some obvious conclusions to draw. Base Mutation: bio-neural self manipulation, ie body control, although the sequencing hadn't been totally completed. Perhaps it was the reason he lived so long.

What staggers out into the hall has the face of the young man they brought in, but not much else. His body is spasming, shifting, asymetrically formed in the moment with one arm and shoulder much larger than the other. But weirder than that, parts of his skin seem... transparent? The people looking on can see sections of interior organs. One side of his face seems rigid, reflective, almost frozen.

"Nnnngh, what is, hurts so-"

Jean has stepped out and instinctively touches her forehead, trying to reach him. It proves to be a bad idea, as she responds in kind, stumbling back and bringing up her other hand to clutch both sides of her head. "Nnnnnnrggg. He's not kidding-"

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Okay. Everyone avert your eyes.

Seeing the young man stumble out all shifty fleshy, Remy whips his coat off without a second thought and moves over slowly to, if the teenager doesn't swat him away or prevent it, wrap him in the loved, favored, and very precious article of clothing. "How ya doin', mon amie?" Gently, friendly, oozing charm that is easy to see how he excelled in the thieves guild.

"Ya gave us all one hell of a fright, ye know? Why you not let dem doctors take good look at ya mm? Maybe we... uh.. maybe we get ya some hot chocolate." Motioning with an out stretched hand back into the medical room, "I hear from good friend of mine is best hot chocolate.. Jean here? She does it like grandma's.. best in da world, jus' gotta make sure ya doin okay first."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue drops out of the sky a few feet out of the mission briefing room. Her green booted feet land softly on the metal of the base corridor, with a few bouncing steps carrying onward. She glances over at the others as they stride forward, but the arriving young man out of the medbay makes the Belle slow her steps...

"Yegh." Rogue mutters, beholding what lies ahead. She watches Remy rush in to play the part of the good guy, which makes her smile, but ultimately she glances back at Emma. "Looks like low risk of fire... I hope." She mutters before moving to stay close, but back a bit... so that she might observe and be on guard, her right hand going up to brush a wealth of white bangs back out of her face too.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"Oh." Lorna sees the teen and her mouth presses into a thin line. "Small breaths, Dane." She murmurs to herself and clenches her jaw a bit. "I guess we're following your lead here." She tells Remy and looks at Jean for a moment. "Maybe we should make it two hot chocolates."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma stops as soon as her eyes hit the creature and the mental connection goes full overload into Jean, Emma catching the residuals and frowns even deeper as she watchs Jean looses her balance and Emma steps up to put her hand on Jean's back and with a smooth invisible action, Emma severs the mental tie between Jean and Cyril.

    "I'm here." She whispers, either to Jean, or to Cyril, it's impossible to tell, but she stands back up, and bites her tongue, watching Remy work, <<Careful cajun, I'm not sure what his mutations are.>> Emma warns as she takes a step to stand between everyone else and the men.

Jean Grey has posed:
The whole thing is sad because he doesn't want to hurt them. Emma can feel that. He has no reason to hurt them. His mind is only confusion, pain, uncertainty, trauma, his reactions instinctive- and they're made worse by the fact that the young man seems to have only a very limited degree of control over his own body at the present. Every move he takes, every action, seems to play out with a random intensity, jerky movements either too small or dangerously over-exaggerated.

Remy plays hero and comes in first, and the young man doesn't object to his approach, although he cringes back a step, while looking down the hall at Jean. Yet as the coat starts to settles over him, big-arm first, he reacts to it, thrashing around in pain. It may be that the material is laying on open nerve fibers in places, as the parts of him that are fully there and those that are not seem to change at random. "Aaaaaaaa-"

He reaches across and grabs it, pulls, tearing it free and throwing it off.

As the coat slides off his body, it -shreds- (RIP coat). Why?

As it pulls clear, the surface it was touching has now hardened, like that one half of his face. Except not smoothly, or evenly, as nothing about him is. The icy? glassy? surface has sprouted shard-like spines, blades, all along where it was touched.

And then, in his painful state, he whirls on Remy, albeit fortunately with the smaller arm- although it seems to be shifting, changing, even as it swings around.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Some, if not most, of the Thieves Guild in New Orleans were mutants who... did not do well in the public eye. Most of that most ended up there because people didn't look at them as if they were people... They looked at them the way Emma just had. Remy glances over his shoulder at the mental message from the White Queen with an unreadable expression, but his nod of understanding, clipped and curt though it might be, is obvious enough.

When he looks back to Cyril, his smile has returned, just about to settle the coat around the young mans shoulders. Then his coat is jerked away, something he's had since he was far younger than this teenager is now, and shredded into so much fabric...

To make matters worse? Cyril is trying to hit him!

Because children are unappreciative assholes who don't respect other peoples belongings.

It is entirely possible Gambit could fly off into beat this bitches ass mode, but he doesn't. His hands whip backwards as he rolls out of the way. Down onto a knee, over onto his heels, and forward into a twisting spring off facing Cyril's back with his hands still up and out. He's put himself on the otherside of the pained mutant to the trio of ladies.

"Listen, dis is not how ya get extra marshmellows in ya hot chocolate."

He hasn't even mentioned his coat.

He's gonna though. oooo Rogue is gonna heeeeaaaar abbooout thiiiiis.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is just standing back with her butt pushed up against the silver wall opposite from the medical room doorway. She's got her arms folded over her stomach when the iconic Remycoat is pulled off and shredded. It even makes her take a step forward and uncross her arms at this great injustice. She was a fan of that coat herself...

Of course, this is a conundrum for Rogue. This guy is getting hostile, and it's part of her duty to stop such things from happening, but at the same time the young man looks like he's about to die if a paper airplane hits him anyway...

"Uh..." Rogue utters, her eyes going to Jean, Emma. "Either you able t'subdue this fella?" She asks, before it falls to her to do something about it.

Jean Grey has posed:
Remy is quick on his feet and the swing goes high, although he might feel just a whiff of disturbed air that makes him realize it was closer than it should have been- because the 'attack' arm suddenly got a whole lot bigger as it swung around, missing the Cajun by narrower margins than he may have planned for. It's a lesson for next time. Especially since the hostile arm seems to have sprouted some of those strange, hard blades, while the other arm has meanwhile lost them and atrophied somewhat in size since.

Meanwhile, Jean is... visibly tearing up. "He's... oh god, he's dying. There's no, there's just no-" She chokes it back. "We have to stop him. Maybe just subdue-" But you don't have to be Emma to read her thoughts there: that there's no happy ending to this. Maybe at best, they get him sedated again, to die in peace.

And then she sees Rogue stepping forward. "Be careful- his powers, they're too, you have no idea what will happen, let alone what's left of-" His mind. Jean's voice is pure dread in that moment, as she's gone through this with Rogue so many times in the past, helped her through the presence of other consciousnesses locked inside her own. She fears for her friend, the thought of her enduring this poor boy's twisted memories.

"Lorna, help me, maybe we can use the doors-"

Lorna Dane has posed:
"We are in a metal hallway." Lorna points out quietly and looks to Emma. "Keep a hold of Jean." She asks and steps next to Rogue. "If he swings our way-" She leaves off and turns her focus outward. Peeling the metal of the ruined door she soften the edges before having them curl toward the alarmed and dying teen. "I'm so sorry kiddo." She murmurs and looks to Remy briefly before weaving a loose cage she can tighten in on the morphing teen.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Jean." Emma says flatly as she stands up, her back to the red head and then her icy eyes lock onto the man she's no doubt had some influence upon and she nows has to face the ramifications of her past. In real time. With others at great risk. She continues then, "We need to get you an animal. Hold him Green." Emma then requests as she steps forward, putting a mental barrier around herself and Jean, doing what she can to keep the headmistress from reading the mind while Emma does what she does.

    "Give me ten seconds." Emma requests as she lifts one hand to aim as if she was using The Force, and her off hand presses against her forehead, and she probes into Cyril's mind, not looking for his soul or personality, but looking for something more concrete and palpable for a telepath of her skill and experience. He was one of the ones she tried to mentally sequester, and that seems to have failed in no small way.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Remy nods to Lorna when he sees the metal mutant weaving the cage from the very walls themselves and acts quickly to keep the teenager within the confines of said cage. He grips the metal end of his belt and unhooks it, charging the buckle with kinetic energy as it whips off his waist. The end glows bright magenta, but doesn't strike the kid. He wasn't aimming for him anyways... he was aimming for the polished metal floor to keep the kid from retreating in the most obvious direction to get away from Lorna's trap.

A snap of leather and a CRACK explosion of expelled kinetic energy almost dampen the words he's speaking, "Sorry, kid..." He means it. Despite his coat... While it is important to him, it doesn't supercede the directive to protect mutants... to shield children with mutant genes from the harsh realities of the world they live in, but...

This is the job, right?

Whether the loss of the coat or the fact they had to do this to a teenager?

Remy looks like a shell of himself.

Knowing because of Jean's words that this boy is going to die... It has set his mind into a resolution that is rare with the ragin cajun. "Dis? Dis is not okay..." This is said to himself, watching Cyril. Jaw set in a defiant line. No quips or jokes. Just .. intense consideration. Ready incase the kid gets free, but wishing they didn't have to be.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue has seen enough at this stage. Seeing that Jean was in pain was more than enough on it's own, but also the boy trying to escape while he, himself, was in pain as well as potentially dying? It's sad, it's almost overwhelming, but something has to be done.

As Lorna erects the cage with parts from around the corridor, and Remy uses his energized belt to keep the kid at-bay while the cage forms around him, Rogue bides her time and appears behind the boy, with Remy on his other side, and the cage forming around him.

Rogue's ungloved right hand reaches through Lorna's metal prison bars to put a hand on the boy's right shoulder, pressing her warm soft skin to his own. Is she sure what powers this kid has? Nope! But putting him to sleep-- even if he still dies while asleep --will likely be easier for him than just dying in pain and agony while awake.

The Grim Reaper grip is applied though.

Jean Grey has posed:
Several things happen at once!

Metal, obeying Lorna's magnetic will, begins to fly and twist, tear and bend, as the broken doors and other bits of debris, and then eventually even the PREVIOUSLY UNDAMAGED walls are ripped free and begin to enmesh the young man that is, or at least once was, Cyril Morgan.

A blast behind him, from Remy, drives him forward into the trap.

Emma makes contact. At first, she gets everything Jean did, it's just impossible to touch his mind and not feel some of it in response. Maybe she's better prepared, but still, she's essentially mind-to-mind with all of his pain, anguish, fear. And then, she gets something Jean didn't get: anger, rage, pure unrelenting hate. Because while the young man held no animosity towards the X-Men (in fact, he'd never met them, unconscious for the whole of his stay), Emma he does know. And Emma he does have some 'hostility' for.

As the metal closes around him, strange things happen: in places, it starts to bind his flesh, and in response, his flesh morphs away, shrinking, trying to slide through the 'bars.' There probably has to be some limit to how 'thin' he can get, though. And indeed, eventually, the metal bindings seem to hold him.

Until his arm passes through one, suddenly free again.

It's then that the team might fully grasp what they've been seeing this time. It's not that his own flesh was 'parting' to show off his inards. Parts of his body were phasing. This 'Chimera' has parts of Kitty Pryde in him.

But only parts.

So as he thrashes and swings, only /parts/ of him make it through, and he ends up with a sheet of metal materialized inside his body. Again, he screams, in unimaginable pain. Pain that Emma feels.

And still he's focused on her. One half of him has gotten through the metal, more or less. One arm. It reaches for her, stretching as it does, growinng into a bladed mass-

-not of glass, they must realize, by now. Or realize as his jutting spear of flesh, bone, and organic diamond strikes Emma directly between her breasts, aimed for her heart. Strikes against the very same material, as the woman hardens herself just in time to protect her life.

And then Rogue touches him. She realizes the obvious then, that they'd used bits of Emma and Kitty, though probably not all of them, in stitching together this genetic Chimera. Perhaps counts her blessings that it hadn't gotten her telepathy too, or Noriko's speed. And in that moment, she feels the young man inside, twisted and in pain, angry and frightened.

But his fight is clearly over, his body slumping, nearly bisected by the metal and now weakening under her touch.

It's over.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"I agree entirely, Remy." Lorna murmurs and draws thiner tendrils of metal to fill in gaps. She doesn't immediately notice when Rogue slips around the teen. But there's a shape in the way of her coils. She looks up and watches Rogue place a hand on the boy with a gasp. For a moment the metal merely hangs in the air motionless. Letting out a breath, the now quite pale Lorna starts to gingerly extract her metal bindings. Those that hadn't merged or separated the teen she starts lets rest to one side. The rest she forms into a rounded bowl of sorts to cradle the limp teen.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma doesn't stand and take the attack, she's barely able to react, as her body saves her from the damage more than she does consciously, seeing it mentally only briefly before the strike connects. Emma's diamond form vaccums her mind from the scenario and the snap back of her tugging on Cyril's mind causes a rubber band effect of snapping him inside his head, or would if someone else didn't try the same thing at roughly the same time.

    Emma ends up against the far wall, on her side with a dent in the wall above her where she slammed into it. She looks up from the floor towards the scene and frowns deeply. "Oh. Crap." She whispers to herself, and then looks down at the damage her blouse took and grits her near perfect carbon teeth. "Damnit." Getting to her feet with one heel now broken, she takes a moment to get her shoes off and tosses them behind her as her diamond feet clink on the tile as she storms back closer.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Would Remy want to see Rogue touch this kid and absorb his uncontrolled power and unstable mind? No, he wouldn't want that all, but even if he had any intention of stopping her, he couldn't stop her. Mind made up, all that he can do is watch... all that any of them could do is watch.

Which the cajun does... he watches this kid go from a troubled mirage of a teenager into a monster using his friends abilities incompletely to end his own life accidnetally. He watches someone, that could have been him if he were ten years younger, turned into an abdomination for which only death could offer any real relief...

Thank god he can't feel the mental anguish that permiates in that boys mind. Thank god all he can see is the surface of this nightmare playing out... His tongue runs across his lip, brow furrowing between red on black eyes with the gutteral gasp of a dying child...

He glances up at Lorna when she voices words of agreement, but his attention returns quickly to Cyril. They owe him this moment... and Remy intends to be there, in the now, to play witness to an unnecessary, cruel, sacrifice.

When the metal retracts, he's there again. This time to gently guide Cyril down onto the cold metal plated floor. Guiding him down as evenly as he can, uncaring of the the cuts he may receive from uneven bladed skin or blood that might soak into his clothes.

Stoic, impassive, only telepaths can really see how distraught the cajun is. That this could be him... this could be Noriko, Kitty.. This could be any student in the school. Any homeless mutant in Mutant Town. He physically swallows anger as he leans over this boy, palm to his cheek. "I'm so... so sorry.. Dis...." It's hard to see, his eyes don't get red like other peoples, but his cheeks are moist as Remy stands and stalks down the hall.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's hand doesn't linger long, she's certainly not got the intention of making this contact a Carol-level absorption. She lingers it for a handful of moments, up until she sees Lorna pulling the cage apart again, and that's when the Belle draws her hand back.

Everything happened in a flash, Emma's attempts at subduing the boy, the boy's reaction to that, followed by the metal age, and Remy's attempt to herd the boy around to keep him in a place /to/ be caged, along with her own innate desire to protect her friends, her 'family'.

As Remy is grabbing the falling boy, Rogue is take several step back until she shoulder-collides with the wall and leans against it, her head tilting over to resting against the shining metal surface as her eyes just close shut.

She's gotten a lot better at absorbing people in the past two years of her training at Xavier's, but sometimes they just hit her good and hard anyway... especially depending on their state of mind when she absorbs them. This kid was in pure terror, and agony. That's a difficult thing to suck in to yourself, and disperse it back out... doesn't happen very quickly, or easily...

Jean Grey has posed:
The one advantage of Cyril's body seems to be that some of his reactions are instinctive, unconscious, autonomous; some bits of flesh are able to phase to allow the metal cage to be extracted without it cutting him in half. This saves the X-Men a truly gruesome scene, and allows Remy to express that final bit of tenderness more completely.

This time, the boy doesn't phase, doesn't go diamond hedgehog in self defense. He is whole flesh, in Gambit's arms.

Indeed, once he's lost consciousness, the young man's body slowly reforms toward something appearing human baseline, with all his appendages and other bits returning to roughly symmetrical in proportion. No more bits of phased out skin, no more patches oof diamond flesh. This was how he slept for weeks in stasis. Perhaps it's why he was in stasis in the first place, a botched expertiment that the Hellfire geneticists recognized from the very beginning. A mass of raw 'genetic material' they only kept around for further study.

Who knows.

The two women in contact with him do experience one final conscious thought before his mind slips into coma: Emma in his anger before her diamond form severs their link, and Rogue... well, perhaps she will see them for days yet. There is a face. Someone he hated as much as Emma, or even more, thought of as he thought of her. An older man, with gray-white hair and round little spectacles.

Back down the hall, Jean is recovering, slowly, shaking her head. And then she sees Rogue and starts stumbling forward. "Oh no, Marie-"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna watches as Remy stalks down the hall and looks back to the women. "I'll repair the hall later." The metal that had contact with the teen is warped into a very basic stretcher as gentle as she can make it. Looking at the telepaths and Rogue, Lorna's expression is sorrowful, if sympathetic. "You should all go check in with med bay and rest a bit...I'll handle everything here."

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma opens her mouth to take a deep breath but... doesn't have to breath, so she instead closes her mouth. The woman steps forward and walks past Remy first, Jean, Lorna and up towards the body, with Rogue past him and she frowns at herself. The situtation, the fact no one trusts her here. The fact she doesn't trust herself any more and in this form, she looks down and then through her hand. She's perfect. An island. Alone. Forged this way to survive alone.

    The diamond woman bends down in her pant suit and picks up the boy in her arms and carries his limp body back towards the Medbay where she wordlessly takes him to begin to atone, truly. She's tired of being a fuck up. She's tired.

Remy LeBeau has posed:
Oh no, Marie...

Remy hears Jean's words and glances back from his furious stalking out to look at Rogue with a whole new wash of anguish coming over him as well.. In his anger and frustration he hadn't even considered how she must have felt when she touched the boy. What his mind must feel like to her, even beyond telepathy, because now those terrible thoughts were HER terrible thoughts. Until the subconscious changed and they became distant nightmares of a night she periodically remembers.

His expression drops.

He wants to rush over to her and offer her comfort. He wants to hold her and promise that he'll make sure everything is okay... but he can't make that promise and he will never lie to her. He does come back, though. He comes back with Jean, pausing only long enough to offer his shoulder to the redhead as they both make their way to Rogue.

His hand reaching out to rest on her covered shoulder, it slides down to hang at his side, and then he turns and slides down to sit at her side. Elbows on his raised knees, forehead in his palms.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's against the wall when the others come toward her. She does raise her head up and reaches her ungloved hand up to wipe away some tears that had welled up at the base of her eyes. "I'm okay." She says in that naturally husky-toned voice. She tries to summon up a smile, but it's one of those smiles that looks drenched in remaining sadness.

A glance toward Lorna, Rogue nods as she starts to put her glove on and then reaches a hand out to Remy, then another to Jean. "I'm gonna go sit down in the med lab. Just t'get my bearin's about me again. There's... stuff, up here now."

As she moves toward the medlab. "I got a ... image now, a'someone who if I eve'ah see in person, I might smash their face in." She says it casually, quietly, on her way to the med lab now.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean is clearly glad for the shoulder of support. She's not hurt, not injured, but the whole thing has taken a toll on her psyche, and not only from the use of her telepathy. Just the fact that they've ultimately failed to save any of these people. That Cyril had to suffer so much for the same result. It weighs on her, and that cost is visible in her face.

So she leans gratefully on Remy. He may be a swamprat, but he's their swamprat, and a comforting, familiar presence all the same. Together they make it to Rogue, and soon two is three. It seems Jean has the same plan as Rogue does, although whether it's for her own benefit or to keep watch over her friend is hard to say. "Yeah, not a bad idea. This has been..."

So ultimately, they follow Emma inside.

Cyril is returned to a bed, and after some time, returned too the same sedation under a slightly higher dose. If there's any consolation to the team, it's that his remaining time will be peaceful.

That, and they have another lead. Someone to hold responsible for something that has brought them all such grief and guilt.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna lets Jean and Remy swoop in to tend to Rogue. Emma takes the boy away in her diamond form and she doesn't try to stop that either. She couldn't really help the boy, or her friends. Lorna takes a step back and leans against the undamaged wall. "Go get cleared and get rest, all of you." She looks at Remy in this and lifts her brows a bit. Looking to the hall, Lorna lifts her hands and putty molds the doors and wall back into place. There's blood to clean up, but she'll handle that once the shrapnel is gone. Or put the bloody metal on the inside. Who would know?