677/Genoshan Visitations: Of Queens

Genoshan Visitations: Of Queens
Date of Scene:	21 March 2020
Location:	Hammer Bay
Synopsis:	Lorna shows Emma the ruins of Hammer Bay and Emma attempts to find answers
Cast of Characters:	Lorna Dane, Emma Frost

---

Lorna Dane has posed:
Upon arrival to the refugee camp, Lorna is greeted by a few nods, and even a few bows from the mutants that remained there. People came and went with supplies, as Genosha had none.. but they typically involved the green haired woman they recognized. SHIELD had come, Doom had visited, Wakanda, and countless others. And Lorna had tried to be there for each visit since her rescue. The refugee camp had cleared some of the rubble away from the area, and there were tents lined up in neat rows, but no more than a dozen or so.

The bulk of the survivors had gone to Wakanda, these were the more loyal of survivors, those more fanatical to Magneto's regime, and less inclined to leave Genosha for any reason. Few actually needed medical attention here, but some were mentally unstable at this point.

Above and around the tents to one side was a large metal structure. Above it had been strung a few solar panels, and their chords dangled around them, to power various necessities.

Lorna twisted around toward Emma, as the two had had to hike some distance from where they'd had to land the plane. As there no longer were runways for landings, everything was trickier... "Welcome to the remains of Hammer Bay.." She murmured, her voice cold and quiet. The Queen of Genosha wore a suit of green so dark it was nearly black, and a billowing cape not unlike that of her father's in a lighter hue. A headpiece clung to her forehead, pushing back green locks in a shape that echoed her father's helmet, shading her expression.

This was a different Lorna, and one that clearly meant to show some measure of strength to her people.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost, CEO of Frost International, Board Member in good standing of the Hellfire Club, and mutant telepath surveyed the scene... the damage, what cleanup had managed to be done... and the people, though that was with her mind, reaching out and lightly touching the minds of the mutants there to get a general feel for their status and general mental health. She frowns slightly, but otherwise her expression is neutral, almost cold. Given the conditions, she had eschewed her normal high heels and business suit-- though she is still in white from head to toe, a white business casual blouse under a white bolero jacket, white trousers, and comfortable yeat fashionable white boots.

She moves beside Lorna, though a half step behind, as is proper protocol for dealing with a queen in her own nation. Emma may be called Queen behind closed doors at the Hellfire Club, but that title holds no weight in the outside world... an affectation, not reality.

"I can see it was beautiful, once," Emma says quietly. And she could, from touching the minds around her, sipping at their memories lightly. She could almost see an overlay of what once was. "It will be again."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna nodded in the direction of the one thing visible across the distance, the towering form of the Sentinel turned memorial to Magento. "The palace was that way, Magda square directly south. The Parliament building, where I was, is just East of that." She murmured and swept her gaze around as she came to a stop by one of the first tents that remained standing. She raised her hand, pulling back the flap and ducking inside as she held it out for Emma as well.

Inside the tent was empty save for a metal folding table, and two metal chairs. A third lay folded off to the side. There were a few electric lights that hung from the metal rods holding the structure up, and they buzzed with sound. On the table were a few paper scrawled maps, and books. A few crates of supplies were lined up by the canvas walls, which were at least ten feet tall in any direction.

"You can't undo destruction on this level easily, or quickly. I wanted to show you what the survivors here have been working on." She murmured, and gestured to the map as she sat down. "Here is Hammer Bay. Carrion Cove was likewise leveled on this side of the island." She pointed with a gloved hand. "We only had two cities, but they were densely populated. Which was likely a factor in what happened, but I digress." She murmured.

"You wanted to meet someone of the survivors, right?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma glances over the paperwork on the folding table, nodding. "I may be able to find something in their thoughts and memories of the event that might help find... something. At least a string to start following if nothing else." She sighs lightly. "I can't lie to you, Lorna... the deeper I dig, the more likely it is to be unpleasant for whomever it is. Willing subjects would be better. But... I'm not adverse to doing it without their knowledge, either. But they are your people, so it's up to you if they volunteer or are voluntold."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna paused in her consideration, her lips pursing into a thin line as she set the map aide and considered Emma's words. "People have spoken to them countless times. Wanda, Pietro, T'Challa, Doom and his people, SHIELD... X-men and the alike. They're a scarred population and they've shared what happened repeatedly. I don't think that you'll get much of anything from their minds that they haven't already gone over.." She murmured, her eyebrows furrowing sharply.

"And can you tell me more about //how// it might be unpleasant? Is your telepathy painful on its own merit, or simply you will be dragging things to the surface that are painful? I need to know these details first and foremost before I allow you any further near my people.."

Emma Frost has posed:
"More the latter," Emma says with a shrug. "I don't like leaving traces, but I know this has been traumatic for them. Bringing those memories forward where I can see them through their eyes and study them objectively may open those wounds. I will do my best to soothe them, but just from a surface scan of those around here... I don't know how much they //want// to be soothed. There's a lot of anger mixed with the grief." She crosses her arms, drumming her fingertips on her bicep. "And it's harder to soothe what someone isn't willing to let go of."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna inclined her head once, "All telepathy leaves a trace, or so I'm told. I've known too many telepaths to doubt their words. Anyways, we can certainly see if any of them would volunteer to such. Though, again, I doubt you will find much regarding the actual attack that will aid you. I was there, I lived it.. and there was nothing that I saw that has given anyone any clues or hints. It happened fast, and it was brutal. As you can see for yourself.." She murmured, and headed for another flap opposite of the one they'd entered, which was actually connected to a separate tent.

Lorna poked her head in, and had a conversation with someone on the other side. Passing words onto the mutant that seemed to act as a go-between for the camp's survivors and whoever was visiting at the time. Lorna passed along word of what she wanted, and Emma's words of warning too. After a moment, an affirmative followed, and Lorna let the flap fall away. "He'll ask those around and see if they're up for it. I won't force my people to do anything they don't want to Emma." She warned, and made to take her seat by the table once again.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma inclines her head to Lorna. "Of course. That's why I put the option to you." She hmms, finding a place to stand that isn't going to make her too intimidating to any volunteers that arrive. "As for traces, it does. Some just less so than others," Emma says matter-of-factly. She reaches up and lightly rubs a temple, still... mentally drained, somewaht, from the night previous. However, she is not willing to let it break her focus.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna glanced back at the map of her tiny island nation, her expression turning more and more cut off emotionally as she stared at the numbers scratched on it, the penmanship messy and scribbled with a few crossed out bits. Body counts. She'd been sending a few people that had volunteered to see what could be found around Hammer Bay.. and it didn't look good.

Her green eyed gaze swung back to Emma, "Have a seat, there's plenty of room. And I'll get the other chair set up." She waved her hand distractedly, and the metal folding chair set itself up, ready for whoever might visit.

A few minutes later, and the mutant that had spoken to Lorna before poked his head in. Lorna got up, and after a few brief words, the mutant left. It would seem there was only one survivor willing to let Emma go through his memories of Genosha's destruction, and he would be over shortly.

Just as Lorna returned to her seat, with a practiced motion of settling the cape down behind her--truly a skill one could only pick up from practice, the mutant arrived. He was heavily scarred down one side of his body. Angry red scars that mangled his frame up and down on the left hand side. He'd been crushed by something, it would seem, but had some latent healing factor that had... over the course of //weeks// brought him back to this.

He bowed to Lorna, but turned his gaze to Emma and sat down on the empty chair as directed by Lorna's nod.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma smiles at the mutant, seemingly non-plussed by his appearance. "I'm Emma," she says lightly. "Thank you for being willing to help me, hopefully help you." She sits down, leaning slightly forward in her chair. "You don't have to do anything. You don't even have to focus on thinking about what happened-- if you prefer, I can find those memories easily enough." She very rarely actually talks with those she delves. To whit, she usually doesn't let them know it's happening. But this is how Lorna would prefer it, and she sees some value in, perhaps, doing it the allegedly more ethical way.

She doesn't mention she's already begin, her mind reaching out and gently, calmly pulling back the layers of his mind, for now just skimming surface thoughts, getting a lay of the land, as it were.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna hung back, watching the mutant.. She wasn't sure of his name. She should know it by now, she had visited the survivors multiple times.. But the shadowy, haunted, looks all blurred together for her. So she remained at her seat, watching as the mutant sat down with his hands on his lap and he mutely grunted. The man didn't want to talk, and mentally.. he didn't really care. He was angry and wanted someone to punch for what had happened to his home.

And if letting some strange blonde broad into his head might give him a clue, that was fine too.

Not a stellar thinker this mutant was, but he loved his home and he was loyal to the royals that had ruled the island. He didn't... His mind drifted back under Emma's guidance... Back the weeks to Genosha's destruction...

He hadn't been someone rich or powerful. This man, his name was Joe.. Had owned a bakery. An immigrant from America some years ago.. He had come to Genosha for a chance to just live his life. The bakery had been moderately successful. He had minor mutations.. His body slowly healed damage done to it, and his arms were mostly fire-proof. He'd done well in the kitchen, and he could stick his hand into an oven to pull out a fresh baked tray of cookies without a problem.

Joe had had a girlfriend.. he had hoped to propose.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma's expression is frosty as she peels away the layers. Sure, she could simply rip what she needed from his mind, but that's messy. It's not as good, either, not for clairty for her nor for leaving him with minimal mental scarring. She blows passed memories of Joe with his girlfriend-- how she would hum the same tune when she was concentrating on something, a date they had to Carrion Cove the year prior, the way she looked stepping out of the shower. Emma ignores it all as largely irrelevant. People fixated on such unimportant moments in their lives, often to the detriment of truly remembering the important but traumatic ones. She had theories on this, that it may be a way for the brain and the mind to protect itself... but she pushed aside her academic interest as she delves deeper, linking her mind into his so she can more thoroughly parse what his memories might bring.

It wasn't as comfortable as linking with Alex the night before, but likely because Joe had some trepidation of doing this, he didn't know her, he didn't trust her... and Alex had welcomed the link. Still, it wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last, for her to settle into someone else's skull who didn't welcome it to share their thoughts and memories.

There. Then. As she floated through moments in time inside him, she could sense the trauma of that day. The memory sat within him, like a gaping, oozing wound, bleeding pain, rage, confusion and grief.

Lorna Dane has posed:
The poor man had been half inside, half outside of his bakery as the Sentinels had hit. Joe had been closing up shop for the evening. His girl.. she was in the car just beside the building, waiting for him with windows down and smiling as she leaned out the window. There was a song on the radio playing and the sun was just setting. It was gorgeous out. They were going to have dinner at a fancy place up nearer to the palace.. and..

That's when they hit. There was a loud, thunderous sound that ripped through the city. The whole road shook.. it was like an Earthquake. He'd frozen in the doorway, unsure of what to do as people started to scream.

And then there it was, the massive, giant, head that jutted through two huge skyscrapers. Massive hands prying apart the buildings and ripping them in two as it shoved them apart. Debris went flying, blasts from its eye shot out and in a breath, leveled the street.. and as //he// screamed.. She was gone.

The car was gone. Blown up.

It was the biggest damn Sentinel he'd ever seen! Where was the army? Where was //Magneto//?

He didn't have time to scream again as something went flying into the building he was still beside, it crumbled like a child's toy and he knew nothing further.. Nothing until he woke up again to the endless pain.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma replays the memory over and over, slowing it down, speeding it up. She looks through his eyes, but focuses on things he does not: looking in the background, past the Sentinel. She stops the memory and studies the Sentinel as it is in mid tear of a building. She ignores the bodies, some arrested in midair as the moment is time does not move forward, trapped in their last moment of life before death.

There is a part of her that wants to scream in her own rage at the injustice of it. But control-- there must be control. She pushes aside her own responses and studies the scene clinically. There must be something. Anything.

She regards the face(s) of the Sentinel coolly. She has never seen one herself, personally, of course. But she's seen them in videos, in the minds of others. Trask's hellish brainchildren, his final solution to the mutant problem.

She'd love to turn that man into a mental potato.

Why and how did such a large Sentinel come here? She wonders, stepping out of Joe's 'body' and wandering a few steps down the broken street towards the deadly display. What was there to gain? She looks down the opposite direction, and back again. This one wasn't enough. She would need others, survivors from other areas of the city. But Lorna was clear that for the moment, there were no other volunteers. For now.

She withdraws from Joe's mind, slower than she otherwise might, soothing the most ragged edges of his emotional pain and grief, though she leaves the anger alone. His anger was seeming to give him a strength that she dare not take from him now.

She opens her eyes, somewhat drained. "Thank you," she says to the volunteer. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She then settles back into her chair, waiting for Lorna to dismiss the man before she speaks.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna offered a look of sympathy for the man, as Emma loosened her hold on him and he came back to reality, tears stained his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. He nodded, and with a bit of a scramble, left the two women behind in the tent alone. The flap moving softly in the wind was the only thing to show he'd been there.

Lorna turned her green eyed gaze back to Emma, arching a single green eyebrow upward. "Did you find anything that we didn't already know?" Her voice was dry and spoke of her own disbelief that the telepath would gain any new insight to the tragedy that had already happened. Her own memory held nothing that hinted as to what had happened... at least to her. And she doubted that anyone else would've seen anything differently either.

Emma Frost has posed:
"Unsure," Emma muses. "But I don't think so. He wasn't in a position to see much, sadly." Depending on your definition of "much". The poor man had seen a lot, in the terms of destruction. "But I appreciate his willingness to co-operate nonetheless." She frowns. "If simple destruction was what whoever it was was looking for... it could have been done a lot cleaner. Faster. From what I saw, it looked fast because it had to be, but..." she shakes her head. "That wasn't just destruction. It was torture. Whoever it was didn't just want to wipe out Genosha, they wanted to inflict pain in the process." She shrugs. "Just my theory on it."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged helplessly, "None of our satellites picked up anything. All of my father's surveillance or precautionary technology didn't scream the alarm. We were blindsided." She pursed her lips together and bit back the urge to sigh. Similar images of burning cityscape, screams, and crumbling buildings flashed in her mind's eye. Loud and impossible to miss.

"The Sentinels surrounded the island and cut down any trying to escape. We weren't supposed to survive. Not any of us, I think." She whispered, and glanced down at the map of Genosha again. She frowned, and shook her head again.

"If my father had survived whatever hit the palace, he would've fought. They were basic metal Sentinels.. And I just.." She closed her eyes. She had froze. Too many people screaming for help, and everywhere she turned there was no where to go. She hadn't been able to save anyone. They'd been vaporized by the Sentinel's plasma beams and been dust when she'd reached for them...

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma cocks her head. "What //did// hit the palace? It couldn't have been a Sentinel... as you said, your father would have easily..." she waves her hand. She frowns sympathetically at Lorna, feeling her distress clearly. She toys with the idea of 'helping', but decides against it. The green-haired mutant is likely agitated enough to be wary of such things, and she does not seem to be in the mood to take such tampering well.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Emma's instincts weren't wrong, and the green haired woman stood up, exhaling roughly through her nose as she reached up a hand to pull the metal headpiece that looked halfway to becoming a helmet in its own right. She set it on the table, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand and pushing her hair back. "I don't know. Someone said they saw a green beam hit it. But beyond that? I don't know. Whatever hit it took the Palace out in one shot. No one that was in it has been found. Alive or dead." She exhaled a breath, her weight rocking back onto her heels.

"Doom was trying to get readings from the glass like material that remains. It's a deep, smooth rut.. But.." She shook her head. "My magnetism ruined a lot of trace tests so far. I was trying to put up the blackbox my father had setup for his last words. It was his ultimate back up plan.. Should we be completely destroyed. It was deep below the sub-basements.."

Emma Frost has posed:
"And the damage is preventing you from reaching it?" Emma asks, curious. She muses. "I wonder..." she shakes her head. "I wish I could be of more help," she says finally. She sighs, standing up and walking to the door of the tent, pulling aside the flap and looking out at the survivors. She realizes quite easily that had she been open about her mutant status, she might have been here. It could have easily been her under the rubble. Not a pleasant train of thought.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shook her head, her lips curling slightly into a bitter mimicry of a smile. "No, I got it. I pulled it up, pushing the iron through the soil... oh a few miles down? It was metal. It just nearly killed myself and created an eletromagnetic storm around me that dragged all the island's last words along with me.." She pursed her lips together.

"It's how the X-men found me. I spent two weeks in the wastes here after the destruction trying to pull it up..."

Emma Frost has posed:
"I'm sorry." Emma looks back at Lorna, giving her a look of genuine sympathy. "So now what can be done? I know Shaw's water purification equipment should be here within a day or two, and the earth movers not long after that. But I feel useless to help you, Lorna. You don't need what we have." She frowns. "You said the X-Men were here. They have telepaths among them." She knows this from Alex's head. Perhaps a bit unfair of her. "Did they check to see if the glass was psychoactive?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna tilted her head as she considered Emma, "Like I told Shaw, we need to bury the bodies and clear the area to rebuild. That's the basics and that's all that I can do. I don't have anyone to take out.. the only hint I have are those massive Sentinels. I don't know who made them, Trask I have to assume had some hand it in, somehow... But beyond that? I have no idea. I am at a loss." She lifted up the headpiece she'd taken off and pressed it back into place, held there by her magnetism.

A look of surprise followed her comment that the X-men had telepaths. And she frowned, her eyes narrowing faintly. She hadn't said anything, but she also realized that Alex had been about Emma before and well..

Scott was getting a text message about this now for sure.

"I don't know, I think if there was something to pick up from it I would've been told. I've got no leads, Emma.."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma considers. "I may not have equipment... but I may have some manpower to spare. Specifically, I know of some mutants who work for the company who would be more than willing to take a temporary position over here, helping with the cleanup. It's not much, but many hands makes light work, as mother used to say to my sisters and I." She doesn't outwardly state it, but the mutants she's referring to are likely not 'out' among their peers, so this would give them a chance to help their people with plausible deniability: it's just an assignment.

Lorna's sudden apprehension is noted, and a brief skim... "Mm. While you're texting him, you should let him know it's not entirely his brother's fault. He's not very good at shielding his thoughts. Might be something they consider teaching their people going forward," she muses.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna inclined her head at Emma's offers to bring in the manpower necessary to rebuild a nation and to do clean up. Many hands indeed would be needed to clear the space. She had little hope of gaining both Carrion Cove and Hammer Bay back to their previous splendor any time soon.. Nor would they have the bodies necessary to bring those cities back. But perhaps, they might yet build something small and start anew here in Hammer Bay.. If she could bring herself to live here again.. She wasn't entirely sure.

But as Emma skimmed her surface thoughts about picked up her thoughts about messaging Scott regarding Alex's dating life, she paused and frowned. And suddenly Emma would find Lorna's surface thoughts to be nothing but a complex string of different laws of physics. Clearly, for all that Lorna had been unguarded before.. she had some training in how to deal with telepaths.

Even if her defenses were nothing like her father's and if Emma wanted to... they would fall apart.

"Stay out of my head unless you're invited to be in it, please." She managed, with a cool smile of her own and she stood.

"If you want to see where the palace was, I can have someone escort you." She would not return there, not again, and not if she could help it.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma looks mildly amused, but nods. "No offense meant." And she doesn't further pry. It's just reflexive for her to skim surface thoughts as a matter of course.

"If you think it might help, I'm glad to take a look," Emma replies. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not get too far away from you while I'm here."