795/Rogue One: Breadcrumbs carry Mystique

Rogue One: Breadcrumbs carry Mystique
Date of Scene:	27 March 2020
Location:	Alleyway
Synopsis:	Jessica sets up a breadcrumb for Mystique to follow, and eventually gets a tip in regards to Rogue, but for the price of a meet up between Carol and Mystique. But first, she'll need to double check on Rogue.
Cast of Characters:	Jessica Jones, Raven Darkholme

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Jessica Jones has posed:
Finally, after closing her Selina Kyle case with Detective Grayson, Jessica cleared up more time to deal with a more personal case. Namely the hunt for Rogue, that mutant who nearly murdered Ms. Marvel in the San Francisco Bay.

Jessica was able to find out about a group called The Brotherhood, and various members, though not all with links. Not all with traces. But luck struck when she heard about Mystique's breakout, and the various underworld tones suggesting rewards or good 'in' with Mystique if one could help her find Carol Danvers. Funny how the world turns

Luckily, Jessica as Carol's friend, is pretty good when it comes to all things Carol. Or at least most things Carol, so she planted a trail of breadcrumbs for Mystique to follow. It showed activity from Carol, it showed a mission Carol might be partaking, contacts she's been meeting with, and eventually, if Mystique was diligent in her homework, there was a super secret low key off the charts meeting between Carol, and supposedly a SHIELD contact right in this very alley, behind Luke's Bar in Harlem. From the looks of things, Carol didn't arrive on scene yet, so it was perfect time to lay out a trap in advance.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    Mystique had been spotted at Genosha most recently though she had again slipped away back to the states and has been given an ultimatum in order to try and reconcile that relationship by taking responsibility for San Francisco.

    This would be so much easier if Destiny was still around. Muses the azure mutant as she finally is getting around to finding Carol, and in a fashion that would be likely more a one on one conversation than having a knock down drag out brawl in the public eye. That's exactly what Carol would want in this. But no, the opportunity fell into Mystique's lap and she is more than suspicious of it but it's too perfect to pass up.

    "You've certainly gotten out of worse." Raven tells herself as she moves to the fire escapes in the alley and does her reconnaissance well before the metting time is supposed to happen, and well before the window of time SHIELD requires to do their own pre-checks.

    Time goes by and Raven is perched up high, from a vantage point where it would take the sneakiest of sneaks to get her before she knew they were there, but somewhere she could also petition Carol should she actually show up.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Some time passes as Mystique settled in a perfect perch to spy and drop down on the action, before an arm reaches from an open window behind the fire escape, and reaches to grab and pull Mystique into the empty looking hallway. "Mystique...we need to talk," the voice is rather demanding, and the hand doing the pulling is surprisingly strong. It certainly doesn't much the rather smallish woman doing the pulling. "I'm with Alias Investigations, I mean you no harm, but if you look to stay out of harm's way...I need to know about an adopted daughter of yours, goes by Rogue...?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    Mystique's hands aren't idle while she's grabbed and she reaches up to try and wrap her left arm over and twist herself out of Jessica's grip and ... She's a ROCK.

    The next instant Mystique is bringing her left hand back across her body to put a LOT of force behind her back handed fist to Jessica's head, muscles shifting and bulking and tensing in order to gave much more strength to her blow if possible. Mystique's first instinct is to fight. "I don't know any Rogue." Raven lies expertly, as spies tend to do, though in this instant where she's fighting for her life, she thinks, and someone mentions her daughter out of nowhere, she's a little off guard.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica is caught off guard by Mystique's fluid response, but she's also no rookie, and when Mystique moves to counter attack her pulling gesture, Jessica brings her arm in time to block the blow that almost grazed her temple. "Wow...kill it, big bad, I'm not here to put you back in jail. In fact, I don't give a fuck about your heroes and villains games. I only want what you can tell me about Rogue," she insists. Snorting as Mystique claims she doesn't know any Rogue, "you can tell that to Captain America, he'll even believe you, but you can't bullshit a bullshitter."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    Mystique tries to push Jess away but really succeeds in pushing herself away from Jessica, with two steps back and she braces against a piece of furniture.

    "Okay, okay, fine." Mystique says before looking back out the window and then to Jessica with a furrow of her yellow eyes and blue eyebrows tighten over her nose. "I'll tell you what you want if you get me in contact with Carol." Mystique tries to barter before she's willing to give up her daughter.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Spoiler alert, if it wasn't obvious already, she isn't coming. I set it up to get to you," Jessica notes, before grinning, "I really need to get to Rogue...and as adopted mother, you're a pretty good bet. Also, something, something, Brotherhood...?" The required price, however, has Jessica hesitating and shifting her stance into something Mystique would easily recognize. She's prepared to defend herself, likely suspecting Mystique might try and kill her, because Mystique kind of has a rep. "Your adopted daughter put Ms. Marvel unconscious in the San Fran Bay, I don't think letting you have a go at her sounds like a good idea..." it's a pretty good point.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    "Obviously she isn't coming." Mystique rolls her eyes and then crosses her arms beneath her chest, blank yellow eyes lingering on Jessica as she talks, "Wow. You're intel is as bad as your tailor." The shapeshifter notes. "I haven't worked with a 'brotherhood' in over two years. And that incident in San Francisco is /exactly/ why I need to speak with Carol. Hell, I'll even let her punch me into next week. Because I need her. And Rogue." Raven says, lowering her arms and putting her palms down on the bookshelf beside her and she lifts slightly to rest herself on and against it. She's not going to strike out at Jessica, not now. "You all can lock me up or whatever after wards, I don't care, but Genosha... Genosha isn't the first or the last planned attack. I need to make sure it's the last. For my people."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Do I look like I got the kind of money it takes to go to a tailor?" Jessica rolls her eyes at Mystique, "if you're serious about it, you'll need to let me punch you first, because I'm not really trusting you at the moment. You know? I'm not letting you kill Carol Danvers, just so we're clear."

"Ah...so you care when it's not Ms. Marvel's life on the line, huh?" Jessica sounds very aggravated with Mystique as she talks about Genosha, "look, I don't condone killing people willy nilly, and yes, mutants are people...but where was this concern for human life when your daughter was dropping Carol to her death, huh?"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    "That was the hint Alias Investigator." Mystique says, rolling her eyes again and taking a breath to sigh at how lop sided this conversation is. "I don't think giving me a concussion before I speak with the woman who actually wants me dead, before I can convince her to help me go stop a mass murderer is the best idea, do you? No. Good." Mystique says pushing off the book case, and walking around and closer to Jessica.

    A hand moves up to her head to touch at her forehead, in frustration, "I don't know why I'm still talking to you, I need to talk to Carol. The idea wasn't to kill her, I didn't know Rogue could take powers permanantly like that. No one did. But it's the powers I need now, both sets of them, or even more people will die. Humans AND mutants alike. So I'd like to move this along if that's possible."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Yeah, being selfish fits the profile I have on you," Jessica quips seeing how Mystique took a moment to diss her P.I. skills.

"Here's my proposition to you, big bad, you help me find Rogue, and I have words with her. If what you say is true, and she's not Li'l Miss Terrorist, maybe we can work out a solution where we can have a meeting with Carol." She pauses a moment, before emphasizing for the sake of Mystique, "I'm here because Carol hired me to find Rogue, so she's not in the mood to talk to any of you fuckers, okay? You did a number on her, and if she wasn't Carol Fucking Danvers, she'd be dead right now...and I wouldn't even know to be after you assholes. Sooo...since the onus is on you to prove you're trustworthy, help me get to Rogue."

Spreading her arms sideways, in a gesture of showing she's unarmed, Jess quips, "what you got to lose? Unlike you, I got a badge and the trust of the city. So I'm not a certifiable scumbag, higher odds of me honoring a deal then you, right? Now seeing as how I'm still alive, I guess you REALLY need that meeting with Carol to happen, right? So roll a dice."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
"Roll the dice." Mystique repeats at a low volume and looks away, her finger moving from her forehead to tap at her lower lip, tugging it before letting it go with a little 'pop'. "Roll the dice." She smirks slowly.

    "Take a chance. You got it." With that, Mystique turns back to the window and lifts her leg and lowers her head to step through and back out onto the fire escape.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"That's great an all, but you gotta give me something to go by, or this meeting with Carol is off the table," Jessica calls after Mystique, without reaching to hold her back, even though it's likely she could do something. But judging from her choice of words, Jessica is also firmly aware that Mystique could likely kill her if it comes to it. "Give me some kind of lead on Rogue, do you know any friends of hers? Last place she was spotted? Hell, her favorite ice cream shop, something..."

Jessica Jones has posed:
It doesn't look like Mystique is about to stop, it seems like she'll just waltz on out of there without offering any help. So while it's a bit of a gamble, Jessica has to take some action, and so presses a number on her phone that proceeds to auto-dial, "N.Y.P.D. this is Detective Jones, I've placed a trace on Mystique, just follow it and you'll have her in no time..."

Did she? That's another dice to roll for Mystique.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
    Mystique stops and looks over her shoulder at Jessica as she talks into her phone. "Yeah?" And as she stands before Jessica, the hair, her face, her height, and even her shape fluctuates, like a ripple in a pond but across her whole body, like her skin turns inside out or something for a moment, from her head, her clothes, and down to her feet, and she then stares at Jessica with a completely fresh set of skin and clothes. "Good try." Weather anything fell off her or not, Mystique knows she's clean. "You can talk to Rogue, but Carol in the end wants me. Or she will. If anything happens to my daughter after what I'm about to tell you, I'll make sure you never see the light of day." Mystique pauses and waits for Jess about to say something and interrupts, speaking three words. "Westchester Burger Restaurant."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica looks in fascination at the first shapeshifter she ever encountered, a bit stunned by Mystique's graceful demonstration, "...that was something," she notes, before putting down her phone. Turns out Mystique called it correctly this time, Jessica wasn't actually connected to anything on the other line. Just as there was no trace. But it's usually smarter to check when these things and freedom are called into question. "I can see how you'd be hard to track and keep imprisoned, that's pretty fancy," Jess has an uncanny manner of sounding unimpressed, even when she was quite obviously impressed just now. "I'm not you, Mystique, I don't send kids to danger, your daughter will be fine. If this checks out, I'll help you get to talk to Carol, I appreciate your help...oh, pro tip, don't ever wear my face, you got it? See you around..."