Post by emmafrost on Jul 18, 2006 12:39:34 GMT -5
“It’s quite a shame I’m not a lesbian…Raven Darkholme.”
Immediately Emma readied herself for whatever might ensue. She entered Mystique's mind again, so as to have a heads-up on whatever the woman might do. But despite her readiness, she didn't so much as loosen her hold on the imposter's body.
Sitting up quickly, Mystique knew she had the advantage physically, having sized up her counterpart just in case things had gone in a different direction.
A vase and paperwork spinning off the desk onto the floor, Mystique spun Emma around and pulled an arm around her neck, squeezing tightly enough to snap her neck if she needed to. She quickly picked up a letter opener from behind the keyboard- another thing she'd taken note of before they'd so much as kissed- and threatened the sharp steel point at Emma's throat.
She may still be in Rupert's skin, but her voice was all woman.
"EXCUSE ME?"
Despite her surprise and even a moment of fear that she allowed herself as she felt the cold steel press against her neck, Emma controlled herself. Her face showed no fear. Even her surprise quickly drained from her features, replaced by forceful calm.
“Put that down,” Emma said, each word it’s own command through a clenched jaw. She went a step further from simply reading Mystique’s thoughts, to seeking control of them. As quickly as the brain tells the limb to do something, she blanketed all other thoughts in Raven’s brain with the command to take the weapon from Emma’s neck, let go of her, and put the letter opener down. Thinking ahead in one moment, Emma told her to sit down when all of that was done.
It was harder than Emma knew to shift thoughts in a shifting mind. Mystique put down the letter opener, but did not let go, watching her hand set the improvised weapon calmly on the desk.
Mystique shifted to her natural form, now a thinner blue arm wound tightly around Emma's neck.
"Like hell. Explain yourself."
Emma cursed in her mind, emphatically. She’d only ever encountered two people she couldn’t control completely—And they had been Charles Xavier and Eric Magnus Lengsherr, the two men who had searched her out to attend Xavier’s so many years before. They were more skilled than her. Eric she had had an easier time of, because his power was with metal and not minds. Xavier, however, was impenetrable to her undeveloped powers. Now, she might have been able to control him. But apparently even a mutant on her own level, such as Mystique was, was difficult to control. If there was one thing Emma despised, it was finding a block or a shortcoming in her powers.
She looked down at the arm against her neck as the suit disappeared and was replaced by a blue…It seemed to be skin. She immediately kicked herself for underestimating the effort it would take to control this woman. She knew she could still do it, with considerably more focus…But there were times when mental powers weren’t needed. Now that Raven was weaponless, Emma decided that words would serve equally well. That said, she concentrated on forcing Mystique to let go of her. If she stayed in that form, perhaps it would be easier. Even if it wasn’t, she wagered that she could make her follow the thoughts with more effort on Emma’s part.
“Explain myself?” she asked, with much confidence and grace for someone in a position to have their neck snapped. “Or explain the sentinel program you’ve been looking for?”
The woman took Mystique by surprise- a feat not many were capable of. She stepped back from the desk, releasing Emma as confusion took hold for a few precious moments.
Then her thoughts were her own once again. This woman must be a mutant. Had to be. Did she know Mystique would be here?
"You're one of US. How could you be part of the program?" It was an accusation, wary, cautious. Mystique could feel Emma's power, and wasn't about to become a puddle of brain waste over a disc full of information- no matter how much she coveted it.
The moment Mystique let go Emma whipped around to face her. As she did, her hand found the letter opener. In one fluid motion, she lofted the letter opener to the side of the room. It hit the wall with a thud and fell to the floor. She’d rather have that out of reach.
At the accusation, Emma’s chin lifted. If any shred of confidence had been lost it returned in full. “You of all people should know the importance of keeping one’s enemies close, I imagine,” she said discreetly. “How better to know what they are doing than to offer to help?”
Mystique narrowed her eyes at the woman, smirking at her comment about keeping enemies close. Indeed. "Then of course you'll understand why I'm here." She looked towards the computer, then back at Emma. She didn't need a letter opener to kill.
Her fingers rested back on the table as she continued the standoff, both women calm but unyielding. "We've been watching your company for a year now, since shortly after you were contacted on the project. I have to say, you've done an excellent job of concealing any connection to the mutant world." Mystique nodded once, giving credit where credit was due.
"This proposal isn't the only one we have reason to be concerned about. What is it you've found out in your meetings with Tom Angelo and Patrick Henning?" Mystique mentioned the top officers involved in the deal with Frost International as if they were personal friends.
Emma took in Mystique’s form without moving her eyes from the woman’s face. She’d known, of course, as well as Mystique knew, that this was her natural form—she’d seen mental images from Mystique’s mind of it sometime before entering the room. But it was still much, much different to see it with her own eyes. It was exotic, and beautiful. Her eyes were…Not like slits, but like small black dots in seas of yellow. Her skin was a shimmering blue—All in all she was gorgeous. Having never been in such close range with a mutant that had a radically unhuman-like appearance before this encounter, it was slightly unnerving. But Emma was a very professional woman, and she never showed anything that would be seen as looking down upon another. With Mystique, of course, it was not even in the question to look down on her. Very clearly, she was Emma’s equal, if not more than that.
Emma paused for a moment, clearly toying with how much to tell Mystique. “They aren’t even sure themselves, yet. The development of the sentinel’s abilities is still in its early stages. They do know that the sentinels will be robotic soldiers—large ones, mind you—which will have the ability to track and apprehend mutant criminals, which may otherwise be impossible to catch. That’s what they tell me, any ways.”
Emma shifted her weight from one long leg to the other, her hip now to the opposite side. “They tell me as little as I must know, of course. And to keep things running smoothly, I don’t ask difficult questions.” By then there was an unspoken understanding that Emma Frost did not need to ask questions.
“What they don’t tell me is that they are currently experimenting with ways to enable these robots to have the utmost power against mutants. God only knows how science has found a way to do it, but there seems to be a way for these sentinels to learn from attacks from mutants—learn their powers. They will be pre-programmed with a plethora of mutant abilities, and all the ways to fight each power. If this is developed, mutants will be helpless against them.”
Emma’s lips pursed with bitter feel as she spoke next. “The humans are learning. If this is not stopped, they may gain the upper hand.”
Mystique licked her lips, still tasting Emma there, watching her as a lion would a gazelle. Her long arms folded in front of her, listening as the woman spoke. She knew what she was doing. The power over minds was a dangerous ability, once they'd been lucky enough to avoid in most others. Now Mystique truly understood why Magneto took precautions around Xavier.
"We can certainly slow them down, if nothing else." Looking down for only a moment, she stepped with a gait entirely different from Rupert, smoother and more feline. Leaning down behind the desk, she snapped the disc out of the drive and curled it into her hand. Meeting Emma's eyes again, she mingled visions of blistering hot sensuality with scenes of destruction and chaos. Such was the mind of Raven Darkholme.
Lifting a thigh, she sat on the desk, mirroring Emma with her legs draping over the edge in the opposite direction so Mystique could face her. "You've been acting alone. There are leagues of us to avail yourself of. And we could use someone like you on our team. With your information and our capabilities, we could level this project before it gets off the ground."
Emma received the intriguing thoughts with no signal to it on her face, though inwardly it impressed upon Emma what a complex woman Mystique was. Quite a femme fatale.
“It would certainly make things easier on me to not work alone. Unfortunately, it would be far too much to actively aid your ‘leagues’ and maintain a successful business career. Also, there is only so much one can do in secret. I can’t run the risk of ruining my career and my reputation. So I will send you any information I have, and any I acquire from here on out.”
“That has all the information they’ve told us, which is not enough,” she said, glancing to the disc. “I can send you everything I’ve compiled on my personal computer,” she offered without making it sound humble at all. She knew full well that Mystique could hack it on her own, but at times formalities were the best way to keep hard feelings from forming.
“…And I would like to keep in touch with you, to see how things are going. There are other things I’ve been looking into; I’ve caught wisps of knowledge by chance of the hopes that science can produce something that would end mutation.” The knowledge had caused her much unease, and she had yet to find anyone in her searching with solid information on it. “It’s all there, on my computer,” she continued, casting Mystique a glance that wordlessly gave her permission to hack into the data. After all, she knew Mystique’s reasoning for searching for the information, and it coincided very much so with Emma’s own purpose. The two were essentially on the same side, and Emma was not too proud to know that it would take more than herself to overthrow the things that were being planned against mutants.
"We'll take care of the rest. You keep doing as you've done... I'll make it worth your while." With that she leaned in, kissing Emma with a firm press of her lips, then stood up.
Emma was taken by surprise by the kiss she was given, outrightly female-to-female this time. She had drawn back her senses from Mystique’s mind and so hadn’t seen it coming, and she only had time to instinctively close her eyes before she felt the lips press onto her own. The kiss was short, and gave no time for Emma to recover from her surprise and return it if she would have.
By the time she had circled round Emma, she was Rupert once more. There was no reason to pry; if she allowed Emma to give her information of her own accord, perhaps it would keep the gorgeous blonde out of her head.
Rupert looked back at Emma before he left. "It's been a pleasure working for you, Ms. Frost." He winked, and stepped out the door.
Immediately Emma readied herself for whatever might ensue. She entered Mystique's mind again, so as to have a heads-up on whatever the woman might do. But despite her readiness, she didn't so much as loosen her hold on the imposter's body.
Sitting up quickly, Mystique knew she had the advantage physically, having sized up her counterpart just in case things had gone in a different direction.
A vase and paperwork spinning off the desk onto the floor, Mystique spun Emma around and pulled an arm around her neck, squeezing tightly enough to snap her neck if she needed to. She quickly picked up a letter opener from behind the keyboard- another thing she'd taken note of before they'd so much as kissed- and threatened the sharp steel point at Emma's throat.
She may still be in Rupert's skin, but her voice was all woman.
"EXCUSE ME?"
Despite her surprise and even a moment of fear that she allowed herself as she felt the cold steel press against her neck, Emma controlled herself. Her face showed no fear. Even her surprise quickly drained from her features, replaced by forceful calm.
“Put that down,” Emma said, each word it’s own command through a clenched jaw. She went a step further from simply reading Mystique’s thoughts, to seeking control of them. As quickly as the brain tells the limb to do something, she blanketed all other thoughts in Raven’s brain with the command to take the weapon from Emma’s neck, let go of her, and put the letter opener down. Thinking ahead in one moment, Emma told her to sit down when all of that was done.
It was harder than Emma knew to shift thoughts in a shifting mind. Mystique put down the letter opener, but did not let go, watching her hand set the improvised weapon calmly on the desk.
Mystique shifted to her natural form, now a thinner blue arm wound tightly around Emma's neck.
"Like hell. Explain yourself."
Emma cursed in her mind, emphatically. She’d only ever encountered two people she couldn’t control completely—And they had been Charles Xavier and Eric Magnus Lengsherr, the two men who had searched her out to attend Xavier’s so many years before. They were more skilled than her. Eric she had had an easier time of, because his power was with metal and not minds. Xavier, however, was impenetrable to her undeveloped powers. Now, she might have been able to control him. But apparently even a mutant on her own level, such as Mystique was, was difficult to control. If there was one thing Emma despised, it was finding a block or a shortcoming in her powers.
She looked down at the arm against her neck as the suit disappeared and was replaced by a blue…It seemed to be skin. She immediately kicked herself for underestimating the effort it would take to control this woman. She knew she could still do it, with considerably more focus…But there were times when mental powers weren’t needed. Now that Raven was weaponless, Emma decided that words would serve equally well. That said, she concentrated on forcing Mystique to let go of her. If she stayed in that form, perhaps it would be easier. Even if it wasn’t, she wagered that she could make her follow the thoughts with more effort on Emma’s part.
“Explain myself?” she asked, with much confidence and grace for someone in a position to have their neck snapped. “Or explain the sentinel program you’ve been looking for?”
The woman took Mystique by surprise- a feat not many were capable of. She stepped back from the desk, releasing Emma as confusion took hold for a few precious moments.
Then her thoughts were her own once again. This woman must be a mutant. Had to be. Did she know Mystique would be here?
"You're one of US. How could you be part of the program?" It was an accusation, wary, cautious. Mystique could feel Emma's power, and wasn't about to become a puddle of brain waste over a disc full of information- no matter how much she coveted it.
The moment Mystique let go Emma whipped around to face her. As she did, her hand found the letter opener. In one fluid motion, she lofted the letter opener to the side of the room. It hit the wall with a thud and fell to the floor. She’d rather have that out of reach.
At the accusation, Emma’s chin lifted. If any shred of confidence had been lost it returned in full. “You of all people should know the importance of keeping one’s enemies close, I imagine,” she said discreetly. “How better to know what they are doing than to offer to help?”
Mystique narrowed her eyes at the woman, smirking at her comment about keeping enemies close. Indeed. "Then of course you'll understand why I'm here." She looked towards the computer, then back at Emma. She didn't need a letter opener to kill.
Her fingers rested back on the table as she continued the standoff, both women calm but unyielding. "We've been watching your company for a year now, since shortly after you were contacted on the project. I have to say, you've done an excellent job of concealing any connection to the mutant world." Mystique nodded once, giving credit where credit was due.
"This proposal isn't the only one we have reason to be concerned about. What is it you've found out in your meetings with Tom Angelo and Patrick Henning?" Mystique mentioned the top officers involved in the deal with Frost International as if they were personal friends.
Emma took in Mystique’s form without moving her eyes from the woman’s face. She’d known, of course, as well as Mystique knew, that this was her natural form—she’d seen mental images from Mystique’s mind of it sometime before entering the room. But it was still much, much different to see it with her own eyes. It was exotic, and beautiful. Her eyes were…Not like slits, but like small black dots in seas of yellow. Her skin was a shimmering blue—All in all she was gorgeous. Having never been in such close range with a mutant that had a radically unhuman-like appearance before this encounter, it was slightly unnerving. But Emma was a very professional woman, and she never showed anything that would be seen as looking down upon another. With Mystique, of course, it was not even in the question to look down on her. Very clearly, she was Emma’s equal, if not more than that.
Emma paused for a moment, clearly toying with how much to tell Mystique. “They aren’t even sure themselves, yet. The development of the sentinel’s abilities is still in its early stages. They do know that the sentinels will be robotic soldiers—large ones, mind you—which will have the ability to track and apprehend mutant criminals, which may otherwise be impossible to catch. That’s what they tell me, any ways.”
Emma shifted her weight from one long leg to the other, her hip now to the opposite side. “They tell me as little as I must know, of course. And to keep things running smoothly, I don’t ask difficult questions.” By then there was an unspoken understanding that Emma Frost did not need to ask questions.
“What they don’t tell me is that they are currently experimenting with ways to enable these robots to have the utmost power against mutants. God only knows how science has found a way to do it, but there seems to be a way for these sentinels to learn from attacks from mutants—learn their powers. They will be pre-programmed with a plethora of mutant abilities, and all the ways to fight each power. If this is developed, mutants will be helpless against them.”
Emma’s lips pursed with bitter feel as she spoke next. “The humans are learning. If this is not stopped, they may gain the upper hand.”
Mystique licked her lips, still tasting Emma there, watching her as a lion would a gazelle. Her long arms folded in front of her, listening as the woman spoke. She knew what she was doing. The power over minds was a dangerous ability, once they'd been lucky enough to avoid in most others. Now Mystique truly understood why Magneto took precautions around Xavier.
"We can certainly slow them down, if nothing else." Looking down for only a moment, she stepped with a gait entirely different from Rupert, smoother and more feline. Leaning down behind the desk, she snapped the disc out of the drive and curled it into her hand. Meeting Emma's eyes again, she mingled visions of blistering hot sensuality with scenes of destruction and chaos. Such was the mind of Raven Darkholme.
Lifting a thigh, she sat on the desk, mirroring Emma with her legs draping over the edge in the opposite direction so Mystique could face her. "You've been acting alone. There are leagues of us to avail yourself of. And we could use someone like you on our team. With your information and our capabilities, we could level this project before it gets off the ground."
Emma received the intriguing thoughts with no signal to it on her face, though inwardly it impressed upon Emma what a complex woman Mystique was. Quite a femme fatale.
“It would certainly make things easier on me to not work alone. Unfortunately, it would be far too much to actively aid your ‘leagues’ and maintain a successful business career. Also, there is only so much one can do in secret. I can’t run the risk of ruining my career and my reputation. So I will send you any information I have, and any I acquire from here on out.”
“That has all the information they’ve told us, which is not enough,” she said, glancing to the disc. “I can send you everything I’ve compiled on my personal computer,” she offered without making it sound humble at all. She knew full well that Mystique could hack it on her own, but at times formalities were the best way to keep hard feelings from forming.
“…And I would like to keep in touch with you, to see how things are going. There are other things I’ve been looking into; I’ve caught wisps of knowledge by chance of the hopes that science can produce something that would end mutation.” The knowledge had caused her much unease, and she had yet to find anyone in her searching with solid information on it. “It’s all there, on my computer,” she continued, casting Mystique a glance that wordlessly gave her permission to hack into the data. After all, she knew Mystique’s reasoning for searching for the information, and it coincided very much so with Emma’s own purpose. The two were essentially on the same side, and Emma was not too proud to know that it would take more than herself to overthrow the things that were being planned against mutants.
"We'll take care of the rest. You keep doing as you've done... I'll make it worth your while." With that she leaned in, kissing Emma with a firm press of her lips, then stood up.
Emma was taken by surprise by the kiss she was given, outrightly female-to-female this time. She had drawn back her senses from Mystique’s mind and so hadn’t seen it coming, and she only had time to instinctively close her eyes before she felt the lips press onto her own. The kiss was short, and gave no time for Emma to recover from her surprise and return it if she would have.
By the time she had circled round Emma, she was Rupert once more. There was no reason to pry; if she allowed Emma to give her information of her own accord, perhaps it would keep the gorgeous blonde out of her head.
Rupert looked back at Emma before he left. "It's been a pleasure working for you, Ms. Frost." He winked, and stepped out the door.