Maddy's Apartment Confrontation!

[guardian]

Guardian landed on the roof of his building, and worked his way downstairs. His first stop was home, changing out of his uniform, and into his more traditional dress casual style. High dollar and high fashion, without looking too much of either.

He grabbed the bottle of wine he'd been saving from the fridge, and headed up a couple stories until he found himself outside Maddy's apartment.

The day had gone perfectly. There was no reason at all that trend couldn't be a running one. All of his carefully laid plans had fallen into place admirably, more were still on the way, even. This was probably the best day of his entire life, despite the annoyance of having to deal with cops for the past few hours.

Kennedy put on an easy smile, and knocked on the door three times.

[maddy]

As tempted as she'd been to put on one of her more... private outfits for Kyle's return, Maddie had managed to restrain herself. She was still wearing the grey pencil skirt and white blouse, though she'd kicked off her footwear and had unbuttoned the blouse a ways to show her lacy bra. It was, regretfully, as racy as she was going to get - for now.

She'd seen his little press conference and had smiled at the way he handled himself. Not that she'd expected any less of him - he was a talented salesman, after all, why should he have trouble selling himself? The television was now on a music channel, merely a background noise while Madelyne read a fantasy novel with a good dash of romance. So engrossed in it she was that Maddie actually jumped at the knocks on the door.

Standing and putting down the novel, Maddie wandered to the door to find Kyle standing outside with a bottle of wine. Without her usual heels on, she felt tiny.

"Congratulations! Quite a productive business lunch, wouldn't you say?" She beamed at him, not the usual grin laced with seduction but an almost childlike happy face that rarely got used in public.

[guardian]

Kyle loved that smile. That was the one, the real one, he'd been waiting for. It went beyond sexual attraction, to a place that meant Maddy was genuinely on board with the project. And it meant she was delighted, and that in turn delighted him.

“Hell yeah it was!” He responded with a laugh, holding up the wine. “Brought a little celebration here. I guess I'm pretty much stuck here for the night...”

He stepped in, closing the door behind him. She looked so small without her shoes, and he seemed to tower over her for a moment. “I could think of worse places to be...”

Looking her in the eyes, he couldn't help but feel that strange connection. As if there was more to this one that she let on, far more. Something close to him... something familiar...

Then her door-bell buzzed, as the attendant from downstairs buzzed directly into her apartment.

Apparently, the X-Men wanted to come up and see her.

[maddy]

"They're not reporters, are they?" The man on the other end sounded nervous. He mumbled something about the X-Men and Maddie's eyebrows shot up visibly.

"Alright, let them up." She looked to Kyle, then sat down and put on her shoes, buttoning her blouse up properly. She wasn't going to face this lot in casual mode, though she didn't have time to do something about her hair if she was going to do it with her hands. And since Kyle still didn't know... Well, she didn't see any other option. She left it hanging down.

"We have visitors." When she felt suitably presented, she looked around the apartment and put Kyle's wine in the fridge. Everything was clean, as always, with only the novel to show that someone actually lived here.

"The X-Men are on their way up. Looks like you made quite an impression, indeed." The delighted mood was gone, replaced with her usual business facade. She turned to him with a grin. "Don't worry, we can take 'em."

[guardian]

Kyle looked at her, eyebrow raised. If the X-Men were concerned with him, wouldn't they have come to HIS apartment? How in the hell did they know he'd be here?

They must have some kind of psychic on their team. He steeled his mind against a possible mind-attack, though his telepathic powers were fairly limited, at least, being a psionic himself, he stood some kind of chance.

Maybe they just wanted to talk. Shit, they had piss poor timing though. If they pissed him off, he was going to send them all right out the window and into the streets below.

He sighed.

“Think so?” He said, grin on his face to match hers. “We'll see.”

Kyle leaned against the wall, hands in pockets and feet crossed at the ankle. Might as well look as casual as possible.

[Nightcrawler]

Once they were in the elevator, Kurt sighed with relief and let his tail unwind, feeling so much better once it was swaying behind him. He pulled off the baseball cap and glasses and ran a hand through his hair. It was getting longer again; maybe it was time to have it cut.

The elevator dinged and the shining doors slid open. Kurt's yellow eyes scanned the hallway doors, reading the numbers as he loped along the hallway. 207... 213... 221... 222! He stopped in front of the appropriate door, and glanced behind him, glad that the other three were at his back. He licked his lips nervously and raised one three-fingered hand, letting it fall and rap against the wood.

Taking a slight step back, he watched as the door swung open, and there stood Jean. Nein... nicht Jean, he berated himself.

"Guten Tag, Frau Pryor" he heard himself say. "My name is Kurt Wagner, und these are my friends, Ororo Munroe, Logan, und Jonothan Starsmore. We were wondering if it would be all right to talk?"

[chamber]

Chamber watched the woman with a depth of emotion on his eyes only his good friends would recognize. Otherwise the expression looked much like intense concentration and nothing more.

Jeannie.

He felt the turmoil inside him roll all the more angrily as memories of their years together flooded through his mind. How they had grown so close in their younger years, she older than him but not by enough that they couldn't relate. He wished to god Remy could be here right now. How many people got the chance to see their loved one again after they died?

Standing in mute strength just behind Kurt, he looked behind 'Jean' into the apartment.

[maddy]

He's blue.

And he's speaking German.

She found herself holding out her hand to shake his anyway. Then she found herself interested in the number of fingers he had, the tail that was swinging behing him, and the patterning all over his skin. She kept her face smooth, schooled calmness betraying none of her thoughts.

"Guten tag. Uh, good afternoon." She looked over the others. Just Logan? And why the mask? "Madelyne Pryor. I must say, I'm surprised that you would come all this way."

She ushered them in.

"I assume that you want to speak to Kyle? He's just arrived." She walked them down the short hallway that opened out into her mostly open apartment. Maddie glanced quickly at the only other door in the place - the one that led to her bedroom and, through it, bathroom. Thankfully, it was shut.

"Would you like a drink?" Could the guy with the mask even have a drink? Madelyne wasn't sure. Nor was she entirely sure why she was even offering her hospitality to them, but best to start on the right foot, surely. Provided that was why they'd come. In her shock, she'd entirely forgotten to scan their thoughts.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt gave her a friendly smile and shook her hand before following her in, glancing around at the well-furnished apartment. At the mention of Kyle, he looked at her again, surprised again when he thought that Jean was there. But he reminded himself that they didn't know what the connection was. That was why they were here.

"Actually, Frau Pryor, we came here to speak with you." Kurt's yellow eyes slipped to one side as he noticed the Guardian leaning against the wall, dressed as casually as Kurt assumed he ever looked. "The fact that Herr Kennedy is here is merely coincidence." Kurt stepped towards the large man and held out a hand in a friendly gesture. "Guten Tag. I am Kurt Wagner."

"Would you like a drink?"

Kurt glanced back at Madelyne. "Just some water, bitte? It was a long drive."

[guardian]

Guardian watched the exchange, waiting for them to notice him and probably start attacking. You don't just go on TV and do that without starting some shit... but they weren't here for him. They were here for Maddy? What the hell?

He started out of his consideration when the blue guy held out his hand. Another oddity. Perhaps this was some kind of attack?

Better safe than sorry, he didn't lower the nearly skin tight TK forcefield around himself, and shook. He never shook his own hand, but he could only imagine that with the field up it had to have felt like shaking a glass statue's hand, no warmth or substance – just solidity.

"Kyle Kennedy..." He looked at the creature's yellow eyes, and cocked his head to the side. "Mind if I ask why you're here to see Madelyne?"

His smile held no warmth, just like his hand.

[maddy]

Since no-one else seemed to be biting, she shrugged and wandered to the fridge, fetching a jug of water and a pair of glasses. She felt like elbowing Kyle aside but instead gave one glass to Kurt and a slight look to her boss, coupled with a quirk of the lips that threatened to turn into a smirk. I can think of all sorts of reasons.

Wandering over to the television and turning it off - she remembered, this morning, though it was hard to pretend to be a normal human being when surrounded by this lot - Maddie surveyed the room. Blue, masked, hairy, and a normal looking woman stood in amoungst her furniture. Though she'd heard plenty about them, there weren't too many pictures of the X-Men, and she could only guess the identities of two of them. Storm and Wolverine, she was willing to put money on it, though Kurt and Jonothan left her wondering.

Kyle, it seemed, was expecting the worst. She wasn't exactly expecting them to try anything, but it did seem like the whole situation had the potential to turn... well, interesting, to say the least. The fact that the X-Men were in her living room chatting calmly, and that they weren't in fact there to discuss Kyle, was a little odd and had thrown Madelyne slightly off balance. Rather than speak, and she usually would have, she took a sip of her water and surveyed the group again. Yeah, we can take em.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt shook the hand calmly, noting with curiosity the absolute lack of warmth or regular softness that a hand was supposed to have. Even Piotr had some warmth when he was in his steel form, but here... nothing.

Cataloguing that away, he pulled his hand back and took the glass offered to him, casting a glance in Ororo's direction. She looked off balance, understandably; seeing an old friend brought back from the dead would have that effect. She didn't seem ready to say anything, Jono was characteristically silent, both physically (and for good reason) and psychically, and Kurt didn't trust Logan to handle this - or anything - with a delicate touch, so it looked like it was up to him.

"Danke schön," he said quietly to Madelyne before turning to face both her and Kyle.

"Frau Pryor, what do you know about Dr. Jean Grey?" he asked in his calm, quiet voice. Yellow eyes focused on her intently.

[maddy]

Oh!

So that's what it was.

She'd gotten comparisons to Jean Grey every time the woman appeared publicly. Just one of the many reasons she'd seen fit to keep her own mutation secret. Aside from everything else, though, Madelyne wasn't even sure if they were there to see her because of the similarity in appearance, or because they thought she had information or something. Either was equally bizzare in Maddie's mind. Unsure what Kyle knew about the woman, she decided to keep her answer relatively short and to the point.

"Nothing that could help you, I'm afraid, only what the general public knows." She paused, before elaborating. "Publicly known mutant activist, rumoured to be a member of the X-Men and, I believe, recently passed away. My condolences."

Her eyes flicked down to her water for a moment before returning to Kurt's. She found herself interested by the colour. Here was a man who wasn't able to hide the way that she could - she found herself wondering if he'd looked like that all his life. "Is... is there something I should know?"

[chamber]

Chamber frowned, looking around the place. He found it very hard to believe a woman could exist with such an amazing likeness and NOT be Jean. But then... people like Mystique existed.

Jono was beginning to feel agitated.

Walking over to Storm, he put a hand on her shoulder. He didn't need to say anything, rarely did with her. They both watched 'Madelyne' carefully, letting Kurt lead the way. As strange as that was since he'd known her the shortest amount of time of the four that made the trip here... it was just as strangely appropriate.

Chamber wasn't sure the other three of them could say anything productive just yet.

[logan]

Three minutes prior…

“Hold on.” Logan said, uncharacteristically quiet. The three X-men with him paused, and looked at him. He had his head down, clearly locked in some sort of internal war… a huge, violent war. The four of them stood out in the hall, near her apartment. “I, uh… I don’t think I should be the one doing the talking in there. I think that were I to go in there, and try to talk… well, it wouldn’t quite work out.” That said, he let the others go by. It tore him up inside to do so.

Now…

Logan did his best to stay hidden. It was hard for him, actually… there was so much he wanted to do. So much he wanted her to feel… so much he hoped for. Little of it had to do with them being involved romantically, though he could feel small tendrils of that desire reaching the surface.

If she WAS Jean Grey, she certainly didn’t recall being so. That didn’t mean much, though. Professor X could re-arrange memories at his discretion. Hell, he once threatened to make Logan believe he was a ten-year girl. Forever.

Wolverine knew one thing, and that was for sure and for certain: That Guardian asshole had it a comin’. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow… but one day, the X-Men and he would be scrappin’.

He quickly found he could be quiet for only so long...

“You should know that she’s died before. Came back the second time a new person.” He said to Madelyn, stepping away from the wall. His voice was difficult to read, no implication or emotional inflection to it.

[Nightcrawler]

Kurt nodded silently as Madelyne listed off all the common knowledge about Jean, nodding his head in silent thanks as she acknowleged Jean's passing.

His eyes snapped to Logan as the gruff mutant spoke, and the complete lack of emotion told Kurt all that he needed to know. Logan wasn't happy with the situation. Kurt brushed a hand through his curly hair. Gott in Himmel, help him stay sane.

Turning his gaze back to Madelyne, he motioned to one of the couches, moving towards it. "Frau Pryor, you do not just resemble Dr. Grey, you look exactly like her. We do not know why this is, but you can understand our... concern." He shrugged, giving her a calm smile. "We had to know if you were Dr. Grey or not."

[maddy]

Green eyes flicked over to the hairy one when he spoke. Yeah, definitely Wolverine. "I'm sorry that you had to lose her twice, that can't have been easy." Kurt's comment, and his obvious concern, actually made her feel sorry for them as she moved to the couch and motioned for the others to do the same. If Kyle was going to sit down with the X-Men, especially after his press conference that afternoon.

"I've been told before that there is a likeness. I am sorry that looking at me brings back your pain, but I am not Jean Grey." The words were firm, but her voice was calm. She wondered exactly how they intended on being certain in their knowledge. She hadn't felt a telepath rummaging in her mind, and even the most talented of those couldn't tell that she was a mutant unless she showed them. It was just a part of her mutation, a shield that was always on. She'd even learnt to extend it to cover others, though they had to be close by.

She considered telling them that she wasn't even a mutant, but felt that might be taking it a bit too far. If worse came to worse, she could pull out the one family picture album that was hidden away in her bedside table, though that seemed like it could be a little odd. Tea and family memories with my boss and the X-Men? Uh huh. Well, at least her life wasn't boring.

[guardian]

Guardian stared holes into the others, particularly the furry guy giving him the evil eye. As an attention getter, it disturbed him deeply that these guys weren’t here for him – but rather because Maddy happened to look like someone they knew, who’d died… twice.

He didn’t sit down when she offered, but he did walk out away from the wall and stood near her chair, hands in his pockets, and eyes surveying the quartet. So he looked the part of the bully boyfriend. Big whoop.

“Okay, so what are we looking at. You guys want a DNA test or something?” He said, which was much more polite than the response he bit back.

Logan looked like he was about to actually start a fight at that, and the idea put a smile on Kyle's face. If he dealt with the X-Men here and now, he’d have no competition for press anymore… but no, the hot mocha chick with the white hair put an arm around hairdo’s chest, holding him back. Too bad.

[Nightcrawler]

From his spot on the couch, Kurt watched Kyle move behind Madelyne, looking for all the world like he was trying to be a bouncer. Or perhaps a bodyguard. We've already heard what he thinks of us... now we get to see it first-hand. Kurt couldn't help but be wary around the large man; something in the way he carried himself around them, like he was looking to pick a fight. It made the teleporter very uneasy.

"We're not saying that anything has to be proven, we just needed to come here to make sure," he said, his eyes flickering between Logan and Kyle. I get the feeling he is not the golden person he would seem to be. Both men were on edge, and the way Kyle was eyeing Logan told Kurt they needed to go soon.

Or the way he eyed Ororo. Kurt felt the hair on the back of his neck rise protectively, and he rose from the couch, feeling woefully small among the rest of the people. He was suddenly very aware that even Ororo was taller than he was; the only one he had any height on was Madelyne.

"Perhaps it is time for us to go," he said quietly, his eyes never leaving Kyle. "It was a pleasure talking to you both."

[chamber]

Chamber's hand closed into a fist... the other curled around it in an attempt to calm himself. That look of concentration shifted to the intense emotion Storm knew was hard for Jonothan to control- Jean would know too, if this were she.

He spoke into Kurt's mind first. WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. SIT THE HELL DOWN. It was the first time Chamber had shown much more than mild disapproval about a course of action since he'd returned. This was just too damned important to shake his head and walk away.

His black eyes shifted to the superhero behind Madelyne. His voice echoed in Guardian's head next. If a DNA test is what is needed, it is a good idea for her sake as well. If you care for her, make her more important than your ego. This resemblance is no coincidence. If she is not Jean, then there is a connection there at a different level.

Stepping forward only a half step- well aware that he did not wish to intimidate her, his expression softened and he spoke to Jean. Madelyne. Jean...

There can be no coincidence here. Two entirely identical people, one of them known to return from the dead? If you are not the woman we loved, then you have some connection with her. Will you consider, if not now, at some point speaking with myself or Ororo Monroe- He gestured to Storm. -about her. We knew her best, she was like a sister. But this is not just about Jean. This is about you. It won't be the last time you are mistaken for her and that may become a liability.

Chamber's eyes flashed to Kurt, pinning him where he stood. Looking back to Madelyne, he waited.