Dead Man at Frost HQ

[deadman]

Dead Man winced, waking from his odd daydream. As he considered the ramifications of the thing, a thin smile played on his lips that unnerved even the dead driver of the vehicle.

He knew that he was missing something. That something had changed… and now he knew what. Part of his essence was stuck in Jane. A small psychic imprint had been blasted into her brain upon his ‘death’, which was unsurprising given the sheer amount of energy flying around that alleyway. Still… a part of him wanted to believe it was destiny. That the lovely Jane was meant to hold and protect that part of him…. Particularly after what they shared in Baltimore.

So as his puppet parked the car at the Frost Enterprises HQ, Dead Man got out a very happy camper.

He and Bob Wills walked through the front doors, causing many people to give them wide berth. DM was quite clearly dead. Skin white and lifeless, splotchy and near the neck quite burnt. Eyes blazing red. The man with him had a black bruise on his neck from being strangled to death.

Dead Man walked across the wide lobby, his heels clacking loudly on the tile as every single head in the place turned to look at him. The desk clerk stared openly, her mouth agape.

Not a single person moving, he approached the desk, and talked in his hoarse whisper: “I need to see Ms. Frost. Immediately.”

The clerk jerked, as if suddenly shocked. “She’s… uhh, she’s not in right now. Maybe you can… uh… come back another time?”

The unmoving red eyes did not waver, they stayed locked uncomfortably on her. “No. I can wait… I can wait days… weeks. You may wish to call her and let her know I’m here. I’ll be sitting right over there.” He pointed to some chairs, which immediately were vacated.

Then he simply walked with Bob over to them, and they sat. Both men stared forward, unmoving.

[emmafrost]

Some time after Kevin left, Emma sent her consciousness out over all those present in the lobby, especially the secretary at the desk. She planned to erase any memory of having seen Morph that day, and was surprised to find that none of them had seen him. But that surprise was quickly shoved aside by a jolting, sickening, and frustrated shock.

The Dead Man was sitting in the lobby. With another, equally mortifying companion. And Emma couldn't sense either of them. She hadn't been sure whether Dead Man had been alive before, but at this point there was no doubt about it. He was dead. His mind was inaccessible, she couldn't even detect that it was there. But the sight of it through the eyes of the others present, and the knowledge of what he'd told Emma's secretary, told her enough.

Cursing inwardly, Emma's solid astral form sat still behind her desk as the true Emma Frost took command of her secretary's mind and body from her room on Genosha. Simultaneously, she wiped all memories of the Dead Man and his nasty friend from the minds of everyone who had seen him from the moment he'd stepped out of his car.

In the lobby, the secretary stopped typing and looked up. "Sir, Miss Frost will see you now." There was no neutral tone to her voice, no blank look in her eyes--Emma had learned to give no clues when she was controlling another. The secretary regarded Dead Man with a polite smile, as though he were any respectable businessman Emma might meet with.

[deadman]

Dead Man had been lost in his own thoughts for a moment, and snapped his head towards the secretary as she spoke. Odd... she was no longer regarding him with the fear he had come to expect. He took a cursory glance around, and saw the others in the lobby were doing their business, completely untroubled.

Very curious indeed.

So he stood, and walked toward the elevator without looking back at the secretary. The rumor's of the White Queen's telepathic control were not untrue. He could respect that sort of mental dominance.

He and his thrall rode the elevator in silence, and Dead Man was silently thankful that Bob Wills had stopped screaming of his on accord finally. It seemed the man thought that he could actually get off on 'good behavior' – as if DM were some sort of warden. He'd learn better soon enough, though, and the screaming would have to be forcefully controlled again.

As he opened Emma's office door, he regarded her with still red eyes. She was comely in a cliché sort of way, from golden locks to petulant lips. Her white skin was flawless... perhaps, he noted, too flawless. The look held no attraction to him, as it lacked the meat that came with the abstract. The story beyond the mere flesh. Jane. Jane was beautiful. Not this mannequin.

“Emma Frost.” He said with a slight bow, his hoarse whisper somehow potent. “I've come in request of transport.”

[emmafrost]

Emma had stood from her chair to prepare herself for their appearance. There was something about the nature of their meeting that put her on her guard.

When they entered, she merely watched Dead Man close the door and turn. She kept her eyes train on him--at least he was familiar, had been revolting since Emma had met him. She'd rather focus on him than the poor dead soul he'd cheated out of eternal resting.

When the Dead Man bowed, Emma gave a polite nod of greeting in return. Her true emotions were well-masked, and she managed to appear neutral. It was the best she could manage in the face of death.

"Emma Frost. I've come in request of transport."

'Transport. Oh, thank God thats all he wants,' Emma though as relief flooded her. It was exactly what she wanted for him as well--transportation to somewhere far, far away from Frost Industries so that she could be rid of the public connection to The Brotherhood.

Emma forced herself to sit, despite her urge to inch as far as she could get away from the two corpses standing in the middle of the room. She took the mouse and began to pull up a program. "To Genosha, I assume?" she asked, her eyes on the screen, grateful for the excuse to not look at her guests.

Within moments, the top-notch satellite mapping program Emma had had installed on all of the headquarters' computers found the shortest route from the headquarters to the Frost estate. With a click, she printed the directions.

[deadman]

Dead Man eased back a little, though hardly what anyone would truly call relaxed. His stance was always stiff and awkward, that of someone balled up with nerves or with something close to a bone or muscular disorder. Excellent. This was remarkably easier than he thought.

He looked at the print-out as she handed it to him. He hadn't replied to her Genosha question, instead letting the silence answer for him. He usually did, actually, as a lot of talk was useless.

“Excellent.” He whispered, presuming that a plane would be waiting for him there. “Don't bother telling Pyro and the others that I'm returning. I want it to be a surprise. I'm sure they'll jump out of their skins in delight when I come back.”

He smiled – a vicious gesture that somehow carried the weight of death. He offered her another small bow.

“Thank you, Ms. Frost. I'll be leaving immediately.”

With that, he turned to leave. Dead Man was definitely not a long winded kind of guy. In fact, now he was a no-winded kind of guy.