Renewing Old Acquaintances

[Sinister]

The cab driver slouched back in the driver seat with kind of crumpled look that suggested supreme indifference. In fact the opposite was true, he watched the people leaving the airport with a practised eye that had landed him some very hefty fares over the years. He had found that the dull-eyed tourists tended to prefer a relaxed look, it suggested a man who wasn't going to pressure them, or take them to their hotel by some unnecessarily circuitous route.

They were of course, completely wrong.

This cab driver was a master of his art.

So it came as something of a shock when the well dressed English gentleman materialised at the passenger window without him having noticed his approach.

"Uh ... hi," he said, blinking in surprise.

"Good afternoon my good man," the newcomer said it crisp, perfectly modulated tones, "I require your services to take me into the city." He smiled.

The cab driver shivered despite the warmth of the afternoon. Something about the man's eyes, or was it the way he smiled?

"Uh ... "

Something made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Normally, he would have refused someone who so obviously knew what they were doing, but a little voice in the back of his head said that it MIGHT not be advisable to refuse.

"Sure," he said eventually and with some reluctance, realising that the trip would mean he'd miss the arrival of the Japanese flight.

"Thankyou," the man said again with one of his chilling smiles.

The cab set off toward the city, Nathaniel Essex sat comfortably in the back and contemplating how interesting it would be to see the lovely Madelyne once again.

How many years had it been?

He looked forward to seeing how his finest work had developed. From what he had seen on the television she had certainly grown into a fine figure of a woman.

That was not what he was interested in though.

Not even remotely.

[maddy]

"Uncle Nathaniel." Well, that certainly wasn't who Madelyne had expected to find when she opened the door, but she recovered from her shock quickly enough and managed to give him a smile that lacked any real warmth. He wasn't her uncle, in actual fact, but she'd never really been able to find out exactly what purpose he had in visiting periodically - either he had some psychic defenses of his own, or Nathaniel Essex had incredible self-discipline to not be thinking about anything untoward in her presence.

"Or is it Neil these days? I saw you on the television not long ago, working on the mutant cure now are we? You're looking... Well, the same as ever." She raised one slim eyebrow at him and cursed the fact that she'd told her parents about her move back to New York. It wouldn't have made a difference. If there was one thing she knew about her 'uncle' it was that he'd find her no matter where she went. It was only a matter of time.

"Do come in. Would you like a drink?" He was always so unfailingly polite that she felt compelled to give him the same in return, but there was something wrong about him that was difficult to put a finger on. Maddie had always known it, even as a child - and though she had reacted quite well to him at times, allowed to use her mutation freely since he knew all about it anyway (even, it had seemed, before she did), she'd never once made the mistake of thinking that he loved her or even cared about her.

A very strange man. Pulling the door open more fully to allow him entrance, Madelyne returned to her place on the cream-coloured leather couch, where she had been sitting and watching television, waiting for a friend to arrive. A friend that she did not want subjected to the attentions of Nathaniel. Long fingers reached for her cell phone, flipping it open and sending a quick text message. 'Something has come up. Will call you when I'm done. M.'

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[Sinister]

"My dear Madalyne," he greeted her with a fond smile as if it had been only days since they had last seen each other rather than the years that had elapsed, "a pleasure as always."

He stepped into the apartment and looked around. Madalyne Pryor was clearly doing well for herself. But then, why wouldn't she?

"And to you, always Nathaniel, though Neil does have a certain amount of appeal, particularly when dealing with such a thorny subject as the cure," He shrugged lightly as if the name he wore was of little consequence.

"You have made a television appearance of your own recently have you not? It brought back memories and prompted me to visit, since it has been so long. I must say you are looking well."

It pleased him that she had retained a level of courtesy despite the finger-tip tingle he felt as she brushed his psyche with her own. Well done, he congratulated her silently. He had long ago armoured himself against her developing psychic skills, but there was always the possibility that she would gain new and interesting strengths. That was why she fascinated him so.

Apparently her body was not the only thing that had grown.

"Some tea would be wonderful," he replied to her drinks enquirey., "and do I really need a reason to visit my favourite niece?"

The games they played.

[maddy]

"No, of course not." Putting her phone down, Madelyne gave him a searching look before standing and walking to the kitchen. She'd have made him the tea telekinetically - except that she was still getting used to her kitchen, and it felt like a bit of a rebellion, doing things like a normal person would when she knew that he was more interested in her powers than her.

She was even used to making tea like a normal person. She'd made a lot of tea and coffee in her time, not even changing the water with her powers. So she stood there in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil, and directed a smile at her 'uncle'.

"You saw me on the television, then? Thankfully I don't have to do that too often - it led to a rather interesting afternoon." She didn't bother to elaborate - the likelihood of Nathaniel knowing anything about the X-Men coming to visit her and their rigged DNA test was slim to none, and Maddie felt no need to enlighten him. It would all be settled once the true results were revealed anyway.

"Not so interesting as I imagine things would be for you, after you rediscovered the mutant cure formula. That was what they called it in the news, was it not? Have you been receiving very much hate mail, Uncle?" The final sentence was almost syrupy sweet.

[Sinister]

He returned her smile with one of his own as she stubbornly prepared the tea the old fashioned way. Ah, the way they danced around each other. He wondered how she would feel toward him if she ever learned the truth of her origins. Knowing Madelyne, she would take some sort of perverse pleasure in the discovery.

"The media have such a way of blowing things out of proportion, you would think I had discovered a cure for cancer the way they deify the discovery. Besides, I have read some very interesting papers recently by a doctor McTaggert that suggest the cure is only temporary," he smiled like a shark, "wouldn't that come as a surprise to all concerned."

Of course it was temporary.

It was meant to be temporary. Of course the social and political fallout from that little bit of misinformation would be immense, but then the fault lay squarely with cure's original creator, doctor Rao. Now tragically deceased.

Or at least as far as anybody knew.

"It is only a job however, NovaTeX pay me and I deliver. I do wish they had kept me out of their press releases though, it can be a trifle bothersome when one is recognised for something so controversial."

He paused, amused by the idea of being 'recognised on the street'. Fortunately it didn't happen often.

"Of course the positive side of working for a company as large as NovaTeX is that nobody ever knows where to find me," his eyes sparkled, "and they screen their mail."

"Enough about me though," he continued gamely, "how is my Madalyne? I hope that this business with 'Guardian' has not kept you too busy recently."

[maddy]

"Some of them would be less impressed with a cure for cancer, Nathaniel. Cancer only kills the sufferer - we mutants are dangerous, remember?" She gave him a slightly amused look. "And what does your research suggest about the cure? You can't expect me to believe that you don't know everything about it, we both know that I haven't been so naïve as to believe that since I was about seven."

The kettle boiled, Madelyne finished making his tea - and a coffee for herself - and joined her 'uncle' sitting down. She took a sip for a moment as she considered just what to tell him about herself - and about Kyle. He would be interested, of course. He was interested in anyone with the mutant X gene.

"I have not been too busy, no. Kyle's schedule has settled into a rather boring pattern, to be honest - he helps the law enforcement, he flies between New York and Washington, he films for the show and he goes out to get his face recognised with some supermodel or another." Super. Ha! They were nowhere near super enough to be with a superhero. But they were well known, and the press was good. Besides, she wasn't interested in being seen on his arm.

"He has a telekinetic forcefield, and some sort of emotional influence. He tried to use it on me for a while there - it amused me to let him think it was working. He knows about me, though, so I cannot just quit no matter how bored I have become. And I've been rather enjoying New York again." She probably should have told him about the Gene Pool - if he didn't know about it already, he'd probably appreciate the chance to go and see so many mutants in one place - but didn't. She quite liked it there, didn't want the ambience ruined when Nathaniel Essex started frequenting it. He was quite the sinister presence, after all.

[Sinister]

"Well now," he said with a trace of predatory smile, "you don't think I would be inclined to work on something that would permanently damage mutants now do you?"

He sipped his tea and nodded in appreciation.

"Very good," he commented, "very good indeed."

"Indeed, what interests me more is what exactly Miss Taggert intends to do with her discovery. Time will tell I suppose."

Time after all was something he had an abundance of.

"I must say, Mr Kennedy sounds like a fascinating individual. Telekinesis and empathic control? Quite the talents. Such a shame they are wasted on something as mundane as a television show."

He sipped his tea again.

"I suppose, if it pays the bills and it must, or else how would he afford to keep you in the manner to which you have become accustomed?"

[maddy]

"It's not actually traditional telekinesis. He can't lift a mug without using his hands, but the field allows him to break a table into splinters. I think it's mostly reactive and instinctive." But Nathaniel was right, it was a shame that it was being wasted on television. Maddie hardly thought her uncle would have the same ideas for where Kyle's talents would be put to better use as she did, though.

"I suppose, if it pays the bills and it must, or else how would he afford to keep you in the manner to which you have become accustomed?"

Madelyne's tone grew frosty. "It's the studio that pays my bills, Uncle, I've no interest in being the kept woman of a reality television star." That she'd slept with him - several times - would probably be used as an argument to the contrary... by anyone that didn't know Madelyne. Regardless of just what talents had allowed her to get jobs over the years, she managed to keep them by actually being good at what she did.

Of course, her ambition had never been to become a millionaire. As long as she was comfortable, Maddie was happy. And her comfort was not always measured in the quality of her furniture or the amount of food in her fridge.

[Sinister]

"Fascinating, powers that have so much potential but used in such a rudimentary way by an untrained hand. Imagine what he would be capable of if properly educated?"

Probably a class four with powers like that, he mentally noted and wondered if Madelyne could or would obtain a genetic sample. Knowing Madelyne she probably already had.

Several times.

In her own unique way.

Nathaniel put it out of his mind, there were other mutants and other days and he certainly wasn't about to book her in for a medical examination.

Probably.

"Well you always have been terribly good at what you do my dear," he said amiably and sipped some more of his tea. Indeed the powers she had displayed on previous occasions had been extraordinary, yet they did not rival those displayed by the late Jean Grey at the apocalyptic confrontation on Alcatraz Island.

Perhaps it was something to do with training or conditioning she had been subjected to during her time at Xaviers' mansion.

He made a note to look into the possibility and see if the effect could be duplicated.

[maddy]

"Yes, just imagine." She gave him a flat stare over her cup of tea; the 'games' that they'd played had been training, and Madelyne well knew it. Her 'uncle' had only ever been interested in her for her gifts - and perhaps that was part of why she'd never considered being publicly known as a mutant. Because she didn't want to feel as though people were only interested in her for her gifts, only spoke to her because they wanted something out of her.

"I can hardly deny it," Madelyne nodded, making no pretense at modesty when it was so clear that she saw no reason for it. No, Nathaniel was correct - she had always been good at what she did; and yet she still knew that she was somehow a disappointment to him.

"You know," she said in a tone that was utterly conversational, "you're not the first person to visit me since my television appearance. I had a rather interesting encounter with a group of X-Men who felt it so important to see me that they drove all the way to Washington." That would get his interest piqued, she was sure.

"They even felt the need to conduct a DNA comparison without my consent. The results, however, I feel are rather dubious. One of them was quite emotional at the sight of me, a stocky, hairy man that I didn't care for at all." No, she'd been much more interested in the furry one.

[Sinister]

He quirked an eyebrow, "the X-Men indeed, you are moving in some unusual circles these days arn't you." He finished the tea and set the cup down on the table.

"They must have felt it was important if they came all the way down to see you rather than your famous employer, and a DNA test as well. I don't suppose they happened to mention why they were making such a fuss? Or was it more a case of test first and ask questions later?"

The hairy one would have been the Wolverine of course, and from the performance he had put on at Alcatraz, had something going on with the late Miss Grey. Something that had stirred him up enough to come asking about her mysterious twin.

Nathaniel wondered how they were reacting to the results of their test now that they knew the truth.

He wondered how Madelyne had reacted. Clearly she had not believed what they had told her but there was still the possibility for trouble.

And he didn't like trouble.

It tended to put a sever crimp in ones day.

"Are they taking your resemblance to the late Miss Grey rather badly?"

[maddy]

"Actually, not all of them. Logan seemed more put out than the others. I've struck up quite a friendship with Nightcrawler, actually." There was something decidedly suggestive about her smile at that, until she covered it with another sip of tea.

"I've sent away real samples, to a Dr. McTaggert, to ensure that there's no contamination this time around." Madelyne regarded her 'uncle' with bright green eyes, watching him over her teacup. For a moment, all pretense at politeness dropped from her face, her gaze hardening; she struck out telepathically, soft tendrils of psychic power caressing at the edge of his mind.

He knew something about it, and she was well aware. But she wasn't a strong enough telepath... And she wasn't stupid enough to try attacking him with her telekinesis and forcing him to speak. She would not attack him until the day she had to kill him, and it would be swift and efficient, tearing him apart instantly at the atomic level. For some reason, Maddie was entirely sure that such a day would arrive in time. Kill or be killed. But until then...

The mask came back up, and her psychic fingers withdrew. "But you already know what the results will be, don't you Uncle?" Her tone was sweet as sugar.

"I'll be sure to keep in touch, to let you know what I find out." Another sip of tea. She watched him over it, looked for a sign. Then she shook her head.

"I'm afraid I've got arrangements for tonight, Uncle, so I'll have to cut this visit short. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."

[Sinister]

Meddlesome X Men.

Still, the truth of the issue mattered very little. At least as far as Nathaniel was concerned anyway. So Madelyne's heritage was not entirely legitimate, but what did that matter?

In his experience, people set far too much store in such things.

She had the blood of one of the most powerful mutants he had ever had the pleasure to meet flowing through her veins. Really she should be thanking him.

The strength of her telepathy had increased in the years that had past, but not yet enough to penetrate his defenses. As for her telekinesis? Well if the late Miss Grey was anything to go by then her powers could be formidable. Of course Madelyne had not been tampered with by Charles Xavier so the results could be drastically improved.

Or diminished.

Such was the joy of science.

And there was that infernal name again.

Moira McTaggert.

She too was proving to be most troublesome. Perhaps it was time he payed her a visit. As one scientist to another he was sure she would prove quite the interesting subject.

He stood with a chilly smile and inclined his head.

"A pleasure as always my dear," he said evenly, "and thankyou for the tea. I will be sure to pay you a visit again soon to learn the results of your inquiries."

He picked up his brief-case and stepped toward the hall.

"Farewell, and do not misbehave too badly."

Then, in another breath he was gone.