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A Proposition; (any X-factor with an opinion)
Topic Started: Jan 22 2009, 10:35 AM (619 Views)
Havok
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Superheated Plasma Blasts
Afternoon
January 5th



"Please come in," Alex said, to the man who followed him, "Have a seat." He took his own place behind his desk and said, "Can I offer you anything to drink? I have soda, juice, beer, something stronger?"

"I thought you weren't supposed to have anything stronger," the man said, a note in his voice that Alex chose to ignore.

"I'm on the wagon, Mr. Hodge," Alex said, "And, frankly, it is my concern not yours, though it does worry me that you know that."

Cameron Hodge, forty five years old, a public relations man turned head of the awkwardly named governmental Department of Mutant-Human Relationship, liaison to Mutant Town and Authorized Affiliate of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, adjusted his glasses, and smiled, "Forgive me, Havok, I'm just showing off a little. Letting you know how serious SHIELD is in authorizing me to make you this offer. We were discussing this with your substitute while you were presumed dead, which, by the way, we were relieved to see was an incorrect assumption..."

"As was I," Havok smirked, "But we can drop the pretense, I think. You know that I have an elbow problem, you know my name. I believe I'm registered with SHIELD."

"Yes, Mr. Summers," Hodge answered, showing that yes indeed he did know Havok's not so incredibly secret identity. "You are but many of your group aren't, and we would like to remedy that. The sponsorship we're offering can do a great deal for your organization. New equipment, a new headquarters, hell, we could even get you uniforms."

Alex looked at the man and then reached into the drawer in his desk, pulling out a bottle of Jack. He cracked it open and poured a drink for Hodge, "Sorry if this isn't your drink but it's the best I got," he apologized, capping the bottle and setting on the desk between them. He got himself a Coke, and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know what Volt told you, Mr. Hodge, but we aren't really in need of any of those things. We're trying to make a difference for our people. We're not really flash and glitter."

"Says the man the Daily Bugle called a 'rock star,'" Hodge snickered, taking the drink and giving Alex a tip of the glass as a thank you. "I read Mr. Urich's interview with you and you suggested then that you would be interested in government sponsorship. What's changed since then?"

The younger man smiled, "Well, that was when there were five story robots trying to stomp on us," He shrugged and said, "We're in slightly better shape now, I think. Look, Mr. Hodge, I appreciate what you're offering us, but right now, I think that what we're trying to do might be hampered if we become funded by the government. These are really fragile times, sir, and it seems that there is a definite Us vs Them attitude in the streets, and if we are to help 'Us' how can we become 'Them?'"

Hodge set his drink down and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his pinched nose, "We'd like to change that attitude. If we work together..."

"Let me think about it, ok, Mr. Hodge, if you want to leave your proposal, I'll look over it and make an informed decision," Alex said, "We're not really prepared..."

Hodge's friendly demeanor never wavered, but something passed behind his eyes, a definite flash of irritation. This was clearly a man who did not like to be denied, was probably not very used to it. Without a change in his voice Hodge said, "Mr. Summers, you are an ex-terrorist, whose crimes at the Friends of Humanity Headquarters in Stafford, Connecticut have gone unpunished. In your organization you have several other members who either do have records, or should. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, children of Erik Magnus Lehnsherr aka Magneto, former members of the Brotherhood, illegally in this country, tied to upwards of three billion dollars worth of damage in Stafford, and more than seventy deaths in and around the FOH headquarters. Alix 'Smith' implicated in several deaths. Julio Richter, a known mercenary, and possible illegal, as no naturalization papers were included in his file. Should we even discuss what the man who calls himself Jon Harper is? Shane Jones, Madison Jeffries, Violey Vistagraph, I can find dossiers on all of your members if I searched deep enough, Lorna Dane-"

"Enough," Alex said, not wishing him to go any further on this, particularly since he'd gotten to Lorna's name on his exploitative list, "Let me explain something to you, Mr. Hodge, about who and what X-Factor is and what we do. We're nothing more than a group of people desperately seeking change, change in ourselves, change in the world. We want things better for all of us, and we are working our damnedest to redeem ourselves by sacrificing our own lives if necessary towards that goal. What we were before... if you have to arrest us for that, if you want to see us punished for being manipulated and abused ourselves, we'll accept that. We did commit crimes. But if you do that, you'll be missing our potential to do great good. I'm not rejecting your offer, Mr. Hodge, I'm just asking for some time to think about what is best for my team."

His lips pressed into a thin unhappy line, Hodge nodded once Alex's way, and said, "Of course, Mr. Summers, this isn't an order, it's a request. I would like the opportunity to meet your team if I could, however. Make certain that they all feel as you do."

Alex nodded and stood up, "Sure. Some of them should be in the HQ, but I think some are out on patrol. I'm not a hard taskmaster, I don't make them punch a time clock." He lead Hodge out into the main area and cupped his hands around his mouth, informally, not really caring if his guest thought this was improper or slipshod, "X-Factor! Anyone around?!"
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Jet Black
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It took a long time for Jet to even leave her room. A patrol, missions, anything of that sort wasn’t going to happen. At least not for a while. Most of the time the blonde was in her room, it looked as though she was in there resting. But she wasn’t getting any. Too scared to sleep, scared he would come back for her; to finish the job. The thought alone made her wake up in the middle of the night with already minimal sleep.

Jet hadn’t even stepped out of Headquarters since she had first gotten home. At first when she looked out her window she could swear she would see him, the Scrambler. Of course she’d go out of her room to eat but it was always when no one was around. She was fully healed of the wounds he inflicted on her, but the blonde still felt the pain. Every cut, every single injury he gave her, all of it still hurt.

The blonde almost didn’t want to go downstairs when she heard Alex calling out. Reluctantly she did, Jet was still apart of the team. A team that saved her life, a team that was more like and a better family than her actual family. She made her way down the stairs and saw Alex with another man. Not knowing who the man was she lowered her eyebrows and said in a low tone, “What’s wrong?” The old Jetty would have said ‘Hey bossman!’ With a big smile.

She didn’t feel much like smiling, maybe a small smile every now and then but for the most part… Jet assumed bad news from the man. Her heart was worn down heavy anybody could probably tell from the way she walked to how she spoke. Still, the blonde was doing better than she was before. Slowly but surely Silver was recovering. At least that was what she hoped for.
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Box
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Madison Jeffries was rarely one to sit still if he could help it. Busy busy busy. Always busy. At the particular point in time while Havok was speaking with Cameron Hodge, Madison was on the roof, fine tuning the satellite dish that allowed them to keep a watch over Mutant Town with more ease. The team could be alerted to violent flare-ups in mutant activity, or large congregations of people within the neighborhood's borders, and various other things that the team would need to pay attention to. It wasn't anything terribly precise or even completely accurate, having given off false alarms at certain times, and that is what Madison was working on. Trying to figure out why it was sending false alarms and to try and repair it.

The problem was that it was a very imprecise thing they were working with, monitoring the town without violating privacy or hacking into police frequencies which was illegal. For now, fixing the problem accurately eluded him, so, with a sigh, he stepped back from the satellite dish and lifted his communicator to his mouth.

"On the roof, Summers. Be down in a few moments," he spoke with sharp, clipped diction as usual, and made his way down the stairs towards Havok's office.

"Was working on our monitoring system, though not getting too far. What can I do for ya?" He glanced over to Jet with a bit of a surprised look on his face. Usually she was very noticeable. Her demeanor now was almost the opposite of her usual one.
"You alright, Miss Black?"

And then he caught sight of Havok's guest. "Good afternoon, sir. Anything X-Factor can do for you?"
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Havok
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Cameron Hodge had already decided he did not like this man, Havok. Hodge had never met the other Summers brother, the one who ran the X-Men, though he had read his file many times. If this stubbornness was in any a family trait, he was damn relieved that there were no more of them. He'd even gone into the file regarding the deceased Summers patriarch and found that Major Christopher Summers had the same reputation for self-righteously stonewalling anything that did not suit his rather narrow view of what was moral. Do-Gooders, and Boy Scouts, Men who believed in the innate heroism of the human spirit... or the mutant spirit, whatever the case might be. Hodge, himself, believed he was the true hero here. After all, it took courage to do what it took to save the world. Anyone could hold a banner and call, "Unfair, unfair." Alex Summers was too young, too idealistic, and he carried himself with the casual manner of a man who let his good natured persona speak for him, perhaps not the most capable, but gathering those who were to support him... or worse, too damn capable and yet letting his team shine in some sort of altruistic hippie feel good nonsense?

Two of his team answered his summons, Madison Jeffries, who was no surprise to Alex, and Jet Black, who was. He extended his hand to the woman, and took hers in his, gently, "Hey, good looking," he said, softly, "Good to see you out of your room." He knew the troubles Jet had been having, since her rescue, and hadn't rushed her. How could he?

"Box, Silver, this is Cameron Hodge, of a whole bunch of places that boil down basically Big Brother."

"Now, I don't think that is quite fair, Havok," Hodge said, choosing to address the man by the codename so as not to tip his hand to the two team members, who he had already identified before Summers addressed them, "You tell me you'll give them a chance to make their own minds up and you cast me in a negative light from the start."

"Sorry, Mr. Hodge," Havok said, his smile suggesting he wasn't really, "Mr. Hodge is offering X-Factor government sponsorship, a legitimizing contract that will give us a better facility to work out of, uniforms, more authority. It would mean a more monitored program however, and one not so focused on Mutant Town as a whole. I wanted to get your thoughts on this."
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Jet Black
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Okay she had to admit to herself, the look of shock on Alex and Madison’s face was a bit funny. Madison addressed her by asking if she was okay. Giving him a small smile and nod; that was her answer. The blonde figured she’d hear that question a lot. Deep down Jet still wasn’t alright, but the brown eyed woman didn’t want to upset her team by telling them no matter how hard she tried she was still hurting.

She gave Alex a warm smile as he took her hand with great care and said, “Had to get out of there sometime right?” Her question had a more serious rather than joking tone. Jet meant it as a joke, but she just couldn’t will her voice to match the tone she needed to make her question more of a joke. He didn’t hurt her as he took her hand, but looking down on her shortened nails and wrist the blonde could help but to see and feel the injuries the Scrambler had inflicted on her.

Jet listened as the bossman spoke. It would have sounded like a good deal, but her perspective on things had become more skeptical; this was a recent thing for her, for obvious reasons. The last two sentences Alex spoke made the cogs in her head turn. A more ‘monitored program’ and not just on Mutant Town. The blonde began thinking it would be something worse than the Sentinels and not only on the citizens of the town, but on them also?

Alex asked for their opinions on the matter. Taking a deep breath the only thing Jet could think of as an answer was, “Would you excuse me for a moment?” Without waiting for a reply she headed to the lounge and kitchen area of X-Factor. As soon as the blonde stepped into the kitchen she quickly got herself some water and breathed deeply. The thought of the government’s eyes on them made her nervous, and scared.
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Lorna Dane
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Seated cross legged on the bed she shared with Alex, long since abandoned lesson plans spread around her, Lorna had involved herself thoroughly in a book for the last hour. A cold cup of coffee rested on the bedside table, at first appreciated and now forgotten. These moments, the comfort of a bed, the simple pleasure of a book, were all still highly appreciated by Lorna after the wildness of the primitive land she had Alex had previously inhabited. Sometimes though, she missed the primal simplicity of that time, living from hour to hour, surviving off their own bodies, no memories of another lifer, no emotional drama or trauma. The only constant through it all had been her love for Alex and his love for her, which carried through wherever they were, whatever was happening.

Alex’s yell reached her over the sound of quiet music playing from the stereo in the corner of the room and Lorna smiled softly at his method for assembling his team as she reached for her book mark to slip into the pages. Setting the book down, she clambered out of her circle of paper and stood. She rubbed her fingers over her eyes and the ran through her hair before stretching her arms over her head and moved up onto her tip toes in a satisfying stretch after sitting still for so long. Using her fingers to neaten her hair a little bit, Lorna slipped her feet into a pair of light canvas ballet pumps before heading downstairs.

She entered the room, green eyes moving over the assembled people, and resting on the unknown man, just as Alex finished explaining his presence in their Headquarters. Internally, Lorna instinctively rejected the idea, not liking one bit the at the thought of being basically owned by the government, monitored and controlled and their focus moving out of Mutant Town. She didn’t like either of those proposals one bit. Being relocated didn’t set well with either but she had to admit that some of the advantages would help greatly in their work. It all hinged on whether accepting the better facilities were worth the restrictions that would be placed on them.

Jet’s sudden exit from the room took Lorna’s attention and so she offered a neutral, polite greeting to Hodge, caught Alex’s eye in a concerned look before excusing herself from the room to follow her blonde team mate. She couldn’t imagine what the sweet hearted woman had suffered, it made her incredibly angry to think of what had happened to her and Warren for such foolish reasons. Jet was basically the heart of their team, always optimistic and caring. It seemed unfair that someone should damage her so and leave her like this.

“Jet, honey, are you okay?” Lorna said softly as she stepped up next to her team mate, wrapping an arm tightly around her shoulders. “I can ask Alex to make him come back another time if he’s upsetting you.”
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Violey
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Aerokinesis, Audiokinesis / Flight
"Box, Silver, this is Cameron Hodge, of a whole bunch of places that boil down basically Big Brother."

The greeting the aerokinetic was about to give stalled. Their was a visitor from Big Brother. Violey had just returned from the boarding house. She'd been watching a young boy child named Brian as he mom ran an errand. His mother asked her if she could while she seat on the roof thinking. Young Brian had kept her company. After the mother finished the errand, Violey came back to X-factor to get some lunch before heading out on patrol.

Cameron Hodge protested Havok's introduction by saying it was negative. Havok then apologized before giving the reason for the man's visit. Jet excused herself right after hearing the proposal. Lorna then followed the silver mutant into the kitchen. Like Lorna she was about to follow after Jet. Violey had left meals and tea outside Jet's door. She knew when people needed space but also knew small gestures of kindness could help almost anything.

"Welcome to X-factor Mr. 'Odge," Violey said holding out her hand. "You may call me Ventus if you so please." She had noted that Havok introduced Madison and Jet by their code names. "For the public uniforms would give assurance to those who do not know of X-factor without the questioning of intentions. Working out of a better facility might allow us to be more prepared and equipped. What is worrying me is 'ow many fingered your government 'as gotten." Violey turned from Mr. Hodge to Havok and asked, "The receiving of more authority and being monitored would it not inhibit X-factor from us providing 'elp as we 'ave?"

Violey crossed her arms in front of her chest. Pursing her lips she waited for a reply from either the man of the government or her bossman. Normally the aerokinetic would wait to hear if anyone else had something to say before speaking, but having the government involved in X-factor didn't sound like a good idea. "If we do take this offer I foresee the loss of 'ope our presence gives for many citizens."
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Havok
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Jet quickly excused herself, just as Lorna entered. The green haired beauty flicked her eyes Alex's way and he smiled as she hurried after their hurting team mate. He and Lorna had shared many long quiet conversations about the best way to help Jet through this all, both of them having some experience with the helpless, hopeless pain that she had been through, though no where near to the immense degree. But there was really nothing they could for her. Maybe Jean could have gone in and soothed the broken bits in her psyche, but that really wasn't the way it should be done, memory erasing or whatever. That was, after all, how Alex and Lorna had been lost in the Savage Land, whatever it was that had decided they needed to lose the baggage they both carried. Sure they had lost a lot of their pain... but they had also lost a lot of themselves. No, Jet was going to have to come to terms with this her way, and they'd support her as she did.

Hodge barely noticed Jet Black's departure, though he frowned as the new arrival, the woman he knew to be codenamed Polaris, an Omega class mutant with a very very interesting dossier, slipped after her. She and the slipshod leader of this grassroots vigilante group were romantically involved, according to all reports. That linked the Summers family with the House of Magneto. Something to be monitored, definitely. He opened his mouth to protest Polaris's lack of comment on the situation when he is interrupted by the rather astonishing personage of Violey Vistagraph, who introduced herself as Ventus. She was an interesting one as well, considering the singular lack of information on her. All Hodge could tell was that the aerokinetic had powerful family, and she was french. Other than that, his suspicions were just guesses and paranoia.

She gave her opinion, and seemed to echo her leader's concern that this would distance them from the people they were trying to protect. Hodge glanced at Havok, who shrugged and spread his hands in a self-depreciating way that was entirely feigned. "See?" Alex said, "It's not just me wanting to be the big bossman. There's... flaws in this system that I'm just not comfortable overlooking."
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Alexander Legard
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Alex eyed the brown cardboard package that sat on his folded legs, over the letter he was skimming. He always remembered his sister as being relatively shy and quiet, expressing her self in a few taciturn sentences. Judging by the several pages stapled together that made up the letter accompanying her Christmas gift to Alex, she no longer had any trouble communicating. As he flipped through the first couple of pages and and found not a single important thing he was suddenly very glad that a large ocean separated the two of them, and that X-factor couldn't afford long distance phone calls.

He tossed the letter aside casually and moved onto the more important and much less wordy package his sister had sent that was supposed to be his Christmas present from her. There was probably a very detailed explanation of why the package had arrived so late, but at the moment he lacked the inclination or the several hours necessary to read her letter. It hardly mattered anyways, he had the gift now. Better than nothing at all. Sliding his index finer over the tape that held the package together, Alex pulled up the air trapped underneath, neatly slicing the tape. Aerokinesis could be pretty useful in everyday situation, you just had to be creative about it.

He quickly opened the box up, digging through the tissue paper until his fingers grabbed something more tangible. The wool coat Alex pulled out of the box received an eye brow raise from the young mutant as he examined it. It look nice enough, warm too. But the thing was that Alex hadn't worn a coat in years, regulating the temperature of the air around him was one of the first tricks that Legard had picked up. Alex was thinking of hanging the coat up in his closet and forgetting about it, until he saw the price tag that his sister had left attached to the coat. Alex let out a low whistle as he read the coat's several digit price, and the famous name of its designer.

Now he couldn't help but feel guilty about just discarding the coat. He was going out latter today with X-corp. He could try it out then. Besides, he thought as he headed to the shower, he might be sneaking around on his X-corp business, a coat might help him blend in. With the issue decided Alex hopped into the shower, and hopped out a few minutes latter. He was dry by the time he heard Alex call out to the gang. Throwing on an old sex pistols T-shirt and some ratty jeans, the kind that were mangled for wear and tear, not designed that way, he headed downstairs, combing his hair with his hands. He'd wear something nicer when he went out on the town, but for now this outfit would do.

On the stairs he caught sight of Jet making her way into Havok's office, that was a good sign. The poor girl had pretty much been a shut in since her kidnapping. Alex had some understanding of how she felt, but he couldn't imagine the physical anguish she had been in. He was in ear shot to hear Alex introduce a Hodges or Hodgeson or something like that to whoever was in the room with him, but by the time he got to door Jet was leaving the room. She didn't look good, but that wasn't really a surprise. He thought about going and talking to her, but then he thought about checking to see what Summers wanted. For a few seconds he was stuck in indecision, but then Lorna left after Jet and the point seemed moot, so Alex ventured into Havok's office.

He immediately identified the Hodge character, him being the only person in the room he didn't know and all. Besides, he looked like a Hodge, with his boring suit and matching face. He a bit he just listened, Alex was a little nervous dealing with a government official. A government official who might find out his name and run a background check, then find out about his parents and get both of them fired from their State Department posts, ruining his family in one fell swoop. But it didn't seem like anyone else was using their real names, so Alex put on a brave face and convinced himself he didn't have anything to worry about.

"Did you negotiate for the new facility and uniform? Because if that's what they're offering to begin with, that's what they want to give us. I bet you could negotiate for somethings we want the government to do for us, maybe some things to help out mutant town or something. Maybe that could offset out lack of presence. But I don't really know." Alex said with a shrug, talking to the X-factor members in the room and purposefully not even looking close to Hodge. The less contact he had with the man the better.
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Box
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Madison nodded his head slowly as he listened to the debate around him. It wasn't entirely unsurprising, really. Most, if not all, of the team had suffered some sort of abuse from authority figures, so their lack of willingness to submit to a new one was really to be expected. It was just in their nature to resist something like this, something that was simply inevitable, especially concerning the fairly high level of publicity the team had been getting, especially from the Daily Bugle.

"Well, I'll be honest, I'm not as vehemently opposed to working with a government agency as my teammates are, I'd have to say that what they decide stands with me." He paused a moment, and took a deep breath before continuing. He had recently had his own falling out with his former employers in the Canadian government, been misled about his mission and led to believe that his target, the Wolverine, was an imminent danger to everyone around him, which clearly was not the case.

"Besides, we're doing quite well on our own here. We've fostered a good amount of trust within this communty and as Havok's said, we don't want to jeopardize that trust. It's allowed us to do quite a bit of good work for these people. Sorry, Mister Hodge. I vote with my team."
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Jet Black
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Lorna came in looking concerned, “Jet, honey, are you okay?” It was nice to have her friend in there with the blonde. The green haired beauty wrapped her arm around her shoulder. She sighed. “I can ask Alex to make him come back another time if he’s upsetting you.” The X-Factor member put her hand to her forehead and rubbed slightly. But she quickly stopped, because for a split second she could have sworn her fingers were hurting, specifically her nails.

“It’s not him. I’m…” Jet didn’t know how to explain herself. So instead of thinking too deeply about it she let the words pour out. Everything in her heart and head, flowed out. “I’ve kept under the radar my whole life. Since I was like eight years old. Kept a low profile, didn’t do anything wrong. Yet no matter what, some demented man comes in and…” Jet was of course talking about the Scrambler. “Well, you know… I’ve already got bad guys wanting to kill me. I don’t know if I want the government to know everything about me.”

That was her concern the first of many but that was her main concern. “I can see the good side of it all. But when it’s all said and done… will it even be worth it?” What the blonde was going to say next was half hearted and laced with sarcasm, “Oh we get a new facility? Woo. Okay government peeps we’ll be your bitch.” Jet sighed deeply and continued, “Sorry. I think I’m just tired.” If the lack of sleep wasn’t evident under her eyes, it was certainly in her eyes.
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Jamie Madrox(Old)
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James Madrox was sitting in one of the back rooms of the X-Factor headquarters. He sat on his but with his legs before him and his hands in his lap. He was bound in chains and was trying to free himself. A set of Hiatt 2010 handcuffs bound his hands and his legs were shackled with a set of generic leg irons that he had gotten from a surplus store. He’d been working with them for a few minutes. He was working with his hands just feeling out the minutiae of the handcuffs and shackles. There could certainly come a time when he would be bound and trapped. He would have to work that problem out himself. If he could make a dupe, it would wind up in shackles as well. The cuffs were tight around his wrists and he couldn’t slip through. Madrox had then set to working on the keyhole with a pin he found on the floor.

The key was sitting on the floor between his legs but James wanted to be able to pick the locks himself. It could prove useful in the future. Alex’s call rang out through the headquarters and the private investigator continued to work on freeing himself. He was determined to finish. This was a skill he needed to learn. After a few more minutes, Madrox was unable to remove the cuffs. He sighed, “Practice makes perfect,” and undid the cuffs with the key. He would just have to devote more time to this work.

Madrox stood stiffly and went toward Alex’s office. Other members of X-Factor were there talking to a man that Madrox didn’t recognize. Madrox walked in and pieced together that this man, Cameron Hodge, was offering them government sponsorship. The investigator leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “I think the sponsorship sounds like a great idea,” he replied flatly. “We’ve done good work, yes, but this is a grassroots operation. Working for them would give us more money to operate with and legitimize what we do. Simple math, really.”

Madrox then reached out to shake Hodge’s hand. “James Madrox.”
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Lorna Dane
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Lorna listened quietly as Jet’s concerns spilled out in a rush, feeling terribly sorry the older woman. She understood her worries, the blonde having suffered such horrific trauma, it was perfectly reasonable that she would not be looking for any way to draw attention to herself. Lorna had her own worries about being monitored by the government, their movements controlled and sanctioned. It didn’t sit comfortably with her, especially as many of the team had shady which could easily be used against them. Jet apologised for her sarcasm, and Lorna shook her head, indicating there was no reason for it.

“You don’t need to apologise. I get where you are coming from completely. That would be my concern too, among others. It would be very uncomfortable to be under such close scrutiny and undermine the spirit of what X-Factor is about.” Lorna replied quietly, hearing other team members entering the next room. She hoped dearly that Alex hadn’t made any rash decisions or promises to the man. “You know if there is anything any of us can go to make it better, we would do it in a heartbeat...” Lorna said, referring to an entirely different subject, but leaving that as the only thing she said on the matter as she gave the other woman’s arm a reassuring rub before releasing her.

“Are you okay to head back in or do you want to stay in here?” Lorna asked Jet, her green eyes noting the clear exhaustion on Jet’s face. She really wished there was something she could do to help her, even if just to aid her in getting a good nights sleep, and felt a surge of guilt that she hadn’t been more pro-active. There had been many conversations held between her and Alex on how to help the woman, and giving her space and time was nearly always the solution. “I would like to hear what the others have to say but I’m sure Alex will call us together once Mr. Hodge is gone.”
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Jet Black
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Lorna asked her if she was okay or not and that she was interested in what was to be said. Jet sat for a moment in thought about the answer to that question. She thought about a few things, and then stood up. After grabbing her water and standing next to the green haired beauty she said, “I guess we can hear him out.” A small smile formed on her face. She walked ahead of Lorna assuming she’d follow.

The blonde took a sip of water just as she entered, just in time to hear Jamie say that he liked the idea and shook Mr. Hodges hand. If Jamie thought it was a good idea, Jet thought she should really consider hearing him out. The blonde cleared her throat and said, “Sorry about that, I was thirsty.” It was only polite to explain her rushing off. Her team mates would be more understanding.

Things had been very hard for her. It was very reasonable, all things considered. “So… government sponsorship?” Jet took a deep breath. She would give him a chance to talk, hear his side. After all she had to give them a chance to speak, most already, by nature, suspect a government conspiracy of some sort.
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