2014.05.18 - More Questions Than answers

Well all the investigating pointed to one of Jamie's dupes doing what they have been investigating lately. Of course the biggest problem has been trying to figure out which one has been the one doing it. So for that X-Factor has recruited the wonder Emma Frost. Sure Jamie had to offer to teach at the school in return for payment, hey he can totally do that, especially since he teaches at Xaviers.

Of course this is the really boring parts of the investigation. Getting close enough to the dupes, for Emma to get a read on them to find out if it is the one that commited the crimes. Right now they are at cafe that the one of the dupes had a tendency to go to. Hey maybe they'll get lucky and it's the first one they visit that will be the one that has done the deeds.

Of course Jamie's luck would never be that good. But hey he decided to get a cup of coffee while they are here. All better to blend in and stuff. But the impatient detective looks at Emma, "So it appears that he's over in that corner, any reading off of him?"

Emma had been running her long nail against the edge of the neglected coffee mug. It wasn't particularly terrible, but Emma had a taste of what was good coffee. But it did keep up appearances.

Shepeaking of appearances, Emma decided to come to this murder investigation all in white (of course); sporting a pointed white blazer with no blouse underneath and a knee length tight skirt with gold sandals. This is what detectives normally wear right?

She looked over towards the duplicate and dove into his mind before asking, "What he /should/ be thinking is why is Jamie #1 and his goons following me? He won't notice us, you're welcome. But let's see what he's thinking..."

Daimon was hoping he'd be of use. His magic has been rather off lately for a reason that he was not discussing with those present but was on his mind a lot. And honestly those who knew him probably could guess what was up, just not the whole story. His trademark shirtless look was back today, and there was no pentagram brand on his chest. It was just, gone, like it never existed.

Without what it represented, he had to cast magic like a regular person, and for some reason he just didn't have enough energy in his body to get the magic going right all the time.

"We're not goons Emma, we're more like his minions," Daimon said with a little smirk, had to keep up appearances like everything was alright.

Watching Jamie's clones was like watching funhouse mirrors all set up in various arrays, as body languages were varied in small ways or big ways, but almost all similar to the most familiar Jamie they had (it wasn't as though Doug was -sure- that the one most often in the office was the 'Prime'... for all he knew, the porn-surfing Jamie could well have been the Prime lounging around while all the clones did the work.)

Still, it was, Doug supposed, not without its rewards, as Emma Frost was there. Speaking strictly as a teacher, he -was- rather curious about her techniques.

Although, sometimes, he swore, Daimon looked at him with a smirk that bordered on the 'totally know what you're -thinking-, boy'...

"Emma, we also have to teach you how to dress for investigations. The object is to not stand out just so you know." Not that he is really complaining about the blondes clothes, but well someone had to comment! "And I can totally blend in if I need to. Though it would be better if Daimon was wearing a shirt for once, that also makes us stand out a little."

Mental note, get someone who can cast illusions for X-Factor, they are totally helpful. Jamie goes back to drinking his okay coffee, heck he makes a better cup than this place. Other than that though Jamie waits for Emma to do her thing.

As for the dupe, he is the corner with a laptop, and doing nothing but writing. All that's on his mind is writing and well literature. It seems our Mr. Prime sent out a dupe to study that and completely forgot about him, oops. But well it does mean that this dupe didn't commit the crimes, so next it'll be on to dupe #2.

Emma quirked a brow as her eyes cast over to Daimon. She did of course notice the chest, "Don't think so poorly of telepathy. /He/ isn't noticing us, and no one here is recognizing my status or that Daimon is ignoring both the no shirt /and/ shoes rule, who also seems to be over his extreme body mods phase."

Mentally she shot a thought to Daimon, |"Another conversation for another day then hm? Murder comes first."|

She tossed a tip onto the table and rose, "His thoughts are only on his writing, and literature as a whole. This one is too focused to bother to check in. Not our killer."

Daimon smirked at Jamie, "You just can't handle my life choices."

Though he did nod when Emma spoke, "My Headmistress is a pro, I would bring a chump change telepath to the party." Daimon said with a smirk |"I have no idea what you're talking about My Headmistress"| he thought back at Emma, he wasn't going to even let the telepath know what was really going on with him.

He shrugged slightly and said, "Then I guess it's on to the next."

At least -Doug- was dressed relatively well for the occasion. Just keeping an eye on the dupe like this was pretty strange, especially with so many in the same area.

Leaning forward, looking at Jamie, Doug whispers, "Maybe we should split up? It seems like we've got too many people for just one clone."

"We only have the one telepath, so well splitting up won't do us any good." He says to Doug as well they get in a car to head towards Dupe #2. This one is at a comedy club. "When did I send one of my dupes out to do stand up?" Jamie asks no one in particular.

Of course one they enter well there is the dupe up on stage, and well he is totally bombing. The jokes are dated, and they wouldn't even be funny if the events were current. The crowd is definitely letting him know how they feel about said dupe.

Once in there though Jamie does turn towards Emma, "Well don't think it's this one, but might as well read him just in case." Hey maybe a failed life of comedy can turn someone into a killer, maybe the sisters went to the club and were really vocal in their booing of the guy or something!

"I've met several comedians, they can be rather...off." She swiped a martini from a passing waitress as she dipped inside of the mind of this one, past of course his failing routine. If murder was becoming his regular thing, it should be somewhere in the back of his mind. Perhaps eager for the next victim.

Quick probing about. Nope! She took a long sip of her drink and sighed, "Not him either. Shall we move on to the next one then?"

"Just an observation, boss. But shouldn't you be collecting or reabsorbing these guys after Headmistress clears them?" Daimon said with this huge smile on his face, having way too much fun with Jamie Dupe on stage totally bombing, "If one can go off the deep, any of them could."

"Sorry I couldn't line up another telepath," Doug notes as he gets into the car.

"You know, Jamie, you being a comedian, I could see. It'd probably depend on the material, though. Hopefully it's not a lot of jokes about your parents."

Trying to extrapolate just which ones were in the area, and had the opportunity, it'd been a bit of a chore to figure it out, as Doug had just glared at Jamie- worse than Wilt Chamberlain's spawn, the lot of clones.

Jamie's parents are dead, way to hit the sore spot there Doug! "I will be coming back and doing that later, Daimon. The last thing we need is people watching me reabsorb my dupes in front of them and then making them panic over the mutant in their midst." Makes total sense there, plus reabsorbing a dupe is a completely private thing.

"So now we're on to stop #3, this is going to get boring, quick." With that he leaves and heads back to the car for spot #3. And maybe it won't get boring. Cause spot #3 is the diviest of strip clubs that you have ever seen. The type of place where you want to bath in GermX after setting foot in there. Plus seeing Emma in a place like this will totally be worth it.

He will leave Emma to take care of the bounce at the door, disguise them so he doesn't do a double take at the Jamie entering when there is supposed to be another one inside as well. But once in there, well there is Dupe #3, giving one of the dancers a lot of singles, and probably getting some disease in the process.

While a bit of telepathy is helpful, the bouncer is much more receptive of the mental push to not notice things when a few hundred dollar bills are shoved into his hand.

But after walking into this darling little club Emma did want a shower. And then doubly so when she caught Doug's thought. She looked to him, "Stop what you are thinking and focus. We are here for a /murder/ investigation aren't we?"

She rolled her eyes and scanned this duplcicate's thoughts, expecting lewd imagery. While in fact she received mental blocks powerful enough to even keep her out. She reached out to gently touch Jamie's arm and thought to everyone, |"This is the one. I can't read his mind, unless you have two naughty duplicates."|

I don't recognize "Red".

Daimon whistled when they got into the bar, "Now this is my kind of place. We should do our next company retreat here."

And then he got Emma's thought and his mind went all business. Okay 60% business, there was a lot of naked ladies around and Emma Frost was here too, that makes it impossible to be 100% on track. Well at least when you are Daimon.

He Held out his hand to summon his Trident... and nothing happened. Well that wasn't good. He tried to play it off as if he was just moving his arm, but his body language made it clear that, that worried him alot.

Focus? It was a -lot- easier, now, to figure out what the problem with his read off Emma was - there were -two- unnatural things about her body language...

Shaking his head, Doug manages a sheepish look at Emma before shifting his attention back when she telepathically warn people.

The clone's posture, and such... a quick look at the likely exits, and Doug shifts himself into position closer to the stage, as it seemed to be the most likely means by which the dupe would run.

Oh Fuck, they actually found the dupe. Despite Jamie leading this investigation he wasn't prepared for this one, really he wasn't. "So uhm how do we handle this? There are a few people in here, and well we can't put them in harms way."

Of course as if reading his mind, the dupe seems to sense that the prime is here. And with one very quick motion the dupe grabs the stripper that he was just giving a dollar to, and he places two fingers into her mouth, but not in that way you pervs! "I know you're here, and before you think of doing anything to me, I will warn you. You make one move and I will make my own dupe and it will be right into this ladies mouth. I don't think that will be a pleasant experience for her."

Well yeah that one just totally sucks. "So guys, any ideas now." Damnit they needed a distance fighter for this one. Where the heck is like say Cyclops when he's needed or something like that!

A roll of her eyes as the shit has finally hit the fan, "So glad your team has prepared for this."

With the mental block, she can't just drop him into a comfy little coma like she normally would. For the moment, it was crowd control in keeping them calm and distracted. The stripper, she mentally commanded to remain still and reassured that the 'Fearless men of X-Factor would surely save the day."

Mentally she thought to said gentlemen, |"You all can communicate telepathically, so please coordinate. I'd rather suggest separate this duplicate from Roxxie here then take him down."|

Jamie hadn't seen much of Daimon's magical talents so he would forgive Jamie for not thinking of him as a distance fighter. Daimon may just be more or less a mere mortal right now, but he did have over a decade of magical self-training as well. Sure he didn't have his trident or his soulfire right now (those things that would be of most helpful given what soulfire does to a person) but he still knew how to cast spells.

I don't recognize "Jeannettee".


 * "< ... can't you just turn him intangible?"| is Doug's thought as he tenses, ready to dive towards the stage if there was an opening. |"< Doesn't have to be long, we just need to time things..."|

As for the dupe, well he is moving towards the door on the stage, along with the girl, dragging her along. "Now you don't want to try and bite my fingers. Cause that will just force me to make a dupe, and you don't want that." If the girl understands the dupe thing, well she gives no indication, just knows enough to not bite the guy.

Rejected! Emma mentally controls one of the employees to close the door to the backstage. |"Do it Daimon, then Jamie shoot the bloody man, I know you have the gun with you. While everyone is in a panic Doug make your way to the security room and destroy the evidence."|

She rolled her eyes as she was now leading a team she's not actually on, |"Quickly now!"|

Daimon closes his eyes and thinks |"Sorry Dougie, I don't know any invisibility or intangibility spells. I'm pretty rotten at the mental disciplines of magic"|

With his eyes closed he began to form the Imago of his spell. Invoking Raggador. He doesn't want the Seven Rings, they would be to obvious, what he wants are their effects. When his eyes open they are glowing slightly as the spell reaches out.

It would invisibly wrap around the arms and legs of the dupe and pull them towards his body and bind him. If was really lucky and he doubted he was it would shut down his powers as well. The magic would made it so there would be no kinetic force to this, it was simply what was. A strong but tight pulling force as if gravity itself decided to change direction.

And with the spell out and into the universe, Daimon fell to his knees and started breathing very heavily. He was still getting used to pushing his own energy into spells, rather than the Hell energy he normally used.

As soon as a body language shifts, Doug is moving at once, quickly, going straight for the girl, trying to get a read off her body language to see which way she would move as soon as the dupe was being bound. The sooner he could get her away, the better, just in case Daimon's spell wasn't as successful as hoped.

The dupe is indeed binded, and well that forces him to let go of the stripper that he was holding on to. Well since he was forced out of a way to try and make dupes, he gets inventive. The Dupe just flings himself at the ground, in an attempt to use that impact to try and use that to make another one of him. Of course that attempt fails thanks to the fact that the powers are also drained.

Jamie himself totally ignores what Emma has said and well he runs over to his own dupe and just grabs the guy. "Tell me why damnit! Why did you kill them?" Yes he has the gun out, but he wants to know why his own dupe killed people. However he doesn't get a good answer.

The answer he gets it just simply the dupe saying, "This is only the beginning." Before he swallows the poison pill that he had placed in a hollowed out tooth, leaving the heroes to figure out what that little cryptic warning means.

Emma held her hands up in the air and sighed, "Well. That's that then. Mystery solved, somewhat."

She made her way over to Jamie and spoke quietly, "Your brother here got a bit /drunk/, understand? Take him home, we'll discuss your part of the agreement when you're less distressed."

With a look to Doug and Daimon, her brows lower in concern when she sees Daimon exhausted on the ground. That's unusual. "Gentlemen, goodnight."

To only Daimon Emma thought, |"If there is something wrong, you should speak to your team. I do teach a school about this sort of thing, after all. Your headmistress knows a thing or three."|

And at that Emma turned her heel and strutted out of this dirty club. There was still work to be done that evening.

Daimon got himself back up to his feet but he was a little wobbly still. As the action went down he said, "That was... disappointing. If I had known the asshole had a poison pill I would have used something else.


 * "I got myself into this mess, I'll get myself out. But thanks for the help tonight, I owe you about fifity"| He thought over to Daimon.

He clumsily got himself over to Jamie and said, "Well, I guess we should get him out of here. I can do a ritual on the body and try to find out more."

"Good evening, Ms. Frost," Doug says semi-cheerfully. Yes, yes, the strut totally shows off the unnaturalness. Focus, Doug.

Of course, he had an armful of a stripper, so... well, yeah.

"You can let me go now," the stripper says.

"Um... yes, sorry." Grinning sheepishly, the young man lets go, turning his attention back to the others. "What did he mean, only the beginning?"

"I don't know." Is all Jamie can say to Doug. Does he mean more rogue dupes coming out, are they all getting together to frame the Prime for some crimes. Or does he mean that this is only the beginning of something else, all of that is just a mystery to Jamie, something he will have to solve soon. "Do you have any spell that can get him out of here Daimon?" That would be easier since Jamie really wants to head off and be by himself right about now.

"Yeah I do, but my aim's been a little off lately. Still guess it doesn't matter where in the office he ends up in as long as he does? I'll have to go with him though, so I'll meet both you guys back there. We can discuss what the next play is. And some other stuff I need to let you guys in on."

Daimon steeled himself because he knew this was going to wipe him out physically. Teleportation was hard no matter how you did it, and the way Daimon did it was a very taxing experience. He inhaled sharply and formed the Imago of his spell, the location he wanted to go, and the second one he wanted to arrive at. And then in a burst of hellfire both he and the deadbody were gone.

Daimon passed out on the floor of the office as soon as he arrived, the deadbody... it ended up sitting in Jamie's office chair.

With Jamie at the strip bar, Doug looks around, then back at him, before running a hand through his hair. "... I -really- hope Kitty and Illy don't find out about this..."