2013.08.25 - So Much For That Budding Romance

It's later in the evening. The lights in the war room are turned down low not for the sake of

It's later in the evening. The lights in the war room are turned down low, not for the sake of atmosphere, but rather because Jean is walking slowly around a holographic display of Genosha with an overlay of recent intel. She has a faint scowl on her brow, a pensive expression on her face. The monitors surrounding the room have various data feeds and international news reports displayed on them.

The scientist has been more of a data analyst, recently, than anything else. It weighs on her, but then, in recent weeks, many things have been weighing on her -- most of which she hasn't spoken about.

Really? The life of an X-Man ne'er does run smooth. Why should hers be any different? Regardless... that vacation at the top of the summer? It's like it never happened.

She grabs a chair and flops back into it with a sigh, arms crossed over her chest as she raises one hand to pinch the bridge of her nose and rub between her eyes at the headache that's settling there.

"You mean to tell me that everything over there is not on the up and up? That Magneto is trying to sunshine up the tails of the world public?" Scott Summers remarks as he enters the room, standing just behind Jean, and folding his arms across his chest.

"Color me shocked."

He's wearing a black turtleneck with grey pants and a scowl that matches Jean's.

"What's the latest?"

Jean actually barks a dry laugh and offers a lopsided smile at the sarcastic assessment. "Ye-ah. I know. Pass the digitalis." Colour her shocked, too. She scrubs her eyes for a moment and then gives a weary shrug. "It's... not good. Magneto's looking to solidify his hold over Genosha, regain his lost power-base, and he's pulling out his usual threats to do it. Nothing we haven't heard before. It's the propaganda that's the real thorn -- not the core of the problem, but certainly it's most overt symptom. Shift's report isn't cheery, but that's not unexpected."

She pulls herself back to her feet and gestures at Genoshan display. It shows a rough disposition of territorial claims and political divisions, but none of it has the surety of conclusive evidence, aside from the major strongholds like Bastion."

She looks over to Scott now and inhales a deep breath. "Speaking of Shift, however, we should probably talk about that, before the rest."

Scott's head tilts slightly at the mention of Shift's report. Surely, it didn't take a genius to know that things weren't what they appeared, and Scott assumed things were indeed, not cheery. But to his knowledge Shift had left the X-men. That he'd been giving reports was intriguing.

He rolls his tongue inside his mouth and his face turns a bit quizzical; at least as much as one can behind a pair of crimson glasses. "Yeah," he says slowly. "We should probably talk about that."

Jean knows this isn't going to be the happiest conversation she's ever had with the X-Men's team lead. But, it's necessary. And she needs to remain calm to have it, so she schools her emotions and regards Scott frankly. "Shift's back," she tells him. She tilts her head from side to side briefly in concession. "And... actually... he never truly left."

Her expression grows serious, not defensive, but frank instead. Although it was Shift's plan, it was her decision, and she will take responsibility for it. "Some weeks a go, he came to me with a plan to get closer to Magneto, to try to get some intel. There's..." She grimaces now. "There's a lot going on with Shift and I don't like most of it -- especially the parts that include Magneto's interest in him. But Shift suggested we could use that interest against him. He suggested that, since he does work intel for us, he could go in undercover as a 'new recruit', of sorts, since Magneto wanted him so badly. The problem, of course, is that if he went in fully cognizant of his mission, it would be too easy for Magneto's pet telepaths to pick it out of his mind." She regards Scott steadily. "So, he asked me to alter his memories, so that he wouldn't remember, so that he'd be amenable to Magneto's suggestions." She presses her lips together. "I did it. I altered his memories, I removed sensitive information about us and made him think that we weren't living up to his expectations. I monitored him, and whenever he was close enough for me to scan, I took whatever information from him I could."

She wanders around the far side of the table now. "A few days ago, however, I realized he was ready to go confront Magneto openly, because even with his altered memories he was having difficulty with Magneto's decisions. At that point, Rachel and I went and confronted him. We pulled him out. I fixed his memories... and, so, now he's back with us. A little the worse for wear, but back."

She looks Scott in the eye. "I'm sorry, Scott. I really am. I wanted to say something earlier. But Shift's safety lay in complete secrecy. I couldn't risk the information being lifted telepathically. The only people who knew were me and Shift. And, eventually, Rachel." Because she figured it out and can protect herself -- though that goes unsaid.

Scott's arms stay across his chest in a closed off stance as he face lowers and goes slack with disappointment. The last time Jean had overrun authority he had let it slide and believed her when she had noted she wouldn't do something like this again. Like this. Again.

"Under whose authority did you make this decision?"

The words come out crisp. Not cold, per se, but measured. As if the conversation has suddenly gone from friendly and conversational to the type you have with someone you don't trust, or might no longer trust.

"I made a judgement call," Jean says bluntly. "And I knew you wouldn't like it. But, I couldn't tell you, Scott. I wanted to tell you. And maybe I should have, but it seemed safer for all involved not to." She's expecting the ton of bricks to come down on her head, of course. But, there it is.

"You made a judgement call, and it was wrong. Whether I like it or not isn't the point. The point is that this is the second time over the past few months that you've felt it was somehow acceptable, by your own judgement, to cut me out of a decision. You don't have the authority to do that. It's not your place. Sorry doesn't cut it, and frankly, I don't believe you. If you were sorry enough the first time there wouldn't have been a second time. The idea that we'd somehow be susceptible to a telepathic attack is folly at best, given the personnel we have here at the mansion. Worse, it's something we're consistently susceptible to if you, in fact, believe as you say you believe. Therefore, there's not much reason to go off the reservation in the way that you have, unless that should always just be the regular plan. If that's the case, you'll be awfully lonely on a team made of one. But, that's assuming you grasp the idea of a team at all."

Scott digs his hands into his pockets, looks down, and shakes his head. "I'll discuss this with the Professor the next chance I get. You see, I have a healthy idea of what the chain of command around here is. I have my own opinions and thoughts, but I recognize that ultimate decisions don't lie with me. You could learn a thing or two."

"Are we done here?"

And, there it is. Ton of bricks. Jean nods simply. She considers all the responses she could make to it. In the end, she smiles grimly. "No. Actually. We're not." She walks around the table to face him. "You might have no confidence in me, Scott, and that's fine. But, Magneto's rise to power on Genosha remains unchecked. He's run roughshod over the UN -- whether because of propaganda, collusion, blackmail, bribery, or telepathic interference, I don't know. But he's been internationally accepted as the Imperator of Bastion. In other words: Its Emperor. If that's not the clearest indication of what his intentions are before the world, I don't know what is."

She shakes her head, now. "I tried to tell you when he first set off an EM pulse over the island that this was coming, and you didn't believe me then. You felt I was over-reacting. Now, thousands are dead, most of them human, and he's this close to controlling the whole island and regaining the power base that was stripped from him before. And we haven't done a blessed thing to stop him. You think I've gone off the reservation? Well, if so, I'm hardly alone. Piotr's gone, Logan's gone, Kurt's gone, Bobby's gone. And a lot of that is more indicative of what you've been doing -- or not -- than what I've been doing. We don't have much of a team left, Scott. And, you know something? That's..." She sighs, her pique dissipating. "That's not my fault."

"As always, thank you for your support. When you've got friends like this, who needs enemies?" Scott says, giving her a nod. "I'll see you around."

Scott folds his arms again and turns. As he approaches the door, the hiss of exhaust emits before it opens for him. He continues on down the hallway, heading to anywhere but here.

Jean watches him go. She lets out another sigh. Well. That went... about how she expected. Except maybe a little worse.

So much for any nascent romance between the two.

Among other things.

She looks around at the screens again and realizes there's still a lot to do before the briefing to the others. She'll see this mission through. Avoid Scott when she can, which actually shouldn't be hard, and then -- well, actually, then Rachel's mind intrudes on her thoughts. She glances up, eyes unfocusing as she listens for a moment or two, and nods. ~ Sure thing, ~ she tells the other telepath. ~ Be there in about 30. ~

Moments later, the war room is empty once more.