bookpower Chapter 68: A Chat
Chapter 68: A Chat
Chapter 68: A Chat
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Thaddeus and Emma finally touching base.
-x-X-x-
Emma had been expecting her and Thaddeus to have this talk at some point, but she had to admit she thought he would have come to her earlier, over the weekend. But she hadn’t taken it personally or anything like that. The White Queen of the Hellfire Club was quite busy in her own right, and it wouldn’t do for them to appear TOO close after everything that had happened on Friday night.
... That said, when Thaddeus had sat down in her office and told her he wanted her to look at his memories of the day instead of discussing Shaw’s death, Emma had to admit that she’d been a little caught off guard. Once she’d actually seen what he’d dealt with though today... well, things made a little bit more sense.
Pulling out of Thaddeus’ mind, having been given ‘safe passage’ through the mental brambles that his sex life with Laura had given him, Emma lets out a shuddering breath. Thaddeus... had had quite the day so far. Perhaps the most eventful day at Empire State University since he’d started going there.
“... Sorry about how much I told She-Hulk. I know she’s not exactly on our side. I won’t insult your intelligence by pretending like it was all some master plan on my part though. Obviously, I had a moment of weakness.”
Emma presses her lips together into a thin line as the first thing Thaddeus says after they finish going over the day’s events is an apology. On the one hand, she could lean into that, make him feel truly contrite and more beholden to her. On the other hand... she wasn’t going to do so, even if it might have been the logical move.
“I forgive you, Thaddeus. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that you did nothing wrong. What happened Friday... well, I wish things had gone differently. I wish you hadn’t had to kill a man, even one as contemptible as Shaw.”
She means it too. Emma’s heart, what little of it remains, goes out to Thaddeus for the choice he had to make at the Hellfire Gala. It wasn’t surprising that it affected him like it did either. The young man wasn’t a killer... or at least, he hadn’t been. It was, of course, always the plan to have Thaddeus eventually deal with people like the Black King and Queen, but Emma had thought they would have more time. Clearly, she’d been wrong.
However... the events at the Hellfire Gala were already starting to feel like ancient history given the day Thaddeus had just had. Shaw’s death had opened a can of worms and those worms were now crawling out of the woodworks and- okay, the metaphor was getting away from her a little bit. Still.
“I don’t know who your new Math Professor is, truth be told. And normally that would make her my highest priority. However... your new Biology Professor is much more disturbing to me. Mostly because I recognize her.”
Thaddeus frowns at that.
“Madelyne Pryor? Who is she then, really?”
Emma sighs as she shakes her head, her mind flicking back to the red-haired visage Thaddeus had shown her in his mind’s eye.
“... Someone the X-Men will probably be very interested in if Ororo Munroe catches wind of her presence at ESU. Someone who is supposed to be dead.”
It didn’t make any sense though. Emma didn’t believe in coincidences, so there had to be some sort of link between ‘Madelyne Pryor’ showing up now and what had happened on Friday. But what? She didn’t think the X-Men had been hiding her all this time only to bust her out now... that wouldn’t make sense.
“Who?”
Right, Thaddeus wasn’t one who appreciated vagueness or generalities. To be fair, neither did Emma. Sighing, the blonde telepath shakes her head.
“I can only tell you what I know... and what I know is admittedly far more meager than I would prefer. There was another telepath of no small amount of power named Jean Grey. She was stronger than me before I met you and said to even be stronger than her mentor... Professor Charles Xavier.”
“The X-Men are on a short leash. By their very nature, they want to be seen as the ‘good guys’... and taking down Magneto and his Brotherhood earned them some brownie points for sure. But that doesn’t mean they can just do whatever they want... they do NOT have the authority to act as sanctioned heroes like the Avengers do.”
Tilting her head to the side, the White Queen shrugs again.
“We could let Munroe know about Pryor and sit back. It would almost certainly take the heat off of us for at least a little while, with the X-Men focusing all of their attention on figuring out the mystery behind Madelyne Pryor’s familiar visage and whoever is behind Pryor forced to contend with their... subtle investigations.”
She can tell Thaddeus sees the merit in the idea, even as he nods thoughtfully.
“... Giving us room to investigate Shu Wong a bit more deeply... while also figuring out how to deal with She-Hulk.”
Emma raises an eyebrow at that, letting the corners of her mouth quirk up in amusement.
“Careful with your choice of words there, Thaddeus. How exactly shall we ‘deal with’ She-Hulk.”
Thaddeus flushes and Emma can tell that at the end of the day, even he’s not sure whether that was a slip of the tongue or if he was trying to convince Emma that he was still on her side above all else. Here’s the thing, Emma didn’t think Thaddeus would betray her. At least not so long as the Black Queen still loomed over their heads. But alas, in giving him those Luck Powers courtesy of Domino, Emma had played a part in Thaddeus meeting some heroines. And not just any heroines, but the Invisible Woman and She-Hulk to boot.
While Thaddeus’ connection with those two women was a little irritating, it could also be viewed as an opportunity as well. Emma would be a fool not to take the chance afforded to her by his relationship with a bonafide Avenger.
“... Obviously I don’t want us to have to hurt her or anything like that. But at the same time, we need to be careful. She’s shown herself to be far more than just a bunch of muscles so far.”
Emma nods at Thaddeus’ diplomatic answer. He was right, to be fair. Compared to the original Hulk, She-Hulk was far tamer, probably part of the reason she worked so well as an Avenger in the first place. From what Emma had heard, the original Hulk was basically just a simple-minded rage monster, and a barely controllable one at that.
Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk... got to keep her mind when she transformed. She kept her wits about her and led a mostly normal life outside of the ability to transform at the drop of a hat and her work for the Avengers. Of course, the trade off was that she wasn’t nearly as unstoppable as the Hulk was. She’d been beaten before and if it came down to it, Emma was confident that Thaddeus could take She-Hulk on and come out on top.
That said, Thaddeus was right. Neither of them wanted it to come down to that. It would be much better for their plans if She-Hulk could be... co-opted into what they were doing. Emma was under no illusions here though. She-Hulk’s ultimate goal was likely the complete and total dissolution of the Hellfire Club if she could manage it.
Theirs would be an alliance of convenience and necessity, but by its very nature, both the convenience and necessity of such an arrangement would run out eventually... and then, if Emma and Thaddeus weren’t very careful, they would end up at cross purposes with the green-skinned Avenger. And if Emma wasn’t very, VERY careful... well, she might just lose Thaddeus’ loyalty somewhere along the way as well.
The game had changed with the events of Friday night. The stakes had never been higher. But Emma had to be honest, even she hadn’t expected everyone to move their pieces across the board THIS fast. They should have had more time... SHE should have had more time. Huffing, Emma looks to her newly anointed White Knight and smiles.
“Then we will have to tread very carefully indeed. Still, from the sound of things, blowing her off is the last thing we want to do. That said, we also need to get the information about Madelyne Pryor to Ororo Munroe as fast as possible. Hm... we could split up. Cover more ground faster. But what do you think? Do you think it better for me to meet with She-Hulk alone? Or would you prefer to be there, just in case?”
Emma watches Thaddeus’ reaction to her query carefully. Would he insist on being present, or would he leave negotiations with their tentative heroically inclined ally in her hands? Either answer would tell her quite a lot, truth be told...
-x-X-x- The Vote: [ ] Thaddeus wants to be there for the meeting with She-Hulk - 18%
[X] Thaddeus agrees to dividing and conquering. He'll go to Storm while Emma meets with She-Hulk - 82%
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