Human 4/6?
Jun. 28th, 2009 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nike_ravusAuthor: Alsike
Rating: PG-15
Fandom: X-Men/Criminal Minds
Pairing: Emma Frost/Emily Prentiss
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men or Criminal Minds. There will be a cameo by a character from another fandom as well. I, however, was not the first person to cross over these two fandoms, and am completely stealing the idea from Argentine's Jubilee and Fifty-Foot Janine. (Another fic which is hugely better than mine, and I consider to be basically canon).
Apologies: Okay! Things are picking up. Or at least... will soon, hopefully. I'm sorry if there's not enough making out.
Summary: Emily's mother is dead, but her memory lives on, as does her desire to manipulate Emily's life away from serial killers and towards politics. But sometimes, serial killers and politicians are not that far removed.
Chapter 4
Emily had met too many slimy middle-aged men for one night. Edward had tried to introduce her to Tony Stark again, who looked at her and smirked in an obviously lecherous way and just said, “We’ve met,” before disappearing. After that Edward had made his excuses and left her alone.
She leaned weakly against the drinks buffet sipping ruby port very slowly. She knew by now to avoid the Cognac and Brandy at these events, because they took her out for the entire next day. The port was better, because the sugar would make her puke long before the alcohol would.
“God, these things make yourself want to shoot yourself in the head, don’t they?”
Emily glanced over at the impish Asian girl, clad in vibrant yellow, with jewelry everywhere and bangles up to her elbows.
“Not that I recommend it as a course of action. Open bar, eh?” She made to toast with her glass of yellowish liquid, probably sherry, and Emily met it with her port for a clink.
“Don’t over indulge,” she said, feeling weirdly parental. “Or tomorrow will be nasty.”
“I have an incredible metabolism.” She took a gulp of her drink and nearly choked. Emily grinned.
“That’s not white wine.”
“Christ that has a kick! I thought they were just being cheap when they hardly gave you any.”
“Nope, why would they be cheap? They get to write all this off on their taxes.”
“Ooh, cynical. I like that. You been to a lot of these?”
“Too many.”
“This is my first, but I mainly came along because, hey free trip to New York, and my boss needs someone to make sure she doesn’t work herself to death.”
“I hope she knows what that’s worth.”
“Me too,” Jubilee stuck out her tongue. “This is kinda gross.” She dumped the glass beck on the table and leaned back against it, lifting herself a few inches off the ground with her hands. “Wanna play a game?”
Emily blinked. Even when she had been a kid at these parties, and not the only one, no one had ever asked her to play a game. The local kids would usually disappear together, and the visitors would hang off their parents’ coattails, whimpering. Emily usually hid under the desert table and read, until her mother found her and slapped her for not being social. “What kind of game?”
“Pick the sleaziest loser.”
Emily laughed. There was something devilishly impertinent about the way Jubilee wiggled her eyebrows. “There’s so many here, how do you decide?”
“All right, let’s say… him.” She pointed to a balding man with a ring of grey hair that fell straight past his ears and then curled loosely at the end. “What is the sleaziest thing you think he’s done?”
“I was introduced to him,” Emily frowned. “Lorne or Lewis or something? Apparently he has a master.”
“Really?” Jubilee wrinkled her nose. “I can’t see him in leather.”
* * *
Garcia stared unhappily at the screen. Her bot had returned with more emails, some vicious, some charming and friendly. It was obvious, but none of this information was legal.
Reid frowned, scanning the data again. “You know what’s strange? The tox screen. Whatever they were injected with caused respiratory arrest and cardiac failure, but there’s no chemicals in their bloodstream. Instead there are blood cells with someone else’s DNA. Mutant DNA.”
“So the killer had to be a mutant,” said JJ.
“Yeah,” replied Reid. “Had to be… or killed with a syringe full of toxic mutant blood.”
Garcia swallowed. She opened doors to internal databanks of California prisons. She looked at the mutant rolls, dangerous mutant facilities, and found exactly what she suspected would be there.
He had disappeared through some clerical error or another, they thought. And to control panic the escape hadn’t been reported to the media. No one was supposed to know where the mutant facility was, for fear of terrorist action from either side. And so no one knew that he was back.
If she told anyone, she was as good as fired.
* * *
Emma leaned into Emily’s shoulder from behind. “They’re serving dinner soon. I, for one, despise mass-produced banquet food. Interested in slipping out?”
“If you promise me no politics, I’d go anywhere with you.”
Jubilee looked up from where she was sampling the bourbon to try and find something palatable, and stared. She bounded over and looked curiously from one to the other. Emma groaned and rested her forehead on Emily’s shoulder. Jubilee stepped back and stood, arms akimbo, a dirty grin taking over her face. “You’re shagging, aren't you?” She pointed at Emily and wiggled her eyebrows. “You’re shagging Frosty.”
Emily looked awkward.
“Oh, score!”
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose. “I assume you have met my former pupil, Jubilee.”
“Not in… so many words.” It was slightly unnerving to see the young woman she had been evading the party with as Emma’s student.
Jubilee didn’t seem to have an issue with it though and shook her hand firmly. “Don’t worry. I was never into that.” She tipped her head towards Emma. “But, you know, can’t sleep, and all day with in-your-face boobs. Things happen.”
Emily couldn’t help the chuckle.
“Please,” said Emma, exasperatedly.
Jubilee skimmed around to her side. “So, you guys are bailing? Can we tag along? I need to rescue Nini from the politics about now, and since you’re paying we can go somewhere good.”
She disappeared into the crowd to locate the mysterious Nini.
“When did I say that I was paying?” asked Emma to empty air. She glared at Emily. “You’re getting along with my delinquent student far too well.”
* * *
Nini turned out to be Janine. It seemed that she had also been one of Emma’s students. She gave Emily a glance and then a smile and it was obvious she had twigged.
Emma gave the command of where they were going and Jubilee leaned into Emily's ear. “She that masterful in bed? Because seriously, leather.”
Irritated, Emma took Janine’s arm and led the way out of the hotel. Emily easily dropped into step alongside Jubilee.
“You were Emma’s student?”
“Yeah.” Jubilee grinned. “She doesn’t talk about me? I was the worst one she ever had.”
“We’re you the one that took out all the computers in the school?”
Jubilee nodded. “I blew up the school once too. But I had a reason for that. The computers were an accident.”
Emily laughed. “You seem to like her.”
“So do you.” Jubilee wiggled her eyebrows.
Emily grinned, shaking her head unconvincingly. “What’s she like as a teacher?”
“Oh, she’s a psychopath. I mean seriously, psychopath. But she’s the best teacher I ever had.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. I used to be pretty ADD, not, you know, diagnosed, but if it wasn’t physical I couldn’t be bothered to focus. I was always off in outer space. But Frosty could always tell, and whoop, mental smack down, knocked me right out of my daydreams. Her class was the only one I was passing, so she took me for supervised study sessions after school. It was torture. But eventually I learned enough to control my own mind. I really got my powers under control then too. I don’t know if I would have ever graduated if it weren’t for her.”
“That’s high praise.”
“It really sucked when she had to close the school. It was all Monet’s fault anyways. I couldn’t have cared less whether or not she killed her bitch of a sister.”
Emily blinked and looked unsure. “Uhh…”
“Oh.” Jubilee grinned guiltily. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything about that.”
* * *
After the banquet ended a small group of men gathered in a private room for brandy and cigars.
Sebastian Shaw leaned back in his chair and took a long draw on his cigar. “So, Edward, you really think that girl has potential? Not too much of a loose cannon?”
“I’m sure she can be cultivated into what we need,”
Roger Crooke shook his head. “You mean she’s not prepared at all yet? Surely her mother…”
“Her mother and she were not on the best of terms.”
Sebastian frowned. “That could be trouble.”
Tony Stark chuckled and took a pull on his cigar. “I don’t know. She’s Emma’s new petite amore. She may be more cultivated than we think.” Edward gaped, and Tony smirked. “You’re her uncle. Didn’t know she swung that way?”
Edward snorted. “Do you take me for a fool? I was surprised. I did not know she was acquainted with our dear Miss Frost. Or that she…” His voice faded out, and he swallowed, clearly not in the present anymore.
“Or what new fantasies would pop up when you did?” Shaw asked with a sneer. “Our Emma swings every way.”
“I think that might be news to one person,” intoned Lorne slowly. “News he might be interested in.”
“Lorne,” Tony said hesitantly. “You’re not going to bring him into this.”
“I can’t think of anything more entertaining than watching a parent discipline a child.”
Tony shook his head, but a secret smile twitched at the corners of his lips.
* * *
Watching Emma fend off her students was nearly mesmerizing to Emily. Janine turned out to be, away from political society, a smart direct young woman with flashes of wickedness. Jubilee was clearly insanity personified, and they ganged up, attacking Emma from both ends of logic and unreason. Sometimes Emma managed to struggle out on top.
They met in the bathroom, Emma leaning against the sink, waiting for her.
“Are you enjoying this?” she asked dryly.
“I am.” Emily cocked her head and bit her lip, considering what to say next. “It’s nice to see you with students who aren’t…”
“Dead?” Emma curled her lip and turned away.
Emily cupped her chin and turned it back. She ran her thumb over her lip to relax it. Then she leaned in and brushed her lips against her cheek. “I have never seen you interact with a student before.”
“Both of these have graduated, so if anything it’s even stranger for me.”
“You didn’t lose them.”
Emma huffed into her neck. “Jubilee was kidnapped and tortured under my guardianship. And I don’t like seeing Janine here. These people are cruel and ruthless. She is intelligent enough to best them in a debate, but winning here is far more risky than losing. You know that. You were born to this.”
“I never wanted to come back. The longer I’m here, the more I’m forced to wonder what my mother did for them. Someone wanted to know whether I was interested in my rights. It’s like there’s this little feudal system that is in charge, based on nepotism and heredity.”
“It is amusing that they still believe they can trust family, at least until the child usurps the throne. But you’re lucky. Your parent is dead and your uncle is in desperate need of an heir.”
Emily gulped and pushed Emma away. She didn’t feel lucky; she felt trapped. “What? Me? What do they want with me?”
Emma smirked and turned towards the door. “Just your pretty face, I’m sure.”
* * *
It had been a pleasant dinner, and the mood managed to stay light. At least it did until they stepped outside and saw the lights and sirens, and the dead man lying on the pavement.
* * *
