<<< M.T. Noir, [Alix]

[Lux]

Date: February 2nd, 2012
Time: 12:18 PM

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This...wasn't so bad.

At first, when given this assignment, Lux wasn't sure what to think. In fact, now that she thought about it on a deeper level, she wasn't really sure what to think of anything beyond her graduating from SHIELD basic training. There wasn't much time to think when you were in the mix, after all. You followed orders and did your best not to get your balls busted too hard. The moments you did get to rest and let your mind catch up was when you were laying in your bunk, but once those thoughts slowed down, you were usually out for the night until either your internal clock woke you up or a bucket of cold water did.

Luckily (or maybe no so luckily) Lux was one of those people that got hampered u by sleepless nights for one reason or another, and when she wasn't daydreaming about being able to come and go as she pleased while eating seventeen boxed of pizzas, she was thinking about what it meant to be a SHIELD graduate. Even all those months ago, she really didn't know what to picture. Certainly she didn't see them slapping a solo assignment as her first mission, that was for damn sure. In truth, she was too realistic to believe she'd be the female James Bond or, like...Rambo. Whatever. She knew that being an Agent of SHIELD meant more then action and kicking ass.

But this?

Sometimes it wasn't about your physical abilities. That thought was drilled into her head when she was sitting down at a desk wondering why she was even in a classroom at five o'clock in the morning. There were various reasons and Lux was pretty sure she could remember if she thought about it, but at the moment she didn't want to. Since she wasn't in Mutant Town for any reason but to help some allies...well, former allies. Something.

X-Investigations was a prestige all of it's own. Much like the vaunted X-Mansion from not to long ago, the place offered help (though not shelter that she knew of) to anyone who needed it. To Lux that was just...just awesome. Back in the day when she still had the dreams of a child, she loved old noir movies and thought that being a detective required nothing more then a cigar, a hard attitude, a way with the ladies and a belief that revenge is a dish best served immediately, repeatedly, and with a side of wrath. Certainly the building wasn't what she expected, but that hardly mattered.

She pulled at the sleeves of her trenchcoat and adjusted her fedora as she stepped into the X-Investigations building, surveying the area with a critical eye, the intense stare sending more then a few of the staff scampering for the darker corners. She was a hard one to please, but she was impressed, especially when she spied the receptionist. Lux smiled that charming, crooked smile and and stuffed a hand in her pocket, letting the work get a peak of her .38 Detective Revolver, putting the cigar to her lips and tilting her head to the side, watching the girl at the desk peck at the typewriter with a precision that many had but few could master.

Lux pulled out a cigarette and lit it, puffing it a few times before she took a long, cool drag and began walking to the desk with the jaunt of someone who knew they owned the room, hell, the whole damn place. Easing a palm to the desk, Lux blew the smoke she inhaled at the direction of the receptionist, her crooked smile getting a bit wider.

“Whatsa dame like you doin' in a place like dis?”

::...May I help you?::

Lux blinked for a moment before mismatched eyes looked around before settling back to the receptionist. She swore, though she wasn't sure, that what she had heard she didn't actually hear...and it was in her head. Not unheard of in this day and age, but still. She shook her head for a moment, wondering what the flying frak just happened before she looked back to the receptionist with a rather confused look on her face. The vision she had was so real she swore up and down that...huh. Shaking her head, Lux took a moment to rub her eyes, then her temples before leaning at the reception desk with a tired sigh.

“Name's Lux, beautiful,” The brunette began, finally swallowing her pride as she looked at the pretty thing sitting there. “I'm here on behalf of SHIELD to help you carry out some...thing. I was briefed briefly, if that makes sense. Not told a whole lot. Guess they figured the receptionist would fill me in or somethin' before I started workin' with whoever runs the joint.”

Seriously, Lux thought as she looked around again, as if something out of the ordinary would jump out to claim responsibility for her...'vision'. What the hell was that?!

[Alix]

The whole Day, so far, had been fairly slow. Alot of paperwork, alot of sitting around... general quiet morning minus a brief lunch with Jamie and a duplicate to discuss the current case and where it was all going. He'd headed off to do some investigating and while honestly she would've preferred to go along, she couldn't very well leave the office completely untended in the afternoon hours with just Box down below handling all the tech stuff. Someone had to man the desk and today it was her turn.

Though frankly, she needed the time to really finish reading some of the reports and proofread any additions that would've been made in the last few weeks. Few really ever seemed to desire to handle them and all in all, Jamie never seemed all that interested in actually reading them, so she took care of it and otherwise compensated. It wasn't like he needed them most the time anyways to do what it was that he did-- it was more for future reference than anything else.

Everything had been pretty mundane until Lux walked through the door, looking as she was absorbed into her own thoughts far beyond what was actually happening. For a moment Alix regarded her curiously and took in the scene before finally concluding that clearly the woman must've needed something, even if she was a bit vague seeming to this point. She was nice enough regardless and the flattery caught her more than a little off guard.

::Nice to meet you, Lux. I'm Alix.:: She smiled pleasantly and held out a hand to shake hers cordially.

::Oh, yes. We got a call that you are investigating a report of missing people.. do you have the case file so that I may look it over?:: As always she was straight to business. Her eyes shifted over the SHIELD agent for a moment before drifting downwards to her desk that she nervously organized.

::We really kind of all handle the different duties. I'm on receptionist duty today because I had some paperwork to finish out on another case and with Jamie out on a job-- he's the guy in charge-- but there's others too. I'm on missing people, though because.. you know..:: She pointed to the side of her head softly.

::I'm a telepath, and I'm good at finding people.:: She stated the obvious and stood to step around the desk.

[Lux]

A telepath.

Well, she knew it had to happen some time.

In truth, she would have died a happy (and hopefully older) woman never running into a telepath. Their powers were invasive and shady at best and downright evil at worst. While never having run into one in any step of her life (that she knew of), she was pretty certain that even something like x-ray vision made her less angry or nervous. But, she knew this moment would come and she knew what she had to do.

Make sure this woman never saw any of the porn she looked at.

Luckily the techniques for 'sealing off your mind' to telepaths was easy, if they weren't actively trying to break into your mind for whatever reason. Though she had no defense with her powers against someone such as Alix, she had the training SHIELD provided her. It was just a bummer that she had barely passed that particular course. But in her mind, the wall was an absolute success, and she really hoped Alix wouldn't poke at it and break it down with such ease that it made Lux look like an idiot.

“I'm not thinking about porn!!” she blurted out before clamping a hand over her mouth. She took a moment to straighten up and present herself with some dignity. Better late then never, she though. “Ummm...yes. Case file. Right here.”

There wasn't much to go on in the actual file. All the information on the missing people and their powers were there, though nothing seemed to link them to anything. On the way to Mutant Town, Lux had read the files through and through but her mind wasn't built to retain this kind of information. And apparently, X-Investigations (then called X-Factor) used to be apart of SHIELD some odd months ago and they had a knack for this kinda thing. Well, obviously, since they were not a mutant detective agency and all.

“Sorry about my, ummm...dumbness.” Lux made a vague motion with her hand and tried to dismiss it, though she knew that someone like Alix would probably remember it for the rest of her life. “So, yes, the case.” The brunette put the manilla folders on the desk and turned them so they were facing Alix and flipped the top one open.

“String of abductions, all mutants. Never a good sign, from what I've read about past mutant abductions.” Lux began, pointing to the top picture. “Sato Kruger. His gift was enhancement; he could take someone's power and power it up to a degree that was unknown at the time of his abduction. He was the straw that broke the camel's back. His power, by itself, did nothing. Coupled with another mutant, however, and you were lookin' at some big trouble. The rest...”

She coughed, not knowing how to put it but knowing that her words, while seemingly cold and emotionless, weren't. She trusted (for the moment) that Alix knew her words weren't how they meant, and only sounded void of feeling because she really didn't know how else to put it.

“The gifts of the rest were seemingly useless, even when put together.” Lux sighed as she continued to open up folders until Alix's neat desk was full of open folders an pictures. “Mandy DeVine could manipulate, I'm not even kidding, office supplies. Horatio Lander, he could make promises he had to keep under penalty of death. Amanda Smith, she controlled ink. Ned Radical...” she stopped to look at Alix. “Yes, he legally changed his name to that, he could control insects. There's more, but more along the same lines.”

She sighed, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands before crossing her arms across her chest and nodding to Alix. “Ideas? Thoughts? I'm at your disposal.”

[Alix]

It always happened. She always despised meeting people who'd never met another telepath before because, honestly, more times than not, they had some kind of thought about how evil and awful and everything terrible her abilities could make her. There were always concerns about dirty thoughts, porn, and the super secret stash of whatever item they loved most-- money, drugs, whatever. Alix honestly couldn't have ever cared less about porn or anything else but the fact of the meetings always remained.

She smiled pleasantly at the SHIELD agent without a hint of responding to the porn comment or the thoughts that had drifted over to her own from Lux. Instead, she let it all slide without pleasantness and poise as she looked over the various files briefly, various points caught her attention and she looked back to her briefly.

::I feel that these disappearances are only related in the fact that they are mutants. That's what we've concluded, at least. Here. I mean.:: She pointed between the various mutants as she spoke. ::Have all the disappearances been from Mutant Town?::

While she'd not reveal anything of what she knew about the actual facts of the case beyond that they were in fact all mutants-- something Lux already knew-- she would find out what shield knew. Because while SHIELD itself was not made of bad or otherwise evil people.. there were somethings that happened in mutant town that were, all in all, Mutant Town's business and thus by default, X-Investigations business.

::What did you plan to do? Stake outs and ask questions? Not to be brash, but--:: Her tone of voice was the furthest thing from Brash and remained perfectly pleasant in Lux's mind.

::People around here don't really trust SHIELD all that much. If you were wanting to find things out, you're going to need--:: It clicked.

::Oh. That's where we come in, isn't it?::

[Lux]

::I feel that these disappearances are only related in the fact that they are mutants. That's what we've concluded, at least. Here. I mean. Have all the disappearances been from Mutant Town?::

Lux nodded, though she wasn't too sure that the only thing that linked all these poor souls were the fact that they were mutants and were from Mutant Town. In certain situations such as these she liked to put herself in the other person's shoes, as revolting as it was, and tried to think of up motivation for her crime. There was always simple curiosity, but that had stopped after two missing bodies. Now it was something more sinister. Perhaps someone was recruiting their own squad of mutants to use for personal gain? Again, though, there were hundreds of mutants out there with powers that were far more deadly or useful.

::What did you plan to do? Stake outs and ask questions? Not to be brash, but – People around here don't really trust SHIELD all that much. If you were wanting to find things out, you're going to need – Oh. That's where we come in, isn't it?::

“Heh...” Lux was derailed from her morbid form of thinking as Alix continued to speak to her in her mind. “Yeah. Don't wanna, you know...step on anyone's toes. Figured it'd be better to go through official channels, have people see a face they like as opposed to one they don't...”

She cut off her speech as she turned mismatched eyes away from Alix's own. She didn't like to be the bad guy, especially when she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she was the good guy. She worked hard to be where she was, and having mutants, her own people, not trust her was...irritating. She swallowed that irritation, however, and instead took a step back and turned, pacing around the reception area with her hands in her back pockets.

“And...I don't know exactly what my plan of attack would be in regards to how the investigation would go,” Lux admitted this with some apprehension, but felt that Alix wouldn't be the type to tease or hold it against her. “This is kinda new to me, you know. Never thought I'd be in a situation where I'd have to use my head to solve kidnappings, or murder, or anything of the sort. More like...tactical stuff. Like, how to bust into a room and take out four unsubs without losing any hostages. Stuff like this is...well, harder for me.”

She stopped walking as she got to the windows that were looking outside to Mutant Town. The place wasn't anything like she expected, but at the same time she really didn't know what to expect. But Lux wasn't one to turn down a chance to learn any skills that would help her help others, and if she needed to swallow her pride to let the people she would be working with know that in the end she was essentially a beginner, she would do just that.

“Figured I'd learn from you guys, you know. Methodology, technique, how to talk to people. The ropes, right?” Lux scuffed a boot into the floor. “I got the basics, don't get me wrong. Just need to be...tempered. Does that make sense?”

[Alix]

::I'm not goign to lie and tell you that we all know what we're doing.:: Alix shifted her weight quietly, and moved around the desk to lean against it's edge.

::We've only got two real trained private detectives on the team-- Galford, a part timer. And the leader of this whole thing.. Jamie Madrox.:: There was a pause of fondness at the mention of Jamie. Her eyes shifted back towards the office with the frosted glass door quietly and then back onto Lux.

::But he's out. Luckily, most of us have been involved in Xfactor for years. It wasn't detective work, but everyone's got a brain for finding things out and for solving crimes. And most importantly, we've got a reputation in this town. Sure, it was tarnished a bit after the last go... but we still maintain good relations with the neighborhood and still unoffically police it. You know. As citizens.:: Her gaze shifted outwards to the bay windows that looked onto a street that had once been far more full of activity than it was now. Streets that had been, when she was a teenager all those years ago, the first sembilance of home that she'd really felt completely comfortable in. Now? Sure, there were people out there. But it was far from the heyday she'd known.

::Don't get them wrong--:: she continued to stare outwards.

::You can't blame them for how they feel. SHIELD did put us-- the mutants of mutant town-- under lockdown. They arrested our hero, Havok. The purifiers happened and from the standpoint of the regular citizen.. nothing was done to protect us. Instead--:: She glanced back at Lux before looking back outside.

::SHIELD rolled in with Tanks. Xfactor's Scarlet Witch-- who's now missing-- had to react the only way we could. She protected us. Not SHIELD.:: That fact had to be known. If it hadn't been for Wanda, then who knows what would've happened.

::The people that are still here blame SHIELD for the diminishing quality of life here in Mutant Town. They put us under martial law, disbanded the local hero squad. Cameron Hodge himself pulled all sorts of crap against us.:: She shifted, turning back to look towards Lux quietly.

::There's even some in this faction still that don't particularly take kindly to SHIELD. I understand the singularity of a person. I know other SHIELD agents but you have to understand.. from a faction standpoint? There's just not alot of respect for SHIELD here in Mutant Town. And, honestly, I don't blame them. It's taking all of our effort here in Investigations and in X-corp to stay on top of things.:: She smiled apologetically towards Lux.

::I don't mean to rant-:: Of course, Alix's tone had been the furthest thing from a rant. Instead, it'd bordered on a teacher, explaining the motives behind any countless fearful students. A psychologist explaining how people's minds worked. Either way-- there was nothing condescending about her tone.

::And don't get me wrong. I don't blame you or anyone else for what happened. It's just the way it is, and you have got to understand that. We'll help you, but it's got to be on our terms.:: she held out a hand and looked softly towards the other woman. For as small and fragile as she might've looked, Alix clearly was not particularly everything that was assumed to be.

Definitely not just a secretary, either.