The X-Project

Who: Amanda, Bishop, and Emma
What: Bishop's Arrival and Interview
When: Friday March 14th, 2008
Where: Snow Valley Research

The thing that struck her most about the man waiting in the Snow Valley office's reception area was that he was big. Really big. Amanda was used to people being taller than her, but this was ridiculous. Plus he had that whole cop aura about him. Oh, this was going to be interesting.

"Hi," she said, trying to straighten as much as she could and look at least marginally less short. "You must be the new bloke. Ms. Frost said you'd be turning up today and asked me to show you around. I'm Amanda."

Bishop stopped to the side of the door once he stepped in, giving the place a look over. When Amanda spoke he actually smiled, despite being fairly large and intimidating, also despite the aura of scrutiny. "I'm Bishop." He offered his hand or, more to her, his huge bear paw. "It's good to meet you." As soon as he had said that he was back to looking around, even doing so directly over her head for a moment.

Once satisfied Bishop looked back down to Amanda. "So, what's involved with this tour?" He tried to resist the cop's personality but it was too fresh in him yet. He inevitably stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets to keep from fiddling with things or using them to heard this young woman around.

"Oh, the basics. You get the layout of the place, I introduce you to folks, that sort of thing." Amanda grinned despite herself. "You might even get a coffee, if you're lucky."

Bishop laughed a bit at her joke. "How did you get so much power?" And there it was, he could even joke, who'd have thought? "Who do I get to meet, everyone or just the people that aren't super secret?" From his expression that wasn't a joke. He was taking stock of everything he could around here.

"Well, everyone who's here right now. People tend to wander in and out a bit, depending on what's going on." Amanda recognized the way he was looking around, taking everything in - Pete did something similar. "Pete and Remy are the only ones not on the official books - the rest of us have job titles and all. I'm Wanda's assistant - we're pretty much the Weird Shite Department." She gave him an appraising look that clearly dared him to ask exactly what "weird shite" entailed.


Bishop just nodded in response "I see. Am I going to be official, do you know?" He followed a bit behind her as they walked but not so badly she'd have to turn around. He tapped his fingers on something in his pocket a bit, thinking to himself about something else even as he asked questions. He knew he'd have a lot of questions.


"That one's a bit over my head," She admitted. "The sort of thing's down to Ms. Frost and the rest of the Trench Coats - I s'pose it depends on what sort of skills you have." She gestured back the way they'd come. "Reception usually has Mark on the desk, but it's his day off today - he's probably still sleeping off last night's DJ-ing session. This is the main office - it's where most of us younger lot set up, tho' you'll find Doug in the server room mostly."

The main office was fairly unremarkable, a set up of desks and the half-height cubicles so people could still see and talk to each other. "The official set up is a think tank, doing research for people into mutant issues. Most of the actual work for that's done by Emma's people, but we do enough to keep up appearances and earn our keep. The bulk of it is the other stuff, the super-secret bits, as you call them."

Nodding was Bishop's preferred method of response as he took in the scene and all the information. "What was it you did again? A specialty in the weird?" He was curious about that. He figured it would be in his best interest to be familiar with what everyone did and their specialties, in case he ran across something he'd need more information about. "The Trench Coats, hmm..." He said lowly to himself as he looked back to her. He figured her response would be complex.

"One part fashion trend, one part philosophy. You'll see when you meet Remy and Pete." Amanda led Bishop through the office to the hallway where the smaller private offices were. "I help Wanda out with the stuff that's outside the usual boxes - the occult, demons, possessions, cults, that sort of thing. Basically what happens when you get an anthropologist, a witch and a former Queen of Hell together in a room with a lot of old books and the tabloids." She grinned at him again, but there was an element of watching for his reaction underneath.

Again with his nodding. Bishop actually didn't seem phased so much. He had spent a lot of time working on his poker face. Deeper then that he didn't find any of it unbelievable. 'Which one are you?" He looked back down to her and actually returned her smile before resuming to peek inside the office windows as they passed them. He wasn't intensely religious but he was familiar with Catholicism and the bible. In those things the occult was integral. He didn't understand why Christians would deny the existence of them.

"The witch." Amanda snapped her fingers and summoned her werelight, the small ball flickering with the neon shades of Times Square. Another click and the light vanished. "'M an energy converter - my mutation lets me draw power from cities, and use it for magic. Which means everything I do has a sort of urban feel to it." She glanced at him. "I've shown you mine... what do you do?"

Bishop laughed a little at how she phrased her response. "I figured. That must be why someone knows you consider yourself the desperate case. Or is it the lost cause?" He pulled his hand from his pocket to motion to the medallion of St. Jude. He still smirked a bit about her having an 'urban feel.' Now he was very curious where she was from.

"Depends on what day you ask, but for the most part." Her hand moved to the medallion, and she blushed a little. "You don't miss much, do you?"

"It's been known to happen..." He paused for a moment, watching as she touched it fondly and blushed. "I absorb energy myself. Nothing quite as useful as I imagine your specialties to be." He knew he couldn't just throw a string of questions at her all day. Eventually that closed people off. He offered up something of himself, she'd find it out regardless if she hadn't already.

That did catch her interest. "Another one of the walking battery club?" she asked, intrigued. "Mark's got a similar thing going - he converts sound into different energies, only it has to be music, not just regular sound. He's pretty handy with it, tho'. What's your angle?"

"Well, I don't convert well, most just store it. I can use it to amp up on or I can release it in a more concentrated way. Nothing really spectacular, I suppose." He looked down to her, surprised she was actually so curious about it, though he didn't really show it. Though maybe she was because they had it in common. "You do the code / mutant name, Amanda? Or just go by your given name?" He knew she introduced herself by her given but maybe she just found it awkward to do otherwise or it was such an ingrained habit.

She snorted laughter at that. "Oh, that's a barrel of worms, make no mistake. Pete's not one for the whole code name thing, but we do have to use them out on a job sometimes, since we're not technically supposed to exist. Remy comes up with the ones we use - fancies himself a bit of a comedian." Her nose wrinkled. "I get Daytripper, most of the time. Bad Beatles joke."

Bishop smirked a little at the snorting laugh. Who'd have seen that one coming. "Then I'll stick to Amanda for you." He kept an eye out still, having weaved through most of the office with her. So far the whole thing was fairly regular. He was still expecting something to happen that was supposed to dazzle or startle the new guy. Most groups worked like that, they had to initiate people in some way for some reason or another.

"I'd appreciate it." They'd reached the end of the offices, and she paused. "Server room and storage areas're down there," she said, waving a hand further down the hall. "I'll introduce you to Doug later. But right now..." And here she checked her watch. "You've got a meeting with Ms. Frost and the Trench Coats. Deciding your fate and all the rest of it." She grinned. "You want that coffee before you go in?"

"That would be nice. Thank you Amanda." Bishop followed her lead, getting his coffee just before heading into the meeting. Emma was in there and she brought him in to begin with so he felt fairly confident. At very least he knew he'd be useful with his contacts and regardless he could pick up work. This was just his first pick. It would be nice to work with other mutants for a change.

"Mr Bishop," Emma's voice was a throaty purr, and her blue eyes fixed with warm intensity on Lucas Bishop. Emma had long since perfected the trick of making anyone she spoke to think that they were the centre of her universe. "It is, as always, an absolute pleasure to see you. Do take a seat."

The large former police officer sat across for her and smiled a bit "It's good to see you too, Emma. I suppose we have to do this whole interview thing again, don't we?" She had already interviewed him for a security job at her corporation before. He didn't really like the idea of being standard security but it was run by a mutant and, for him, that was a bonus. Being invited to apply for a group like the group at Snow Valley was an entirely different bonus, however. He was hopeful, considering he felt he had the experience and skill to do well here. It was time to see what Emma thought about it.

Emma's smile widened as Bishop's hopeful but cautious excitement whispered through her mind, his rather forceful and direct thoughts softened by her telepathic screens. She had kept a close eye on Bishop since their first interview, appreciating the mix of candid and straightforward thoughts that contrasted with the discretion and guarded approach of his words. His rather intriguing mutation and police background had made him not only an ideal addition to her security detail but had made her consider that there may be a place for him in the Centre. His time working in Frost Enterprises had confirmed his skills and intelligent, discreet approach to security issues and the present financial requirements in Snow Valley had made it an ideal time to offer him a position more suited to his talents. "Indeed," she replied. "So what do you think of our little Centre?"

"I was given a little tour and I like it. There's about all the resources I could imagine needing." Bishop nodded a bit as he spoke, still half thinking about his walk around. There was still more to see and he planned on looking over everything before he left for the day, assuming he was accepted. He let the interview take it's course, Emma was running this, after all. Being who she was, she'd of course know he was deferring to her lead as well. It was nice to simply relax and let things take their course. Bishop never had been one for letting himself get worried about the little things and with all he'd done there weren't many things that he considered big things anymore.

"Good," Emma leaned back in her chair, considering the man in front of her carefully. "I'm doing some re-structuring of our Centre - increasing the research output, looking at making our reports a little - sharper. We've concentrated a lot on legal, political and health issues, but I'd like to do some more work on how mutants are fitting into society. With your contacts and experience, I think we'd be able to produce some excellent work on police/mutant relationships. How do you feel about the prospect of doing that kind of work? Particularly if we're talking about some of the - less savoury aspects of policing?" Emma smiled slightly, mostly at herself. "One's old loyalties can be - inhibiting to the work we do here."

Bishop nodded as she spoke, showing he understood. "That's about what I expected to be doing and it's not a problem. Our relationship with police is very different then the average person's and it's important to look in to. And I will, as always, be honest. So, if there are some officers doing bad things, I don't feel guilty about letting whoever needs to know in on it. I don't feel any loyalties to corrupt police officers... ever." It wasn't often that he let that little hatred out of the bag but it was Emma. She'd have gotten it one way or the other, the more open he was with her the less digging she'd need to do in his mind.

"So you wouldn't feel bad about," Emma paused, thinking of a way to word it, "taking more direct action against corrupt policemen? Against, perhaps - corruption in general? Threats to mankind - that kind of thing?"

Emma actually got a little laugh out of Bishop. "I can't imagine anyone that would actually want to support corruption. Or, at least, not anyone I want to hang around with. To answer you, though, no. I wouldn't have a problem with being direct about it." He gave her a little smile as well. Apparently she was going to be one of his new colleagues so he might as well start being more friendly.

Emma was silent for a moment, contemplating Bishop while her telepathy changed shape from a screen to something outwardly focused, something poised. "The world is a dangerous place, Bishop," she said softly. "As you are well aware. It's full of dangerous people, some of whom have enough money, enough power, enough skill to do very bad things to a great many people. Mutants, quite commonly. Children," her voice dropped even lower on that word. "The innocent. People try and help those who are hurt in so many ways. Writing reports. Going into politics. Doing rescue work, therapy, education. My little Centre believes that sometimes the best way to beat the dangerous people is to be more dangerous."

Her power focused more tightly over Bishop's mind, an invisible scalpel. "We run black ops through our Centre, Bishop. We spy, we infiltrate, we fight, sometimes we even kill, though only as a last resort and only where the other choice is the death of many hundreds of others and we only do the work when no-one else can succeed. I think your powers, your skills and your networks could be a valuable addition to our team, but you need to know exactly what you're getting yourself into. You need to understand that I'm asking you to take on dirty, dangerous work and to do it beneath the noses of the authorities. You will be outside the law and there is a more than reasonable chance that you could die doing the work we do. You might have to work with people you despise because they're our only link to someone further up the chain - someone bigger and nastier and more dangerous. The only thanks you'll ever get is the warm inner glow of a job well done and, if we screw it up, an arrest warrant. Or a death sentence. And the knowledge that you are making the world a better place. A safer place. With that in mind - are you still willing to join us?"

Bishop gave her his attention as she spoke, nodding a bit politely. "That sounds mostly like the line the police gave me, except for the illegal part. I think it's more likely to be true here, so it's all right by me." He was particularly honest and oddly calm about the prospect of this job. He really didn't mind doing all of this, and illegally, because he had the skill and ability to do so. It was just as much his responsibility as choice, like he had once felt law enforcement was. This time he felt that this work would be what was advertised. He would be less intensely supervised too, the freedom would be nice.

Emma relaxed as she felt Bishop's sincerity. She withdrew her telepathic scalpel - there would be no need to cut this meeting out of Bishop's memory. "Very good," she smiled. "Snow Valley has been looking for a man of your talents. Now, perhaps we should discuss your salary."