Sale? It's a Steal. (open)

[Remy LeBeau]

Remy had found himself in the mall. It was one of his favorite places to go, especially when he was in the mood for making straight out money rather than for practicing some thievery skills. Here he could make six to ten grabs an hour before anyone got suspicious. It was certainly a sweet thing. Anyone who considered him unemployed must have never seen him put in a day's work like this.

He headed passed a few stores... Borders, Starbucks, Aeropostale. Seemed like too many teenagers were out today. That made things a bit harder. Teenagers were terrible targets after all, they were more effort than what they usually had on them.

He headed over near Sears and caught up with a middle-aged couple, acting hurried and nearly bowling the man over. "'Scuse me, mon ami," he said, devilish red eyes freaking the man out a bit too much for him to get uppitty.

Next was near Pottery Barn. He targeted a woman complaining and havign a shit fit over something she was trying to return. If the sales associates knew what he had done when he took the woman by the arm and talked her down a bit, they'd probably have thanked him even more. He left her a bit confused with his hypnosis, and not wanting to return her item afetr all. He also managed to get some expensive looking perfume out of her purse.

With that, he headed nonchalantly to the food court to hopefully grab a bite to eat before continuing.

[Emma Frost]

Emma walked into the food court, dressed in her favorite color, which was white. She had white high heels, and a white short dress which showed her legs. She had a 14k silver heart pendant, and matching silver heart earrings. She also had silver bracelets on her wrists, including one silver ring on her finger. It was pretty obvious that Emma loved to look good, and wear expensive silver.

She looked around the food court, looking for a good place to buy a refreshing beverage, and maybe something extra. She needed a break from all the browsing and shopping, she was already in the mall for two hours or so and she didn't buy anything yet. Her blue eyes ran over the whole food court, and she finally found a perfect place where she could buy something good. After, her eyes ran over the line up, quickly counting how many people there were in the line up. Fifteen. Fifteen was the count of people in the line. Guess what? Emma wasn't going to wait that long to get a coffee!

Her heels were making a small clapping sound as she walked over to Tim Hortons. Her long, straight, ash blond hair swung while walking. Once she arrived at the line up, she made her way to the front of the line, ignoring the complaining customers. She tapped the first person in the line, and the person turned around.

"Hey darling, mind if you let me in front of you?" she asked in a seductive voice, and placing her finger on her lip to look cute. "I'm in a big hurry, and I really don't want to be late, my manager will be disappointed" she lied, and gave a fake sigh. The man let Emma in front of her, with no delay. She smirked to herself, making sure the the man didn't see.

[Alphonse Giordano]

Alphonse had never thought that he would be a bodyguard..ever at any point in his life. But, along with the knowledge, profits, and excess gained from becoming the White Knight, he also gained the responsibility for guarding both his dear friend Rand...and the ever-so-beautiful Emma Frost. Sure, she was the extreme-upper class frighteningly-powerful telepathic mildly terrifyingly manipulative kind...but he didn't mind. Her exquisite looks, stunning body, and...revealing choice of clothing made it all worth it.

So, Alphonse learned a thing or two about guarding marks over the years, and learned that a mall is the WORST possible place to guard someone. Far too many people, large crowds, and plenty of pickpockets. But, it takes a theif, to catch a theif. Three years in NYC stealing from the masses to provide for himself. That, and being able to phase through things makes stealing much, much easier.

As for now, Alphonse had been trailing behind Emma at a distance, occasionally ducking into a shop, or glancing at a magazine. Instead of his typical 18th century garb, he was wearing a black trenchcoat, a pair of leather gloves, his typical red contacts, black boots, and a simple pair of jeans and black shirt beneath the coat. As Emma entered the food court and was almost denied her coffee, Alphonse sighed and did what he always did when there was something SHE wanted, that only HE could get.

The black-clad man slid into the nearest men's restroom, before falling through the floor. He almost 'swam' through the ground, occasionally poking his lips above the ground for air. He disappeared beneath the ground again, and slid his arm through the counters, and stole a pre-made moccha late, just the way his White Queen liked it, before falling through the ground again. Perfectly timed and executed, and no one was the wiser. A few minutes later, Alphonse rose into a bathroom stall, and entered the food court, and snuck up next to Emma, and quietly held out the coffee.

"Marble moccha machiato, two sugars, stirred three times, allowed to cool two minutes and thirty seconds, mixed in one cream of high-quality with half a teaspoon of two-percent milk...ma'am." He placed it on the counter next to her, before he stepped backwards, next to the man behind Emma, gesturing him to take his place in line behind his superior/equal/mark.

[Alex Summers]

The sound of a woman's high heels on marble resonated through the young man's mind as he took another bite of his lunch. Alex was sitting in the food court as he finished up his plate of stir fried vegis and bourbon chicken. He lifted his iced green tea to his lips and couldn't help but notice the total hottie in white in the line in front of him. She said something to some guy just as he had decided throw away what remained of his lunch and pursue the vision of loveliness. He would have been hard pressed to describe a woman more beautiful than the one who had now captured his attentions.

He dumped the tray and finished off his drink as he waited to see if she was 'with' the man she'd just stepped in front of. The blond didn't pay the man anymore attention so Havok smiled, deciding to at least try and get her number. He adjusted his tucked in white button down collared shirt, his fingers grazing the wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. He was ready to move passed the line of disgruntled caffeine addicted patrons of the shop when he stopped dead in his track. There was a man standing beside her where he could have sworn no one stood just a moment ago.

"Get a grip, man," he said to himself, not really in the frame of mind to see someone using their mutant gifts in such a public place. To do so in this environment was careless and fool hearty. It just wasn't done by smart people and the man standing beside the blond certainly did not look dumb. Alex stood there for a moment considering what to do. Approach her or not?

Was she with this guy or alone? She was amazing...would she even give him the time of day?

The man did something surprising then, he was motioning to the guy behind the woman now. It was almost as if he was giving the dude permission to approach the woman. He thought for a moment of his lessons with Xavier as his mind raced through all of the royals he was aware of in the world. He was fairly up on pop culture too, although he had been sad to see the wave of boy bands fall to the wayside a few years ago. He really like the song Chasing Cars though, maybe there would be a turn around of some kind.

Alex's mind then quickly began to run through the ranks of celebrity he's stored within his mind while trying to become the best X-Man he could be in the wake of his brother's death. After Xavier...well...the studying had been a comfort, in a lot of ways it still was. He came to the conclusion that he did not know this woman or her apparent body guard. That in itself was a little strange. As an X-Man he needed to know a whole lot more than most, either that or take a chance on being overcome in battle. Havok tossed the cup into the trash can. The can was empty and the sound of it hitting bottom echoed through the cathedral like space.

[Emma Frost]

"Marble moccha machiato, two sugars, stirred three times, allowed to cool two minutes and thirty seconds, mixed in one cream of high-quality with half a teaspoon of two-percent milk...ma'am."

She heard a voice behind her, it sounded familiar. A poke of telepathy told her that it was the White Knight, a body guard for the White King and Queen. She grabbed the coffee from the counter, the coffee was just how she liked it. She turned around, her blond hair swinging. She smiled, which was her way of saying 'thanks'. She already knew what Alphonse was doing here without her telepathy. Obviously, he was here protecting her from all the danger. Maybe he was also here to stop her from causing trouble; something that she loved to do.

She walked out of the line, ignoring the man that let her in front of him. She stood by Alphonse, and looked at what he was wearing. To her, it looked like the outfits detectives wore in mystery movies. Usually, she hated people that wore trench coats, but Alphonse did look good in one.

"Were you following me the whole time?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Emma loved her telepathic powers, but it always spoiled surprises and answers. Although, it was a great gift when people were hesitating to tell her what she wanted to know, or when someone was lying. Plus, it gave her more control over mutants, especially weak humans.

She looked over Alphonse's shoulder to see a figure. Emma could tell that the male was looking at her. She started debating whether she would go into his mind, but if she did he could make a scene shouying 'mutant attack'. Well, maybe he wasn't a mutant hater and he wouldn't do that. The thing that she didn't know that he was a mutant, apart of Xavier's school. She decided to leave the male alone, she could screw around with someone else's mind.

[Alex Summers]

Alex caught the blond goddess checking him out and it was enough to give him the confidence to do what he was about to. He couldn't know that he was about to jump into what could be considered the proverbial frying pan. Or that the man and woman he was about to approach were both mutants. Had Jean been alive she would have warned him away from the gorgeous young woman. Xavier might have even sent him on some distant errand to keep him away from the White Queen too.

They were both gone though. It was time Havok learned to fight his own battles. He was ripe for the picking, this inexperienced do-gooder. His heart was in the right place but unfortunately his mind was no quite in the shape of his pecs and biceps. He smiled, full in the knowledge that the woman could see what he was about to do.

Summers snatched up a single white rose from one of the simple centerpieces on the food court tables. He grinned boyishly as he shook off the water from the prickly stem. He grabbed a large paper napkin from a passerby's tray, "Thanks." He wrapped the napkin around the stem and walked up to Emma Frost and offered her the single flower, "I saw this lonely little flower and I thought of you, miss. I'm Alex Summers." He stood in front of her and waited to see if his somewhat corny, yet incredibly charming, attempt had the desired effect on the beauty.

[Emma Frost]

Then, out of the blue, he approached her with something that looked like a rose. Even better, the rose was her favorite color, white. She smirked, he was pretty confident to approach her with a rose. He wasn't bad looking, a lot better than the other man that tried to approach her. This showed to her that he wasn't weak, which made her interested.

"I saw this lonely little flower and I thought of you, miss. I'm Alex Summers."

"Aren't you a little too confident?" she seductively said, running her fingers through her hair. But, as soon as she heard his last name, she completely froze. It was his son, even worse, the red head's son. The useless horse that shattered her, which almost killed her. If it weren't for the Phoenix taking control of her, Emma would be stuck in the remaining diamond pieces. After all, she had an affair with his father, Scott Summers. She accepted the rose, and gave a fake smile. If only he knew what she had done, he would try to kill her.

"Err, thank you for the beautiful flower, darling" she hesitated to say, pausing in between words. Her heart quickly jumped, what if he wasn't the son of Jean and Scott? What if he just had the same last name as them?

"If you don't mind me asking, are you related to a Scott Summers?" "she asked confidently. She didn't have to go into his mind, but she figured she might as well be nice. She didn't want to get on bad terms with him. Being on bad terms with Jean was bad enough for her, but she still thought that Jean didn't deserve Scott.

[Alex Summers]

"Too confident? No." Alex answered with a smile. He was confident, he needed to be but he never felt like he was where he should be. His brother Scott had been perfect, Alex could only shoot for something close. He handed her the flower and shrugged, "Like I said. When I saw it it said your name...Who am I to refuse a flower?" God he was laying it on thick, but she was truly perfect. He was in love already, he just didn't want to admit it.


"Err, thank you for the beautiful flower, darling" she hesitated to say, pausing in between words. Her heart quickly jumped, what if he wasn't the son of Jean and Scott? What if he just had the same last name as them?

"If you don't mind me asking, are you related to a Scott Summers?"

A look of pain flashed across Alex's face at the mention of Scott's name, "He's...he was my brother." He tried to lighten his mood but as in all things related to Scott it just wasn't easy. He had lost so much time with his family and it seemed that he would never have the chance to make things right.. It ate at him like nothing else, "I miss him everyday."

Alex didn't know if she was an old friend of his brother's or not, he could only guess. One thing was for sure, he hadn't been prepared to discuss his dead brother right now. He was shaken by the mention of Cyclops though he tried hard to hide it behind another carefree smile, only he wasn't so good at hiding things.

[Alphonse Giordano]

Alphonse simply smiled as Emma took her drink, and asked if he had been following her. Of course he was, and she knew it. One didn't have to be psychic to know that. Then, came little hotshot: Alex. As he and Emma chatted, Alphonse stepped back, and simply observed, choosing to also toy with the kid's mind, by simpy staring at him, unblinking. Now, under normal circumstances, it would be creepy for a guy to stare at you constantly while you chat with a beautiful woman. Creepier would be the man wearing all black, and standing directly behind said lovely woman. To add to the creepiness, would be that the man has pure-red eyes...ala contacts.

However, when Alex began to talk about his brother and his death, he could not help but feel slightly sympathetic. Though his expression didn't lighten, Alphonse vaguely remembered the pain when his parents died...but then again, he was young, and barely remembered them....Alphonse quickly wiped the thoughts from his mind, knowing that Emma would definitely use them someday.

Alphonse remained staring at Alex, but thought, And I suppose, my dear White Queen, that at some point you are going to surface my repressed memories when you are bored and want to torment me? Oh who am I kidding, of course you are. Its fun, I know...now then, I take it that you are going to screw with his mind? After all, Jean AND Scott are dead...matter of fact, she killed him.

[Emma Frost]

"He's...he was my brother."

Those words relieved her, if he was his brother it was better than him being Scott's son. Although, how could his brother not know who Emma was? She guessed that Scott kept the relationship secret, just how she liked it.

"Sad thing that he died, I used to know him more than I was supposed to" Emma said, feeling little sympathy. She got over Scott, it would just make her weaker if she didn't. This was going to be fun, messing around with another Summers boy.

A thought entered Emma's mind randomly, like usual. Her mind was always reading everybody's thoughts, but she learned how to ignore them.

And I suppose, my dear White Queen, that at some point you are going to surface my repressed memories when you are bored and want to torment me? Oh who am I kidding, of course you are. Its fun, I know...now then, I take it that you are going to screw with his mind? After all, Jean AND Scott are dead...matter of fact, she killed him.

White Knight, you know me so well My mind is always working, taking in thoughts of others. I already know how beautiful you think I am, but so does everybody, so I don't need to read thoughts to figure that out. Yes, I didn't even have to tell you I'll screw with his mind. I'm just incapable of love and compassion. Yes, yes, Scott died. He was foolish, he left me and got himself killed. How pathetic...

She projected her thought into Alphonse's mind. Alex was sweet, but he was trying too hard to impress her. She thought it was kind of funny, keeping her entertained and it was keeping her from playing with his mind. "Alphonse, are you too shy to speak?" she smirked, trying to tease him.

[Alphonse Giordano]

You clever, clever shew. Well, no sense in not taking part of this...you do know how to torture a man Emma, and how I envy you....Yes, amazing, I can actually go over two hours without thinking about you in any sort of inappropriate way. I know it must be troublesome to have those thoughts pouring in from every male you meet.

Alphonse kept up his stern face, but half-smiled, and lightly leaned his neck to the sides, allowing very audible cracks to be heard, he repeated with his knuckles before saying cooly to Alex moreso than Emma, "Of course not, Emma, honey. I'm just standing by and waiting pateintly for you to finish your little chat with this...Alex Summers. Go on, darling, don't mind me."

If there was one thing that could really twist a guy's mind and destroy their spirit, it was seeing a beautiful woman you are hitting on ending up with a boyfriend...or worse. He was going to enjoy this.

[Emma Frost]

You clever, clever shew. Well, no sense in not taking part of this...you do know how to torture a man Emma, and how I envy you....Yes, amazing, I can actually go over two hours without thinking about you in any sort of inappropriate way. I know it must be troublesome to have those thoughts pouring in from every male you meet.

Yes, envy, I love being envied. That's something else to torture people with, it's fascinating. Oh, you just think about me in inappropriate ways? So you never peeked in through my bedroom door? I left it open so you could peek into it. I wanted to show you something you can't get. Hehe, how I love doing this. Yes, it gets so annoying that males think these troublesome thoughts. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. I'll just increase their thoughts of me, until they can't hold them in. It's fun, you should try.

"It looks like you're started to speak exactly like me, dear. Maybe you have been thinking those naughty thoughts about me too much" she gave a small laugh. How she loved to embarrass other people. It entertained her, made her feel more powerful. Of course, she's hurting her chances of still being Alphonse's friend. Sometimes she regrets what she says, and she regretting it now.

She remembered that she still had the coffee in her hand, not opened yet. She was pretty sure that it was cold by now, and groaned. She opened it, and took a sip of it. She didn't want to go back in line, so she had to make a sacrifice and drink the cold coffee.

[Alphonse Giordano]

....You may not have realized, but there's a slight waver in your laughter when you regret something. Inside, I'm grinning. I really am. But you know that no matter what you say, I'll always respect your friendship Emma, if not out of honesty, out of fear. I know your potential, and your power. Personally I find that kinky, but that's the end of that...now then, to throw my little spin on torturing him, if I may...bear with me please.

Alphonse mocked looking shocked and insulted. He still always spoke with the slight Itlaian accent, and breifly wondered how Alex would take this. "Naughty thoughts? Moi? Never! Hey...wait a second...Scott Summers....where have I heard that name before.....hey, wasn't he one of those mutants? The one that could blow things apart with his eyes? If you're his brother, doesn't that make you one of them too!?"

Alphonse toned his voice just so that a few people around could hear him. He put a scrutinizing look on his face, and glared slightly at Alex, as people began to mutter and do the same. Some people looked in shock, others in fear, and some in anger...all at Alex.

[Emma Frost]

....You may not have realized, but there's a slight waver in your laughter when you regret something. Inside, I'm grinning. I really am. But you know that no matter what you say, I'll always respect your friendship Emma, if not out of honesty, out of fear. I know your potential, and your power. Personally I find that kinky, but that's the end of that...now then, to throw my little spin on torturing him, if I may...bear with me please.

Never mind, I take that regret back. If you're grinning, that just makes me sadder. You really now what I like, and you know my body language. Or more like you know all my laughs. You know, it's not a healthy habit to be obsessive. I've once had someone obsessive about me as a friend, he wound up dead on the sidewalk. I swear...I didn't do anything. Anyways, I'll stop talking about you knowing my laugh. It's a really pointless subject, wouldn't you agree? Heh, I torture people better, mostly males though. I really should teach you...lesson one, wear revealing clothing. I'll lend you some of mine.

She released a laugh, giving him a mental picture of himself in her clothes. She took another sip of her coffee, and smiled; more like a smirk. She looked around at all the people, going into their heads to find their reactions. She took control of a nearby grandpa, and steered him towards Alphonse.

He's at your disposal, consider this a gift. Just tell me what to do with him, and I will. When your done, just say so. I'd like to screw around with him too.

"Naughty, naugthy boy" she muttered to Alphonse, as she watched him terrorize Alex with enjoyment. She wasn't going to join in, she wanted to save all her powers to screw around with the old grandpa. Plus, she wanted to tease the grandpa with her body. It would be kind of like 'Look, but don't touch'. After, her plans were to erase his whole mind, and than control him for a little while. Emma was pure evil, maybe even more than that. She had no regret to what she did to humans, but she wasn't like the Brotherhood. She didn't torture several humans daily for fun.

[Alex Summers]

"Sad thing that he died, I used to know him more than I was supposed to" Emma said.

Alex opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself. The man she'd been talking to was staring at him, the red eyes were more than a little bizarre too. His eyes went back to the blond but he couldn't completely ignore the companion. It was throwing Alex off his game and if he was honest something about the guy creeped him out. He was an inch away from saying something.

"Of course not, Emma, honey. I'm just standing by and waiting patiently for you to finish your little chat with this...Alex Summers. Go on, darling, don't mind me."

"Dude...you're making that kind of difficult. Mind giving us some space?" Alex said as he began to get a little hot under the collar. This guy in black was...was probably her boyfriend...shit, "Are you..look I'm sorry if I...my bad...I didn't mean to step on any toes." He offered them both a smile and looked at the flower awkwardly, "You can keep the rose, it suits you, miss."

He shrugged and glanced from the strangers, first the woman and then her boyfriend with his red eyes and his naughty thoughts. Hell, Alex admitted he'd be having dirty thoughts about this one if she was his too, "I guess this is where I just...leave." He grinned then, she was beautiful. They would probably enjoy a good laugh after he was gone.

"Naughty thoughts? Moi? Never! Hey...wait a second...Scott Summers....where have I heard that name before.....hey, wasn't he one of those mutants? The one that could blow things apart with his eyes? If you're his brother, doesn't that make you one of them too!?"


Alex could hear the rumble of low voices behind him and he paled slightly, but not from fear. From anger. He snapped back at the man, "Red eyes? What does that make you?"