xp_logs | Trask and a new 'friend', Tuesday, Paris.

Trask arranges a meeting and makes an offer. The game changes.

The blonde woman sat alone at the small outside table, apparently oblivious of those seated around her. It was a bright, warm day, ideal weather for late spring in Paris, but her eyes were unfocused, as if she found more of interest in her internal world than in the ebb and flow of the city around her.

The abstracted look vanished immediately as she spotted the man moving towards her table. She raised an eyebrow, watching in silence until he had seated himself, although she raised a hand to wave off the waitress who moved towards them. "I must confess," she said. "I wasn't certain that you'd come."

"Your attempts to find me have been anything but subtle, Trask." The steel-eyed man in the grey suit took the seat across from hers and signaled the waiter with an imperious gesture. "You have been seeking my attention and, thanks to the weight of recent events, you have it. Whether or not this is to your advantage will depend on what you have to say. I value my security. I would not care to have it compromised due to your afore-mentioned lack of subtlety."

Trask just smiled one of those professional smiles that wouldn't have looked out of place coming from the history professor she had been, faced with an academic colleague she disliked. Her tone was almost demure as she spoke, however. "'Recent events' have left me in a difficult position," she said. "I find myself without the ability to... project power, one may say. Perhaps I overreached, I will concede that. While I was considering my options, however, I found myself reflecting on two facts. First," she said, lifting her coffee cup and taking a delicate sip before she continued, "I'm not without resources, some of which could be... offered in trade. Second, you and I share a problem these days."

Her companion's eyes narrowed slightly. "A problem that I plan on dealing with in good time. Still, I am listening. What, precisely, are you offering?"

"In good time," Trask repeated, not quite mockingly. "If you'll forgive me for being so blunt, that sounds rather like a euphemism to me." She set her cup back down, folding her hands on the table in front of her and smiling at him, almost pityingly. "You don't know how to do it, do you?" she asked. "Our mutual problem avoided capture or execution at the hands of a program with a much wider reach than yours, for nearly a decade."

"Dayspring is persistent, Trask, and not infallible." His expression gave away nothing. When the waiter actually arrived however, he was dismissed wordlessly. "He has more points of weakness than he did previously. He is vulnerable." He did not mention that finding ways to access those points of weakness had been fruitless thusfar.

"Wonderful plan," Trask said, not quite extravagantly. "What are you contemplating, striking at his family? That would be an unimaginably effective way to bring a large number of very angry mutants down on your head like the wrath of God." She raised an eyebrow. "Or are you under the impression that your children could stand up to them? If so, I'd point out recent events."

"As I would point out that the unmitigated disaster that you suffered in Budapest and your defeat in Wakanda makes the idea that you are coming to me with anything useful seem an unlikely proposition at best. If anything, it was your now-captive lapdog that has kept you free this long." was the seemingly bored counter. "I have little patience for this dancing, Trask. What are you offering?"

"Something unique," she said, her tone almost playful. But there was a glint that would have been alarming, had the man sitting across from her been made of less stern stuff. "I've had some time to think, as I said. And my conclusion is that I've been deluding myself that he could be converted to my way of thinking. Best to see him removed, as soon and as quietly as possibly. Preferably without having to do it myself, as that might complicate things with my people." She didn't offer an explanation as to why. "As for what I'm offering... I can find his mind, when he's not under Xavier's roof. It's a well-trod path, for lack of a better image. He's become much better at keeping me out, but I don't need to slip all the way into his subconscious to tell you where he is and who's with him."

Now she had his interest. "Interesting. Is this a passive ability, or does it require that you be actively looking for the man?"

"Actively looking. I never developed the sort of connection that would have allowed me to do it unconsciously." For a moment, she looked almost wistful, before her lips tightened. "But it is infallible, once he is at a sufficient distance from Xavier. And he does make a habit of traveling to exotic locales in the course of his work."

"So it is still entirely possible for him to slip through your fingers." Still, it was more than he'd had an hour ago. "Congratulations, Trask. I believe we may have mutual goals to discuss after all. You may call me Alpha."