Jean, Warren, and North: Precautions

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Before meeting Xavier, Jean brings David North to Warren's apartment to sweep for bugs. Like her alternate counterpart, Jean doesn't quite get along with North at first.



Warren was antsy.

Since speaking with his father, and confirming everything Jean had to say, he'd felt like he was walking on eggshells at the office. Thankfully, his father had travelled to their California branch for the week, which allowed Warren the freedom he needed to finally meet this Charles that Jean kept talking about.

He texted her to meet him at his loft, where he had no staff and the doorman's discretion could be paid off if necessary. Waiting wasn't something he did well, so he sat at his table, papers strewn as he finalized some numbers and contracts.

When the door buzzed, he let them in yet he made no move to get up. Work kept his mind busy.

Charles thought it would be best that Jean be paired with one of the people from X-Force for this particular visit given their apparent familiarity with spy tech. They wanted to make sure Warren checked out and his apartment wasn't bugged. Jean had a feeling about him. She wouldn't have suggested he come meet Charles at the mansion if she hadn't. It was her first time working with (and meeting, for that matter) David North. He seemed the quiet, introspective sort.

Jean glanced to North as the front door to the building clicked open. "This...may get heated," she said apologetically. At least he'd been apprised of the situation.

But the man merely shrugged and maintained his silence, expression neutral as he politely gestured for her to take the lead into the building.

Heated could have meant a lot of things, but given the nature of the situation they were walking into, David figured that the chance of immediate danger was acceptably low. So he slipped out his phone and shot an encrypted text message to Doug about his thoughts on being delegated to babysitting duties.

Making her way up to the loft with North following, Jean realized she hadn't actually been in his loft. If he hadn't told her the apartment number she might not have known which one it was. And now, as it stood, she was also now standing in front of his door. Drawing in a breath, it took her a few moments before she finally knocked.

The phone had rung between the buzzer and the knock on the door so he was occupied when he answered his door. Jean wasn't a surprise but the older man she was with was.

Leaving the door open, he turned his back on them and walked back to his table, leaning one hand on the surface while he finished his conversation.

"Right, I hear you, Thomas, but we aren't changing the game plan now. We have nothing to gain by deviating. Stay firm and call me after the next round of negotiations. My 3 o'clock is here now though so I'll wait for your call. Okay. Bye."

Hanging up, he looked at them both with an annoyed look. "What is this? I don't remember agreeing to this."

Jean folded her arms. "This is one of my associates. He works with me and the person I told you about," she said. If 'works with' also meant 'just met before the ride over in the car.'

Pulling out her phone, she typed in 'we're checking the apartment for electronic bugs' on the screen. Better safe than sorry.

His phone buzzed and he looked at her quizzically. When he read her text, he gave out a short laugh. "Is this for real?". Both of his guests had similar looks of sincerity on their faces. Warren waved a hand in the air. "Fine. Do what you have to do. I'm not the one going behind people's backs though, so I'm really not sure what this is about."

Jean's face pained and she glanced away. "Look, we're just trying to take precautions." After their discussion and his talk with his father she didn't know if that put him on anyone's radar. It was likely completely unnecessary, but she'd rather be careful and find out she was wrong than be right and get attacked.

A sort of unusual tension in the air made David arch a brow as he re-assessed the situation and came to a scarily accurate conclusion. If he were honest -- and he really was not -- it would never not be weird seeing Jean Grey with another man that was not Summers. But it was not his place to comment, then or here, so the spy merely spun around on his heel to begin the sweep.

Warren watched, fascinated by the hired muscle's work. It seemed to be much more involved than he'd imagined, although if he was honest, he'd never had much thoughts regarding espionage before.

He tapped his foot impatiently on the floor, arms crossed tightly in front of him. "So? Can we talk? Or are we relegated to text messages?"

Cold blue eyes assessed him from where North was crouched under his couch, one arm lifting it onto two legs as he ran two fingers along the inseam. The Doug-developed app on his phone had not gone off thus far so David nodded shortly at Jean, dropping the couch with a graceless thud before he prowled over to the cabinet to carefully slip an arm behind it even as he one-handedly texted on his cellphone with a sort of deliberate concentration to his face.

No need for them to know that Wade was now starting a betting pool on David’s current mission.

Quirking a brow at North being the anti-social butterfly and doing something with his phone, Jean rubbed her forehead and tried to focus on the situation at hand.

"Yes. We can talk now," she said. She was trying not to be exasperated, but was clearly failing by the way her eye had started to twitch. Warren was reacting the way she expected him to but it didn't help that North was about as talkative as brick wall.

"Can we just...make it through a couple more days? You can meet with the Professor and then we can try to figure out a game plan, okay?"

Warren was equally frustrated, but it had nothing to do with North. "Honestly, I'm not sure how I'll last the next hour." He paced a little back and forth of the couch. "And, since no objects worth noting were found, I think I deserve an apology." He shot Jean a glare. "I have done nothing to earn your distrust. You are the one who essentially indulged in corporate espionage. I said I would talk to my father, and that I would hide our connection. Both items I honoured and I even called you immediately, instead of waiting for a week." The accompanying smile was so tense, it barely reached his cheeks.

If this hurt before, it really hurt now. Jean really hated her job sometimes. She went from rubbing her forehead to full on facepalming. It made it worse when she saw North move to check Warren's phone and give him unimpressed side-eye.

"Look...It's not you I distrust. It's your father and the other people in your company," Jean said, rising from her chair.

" I know he's your father and I know you love him but he and the people you work with even have an inkling that we're involved then someone could get killed. He kept this from you. He created illegal contracts with some very not nice people. I would rather have you angry with me and innocent people be alive than---Am I boring you?" she said, eying North, who kept fiddling with his phone even after the sweep was over.

The spy looked up from his phone, but his fingers never stilled, flying across the touch screen as he arched a brow at her.

"I am not sure if this is a conversation you would like me to participate in, ma'am," he said finally, employing his European brand of bland politeness. “I was only instructed to perform a sweep while you arranged for a conference. I am doing my job.”

He flashed his phone at her, green digits rolling rapidly over a black background as it continued to run the debugging app that Doug had installed in it. His briefing had not included any orders to discuss Warren’s manpain and hurt feelings over Jean’s ability to put her job above her feelings. Manpain was Wade's word. The German found that he quite liked it. But he could only guess that some of his stray thoughts had reached the telepath when her face darkened.

The pounding in his head threatened to take over. Adopting the exact move Jean had been doing, he rubbed his face furiously. "Who are you to speak that way to me or to her? Regardless of your 'job', there are real emotions that need to be dealt with and your baseless behaviour is unacceptable.". He turned next to Jean. "If your professor is similar to this man, I retract my offer to come with you. This was not an easy decision to make. My relationship with my father is at stake here, let alone the countless employees for whom I provide work to."

David shrugged. "I was not going to participate in the conversation," he reminded the frustrated man. "I am not here for my ability to converse diplomatically or with any kind of tact. Unlike the Professor and Dr. Grey, my skill set leans more towards securing physical safety than conducting therapy sessions. You should continue to disregard my presence, Mr. Worthington." As Warren had done beautifully before attention was drawn to him. "The doctor is in a far better position to address your concerns."

It was difficult to remember that Jean did not actually know that he could have them both killed in under three seconds, but even that did not stop him from being highly unimpressed with either of them at the moment. New job, he texted, relationship therapist. Worth looking into? That one went to Doug.

"I hardly think any of us wants to be in this conversation, Mr. North," Jean said patiently. She'd probably rather have a root canal. She didn't like the way he seemed to be amused by it, judging by the emotional bleed he was giving off, but she decided to drop it, especially in front of Warren. He was already very upset and this wasn't helping.

"Yes, I don't doubt your proficiency to be the best soldier you can be. However, given that we are trying to get Mr. Worthington to work with us...perhaps tact and diplomacy should be feigned, hmm?" Jean said, studying him. She had a feeling he had seen a lot of things. And she could respect that. But she wasn't going to be walking on eggshells because of it.

"I don't think you would have gotten to where you are now if you didn't possess the ability to sense when that is needed. As you mentioned, you were instructed to help set up the meeting. Making our potential contact want to back out of that meeting by insulting him is the doing the opposite. We're supposed to be working together. Can you please do that?" she said. The question was sincere, at least at the tail end of her earlier argument.

She turned back to Warren. "I assure you the professor is a good man. One of the best I know. Please reconsider."

His jaw felt like it would never relax again, but he tried to think about this meeting as a business one. The facts were simple: he had information to pass on, and they needed it. They also didn't need him, per se, as the spy seemed to imply with his body language.

In the end, he was disposable. And then there was Jean. Regardless if what did or didn't happen between them, he didn't doubt her absolute belief that this Professor would be able to help.

Warren turned his attention away from North, not wanting anything more to do with him. "Will he be part of the meeting? Are there any other surprises I should know about?"

"Hard to say," Jean admitted. She needed a beer. Or wine. Wine then beer. Beer than wine. She'd figure it out. Just like this. "I haven't been to where we're going in a very long time. I'm not going to lie, there are a lot of mutants there. And we're in uncharted territory. Expect the unexpected. But I don't think Mr. North will be joining us for the meeting."

Charles seemed apt to want to make it between him, her, himself, and another man she had yet to meet, his right hand person.

David nodded, slipping the phone back into one of the many pockets in his coat. “I will not,” he confirmed, cocking his head at the both of them. “As mentioned, I am here purely to ensure the safety of both of your good selves.”

The man took a long moment to study Jean. She looked unhappy and curse his sentimentalities, he had never thought it a good look on the redhead. “But if I may, Mr. Worthington,” the spy twisted his lips into a small smile as he spoke, blandly but honestly. “To not go for this meeting at this stage would be to lay waste to your sacrifices and the risks you have taken, ja? Why let your irritation at a mere guard get in the way of something far more important?”

Warren hated to admit it, but the older man was right. It would be childish and spiteful to not go now, especially when so much was at stake, and so much had already been done.

"Fine. Do we need to do anything else? Or can we get this over with already?"

Arms folded, Jean glanced to North for confirmation that he was finished, then she nodded. "I think we're done," she said. And the universe breathed a sigh of relief.

"We can leave now."

"Good." He walked to his table, and picked up his jacket. He'd already cleared his schedule so he wouldn't be bothered by any work. Looking around the room, he sighed.

"Let's get this over with then, shall we?" From here on in, he could no longer pretend he was in charge, although if he was honest, he didn't think he ever was.