xp_logs | Catching up

Hope catches up with an old 'friend'...

Carefully closing the door behind her Hope settled back on her bed, thankful for a moment that she had not yet gotten a roommate. Not that it was a secret per se, the call she was going to make, but one of those things best not spread around too much. Quickly hitting the button of her Skype, along with the button to engage the encryption program that Doug had given her, she smiled as the face of CJ popped up on the other side. "CJ... it's good to see you again. It has been a while..."

CJ's expression was, as usual, neutral, which matched the white t-shirt she was wearing. Unusually, her hair was down, brown locks falling past her shoulders. "Hope Abbot, it is good to see you as well- how have you been...adjusting, the past few months?"

"I think it has much the same for me as it has been for you. With it's challenges, so to speak." M-Day being only one of them. "Things seem to be settling down a little now though."

Her friend and fellow-former-captive nodded, but hesitantly. "Yes, challenges." A long moment of silence passed between them before CJ broached the subject, "You want to ask me something," it was not a question.

"How did you guess?" A smile danced over Hope's face for a moment, before quickly turning serious again. "Uncle Arthur told me about the... opportunity you have gotten in DC. Are you enjoying it?"

"I'm doing valuable work, and for the good guys- I think. I haven't met a politician yet who could be honest for more than a minute," a brief, subtle smile quirked the side of her lips up. "And I have protection, which I think is a good thing, given this," she held up a card similar to the one Hope had received. "This is what you wanted to ask about," again, it wasn't a question- CJ's powers were getting better with daily practice.

"Good guys in Washington, he. A very interesting notion." Hope twirled her own card for a moment. "And yes, I received such a charming card as well. I wish Amy's personality had always been this humorous when I knew her earlier."

"Do your...people, have any idea where they are?" CJ was doing her best to not look worried, but she doubted it wasn't at least showing a little bit.

"They have not exact shared details with me. But they are keeping an eye out and for so far... there does not seem to be an direct threat. That is what I know. Have you heard from Ian? How he is dealing with it?"

"Ian is handling it calmly- I worry about him though, he's the most exposed of all of us," she sighed and set the card down. "You have your protection, and I have capital security- to an extent, but he's alone." CJ was lost in thought for a beat, finally returning to the girl on the other-side of her monitor, "I am glad they don't see any threat, but Amy was always...unpredictable. I had asked some of my friends in the Mutant Affairs committee to pass along my concerns to their bosses, but I don't think they believed me."

Hope frowned at that. "I do not like the idea of Ian not having any means to protect himself. I mean, he has his previews and that might help some, but that is not a guarantee. I maybe need to talk to someone here, I think. And did your 'friends on the committee' take it? Do they still believe you to be a normal human?"

CJ gave a mechanical shrug, a gesture she was still getting used to making while trying to blend in. "They have suspicions, but none of them will do anything about it until it is politically advantageous for them. Given that I already have a great deal of dirt on them, I should be fine." She paused and smiled at Hope, the expression didn't sit right on her face as it was, again, forced. "Thank you for being concerned, Hope."

"Of course." Hope returned the smile and nodded. "And how is your work for the committee? Learned anything interesting recently?" She asked it airily, but she knew CJ was more then capable of reading her true meaning. She was not called Profiler for nothing.

"Besides the fact that some politicians know less about mutants than they claim they claim too, and others play dumb for the sake of their base...there has not been much since our last discussion. I get the feeling that the senator from the state of New York is hiding something though. This talk about 'possible protective measures' has a lot of people here pretty nervous," CJ sighed. "Business as usual."

"Is that just 'talk' or do you think it will get more serious?" Honestly, Hope suspected there had been talk of 'measures' for a long time... and if people were nervous....

"Just talk so far, back channels, but..." she paused, the expression was that of worry. "If there is...another incident, I believe it might start to progress."

"Which could be anything..." Hope shook her head at that idea. It was more a matter of when that was going to happen then a matter if something was going to happen. Raising her eyebrow she inquired a little further: "One side or both sides?"

"Both," she sighed. "Nothing like a common enemy to pull rivals together."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend and that kind of stuff." Hope sighed. "How extreme are they talking?"

The girl on the other end of the screen froze, for a long enough moment that one may have thought the connection had stopped. Finally, "I won't say more than this, not even over this secured channel- but it is something your people may want to look into. There have been off the record meetings with a number of congress-persons from the defense committee..." she let the thought hang there. "It was good to see you again, Hope- please, watch your back."