Quentin, Jess, and later Adrienne and Warren, Friday afternoon

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Jessica comes to Quentin with a proposition.


As had become routine when he was not training with one of the house telepaths or securing his belongings from an inquisitive Amadeus, Quentin's afternoon was spent in solitude, just the way he liked it. The disgustingly hot and humid summer kept him indoors, though, so he had retreated to the mostly vacant library. He had already read through Ta-Nehisi Coates's latest masterpiece twice, but this third time he could go more slowly and take notes. He was so engrossed in jotting down his thoughts to a particular passage that he did not sense that he was not alone anymore.

Jessica had come into the library for a few book she'd been wanting to read and, while her ability to fly came in handy so that she didn't need a ladder for the higher shelves, it also allowed her to see that a certain..."prickly" student of hers was also occupying the labyrinth of paper and wood. Floating back down to the floor, she walked over to him.

"Hey there, Quire. How've you been?" She asked, leaning against the table that he was seated at.

"Oh my God," Quentin groaned, very pointedly not taking his eyes off his book. "It's the summer and I'm not in high school anymore. What could you possibly want?"

Jessica frowned, floating up off of the ground and into the air above the table. With surprising speed, she snatched the book from her former charge, closed it firmly, and placed it to the side.

"I want a lot of things, Quire. From you, though? I want to know what it is you plan to do with yourself, now that...what did you say? Oh yes, now that 'it's summer and you're not in school anymore.'" She stated. "Look, Quentin, you may think of me a, well, I probably don't even want to know. But I do want to see you grow up and make something of yourself. So, level with me on this one." She finished.

"The fuck?" Even though he stood two inches above her, she figuratively towered over him, and he backed away before he even really challenged her. "Why do you even care?" he asked, taking his seat again, crossing both his arms and legs standoffishly. "I don't know how many times I've had to tell you, I'm only here to get a handle on my telepathy so next time a pig in blue comes around to murder one of us, someone can actually stop him."

"I care because I've been where you are. Angry and only wanting to be left alone, wondering just who or what is going to come after me next." Jessica replied calmly, but firmly. "You're my student, Quire, whether you like it or not. No one is going to hurt you, not if I'm around. I'm very pleased with your progress in the use of your abilities, as is Julian. But I still think you need an outlet, something for you to put your energy into besides preparing yourself for the worst case scenario." She answered. The brunette lapsed into silence for a moment, cocking her head to the side as she thought. "Hmmm...well, I know you're not a fan of the whole 'mutant military unit' thing, but how do you feel about helping those at the street level? Adrienne's X-Factor has done a lot of good, especially on a more personal, individual basis. If you're interested, I could get you involved." She finished.

"Adrienne? Frost?" Quentin barked out a harsh laugh. "You're even crazier than I thought to think I'd work for that . . . myopic, dickmatized narcissist. You gotta make a much better offer if you want me to play detective with you, Jones. And work on your sales pitch. Why should I waste my time tracking some bitch who's cheating on her husband or whatever it is that private dicks do?"

"I'll talk to Adrienne. Knowing you, the feeling is probably mutual. You can work with me instead." Jessica answered with a dismissive wave. "And that isn't even half of what we do, Quentin. While we DO do client work on an individual basis, we also assist companies and organizations with information gathering and, most importantly, we help mutants in need. We provide them with safehouses and help get them from point A to point B. We help to provide protection for mutants that can't get it through traditional law enforcement. We're technically at the bottom of the pyramid with X-Force and the X-Men, but the bottom provides the support for the top, right?" She asked. "Plus, we've got a number of staff that you could probably really learn something from. Lorna and Sue are pretty great. With a bit of tweaking and experience, your attitude could help you be a real asset to us. The fact that you're a telepath doesn't hurt." She finished.

When Jessica said "we help mutants in need," Quentin's ears perked up and he cocked his head to the side, not unlike a dog when it is trying to catch sound. "You should've led with that. Safehouses? What, like witness protection?"

"Mmm, sort of. They're places where mutants can be safe until we can solve whatever problem they have or help them move on to somewhere else where they can be safe." She answered.

"That sounds like that has a lot of potential for questionable legality, like if you're assisting a culprit." Quentin grinned. "Tell me more."

~*~

Later, Adrienne and Warren interview Quentin and give him a job (lol).


This was the second time that Quentin was accompanying another X-drone into the city, and the second time that he was regretting it before anything actually happened. Jessica had successfully made her pitch to him for X-Factor and now it was time to turn that onto the people in charge who could actually approve or deny him. As he followed Jessica into the nondescript building that housed the X-Factor Investigations office, he felt like a prized pig being taken before the judges. Or potentially to the slaughterhouse.

Jessica stepped into the familiar office, and quickly brushed her brown hair behind her, pushing it up and winding it into a bun. After securing her hair, she turned to her charge. "Lighten up, Quire. Nothing to worry about." She offered, giving him a light tap with her elbow, so as not to throw him across the room. "Hey! Boss lady, are you here?" Jessica asked, a smile in her voice. She never got tired of that.

Sitting in her office with her feet up on the desk, Adrienne looked up from the financial documents she was reading and took off her glasses, putting them on top of her head as she focused on the door. Warren was with her in her office and she raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Yeah," she called out. "Just follow the smoke rings," she encouraged as she knocked some ash from the cigarette she was holding. "So yeah," she said to Warren as she set the papers down, "I think we can make that work, eh?"

Warren nodded, glancing intently at the papers. "Absolutely. I think it makes sense that way, actually." He was so incredibly happy to be re-instated with XFI that he was genuinely trying to be a useful member. Glancing over at Jessica, he smiled. They weren't quite back to speaking terms (or fucking terms for that matter) but he was determined to make things friendly. "Hello there, Jess," he called out as she entered the office. "Who's your friend?"

"Hello, Warren." Jessica said, trying to make her smile as warm as she could. She was still upset with Warren, but she couldn't deny just how good the other man looked. "This-" She added, gesturing to the young man beside her "-is Quentin Quire. He's a student of mine, a mutant with psionic powers. He's got a lot of potential." She continued. "So, Quire, this is Warren Worthington III and, of course, the lovely Adrienne Frost." She added. "I believe you two have met, correct?" She asked, eyeing her ward.

"Unfortunately," Quentin confirmed. "Look, I'm here because . . ." He felt almost sick trying to come up with the words, and it showed on his face. "Because I want a job. Here. At X-Factor. You guys don't have a telepath on your team yet. You could use one if you're gonna try and solve crimes or whatever."

Adrienne schooled herself out of the faces she almost made. She didn't know much about this kid, but felt knew enough to sense that if he was coming to her for a job, he must really want it quite badly. She didn't understand why, since he'd seemed so completely disinterested when she'd talked about X-Factor at the church, but she didn't need to understand the thought process that had caused him to change his mind. He was obviously sincere, since he didn't seem to do anything he didn't want to do, and that was all she needed to understand about the decision he'd made. "If it's alright by you, I'm going to pretend you think our previous meeting was unfortunate because you weren't at your best that day," she said in a businesslike tone that implied she wasn't going to make a big deal out of the fact he'd basically insulted her a second before asking her for a job. If he wanted a second chance, she wasn't going to deny him. "If you'd like a job, the possibility of one certainly exists. At least as far as I'm concerned." Her tone indicated that she had a few questions for Quire before she gave him a set of keys to the office, but first she wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. "Warren? What do you think?"

Warren looked ‎pensively at the younger mutant. He has absolutely no idea who he was, nor had he even bumped into him before.

"I think anyone is welcome who wants to be here. So tell us, Quentin: why do you want to be here? I appreciate the telepathy help immensely, and I'm sure you'll be an asset." He smiled. "Still. I like knowing motivations."

"Because you were right about one thing," Quentin said, eyeing Adrienne. "While the murder-spies and the leather team try and fail to change things institutionally, someone needs to look out for the individuals in the meantime and work from the bottom up. To protect them from the system that's set up to kill them. Jones says that's what you do. So I want in."

"It's not all cloak and daggers," Warren warned as he gestured to Adrienne's desk. Paperwork was scattered, both laptops were going and it was obvious that ‎they were in the middle of something. "Paperwork. Answering phones. Stakeouts with nothing but a bottle to piss in. Pretending to care, even about the boring stuff...." He grinned. "But there are moments of intrigue, of danger, and a sense of accomplishment. Jess is right -- we do protect people."

Quentin shrugged. Pretending to care about things that weren't him was easy. "I'm not looking for adventure or some smug sense of self-satisfaction. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is."

"Well, there isn't much money involved, but I think we can all appreciate the metaphor," Adrienne nodded with a small smile which quickly vanished as she went back to business. "I only have two concerns. The first is, in this line of work we need to maintain a relationship with local law enforcement. It's necessary for gathering information in numerous situations. I'm not saying you, personally, would be expected to schmooze contacts at police stations," she added, not intending to force anyone into situations they'd feel uncomfortable with, "but some of us have to, so it's important you understand the necessity of this, are able to accept it as a facet of what this agency does, and will not impede such matters. Would that be a problem for you?"

Judging by the expression on Quentin's face, the telepath had a lot of thoughts on that particular subject, but he thought back to Barton's recommendation to shake hands with the devil for the time being, and shook his head. "What's the other concern?"

Adrienne relaxed a little with the shake of Quentin's head, glad she wouldn't have to gird her loins for another battle with him over the subject. She liked her loins to stay ungirded. Heh, heh. Oops, telepath, she reminded herself. Although that did bring her to the other concern. "Well... you mention you'd be useful because we don't have a telepath on the team. Yet... don't take this the wrong way," she prefaced, understanding that some people were sensitive about their powers, "but... I was under the impression that your telepathy was a danger to yourself? Don't get me wrong, having a telepath would certainly be useful. But less so if you splatter your brains all over the cheap furniture trying to do it?" It was her unique way of showing concern for the kid.

"It's a work in progress," he said, surprisingly politically. "It's . . . I'm learning. Between your sister, Chuckles, and Grey."

"They've all been keeping me informed of his progress. He really shows promise." Jessica assured her boss. "I'll take personal responsibility for him, if that makes you feel better." Jessica said. She was really going out on a limb here for Quire, but she knew that there had to be someone to take a chance on people like them.

"Where have I heard that before?" Adrienne asked, turning pointedly to Warren. "Of course, in your case," she told the playboy, "Sue ended up being far more responsible than the person taking personal responsibility for her. So I suppose if tradition holds, I should be more worried about Miss Jones than I would be about Mister Quire." But Emma wasn't sending her any flashing red lights down their mental link about running away in terror, so Adrienne guessed the team would be relatively safe in Quentin's presence and she wouldn't have to worry about him too much. "Well, my sister's not warning me off," she stated, turning from Warren to Quentin, "so I have no objections to your employment here. Welcome to the team."

"What she said," Warren echoed, giving a half ass salute. "You'll be shadowed for a while, and like I said, there's a lot of tedium, but we're happy to have you here. Also, in case you didn't notice, Adrienne is the real boss. I'm the cool one who has absolutely no power." He grinned and stretched in his chair. "Glad to have you here."

"You say that now," Quentin scoffed before he could stop himself.