When you've taken a step too far

[Victoria Valentine]

Victoria stormed down the hall of the dorms, stopping outside Will's and pounding on the door. No death spells. No death spells. No death spells. No... promises.

[Will Stanton]

A baggy-eyed Will opened the door. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up."

[Victoria Valentine]

"William," Victoria said, her voice disturbingly calm, "Do you remember those days when I was making it my life's goal to make you and your lovely wife's lives as miserable as you were making mine? Do you remember them fondly?"

[Will Stanton]

"I do remember them, Victoria. My wife is in Scotland now."

[Victoria Valentine]

"So is it that you miss her enough to be nostalgic for those days? Because I can't imagine you being bloody stupid enough to think that this wouldn't piss me off enough to bring those glorious times right back. Or maybe you just thought I was too bloody stupid to find out about it."

[Will Stanton]

"Oh, whatever could you be speaking of? Because that's the way you like to play it, right? Coy?"

[Victoria Valentine]

And that was when Victoria slapped him. "So was this your own little call? Or were you assigned to find out what I was doing."

[Will Stanton]

Will took the slap.

"I tried to work with you on this, you'll recall. After the interrogation with Nacho. I tried to get you to take me in to the Hellfire Club to get to the bottom of this. You decided to play your little dancing games around. That's fine, that's your prerogative."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Yes, darling, because bringing X-Men in asking questions is such a lovely way to get to the bottom of things there. I told you exactly what he'd been asked to do and why. There was nothing to investigate."

[Will Stanton]

"Then you're aware of the human trafficking going through the Hellfire Club, yes?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"No, darling, I'm not. Although if someone had thought to mention it to me, I might have been able to start looking into the matter. As it stands, you can be fairly sure that since you were marked the second you walked in the bloody door, anything you found out is exactly what they wanted you to find out."

[Will Stanton]

Will looked like he was about to bite back a reply, then took a deep breath.

"I didn't know either at the time--at least, not precisely. John found connections and things inside, and I knew something didn't smell right. I had to get in to see what was going on. I should really go back, but I wasn't expecting everything I found, and had to get out. I wasn't willing, then, to directly accuse anyone of anything, and I know you're...attached to some of these people."

[Victoria Valentine]

"No, William, probably should not be going back in. You were marked when you went in, and if you are again, any halfway intelligent operation will move operations. And most of all, you went in as me. I'm not sure how that registers in that little Will head, but to the rest of the world that is completely over the line!" she answered, her voice raising to a shout.

Her voice went instantly lower, still dangerously angry. "I don't know what you suspected me of that you couldn't just tell me what you know and ask me to look into it like I did with the mess in the park. Frankly? I don't care. If you ever so much as go to buy a pack of cigarettes disguised as me, I will find out, and I will lay so many curses down on you that you won't be able to remember where 'normal' ever started. You are nowhere near as clever as you think, and you do not have any room to be self righteous in this. If there is something going on, in a week or two I am more than likely going to be in a very good position to find out exactly what's going on, by whom, and why, but only if someone doesn't make it look like I'm a bloody plant."

[Will Stanton]

"I tried to ask you from the very start, Victoria, and you danced and played games. I asked, in so many words, to get your help getting to to bottom of this. You made it clear you did not want me to pursue it, but that's not always an option.

I would have gone in as whatever you wanted--a friend, an accessory, a bloody mindless thrall to prove your power to your 'mistress', if you would have just been a little more willing to cooperate.

I don't traffic in normal. If your ego will be less bruised by casting a curse, by all means, prick your finger and summon the hags.

And I was not twigged from the moment I entered, thank you."

[Victoria Valentine]

"You were twigged the moment you spoke to my Mistress. Do you really think that she doesn't know me? Or do you just think that you know me well enough to be able to say things correctly in every delicate situation that comes up. And don't give me this bullshit that you were just doing your job. If you just went in, played butler from the start and nosed around? That would look like business. But you made this personal. There was no other reason for you to try to nose into my bloody business as me."

"Stay out of the Hellfire Club. Stay out of my business. This isn't your world."

[Will Stanton]

"Yes, because your mistress regularly gives information to the butler, I"m sure. Come off it, Victoria, I don't have some vendetta against you. I just don't like people turning London into their personal proving ground.

I'd much rather have gone in another way, but I didn't see much of a choice. I certainly couldn't have shown up as Nacho, and I didn't realize it was Nightcrawler's adoptive mother at the time, or that would have given me...other avenues."

Will softened.

"I'm not trying to get you into trouble or ruin your reputation, Victoria. I'm really not."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Yes, you had a bloody choice. You could have just told me what you needed. I might keep closed lipped about my life, but when have I ever, ever held back on cleaning up whatever bloody mess was going on!"

[Will Stanton]

"You're right, I could have been more blunt. I apologize, Victoria. I should have just told you what I needed to do, and let you figure out how best to do it, rather than try to do

You have to admit, you play your cards so close to the vest that no one can even tell what game you're playing, sometimes. I had thought you had made it fairly clear that you weren't willing to..." Will paused. "...check up on your social circles."

[Victoria Valentine]

"And that gives you no right to do it yourself. My social circles are mine. And as long as they aren't doing something to end the bloody world, which I will certainly make sure isn't happening because I bloody live in that world, what happens in them is none of your bloody business, and probably hazardous to my health to talk about in case you hadn't fucking figured that out!"

[Will Stanton]

"If I admit I went about this the wrong way, will you get off this 'I'll protect the whole word myself' thing you've got going on? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared."

[Victoria Valentine]

"Of course I'm bloody scared, you twit! I run with people that would think very, very little of destroying me in one form or another of I get in their way or if they even think it would be good exercise. And the fact that I didn't just come leave you a bloody streak on the wall for this is already going to make some of them wonder if I might be an easy mark!"

[Will Stanton]

Will was briefly taken aback by Victoria's outburst of emotion, and physically took a half-step backwards.

"Victoria...I'm sorry. I had no idea...you always put up this image like you know what you want and you'll run through anyone in your way...I didn't realize..."


He paused, musing.

"You want to come in for some tea?" he said, shifting gears without a clutch.

[Victoria Valentine]

The shift of pace definitely threw Victoria for a loop. It was easier to be pissed off at them when they were being bastards. "No, I... I just need to lie down. That was... different." She hesitated. "Human trafficking. What did they say. I need to figure out which players are going to try to kill me if I start poking that hornet's nest."

[Will Stanton]

"Did what I do put you in jeopardy?" he said, looking at her with a difficult-to-read expression

[Victoria Valentine]

"All you did is open me to look like I'm soft on people who slight me. Which might be true. I'll just have to make an example of someone later to remove that misconception from their minds. They do know that a shapeshifter infiltrated the club, though."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, I suppose I was just following a trend, there.

...what would 'not being soft' entail?"

[Victoria Valentine]

"Mm, you did notice that too, then. And 'not being soft' is rather a... subjective matter. It depends on how well I play it up. I think we can both agree that I could make things dramatic and public enough to not have to do something like, say, kill a person."

[Will Stanton]

"Well, if it would help you not, you know....

...let me know what you need to do. I'm a big boy; I'll take what you need to dish out."

[Victoria Valentine]

"No, forget that. I'm saving that for someone who's actually going to try to hurt me. The human trafficking thing, stop dodging the subject, darling."

[Will Stanton]

"I'm tabling it, not dropping it."

Then, Will started into a whole spiel on John's trip to Madripoor--the connection of Yui Kumo to the Spider Cult that has hounded John's ancestors, John's trip to Madripoor where he found Melpomene shipping girls to London to be used in Kumo's clubs, the technology of Zeke Stane being used to manipulate financial markets, and the involvement of Henry Hereford's construction companies to hide all of the above.

"Frankly, there's very little hard evidence of any of this. John has me going on a stakeout later to try to catch them moving people into the country, but..." he shrugged.

[Victoria Valentine]

"So that's the real reason that he's been replaced," Victoria said, sighing. "This is going to be... delicate work. I need to figure out exactly who's involved and who's just in the dark or standing by."

[Will Stanton]

"Yeah. The Hellfire Club is nothing if not good at stabbing one another in the back."