Cassiel's beach house

[Michael Asters]

Despite not having been used for several months, Cassiel's home was clean, and didn't look at all 'not lived in.' So when Jubilee was brought there, she'd find herself comfortable... but still unable to leave.

[Jubilation Lee]

Jubilee paced around the living room, fireworks dancing around her as she fumed.

[Michael Asters]

In truth, she didn't have to wait long. Roughly twenty minutes later, Cassiel appeared, entering through the same door she came through.

[Jubilation Lee]

"Get away from me, asshole." she said, glaring at him.

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel had already pulled out a device from his belt and was doing something with it hurriedly. "Jubilee, please, don't do this..."

[Jubilation Lee]

"Don't do what, you lying sack of shit?!?" Jubilee asked, fireworks moving closer to him.

[Michael Asters]

"Just... put the fireworks away, okay? Please?" he said, hurriedly aiming the device at barious parts of the room.

[Jubilation Lee]

"Make me." Jubilee snapped "You've been lying to me and fucking with my mind for months. Whats one more time, Lord Cassiel?"

[Michael Asters]

"I haven't," he said, walking over to the window. "I haven't lied to you once," he added, closing the blinds.

[Jubilation Lee]

"You claimed that you'd had a falling out with Magneto, when you were still his loyal hatchet man. You said that you trusted me. You swore you loved me and would never hurt me. Lies. All of it." Jubilee said, fireworks exploding around him like a string of firecrackers going off.

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel was knocked back by the force of the repeated explosions. "Stop!" he protested, his telekinetic shields going up, though he didn't fight back yet. "Just... let me explain!"

[Jubilation Lee]

"Explain what? Explain how making jokes about being an Acolyte is the same as telling me what was really going on? Explain how using your powers to manipulate me into fucking you, into loving you isn't the same as rape?"

[Michael Asters]

"I've never manipulated you!" he shot back, indignation over the accusation overriding his sense of self preservation. "Not once, you know me better than that!" And, again, after saying this, he picked the device he'd gotten out on entering the room back up and aimed it at another corner.

[Jubilation Lee]

"STOP FUCKING LYING!" Jubilee said, more fireworks exploding around him, trying to smash his shields.

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel was thrown back against the wall, unhurt, but phased. "Oh for... THIS HOUSE IS BUGGED! I couldn't answer you, and I haven't been able to answer you here, because I'm being watched like a goddamn hawk!" he shot back, throwing the scanner down on the couch.

[Jubilation Lee]

"The other one has bells on it." Jubilee snapped, another firework exploding in Cassiel's face "Give me one fucking reason why I should trust you. One."

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel made a grabbing motion, and a flower arrangement (obviously put there by the staff, since it wasn't his style) flew apart, a tiny device zipping across the room toward him. A decorative vase in another corner shattered, along with various other small items, with the bugs hidden inside zipping into his hand to join the first one. "There! Look for yourself!" he said, tossing them onto the floor between them.

[Jubilation Lee]

"So, they know you well enough to know you're a liar." Jubilee said with a shrug, although she calmed down almost imperceptibly.

[Michael Asters]

"When have I lied to you!" he demanded. "When have I ever not given you whatever you wanted to know, very freely?"

[Jubilation Lee]

"You told me that you've had a falling out with Magneto. You told me that you loved me. That you wouldn't hurt me. Instead, you sent goons to kidnap me, while you stood at Magneto's side and plotted."

[Michael Asters]

"I did have a falling out with Magneto," Cassiel answered. "But the man's like a father to me. He didn't hold a grudge. That doesn't mean that there weren't a hundred people here ready to pick up that fact for political capital. By the time we patched things up, we thought it'd be best for me to be anywhere other than here, to keep from rocking a boat that was taking in water every other day. And I do love you. Do you think I wanted to pull off a stunt like that? It was the only way to get you here!"

[Jubilation Lee]

"And you neglected to mention that last part." Jubilee snapped, fireworks starting to swirl around the room again "Thanks for the confidence, by the way. So nice to know that you can't trust me."

[Michael Asters]

"I do trust you! That's why I had to get you here, because at this moment, you're the only person on this island I know that I can trust!"

[Jubilation Lee]

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Jubilee said, starting to get angry again.

[Michael Asters]

Cassiel sighed, closing his eyes. Then, he reached into his pockets, pulling out a set of keys. "Here," he sighed, tossing them to her. "The car is in the driveway, and the guards left when I got here. And here," he added, tossing her a clearance card. "That'll get you onto any plane you want out of here. If you won't even hear me out... then just go ahead and go."

[Jubilation Lee]

Jubilee caught the keys and looked down at them in surprise. "This is a trick." she said, finally.

[Michael Asters]

"No trick. You leave, you go home. I'll even give you what little bit of information I have on what's going on so people can possibly be ready for it."

[Jubilation Lee]

"Ok, I'll listen to you." Jubilee replied "Then I'm gone."

[Michael Asters]

"Fine. Sit down, this might take a while," he said, he himself taking a seat at a desk, turning the chair to face her.

"As I said... While a falling out with Magneto was why I left, bad blood between myself and Exodus is why I stayed away. He has... a lot of backing, particularly among more extreme groups. Not that he always agrees with him, but they know, at least, that I won't agree with them."

"Lately, I've been hearing whispers that something's going on here, something that has to do with things going on in London. We had someone on the ground there to investigate, see what could be turned up, but he... went out of contact for a while, and since then any information that he sent back has been unreliable at best. This got people panicking."

"I started paying more attention to the specifics of what was going on, an the first clue I got that something was wrong that there were a lot of very outspoken people who were being completely quiet. People who always had an agenda to push, weren't pushing. Other things came to my attention... secret shipments that didn't show up on any government manifests. Resources being shifted, but never showing up where they were supposedly shifted to. I waited long enough to get confirmation that something was up, and that it was serious, then I made my move. I had to get back here, get myself dug in where I could actually find out what is going on."

[Jubilation Lee]

"Go on." Jubilee said, gesturing for him to continue.

[Michael Asters]

He nodded. "I've been back for two days, and I'm already being stonewalled. Without going along with things, proving that I'm with Exodus on whatever is being planned, I can't do anything. Worse, if he can prove I'm a threat, he has an excuse to move against me, even if I leave again. The only thing I have going for me is that he can't be everywhere or see everything. Which, naturally, doesn't help me, since for the most part, i don't know who I can trust here anymore. Which was why I had to come up with some pretense to get you here... I don't want to get you mixed up in this, and I definitely didn't want it to be done the way it was, but I was working with no time and even less options. The best I could do was to make sure that the team sent to bring you back had someone on it I could trust to keep things under control and to keep anyone from getting hurt."

He sighed. "That was why I had to get you here that way, that was why I had to play along in the royal court. I needed to get you here, and I needed some way for it to be possible that they might think you're on their side. Or that you're harmless, at the very least. Honestly, I don't know which would be harder. But it was a chance I had to take, because right now I need to do everything as sneakily as I possibly can, to keep anyone from knowing I'm trying to dig into the plans that are being made. And as I said... right now, on this island, you're the only person that I know I can trust." He hesitated. "Or, I thought I could, at least."

[Jubilation Lee]

".....Oh....." Jubilee said, after a moment "I...I thought you'd betrayed me. Betrayed all of us."

[Michael Asters]

"Why would I do that," he asked, trying to not sound as hurt as he felt.

[Jubilation Lee]

"Um, because you're an Acolyte, and probably planning some sort of evil?" Jubilee suggested.

[Michael Asters]

"Evil," he scoffed. "All I want, all I've ever wanted, is what's best for our people, whether they're on this island or scattered through the world. I've never made any secret of that."

[Jubilation Lee]

"No." Jubilee said quietly "You haven't made an secret of that. Look....I've been kidnapped by some bad people, and it hasn't gone well.....and when you did that, it hurt. It hurt a lot. But...Logan would tell me I'm an idiot, but.....I trust you. So, if you need help, I'll help you." she smiled grimly "And if you're lying, I'll start by exploding your balls."

[Michael Asters]

"I'm sorry," he said, just as quietly. "I didn't want to... I just didn't see any other way. If we don't get to the bottom of this, lots of people get hurt at best, open fighting breaks out at worst." He looked up at her, that fire of conviction back in his eyes. "But I love you... If I have to pay for that little stunt when all of this is done, so be it."

[Jubilation Lee]

"Oh, don't worry, you'll make it up to me." Jubilee replied with a final glare "So." she said, visibly switching gears "What can I do to help?"

[Michael Asters]

"God, where to start," he sighed. "We need to track down where these resources have been going. Figure out what's been on these shipments that didn't officially arrive. Put all of this together to figure out what threat this is all supposed to be countering, and how they're trying to counter it. And I need you to help me figure out if yes, I really can trust my new staff."

[Jubilation Lee]

"Thats a pretty tall order, considering I've got no real contacts here except for you."