Cambrian
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The XXX-Gene Ch. 13 (Marvel)
🕑 Added 2023-06-18 14:16:29 +0000 UTCA/N: Thaddeus spills the beans... but isn't a complete dumbass about it.
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He hits the ‘Accept Call’ button with just enough restraint that his enhanced strength doesn’t crack the screen. A moment later, Emma Frost’s smiling face appears as the video call connects, a twinkle in her eye.
“Hello Thaddeus. Do you like my gift?”
As he thought, she’s only calling to check up on him. She doesn’t know anything… yet. But he’s going to tell her. The knowledge that he knows everything is on the tip of his tongue as he opens his mouth to speak… only to stop dead in his tracks.
Slowly, Thaddeus looks up and around the room.
“Thaddeus? Is something wrong?”
Yes. Yes, something was wrong. He’s just realized that the dorm room he’s expected to live in for the next however many years… is not safe. Oh, it’s probably as safe as it was before to sleep in. If the government always knew about him, then the possibility of him getting kidnapped in his sleep was always on the table. However, this isn’t a safe place to talk.
He’d just let a government agent into this room. He’d just fucked her here, in fact. But more than that… Natalie Rushman had been the one to bring him here. She’d already known which room was going to be his, whether she’d assigned it herself or merely been told where he was supposed to go. She’d BROUGHT him here… the room HAD to be bugged to hell and back.
Immediately jerking to his feet, Thaddeus frowns down at Emma on his phone and decides to answer her earlier question.
“I’m honestly not sure if I like your gift or not, Emma.”
The beautiful blonde psychic blinks at Thaddeus’ gruff tone. It’s the gruffest tone he’s ever taken with her, so he’s not surprised when it makes her frown. Still, grabbing his wallet and keys, he hurries out of the dorm room, even as Emma tries to get an explanation out of him.
“Thaddeus, what’s going on? What are you doing?”
He should have hung up on her and called her back, but he wasn’t sure how she would respond to something like that. She might deem it a ‘power play’ and it might come back to bite him in the ass later, no matter how much he was willing to explain. So instead, he just shakes his head.
“Give me a second.”
His first order of business as he steps out of his dorm room is to look up and down the hallway, making sure Natalie is gone for real. The woman had literally strut out of his room in her birthday suit, so he didn’t THINK she’d stick around to try and physically spy on him. No, it was far more likely that she’d left some electronic listening devices in his dorm more than anything else.
Still, after checking the ceilings and the corners to make sure she wasn’t hiding up in one of them like some sort of cat burglar, Thaddeus safely confirms that the hallway is deserted. There’s no one, not Natalie and not anyone else either. With that, he hesitates for a moment, not quite sure where to go. With his door closed behind him, he decides to risk speaking to Emma, looking down at the increasingly irate blonde on his phone screen.
“Emma… if I’m not sure if I’m being recorded or not, where can I go for privacy?”
The psychic’s blue eyes, which had been turning particularly flinty on top of their usual iciness, suddenly widen at Thaddeus’ question, some small amount of understanding entering her gaze. Her lips thin out for a moment, before she gives a simple nod upwards.
“The roof, Thaddeus. That’s your best bet, so long as you keep your voice down.”
That… that made sense. Thaddeus quickly looks for stair access to the roof, and thankfully locates it without much issue. Even better, Emma doesn’t say another word as he takes the stairs two at a time, finally recognizing that something really IS up. Soon enough, Thaddeus is finally on the roof, the door closed behind him as he leans back against the brick wall of the door access and lets out a sigh.
“Thaddeus? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
Emma’s concerned voice would mean more to him if he didn’t know she’d lied to him. But… no. He’d already made his decision, hadn’t he? Bringing the phone up, Thaddeus finds that he’s grateful for the separation between them. On a phone call like this, they’re on even ground… he might even have a slight advantage. He’s gotten a little better at reading people he likes to think, though Government Agent Natalie Rushman has thrown all of that very much into doubt.
Still, Emma can’t read his mind from a phone call he’s pretty sure. But they can at least both see each other’s faces. Which means she gets to see how pissed he is as he frowns at his phone.
“I know, Emma. I know you’re a psychic, and I know you read my mind to manipulate me into joining the Hellfire Club.”
For a brief moment, Emma Frost stiffens… and loses any chance to deny it with that hesitation. But then to be fair, Thaddeus is pretty damn convinced. He’d turned a blind eye to Emma’s ability usage back in the Ice Cream Parlor, convincing himself that it was simply a perception filter or something. Or HAD he convinced himself? Either way, he was confident he knew the truth now. He was certain that in the case of Emma at the very least, Natalie hadn’t lied to him.
Finally, Emma lets out a sigh and a single shrug of her shoulders, up and down as she finally nods her head in acknowledgment of his words.
“You’re right, of course. I am indeed a powerful telepath, and I did use my telepathy to coax you onto your current path. I won’t deny it. But you must know that I did nothing to directly alter your thoughts or truly force you down this path, Thaddeus. You wanted what I had to offer. I could see that clearly in your mind, even as you made your decision. My… circumstances don’t change the fact that you are now free and independent in a way the X-Men and the Brotherhood would not have allowed.”
Thaddeus grunts and nods in agreement.
“I believe you, Emma.”
Privately, he had some reservations. It would always be a ‘what if?’ situation, wouldn’t it? Had Emma messed with his mind? Would he be able to know if she did? Thaddeus is just glad that they have some distance between them right now, so she’s not hearing his doubts. Instead, all the blonde has to go off of is his face, which he keeps stoney and expressionless.
“Which is why I need your help. And by helping me, you can prove you mean what you said, about not forcing me down any given path.”
Emma blinks, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Oh?”
Holding his phone tightly, but not too tightly, Thaddeus voices his single greatest desire at this moment, fully ready for Emma to laugh in his face or shoot him down. But then, if she did that… at least he’d know precisely where he stood with her and her organization.
“I want some sort of psychic resistance. You and I both know that I gain the abilities of empowered individuals I have sex with. You read it straight from my mind, didn’t you?”
“… Yes Thaddeus. I know you gained some of Mystique’s shapeshifting abilities right before our first meeting.”
“Right. So get me a woman with natural psychic resistance… or a teacher who can train psychic resistance into me as a skill. I’ll be happy with either option, really. But if you want to rebuild the trust between us, if you want to make me happy, then this is what needs to happen. You’re not the only psychic out there, after all. There’s Professor Charles Xavier for one… but I bet you two aren’t the only ones who can go rummaging around in my head, are you?”
Just from the way Emma’s eyes gain a distant look in them for a second, Thaddeus knows he’s right. The thought that there might be dozens of powerful psychics running around fills him with dread to be honest. It’s funny, because it’s definitely the kind of thing you don’t worry about until you really know about it. Charles Xavier had done a good job of setting Thaddeus’ mind at ease during their first meeting, but learning what he had about Emma had managed to make all of the alarm bells go off again.
“… You’re right, Thaddeus. Some form of protection against psychic intrusions would only help you in the long run, especially given our enemies. No, Xavier and I are not the only psychics in the world. Not by a long shot.”
Thaddeus feels some relief that she isn’t shooting him down. But of course, Emma isn’t done quite yet.
“That said… before I make any moves in that direction, I need to know what brought this all on. Why are you acting so hunted? Why do you think you’re being recorded or listened in on?”
Letting out a somewhat bitter laugh, Thaddeus shakes his head.
“Well, that goes back to your original question, doesn’t it? Do I like my gift… I don’t know, Emma. Because it seems to me that your plan to ply me with a bunch of nubile young coeds has backfired. The RA of the all girl’s dorm you’ve set me up in turned out to be an Enhanced Government Agent… which I only found out because she let me think I seduced her and we fucked.”
Emma’s eyes widen at that, and she suddenly looks very alarmed. But then, obviously she was going to be alarmed by that news. Thaddeus himself was still pretty fucking alarmed truth be told.
“What… does she know you know?!”
Thaddeus grimaces and lets out a sigh.
“… Yeah. I reacted without thinking. Confronted her. Her name, as far as I know, is Natalie Rushman. She didn’t tell me WHAT agency she works for, only that she’s with the government. She was very clear about one thing however… she’s here investigating Hellfire Club, not me personally. She wanted to turn me against you and the club. Wanted to make me her accomplice.”
He’s never seen Emma look so frazzled before, but maybe that has something to do with getting all of this unexpected information but not actually being able to confirm anything with her powers. Receiving this knowledge over a phone call was definitely throwing Emma for a loop, Thaddeus could tell.
“I… I see. I’ll look into it on my end, Thaddeus. You should avoid this… Natalie as much as possible until I have more information for you though.”
Thaddeus considers the difficulty of that request and snorts in amusement, causing Emma to really look at him for a moment before speaking.
“No… you’re right, that might not be possible. Actually… now I’m left wondering.”
Now it’s Thaddeus’ turn to look at Emma, furrowing his brow as she glances off to the side in thought.
“… Wondering what, exactly?”
Glancing back at him, Emma sighs.
“Natalie Rushman might not be the only plant in your dorm, Thaddeus. I didn’t do my due diligence, obviously. I didn’t think I had to. But now… well, now I’m looking at the registry for your dorm this year and a couple of names stand out. A few more ring alarm bells. I’ll need to look into this more…”
Oh, of course she had access to the registry. Jesus fucking Christ. Still, the idea that his whole dorm might be made up of government plants did not invoke joy for Thaddeus. Emma had tried to give him a gift, and instead saddled him what a couple dozen honeypots, hadn’t she?
“Thaddeus… you shouldn’t let this change how you act or what you do next.”
Wait, what? Blinking, he looks to see Emma offering him a smile on the screen.
“Not only would it be suspicious if you suddenly forewent all female company… the fact remains that it doesn’t matter who these women truly are or what organizations they might each belong to. The fact is… you need to get stronger. And if I’m right about how many of these girls are actually enhanced, then you have an opportunity here to get quite a bit stronger indeed. So… enjoy yourself. Nothing has truly changed.”
Thaddeus lets out a laugh of disbelief at that. Everything had changed. Even still… was Emma right? Maybe. Maybe she was.
“As I said, I’ll look into all of this and see about getting you more information as soon as possible, Thaddeus. You just be yourself. And… I want you to know I appreciate your loyalty. You didn’t have to tell me all of this.”
She appreciated his loyalty. Not the Hellfire Club. Thaddeus’ mind makes the distinction, even as he slowly nods before frowning at Emma.
“Yeah, well… my loyalty has already been bought and paid for by your actions so far, Emma. I won’t deny it, I AM happy with the path you manipulated me onto. I’m not going to betray you just because some government stooge comes along to tell me things I already knew deep down, like the fact that everything with a place called the ‘Hellfire Club’ might not be on the up and up.”
Emma smiles at that, even as Thaddeus lets out a shuddering breath.
“Still… the lies need to stop. I’m either in or I’m not and if I’m going to have your back, I need to know you’ll have mine as well.”
“… Of course, Thaddeus. No more lies.”
The beat of hesitation before she agrees is all he needs to know that she’s definitely covering up more. But he can’t say for sure whether it’s just run of the mill criminal stuff, or actually pertains to him personally as well. In the end, they wrap up their conversation shortly after that, and Thaddeus descends from the roof, making his way back to his dorm room.
Exhausted emotionally more than physically, Thaddeus presses his lips together as he looks around the sparsely decorated room, knowing full well that it’s likely bugged to high heaven. Still, he collapses onto the mattress all the same and stares up at the ceiling, the events of the morning rolling around in his head. He needed to figure out what he was going to do next.
In a way, Emma was probably right. He SHOULD try and act like normal… even if normal was a horndog. But then, what if that was playing into everyone’s hands? But THEN… what if by playing into their hands, he could get more information himself than even Emma could manage to obtain in the short term?
He’d firmly tied his horse to the Hellfire Club now. More specifically, he’d firmly tied himself to Emma Frost. Even if Natalie Rushman didn’t know that he’d betrayed her to Emma just yet, Thaddeus knew there was no going back at this point. Whether Emma came through for him on the psychic training or not would be a big sign of what way the winds were blowing going forward, however.
In the meantime… he should probably get up and start meeting new people like Emma suggested, like would be his usual ‘move’ if he didn’t know what he knew. And yet… the thought of just staying in bed all day was incredibly tempting…
Besides. Wouldn't they come to him if he just waited long enough? Especially if they all wanted a piece of him like Emma claimed...
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A/N: Discussion Question Time! How do you guys think Emma would go about satisfying Thaddeus' request? Is there anyone obvious she could reach out to with Psychic Resistance for him to fuck, or a skill that they could train him in so he could learn it the normal way?
I can't necessarily think of anyone myself, but I do have one idea for her that I'm calling 'the Last Resort' so if I don't get any ideas from you guys that I like, I'll probably go with that lol.
Comments
Demeon
Gotta say some of the decisions made by people so far has made the mc look like a complete an utter retard.
The GrandMage
Considering her active power is psionic knives to carve up other's minds, I think that's more a reference to "Even 'at rest' trying to use telepathy or astral communication on her is shoving your hand in a blender" after all, she was a student of the Shadow King, who basically is just an astral projection into the nearby reality - and he survived and even was attracted to her.But yes, I agree turning his mind into a blender is probably a bit further than she wants to go, especially since a less trained telepath can always let her in willingly.
Cambrian
This is an interesting character I'd never heard of before. She shares Emma Frost's name, shares Psylocke's look and powers, and shares Selina's title of Black Queen. TBH, if Emma Frost herself wasn't a psychic, I imagine she might use Emma Steed as the option for Thaddeus to give him psychic immunity, but given that Emma Steed isn't just immune but described as "absolutely destructive to telepaths with her very presence" on her wikia page, I don't think Emma Frost would resort to utilizing her. I think Emma Frost would probably just fuck Thaddeus herself and give him her telepathy (and thus the ability to combat it from others) before she resorted to a nuclear option like Emma Steed. Still a very interesting character though, thanks for bringing her to my attention!
The GrandMage
Emma Steed. She's a member of the London Branch of the Hellfire Club, and her brand of offensive telepathy makes her immune to telepathic or psionic attacks. Unlike a lot of other characters who gain defenses through learning use or things added later (cybernetics, being brought back from the dead, etc) it's actually just a core part of her power, and even a weakened version would basically mean his mind is booby-trapped.
StressOwl
He should have asked for her telepathy for lying to him. Mystique could potentially make him immortal and protect him from bigoted humans with her powers if the effects stack and the x men could protect him from everyone else.
Ahtu Nyarlathotep
It ignores all the drawbacks, and the ppl that you turn against you by staying with them long-term. Sure it could pan out, in theory. But it's a bit like ppl becoming dictators. It's a paranoid and lonely life-style. There's a good reason they tend to be/go insane. I'd carve out my own faction in time: Basically a sort of "My-Harem-Faction." Rather than remain under the thumb of some morally reprihensible scumbags, only to eventually become one myself. His power is perfectly suited for establishing his own faction. It'd be fair to say that on a surface level, the hellfire club is just a tad shady. But on a deeper level, it's aboslutely fcked up. Just a gander at Emma's own history will tell you as much. And that's ignoring all the shit that Mattias Shaws faction has gotten up to. Or The Black Queen(I checked the wiki for a quick quote on some of it. But I think this part in the description summarized her rather well: Type of Villain: "Power-Hungry Vampiric Sorceress"). Even if they were in truth nearly squeeky clean however, what does it matter? Why live with the stigma, instead if just creating something new of your own? For his long-term reputation and chances to get into bed with ppl? He needs the Hellfire Club about as much as he needs aids.
Rapthorn2ndform
Cool, I thought it might be but on the off chance it wasnt, ya miss every shot you don't take. I rarely comment but I have been enjoying a for a bit.
Cambrian
This is actually Emma's Last Resort that I mentioned heh. Which I'm currently considering going with, but we'll see how things shake out~
Rapthorn2ndform
I'm not sure if this will fit but if your looking for someone who has psychic resistance a solid opinion is Emma Frost herself. It could also be treated as letting him in, that she isn't manipulating him psychicly anymore (could easily write it that he would gain an increased resistance to her powers specifically through familiarity). Just throwing my idea out there, I'm sure you'll consider a bunch of options and whatever you choose will wind up solid.
Phraxius
I don't necessarily agree that staying Club-affiliated long-term would be a bad choice; they seem like a pretty solid choice for self-realisation IF you play your cards right. If you don't, you end up as a pawn, like you noted. A lot of what the Club does is more or less harmless, no? Or at the very least not patently worse than the usual extravagancies of the excessively rich. It wouldn't surprise me if Emma would want to take it in a less malicious, but no less pragmatic, direction if this whole thing strengthens her position.
Ahtu Nyarlathotep
Not the time to hunker down and deny himself his only way out of his mess. As long as Emma comes through on the psychic counter, or he gets into bed with someone like Jean Grey - Then he can still choose his own destiny. He's wrong on thinking that he has tied himself down tho. This is just another temporary alliance. Don't build up allegiance towards the morally reprehensible. You can work with them, use them, and take the opportunity they represent. And perhaps even avoid ever outright turning on them, at least until they turn on you. Perhaps even repay them by helping them with things that aren't morally reprehensible, to clear your debt(like helping them take down Mattias Shaw). But you don't have to turn the rest of the world against you, by helping them with any truly shady business. The point of joining them was to maintain your independance - Keep working towards that, and avoid truly becoming one of their stooges. Just like you have so far with both the X-men, the Brotherhood, and now the government. Keep playing them off against one another, and avoid betraying the one you're currently with - At least until you're ready to somewhat safely leave them, having milked them for all they've got. And then if they try to either do something morally reprehensible to you, or try to force you to do something morally reprehensible? Jump ship, take up with the X-men for a time, leaving you some breathing room. Complete independance with relative safety is the endgame.
BK-94
hm wonder if he will ever get to fuck Jean Grey. he could help her gain better control over power from Phoenix and free from Xavior's mental block by fucking her lol
DualEquinox
That is why I pointed out Emma would only go for it if she knew/found out Tessa was Charles' plant. After all, Charles wouldn't want Shaw to have information on Thaddeus, so if Emma knows Tessa actually answers to Charles the whole equation changes. Besides this, other Telepaths (such as Emma herself) can put psychic shields in someone's head. They aren't perfect or anything and generally need upkeep but doing so would likely last through an encounter with Sage intact, which is all you really need in this scenario. That way Emma doesn't need to give up one of her biggest bargaining chips with Thaddeus too early, she just needs to be present to introduce Sage to Thaddeus and put up some temporary shields in his mind at the same time. That is my opinion at least.
WardforAll
Emma Frost herself. She has complete immunity in her diamond form not to mention her own telepathy. That or the Cuckoos.
Nanaya7Nights
Aren't the Cuckoos quite rebellious though?
owlknight
I know the Cuckoos have already been mentioned but could come with some major benefits cause do they count as one hive mind or do each of the five give him a boost while getting there own boost to the hive mind. I could definitely see Emma wanting to give her pseudo daughters such a boost in power for protection as well to curry favor.
Keeper
That cat people mention just made me remember Emma’s team of teens, the Hellions. Was a girl on that team who could transform into a cat like how the New Mutants had a girl who could transform into a wolf. And they became friends
Keeper
Yeah, Tessa wouldn’t tell Emma that and keep it a secret from both her and Shaw while trying to figure out a way to use that
Nanaya7Nights
On the plus side, this could be an incentive for Emma to plan to steal Thaddeus for her own plans and eventually betray Selene, so she could choose to keep it a secret from Selene
Keeper
The Cuckoos would just barge in after finding out about him, wanting to know what the big deal is with their mommy’s new pet. 5 teen girls are scary enough without powers
Nanaya7Nights
The main problem with anyone under Emma having sex with Thaddeus is that Emma will then discover that Thaddeus grants permanent (stacking?) minor boosts to the enhanced he has sex with. The whole reason Destiny was interested in him to begin with.
Nanaya7Nights
The Cuckoos are rebellious enough already. No need to make things worse by having them decide to mess with Emma's plan.
Keeper
Yeah, could just say her father married an asian woman in this verse so you don’t have to go into the bodyswap. Not like her brother will show up in this
Smile Dip
Well, they did know going in that Thad was a bit of a manwhore
Cambrian
Probably be the one everyone thinks of tbh, but we'll see heh
Keeper
True. The funny twist with Emma would be if him getting the resistance isn’t due to getting psychic powers but because he got her diamond transformation. That way you can save the psychic powers part for later when there are more options(when you could also twist it by having Betsy or Jean give telekinesis instead :P ). If you do go for Psylocke, which version of her will you use? OG british white girl Betsy, Betsy in Kwannon’s body(aka the one everyone thinks of), Kwannon herself as Psylocke or Betsy as Captain Britain? They all have basically the same abilities aside from Kwannon having worse telepathy
Collar Spider
Oh God hahaha 🤣 I didn't even think about Fury
Manic Bulbs
Anaïs, queen of the cat people or Mindblast but I think her's may be her cyborg parts. Or like in the MC2 Earth for Spider Girl, hire Elektra with money so that not only does him pick up mind reading immunity but other handy skills too.
Robert Brown
It would not be just her, but Fury as well....damn now that I think about it it looks like Fury's gonna be getting a lot of porn when he sees Natalie's mission report and recorded and/or live video evidence.
Cambrian
So much fucking :P
Cambrian
Heh probably, but I don't think they would be Emma's answer here, yeah
Cambrian
Glad to hear it! Yeah, I agree 100%. I considered the rooftop convo a product of the closeness of last chapter's vote tbh. Since people seemed pretty split, I wanted to make it clear Thaddeus wasn't entirely fucking up by immediately spilling the beans to Emma xD
Cambrian
Psylocke might have potential if I made her overly beholden to Emma in some way. The main thing that might cause Emma to resort to just fucking Thaddeus herself is information control really. Because right now, Thaddeus and Emma are the only two who know everything there is to know about him. But if she's bringing in another psychic to provide Thaddeus with psychic resistance, they learn a lot about him as well. So she might as well do the deed herself, really.
Cambrian
Tessa/Sage isn't a bad idea, but she's also an example of why Emma might just go with the 'Last Resort' option I had in mind, which is to fuck Thaddeus herself. Because if Thaddeus becomes psychic, then he'll in turn become capable of protecting himself from psychics. Seeing as Tessa is probably still very clearly Shaw's creature right now, I don't know if Emma would bring her into things, knowing that Tessa is psychic as well and would learn a lot about Thaddeus and his powers from his mind. They're trying to keep Thaddeus a secret from the Black King at the moment after all.
Collar Spider
Kinda funny if Natalie did bug his room, she's gonna hear a lot of fucking over the semester.
Nicholas Draper
Presumably any other plants have also been given a briefing about him. Changing how he approaches things will just let them know someone (possibly them) got made which will cause them to start looking into each other or going to more extreme lengths to keep cover. Best to keep the advantage of knowing for certain to just hellfire, so he should act as he always would.
Keeper
Hmm. I might have a few with Hellfire connections. Depends how the universe is. A majority of characters are usually given blocks or taught by psychics like Jean, Emma, Xavier etc(Emma and the Cuckoos also have their diamond form which is totally immune, Mystique is given a natural defense by her powers which isn’t perfect etc). So a lot of them are heroes or working with them. Elizabeth Braddock(aka Psylocke or Captain Britain depending on her role in this universe): Is a member of the Hellfire Club thanks to her father being a member before he died and is a top quality psychic while not near Emma’s level etc due to her also having telekinesis which is hard to use at the same time https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ot-sFPonyuw/WrJrI-swOZI/AAAAAAAAhm8/v4BXJI8IMtU3xvO2-Ii5tHAQEyf7nVl1wCEwYBhgL/s1600/X-Men%2B%2528vol.%2B2%2529%2B%252329%2B-%2BHellfire%2BMembership.png Sage(also known as Tessa): Infiltrator of the Club(who Emma doesn’t know is one)and one of Shaw’s hands. "Tessa" would also be interested in learning what Emma is up to and might agree to a first lesson.
Phraxius
Sleeping with a hive mind sounds like an interesting experience, so I hope so. That said, I doubt Emma would want to facilitate that even if she knew of them and maintained close ties. At least at this stage.
Phraxius
I like how you handled him revealing the truth to her - I don't see him being dumb enough to tattle on Natasha somewhere that's presumably bugged. At least not after the amount of sex he's had.
Rainer Mißbach
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Telepathic_Immunity All Marvel Characters with some form of telepathic immunity or cloaking.
DualEquinox
Sage would be a good pick if she is currently acting as Xavier's plant in Hellfire (unsure where exactly we are timeline-wise to say for sure) as her Psionic Firewall is pretty potent. If Emma finds out/already knows this little tidbit I could see her threatening to rat Sage out to Shaw as leverage to get her into Thaddeus' bed. Plus if Emma is looking to gain Thaddeus' trust, giving him someone who also gives him the ability to read minds back helps to that end. Throw in the Mental Ability Suite/Intelligence Enhancements (making him smarter makes him harder to manipulate by potential plants at the added risk of making it harder for her to do so) and Self-Biokinesis (the Genetic Sight would allow Thaddeus to pick out seduction targets with powers by sight) and it is a neat package of powers that has many potential benefits to Emma's agenda. Plus Sage is really easy to come up with the power boosts for, just unlock the latent powers of her Diana personality. Throw in that Charles may subtly be in favour of Sage getting interment with Thaddeus in hopes of later flipping him and I can see Sage as the choice being a thing.
Hudson Parnell
Are the Cuckoos a thing in this story?
