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Emma crossed one high heel over the other and let out a slight sigh. Since Krakoa and all its mutant inhabitants had been sent to the future she’d been in meeting after meeting. First the Quiet Council wanted to speak to her, then the Hellfire Club— or Hellfire Trading Company as it was now called. The company had been in contact with her about hosting yet another gala. This was of course to raise funds for more mutant based projects.
After those two meetings the tall blonde found herself in the company of a handful of different heros. Some represented the mutant race while others certainly were not, considering the loud foul mouthed rat at the table.
Emma hummed to herself and rubbed the rim of her wine glass. She needed to take the edge off, there was too much testosterone in the room. Frost examined her glass, there was no blue lipstick left behind from her sip. Acceptable.
The telepath then closed her eyes and allowed for her mind to scan the room. She allowed herself to briefly listen to others’ thoughts.
The gunned rat seemed to be missing his team and going on adventures with them in space.
A bearded man in white wished to see his wife. He thought she’d be upset he missed another date.
None of this was juicy enough for Emma, the woman had standards after all.
Next she chose a burly blonde with a braided beard. He was rotating a hammer of sorts in his mind.
Emma frowned. Was anybody going to be worth reading?
The tall woman stood up, not caring about the meeting. If nobody else was listening to the words of Captain Rogers then why should she.
All eyes went to her and she was delighted at the attention given to her. A wave of confusion rolled towards the telepath with each person questioning what she was going in varying levels of amusement.
That was all, but the small scientist who had his face down writing with fervor on a notepad.
“Ahem” Frost coughed.
A chorus of voices all responded in “bless you”.
Still the short brunette continued to write, not noticing the woman’s faux cough.
Emma rolled her eyes and turned on a perfectly manicured heel.
Emma didn’t think about the little brunette twink after that. Not in any way that she’d admit to at least. She was the White Queen after all and that meant something.
That didn’t stop her of course from staring at said brunette at the next meeting. He of course was scribbling on the same notepad. Emma glared, he was wearing the same purple button down with it closed up to his delicate throat. He also had a pocket protector.
He was a total fashion disaster.
Emma continued to glare at the man and decided that now was the time if any to read his mind.
When she reached out she couldn’t get a grasp on him. It was as if his psyche were coated in a slippery substance. Frost frowned, she’d always been gifted in the art of telepathy. What had changed?
The man suddenly stopped writing and made direct eye contact with the mutant. Blue eyes met brown.
Or maybe blue eyes met green? For a second Emma thought they changed before she blinked and they went back to a deep honey color.
The man then went back to writing as if their brief interaction had never occurred.
Strange.
Emma looked at her nails which were painted the same shade of blue as her lips. If the little man wanted to play games then she’d show him why she was always the victor.
It was Erik’s turn to ramble at the meeting, Emma tried to block him out. He was probably bitching about Xavier and their not so secret love affair.
The blonde waited until everyone had left the room to make her move. The brunette was the only other person in the room and was attempting to straighten the loose pieces of his notebook.
“You,” Emma stepped towards him.
The man jerked and spilled his papers on the floor. They floated down as the man looked up at the larger woman.
“Uh.. Hi?” the man’s eyes were wide.
“Don’t play innocent with me,” the blonde gently cupped the man’s cheek.
In response the man tried to move back. Emma held her grip.
“What are you talking about?” the man’s brows knit together.
“Darling. I know you’re wearing a device like Erik’s to prevent me from reading your mind. Now tell me where you got it,” Emma smiled at him sharply.
“You mean Magneto? Uh I don’t have anything like that. I also don’t move metal with my mind either,” the man replied.
“Right of course not darling,” the woman replied while using her other hand to check the man’s hairline.
There was no device that Emma could see. Instead of finding evidence all the woman could accomplish was messing up the man’s already tousled hair.
“So what’s your name?” the man asked while Emma attempted to remove her fingers from his hair.
“Emma,” she removed her hand from his face to unravel a piece of hair that was wrapped around her other hand.
“I’m Robert, but you can call me Bruce,” the man attempted to straighten his glasses.
Emma finally freed her hands from his hair and completely rightened his frames.
“A very masculine name for a man of your frame darling,” Frost teased.
“Uh…thank you?” the man wrung his hands together nervously.
“You’re always welcome,” Emma smiled and then pushed the man’s backside into the meeting table, “unless you're lying to me of course,”.
The man stiffened, half of his body pressed into the table side while the other was pinned by the larger woman.
“I told you the truth,” his hands stilled and were now fists.
“We’ll see dear,” Emma felt up the man’s tie until she reached the top where his first shirt button sat and then she let go.
Emma’s heels clicked on the floor as she exited the room. Behind her she could hear Bruce suck in a breath harshly.
Poor boy, she’d almost given him a heart attack.
While Emma wasn’t a fan of the Quiet Council she couldn't deny that she was ready for their next meeting. Originally the group had twelve members, all mutants. Now the only members who remained were herself, Erik, and Ororo.
The reason for her desire to speak to them was of course to gain valuable information. Of course the information was of the selfish nature, she wanted to know more about the Bruce character.
He could be dangerous after all.
Or he could be a new plaything.
Anything goes.
“I believe we may have another threat,” Frost began.
“On Krakoa?” Ororo asked.
“Perhaps,” the blonde replied.
“Spit it out Frost,” the old man pressured her.
“Fine. There’s a man whose mind I can’t read. It leads me to believe that he could be dangerous,” Emma tucked a blonde strand behind her ear.
“Does he happen to turn into a giant green monster?” Erik’s voice was tired and he drug a hand across his face.
“I don’t believe so?” what kind of question was that?
“Okay let’s try this again. Is the man short with glasses? Constantly wears the same purple shirt no matter what?” Erik rubbed his eyebrow.
“Er— yes. That sounds about right,” Emma sucked the inside of her cheeks.
“Oh gods. She’s speaking of Doctor Banner isn’t she,” Storm caught on.
“Banner is the man I’ve been trying to get tested on Krakoa to see if he carries the X-gene since the timestream got tangled. You can’t read his mind because not even Charles can. He carries that monster in his head and it runs interference,” Magneto explained.
Emma frowned, it was difficult to imagine Bruce as a monster. The man was so small he almost seemed breakable, definitely not the giant Erik was detailing.
Emma hummed to herself and walked to the back of the room. On the wall was a list of dates and times different convoys were escorted to aid in the battle against Doom.
The blonde flattened a finger and drug it across the material until she found the name she was looking for. Satisfied the telepath exited the room, it wasn’t like she was going to miss anything important anyways.
It was incredibly easy to find Banner, all she had to do was go to the general vicinity that was listed. Within the first thirty seconds of her being there she heard the first roar.
She whipped her head upwards to see a giant green man flying in the air while ripping apart a doom bot. The creature landed and the ground shook. He threw the pieces of the robot around before getting bored of it and turning towards Emma.
“Hello there Rob— Bruce. It’s Emma from before I—” Emma stopped her speech as the beast began to stand to his full height.
The blonde had always been the tallest person in every room in the Hellfire club, but now she felt minuscule. The green man was easily over eight feet tall and was a hulking mass of muscle. His posture was poor though and almost like an ape as he had a slight forward slouch.
“Hulk,” the green man pressed a flat hand towards himself.
“Pardon me?” Emma’s perfectly shaped eyebrows knit together.
“Hulk,” the man pressed into himself again, then he pointed an open hand at her.
“Oh gods. I’m Emma and so you’re Hulk? Correct?” the woman asked.
Hulk nodded his head with more vigor than necessary. Now she was getting somewhere.
“So are you and Bruce the same person?” Emma was genuinely curious.
“Hulk is Hulk. Banner is puny. Hulk not puny,” the giant didn’t speak with proper grammar, but Emma understood all the same.
“May I speak to Banner?” Emma batted her curled eyelashes at the green man.
“Blonde lady have sand in eye. Hulk have job,” Hulk gestured at the convoy.
“I’ll help you then,” Emma nodded, slightly peeved that her flirtatious gesture was ignored.
The two walked in mostly silence, Hulks large footsteps making the most sound.
“So were you born like this or did you mutate?” Emma asked, trying to make conversation.
“Hulk is Hulk,” the giant replied this time louder than his last.
“Right, right. I’m sorry darling,” Emma should’ve expected that much as a response.
Soon the pair met the exchange point where Hulk was relieved of his duty and the rat took over. Emma grabbed the giant’s large hand and pulled him away from the rodent.
Hulk looked down at the smaller pink hand in his own, “Blonde lady tiny,”.
Emma took her hand back, she didn’t know how to feel about that.
Frost decided now was the perfect opportunity to try to read the brute’s mind. She locked eyes with him and attempted to push forward. She sighed in defeat once she realized it was still impossible.
“I can’t read you,” frowned.
“Hulk reads you,” the giant replied.
“Oh? And what is that supposed to mean darling?” she was curious.
“Hulk smell lies,” Hulk shrugged.
“You are full of surprises now aren’t you, Jade Jaws?” the blonde looked up at the man.
Hulk huffed in reply.
“So am I,” Emma reached a hand upwards towards the man and turned it to diamond.
“Blonde lady shiny!” Hulk clapped his hands in excitement causing a mini shockwave that Emma’s hand was impervious to.
“Gods you are strong,” Emma turned the rest of her body to stone.
Hulk seemed impressed by this as he slowly reached his arm out. He looked like a chimp trying to pet a baby kitten.
“Go on darling. You can’t break me like this,” Emma egged him on.
Hulk touched her softly with one finger and then quickly retracted the digit.
“Shiny lady,” he said again in awe.
“Now that I’ve shown you my trick it’s only polite that you let me see Banner,” Emma smiled.
Hulk shrugged and then he began to loose mass and his green hue. Bruce began to topple over and Emma caught him in her very solid arms.
“I’m hallucinating,” Bruce moaned as Emma attempted to straighten him.
“No you’re not. It’s Emma, from before,” Frost got the bare chested man on his feet.
“The one who threatened me? Look if you’ve come to kill me can it at least wait until I get done cleaning my test tubes. It’s not sanitary to le—” Banner began.
“I didn’t come to kill you or anything. And also that was so nerdy it was almost sad. A pathetic life you live for a doctor,” Emma chuckled.
“Wow that was… mean. So why are you here then?” the man squinted up at the much larger woman.
“I’m here to invite you to the Hellfire Gala of course. You’ll be my plus one,” Emma shone in the sunlight.
“I’m busy tonight my test—” Bruce started.
Emma wrapped her diamond hands around the smaller man’s mouth, “I’m so glad you’ll be there darling. I would be so disappointed if you refused,”.
Bruce’s dark eyes widened.
“You aren’t going to disappoint me are you, dear?” Emma asked leaning down closer to the scientist.
Bruce shook his head ‘no’.
“Good boy,” Emma took her hand away and changed into her more human form, “I’ll pick you up,”.
It shouldn’t have been surprising to Bruce that Emma would arrive late. He’d been pacing the floor for well over an hour and running his sweaty palms through his hair.
He was both relieved and horrified when she opened the front door of his house, mainly because she didn’t knock and instead took the door off its hinges.
“Whoops, sorry darling. I was just so excited I let my strength get the best of me,” Emma smiled.
Bruce attempted to smile back, but could feel his anxiety slip through his mask.
“Gods you look a mess,” Emma strutted towards him in a dress that revealed more than it covered.
Bruce diverted his attention away from her body, but had his face push towards her as she attempted to straighten his hair.
The man closed his eyes in order to maintain some of his sanity while the woman groomed him. He was a scientist for fucks sake.
“Darling, pocket protectors don’t go with suits. Also your shoes are untied,” Emma assessed.
Bruce felt a flush go up his back. Of course you don’t wear those to nice occasions. He’d been on the run for so long before joining the resistance, that any type of cooth had left him years ago.
Bruce quickly got to his knees to tie his shoe. He noticed while tying the bunny loop that the woman’s thighs were twice the size of his head, he gulped.
“Hurry now, we’re late,” Emma scooped the man up as if he were her purse dog and carried him by his waist to the limo.
Bruce shifted uncomfortably in the expensive vehicle placing a finger in between his tie and his throat.
“Don’t be nervous doctor, we haven’t gotten to the good part yet,” she then popped open a bottle and began to pour herself and Banner a glass.
Bruce gave her a tight lipped smile and sipped on the glass. He didn’t want to be ungrateful although he hardly drank. Alcohol reminded him of his father and the hardships of his early life.
“So, who are you?” Bruce asked, trying to ease his own nerves.
“Telepath, constructor, and transformer into a shiny diamond. You know, the usual mutant stuff,” Emma took a sip.
“I mean who are you ,” Bruce tried again.
Emma’s throat caught on her drink, “I like to put on elaborate events, dress to the nines, an—” she was cut off.
“No. Who are you,” Bruce gestured to her.
This gave the woman pause.
“You obviously care for mutant rights. I mean you coordinated this whole event for it after all. And you must be a good instructor if you have the respect of Erik and Ororo. Plus you seem to see the best in people, or else someone else would be in the car with you,” Bruce clarified.
“You make me seem more kind than I actually am, Bruce,” Emma downed her glass.
“I’m sorry if I stepped out of line. I’m not very good at the whole human interaction thing. Or human thing in general,” the physicist rubbed the back of his neck.
“I’d say you’re more human than most men,” Emma pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
Entering the building to an already bustling party was a special type of hell for introverts like Bruce. For Emma though it seemed to be the spotlight she’d been desiring. The woman directed the lights to her as she entered the room and transformed into her diamond form.
The light made her shine brightly and reflected beautiful rainbows in her wake. Behind her Bruce stared pale faced as he looked at her with pure awe. That was until the light briefly dipped to him and he attempted to flee only to get his arm grabbed by a diamond hard grip.
“Only monsters fear the light darling,” Emma pulled him closer to her.
Soon Bruce was looking up at the much taller woman who was the center of everyone’s attention. And for once the man didn’t feel uncomfortable, he was where he was supposed to be.
The pair danced together for a few hours until the guests started to leave. Then they made their way to the balcony, Emma resumed her humanoid form.
“You sure know how to throw a party,” Bruce leaned onto the woman’s shoulder.
“You should’ve seen last years. It was intense, Erik and Xavier had a huge public fight,” Emma giggled at the lovers quarrel.
“I’m sorry if Hulk scared you earlier, he told he all about the Shiny lady,” Bruce looked up at the blonde.
“He’s fine dear. He just seemed a little confused about everything,” Emma cupped the back of the man’s head with a large hand.
“He’s a kid you know. About five or six probably,” the physicist replied.
“That’s interesting, I didn’t know that. It makes sense though,” Frost stroked his head.
“Most people don’t, they think he’s an attack dog. Not you though, you spoke to him first. Thank you for that,” Bruce smiled.
“Human decency shouldn’t be thanked darling,” Emma then wrapped an arm around the man.
The two stayed intertwined and overlooked Krakoa below. They watched as the sun slowly began to rise, a bright red glow.
“I—” Bruce began.
“I know,” Emma gripped the back of his head and pressed their mouths together.
Emma grabbed Bruce off of his tiptoes to continue their kiss as the day began anew.