Bad News Beauties (Maxine)

People were not being nearly stupid enough lately. What she needed was a councilman who was hiding his mutation for nefarious ends, or a unicorn whose church was a front for something more than a soup kitchen; an evil assassin laying low at a school, or a dramatic shakeup in the dark underbelly of the mutant supremacist world. Hell, she'd even settle for an expose on the M drug, if something new would just happen with it. But alas, nothing of the sort was brewing in the Big Apple.

What she had was a low-level do gooder in tights. A PR pusher. Honestly, Maxine felt a little dirty.

She had the front desk secretary send the girl on up; at the elevator doors on the nineteenth floor, the red-headed reporter met her charge with the most welcoming of smiles.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Rebecca. You would not believe how excited I am to have you on the show. Can I get you anything before we start? Water, coffee, soda?"

A noose? God, if something didn't go down in this city soon, she'd have to start doing re-runs. The Isabel Kiss special was always good for ratings...

The accent. Oh lord, the accent. It was like... someone had shoved gumdrop into her precious little mouth, mashed around her cheeks with affectionate hands, and then set her to chattering. How adorable.

"Oh no, it's not thick at all," the reporter replied flawlessly, leading the way down the hallway. "And keep the mask on—definitely. I like to think of a good news report like a story—it has to start with a little mystery to hook the viewers."

Or with a little flesh.

"Is the skirt a normal part of your costume?" Maxine asked, sweetly. "I wouldn't want to make you dress up special for this—I try to run a really authentic program; to give New York City a real look at what mutants are like. It's my own way of carrying the rights banner."

This girl was all about mutant rights, wasn't she? She and Maxine were practically two peas in a redheaded pod.

The redheaded reporter kept up the utmost of sympathetic gazes as Rebecca slowly, modestly, haltingly talked herself out of her own clothing. Was this how strippers got started? If she'd known it would be that easy, she would have tried asking while the tape was rolling.

Oh well; live and learn. She scooped up the skirt before Chastity Grey could shimmy it back over those hips.

"Here, I'll keep track of this. Oh, your costume is just gorgeous," Maxine gushed. "Is it one of Kealey's designs? She's already been on my program, you know. You X-Men do such good for the community, I try to get you on whenever I can."

Or whenever she was looking for filler, and an X-girl was willing and able. Not that she was opposed to scantly clad X-menfolk. In fact, that might make a good special, come this summer...

"Oh yes, mostly outreach and X-Men talk. Why else would I call you in?" Maxine smiled reassuringly, and opened up a door along the hallway. "Ah, here we are. Ladies first."

Inside was a small but comfortable filming room, made for interviews like this. On one half of the room was a polished wooden floor, two chairs, and an unassumingly bland backdrop; where the wood floor ended, practical concrete and a tangle of equipment and wires took over for the other half. A cameraman stood by, running quick equipment checks.

His name was Gabriel; he was a senior in photojournalism at NYU, and one of the Wolf News interns. Maxine liked working with the interns; they treated her like a meal ticket, rather than an upstart. Gabriel's job was to flash his Soothing Smile™ from behind the camera whenever their little red dove here started looking like she needed a distraction. Gabriel made for a nice distraction.

A smile spread across his lips as they came in; he offered his hand to Rebecca. Maxine introduced them as they set Rebecca up with a clip-on microphone.

"When you've got a cameraman that looks like that, why pick anyone else?" Maxine grinned, whispering right on back as Gabriel did the final checks. Not that she intended to get too chummy with the X-girl, just... she could appreciate a girl who could appreciate a man.

"Why don't you take a seat? Just keep your eyes on me or Gabriel when we start; don't worry about the camera. Ready?"

Gabriel gave them a thumb's up; they were good to good. Maxine tossed the skirt to him, took her own seat, and pointed a pleasant smile at the lens.

"This is Maxine Ralls, Wolf News. With me tonight is our very own hometown super hero, Lodestone of the X-Men."

"Lodestone, let's start easy, with something I'm sure all the regulars out in the audience have always wondered—how does a super hero pick their name?"

Maxine had no intentions of making Miss Lodestone here look bad, by the time taping was a wrap. She had no intentions of making her look good, either. The outcome of this interview was entirely in the Scottish girl's hands. Like any good interviewer, Maxine was only there to ask questions.

Like any bored interviewer, she was hoping to keep the questions interesting enough that the answers kept her awake.

" 'The leading stone,' " Maxine repeated, rolling it around on her tongue like a cat enjoying cream. "That's a good name. What kind of leader do you see yourself as being?"

The experienced members. Like Kealey and Mirror.

Kealey: the X-Team's unofficial seamstress, who poured her Irish heart into every stitch of polyester, and had notebooks full of concept sketches that could have come straight from a modern comic book studio. Very millennial hero. She was right around Maxine's age. Read: not old.

Mirror: the young knight, who could only ride to the rescue as long as she stayed in 18+ establishments.

There were so many snarky questions, just begging to be asked.

How would you describe the X-Men? Are they more of an offshoot of the Mansion's student council, or an urban youth club?

How many of your 'experienced members' are above the legal drinking age?

She let that one lay, though she tucked it away for another day. X-Men, promoters of vigilante actions amongst the city's mutant youth? Tune in some slow, slow Friday for the full report.

"What is it about less fortunate mutants that you would change?" The red head asked, following up on the girl's second comment.