The building looked no better on the inside than the out. It looked quite liable to collapse, and where there not other mutants in here he might have tried to do just that. Instead he sat at a flimsy table as a big guard stood behind him. It wasn’t the man’s size that worried him, but the remote attached to his belt.

A box of stuff was placed in front of him. He was told to sort it into valuable and rubbish. What he wasn’t told was how to tell one from the others, so he began guessing as he pulled out watches, bracelets, earrings and all manner of other items that people had brought.

Terry walked into the building, hoping that the monster she'd met with the oral hygiene issue (Grunt) hadn't followed her there. She was really ticked, mainly because she was starved. Imagine being abducted when you were about to start lunch. In simple words, not gratifying, if gratifying was a simple word.
"I hate this place... I hate this place... I hate this place...", she chanted softly under her breath, as she stopped before an ugly bench. A box, not as ugly as the bench was placed in front of her, with a lot of stuff in it. It would be interesting if she could get to smuggle some of this stuff, but that would be impossible under the watchful eye of the guards.

As she started sorting, she suddenly noticed the guy working opposite her. Okay, since he was doing work, he must also be a mutant. Terry wished she had some form of telepathy, but then she shook it off. If she tried using her powers, or even if she was telepathic and tried making a connection, she was likely to get shocked half to death. She watched him for a while, and then received a rough tap on the back of her head, by the baton of a guard. That simply meant: "get back to work!" She just hated feeling helpless, but there was nothing she could do. So, she started sorting out the stuff, in the best way she could.

Michael saw the woman sit down opposite him and offered her a smile. He continued to try and sort the stuff, but was struggling to tell what was valuable and what was junk. Exasperated he looked up an asked the woman, “Hey, how much do you think this is worth?” He held out a watch that could either be expensive or a rip off, but he wasn’t sure which. In response the guard smashed him across the head with his baton. “No talking.” The burly man grunted.

“I’m sorry,” replied Michael calmly as he turned to face the guard, “But we’ve been asked to sort the valuables from the trash right?” The guard responded by punching Michael in the face. Undaunted he continued, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t know whether this is real of not.” The guard hit him again, Michael ignored it, “If you let me talk with her we can work together and get a much better sort of this stuff, allowing us to work faster.”

The guard hit him twice more before the one behind the woman said, “The mutie’s got a point. Let them get on with it.” Turning back Michael nodded his thanks to the guard and held up the watch again. “So what do you reckon?” he asked, “Jewel or junk?”

Terry was able to flash a smile back at the man, before hastily resuming her work. She did not want any more rappings on the head; her headache was annoying enough. She looked up when the man offered her a wristwatch for appraisal, and was just going to reply, when the man was brutally struck from behind. She was surprised that he didn't go sprawling, and was even more surprised at the calm way he continued speaking, without showing any pain, even with the constant battering.

"He must be one of the impervious types... cool!

She actually nearly smirked at the frustrated look on the guard's face, when he noticed that he wasn't doing any damage to the mutant. But she just kept the expression off her face, just in case any of the guards noticed. She wasn't impervious...

She looked back at the man, as he handed her the wristwatch again. At least, they had been authorized to talk; that was a start. She took the wristwatch from him, and turned it over in her palm, carefully examining it. She then handed it back to him with a slight shrug.

"Umm, junk, more or less. It looks a little convincing, but the gold's started to flake off already at this edge... it's all about perspective, though. Some people would consider it useful, so long it works."

Michael took a look at the edge she pointed to and did see that there was flaking gold. “I’m gonna say junk on this one,” said Michael, and he tossed it into his junk pile, “I’m going with valuable being measured in money, not usefulness.”

“Name’s Michael,” he said casually as he rummaged through his box for another item. There was no way they could just have a straight conversation, but if they slipped it in around work talk they might get away with it. Pulling out a pair of earrings he held them up asking, “What about these? I’m no expert on women’s jewelry.”

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Terry," she replied, while taking the earrings from Michael to observe them. They looked authentic... not exactly. She lifted the earrings, bringing them closer to her face.

"Um, these 'diamonds' look scratched. Kinda. If they were real, they shouldn't go all scratchy like that. Would mean they're probably fake, too." She held the earrings back to Michael. "Even if this was gold, which I doubt it is, using fake stones kinda lowers the face value, don't you think?"

She then began sorting out the stuff in the box before her. It was filled with all sorts of stuff, most of them garbage. As she picked up an item for unscrutinizing, she noticed a metal file, hidden beneath some stuff. Hmmm, that could prove useful, but the problem would be smuggling it out. It wasn't a large item, but if she tried moving it, definitely, one of the guards would notice. Shuffling slightly, so that Michael's body was blocking the guard behind him from seeing what she was doing, she held up the file slightly, hoping he would get the message. The guard behind her wouldn't see this, because he wasn't looking over her shoulder. Maybe she could get an idea from Michael...
Dang! It would be so cool, if they had a coded way of passing information. For now, slight gestures would just have to do.

Tossing aside the earrings he went rummaging for the next item of interest when Terry showed him the file. Now that would be useful. Reaching into her box he grabbed a Game Boy that was next to the file. Now that his hand was obscuring the view of the file he pressed it into her palm with his finger tips. It was small enough for her to conceal it beneath her hand and then hide on her person.

“Now this I do know about,” Michael said confidently, “how come you get the box with all the cool stuff and I get all the jewellery?” Hopefully he was making enough of a distraction for Terry to smuggle the file.

"Heh... you can't get everything you want in life, can you?" She raised her hands to push back some strands of hair from her face, and actually let the file slip into her sleeves. Hopefully, the guards would not notice this, because while the guard behind Michael was still being blocked by Michael's body, the guard behind her couldn't see through her hands; she made sure the back of her hand was facing him. Having done this, she kept her arms pressed at her sides. The file was somewhere around her forearms, so she had to be careful. Her elbows could and would do all the work, and if any of the guards were to suspect anything, she would come up with an excuse, or do something much more convincing, but more painful. Besides, what did the guards know about 'muties'?

She gave Michael a knowing grin, and said: "Who told you girls didn't play 'Gameboy's, anyway?"

Inwardly, she prayed that this would go through smoothly. Her next plan was to find a secluded place, where she could better hide the file, but for now, she would play along, while her mind was at work. Thank goodness these guards weren't telepaths!

“Never said they didn’t,” Michael replied with a smile. He was actually smiling about the fact that she had managed to hide the file. “This is a relatively old one though, a Game Boy Colour, rather than an Advance or DS. Still, it’s in good condition and with a classic Pokemon game inside it’s still worth something.”

Putting the Game Boy over with the valuables he said, “Well let’s see what other goodies we can find in your box of treats shall we?” He’d already rummaged through his box and failed to find any items that could help them escape. Hopefully they’d find some more in hers.

Pokemon, huh? Her brother had nearly driven her mad with all that stuff. Well, that was by the way. It would appear that there was nothing of much importance (concerning escape) in the box. It was possible that there would be some items that would prove useful, but so far, Terry hadn't seen any other item. That was because she hadn't really searched.

Pulling Michael's box over to her side, so that the guards would not get any notions, she began to sort out the jewelery that graced the box. So far, quite a good number of them were not the real deal. Terry wondered how many fakes were being circulated in the market.

Looking over at Michael, she asked:
"Um, were you part of any team? Like the X-men, or any others?"

She wasn't just curious; she wanted to find out if there was any chance that other mutants would come to bust them out, or whether they were on their own, in this place.

Michael gave her a smile as he found a fluffy rabbit in his box. “While I’m sure that someone values this very much, I don’t think that’s enough to justify it as valuable,” he said as he set the stuffed toy aside.

“I had tried out for the X-men,” he said in answer to her question, “but all this kicked off before I found out if I got anywhere.” He didn’t add that he’d seen almost every X-man captured and brought into the camps.

She nodded slightly.

"So, I guess we still have hope, huh? I had just gotten to the Mansion, like, uh... a new recruit, and then I got nabbed, even before I could get my badge."

She sighed slightly, and rummaged through her box. She had only spent a day there, but she was getting tired of the whole place. Even a masochist wouldn't enjoy this place.

"Please, X-men, anybody... come soon and get us outta here..."