Jesse really cared about her wife. Stephanie was starting to understand how the rogue criminal ended up living the vigilante life. Maybe she bought into the mission, but Steph was willing to bet it all started with the redhead. Jesse had someone she had to remain beside; someone to keep safe and support to hell and back. It was enviable, but Stephanie could not be the woman who dragged someone good like Jesse into her mess. ”It’s cute to think you’d be the one keeping anyone out of trouble.”

Despite Stephanie’s protests, Jesse wanted to know about Poseidon. It made sense; the man was treated like a myth to those who were unfamiliar with him. He had an air of untouchability, hiding in plain sight in his club, amassing wealth and influence. ”He’s all that, Jesse. If you haven’t met anyone who’s seen him, it’s because you’re not talking to people on his level. He’s smart and persuasive. People follow him because he talks about mutant superiority and everyone knows he’ll do what he has to do to make it happen.”

She tossed her pillow across the room, frustrated with Poseidon’s ability to act with impunity. ”No one cares about the guy’s cruelty. They just know he gets things done and they don’t want to stand in his way. He has money. He has connections. But the ways he can control people, with or without his mutation… that’s what makes him truly terrifying.”

>>”It’s cute to think you’d be the one keeping anyone out of trouble.”

Jesse chuckled at that. Steph did not even know Becca personally, but she was not wrong; the redhead was keeping Jesse out of trouble at least as much as the other way around. And given their respective backgrounds, it made sense that the ex-thief would be the more trouble-prone of the two.

>>”He’s all that, Jesse. If you haven’t met anyone who’s seen him, it’s because you’re not talking to people on his level. He’s smart and persuasive. People follow him because he talks about mutant superiority and everyone knows he’ll do what he has to do to make it happen.”

Jesse frowned. She knew that the drawing power of the Syndicate was not only financial stability and easy pleasures, but also their well-constructed rhetoric of how mutants were superior to humans, and should rule the world. It was alluring to mutants who have been persecuted for what they were - but the relief Poseidon offered was the easy way out, and ultimately not a solution to anything. Not that his followers cared.

>>”No one cares about the guy’s cruelty. They just know he gets things done and they don’t want to stand in his way. He has money. He has connections. But the ways he can control people, with or without his mutation… that’s what makes him truly terrifying.”

Jesse sighed.

"I didn't think I could hate a guy any more without ever having met him" she muttered, resting her forehead against the glass in frustration "But no one's perfect, Steph. Not even him. He's gotta overextend himself, sooner or later..."

Stephanie hated talking about Poseidon. She hated thinking about him, but talking was worse. She had to be careful about what she said because saying the wrong thing meant something different for different people. If she called him a monster to his loyalists, he would find some petty way to punish her. If she exposed too much about him to someone like Jesse, he would find some far more serious way to punish her. In most situations, silence was the best way out of a lose-lose scenario.

Knowing more about Poseidon made Jesse angry rather than fearful. It was a very Jesse way to react, in Stephanie’s opinion. Nobility looked good on her, even if it would likely get her killed—or shattered one day. It was probably somehow responsible for how Jesse got stuck in the mirror if she had to hazard a guess.

It was hard to picture Poseidon over-extending himself. He was so calculated and covered himself too well to make some silly slip-up. It was a nice thought, though. ”I hope so, Jesse. I really do.”

Stephanie sighed as she got to her feet so she could talk face to face with her old friend. ”Listen. You were always good people, Jesse. Even before you started wearing a cape or whatever. Just… don’t do anything stupid. Good, brave, and stupid are a recipe for getting killed, especially with men like him.”

Poseidon was bound to fall. Jesse had to believe that. It was likely that he would overreach, get careless in his power, or make enemies crazy enough to go after him outside the law. Law, Jesse knew, was not going to cut it this time. If law had been enough in affairs involving mutants, the X-men would not have been needed to exist. The Jesse Steph had known back in the day would have laughed herself silly about ideals like hope and justice and whatnot... realizing that she believed in those things now was not any less surreal, even with time and uniform. The redhead rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. There was really not much else to say to Stephanie.

>>”Listen. You were always good people, Jesse. Even before you started wearing a cape or whatever. Just… don’t do anything stupid. Good, brave, and stupid are a recipe for getting killed, especially with men like him.”

"When did I do anything brave?" Jesse grinned, even though the question had not been true for a while. "I have family too, Steph. But it's all the more reason to help someone else out. You have a kid, and some *sshole should not use her as a bargaining chip. He expects us to be selfish. That's what makes him powerful." she frowned "Do you even know what his power is?"

Jesse was agitated, either with Poseidon for existing or Stephanie for being intentionally unhelpful. It was not her choice, she convinced herself; helping the X-Men would put Malia at risk. The choice was a no-brainer, and Jesse, as a parent, had to understand that. It did little to ease the guilty feeling in her stomach that came from knowing she was enabling Poseidon, just like all his other underlings.

As much as the (for the moment) redhead could joke, she was not the same self-serving thief from years before. Stephanie’s efforts to dissuade her from the path of danger were falling on deaf ears. You could not reason with Idealists, and the longer they talked, the more one started to fall for their pretty ideals.

Stephanie had one weak spot and Jesse was prodding it by bringing up Malia. She was outraged that Poseidon would use her as a bargaining chip, and she wanted to do something about it. The great fear was reciprocity. If she acted out against Poseidon, how could she feasibly keep Malia safe.

She wanted a small way to help Jesse. If the X-Men were going to consider a suicide mission, there had to be something she could offer to give them the semblance of a fighting chance. Jesse did not know about Poseidon’s power, and that felt like a safe enough place to start, even if her voice was laced with hesitation. ”Well… he’s not exactly hiding it with a nickname like that. Poseidon manipulates water. Any water. Lakes, rivers, showers, and the water in the human body.”

The memory of Poseidon’s power rendering her immobile was enough to rattle Stephanie, whose slate grey eyes seemed to be absent as she recounted the sensation. ”That’s the terrifying thing. He could smash you with a tidal wave or drown you, but even without all that, he can grab hold of you like a puppet and walk you into traffic.” Stephanie might have had her own way to keep herself safe from Poseidon’s powers, but Malia was likely a long ways away from her own mutation. The moment it happened, assuming it would, if she was lucky enough to have a similar blood-shifting mutation, Stephanie would take Malia and run off, never to return to New York.

Wishful thinking.

There were many legends about the person of Poseidon. Jesse had always been curious how much of them was true, and how much was well-placed PR and fearmongering. People liked to assume the worst about mutants anyway, even the good and upstanding ones, so the guy probably did not have to do much to poke public opinion of himself in the right direction.

>>”Well… he’s not exactly hiding it with a nickname like that. Poseidon manipulates water. Any water. Lakes, rivers, showers, and the water in the human body.”

Jesse frowned. She had guessed the water part, for sure, but elemental mutations like that had a billion and one variations, some more powerful than others. If what Steph was saying was true, this guy had the power to back up his claims.

"Well... damn."

From the look on Steph's face, she had seen those powers too, up close and personal. That implication alone made Jesse's blood boil.

>>”That’s the terrifying thing. He could smash you with a tidal wave or drown you, but even without all that, he can grab hold of you like a puppet and walk you into traffic.”

That was truly horrifying. And no wonder Poseidon rose so high so fast. Charisma and manipulation were all useful and well, but brute force and well-honed powers were definitely an edge a criminal could use. Especially when he had no qualms about using them.

"Let me guess. If you ran, he'd find you."

”Damn is right,” Steph muttered, now sure Jesse understood exactly how dangerous a man like Poseidon could be. Under most circumstances, Stephanie would scoff at the notion that a mutant was inherently more dangerous than his human counterparts. As a rare blend of pure power and ruthlessness, Poseidon was the exception.

The more Stephanie revealed, the better Jesse realized how in deep she really was. ”If I run, he’d find me. I’m still not convinced running to that new universe would keep me safe. He…” Stephanie paused, because she was about to give Jesse information that not many people were privy to yet. Dangerous information she should be keeping to herself, but the tug of doing the “right thing” was preventing her from holding such important details back. ”He is gaining contacts and allies in the other world, Jesse. People with finances, resources, and connections. Soon enough, he’ll have his hands in both underworlds and nothing will happen without his knowledge. I can’t risk running like that. I have one chance at running because I only have one daughter to lose.”

Stephanie’s head dropped as she reminded herself of how thoroughly she was defeated. ”I wish I could help you more, Jesse. I think I can confidently say I hate him more than most. But unless I knew without a shadow of a doubt Malia would be safe, I have to be careful. I’m probably telling you too much already.” She smirked, meeting Jesse’s eyes again. ”I blame the hero thing. Makes people trust you too much.”

>>”Damn is right. If I run, he’d find me. I’m still not convinced running to that new universe would keep me safe."

It was strange, hearing someone refer to another universe, one that existed parallel to theirs, one that they could cross over into like going to the next town over. It was fascinating, the scientific event of the millennium... and yet, people treated it like they would, with criminals seeing it as an opportunity and government seeing it as a thread. Jesse frowned.

>>"He… He is gaining contacts and allies in the other world, Jesse. People with finances, resources, and connections. Soon enough, he’ll have his hands in both underworlds and nothing will happen without his knowledge. I can’t risk running like that. I have one chance at running because I only have one daughter to lose.”

Poseidon was playing the big game. Both worlds, both underworlds. Jesse wondered who his doppelganger was on the other side, and whether they were a criminal mastermind too. The last thing they needed was to have two Poseidons running the mafia...

>>”I wish I could help you more, Jesse. I think I can confidently say I hate him more than most. But unless I knew without a shadow of a doubt Malia would be safe, I have to be careful. I’m probably telling you too much already. I blame the hero thing. Makes people trust you too much.”

"I like to believe it's my natural charm." Jesse smirked, although it was a little faint "Don't do anything stupid, Steph. I'll see what we can do on our end. We'll make it safe for you if we can. I'll try my darnest, anyway." she sighed "I should probably go. You have stuff to do."

Jesse understood Stephanie’s fears, and she was not going to give the thief a hard time for prioritizing her loved ones over the bigger picture. Maybe she could empathize as a parent or maybe she simply understood Stephanie was beyond convincing. Regardless of the reasons, it was nice to have Jesse’s support; it was a resource she found herself lacking in recent years.

Steph managed to chuckle, but it only masked how grateful she was to Jesse. ”Please, you’re the one with the market cornered on stupid things. Brave, stupid things.” Then again, maybe brave, stupid people were the only thing that could stop cold, ruthless tyrants.

In place of a handshake, Stephanie did what felt like the next best thing, placing her hand against the glass. ”Thanks for… well, everything, I guess. It was nice seeing you Jesse,” she said warmly, adding, ”Make sure to remind that ginger of yours that she really picked a diamond out of the rough with you.” Poseidon could not catch her committing a thoughtcrime, so if all Steph could do was mentally root for Jesse and the X-Men, she would be their most adamant silent supporter.

>>”Please, you’re the one with the market cornered on stupid things. Brave, stupid things.”

"I know. I should really get back into the thieving business. Much nicer." Jesse sighed. Once upon a time, life had been so easy. It came down to artifacts being exchanged for cash. Those were the days. Suddenly she felt a million years old, like a stay-at-home mom having a book club meeting with other stay-at-home moms. Plus evil mutant mob bosses. And such.

>>”Thanks for… well, everything, I guess. It was nice seeing you Jesse. Make sure to remind that ginger of yours that she really picked a diamond out of the rough with you.”

"And your kid's very lucky to have a smart mom like you." Jesse smiled back, before she got ready to leave "Stay safe, Steph. I'll be in touch when we know more."

It was a mission now, whether Steph liked it or not. Someone had to put the brakes on Poseidon...