Flipping through the folder with the upcoming mission in it Sam frowned slightly, it was one that had been overdue for some time after all, how many officers of the law fell to the power of mutants who used their power for their own personal enjoyment? Way to many in his opinion statistics he guessed would show that of all the new recruits had an 85% chance death rate within the first year. It seemed to him before long people would stop applying for a job with the NYPD and eventually the city would fall into chaos due to the lack of officers. It was then he decided that things needed to happen which was why he was so glad to dish out the mission.

Waiting for Luke and Ghost in the war room Sam twiddled his thumbs slightly as he looked over the information again. They were to meet with the chief of police and offer an olive branch of sorts in an attempt to help prevent the number of police officers from dwindling. In theory if the meeting proves to be successful anytime the NYPD runs into a skirmish with an over aggressive mutant the X-Men would then be called onto the scene to help contain the situation and help decrease damage both to the city and the police force.

Even if he wanted to personally be on this mission he picked two members of the team that he would be perfect in his opinion for the mission. Any number greater than two in his opinion would seem that they were trying to muscle their way in and any number less than two-decreased creditability. Ghost had an honest face and from what he could gather already had a run in with the police, and then there was Luke a face to a respectable company, one that they could do research on to check out his credibility, all in all Sam thought that these two would be perfect for this mission.

Pi-di-pi-di-pi~! Ghost scrabbled at the phone on her bedside table, though it was rather hard to reach from the floor. Morning. She looked at the screen after she caught the slippery phone in hand and it reminded her the time and of today's appointments.

8a Sam: Meeting Rm

She scrubbed at her eyes and set the phone on the floor as she rolled over onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling. Sam'd said to keep the rest of her day free. She had an X-mission after their meeting. It sounded a little more important than graffiti clean up. That stuff was important, but Sam had seemed really... focused. And he wasn't spilling the beans to her until meeting time. Meany-face.

So she went through her morning routine. Wake up. Assess where she'd woken up. Find her shower and toothbrush. Find clothes. What did one wear on an X-mission? Hopefully not those ghastly leather get ups. They didn't breathe enough for Ghost's tastes. In the end she chose something sort of professional looking, it was pretty much all she owned now a days anyway. Flat front dark grey slacks, a light turquoise shirt, and a loose mauve cravat. Bottom that out with some spiffy black flats and she fit as an office lady.

Ghost wandered through the kitchen and picked up a mug of tea and something crumbly and sweet on her way to the meeting room. "Yo, boss. What's the skinny?" She found a seat across from the the ominous manilla folder and proceeded to pick at her crumbly morning confection.

Luke was whistling a happy tune as he moved around his apartment. Not only was his sonar back where he could use it but he had been restored to his very own body once again. After all the drama and craziness that had been a part of his life for the last few months he was looking forward to a little more normalcy. Even though he was head of the family company now, he was starting to step into the shadows already, allowing Miss Deborah Langstan to take charge. She was probably the person he trusted most in the company and he knew that she would make sure everything ran smoothly. If there were any questions she could of course contact him but she was so experienced that those sorts of questions rarely came up.

After fixing a travel mug of coffee with extra cream, sugar, and just a little bit of chocolate syrup, Luke grabbed the keys to his motorcycle and headed out the door. He was dressed casually in brown loafers, khaki pants, white t-shirt and untucked light blue hawaiian shirt with yellow pinaples and palm trees all over it. His sunglasses were settled firmly on the bridge of his nose and in a relatively short time he was straddling his means of transportation. After taking one last sip of the highly caffeinated liquid, Luke sealed the cup and stowed it in messenger bag he had thrown around his shoulders. Kick starting the engine, Luke slowly rolled out of his parking space and headed for the street.

***

The drive to the mansion was relatively short and sweet and all to soon Luke found himself parking next to the mansion steps. Retrieving his coffee, Luke jogged up the steps and then made his way to the Meeting Room that the X-Men knew was really their War Room. Why in the world CS had decided to start calling it a Meeting Room was anyone's guess but Luke didn't really worry about it. He was just a regular X-Man which meant he followed the team leader's orders. It was an easy way to live and for the moment it was how he liked it.

"'Morning." He said pleasantly as he walked in and took a seat across the table from Ghost. After momentarily brushing the young woman with his sonar, just to see where she was, Luke pulled it back in tightly so that it covered the table right in front of him and then extended out to where Sam sat. That should keep Ghosty comfortable while still allowing him to know what was going. "So what's up CS? Problem?"

(OOC: I don’t know if anyone has made a NPC Police Commissioner but let me know and I’ll edit my post)

As both Ghost and Luke entered the War Room and sat down Sam smiled and said, ”First mission for the two of you after your promotions, that is the skinny.” smirking to Ghost and sliding a folder with a picture of the current commissioner and then in turn sliding a copy to Luke. ”You both open your folders and turn to the first page you’ll notice some scary statistics regarding the NYPD,” pausing Sam opened his folder in turn and then looked at the small line graph that showed the dramatic decrease in officers over the past few years.

”For some time now I wanted to set a meeting up with Commissioner Wellings regarding the drastic drop in officers since after the registration and slightly before. For two long their numbers have been dropping and I would like to make a change. In the past month alone there had been over 227 deaths in the department alone this number in my opinion is 227 too much, I want that number to drop next to nothing….” pausing and taking out the picture that all the folders Sam cleared his throat and continued, ”Now the picture here is of Commissioner Wellings and as I said before I wanted to set up a meeting with him for some time, seeing as he is a busy man today was the day they returned my call and we set up an appointment, in two hours time I want you to head to One Police Plaza located across the street from city hall in downtown Manhattan. You will be escorted into the building by his private security and from there you will be checked for weapons or any kind, now they are aware that you're mutants and I want you to do your best to make sure they won't have anything to fear.”

Sam of coarse had no doubts that they would do anything to upset the officers but he felt it needed to be said more as an issue of protocol. ”From there they will escort you to Wellings office where your meeting will begin.” pausing for a moment Sam looked back down to the picture and scanned over the mans face yet again he was of the wide shouldered variety but was obvious he had something similar to a desk job gut which in Sam’s opinion. But when he looked at his hardened face it was obvious that he could be intimidating. Short Brown hair slightly balding and a longer nose than most, green eyes and a scar from god knows what running down his left cheek to his chin.

Looking from the picture and back to the pair Sam continued, ”Once you meet and put the side talk aside I wanted you to give him this…” Sam pulled out a phone and put it on the table and slide it down the table in-between the pair, it was small but was durable and had the insignia of the X-Men on it. ”This is a two way communicator so they can get in touch with us when need be, once you give it to him I want you to offer our services by letting him know to contact us if there is a problem of any kind trying to apprehend a mutant or anyone just as dangerous, we are after all here to instill a harmonious balance between both mutant and human.”

Smiling Sam looked to Luke and said, ”Now Luke this upcoming request of you is regarding your business, I want you to offer some of your state of the art security systems to them at a rate that would be foolish for them not to take, as a sign of good faith, if you want I personally could help and reimburse you if need be. It is crucial that we can work together with the police so we can not only help save lives but help give them a better image working alongside mutants so other mutants will be more reluctant to open up hostilities with them.”

Looking from Luke to Ghost he smiled and said ”Any questions?”

While Ghost was glad to know Luke's power was back, she had selfishly been hoping to have a silent partner on this one. Ah well. She'd take some ibuprofen before hand to ward off the headaches.

Promotions. Sam had said promotions so that meant Ghost was going as the Team Leader. A sudden anxiety that hadn't been present before started to well up inside her. She fed that anxiety breakfast and tea as she opened her folder and her eyes followed across the chart. It was a fair guess on her part that they weren't going to be the most mutant friendly staff of all times.

Ghost flipped through her little packet until she looked at the Commissioner. He didn't look anywhere near as friendly as that cartoon one on the batman show. They would probably have to fight an uphill battle to convince him of their sincerity. Ghost thought a slightly more tactful wording than Sam's was necessary and it was suddenly clear to her why he had chosen Luke and herself despite the fact that their mutations sort of clashed. Even if they weren't the oldest on the team, they were definitely some of the most mature, level headed, and patient.

The phone hadn't slid close enough to ghost for her to catch so she let Luke handle it first. It would probably be best if he held it anyway. She could possibly lose it and that would be a real shame.

Ghost listened curiously at Sam's security request of Luke. She didn't think the police would trust the company knowing that it was owned by a mutant, but it was technically a third party source. It was at the very least polite to offer their services in every way. Even if they would suspect it as an act of espionage.

"I have a question." Ghost sipped down the last of her tea for courage. "Is Luke really wearing pineapples to see the commissioner?" She smiled sheepishly from behind her cup. Luke might not have even known what he was wearing. Any other questions, Ghost was sure wouldn't be answerable by Sam. They'd just have to wait and pick the Commissioner's brain in person.

As Sam slid the folders over and instructed them to open up the files, Luke humored the other man by idly going back and forth between the sheets of paper without actually seeing anything. He could tell by the feel of the paper that one of them must be a picture of someone or something but he was still clueless. Once he and Ghost were outside of the room and Sam's presence Luke would have to ask for a quick overview of the information but until then it was probably best to just play along with the situation.

"Jacobs & Jacobs has a pretty good relationship with the NYPD so we might just have a shot with that. We can handle the cost so no worry about reimbursment. We can even write it off our taxes at the end of the year so no problem." Luke responded easily before leaning back in his chair. Over all the mission seemed pretty straightforward. A plain diplomatic mission that, if successful, would put the X-Men on a much better relationship with the NYPD.

Suddenly Ghost spoke up, and Luke had to chuckle. He hadn't thought about the clothing he had picked out until she mentioned it but what she was saying deffinately made sense. "I had no clue where we were going but I can certainly change." Luke replied good naturedly before shooting Ghost a teasing grin, "Should I pull out the tuxedo or do you think a simple three piece suit would be formal enough?"

Letting a small laugh escape from the pair sitting across from him Sam nodded his head, ”Think you’ll be able to wear whatever you deem fit though I doubt he would have the same level of respect if you enter wearing pineapples.” grinning now Sam commented on the position Luke’s company had with the police, ”What I like to hear, and thank god for tax cuts,” now focusing on the pair Sam continued, ”Now I hope I don’t need to tell you how important this mission is, not only for us but mutant kind all over, if we can show that we can work together I feel that a lot more doors will be opening up down the road, not just for us but mutants everywhere!”

Flipping his vanilla folder shut Sam looked up and said, ”Alright break a leg and report back here for debriefing, I expect great results!” pulling out a few folders of possible new recruits Sam began to ponder the best possible ways to hold tryouts for the team. Standing up and walking out of the room he headed to the Danger Room to ponder his thoughts.

"Go team." She stuck her tongue out and spun around a not impressed finger, but was smiling.

"I am sure whatever you choose with be appropriate as long as it's sans pineapple." A playful wrinkle of the nose and Ghost was standing and collecting her mess. Cup and napkin and crumbs in hand, all Ghost had to do now was wait for two hours to pass. Lovely. She grabbed up the packet Sam collected for them.

"I'll wait for you in the library. I think I'm gonna take Sam's packet and read up on dear old comish."

She saluted. "We'll bring back good news." And then took her leave.

The library wasn't so far. She dropped off her dishes and took up residence at a desk by the front.

"No pineapples... check. Guess I better go find something else." Luke said with a grin as the three of them stood up. Once the goodbye's had been spoken, Luke grabbed the X-phone that was laying on the table and then followed the other two out into the hallway. Once they were out of the hallway they all split up with CS heading off for who knew where, Ghosty heading for the Library, and Luke heading upstairs to the bedrooms.

Though Luke rarely spent the night at the mansion, he did keep a room there for the rare occasion it was necessary. A few changes of clothes hung in the closet as well as some basic toiletry items tucked in the bedside table. Sorting through the clothing in the closet, Luke's eyebrow knit together in concentration as he ran his fingers over label after label, quickly deciphering what options there were.

The meeting was going to be with police comissioner and while Luke wanted to feel relaxed he also wanted to look well dressed enough to show respect to the other man's position. Finally he chose the one business casual outfit he had in the closet.

Brown loafers led up to khaki pants, brown belt, a dark green polo shirt, and a tan sport coat pulled over it. Once his wallet, keys, cell phone, and X-Communicator were all safely stowed in his pants and jacket pockets Luke headed back out into the hallway. His sunglasses were, as usual, sitting comfortably on the bridge of his nose and his gate was the confident walk that he was known for.

"Anything interesting in the file?" Luke asked as he walked into the library, "I didn't really want to embarass Sam by pointing out that I couldn't read a single thing that he wanted us to look at."

Ghost had her legs propped up on the little side table as if she weren't wearing a nice business outfit. She was very nearly at the end of the section about the commissioner's accomplishments when Luke came back. He'd made it faster than she imagined. She thought he lived elsewhere. She smiled toward her booklet.

"He does do that doesn't he?" Sam had even tried to hand her some things a few times when she was incorporeal. Sam no doubt had lots of other things on his mind. "You can hardly blame him. He doesn't know what it's like for us... well, more you than me."

With Luke there, she would hardly be able to finish reading the packet. Ghost slid her legs off of the table and put her feet firmly on the floor. "I'd offer to take you by air, but we've got the time to go by more normal means. I also don't think they'd appreciate us solidifying in their lobby. You?" She stood and straightened her vest and smoothed her pants. It was then that she noticed his change of clothes.

"I thought you lived outside the Mansion?" Ghost was checking for her phone and keys. "You have the phone then?" She couldn't seem to think of anything else they needed. "You have a mo--" Actually she stopped and blinked. She knew Luke had a motorcycle, but how would the police look on Luke, a legally blind man, driving up on a motorcycle? Surely he didn't have a legal license. She didn't either, nor did she have any idea what really went in to driving.

She laughed suddenly. "I can't drive. I haven't checked the bus schedule either." She shook her head. "We could call a cab... heh. Maybe we're going by air after all. Want me to to read over anything in the packet for you before we head out?" She shook her head. If they needed time to study up on the Commish, she could get them to the station fast. If they wanted to just go on and go, then it'd be by taxi.

"True. His ability doesn't exactly affect things the same way ours do. Plus, I'm sure he's got a lot on his mind since he's stepped up to help out Tricity so much." Luke replied with a grin. Since he'd already seen where Ghost was sitting he pulled in sonar in, allowing himself to see around but without actually touching the young woman. He knew that she was sensitive to the vibration but with her elemental power he wasn't sure even that was enough. Did she just sense the air directly around her or could she sense all the air in the room?

"Yeah, they'd probably prefer we didn't just solidify and appear in the lobby." Luke agreed as listened to the sound of Ghost's feet hitting the floor and making the floorboards creek ever so slightly as she apparently stood up, "After all the attacks they've had to deal with over the past few years I'd guess most of the police are pretty touchy."

The questions started to come faster and Luke just had to smile and wait for her to pause long enough for him to give her a reply. "I do live in town but I've had to spend the night here a couple of times so I keep some clothes in one of the rooms upstairs. My home away from home as it were." Normally Luke would have gone ahead and suggested that they take his motorcycle since he did have a fake drivers license to cover but with his more dressy clothing and because of the fact of who they were going to see that was probably not the best idea.

"Why don't we go ahead and call the cab. If you think there's anything important in the packet there you can fill me in while we wait for the car." Luke finally decided after a few moments of thought, "Is my sonar OK or should I shut it completely off for now? I don't want to go giving you a headache or something."

"It's only the area right around me that's a real bother. You've been a real gentleman, I'd hate to deprive you of your sight." Now that he had it back, that was. Ghost Pat him on the arm and went to call the cab.

Once they were loaded in and on the way to the police head quarters by their very normal means, Ghost filled Luke in on the commissioner. He would be a tough one to assuage, she feared. Victim of a personal attack. He was doing his best to pull the boys in blue out of the way of harm rather then encouraging them to engage these days. Which, was good for life saving, but bad for actual policing.

Ghost didn't blame him after she stepped over the mangled corpses of policemen at the KP incident. It was almost as bad as when they were freed from the camps... almost.

The checkered taxi dropped them off in front of a three story brick building. Established in 1845 it used to be the country's largest police force. Until it became a mecca for mutant activity that is. Ghost was interested in the flag they flew. She didn't recognize it as any country, but there were lots of countries these days. There was no way she knew them all by sight.

Ghost looked between the marble of the capital and the police building. The Police Department was much more modest, though it felt just as old. "This is it." Sam had placed a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.

It was good to hear that Luke's sonar didn't bother Ghost to much unless it were right up next to her and with all the practice he'd been getting, controlling the distance and direction was getting much easier than it had ever been. Giving the young woman a quick smile, he waited patiently while she went off to call the cab.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, once they were on board, Ghost began to fill him on information about comissioner. The fact that he had personally experienced an attack from mutants was distrubing and deffinately hurt their chances of being able to have a successful meeting. "Kind of surprising Sam was even able to set up a meeting with him." Luke commented quietly, "I wonder what he said to work that out."

Finally they had arrived. Stepping out of the cab and onto the sidewalk, Luke could immediately identify large ammount of police men and women all sticking pretty close to their home base of operations. Sure there were small precinct building throughout the city but this was their main location and obviously the police were starting to realize that there really was strength in numbers.

"Think we can make it up to the office without getting shot?" Luke asked in a low, slightly teasing but slightly serious voice as he and Ghost began to make their way toward the main entrance, "That would deffinately ruin my day."

Sam had warned them that they would be frisked, but Ghost had not expected to be led away from Luke so soon. After they were greeted and stated their business some nice officers came out with strict instructions. The woman in one room, the man in the other. Ghost offered Luke a brave half-smile before following the lady into a room.

She was asked to empty her pockets and then was patted down in a very professional manner. After that, together with the woman Ghost went over what each item was from her pockets. Keys to her store and home, her cell phone, and an old receipt. Ghost informed the woman she could throw that away if she wanted. It was only proof that she'd bought a bottle of iced tea from a convenience store and it'd been washed with the pants.

The policewoman asked her about the phone and Ghost informed her that it was nothing special. For safety measures, they confiscated it and promised to return the device when she returned. That was fine with Ghost. It really was just a phone. She hoped Luke wasn't getting it too hard about having two phones, with one intended for the commissioner, himself.

Ghost swung the foot at the end of her crossed legs back and forth as she waited patiently in her little room with the policewoman. Some unknown signal passed and then Ghost was lead back out of the room to see a slightly harried looking Luke. Ghost tried to encourage him with another smile as they went up a flight of stairs. "Did they take the phone? Nod or shake." The voice was small and buzzed next to Luke's ear so that the message would not be intercepted. The phone was important.

They were told to wait in the hall while someone announced that they were ready ad then just and suddenly they were ushered in to a crammed little office. The blinds were drawn and it was dark enough that the man needed his desk lamp on to see the file he was reading. It seemed as they were walking in that Commissioner Wellings was just hanging up the phone. It might have just been for effect. Ghost couldn't be sure.

"Good morning Commissioner, My name is Ghost--" A snort came from the thick and weathered man behind the desk, but Ghost plowed bravely onward. "--and this is my colleague Luke Jacobs. Thank you for allowing us the time for this meeting, we know you're a busy man so we'll get right to it."

"That's a mutie name, right? Ghost?"

Ghost shot a look at Luke but nodded to the Commissioner. "It befits my gift, sir, but we didn't come here to discuss--"

"Were you the one arrested about a month ago? Said she was an X." He eyeballed her white hair as if it were the gimme.

Taken aback by that question, Ghost swallowed down her nerves. He certainly did his homework. "I cooperated to the best of my ability and the charges were dropped, sir. All of them." In fact, she was assured that nothing was going on her permanent record. They would keep the finger prints in their mysterious "system," though. Ghost looked to Luke for a little help.

((OOC: Commissioner Welling's color is goldenrod))

Police procedure, it was an important thing to have on the books but there were definitely times when the law enforcement officers decided to stick to it just a little bit to stringently. For instance, separating Luke and Ghost into different rooms was a little over the top. It wasn't like they were going to be strip searched for crying out loud!

The jacket slipped off of Luke's shoulders and was laid on a table in the center of the room along with his sunglasses. His wallet, house keys, and two phones were then laid out next to them.

"That belt has a metal buckle. I need you to take it off!" One of the officers ordered with a wide smile on his face, "Protocol. I'm sure you understand."

"Of course... I've had to deal with all of the bureaucratic red tape before." Luke replied as pleasantly as he could manage as he pulled the offending item from around his waist.

In a relatively short time he had been patted down and his items were returned to him one by one. Belt, wallet, and jacket. The keys, phones, and sunglasses were left on the tray while one of the men carefully examined them. "We'll have to keep these... who knows what sorts of weapons you muties are carrying."

Turning his blank stare on the officer, Luke raises an eyebrow questioningly as he tried to slow his now rapidly beating heart. He had replaced his belt and wallet in their pockets while the jacket was carefully folded over his arm. "Are you really going to make the commissioner stare into these eyes through our whole interview?" He asked, "They seemed to have a way of unnerving people."

For a moment the officer stared and then glanced away, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grab 'em."

With a quick word of thanks Luke stepped forward, lifting his coat covered arm to snatch away the glasses while carefully slipping the "gift" phone into the draping garment. Once his sunglasses were firmly in place Luke shrugged the jacket back on and then turned to follow the officers out of the room.

"I coulda sworn there were two phones." Luke could hear the officer murmuring to himself as he looked back at the tray, "Then again... who in their right mind carries two phones?"

***

As usual, Ghost's brilliant smile was a ready gleam of light to brighten the room and as they moved up a flight of stairs her voice buzzed in his ear. A quick shake of his head got the message across though Luke knew he'd have to share the whole story at some later point.

As Ghost made her introduction, Luke focused his sonar on the man they had come to see. A somewhat sour expression was set on the man's face as he stared intently at the two intruders. His body posture was that of a man trying to make himself look tough but the slight twitching from the muscles in his back and neck broadcast loud and clear that he was concerned, maybe even scared, about where this meeting would go.

"I've worked with you several times on different contract Commissioner, but I don't believe we ever had the pleasure of meeting." Luke spoke up smoothly, stepping forward so that he was now right beside Ghost instead of remaining slightly behind her.

"I didn't like dealing with corporate executives then and I like it even less when they're mutants." Commissioner Welling responded coldly, "Now what do you two want? I have a very busy day ahead of me."

"That is the exact perception we've come to discuss, sir." Luke replied after a moments thought as he tried to figure out how to word each sentence. He wasn't a diplomat by any means but negotiating a successful business deal used many of the same skills that they would need to accomplish this mission. The question was whether Luke and ghost had enough of those skills. "May we sit down?"

"Like I could stop you." The snort behind his voice was obvious as Welling leaned back in his chair and fixed Ghost with a stare, "Seems like you're the spokeswoman... Ghost. So speak your peace. What do you want?"