Was there a word that described someone who was more nervous than nervous? If there was, that would be the word to describe Rebecca as she sat just outside of the set for Wolf News in costume.

Rebecca was working as hard as she could to be a one-woman positive PR campaign for the X-Men, and that campaign led to an invitation from a reporter named Maxine Ralls to come on her show. Rebecca graciously accepted and was then told by most of her X-friends how bad an idea the interview was. She considered cancelling, but that would have been rude after she had promised Maxine she would do it!

Unlike her mission at the school, Rebecca remembered to add a green skirt to her costume; she was not interested in showing off her skin-tight uniform on camera. She added her temporary black hair dye, though it might end up being a moot point anyway. After realizing that many of the other X-Men gave up secret identities some time ago, Rebecca was prepared to remove her mask on screen if Maxine asked her to do so, (and if her friends were to be believed, she probably would.)

Taking a deep breath, Rebecca stood and walked through the door into Wolf News, ignoring the many people watching her as she walked up to the desk. "Um, Ah'm here tae see Miss Ralls?"

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...

Rebecca was politely informed which floor to meet Maxine at and directed to an elevator. On her way up, she straightened her skirt. Was it long enough? The last thing she wanted to do was appear slutty on television! Even with her suit underneath, she was still anxious.

Maxine greeted Rebecca on the nineteenth floor, filled with enthusiasm which brought a smile to Rebecca's face. "Nae, Ah'm fine, thank you!"

The reporter seemed friendly enough, but Rebecca could not help feeling paranoia in the back of her mind. It would not hurt to put forth a friendly attitude in return, right? "Ah'm excited tae meet you. You're a brilliant reporter." It was true from what she had seen, but that was also a small sampling size, and much of the time, she was distracted by a certain cuddly insect-girl.

Still feeling self-conscious, every few seconds, Rebecca would ask a new question, proving her nerves. "Ah'm sorry, is th' uniform fine? ...Um, shoulds Ah take th' mask of or leave it on? ...Is my accent tae thick?"

Realizing she was probably being very annoying, Rebecca sighed. "Sorry, Ah'm kinda nervous. My girlfriend told me tae calm down, bit Ah've never been on TV before." Well, there was the Living Building mission, but she was never consciously on camera.

Brave face! She was a public face of the team, so she had to be confident. Besides, Maxine was not going to just embarrass her on TV. She would be fine, she kept reminding herself.

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.

Rebecca relaxed a bit more with Maxine assuring her that her accent was fine, and that she could even leave her mask on. "Thank you, Miss Ralls." It was still likely that at some point in the program, Rebecca might end up taking it off, but Maxine had a point: it was best to keep things authentic and keep the mystery alive until it was time to reveal the answers.

Speaking of revealing... Maxine seemed to take issue with Rebecca's skirt. It was true that the skirt was not an ever-present part of her ensemble, but it was something she had worn before, particularly when she was going to be parading herself in the public eye.

Would Maxine understand her desire to keep the skirt for the sake of modesty? "Well, Ah dinnae always wear it, coz sometimes on missions it's easier tae..." Rebecca looked at Maxine but found no change in the woman's eyes regarding her opinion. "Bit most of th' time, when Ah can... Ah mean, it makes me feel a little more comfortable..."

Rebecca could not get a read on Maxine, and it was making her feel silly for making requests when Maxine probably knew best... right? With a deep sigh, Rebecca resigned her comments. "Ah guess Ah dinnae need it."

Rebecca slipped the skirt past her wide hips and down her legs, feeling significantly more naked standing in front of Maxine. "Sae... we'll probably jist talk about the X-Men and some outreach stuff, right?" Rebecca was assuming (and hoping) (and praying) that the topics would only stay on her personally for a short period of time. Like "Hi, I'm Rebecca, and let's move on" short.

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.

Maxine took the skirt that Rebecca reluctantly handed over. Even as Maxine seemingly showered her and her costume with compliments, Rebecca was beginning to feel uneasy. Maxine had her best interest at heart, right? "Um, nae. Ah designed th' costume." The only real "design" portion of her outfit was the green X that was partially obscured by her breastplate. Other than that, the only thing she had control of was painting the metal chest, gauntlets and belt green like her boots.

Even the way Maxine was complimenting the X-Men... maybe it was her imagination, but it almost felt a bit... much? Regardless, Maxine helped by assuring her that the conversation would stick as closely to the X-Men agenda as possible.

The interview room was a weird blend of presentation and function in the sense that there was no blend: the interview side was nicely presented, and the filming side looked like it could have been set in a cellar.

Maxine introduced Rebecca to a young man named Gabriel. Rebecca greeted the man, and he returned the favor along with a smile that gave her tingling goosebumps.

Rebecca clipped the microphone she was handed on her suit near her collarbone. Her field vision was triggered heavily in the room, since she could sense the metal equipment and wires and some weird groupings of metal that she disregarded as more TV stuff.

Gabriel returned to the camera, and Rebecca walked back to Maxine. She was in a happy relationship, so she was not overly concerned about the handsome young man, but it was kind of embarrassing to be in her skintight uniform in front of the handsome young man. In a hushed voice, her cheeks still pink under her makeup, she asked, "Sae did you pick him? Or dae all cameramen look like that?" Rebecca was not often one to "girl talk," but she hoped it would serve as a distraction from her current situation.

"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 was finally starting to ease Rebecca, between her sassy humor and her direction. Rebecca just had to take her seat and keep her eye on Maxine or the handsome cameraman. It sounded like an easy enough task to be certain.

Maybe the interview would not be as bad as she was giving it credit for?

Maxine started off with a quick introduction. Rebecca did her best to remain calm, piping up with a, "It's nice to be here, Maxine!" and there was only a small squeak in her voice.

The first question was about her codename. That was a fair start. Keeping eye contact with the news anchor, she did her best to sound conversational. "Well, there were a lot of ways that kinda failed at first. Some people go with Latin, but Magnetismi sounded silly." And Lodestone didn't, she thought with a mental groan. "And Ah refused tae go with some kind of pun for the sake of the English language."

Rebecca wanted to avoid rambling, despite it being her default setting. "It's kinda goofy, bit a Lodestone is a magnetic mineral that means 'the leading stone.' Ah guess Ah liked that," she confessed with a pink blush under her mask, wondering how stupid her reasoning sounded out loud.

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?"

What kind of leader did she see herself as? That was a pretty introspective question to be asked on the fly! Rebecca was nowhere near a leadership position in the X-Men yet, and it would be so cocky to pretend to be on television, right?

Her cheeks were pink, but mostly obscured by her domino mask. (One of the reasons she appreciated the tradition.) "Well, it's a bit early for me tae be looking at a leader spot. For now, Ah really just try tae learn from the more experienced members like Kealey or Mirror." Those were simply the two names that stuck out in her mind: Kealey was the first X-Man she met, and Mirror was the leader she was closest in age to, and could therefore relate to.

"Ah suppose Ah jist wanna lead the way tae change for mutants who have not been as lucky as Ah have." Hypothetically, mutants who may or may not have been tortured and held captive by their parents.

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.

Despite a rough start that included tossing Rebecca on camera wearing next to nothing at all, Maxine was starting to gain Rebecca's trust. The questions were in a nice comfort zone and avoiding Rebecca on a personal level, focusing on her opinions as an X-Man. It all felt very professional, and kept her at ease.

"Ah wanna do my part tae stop people who would take advantage of disadvantaged mutants, and lead them down bad paths." Lord knows there were militant groups and cult leaders dying for the chance to add misguided, powerful mutants to their rosters.

"Ah also wanna do what I can tae stop groups who would hurt mutants for being different. It happened tae someain close tae me, and no one should go through that." It was as close as Rebecca wanted to get to talking about Agnes on screen, but it was important for Rebecca to be open with her motivations as an X-Man.

She did not want to do all the talking, so she did her best to wrap up her piece. "With all that young mutants face, Ah want them tae know people fight for them, sae they can have the courage to become successful and happy when they're old, like you." There, tied it at the end with a completely well-meaning compliment. Things were going great.