Wednesday, October 29th 2018

Ms Pryde walked up to Jackie's cell, and keyed in the release code. The electronic field over the door dropped.

"Hello Jackie. My name is Ms. Pryde. I'm the headmistress here."

"You're new," Jackie says, "Come to bitch me out a bit before they ship me off to the big house?"

"No. As I understand it, you've made something of a deal with Ms Romanov and Ms McManus, which keeps you out of the big house." she replied.

"So, I'm here to make sure you're serious about this. If so, we'll give you some better accommodations. If not, well, I suppose there's accommodations for you in the big house."

"...Are you asking me to ice someone?" Jackie asks, "'Cause I'm not into that sort of thing."

Ms. Pryde raised her eyebrow. "Are you trying to suggest that Ms Romanov or Ms McManus asked you to kill someone?"

"What? No," Jackie says, "But usually a guy comes 'round asking if you're "serious" about joining an organization, it implies a certain set of behavior, y'know?"

"Well, I'm neither a 'guy', nor a 'mob boss'." she replied. "The deal you made, unless I'm wrong, is that you sign up to study here at the school, and learn to use your powers, hopefully in a more constructive manner."

"Now, if I'm wrong, I suppose I can just turn this field back on and call up SHIELD to collect you." she says, her fingers straying towards the control panel.

"Study or jail?" Jackie says, "Tough call. But I'll study."

She nodded, and her hand dropped to her side.

"Come with me, then, and we'll get you a room in the dorms." she said, stepping back so that he could exit the cell.

Jackie shrugs and follows after Kitty, his arms crossed behind his head.

"The school year is almost over, but we'll evaluate your academic level and set you up with some summer courses to catch up in any areas you're lacking in. Part of that will be Power Control courses, of course." she said as they walked up to the elevator and she activated the controls. The door slid open, and she let him go in first before following.

Jackie walked into the elevator, "What's the catch?"

She activated the elevator's controls, sending them up to the first floor.

"The catch is that if I find out you're not giving this your all, I'll drop you in SHIELD's lap in a second." she replied, with no hint of anger. She was simply stating a fact. "Furthermore, if it turns out you're just playing us for another chance at stealing something before you take off, I'll take you down myself."

"That said, we're here to help you, as we are with all other mutants. One thing we are not going to do though, is help you to develop your powers so that you can just go back to being a thief."

"Yeah, see that last bit I have a problem with," Jackie says, "I'm not much of a liar. Don't have the knack, so I'll give it to you straight."

"I'm going to be the best damn thief the world's ever seen. Simple as that. I won't bite the hand that feeds me and I'll play nice while I'm here, but if you're really telling me to give that up? I'll laugh in your faces as they take me away."

"I appreciate you giving it to me straight," she replied, calmly, turning to him "so I'll pay you the same courtesy. You may think you've set yourself with a lofty goal, and the world is going to love you for it, but I find it pathetic and sad... a childish, selfish goal, that's only going to earn you people's pity, in the end."

Just as calm, she continued. "But, what I think really doesn't matter, does it? I'm sure you've tuned me out already... but here's something you'll listen to... as of today, you belong to us. You'll abide by our rules, you'll do what we say, and somewhere, along the way, hopefully, you'll pull your head out of your ass. If you don't, well, I've got the means to take you down, or track you down if you try to run, and then it'll be a SHIELD detention cell for your foreseeable future."

The elevator came to a stop and the door opened. "The dorms are down the hall, here." she said, stepping out of the elevator ahead of him.

"I could give a damn what other people think. It's important to me. That's all that really matters," Jackie says in a weirdly cheerful tone, stepping out of the elevator, "Maybe you should try to get to know me before you start in with the lectures."

"You keep telling yourself that." she said, and led him towards the boys dorms.

((Gonna resynch here. I'll assign you a dorm room and counselor.)