Rebounding

[Roxana Strix]

Elsa's response at least revealed to Roxana that Elsa was not yet ready to be completely useful to SIGUARD. She still did not seem to be completely prepared to do whatever needed to be done to achieve a greater goal. Roxana thought she as close because of the things the other girl did for her sister and school, but she was not yet there. She had to be able to dish out punishments to those who deserved it or else things were never going to fully change. Some people just learned better when pain pr a negative result happened for that they did.

Roxana was one of those people who learned best by punishment and yes praise. Punishment just seemed to be what she got more often, which just meant she would work that much harder to get that occasional praise. "I'm not. I learn better with pain and I need to go through rehabilitation if I'm to hope of getting control over what is wrong with me." Roxana said. She was convincing that something had to be wrong with her and she was doing what she had been told to do. If something was wrong she was supposed to report it and asked for it to be fixed so she could keep being of use to SIGUARD.

Elsa was offering up the job again, saying that she could easily buy Roxana from her contact. The other girl really did not understand just how entwined Roxana's life was with SIGUARD. "It's still not that simple. Yes, you can buy my contact for a time being but in the end they are always going to be the ones that own me. My life belong to them, it has since the day I was born. No, since the day I was conceived and allowed to develop in my mother womb. I'm a Stix and we always work for SIGUARD. We are..." Roxana started to explain but then stopped.

She could not say anymore on the matter, she was not allowed to. She was already making her thoughts go back to what it was they were doing her and possibly asking Elsa a few questions on the problem she was having. Elsa spoke of how it was tempting for her to just be done with Roxana but also revealed that she would of have to be done with a lot of other people then as well. Roxana didn't say anything about it, even if she disagreed with the whole lying thing. Elsa had not asked so she didn’t tell, but she still accepted that she was in the wrong and made a note to just let Elsa know all the time about whoever she slept with, if she ever slept with someone again.

"In any case, we are in." Roxana said, refocusing on the task at hand. She still didn't know completely why Elsa had brought her here with her but she followed the other girl all the same. Falling silent as she tried to just stay focused on what it was what they were doing and not what confusion was going on in her head.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Learn better with pain? That had Elsa quirking a brow again. She fought back the urge to further comment, to insist that this SIGUARD didn't seem to be an organization that should be supported or anything along those lines. Especially as Roxana continued, outlining the organization even further. Elsa actually paused, holding still to digest the information. Conceived? Allowed to grow? That almost sounded like some sort of genetic research...

... maybe Elsa shouldn't show Roxana the McLisk papers.

Not that she didn't trust Roxana; it was SIGUARD she didn't trust. If they found out what Bellefonte was doing, what they had the potentials there... it was just too much information. And Roxana did keep drawing the lines and insisting where her loyalties lied. "My life belongs to them, it has since the day I was born." Yes, definitely clearly stated. There had to be some way of actually working around it.

They needed to keep moving though. So they did. They were more or less experts in doing this just that, after all: moving on when they had things plaguing both of them and their relationship. They were in. Elsa nodded to agree with that. Then it was a gesture and she headed for where the tapes were stored.

"we need to review footage," Elsa said, walking quickly. "We know the exact day that Priya Kaur left since it was rather sudden and drastic. Something had to cause that, and I want to know what for future reference, and if we can do anything," Elsa looked back to Roxana. "I need you because you have the skills to recognize it and help remember. That and, as I said: this is something I actually want to share with that cult of yours."

[Roxana Strix]

Not everyone learned better with pain, SIGUARD had many methods to make sure that if someone failed they would not want it to happen again. Pain was just what worked best with Roxana along with being praised when she did well. They had figured that out about Roxana when she was about eleven years old, when she actually started to be put through test that went outside of being the best in school. Things that someone in her current line of work would need to know, and while some might have thought eleven was too young for such things, it was pretty much a standard number or at least around then that everyone in her family started to be taught things that was not really condoned.

Elsa didn't really need to always show Roxana everything; Roxana was still very much capable of doing things in a hidden manner to get information. Plus with how the school now had a group of people in charge, she would not have been surprised to hear that SIGUARD would manage to get someone in on the board. That seemed like something that they would do, but Roxana was not going to look into the matter. She didn't always want to know what her organization was up to and that was for the best, even in their opinion. Some things were need to know and there were a lot of things that Roxana was not in the know of.

Roxana looked around the room, seeing quick exit, what could be used in the room, and of course looking over the tapes. She figured they would be kept in such a location, it fit and was also safe from whatever damage could be done next to this school. Elsa informed her that they were here to review footage and Roxana almost made a face at that, but instead her facial expression stayed the same. She wanted to say something about how watching tapes was security's job, but she was an intern for security so it was technically also her job. Rox still could not help but feel that Elsa was using her for simple task, until Elsa pointed out why she had brought Rox with her.

"Alright, let’s begin then." Roxana said, already getting ready to focus on finding anything on the smallest detail for the video they were going to watch. "Also, it's not a cult." Roxana added after a moment, there was a slight defensive tone to her voice with those words. They were an organization, Rox would have even been fine if they were called a League, but a cult was something that she would not accept her organization being called.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa nearly chuckle as she read a few of Roxana's surface level thoughts regarding the task. Why yes, this might seem as a bit of a waste of her talent... if she didn't stop to think about it. Elsa was tempted to correct, to point out that this was top secret footage that she was quite purposefully sharing with Roxana. It wasn't as if they were going to just leave the footage in the machine when they were finished.

Roxana was smart though: she'd figure it out. She was already taking position to watch, while Elsa started up the machine. Screens started winking to life, at least eight of them on two separate levels showing fuzzy static.

"Compare notes with Demeter Smith some time," Elsa replied, "and then we'll discuss your organization." Elsa tapped a few more buttons, pulling up the tapes, showing eight different areas. She nodded to the screens. "These are the areas I figure that the incident would have happened, based on what we know of Kaur. I've got the timing set well, so let me know if you catch her."

Elsa hit play then, letting the footage play. It started in real time, so Elsa reached up for a dial, twisting it, letting the footage slowly start to speed up, looking to Roxana for confirmation of a good place to stop and let things play out. It would likely to be Roxana's more trained eyes that caught what they were looking for, after all.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana had to watch up to eight screens, four stacked on top of one another. Some would have thought it would have been hard to spot something out with that many screens, but clearly they had never looked for someone in a casino using their cameras. That was the most camera monitors Roxana had seen in her life, even more then that was at the main SIGUARD headquarters. As far as Roxana knew but she would not say that was certain because there was a lot that she still didn’t know about the people she basically belonged to. “I can tell you up front that SIGUARD does not plan to ‘inherit’ the world with mutants.” Roxana pointed out.

Her organization was all over the world, had been for a long time, and there was much that they had already achieved. They achieved whatever it was that they desired, no matter how much time past or what it was they needed to do in order to get what they wanted. They had even been keeping an eye on Demi’s people, more than Roxana was. Roxana was tempted to ask if Elsa wanted to also look to see who was possibly helping Kaur out, but Elsa probably already knew that. She had brought Roxana here to spot the woman before she just all but vanished off the school grounds.

Elsa played the video, speeding it up a little which meant a little more work for Roxana but nothing too bad. Her eyes we removing quick, looking from screen to screen if she caught anything close to the figure of the woman. She had not forgotten a single detail about the older woman and she never would, especially because what she had done with her. With what was done to her and how it had changed a few things within Roxana. “Stop. Third screen on the bottom row.” Rox said as she pointed to the screen. Miss Kaur was there, just having entered into the camera’s view.

Rox had told Elsa to stop it at the point and was not completely clear if Kaur was going to be stopping there or just walking by. “Play it slowly and if she exits camera view, look at the fourth screen on the top row.” Roxana informed Elsa.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"Actually, they believe the Divine Will shall establish an earth wherein the mutants will naturally take the positions of authority as they had of old," Elsa replied promptly. Her eyes flicked back to Roxana, mostly to read a reaction before looking back at the screens. "They have pamphlets, and a few of their people here are more than willing to talk if you ask the right questions."

Though that was something else to worry for a later date. Elsa had heard rumors, but she didn't want to put any real effort into them. That effort certainly included getting Roxana and potentially her shadow organization involved. No, they needed to focus on what had actually happened, the reality of the situation, and the video feeds in front of them, and the person they were tracking through them, certainly counted for that.

As Elsa had half-expected, Roxana spotted Kaur first. Elsa quickly moved to adjust the camera, hitting buttons and adjusting the screen. Elsa's eyes flicked and confirmed what Roxana already knew.

"That does seem to be fairly close to the arena... and the time stamp's not long after the fire," she said as she worked it out. Elsa tweaked and twisted. She watched as the scene played out, Kaur moving. "Is that... Petrowski?" she said, squinting and looking.

Elsa tweaked and worked, as the screen unfurled. It seemed as though Kaur and Petrowski were having some sort of heated argument. though that was hard to tell without recognizing the signs: the cold anger, the icy tension that surrounded both of them. It seemed as though Kaur was waving her hand, even touching Petrowski. Then the camera seemed to dim for a moment, the image skipping over as the two adjusted, moving away out of frame.

Elsa mumbled curses as she worked the camera feeds, her brows furrowing with concentration.

[Roxana Strix]

“You trust everything some little piece of paper says and what comes out of someone’s mouth?” Roxana asked. She didn’t really need an answer; she was just stating it to make her point. She didn’t trust anything that was on the little pamphlet or what left the mouth of someone. It was not that hard to lie, not that hard to changes words around on a paper to make them seem like there was no harm in them. The ideals were right and that it would all just made sense if you would go along with it. No, Roxana believed in her organization because of what she had been shown, what she had been taught, and that they held the real power.

She was not going to say anything more on it; they had something of far more importance to worry about. Well Rox would not say that it was far more important but it was more relevant and important to Elsa at the moment. Roxana was sure her organization perhaps would care about the matter but she personally didn’t care. Why go after someone who had left? There was a price to pay but Rox was not looking to make it be paid. If her organization asked for it, she would. She was not sure if she would do it if Elsa asked for it. “Dr. Noah Cyrus Petrowski, age thirty-four, and father to Elena Petrowski.” Roxana spoke off the basic information on the man.

It was sort of a habit for her mind to go through the information about a person when she would hear their name. Roxana could see that there was a heated discussion, the two of them talking, and there were several familiar things in the video. There was Kaur’s touch and also that familiar look when Petrowski used his power. Roxana knew the look because he had used his power on her a little bit back when she confronted him about keeping a close eye on him. “I’m not seeing any body language that gives away that he worked for her, but there is something…” Roxana said as she looked at the image a little longer before looking away, thinking.

“Rewind it again.” Roxana requested. She was sure she had something but she needed to watch it again to be sure. She could tell that they were not working together so he was not a part of the whole fire plan but they were talking to one another for a reason. They both possible used their powers on one another for a reason and she just needed to look a little more closely and weight in the factors. “If he is staring at her, he is likely using his power on her or attempting to.” Roxana pointed out to Elsa, wanting her to be looking closely too.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa gave Roxana a quick look of confusion, wondering if the other woman really understood how the whole "religion" thing worked. "We'll table the discussion for later," Elsa suggested, gesturing back to the screens. Oh, she still wanted to make her point, especially to someone who was so obviously brainwashed into doing precisely what her personal group instructed her to do. But first thing's first: they had to figure things out.

Which would likely take both of them. Elsa nodded at Roxana's information, matching it up with what she knew. "I think his ability has something to do with inflicting fear," Elsa said, tapping the console for a few moments. She gestured at the screens. "which means that this is all going to involve powers we can't see."

Though they should be able to see reactions. If Kaur did anything to Petrowski that would result in his emotions shifting, they should notice. Elsa recalled her few meetings with the man: "He'll be hard for her to manipulate," she mumbled, recalling the steely expression and being almost impressed at the emotional control.

It seemed as though Roxana noticed something that Elsa didn't, which was precisely what she was there for. Elsa nodded, reaching up to adjust the footage, clicking back to where they began. "I wouldn't think that his particular power would result in the footage being cut..." Elsa said, letting things start up again, "but he may have been aware of the cameras, fixed things himself," he did seem rather savvy. Elsa watched the footage carefully, frowning, brow furrowing. There was an answer here somewhere, she knew it.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana didn’t really understand religion; there had never really been a place for it in her life. She knew of them, how there were so many different ones out there that were either pretty much the same as another or on the opposite end. She had just never come to care about any of them; they were not relevant to anything. Its only purpose was to make people have hope for something better in their life that was just going to happen. If you wanted something better then you had to take it, earn it, or just be lucky. Rox supposed her maybe believed in reincarnation but that was for a whole different reason outside of having a religious belief in it.

Still, now was not the time to talk or think about it. They had worked to do and it was easy enough for Roxana to refocus on what they were doing. Elsa pointed out what she thought the man’s power was, and she was correct. “Right. He tends to stare at a person for a period of time when he starts to use it. He used it on me.” Roxana informed Elsa. Would Elsa be mad that she had not told the other girl about that encounter? It was not like she had slept with the man and there was nothing that she had really done that should have hurt Elsa. Something to worry about later as she yet again refaced on looking at the screen.

Roxana kept her focus on the image, nodding slightly at Elsa’s words. Right, he would be hard to manipulate but Kaur was also very skilled. It would still be believed that he would have more control since he had lost his wife recently and if…a thought crossed Roxana’s mind. “He does have technical skills, and if this was to cover up something, then I would expect him to be the one to remove the film. Yet, when I spoke to him with his ideals…” Roxana said, trailing off as she moved away from the computers. Her mind was racing with thoughts, possibilities, and theories.

“I doubt that Mr. Petrowski would have taken a part of the fire and with his view on the school, I don’t think he would care too much what Miss. Kaur did to it. He does however care about his daughter, who was brought over to the school with him, and he is very protective of her. Going off of her personality…well I don’t want to just assume completely. Let’s keep watching the remained of the footage of the day to see if there is anything else.” Roxana said as she walked back over to the monitors and took up her position again.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa quirked a brow as Roxana explained that she'd been on the receiving end of the whole stare down before. Yes, that was definitely something that probably should have been shared before now, but mentioning as such would distract from the task at hand. They needed as much focus on what was going on as they could possibly manage, and that meant looking ahead and speaking only on what they saw.

Which raised almost as many questions as it answered. Both persons were incredibly skilled with their powers, and... "You had a conversation about his ideals?" Elsa had to repeat, actually pulling her attention away from the monitors. "We really need to have a talk about what you should be sharing with me, assuming you want us to keep working together."

Let alone actually being something resembling friends. Elsa did nod as Roxana continued though: "Yes, it does strike me as unlikely. We never actually got proof that Ms. Kaur had anything directly to do with the situation... though it does seem as though she manipulated people into the right position..."

Elsa nodded at Roxana's suggestion, rolling through the footage, trying to make it go at a decent clip. "She wasn't around much longer after that, you can--there!" Elsa flicked a button, leaning forward to point at the same time. Sure enough, there was Priya Kuar looking... looking utterly terrified and standing in her room, an armful of clothing in her hands. Elsa slowly started the footage again, watching as the scared woman frantically packed things away.

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana was already moving on, thinking ahead, and trying to figure everything all out. It was better to figure something out before you actually had the proof of it. Wait, no that was incorrect. It was good to have an idea of an answer that had the highest possibility of being correct when it came to something you were finding it out. Then you just had to confirm but when you could not you still had to use all the information available to you in order to be as close to accurate as possible.

That was how SIGUARD did things, to a certain point. They could not predict the future so when they had a hand in shaping the future, it was due to them knowing how to use the surrounding information to get the most likely result. "I did." Roxana said, giving a small nod. She didn't see it as a big deal and it was not relevant until now to inform Elsa of the matter. Rox glanced over to the other girl when she brought up that they needed to have a talk about the things that Roxana should start to just share with her. "That would be appreciated. I'm still not aware of subject matter that you would be interested in knowing about." Roxana admitted.

She supposed she could see why Elsa would want to know about someone’s ideals, but it had not been relevant and Roxana had been keeping a close eye on him. There was not point to pass along useless information to Elsa that she should not have to worry about. That and well Roxana treated pretty much every bit of information as need to know; with SIGUARD on the need to know and everyone else not really needing to. Roxana didn't say anything to Elsa's next words, just giving a simple nod in agreement.

It would not make sense for Kaur to get her hands dirty when it was easier to have others do the work for her to please her or perhaps because they agreed with her on some level. Rox didn't know and she was too focused on watching the footage to think much past it at the moment. How Kaur did it was not why they were here, so that meant thinking about it was irrelevant at this moment and time. "Looks like Mr. Petrowski won in that little power battle." Roxana said, reading the older women's body language and it was obvious that she was scared.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"At this point, I'd say there's less I know about your organization than don't," Elsa replied coolly. SIGUARD had been a bone of contention between them from the moment Elsa had discovered Roxana entering her room. She just let that comment sit there for the moment, again knowing that they needed to focus on what was unfolding on the screen before them.

It also seemed like Roxana came to more or less the same conclusion that Elsa had. "So," Elsa said, freezing the screen on Priya. She leaned back slightly. "The two confronted each other, and Kaur becomes so terrified that she flees... Dr. Petrwoski's daughter leaves not soon after... and Petrowski stays, only to leave later..."

Elsa paused, tapping her fingers. "I have a feeling like this is just some sort of bad omen of things to come," she sighed, her finger-tapping turning irritable. "Or perhaps that's just my paranoia talking," she looked over at Roxana. "Does your little not-cult have information on these two? Were they targets for any particular reason?"

[Roxana Strix]

“That is how they want it; however, if you ask me thing and I think it would be fine to let you know I will tell you.” Roxana responded back. She was still focused but she could multitask, both of them could really. SIGUARD like people to be in the dark about them and that went the same for Elsa who was a priority target. When it was time for her to know a bit more then she already did, then Roxana would be informed as much. Yet, now Roxana figured that with her report that Elsa would not be gaining any key information.

Roxana nodded at Elsa’s words, the two of them having reached the same conclusion on the matter and Rox already had a guess as to why it all went down. She didn’t want to assume bad about a person but it was kind of her job to on some level. “With the kind of man he came off as, he probably did it for his daughter. My guess being that Kaur got his daughter involved or she chose to be involved and Petrwoski acted in order to protect his offspring. As for why he and his daughter left, well I didn’t think either of them would stay when the event was complete.” Roxana spoke up.

Part of her did miss them, in an odd way. She just wrote it off as just missing home and that they had been a part of her home in the past. Roxana knew them both from her old school and now that they were gone she felt like she lost that bit of home. Roxana didn’t say anything about Elsa thinking it was an omen or that she was paranoid. It could have been a little bit of both and Rox didn’t want to dive into all the possibilities. Rox could not help but to smile a little for a short moment at Elsa’s latter question, figuring that she was joking.

SIGUARD had information on everyone. “We have all sort of information on both of them, Priya was even flagged.” Roxana pointed out, glancing away for a moment before turning to face Elsa. “I kept a close eye on everyone that came from outside the school for the event but I only confronted Noah and Priya. Noah was just out of respect but SIGUARD told me to keep a close eye on Priya and…” Roxana’s voice trailed off as she remembered how that meeting with the older woman went.

A look of slight devastation spread across Roxana’s face for a moment. If Priya had wanted or known who Rox worked for…she could have gotten so much information out of her. Roxana’s fist clinched at the thought, angered by her own weakness.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"Yes..." Elsa agreed, looking at the footage. "I seem to recall someone mentioning that Elena had been seen near the scene..." the trail off happened as Elsa remembered her own interactions with the girl. Had that been before or after the Petrowski girl had hooked up with Priya? How deep did that woman's influence go?

Oh, Elsa was certainly joking to some degree. Though she did wish that she could pry information out of SIGUARD. The more she did learn, the less she liked. That they knew about Priya only made things worse. Had SIGUARD helped set this up in some way? Or had they simply stood by and let it happen? Elsa didn't really appreciate either, and she certainly didn't relish the thought of having the question unanswered.

"Yes, we know that your keeping an eye on Priya didn't go entirely as planned," Elsa admitted. She leaned forward, letting her fingers fly across the controls. Soon she was cutting the necessary footage, piecing it together and getting the files uploaded to her specific accounts. It always seemed like there were two more problems every time they had a new answer.

"One of these days, we'll have all the answers and all the villains will be put away or dead," mumbled Elsa as she worked, her eyes flicking to the screens. She looked over her shoulder. "Best check to see if anyone else is about too: I'm not sure how well we can explain this situation."

[Roxana Strix]

Roxana didn't say anything more, her eyes just looking at the screen, focused on Kaur for a moment as her mind thought about her interaction with the older woman. Part of her hated that she had not been strong enough to keep the woman from winning her over with her power. Yet there was still that part of Roxana that enjoyed something that she had never experience before. That just had to be even more proof that she was no longer in the mindset that she needed to be in order to do her job effectively. That was why she had to go back home, she had to be...corrected. She didn't want to fail in any way anymore.

If Rox had been a mind reader then she would still not have been able to assure Elsa's thoughts when it came to SIGUARD. SIGUARD was the kind of group that would allow 'bad' things to happen in order to get a desired result. The same was said about stopping even 'good' things from happening if it meant getting the results they wanted. Roxana didn't know the details behind if they had any plans for Kaur if they had an idea of what she was up to. It was possibly since she had been flagged as someone to watch. Rox was not going to say anything more about it unless Elsa asked about it or pointed it out to be something that should be shared with her.

Rox was still unclear what it was Elsa wanted to be informed about. The silence remained still as Elsa brought up that they both knew that her interaction with Priya didn't go as planned. "You forgot to say that they may also remain free, just to provide a challenge." Roxana said. She didn't go further into that, turning to walk away and look around after Elsa brought up it being best to look around to make sure it was just them in here still. That was something she could do easily, walking off without making a sound and leaving Elsa to handle what she was doing with the footage.