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"Emma Frost."

"Tony Stark."

The pleasantries were icier than Emma's surname. The blond heiress and the dark-haired industrialist sat across from one another on opposite sides of the desk that was once Charles Xavier's. Emma idly sipped some champaign from a crystal snifter, a relic from her Hellfire days. The presence of the alcohol on the table was a calculated insult; she knew full well of Stark's problems with alcohol. She just enjoyed watching him squirm as she offered him a glass.

"So...what does the government's favorite superhero want with me?" Emma asked coolly. Stark kept his face still and his mind steady. He didn't allow Emma to read so much as a stray daydream.

Tony Stark—Iron Man—was currently the leading advocate of Superhero registration. Not exactly the most popular of positions to hold within the Superhero community that was organized into the Justice League. His main supporters were Hank Pym, Richard Reed, Miss Marvel, Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Wonder Man, USAgent, and Bishop. Even Captain Atom withdrew his support from the act--of course it was General Eileen's death that removed Atom from being his pawn in this whole thing.

"I'm here to make a business proposition to you." Stark said evenly.

Emma sighed. "Business man or not, that is an over used cliché stark. But I suppose it would've been too much to ask that you be born with money, looks, AND originality."

Stark looked slightly annoyed but otherwise gave no sign of rising to the bait. "Emma, we can help each other. If you were to throw your support behind the Super Hero Registration Act—"

"And why would I do that?" Emma frowned. "When they want all mutants to be registered too? Why shouldn't we just tattoo gigantic bullseyes on our heads while we're at it? Or numbers on our arms?"

"That is a ridiculous comparison!" Stark snorted. "America is not Nazi Germany."

"I think mutants have a different view than a billionaire industrialist...especially when they're being murdered for the crime of being born."

Stark quickly decided to come to the main point. "Look Emma...if you help me convince the bulk of the League to line up behind the SHRA I can personally guarantee that the Justice League—and the American government—can be persuaded to do more to help mutant populations. We can work within the system to make it better! You can't do that if you're left on the outside. Give the SHRA some support...use the X-Men to bring some mutant terrorists like Magneto to justice and that will help give you the credibility with the government you need to make things better for mutants. More than anything you can do on your own."

"Until we're no longer needed of course—then we'll be rounded up and dragged into camps." Emma sneered. "People—especially politicians—fear what they do not have. They will try to control it for as long as they can and then destroy it when they fear they can't control it anymore." She crossed her arms. "Magneto is a menace...not least for his experiments on mutantkind and his messiah-complex. But the single greatest threat to mutants—and to metahumans, near-humans and normal humans—is not Magneto. Maybe it's soothe your conscience a little if you have mutants arresting mutants, rounding up and jailing mutants, killing mutants instead of having humans do it themselves...but it's still oppression."

Stark's face went stony. "I have one last thing to offer you then...and it won't require you or the X-Men to offer any support to the SHRA. Not a cent, not a statement."

Emma said nothing, so Stark continued. "There's a list...a list of every superhero and metahuman on Earth. It lists their true identities, their powers and their weaknesses in case they ever went rogue." He gave a wane smile. "Batman put it together...he calls it his 'Protocols.' See Emma? Even the Justice League accepts the basic principle behind superhero registration."

"And you know of these 'Protocols' how?" Emma quirked a brow.

"I have my ways." Stark said smoothly. "If you and the X-Men help me get that list from the Watchtower, then I will have Stark Industries and the US Government put their best minds together to help your daughter Sharon have a normal lifespan." Emma's face went dead pale, her fingers digging into the desk as she went into her diamond form.

"Get out." Emma breathed with the soft, quiet tone of one very close to exploding.

Stark rose. "I realize this must be upsetting for you...you can give me a call later when you've had time to think it over." He nodded slightly and started towards the door. He paused at the threshold. "And Emma? ...This is for the best. For everyone."

Stark walked out, leaving Emma alone with her thoughts.

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