"That smells awful," she tells him as he takes a seat across from her, setting down his mug in the process.

"It's peppermint tea," says with a smirk.

Tessa scrunches up her nose. "That's disgusting. Be a man and drink some coffee."

Cal lets out a smooth sort of chuckle as he leans back in his chair. "Nah. I gave up coffee a while ago. Too many jitters." He cocks an eyebrow at her. "Maybe you should try tea too."

She gives him an odious look. "I'm not jittery."

"Okay," he drawls out amid a sardonic laugh.

"I'm not," she protests. "What the fuck?"

"See that?" he points at her. "That is irritability. Still working too much and never sleeping?" he asks with a knowing smirk. "You should at least try to stop drinking coffee after four."

"Thanks for the advice," she deadpans.

He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. In a low voice, he asks, "Want some more advice?" She simply stares ahead at him. "Back out of this meetup with Lobe."

"Why?"

He shakes his head, dropping his eyes to avoid her glare. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"Cal – "

"No," he interrupts, looking up and jerking his hands into a silencing posture. "What are you doing?"

There's a very real, very palpable tension in the air that throws her off. She'd been trying to block out his energy ever since he sat down, not at all interested in reliving old times by pulling in his… essence. But she couldn't block out the unease he was putting out now. It was a sort of anger and apprehension in one, perhaps a bit of hostility too. She looks up at him with confused eyes. "Why are you so mad?" she asks without thinking.

"Mad?" he repeats, face turning stern. He leans in even further and hisses out, "I know you're not looking for another job. I know that Stark just asked you to run some new division."

Taken aback, she asks, "How do you know that?"

He scoffs. "People talk, sugar."

"Well, that doesn't mean I'm taking it. I figure, now's a good time to look around and see if there's anything… better out there."

"Better than being on the board of what is arguably the single most powerful corporation in the world?" He gives her a skeptical stare. "Bullshit."

"You don't know me," she replies, sounding every bit the petulant child. "Not anymore."

He simply smiles in return. "Yes I do." His eyes narrow as he continues to stare her down. "Now what are you up to?"

She looks away, leans back with her coffee cup in hand, and turns her gaze out the window to the passersby on the street. With a long sigh, she mutters, "How bad is it?" When Cal doesn't respond, she turns her eyes back toward him, sees him shift uncomfortably in his seat. "What's he doing, Cal?"

"He's trying to create the Third Species," he says without preamble.

For the briefest of moments, Tessa's breath is taken away. The Third Species. It's something that Xavier had taught them all about. When she was still a child, she had read John Sublime's bizarre manifesto about worthy humans who could attain special powers by reaping them from enhanced individuals. These men and women could choose the abilities they believed they deserved… and then steal them from others. From mutants. In Sublime's mind, mutants were nothing more than some sort of crop, something to be harvested and broken down and consumed for the benefit of others. It had turned her stomach that someone would think that way. And it had given her nightmares to realize that his ideas had sparked a sort of cult following.

During her time in the X-Men, there were at least two instances when they encountered these followers. They'd dubbed themselves the U-Men. And while they certainly played the part of dangerous, radical extremists, they did not ever seem to have any sort of special powers, despite claiming that they one day would. But what if they were right? What if they could harvest mutant powers and use them to enhance themselves. That sort of thing wasn't exactly out of the realm of possibility. Afterall, Dr. Sublime had been a participant in the Weapon X program that had turned Logan into the Wolverine… and the Super Soldier program that had successfully created Captain America from a sickly, spindly Steve Rogers.

"He's part of the U-Men?" she asks hesitantly.

Cal almost laughs. "Those lunatics? No way. This guy… he's way more dangerous than a bunch of dorky zealots." He raises an assessing brow. "He's a businessman. And he recognizes an opportunity."

"To give people… super powers?" Her voice goes high at the end, taking on a disbelieving and almost fearful tone.

"Look around, sugar," he says, falling back into his seat. "Ever since aliens invaded our planet and your boss put together a band of merry gentleman with superpowers of their own to fight it… everybody wants to be… better."

Her brow furrows as she states, "That's not true."

"Okay, not everybody. Some people want everyone with super powers to be eradicated." She gives him a horrified look and he smiles at her gently. "What happens every time there's another mass shooting in this country?" he asks. When she doesn't respond, only twists her face in confusion, he goes on. "People either want to ban all guns… eliminate the threat. Or they want to arm themselves to the teeth so that they can fight fire with fire." He reaches across the table and lays his hand on top of hers. "People are scared. And they want to be able to protect themselves. Now more so than ever. And in this day and age – when aliens attack and robots plan a genocide and the number of mutants born everyday is on the rise… and now inhumans? People are looking for more than just a conceal and carry license to protect themselves and their loved ones."

She sits with that for a long moment before shaking off his hand and sitting upright. "So he's taking Sublime's plans for creating the Third Species and he's going to try to make it a reality. And then he's going to sell it," she states, no question in her words.

Calvin nods. "He's already got a team of four scientists working on it. Two geneticists, including Scofield. And two bioengineers. The plan is to attack the problem from both sides."

"Because Sublime believed that tissue transplantation would cause the genesis of mutant powers in the host," she extrapolates.

"And there might be some validity to that," he continues. "At least that's what the bioengineers are saying."

"But really, the best option would be gene therapy."

"Which Sublime was unaware of in his day," he supplies. "So Lobe's thinking that between the two disciplines he can accomplish what that other lunatic couldn't."

Her features darken and her hands wrap so tightly around the mug in front of her that her fingers go white. "Where is he getting the… materials?"

Cal breathes out slowly. "I've brought him a few black market items. Ones I've managed to acquire through old contacts."

She closes her eyes and tries to fight off the sudden swell of nausea. "Because you're in acquisitions."

"Everything's still just getting started," he assures her. "They're only running preliminary tests… or something. I know they aren't into any trials yet." He pauses and a shadow flits across his face. "It's only a matter of time before they start looking for candidates." She looks up at him and he hesitates before saying, "For harvesting."

Tessa nods her head, the movement growing more insistent as she thinks about what's been said. And what needs to be done. "So we have to shut him down," she mumbles, mostly to herself. "We have to make sure it doesn't get that far."

He reaches across the table and takes hold of her wrist. With his other hand, he wrestles the coffee mug from her grip and then holds tightly to both of her hands. "I promise you I won't ever participate in anything like… that." With a serious look and a more intense squeeze, he says, "But I don't know that you or anyone else can stop this train."

She pulls away harshly, her eyes suddenly shooting around the café cagily. "How can you say that?"

"It's the times we're living in, sweetheart. Look around you."

"So I should just stand by and do nothing? Just let some… some human use my people for profit?"

He laughs bitterly. "Your people? Give me a fucking break." He gives her a disgusted look. "When was the last time you even talked to your people? To your family?"

"That's not…" she starts, losing the words to defend herself almost immediately.

"You've been hiding and denying who you are for so long…" He scoffs loudly. "At this point, I'm more in touch with mutants than you are."

"God help them, then," she issues out angrily.

"Look, you want to finally stop pretending you're something you're not, great. Go for it. I, for one, think the world could use Supernova right about now." She visibly flinches when he uses the name. Supernova. An alias she hasn't heard nor spoken aloud in years. "But I'm telling you, for your sake, stay away from Lobe."

She leans across the table, positioning herself mere inches from him. "I won't let this go," she says. "I will bring him down. So I'm telling you, for your sake, stay out of my way." And she rises and storms out of the café.