Xaviers!

Chase looked to Chisaki for the okay. He wasn't going to make that call.

Chisaki nodded, clearing him to go for it.

"Alright," he conceded, "For starters, he's been on a private Japanese island, hiding from an unknown person who he strongly believes tried to have him killed. Hence my hesitance to reveal his exact location."

He continued by going over what Edmond had told them about The Board and the possible motives they discussed.

"Honestly we left with more questions than answers."

Dafne knew very little about Board intricacies, but she'd heard (or read) rumours of the organization in the past.

But because she didn't know much and what little she knew wasn't that different than her own knowledge, she said little else on the matter.

" The island you mentioned had been in familial hands for some time, but had been documented as having been sold to an undocumented purchaser. I had presumed that some Japanese citizen with enough cash and who had preferred to keep it confidential had purchased it, but it makes sense that I couldn't find him because he had just be hiding 'in plain sight' all this time. " She replies, sounding a bit bitter about it.

"Edmond had two siblings, our father, Dinis, and their sister, Beanina, who was frequently referred to by the pet name Bean or sometimes Beanie. Then there are five us of. Gus and I, as well as Kitty and Birdy, and lastly our bother Emil.

Our father is the familial patriarch, which makes him a baronet, a sort of inherited title that puts him in a weird 'middle management' position in terms of nobility. He ranks either at the bottom of nobiles majores or at the top of the nobiles minores, depending on whom you ask, what week it is, and which variety of Waitrose sandwich they had for lunch that day. Nonetheless, certain people still take titles incredibly seriously in this country, including our father.

Presuming he knew about the genetic connection between Ed and Basil, there's a potential he would want Basil gone to ensure our brother Emil inherits in the event of his own demise. And if our father had anything to do with Edmond's exile on a private island, then it seems reasonable he would spirit-away-but-not-kill Basil as well, as it continues on with the concept of locking your undesirables in the attic, a common tactic for our kind.

Emil too could be involved in that, as he certainly has the temperament for it. He definitely gives off top vibes, though I doubt he's clever enough to figure out how to make a grown man disappear, so if he's somehow involved he's working with someone else.

And of course there's our cousin Zoe, Bean's girl. She's an only child, like Basil.

Zoe is quiet. I don't like it."

"While you should never underestimate the capacity for hidden darkness in the quiet ones, what would her possible motive be?"

Dafne merely shrugged.

"I dunno. Bean and Eddie were tight. Maybe she has motives we don't know yet."

"Inheritance is a more likely motive. But that's almost too simple for anything that happens with mutants involved. It's all too tempting to assume the secret society angle is relevant, if even just for the resources that would grant the responsible party."

Colette was pacing around in the background with a hand to her forehead.

"Why is it zat every problem zat I have faced in ze last year has to do wiz some sort of label? Basil's grandmozer hates me because I am 'gentile'." She said with air quotes. "Our abilities were stripped from us and we almost died so zat zere would no longer be a 'Flatscan' in Britain. And now ze man zat I love may be forever lost to me me so zat someone can call zemselves a 'baronet', like some kind of frozen pizza pie." As ridiculous as her analogy was, she was sounding more and more upset.

Dafne was a little taken aback by the statement from Colette, but shook it off and refocused.

"I agree, but the wanting to 'attic the freaks' definitely seems like a potential motive, which brings it back to father again.

It might explain why Edmond isn't dead as well..." She offered. "Maybe he didn't have the stomach to murder someone, so he just exiled them."

"Where might one of your social status 'attic' someone? Somewhere willing to illegally commit someone with a connection to the X-Men and risk them busting down the door. No regular institution for certain."

"Unfortunately that's all I could suggest. Clearly, the last one wasn't completely shuttered in or you wouldn't have found him, eh?"

"I know it's a sensitive subject, but what are your thoughts on the potential of this being less about family politics and more about the Board and Basil's potential to inherit Edmond's seat?"

"Let me consult my contacts on that one, a moment if you would?"

"Alright. I appreciate it."

"The Board is outside of the usual power structures. Very much a back-channel. I'm under the impression that allowed it to be more agile than more public parties in the past, but it's always a tug of war and as a result nobody wants to be surprised by a power shift on the Board."

"So these things are usually agreed on well in advance, and it's almost unheard of for an outside family to find their way in. Those members are always a bit precarious compared to the established families."

"So if, say, a new family got a seat due to horse-trading, perchance to buy their silence on an established family's indiscretion, what would you say they'd do to keep that seat?"

"Are you suggesting George Benson disappeared him because he made contact with your family?"

"Oh, I don't think he's giving your friend the Uncle Eddie treatment. He stands to lose too much for that."

"You see, that wasn't the deal at all. He's to raise Basil as his own, not say a peep, and when the time comes Basil gets the seat nice and orderly. Otherwise he'd lose everything."

"So no, I think that if you showed up there with the police he'd know exactly where Basil is. Everything on the up-and-up, no need to raise any alarm."

"And I think Basil will come back, in time. No, not to your school and its merry little band of misfits. I think he'll come back as the dutiful son, ready to take over his father's concerns at the proper time. None of the indiscretions of his youth, no notions of marrying a flan."

"When you have the resources George Benson can bring to bear, there's all sorts of problems you can fix. Problems, and people." Gus says ruefully.

"In other words, reconditioning," Chase said, his calm veneer failing to completely mask his anger at the idea.

"This is all starting to make a sick sort of sense."

"Doesn't it just?"

"Do you think his mother knows what her husband is up to if indeed he is behind this?" Diego asked, chiming in to give Chase a moment to maintain his composure a little.

"Like... a conversion-zerapy camp?" Colette sounded horrified by the idea. And the idea that Basil's mother might be complicit in it would have made her blood boil - if she had any.

"Oh, I'm sure they've come up with a cozy little euphemism for it."

Diego rolled a will check and successfully avoided trying to make a joke.

"Can you think of where he might have sent Basil to have that done?" he asked. As he did, something gnawed at the back of his mind. But it wasn't materializing.

"Well I can tell you this: what he's doing here isn't cheap, and though there's shells and fronts to cover it up this is something he did in a bloody hurry."

"If he'd had more time you'd never find a trace, so that might be a front we can press."

"Or you can see if you believe Jessica Benson still has a heart. She did once."

"I say we talk to her. It's a risk but shaking the tree a little could be worth it."

"Well, seeing as we do not know where her husband is, zen I suppose she really is our next lead."

Colette looked from Chase back to her phone. "Zank you, monsieur Spencer. I am sorry if I have caused you any undue hardship by asking for your involvement in zis matter. Zat is... becoming somezing of a trend for me zese days."

"Feel free to call again if you need further assistance." Dafne replied in Gus' place, not really expanding on Colette's other thoughts.

"Yes, of course." Colette said softly before she hung up. It was a moment before she looked at the others.

"... I do not know if zis next conversation would be better in person, or over ze phone. Zis is...." She didn't finish her sentence

"In person." Chisaki clarified. "It will be harder, but the results will be better as she cannot obscure her responses as easily face to face as she could over the telephone. And she cannot avoid us physically.

And as it happens, I do know the security detail there." She grinned a bit, in her doll-eyed way, something she hadn't done in quite awhile. The reasonings might be a bit concerning to some however.

"Someone that could get us an audience?"

"Howard and Harold have house keys. I can convince Howard to give me his keys, and then I will lie to her and tell her I took them."

Colette took a methaphorical deep breath and steeled herself before turning to the others, looking very determined.

"Very well zen, we shall face ze dragon head on."

"I'd prefer not to risk getting arrested for trespassing if we can help it."

Chase Delacroix wrote:"I'd prefer not to risk getting arrested for trespassing if we can help it."

"We will do whatever plan works for you, if you have a different one." Chisaki offered.

"Well, it'd be nice to get an invitation, but I don't know how we could score that. So the easy way might not be an option."

"Ze police draw attention. I believe zat Madame Benson would prefer for ze neighbours to not have somezing to discuss."

"Which means we're going to have to play the part well..." Chisaki replied vaguely in thought.