Xaviers!

Business Mandy, or whatever her real name is, only nominally resists being dragged into one of the holding cells once she realizes there's no way she's talking her way out of this. Still, that doesn't keep her from angrily brooding in her cell.

"So, THIS is what this looks like from the outside, huh?" Will mused as he entered the cells. "Different, don't you think?"

Haley stood some distance back, her arms crossed over her chest, and a stern expression on her face.

Grrr. So tiny and fierce.

What she was really doing was trying to poke and prod around the visitor's mind and see if she could find anything useful.

"I wouldn't know dude, I've never been in one," Tosh replied as he entered right behind Will.

The woman's mind is definitely trained in some manner. Less walled off like the minds of humans trained in mental defenses and more... faded, trying to be quiet and go undetected, but a trained method of some sort none the less.

"It's very thrilling. You should come see for yourself."

"Oh, you up for a good time? I enjoy good times," Will smiled, sitting cross-legged in front of the cell.

"Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"I'm Mandy and I enjoy long walks on the beach. What is this non-sense?"

"'Business' Mandy, was it? A fan of rock music? What, did Voyager 1 make it out to you? Send more Chuck Berry and all that?"

Haley scowled a bit as her initial efforts to probe Mandy's mind failed. She wished she could be as awesome as Sam with her telepathy and reading minds and helping people and being able to threaten to melt people's brains and really mean it.

What the hell kind of name is Business Mandy? Haley thought to herself before asking the same question to her boyfriend telepathically.

"It's a misheard lyric. So Will's guess might be pretty close."

"This nonsense is us wanting to ask an advanced spacefaring race what's so special about our humble backwater rock."

"We needed more appropriate names." she harumphs at their amazing naming abilities being made fun of. "But I appreciate that you at least know your place." she smugly informs Tosh as her face shifts into that of a green-skinned woman. "If your capabilities weren't so primitive, maybe we simply would have been able to repair our ship and move on."

"You came here accidentally, then?"

"Damnit... Yes." she glowers. No point in denying what she'd already let slip.

"Where were you attempting to go? What brings you out to this rather backwater part of the galaxy?"

"It's not the food, let me tell you that much. How come you know so much about us?"

"I'm a knowledgeable person. And my friends are very good at gathering intel; you don't live somewhere for very long without leaving traces.

It's not the food. What was it?"

"Just the spirit of exploration, surveying all kinds of exciting empty rocks."

"An interesting answer, if almost assuredly pulled out of your ass. What glory is there in a survey mission?"

"Why ask me if you already know all the answers." she glares at Will. "We were forced to flee the planet we were on. The warp link collapsed because our engines were damaged and we crash-landed. None of that is going to help you to avoid what's coming."

"I ask because, gosh, I just love the sound of my own voice. So sonorous and clear.

What's coming?"

"You tell me, smarty-pants."

"I'm sure I could find out, but I enjoy our conversation so much, I'd hate to cut it short.

It's harder to impersonate a human than it is to impersonate a Skrull, isn't it? The hardest bit about impersonating a Skrull is having the stick surgically implanted up your ass. That and removing the part of your brain which has any imagination whatsoever in it."

"That's rich coming from the monkey stuck on his planet." she chuckles. "But that's alright, if impersonating others is too difficult for you that's only because you're an inferior lifeform."

"Inferior," Will said, shifting his features to match Mandy's. "I will say, I never quite got the hang of this whole thing. "Too much trash in the universe! Beg for your life, as if it will help!" and all that?"

"Monkeys may dance badly, but they do dance. You should know that better than anyone."

"Oh so you want to join the troupe then?"

"The troupe? Interesting choice of words.

And what would my role in your troupe be?"

"Depends, doesn't it? If this is your big trick then you're rather useless to us. Five year old Spawnlings can do that."

"Well, it's hard to impress you if I don't know what I'm applying for, isn't it?"

"How dumb do you think I am? You'll find out soon enough. You might know about Skrulls, but you don't know anything about our plans, do you?"

Haley, meanwhile, was growing bored with watching the back and forth between the two shapeshifters, so she focused her efforts on once again trying to slip into Mandy's mind now that she was a bit more distracted by Will.

"There's a telepath standing 10 feet behind me. We called another off earlier, remember that? From the hanger?

And these cells are capable of more than just holding a shapeshifter. Trust me; it's in your best interests to tell me everything you know, and pray to whatever Gods you believe in that I show mercy upon thee. We might even let you go home after fixing your ship."

"How gracious of you, but I'd rather not strap myself to an exploding tube and get hurled into space. I'll take my chances with the worst you can dish out instead."

Haley does manage to get a little bit more this time. Vague impressions of armies, human-looking ones, marching in rank and file, a small group of Skrulls towering behind them, posing triumphantly. There's something else behind that image, more intricate plans, but it's like trying to remember a dream after waking. Some kind of deal or deals? Them, looking human this time, showing something to some important looking people made of brass? A castle made of onions? This was making less and less sense by the second...

"That red-head hurt, I will admit, but Blondie here needs some training."

"Not a bad idea.

Haley. Sort through her brain. Don't worry about leaving it in any kind of condition when you're done; as long as you take notes, we won't need her anyway. I'll get a couple others down here to help you mulch through it."

With his telepathic process blocked, it was hard for Haley to tell if he was bluffing.

"Well...if you just want information and don't care about what happens as I poke around..." Haley replied, sounding convincing in her willingness to get...messy.

"Monkeys have notoriously poor ethical control," Will shrugged, heading down the hall towards the exit.

The Skrull looks torn for a moment. She does seem to consider the possibility that Will isn't bluffing, in fact Haley can probably tell as much. She finally seems to come to some kind of conclusion and sits down on the bed in the cell.

"Go ahead then." She doesn't even seem to be calling the bluff. All Haley is getting from her is 'An acceptable price to pay.' or something along those lines. It's hard to tell if it's pragmatic or fanatic devotion. While thoughts are thoughts, these are kind of alien compared to what Haley is used to.

Tosh decided to act scientifically detached because he wasn't any good at acting tough. "We know about Chelyabinsk. We know about Islands Industries. We know about the attempted assassination of President Oswald. And due to our friend's personal solo mission, it's quite obvious you've developed a connection to the Russian mutant weaponization program. It doesn't take a telepath to see where you're going with all this."

"Clever monkey." She clearly means to make it sound condescending, but it ends up sounding surprised and almost a little concerned.

Haley wasn't actually keen on melting someone's brain, or recreating that scene from Scanners, but she was curious to see how much information she could get out of the alien especially since she didn't want the bluff to be called and she wanted to be more useful. She seized on the concern from the alien as her boyfriend talked and tried to pierce her way through the mental defenses with brute force.

"You shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss the intelligence of us primates. There are plenty like me who can figure out such... uncreative... schemes. But then if you're your peoples' best and brightest, I'd be surprised," he said, trying to further disrupt the alien's calm.