An offer Jessica can't refuse?

Just then the cell phone in Emma's purse rang. The ringtone sounded suspiciously like the opening riff from the old John Lennon song "Mind Games."

As Emma took out her cell phone and proceeded to talk to the person on the other end of the line, Liz Sherman looked at Jessica and said, "You don't have to do this."

"Do what?" asked Jessica.

"Go along with Ms. Frost," said Liz. "I have a feeling she's up to no good."

"So what?" asked Jessica. "At least she's not a fed. After all, Niki and I did not set out to work here because of our health. If this position the Frost lady is offering us means never having to work in another strip club like this one, we'd only be too glad."

"But the Frost lady is just trying to use you," said Liz.

"Well, of course she is," said Jessica. "But she isn't trying to throw me and Niki in prison like your friends Laurel and Dana."

"But still --" Liz started to say.

Then Liz's cell phone rang. As it rang, the ringtone sounded to Jessica's ears like the opening riff to the old Rolling Stones song "Play with Fire."

As Liz reached into her purse and took out her cell phone, Jessica noticed Emma putting away her phone and gesturing for Jessica to follow her.

Finally, thought Jessica. She could not wait to get away from the indoor rain being produced by the automatic sprinkler system.

As Jessica followed Emma out the door, she noticed that Dana and Laurel were still wandering around the strip club naked and amusing all the assorted customers. Then she noticed that the woman she had spoken to earlier -- the one who called herself Charly -- was also wandering around the club naked.

That's supposed to be a lesson for me, Jessica thought. If Emma could do that to Charly despite her MPD, then she would have no trouble doing something similar to me -- no matter what she said to the contrary.

Which meant --

"Hey, Emma!" cried a voice from behind. "Where do you think you're going?"

Jessica turned in the direction of the voice and saw that Liz Sherman had followed them both onto the strip club floor. But not for long.

Emma just smirked, stared at Liz a bit, and then smiled. Almost automatically Liz Sherman started undressing in full view of the entire club.

"I thought you didn't dare do that because you were afraid Liz would kill you?" asked Jessica as she and Emma walked on toward the strip club exit.

"I lied, of course," said Emma. "Liz could only kill me if she was prepared and I did my best to make sure she was not prepared. Besides, it's kinda fun proving that I'm the most powerful telepath for miles around."

Then suddenly Emma stopped as if she hit a brick wall. Then she flew backwards about ten feet.

"What the hell!" cried Emma.

Before Emma could say anything more, a red-haired woman in a black leather outfit stepped out of the crowd and smiled.

"Hello, Emma," the redhead said. "I'd like to test that little theory you have about being the most powerful telepath."

"Who are you?" asked Jessica.

The redhead turned toward Jessica and sneered. "Well, Emma over there knows me as Jean Grey but nowadays I prefer to use a more memorable name -- Dark Phoenix."