It was a lot of work to try to explain how Emma Frost was not, in fact, the cold-hearted Frost the X-men all remembered a little too well from the Phoenix incident.
Jean especially had no fond memories of her telepathic attacks.
But perhaps it helped that this Emma Frost looked so different. Her clothes and makeup and hair style all said "future" all over them.
And the accent...
So before too long, they all believed she was not the one they knew...but, of course, they all wanted to know how she got there, and the fact that she couldn't tell them only made half of them suspicious.
But Xavier probed her mind a little, as much as she allowed.
"Well, she is telling the truth about her memory loss," he said. "Or perhaps she was simply unconscious and no memories were formed. But what is this you are keeping from me, Frost?"
Emma gave him a cold stare. "I just met you. Pardon me if I don't spill all my secrets. Provided you know I am telling the truth, what's it to you what else I've seen? As I understand it, we have no relationship whatsoever in this world, so my actions cannot possibly matter to you. I'd just like to get home so I can keep living my own life. Anyway, from what I've gleaned while we've been talking, the Emma Frost you know is not the nicest person, so we can't have any reason to want to spend more time together than strictly necessary."
"You're very blunt," Storm noted.
"She reminds me of Shine when they first arrived," Jubilee said. "So...straightforward."
Shine shot her an odd look. "I don't think I was rude...though I suppose what she is saying is true, and we shouldn't pry into her mind. Besides, it can be unwise to do so. Our dimensions are distinct for a reason. I've known people who became paranoid because they found out there were parallel events. Remember Question, honey?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to see a repeat of that," Wally winced. "And I'm not dead, so it's not like we really know."
"I'm sorry, you have dealt with this before?" Storm said.
"Of course," Shine said. "Quite often, for Wally. I haven't. I suppose I must defer to his experience on this one."
"Just because I experienced it doesn't mean I understand it. You're the guru." Wally shrugged. "I try not to think too hard about this kind of thing. It's a headache."
"You mean the two of you have some prior experience with this?" Emma looked so relieved it was almost sad. "Then tell me--how could this have happened?"
"Well, I was kidnapped," Wally said. "These guys, they were like other versions of us--my friends, I mean. Like you're another version of Frost here. And they were dark, you know, scary. They thought we were doing a bad job protecting our universe, so they came in to fix it."
"I'm inclined to agree that your base needed better security," Shine spoke. "Luthor once almost blew it up, after all. But everything else they did wasn't pragmatic--it was a moral statement. Almost wrecked the League's reputation."
"But I thought you said they were right that bad guys need stricter punishments?" Wally said.
"I said that I thought they should be punished more, yes," Shine said. "But it is not for me to tell people they should violate their conscience. DJs are not supposed to do that. Those fools were stepping way outside the bounds of other-worldly interference that's permissible."
"Do I even want to know?" Emma said.
"No," Gambit replied.
"The end of it was we had to stop them by force," Wally said. "But that's one reason someone might kidnap you. You're part of a hero team, right?"
