Though she didnât want to use it, Isabella couldnât stop dwelling on the chloroform. It had arrived on time, to her shipping container, as her contact had said it would. It was a brown medicine bottle, innocuous, but she trusted without any doubt that it was what he had promised. She had slipped it into her duffel bag, and tried to put it out of her mind. The opportunity to use it hadnât arisen yet. From surveillance, she knew that Oswald wasnât healed enough to leave his home, so Edward wouldnât be unaccompanied for a while. But still. She dwelt.
I hope he doesnât fuss, she thought. And then, as if on cue, the woman beside her spoke. Isabella turned quickly, and stared at her. She was quite sure she hadnât spoken out loud. Immediately, automatically, she assumed the worst. This woman was a psychic, or a mind reader. She pictured shutters closing over her mind, protecting the images of the chloroform bottle, and the perfect farmhouse, and Edward, from this stranger.
âI didnât say anything,â she said, calmly, though her heart was beating fast. Perhaps she was mistaken. Maybe this woman hadnât heard her thoughts. Perhaps she had just heard something, and wasnât gifted. But, as much as Isabella wanted to believe that, her self-preservation told her that she was wrong. She managed a smile. âI think youâre hearing things.â
Almost immediately, Betsy got a bad feeling. She carefully put up her mental shields, wanting to make sure that there was no way for the otherâs mind to grab a hold of hers. Betsyâs psyche was strong, scarred over from years of hard work and abuse, but she knew that it would be too easy for her to slip back into a dark spiral. She was out of practice. Honestly, the moment that she started feeling that something was off, she should have just walked away rather than trying to engage further, but she couldnât. Her sense of right and wrong was too deeply ingrained for her to just shake the bad feeling off and pretend that nothing was wrong.Â
When the other womanâs thoughts changed, she knew that if she didnât know for sure that Betsy was a psychic, she must have suspected it. Still, Betsy continued on like nothing had changed, not wanting to arouse suspicion just yet. She wasnât about to drop it so easily, but she also didnât want to get into a fight here in public. She pressed her lips together for a moment, her expression neutral and thoughtful.Â
âI donât think Iâm hearing things,â she replied, tilting her head slightly. âYou seem pretty certain I did, though.â Betsy didnât like that, either. Something about this entire interaction felt fishy, and she knew that she couldnât walk away in good conscience. Even if she wasnât supposed to be Psylocke anymore, even if she was just supposed to be civilian Betsy Braddock, she would never be able to turn her back on her morals.