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Emma didn’t hate working for Shaw, although she didn’t love it either. Despite all appearances, she actually wasn’t nearly as much of a fawning lover as her role dictated—only Shaw had decided it was thus, and she was, truthfully, unable to really refuse him. She didn’t mind, really. Shaw was a more than decent lover, albeit not terribly generous, and better him than some of the people she had known.
She didn’t really mind the jobs, either. Despite that she was, in a way, using her body as a commodity, she could use projections to fool the targets. It wasn’t as though she was actually doing anything with them, and ironically she held a sort of power over them, because they wanted what she had, and were satisfied when she gave them a trick. There was no point in being bothered over the illusions she made for a pack of fools.
What she liked about working for Shaw was that he gave her opportunities. She could hold power—in fact, she was organizationally higher than Azazel and Janos, and later, Angel—which was a difficult thing to come by for a woman. It was a man’s world, but Shaw gave her the chance to be—not exactly his equal, but far closer than any other employer would. And if she impassively served as his lover, well, with her looks, Emma knew there wasn’t a job out there where she wouldn’t likely be asked to sleep with her boss.
It was, Emma maintained, her own choice—if she had truthfully wanted to break it off with Shaw, she could always cripple his mind and move on. In truth, though, Emma had always been slightly afraid, both of Shaw’s untold powers, and of what would happen if she ever left. Shaw had made it clear repeatedly that he was powerful beyond compare, and that none of his followers knew exactly all the things of which he was capable. She was more unsure, however, of leaving him. With Shaw, she was his right-hand, wielding influences over their team and others. Without Shaw, she had nowhere specifically to go.
Still, it wasn’t in Emma’s nature to be afraid or reactive, or have frivolous ideas about the world. She had survived on her own before Shaw, and she knew she could after. It was just that life with Shaw was comfortable and relatively easy. She could handle the projections, and being his lover, and even Shaw’s penchant for bedding every attractive young thing to pass by (except for Janos, who had simply stared at Shaw blankly in non-comprehension until he gave up). She wasn’t really that invested in her relationship with Shaw, so it hardly mattered to her who he took to bed. And when she was captured and Shaw didn’t come for her, Emma was hardly surprised and certainly not heartbroken. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t known all along how replaceable people were in Shaw’s eyes.
When Erik Lehnsherr first inducted her into the Brotherhood, he told her he was not Shaw, and never would be, even if they shared some of the same ideals. At the time, Emma thought very little of those words. After all, Erik had nearly killed her by cracking her diamond form not too long before.
But now, years later, Emma is secretly glad it’s Erik and not Shaw. Emma has almost as much power as Erik in the Brotherhood, but her position is unfettered by the constraints of Erik’s whims, or who sleeps in his bed at night (she’s fairly convinced it’s Charles Xavier, actually). He has never asked her to project herself, although she did by choice a couple times when it seemed like it would be easier than whatever Erik had suggested. And when Emma occasionally finds herself in less than ideal situations, Erik hasn’t yet left her behind.
The difference, Emma finds, is that Erik Lehnsherr isn’t Sebastian Shaw, even if they do share a somewhat violent belief in mutant supremacy (not that Emma disagrees with the idea). Shaw saw everyone as a tool, a weapon—they were either useful to him or not, and always disposable. To Erik, Emma is a person, worth respect and dignity.
Certainly, Emma isn’t in love with Magneto—she’s cleverer than that by far, and at this point he’s a little too much like a brother—but she likes him. She enjoys working with him, as much as anyone can enjoy his ridiculous moods and his mooning after Xavier.
It’s not that Erik is a perfect person. Some days he’s so difficult and irritating Emma wants to screech into his mind just to shut him up for a while. But Emma knows Erik is a man trying to do what’s right—and one who has taught her never to settle for any less—and for that, she’s more than willing to forgive him his faults.