Raptor of life 13.2 (Patreon)

This is a raw chapter! You know the drill lol.

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(Patricia 'Patsy' Walker-Jones)

Egypt base
December 20th, 1996
09:12 AM (Egypt time)

Patsy felt amazing, as she soared through the blue sky at high speed with Jean at her side, she felt so light, the sensation of feeling the wind on her skin in such a way was novel. She flew even faster when she noticed that Jean burst into speed. Patsy pushed her internal pedal and her speed rose, it was strange as at that precise moment she felt herself cocooned in some kind of energy bubble and the friction of the air on her skin simply disappeared. 

With a big boom, Patsy went supersonic and caught up to Jean who looked at her while flying. The desert landscape stretched under them, they passed a flat rocky and arid plain, streaking at mach one under radar detection. To Patsy it was a blast till they reached a beach, it was beautiful with white sand and blue sapphire colored water.

Jean stopped in the air and looked far away; Patsy arrived at her side and looked on as her friend’s eyes and hair glowed gold and she held her hand before her. The younger redhead didn’t understand what she was doing and stood in the air like that for another five minutes. Jean finally lowered her hand and came back to normal, and exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Say, where are we?” Patsy straightened her braided hair and her current yellow and black skinsuit that grabbed places she wasn’t used to.

But Patsy didn’t protest about it as Jean was wearing a scandalous and skintight green costume herself. She didn’t look uncomfortable at least.

Jean turned to her and with a wave of her hand as if she was showcasing said, “Northern Egypt, you see all that water? This is the mediteranean sea.”

Patsy knew that their current base was in Lower Egypt in a secret valley thousands of kilometers away from there. “Wow, we must have gone really fast.”

“Yes, I now know, you’re around supersonic, but I’m sure that you could go even faster.” Jean said in a way that filled Patsy full of pride. 

She pushed her chest up and made an embarrassed smile. “I didn’t expect that.”

Jean came closer to her and put a hand on her cheek, making Patsy blush. “You should, I infused your body and soul with the two moonstones’ power, they are now part of you forever and no one can take them away from you.”

Patsy smiled at her friend, she indeed felt great, some kind of energy permeated her entire body, she was now as strong and durable as Jessica, could fly too, but faster, and she could now project some kind blinding luminescence from every inch of her body, or generate beam of light powerful enough to blow a hole in a steel plate. They had tested that earlier this morning when she woke up from last night’s operation.

# # #

(Flashback)

Jean took her hands off from her sisters’ bodies who had fainted and were now surrounded by a glowing golden haze on the medical chairs. When she looked at Patsy, her heart skipped a beat in excitement. She had been feeling left out when she heard from Jessica that Gwen got her powers before her. Patsy knew Jean first! And what’s more, she wanted to fly in the sky too!

Jean chuckled and walked up to Patsy seated at the lab table. “Okay, okay Patsy just don't shout, I will give you what you want.”

Patsy looked surprised at this comment. “Eh?”

The older redhead poked her forehead with a manicured finger. “Did you forget? Telepath.”

Blushing, Patsy lowered her eyes in embarrassment. “Ah, oops.”

Jean patted Patsy on the head, and smiled benevolently at her. “It’s okay, darling, you are right, I should have begun with you. To apologize, I am going to give you a special package.” Jean engulfed her in a hug.

Patsy melted in her arm, then asked opportunistically,  “Will I be able to fly?”

Jean let go of Patsy and grinned at her with a thumbs up. “Promise.”

Crossing her arm and putting a finger on her lower lip, Jean began to think about something, then smiled as her face brightened after coming to some conclusion.

Patsy suddenly felt cold; she was used to seeing that expression on her older friend, sometimes it’s some hair brained plan of hers. Either they worked or they got caught doing bad things by Jean’s mom and got punished. “What are you going to do?” Patsy asked with trepidation, there was a catch in her voice that made Jean turn her gaze on her and say with a crazy gleam in her eyes, “First I want you to get naked.”

There was a long silence between them, until Patsy blushed and put some distance between them. “Errr… Jean, I don’t swing that way…”

Jean rolled her eyes, got closer and flicked her on the forehead. “Ha ha, really funny. No, I need to get you naked for a good reason.” Jean slapped the lab table she was on, signalling her to strip now.

“You won’t check me out, right?” Patsy asked in a little voice, she suddenly felt self-conscious.

Jean was beautiful and confident, Patsy had sought to emulate her and try to become bolder, but it wasn’t the same thing. When her friend had gotten kidnapped she had regressed into that meek and shy girl she was before meeting her. She also had body image issues as she thought she was too lanky and her breasts were on the smallish side.

The taller redhead must have felt her emotion as she sat at Patsy's side on the table and passed an arm around her shoulder. “You are like, too young for me, and I see you like my little sister or something. Anyway, don’t worry about being compared to the older girls in our group, Patsy, you are still growing, you’ll become a knockout, I just know it.”

There was such a feeling of certainty in Jean’s comments that Patsy believed her. She smiled at her friend and nodded. “Okay.”

Jean looked at her for a long moment, smiled back and added, “But if you ever want to experiment later when you are older…”

Patsy slapped her arm in outrage. “Jean!”

The older girl laughed and raised her hands in surrender. “I was joking!”

After this bout of ribbing between friends, Patsy took off her clothes and laid on the table. Jean went to take something in the warehouse attached to the lab while Patsy looked at the arched ceiling of the cave. She could see some kind of machine floating that started digging holes and… building support for the cave.

Jean teleported with a flash of blue light at her side, making her jump, she held two pieces of pearl colored rocks that were slightly glowing.

Patsy sat up, covered her privates with her blue t-shirt that was at her side. “What are they?” She asked as her eyes stared at the rocks.

Jean made a little table float at Patsy’s side, there was a tray on it and she put the rocks reverently on it and said with eagerness, “Those are Moonstones or more colloquially called gravity stones by the Kree, an extremely militaristic alien race, they live in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits ours.”

“What do they do?”

“I don’t understand yet what those two stones are used to power, but I can tell that their energy signature is really peculiar. But if there’s one thing I know about them, it’s that when they are absorbed by a human, those stones take the form of energy that permeates their nervous system and infuse them with abilities such as photokinesis, super strength, speed, stamina, durability and agility.”

“And flight?” Patsy piped up, her eyes shining with longing at the Moonstones.

Jean nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. “Yes you’ll be able to fly, darling.”

Patsy attempted to take the stones from the tray, but Jean batted her hand away. The younger girl looked at Jean with betrayal and asked, “Huh, why?”

There was a forbidding expression on Jean’s face. “Don’t touch them, there’s something you need to know before using those.”

Patsy held on her hand, it hurt a little. She glared at Jean for that. “What?”

The stone began to float from the tray and orbit around the two girls; then Jean began to explain herself as Patsy seemed to become hypnotized by the stones. “As they are now, they are dangerous for their host. If the stones are removed from your body, you’ll die in seventy hours without their support as your body would have gotten used to them.”

Patsy reeled back, looking at Jean with horror. “What the hell? Why would you give me those?”

Jean stared at Patsy. “Because I want you to have unique powers, I basically made Jessica and Gwen about the same. And I told you what might happen if they are taken, because that’s what happened to their owner in another reality.”

*Another reality?* Patsy thought, *How could Jean know that? Was she able to look in other dimensions? Like in the enterprise mirror universe in Star Trek?* Countless theories passed through the younger redhead’s mind until she dismissed them all and blindly settled on trusting her friend. “If you showed me them,” Patsy said as she pointed at the floating stones. “... then you must have a way to make them safer?”

Jean’s smile was dazzling; with a nod she then answered her friend. “You know me so well, huh.”

Patsy shyly nodded back. “Yeah.”

Jean’s body caught on fire, it momentarily blinded Patsy who shielded her eyes with her hands. Once her eyes got used to the radiance, Patsy looked at her friend and stared in awe at her. Jean’s voice gained an echo as she explained what she was going to do. “I’m going to have to make your body able to generate a similar energy to those pieces of special rocks. Turning you into a variant of mutate, what Jessica and Gwen have become. Then I will  turn the stones into pure energy and add them to your being.” Jean put a hand on Patsy who began glowing into a yellow aura. “Your essence.”

The young girl looked at her hand and the rest of her body glowing in yellow color, then back at fire clad Jean. “I don’t understand.” Patsy confessed.

Hmph. Jean decided to explain what she thought about to do. “Well, as your body will generate this energy itself no one will be able to take it from you. And if you ever die and I resurrect you, you’ll have your power again. Or in your next reincarnation, you’ll still have your powers. Do you understand?”

Patsy nodded and looked widely at Jean as she realized the implication of what her friend said. *She can resurrect the dead!?*

Jean nodded at that shouted thought. “Yes I can, but there’s a price for it. Nothing is free, in this universe.”

*Of course there’s a catch.* Patsy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her breasts. “I will take your word for it.”

There was an awkward silence between them, the crackle of fire their only companion for one minutes as Patsy couldn’t take her eyes off Jean. She wished to be like her, powerful, confident, beautiful and not a burden.

Jean exhaled and a gout of fire escaped her, weirdly it didn’t burn Patsy who asked herself what those flames were made of. “Okay. Now, I will put you to sleep and when you wake, you’ll be a metahuman, just like the rest of the troupe.”

Patsy acquiesced, it was time that she fully got inducted into their little group. “I trust you, Jeanie.”

The smile Jean gave her made Patsy question her sexuality, she felt butterflies in her lower stomach. “You have no idea what having you as my friend means to me, Pats.” Jean put a hand on her cheek and said with a crack in her voice, “Thanks for your trust.”

Patsy grinned, then laid herself back on the table, looking at Jean who put herself at her side and her flaming hands on her naked belly and breasts. “You’ll be like a new girl, when I am done with you.”

The world steadily went black as Patsy lost consciousness.

# # #

Patsy raised her fist, it glowed with a white aura around it. Yes now she was able to shoot laser beams from her fist or blind people with her luminescence, she still didn’t understand how to control everything. But flying? She had that covered. Lifting her head she looked at Jean, who was waiting for her to say something.

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome, Pats. Race you to the valley?” Jean grinned, surrounded herself in red psionic energy and simply became a blur as she flew back to the south.

“Hey that’s not fair!” Patsy shouted as she followed and gave everything she had.

# # #

Back with Jean…
Egypt base
10:02 AM

After having tested Patsy's new powers, I checked on my sisters. They were awake and helping in the dormitories. Sarah passed me by and wasn’t speaking to me, as she didn’t like not having a choice in becoming a metahuman. It was different with Julia who strangely completely embraced this part of herself and was playing with a ball of plasma, making it orbit around her while manipulating gravity to stay aloft in the air.

She waved at me with a goofy smile on her face as she saw me pass by into the common room, I waved back. Julia looked between me and Sarah who was still cleaning the tables, ignoring me. She shrugged and returned to training her abilities. I huffed, fine. If she didn’t want to speak to me, I would not either.

So I went to look for Gwen and Peter, I quickly located them with my empathy. I found them in a hidden alcove whispering things to each other animatedly. Peter kneeled before her and had an imploring gaze. I hid behind the wall and spied on them. *Eh, she’s making him grovel.*

Peter held his hands together before him and pleaded. “Please, please Gweny. This will not happen again, I swear.”

There were fake tears in Gwen's big green eyes as she said plaintively, “You have been such a douche… we might have to-”

Peter took Gwen’s free hand into his own and became fearful of her continuing that sentence that he caved without a fight. “Please give us another chance, I will do anything… anything.”

There was a sly glint in Gwen’s eyes as she knew she had him now, he had taken the bait, and now it was time for her to reel in her prey. That girl is a pro in mind games… Gwen sniffled and wiped her tears and looked at Peter with an appraising gaze. “You were so bad… but, I guess I can forgive you, if you promise not to treat me like that again and if you help me train my super powers.”

Peter sprang back on his feet full of hope. “I can do that! I promise, this... this won’t happen again Gweny!” He shouted.

Gwen allowed her pouty lips to form a smile. “Good, and promise me one more thing?”

Peter’s happiness became like a lighthouse to me, this was almost blinding in intensity to my empathic sense. *Oh, Stan Lee. He looks like a puppy.*

“Anything!” Peter said, I imagined him with a dog tail eagerly beating left and right. It made me laugh silently behind the wall.

Gwen hugged him and said in his ear, “When you need help, ask us, okay? Just don’t do things yourself.”

Peter froze, then hugged Gwen back. “I don’t want to become like that guy, so you can be sure of that…”

Gwen pulled her head out of the crook of Peter’s neck and looked into his eyes.  “Who?”

“It doesn’t matter Gwen, come here.” Peter delicately pushed Gwen against the wall and kissed her as if he was a dying man.

The blonde held tight on him and kissed back. They were french kissing like professionals, the wall began to crack behind Gwen as the two became more… forceful. I frowned and decided to interrupt the two lovebirds.

Cough. “Hey guys, be careful with the real estate.” I said in a peppy voice, uncharacteristic to me.

“Aaah!” Gwen screamed as I surprised her. She let go of Peter and began to levitate. As for Peter he turned toward me with a really frustrated expression. I felt as if he was setting me on fire in his mind, even if he could I was immune to it.

“Jean, we are busy right now.” Peter tried to not get angry.

But he failed when I grinned at the two of them. “I can see that.”

He glared at me and made shooing motions. “Yes, now leave. Shoo.”

I flipped my hair behind my back, and feigned being sad. “That’s too bad, I wanted to show you two my lab with all those research in the database and maybe get you new costumes and make some gadgets for yourselves.”

Gwen looked stricken, she wanted to keep kissing with Peter, but she also wanted to look at the research of a mad scientist. “You… evil!”

I tried to avoid cackling like a witch and adopted an innocent demeanor. “Me? I am clearly the chaste and pure angel in this situation. You, kissing devils.”

Gwen landed and sniffed, not at all convinced of my sainthood. Peter looked at me with disbelief; then couldn’t help but shout, “As if you are any better, you barely take breaths when you are with Cindy! It’s as if your tongues were welded together!”

“Yeah! Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house!” Gwen looked up her nose at me.

I shrugged, “Well… I guess I will invite Jessica and Cindy if you are too busy licking tonsils.” I turned and feigned leaving only to be caught by the shoulders by Gwen who held onto me as if I was a lifebuoy.

“Wait! We didn’t say anything about refusing!” The blonde held tightly on my body, afraid that I would leave.

Peter looked at his girlfriend, feeling a tad betrayed. “Really, Gwen?” He hoped to ‘lick tonsils’ like I said earlier, I knew those two barely were at the second base.

Gwen glared at him. “Shut up Pete, let me do it!”

The poor boy stepped back, then shook his head, looked at the ceiling and mumbled, “Women, can't live with them, can't live without them.”

I chuckled. “We can say the same about guys, Pete.”

He looked like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “You heard that...”

“Duh.”

# # #

I brought them to the lab complex and gave them the combination of the keypad protecting the entrance. I really needed to buff up security because this simple measure wasn’t enough to protect my stuff. I guess I will have to update everything after I get Peggy free and return to New York. I set Peter with a manual on the 3D printer, and let Gwen access the research on bioengineering and biotech. 

She sat there, scrolling down and using the keyboard as she seemed completely enamoured by what she was doing. On my tablet I could see what she was consulting, mainly the medical scanning devices and the research primer on nanotechnology Sinister was working on. I left her to her own devices in that section of the lab.

I teleported to Peter who was gathering tools in the engineering sector with a loony smile. I didn’t bother him, just watched what he was taking, mainly materials to make circuit boards, one of the sturdy laptops and a multimeter, things to build devices with a lot of electronics inside them. Shrugging I placed myself at another table and decided to start making my own armor, but first, I need to synthetize more Vibranium.

With TK, I made the gold and iron ingots that I had refined come to me, I kept them in the air and placed one heavy bar before me. Goldie gave me one of the sound metal samples and I looked at its atomic structure before I touched the iron ingot with a finger and transmuted it into Vibranium. I smiled, it was another success!

I proceeded to do the same for half the iron ingots, five hundred kilograms of sound metal. I stood up and went to the next room to draw my new costume on the white board covering basically the entire room. Taking the black felt pen, I started drawing an outline of the layer of the armor that I would make out of vibranium tri-weave.

“First I want an impact layer, something like a layer of heat-resistant kevlar? But it’s bulky… what about designing a micro-fiber variant?” I wrote this on the whiteboard.

“Secondly I want it to be able to follow my motions and body perfectly.” I wrote ‘Musculature mobility layer’ on the board. “Hmm, maybe the chestplate for this one.

“What about something for low infrared signature and temperature control?” My mind drew a blank, I still wrote the option on the board.

I grew out a throne of the cavern’s grey stone in the middle of the room, adhering to my body’s forms, crossed my legs and looked attentively at the whiteboard. The chestpiece I had in mind needed something hard and able to distribute the kinetic energy of an impact by dissipating the force over an area larger than a bullet. Iron was no good, titanium? Yes, it might work with a mix of vibranium/Titanium alloy. “Nanotubes? No, Nano-scale!”

I stood up and began writing on the board, drawing schemas and a formula for the vibranium/titanium as I saw it in the quantum realm at the subatomic level.

Gauntlets? Segmented ones with bracers like Diana? Might work, now for the lower body, it should be the same, than for the chestpiece. Armored and particularly thick for the boots? That works. A utility belt? *Yes I need one.* It should be like Batman’s but I intend to have things for every occasion.

I was ready, now all I needed was to design the suit.

# # #

(Cindy)

Lab Complex
02:25 PM

Cindy had had enough of waiting! Jean had been holed in her lab for hours and she brought Peter and Gwen with her. She entered through their shared bedroom, and took the tunnel leading to the lab complex. Sounds of machinery echoing all the way. As she entered through the reinforced door; amongst all the structural reinforcement builder robots she saw as materials and tools floated in the air, moving to the central part of the lab, the forge.

*This is some serious Mickey apprentice sorcerer’s shit going on here.* Cindy thought as she navigated between the flying ingots bars, pliers and some kind of cutters.

She finally found Jean levitating five meters in the air and building a soft layer of circuitry that she inserted into what was looking like an armored bustier. Jean turned her head toward Cindy and smiled, she continued working for another five minutes and hollered, “Done for now!”

Jean straightened herself in the air and descended, the cuirass she was working on landed first on her workbench with a plop. As she landed, Jean wiped her forehead and walked toward Cindy, avoiding the mess on the ground. Cindy admired her for a long moment, Jean wore a tight green tank top with a cleavage window that attracted the eyes and a black skirt and brown combat boots; then head Cindy shifted her head and looked at the red and gold futuristic cuirass. “You are working on your costume?”

Pushing out her chest, Jean smiled and said proudly, “Armor actually.”

“You aren't an armor girl, Jean…” Cindy facepalmed as she couldn’t believe Jean would make that mistake. She preferred her girl in the green and gold suit that she had shown her.

Jean crossed her arms and pouted at Cindy. “I will be.”

The black haired girl shook her head and embraced her girlfriend, putting her arms around her neck, and Jean who hugged her back gave her a peck on the lips. Cindy was sure that Jean wouldn’t ever get mad at her for shooting down her armor idea. “You always make your life more difficult than it should be.”

Jean slid her hands on Cindy’s flank. “I guess… but I will make mistakes and live with them. That's what life is all about, you learn each time you stumble and fall.”

Cindy held on tighter on her lover and became thoughtful about what she said, if Jean wanted to make mistakes and learn from them, who was she to stop her? All she could do was be there when she stumbled and help her get back on her feet. She looked up and saw a smile blossoming on Jean’s face as she was reading her like a book. 

They disentangled themselves from each other and Jean pulled Cindy to a stool and sat her on her thighs. “So what brings you? It’s not that I mind your presence, sexy. But I thought we had a date tonight?”

Cindy laughed, then her pink lips curving into a smile she said, “Jean, you missed lunch and your mom was quite disappointed.”

The asian girl took delight into watching her girlfriend getting scared. Her smile dropped and she looked nervous to Cindy.

“Oh.” Jean said as there suddenly was a bit of sweat on her forehead.

Cindy grinned. “Yeah, oh.”

The redhead asked in a panicked manner, “Did she meet Maddy?”

Cindy sighed, she escaped the madhouse in the dormitories and had come looking for Jean to put order to the situation. “Your mother is fighting Elektra to spoil Madelyn. Your mini Me is quite overwhelmed by all this attention from your mother and sisters.”

Jean’s smile came back with a vengeance. Cindy was stunned by the casual cruelty she was subjecting her clone to. “I have some time then, I am almost done with the different pieces of the armor. Peter is working on communicators we will use and Gwen is cataloguing everything in the computer. Oh wait! I have something for you!” Jean stood up with Cindy still in her arms.

Cindy was carefully womanhandled and put on the ground on her feet while Jean zipped at superspeed to another workbench to take a suitcase.

Jean put the case on the workbench at Cindy’s side, and with a clack opened it. From the inside, Jean took a long glossy bandanna with spiderweb patterns that was strangely formed like a lower half-mask. Jean handed it to Cindy who took it and began her inspection; it felt stretchy to her fingers, but she couldn’t deform it even with all her strength. “What is this?”

Jean smiled and pointed her finger at the bandanna. “This! Is a half mask filter that I embedded into a new bandanna for you. It’s a self-cleaning electrostatic precipitation system that allows for full Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Filtration.”

The redhead took out a black belt with grey pouches attached to it, there was a ‘S’ symbol on it as well as a little metallic tank. “With this compact oxygen tank that I attached to that new utility belt, It also has an eight minutes worth compressed air capacity, which helps in situations underwater. Of course it is optional to put on.”

Cindy followed Jean’s explanation so far, it was like she was in a James Bond movie and Q was explaining how the spy gadgets worked. The dark haired girl couldn’t help but smile at Jean showing off, but it still bothered her that she was doing all this instead of working on her own stuff. “Jean… even when you do stuff for yourself, you get distracted into making things for me…”

“Well, it’s difficult to stay on target for me, I mean if I think of a thing that could allow you to survive, I am going to build it for sure.”

Cindy’s heart melted at this, she took Jean’s hand in hers. With half lidded eyes she asked. “Be a bit more selfish.”

Jean sighed, and embraced Cindy again. She smelled her hair, kissed her forehead and whispered into her ear, “I am being selfish already, I want you to be safe.”

The two looked into each other's eyes, and Cindy nodded. “Okay.”

Their lips then smashed together and time didn’t have any meaning anymore as they gave into their feelings.

# # #

(Gwendolyne Stacy)

30 minutes later…

She watched as Peter was drawing his new costume on his workbench, this time it wasn’t what she had thought, he didn’t return to his red and blue costume. It was more like a silver armor and helmet over a black suit. A spider with a solid silver shell. Peter was writing notes of what the costume should be able to do, Jean has offered to build a suit for him made of the same wonder metal fiber as Cindy’s.

As he finished his sketch and put his pen on the workbench, Gwen looked from the drawing to Peter’s face and asked, “Are you sure it’s what you want Pete?”

Peter nodded and stood from the stool, Gwen followed him to the scanning machine, he put the sheet with the sketch of the armor into it and answered his girlfriend. “Yeah, I had to think really hard about it. I kept coming back with bruises or wounds; and even if I have powerful regenerative abilities, it hurts. It forced me to lie to May, I don't want to continue on the path I've been on.”

Gwen smiled, happy that Peter wasn't simply coasting anymore and finally used that consequent intellect of his. “I see.”

Excitedly Peter continued, “I came up with another web shooter delivery device and a long range communication system that I forwarded to Jean for approval.”

*Ah so that’s why he asked me about looking for a model in the database.* Gwen’s eyes sparkled with realization. 

A smile slowly spread on her face and she put her hands on Peter’s cheek and said, “You listened to me. You know that she’s going to give it to all of us.”

Peter blushed, avoiding the intense gaze of his girlfriend. “Y-yeah… if I ever need help, I know that you girls will come now.”

“You bet we are!” Gwen then proceeded to kiss the hell out of him and Peter gave back as much as he got, and slipped a hand under Gwen’s black top and elicited a moan from her making him wanting to do more than some heavy petting.

Things were getting hot between them before Gwen stopped kissing him as she heard someone moan. She held Peter's hands down with her super strength. “Huh do you hear that?”

Peter was getting frustrated, it seemed that his girlfriend was clearly stronger than him. He didn’t like it when something was cockbkocking him too. “What?”

Gwen tilted her head. “Its- come on, we will see what it is about.” She pulled her boyfriend toward the exit of the computer room and followed the noises. They were coming from the secondary room in the engineering sector adjacent to the forge.

The materials that were previously floating in the air were on the ground and it became almost impossible to navigate with it cluttering the way. Fortunately, Gwen could fly and helped Peter fly over the stuff blocking the way by holding him firmly against her body.

Peter frowned. He was clearly hearing it now. “Okay. What's this? Weird… moans?" The more he heard, the more he realized what it was and wanted to tell Gwen to not go further but it was too late. Through the door they could hear what was clearly going on.

“Cindy, yes yes yes! Don’t stop!” Jean's voice keened.

Through the little glass window in the door they could see the blurred form of the two naked girls on a workbench going at it.

Gwen looked at the blushing Peter who averted his gaze. “Gweny, we shouldn't be here…”

To his dismay, Gwen was blushing and basically pushing her face on the window, she looked excited. "A-are they having sex?" She asked, interested by what was clearly happening as she looked at Jean’s form and Cindy whose head disappeared between their friend's legs.

Peter tried to pull Gwen away but he could barely move her as she stayed unmoving. “Yes. Now let's get out of here before they notice we are here!”

“Ahn!” Peter blushed even more as he heard the passionate cries. Gwen simply couldn't understand why her boyfriend wasn't more eager to listen. She wanted to see how those cute sounds coming from their normally goofy and amusing redheaded friend were made. Somehow all of it made her blood boil and her lower body moist for… something.

*Yes it's-its for science, yes!* Gwen convinced herself. She nodded to herself. 

Gwen turned to Peter and asked him with a sly smile. “Huh-uh, don't you wanna watch?”

The blush on his face was suddenly replaced by a fearful expression. “I don't want to get killed.”

Gwen frowned, Jean would certainly get angry if they interrupted her, but she would also get away with it by simply making a cute face and apologizing. She knew that Jean had a weakness for her, some lingering... sexual attraction that the little blonde kept exploiting. “Coward.” She called Peter.

Peter whispered, “No, I have a healthy sense of preservation.” He found the strength to make Gwen pull away from the door. "We are their friends, and friends don't do shit like that to each other." Peter looked her in the eyes meaningfully.

Gwen deflated and realized that she was being a pervert. “Fine.” She floated and took Peter’s hand, then they left. 

“YESJUSTLIKETHAT!!!!” The reverberating voice of Jean was the last thing they heard from the closed room they got away from, making Gwen blush.

# # #

Back with Jean…
December 21st, 1996
04:12 AM (Egypt time)

I opened my eyes, the first thing I see being the vaulted ceiling of my bedroom, the second was Cindy at my side sleeping on my numbed left arm. A smile spread on my face, and I hoped to wake up like this more often. We had our date last night, we went to France, while Hans and Chimera went to replenish the foodstore for the base.

We went to the Disneyland park and to a fancy Italian restaurant in Rome. Portal creation and manipulation is a seriously awesome power to have; the world is basically becoming a playground to me and giving me date options out of this world. Everything was worth it, last night I could literally feel as Cindy’s feelings deepened for me.

The only thing that didn’t go as planned was the situation with my family. I tried to bring Sarah and Julia to have a good time and as a show of apology but my elder sister rebuffed me, Julia didn’t go because she didn’t want to be a third wheel in Cindy’s and my date. I would fix this. I regretfully disentangled from Cindy and exited the bed. 

Looking at myself, there wasn’t even a stitch of clothing on me. I shrugged and looked at the black throne in the middle of the room covered in bags full of clothes that we bought. I walked up to the throne and placed the bags on the ground and sat on it.

“Welcome User Jean Grey.”

“Hello computer, can you show me Wakanda?” I asked politely, even if it was a shard of the main computer in Mongolia, I didn’t want to disrespect it. I crossed my leg and waited.

“Complying.”

A map of the country was displayed on the holographic map before me, contrary to the MCU version, Wakanda wasn’t protected by a holographic shield or some such. It’s not efficient enough and wasted energy. No, what was before me was a multi level underground kingdom, located next to Lake Victoria and surrounded by Mohanda, Canaan, Azania and Niganda.

Of course there were cities on the surface to show that they were still modernized, such as Birnin Azzaria the fake capital and Birnin Bashenga and the excellent subterfuge that was the network of villages and towns spread all over the territory. To the world they were a nation of farmers that are situated in the Alkama Fields, and fishers on the shores of the lake Victoria; that their economy was also supposed to depend on major resources including uranium, coal, diamonds.

What the computer was showing me was that those isolationists had a city comparable to New York State underground with an extensive Maglev network and the most powerful airforce on the planet with their ships.

“They are going to become a problem.” I had created contingencies in case I needed to bolt from the United States, and create my own country in Africa if I must. But would Wakanda not feel threatened once I really get going?

Their technology was vibranium based and computer nigh unhackable with the technology currently available. I wanted it, desperately, I wanted their ship technology, their material science, computers and communication. “And I need to do something while Phil and Fury are rallying the SHIELD people they trusted for the big clean up.”

As I watched my holo-screen, I completely understood that the Wakanda that the computer was showing me wasn’t the one from MCU, made to look pretty and idyllic. Those people were like normal people everywhere. Worse than American, they were pretty nationalistic and proud of their Wakadan identity and easily dismissed people from other countries as primitive and never does well. 

This once and for all proved to me that Humans were stupid, however advanced they were; I chuckled at that and continued to scroll down, looking at what the Wakandan did to their environment… for example there were more blatant and hidden technologies used by them such as the techno-organic jungle. Those people have managed to merge vibranium technology and the organics of a jungle to create a benevolent techno organic virus that allows nature and machines to live in harmony.

If I remembered correctly, T’Challa used it to fight the Fantastic Four and the Panther Goddess Bast. *This was dangerous, how could they? What if it spread beyond their valley?*

Fortunately for me, someone interrupted my musing as they turned dark.

[Decision: Network Creation.] The voice of my favorite symbiote rang in my head.

I was so happy to hear her that I hugged her mentally. “Oh, you finally answered, my Goldie. Though you are unable to breed yet…”

When she will be able to, I will have to choose a good person for her progeny’s host. Not some random dude, or Peter. My eyes fell on the sleeping Cindy. *Maybe her.* I smiled, aware that it’s going to be tough to convince my girlfriend of bonding with a Klyntar, she had seen what happened to Peter.

“How long do I have till you are ready?” I wanted a timeframe to prepare, because Goldie will have to separate from me to give birth.

[Accuracy: Three cycles around the star.] My symbiote answered, she felt anxious.

“And you will be able to do it safely, right?” I caressed her mentally, responding to her feelings. She was safe with me, nothing untoward would happen to her.

My symbiote purred in my mind. [Acquiescence: I certainly will be.]

I laughed. “Excellent, now that you are less distracted, Goldie we are going to raid somewhere, are you in?”

[Doubt: Killing?]

“I will try not to, it’s bad for us lately.” I said as I thought about how I had become rather trigger happy with my power lately.

After this tête-a-tête with my Klyntar, I used the throne again and sought out the position of a certain Vibranium thief. The man lived in defiance of the powerful nation, practically living on their doorsteps. The position of his base of operation was registered in Sinister’s computer for me to find. He was going to be my distraction and ticket to enter Wakanda.

Once done with the throne, I left a note for Cindy, telling her what I was going to do. For once I will make it fun, I won’t take him through overwhelming power but teamwork. I needed Chimera, Arclight and Regan. I teleported to the showers and proceeded to my ablutions, I was quick and at the same time instructed mentally Chimera to ready an helicopter and bring Regan and Arclight for deployment. 

# # #

(Regan Wyngarde)

Hangar 1
05:15 AM

Regan walked with trepidation into the hangar. She had been trying to avoid meeting Jean Grey as much as possible but fate kept conspiring against her. The young woman had succeeded in renewing her friendship with Philippa, it hadn't been easy. She is utterly loyal to Jean Grey, but strangely she kept a healthy fear of her.

She veered right from the second aisle and she was in sight of one of the weird helicopters with ducted fans with coaxial propellers. Chimera was readying the bird, Hans was loading the door mounted weapons with enough cans of ammunition. Regan could see that the missile pods were loaded already and on the left pedestal of the helicopter, some kind of machine gun was mounted.

Philippa turned and saw Regan walking toward them, she raised her arm and grandly said, “Ah! The princess is here!”

This made Regan stop and roll her eyes. Then Hans stopped what he was doing and narrowed his eyes at her. “You are late Regan!”

Chimera who finished checking the helicopter’s systems exited the cockpit, looked at her watch and said, “The boss is arriving at any moment.” She was wearing the standard dark blue tactical armor that the clone soldier used.

Philippa was wearing the same, they looked relaxed and prepared. As for Regan, she was a ball of anxiety; she envied their personal zen. “You… guys, how aren’t you scared of her?” Regan asked as she tugged at the tight tactical vest she was wearing.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Philippa had a sniper rifle in her hands, Hans had just finished loading the machine guns and weapon doors. Chimera was the first to answer her after looking at everyone who was hesitating. “Well… she saved me from slavery.”

Hans piped up, “She’s not that bad, she’s just another girl.”

Regan looked at them as if they were brainwashed or crazy. “Right.” She looked down and kicked an empty can.

Philippa broke the awkward moment by walking up to Regan to give her the weapon in her hand. “Here Regan, I got you one of the special rifles.”

The black and silver rifle looked fancy, and strange, the magazine was located behind the trigger group, it caused the overall length to be reduced. Regan weighed it, it was lightweight, she looked in the optical sight attachment, it had a 20x magnification, forward grips, flashlights and laser sights. Above the grip, there is a selector switch with two modes: safety and fully-automatic.

Regan looked up at Philippa with an eager expression. “.50 Cal capable?”

The purple haired amazon smiled and crossed her arms, her powerful biceps visible. “Yes, you are going to be our ace for the operation.”

Frowning, Regan asked, “What are we going to do?”

Philippa shrugged, she found herself regretting now having skipped the mission planning given by Chimera. Hans helpfully enlightened them. “Raid someone’s base. Some Belgian entrepreneur called Klaw.”

“She’s fixated on the base invasion lately…” Chimera piped up as she checked her gear now.

Hans laughed. “Her usual M.O.”

In a flash of blue light, Jean Grey appeared. “Hey guys, I’m here.”

Everyone jumped and turned behind themselves, to see Jean Grey in a peculiar gleaming red and gold cuirass that bore a gold shaped phoenix on and a matching golden utility belt, reinforced black pants and knee-high armored combat boots. There was a black choker on her neck with some kind of device passing for jewelry.

“Damn, you startled me!” Regan shouted, she had almost let her rifle fall.

Jean put her fist on her hips. “Aww, sorry Reggie.” Her grin was infuriating to Regan.

“Don’t! Don’t call me that.” The blonde exploded.

The redhead tilted her head, and in a cold voice asked. “Who pissed in your wheaties this morning?”

“Argh.” Regan stomped away with her rifle and climbed inside the helicopter. Behind her Regan heard the voice of everyone saying.

“Huh what did I say?”

“Boss…” 

“What?”

# # #

Back with Jean…
Republic of Mohannda
07:12 AM

Mohannda, was located next to the technologically advanced nation of Wakanda. Ulysses Klaw had based himself there, bribing the local government to not advertise his presence to the Dogs of War, the secret police of Wakanda. His base was located literally between their borders in the jungle, the camp under his control seemed to be built inside a hill where he stored the wonder metal.

In Sinister’s note, it’s written that he defended it through local mercenaries that he outfit himself. It seemed that he also had a Wakandan contact that fed him routes of shipment coming from the Mound that he successfully seized. He sold some of the metal to everyone who could buy. Vibranium went for ten thousand dollars per gram.

The helicopter was actually silent, I liked them. I hope to find a way to commercialize them later… I was in the pressurized cockpit, in the copilot seat, I turned my head and watched as Chimera was piloting and following the route to Klaw's camp on the onboard computer.

“Hey, are we there yet?” I asked in my most annoying and whiny voice.

I’ve been trying to annoy Chimera for the two hours it had taken us to travel from lower egypt to Mohannda. The Samson helicopter was fast and silent, could bear heavy load and could fly well in thin or thick atmospheres or in extreme temperatures with minimal maintenance. It was capable of long range travel thanks to the fusion batteries feeding into the engines. I had finished reading the manual already and I was bored.

“No.” Chimera growled.

I grinned at her and was about to ask again, “Are we…” She stopped me by throwing an ectoplasmic construct in the form of a band of duct tape plastering on my mouth.

*Eww!* It felt icky!

Chimera glared at me. “I will throw you out of the copter if you finish this sentence.” She waved her hands and the green gooey band dissipated but not her gaze on me.

I looked away and shifted in my seat and said with mulishness, “Fine…”

Five minutes later we arrived at the camp, we were at five hundred meters in altitude and began observing. The hill was surrounded by a ten meter high fence with barbed wire along the top. Tall scouting towers were placed at the cardinal points of the camp. There was a well travelled road leading to the bush and to the mountains that vehicles could take.

"I'm going to have a closer look, please guard my body." I looked at my blonde subordinate who was focused on flying.

"Sure boss." Chimera answered with a mock salute and a smile. 

I nodded, leaned in my seat and exited my body with my astral form. I dived to the hill, phasing through the Samson, I noticed right off the bat that there weren't a lot of people in the camp. *A skeleton crew?*

There was barely any organization and cleanliness in the garages, the kitchen and outside armory would have made the quartermaster in SHIELD cry.

Still the people here were armed and willing to kill anyone wandering near the camp, the snipers in the towers was a sign of that. This was a mixed crew of local and hired mercenaries, some were utter scum with no training and Hammer tech assault weapons. It made me laugh for a long moment before I realized why. Klaw wanted them dead and used them as cannon fodder.

The hired foreign mercenaries had military training and way better weapons and there was even a support staff of mechanics and a doctor. As I spied in the camp, I decided to explore into the hill. As I phased through the heavy armored doors, I noticed how the state of the installations inside differed from outside. The walls were white and pristine, there was a storage space comparable to Hangar 1 in Egypt base, dormitories with all the western luxuries available and a lab!

I couldn’t access the computers but I could read the random notes and research paper that were strewn messily in the main laboratory space. The schematic showed me that this device that is being built here was basically a loudspeaker that generates sound waves from electrical energy able to convert sound waves into physical mass?

*Impossible to do without…* 

“So that’s why he needs Vibranium.” The metal is sound absorbing. Contrarily to Vibranium B, the Wakandan variant absorbs vibratory or kinetic energy in its vicinity within itself. Its energy-manipulating properties were multiple. Already ideas on how to adapt the technology shown here filled my mind, I could ideally turn this into a weapon, but it could also be used in the demolition sector. Even some medical tools.

I intended to kill Ulysses Klaw when I came here, but I see now that it would be a waste. The man was clearly a genius and it wouldn’t do. I looked up and returned to my body with a thought. Opening my eyes, I found myself in the Samson’s cockpit again.

“Welcome back.” The chirpy voice of my second in command rang.

I shifted in my seat and looked at her, a smile blossoming on my face as I told her, “Change of plan. I want Klaw alive. This is how we will do this…”

# # #

(Ulysses S. Klaw)

Returning From a successful raid on the convoy from The Mound, Klaw was satisfied and cheerful. They had been raiding those convoys for a while now thanks to their contact. He was lucky that there was a political faction in Wakanda that was against their isolationist policy. They gave him information when to attack, the routes of the lightly guarded shipments or when those shipments were a trap to get him.

Klaw whistled Flight of the Bumblebee as his driver turned right and they were finally in sight of their camp. He stopped whistling and chuckled; he finally had enough Vibranium for his project and maybe introduce it to his government. The transducer would be able to disintegrate matter at full power, he could already see how war would change with such a weapon!

His plan was simple, he intended to introduce the weapon and show everyone how it was made and reveal the wonders of Vibranium. People would want to know where he found so much of it and this is where his goal aligned with the anti-royalist faction, it would force the Wakandan government to show their hands! To negotiate, they were mighty but not invincible! And the truth about them would be laid bare to see.

*I am vindictive like that.* Klaw smiled savagely, showing teeth.

His smile was still splattered on his face when the head of his driver exploded in a shower of gore, the large old style 4x4 he was in lost control, veered to the left and crashed into the large trunk of a Baobab tree. Fortunately for him, Klaw had his safety belt and the windshield had collapsed forward, avoiding to break.

“Hnng.” Klaw opened his eyes, his vision all blurry, he looked around himself and saw that he had crashed into a tree. When his vision cleared, he noticed that his driver was dead, that his right arm was broken and that he should be getting out of here.

His men, God bless them, circled his vehicle with the trucks and other 4x4, using them as cover and prepared for another assault. Some of them were already extracting him from the crashed 4x4; Klaw asked himself if someone inside the base was trying a powerplay and trying to take him down for the Vibranium. One of his men brought him the suitcase where he stashed his prototype sound transducer.

“Sir, what do we do?” A tall black man with a buzz cut and an up to date green flack jacket and matching armored pants asked, he was the leader of the mercenary, he held the nose of his rifle to the ground and kept watching around him for the enemy, ready to burst into action at a moment’s notice. Klaw suddenly gathered everyone’s attention around him, but they still stayed wary of their surroundings. He looked at all of them, they were seemingly demoralized and skittish. The meaning of being sniped somewhere they should have an advantage wasn’t lost on them. 

Their base was a write off. Without it they were just a band of mercenaries roaming the wild. The kind that get talked about in the news raiding poor villages, raping and stealing. As he watched, Klaw could read the intentions of some of his men in their eyes. “We cannot leave! All my Vibranium is there!”

“But they will shoot us off like fish in a barrel!” The man who addressed him earlier walked up to face him and shouted, only for his head to explode too and splatter everyone around in a shower of brain matter, bones and blood. He fell on the ground like a felled tree.

The mercenaries all scattered around in the woods at the same moment, some were shot and cut in two by the sniper firing at them.

“Shit!” Klaw immediately laid down on the ground and crawled under one of the trucks. He estimated that the weapon firing at them was powerful enough to do him in; he didn’t want to end up being meat for the lions. Klaw was a survivor and he will be damned if he was going to get killed like a dog! With his Sound Inducer in his good hand he slowly crawled out from under the truck and took the direction of the wood toward the river.

He would find a way to get back at those wahoo shooting potshots at him! Smiling devilishly, Klaw crawled to safety until something weird happened and all the trees around him were uprooted into the air and his position as well those of his men was revealed. There was some kind of whispering sound in the air that was present.

Klaw looked up, it was some strange helicopter with two big propellers. “What the hell is that machine?!”

The helicopter, because Klaw couldn’t call it otherwise turned on the side and the door opened; two big mounted heavy machine guns swivelled in their direction.

Klaw’s eyes widened. “Oh fuc-”

RATATATATATATATATATATATATA. They opened fire on everyone that had been hiding . 

“That’s not fair!” Klaw raised his good hand to the sky and shouted.  The man raged against the machine, even fired his sound transducer at it, but bounced off some kind of shield! Some of the leftover mercenaries fired back instead of fleeing but were swiftly disposed of by the sniper from earlier.

When everything settled and everyone around him was dead, Klaw found himself staring at the helicopter. He asked himself why they didn't kill him yet.

“Why?”

As if to answer his question the helicopter was landing vertically before him. He didn’t flee, and he didn’t see the point of trying, they could snipe him now with the clear plain that was created; the trees were still in the air. Out of the door, a redhead in red and gold armor exited, she looked young and a complete knockout. She levitated toward him, not touching the ground.

Her face was locked into a neutral expression that chilled him, her eyes glowed gold without visible sclera. But Klaw didn’t care! This was clearly the big boss that had decimated his awesome outlaw base! And she was one of those powered freaks that he sees running from time to time here. *What are they called again? Mutants?*

The neutral expression on the redhead’s face turned to a stormy one. “Ulysses Klaw.” Her voice echoed everywhere as she pronounced his name.

*That’s spooky.* She looked at him as if she could read everything he thought.

Her eyes stopped glowing and emerald green orbs appeared, with sclera and everything that makes a human eye human. “You are not what I imagined. I’d thought you’d be taller, less pathetic.”

Klaw put his good hand on his heart and feigned looking hurt. “That’s too arsh!”

A creepy smile tugged at her lips that chilled Klaw to the bone. “I guess it is time to give you the hard sell.” She said as she raised a hand and pointed it at him.

Klaw let go of his transducer and raised his arms, even the broken one. “Wait, wait sheila I call foul!”

The beauty frowned at him and lowered her hand. “Huh?”

With an eyebrow raised she stared at him as if he was ridiculous, he sure felt like it. She seemed to have powers that could shred him like toilet paper. He didn’t want to become a statistic!

“I mean, I am just back from a raid and I don’t think it’s fair that you come to raid a raider when he didn’t even get a chance to enjoy his spoils!”

“Huh, so what? Should I let you go or something? Too bad for you Klaw, I’ve come for that booty.”

Klaw nodded, standing up with difficulty while holding his broken arm. “Exactly! Errr, I am of course buying my life with the Vibranium! It’s what you want isn’t it?”

The redhead looked at him with disbelief. “Vibranium?”

Klaw pointed toward one of the overturned trucks and said, “Yes the wonder metal, if you have come to me, it’s surely for this, right?”

The Belgian scientist was known in the criminal underworld for being the ready source for Vibranium. Rich CEO, Military General, and even that Wahoo in Latveria. Everyone wanted to please him, just for-

The sound of laughing interrupted him. It was the redhead. She laughed and laughed. Then she looked at him as if he was completely pathetic. “That shit is lying around everywhere for anyone who wants to look for it. Wakanda isn’t the only source. It’s in abundance in this solar system. No, Ulysses. I didn’t come for the sound metal. I came for you.”

Klaw stepped back when the eyes of the young woman glowed gold again. He placed his good arm in defense before him. “Shit, sheila. I am flattered, but you are a bit young for me, so I will have to decline.”

There was a long silence between them after that, only broken by the redhead landing on the earth before him. “Klaw, do you want to continue your life like this?” She opened her arms grandly and watched around her, the overturned vehicles and the field of death made up of his dead mercenaries.

She continued. “Do you want to wallow in the bush and pass your time raiding primitive cowards who will eventually get passed by other countries sooner rather than later?”

*Damn, the girl got a point.* Klaw had always found it weird that the Wakandans weren’t a major force in the world of today. But the more he had learned from them, how they allowed the resources of this continent to be pillaged by every big country out there in the world and treat it like their backyards and enslave its people it had made him impossible to respect them. He looked down on the Black Panther who prided himself to be honorable and good.

His father may have been a Nazi and a Hydra scum, but he wasn’t, everyone deserved to live and thrive. Klaw looked up and said, “I agree that it’s not optimal… but I have a plan!”

She grinned as if he was being ridiculous. “The anti-royalists? They will betray you. Do you think they don’t know where you’ve holed yourself up? All they are waiting for is the completion of their agenda to take you out.”

*How did she know?* Klaw began to sweat at the thought that his plan could have been so transparent, that his revenge against T’chaka and his brood would never get accomplished.

But still, he wanted to live to this day to be able to have a satisfying revenge. He stared at the girl who seemed to just see through him. Maybe it was one of her powers. “That…”

She came closer to him and whispered, “You know I’m right.” Then she floated back. “Klaw, to convince you to join me, I will let you in on a secret.”

This was it, the end of her speech. What would determine if he lived at the end of this hiring speech. He couldn’t help himself and sprouted with bravado, “It better be good, sheila.”

Her smile chilled him as her entire body wreathed into flame and the screech of a bird rang into the air. The flame took on the form of a colossal firebird, a predator, no, a raptor. “You don’t have to become a pawn in Wakanda’s political arena. If you join me, you won’t need to depend on them for Vibranium… after all, I can make it.”

The redhead stomped on the ground and a ball  of Earth at least two meters in diameter raised from the ground turned to stone, then to iron and finally it became a  silver ball of a familiar sheen. Klaw stood there transfixed, until he walked up to the metal ball, took a big rock from the ground and struck it against the floating ball.

GLING. It rang in the air for a long moment, the sound metal, the vibranium. He looked with wonder at the redhead, no, the Goddess. “Sign me up!!!”

“You have chosen wisely.” Her voice echoed again. Klaw wanted to bow and pray, but he understood right away when she narrowed her eyes that she wouldn’t like that. He would pray to her with one of his favorite mixtapes.

“Bahahahaha. I am a smart man, dad always told me that. Hum. Anyway, could you heal this, please.” Klaw showed his broken arm.

The flaming young woman rolled her eyes.

# # #

(Phoenix)

Heliopolis
Bast’s Palace

Gaea and Bast were laughing, pointing their fingers at the crystal balls. They were laughing at Jean having made her first believer, a fanatic who kept wanting to bow and scrape to her. I rolled my eyes, even in all my years of observing people, I found it to be a rookie mistake and it had to be my avatar, my other self who did it.

I huffed. “Ladies, it’s just a-”

Only to be interrupted by Bast slapping her thighs in laughter. “This is hilarious. She is gathering cultists without even trying!” She was a tall dark skinned woman, with richly ornate braids; she wore fancy jewelry full of magic and some kind of bikini armor.

I sighed, then watched as Jean was storing all the computers and notes of Klaw inside Goldie while he looked at her with wonder. It was embarrassing! Jean has been using her Phoenix aura all over the world to wake up the comatose people after the extermination of the sublime, since then a church about her had sprung up in Japan, Korea, France and the UK, strangely they didn’t disseminate in the USA yet.

I let go of my anger, and decided to not let the growing pain of my avatar mess with my mood, here lay danger. Instead I let the wonder of Celestial Heliopolis uplift my sense of beauty. We were in another dimension named after the city of Heliopolis on Earth, it was the size of the moon but a closed world reminding me of how bountiful and green egypt was before its climate change six thousand years ago. There was a representation of the Nile and the Mediteranean sea, Bast’s Palace was actually on the Northern coast of Lower Egypt in this dimension.

When the Ennead, the Egyptian gods themselves left Earth to live in Celestial Heliopolis, they brought with them their servants and children. It wasn’t rare to see mermaids or divine beasts running amok in this version of paradise.

“Your Avatar is amusing, but even so, her future is bright.” Death’s voice rang as she looked at Jean enacting her plan to enter Wakanda.

She was transformed into the pale skinned and black haired representation of Lady Death from the comics. Gaea or Bast had nothing but praise for her for her new fashion. The theme of today was undies or bikini armor with a good showing of their favorite weapons. If there's something I learned by hanging out with those two is that Gods have really weird priorities, such as who is the strongest or who still has the most followers. Bast was one of those who lamented the state of affairs of her current followers who worshipped her but didn't follow her will.

I had met Bast, the Panther goddess after the Sublime extermination while Jean was remodeling her base in Egypt, a brief fight had happened in the higher planes, but Gaea stopped me from killing Bast by asking really nicely. Since then we have become friends and they invited me to Celestial Heliopolis all the time when I wasn't busy.

“I am still working on her, she's still stubborn.” I replied.

Jean was difficult to stir in the direction I wanted to point her. But she was beginning to understand the clues and follow the breadcrumbs I kept leaving for her.

“Will she be able to help my granddaughter?” Gaea interjected.

She was a gorgeous woman, endowed with supernatural beauty and grace, it was kind of difficult to pin her ethnicity as she is used to changing it each time I blinked. Fortunately, her hair and physical features changed with the seasons. Right now she had dark skin, white hair and blue eyes; she was tall and really endowed. Gaea wore some kind of drapery barely hiding her body and jewelry made from raw ore like gold, silver, marble.

Gaea oozed power, she possesses great mystical powers of an undefined nature. Even for me, our domain actually overlapped and I found myself drawn to her and she knew it.

I looked her in the eyes. “We made a deal, she helps reform the Panther nation and its people and you give Jean free reign to do things around the solar system and convince your son to not interfere too much with her.”

“Yes… but he has noticed her and has become... intrigued.” Gaea’s averted her gaze, this was not normal for her. She wasn’t used to lying but Immortal and Gods always found a way to cheat you by using semantics or omission. 

I couldn’t blame Gaea, she had no control over Amun-Ra, the sun God. “I hope it's in a friendly way…”

Gaea smiled sheepishly this time. My eyes fell on Bast who was watching with rapt attention as Jean flew in the sky with her Phoenix aura free and headed for Wakanda. Blocky form followed her.

Bast looked at the crystal ball excitedly and her black panther ears stood at attention, as well as her tail. “Oh, it's already time! Look at that, we need to prepare for the descent. Honored grandmother would you accompany me?”

Gaea gave a patronizing gaze at her granddaughter and stood up with grace and majesty. “I certainly will, there’s a quest I wish to bestow on Phoenix' avatar.”

The two disappeared in a shower of light and stars. The laugh of Lady Death rang in the room, she was laying on the sinfully comfortable sofa in a sexy pose that made me want to take her there. But I resisted her appeal and shouted at her with a stomp of my flaming foot, “Death don't laugh!”

Death made a plate of magical berries float to her. “Poor Jean will become an errand girl for those two if you are not careful.”

Gaea was always in search of protectors for herself, she has allied with me because I promised to offer her protection and to educate the humans into caring for her. This was clearly easy to do, the metahuman community on Earth would be in charge of such.

I nodded to my counterpart. “I will put my foot down if they push too many responsibilities on her, but she was already in the process of fixing Gaea's physical body. So, I will let those two have their fun.”

Ghostly hands touched my flame body in reassurance. “I will be there to cheer you up and rant.” Death put a berry full magic in her mouth and moaned in pleasure. “I should have come here sooner.” Lady Death mumbled with a happy grin.

# # #

Back with Jean…
Wakanda
09:55 AM

I overlooked the valley. It was beautiful, more beautiful than my own; I now understood how those housewives got competitive over their gardens. I wanted my new base to be as awesome, I may not like how Wakanda treated everyone, but they sure knew their stuff! Maybe I could learn from them? *Hmm?*

There were fast approaching aircraft coming toward me. They were fast, sleek and unmanned. Measuring at least 5.50 meters, those black and silver fightcraft -because there was no way those were civilian ones- seemed highly maneuverable combat oriented fighters. Their engine exhaust shined with blue and I guessed that it was some kind of ion reactor powering them.

With a thought I stopped them in the air, but they still fired on me, their directed energy weapons didn’t even scratch me as I absorbed it. I took out my Celestial scanner and looked at the option on the holographic screen, the boxy silver device answered my mental commands and began scanning the drones who started shooting missiles at me. I stopped them too, deactivated them by breaking their internal mechanisms. 

BEEP. Scan complete appeared in my mind, causing me to smile. The schematics, loadouts, components and atomic structure of everything about those fighters appeared in my mind and was stored in the device, I sent a command to it to deliver a back up to the computer of the black throne.

Reactive armor, isolinear onboard computer, Twin Ion Engines, Ion cannons, close ranged sensors linked to the formidable Wakandan communication network, all of this awesome tech was fuelled by a compact Fusion reactor. I whistled, and stored the Celestial scanner inside Goldie. With just that I could have just left and come up with new technology. But I wanted more, so I unleashed my aura and flew toward Birnin Zana, the Golden City.

But I destroyed the fighter first by disintegrating them without a care, my heavy burden, containers full of Vibranium and something special followed me at a sedate pace.

# # #

(King T’Chaka)

The Golden City
10:00 AM

Today was supposed to be a great day! Today was supposed to be when he passed on the mantle. The tribes had gathered, his son was ready to fight against any contender for the rule in their traditional ritual combat ceremony. But this day was marred by the attack of the despicable thief! But no, Ulysses Klaw wasn’t a common thief at all, he was a sponsored one, the Dogs of War had warned him that rebellious elements in their country were helping him.

“I didn’t believe them at first, but now I have to agree…” King T’Chaka said aloud in the throne room.

At his side was Queen Ramonda and their daughter, Shuri. Their son T’Challa was pacing furiously. T’Chaka didn’t begrudge him his ill humor, as two times the ceremonial fights were interrupted by an alert.

On the giant holographic screen, the old king watched as the mass of peculiar fire in the form of a bird arrived in the skies of the Golden City, this phenomena has been identified in the previous week, and even with all the science and their knowhow, Wakanda’s scientist could barely guess that it was someone, an entity who was the cause.

“And it is now coming for us.” It was floating over the cities, not exactly darkening the skies, there should have been a shadow or at least extreme temperatures, but there was none of that. The chief-scientist present with them in the throne room was constantly checking his tools, Kimoyo Card and Beads to stay in contact with the scanners all over the city.

“Yes it is, husband.” Ramonda replied to his voiced internal concern.

“Father, it has destroyed our drone fighters! I say we retaliate!” T’Challa cried out, interrupting the King and Queen.

T’Challa stood topless with his pants and sandals before the throne. King T’Chaka stood and descended the dais putting his hand on the naked shoulder of his son and started to speak.“Son-”

Only to be interrupted by the impetuousness of his youngest, Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister, opened her mouth and protested. “We shouldn’t do such a thing! It hasn’t attacked us so far, we were the first-”

Ramonda held onto her daughter who was struggling and wrinkled her traditional royal dress.

T’Challa looked stubbornly at his father. “Too late I already sent the order.” The young man nodded with a satisfied expression on his face.

At this moment, T’Chaka almost throttled his son. “What have you done!?” His face turned white. They didn’t know what that creature was, it was folly and his son may have doomed them all!

Before he could countermand the orders, T’Chaka watched as the City’s defense activated, Ion cannons powerful enough to take down a mountain individually deployed from hidden locations and fired after charging. The immense explosion struck the firebird and it disappeared behind a cloud of dust. The strange energy that had been detected by the scanners had completely disappeared. T’Challa smiled with satisfaction and said, “Problem solved.”

Shuri who had not stayed idle, as she took control of the scanners and came up with an algorithm that boosted their range and sensitivity. Her eyes opened wide as she noticed that the energy was still there and just on cue it flared and burned the scanner as it quadrupled and this time the Firebird was bigger covering the whole valley.

It screeched a cry that rang inside each and everyone in Wakanda ears. Their defenses were disintegrated by the same red wave of disintegrating force from a week and a half ago. All over the country the Ion cannons grid was obliterated, it shouldn’t have been possible. But King T’Chaka was a pragmatist.

<PANTHER KING, COME OUT. NOW.> A woman’s voice screeched in their mind. T’Chaka didn’t know it at the time, but everyone in Wakanda heard the firebird call him out.

“Husband.” Ramonda looked on with anguish at her man.

Shuri looked at her brother with blame, he had fired on something that even their most powerful weapons couldn’t do anything against. T’Chaka closed his eyes, the action of his son had the potential to destroy this country; he looked at T’Challa who looked simply livid.

“I will go.” The old King simply said with a movement of his hands the Dora Milaje guards appeared from behind the pylons supporting the throne room. 

T’Chaka resolved to go there without weapons or the Panther habit. An instinct that he couldn’t trace was telling him to present a humble and pious disposition before the entity. T’Challa placed himself between his son and the exit. “Don’t father. I-I will go in your stead.”

“You have done enough, my son.” T’Chaka dismissed him.

“I am coming with you.” T’Challa muscular frame tensed as he looked ashamed, he couldn’t even look his father in the eyes.

“I am coming too father!” Shuri announced.

“Absolutely not!” Ramonda’s answer was instantaneous.

The little princess turned to her mother and raised her voice. “I am a part of the Royal Family, this is my duty!” Shuri looked defiant and when her mother didn’t do anything to stop her ran to her father’s side.

T’Chaka looked on fondly at his daughter, and compared her reaction to that of her brother. One is a warrior, the other is a scholar. He loved his children, they were talented and had started relieving him of his burden to help him and their country. What more could an old man like him ask for? So that was why he accepted Shuri’s presence, the same instinct from earlier told him to.

The old King turned to his wife and loudly said, “If this entity decides to attack, wherever we are we will all die, my love.”

Ramonda gathered her robe’s layers of fabric and sniffed haughtily. “Then in that case I am coming too.”

T’Chaka closed his eyes, then nodded.

# # #

They were out of the palace and already on the path bearing the King’s name. They stopped and looked in the sky and it was simply terrifying to contemplate the size and power of such a being. He didn’t know how he guessed it, but when they came into the middle of the path the form of the firebird contracted and a column of fire descended on their position. 

The Dora Milaje that had come with them unarmed surrounded the royal family with their bodies and waited for the inevitable collision. But after a long moment, nothing happened, instead standing there ten meters from them was a woman wreathed in fire, she was of average size, a perfect balance of athletic and muscular, her facial features were asian, and her eyes glowed gold; her scarlet hair simply flew everywhere in the air. She wore a red and gold armored vibranium breast plate, armored black pants with the same shiny sheen and boots.

She looked like a warrior, her musculature let you guess at it.

Everyone stood transfixed as nature simply took a life on its own around her, as if a miracle flower sprouted from the earthen path and blossomed and grass grew green and thick. Thick trees grew at the same time forming a grove around them. T’Chaka looked around him in wonder, Shuri laughed, however, Ramonda and T’Challa were still wary.

“Igama lam nguPhoenix kwaye ndingathanda ukuthi, molo. (My name is Phoenix and I’d like to say, hello.)” The woman, no the divine being (?) said in perfect Wakandan.

She continued in their language, “However, I am not happy at all. I have come in peace, but two times I have been attacked in your land. For such a slight I should unleash my wrath upon you.” Her fiery hand raised, crackled with golden energy…

Once again the Dora Milaje covered for the royal family, while T’Chaka looked sorry, T’Challa wasn’t repentant and looked downright murderous, Ramona simply shielded her daughter with her body. Something else changed, a chilling wind struck everyone; they all looked around them again and the greenery around them took on the color of autumn and then died, the trees covered themselves in their winter bark.

“It seems that you are having a stay of execution.” Phoenix said, as she lowered her hand snow slowly fell on the ground and a white pillar speared the ground at the flaming woman’s side. 

As the pillar dissipated, a giant black Panther wearing golden and jeweled armor covered in runic script appeared. It… no, she roared. T’Chaka automatically  went on his knee. “Panther Goddess.”

At this announcement, everyone around him kneeled as well. There was awe, as well as fear in the air. This was a momentous event, Bast the Panther Goddess had descended. It hadn't happened since Bashenga, the first Black Panther rose as a king.

“Stay your hand, Avatar!” Bast roared and surged between the royal family and Phoenix.

Phoenix laughed. “Princess Bast. I didn’t anticipate your intervention.”

Bast said in a purr, “You should have, your intervention on this world has been noticed by every Deity man believes in. Some are in awe of your power or others seek to test themselves against you. What has brought you to my humble abode?”

T’Chaka didn’t dare raise his head and let his better to converse between equals. He didn’t understand why this was happening today, that this… avatar person would come and their Goddess would manifest herself to save them.

“That I can tell you.” Suddenly, thirty or so containers poured out of a golden portal and stacked on the right of the T’Chaka Path.

“I have come to give this back to the Kingdom of Wakanda.” Phoenix landed on her feet, the grassy ground covered now in snow did catch fire or evaporate.

T’Chaka and his young daughter Shuri were surprised by the blatant breaking of common sense, logic or physical laws that the two beings were casually doing. The Panther goddess shifted her head toward one the containers stacked high, with an effort of her will it levitated on the ground and landed. With her claw she shredded the container like tissue paper and out of it, bars and ingots of Vibranium spilled out of it.

Bast put a claw against one of the bars and it rang that peculiar sound that Vibranium made. “The sound metal. How did you come by it!” The Goddess said with surprise.

“I caught this individual who offended me.” Another portal opened and out of it a body rolled in front of King T’Chaka. 

The dead body before him was that of a bearded white man of at least 1.80m and at least eighty kilograms, he was wearing green tactical armor and clothes; his neck and right arm were bent unnaturally.

“The Thief!” T’Chaka shouted, stood up and kicked Klaw’s body.

T’Chaka then looked at his son and how rash he had been; then he thought that it wasn’t just his son, their people were antagonistic and loathed anything that came from outside the valley. This situation was a blatant reminder that all was good in Wakanda.

“Great Phoenix, may I have your attention.” T’Chaka put as much oratious skill he could in his request.

Phoenix’ fiery eyebrow rose, she lifted her chin and stood taller and said, “You may.”

The old King put his fist against his right pectoral, a formal martial salute and said, “I, King T’Chaka, thank you for the great service you have done for the Kingdom of Wakanda.”

The flames around Phoenix rose higher. “I don’t really care.”

T’Chaka lowered his head, Shuri moaned briefly, and the Dora Milaje guards all looked shocked. A scream of rage was emitted from the old King’s son who stood up and shouted, “Insolence!”

“Son don’t do it.” The old King tried to stop his son. But it was too late, T’Challa sidestepped him and lunged toward Phoenix with a dagger drawn. The hot headed T’Challa never had a chance, he simply entered a portal opening in space, toward the sun. 

Phoenix instantly closed the portal. Everyone had seen the sun and its golden flames on the black background and T’Challa simply tumbling. Ramona cried out and Shuri stood up to watch where the portal was opened.

“M-my son…” T’Chaka held onto his chest and fell on his knees.

T’Challa had died, there was no way that he could survive the void of space without protection. The King looked at Phoenix whose face was completely neutral and devoid of feelings.

“Your son is foolish, short sighted and misguided. He is no way ready or worthy to be King.” The flaming entity revealed to him, just like his son’s actions had just proved to him.

The form of Bast shifted to reveal a dark skinned woman in a cyan barely-there bikini armor. “Avatar, could you bring him back please?” Bast asked, her tail swishing right and left and her panther ears flattened.

Hope burned in T’Chaka and his family. But the implication that she had dominion over life scared the old King.

Phoenix tilted her head. “What is in it for me? He slighted me twice, first by attacking me with their technology… and the next he attacked me while we were having Parley.”

Bast sighed and looked meaningfully at Phoenix. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

T’Chaka looked between them, it was as if they were having a secondary conversation at the same time.

The fire wreathed woman floated to the Panther Goddess and put a hand on her attractive face. It was the first time that Phoenix showed another emotion other than disdain since she landed in Wakanda. “Again, Panther Goddess, you are going out of your way for those people who have stopped listening to your will. Why would you do so?”

This comment struck a chord in everyone. That they have all strayed from the will of their Goddess. Shuri was recording everything that was being said on her Kimoyo Card, and she intended to share it on the communication network.

Phoenix continued to speak with blunt honesty and told everyone what she thought of their country and of their deeds, “They are cowards hiding in this valley, parasites that are ruining your blessing and hoarding it for themselves instead of sharing it with the people of this continent that they condemned to exploitation and slavery by doing nothing to stop it. Panther Goddess, they are starving you of spiritual energy as their belief in you dries up each year that passes.”

“They deserve a chance to change their ways. They are still my children.” The Goddess spoke normally but it was as if she had roared this in the guards and the royal family’s heart, their faith renewed anew.

“I see, you are a fierce and honorable protector. And as I respect you, I will give him back.”

With a wave of her hand, a portal opened and the half charred and imploded body of T’Challa landed on the ground. Ramonda cried and ran toward the body of her step-son but was stopped by the nearest female guard. Phoenix wreathed the dead body in fire, a cocoon forming around it. 

Phoenix lowered her hand and looked at the Panther goddess. “It is done. You owe me, Princess Bast.”

This announcement echoed in the air like a bell, The Panther Goddess had entered into a contract with this avatar. King T’Chaka closed his eyes, he knew that later the backlash caused by this entire affair would splash on them. That his son would never be King at this point as he was a rash and warlike boy. 

Bast nodded her head. “Before you leave, I have to tell you that my esteemed grandmother, Neith, wishes to converse with you.”

T’Chaka could barely understand the affairs of the gods, the expression on Phoenix’ face became disbelieving, then she smiled and laughed. The old King felt that it was derisive in nature. “An Elder God, huh… so be it. I imagine that she will speak to me through dreams and that she has a quest for me.”

Bast lowered her head. “I cannot speak for my Esteemed grandmother.”

“Very well.” Phoenix nodded. Her gaze focused on the old King who stood straight. “King T’Chaka.”

“Yes, Avatar?” 

“I hope that your people learn from this entire debacle. Isolationism forces you to see enemies everywhere and doubt the intentions of everyone. It is good to be prudent, some beings and people shouldn’t be trusted, but I had come with an open hand, in friendship and you batted it away. I hope that the next King or Queen will be wiser.” Wings of fire spread and then she was hurtling in the sky like an arrow, disappearing.

Bast ignored the King and walked straight to Shuri, the guards and Ramonda stepped away from the two. The Goddess placed a claw on her forehead and aloud told her, “Grow little cub, I place my hopes on your shoulders. Become strong, become wise… and maybe you’ll be able to recover our tarnished honor.”

Shuri opened her eyes wide. “I shall my Goddess.” Bast smiled at the young girl and stepped back; then just like she came into their lives, she disappeared in a pillar of light.

The Dora Milaje guards then took things in stride and placed the King and in a defensive formation by surrounding them. They looked all at the leftover of the shocking visit of the two divine entities. The cocoon  of fire then began to dissipate as a fist then an arm appeared from it and shattered it from within.

Lo and behold, Prince T'Challa appeared, whole and healthy, he looked around himself and his eyes brightened as he saw his father. T’Chaka looked into the sky feeling that this was just the beginning…

"The age of the Gods is once again coming."