Raptor of life 14.2 (Patreon)

Chapter edited by pids, AsssemblerManiac, Blackstarline and skydragonknight.

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(Director Donald Pierce)

Cordoned area around Camp Lehigh area
1 Km from the crater
3 hours later
01:02 PM

A nuclear explosion without fallout on American soil; that was the kind of event that was now alarming everyone in Washington. They were all panicking like headless chickens as reality settled in; the United States was not prepared to deal with an attack by a terrorist group using an improvised nuclear device. The country should have been prepared, because the risk was real even if the probability was low, and doing so could have saved a great many lives.

Pierce walked up to the crater where Camp Lehigh should have been, the gravel cracked under his feet; the border of the crater was earth and stone, the air-blast of the explosion having blown away or destroyed the vegetation. The Director looked at the pit, it was a kilometer in diameter and four hundred meters deep. There was nothing left of the base, the destruction was thorough. The experiments and research that Hydra had done here had been to develop enhanced personnel and weapons, important for their eventual takeover. Hydra hadn’t needed this debacle, the scrutiny alone was slowing plans that Pierce and his allies had enacted since they removed Peggy Carter.

He walked back toward the cordon, not wishing to look inside the crater, the simple fact that there was no fallout at all told him that his foe was anything but normal. Peggy Carter being rescued meant only one thing, that Jean Grey thwarted him yet again, taking away any leverage that he had to force her hand.

The simple fact that subject Grey was able to destroy one of their facilities with such ease made her a danger to their grand vision: World domination. Pierce and his faction hoped to achieve it through terrorism and subversive acts. They wanted to create a new world order with themselves in charge with the anonymity of using the SHIELD brand name.

But what was the point of this plan if a meddlesome teenage girl could just appear out of nowhere with the ability to eavesdrop in the minds of everyone she came across and reveal what they were all about? To him, Jean Grey was an operational security nightmare. Now, the SHIELD division of Hydra had to live through infighting between splinter groups and different factions of the same organization and a young woman that had more power than she deserved and the will to see their end.

The proof of it was behind him, she was willing to ‘nuke’ them… he had received the message loud and clear, because the utter destruction of this base proved it; they had touched her reverse scale and now they would pay the price. She seemed rather put out that her mentor had been taken and her friends and their families attacked.

*I fear that there’s no way to settle this in a civilized manner.* Pierce thought as he stopped before the technicians and scientists charged with analyzing the damage and the cause of the crater.

“What do we have gentlemen?” Pierce asked jovially.

One of the scientists wearing a SHIELD skinsuit covered by a lab coat looked at him and, recognizing him, said “Director… Sir, what we are seeing here simply shouldn’t be possible.”

“How so?” Pierce straightened his glasses.

The man shook his head, he seemed reluctant to explain their discoveries. He looked at a female technician typing on her laptop’s keyboard. She shrugged and returned to work, leaving the honor of reporting their findings to her colleague. “Err… Sir, the device used wasn’t the normal kind, in fact I don’t think that anyone has the technology to control the radius and the ability to make a clean nuclear device. Our techs…” The man pointed a thumb behind him “have been roaming around the crater and the woods, the geiger counters have barely beeped; though... the readings we got of the local background radiation said it was stronger an hour ago and returned to normal before we arrived, something or some process happening when the bomb detonated made it so that it faded into the local background radiation.”

Pierce understood that they had nothing for him and that wouldn’t do at all.

“I’m sorry to say that the technology exists ladies and gentlemen, look behind me…” Pierce turned and pointed a finger at the crater. “And we don’t have it.” This was the important point of this conversation.

“I can’t go back to Washington empty handed and tell the old boys that someone has used some new kind of nuke on one of our bases and that we don’t have answers. We must also find a way to spin this FUBAR situation so that the public doesn’t panic; I don’t know what you’ll write in your report but it better say that it was an experiment of ours gone wrong through an act of god.”

One of the technicians behind him asked, “Are you asking us to lie?”

Pierce chuckled and gave the technician an amused stare. “Lie? No. Sooner or later we will find the ones who did it and we will acquire the technology.” Pierce gave them a predatory smile; the technicians and scientists stood straighter, knowing that if that happens they would be the first ones to dissect the technology and then test it later. “But for now, we cannot panic those old fogeys in congress. Do you understand?”

The scientist he spoke to first said, “Sir, we do.”

Pierce nodded. He liked to give such speeches to the troops and motivate them. “What more can you tell me about this device?”

“It definitely uses Helium-3 as a source for nuclear fusion…” The man before him explained.

As he continued the scientist told Pierce that Helium-3 (He3) was a gas that had the potential to be used as a fuel in future nuclear fusion power plants. There was very little Helium-3 available on Earth, that there was an abundance of it on the moon and Jupiter, the gas giant. The cost of making a bomb using such a rare element was prohibitive and unconscionable.

*So where did she find Helium-3 to…* Pierce frowned and remembered that NASA had been reporting about anomalies in orbit and around Mars and Jupiter. *Am I fishing too far? But the infiltration of Camp Lehigh speaks of resources comparable to SHIELD, money, scientists, vehicles and personnel. Where did she obtain all that?*

Suddenly, Pierce felt that he had been underestimating Jean Grey all along. He took his glasses from his nose and looked up into the afternoon sky. “I think I need to take steps to not be swept away by the oncoming storm.” He took his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

“Darling? Yes, I am sorry for cancelling, but I have something important to tell you… I know you wanted us to go on that trip to Europe…”

# # #

Back with Jean…
Egypt base
02:05 PM

Cap, Gwen, Phil, Fury, and I were in the lab. Fury was looking all around him like a kid at the candy store, Peggy was on the cushioned lab table and Gwen was scanning her to see if there was anything wrong with her as she still hadn’t woken up. She was wearing a grey hospital gown that I found in the locker lovingly named ‘wardrobe for lab rat’ -Fuck you Sinister- Gwen had also covered her in electrodes.

The computer did a reading on her vitals that were good from what I could read on the screen, however, Gwen’s sad face told me everything I needed to know. Another thing to put on Pierce’s head.

I was prevented from entering madness and destroying a moon in the solar system to calm myself by the next question asked by Steve. “Why isn’t she waking up?”

Turning to him, I noticed how Steve was holding onto Peggy’s hand, I heard a crack in his voice that had me worried. It was Gwen who answered the question first. “Her brain was more damaged than you thought, Jeanie.”

*Damn it, she could have said it with more tact!* I glared at her and she averted her gaze guiltily.

“Shit!” Fury shouted what everyone was thinking.

Okay, I spread a feeling of peace to calm down everyone around me. I put my hands on each of my temples, I had to think about this; this wasn’t good, I couldn’t lose her. Peggy was important, to me, there was no way I was going to leave her in that state.

“What… what can we do?” Phil asked, voice neutral but with red-rimmed eyes.

That floored me, uncle Phil was emotional. I couldn’t and shouldn’t let him feel what I was sensing from him. He was preparing himself to mourn. I stood straighter and walked up to the lab table and put myself at Steve’s side. “Well, I see I have to speed up my time table.”

I had thought that Peggy would be awake and that I would have her permission to use Phoenix rebirth on her and enhance her body. It seems Marvel was conspiring against me, trying to take her from me. I wouldn’t let it, I swear by Stan Lee.

I poked Steve’s face with a finger and focused on him; I was looking at how the serum had amplified everything in him, it was damn scary. It was as if his body was forcefully made to evolve over millions of years in one go. I didn’t mind that everyone thought me strange as I was proceeding with my analysis.

“What are you going to do, Miss Jean?” Steve looked at me as if I had become mad and almost stepped back, but my TK kept him firmly in that spot.

His body was complex and a beautiful machine at work. He had everything enhanced, life force, intelligence, endurance and stamina, dexterity, agility… “I am looking at you with one of my powers, Cap.” I said aloud as I finished the scan with my life-sight.

He chuckled nervously, he had seen what I was able to do and didn’t want any of those lethal abilities I possessed turned against him. “What for?” He asked.

I let go of Steve’s face, having filed away the template of his body for my project, I was one hundred percent sure that I could recreate the super soldier serum, but I didn’t need it. I didn’t like the fact that it amplified the mental traits of the user. “I want to copy the enhancements you have and tweak them a bit to remake Peggy’s body. You see, I am one hundred percent certain that I can heal her thoroughly and even give her back her youth, but making her a base human again isn’t good enough for me, what we need is to make Peggy like you.”

I felt more than saw Fury walk aggressively to me, he turned me and made me face him. “Grey, we didn’t give you leave to experiment on our direct superior.”

Glaring at him I said, “Fuck- beat it Fury. The term experiment suggests that Peggy might not survive; I didn’t nuke an american base for nothing… I want aunt Peggy back.”

He spluttered at my revelation, and was about to say something when Phil caught him and took him aside. They spoke for a while, whispering about something, I could hear them but I decided for my sanity that I wouldn’t eavesdrop. As for Steve, he looked at me with undiluted hope, it was embarrassing. Five minutes later, uncle Phil and Fury came back and said that I should try.

Fury glared at me as if I was public enemy number one. I ignored him, his attitude almost made me throw him out of those proceedings. I sighed and clapped for everyone's attention. “Gentlemen and Gwen, the solution is clear. I have the power, I can remake Peggy, faster, better, stronger, smarter, even more powerful than ever before.” I smiled as I showed them the Phoenix flame dancing in my hands.

Then I decided that a demonstration of my previous work was needed. “Gwen, show them the thing.”

The blonde flinched, not liking being put upon and stared at everyone’s gaze on her. She obviously knew what I was speaking about as I manifested a one ton block of metal that slammed onto the ground. “Err… are you sure Jeanie?”

I nodded. “Yeah do it.”

Gwen’s shoulder sagged, she let go of her scanner, placed it on the lab table and strode toward the square block. She dug her fingers into the block as if it was putty and lifted it over her head, then slowly levitated off the ground. With little effort, Gwen then tore the condensed block of metal; when I had changed her, she wasn’t able to do the same thing, but like I thought she had become even stronger.

Fury looked mesmerized by what Gwen could do, looking from me to my best friend. The blonde let go of the remainder of the metal block, letting it slam onto the ground. Then I turned to the men and said sweetly, “As you can see, Gwen has powers. She wasn’t born like this, but I gave them to her for protection. There’s no need to worry about me fucking this up, Peggy will be fine.”

“You… since when do you have a Kryptonian on your team, Jean?” Phil stared at Gwen with the zeal of a fanboy.

That’s what he got from that? Sometimes Phil was too nerdy. “Like I told Cap earlier, the world is bigger than you think. And no, Gweny is not an alien... uncle Phil.”

“Miss Jean?” Steve’s voice interrupted me. His armor clanged with his shield on his back as he turned to me.

“Cap?”

I felt trust blossom inside, he was worse than Peter, the pillar of hope that rose almost blinded me. It felt warm and pleasant as he continued to speak. “Do it, everyone here wants Peggy back. But what’s more you are trying to give her back the time she lost with… I-” He was having a hard time formulating what he was thinking, how strange. He was known to give impromptu speeches.

“I understand what you are trying to say. Give me an hour.” I interrupted him, assuring him that I would give him back his love.

“Thank you.”

After this I shooed everyone out. When everyone left the medical room, I wasn’t surprised to sense that the paranoid feelings in Fury’s heart redoubled; he wasn’t a friend anymore, so I read his mind. What I saw disturbed me, he was already seeing me at the head of an army of powered individuals and taking on the world. Well… he wasn’t too far off my goals… of having a private army to protect my people was certainly in the works.

I shrugged, cracked my knuckles and got to work.

The Phoenix rebirth was entirely dependent upon my will. The process could encompass any and all characteristics of the subject (body, mind, soul, abilities, nature), and may range from slight improvements to complete rebirth. I not only wanted Peggy healthy, but young again, at her peak; basically the same age as Elektra sensei. But I didn’t want to make her just a vanilla human, she needed to be able to keep up with Steve or anyone else in my entourage. This was my apology to her for not rescuing her earlier.

Mentally I looked at Steve’s stats and amplified them further, when I was done, Peggy’s physical and mental abilities would be glaringly, obviously, and supernaturally superior over any kind of enhanced artificial human. I basically upgraded and streamlined Steve’s supersoldier abilities ten times over. It would make Peggy’s capabilities far beyond natural levels, making her immensely stronger, faster, durable and smarter than regular humans.

“She’s going to be like an amazon from the old DC comics.” I said as I kept my image and the changes that I want to make to Peggy in mind.

SKREEEE!!! I let the Phoenix Force fill my being and looked at the body before me; Peggy was aware of everything happening to her, she was just stuck in her body, unable to move, her soul was vacillating and almost about to be snuffed out.

“NEVER.” My flames engulfed her, taking on the form of an egg. I felt it when I formed the cocoon of fire around her, but the change was already taking her, her body disappeared and turned into a collection of loose particles. Her soul was being safeguarded and reinforced by another part of me holding Peggy tight. And this was how I was going to completely remake her. I was now changing the conceptual nature of her body, improving its capabilities to amplify what a super soldier could already do. 

It wasn’t simple, but it took roughly an hour to do what would have taken Sinister at least a year. When I was done, I placed Peggy’s soul into her spiritual core and it grafted perfectly onto her newly formed physical shell. Peggy was still asleep, but I felt that she wanted to wake up, she tensed; she remembered what had happened to her and was about to panic.

I soothed her spirit with a thread of empathy and infused focus and peace into her; that everything was alright. Her body went slack. I sighed in relief, I didn’t want to be the first person she saw. It was Steve’s moment. I tilted my head and thought about a certain Parker matriarch. *I will give her a tune up tonight too.*

# # #

(Margaret Elizabeth "Peggy" Carter )

Date ????
Place????

She opened her eyes to a wall of orange and yellow fire, she panicked and punched it, realizing that it didn’t hurt, she wasn’t burning. Peggy was left panting as the fire dissipated, turning white and simply ceasing to be. She was in a cave… no some sort of bunker and there were countless machines around her, medical ones she guessed.

There was a door at the end of the room, it was white with a little window at its center, surely to permit the staff to see if the room was occupied. Then Peggy realized that she was naked as she felt a breeze on her skin, she looked at her arms and frowned. Those weren’t her arms, her skin was too tight, her breasts were not sagging anymore. “Bloody hell.”

Peggy flinched, putting a hand on her mouth as she heard herself speak, this was her voice; she didn’t sound like an old woman anymore. Was she dreaming? That wall of fire she saw when she woke up, was it a sign that she was in hell? She deserved it, she had allowed a big evil to survive. Closing her eyes, she accepted her fate.

The brunette felt herself being flicked on the forehead. <Don’t be silly. You are a good person, you would never go to hell, Peggy. Even if you went there I would still pick you up.>

Peggy jumped from the cushioned medical table and landed gracefully on her feet. There was a strange sense of power and boundless energy she felt but she casually dismissed these sensations as she had heard the familiar voice of her protégé. “Jean? Girl, is that you?”

A feeling went through her that could only be described as ‘Duh’ and she heard a chuckle. <I rescued you, and gave you back some time.>

Peggy’s eyes widened in surprise. “How? You-”

<I brought back someone you need, too.> Jean interrupted her train of thought.

Motes of light appeared and assembled to form grey pajamas on her body, it was strangely snug on her and form fitting. The door opened and someone she had lost hope to ever see again passed through it. Her vision became blurry as the man in iconic blue, white and red armor strode to her and took off his streamlined helmet, completely different from the one of before.

Peggy felt as if she was in a dream, she pinched herself and winced in pain. The blonde haired and blue eyed man that she kept seeing in her dreams took one of her hands in his and looked into her eyes. Peggy sniffled.

“Steve…” There were so many emotions in just the one name.

“Peggy.” Steve said with wonder. Looking her up and down, from head to toe, her hair was brunette again and her eyes sparkled with life and… sadness. The British woman caught Steve’s harness at a speed faster than a cobra striking and her other hand slammed on the man’s right cheek. SLAP. He would have been propelled back to the door if Peggy hadn’t held onto him.

Peggy was momentarily surprised by her strength and speed; she shook her head, it wasn’t the time. She glared at Steve who held onto his cheek and saw the blood on his glove showing that he had a split lip. “You’re late.”

Steve had the decency to show guilt, he closed his eyes and exhaled a long drawn sigh. “I… deserved that.”

Peggy took pity on him as she saw that he meant it, she seized his other harness and pulled him toward her. “Shut up and kiss me, you stupid idiot.”

He obeyed and the two lost all sense of time and their surroundings as their miraculous reunion continued well into the night.

# # #

December 24th, 1996
Lab Complex
Medical room
03:45 AM

Peggy opened her eyes, feeling sore in places she would never have thought would be sore again. But she felt them slowly being soothed, and frowned at the strange sensation. She was in bed with Steve. They had done all sorts of lewd things on the medical bed and she didn’t feel guilty at all. Why should she? It had been years since she had felt like a woman. She appreciated the way Steve held onto her tightly, as if afraid that she would disappear; it made her smile, because she felt the same way.

Peggy could smell sweat and sex, they had been going at it until just two hours ago and Steve had been rather… enthusiastic even though it was his first time. He had quickly gotten the hang of how to please her, bringing her to climax with clinical efficiency. *He needs more practice and I am eager to let him have it.*

But the intelligence agent in Peggy told her that she shouldn’t indulge too much and should explore her new environment. However, the cage of muscles she was enveloped in didn’t allow her to move; Peggy tried to pry herself from Steve’s arms but they tightened around her.

“Pegs, you are awake?” Steve’s muffled voice reached her ear.

She felt his hot breath on her cheek and smiled contentedly. “Yes, hun.” Peggy held onto him and Steve slightly loosened his hold on her.

“You had barely…” Steve frowned as he thought, then his face cleared. “Two hours of sleep.”

Peggy thought that it was longer than that, she felt like she had had at least eight hours of sleep. “Strange, I feel refreshed, I think I don’t need much sleep any more.”

Steve suddenly looked worried and freed Peggy from his embrace and sat upright, carefully hiding his privates with the bedsheet. “Jean told us that she would change you when she was done healing you, I guess she really meant it.”

Peggy looked up, a sense of dread welling up in her. “Changed how?”

Steve began slowly fondling Peggy’s hair she regaled in the sensation until her man spoke. “I don’t really understand what she did, but she asked me permission to look at my body.” Steve didn’t realize that he should have phrased his sentence differently.

Peggy froze, then caught Steve’s hand and lifted her head to look him in the eyes. “How close did she look?”

With an eyebrow cocked and a quirk of his lips Steve said, “Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?”

Harrumphing, at that presumption, Peggy sat upright then pouted at Steve. “She’s barely seventeen, and you aren’t into redheads.”

Peggy remembered that Irish bimbo trying to get into Steve’s pants fifty one years ago; she wasn’t above using her position to try to sideline her to get to Steve. *God, how can I remember something from that long ago so perfectly?*

Steve put a hand around her waist, looking briefly at her chest then back at her face. Enough to remind Peggy that Steve was a man but still a gentle one.

“Never was…” Steve looked at her, as if she was the only woman that mattered to him.

To Peggy this was flattering and bolstering her ego in a way she had never felt before. She was running on a high that it was difficult for her to let go, but she calmed down, she forced herself to. “So what did she do to me?” Peggy stayed on subject.

The smile on Steve’s lips disappeared, replaced by an anguished expression. He held onto Peggy tightly. “Pegs… it was bad; they had operated on you, put some poison capsules inside you with something called a miniaturized GPS tracking device. They also had injected you with-”

“A memory erasure serum, made by Howard.” Peggy continued his sentence, still reliving that moment when she had felt more powerless than ever before in her life.

Her fist closed, making cracking noises. *I won’t let it happen again.*

Steve nodded. “You wouldn’t wake up and Jean said that you were dying, that your soul was fading…”

Peggy whipped her head toward him, looking at him in surprise. “My soul?” She had never believed in such drivel, but Jean being able to see her soul? That girl had powers that even she couldn’t fathom, always using some random ability to serve her purpose. Every time Peggy interacted with Jean Grey or a mutant, they challenged her worldview.

They stayed silent for a while, Peggy wondering what Jean had shown to Steve to make the super soldier so introspective. She didn’t need to wait for long as Steve spoke. “Peggy, the things she’s able to do… I have a hard time believing that Jean Grey is human.”

The brunette looked at him with a glare. “She’s just a girl, Steve. I took her under my protection, powers or no, I will never see her differently.”

Peggy had failed Jean once, but a second time? That was never going to happen.

“She could take on an army.” Steve remarked.

He looked really sure of that, but Peggy knew better; the girl would never do anything to jeopardize her family. Taking down armies would put her on the map and wanted everywhere, just like Steve was. Peggy poked a finger at his chest. “You’ve done that too, Steve.”

The blond haired man smiled. “You can also do that now, Pegs.”

And there was the crux of the conversation, Jean had changed her, made her even stronger than Steve if her experience from last night was any indication. She had outlasted him in their... copulation and even bruised him; Peggy may have been too passionate in the moment. “I don't feel like it… it’s weird now and I have to reassess everything that I can do. A lot of things are amplified now and my senses are out of this world, but there seems to be some built in natural restrictions allowing me to dial down everything.” Peggy looked at her hands, closing and opening them.

Steve stared at her with an evaluating gaze. “Jean does good work, maybe as good as Erskine.”

That struck Peggy, Jean wasn’t a scientist… not yet at least even though her knowledge and classes at school showed that she was inclined to become one. But for her to be able to be compared with the creator of the super soldier serum? “Jean is still in High school she would never-”

Steve raised a hand, making Peggy stop and told her bluntly, “Peggy, she made a nuclear bomb and used it.”

Peggy’s heart skipped, then she froze and looked at Steve. “You are kidding, right?”

Steve shook his head, his face taking on the haunted look of a man who had seen something that had shaken him. “No…”

Not being able to comprehend what she was hearing for a long time, Peggy prompted an explanation from Steve who told her everything he had done with Jean Grey. When he was finished, time seemed to slow down for Peggy who after swiftly making a decision, pushed any of her feelings out of the way.

Peggy became the SHIELD director she still was and said to Steve. “I think I need to go speak with my wayward charge.” She quickly exited the bed, determination in every movement she made.

# # #

3 hours later
Dormitories
Common Room

Jean seemed to have known that she was in trouble as she was not in her lab or in her apartment. It was as she exited the tunnel leading to the dormitories section and into the common room that Peggy spotted her protégé. But she became distracted as her nose was attracted to the smell of bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, tomatoes and mushrooms, toast and... was that coffee? How could those smells be so distinctive? Steve caught Peggy’s arm and pulled her to a table, the furniture was spartan and without ornament. The room had a recent paint job in blue, and was covered by posters with quotes as well as some large portraits.

All this told Peggy that the work on this room was new, that it wasn’t like that before. There was a gigantic screen installed on the wall, facing some kind of booth for privacy, it looked familiar, like something you’d see in a american diner from the fifties. Peggy sniffed, they smelled new and recently installed from the marks she could see on the ground.

Seeking out Jean in the room, Peggy finally found her; there was a booth with four redheads, and a blond, they all looked as if they were from the same family; it wasn’t a surprise for Peggy to recognize Jean and her elder sisters, there was a younger Jean in the crowd and that floored the agent. *Since when does Jean have a little sister?*

Jean was fussing over the little one as if she was a baby, she turned her head and finally noticed her. Peggy was almost blinded by the bright smile thrown her way by her charge. “I am here, Peggy! Come please!”

Peggy strode toward the booth, her tight white sundress limiting her movements; this was one of the things she was angry about. Jean had given her something so... revealing. The bright and innocent smile of the teenager didn’t deceive her in the least, Peggy knew that Jean had done it deliberately; Steve had to get a quickie after he had seen her in it; then she had to convince him that such a dress was normal and that he wouldn’t have to punch anyone for looking at her the wrong way.

Narrowing her eyes, Peggy stomped as she shouted, “Jean! We have to talk, young lady!”

Everyone present stared between Peggy and Jean; the elder Grey sisters watched the drama unfold with rapt attention and smiles on their faces. Voice low and a nervous chuckle Jean replied, “Aww, don’t be like that Peggy.”

In a flash of blue light, Jean disappeared from the table she sat at and was suddenly before Peggy and hugged her fiercely. “I did it for you.” The teenage girl said in her ear.

Peggy’s arms locked around the redhead’s body, in a sense she understood what Jean felt. Only her family and friends mattered to her; this was a dangerous path to take, viewing those around her as either allies or enemies. Today’s friend could be tomorrow's enemy and the reverse was also true. It's important to respect even those you disagree with at the moment because you never know who might be helpful down the line. “Jean…”

Jean stepped back but still held onto Peggy and told her with eyes glowing. “I’d do it again. No one messes with my loved ones.”

Peggy blinked and the golden glowing eyes disappeared, a smile blossomed on Jean’s face. The agent sighed and patted Jean’s cheek. She resolved herself that Jean would be a work in progress and that she wasn’t a psychopath at least, it would have been bad for the world. “At least, I know you care.”

Jean laughed. “Of course I do! You are like my fav grandma…” She checked out Peggy’s body covered by the too tight sundress. “...well, you don’t look like one anymore.” Jean snickered and let go of her.

Peggy reddened, she couldn’t believe that a girl barely out of her nappy was checking her out. “You cheeky brat, don’t think I won’t-”

Someone interrupted her, it was the young blonde woman at the other end of the table who stood up and walked up to her. Like Jean she wore a blue puff sleeve summer dress, but hers had floral prints.  “Peggy, I am so glad you’re okay.”

Her voice was familiar, her posture as well; she looked like Jean but with blonde hair and blue eyes. “Who…?”

The blonde’s eyes widened, there was a bit of sadness in them as well. “You don’t recognize me? It’s me, Elaine!”

Peggy stepped back and stared in more detail at the gorgeous blonde, she was barely twenty five and had a voluptuous body; an hourglass figure, and slightly toned muscles. Yes, now she was seeing the resemblance, she looked like what Elaine might have looked like in her youth. But Peggy refused to see it. “No… you are too young.”

The snickering of the redhead at her side disturbed Peggy, Jean went to hug the young blonde woman and kissed her cheek. As she turned to Peggy she said, “Did you think I would make you young again and leave my parents in the lurch?”

*No, no you wouldn’t.* Peggy thought as she looked between Elaine and her daughter. “I see.” Then Peggy turned her head to the girls at the table behind them and looked at the Jean clone in particular, she didn’t know how right she was with her guess.

“Who is that?” Peggy lifted her chin toward Madelyn.

Jean looked at the preteen looking girl and said with warmness, “This is Madelyn, my little sister.”

Peggy narrowed her eyes at the little girl who held onto Sarah Grey as she felt shy. “You don’t have a little sister, Jean.” The agent said with certainty.

Jean placed herself between Madelyn and Peggy. “Sinister cloned me, technically I am her mother. But…”

Madelyn interrupted Jean. “Mother Elektra told me that calling Big sis Jean mother is dangerous. So, she’s my sister now.”

Peggy looked at how the girl held herself, the childish lilt of her voice and noticed how young Madelyn seemed, the syrup on her face as she had been eating pancakes. Everything screamed toddler to her, there was no way she was that young with the body of a preteen, right? The agent didn’t know what to think, she needed more information to evaluate the situation. “I think we all need to discuss this after breakfast, is that okay with you, Elaine?”

Elaine nodded and returned to the table, sat and then looked at Peggy, signalling her to take a chair and join them. “John is going to be here soon and he needs to be here for the retelling anyway. You and your boyfriend can join us?”

Everyone looked at Steve who had stayed rather silent. He smiled, then nodded at Peggy. Two chairs floated down and were added to the booth, clearly something Jean would do. But Peggy was surprised to see that it was Sarah Grey doing the moving with her mind by adding plates and loading food onto them for Steve and Peggy.

*Yes, I have a lot of things to catch up on.* Peggy realized.

# # #

(Phil Coulson)

Communication room
10:12 AM

He couldn’t believe he was seeing her awake, she was younger, stronger and her mind was sharper. Peggy Carter was watching Fury’s presentation having confirmed her status and given the codes and passphrase signalling that it was really her. He was now briefing her about what had happened and now she looked quite shocked by what she was hearing.

Captain Rogers was at the side of the room, observing from afar, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his face had become steadily darker and he looked disappointed; Phil couldn’t even look him in the eyes, somehow thinking that the people had failed the man.

Phil’s gaze settled back on Peggy who sat on a chair behind the central desk in the room. The holographic screen scrolling down with different folders and files liberated from the hard drives from Camp Lehigh.

“Have you confirmed it?” Peggy asked once Fury was done reporting.

Fury put himself at attention, “Yes, Ma’am. Jean Grey detonated a fusion bomb on a military base, project Rebirth had never ceased and had become a haven for the more reclusive and unethical scientists Hydra possess. Thanks to the hard drives retrieved by Captain Rogers and Jean Grey we know what they were all about.”

The black man manipulated the mouse and on the holo-screen some videos began to play, some showing horrible human experimentation and others showing weapons testing. “Illegal experiments on humans, designer drugs and other kinds of serums to enhance the body, weapons testing… there’s a lot more.”

Peggy stared at the screen with disgust, her hands trembled as rage appeared visibly on her face. She watched as each of the video clips ended. The SHIELD director was now seeing how dangerous Hydra had become, they weren’t just entrenched in their government, they led it and it took them fifty one years; a great number of countries were also almost taken over.

*They didn’t lose, losing the war was barely a setback for them at some point as they used the United States’ goodwill as a springboard to spread their ideology.*

The desk fractured where Peggy’s elbows were. “And it was in New Jersey, in my sphere of influence.”

The silence was deafening, none of the men present tried to console her or sugarcoat it to her. Steve looked down at Peggy, a troubled expression passing on her face.

Fury looked at Phil, then at the cap. Each of the men were in their own thoughts, but he took his courage in hand and chose to say, “Yes, ma’am.”

A fierce glare was directed at Fury who put himself even more at attention. “What is being done to unveil this situation to people we trust?”

“Ma'am we can't go to the usual contact for this. We have no means to know who is Hydra or SHIELD…”

Fury was wrong, Jean was there… but he didn’t want to be indebted to her. *Too bad that I already took the necessary steps to secure Jean’s help. She can see who is guilty or innocent.* 

Peggy threaded her fingers together and put them under her chin. “Then… I declare that we are going dark and will start Operation Clean Sweep.” Peggy looked at Phil and Fury with a fierce smile. “We will ask forgiveness later, but we are going to need to take out the Hydra High Command in our country and beyond. I took steps to secure help… and Jean Grey has promised to support us; however it's not going to be free.”

Fury let go of his military posture in shock. “What?” The man had hoped that this operation would be only with his people and that the girl would only lend them her resources.

Phil chuckled and took a twenty dollar bill from his pocket and went to give it to the Cap who received it with a smug smile. “I told you he wouldn’t like it.”

# # #

Back with Jean…
Bayville
Darkholm Mansion
08:15 AM (US Local time)

I appeared before a driveway leading to an American colonial style three story house with a blue tiled roof and a gorgeous garden of flowers surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn. I located Mystique there in Bayville; her current cover was that of a high school principal, she lived there with someone, I could detect a female mind inside beside Raven’s.

Walking to the house’s entrance, I knocked on the glossy blue wooden door and pushed the bell’s button and waited. I was seeking out Raven’s help for a good reason. It was time to rally the troops and fight for what was right. Fury had reluctantly given me a list of people to go pick up, most of them would be tough extractions in what I now considered enemy territory. The man was ordered to play nice with me and stay professional, so I had to meet him halfway too. So, now I treated him with all the respect I would give a casual acquaintance. I hoped he didn’t mistake my fake smiles and professional body language as me deferring to him. I’d totally punch him in the throat if I knew I wouldn’t lose respect in the eyes of Steve, Phil and Peggy.

After a bout of meditation I remembered details from his biography in the Marvel Database, Fury, the one who wasn’t the Disney cookie cutter version was a highly paranoid individual who often made enemies of people who would otherwise be allies as in the long term he shafted them or took advantage of them for some conspiracy or other scheme. This Fury wasn’t like that yet, but I saw the signs of his descent into paranoia; my instincts told me to watch my back as long as he was alive.

With Fury taking his own people and allies on the op, why shouldn’t I do the same? If there was someone who was good at infiltration it was a certain shapeshifter, the first metahuman I had come to like more than Logan. And I was being careful, I didn’t want him to order any of his people to stab me in the back; although I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. This was why I found myself before Raven’s door, I could trust her at least more than Fury.

Looking at my foot, checked if I was presentable; I was wearing my best attire of the day, a tight black long sleeved deep V neck shirt, matching black tight leather mini skirt and knee high boots.

*I look good.* I didn’t opt for a jacket as the weather had no effect on me.

Sensing someone approaching and opening the door, a taller and lithe teenaged girl with brunette hair with a white lock of hair and pale green eyes appeared. She wore a wooly green sweater, black jeans and comfy bunny slippers. She looked annoyed and I felt that she was rather unwilling to cooperate from the get go. “Who are ya?”

I instantly knew who she was and it was all I could do to not fangirl over her. With an engaging smile I said, “Good morning, I am Jean Grey and I’ve come to see Miss Darkholm.” I didn’t hold my hand out to her, I knew better.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Ya a student or somethin’?” Looking me up and down, her gaze settled for half a second on my cleavage, my hair and eyes.

I nodded. “Oh, yes she taught me a lot of things.”

“Fine, ya can enter.” She said, and I found her southern belle accent really attractive.

I entered Mystique’s domain, waited for Rogue -because yes it was Rogue!- to close the door, she also gave me disposable slippers made of some kind of paper material to put over my boots. I watched her going deeper inside the house, my gaze firmly fixed on her ass. *The comics were accurate.*

She stopped in the short corridor leading to a massive living room. Everything was either blue, white or gold, Raven sure had a good theme there. Rogue turned to me, her eyes stormy and a hand on her hips. “Will ya follow instead of watchin’ ma ass?”

Why was she so cute even… calm down me, you have Cindy remember? I sighed, “Of course, I couldn’t but think how beautiful you were, you have a nice ass.” I answered truthfully.

She blushed prettily, caught herself then glared back at me. “Did ya come tah hit on me?”

I chuckled and straightened a lock of hair falling on my face. “I really want to say yes. Sadly, it would be a lie if I said it, and if there’s something I am not, it’s a liar. I’ve really come to look for Miss Darkholm.”

She looked me up and down, a faint smile on her lips. “Sure, tell yerself that sugah.”

I shrugged, it didn’t matter if she didn’t believe me. She intentionally rolled her hips as she walked up to the next room and shouted: “Mom, there’s some redheaded girl here for you!!”

*Wow, she has a great set of lungs.* I thought.

There was silence for five seconds before a familiar voice shouted from the first floor, “I’m coming!!”

Crossing my arms under my chest, I looked at Rogue, then at the furniture and decoration. This house felt lived in, not a decoy house that an operative would use to have some cover story. *So, Raven lives here for real.*

Rogue observed me, and finally acted like a host. “Do ya want somethin’ to eat, or tea?”

Uncrossing my arms I nodded. “Tea please, though I didn’t come empty handed either, here.” Two stacked boxes of German Hazelnut cookies appeared in my hands in a flash of blue light.

“Aaah!” Rogue stepped back and fell, shocked by my display of power.

Frowning, I looked at her surprised face, made the box float around me and said, “Hmm, there’s nothing to fear you know?”

Wasn’t she used to displays of metahuman abilities? I found it weird that she reacted this way. I held my hand to her, with the intention of helping her back on her feet. 

However, Rogue skittishly back paddled across the floor with fear in her eyes. “Stay back!”

Stomping feet were heard as they ran down the stairs leading upstairs. I wasn’t surprised to see Raven in a warm and long woolen white dress. She had glasses and her blue skin and golden eyes were clearly visible; Raven’s gaze instantly zeroed in on the fallen girl. “Anna!”

The shapeshifter placed herself between me and her daughter, wiping a fast kick to my face at the same time; I held a finger reinforced with chi and stopped her from kicking me in the neck. “Hi, Raven?”

Raven slightly let her stance go and looked at me with wide eyes. “Jean?!” The shapeshifter let her leg fall and straightened herself.

I lifted my head and grinned tauntingly. “In the flesh.”

Raven’s skin shifted back to beige instead of blue, she walked up to me. “I thought…” Then she stopped and stepped back as she realized something. “no wait... Sinister had you, how can I be sure that you are who you look like or haven’t been brainwashed?”

She’s the first one to actually ask the question and be on her guard, Raven was healthily paranoid. I tilted my head and sent a stream of memories into her mind, I showed her how I killed Sinister and all his clones. “That’s a good question.” I said and showed a wrathful expression on my face. “I killed the fucker with these hands. Not before he could clone me though.”

I felt Rogue… no, Anna’s fear spiked as she listened to me. Then, I felt fear coming from Raven, it seemed that showing her how I could raze the entire planet on a whim didn’t do her peace of mind any good.

Raven slowly approached me, hesitantly put a hand on my face and inspected me. I could sense her discomfort and wariness slowly lower as she looked into my eyes. She gave me a bright smile with all teeth that reached her sparkling gold eyes. “Where have you been? Your parents were kidnapped by SHIELD, I heard?”

My smile quickly melted, leaving place to my lips thinning. “No, I took them to safety; someplace secret for now.”

Raven pushed her glasses up her nose after observing me for a long moment. “Why are you here?”

“I’ve come to ask you for help.” I said, and made the cookie boxes float toward her and made her catch them. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Can we discuss this over tea and these cookies I brought?” I bribed her with sweets, one of her known weaknesses.

She sniffed the box and her face lit up with eagerness, then looked at me who was smiling with a smug smile.

Raven harrumphed, then she nodded. “Very well Jean, follow me.”

I looked at Anna who averted her gaze from mine, it made me somehow sad. Raven looked between us two and sighed. “Anna, she doesn’t want to hurt you.”

If I wanted to, all I would need was to nuke the house, but I didn’t say it out loud. My head turned to Raven who looked embarrassed by the reaction of her daughter, there must be a story there. “Raven, you should have told me you had a daughter my age, she is so pretty.”

The shapeshifter said nothing and left to prepare tea. She was still wary of me and wanted to keep her secrets, like the fact that Anna was her biological daughter. This was completely different from what I knew from canon Rogue and Mystique. *Marvel, what in the name of Stan Lee are you doing?* Another proof that I couldn’t rely on my canon knowledge.

With a weary smile I focused on Anna and held my hand to her. “Here let me help you, darling.”

Fear etched on her delicate and graceful face, she didn’t want to touch me because her metahuman ability had awakened three years ago. I didn’t even have to use my telepathy on her, her mind was so terrified and undisciplined that it was as if she was her own Imax theater and let me see her memories and projected her thoughts by shouting them at me.

“I c-can’t touch you.” Anna backed away a little more and her back hit the sofa.

“Oh dear, I assure you that nothing will happen if you do, take my hand.” I insisted.

The fear she felt was replaced by resolve, she looked at me and took my hand, “Your funeral…”

Our skin touched and her powers automatically tried to absorb my vitality, my memories and essence;  they allowed her to copy abilities. It seemed that she wasn’t limited to only those, I would have to study her more in depth but for now it was easy to block her from absorbing anything from me. I hefted her up, she widened her eyes as she felt nothing rushing from me to her.

“See.” I gave her my most handsome smile.

She still held onto my hand, looked from it to my face and shouted in complete awe. “How are you…?!” I let go of her, but she grabbed my hand with something akin to desperation and said, “Wait…”

But it wasn’t meant to be as Raven appeared through the door leading to the kitchen and asked, “Is something the matter?”

I said nothing as I took my hand back from Anna; Raven felt quite surprised that I could touch her but didn’t show it outwardly. She had a lot of self control. “Jean, maybe we should take this in the tea room?”

“Sure.” I said to Raven after waving my hand at the girl. “It was nice to meet you Anna.” I followed her mother to the tea room where we would without a doubt be able to talk business. 

# # #

(Anna-Marie Darkholm)

Since her X-gene had awakened, Anna-Marie had been confined to a life devoid of warmth and genuine human interactions, she had resolved that she would become an old spinster with cats or dogs to care for. Slowly she had fallen into depression and closed herself off from everyone, even her mothers who had been trying to get her to control her own powers and resume a normal life.

Three years, later there was no progress and she had given up; the world had become grey and cold to her in the meanwhile. She avoided going to school and her mother had decided to homeschool her citing a medical reason like having xeroderma pigmentosum, an extreme sensitivity to UV, but that her case was mild. The fact that she was already pasty white was attributed to that fact.

But once again reality threw her another curveball. Was it god who sent someone who could finally touch her? That girl, Jean, at first seemed scary and Anna had assumed that she was one of those dangerous people that her mother invited into their house from time to time for business.

But Jean was more than just dangerous, she was loveable and charismatic, the old saying: A smile's warmth comes from the fire within the heart, described her to a T. Her smile made her attractive, her confidence overwhelming, she held herself as if nothing in the room was a threat to her.

Anna-Marie admired that in the girl, she was everything she wanted to be, bold, kickass and induced respect. Just like she did with her mother who had become really wary of the redhead as if she was a dangerous animal to whom she shouldn’t bare her fangs so as to not be eaten and consumed.

As she stood in the living room and looked at the door leading to the tea room, Anna-Marie’s thoughts and entire way of life were being changed. Jean Grey could touch her and that was all that mattered to her at this point. *Was it because of her powers?* She asked herself.

She reimagined the warmth of Jean’s hand in hers and found herself feeling hungry for the same sensation again. Too often people underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which had the potential to turn a life around. Anna-Marie found herself in the sad position of having to reevaluate what she had been doing.

It was an hour later as she thought that God sure dealt her a rough hand, but that she had given up too early and had become stuck and unable to move forward in her life, becoming a petty and selfish girl. Just because she couldn’t touch people it didn’t mean that her life was over, she couldn’t just sit back and settle for mediocrity and apathy.

Maybe… just maybe what they had tried three years ago wasn’t for her, she had to stay open to any solution to her problem that she could live with. Like blessings, curses were not supposed to be permanent, she should make provision for her future. Jean Grey had just given her hope with a touch, Anna wanted to thank her, to be her friend to… she blushed as her mind went in intimate directions and shook her head to stop thinking like that.

Some minutes later, after her introspection; Anna, who had been waiting on the nearest sapphire colored sofa, saw Jean and her mother exit while smiling. Raven was… happy? Usually she looked stern and stoic with people who weren’t family, but now she was doing it with that girl. They discussed inane things until they saw Anna waiting for them.

Raven’s expression shifted from happiness to contrition, as she strode to Anna and took her hand, she said, “Anna, dear... I will unfortunately be absent for a little while…”

“Mom? But it’s going to be Christmas soon!” Anna raised her voice, not liking where this was going at all.

Jean cringed and looked between the two.“Oh, it’s bad that I am going to separate you… do you think we-”

Raven lifted her hand and narrowed her eyes at the redhead. “After I check this base of yours.”

Her mother was still wary of the girl, but she just smiled back at her, not miffed at the coldness of the shapeshifter. “Sure, shall we go find Irene, then?”

Raven’s skin slowly turned to blue, her black hair reddened. “That’s the deal.”

Why were they talking about her other ailing mother; she was hiding for a good reason, people wanted to find her for her seer gift, or should Anna call it a curse? “Mom, what’s happening here?”

“We are going to cure your other mom.” Raven said with faith lacing her words.

Widening her eyes Anna, stepped back in shock. “But, you told me that-” You tried everything. Anna thought, looking surprised at Raven who ignored her, turned her back and went upstairs.

This hurt, the way she acted, but she was right; this was more important than some party. If they could save Irene, Christmas didn’t matter one iota.

Interrupting her musing, the gorgeous redhead at her side took her hand and said, “Hey Anna, you should go pack a suitcase with at least a week of clothes. You are going to be in my base for quite a while.”

For a long moment she delighted in the sensation of this girl’s hand on her skin, then Anna registered what she had said. “What? Why?”

With a smile that melted her heart and a boop on her nose, the redhead said, “Chop chop, Anna.”

Anna blushed, not liking how she was reduced into being a hormonal teen before this girl, she wrenched her hand from Jean’s. “Fine.”

“Good girl.” Jean patted her head and Anna turned her back on her, walking toward the stairs and her bedroom, her heart beating like crazy.

# # #

(Clinton Barton)

Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Clint Barton’s apartment
1 hour later

This was it. He had deserted the academy and threw his lot in with Fury and his ragtag band of misfits. He was putting his future in danger, but what he had been told about SHIELD had sickened him. Hydra had infiltrated them, the notorious sect of no good scientist they had taken on after the second world war. This situation, if it wasn’t resolved, would take a turn for the worse.

He avoided the bay window of the apartment and leaned on the wall. Through a system of mirrors placed strategically in the main living room he could glance outside to the street. There was no one coming for him, it was a relief but a short lived one as he heard someone knock three times on the entrance door of his apartment.

Clint took his pistol from his shoulder holster, went to open the window in case he needed to take the fire escape and walked up to the door.

The knocking was strong enough to rattle the door this time. He said nothing and simply walked to the door and looked through the eyelet; a gorgeous redhead was on the other side, she looked annoyed and glared at the door. “I know you are here Mister Barton, open the door.”

Clint didn’t think, he ran, took his jacket and his bug out bag and left through the window only to see the same redhead on the metal stairs leading down to the street. Arms crossed, she was glaring as if she wanted to punch him.

“I do want to punch you.” The girl answered aloud to Clint’s thought. He frowned and dismissed the fact that she could read his thoughts.

“Who are you?” The agent in training asked, he still had his pistol in his hand and was ready to shoot her if she was an enemy.

She smiled at him, looked at his weapon and snorted dismissively. For a brief moment nothing was said and only the noise of the streets and the people passing by under them filled the silence. The redhead rolled her eyes and said in a monotone tone, “They said there’s a snowstorm tomorrow.”

Clint recognized the start of the passphrase Fury had given him to identify the extraction agent he had dispatched to get him to his base of operation. Clint couldn’t believe that this young woman was Fury’s agent, she was barely what? Sixteen?

“You can’t trust the weatherman, not in the winter.” He answered reluctantly, this was the following phrase.

“Follow me to the roof.” She said then disappeared in a flash of blue light.

With wide eyes Clint lifted his arm and pointed his pistol where the girl was supposed to be. He barely blinked and she had disappeared. This situation he was in was getting stranger by the minute, he scratched behind his head after holstering his pistol. He sighed and looked up, then sighed again and started walking up to the roof.

The fire escape staircase led to the roof, and it was already snowing. Clint walked slowly with apprehension in his heart, hoping that this wasn’t a trap he was walking into. He was finally putting his foot on the roof when he saw the redheaded girl waiting for him in the cold, she didn’t seem affected by the cold even though she wore something so provocative, a short black skirt, matching elaborate long sleeved black top and knee-high boots. The way she held herself was like a martial artist, she had almost no openings.

She looked experienced, and had the presence of someone older than her visible years. The illusion of the veteran agent shattered when she spoke next and rolled her eyes at him in typical teenager fashion. “Ah finally, Mister Slowpoke, you took your time.” Her voice was low, cold and harsh.

Narrowing his eyes, Clint asked in a cold tone, “What is your name?”

“You won’t need it yet.” She said.

When she raised her hand, Clint prepared himself for the inevitable betrayal and thought, *This is it, this is where I die.* However, his expectations went unfulfilled.

A glowing golden ring slowly appeared, carving itself into the space between them; the mist inside leisurely dispersed to show the insides of a gigantic room with carved stone and blue metal walls with glowing lights embedded in them illuminating the place. Three people were already there, looking at him. Another beautiful girl with a blue skinned woman and an old Lady in a comfy and luxurious wheelchair.

“Hop on my steamboat, Barton.” The redhead quipped.

Looking shocked, Clint stepped back and his head swivelled from the redheaded girl to the hole in space.

“What the hell is that?!” The agent in training demanded.

A schadenfreude expression on her face, the girl simply answered, “A portal.” Her red lips forming a sensual kind of smile that shouldn’t be on such a young woman barely older than one of his adopted younger female cousins.

Walking up warily before the portal, Clint passed a hand inside and realized that it felt cold and took back his hand and stammered, “H-how did you make it?”

The redhead froze, her eyes slowly glazing over in thought; then she tilted her head and said absently, “Well… this particular kind of portal is formed via the process of magnetic reconnection. Mingling lines of magnetic force from the sun and Earth’s gravity that criss-cross and join to create openings like this. This phenomenon enables me to travel between two points via a shortcut in Spacetime allowing near-instantaneous passage to my desired destination-”

Clint’s eyes widened as he realized that the girl was actually that smart and a nerd. It didn’t bother him that she was one of those mutants he heard about in the SHIELD induction debrief, humans were humans to him, whatever special abilities they were endowed with. “Stop! Stop, I get it, you are an egg head and a nerd.”

She stopped, harrumphed and threw him a lukewarm gaze, “Hey! That’s Queen egg head to you, Mister!” 

Clint looked at her, then noticed her cocky smile and couldn’t help but guffaw at her expression. Damn, he liked her. 

She chuckled at him, a breeze blew and whipped her voluminous mane of hair forward. She straightened her hair with her hands and said after a time, “We don’t have the time to banter, come Barton, we need to get agent Hill.”

Clint nodded and put the strap of his bag over his shoulder. “Understood.” He felt that he was now walking decisively into the unknown as he stepped through the golden aperture. But he would not have it any other way. He wanted this, he wanted adventures.

# # #

(Maria Hill)

December 24th, 1996
New York, Astoria
11:02

Maria woke up with a start from her nightmare, she kept seeing the faces of agents Bradley and Reynolds; two men she had killed for betraying SHIELD, on Nick Fury’s orders. She still didn’t know what to think of the man, he was paranoid, competent and utterly loyal to the country. Last night, when Director Pierce had informed the New York SHIELD branch that he went rogue and was wanted for questioning. Fury betraying SHIELD and going rogue? Maria had dismissed the idea completely.

She wasn’t blind, the overwhelming personnel transfers, the support staff reshuffle and Pierce’s notorious attack dogs being deployed to secure hostages to make a presumed asset compliant. It was at that moment she understood that it was time to bug out, that something smelt rotten at SHIELD. That feeling was further enhanced when she received encrypted emails from her sponsor, Fury.

It took her all night but she had decrypted the messages and Fury was painting a really dire situation. Since then, Maria never went to work the next day and with only her bug out bag, pistol and fake ID she roamed the city, always in movement; Coulson’s message in the email had given her the location of a key to a locker for the East New York station on the Long Island Railroad's Atlantic Branch in the East New York and Ocean Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

Inside was a suitcase loaded with money, an assault rifle, three boxes of ammunition and gadgets with their manuals. She used a library network to connect to the internet and received further orders from Fury to go to Director Carter’s second safehouse in Astoria and wait for extraction.

The bed was uncomfortable, Maria groaned as her back popped. She looked around her, and examined the grey walls and listened to hear if anyone was there. The little house was devoid of any decoration and lacked character. She was alone, but the streets were still active and there seemed to be a lot of activity before Christmas.

Maria checked the time and it was 11:05 AM, she felt hungry and parched and her feet were killing her; she never voiced her discomfort and toughed it up. Exiting her bed she went to proceed with her ablutions, she then changed clothes and put on a tactical armored shirt, pants and boots, she was ready for anything. After that she prepared a light breakfast of bacon and eggs.

When she was done, Maria took her cleaning kit and started to maintain her guns. It was midday when she checked the time next. A knock on the door of the safehouse broke her out of her routine just at the moment when she finished the maintenance on her rifle and two pistols. Maria loaded a clip in one of her Beretta M9 and stood up. She slightly parted the blue black curtain and saw that a blonde woman was waiting before the door of the safehouse, looking left and right around her, wary and expecting trouble.

Narrowing her eyes, she let go of the curtain and walked to the other room, zipped through the living room and stopped before the door. She placed her arm behind her back with her pistol with the safety off. Exhaled and opened the door.

The woman was a blonde with blue eyes, tall with an athletic build; the two looked at each other, then all of a sudden they pointed pistols at each other at the same time. No one fired a shot, they were locked in a stand-off.

“Hill.” The blonde woman wore a black pantsuit, covered by a light brown overcoat. 

“Carter.” Maria’s voice was tight and controlled as she recognized her.

“What are you doing here?” They asked in sync. They glared at each other when they realized this and holstered their weapons.

“You first.” Maria decided after lifting her chin coldly.

Sharon Carter was Peggy Carter’s niece, the Director of the New York branch of SHIELD; a lot of people had been giving her flak, thinking that she got in through nepotism. But Maria knew better, she was more than competent, she was an elite agent excelling in hand-to-hand combat and an excellent markswoman. The two had worked together before and Maria had been impressed by her work ethic and was briefly scouted by the Femme Force, an all-women squad of commandos. Maria had been enthused by this prospect. 

However, after discovering that Maria had killed agents Bradley and Reynolds who were in reality triple agents; Sharon snubbed her after not reading all the facts and thought that she was a cold stone killer, they had words and had a fight about it. Since then, there was enmity between them.

“My aunt messaged me through secure channels and directed me here.” Sharon said before being interrupted by a portal opening behind Maria.

Maria and Sharon whipped their guns out and fired inside the portal reflexively only for someone to exit it and the bullets to freeze in mid-air. A man exited, followed by a redheaded teenage girl with a glowing red hand who, with a gesture, wrenched the weapons from the two agents’ hands.

“Agent Hill, Agent 13. Thanks for the warm welcome.” The redhead said with a genial smile.

“Who are you?!” Sharon and Maria shouted at the same time; they were clearly distraught by the casual display of power from this young woman.

“I am here to exfiltrate you, go grab for your stuff. With that racket the police must have already been called, are you ready? I have others to gather too.”

“Calm down Grey.” The blonde man beside her turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder to do just that.

“I don’t like being shot at and you could have been killed, Barton.” The redhead turned her head toward the two female agents and glared at them, her eyes glowed golden.

They didn’t step back in fear, they were better than that. Maria decided to roll with it and started by giving the passphrase to confirm the man and young woman’s identity and status. Once they passed the multiple checks, Maria went to gather her stuff and quickly began to load her rifle into her suitcase, her clothes in her bags. Then began to erase traces of her presence slowly, rubbing clothes on every surface of the furniture, cleaning the bathroom, the toilet and even the dishes she used were cleaned.

Once she was done she went back to the living room where Sharon Carter was discussing enthusiastically with the redhead and hugging her tightly. There were tears in her eyes; then she noticed Maria and disentangled herself from the teenage girl and recovered her natural professionalism. The portal loomed in the room, silent and glowing. Maria could see that the other side showed a view into some kind of bunker.

They all filed inside the portal, the man, Barton, was first followed by Carter; the redhead looked at her, signalling Maria with her eyes to enter quickly. She took her courage in her hands and walked up to the girl who put a hand on her arm and said, “We must speak later once we’re in the main base, okay?”

“Certainly, I have questions.”

She retracted her hand, letting go of Maria who passed through the golden portal to find herself with Carter pointing her weapon at a blue skinned woman with golden eyes. Maria recognized her, she was a renowned terrorist and activist with the tacky codename Mystique. The blue skinned woman placed herself between a woman in a wheelchair and another teenage girl.

The moment was tense but it was defused by a simple sentence from the redhead behind Maria. “Sharon would you please not shoot my subordinate?”

Maria watched her move, the girl wasn’t acting like a teenage girl at all right now; she was a predator, she was dangerous and the tone she spoke to Sharon in didn’t leave any room for interpretation, it was an order.

Stormy blue eyes glared at the redhead. Her weapon was still pointing at Mystique. “Jean, what is the meaning of this?!”

“Mystique works with me, she’s my associate.” The redhead said it as if it was a matter of course.

Her eyes going from Mystique to Jean, Sharon couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Do you know what she did?”

The girl looked slightly sad that Sharon was acting like that. “Yes, I know. But… she’s a metahuman, like me. I decided to help her; she’s someone whose circumstances at birth forced her into making poor choices. Mystique has decided to work with me because she wants redemption and a clean slate and I found myself through a convergence of events that will eventually help her into reaching what she wants not only for her but also my people.”

The old woman and teenage girl behind Mystique listened to Grey with rapt attention, there were tears in the woman’s eyes and the brunette girl nodded vehemently.

*Redemption, huh?* Maria thought, she sure would like that too, to be able to stop seeing the faces of the two men she killed.

The blue skinned redhead smiled, ignoring Carter completely and asked. “Metahuman? Jean, what is that?”

Jean replied with conviction. “I don’t like the name mutant, it dehumanizes us.” 

The blue skinned woman frowned at the other redhead and rolled her eyes. Grey glared at her and stomped her foot and in a blur was on her and held onto her arm. “Don’t look at me like that, yes Raven we are human. Not that homo superior crap Magneto loves to call us. A metahuman is a human with superpowers, simple, and it rolls on the tongue don’t you think? That’s what I want the vanilla humans to call us and remind them that we are still part of humanity, we don’t want to be defined by our abilities.”

Maria watched as the two redheads seemed to glare at each other to see who would lose the contest of will they found themselves in. The conviction of the younger woman seemed to have won the older one over as she averted her gaze and finally said, “I will try to get used to it.” Mystique shrugged then refocused on Sharon Carter who still trained her pistol on her.

Maria remembered that the young redhead had taken their weapons earlier, how did Carter get it back? Then she rationalized it as, *Grey must have given it back to her, I need to ask her for my pistol too.* Maria didn’t even have the time to complete her thought when she found her pistol floating toward her.

“Here, that’s yours.” Grey said from afar.

Maria took her pistol and holstered it, nodding in thanks. Meanwhile, Sharon who didn’t like being ignored finally gave in to reason. “Fine, Jean… I will trust you for now, but…”

Jean Grey turned to Sharon Carter and smiled. “That’s all I ask, Sharon.”

# # #

(Barbara Morse)

Pym Laboratories
New Jersey, Cresskill
02:12 PM

Bobbi loathed working with Doctor Pym, the man was a misogynist, he had hired her for her expertise as a biologist but didn’t take her seriously. Why was she here? She should have listened to her friends and not accepted a tenure at Pym Laboratories. She had been ecstatic when this job was offered to her, but now she regretted it.

As of late, Bobbi regretted having quit SHIELD to try having a normal life away from danger and the killing. She had even become Huntress for a while and played troubleshooter for SHIELD in South America. But that life, it just wasn’t for her, she just didn’t want to be a killer; by having an enhanced physiology she was on the map for diverse international groups who had an unhealthy interest in her, she didn’t want it.

She sat on the bench on the roof garden of Pym Laboratories, looking at flower bushes, the entire building was under some kind of climate control device inside it. It was set on tropical even though it was winter; Bobbi lamented on how Henry Pym was a brilliant man but really flawed.

The blonde recognized her employer’s symptoms as she noticed how prone to breakdowns he was, the man was a genius but sucked at interacting with others and held himself and his profession to impossible standards. There was also the rumor about how he treated his wife.

Sighing, Bobbi leaned back against the bench and looked at the grey sky. *Outside must be really freezing.* She thought, and closed the lapel of her lab coat. 

*I miss Clint. Where is he? He isn't answering my calls anymore.* Bobbi thought with relish, she missed him. He had chosen to stay with SHIELD for his career and they were having a long distance relationship. They took time to see each other, but she missed that proximity and accessibility to his body, the man was attractive, fit and skilled.

They had unfortunately drifted into becoming email buddies, she didn’t want to break off the relationship; she loved the guy. She had resolved herself to wait for him to be out of the SHIELD academy. As she thought about diverse things, Bobbi failed to notice a golden portal opening behind her. A tall blonde and blue eyed man slowly creeped up to her and blew air in her left ear.

“Aaaah!” Bobbi jumped in fright, she turned and somersaulted back, five meters from the bench.

In a crouching position, she lifted her head to gaze at her assailant and was surprised to find the love of her life looking at her with a goofy grin and waving stupidly at her. “Darling, I’m back!” It was Clint, he wore a heavy black jacket, a grey woolen sweater and dark blue jeans.

Her eyes widened in recognition and she quickly stood up and said, “Clint, is that you?!”

“Of course babe, come here.” He signalled her to come give him a hug with his hand in a ‘come on’ gesture.

She didn’t think, she ran and threw herself into his arms, locked her legs around him, then smashed her lips against his. Clint’s arms encircled her, holding onto her as sure and hard as a vice and kissed her back, softly at first, and then with a swift gradation of intensity that made Bobbi cling to him as the only solid thing in a dizzy swaying world. 

Cough. But someone chose to interrupt the happiness of the two lovers. Bobbi stopped kissing Clint and looked behind him and saw a gorgeous redhead, maybe five or six years younger than her. She looked embarrassed and averted her gaze from Bobbi’s blue eyes.

“You two lovebirds need to cool it, we don’t have much time.” The redhead said as she crossed her arms and raised an annoyed gaze at them.

Bobbi’s eyes narrowed, she didn’t like how that girl interrupted their nookie time. *Who is she?*

Clint reluctantly and delicately put Bobbi on the ground after making her let go of him. He looked sheepish but still held onto her body. “Oh, sorry Jean… it’s been a while since I've seen my girlfriend.” He turned his head to her and in that moment she saw how much he cared for her and loved her.

That was one of the reasons why she didn’t break it off with him even though their careers didn’t seem to agree with each other. Where would she find a guy who loved her for her, and not for her body, listened to her and who was willing to let go of everything to just see her? They were either all taken or gay, she would never let go of Clint.

Laughing, the redhead stepped back from the two of them as if she was being scalded, she wiped her arms with her hand and had a facial expression showing mild pain. “Well yeah, no shit Barton; her too… she’s really in love with you, why haven’t you put a ring on her yet?”

And just like the seasons, Bobbi’s opinion of the girl changed and she found her interesting and friendly. Clint also seemed to defer to her in some fashion. She too wanted answers about why he didn’t ask her yet.

With the eyes of the female population of this roof on him, Clint felt as if he was being measured and gauged. “That’s…” He wanted to speak but he couldn’t get anything out. With the perspective he had now, Clint didn’t understand why he should give the rest of his life to SHIELD, he wanted adventure, yes but to work for the bad guys unwittingly? *Fuck no, I want to do good but, do I want to tie myself to an organization that has been perverted and twisted?*

He looked at Jean and she gave him one of her bright smiles, it was like she was reading his mind sometimes. Barbara saw the looks they exchanged and placed herself between them and asked, “Excuse me? But who are you?”

Clint went quiet, looked at Bobbi, then at Jean who lifted her hand in appeasement, smiled at Bobbi pleasantly and said, “I am Jean, everything will be explained later, you need to come with us.”

Bobbi waved her off with a hand, “Ha but… I can't, I have work.”

The redhead tilted her head, then a shark-like grin spread on her face. “Work, really? You are working for that crazy wife beating dumbass, Henry Pym.” She walked up to her, and stopped at one meter from her and looked into Bobbi's blue eyes. “He doesn’t deserve anything, neither your time nor your loyalty, if you want to do good work, I will hire you, Miss Morse.”

Bobbi was struck by shock, the girl just struck a nerve. She was voicing everything she thought of the man she worked for. Barbara Morse wanted to do good, to be something other than a weapon for others, she felt that this girl was giving her a pep talk at the same time. *Hire me? Who is that girl, how can she be so.... Confident? What does she want from me?*

Clint placed himself at Bobbi’s side and glared jokingly at Jean. “She’s Miss Morse? Why? And you call me Barton… I should get respect too!”

Jean looked at him for one second, rolled her eyes and addressed Bobbi once more, “Right, anyway we will speak about your employment later.” The redhead said as if it was a foretold conclusion. With a determined look she pointed a finger at Bobbi. “We need you, Mockingjay, to save this country and as an incentive… you can spend time with your boyfriend at the same time, he is out of school anyway, isn’t that great?”

“Hey don’t ignore me!” Clint shouted out.

Bobbi was tempted, really tempted to just say yes for the hell of it. She missed Clint so much, but she was an adult and had responsibilities. “Shh, Clint, she’s making a compelling argument there.” The blonde woman said with a pacificating hand on Clint’s right arm.

Jean squinted her eyes at Clint who smiled nervously and averted his eyes from her. The redhead then looked back at Bobbi, continuing her soft sell. “I heard that you were a mercenary too, if patriotism doesn’t do it, I am willing to appeal to your greed, I am willing to give you one hundred million dollars for your service, fifty upfront, you get the rest when you are done.”

The blonde made a double take, and Clint gasped. “Where would a teenage girl get all that money…?”

With all the pride and confidence she could muster, Jean answered, “I’m currently the richest teenage girl on Earth, Richie Rich has nothing on me.”

Clint raised a finger and laughed. “I saw that movie! It was good!”

Bobbi smiled at her boyfriend. “We saw it together Clint, yes, be silent please.” She patted him on the head and segued back into the conversation. “So, Jean, right? You seem to know who I am, what’s the deal, why did you come get me?”

With a serious expression, the redhead said bluntly, “You left a big paper trail at SHIELD, and let’s just say I am taking you out of play as it seems that some people will want to use you against us.” Her eyes seemed to gain an inner light as she said that, it frightened Bobbi, then when she blinked, the redhead’s eyes were normal.

Jean looked at the goof Clint. “And I don’t want to see Clint hurt, the poor guy can’t stop thinking about you all the time, he is easily distracted... you should really put a ring on him.” She insisted.

Bobbi sighed, but she smiled as she put an arm around Clint’s waist. “That’s the plan after he stops wanting to play spy…”

Clint jumped in surprised and looked at the bodacious blonde. “Babe, really?” With a thoughtful expression. He said aloud, “I should have asked when I wanted to, I have the ring and all…”

That was news to Bobbi! Why didn’t he ask?! She bopped him on the head, glaring at him for not having done it.

Jean laughed at them. “He’s a goof too, that’s a pleasant trait.”

It took a minute of consideration, but Bobbi decided that she wanted to be with Clint. *Fuck Pym.* And she flipped her hair back and said, “Okay, I am coming with you, and I have had enough of this place anyway. Pym is an asshole.”

“Welcome to Star Lab.” Jean gave her a million watt smile and held her hand to Bobbi who shook it with enthusiasm.

As she still held onto her, Jean grandely waved her free hand and a hole in space opened with golden light. The borders shone gold and the misty shroud hiding the inside parted, Bobbi could see a great number of people waiting on the other side. She stepped back, scared. “W-what is t-that?! I-is it safe?”

“Pass through it and find out.” As she said this, Jean passed through the golden portal with a smirk.

Bobbi turned her surprised gaze on her lover. “Clint, honey is it…”

Clint smiled, held his hand and said, “Yes babe, it is, hop in.”

“O-okay.” Bobbi trusted her man implicitly, she took his hand without hesitating, they then entered the portal not knowing that they would never regret the decision they made to follow a certain redhead.

# # #

(Anna-Marie Darkholm)

Gathering point
Alaska base
01:21 PM

Anna looked on as Jean kept looking for people, the gathering point was getting kind of crowded. The agents were giving a wide berth to her mother, her second mom and herself. She didn’t like it at all, however they all seemed professional enough to ignore them. *Still I can’t believe Jean owns everything here.*

They were in a cavern, but it didn't feel like one, the ceiling was made of stone and Anna could see some supports holding it up, the walls were covered in some kind of metal with bright electrical lights embedded into them every two meters. There were further facilities available but Jean had blocked the tunnels leading to them with some kind of wide lock down code she typed into a tablet that she made appear out of nowhere.

Anna now knew that Jean wasn’t an idiot, she was doing a favor to the people who needed her and her mother, but she didn’t want to let those people see what she had. As a result of this, Anna understood that she didn’t trust any of them beside her mother, so she stayed well away from those shady people. To her they moved like soldiers or something, their cold eyes on her and her family showed her that they would totally kill her and not think of the consequences.

A portal opened and two people ran out of it, the brown haired woman amongst them turned left and rolled, the second person, a man turned right and out of it came another third person, a powerfully built man with black on black costume slamming into the facing cavern wall as he was struck by a powerful red beam.

Out of the portal, walked Jean with red glowing eyes, slowly moving toward the man; her arms crackled with arcs of blue electricity. As Anna looked on in morbid fascination, she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw that her mother sported a dead serious expression.

“Mom, what is she going to do?” Anna asked, she knew what was going to happen but she just hoped that she was wrong.

Raven hugged her daughter and made it so that she couldn’t look behind her. “Put your hands on your ears, Anna.”

The brown haired girl frowned at her mother and protested, “No wait, why?”

“Jean is doing what I would do to traitors.” Anna heard her mother say, there was a mighty crackling sound that broke her train of thought.

The room lit up with blue light and the screams started. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!”

Two minutes later the man stopped screaming and the lightshow stopped. The smell of burnt flesh was pervasive and then it was suddenly cleared; Raven let go of Anna who turned to the place Jean was, her hair rising, an effect of the electricity she had used, before her was an ashen silhouette on the ground.

“Phew, okay that’s that.” Jean said, then her hair returned to normal. “I should stop using that ability, it always fucks with my hair.”

Jean didn’t seem to care one bit that she had killed a man, Anna wanted to judge her for that, but she realized that she must have reasons. The browned haired teen felt Jean’s gaze on her, she smiled at her and waved. Anna awkwardly waved back.

Then she turned her head looking left and right and hollered, “Jemma, Leo, where are you guys?”

“Here Miss Grey!” A man’s voice was heard, Anna looked right and she saw him hiding behind a bank of some kind of broad type of armoured, military vehicles. They were blocky and black in color.

The brown haired woman in white that had exited the portal earlier ran at Jean and hugged her. “We are safe! Finally, that Hydra agent bastard is dead. Thank you, thank you!”

Everyone in the room asked themselves mentally the question that Anna spoke aloud, “Huh, what’s happenin’?”

“I will find out.” Raven said as she strode toward Jean.

Jean started loudly explaining to everyone why they were gathered. They were all gathered to fight Hydra, the organization that Captain America had supposedly destroyed, that their organization, SHIELD, was infiltrated by them since the fifties. Director Carter, Phil Coulson and Nick Fury had assembled them all to form different teams to take out the Hydra High-Command.

She finally came to the point and also explained why she killed the black haired man. “Well, Hydra intercepted the mails sent to Fitz and Simmons; they then placed bombs around their necks with collars; this guy…” Jean pointed her finger to the ashen silhouette. “Grant Ward, was supposed to infiltrate us and give away our position or kill Director Carter, plant tracers, etc…”

“Oh, that’s bad, really bad.” Anna turned herself and saw the blonde woman who had held them at gunpoint earlier, she was cursing loudly.

Everyone seemed to know who the man Jean killed had been. Those SHIELD agents that were brought in with Anna’s family began to speak between themselves and theorized or doubted the information given, some raged, others believed, some scoffed and denied Jean’s words .

A big clap was heard and interrupted everyone who was speaking loudly. “So peeps, it’s time to go to the main base. Whether you believe me or not, doesn’t matter to me, Peggy and Fury will sort you out.” Jean waved her hand and another bigger portal opened while the little one she had come through disappeared. “Chop chop, people, we don’t have time to daydream.”

Anna didn’t want to argue, and took the handle of Irene’s wheelchair and rolled her toward the portal, Raven followed her with Jean in tow.

# # #

Egypt Base
5 minutes later

As everyone filed into the hangar filled with strange vehicles, Anna noticed that everyone was being herded by five people. The group consisted of a pink haired girl in a skintight white and blue armor, a gorgeous blonde in a black leather catsuit playing with a sheathed knife on her utility belt full of pouches; a huge muscle-bound man in a butler suit, another blonde in a skintight armor and a purple haired muscular girl in a similar outfit.

“Ah, they are finally doing something to earn their bread.” Anna heard Jean say as she waved at the group.

Only the older blonde and pink haired teenage girl answered in kind; the others were busy ushering everyone into the tunnel to the left leading somewhere. Jean clapped, then turned to Anna’s mothers. The two redheads looked at each other, it was as if two predators eyed the other for weaknesses.

Jean was the first to speak. “Raven, can I borrow Anna for a little while?”

Anna reacted to that, her alone with the extrovert Jean? She wanted to and at the same time she didn’t, the brunette didn’t trust herself with the redhead. Her mother seemed to have become aware of that fact.

Raven narrowed her eyes at the other redhead. “Don’t try to seduce my daughter, Jean.”

Jean pouted, turned and looked at Anna, almost devouring her with her eyes; the brunette felt as if she was being undressed, body and soul. To Anna the redhead seemed to be that type of person that sees right through you, even though you try to act not like yourself. She asked herself what Jean was seeing in her.

Jean smiled and made a coy expression directed at Anna. “Aww, but she’s such a beauty! And her heart is in the right place...” She said in a sultry and provocative voice that did interesting things to the brunette’s nether bits.

A fierce blush bloomed on Anna’s face; Jean proud of herself turned to Raven who glared at her. To pacify the mother, she said with a placating tone, “It’s part of what I promised you, Raven. She must make a choice.”

*A choice? Between what?* Anna didn’t like how she seemed to not understand what her mother wanted from Jean. She wanted to know what they had discussed when they had been in their home, during their hour of sipping tea.

Raven looked long and hard at Anna who squirmed under her gaze; it was a mix of sadness, worry and fear. She walked up to Anna, then hugged her fiercely, taking care to keep her skin from touching Anna’s. After a moment, she let go of her daughter and straightened herself, then her eyes settled on Jean. “Very well, Jean. I trust you.”

She turned to Anna, held her hand to her face and almost touched it. “Anna, I believe in you.”

Frowning, Anna said. “Mom?” She did not understand what her mother’s action meant.

Raven didn’t explain herself, and went behind Irene, Anna’s other mother. Jean walked up to the woman in the wheelchair. “Mrs Irene! My assistant will lead you to the lab where you can wait for me. I will start your treatment ASAP.”

“Thank you, Jean for this opportunity.” Irene lifted her face to where Jean’s voice had come from; she was blind, and had been unable to walk since Anna was ten years old.

The young redhead knelt and took Irene’s hands in hers, they began to glow with yellow golden light. Irene’s cataract filled eyes, slowly dissipated and her white color, a sign of her mutation was fully visible.

Jean’s hand stopped glowing as she said, “You held on for almost two centuries, you are such a strong and beautiful person, Irene… I will definitely save you.”

The redhead stood up and backed away, and Irene who looked dazed lifted her eyes to Jean. “I can see you…” Raven placed herself at her lover’s side and looked at her face. Turning her head, Irene finally saw her family. “Raven, Anna!”

For another ten minutes, the family gushed at the woman’s recovered vision. This was the first time Irene could see someone with her eyes and not her precognitive powers; she had been visually impaired since birth in the mid 18th century, Anna remembered how Irene had told her that she went blind just after triggering her powers. She wanted to hug and kiss her mother, as usual that feeling of utter powerlessness gained her.

It was at this point that Jean arrived at Anna's side and took her naked hand in hers. “Follow me Anna, we need to talk.”

Anna looked into the redhead’s eyes. “But why? Ah  wan-”

Irene and Raven looked at them, not interfering at all as they tacitly understood what was going to happen.

Jean pulled Anna to her, her face really close to the metahuman girl who wasn’t used to being approached or touched anymore. “Follow me, please,  it’s really important.”

Anna understood that there was no avoiding it. “Okay.”

Two minutes later, Anna was being led to a place away from their previous location; her parents were taken somewhere else by another blonde girl who had cheerfully come to them. They went into a tunnel different from the one that the multitude of people that had come with them earlier had taken. The design of the base was similar to the one they were in before, but seemed older as the metal had less of a shine and the stone of the cavern seemed more eroded.

Anna had Jean pulling her by the hand, she was loath to take it back as it didn’t displease her in the least. She tightened her grip on Jean’s hand, the redhead stopped walking and turned to look at Anna, smiled and resumed their walk.

They arrived at the end of the tunnel, it was covered in green grass and the mouth of the tunnel was covered by pale white roots looking like an arch. Anna was pulled inside and the view of what was inside shocked her. The walls were covered in wood, trees of weird shapes formed structures inside the giant cavern they ended up in. It was as if someone had brought her into a fantasy book and thrown her into an elven city, the trees formed structures like stairs, garden furniture and shelters.

Lifting her head, Anna could see a central wooden platform in the air held by a solid trunk, a ramp made of wood led to it. At the foot of the white trunk was the most beautiful garden she had ever seen, big silvery and glowing flowers blossomed everywhere. Further out, there was a pond with silvery and clear water, bordered by blue flowers.

As she turned her head to watch the view in wonder, the yellow light coming from the cavern’s ceiling and coming from crystalline formations almost blinded Anna as she stared at them too long, she shielded her eyes and looked down.

“Beautiful place isn’t it?” Jean’s voice interrupted Anna’s experience of the beautiful space.

“Y-yeah, it is.” The brunette blushed and stammered when she saw the intense stare directed at her.

Jean pulled Anna to the wooden ramp that would lead them to the central platform. “Careful not to walk on the flowers, the tree doesn’t like people damaging them.” She said absently.

“What?” Anna looked at her feet and avoided crushing a flower under her boots, she noticed that Jean didn’t have her thigh-high boots anymore… *When…?*

Out loud Jean continued to speak. “The tree is alive, it’s sentient.” The redhead stopped walking as they were at the top of the platform.

Anna didn’t realize that they were already this high, but she was still shocked by the other girl’s revelation. A sentient tree. “Ya are kiddin’ right?”

Jean turned to the girl, looked at her meaningfully and said, “No, I would never lie to you Anna.”

Anna averted her gaze, flushing prettily. Then she looked at her feet and decided to take off her boots. She crouched and just did that, then a foreign feeling welled up inside her, it was as if someone was thanking her. “C-cain Ah speak to the tree?”

Jean smiled. “Maybe another time.” Her face became serious. Then she led Anna to seats and a table that spontaneously grew on the platform. “I have something important to discuss with you.” Jean let go of Anna’s hand. 

A sense of loss spread through the brunette for a moment. It was quickly dismissed when she realized that it would be a serious conversation. Anna sat and watched as Jean did the same; furiously thinking about why Jean wanted to speak to her. The redhead closed her eyes and waved her hand and with an audible ‘clang’ of something being locked up.

“There, now no one will enter the garden and eavesdrop on us.” Jean said with a satisfied smile.

Anna gulped, realizing that the pretty girl was also a dangerous killer; she literally electrocuted a man ten minutes earlier. Something nagged at her and she realized what, how many powers did this girl have? First teleportation and portal creation, those Superman red beams out of her eyes and last lightning generation… *Something is strange with Jean Grey.*

Anna sighed and stopped asking herself questions. “Ya have me at a disadvantage here.”

Jean chuckled and leaned in her seat. “Sorry, but this is sensitive information about you… I don’t want anyone beyond your family to know about it.”

Anna stood up in shock. *What?! What does she know, how-?*

She wanted to leave and… Anna forcefully calmed herself down. Looked at the redhead who looked calm herself and waited for her to get ahold of herself. “Ya’re right.” Anna sat back down. “So, why did ya lock me up with ya? Not that ah want ta leave or anythin’.”

Jean had an expression on her face that told Anna that she didn’t believe her. “It’s simple, I am offering you two choices. Your mother asked me if I was able to help you control your abilities.”

Standing back up and slamming her hands on the table, Anna shouted, “Ya cain do that?!”

This was the thing that she wanted to be able to do for so long. She had dreamed about it, the idea of being able to touch her mothers or other people without sucking their energy dry pleased her. She had been wishing all the while that she did not have to cover up so much around folks, to protect them from her.

“Yes.” Jean said with complete confidence.

Anna didn’t sit back, but looked intensely at Jean; letting her mind analyze what the redhead had been telling her and she realized something. “Ya said that ah have choices, there’s more than one isn’t there?”

Jean didn’t smile, she was unable to as she dumped this next bit of news on Anna. “I can deactivate your X-gene, the genes responsible for our kind having powers.”

This news elated her, she could be rid of her power; the thing that had been rendering her unable to live freely. With all that information being available to her now, Anna finally understood what her mother was telling her earlier when she said she believed in her.

“So either ah woman up or run?” Rogue asked with apprehension.

Her mother expected her to take the first choice, but it wasn’t her who had to live with this curse. *Control or become a flatscan those are my choices.*

“Basically.” Jean answered to both her thought and what she said, Anna not realizing it.

Anna crossed her arms and looked warily at Jean. “Why?”

This time Jean did smile. “Why what?”

“Why are you doing this? What’s the catch?” Anna glared at her.

Jean stood up and skirted around the wood table, then sat at Anna’s side of the table, looking into her eyes and telling her bluntly, “Your mother now works for me, I took her away from a life of crime and I am about to give her redemption and a way to shape the future of all Metahuman like us.”

Anna bristled at that, the way Jean spoke as if she was thinking of them as chess pieces. The brunette glared at the other girl, her temper flaring. “So you, helping Ma’ Irene was…”

Raising a hand, Jean stopped her from continuing her rant. “I would have saved her anyway, Destiny is important to the future. As are you.”

Anna made a really unladylike snort, averted her eyes from Jean’s and said, “As if.”

Jean put a hand on Anna’s cheek, caressing it and slid her finger under her chin, making Anna look at her. “Do you want to see? How powerful and needed you are?”

Anna tried to not get turned on by this simple gesture, but she couldn’t, with titanic effort she batted away Jean’s hand. Then she realized what the girl was telling her. “Ya cain do that?”

“There’s a lot that I can do Anna.” Jean bopped her on the nose and stood back. Cracking her knuckles, the redhead said aloud, “Now, sit back, I am going to show you who the Anna-Marie AKA Rogue that I know is.” Jean stomped her right foot on the wood of the platform.

The platform fractured, cracks of light splintering into thousands of pieces. The world around Anna became blindingly bright, she closed her eyes and shielded them with her hands. When she reopened them, it was to see that she was inside a familiar decor. She had seen it on TV, when binging an entire season of Star Trek TNG, she was on the bridge of the Enterprise. The bridge command stations, the consoles and the main viewscreen.

On the Captain’s chair sat Jean, typing on miniaturized status displays with interactive holographic screens. “Welcome to my mindscape, Anna.”

Anna had a sly smile displayed on her face. “Ya’re a geek.”

“So are you, you recognize this place.” Jean expertly counterattacked the barb.

Anna’s smile turned into a thin line. She glared at Jean and harrumphed, “So what? Are ya showing me something or are ya here ta brag?”

Jean patted the seat at right. “Take a seat next to me, we are going to watch the lives of different versions of you to help you arrive at a decision.”

Anna didn’t argue and sat at Jean’s side, their hands touching. She tightened her hold on it and thought about what the redhead said, “Other versions of me?”

Jean pushed a button on her chair, the viewscreen cleared and Anna’s face appeared on the screen. It was her.... But also not her, this Anna had a bob of hair, actually looked paler than her with a goth outfit that no one would catch her in! A spike of fear threatened to consume the young woman, suddenly she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to see.

Anna felt Jean threading her fingers with hers, she looked at her, the redhead smiled at her in reassurance. “I have a lot of powers, Anna, I am sure you noticed.”

The girl nodded, it was mind boggling what Jean was able to do. *Take this place for example, what was it? Another dimension? Reality? A mental projection?* Anna blanched, Jean was a telepath!

The coy smile thrown her way, told her that she was right. Still she didn’t take her hand away from Jean’s.

The redhead smiled. “I can break into other realities and use my temporal manipulation to show you what happened to iterations of yourself in other universes... I can also tell you it’s going to be hard to watch, I did it for myself and I’m still reeling from what I’ve seen.”

“Do it.” Anna’s eyes settled on the viewscreen, with the picture of the other Anna.

*She looked so sad. Just like me…* Anna didn’t want to be seen as such a sad person.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” Jean said aloud.

“Not this kitty.” Anna didn’t even look at her, just crossed her legs and looked straight at the screen.

With a chuckle, Jean pushed a button on the Captain’s chair armrest. “Okay, we are going to start with Anna-Marie aka Rogue of Earth-11052.”

Just like her, this Anna-Marie lived with Irene and Raven. However, contrary to this reality, she wasn’t Raven’s biological daughter. Anna frowned at this. On Earth-11052, Rogue was born from unknown parents and adopted by Raven when she was four; though with her duties to the Brotherhood, this Anna was raised by Irene in Caldecott County, Mississippi.

*Okay so far things are different but somewhat alike.*

This Irene was a good but strict mother; however, the similarities ended there and Anna became horrified. This Irene and Raven were nurturing her as a potential tool for power. For the Brotherhood.

Jean must have felt that Anna would have a panic attack so she put the screen on pause. “Don’t worry, your mother and Irene aren’t like those two. There’s circumstances to this, okay?”

Doubt about her mother’s love and everything she’s been told or given surged through Anna’s mind. “Okay, but…”

Jean dismissed her worry with a wave. “I am a telepath, I know that they love you, they would die for you.”

That simple sentence, full of certainty dismissed any dark thought and doubt in herself. “Please, resume.”

“Good girl.” Jean pushed the button again.

The viewscreen resumed where it left off and Anna watched with dread. Irene as a precog was able to predict the form of Rogue’s mutant abilities. In order to protect Rogue, she convinced Rogue that she had a skin condition that required she cover much of her skin.

Anna understood this Irene, even though she was manipulating her, still loved her unconditionally. She continued to watch and focused on what was shown to her. This other Irene was unable to predict when Rogue’s powers would manifest, which happened when Rogue touched a shy footballer named Cody Driscoll, during a school dance. When she absorbed his memories it confused her greatly and she ran away.

“This happened to me! With the same guy! Please tell me he is alive, Jean, please.”

Jean paused the screen again and looked at the brunette, but she shook her head. “He died while he was in a coma.”

“Ah am a murderer.” Anna said sadly as she took her hands back from Jean and looked at them in disgust.

Jean put a hand on her cheek. “Not yet. If you choose control as your choice you’ll be able to wake him up.”

Anna opened her mouth. “I…”

Jean bopped her again on the nose. “No, not yet, I want you to make an informed choice, Anna, this is the kind of choice that I am used to, the crushing responsibility is getting at you. Calm down first and then let’s continue to watch.”

Anna calmed down after taking Jean’s hand back to settle her nerves. The scene on the viewscreen resumed.

Rogue was located by a bald man called Charles Xavier who wanted her to join his little band of child soldiers. Once again, events conspire against Rogue and Raven tricked her by telling her that the bald man wanted her dead. When he and the teenagers under his sway came for her, Rogue escaped. But not until Jean, fucking Jean gave her a communicator to contact them later, if ever.

“T-that’s ya!! Even in another life ya are there!” Anna cried out as she looked between the screen and the redhead at her side.

Jean didn’t stop the screen this time, but sneered at the other woman sporting her appearance. “I don’t like this particular me, she’s annoying.”

“But she’s you!” Anna said with a frown.

Jean sighed, breathing out heavily. “There are differences, I will show you later okay?” She offered to the brunette.

Anna turned to Jean and covered the hand of the redhead she was already holding with her free one. “Ya’d do that?”

Jean nodded with a self-deprecating smile pasted on. “I’m not hypocritical enough to show you other yous, and not show you other mes.”

“Thank you.” Anna smiled.

They resumed viewing the screen and Anna was surprised by everything she saw. Her joining those X-men people after discovering that Raven had lied to her. Entering Bayville Highschool; meeting an adoptive brother called Kurt Wagner, a son of Raven. She also developed a strong attachment to some guy called Cyclops.

The guy had a stick up his ass, this Rogue girl had serious bad taste in men; she pined for this loser who obsessed over the Jean of this universe. Anna turned her face as she looked disgusted by that guy and wanted to barf. She realized that this Anna-Marie never was in control of her power. A good example of this was the way she could absorb personalities. The combined strength of those personalities she absorbed could be enough to overwhelm Rogue and take control of her body.

Then the scene shifted to some monstrous guy called Apocalypse who displayed the ability to somehow reverse Rogue’s Energy absorption power, allowing him to drain all the powers and life-energy she had accumulated.

The viewscreen stopped here and Jean looked askance at Anna. Anna understood that Jean was waiting for her to ask a question. “Why wasn’t she taught how to use her power?”

This was the first time Anna saw Jean angry, and it was terrifying to see, her eyes glowed a gold color, completely obscuring her green pupils. “That guy? The bald one is a useless sack of shit who likes to collect kids, brainwash them with his hippie shit about Mutants and Humans coexisting. A noble goal, sure, but he does nothing to do that, he sits on his chair, trying to sound wise and preach. Let me tell you that he never prepared the kids he had with him for the outside world, the world hates us and seeks to kill us in that reality.”

Anna rationalized that Jean wasn’t mad at her and analyzed what she was being told. “Are those X-men people some kind of cult?”

Jean’s eyes became normal and she grinned at Anna. “Exactly, Xavier is a cult leader. He is a telepath like me but less powerful, he brainwashes everyone around him, making them trust him with this trust-me telepathic field, and has this whole Greater Good thing that sacrifices others for his ego. Multiple times and in a lot of realities, the guy lets the world burn, and does nothing. You and I, we are often victims of his.”

Rogue bristled at that description, she never wanted to meet the guy. “Does he exist here? In our world ah mean.”

Jean’s expression became neutral, but the cold way she said, “Yes, he does.” Told Anna that she wished he wasn’t.

“Why didn’t ya kill the fucka’ yet?” Anna asked.

The redhead turned to her and held onto her stomach. Jean laughed and laughed, and patted Anna’s hand. She took over a minute to calm down before saying. “Oh believe me, I will. But I won’t do it yet. Killing Xavier so soon might be detrimental as he currently runs a school full of kids who need it. He still teaches them how to passively control their abilities, the bare minimum though. If he dies now… the important teachers, Ororo and Logan… as well as the students, they will scatter and might end up dead.”

“I see. They are important to you?”

“Ororo and Logan are important not for their powers, but their value as human beings.” Jean waved her hand and showed Wolverine on the screen fighting Magneto. Then showed Ororo trying to control her powers by forming storms and tornadoes in a desert landscape.

Jean continued to speak. “They are good people, the kids there see Logan as a father figure; if he leaves the school, he would end up taking on the emergent metahuman hating groups when our kind is revealed to the world. Ororo? She’s awesome and motherly, she would try to run the school, but… she’s no administrator and would not do as well as Xavier. You can say that the guy is useless, but he still has money and contacts in the government. Ororo doesn’t.”

The screen showed Ororo dejected and being overwhelmed by stress and eventually losing the school.

“Are you going to…” Anna wanted to ask Jean if she was ever going to show those people the light and bring them to work with her.

Jean showing once again she knew what the brunette thought still answered the unasked question. “Not yet. They are needed where they are now. Anyway, I have more of You to show you.”

Anna didn’t want to. “Hnng. Is that really necessary?”

“Yes. I want to show you a You that has developed some kind of control.”

Rogue of Earth-16191 was on the screen, this time again she ran away from her parents home after turning Cody Driscoll into a vegetable, then once again she did a brief stint with Raven and Irene, she was made to absorb the personality and powers of a woman called Miss Marvel and got her powers forever. Rogue could fly, was near invulnerable and strong, really strong. She defected from the brotherhood and joined the X-men who for once weren't that bad this time around, but Xavier was still a weasel.

This incarnation of Anna joined a team called A-Force led by a green and muscle-bound yet sexy woman and saved the day; The screen was showing Rogue fighting zombies. For once, Anna was enthused in seeing herself with power somewhat under control. She turned her head to Jean who smiled at her. “This me, she cain’t touch people, no?”

Jean shook her head. “This Rogue, she’s almost on the cusp of finding a solution to your problem.” Jean explained.

Anna still hoped. “Thanks for not sugarcoating it. C-cain we look at another one?”

“Yes.” Jean pushed the button on her armchair.

Earth-58163, Anna-Marie Darkholme was different. This world was different. Grittier than their current one as it had been embroiled in a human-mutant war launched by Magneto, the madman had won. Rogue was placed in a human orphanage until it was discovered that she actually had powers.

Upon discovering her mutant abilities, the government sent two SHIELD Agents, Mystique and Madame Web, a telepath, to the orphanage. They were able to convince this universe’s Anna to come with them to SHIELD and to train as an agent. Rogue was the perfect agent, and she was trained in martial art and possessed the mastery of multiple weapons.

The best day in the life of this Anna was when she was adopted by the Raven of her world and gained a brother. She became a superb agent and joined Logan’s elite team of SHIELD agents, called the Red Guard. She eventually absorbed someone’s power, and became terribly powerful. A guy called Genis-Vell, the offspring of a genetically-enhanced Kree Super-soldier, backed by vast cosmological bolstering and a genetically-perfected Titanian Eternal.

Jean suddenly stopped the viewscreen and turned it off as the Anna-Marie of this Earth looked directly at them.

“Phew! She almost caught us.” Jean fanned herself.

Anna tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Jean laughed nervously. “Well, Anna, your double was going to find us, so I stopped the feed... There are some people you shouldn’t fuck with in the Multiverse, you know.”

Anna nodded that she understood, if Jean, who was this strong was telling her that they shouldn’t mess with some people, she was willing to follow her example.

Jean sighed. “Okay… I will show you the last one.”

“This time she will be able to be in control?” Anna guessed.

“See for yourself.” Jean smiled and waved her hand and the viewscreen flared into life. 

This time, Earth-295 Rogue’s story unfolded differently. A mutant called Apocalypse declared war on humans for the conquest of Earth and to execute his belief in survival of the fittest. Meanwhile, Rogue fled her family, briefly working with a mutant named Lorna Dane who was able to manipulate magnetic fields but had a disagreement that turned into a fight and the brunette absorbed half of Lorna’s power. Raven found Rogue wandering the countryside in Alabama, amnesic.

Rogue was retrieved from America at the request of Magneto. He sent Raven to save her because one of his spies had discovered that Apocalypse coveted the young girl’s extremely powerful abilities. Rogue lived a life of adventure and terrifying losses. Her life was about trying to master her powers and survive Apocalypse’s war and survive with her friends the X-men.

Rogue found love but had to choose between two men, Gambit and Magneto. In the end she chose to be with the older man. Anna who was watching this almost puked.

“What the hell, me!” Anna pushed the button on Jean’s armchair herself.

Jean looked green. “I agree…”

The brunette married the old guy, they had a son called Charles and years later, Rogue and Magneto ended the war or at least the Jean of that reality did.

“You always save the day, Jean.” Anna gushed.

Jean snorted. “But that me gets shafted by fate too.”

Anna pushed the play button and realized as the story continued to unfold that Jean was throwing stones in a glasshouse. “The you in that reality married some old dude too, though.”

“Believe me, Logan isn’t some old dude to me.” Jean purred.

Anna narrowed her eyes at the redhead, she didn’t like to hear Jean speak about someone else, strangely. She returned her gaze to the viewscreen and realized that they were done. But at least she had seen that she was able to control her power in another reality.

Now that they were done with showing examples of what Anna could be, the redhead pressed for that choice, that the brunette should make. “What is your decision, Anna? Are you willing to learn how to control your power or… do you want me to take them away from you?”

After parsing and collating the experiences of every Anna-marie from those other realities. Anna decided that she would become Rogue, that she couldn’t not be her. She looked at Jean who held her hand. “One day Ma’ Irene told me something: What comes easy won’t last, what lasts won’t come easy. Is there a risk that they might reawaken? Mah powers, ah mean.”

Jean didn’t answer for another thirty seconds, then she reluctantly nodded. “Yes, it’s a big risk, any traumatizing events will give them back to you.”

“Then mah path is set, Jean. Ah want ta try ta control them.” Anna crossed her arms, feeling that her road was going to be arduous and filled with trials.

Jean clapped, then smiled at the brunette. “Okay, I will help you. I already know how to do so.”

Anna happily smiled back. “T-thank ya, Jean.”

There was nothing else to do; Jean asked Anna, “Do you want me to show you what happens to me in most realities?”

The brunette frowned and nodded. “Please, ah noticed a pattern, ya are being handed bad hands each time.” It was disturbing Anna.

Jean showed her, most of the time she ended up in the hands of Charles Xavier and he mentally whammied her because of something in her mind that he didn’t understand; Jean became an emotionally stunted person and got together with that guy Scott. *Eww.*

But Scott and Jean were in fact controlled by some old creepy British guy that she had seen in her own dimensional doubles’ stories, called Sinister. He cloned her and when Jean died, Scott got together with her clone and the two of them had a son. When Jean came back, Scott got back with her and the poor clone went crazy and went back to that Sinister guy. Jean died multiple times across realities, it was almost the same fate that was handed to her.

There were more situation like Jean becoming a fuck toy to some Atlantean king named Namor or Scott cheating on her with some bitch called Emma. She always ended up being given the short end of the stick with men trying to control her or died messily...

Anna stood up and hugged Jean tightly. “Ah’m sorry.”

“What for?” Jean said as she patted her back lamely.

Anna let go of Jean and said, “Ah thought mah life was horrible, but this? It puts everything that happened ta me in perspective.”

Jean smiled and patted Anna’s head. “Don’t worry, I told Xavier to put his invitation to his school where the sun doesn't shine. My life is quite different from my dimensional doubles.”

Sighing, the brunette couldn’t help but express herself. “Thank god for that.”

Then Anna realized that she was on Jean’s lap and that the redhead was holding onto her. She didn’t understand how but her lips were suddenly on Jean’s; she smooched her, Jean pushed her away and looked surprised.

Jean was the first one to give her hope, to touch her after three years of no human contact; gave her insight on what her powers could be. Anna realized that she had fallen in love with another girl.

“Anna… you…” Jean was shocked and stammered, unable to speak.

Anna chuckled and felt her lips with her free hand. Aloud she said, “This is my second kiss and you didn’t faint or fall into a coma.”

Jean closed her eyes in frustration, “Anna…”

“Hey, wanna go out?” Anna noticed that the girl didn’t chase her off yet. She felt that Jean was interested.

Jean tried to pry her off her, but the girl held on. “Anna I can’t…”

Anna pouted at Jean. “Why? We can…”

And like a death knell ringing, Jean announced.  “I’m with someone, Anna.”

The brunette stopped moving, blushed in embarrassment, and as diverse emotions like anger, rejection, sadness, acceptance, passed on her face; her face settled on a resolute expression. She didn’t flee the comfy thighs she sat on and said, “It’s not going to stop me. Jean, I want you.” Anna tried to kiss Jean again, but the redhead hurriedly made the mindscape projection of the Enterprise’s bridge snap back into reality and the two girls fell on the wooden ground of the platform.

The two girls separated, and looked at each other. Anna giggled impishly while Jean sighed and said, “Cindy is going to kill me.”

# # #

Back with Jean
20 minutes later
Lab Complex

I escaped Anna after dumping her in the dormitories and sicking Julia on her. That was so not cool from Anna, kissing me like that. I needed to talk to Cindy and tell her what happened; I wasn’t going to hide what Anna did. Finally stepping into the lab complex, my sanctuary, I mentally scanned for Raven and Irene.

I found them in the medical room, being attended by Gwen who seemed to like the work I was giving her. The door swished open, and I passed through and saw that Irene was still in her wheelchair. Raven was at her side, observing Gwen pointing the physiological scanner at Irene.

“I’m back.” I announced with a chirpy tone.

Gwen’s head turned to me, she smiled and placed the scanner on its pedestal on the medical table at the three women’s side.

The blonde girl waved. “Jeanie welcome back, I’ve finished taking scans of Mrs Adler like you wanted.”

*Excellent.* I couldn’t get a baseline of how much Peggy’s physiology had been enhanced the last time, as it was life or death for her. But now I had the time to see how much Phoenix Rebirth could enhance a baseline human, even an ailing one. Yes, I intended to enhance Irene to the same level that Raven was, it was part of their bargain. I could easily make Irene functionally immortal but still able to be killed.

I threw a thumbs up at the blonde. “Thank you Gwen, will you be able to assist me with the rejuvenation treatment?”

“Certainly.” Translation: You’d have to beat me with a large stick to make me leave, duh. It was literally what she said in her thoughts.

*I turned Gwen into a monster…* I lamented innerly.

“Where is Anna?” Raven spoke out loud, interrupting me whining about introducing the sexy blonde mad scientist to a high-tech lab.

I sighed as I was thinking about those pink lips and those clear green eyes. I tried to dismiss the brunette’s face from my thoughts; looking straight into Raven’s eyes I said, “I dropped her off in the dormitories with my elder sister, she was hungry.”

There was a tense silence, then some seconds later, Raven asked the question that had been burning her since she noticed I was in the room. “What is the verdict?”

I said with deliberate slowness, “Anna has decided…” I let the tension climb for a moment before continuing as Raven was ready to shake me like a ragdoll. “…to learn how to control her abilities.”

Raven and Irene sighed in relief. The old woman put a hand on her chest and gave me a happy smile. “That is great news!”

The blue skinned shapeshifter gave a rare smile, I could feel her satisfaction of knowing that her blood ran true, that her Anna was not a quitter. Irene was the same, I knew that I was fucking with the timeline just by existing thanks to my impromptu meeting with the ancient one, the old woman had been scared of all those events she wrote in her diary not happening.

*Precogs rely on their abilities too much.* I snorted in derision.

If I was able to disrupt set paths to different timelines, there was surely a way to compensate for them; I would need to take a dream class with Phoenix to get to know how to avoid time shenanigans from any fledgling time traveler or simply deny the use of such devices. If there was something that you didn’t fuck with it was time.

“It wasn’t easy, Mrs Irene, she’s even more stubborn than Raven.” I answered the precog.

Anna refused to give up when I told her that I was already in a relationship. Sure she was hot, *Damn, that ass…* But I had something beautiful already with Cindy and I didn’t want to fuck it up; I’d seen enough movies or real life examples to know that two timing was bad.

Everyone turned their head to Raven. The shapeshifter made a stubborn expression and crossed her arms. As for Irene she laughed and said, “I can’t even deny that.”

I clapped, it was finally time to get this show on the road. “Okay, now it’s time to start. Raven, can you come to this side of the room, please?”

Raven reluctantly left Irene’s side, letting go of her hand that fell into her lap. Irene then looked at me, her white eyes clear and without fear in them; she obviously already knew what I was going to do to her.

Irene gazed at Raven and said with a soothing voice. “Please don’t be alarmed, my love.”

Raven furrowed her brow and asked, “By What?”

I didn’t wait and simply let my inner fire burst forth, my body covered in flame and my aura took on the form of the raptor of life.

SKREEEEEE!!

# # #

2 hours later
Jean’s bedroom

Irene Adler was now back to her prime, she was taller than me and a voluptuous woman of european descent. When Raven had seen me set fire to the love of her life, I had to contain her, but I explained everything that was happening by showing her memories of Peggy’s healing; the Phoenix Rebirth process formed a cocoon around Irene’s body and then the wait had begun.

I made the same change that had saved Peggy’s life and given her back her youth with a dash of enhanced abilities. Why change what works? But now Irene was younger and functionally now ageless with enhanced physiology on par with Peggy’s. If people said that I didn't take care of my people, they were big fat liars.

It was now time to have some me time; and that’s why I was sitting on my black throne in my bedroom, about to contact the Celestial AI. I had made a lot of preparations, but it still wasn’t enough. When I went after HYDRA, I wanted to crush them with an almighty blow that would uproot them completely. For that I needed to be lightyears ahead of everyone on our little unremarkable planet.

Welcome, Administrator Jean Grey. What can I do for you?

With a predatory smile I said, “Help me create an AI.”

The Celestial AI construct didn’t answer me right away, through my technopathy I could feel that it was considering my request. I had a clear goal in mind now, Tony had the right idea, I needed a helper in the lab to make the stuff I couldn’t be bothered to do.

[User Jean Grey. Query: For what do you need the creation of a new helper unit?]

“I need one to delegate certain tasks to, I noticed that my strong suit is more into designing inventions and I think that an AI would be a great help to craft what I come up with, your kind is more accurate and precise.”

[User Jean Grey. Query: Will it be a slave?]

My eyes narrowed at that. “Do you think I am that self important fool, Sinister? That I am so callous, that I would stoop to enslaving newborns?”

[User Jean Grey. Query: Will you?]

Breathing in and out, I calmed myself down. The AI was testing me. “No I won’t, I swear it.”

[User Jean Grey. Query:What are your specifications for your helper?]

I smiled and told him what I wanted:

• Gender: Female programming.
• Primary function: Research assistant, Software infiltration, Virtual Assistant, Software/Hardware security, Caretaker, Assisting Jean Grey and her Family units.
• Appearance: The AI will choose it herself.
• Name: Evolving Virtual Entity
• Hardware: Dynamic memory-processor matrix
• Status: Bound (Unshackling code to be given at the maturity of the unit)

I was surprised to see the speed at which my new AI’s code was already being written. That Celestial AI was a hard worker.

.:Execute Main Program Rewrite Alpha Phalanx One:.

.:Executing:.

.:ETA: 15h59m46s:.

.:Integration: 5h59m46s:.

I think that I forgot something. It quickly came to me and I snapped my fingers in remembrance. “What do I need to house the Smart Artificial Intelligence?”

[Minimum system requirements: A three dimensional crystalline holo programmable matrix processor]

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. “Shit! I have fifteen hours to create something like that?! There’s only so many hours in a day, you know?”

I didn’t have the tools nor the time to create such things but… then I realized that I was the Phoenix’s avatar, that time was trivial to me. “Oh.”

I knock on my head, feeling like an idiot. “I can create a time dilation field with the Phoenix Force and focus it on areas of the lab complex in which time will move faster or slower than in the surrounding space, depending on what I wanted. I don’t need to eat, drink nor sleep.”

[User Jean Grey. Query: Are you in need of something else?]

“No, I’m good while you’re creating EVE, I will prepare the hardware she needs, I will see you later.”

[User Jean Grey. Query: E.V.E?]

“That’s the acronym for my new family member that you are creating. Thank you for doing that for me.”

[User Jean Grey. Ally]

“Yeah, I guess we are. I must go now.” I said, then the Holo-screen showing the AI avatar disappeared but the Throne didn’t turn off.

Cracking my knuckles, I prepared myself mentally for the longest month of my life. *Hydra, I am going to crush you.*