Raptor of life 14.3 (Patreon)

edited by Assembler Maniac, pids, skydragonknight and blackstarline

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of their characters, but if I did, their lives wouldn't be so shitty and chaotic.

**********************************************************************************

(Cindy Moon)

Egypt Base
Gym
08:15 PM

Cindy was furious, and it showed as she was beating on the high-tech sandbag before her. Each time she punched at the bag, a shockwave rang and spread in the gym. One, two, one two, right, left, left, right; butterfly kick. Fortunately the sandbag could take it, she wasn’t as strong as Gwen or Patsy had become, but Cindy could easily destroy and lift a truck if she wanted.

She was pissed off because Jean had sealed her lab, ignoring everyone, even her to do whatever; they had been having less time together as of late.

True she left a note saying that she was building armor and gear and other things for the S.H.I.E.L.D teams and her own to survive the operation, but Cindy would have preferred to be told that face to face.

As she beat up the sandbag for another ten minutes, Cindy’s anger slowly dissipated, turning into a deep introspective trance as she abandoned herself to instincts and muscle memories. Cindy realized that they were still all in danger and that petty thoughts about wanting to be together all the time with her girlfriend who was working to make it so they could go back home and return to their lives was childish. Cindy didn't want to be this petty and tried to see the bigger picture.

“Hey, what did this sandbag do to you, Cin?” The familiar voice of one of her friends interrupted her.

The asian girl turned and saw Jessica behind her, her pink hair was pulled back and firmly held by a blue hair band in a tight ponytail. She wore a skintight armor similar to Cindy’s, but with some similarity to Jean’s Phoenix costume except in white with blue gauntlets and greaves and she had a utility belt instead of a sash. To Cindy, who was amused by Jessica's attire, it had only a question of time until Jean’s best friend would enter the armor craze and want to help her with their situation; the only reason Patsy wasn’t here training was that her mother, Alisa didn’t want her to participate in the operation to take out Hydra.

“I’m letting out some stress.” Cindy finally answered, taking off her half mask.

She didn’t know how, but Jean had been steadily upgrading her costume, Cindy noticed that fact after she didn’t feel like she was wearing skin tight armor but more like a swimsuit. There was a built-in bra and panty and she could wear her Silk costume under her clothes without anyone noticing, unless she stopped wearing long sleeved t-shirts. The mask she wore usually also seemed to help her breathe better? It was a weird sensation, her utility belt was also almost invisible and with compartments for gadgets Jean hadn’t made yet.

This was what the problem was, Jean kept doing things behind their back and not telling them about it; Cindy wanted to be included and have a choice in the matter.

“Jean did something again?” Jessica guessed, she looked concerned. And she was right to be.

Anything that Jean did was never benign, always creating a big splash; giving superpowers to her friends and family? Trivial for her. Building things out of science-fiction? Here’s your death ray pistol that you asked for. Making her parents young again? She just waved her hand. But this didn't matter to Cindy, the problem was how Jean treated those around her. Oh, she loved everyone in her family and her friends… but didn’t involve them in what she was doing, the redhead could be sneaky.

Cindy looked at her, narrowed her eyes and spoke up after making the sandbag stop moving, “You are too perceptive… How did you know?”

Jessica rolled her eyes and flipped her ponytail that was on her shoulder, back. “Yeah, I scare myself sometimes. Not.” The pink haired girl huffed. “Come on, Cin, It’s easy to guess, you only make that frown when you think Gwen is trying to steal your girlfriend or you think about something she did badly, but as the little blonde is more busy thinking about Peter and the lab...”

It heartened Cindy that her friend knew her that much, but it also appalled her that her thoughts were so transparent to her. Cindy crossed her arms and pouted. “Point made…”

Jessica chuckled and pulled Cindy toward the ring’s cage and they leaned against it. “What’s the problem this time?”

Cindy then began to tell Jessica why she was angry, that she wanted to spend more time with Jean and yet also that she stopped excluding all of them from what she was doing. That she wanted transparency! Jessica continued to listen as Cindy ranted; then the pink haired girl gave her own opinion on the matter.

“You know, she’s doing that to protect us, but I agree that we should be made aware of what she’s doing; Jean has secrets that even I don’t know about and what she does sometimes scares me. Did you know that she nuked an American base? We need to reign her in.”

“I know she did, but…” Cindy drew a blank and couldn’t come up with an excuse to defend Jean, she wanted to, desperately. Jessica then smugly looked at her, knowing she won’t find one.

Cindy averted her gaze and stomped her foot. “Fine! I think you’re right, there’s some things that she shouldn’t do.”

The two girls resolved to speak with Jean and air out their grievances; then find solutions to feel more included in what she was doing to help her. Jean kept on giving them stuff, but they wanted to give back too; because they felt compelled to give assistance. They knew that the redhead wasn’t fine mentally after her ordeal.

After their consultation, the two girls looked around them; the gym furnished with all sorts of strange machines ranging from space with scalable gravity with adamantium dumbbells to speedster rated treadmills, aerobic and parkour training rooms and a running track. Regan, Phillipa and Steve Rogers were practicing hard.

And the intense way they worked out spurred Cindy to want to continue pushing herself. She didn’t know her limits yet and she was eager to discover them. She turned to Jessica, a taunting smile on her face and asked her, “Wanna spar?”

Jessica shook her head, “Erm… no, maybe you should ask Regan there.”

She had seen how the girl had laid out into the sandbag and didn't want to have the same fate. Then she deflected Cindy’s attention on someone she didn't normally speak to. Cindy didn't notice, but was intrigued by the blonde who was using a squat rack. The girl was lifting her exact weight, up and down; there was determination in every move she did.

Cindy looked appreciatively at the girl’s body, she looked less toned than Jean. “I never spoke to her, is she cool?”

Jessica was amused by how Cindy checked out the other girl who noticed they were speaking about her but did seem to like the attention as if to prove she was the biggest girl in the room.

“A bit angry, after all Jean forced her to join… but she’s an alright girl.” Jessica delivered the verdict but was unsure, the girl had been quite dissatisfied with Jean and her methods...

Cindy’s head turned to the woman who ran after Steve Rogers on the running track around the gym, clearly attracted to him. She looked tall, muscular but with attractive and womanly curves and she was eighteen or so and wore a grey tracksuit that clashed with her purple hair. “What about that woman? Phillipa, I think; she got rejuvenated by Jean.”

Almost everyone beside Nari Moon, Cindy’s mother and the Stacys who chose to be rejuvenated after they took their retirement were made young and fit again. Jessica’s parents were enjoying their youth again and Alisa whose fertility issues were now fixed was eager to procreate. Cindy had a smile as she thought about Nari, who was barred from the treatment as she was simply disagreeable with Jean. The purple haired woman was still faster and robust than any base human, Cindy didn't think anyone could overpower her.

Jessica smiled at the running woman trying to keep-up with a super soldier who kept saying ‘on your left’ each time he passed her. “Phillipa is a sweety!”

Cindy didn’t doubt that, but the simple fact that she was infatuated with a man already with someone irked her. “But she’s drooling on the Cap, look.” Cindy pointed her finger at Phillipa who didn’t have a bra on and tried to entice the man. “And he is already taken.”

However, Jessica turned her head and licked her lips. “Hmm… Steve.”

Cindy’s eyes widened in outrage and she slapped the pink haired girl’s right arm. “Jessica!”

Jessica rubbed her arm. “Ouch! Hey, I’m not a nun, I mean, look.” Then lifted her chin at the man wearing a muscle shirt showing off his impressive abs.

Cindy looked, but didn’t feel anything, in an objective way she could appreciate his body but the same spark she had when she looked at a woman wasn’t there. “Okay he is attractive physically, but…”

Jessica sighed. “Ah, I forgot you don’t like men.”

It was actually a big problem as Jessica was completely straight and sure that she’d been checked out by Cindy, Jean and of all people, Gwen who seemed to be bisexual; though she seemed to focus more on Peter lately.

“Huh, who is that?” Cindy asked.

Jessica lifted her head and watched as a brown haired girl with streaks of white in them appeared through the gym’s entrance and seemed to tour the place and look at the people. “Ah, that’s the new girl here, she came with Jeanie and the blue lady. I think her name is Anna.”

Cindy watched the girl move, she was awkwardly using a dumbbell but had no strength whatsoever to lift it. She cried out when it fell out of her hand with a cute cry. Cindy found her quite endearing. “She’s hot.”

Jessica coughed. “I’m sure she knows that, though I saw her being rather close to Jeanie, holding her hand and such.”

The pink haired girl didn’t know at what point she found herself pinned against the ring’s cage with Cindy looking at her in the eyes. “What?”

“There must be circumstances though.” Jessica said quickly.

Cindy watched her friend in the eyes, she saw a bit of fear in there, she let go of Jessica and said, “I will speak to her.”

The spider girl turned to go to the attractive brunette but was caught by Jessica  by the arm, the pink haired girl had found her courage back and couldn’t let her friend attack the other girl, Jean wouldn’t like that at all. “Nope, you won’t; I know you, you’ll pick a fight. When Jean gets out of the lab, talk to her okay? You are too angry right now.”

Cindy turned to Jessica who didn’t let go even though she gave her a scary expression. “Fine.”

# # #

Back with Jean…
Lab Complex

Day 05

A three dimensional crystalline holo-programmable matrix processor wasn’t something easy to make, I had some ideas on how to do it, but not the tools. The Celestial AI had given me the materials list on how to make it; but none of the steps on how to build it, because of all that prime directive shit, and I had to lean on the Wakandan tech-tree rather than the mundane one. So I had to dig deep on the technological repository of Wakanda and of other alien species that Phoenix had encountered.

Five days of meditation, that’s what it took me to have an idea of what I had to do to cobble together what Wakanda science community was thinking was still theory and Kree computer tech, a computer working with Isolinear circuitry. Completely different from how the current circuit boards worked, an Isolinear circuitry format employs holographic technology to store data three-dimensionally throughout the medium.

This was inspired by Star Trek: Voyager and it gave me ideas on how this new computer should look. The whiteboard room was filled with formulas and high level constructs of quantum algorithms. I didn’t come up with the Quantum Programming languages that I was using, it was Kree in origin with a smattering of Wakandan computer code. They strangely meshed well together as if they had the same origin. I narrowed my eyes at that, *Was it possible that Wakanda had found Kree artifacts and reverse engineered them?*

Everything is possible with Marvel. The difference between this reality and the others was that I couldn’t anticipate events as they seemed either in the far future or happening right now; it was a quandry, that I couldn’t rely fully on my metaknowledge… but life was like that, full of unexpected things.

Five days to come up with a concept that will influence my personal technology over time, now it was time to come up with a prototype; however, I lacked materials. Gold, silver, palladium, and perfect diamonds and crystals; then vibranium. I didn’t have the time to transmute everything, so I turned to space.

The asteroid Belt, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars, was occupied by a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes but much smaller than planets, called asteroids or minor planets. But I couldn’t exit the time dilation field; shrugging I simply opened a portal into space, deployed a forcefield around it to isolate the lab from the dangerous radiation and temperature. Looking  for multiple large objects that would satisfy my need for resources,  I scanned the southern region of the belt for over two hours and after an annoying wait, I finally found something.

It was big, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres. Titanium, Palladium, gold and nickel-iron; as I couldn’t take it all on base, with my TK, I disintegrated chunks of its surface and parted the mineral I wanted from silicates and rocks and turned them into ingots. I took enough to fill the vault in the lab complex. Thirty tons each. Though, I still decided to use the leftover rocks for the artificial creation of crystals.

Now, I looked for those rare vibranium asteroids after I was done with my prospecting operations. I really needed to have that drone tech from Wakanda out there to collect materials for me. *Later.*

After five long hours of scanning the belt with my awareness, I found some. “There! Orbiting those big icy ones!”

It was a cluster of vibranium meteorites, some the size of my house in Annandale-on-Hudson. I decided to mark the location of the previous Asteroid and this cluster of Vibranium and I took what I needed and pulled it to the vault.

*I can’t believe those Celestials fuckers left everything laying around in the solar system like this.* I shrugged. *Their loss, my gain.*

I resolved myself to learn more about astronomy at a later date, Earth was in dire need of defenses against invasions and visitors from afar. Often, they didn’t have the best intentions when they came to Earth. Anyway, after stocking up on material and planned my future mining endeavors, I decided to immediately create the quantum computer.

Not needing to sleep, drink or eat was important to this phase as I had to create flawless crystalline lattice connected to the Isolinear circuitry. Each crystal would be connected by an electro-magnetic field delivering the information to each ‘data crystal’ and this is where my photokinesis helped me a lot in carving the conductive tracks I needed to fill with vibranium.

I came up with the processor later, it would be socketed in a reinforced case that would be resistant to assault, absorb kinetic force and render them null, similar to my recent armor model that needed upgrades now that I thought about it…

Day 07

It was a complete failure, the computer exploded and I was lucky that it was in a vibranium case as it contained the explosion. Okay, so I had to find another configuration for the computer. I found myself building a Wakandan computer and it took me most of the day to build a basic one.

Day 08

Coding, programming, I must confess that I cheated with my technopathy. I created my own OS based on what I knew from Windows and Linux in my original reality. Once I was done I made a comparison between it and the base computer's system. It ran smoothly, but I needed more security than Sinister had put on.

Day 10

“I succeeded.” I said with a tired smile as I looked at the black computer tower before.

Now I had to turn it off and connect the CHMP externally to the computer, program a driver to make the new part compatible with it. And this time I will test the Electro-magnetic wave connecting the two devices carefully.

Day 12

This time it didn't explode, the OS shutdown the computer before it could damage the components. I smiled, there was progress there, now I needed to identify the problem.  I went to practice Qi Gong for the rest of the day, after finding that I felt off center for not practicing for a month and a half.

Day 13

I feel so stupid… I mean not coming up with a more efficient cooling system for your own computer is a rookie mistake. I needed something to keep the processor really cold for it to not burn, and I also had to put some limitation on it to not overheat it. At more than sixty percent capacity it caught fire.

Day 14

Quantum computing cooling, once again if I didn’t have vibranium I would never have been able to come up with it. After treating the sound metal I was able to turn it into a super conductor, then I came up with a model for a dilution refrigerator, which are multi-stage coolers based on pumping of cryogenic liquids. I had to carve out another cave contiguous with the main fusion generator of the lab complex. I placed the computer and the CHMP inside and sealed the place with three bulkheads in proto-adamantium.

I then connected the cooling system to the CHMP, then resumed trying to connect it to my customized computer.

Day 15

“YES, YES, YESSSSSS!!!” I clapped my hands and raised my arms in victory.

It’s working, it’s fucking functional. Though it had taken three tries and to make different connectors. The computer was working at 10% capacity and was faster than I thought it would be. I was about to hook my new supercomputer to the lab’s network when instinct told me not to and continue to test the CHMP.

Hand hovering the connector cable, I narrowed my eyes. “Precognition?” I didn’t think I would have that power, but… I will check this later. I created a virtual copy of the base's computer network and ran it on the super computer. It failed, if I had connected the supercomputer to the lab’s network I would have lost everything.

Tssk, back to the drawing board.

Day 17

The answer came to me after hours of meditation the previous day, I needed to convert the entire system from Binary code to Qubits. This time, I cheated with my technopathy and my control on time and space. Using myself as a medium, it took me a day to convert everything and connect the supercomputer to the rest of the lab.

Day 19

Everything was running perfectly, thanks to an impromptu bout of precognition, I avoided most pitfalls. The supercomputer was fast and I had firmly locked the CHMP to run at 90% processing power. After finishing the holo-tank, I smiled at what would be the home for EVE's eventual avatar. I placed them in different sections of the lab complex.

Then I got a better idea! I decided to build hard light holoprojectors disseminated everywhere. That could help with interacting with EVE and educate her. *Huh, now that I think about it, I won’t be able to have sex in the lab anymore.*

That was bad, but the lab wasn’t made to be a sex den. As I busied myself in placing miniature holoprojectors in every wall, pillars and fixtures of the lab by drilling holes in them with my TK and inserting the wall plug connected to the Hard light device. Half a day to install them, two hours to connect them to the fusion reactor grid and the rest of the day to couple the holoprojector's system to the supercomputer.

Now that I was done, what could I do now? Oh, yeah. Power armor. I directly teleported to the design room and faced the white boards and wrote: Tetryon powered light armor.

I wasn’t going to mimic Tony, he had his own stuff and I intend to make my own.

Day 20

I based the chassis of the TPLPA on the MACO armor from Star Trek and the Mass Effect ones, the sketch on paper showed a sleek and compact black armor. It will marry tetryon based S.H.I.E.L.Ding tech, and weaponry with the invention I already came up with or appropriated. I combined everything in one armor and built a proof of concept. At first it looked bulky and unwieldy; a black armor, and like the rest of my costumes it was able to negate and/or lessen powerful kinetic based attacks such as bullets shots, penetrating blades, and crushing blows.

As I looked at the armor on the mannequin, I nodded. The shell was built and now all it lacked was the systems and a way to power it.

“Back to research mode.”

Day 21

As I delved into the Wakandan tech repository, I made some discoveries. Those people had forcefield technology and mastery of electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force. From what I’ve seen from their society it was advanced and comfortable to live there… but how many times did the Wakandans not use technology because it didn't conform to tradition? I could see all the signs of the technology I was seeing in the virtual library, but why didn’t they apply it for war? They were blinded by religion and their warrior pride.

I shrugged, I already decided to give up on them unless they changed; it didn’t matter what I thought about them, as long as they didn’t bother me. I found interesting technology that could be useful. Carbon nanotube vibranium, portable forcefield, directed energy weapons, sound cancellers, computer microframe with holographic interface, a sensor pack.

An avalanche of ideas suddenly went through my head as I thought about combining a smartphone, a VR headset and scanning tech into the suit. With a pep in my walk, I left the computer and went to tinkering.

Day 23

There were a lot of failures that paved my way, but everything changed when I came up with the tetryon particle generator. It had started with a memory of Stargate and me peeking into the Quantum Realm and suddenly getting sucked in it. That’s when I realized that I could not just peek into other universes but travel to them but I had stayed firmly tethered to my original one. It was a strange experience, it was a bit like being into the mirror dimension and the astral plane but I could see all the different layers of the multiverse at once, it took some time to get used to it.

There were places I definitely didn’t want to go and higher dimensions that looked rather empty; my instinct told me to S.H.I.E.L.D myself as I reached a dimension full of emptiness and somehow not as big as my own. Tilting my head I let my Phoenix aura surround me. *Hmm, this place reminds me of hyperspace in stargate.*

The blue and white light were a dead giveaway. *Another way to go FTL.*

As I moved my hand, the cherenkov radiation around me separated into a cocktail or particles. Quarks, leptons, antiquarks, and antileptons are what are called matter particles; it wasn’t surprising to find the antimatter one, boson and higgs boson. Experiencing those phenomena myself seemed to unlock some instinct that helped recognize them.

There were different ones, subatomic particles that were present in fiction. Were those the Tetryons Star Trek spoke about and only common to substance environments? I was heavily bombarded by them the more I stayed there. I switched to the real world and ended up back into my lab under my time dilation field again.

*Hmm, they are highly energetic.* I realized as I shifted out of the Quantum Realm and the radiation burned one of my lab tables.

Smiling, I decided to go to work, I had shit to do.

# # #

(Nick Fury)

December 25th, 1996
Communication Room
03:45 PM (Egypt time)

Nick Fury looked at the agents having taken over the communication room, some were planning the logistics of the operations or entered in contact with assets allowing them to find their targets. Some adapted incredibly fast to the technology displayed, some of it was on par with what they had in S.H.I.E.L.D and in some way it was superior.

Sinister, the previous owner of this base had his fingers in multiple pies; his computer had back doors in the US government, other countries’ and companies all over the world. His technology that Jean Grey had appropriated was key to this. His intelligence gathering agents were having the time of their life finding dirt on every one of their targets.

But it wasn’t all good, some of the agents in training or new to spy-life were dazzled by the tech and resources before them. The tekkies Fitz and Simmons couldn’t stop oohing and aahing at everything and already had made plans to switch allegiance to Grey, the redhead already subordinated his best recruit Barton through his girlfriend by hiring her. Once this Hydra thing was done, he didn’t think the agent in training would stay.

Fury turned his head to Phil who had made a holographic christmas tree on the holo table; his friend felt his gaze on him and looked at him with a smile. Phil walked toward him after having finally done his job of managing everyone while Peggy was training in the gym to control her new abilities.

“Oh, oh, fucking oh.” Fury said with false cheer to his friend.

It was christmas certainly and the operation was going to be launched tomorrow, Peggy had promised them support, gear and transportation; but Fury had seen none of it yet. Sure they had those weird helicopters but he didn’t think they would be able to use them properly as he didn’t know their range or weaponry.

Fury asked, "Where's Grey? She was supposed to be here already."

Phil didn’t know what to say, his smile went downward as he straightened the blue uniform on him. "She’s in the lab."

"Still?" Fury’s brow furrowed, his one eye focused on Phil attempted to discern something in his body language.

Phil was one of the girl’s staunchest supporters, he wouldn’t be above lying to defend her; however, it didn’t seem to be the case. With a shower of blue light appearing before them, the two men’s hands went for their weapons and to point them at Jean who looked smugly at them and daring them to use their weapons. “Heard someone say my name.”

She was wearing semi-tactical clothes, a red tank top and tactical pants, fingerless gloves and boots; at her belt was a futuristic black pistol with glowing blue lines of energy on its flank.

“Grey…” Fury growled.

All their problems stemmed from her, but Fury could only say that she was a catalyst, not the cause. Nevertheless she kicked the hornet’s nest that was Hydra.

She shook her head, as if she had been reading his mind. “Huh, oh it’s you Fury, come find me in the lab; I am finally done with what I’ve been working on. Bring Fitz Simmons with you. Leaving now.”

She feigned not having recognized him right away, then she smiled at Phil who nodded at her in greeting. The difference in their treatment was incredible, Jean Grey held grudges for a long time and she hadn’t forgiven him for trying to cut her from her powers. She waved at them with a ‘later’ wave of her hand, then disappeared by teleporting again.

Fury glared at the spot where the girl had been. “I hate when she fucking does that.”

Phil sat on the holo table’s side, laughing. “It’s funny.”

To the black man, it wasn’t funny at all. The simple fact that she could do what she did made her a danger, someone to be controlled. “She’s the perfect assassin… we need to find a way to detect her teleportation and portal manipulation.”

Phil and Fury looked at each other for a long time before the former sighed heavily and shook his head. “You are too paranoid…”

# # #

Back with Jean
Jean and Cindy’s apartment
2 minutes later

Cindy was on our bed, reading a book, she didn’t feel me teleporting; she was completely oblivious of me. With a predatory smirk I levitated toward her and placed myself behind her. “Guess who is here.” I said as I put my hands on Cindy’s eyes and glomped her from behind and licked her ear.

I felt her tense for a microsecond before she slackened and let herself lean into me. Then all of a sudden it was me who was laying on the bed with the beautiful black haired girl straddling me.

Cindy speared me with her brown eyes, she held onto my arms. “Jean, where were you?”

I couldn’t move as she was clearly overpowering me and I was too lazy to activate my superstrength through goldie or my TK. I could feel my girlfriend’s concern for me and her ever burning love. But me getting womanhandled like this… “You already know where I was Cin.”

I said as I tried to move my arms, Cindy’s hands tightened on them once more. Looking up, I saw her eyes narrow; huh, so this was an interrogation.

She was getting angry at me for ditching her without telling her. “But I couldn’t feel you in my mind! Jessica couldn’t either. Did you go to space again?”

I chuckled. “No, honey. I was in the lab, under a time dilation field.”

Cindy frowned, letting go of me. “A time what?”

Cindy was a smart girl, but deep science such as quantum mechanics and temporal dilation must be too much for her. Still, I attempted to explain it to her; licking my lips I began to say, “Well I used my powers to create an area covering the entire lab in which time moved faster.”

Cindy gasped and worriedly looked at me.“How long? For how long were you alone.”

Sighing, I revealed, “A month.”

Even my Qi Gong and meditation sessions weren’t enough to let me stop thinking about Cindy or my sister and parents. Isolating myself for so long is bad on the psyche and I am not exactly sane either. I really needed a psychologist or something on the payroll.

“Your power is bullshit, Jeanie.” Cindy said deadpan.

I laughed. “Yeah, I know.”

Cindy stopped straddling me, and let me sit back on the white covered bed. There was an awkward silence as she looked down embarrassingly at me. “So… it’s been a month since you…”

I felt her lust targeted at me full blast. Did I forget to say that the girl was the kinkiest girlfriend I ever had? I felt lucky to have someone like her and I didn’t want to mess it up; there was this kiss Anna gave me that was souring my feeling of reconnecting with Cindy. Because I seriously liked it, deep down; I mean Anna is a great girl and if I wasn’t with Cindy I would totally have been receptive to her advances. But I wasn’t about to cheat on my Cindy, so I needed a tight leash on my hormones. That’s what I concluded after my meditation and self reflection in the temporal field.

“Yeah.” It’s been a month since I couldn’t have sex with Cin and it was all I could do to not jump her.

Suddenly, Cindy’s face was really close to mine; I could smell her minty breath, she then slid her hand on my head caressing my hair and letting it land on my cheek in affection. “You want to fuck?”

With a lusty exhalation I said, “Yeah.” And was about to push her down when something completely different happened.

Cindy let go of me, stood and stepped back away from me. “You aren’t getting any.” She said coldly and crossed her arms.

“WHY?!” I shouted, shocked. This… Did I do something? I don’t remember doing anything to make her react like that.

Was she being controlled or something else? I was about to try to probe her mind when Cindy started to talk. “I am mad at you, Jean.”

This made me stop all attempts to probe our shared mental link. I felt her disappointment at me and anger about something, some reason that I couldn’t guess. Cindy had felt lonely while I was away. “But…” I tried to say something to defend myself but she raised her hand and interrupted me.

Her cold gaze bored into me. “And there’s something fishy going on between you and that girl, Anna.”

At this name, I clammed up and avoided looking at her. Her anger surged again as she took my silence for confirmation. Damnit, I knew things were tough in a relationship but not this way, it wasn’t like this with my previous life’s husband. Cindy was like me, domineering and I deferred to her more in our relationship, but I still took the important decision. But it seems my experience wasn’t going to be the smooth sailing I had previously.

Cindy walked toward and climbed on the bed and placed herself next to me. “So, if you want to touch all this ever again.” Cindy lifted her shirt and showed her her belly button and naked breast.  “You better tell me what happened.”

I gulped. That little minx didn’t play fair, she knew that I loved not only her mind but her tight little body. That’s really unfair. “I intended to! I-”

Cindy lowered her shirt and covered the goods. “Then go on, speak. No, better. Show me what happened in your mindscape.”

I closed my eyes and took her naked arm in my right hand. “Fine.” I said, and brought her in my mindscape.

Not used to navigating into my mindscape, Cindy walked slowly on the bridge and sat at my side, while I was in the command chair. I waved a hand and my memories appeared on the viewscreen. I showed Cindy what happened that day starting with Anna receiving me in her house, me bringing her to the garden and glossing over the dimension spying thing but Cindy got the gist of it about Anna’s life, until I showed her the kiss and what she told me.

Cindy’s face was neutral, but deep inside she felt pity for Anna and was empathizing with her. The asian girl leaned in her seat. “So, she can’t touch anyone except you, and she’s so starved for love and companionship that she latched onto you.”

“Not my fault.” I whined.

Cindy turned her head toward me, she looked sad. “I see… um, Jean I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you, I thought…”

She clearly saw me stopping Anna stop trying to kiss me and explaining that I was with someone in my memories. That I wasn’t about to cheat on my perfect freaky girlfriend. “That I would cheat on my asian goddess?”

She flushed for a moment before slapping my arm. “Flattery will not get you anywhere, you still flirted with her.” Cindy accused.

There was no use lying, I couldn’t do it in my own mind, she would feel it. So I turned the accusation back at her. “Tell me you wouldn’t, after seeing that ass.” I poked her sternum with a finger.

Cindy stood up, looked outraged and tried to lie, but just like me, she couldn’t, I had set up the telepathic bond like this. “You… fine, yes she has a fine one.” She avoided my gaze.

I wasn’t the only one lusting after Anna it seemed, and Cindy was being a sucker because of the hard life she went through in each of the dimensions I showed her. Cindy liked strong girls, just like me. There was no more undercurrent of hostility toward Anna coming from her anymore. I had mixed feelings, her love for me burned like the sun, but it wasn’t as intense as the one between Barton and Barbara for example; Peggy and Steve were two stars orbiting each other. Cindy and I were still in that development phase of our respective feelings and we were getting there.

Sighing, I asked, “Are we going to continue to argue about Anna?” I didn’t want to, I wanted to kiss my girlfriend and forget it had happened, I was willing to be just friends with Anna, nothing more. I treasure what I have already.

There was firm determination and resolve rising through my link with Cindy. She had arrived at a decision, when she turned to me,  “Jean, I think I am not enough for you.” She said incomprehensible words.

*Is she breaking up with me?* My heart stopped, my mindscape quaked as her words registered. “Cin… what do you mean?” I stood up and took her hand in mind, she didn’t bat it away.

Cindy held onto my hand and looked directly in my eyes. “You still look at Gwen as if you want to have sex with her.”

“I do not!” I stopped doing that! We were friends and I stopped flirting with her, Gwen was one of my best friends! I continued to deny and ramble.

“At least deep down you still want to eat her up. I understand, she’s cute, I noticed that you like sciency type girls too.” Cindy remanded.

My eyes became blurry, and I couldn’t help but let tears flow down my cheeks. “Are you breaking up with me?” I said in a brittle little voice that intoned with fear, I don’t think I could survive such a thing.

Cindy’s eyes widened and she embraced me. “What? No! NEVER” She said as she held onto me.

I breathed in relief. “I-it sounded like that to me, phew, I was getting w-worried.” I sniffled, then gradually calmed down.

After finally composing myself and letting the warmth of my girlfriend comfort me, I looked at Cindy. “So what did you mean?” I finally asked, after Cindy let go of me. However she was still holding on my hand as if afraid to make me cry again.

Cindy pulled me to the beige colored seats on the bridge and sat me down. She sat at my side, practically  gluing herself to me. “I think… I think we must discuss the inevitable fact that you are going to want another girl in our couple. I can feel your attraction for Anna through our bond.”

Yeah she was hot and I felt sorry for her, but if I had to choose between Anna and Cindy, I would choose my girlfriend in a heartbeat. “But I don’t want anyone more than you.”

And I meant it, the feeling reverberated through our mental connection. Cindy smiled and smooched me, I wanted more, but it wasn’t the time, we had to air our grievances first and communicate.

“Me too, but… I get the same urges too.” Cindy confessed.

I tried to get my head around this, I knew she looked at other girls; as much as I and I was content to just do that, look. But at some point we might meet other girls or a guy? I liked guys too. Cindy picked up on my thoughts, she was getting partially good at that telepathy thing.

She nodded. “So instead of suffering and inevitably cheating on each other, maybe we should get real about our situation. We are going to have fun with this, maybe even have a bigger family?”

I could see it happen, caring for more people than Cindy and my family; but would they be as dedicated to me than I would be to them? I wasn’t ready for such a step, I barely had time for myself and everyone as I worked hard to keep them safe. Marvel was a fucking death world and I needed to be ready to meet its challenge.

But at the same time, surrounding me with people too strong to take out was a defense in itself; Cindy smiled, she used my paranoia and my protective instinct against me to get what she wanted. I felt proud of her and annoyed at the same time. “So… we are going to add more girls later? Are you sure that you want this? Normally you are quite jealous...”

Cindy shook her head and put her arm around my shoulder. “The only way you are adding another girl is by me liking her too. We are in this together, we do things together, always. ”

So what she wanted was polyamory. Polyamory is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the informed consent of all partners involved. It has been described as consensual, ethical, and responsible non-monogamy. Cindy wanted us to be happy, have fun; she recognized that her jealousy could be too much sometimes.

But she was working on not being a burden and to have a fulfilling life. I looked into her eyes, she felt calm and didn’t doubt what she was saying; there was also the fact that she was taking steps for our future. “I see, that’s fair.”

Cindy laughed, kissed me full on the mouth. After a minute we came for air, Cindy had a mischievous expression on her face. “Anna, she looks like a good girl.”

I glared at her, poked her boob. “I knew it, you want that cute ass!”

Cindy made an entrancing sound and I felt her nipple peek out from under her loose t-shirt. “Okay, yeah you are right, but it’s not just that! She needs care and friendship. I was about to rip into her for trying to seduce you, but after seeing what her life is? No, she needs more people that appreciate her.”

My hand slipped under her t-shirt and I groped her breast; firm and the elasticity was perfect, just like I remember one month ago.

My girlfriend slid on my knees and I began to play with her, but she really wanted to get that conversation about Anna out of the way. “About Anna, I intend to be her friend and teach her how to control her powers.”

Between pants and moan, Cindy said, “D-did y-you make anything to help her with her power?”

I gently pinched her nipples, and sucked on her uncovered neck, marking Cindy. The girl pinned my head and forced me to continue giving her hickeys. When I was done, I was finally ready to answer. “As a matter of fact I came up with a power dampener in the form of earrings.”

I went for fantasy looking ceramic-carbon fiber coated earrings, in the form of the sun and moon, I hoped Anna liked piercings. They could be activated or deactivated with her voice and her DNA. They were powered by solar radiation.

Cindy laughed, after my explanation about how they worked. “This is great, Jeanie. Don’t forget, friendship first, we help her, then…” My girlfriend was suddenly straddling me, she had pushed us out of my mindscape and we were in the same position from earlier in the real world: me holding her arm and not doing any kinky stuff. “We will see if we can add her by luring her into our bed.”

I sighed, I wanted some nookie time. “Are we going to discuss this with her at least?” I asked her. I didn’t want Raven to fucking kill us. “Her mother wouldn’t want us to corrupt the poor girl.”

Cindy took off her t-shirt, she was now topless. “I will show you corruption.”

I squealed as she tackled me to the bed and Goldie automatically absorbed my clothes to let me have my way with my girlfriend. Some heavy petting was happening and Cindy’s tongue was stuck down my throat, I felt alive more than before. But of course, someone had to spoil the moment.

“Am I interrupting?” Jessica asked out loud and stared at us as we were getting half naked.

# # #

“So Jean…” Jessica began to say as she stood over Cindy and I who were seated on my king sized bed.

The pink haired girl smiled derisively at me and Cindy, my girlfriend was avoiding looking at her as she was embarrassed. She may be kinky, but she wasn't an exhibitionist. I wasn’t bothered that my best friend had seen me at all, we were all girls here after all.

"Jess."

The pink haired girl’s brown eyes slid on Cindy and she glared. "You know… Cindy was supposed to wait for you and hold you down until I got in your bedroom. But I see that she forgot part of the plan. "

I frowned, turning to Cindy and getting her attention by touching her arm. She looked up at me with a tilt of her head. "Huh, Cin are we adding Jessica in the relationship? I thought she was straight!"

Cindy looked at me with disbelief, then she began to laugh. I glared at her, embarrassed by her reaction; it seemed I was wrong.

Jessica's expression grew impatient, Cindy’s bout of amusement didn’t sit well with her. "What are you talking about?" She demanded.

My girlfriend stopped, looked at me in silence, then began anew to laugh. I sighed and took the time to explain to Jess, "Cindy and I decided to try that polyamory thing."

There were diverse reactions that went through my best friend's head. First, surprise, second, she blushed and third, annoyance at us airing our private life like this to her. Fourth, she was touched that we could tell her things like that. But there was something lurking in her thoughts that I couldn't reach without testing her mental defense. And those were formidable, I taught her myself.

Jessica chuckled and waved her hand. "No, Jean. I am not going to be your girlfriend. You are too high maintenance, I would grow grey hair in no time, poor Cindy..."

"Hey!" How dare she?! I was awesome to be with!

The proof was that Cindy wrapped an arm around my waist in comfort, I leaned into her.

Cough. "Anyway, Jean. I wanted to speak with you about your attitude." Jessica segued smoothly.

I was shocked, what did she mean? Was I a bad friend? What's the matter today?  First Cindy and now Jessica? "My…?"

Jessica’s brown eyes bored into me. "All the secrets you keep, and only telling us about dangers after the fact."

I resented that, I've been protecting them from info that might not be accurate or was too dangerous for mere mortals to know. Some people or being would rip their mind open to obtain what they knew. If Jessica or worse her parents were harmed because they knew secrets they shouldn't… I don't know what I would do to those who dared lay a hand on them.

However, in response to my utter lack of reactions, Jessica went for broke by using a comparison that deeply hurt me as if I was plunged into a vat of acid. "Jean you have been pulling a Xavier on us all this time. Don't you trust us?"

The bed, the furniture and the room around me shook as I briefly lost control of my telekinesis, the spike of anger I felt would have killed anyone else who wasn't Jessica, my best friend. This lapse of control shook me as it showed that I had still a long way to go before I mastered my power completely without using the Phoenix Force as a crutch.

I looked at Jessica whose gaze was unwavering as she looked at me in disappointment. This, right here is why I normally didn't make friends before meeting her, by letting someone in, you also gave them ways of hurting you. But through the haze of pain, I felt that she cared about me and Jessica only acted this way to protect not only herself but the others my actions disturbed the life of.

"That’s unfair Jessica." I reined in my anger, but still glared at the pink haired girl. Cindy hugged me, her warm like a balm on my hurts.

Jessica smirked, put her fist on her hips and said, "I don't pull my punches, I was the only viable candidate to make you face your hypocrisy, if it had been Chimera or Hans talking to you right now, they would already be slammed into a wall."

I flinched. "I would never-"

Jessica loomed over me, staring at me in the eyes. "Don’t lie."

*Fuck.* Jessica was reading me like a book, she was too sharp for her own good. But wasn’t this why attracted me to her? I wanted smart friends, not the bubbling wishy washy imbeciles that surrounded me at school.

But I was forced to remember everything I had done of late. I have manipulated people, bought the loyalty of others and all of it in the name of a cause. At this point I was no better than Xavier or Magneto and it sickened me, how could I be better if I was using the same methods they used to gather allies or destroy their enemies.

For once it was my turn to look down and feel like a two faced bitch. "I hate that baldie, and being compared to him makes me feel dirty." I said out loud.

"Then don't act like him." Cindy whispered in my ear. <And please don't forget about me, I love you, but I don't want you to turn bad, okay?> The beautiful black haired girl said through our mental bond.

There was the threat that she’d leave me if I ever went too far; it wasn’t voiced, but it was felt through the bond. I didn’t panic or cry, but simply said, "I'm sorry."

I was sorry that it had come to this, that I couldn’t trust myself anymore. “It is a woman's own mind, not her enemy or foe, that lures her to evil ways.” I quoted Buddah, thinking deeply about it’s meaning.

Was I evil? Or was I good? Do those concepts exist? When I look at the world around me, I find that yes, good and evil exist. They are moral values, so they are covered by the Theory of Morality. The question arises from a particular idea of what truth is. When the idea of truth is more carefully defined, it becomes clear that moral value is the yardstick by which truth is measured. So, to the extent there is such a thing as truth, there is such a thing as truth about moral value.

There is a moral requirement that we attempt to see things within the distinctions and categorizations that have, or will, prove useful. Children put a lot of effort into learning from adults how to see the world in a useful way, and we put considerable effort into teaching them these skills and practices. The maintenance and improvement of all this culture is guided by moral value and the assumption that we have access to truth about such moral value.

I am agreeing with Plato's Allegory of the Cave. To live in a world where truth is accessible, we must accept the perspective that accepts The Good as the light that enlightens us to what the truth about reality is. Consequently, to deny the existence of truth about moral value is to return to the cave where truth is impossible because all notions of what is true are subject to arbitrary manipulation with no moral limits.

I thought of myself as good, and able to do evil to right wrongs. Xavier was exactly the same, he hid the truth and manipulated the lives of those around him, controlling the information they got, not caring about innocents as he played his games. *So many lies…*

"I think it comes with being a telepath." Cindy commiserated, gently stroking my hair.

Where should I toe the line? How can I be better? Those questions circled in my mind. However, I didn’t have the time to brood, Jessica put a gloved hand on my shoulder. "Jean are you going to tell us what makes you push us aside? Everyone wants to help you, you don’t have to carry your burden alone."

As I looked at her, I felt that she meant it, she wanted to help me; but would she be able to stomach what I had to do? Jessica must have felt my doubt as she opened herself fully to me; she learned that mental shield trick rather fast after I showed her how to do it. What I read made me tear up. She’d help me kill a fool and hide the body, I turned my head to my girlfriend and realized that so would she. "Shit, okay...I will tell you everything... But you better sit down Jessica. "

She sat at my side and for the better part of an hour, I told them about me being a Phoenix avatar and the consequences of such powers. About how I died, the threats on Earth; Apocalypse, the Purifiers, Weapon plus, magic, aliens and gods, how the world will burn if we are not prepared to meet those challenges head on or surreptitiously.

It was a shocked Jessica who stood up from the bed she was sitting on previously who was the first to express herself first. "Fuck! Fuck, Jean, how could you keep all that to yourself?"

"Language." Cindy said into a chiding tone.

I smiled. "You asked, now you know." After telling them, I felt as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders. Now I wasn’t the only one knowing about what was going to happen.

The girls were afraid, and rightly so; this is the kind of information that couldn’t be shared with others. That they couldn’t act on recklessly. Now I have shared my burden, Jessica and Cindy… certainly didn’t want to run away but thinking about how to help me. That was reassuring.

Jessica stopped pacing and had a funny smile on her face even though she was scared. “Jean that super hero gig, when we first met, I didn’t think it would become legit… but now? I understand why you keep handing out powers and amassing scientists. You want to get ahead of the curve.”

I stood up, with Cindy and held on to both of them. "I'm going to protect you all."

While Jessica hugged me, she whispered, "Jean, we are going to help you, I am going to become strong and…"

I kissed her on the cheek, my eyes becoming blurry with tears. "Thank you."

# # #

(Phillipa Sontag aka Arclight)

Lab Complex
Testing room

There were a lot of spooks at her side and Phillipa didn’t trust any of them, even the one her leader thought she could. They have been lurking everywhere, to places they shouldn’t be in. It had forced her, Hans and Chimera to seal up the other Hangars and the armories. Phillipa felt naked as they kept gazing at her, watching any movement she made. Some of those people had seen her train and use her shockwaves and lift the special weight in the gym past the forty tons range.

Since then, they had begun to avoid her and send her wary looks when she was present. Phillipa asked herself if they realized that they were guests here and not her who was part of her leader's team.

She shrugged and focused on the testing room, it looked like the inside of an empty warehouse with a really high ceiling, plastic chairs were placed for everyone to sit at. The walls and ceiling were grey stone mostly and perfectly carved. The lights fixture hung on the ceiling and said walls lighting every nook and cranny of the testing room.

Phillipa noticed that she wasn't the only one from her team present, Chimera was helping Hans lift a platform with a solid looking big table.  The young purple haired woman stood up and went to help. Chimera smiled at her in appreciation while Hans nodded at her. Once they were done installing the furniture Phillipa asked, "I guessed that we are here to show off, but what exactly are we going to test?"

"From what I saw in the main lab, some kind of armor." Answered Chimera with a sigh.

The blonde then took her eight inch tablet from one of her utility belt’s pouches, powered it up and then showed Phillipa what she had seen. With their level four access to the database, they could look at some of Jean’s most successful research. Phillipa whistled. The black armor looked sleek and conformed to the 3D model body like the Phoenix armor of Jean Grey.

Chimera used her fingers to turn around the holographic model and made an exploded view of the armor and a list of the systems available. The psionic was interested in it because physically she was squishy compared to Phillipa or Hans. Inside the armor was an exoskeleton amplifying its user's strength to superhuman levels. It's durability wasn’t stated but knowing their leader, it should be tremendous.

"I can't wait to see it in action, look, it gots guns too!" Chimera gushed like a fangirl.

"I won't be able to use it." Lamented Hans who would have liked to be able to.

The giant blond man flushed when Chimera put a hand on his biceps. "Don’t say that, I am sure the boss will make a custom one for you, Hans."

"But she’s the kind of person to say that it would be redundant on me." The man lamented, knowing exactly how focused Jean Grey could become and the weird logic she applied to things.

Phillipa really liked Hans, he was a dependable man, it did help that he looked simply scrumptious in that black skin-tight uniform of his,  showing off his impressive musculature.  However, it seemed that Chimera had dibs on him and Phillipa wasn't about to threaten the love life of the second in command of their team.

Chimera smiled at Hans. "Just ask her, I am sure she thought about your condition anyway."

And just at that moment something incredible happened. Phillipa noticed someone high up on the ceiling, it wasn’t obvious at first, but with her acute senses she could discern a slight blurry shape. The blurry and transparent effect simply vanished and an armored silhouette was finally completely distinctive. The armor was the same that Chimera had shown Phillipa on her tablet earlier.

Phillipa narrowed her eyes when the armored person detached themselves from the ceiling and was free falling down, with a roll they activated some kind of jetpack releasing a blue stream of highly charged particles that were forced through the engine's exhaust port. The person then landed in a crouching position as his or her fall was cushioned by a white colored fixed-focus electromagnetic lensing field, projected downward activated from the armor’s boots.

As they righted themselves, Phillipa saw every spook raise a weapon and shoot. A device on the right gauntlet of the armor deployed and formed an emerald colored energy barrier around the armored figure. Phillipa and Hans covered Chimera with their bodies, as some of the ricocheting bullets ended up hitting them.

After emptying their ammunition, the spooks looked on at the black armored person.  Some were loading their pistols, others stood in shock at the green forcefield.

"The test was a success." A familiar female voice sounded through some kind of loudspeakers system.

The armored woman took off her helmet and Phillipa wasn't surprised to see their redheaded leader was the assailant. Jean shook her head to free her hair, then looked tauntingly at the S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

Chimera made a shocked expression, then facepalmed.  "Boss…"

Jean Grey turned toward Chimera, looking if she was hurt after a quick inspection. As she noticed Phillipa and Hans protecting her she smiled and gave a thumbs up to them and addressed Chimera. "Aww, good job guys! And don’t worry Mera, I knew Hans and Arclight would protect you."

Hans stayed silent and hugged Chimera protectively.  The blonde basically melted in his arms but the man didn't notice as he was busy setting fire to Jean with his mind.

Phillipa glared at the teenage girl and voiced what everyone was thinking. "You are evil…"

Jean grinned. "And don't you forget it."

A masculine and commanding voice rang like a whip. "What the hell is happening here Grey?!"

Phillipa turned toward the voice and saw the bald man had taken over the communication room lately, acting as if it was his. Fortunately, his access was restrained to level three and he wasn’t able to go through Jean’s research or base system. The man was surrounded by a cadre of six agents, moving around him as if he was to be protected.

Their redheaded leader smiled at him and waved a gauntleted hand. "And Fury is here! Welcome, welcome! Oh my, you brought Cap and aunt Peggy, good."

Just as Jean said, here was a statuesque brunette and blonde man, they commanded attention as they walked, the woman, Peggy stopped before the platform and glared at the redhead. "Jean this wasn’t safe… to do."

With a mysterious grin, Jean answered, "I know exactly what would happen, anyway… we are all here because I have promised to support you guys to take back S.H.I.E.L.D and our country. But to give us an edge, I decided to come up with the armor I am currently wearing. But first, I want to ask you this question, is it better to be feared or respected?"

Fury was the first to answer and it wasn't even difficult that he chose the 'to be feared' option like some of the gung-ho agents at his side, while Peggy and Cap and some others chose the 'to be respected' one. Phillipa understood that this was a test from Jean and that those agents would be influenced to be in support positions rather than in teams later. Her leader was taking care of not being stabbed in the back by that Fury fellow.

Jean shook her head and stomped her right foot. "I say, is it too much to ask for both?"

"My solution to this problem was what I am currently wearing, the Achilles armor mark one." The black armor seemingly came to life as blue light spread on its surface, showing each piece such as the pauldron, segmented breastplate, gauntlets, greaves and boots. The pistols at each of  Jean’s thigh holsters activated in a bright blue hue as well.

Then suddenly, dozens of stone targets appeared from the depths of the testing room, firing at high speed. With a smooth and economical movement Jean took the pistol from her thigh holster and fired. A high dispersal effect was fired from the futuristic gun muzzle in three bursts and hit all the targets successfully. Another volley came this time one by one, Jean did something with the pistol in her hand, she shook it and the line glowing light along the side of it changed pattern and too fast it fired a lance of blue light and destroyed the stone pigeon.

Jean holstered the pistol and a big cannon appeared in her hand in a flash of blue light; it seemed that it was heavy and cumbersome. A Hummer materialized at the end of the testing room a good fifteen meters away.

It fired a continuous particle beam of blue light that simply speared the vehicle and made it explode. Jean then pointed her gauntlet  at the explosion and fired three pucks sized devices that held in mid air and generated three force fields that linked together and contained the explosion. The viridescent walls of the forcefield retracted into the device who came back to fly at Jean who let them land on slots in her gauntlet.

The redhead turned to the people behind her and could only see people looking shocked, mesmerized or scared.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, for your consideration, the Achilles Mark-1.” The redhead said with a triumphant grin.

It chilled Phillipa’s spine down to the bone.

# # #

(Jemma Simmons & Leo Fitz)

Lab Complex
Testing room
20 minutes later

On the table placed on the platform, Leo was having the time of his life. Certainly, the situation with S.H.I.E.L.D was dire and problematic; but now they had access to a top of the line lab, with exotic resources and unknown technology to poke and prod at. Miss Jean was allowing him to check out the directed energy weapons she had come up with. He had the pleasure to study those from Hydra that the teenager had collected earlier and what comparaison he could make between those Hydra had and the newly constructed particle weapons built in this lab was night and day.

Hydra’s weapons were crude and prone to either break down or explode without maintenance, the fault of that was the poorly built superconductors and battery pack inside that would also overheat and make it explode as a catastrophic failure melted the energy container; Miss Jean’s design was elegant and less prone to overheating, and built into each of the weapons was a cooling system allowing it to vent excess heat.

He wasn’t allowed to look at the parts and electronics inside and he could just guess what she had done to produce a particle weapon in a handheld format. Leo sat and took on a thoughtful expression. *Super conduction and some kind of wonder metal that permit energy manipulation… The battery pack used as ammunition clips plays a big role too.*

“Fitz.”

The young man took one battery clip and connected it to the socket to charge it, the led at the bottom of the battery lit up brightly in red.*The energy is peculiar too, it’s not plasma or electricity...*

He was suddenly jabbed with something in his arm, looked right and saw his girlfriend Jemma, poke him with her gauntleted hand. “Fitz!”

“Dammit Jemma! I was working!” he shouted but it was without heat.

Jemma noticed that Leo's S.H.I.E.L.D uniform was in disarray, he had taken off the top half of it and was only in his tank top and pants. Surely to be at ease as he used to do when he works. The young man took a swig of a water bottle and stored it back in a pouch at his belt.

The tall brunette smiled  at him and tauntingly said, "You mean you were trying to understand how it works. Don’t bother, the tech is black boxed, you know it's useless to try to analyze it."

With an affronted huff the young man lifted his hand and gave her the finger. "But I can still know the basics!"

Leo tried but he couldn’t even guess what type of energy those particle weapons used. Jemma snorted at her boyfriend. "Right, you know... she wants to hire us. This is her way of hooking you and getting you to resign from S.H.I.E.L.D to join her." She took a seat at his side and slapped a folder on the table in frustration, not at Leo but at the situation she found herself in.

She took off the top of her uniform and found herself in her tank top as well, Leo briefly leered at her, but understood it wasn’t the time to think about her body or what he could do with it. Jemma looked to be in distress. Leo could only guess what was happening, Miss Jean had indeed offered her something.

Leo asked after some time, "What did she use to bait you then? As you are a xenobiologist the only way she could, would be with alien DNA samples, huh?"

There was a tense silence before Jemma stuttered. "Um… yeah."

Oh so slowly, Leo turned his head to the brunette, his blue eyes almost bloodshot. "Get out! Real alien DNA!?"

Jemma sighed. "There's a DNA bank here, three sections down and there's at least ten samples available." The young woman had wanted to say yes on the spot, but the fear of what Jean Grey did to Grant Ward was burning inside her. She didn’t begrudge Jean for killing the guy, in fact she was glad that she did, the guy gave her the creeps. But it seemed Jean didn’t think much about how she used her powers to kill him, as if he was inconsequential to her. Were her subordinates treated the same way? That’s what made Jemma hesitate.

Leo put a hand on her shoulder. "Did she succeed?"

Jemma looked at Leo. "At what?"

"Hooking you."

Jemma couldn’t just judge the redhead with the way she dealt with her problems. She had seen her with her friends and family and she treated them decently; this was a leap of faith, but she didn’t want to work with S.H.I.E.L.D anymore if it was the type of bullshit that happened to them most of the time. "I was thinking about resigning anyway…" Jemma nodded.

Leo smiled at her. "Same… I am not a field guy, and I want to do research without being bothered by politics."

Jemma chuckled. "That’s impossible, you know it."

Leo snorted, looking at the energy pistol before him. "A man can dream."

Jemma looked at the weapons and at Jean who was talking with Peggy in front of them; the men looked on at the armor she had stepped out of, studying and asking questions. Leo had been like a little kid when she explained the collapsible plating of the armor, it allowed the user to step in and out of it at leisure. Jemma looked on at Fury who looked at Jean Grey with a calculating expression; for once he didn’t rage at her or dismiss her; Jemme didn’t think it was any good.

The brunette had a bad feeling about the circulation of the technology displayed before her. "The problem is that armor technology that Miss Jean came up with, it's going to change the way wars are waged. Did you see the calculating eye Fury had on his face? He will want to steal one."

Leo turned his head toward where he could see the bald man and indeed he looked like he was scheming something, it didn’t bode well for their stay in the lab. "I don't want to get killed. Did you see what Miss Jean did to Ward?"

The laser beam and lightning that cooked you treatment didn’t appeal to Jemma at all. "I think we need to make a decision… an important one."

Leo nodded. "Whatever you do, I'm following." He assured her.

Jemma wanted to kiss him for this, they always did things together after all.

A blue skinned and redheaded woman wearing some kind of white bodysuit coming from the side came to speak with them. She looked like the serious and no nonsense type. "Maybe I can help you?"

“Who are you?” Asked Leo.

He became wary, she looked exotic but she moved like a cat; as for Jemma she didn’t like the way the woman had seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

“I am Mystique, an associate of Jean.” The woman sounded proud of that fact, as if she had won the lottery or something.

Jemma was the first to ask, “What do you want?”

Mystique smiled and put a hand on her hips, “I couldn’t help but hear you, I understand that you would be interested in employment.”

Leo and Jemma looked at each other, and decided to take the proverbial leap of faith. Looked up in sync at Mystique and said, “Go on.”