Chapter 32: Chapter 19

Chapter 19

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Video room

Things were getting really interesting, never would he have thought that one of the Muties would rise to be so dangerous. The girl, subject Grey, is even more dangerous than Magneto or Xavier. He reviewed again the showdown on the road to Bayville and the one in the Mansion of subject X.

Her subordinates could effectively take on a regiment if they had gone lethal. He needed to change his plans, with Magneto out of the way and Charles being shown his irrelevance, his operations needed to go black; no, even blacker than before. Some loose ends needed to be dealt with and people disappeared. 

His sponsors also needed to be apprised of the new development… the man sighed, there was never a dull day with those freaks.

 

# # #

(Erik Lensherr)

(Flashback)

 

Mirror Dimension

 

It wasn’t his red haired foe against whom he was fighting in this inverse sky, but his own flesh and blood. The monster was battling against the Exodus clone and from the brief snippet he caught while fighting Wanda, they were tearing up the inverted city they found themselves in. Magneto dodged a crimson eldritch bolt coming for him and tried once again to use the metal around him to capture Wanda by creating an electrified cage, but she turned the metal into… marshmallows .

Her choice of transmutation so far had been candy themed as if to mock him and calling him a sugar Daddy. Since then, Magneto has gradually felt as if she was toying with him. It was hard to cope with his missing arm, and there was the fact that he didn't want to do any lasting damage to her; Wanda knew it and she was taking advantage of this fact. He would be proud of her if she wasn't mimicking a certain redheaded blight.

"What's up, old man? Can't keep up?" His daughter taunted with a sneer. 

Wanda floated before him, coat closed and billowing, she seemed to have inherited his panache and sense of theatrics. 

"This Grey girl has become a bad influence on you." Magneto found himself saying as he created two magnetic distortions that began tearing apart the buildings around him to create more material for him to work with. He extracted all the metal around  him, melted it and began creating constructs with it.

"Not like you're any better, father." Wanda spat in a mocking tone.

Magneto saw the hate she felt for him, it was plain to see in her body language and her eyes. Why can't she understand that he did what he did to protect her? Her powers were too dangerous and unstable! "I will teach you some manners!"

Wanda deployed a shield while the mass of metal sped toward her but she dodged and transmuted the metal surrounding her into fine white powder and conjured fired balls. The telekinetically gathered white powder was heated by the fireballs then turned into a brown mass of liquid that Wanda threw back at him. Magneto was splashed by the brown liquid before he could conjure a shield.

Despite himself, Magneto tasted… caramel? Magneto was insulted, his daughter was really playing with him. She had been transmuting the metal he threw at her into ingredients since the start of their fight!

"At least fight me seriously, daughter!" Magneto cried out with a swish of his cape. A disgusted rictus appeared on his face.

Wanda floated closer to him, grinned at him and cockily announced, "Remember, it was you who asked for it."

Making counter clockwise movements with her hands, a magic circle with celtic symbols appeared vertically before the scarlet witch. “I call upon the denizens of the Wylde, hearken my call, ô Faeries of Quandi!”

Two pink similar magical circles manifested at Wanda’s side and two silhouettes made of energy started coalescing. The two silhouettes became more feminine, until two youthful and unearthly gorgeous females with pink skin, long blue and green hair  and gossamer wings on their back; they wore diaphanous short dresses not hiding their body in the least.

"Wanda!" The one with blue hair shouted and glued herself to the right side of the scarlet witch.

"Wanda!" The green haired one mimicked the other and hugged the left side of Wanda.

Magneto didn’t understand what his daughter was trying to do with the two beings she summoned. He was aware that her power wasn’t just a simple mutation since she activated her X-gene, but this took the cake. He could explain the flying and energy projection with random effects, and the matter transmutation… but it was the first time Magneto saw his daughter do magic. 

Wanda laughed as she held on to their waists. "We will talk later, girls. But for now…" The scarlet witch’s gaze settled on Magneto, she raised her chin and the two other winged girls looked at him. "Get him!"

Magneto didn't like how the two new additions looked at him as they flew toward him. He momentarily lost sight of Wanda, and it would prove to be his undoing.

His field of vision was suddenly obscured, and Magneto felt something impact him and he heard a giggle. He used all his power to cushion what hit him, but the unstoppable force made him slam into something, by the noise of concrete breaking and glass shattering, Magneto ended up inside a building. Taking off what was obscuring his view, Magneto used his remaining arm to sit up.

“My cape, they used my cape to do me in?” He looked at the purple piece of iron meshed fabric with shock.

Looking around him, the old metahuman saw that he had ended up in a disused apartment, but there was no furniture. The grey walls were cold and bland. A ball of red energy surged from the hole he had gone through and hit Magneto in the chest, making him lay on his back with a slam. The man’s bone creaked under the powerful force crashing down on him.

The two pink skinned young women from earlier appeared at his sides and began firing bolts of energy at him with force equivalent to punches from a grown man. This continued for over five minutes, each blow undoing his armor’s pieces by disintegrating them or making them fly off. They didn’t leave Magneto time to be able to focus as well as the bolts were painful, making him scream like he had never before.

Then the pain simply stopped, allowing Magneto to gather his wit and power. "Enough!!"

A powerful magnetic field burst out from the leader of the Brotherhood, and crushed nearly everything around him, pulling the metal in the apartment to him. In vain, the storm of metal was diverted, striking nothing. The two Faeries were still standing to his side as if Magneto had done nothing.

Glaring at the two Faeries with hate, Magneto channeled enough lightning to light up a city block and threw it at them. But before the energy could hit them, a black and red whirlpool appeared before them and… siphoned the electricity. Wanda teleported before Magneto and… clocked him on the chin with an uppercut glowing with red energy.

Magneto fell on his knee as his brain rattled in his skull.

"Wanda! You saved us!" The two dangerous humanoids cried in happiness with honeyed voices.

Magneto felt pain from his lower jaw, his daughter seemed to know how to fight in close quarters. He would be happy about this if he wasn't the subject of her ire.

Clack, click, clack,clack. He didn't look up as he saw her boots before him. But an invisible force grabbed his head and made lift his head. With eyes blazing, Wanda looked down on him, with a quirk of her lips she said, “I always found it ridiculous, your outfit. Father.”

He was suddenly bound by some kind of solid construct made out of scarlet energy. Magneto didn’t appreciate the dig at his armor; he looked self consciously at it. She raised him and touched the latched part of his cape on his right pauldron, showing an expression of distaste on her face. “Jean was right, capes are a death trap. I’m happy she talked me out of using the same silly style that was your downfall.”

The auburn haired witch turned to her subordinates and Magneto heard a warm voice from Wanda when she addressed them. “Good job, girls, you deserve the feast we will have tonight.”

“Yes!” The two Faeries’ wings buzzed in appreciation, grins and joy were on their beautiful faces.

This action prickled at his heart, his daughter’s smiles should have been reserved to him. Wanda looked so much like his first daughter, Anya, that he couldn’t stop comparing the two of them. Magneto then whipped his head toward the hole behind Wanda and her Faeries, feeling a certain monster coming toward them.

He struggled to free himself, but whatever this energy tying him up was, it wasn’t subject to magnetism. With urgency, Magneto called out to his daughter, “Wanda, please, unhand me!”

The girl turned and stared at him with her twin green orbs. “Why should I do that? Tssk, let’s take off that silly helmet, I always hated it.”

Wanda walked up to him and put each hand on the side of his helmet. Magneto tried to make her stop at all cost, but somehow, his power failed him; he couldn’t muster it at all. He practically begged her, “Please, Wanda, don’t do this, she will use her telepathy against me.”

The scarlet witch laughed at him and… took off his helmet; and at the same time a voice rang in the empty apartment that chilled down his spine. “You got that right, old man.”

Light blinded everyone as an armored angel appeared from the still crumbling hole in the wall; in her left hand she had the ankle of the Exodus clone and pulled him inside as she walked toward them. She was smiling at him, already feeling and seeing her psionic tendrils reaching out for his head. Magneto rallied his psychic defense as much as he could. 

Wanda’s voice was full of longing and happiness. “Jean.”

His girl seemed enthralled by Jean Grey, he could see the zealous obsession that she had for the redhead. It was at this moment that he understood that his operation to retrieve Wanda had been futile, even if they had succeeded, she would have killed them all to get back to this girl. As he thought this, Magneto felt the telepathic tendrils slowly caressing his mental shield, feeling it up for any weakness. Jean Grey was smiling at him, and taking her time with him.

Magneto looked on as the monster put a hand on his daughter’s cheek. “Good Job, Wanda. You beat him, though he didn’t try really hard to kill you.”

Wanda giggled and hugged Jean’s side. “That was his undoing.” Her head turned and settled on her father with a mocking glint in her eyes.

The terrible and beautiful angel of war looked down at him as well. “That and his stupid costume.”

The pressure on his mind didn’t let up, she was still trying to get access to it; Jean Grey let go of Wanda and walked slowly toward him, pulling Exodus with her, his blood trailed on the wooden floor behind her. The rise and fall of the clone’s ribcage showed that he was still alive. 

She let the clone’s ankle go with a ‘thud’ and taunted, “Oh, Magneto, old chap. I brought your broken toy back to you.”

Magneto looked down at the Exodus clone still struggling to breathe. This shouldn’t be happening, the clone was powerful, he even had a powerful regeneration and healing factor; but somehow, he was kept from using his powers. “Barely… alive.” Magneto said between his teeth.

Jean laughed, and with a raw purr of her voice continued to speak. “Yes, you must be surprised that he can’t heal himself, right? There’s a reason for that.”

Magneto didn’t like where this was going at all, he redoubled his efforts from keeping her out of his mind. And just as he thought that, a golden substance oozed from Jean’s angel form and pooling at her feet. The blob then bubbled upright and formed into a golden and red humanoid shaped thing… it had claws, rows of teeth that would make a great white shark blush and a long tongue.

The leader of the Brotherhood barely moved as he saw the… thing smile at him. Next, Jean Grey spoke to him. “But first, I wanted to show you an example of what happens when someone defies me.”

Without turning her head, the angel shaped monstrosity gave an order to the golden and red humanoid blob. “Goldie, devour.” She pointed her hand at the Exodus clone.

The thing’s voice was similar to Jean Grey’s as it chuckled evilly. [Gleeful: With Pleasure.]

It turned back into a pool of goo and slithered toward the Exodus clone, and covered his feet, and oh so slowly his body. Exodus was conscious enough to feel the thing covering him, he struggled and tried to scream; he was stopped from crying out as this Goldie creature entered his body through his mouth.

Magneto then heard horrifying sounds that would fill his nightmares forever. Crack. Crack. Crunch!

“Hmmmfff!!”Was the only thing he heard from the Exodus clone before he stopped moving forever.

The crunching sounds ceased after a big ‘gulp’ sound that made Magneto avert his eyes from the scene. Then something even more disturbing happened as the creature slithered back to Jean Grey and covered and melted inside her body. Magneto looked in horror as the angel licked her lips and tilted her head and curved her lips downward in distaste as if she had eaten something that didn’t agree with her. “Hmm, he tasted bland. Like every clone made by Sinister. It must be because they didn’t accumulate the necessary nutrients and bacteria in their body-”

Jean Grey was interrupted by Magneto who stuttered, “You… you monster!”

The monstrous angel put her hand on her chest and laughed throatily. “Yes, praise me more. Little man.”

Magneto turned his head toward his daughter, she looked in apprehension at the scene she had seen. “Wanda! Do something! Did you see what she just did?!”

Wanda looked between Magneto and Jean, lit up her hand with red energy and pointed it at her father. “Shut up, or I’ll make you.”

*She is truly lost.* Magneto closed his eyes in defeat.

In a shower of red light reminding him of Exodus’ teleportation power, Magneto's helmet appeared in the angel’s hands. She looked at him and smugly said, “Do you like? I just got another boost from your toy.”

Gears turned in the Brotherhood’s leader’s head, his eyes opened wide as terror struck him. “You took his powers… you devour them and make their powers yours!”

The monstrous angel nodded with all her teeth exposed in a predatory smile. “Yes, I took his powers from him and I am about to do the same to you.”

Magneto tried with all his strength to get up and undo the binding that was tying him up. He desperately tried to use his powers but whatever Wanda did to him still stuck. Jean Grey whispered in his ear, “But worry not, I have another fate in store for you… I won’t let Goldie eat you, oh no, Magneto, I will just take what makes you think you’re special from you.”

She cupped his face in her hands looking him into the eyes and Magneto felt as if he was being stripped of something… his body seized as he tried to resist her. His mental shield’s buckled under her assault as well, and finally broke as Magneto felt his powers leave him. Jean Grey finally had access to his mind and she pilfered everything he knew, every secret he had, she knew his fears and his wants.

When she was done with him she held him by his hair and levitated in the air to fly out of the apartment, Wanda followed her. As he struggled with the false angel’s grip holding onto his mane of hair, Magneto cried, a young woman, barely older than his daughter, had broken him.

 

(Flashback End)

 

***

 

Birdcage
Block A
Luxury cell

 

Magneto… no, Erik Lensherr reopened his eyes to a transparent ceiling, through which he could see solid stone. Immediately sitting up, Erik looked around him and saw that he was on a bed, with a nightstand equipped with a lamp. Erik noticed that he was nude and…

He looked at his hands, he was complete; no missing arm… and the marks of age had been scrubbed clean from his body, his calluses had also completely disappeared. He felt younger, the aches and pains that his body had accumulated over the years were not here anymore. Erik needed a mirror to look at himself. His cell, if this was a cell, didn’t look like one. Transparent walls, empty shelves, and strange amenities resembling a bathroom but there was no plumbing connected to the cube he was imprisoned in.

Erik found clothes on his bedside, consisting of underwear, black pants and a grey T-shirt with the numbers 01 on the back; it was made of a fabric that he couldn’t identify. He almost smiled at this, so he was considered the first prisoner? The anger he felt bubbled beneath the surface of his eerie exterior calm.

As he clothed himself in silence, Erik began to think. He has lost everything to that redheaded upstart! That monster in human form had taken his family, his power and people, he had even felt her go through his mind and take whatever she wanted from it. Erik had felt violated, even more so than when Charles had admitted wiping his mind last December…

He remembered how the Exodus clone was devoured by the creature bonded to Jean Grey and he shuddered. This was a warning, ‘act up and I feed you to my pet’; Erik decided to not tempt fate anymore. Sighing, he finished putting on his prison garb and walked to the middle of the cell cube he found himself in. The floor was made of the same transparent material as the walls of his cell; he couldn’t guess what it was made of.

Out of nowhere, he heard Raven’s voice being transmitted to him. "Hello, Erik."

Tok, tok, tok. Erik turned his head toward the sound he heard and he saw someone outside his cell. On a bridge made of light, standing before a completely transparent window was Raven, blue skin, crimson red hair and yellow eyes. She wore a white low cut dress. *Still as attractive as ever.*

They had a thing for each other for five years before she called it off when he put Wanda in the asylum when she was eleven or so. Since then, they had stayed friends; he understood her position and that if he was able to let go of his progeny, that he could do so to her as well. Women tended to want trust, safety and stability, but due to Erik’s position as a leader, he couldn’t play favorites.

It came from the walls, he heard her as if she was talking via a phone; but Erik couldn’t see any sound device available, the mystery of how his cell worked deepened.

"Raven." Erik slowly walked toward her, he stopped before the transparent barrier separating them.

She stood there, with the neutral mask that he had learned to discern but was still good at hiding her emotions. Erik couldn’t stop himself from showing his anger, a vein popped up near his temple. “Did you come to gloat?” 

The blue skinned beauty didn’t say anything, she didn’t sneer at him or mock him. It wasn’t her thing with people she had associated with for so long. Had he been one of her targets, he thinks it would have been different. 

Looking into her yellow eyes, he asked the question that he has been burning to ask, “You betrayed me. Why?”

Raven looked around her, the deep chasm she stood over not making her uncomfortable at all; Erik was intrigued by the technology that this holding place was made of. Despite him not having his powers, Jean Grey seemed to not want to take any chances with him.

Erik didn’t expect her to answer him, so he was surprised when she opened her mouth and said, "Yes, I did. It wasn’t an easy decision; but Jean offered more advantages, has real plans for the cause and… more importantly safety for my family and our daughter."

He was so shocked by the information that he didn’t catch on right away by what she said, first he was offended by the fact that she didn’t think that his current strategies were viable; but the revelation that he may have a child with her simply blew Erik’s mind. "What?"

The blue skinned beauty took something from between her breasts, it was a picture that she put against the transparent wall. Erik could see that it was a young woman of fifteen or sixteen years of age with brunette hair; she looked a bit like Raven but more human looking, the streak of white hair and her eyes… looked like his. "Anna-Marie, she’s our daughter. I didn't want to let her fall into your clutches, so I never told you. You have such a bad track record with children. You either treat them like dirt or betray them."

Closing his eyes, Erik kept saying, "No, no…"

Raven mercilessly continued to speak after putting back the photo in between her breasts. "I was right to hide her like I did, after seeing how you treated little Wanda. Kids deserve better than to be second fiddle to your dreams of conquest. You would have used her like a tool, like you did to everyone around you."

She glared at Erik, as if she was looking at dirt. Erik put a hand on his heart, he felt it break, he had certainly not been the father of the year with Pietro but… "Raven… is this really how you see me?"

The woman sighed, an action that caused her breasts to do some interesting things, but Erik knew that it was all a trap, every movement, every breath she took was made to control the conversation. Many men and women died from Mystique’s honey traps. "You've changed Erik, you became corrupted by your demons. I loved the man that you were, now all I see is a warmonger and a tyrant who has taken his place."

"Your words.. cut deep." Erik said with sadness, letting his hand fall along his side.

Raven crossed her arms and took on a swaggering pose. "I am not sorry."

Just like he expected, his ex-subordinate was remorseless. Erik realized that she could have taken her secret to the grave, he was curious about why made her tell him about their child. "Why tell me after all this time?"

For the first time, Raven smiled as she looked at him. "I feel that it's safe now that you've been neutralized. I don't see you getting very far from the Birdcage."

The birdcage, the name of this prison; supposed to be hard to break into and to escape. Looking down, Erik could see the deep chasm his cell hovered over. He could see lights far in the darkness, maybe one kilometer down. The fall would surely kill him, this distance must be one of the security features to it.

"I see… I didn't know that you hated me so much." Looking up, he glared at Raven.

The woman simply rolled her eyes at his theatrics. "I don't hate you Erik, you woke up with your missing arm back and with your youth restored. Don't you find it strange? That’s because I still want you to be around, so I negotiated on your behalf with my new leader. It helps that she's dating our daughter and wishes to see her happy."

His heart rates spiked and he began to breathe heavily; Erik wanted to explode, to rage and tell Raven to take his daughters away from the monster called Jean Grey. But he calmed down, and thought. 

Erik first needed to know his enemy; he had acted upon outdated information when he attacked her, never again. "How did she do it? How powerful is Grey, Raven?"

She smiled as if she had expected this question. "Jean… has many hidden depths, and her power? There's beings in this universe that you can't offend, Erik. But you and Charles had to do it."

There was faith and absolute conviction in this statement, it struck Erik that he may have fucked up. She had toyed with him when they fought, she also wanted to test him, to see if he was worthy of her using her full power. "There’s nothing I can do to get back into her good graces, is there?"

Raven shook her head, unfolded her arms and put her fists on her hips. “You lost your chance yesterday when you attacked her to kidnap Wanda.” The woman shrugged. “But who knows, if you're a model inmate you'll be given privileges.”

Erik deflated, at least he was given vague terms; if he behaved, he would be able to have some privileges. It wasn’t the first time that he had been imprisoned, he knew how the system worked. Then another idea came to him. "Can I… can Wanda, Anna and Pietro visit?"

For once, Raven looked surprised and she said, "This can be negotiated, but of course it will be under supervision. "

He bet that this particular favor would not be easy to obtain; some people might think that he would manipulate his children to have them affect the outside world, but what he wanted to do was know his two daughters better and maybe treat Pietro like he deserved. Erik decided that if Jean Grey wanted to take the reins of the mutant liberation, he would let her, it seemed that she was doing a good job so far; maybe it was time to retire and observe how the young would carry on his dream.

Nodding, Erik said, "I didn't expect anything else."

Ding! Raven looked at the ornate jewelry on her right arm, it was made of an amber bracelet with a yellow cat’s eye gem etched into it. She looked at it for a brief instant, and looked up to meet Erik’s interested eyes. "I must leave, Erik; duty calls. Enjoy the food that will be teleported to you, and you have access to the virtual library to entertain yourself."

Raven pointed her finger to a tablet on the coffee table next to a white sofa. He looked at it and noticed a grey device with a big screen of over ten inches. Turning back to Raven, he saw that she was already walking back across the bridge made of light. "Goodbye Raven."

He clapped and walked to his sofa. "This is better than I could hope for when I lost… let's see what she gave me access to, shall we?"

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…
Sunday night (Egypt time)

 

“Okay it’s time for debriefing, we have processed everyone in the Birdcage, but now what can you tell me guys and gals?”

Jean was seated at the long meeting table with all the department heads of the Ascendency. She wore her usual blue bodysuit and lab coat, nothing fancy when she was on base. At her right was Chimera, the second in command, on her left was ex-SHIELD agent Maria Hill, head of operations. On the left of the table, there were the research heads, Doctor Barbara Morse, Dr Sarah Kinney and Hugo Meyer born Ulysses Klaue.

On the right side were the people who had been homeless before being recruited by Raven. They all had specialties that made them invaluable; respectively, the head of engineering, a thin man with black graying hair called Martin Kord, from Logistics, a portly man with a shaved head and brown eyes, Damon Patrick. The head of the Agriculture department was a rotund woman black woman called Hortensia Norton, she had a PhD in agricultural science; since joining us, the hydroponic gardens have doubled their yield.

Then at the other end of the table was Frank Castle and Avery Johnson, the leaders of the Dragoons and Power Armored troops. It was Frank who spoke first. "That Cortez guy was the instigator of the attack."

Raising an eyebrow, I said, "Really?" 

Avery lit his cigar by snapping his fingers and creating a flame, put the cancer stick in his mouth and said with a big smile, "I tell you ma’am, when I sat him down with me, he sang like a canary, apparently he wants to join us and get treatment for his sister's leg."

Leaning in my cushioned chair, I let my mind wander and focused on Fabian Cortez; the man was vicious and a thrill seeker, born into wealth and privilege, but became bored with his life. He hoped that we would take his offer and expected to rise through the ranks and take the organization's reins. *How predictable.* 

I laughed at the ridiculous plan the man had come up with. "He sounds like a snake." Taking on a more serious expression, I said, "There’s no way I can trust such a man."

"He is. This is the type of man who turns things to shit, just because he can." Frank added.

Hill and Chimera said nothing, Sarah and Barbara had no opinion. They weren't interested in the man's fate it seemed. I focused on Frank and Avery… "So we have the guy who wanted to take Magneto's place and send him on a suicide run against me. How would he have escaped?"

Martin Kord answered, "They got the same teleportation tech as Sinister, stolen from one of his bases that they raided and looted."

The department head then started to explain how he wanted permission to change the security of the transport room after discovering that the teleportation harness that the Acolytes possess could tap into the systems of the Egypt and Adirondack bases. The man stopped speaking when the meeting room’s door opened and Mystique appeared.

"Excuse me." The blue skinned woman said as she came to sit at the right side of the table near Sarah Kinney.

I waved at her with a big smile. "Ah, Raven; you're late."

Without any greetings, Raven started with, "Erik seems remorseful, like you said he would be."

This made me laugh and slap my hand on the table; Magneto was an open book to me now. I knew how he thought and felt; they say that knowing yourself is half the battle, knowing your enemies is the other half. I permanently defanged him by breaking his resolve. “Let’s let him stew for another six months.” I said.

*I cannot scorn a man who chooses to fight to survive; only one who averts his eyes from evil.* I thought. Magneto was in a special situation. I had wanted to kill him, but it would rob his children from the option of working him over to change him. 

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Raven nodded. Then she projected her thoughts to me, <He wants to see Wanda, Pietro and… Anna.>

Raising an eyebrow at this, I asked her, <You told him?>

This was surprising, one of the details of the deal Raven had made with me was about protecting her family from outside forces and from Magneto. 

<I had to, he deserves to know now that he has been neutralized.> Raven linked her hand and watched my reaction.

With smack, I did a big facepalm. *Did she just raise a fucking flag?!*

If anything can go wrong, it will. This is a basic tenet for everyone who has lived a lot. You must always expect the unexpected! I glared at the shape-shifting pain in the ass. <Raven if Erik ever escapes because you tempted murphy, I will spank you.>

<I knew it, you have something for bubble butts.> Raven accused.

<And Anna inherited yours.>

Raven and I laughed in sync and to everyone around us it was like we were crazy. After calming down, Raven read the reports in the folder before her. "This attack was well planned, if we were not prepared… we would have been blindsided and taken casualties. A classic plan from Magneto, divide and conquer, throw some distraction."

"But Magneto would still have lost." Chimera piped in.

She knew how I fought, and I would have made Magneto pay for any loss incurred by my side. I am happy that my older friend was confident in my abilities, but… "It’s not a matter of winning. He would have at least taken one of my friends from me. When he fought me, he did it with the intention to kill. I was tempted to end it there for him, that's why I only kept Elektra and Wanda with me, they know how to defend themselves from such people. Then there's the morale of our people, we are still developing and we don't need the deaths that would hinder our organization's growth."

"I didn't see it that way." Chimera whispered.

Maria Hill snorted at her and covered her mouth in mirth. I heard the words 'amateur' coming from her; the woman really wanted Chimera's job. Too bad she didn't understand that I can't trust her yet, so her attitude grated a bit on me.

Putting a reassuring hand on my friend's arm, I said, "I know you're used to Sinister’s way of handling things. It's better that you forget his methods and learn from others who aren't crazy and megalomaniacs."

Chimera chuckled, then she shared her feelings with me, telling me that she would try. "Okay." 

Done with the pep talk, I turned to Maria who sat straight in her chair. "Maria, I really liked how you handled the defense of the X-Mansion."

Maria didn't show it outwardly but she was delighted by the compliment. She was hard to read for others because of her stoic exterior, but for an empath like me it was as if she was an open book. "Thank you, ma'am. We have beta'ed the containment foam sprayer and grenade for you, the men also wrote a report and noted down some suggestions for tactics employing them." The Ex-agent placed a thick folder before Jean who cringed at it.

More paperwork… I need to bear with it. "I will read them, what about the pain grenades? Were they efficient enough against the regenerators?"

Maria felt rather put out as she said, "Too efficient, ma'am. I think it creates trauma in the victims. Sabretooth is still catatonic in his cell."

Well they were copies of Bakuda's bomb so I am not surprised that they were turned up to eleven. "I see… we need to turn down the settings a bit." Jean took on a thoughtful expression and began to skim the reports handed to her by Maria.

"Under the UN, those grenades would be banned." Maria added idly.

Jean turned to Maria and shrugged. "Who cares about them? The UN is a bunch of impotent fools. I don’t mean that I will break treaties and laws, but mark my words, those useless wastes of space sitting in their illustrious ivory towers aren’t going to be able to handle the dire reality that they will be confronted with in the coming years."

We needed to be more than an organization, we needed to be a Nation. Becoming a Nation promotes the development of a society without discrimination against any section of said society. My Nation will promote good religious and moral values of its people. And finally it will help in the individual growth of its citizens. We will have our own military and technology; we surely won't participate in that circus they call the UN as well. Okay, did I choose to make my own Star Trek society?

I laughed in my heart. “That’s why creating a place for us as an official country is so important.” I said to everyone.

No one dared tell me that it was impossible, but some were still skeptical like Maria and the other department heads; Sarah Kinney and Barbara simply smirked at me, knowing I was serious.

Chimera shook her head, leaning further back in her chair. “Miss Hogarth really put that idea in your head…” My second in command commented.

I waved away her comment. “It’s already taking care of itself, don't worry, and I like Jeryn, she’s my muse.”

Chimera was now worried, she didn't like the mysterious little comments I've been spouting lately. I loved playing with her nerves. She glared at me, somehow understanding that I derived amusement from her feelings. Chimera pinched my arm.

"Ouch!" I cried out.

But before I could retaliate, Maria interrupted us with a cough. "Anyway… ma'am, we have discovered some disturbing facts about Xavier and an organization that has been observing him."

Then Maria proceeded to show us a list of politicians involved with Xavier and how he gave private bodyguards to them from some of the metahuman girls and boys from the school. This was disgusting, he did exactly what I do with the enemies that are too dangerous; he reshaped them and gave them new identities.

Those men were on the list and I will recover those young people used and turned into puppets by Xavier. Now I knew how he enjoyed the power given by his 'connections' and these men and women won't survive the month.

Maria continued and explained about the surveillance gear found around the Mansion. There were men in vans recording what was happening as well; the drone didn't attack them fortunately, just registered their presence and broke the encryption on their communications. The drones had taken pictures of the gear, the vehicles and the people in them.

I frowned, and tapped my finger on the table. "The government?"

*It wasn't SHIELD.* I would have been told that they were present because of my moles inside. It was a new variable, someone else. It couldn’t be the Brotherhood and the Acolytes; I just broke them and imprisoned their members… Maybe the Hellfire club?

"Their gear was military grade, ma'am." Maria added, completely shattering my suppositions.

“Military, huh? We took out Hydra, and I only know one or two black organizations who would monitor Xavier." I think it’s time I focus on Canada a bit more…

I sent the information in my mind to Chimera via telepathy. She felt really disgusted when she understood what I was showing her. The facility where I found Laura and Sarah Kinney was the prelude to this case presenting itself.

"I see, so they have chosen death." Chimera said.

Barbara reacted to this and said, "Don't keep up the suspense, share with the class."

Looking at Sarah, I choose to not burden her with the knowledge that the people responsible for the creation of the facility might have found her. I intend to investigate and do something about it. "I need to be sure before telling anyone. Those are dangerous people." 

I cut short the debriefing about Magneto, now it was time to pass to the base’s business. "Now that we know what happened and what went wrong in those operations against Magneto, we can do better when the next problem presents itself to us. I want to know what you’ve all been up to. Barbara, Doctor Kinney, please tell us about your project."

Sarah and Barbara became more animated, placed their tablet in the middle of the table and a hologram came alive, showing the unholy union between a pistol and a syringe; there were also rectangular items with some kind of porous surface shown. 

My blonde star scientist, Barbara, smiled and enlightened us. "We have finally come up with a delivery system for Medi-gel, Smart bandaids and Hypo injectors…"

 

# # #

 

February 17th, 1997
Austin, Texas
ABIA (Austin–Bergstrom International Airport)
Prototype Contra-gravity Jet
11:12 AM

 

The Austin–Bergstrom International Airport is a Class C international airport in Austin, serving the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Located about 8 km southeast of Downtown Austin, it covers 4,242 acres and has two runways and three helipads. I was in the prototype jet that I came up with, by studying the flying harness that Cindy, Peter and Elektra took from the Vulture, Adrian Toomes. If the guy wasn’t so gung-oh on his vengeance I would have broken him out of prison and put him in my science-team and made real money.

Contra-gravity; the flying harness functioned on that principle. It was a really simple device, the anti-graviton generator inside the harness creates a form of gravity cushion beneath the object. Simulating the effects of a gravity mass in the opposite direction from the local center which causes the vehicle to be acted upon by both directions of forces. Since the field is generated in relation to the projecting object and local mass of gravity at a constant power ratio of 1 to 1 it allows for the object to "fall" upwards at the same time it's "falling" downwards thus creating a neutral buoyancy state. Changing the power output of the drive allows the vehicle to raise, lower or maintain itself in relation to the local gravity mass. 

Now I can finally make flying cars a reality. But me and my engineers needed concrete data before offering this on the market. Thanks to this new technology, the Raven stealth jet I used for my operations against Hydra became even more important to me and my guys. Contra-gravity offered incidentally the inertial dampers to counter the effects of rapid acceleration and deceleration by sustaining and absorbing the natural inertia of a vessel. It forced me to find a way to miniaturize the fusion reactors because of how hungry this mode of transportation was.

Creating starships is on the list, but the tech must be refined first; I need to ask my advisors about releasing the genie from the bottle.

I sighed as I sat on the forward club seat, spending my time here with my new toy, even momentarily, has taken a lot from me. Why? Well, it’s Saint Patrick's day and I wanted to celebrate it with the girls by wearing green, -I wasn’t eager to get pinched by my father- lemme explain that for non Irish-descended people; the folklore goes like this: St. Patrick’s revelers thought wearing green made one invisible to leprechauns, fairy creatures who would pinch anyone they could see (anyone not wearing green). People began pinching those who didn’t wear green as a reminder that leprechauns would sneak up and pinch green-abstainers.

I was in marvel so I didn’t want to take any risk that leprechauns were real… though I regretted a bit from not being at home right now. I wanted to eat mom’s special irish dishes, decorate the house or to play with Wanda’s fairies. My family has Irish ancestry and we were proud of it, but I wasn’t in the mood to walk in public parades and festivals. I had a job to do.

Drinking from my mug, I closed my eyes as I tasted the Irish coffee. Couldn’t believe it was that good; it was just hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar, stirred, and topped with cream, however, my palette found it rather good.

I put my mug on the table, then looked out of the window at the city of Austin that was far in the horizon. Despite being experimental, the cabins inside the jet were comfortable. I had to study and research how Stark and Boeing had made those luxury jets. 

Anyway, now I was in Austin to recruit someone. 

Yesterday was a big break for me you see… Medi-gel was successfully created by Barbara Morse and Sarah Kinney. I even had the honor to see a successful human test on the more heavily wounded prisoners we had brought with us last saturday. It was after this that Barbara and Sarah asked for more personnel and funding. I agreed to give it to them.

Hugo, who was still working on the sonic weapons as I had asked him, was jealous and dared to ask for a budget raise. He had all the vibranium he wanted, but had no assistant because he ran them out with his horrible and chauvinistic behavior, so his weapon project lagged behind. *I think I will have to be his partner myself to get the job done. Eventually, I need to find someone that can make him toe the line. * 

Looking toward the entrance of the jet, I detected the approach of my operators; the doors of the Hangar my jet was stashed in opened and I felt that they had someone with them. My remote vision showed me a beautiful young woman with brown hair and eyes and curvy body that was made to exit the rental SUV my guys picked her up in; wow she’s really attractive. She was dressed in a green t-shirt covered by a dark green jacket and black jeans that seemed painted onto her. Huh I wasn’t the only one dressing for Saint Patrin’s day.

The two men, -Frank Castle’s men who just graduated from the Dragoon school of badassery- brought Miss Hansen into the jet and I pushed a button on a polygonal device at the center of the conference table. The device glowed and showed that it had powerful emitters inside and projected a field of hard light around the ship. It was a device that I invented to protect myself from spy satellites and pesky laser microphones that use vibration to listen in on things. 

Standing up, I walked to the next cabin at the Aft section of the jet. As my guest was crossing the forward cabin, I sat on the divan placed against the fuselage. The young woman was made to sit at my side on the divan. When she looked at me with big eyes full of fear and mistrust, I had to smile back at her. I had dressed to the nines for this; I wore a black pantsuit with a green shirt and gold jewelry, I looked as if I worked for the mob. “Hello, Miss Maya Hansen.”

The woman looked at the men in black behind her, then at me. “What? T-this is kidnapping! I WAS IN MY HOUSE! My fucking house!”

Smirking, I nodded. “I am aware.”

Hansen glared at me. I shrugged off her venomous look, walked up to the chair before the sofa, then I sat and observed the young woman. She felt scared and wanted to run, she looked everywhere for an escape; it didn't disturb me but I projected a minor aura of calm, and she visibly relaxed, her tense shoulders slackened and she finally was looking at me. "Do I have your attention, miss Hansen?"

The young woman nodded hesitantly. Maya Hansen was an intensely private person, and we having invaded her safe space like this didn’t endear us to her at all.

"Good." I nodded back.

Crossing my legs, I let a beat of time pass before I said, "You must ask yourself, why are you here?"

“Yes…” Maya again looked at the cabin’s entrance and the buff black haired guy with a black and white suit. He had a pin on his lapel with a ‘A’ showing his belonging to the Ascendency.

Exposition time for the sexy scientist. “I caught you before you signed anything with FuturePharm Corporation, they simply won’t be able to nurture a genius like you. I was planning to offer you a job; I also intended to soft sell this but my people caught wind of a kidnapping plot. We weren't sure about the accuracy of this information, but we decided to bring you up into the stealth jet. Is there anything you want from your home?”

Maya raised a hand, interrupting me. “Wait, wait, wait, you kidnapped me to give me a… job?”

This was what she took from my explanation? Not the threat of kidnapping or having to abandon her home? *What a peculiar woman.*

“Well, yes. I judged that your safety needed to be paramount.” I tried to not peer into her mind, but her feelings of wariness and disbelief seemed to get to me. Maya Hansen was a really loud emotion projector.

“What proof do I have that you’re telling me the truth?” The brunette asked me with a skeptical tone.

Raising my left index, I kindly looked at her. “One moment please.”

Turning to the tall and buff man guarding the cabin’s entrance, I commanded, “Jonhson, bring me the laptop.”

The man uncrossed his arms. “Yes ma’am.” Then he exited the cabin, while I teleported a manilla envelope into my hand and gave it to Maya who became wide eyed at the display of power. “While he does this, why don’t you look at the contract I’ve prepared for you?”

Slowly opening the envelope, Maya took out the contract I had Matt, Elektra’s man, draw up. He wasn’t a business lawyer, but he could draft one. Maya began to leaf through the ten pages contract, the health insurance, life insurance and the salary of one million dollars a year were of course the main point. She was being hired for a position in the research and development of StarLab, my company.

As she read the contract, I said, “As you can see, I pay very well, here is the contract and the pay for starting up. Anything you create, you get 60% of the royalties and the company 40%.” 

Maya put the contract back on the divan and stared into my eyes. "This… is this about my paper about the experimental enhancing virus, isn’t it?"

Oh, she was playing coy with me? With a big smile I answered, "You mean the Extremis virus? Half of the reason I brought you here is because of it."

Maya flinched, she laughed nervously and I waited for her to calm down.

When she was certain that I wouldn’t kill her for trying to be cute with me, she asked, "What's the other reason?"

Flipping my hair, I decided to be honest with my future subordinate. "I am denying an asset to my enemies. The government would be all over this, because they are so in love with the concept of Super soldiers that they don't see how dangerous your research could be. And I am saving your life here, Maya, I'm sure you don't want to be part of the obvious illegal human experimentation they would commit to test your virus or even fuck up everything by releasing it in the wild."

*Fury and AIM don't need to get any super assets.* I thought.

Maya let her eyes widen at that; she asked herself if I was some kind of terrorist… She's a really loud thinker as well. I don’t even need to read her mind, she projects everything. "Yeah, you got that right… but… why should I work for you, Miss...?"

Sensing Johnson at the door, I gave him a telepathic order to not enter yet. I took a folder from one of the drawers in the cabin that I had placed prior to landing the experimental jet. "I forgot to introduce myself, Miss Hansen. My name is Jean Grey. I want to show you a file on a project my scientists are working on. Just to show you the kind of projects we are dealing with."

I put the folder between us on the divan and she snatched it. *Curious little scientist.*

She began leafing through the pages, her eyes sharpened, her fear and wariness disappeared as she focused entirely on the project’s file. After a while, her hands shook and looked at me. "T-this…"

The project’s files were about Medi-gel and it’s applications, then about the pseudo-bacta tanks. If Maya was going to join us, I would let her work with Barbara and Sarah. With a big grin, I said, “The future starts today, Miss Hansen, not tomorrow. Now do you understand why I want you on this? You’re my first choice because your research is somewhat connected to mine.”

I gave permission to Jonhson to enter. He knocked politely, entered the cabin and handed me the laptop. “Ah thanks, Johnson.”

The man stoically nodded. “You’re welcome, ma’am.”

Friedrich who had been behind the door, guarding, entered and sat at the desk that was against the fuselage facing the divan. I floated the computer to it and the computer booted up swiftly. 

“Friedrich, connect to the surveillance drones.” I commanded the operator. 

The operator opened the app connected to the drones monitoring Maya’s house. A holographic window surged from both sides of the laptop, showing a suburban neighborhood and a white house with picket fence and a driveway where a beat up bronze colored toyota was parked. It was a cute car, really different from the stable of sport and SUV cars I possessed. But I liked speed over function…

As I mused about cars, an alarm rang from the speakers of the laptop. Beep, Beep, Beep!

Friedrich turned to me, his blonde buzz cut hair and shades making him look like a Duke Nukem cosplayer. “Wow, hey boss lady, you're gonna have to scratch that retrieval mission right now. We got tangos turning onto the street. Blacked out SUV. Scans reading heavy engine, bullet proof glass and some type of energy weapon.”

Maya’s breath caught in her throat at that announcement. I snorted, those guys better be just AIM people or I was going to lose it. “Break into their com lines and get me a sitrep, I need to know if these are our bad guys.”

Friedrich turned up the volume on the speakers and typed a command in the surveillance app. On the screens, I could see the armored cars placing themselves in position; two cars blocked the street at both ends and another one, one street over, approaching from the back. They wanted to block anyone from escaping by car.

The chatter coming from the com-radios was loud and clear; I walked behind Friedrich and listened. The men spoke clearly and sounded really organized.

"Bumblebee 01 in position."

"Bumblebee 02 in position."

The men at both ends of the street reported; but it was the one saying, “Fox is into the henhouse.” That worried me, the man’s voice was cold. He sounded like a killer, just like me. It reminded her of the men she killed in Klaue's little base in Africa. 

“Obviously Military ma’am.” Friedrich answered me, echoing my thoughts.

Sighing, I asked, “Again?... Whose military?” Please don’t say they are from the US, please.

"US Army, certainly Black OPS, I remember the lingo." I heard the bell toll, and my shoulders slumped.

“Tssk.” I turned to Maya and said, “Give me one moment please, Maya, I need to do some cleaning.”

“O-okay.” The little brunette nodded, lost about what my intention was. I didn’t want the dumbos from the military to get anything about the Extremis.

I needed to transport all of Maya’s things to another base; in priority her computer. I nudged my symbiote and asked her, <Selene template please, Goldie.>

It was satisfying to see Maya look at me in disbelief as I morphed into a tall woman with pale skin and dark brown shoulder-length hair with blue eyes; my outfit changed to a black leather outfit: a bodysuit with a corset, a long duster coat, and heavy, high-heeled, under-knee length combat boots. I waved at her and teleported to her house.

 

# # #

(Maya Hansen)

Maya didn't believe in coincidence. She gets kidnapped from her own home and made to meet a beautiful redhead who wants to hire her, then she gets told that there was already an attempt to kidnap her in the works by other parties planned. Then there were the strange powers the woman named Jean Grey had demonstrated. Shape-shifting, Telekinesis and teleportation. Maya knew about mutants and their powers that were out of the ordinary, but never had she seen such capabilities.

The scientist was thinking that all this was being orchestrated to make her more pliable for recruiting, the armored vehicles, the people in her house… but instead of thinking emotionally she chose to stay rational and use her brain. The contract she had read was too good to pass up; one million a year for a research and development position, Healthcare and insurance super advantageous and… she also got sixty percent royalties of anything she invented? This was not how someone strong-armed another person, so Jean Grey and her posse were being genuine. The money was pretty much a big deal and she wanted to sign already.

"Damn, boss lady went with the big guns." The handsome buff blonde man at the desk said as he watched the screen, taking Maya out of her thoughts.

Johnson, the slightly older man at his side grunted and said, "Experimental weapons, Fred."

Maya stood up from the divan and looked over Friedrich's shoulder and saw on the video feed how Jean was tossed a grenade in her living room. The grenade exploded and discharged some kind of green gas; it caused the intruder to be knocked unconscious. Jean began looting the man, until he was completely naked and cuffed him with zip ties hands and feet.

"She's… not killing him?" Maya asked surprised to not see any blood.

Friedrich turned to her, she couldn't see his eyes with him wearing his cool sunglasses. "No, Miss Hansen. If they escalate, she might."

Johnson spoke as well, making Maya's head turn right. "Miss Jean doesn't want to be the one to shoot first."

The two men turned back to observe the video feed, leaving Maya with even more questions than before. Who is Jean Grey? What was her goal for the tech and medical advance she was making? From the files about Medi-gel and the regeneration tanks, she seemed to think about the little people first, she didn't need any super soldiers serum like the US wanted that's for sure.

"Ah." On the video feed showing the street before her house, the doors of the armored vehicles opened and at least five men in tactical gear exited and ran toward her house.

"Hahaha! And we are going to see escalation, look." Johnson had a wry smile on his face.

Maya was panicking, Jean despite all her power was a woman and didn't look that strong and those men were armed with rifles. Friedrich urgently warned his employer by pushing the Alt keyboard key on the laptop's keyboard, "Ma'am, careful! They are about to enter the house in force, a group of five. Weapons are hot!"

"Let them, they brought this on themselves. Stealth mode." Maya heard Jean say.

The video feed changed, the drones didn't show Jean anymore. *Ok, what the hell? She can become invisible?!*

What happened next was like watching a movie, the men all saw the unconscious naked man on the ground in the living room, and looked around them, weapon ready. Jean simply took out a man in the back of the group by snapping his neck; Maya heard the painful crack and winced. When he fell on the ground the other turned, just in time to be slammed in the walls by an invisible wave of force.

Jean was visible again, the men quickly recovered, looked up and pointed their weapon at her; Jean moved like lightning and lunged at the man at the far right, punched him and with a 'crack' his nose broke. Taking him in her arm, Jean put a hand on his weapon and turned it toward the other assailant and shot a flurry of bullets.

The fastest of them rolled away, but the two unluckiest were shot dead. Jean used the man in her arms as a shield when the last remaining assailant fired his weapon at her. When he emptied his ammo, a long knife appeared in the woman's hand and she threw it in the man's face.

Shtunk! The knife stuck in his forehead and he fell face first on the floor. Jean let go of her victim and looked at herself, she was covered in blood. Maya thanked all the gods for the picture being in black and white or she would have puked. Jean began to loot all the men and teleported their gear somewhere else; she left some small devices on the ground.

"Damn, they had trackers." Friedrich whistled.

"Those guys aren't your run of the mill commando." Johnson commented. "I hope we won't have to fight the military."

Friedrich put a hand on his colleague's shoulder. "Look, the boss will figure it out, don't worry."

As she listened from an ear to the obvious bromance between the two men, Jean on the screen systematically began to empty Maya's house of everything, even the shot up to hell TV. "Well at least, I'm not leaving without everything." Maya mumbled.

# # #

Back with Jean...

When I was back in the jet, Maya was all over me and she asked me, "Do you have a pen?"

It made me smile at her. Goldie gave me a simple pen that I handed to Maya who took it and began signing on all the pages of the contract. Johnson and Friedrich gave me thumbs up for my work; there were still survivors in that group and the police were already arriving on the scene.

I let the guy take care of the drones and left with Maya to the forward cabin with the club seats. When we sat, I said to the brunette, "You won't ever regret your decision to work for StarLab miss Hansen. Welcome to the big leagues, where cutthroat isn't a strong enough word to describe this world we are in."

She simply nodded, as she was still shocked by what was happening, seeing me kill people must not have been easy. I used the communicator and asked EVE to prep the jet for take off. While all the preparation was happening my mind was on what I've discovered from the men I've killed when I scoured their thoughts and memories.

*Ross.*

---

A/N: And we're finally seeing the smarter villains coming up!

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