Chapter 35: Chapter 21 part 1

Chapter 21 Part 1

(Wendell Rand)

Adirondack Base
Medical bay

 

He woke up feeling everything and… he was not hurting. The agony of being forcefully kept alive by the enormous Chi energy exuded from the disused portal for Kun’Lun was maddening. But Wendell felt as if those memories were a distant dream that he could recognize to have suffered but had no bearing on his situation.

Wendell’s awareness finally focused on his surroundings and he noticed that he was in a hospital room, the smell of antiseptic was prevalent; the white walls were bare and the light coming from the ceiling blinding because of his eyes being too sensitive yet. He closed them and waited for a moment before reopening them to get used to the light. Wendell didn't attempt to sit up, he could feel instruments connected to him and more importantly a catheter. 

His thoughts swirled and his emotions shifted between relief to anger; anger toward a man who has betrayed him and may have taken everything from him. Wendell was worried about his wife and son's fate, what has become of them? He hoped they were alright. He needed to rest and regain his mobility as he felt completely weak, as if his muscles were jelly.

A commotion at the door of his hospital room started, it was clearly two women's voices in a heated argument. The door suddenly opened and passing through was a wrathful yet beautiful redhead who looked at least eighteen to twenty years old, behind her was an even more attractive woman with dark hair. They wore peculiar outfits, the redhead had on a white lab coat over a dark blue full bodysuit and the dark haired one a leather black jacket covering a red top and leather pants with calf high black boots.

The dark haired woman tried to touch the redhead’s left shoulder. "Jean, come back here! We need to-"

But the one called Jean shifted slightly away from the appendage and closed the door brutally. Slam!

“Knock”. The woman knocked on the door’s glass window and said in an intransigent tone,  "We will speak about your actions later, young lady!" 

When she left, the red head rolled her eyes. "Annoying, tssk. Sensei worries over nothing, I already took a lot of precautions."

The redhead’s eyes lit up when she saw Wendell awake, as she strode toward him; the patient felt himself under the gaze of a predator. She smiled at him and said, "Oh. Hello there, Mister Rand. I am glad to see you awake."

His instincts were telling Wendell that this wasn't someone to mess with, she may look innocuous but she felt dangerous. Wendell had met similar women in Kun’Lun, with the eyes of a killer; and that redhead had similar eyes.

"Who're you? Where is this?" Wendell demanded.

He wasn't blinded by her apparent youth and beauty, the way she moved spoke of martial training and full awareness of her surroundings. 

"You should calm down, you're not in any sort of danger. I am Jean Grey and the reason you aren't rotting in a stasis Chi trap in the Himalayas."

Fair enough, she had saved him; clearly because she wanted something from him. Wendell didn't like his chances of escaping or fighting the young woman; he looked down at his hands that he had gathered on his chest. "Going on that trip was the worst idea I ever had…" He raised his head and asked, almost pleadingly, "Did you find my wife and child?"

Jean Grey's eyes softened for a moment, until she gave him an impish smile. "Which ones? I know the woman called Shakirah and your daughter, Miranda, that you’ve left all alone in Kun’Lun; or is it Danny and his mother you're speaking of?"

It was as if someone had pulled the rug under him; the instruments connected to and monitoring his bodily functions suddenly spiked, showing that Wendell’s heart rate spiked. "What?"

 

# # # 

 

Back with Jean…
Adirondack Base
Medical ward
06:12 PM

There was satisfaction about messing with people's heads by revealing stuff to them that nobody else should be aware of. I knew most characters' origin stories in marvel; even if my current reality didn't mirror exactly the events happening to everyone. Fucking divergence of realities…

I was pissed off and wanted to vent, why not toy with one of the guys I saved and who is tangentially connected to my trouble. When I got back to Adirondack Base, I had to gather my council of war because I just had a brush with the Hand. I mean, maybe Mister Rand knew something about the hand? Gao was making moves to get her gnarly hands on the company, there must be a reason why.

With Hawkeye, Hans, Sensei Elektra, Frank and Matt now aware that I voluntarily went to pick a fight with the cult, I was told that I was grounded for the time being. 

 

***

(Flashback)

 

Conference room
30 minutes earlier

 

When I finished my report about what happened at the Chikara Dojo And how I was ambushed by Hand ninjas; Elektra's overprotective streak exploded and she became unreasonable. She had sighed heavily and looked me in the eyes, declaring, "You're grounded."

I sat in the chair, with a frozen smile on my face, then I looked at each of my subordinates; Frank looked stoic as ever, but his emotions leaned in the same direction as Elektra’s. Clint was exasperated that I’d gone to spring this trap with a minimum of people following me this time. Matt who sat at Elektra’s side wasn’t happy that I’ve now focused the attention of that organization on us; he was thinking about his girlfriend’s security as well as… Maddy’s.

"I thought I was the boss here?" I asked them as I linked my hands together and watched them.

My empathy went into overdrive as all their emotions were quite chaotic. Red hot anger targeted at me from Elektra with some complex emotions made the assassin reprimand me. "Then act like it instead of throwing yourself into danger!"

Her emotions were too raw and powerful, it caused me to raise my hands to my head and massage my temples with my fingers. "I had it under control… sensei."

Elektra’s anger was justified, beyond the weak chunin ninja and Colleen, I am sure that Bakuto was there observing me. I showed him how proficient I was with Chi and martial arts; he will be coming for me for sure. I knew his methods from the show, he likes to play white knight and caring grandpa with people he pretends to help. But his nature wasn't beyond using the hard sell as well, by taking someone precious to me hostage for my compliance.

With a big thump, Elektra slammed her fist on the table we sat around. "Do you hear yourself, Jean? You're underestimating the situation, do you want to get killed? Again?"

With a wounded look, I replied, "That’s a low blow, sensei."

My first death was still weighing on me and I was still clearly dealing with PTSD, but I was still getting help for this by seeing my therapist one time a week like clockwork. One of the things Jean learned through going therapy is that it is an awesome benefit. Not only does it help you understand yourself better but it helps you understand other people. 

When we hold negative thoughts in without processing them, they become ingrained so that we see the world through that lens – and we make lots of assumptions that may or may not be true. You can become your worst enemy. That was what I felt Elektra needed, as she herself had unresolved issues from her stint in the Hand’s organization.

That was why she was projecting on me as she spouted things like, "Why did you accept that girl’s offer? It was clearly a trap set up by Bakuto, he has his hand so deep into Wing's ass that she has no spine."

Glaring at sensei, I was about to say something really hurtful when Clint Barton intervened and loudly said, "Ladies, please calm down, getting angry won't solve anything,"

He was wearing the last generation of flexible body armor produced by my people; it was all black and form fitting; an ‘A’ patch on his right shoulder arm and a black colored Hawk in a logo on his left, we didn’t assign rank yet as we weren’t a formal military, but it will be needed later.

I calmed myself down, I didn't want to hurt my sensei, she was just being overprotective right now. Turning my head toward the blond man, I asked, "Clint, would it be possible to gather the Hawks and guard the family house?"

Raising an eyebrow, he couldn’t believe I had asked that, "I am way ahead of you, Jean. I've been watching the live video of your fights. I have three teams taking positions as we speak."

I threw him a thumbs up. “As expected of you.”

Frank of course had to become a party pooper as he was of the same mind as Elektra. "Honestly speaking, you were playing with fire, Ma'am. What would you have done if they had fielded more of those assassins?"

*Yes Jeanie, what would you have done?* I asked myself.

The answer presented itself through my bond with Goldie; we would have killed everyone, because we don’t suffer enemies, not since our stint with Essex. Still I didn’t voice what I would have done and simply appeared sufficiently chastised. “I see your point. But you must take into account that even if I refused their invitation, we would be in a similar situation. The Hand is like a dog and doesn’t let go of the bones before them.”

Then I proceeded to show them the letter that Kusnesov had given me and forced them to read between the lines; the message implied a lot of things. The first to recognize that I had made a good decision was Frank and he voiced it. "She’s right, Elektra, they would still have gone after her… and this way, we know that they are coming."

After this the meeting devolved into a shouting match between Elektra and I, the two men chose to ignore us while planning for the defense of my family home. It had become quite tedious to try to convince Elektra that I wasn’t stupid and needed a one year retreat in a mountain to teach me discipline.

Elektra then proceeded to hound me even when the meeting was done with and that I felt Wendell Rand finally wake up.

 

(End of Flashback)

***

Wendell was shocked and on guard, a totally normal reaction, I’ve just dropped some secrets on him and some bit of news. He started to readjust his opinion on me as we spoke; the man was really smart, Marvel was full of genius and competent people. I was lucky to know most of them by name and employ them. And I wasn’t done taking all the talent I could snatch from the ingrate hands of greedy corporate America and its oligarchic families.

Wendell’s heart stopped beating erratically, slowly returning to normal as he breathed in and out; I recognized a breathing method when I saw one, so it was true that the man before me was a martial artist as well.

His facial expression became neutral as he laid eyes back on me. “How do you know about Shakirah? And… a daughter? How?”

I waved away his questions, deflecting with, “Do I need to tell you about the birds and the bees, sir?”

With a deadpan glare, the blonde man looked into my eyes. “You’re rather rude.”

With a beatific smile and a hair flip I replied, “Thank you.”

Wendell’s shoulder sagged as he couldn’t handle my reactions. “That wasn’t a compl-”

I turned my back on him and interrupted him, cutting his complaint. “Anyway, I’m sorry for dropping such important and vital information in your lap…”

I feigned being sorry and gave him the puppy eyes. But he glared at me again and his piercing blue eyes weren’t smiling at all at my joke. “No you aren’t.”

His answer made me laugh, leaning against his bed I said, “Okay, I’m not. But Mister Rand, we’re living in interesting times and we have common enemies that are arrayed against us.” 

My voice had lost all trace of amusement in it, I was serious. Maybe going Chinese novel MC isn't the solution but I would be an idiot to let my enemies live to obstruct me later. Wendell must have felt that I wasn't playing, because he averted his eyes from mine.  “Harold pissed you off too? That’s why you saved me.”

Harold Meachum was a powerful man, but he was something that I loathed, a betrayer. I planned to take from him as much as he had attempted to take from Wendell. “Harold Meachum is a dead man, but he doesn’t know it yet. But yes, I saved you because he is partnered with my most recent enemies. Do you know what the Hand is?”

Looking at his reaction, I felt that there was no love lost between Harold and Wendell; the man attempted to kill him and his family, so yes, he will let me kill his ex-friend. *Interesting, that man is really decisive.*

Wendell frowned at the name of the organization that is my current problem. “No, The Hand? Is it some sort of club? The name is quite tacky…”

I laughed out loud, so many masturbation jokes passed through my mind as Wendell said that. “Then maybe you know them through their old names, The sickly ones or the Snakeroot clan?”

All traces of humor disappeared from the palette of emotions I felt from Wendell. He readied his body for action, muscles coiling under his skin; his voice became harsh and demanding. “How do you know those names?”

*So, he does know about them.* I thought, ignoring the man’s intimidation.

I faced an abstract entity and died once before; there was no way for the man to scare me into submission despite the waves of Chi exuding from him like a torrent. With a grin, I clapped my hands. “History lesson time! Okay so… the Hand is a ninja clan and the current iteration of a pseudo-religious cabal worshiping the demon known as the Beast. It’s a demon by the way and yes, demons are really real.”

Looking at him in the eyes, I saw Wendell flinch at the name; he knew about it alright. I shrugged and continued my expose. “Anyway, the organization originally formed as a secret society by Kagenobu Yoshioka (well intentioned guy, but clearly ignorant of human nature) in 1588 and dedicated to Japanese nationalism, the group was infiltrated and corrupted by outside forces: The Sickly Ones (primordial entities responsible for the knowledge and worship of the Beast on earth), the Five (the Sickly Ones' acolytes), and the the Snakeroot ninja clan (an older iteration of the Beast's cabal).”

Wendell looked down at his hands, made his left one into a fist. I sensed that he was coming to a decision when he looked up, back at me. “You seem to be a rather well informed young woman. Then allow me to be frank… Miss Grey, what do you want from me?”

I decided to put my cards on the table. “I want to use you to discredit Meachum and throw shade on the rest of those supporting him. That's it.”

For the first time in our conversation the man smiled. “A tall order, Miss Grey.”

Smiling back, I remarked, “I noticed that you aren’t telling me that it is impossible to do.”

With a look that made Wendell’s eyes look as if he was remembering something fondly, he replied, “I have trained in Kun’Lun, and obtained mastery there; nothing is truly impossible in this world, I’ve seen men flying by using swords or shooting fire from their hands.”

Smiling, I snapped my fingers and I imagined a flame in my palm and channeled a ‘Ardescat’ spell in my left hand. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. So, are you in?”

Wendell looked transfixed by the little ball of flame I’ve conjured. “Before I make any decision, could you contact someone for me?”

The man was cautious, not jumping into something without information. “A prudent man. I like that.” I dismissed the flame hovering over my palm by closing it and answered instantly, “You’re not a prisoner, Mister Rand, I can do this for you. Though this facility is secret, I will have to bring that person with me to visit you. Is it agreeable enough with you?”

I already knew who the man wanted to contact, a certain lawyer acquaintance that we had in common.

The man nodded. “Yes, it is”

 

# # #

(Bakuto)

 

Manhattan
Undisclosed location 

 

"Bakuto-sama, the little bird has returned to her nest." Bakuto's jonin informed him after he appeared behind him from the darkness in his meditation room.

It was time, time for Miss Grey’s final test. Will she break? Will she give in to anger and come to confront him? Or will it be Bakuto who will come to regret his action? After all, he doesn't know who supports the young woman. But those were risks he was willing to take.

Bakuto opened his eyes. "Send the Kitsune and Wolf team to the target's nest. Then send the Karasu team to the secondary target."

Breathing in and out, the Hand’s finger smelled the incense in the room and heard the palpitations of his subordinate's heart, then the way his Chi flowed as he asked him, "Why?"

In the millenia he has lived, Bakuto had learned to be patient; educating his subordinate was a constant work, it often produced excellent seedlings that he surrounded himself with. Where Gao, his fellow finger, demanded complete obedience, he allowed his people to ask questions and he gave them answers, often not what they wanted to hear; but this was how to grow human beings and make them rely on you. Not to the degree of making them sycophants who couldn't think for themselves, oh no, Bakuto wanted them to be able to be creative and strong.

That was why Bakuto found himself answering the jonin with, "In my long years of life, I have learned that no one is invincible and that plans don't survive contact with the enemy. I am just taking precautions." 

Nothing was said for a moment, until Bakuto's subordinate finally intoned his answer. "I understand. I will do as you command Bakuto-sama, and I thank you for enlightening me."

Bakuto closed his eyes, a slight smirk on his face. "Go."

The jonin disappeared in the darkness, Bakuto will never see him again after this.

 

# # #

(Team Kitsune's Jonin, number one)

 

En route toward Queens
20 km from 229 Greenway S
09:21 PM

 

Number one knew the way. They had staked the place before inviting the target to Colleen's dojo; a fight that he and his team had been able to study thanks to the video surveillance that Bakuto-sama had installed to protect and spy on the place. The target was powerful, fast and able to manipulate Chi at will, they knew how to fight such a foe, number and teamwork was needed to overwhelm such difficult targets.

They jumped from roof to roof, to avoid being seen, the lights barely reflecting on their red uniforms. Their training takes into account the first layer of their outfit made out of satin fabric, it was to teach them to avoid any type of light and teach them stealth.

They never noticed they were being followed by silent mechanical constructs relaying their every movement. There was not even a whirring sound as they were utterly noiseless. Number one didn't even notice when the slowest shinobi of his party was taken out by an arrow to his head and fell into the waiting arms of a figure in black power armor who disappeared with him behind a service door on the roof of the building they passed. 

Then another was taken from behind with his throat slit by a stealthed black armored figure. This state of affairs continued until they almost reached the target's home. Number one stopped and signed with his hand that they needed to regroup on a low residential building two hundred meters from the posh house.

Number one did a quick tally of his troops and… was it him or did he have less and less units? 

'We're under attack.' Number one signed with his hands while looking for their assailant.

His eyes widened when he felt a disturbance in the air near him and crouched, avoiding beheading. Not before seeing two more of his people receive two arrows in the chest, straight to the heart. As one the group scattered and left the roof, fleeing.

Number one was the first to land in an alley and run, avoiding the park and exposed alley, he couldn't  believe how quickly they were made to flee by an unknown force. They had barely arrived near the target's home and they were picked off one by one without being made aware of it. 

Running between the buildings, number one avoided roof hopping at all cost, he needed to report to his Jonin. But before he could flee any further, number one stopped as a pillar of golden orange flame appeared before the dead end he intended to climb over. Out of the fire, the target Jean Grey walked out.

Eye burning with fire, she suddenly sprouted three pairs of arms from her shoulders, looking like Durga, the hindu goddess of war, her red hair gaining the aspect of fire. Number one now knew that whatever numbers they had brought to attack her wouldn’t have been enough, for the first time since entering in the service of The Hand, he regretted his choice. 

"Watashi wa koko ni iru, kite kure (I am here, come)." She raised a hand and made a come-on gesture.

# # #

 

Back with Jean…

 

Just like I predicted, the hand had sent a team after my family. How are those villains so predictable? I had tried to appear as if I was already apprenticed with someone else, someone powerful who taught me chi techniques. But it wasn’t enough to deter Bakuto or whoever sent the pajamas squad after me. Did they feel threatened? Or did they want to see whoever was backing me up out of hiding…

But whoever it is, miscalculated… I am not some fragile flower who will get stomped without doing anything. No one threatens my family, no one! Man, Aliens, Demons, Gods, Cosmic Entities? Not even they could escape my wrath! This is how I found myself in that alley, facing a fearful, card carrying member of the red satin pajamas squad.

I had emptied the place of hobos and cute stray cats with a keep-away mental field, no need for them to see anything that could traumatize them. The alley smelled of urine and shit, as it was used as a latrine for hoodlums; I felt dirty for being there, but I was busy subtly guiding the Hand’s ninja and masking the presence of the Black Hawk’s picking them off, one by one. I recently discovered that Hand ninja had decent mental shields and that I couldn’t force myself in their mind easily. It was in part because of magic, demonic magic.

At least that’s what Ancient One told me fuels those cultists. I truly hated how insidious those bottom feeders were, they trained you to a certain point in their dojo and to go to the superior level you had to join the ranks of the Hand. This made me think of Kusnezov, the young woman loved Colleen Wing so much that she couldn’t see how she found herself turned into a drone as she gained enough combat proficiency.

Poor Sasha was being taught how to defend her mind, but really soon she will be offered to join the pajamas squad of hell and her soul will be lost forever. It was why I had no compunction in helping my own cyber ninja help the pajama squad reach the hell they have chosen for themselves. I felt Clint follow the ninja team while throwing the bodies of those he killed, leaving them for the cleaning team to dispose of.

The ninjas scattered, thinking that spreading out while fleeing would save them; I killed the majority of them with a telepathic assault, letting them fall on the ground braindead, only leaving the leader alive and coming toward me. I can’t read their minds, but I sure can mess around with their sense of direction or simply not caring about subtlety and snuff out their minds, protected or not. 

When the red pajamas leader wearing a kitsune mask stopped before me, I let myself enter one of my combat forms and wrapped myself in chi and psionic energy sprouting three pairs of arms; I called this one Deva mode as it was my least dangerous set of psionic constructs.

"Watashi wa koko ni iru, kite kure (I am here, come)." I raised a hand, telling him to come at me.

It seemed that I miscalculated… The ninja tried to flee by using the walls as a board to bypass me; I sighed and slapped him back on the ground with my TK. I pulled him toward me, ignoring his screams and he pulled out his blade from his back and used the momentum to try to stab me with it. I held my red second arm, caught the blade between my psionic fingers and turned it into iron sand and blew it all back on kitsune mask guy.

The iron sand ignited thanks to my pyrokinetics and turned into melted iron and landed on the man’s body. I didn’t delight in the man’s screams as his deceptively armored outfit caught fire and the satinous fabric fused with his skin, the pain he felt radiated from him but I stopped it from affecting me through my empathy. His control on his mind protection technique shattered and I slammed him on the ground again with TK.

His shields crumbled under my mental probe. I began to read his memories like an extremely bland movie, from his childhood in Japan  to him joining the Hand after being noticed by Bakuto, because yeah, it was the asshole charismatic leader who was in charge of this operation it seemed. The man with the kitsune mask coughed and said mask fell to the side. He looked to be nippo-american with blue eyes, not exactly handsome. As blood streamed from his mouth, he smiled defiantly at me. “You… still… lose.”

In his memories, I reached the point where his superior was speaking about their two pronged attack plan, first by attacking Jean’s family and the second to make her more pliable they will kidnap… Cindy and her family. My eyes fell on kitsune mask, he trembled as I opened a telekinetic bubble in his head and popped it like a balloon. There was no gore reaching me as blood and flesh turned to cinder as my flaming aura manifested. “You FUCKERS.”

I took my phone, and reached for Clint who immediately answered the call. “Hawkeye, send a team to Cindy’s family.”

The ex-SHIELD agent must have felt the anger in my voice as he asked, “What happened ma’am?”

Walking out of the alley to end up in front of the apartment complex, I explained as calmly as I could. “They sent a team to Cindy’s home to capture her and blackmail me. The attack on my home was a distraction.”

I heard Clint start to swear out loud, then he calmed down and said, “We won’t arrive in time by conventional means.”

Using the telepathic link I had with Cindy, I noticed that she wasn’t conscious, I could only get a mind having shut down. I started to fear for my girlfriend. “Fuck subtlety then.”

Vorp. I teleported to where Clint and the other ten Black Hawk Cyber Ninja had gathered then I opened a portal to Cindy’s building. “Come with me, guys.”

 

# # #

(Bakuto)

 

???
???

 

This didn’t go as expected… but his operations exposed another power in the city that he was ignorant of. Jean Grey was dangerous, and not a pawn like he imagined her to be. She was also significantly stronger than expected, and had not been using all her abilities against Colleen. Bakuto had gravely miscalculated and provoked an unknown party, he had two choices to make; either he stopped the current operation or he continued to see what danger this girl represented for their plan of the subjugation of the criminal element of North America to the Hand.

Bakuto took a sip of tea, he needed clarity and after silent deliberation, he still decided to go through with it. The girl won’t expect his next move, with his remote vision abilities he could already see his men skillfully apprehend the girl’s paramour. Cindy Moon was a Korean-American girl, smart and sporty, it is only recently that she got interested in Martial arts. Bakuto thought that it was maybe a bonding experience for the young couple.

“Ah, love. It must be good to be that young again.”

Love to Bakuto was a mistake, a vagary of perception and a temporary construct to justify companionship. *And it will be Miss Grey’s weakness.*

 

# # #

(Cindy Moon)

 

10 minutes earlier…
Apartment number 5
178-02 Hillside Avenue, Queens, NY 11432

Despite her happiness of having moved into a new apartment building, Cindy had a bad feeling, something bad was going to happen; the hair on her neck was constantly raised as if danger was coming toward her. She stood up from her bed and put on casual clothes, a white t-shirt to cover her black sport bra, running pants and shoes for running.

Walking toward her wardrobe she looked at herself into the mirror; she looked perfect for a time at the gym. She liked the mix of white, black and red color in her outfit; Cindy had made them her colors, not just because her girlfriend had imposed the color theme on her. It bothered her also how Jeanie kept making improvements on her costume all the damn time. 

"It’s for your protection." Jean would argue.

The girl was a tad too overprotective… but Cindy loved her to bits. Suddenly, this feeling of danger worsened and Cindy crouched and avoided two projectiles which broke her windows, the two darts were not even impaired by the glass and stuck in the wall on her left, in the middle of her S.E.S. Korean girl band poster.

Cindy stayed crouched and began covering the broken window with her Organic Webbing, impairing the vision of whatever sniper fired at her. She sent another volley to catch her phone on her bed and pulled it toward her and unlocked it. She was about to call Jean when she heard the shouts and screams of her father and her brother coming from the living room.

“Not again!”

She charged through the door, destroying it in the process and ran in the short white walled corridor leading to the living room, only to see her father impaled on a sword and four pajamas wearing men standing over him; his blood was slowly spreading on the floor. Her eyes slid on her little brother who was screaming and holding onto their father desperately with tears in his eyes. "Dad, please stay with me!" 

"You murdering…" Cindy saw red and threw herself at the men, her fist charged with bio-electricity, reaching for the closest of them, they all dodged by scattering but were taken by surprise when the spider girl caught one of them with her web and pulled him toward her and slammed him in another scarlet clad ninja.

She boosted her speed with the electricity coursing through her and killed the next nearest ninja by impaling him in the neck, leaned on the right and evaded three needles coming at her. Cindy cartwheels forward avoiding being sliced by a sword and grazes the attacker with a bio-electric charged slap, turns on herself and places the ninja's head between her thigh and… 

Crack, she broke his neck.

Letting go of the dead ninja and threw another volley of webbing to the one charging her with a syringe full of a transparent solution in hand, Cindy pulled herself toward him with her web foot first and hit him squarely in the stomach, sending the ninja crashing into the wooden diner table.

The last ninja took her little brother hostage by placing a Kunai next to his neck, near his carotid. In a deep voice, the scarlet clad ninja commanded, "Surrender, Miss Moon."

"No!" Albert struggled against the man in red.

Cindy stopped moving when she noticed, when she looked hatefully at the coward, the ninja pricked Albert’s skin with his kunai, a rivulet of blood appearing. “Drop on your knees, hands behind your head.”

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Albert stopped moving, Paralyzed fear. The half Korean girl looked at the scared expression on her little brother’s face, he was trembling. There was no way that she would give in, Jean had told her that hostage situations could be resolved easily if you didn’t panic and that you were fast enough.

“I will kill him! Believe me I will do it!” The ninja pressed the kunai’s blade a bit more on her brother’s throat.

“I believe you.” Not closing her eyes once, with a ‘fwip’ the spider girl launched a thread of bio-electricity at the Ninja’s hand and yanked him toward her and electrocuted him at the same instant to punch him in the face with all her strength, slamming him into the floor.

“Cindy!” Her little brother shouted her name, trying to come to her.

Before he could come, Cindy’s body made a buzzing noise as she said to her brother, “Shush Al, everything… ”

Bzzzzzttttt. Crackle. The spider girl began to electrocute the ninja to death with her venom beam, until he was crispy.

“...will be okay.” The girl continued to say.

Cindy kicked the body when she was done. "I hope you rot in hell, asshole." 

Then she remembered the precarious situation of her father, her eyes fell on his bleeding body; he had lost consciousness and was breathing shallowly. "Dad!"

Her little brother was at her side and Cindy took her phone and attempted to call Jean or the infirmary in the Adirondack base to teleport someone over.  

"Cindy, help Dad!" Albert, her little brother cried out.

"Hang on, Al, I will help him!" Cindy quickly took out the sword from her father’s chest and used her organic webbing to prevent the wound from bleeding out by putting pressure on it. However, before she could even tell her brother to take her phone and call for help, at that same moment she felt a pricking sensation on her neck and she turned to see her mother, Nari, behind her with a syringe. Nari wore a strange black paramilitary get up that Cindy didn’t recognize. 

The spider girl held onto her neck and a betrayed look appeared on her face. "Mom? What-"

She had another syringe in her hand and was about to hit her with it again but Cindy pushed her mother away, knocking her into a wall with a lot of force; her vision became blurry and she fell on the ground, her little brother was on her immediately as she lay there, paralyzed. "Cindy, no!" 

The spider girl looked as her mother stood up from the hole she had created on impact on the wall, dusting herself. Nari looked emotionless and mechanical in her movements, then five new red clad ninjas appeared between them. Cindy’s mother was somehow in league with their assailants and nothing good would come of that, she was sure…

Albert looked scared, but he found the courage to question their mother. “Mom, what are-”

One of the ninja shot her brother with a tranq gun and advanced toward them, it was at this point that everything went black for Cindy.

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…
Q-East Apartments
178-02 Hillside Avenue, Queens, NY 11432
Present

A golden portal opened before the apartment complex, startling a couple of bystanders. With a mental SEP field, I made them ignore our arrival and let them return to their own business. My eyes fell on the white walls of the apartment building, it was an upscale one, where families with big income lived.

They quickly converged toward the apartment belonging to the Moon Family and found the door closed. One of the Black Hawk cyber ninjas placed his finger against the lock and pushed it, destroying the lock in the process. The door opened without problems and they entered, ready for anything with pulse pistols out.

Entering the foyer, they didn't find anything wrong, but the apartment was eerily silent. I didn't feel anyone alive inside as well. I pushed the light switch at the side of the door and walked toward the living room, seeing that the light was on. I expected to find something bad, because I could smell that pungent iron odor of blood; but finding Mister Moon in a pool of blood in the middle of a destroyed living room wasn’t what I expected.

“Spread out, look for the rest of the family in the other room.” Clint ordered.

I didn't want to be contrary, but I said to Clint, “I don’t feel anyone in the apartment… Cindy is not dead, she’s unconscious. But I can’t feel her location somehow. Her little brother is the same, as well as her mother.”

The black Hawk leader shrugged at me, and watched me crouch down near Mister Moon's body. There was so much blood there… with a wave of my hand I collected it and vanished it with a banishment spell. I put a hand on Mister’s Moon forehead. “He is dead.” 

One of the cyber ninjas said, “Yes, ma’am. But he is still… warm.”

Turning my head toward him, I commented idly, “So it wasn’t that long since he died.” 

I might get him back if his soul wasn’t too far in the domain of Death. One of the guys asked me a related question. “Can you resurrect him?”

The Black Hawk all knew part of my powers, they were my intelligence people and I couldn’t hide some shit from them. I sighed and replied, “I can try.”

Before I could muster my Phoenix power, time stopped and the beautiful form of Lady Death appeared before me, she shook her head. I was about to plead with her, but she suddenly disappeared. Then time resumed… I already blew a resurrection for Ben Parker and I still owed Death, making sure that Thanos' became non-exsistant crossing him out from multiple planes.

Despite myself, tears started to stream from my eyes. “I can… not.”

*Fuck.* What was I going to say to Cindy when I would bring her back? This was so unfair and I’m not used to people on my side dying. Clint gave me a napkin to wipe my eyes that I accepted without looking at him.“I really liked him, he was a good dad.” 

The other Black Hawk members appeared and surrounded me. One of them informed me, “There’s no one else in the apartment, ma’am. Miss Moon armor isn’t here anymore, as well as her phone.”

I scowled, this wasn’t just a simple grab if they stole my tech at the same time. We needed answers to know what happened here.

“What's this on the ground?” One of the men asked, there were some burn marks on the floor tiles in the form of an octagon filled with Chinese symbols and scriptures…

I remember seeing something like this from the books the Ancient One had loaned me. “This is a Bagua, a chinese magical formation and… from what I can tell it’s space related.”

This wasn’t my speciality, I focused on Norse runes because of their connection with Asgard; of us two, Wanda was the one who wanted to know everything. The auburn haired girl would have been a great help right now. “I should have brought Wanda with me. I could get her, but I don’t want her to see the dead body of Mister Moon.”

I gathered my hands and started cracking my knuckles as I readied myself for what I was about to do. “Guys, can you go invisible for a moment? I’m going to see what happened.”

Clint snapped his fingers and said, “You heard the Lady.”

All the guys went invisible with the stealth modules installed in their power-armor and I let the cosmic power fill me. I looked for the temporal psionic imprints of the last thirty minutes. And what I saw floored me. Nari, who was wearing some type of tactical uniform, let ten Hand ninjas in; then proceeded to do nothing when they started to position themselves in the house.

The first group went to hide and the second waited for Cindy in the living room, but everything changed when Albert Moon and his son came back earlier than predicted into the apartment. Without warning, one of them came before the middle aged scientist and stabbed him with his sword. Albert Junior, started to scream and sought to protect his dad -Good boy- and like a dervish, Cindy entered in the living room, she wore sport clothes instead of her armor. *Damn that’s a bad call.*

My girlfriend proceeded to open a can whoop-ass and defeated the hand ninja soundly, even when they took Albert Junior hostage. She showed a new power, was that the energy thread generation of Miles Morales? Cindy has been hiding stuff from me. 

*There were five other ninja hiding, Cindy this isn’t done yet!* I said in my heart as I saw Cindy worry more about her father and try to help him. I would have done the same, I think…

Nari appeared from behind Cindy and… injected her with something; I swore out loud as I saw how the rest of the scene ended. 

“This is a North Korean black ops uniform that your friend’s mother was wearing.” Clint recognized the uniform.

“So Nari is a fucking NK agent. Great, as if things couldn’t get any worse.” I said while burning the bagua into my mind as I saw the Hand ninjas take a parchment, place it on the ground and then the magic activated; everyone but Mister Moon was teleported somewhere else.

I wasn’t worried for a moment as I could feel Cindy’s general position; I followed her with my telepathy straight to China in the Liaoning province until… I cannot feel her. "I cannot feel her! Where is she?!"

I’ve been too complacent and now I lost Cindy! Golden and orange flaming aura surround and my tactical armor changed to become my Phoenix raiment which shifted from green to red. With boiling blood and anger filling my mind I stepped outside my body and traveled with my astral form to where I last felt my girlfriend. It was in a port of a city called Dandong, I found a similar bagua carved into the concrete floor of a warehouse filled with construction materials.

They couldn’t be very far, I used my temporal manipulation to look to where they went, and they all moved toward the port and took a boat that went to sea in all haste toward… North Korea. I tried following them further but the boat literally disappeared to my senses; this shouldn’t be possible, but they’ve been using magic for teleportation. I shouldn’t be surprised that they used magic or technology to cover their tracks; Nari also knew how I acted when someone close to me was attacked.

When I get that woman, I will kill her for sure. I knew where I needed to go, what needed to be done. The Hand, and Bakuto have gone too far this time, I will destroy everything they stand for, everything those ‘fingers’ hold dear, anyone connected to them shall know no release, no mercy to the barbarous cruelty I shall unleash on them. 

I felt unbreakable, incorruptible, unyielding might fill my being as my astral body returned to where my fleshy avatar was located, in the apartment where the father of my lover was slain. When I came back to myself and opened my eyes it was to a sea of black fire filling the room, but nothing was burning as I didn't want to burn the place. My fury wasn’t going to be abated anytime soon; no, what I wanted was to destroy something, spread despair in my enemy’s hearts, strike fear into them and drive them deep into the dark pits of my malice.

 

# # #

(Emma Frost)

 

Queens
Middle Village
Apartment complex Salvation
Apartment number 10

Emma was making dinner when she could feel unfathomable anger boiling south of her position, to her telepathic sense it was like a black sun was just born and threatening to attract everything in its orbit and consume everything around it. It was a ravenous hatred that made her unable to look away, she doubted that whoever was the target of the person who was exuding so much malice would be alive in the near future. 

It made her shake, whoever this person was going to do some horrible things; then just like that, a second sun appeared. It was bigger and of a white color with golden Corona surrounding it. It engulfed the black sun and quelled the malice and somber hatred threatening to swallow everything.

Emma breathed better, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The fake blonde felt warmth targeted at her, as if someone was caressing her cheek and kissing her full on the mouth, but there was no one here with her in her little kitchen. She shrugged and decided to go back to cooking chicken.

Whatever happened with what she felt wasn't her business, this brush with death that she had with her elder sister was enough for her.

 

# # #

(Professor Charles Xavier)

 

X-mansion
Cerebro

 

Due to how his power had diminished, Charles found himself relying on Cerebro more. He found himself unable to modify the memories of his students and Ororo was colder with him lately and he was still unable to enter her mind since Jean Grey was last here. Again, everything came to that dreadful redhead; he was sure that she did something to his powers.

She took Angel with her, he had needed the young man for his connection to his rich father to further his agenda, something that had set his agenda back now that Angel was gone. Charles focused his awareness all over the North American continent, at least he tried, his reach barely got him to Texas before his mind buckled over the strain. In passing he detected a lot of lower-powered mutants that he wasn’t interested in.

*Hmm. There’s one.* Illinois.

His remote view focused on a brown haired girl with hazel eyes who passed her hand through a water bottle. *How interesting-*

Before he could finish his sentence, dark fire spread all over the planet, Charles felt as if he was brought into an oven to be burned alive. The malice and hatred at the epicenter of the event was near where he lived, he recognized that psionic signature as well. Did Jean Grey finally decide to kill them all or did something happen? The pressure was getting to be too much and Charles found himself disengaging from Cerebro.

As he took off the helmet, his hands began to shake. “God.”

He placed the helmet in its compartment on the computer’s workstation… Then he finally noticed that he had soiled his pants. Charles swore and gagged at the smell, another thing to put on Grey’s tab, he swore that he would get her back for everything she did to him!

Charles didn’t have the time to swear anymore, the Shi’ar computer operating Cerebro bipped; when he looked at the screen he saw written.

 

Phoenix Force signature detected.

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…

I couldn't feel Clint and the others with me, they must have fled the apartment when I was having the beginning of my little temper tantrum. I could understand why. I might have become a bit unstable. It was time to go look for Bakuto, I hope he has good insurance, I was going to get some payback from him. I smiled darkly as I prepared myself to flame to the Chikara Dojo… 

(And that’s enough with you.) I heard in my mind.

A living raptor made of golden flame appeared before me and a hand surged from a wing and bopped me on the nose. I felt a Lance of pain on my face, I opened my eyes and found myself looking at my double. This was me, but with longer hair and older; this other me looks in her twenties. 

“Phoenix?” I inquired. 

For once she didn't appear as a great big bird of fire, I was lost as I looked at her from head to toe. Other me raised a finger and looked really mad. (No destroying the world, Cindy lives on it.)

Standing my ground, I faced the other me, whose frown remained constant. She took my fire and shut me down completely.

“I wasn’t about to destroy the world.” I defended myself,  I just wanted to crush my enemies. Wasn't it too much to ask?

This Jean looked at me as if I was a particularly disappointing child. (You’re such a handful…)

Golden emblem, white costume, older me seemed to be embracing her powers… She was only an extension of myself. She should know everything going on. Wait! “Wait…. Why is your costume white?”

(I thought you were a Marvel geek, Jean. You don’t even know the significance of my appearing like this? I’m disappointed in you, other me) Other me laughed and crossed her arms, letting me think about that.

I thought that the raiment came only in red and green. Something from very long ago then connected in my mind. Other me has become the White Phoenix of The Crown since when?! White Phoenix of The Crown is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and Omniversal. I whistled, impressed. “You sure moved up in the world… Can you help me find Cindy?”

The Power of other me didn’t matter to me, what mattered was finding Cindy and her brother. Other me shrugged, (I could, but it’s going to change too much. You must find her yourself, this is a shatterpoint in the timeline of this composite reality; this world either gets destroyed or saved. I can’t play favorites too much.)

Composite? Is she saying that this reality is not just made out of Marvel? There’s some other fictions mixed in? Well I did find the Waynes and I bought a book about harem management written by Luna Lovegood. I glared at the cosmic entity. “Are you playing the Q and telling me only things I need to listen to?”

She glared back, with greater intensity. (I want you to save Cindy, without Cindy you won’t stay together with the others in our little family.)

She was revealing things to me without telling me anything, letting me come to my own conclusion with her words. “Why are you being so cryptic? You’re insinuating that my harem-plan with Cindy works?”

Jean… Prime -yeah let’s call her Jean Prime now- simply chuckled not answering my question and added, (You’ll find her, look for what you can’t feel. And don’t destroy Earth, Gaea might boot you out of the planet if you go dark phoenix again.)

I flinched at the angry rumbling that I felt from beneath my feet, Mother Earth was pissed. “I… I wasn’t going to-”

I thought I had better control than that; being kicked out of my homeworld for giving into my darker emotion might not be the best. I liked it here, I had plans to make the planet actually good to live on. However, today I wasn’t being given any quarter as Jean Prime came before me, her glowing flaming eyes looked into my own, not allowing me to lie to myself. (Yes you were, now go find our love, break our enemies and don’t go too overboard. I have a date with Death, you better not give her too much work!)

SKREEEEEE! Fwoosh!

Jean Prime disappeared in a pillar of fire, when I felt her presence leave, my body relaxed… I didn’t even notice that I was feeling tense. My counterpart was so powerful that it wasn’t even funny. She became the White Phoenix of The Crown. I thought that Earth-616 Jean would have been it, but no, it’s my counterpart who became it; this also means that I was an extension of her but also the main Jean of this reality. This made my heart lighten a little, I wasn’t a slave to the Phoenix Force, but an avatar, like the deal I made with the abstract stated.

“Well that happened.” I shrugged.

I felt a presence behind me, and when I turned back, I saw Clint with his helmet open. He looked nervously at me. “Did you calm down, Jean?”

“Hawkeye, I’m sorry.” I looked down

The man held onto his belt, walking toward me warily. “The heat was crazy in here, the suits couldn’t bear it. Not that I can’t understand your anger. We will find Cindy, okay? You have so many resources that this isn’t even a hurdle to you.”

When he stopped before me, I replied with an embarrassed smile. “Thanks, yeah, we will find Cindy and Albert Junior.” 

A new design flaw to fix with the Black Hawk armors, that’s going to be for later, no improvement needed yet. I took out my phone and contacted EVE and imputed a code to make us go on a war footing; fuck subtlety, I would destroy the Hand. I needed magical support as well, the Ancient One wouldn’t say no for some action, I think.

I opened a portal, looked down and I saw the body of Albert Moon. Strangely nothing has burned in the apartment, not even the body, there’s some power fuckery going on right now. With my TK, I floated the body toward the portal and made it follow me. “We have some asshole ninja assholes to roast.”

“Not literally, right? Right?” Hawkeye asked worriedly.

From the apartment we got to the Adirondack base in Upstate New York, when the Dragoon in the arrival room saw us and brought something to cover the body. I told them to preserve the body in a cryogenic tank and they left me alone with Clint who followed me to my secondary lab in the facility. As we walked through the first layer of security, I tried to put into words what I felt right now. 

I stopped before the elevator leading to the floor reserved for me in the base. “The moment they went against me, they ceased to be human in my book. And they aren’t human anymore anyway, they’re just meat puppets for a demon.”

Clint sighed tiredly. “We’re going to cut all the heads like we did to Hydra?”

I pushed the button on the side of the elevator doors; as they opened, I looked at Clint sideways. “What I did to hydra will be considered like a walk in the park, Hawkeye. Those pajamas wearing demon worshiping cunt took MY Cindy and killed her dad. When I'm done with them, they will be just memories.”

“What do you want us to do?” The ex-SHIELD agent asked me when I entered the elevator.

In a little shower of blue light, a piece of paper appeared in my hand and I gave it to Clint.“Go to this place, round up everyone. I authorize the use of lethal force if they resist. Those who’re alive, place them in cell block D of the birdcage.”

He read the piece of paper, then looked at me with wide eyes. “But isn’t this the place where you’ve…”

I smiled at him, he stepped back from me as he looked at me. “Yes, I’m taking everything from the bastard who did this. No time for him to gloat or blackmail me. We’re killing all his associates and allies as well.” 

I have to go through multiple countries' leadership to take down those who were supporting the Hand, the criminal element in New York supporting their activities, like Wilson Fisk. Sorry Matthew, you won’t get to put the Kingpin behind bars, he goes down today, fuck his family as well. Samira must already be salivating at the money she’s going to make when we disappear them.

Clint faux saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

# # #

(Bakuto)

 

???
???

 

There was a shift in the atmosphere in the city. He had felt it when a disturbance in the flow of chi in the air had struck not too far from there; there was an explosion of bloodlust that had blanketed the entire city. Gao and Alexandra, Murakami and Sowande had called him to ask him what was happening; they had felt the shift as well. Bakuto had a terrible premonition that he knew exactly where that all encompassing bloodlust came from. But he didn’t want to believe it, that such a young woman could be so dangerous, he couldn’t believe that he had erred this much as well.

Had he poked the dragon on its reverse scale? As he mused over the situation, Bakuto was taken out from his train of thought when he heard the door of his dojo slamming open and his favorite subordinate swiftly walked toward him. 

“Bakuto-sama!!!” He had a panic expression on his face and his dilated eyes and trembling mouth showed how fearful he was being. 

Inu was sitting in dogeza before him, not daring to look into the eyes.

“Inu, what’s happening?” Bakuto pressed his subordinate.

Inu gulped and spoke clearly. “All our holdings are being attacked!”

Bakuto closed his eyes and swore inwardly, his fears were now realized. “This is her answer.”

Inu took a letter from his gi and presented it to Bakuto with head lowered. “Our people are being killed, our facilities destroyed and… there’s a message for you.”

Bakuto took the letter from Inu’s hands and unsealed it with a chi infused finger, unfolded the piece of paper. The message was short and brutal. 

 

自業自得 (Jigou Jitoku) 

 

“You reap what you sow.” Bakuto mused, it was true that he regretted getting mixed up with Jean Grey already. His bad habits jeopardized his mission in the USA already.

He turned the piece of paper and saw another message written. 

 

If you let my girlfriend and her brother go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you... and I will kill you and your little pajamas club.

 

This was a lie, the bloodlust he had felt was too full of malice for him to believe her; she might not come after him after some time but she would still look for him and kill him. She had no respect for The Hand as well, was she so confident in herself that she would find them? Bakuto shouldn’t underestimate her, someone with her level of skill can often do more damage than predicted.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

His phone rang, he looked at the electronic screen and saw Alexandra Reid as the ID of the caller. *It might be time to skip town like the Americans say.*

# # #

(Wanda)

 

Sanctum Sanctorum
3 Hours earlier

 

The day has been going well, Wanda went to see Miss Harkness who made her feel normal, and was working with her to let go of her anger toward her father. Beating him had helped tremendously, however, now her father expected her to come see him in the jail Jean had imprisoned him in. She had refused at first, but Miss Harkness was adamant that she needed either to have closure with Magneto or try to forgive him. This was the hardest thing she has ever done, making this decision.

This afternoon, she went to the Sanctum to have her biweekly magical session with the Ancient One. Jean had put Wanda on the right path to control her natural abilities, but she couldn’t do more for her; the Ancient One had taught her so many other things, like the manipulation of different energies, dimensional and divine. Today she was mainly working on her channeling. Wanda sat cross legged on a cushion on the carpet in the room; she had different balls of elemental energies floating around her, linked by a thread of chaos magic and Wanda had to shift the elemental ball from one element to another.

She was focusing so much that she didn’t see her teacher stand up abruptly, but when she did, Wanda looked at the Ancient One who suddenly got up from her seat; she was teaching her how to harness her chaos magic. The teacup in her hand shattered as she was seeing something that made her usual neutral expression shift to a horror filled one. Then she calmed down as something else happened, the furniture and everything began to tremble as a tremendous power shook the Sanctum to its foundation.

When it stopped, the Ancient one repaired the teacup in her hand with a chantless spell; it was back to its pristine state, then she put the teacup, saucer and all on the low table. With an exhausted expression Wanda’s teacher said, “We must go, Wanda.”

“Where to?” Wanda asked as she dismissed the elemental balls orbiting her body.

As she stood up, the Ancient One replied, “Jean needs our help.”

“What for?” Jean was a big girl, Wanda couldn’t think of a situation that she couldn’t handle.

“Demon slaying, I hope that you learned how to kill them in the demonology book I lent you?” The Ancient One asked her.

Wanda gulped, she was just an apprentice, and her teacher wanted to put her up against Demons already? “I know how to kill demons, depending on their level of power.”

The Ancient One nodded, she opened a portal and said, “This is one demon who has been hiding for centuries, slowly gathering soul and strength. I might have to get Kamartaj involved, this is too big for Jean.”

The portal opened in the Adirondack base, Wanda followed the Ancient One through the portal. She hoped that things weren’t so dire that Jean needed their help.

---

A/N: Heyo guys, this is part 1, what do you think? Will Jean control herself? We also learn a lot of stuff that some readers and commenters had confirmed over the year.

Stay tuned for part 2, it's already 2k words and I am really inspired for this one.

If you are looking to get early chapters and read all the good stuff I haven't posted to the public yet, support with the link below:

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