Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

"Ethan!… Jean and I are in the kitchen going over stuff." Felicia called out as she walked in through the front door with Jean following her in. She made a beeline for the kitchen, setting down the bag she had brought from her car. It had her notes for tutoring subjects that she would refresh.

Jean on the other hand lingered at the end of the entrance hallway taking in the floor to ceiling window view. She was stunned at the view, it was not the kind of thing a pair of unemployed college students could afford. Off to the side she saw the back of a young man's head, probably Ethan. Sitting next to him was a young girl whose mind she could read but for the moment she was solely focused on the game they were playing.

"Okay," Ethan answered back and then whispered something to the little girl. A minute later as Jean moved over and sat at the counter in the kitchen she felt the sudden disappearance of the young girl's mind.

She looked over to see the young girl showing Ethan her wrist which had a strange device on it. "Like this?" The young girl asked him.

"Yup. Now let's get back to the game." Ethan answered.

Jean frowned and looked over to see Felicia smiling at her. "So what do you want to talk about? I assume you just want to know more about me in general but I want you to lead the conversation."

Jean nodded, then she seemed to realize something, "why was the security so tight getting in?"

"Because this building as I am sure you can figure out quickly. Is a safe house for woman and children who are escaping abusive spouses and in some cases woman who have been victims of sexual assault who need a place to feel safe." Felicia explained as she turned away and pulled something out of the fridge, it looked like a glass tray with food inside.

"Then how are you and Ethan staying in this building? I am sure it wasn't easy to land that." Jean asked as she looked closer and Felicia showed her the premade lasagna.

"Actually Ethan owns the building. I moved in after-a-ah…" She looked over at the little girl and then leaned forward, "after my sorority house members tried to set me up for a gangrape against my will."

That certainly churned her stomach. "That must have been…. distressing."

"It certainly was. I moved into Ethan's apartment, at the time, until we both moved here after renovations on the penthouse suite were complete. Much to my father's dismay. Anyways, he was originally going to move in anyways but was putting it off due to something personal." Felicia set the lasagna on the counter and clicked a few buttons and the oven was starting.

Jean was tempted to ask more, but there was clearly a limit on how much she was allowed to share. So she just moved onto the next thing, "what does your father do?"

"He works at Oscorp, but from what I understand he will retire soon. He works with chemicals as well, but from what I understand his last few years of work have been in the military field." Felicia explained as she pulled out a covered cheese board and uncovered it. All of the food looked pre prepared.

"I understand your mother is a lawyer?"

"Yes, she is a big industry lawyer. Works for the corrupt and morally wrong. But she cares little for me, so the only reason she would talk to me is if she wanted something." Felicia explained as she pulled out a pair of wine glasses.

"I will keep that in mind. Umm…no wine for me I have to get back later after all."

"No need, we have plenty of guest rooms. You can stay the night." As she grabbed a wine bottle from somewhere below that was clearly cooled because of the condensation that was on the bottle.

"But-"

"No 'but' about it. Besides Ethan wants you to test something s it won't cost you much, just time… and possibly a hangover." Felicia explained.

Jean resigned to her fate as she sighed and nodded. "Alright, now where was I? Ah! Who is that?" Nodding towards the little girl on the couch.

Felicia smiled and called the little girl over, interrupting her and Ethan's game. "Laura come here and meet our guest. She will be staying the night."

The little girl paused the game and came bouncing over on the balls of her feet. Moving quickly but strangely each step was incredibly heavy. "Hello Miss! My name is Laura. What is yours?"

She held out a hand and Jean reached out and shook the girl's hand in response. It felt solid and strong, far too strong for a child. "My name is Jean Grey, I am a teacher at the Xavier Academy. That is quite the strong grip you have there."

The girl's features faltered for a moment then she smiled, "thanks!" She then turned away and jumped onto the couch causing an audible creak of metal for a moment. Then the gaming resumed.

Jean turned to Felicia with a quizzical look. "She is not human is she?"

"Nope, she is most certainly a mutant." Felicia whispered as she poured the wine. "Ethan happened upon her by accident and brought her back when he noticed her condition."

"Why didn't you bring her to a shelter or some other place?" Jean asked as she glanced at the back of the little girl's head.

"Because Ethan looked her over when he found her unconscious and realized she had a unique… condition." Felicia explained hesitantly.

"Unique condition? That sums up most mutants." Jean observed.

"Maybe, but most mutants don't show signs of being experimented on." Felicia's response caused Jean to whip her head around and glare at Felicia.

"Then why not immediately come to us?"

"Because, we believe whoever is looking for her might be watching the Xavier Academy. Due to her being experimented on and the possible traumas we decided to wait for her to tell us anything before we act. We decided the most important thing for her for the time being is that she is in a stable and supportive environment." Felicia explained.

Jean breathed as she slowly calmed down at Felicia's explanation. It was completely logical, the only reason Jean got angry was the ingrained paranoia that comes from people hating mutants. "Sorry, I lost myself for a moment. Do you already know her ability and what experiments were done to her?"

Felicia nodded, "because it is her information. I won't share anything about her abilities or one of the experiments done to her since we believe it was related to her abilities. But I will say there were multiple versions of failed brainwashing."

"Multiple?" Jean asked.

Felicia took a sip of her wine, "chemical brainwashing, physical alterations and attachments that failed, and psychological manipulation."

Jean frowned as she accepted a glass, "that is the trifecta we have usually seen, how did they all fail?"

"The chemical and physical versions were combated by her ability. But the psychological version was undone because of her young age." Felicia explained snacking on a piece of cheese.

"That… is lucky. If you can update me about this can you? We are still investigating the mass disappearance and kidnapping that has been occuring and have been struggling for any lead."

Felicia frowned at that and tilted her head, "Actually we already know who is looking for her."

That caused Jean to jolt in her seat, "how? We have been tailing and tracking their movements as soon as they appear but they seem to disappear off the radar on the FBIs equipment everytime."

"Well I could have told you that. You are probably dealing with Hydra. They are not ones to get caught by the feds. Especially since they have been off most of the government's radars until recently when they started resurfacing." Felicia whispered.

"So I suppose this means you two have to watch your back." Jean whispered back.

"Only until Laura talks to us. As soon as we can help, we can get her somewhere far safer than New York. But we do wish she would trust us enough to talk to us." Felicia confided.

Jean nodded in understanding, "I understand. When myself and other members of the X-Men were younger we had many betrayals and deceitful adults that were just using us. So, Laura really lucked out to happen upon you two. If you ever need any help you just have to ask."

"We will, now then you were asking about anything that might worry you guys but why don't we move on to more fun subjects." Felicia leaned closer with a grin on her face.

Jean felt a sinking and worrying feeling in her stomach, "like what?"

"Hmmm… let's start with something tame and talk about school. We will work our way up to relationships later." Felicia's answer made Jean blush in embarrassment.

—-------------------------------------------

Meanwhile on the couch. While he and Laura were playing a racing game he noticed that Laura's movements in the game faltered for a moment. Ethan glanced over to her out of the corner of his eye and saw she seemed to be focused on something else.

Probably the conversation that was going on in the kitchen. He remembered telling Felicia that Laura's senses were enhanced. But she probably forgot. Ethan thought for a moment while he took advantage in the game to get ahead. Then he figured it was better to not ask.

He heard his phone beep and picked it up with one of his hands. It was a text message with a compressed file. The caller ID was labeled as '1st -' he chuckled slightly as he uncompressed the file. It was a set of papers that would get him into the Shield Headquarters. It even had a detail about his security pass already delivered to his mailbox.

He set down his controller and quickly printed the pages out of the printer that was in his 'office' and then checked the security camera and saw the package was placed inside by their normal mail person. Tossing his phone back on the table he got back to the game and noticed that Laura had refocused and caught up.

"Hey! I was doing something!" He complained.

Laura stuck her tongue out, her playful personality only slightly there. But she seemed more distracted than before, "you snooze you lose."