The Raptor of Life

 

(Erik M. Lehnsherr)

 

 

Asteroid M
Lower orbit
February 1st, 1997

 

Dear Erik,

By the time you read this letter, my family and I will have already left. Erik, you might think I abandoned and betrayed you and gave up on the cause but I didn't. I'm sorry you feel that way, truly. I felt for so long that my emotions and thoughts didn't matter to you, that your eyes only saw Mystique, your right hand woman and partner. You have become different Erik, the cause is no longer about our people to you and I should have noticed before; I regret not having said anything when I noticed you diving into darkness. I guess you were in your own pain, lost in your own thoughts, a personal battle you assumed included me. It never did.

I have found someone who is seeking another way to save our people and I believe this person has more chances to succeed than you or Xavier ever did. It's not abandonment, it's survival. I hope you understand, I would have gladly stood by you in the war you so clearly want with the mundane humans. I am brave, but I am a realist and I can't keep on pouring myself into these draining dramas between you and Charles and your dastardly plans of conquests.

So, goodbye. I'm protecting myself and my family, keeping my energy for those who depend on me. That's what mature adults do.

With love,

Raven

 

Magneto, reread the short letter that his longtime partner had left at the abandoned house in Bayville. There was no sign of anyone having lived here, even the garden outside the house has been left bare with all the plants taken as well. The letter was more than a little wrinkled after Magneto vented his fury the first time.

He folded the letter back in its envelope and hovered it into the secret compartment of his throne. His eyes then slid to the metallic transparent window overlooking the planet and he glowered at it. Magneto's mind whirled with thoughts about who might have turned his right hand, the woman who had been his staunchest ally for decades.

Sinister was gone now, as well as Hydra. The first killed by a recently returned Jean Grey and the latter by a returned Captain America from what the rumors he heard from his spies in Washington suggest. The world was in turmoil and ripe for the taking but he couldn't take advantage of the situation because Raven Darkholm had switched allegiance.

A flash of memories appeared in his mind about a young woman with scarlet red hair; they were in Central Park and the young woman had been so charismatic.

After she finished her drink, Jean Grey crushed her cup and smiled as she looked at Magneto. “Like I said earlier, I have a plan.”

Magneto believed her, but was her plan good enough? At first he didn’t care what it was, thinking he’d forcefully take Miss Grey and induct her in the brotherhood, but now he had an inkling that it would be dangerous to do so. When he looked at her, he saw someone able to call him out on his goals and behavior. At one point, he feared she’d read his mind despite the protection of his helmet.

Then he laughed internally, dismissing the thought; even Apocalypse wasn’t able to do it the last time. Magneto sat, wiped his mouth with a tissue and said, “Is it the same as Charles’? Or mine?”

“Huhu, no.” Jean Grey smiled thinly, before all traces of amusement left her face and body language.

She stared at him wistfully, then in resignation. “At first when I heard about you, I wanted to join you Mr. Lhensherr. Contrary to what Xavier represents, you are a smart guy and you know how the real world works.”

Magneto frowned. “Why didn't you?”

“That's because I love my family, my friends and I want them with me in the future. If I joined you, I would have to choose between your cause and them. I am sure that you understand my position Mr. Lhensherr…”

And then it finally clicked in his mind. It was her who took Mystique and Destiny from him; Magneto leaned forward and stood up from his throne and walked toward the observation window, as he reached it, he put his arms behind him. As he looked down at the blue and green jewel, more accurately at the North American continent and the East coast. The entire conversation between him and the girl in Central Park replayed in his memories, it was now put into another light as it struck him that Jean Grey had been scouting him and his people, Magneto realized.

She had found him wanting and preferred the Shapeshifter and what she brought on the table. All their interactions have been colored by what she gleaned from Charles’ mind. Jean Grey has plans and it seemed that he and his people didn’t figure into them at all, unless she planned to absorb his organization later?

Magneto’s musings were interrupted when he heard the swish of the door to his throne room. A golden haired and well built man wearing a red and golden colored skin-tight armor entered, walking briskly, his cape billowing behind him. Fabian Cortez, the leader of his Acolytes, who pledged themselves to him, were his elite troops while the Brotherhood was composed of the rabble who still tried to get a handle on their powers. No one knew that he had them under his employ, not even Charles. The Acolytes were in charge of his most important operations, intelligence gathering, black ops, they did it all for the cause.

“Fabian, my boy, what brings you?” Magneto smiled in an affable manner, he turned toward Fabian whose steps echoed on the metallic plates covering the entire room.

With a worried expression and a voice full of hesitation Fabian said, “Sir, I’ve come with dire news.”

Magneto's smile simply disappeared and he sighed heavily, he looked weary and stressed. “Worse than Mystique betraying us?”

There was a lot of pain in that question and Fabian was struck by the fact that Magneto showed a side of him he wasn't used to seeing, he looked old.“Tactically? No. What news I have for you is more personal in nature, sir.”

Magneto crossed his arms, his mind stilling at the confession. “Speak.”

Fabian gulped, but as a man he didn't want to show weakness and looked directly in the eyes of Magneto. “Your daughter, Wanda, she was taken.”

“WHAT?!” the plate on the ground wrenched and distorted as Magneto’s control on his abilities slipped. Fortunately for Fabian, his leader caught himself just in time to not destroy the throne room further.

Fabian quickly said, “I don’t know who did it, but they were thorough in erasing their tracks, they even erased the fact that Wanda had even been in that particular asylum.”

Magneto finally calmed down, he then slowly began to fix what he damaged by looking at it. Fabian noticed how panicked he seemed to be, the old man then looked up at him with determination. “We must find her, she… I hope it’s not those dogs from Weapon X who got a hold of her.”

As he fixed his throne room, a minute of silence passed and Magneto was again interrupted by Fabian who had been having a thoughtful expression on his face all the while. He snapped his fingers, catching the attention of Magneto and said, “Sir, don’t you think that Mystique’s disappearance and Wanda being taken are too coincidental?”

Magneto stopped moving for a good three minutes as he thought about what his subordinate said. *Jean Grey had poached Mystique from me, and Raven knew a lot of things about me, things that could be my undoing. Her telling Grey about my daughter and 'saving' her or some such is highly plausible. * At his last visit, Wanda had made sure to make him know that if she ever got out of her cell that she would hunt him down and kill him. Was Jean Grey ruthless enough to turn his daughter against him? Or worse hold her hostage? Yes she would.

“Grey?” Magneto growled. His eyes turned to the North American continent. “Yes… yes, I could see her do this. But before throwing accusations we must be sure. You may not be aware, Fabian, but the girl isn’t an easy foe to take down. She killed Sinister after all.”

“We need to prepare then, I shall lead the investigation into Miss Grey’s recent arrival and leave the search of my daughter to my Sister.” Magneto said as he gave his back to Fabian and walked toward the door to his quarters.

If he had turned at this exact moment he would have noticed the predatory smile that Fabian Cortez sported.

 

 

# # #

229 Greenway S
Flushing, NY 11375
La casa del Grey
February 4th, 1997
05:55 AM

 

 

Opening my eyes, I look at the familiar wooden ceiling of my bedroom in my new house. It was temporary and I didn't decorate it because I sought to build a safer one, but it will do for now, after all most of my wardrobe was there, as well as my books and the furniture taken from the penthouse we had lived in for some months on SHIELD's dime. I lamented over the fact that the walls were thin and that I couldn't have hanky panky times with Cindy.

The house had a homey feeling... but it didn't feel safe. Safe was in my base in Egypt with ten layers of security all over the valley and my newly gathered loyal guard force, defensive installations and drone network.

Feeling awake, I tried to sit up, only to find that my two arms felt numb. Looking at each of my sides, I wasn't surprised to see Wanda and Cindy under the crimson bedsheet. Waking up in my bed with my adopted sister and girlfriend wasn't a new experience to me.

My eyes fell on Wanda, my new adopted sister who has come to live with us after I busted her out of an asylum her father had put her in when she was entering puberty and awakening her powers given by the awakening of her X-gene.

"Girls, wake up, I need to prepare for school." I said gently as I tried to nudge them awake with my face.

School, I had completely forgotten about it; after everything that had happened to me, all the killings and unveiling conspiracies I did for my surrogate grandmother, I wasn't in the right mental frame to deal with other teenagers that I judged beneath me and who weren't my friends. Sure it would only be for two weeks and for me to pass the test to obtain my GED and then focus on college courses, but I didn’t want to go.

"Hnng." Wanda was drooling on my arm, still holding onto it like a pillow.

"Mwhat?" Cindy whined with her eyes closed.

*Damn, I wish I had my phone right now, this is blackmail worthy.* I told myself as I looked upon Cindy’s sleeping face.

"Wakeywakey." I said as I made them float with my TK and freed my arms. I massaged them and let the blood flow through them finally as Wanda and Cindy then woke up fully in the air. Cindy saw me and then latched on my body and smooched me, while Wanda fell on the mattress and sat with wide eyes looking around herself.

Cindy had basically moved in with me as her mother had become rather difficult to live with as of late, she slept with me most of the week but she had to go back home sometimes because Nari would call the cops or something to make problems for my family. The damned woman didn't like the fact that her daughter liked the same sex and it caused tension between them.

Cindy smiled at me, her hair falling like a silky veil on her face. "Morning, Jeanie."

She wore my favorite AC/DC red t-shirt and black boyshorts. "Cin." I purred and kissed her back while groping her ass.

Cindy had gotten in the habit of stealing things from my wardrobe, I found it endearing. I didn't lack money or material possessions so I didn't care, but in Cindy's mind she was basically showing that I owned her. I went beyond that though as I tattooed her name in the middle of a spider web on my right shoulder blade with my power by transmuting some of my skin cells.

"Was I floating by myself?" Wanda asked, she interrupted my train of thought as she looked warily around her, then her gaze settled on me, making me stop kissing Cindy. I avoided looking at her, Wanda was scary when she was mad. Sometimes she lost control and hovered over her bed like I just did for her.

"It's my fault, sorry Wanda." My eyes fell on her, I must have looked a bit sheepish. As she narrowed her gaze.

"That’s mean!" She zapped me with a bolt of kinetic beam that had the strength of a light poke in my ribs. She was getting good at controlling those. She stopped when I retaliated by tickling her until she gave up.

After our brief fight, I asked the question that has been bothering me. "How did you get into my bed anyway? It's the fifth time…"

And the fact that she could slip under my mental radar was worrying, I was completely aware of Wanda's infatuation with me; she reminded me a bit of Jessica after I saved her from Otto Vermis' attempts at brainwashing her. The difference was that Wanda didn't know what to do with her feelings for me, Jessica was hunting me, while Wanda wanted to always be with me.

"Sorry, but I missed you?" She lowered her eyes and blushed prettily.

"She’s totally in love with you, Jeanie." Cindy whispered in my ear, she sounded a bit worried.

Laughing nervously, I whispered back, "Wanda is cute but...  she's not ready for love." I smoothed a wick of her hair behind Cindy’s ear and nibbled it.

Wanda glared at Cindy and I, then she slapped my shoulder. "Hey, I am here! Don't ignore me."

Cindy glared back at her, my girl often argued with me about how Wanda was taking our love time. I was agreeing with her of course, but the teenage witch was my friend and I love her already. She was handed a bad hand in pretty much every dimension she existed in and I had decided to protect her from harm forever, even if it is her father, demons and gods coming after her.

Using my free hand, I took Wanda's right hand in mine; she tightened her hold on it, and suddenly she was all smiles.

"I know Wanda. But it’s just..." I was a bit afraid of her, no… not of her, but of what she had the potential to do; but she was such a sweet girl… one of my weaknesses and she was my type as well.

"Is there something wrong?" The witch frowned.

Cindy harrumphed and kissed my cheek, then got out of bed to go directly in my private bathroom. Wanda advanced toward me by crawling on the bed and sat at my side making me sigh heavily and mumbling about girl problems. "We will talk about it after our meeting with our therapist, okay?" I finally said to her as I passed an arm around her shoulders.

Wanda leaned her head against my shoulder."Fair enough."

My witch's stomach grumbled, making me snicker at her. "Hmm, hungry."

Putting my arm around her waist I forced Wanda to stand up as I said, "I am going to make breakfast."

She looked at me with eyes sparkling. "Pancakes?"

I rolled my eyes. "Amongst other things. Though maybe you should slow down with them, Wanda…"

Pancakes were basically a drug to the girl, she ate some every two days. I was worried about her fitness. She was lucky that I kept her fit with my Biokinesis.

Wanda shook her head vehemently. "Never!"

She was funny and cuddle happy, but still a brat, practically jailbait. I had to resist my urge to just kiss her… I really need to stop thinking with my ovaries sometimes. I hope those hormones and late puberty shit I was going through would stop soon enough, but I was loath to tweak my own body and fuck with my own body growth.

I decided to help Wanda in the shower, she didn't mind at all that she was giving me a show despite knowing that I like girls. Though there was no way that I would take advantage of the girl and her feelings. Once done with our ablutions, I helped Wanda with her hair by drying and braiding them, using my TK, I gave her a woven braid-on-braid crown hairstyle, creating an intricate alternative to a headband or flower crown.

After this we watched as Cindy who had already finished showering put on blue skinny jeans and one of my red tank tops that no longer fitted me because of my sudden growth spurt. She then covered her sexy tight body with the armored black and white hoodie that I fabricated for her, it had a Triforce symbol from Zelda on its back. Sue me, I loved the classics. My eyes fell on the smooth fabric of the hoodie which I called Smart Fabric Active Combat Shift, made of molecularly entangled nanofiber that can withstand an AP-Round from a freaking tank.

I developed it at the request of Raven to create uniforms for the school I planned to build. When I create my own powered team, I will give them enough armor in their outfit that conventional weapons won’t do anything to them. When I discussed the school with Raven we needed to make clear distinctions between students and active team members of the Ascendency, that’s the name of the team by the way. Magneto has his Brotherhood and Acolytes, Xavier has his X-men.

“Jean if you keep looking at me like that, I might get pregnant.” Cindy quipped.

Pouting, I crossed my arms under towel covered breasts. Cindy sniffed when she noticed that my auburn haired adoptive sister had shared a shower with me, as for Wanda, she simply glared at my girlfriend. I can’t believe I’m being the voice of reason right now. “Hey girls, please calm down, don’t fight.”

Cindy narrowed her eyes at me, she often didn't like how I tried to defend Wanda. “If she stopped being all over you…”

I sighed and sent through our shared mental link, <Believe me, I wish she’d stopped too. It's not appropriate.>

Cindy's eyes became hard as she sent me back a sarcastic thought, <As if you didn't enjoy it, you pervert.>

Sharing the memories of Wanda’s beautiful naked body with her, I couldn't help but say, <Guilty.>

The two of us were perverted freaks, but we acknowledged that fact. My girlfriend liked Wanda's body too, she was just playing being difficult with the poor teen witch who couldn't imagine the game of patience we were playing with her to test her to see if she was worth adding into our relationship. Just like we did with Anna-Marie, my second girlfriend; damn I missed her, I needed to go to Egypt base tonight and cuddle with her.

“If you didn’t shove your relationship with Jean all over my face either...” Wanda said angrily, walking up to Cindy and staring into her eyes.

I could feel the envy in her mind, it was strange to feel so wanted and lusted after. But Wanda didn't desire sex from me, just my company, slowly that fact changed though. As for her temper, Wanda had fire, and was really brave. Internally I thought that it was reassuring that Wanda wouldn't fold when confronted by someone pissing her off. Cindy was happy as well that the girl wasn't a doormat. It was one of the prerequisites that we wanted in a girl to add in our polyamorous collective.

Cindy shrugged, grinned at Wanda mockingly. “Not my fault if you get jealous of my time with my girlfriend.”

Wanda's mind went cold, red aura around her body and her eyes glowing with powers. “You…”

Shit she's losing control, I quickly put a hand on her naked shoulder and used my power dampening ability. “I said no fighting!”

It was a telepathic ability I inherited from Sinister, an ability that let me place 'psychic inhibitors' in the minds of other powered people to prevent them from using their powers. Wanda stopped glowing and I shoved her behind me. I looked between my adoptive sister and my girlfriend who hadn't been worried at all, knowing I would intervene.

<You should go downstairs and wait for me to get ready, okay?> I sent to Cindy via my mind, at the same time she hugged my mind with her own. She was really getting the hang of telepathic communication; Jessica taught her well. The two of them, who have accepted being linked with me, could speak through our mind link and invite themselves into our respective mindscapes.

Cindy, who mockingly glared at Wanda again, harrumphed and took her school bag, then simply left the room.

I turned to Wanda whose mood was getting stormy and was tightening her fists in anger; I nipped any control issue she had by walking up to her and hugged her. She tentatively smiled at me.

Nodding at Wanda, I asked her, “Do you want me to help choose one of the outfits we bought last time? I want to put on that new skirt I bought from Etsy.”

Her smile became bigger. “Okay.”

Wanda put on black tights, an off shoulder red dress with long sleeves stopping at her knee with stylish ankle length leather boots. I even helped her with her makeup, teaching her how to apply it. Then it was my turn. I put on black tights as well to keep me warm in that winter climate -I was still not using any active Phoenix power, so I now felt the cold- I put on a tight fitting red woolen dress, stopping mid thighs with long sleeves.

My adopted sister then handed me my new black suede thigh high boots and Wonder Woman socks. As I put them on, I watched as Wanda was choosing between a Gucci black leather handbag and a red Lacoste one.

“Take the black one.” I said.

She listened and placed her stuff in it: her keys, pens, breath fresheners, a water bottle, makeup kit, tissues, her wallet, her prototype smartphone, her walkman -that I had to improve the battery to be able to last for a week- her CDs travel case. Wanda had a taste for Nightwish, X-Japan, Queen, AC/DC and Evanescence. I couldn’t wait to create a MP3 player app for her, all she would need are headphones and her phone.

Goldie made herself known and styled my hair into a long layered shoulder length hairstyle that made me whistle when I looked at myself in my full length mirror. <Thank you Goldie.>

[Happiness, Tiredness: Welcome, you are, sleep now.]

Frowning, I noticed that Goldie often became dormant when I was awake. Maybe she was having a bad time because she was cut off the Klyntar network, I shrugged, if she was not healthy I would feel it with my power. I decided that I would offer her a lot of chocolate later to cheer her up.

“Let’s accessorize?” Wanda said as she showed me her jewel box.

It had not been easy to locate a genuine magic shop for Wanda, I had to go to Europe to actually find one that sold a magic primer for beginners, protection accessories and a steady supply of ingredients for alchemy and potion. The little shop was now richer now that Wanda was spending her allowance there. She had her own space in my base.

Inside the box were normal jewelry, ranging from gold and silver earrings and necklace with cheap talismans inside the crystals set in them. They felt special to Wanda as she described how she could feel energy coming from them. I spent a lot of money on cheap ruby, amethyst and tourmaline professed to protect against curses and anti-scrying. What I really splurged on was a dragon pendant with an emerald that was said to mask a practitioner's magical energy and protect from demons, worth the fifty thousand dollars I spent on it in my opinion. Ancient one appraised it when I showed up in her sanctum with Wanda after I broke her out -the less said about this visit, the better my mental health is-, so now the pendant worked as advertised, and I hoped that she never took it off. I took my pair of glasses from the nightstand and put them on, while Wanda brought my own jewel box.

After we 'accessorized', Wanda and I went downstairs in the kitchen where my mom, Elaine Grey, was already preparing to cook breakfast. Even if it was my fault, I was still getting used to the fact that my mom was back to her prime and looked like a twenty five years old version of me or my sisters but with bigger boobs, wider hips and golden blonde hair. Through my life-sight I could see her brimming with energy, you think I wouldn’t give her at least some passive powers right? She was basically able to heal like Logan now, minus the claws, she didn’t want them.

I was still trying to convince her to have some active powers, like energy manipulation but she told me a big fat no, after sitting me down with my sister Sara and forced us to talk about me forcing powers on her. Yes she loved her TK now, but I should have asked and wanting your sister to be a badass and able to protect herself wasn't an excuse enough to basically toy with the genetic structure of my older sister. Sara was now on speaking terms with me again, she had even hugged me when I apologized, but I was still keeping an eye on her with my drone network for trouble; so far only SHIELD was spying on her.

My eyes then fell on my mom’s belly, she was pregnant, with twins. A consequence of giving my parents back their youth, they were fucking like rabbits. Dad had received the same package as well, he had taken to go run in my base each morning. I wasn’t about to blurt out the news, they could be happy about that and tell the family themselves. Feeling for Dad in the house with my telepathy, I didn’t find him. "Mom! I thought it was my turn to cook this morning and where is dad? Gone jogging already?"

My mom stopped, closed the tap and turned to me with a glare and said sarcastically, "Good morning Jeanie, how are you?"

Gulping, I quickly answered, "Sorry, sorry, good morning mom." Phoenix force or Omega level metahuman I may be, but mom was fucking scary.

"Good morning Mrs Grey." Wanda waved at mom who frowned at her.

Mom then smiled and said, "Wanda, Darling, call me mom or Elaine."

The teen witch froze and lowered her eyes on the ground. "But…"

Wanda respected and liked my mom a lot, but the fact that she looked like a fresh twenty five years old porn star clashed with Wanda's idea of a ‘mom’. I understand her, when we go out together with mom, people think she’s my sister. Mom looked a bit sad, she was trying really hard to include Wanda in the family.

"I guess it's too early for that." Elaine said, a bit dejected.

I rolled my eyes at her. Mom was being impossible since Maddy had to be shared between us and Elektra. "You don't say. Now, please move, mom. I am going to make pancakes."

“I will help!” Cindy interrupted by getting up from her seat at the breakfast table.

Wanda was about to object when Mom smoothly asked her, “And Wanda will help me with bacon.”

The teen witch glared at Cindy who just smiled innocently at her, then looked back at mom and said a bit put out, “Yes, Mrs Grey.”

Mom was getting the hang of quelling Wanda’s temper. So for the next thirty minutes we made breakfast in silence while I was thinking about which car to take for when I go to school. You see I was trying to get back to doing normal stuff. Elektra sensei advised me to seek balance back in my life and to try to get back to a normal rhythm. I could still use my power passively and actively, but no longer for destruction. So far so good, no one had come to pick a fight with me and I avoided going to sortie with the spider-gang, but I kept being the girl in the chair for them sometimes.

My eyes slid on Cindy, she had administrative access to all my tech and she could contact Chimera if she ever had problems and needed the big guns. Having me in the gang was kinda over-kill, Peter had said. It had hurt at first and I thought he was back to being an asshole until I read his mind, he wanted me to have a break, that the shooting I got into must be weighing on me. I wasn't so prideful that I would brush off Peter’s concerns for me.

I needed to stop myself for a while, then relax. The bases all over the planet were all updated, my money was secure for now in Liechtenstein and other banks who ask extra for complete anonymity. Now all I needed was someone who I could trust to manage everything for me and sit back while they made the company for me. But with my luck, it won't be that easy.

As I prepared the cheese omelette, I looked at Cindy who was cutting the fresh oranges from the Grey Valley in Egypt. She peeled the entire fruit and placed it in the cold press juicer. It gave me ideas about a machine that could do that work without having to peel the fruit, but I stopped myself; I always had flashes of inspiration to tinker new inventions by using the Wakandan tech I pilfered and stored in my mind. I wanted rest, no tinkering for a while.

Wanda was learning how to make bacon from mom, by the sizzling of the meat in the fat and the smell she hadn't burned any yet. I found myself in the position of having to teach my adopted sister everything besidesschoolwork, most things that seem obvious to me or Cindy don't come easy for Wanda. For example, teaching her how to color code her wardrobe had been a challenge, and her style mostly gravitated to punk rock and Gothic fashion.

Cooking though seemed to be a middle ground, some success there, some failure here. Looking at her face, I saw how focused she was, determined not to mess up. As I was being distracted by Wanda's cuteness, Cindy hip checked me and laughed as I glared at her. My girlfriend sent to my mind, <I know she's cute but don't forget about me.>

Turning to Cindy with an eyebrow raised and my hands still working on the omelette I answered, <Forget about you? That will never happen, love.>

Cindy’s thoughts were tinged with worry about our relationship, <Fine, but…>

I understood, she wasn’t a natural telepath and empath like me, she could feel my feelings for her when I projected them to her, but not do it actively. I really needed to work on that. Looking at Wanda I simply told Cindy why I felt the need to care for her, <I just worry about her, if you knew what I knew, you'd be worried too.>

Something seemed to dawn on Cindy’s mind, I chose to not try to read her surface thoughts. <She’s as powerful as you, isn't she?> She guessed.

I sent her a feeling of ‘So-so’ and answered, <Not like me, but somewhat more potent than any of you… Cindy, she needs control of her abilities, therapy and love.>

After looking at me for a longtime, the asian girl made a salacious smile and wriggled her eyebrows. <We will give her the love part.>

In synch, we looked at Wanda predatorily. <That we will.>

Wanda must have felt our gaze on her, she smiled and waved at me, ignored Cindy and then went back to frying the bacon.

 

# # #

 

07:23 AM

 

As the girls, me and mom were sitting at the breakfast table and already eating, Dad came back just in time to have his share, glutton that he is, he served himself two times though. He ate like a horse and had become fitter. He had really mentally and physically changed since we have come back into our normal lives, he was ripped to mom's delight, because he was taking care of himself as well. Dad often took CQC lessons with Frank's people and the ex-SHIELD agents who switched their allegiances to me; through my empathy I understood that he had felt useless when our lives were in danger, he was now taking steps to protect his family, he wanted to approach me about giving him some active psionic abilities but mom stopped him so he had to resolve to use weapons and skills.

Mom was weirdly adamant about the whole thing, it was strange as Sara and Julia have embraced their powers with gusto. He was a good shot, it may be because his senses are enhanced and that everything was turned up to eleven like his sense of balance and situational awareness. Having already finished my food, I downed the glass of fresh orange juice, then leaned in my chair and asked, "Hey dad, how was your time at base?"

Dad took his eyes off his plate and looked at me with a haunted look. Then he gave a hollow chuckle. "That guy, Avery is a monster, just because you enhanced me a bit, he runs me into the ground with steadily more exercises."

I rolled my eyes, he was being a drama queen. "Well of course, daddy, he is a military man." I replied sweetly.

I smiled at him to make him realize that he will not find any sympathy with me when I had my own drill sergeant to deal with; Elektra sensei kicked my ass three times a week for hours, and even though we had the same level of fitness and having copied her skills, I was not on her level. So, yeah Dad wanted to become the next Rambo. I was willing to be firm enough to not coddle him and the man training him had my trust. Avery Johnson was a trained black ops commando, previously an elite member of the US army who retired when he was forced to by a certain Thunderbolt asshole, his loss, my gain.

Dad grunted dejectedly and I laughed at him, then he smiled at me before continuing to speak. "We are going to do a survival test in the valley soon, Avery has been going over what gear we need to take for it."

But before I could say anything Mom interrupted.

"John, are you sure that's a good idea?" I could feel her concern for my father, she was still trying to get back to normal, as if nothing had happened. I love my mom but sometimes she could be stubborn; we needed to live with a modicum of wariness now. It reminds me that I did fit everyone with subcutaneous subspace tracers just in case.

Still looking at Dad, I saw on his face as he wavered between being a good husband that wanted to not worry his wife and the scared father who wanted to protect his family. I saw in his mind that he was remembering everything I told him about how dangerous the world out there was then Dad gritted his teeth and had a determined look in his eyes. "Yes darling it is, I want to be able to be ready for anything."

Mom frowned, she didn't understand why dad would go to all this trouble. "But… this is dangerous, John you could-"

Dad took Mom's hands in his, looked into her eyes and said with candor, "Elaine, two streets from this house there's a SHIELD van full of agents spying on us and who knows what else. I-I can't live normally anymore knowing that out there some politicians or the military might want to kidnap my family, use them for their abilities or experiment on them. Don't get me wrong honey, I won't go out of my way to seek a fight, but if they come for me or you or any of the people at this table, I will finish anything they started."

It was cheesy, and a bit embarrassing but the feeling of protectiveness coming from Dad simply blanketed over me.

"I love you, dad." I couldn’t help but blurt out loud.

Dad turned his head toward me and gave me a warm smile. "I love you too, Jeanie."

Cindy who was at my side giggled. "I understand why Mrs E married you, John."

Wanda looked at Dad as if he was right out of one of her fantasy novels, she wished that Magneto had been like that with her. That was why I insisted for her to be adopted into the family, she needed that kind of experience to know what a family is truly like. Mom and Dad were great role models. Mom had kept silent but I knew that she wasn’t giving up yet, I inherited her stubbornness after all.

After this we all finished our breakfast and it was already almost time to go to school. Wanda was sad to see us go, but she wasn’t ready for school yet, not before our therapist cleared her for it. With a wave we exited the house by the garage, it was empty but with a snap of my fingers a golden portal appeared and as it was linked to my England base’s hangar, where I store all my land vehicles.

Cindy and I passed through the golden portal into utter darkness and then the sensors inside the hangar detected Cindy and I with the scanners and detectors coming online, checking our biometrics. The Augmented Reality lenses on my glasses came alive as the system recognized me, with an 'access granted' in big green letters then the lights came on, Tron style. It came alive as all the systems came online and I laughed as I watched my handywork.

The electric blue colored LED bands and the plasma lamps on the ceiling illuminated the entire garage, at each of my and Cindy’s side gleaming cars of all brands were nicely parked and separated by glowing lines of lights in organized rows. The solid grey ground we walked on was made of what Wakanda had dubbed Plastcrete

, a compound that replaced concrete as it was a non-pollutant and was in terms of strength and wearability ten times more efficient than the currently used materials; their buildings and streets were made of this. Updating all ten bases spread across the world with Wakandan and my personal tech had not been easy but with my power it took a month and a half, destroying the old, being able to transmute materials and creating by just knowing the composition is a serious time gain.

The hologram emitters that I had strewn everywhere came online and interactive solid/soft holograms surrounded us, showing us the status of the England base that had become my official treasure vault. But it was a temporary measure, because I knew how Marvel worked.Somehow, somewhat, one day someone will try to enter this place. For now, I had every type of scanners from my Wakandan database and my personally created one such as the psionic scanners, detectors and blockers online; Charles Xavier was a nosey guy, he had been visiting my warehouse and my house a lot via the astral plane somehow, I don’t know why.

It always happened when I wasn’t present, there was a psionic blocker working full time in the basement now. Back to the base, I had to close down the entrance to it in the woods of Yokrshire Dales, I destroyed the stairs and elevators, no teleporter worked here either; only my portal creation allowed me to come and go as I pleased.

Cindy looked excitedly at the cars, her attention stayed on the Aston Martin, the Plymouth Barracuda and the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Smiling, I decided to let her choose the car we were going in with, "Cin, today you chose."

My girlfriend seemed to bounce at my announcement. "Yes! Something fast and sleek then."

"Just like I like them." I said as my gaze fell on Cindy’s body, then I slapped her ass playfully.

After an intense glare directed at me, she harrumphed and simply rolled her eyes, making me giggle, then Cindy looked around between the row of vehicles and settled on the sleek jet black car of the Firebird Trans Am. I grinned at her, this was my baby, I bought it for one hundred grand, it was kind of expensive because it is so iconic and because of the Knight Rider TV show. I tried my best to recreate the vehicle as much as I could, the black and beige interior had been a bitch to replicate, I had to go look at the original vehicle in Paris.

"This one." Cindy raised her finger toward the replica.

"You have good taste." I nodded magnanimously.

I took Cindy’s hand in mine and pulled her toward the Pontiac then we boarded it. The interior of the vehicle was really clean and smelled like a new car. Cindy let her hands slide on the dashboard that slowly opened up to reveal hologram emitters and a special silver grey keyboard. On the windshield acting like a screen, information was scrolling down showing the different systems of the car coming online.

Molecular Bonded Shell [Structural Integrity at 100%]

Pyroclastic Lamination [100%]

Electronic Jamming System [Standby]

Anamorphic Equalizer [Activated]

Etymotic Equalizer [Online]

Olfactory Sensor [Online]

Microscanners [Online]

Cruise Modes [Normal Cruise]

Inertial Damping System [Online]

A lot of the car's different features and systems began to scroll down from the windshield screen at high speed until none of us could follow the booting process that EVE the AI controlling and managing all my assets. She was linked to the car through the prototype Quantum uplink I came up with. It’s a technology that I discovered by scanning the internal components of the throne computer I use to speak with the Celestial AI and father of EVE.

I can now use Quantum Entanglement to communicate and transfer data at Faster Than Light speed, though when the celestial AI had tested my prototype it had called it primitive and I had felt through my budding technopathy that it rolled its eyes at me. *Well excuse me if I can't completely replicate advanced systems millions years ahead of what I know!* I was still furious at its dismissal. The result was that everything was connected and the data transfer upload and download was now instantaneous from my server, satellite network and to my bases; even better, SHIELD couldn't penetrate my system as it worked on a completely different paradigm, I didn't use radio anymore.

[Good Morning, Mistress Jean] A pleasant yet dramatic contralto voice rang from the sounds systems in the car.

It was EVE my AI assistant; she worked like a charm and was a joy to work with, but she was still a baby though. “Good Morning, EVE.”

Cindy had a dumbfounded expression on her face as she watched what I did to the Pontiac and at EVE who spoke aloud for the first time in her presence. She smiled awkwardly at me as she said, "I know you like that Knight Rider TV show, you must have tried to replicate the cars and their abilities too with how smart you are, but isn't this too much?” Cindy pointed as she showed the hologram of EVE light construct in the form of an egg with a crack. “Does it drive like in the TVshow?"

I gave Cindy a smug smile and put a hand on her thigh. "Do you want to find out if I replicated it perfectly?"

Feeling a thrill of excitement coming from my girlfriend who was an adrenaline junky like me, I wasn't surprised to hear her say, "Yeah, I do." With sparkling eyes and an undercurrent of her feelings that told me that I better impress her.

Snapping my fingers, a portal opened before my Pontiac into my garage in Flushing and I slowly drove the vehicle in it and entered the empty garage, closed the portal. EVE opened the garage door without my input and I drove down the driveway until we reached the street. For five minutes I drove leisurely out of the neighborhood, until we reached the main highway where I would show my genius to Cindy.

"That’s it?" Cindy said in a disappointed tone as the car ran silently. She looked at the holographic map showing our destination, she had long since stopped from being awed by holograms and silent vehicles.

I smiled at my girlfriend's impudence and said, "EVE, engage Super Pursuit Mode."

[Compliance, Trajectory Guidance System activated, SPM Mode engaged.]

Cindy’s eyes widened and cried out as the vehicle transformed, on the hologram the Ion rocket boosters, air intake inlets and spoilers deployed and then we reached 300 Km/h in ten seconds, my girlfriend's screams turned from surprise to exhilaration.

 

# # #

(SHIELD surveillance team)

 

One block away from The Grey’s house
Undercover surveillance van

 

Agent Danners put his cardboard coffee cup on the cup holder and continued to look at the bank of screens relaying the image of the 3500 square foot red tiled tudor style home with stained windows around the Park called Forest Hills Gardens. The place was famous for its winding streets, half-timbered Tudor mansions and architectural integrity and one of the United States’ first planned communities, and strict covenants had allowed it to retain the original look and feel of the community that began development in 1909, under the hands of architect Grosvenor Atterbury and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, whose father helped design Central Park.

Inspired by the garden city movement popular in England at the turn of the century, the place was beautiful, it had this old English town feel with houses unique in style and a homeowner's association that seemed to want to make the place comfortable for all the families living there.

However, something queer was happening in this neighborhood, agent Danners couldn’t put his finger on what; the streets were regularly plowed by the snow removal service, but... the house agent Danners and his colleagues were watching had never needed any help in this department. Each morning the garden and driveway were free of snow. They had also started to see their equipment fail, such as the laser spy microphone malfunctioning and dying or the bugs previously planted in the house not transmitting, wiretapping the phone and internet lines did nothing as it seemed that the family didn’t use it. Though Danners was sure that he had seen the family use cellphones but the SHIELD operatives could find no traces of any subscription data plan in their names, nor for the friends of the family either.

It was Danners second week spent just observing the Grey family or more accurately the third daughter called Jean Grey. Danners couldn't understand why his colleagues, agents Frances and Stanley were so gung-ho to miss nothing of what was happening there. Danners hated his current assignment sometimes, because the equipment kept breaking down or malfunctioning his team mainly logged the coming and going of the elder Greys and a bunch of teenagers, friends of that Grey girl.

The most notable things that had happened recently had been ex-Director Carter and Captain Rogers coming for dinner two days ago. Danners leaned in his comfy padded seat, opened his laptop that had been in standby mode and began to look for the Jean Grey file. A lot of relevant parts of her files had been locked and only accessible for level 4 agents and higher, all he could access were her age, biography, what schools she had been in, the fact that she was a mutant with abilities of interest to SHIELD such as telepathy and telekinesis. Recently some information was updated in the other files of her family, somehow they were either enhanced or mutants all along. Sara and Julia Grey were observed flying under their own power at night, Elaine and John Grey were now younger and seemed healthier too.

Everything he had been taught in the Academy told him that there was no way this family was normal and that their equipment failure wasn’t just a coincidence. Somehow, that Jean Grey girl and her family knew his team was here and fucked with them everyday.

Danners was out of his train of thought when he saw the garage’s doors open. “Hey Frances look, the garage’s doors are opening.”

A man of Latin-American descent, with brown eyes and tanned skin quickly turned to Danners’ side of the surveillance van, abandoning his post at the wiretapping console.  “Oh! What will it be today? The Porsche?”

Agent Stanley who was at the driver wheel of the van and patrolling the neighborhood said. “No, no. The cute asian girlfriend chick is here so the hot redhead will take something else, maybe to show off, like the Chevrolet Corvette C3.”

He was a man with no remarkable facial features and would be hard to describe for other people as his face and physical build were quite common. That was why he was their designed driver for this operation until the next team took on the job.

The three men watched as a black Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am sortied gracefully from the garage at a slow pace. Danners' mouth practically reached the console when he recognized a replica of the Knight Rider car, it even had the same red colored LED scanner effect at the front of the vehicle.

"How many cars does that family have? There's no way they store them in that tiny garage and we checked the basement, there's no elevator to bring them out either." Stanley asked baffled by yet another car of a different model exiting this garage. They had infiltrated the garage, even used their forensic kit and found nothing. No elevator, trap door, false bottom or entrance to a hidden sub-basement.

This was simply unscientific!

Agent Stanley started the van and began discretely following the Pontiac until it exited the neighborhood and reached the highway. The cameras mounted outside the van zooming in on the black car. Everything went well when suddenly the car began to change in the middle of the road, rockets, spoilers and turbojets sprouted from the back of the car and some sort of air intakes modules appeared from the side of the vehicle, blue light burned from the tail lights rockets and the car sped with unbelievable acceleration, speeding out of view while zooming between cars.

“Guys? What the fuck was that?!” Agent Danners asked.

 

# # #

(Gwen Stacy)

 

Midtown High
Parking lot
08:05 AM

 

 

Gwen finished her exploration of Peter’s tonsils and stepped back from him, a thin thread of saliva still connecting their mouths. She loved watching her boyfriend smile at her with a beatific expression after such time. They kissed again briefly then let go of each other. As usual they completely ignored anyone around them when they were making out, they didn't care about the gagging sounds Patsy was making at them, her sister Jessica though was reading a Wonder Woman comic book trying to get inspiration on how to use her powers more effectively.

They were in their usual spot, behind the pilones at the entrance of the school, no one bothered them as they waited for their friends to finally appear. Gwen hovered at one inch from the ground and sat on Peter’s lap, as they waited, the boy draped his arms around her waist and asked, “Are you sure she’s coming today?”

Gwen hummed positively, making her blonde hair bounce,then she said, “One hundred percent, Jean said her therapist okayed her to come back.”

Peter kept silent for a moment, he wasn’t sure why Jean needed a therapist she seemed to be okay to him; the two of them have been doing science together most of the nights when he didn’t go patrol. “It’s strange you know. Did she say why she hired one? I thought she was recovering well.”

Gwen sighed, Jean worked herself into the ground lately and even cut her off from some special projects she was coming up with; the reason she had given the little blonde was that there were some things that she didn't need to know for her safety. “No Peter, Jean isn’t okay, at all. Have you noticed how she stopped using her powers now? Only her passive abilities.”

The blonde girl looked out in the parking lot, watching out for when Jean would park, she wouldn't teleport or portal anymore unless it was to go to one of her bases. As she watched she saw a red-haired girl of Patsy's eyes exit the school bus that just came in. She wore a big yellow sweater with ripped at the knees blue jeans and a heavy looking backpack. She looked through the throng of people then her eyes found Gwen's and… *Did she just disappear like a effing Ninja?* Gwen thought out loud when a student passed before the younger redhead for her to simply disappear.

Before she could continue to look for the girl, Peter interrupted her. “Huh, yeah now that you say it, Jeanie stopped making things float.”

Gwen calmed down, but she couldn't stop thinking about the girl. Absently she answered to Peter. “Her therapist told Jean to stop using her powers, that she needed normality. So let's avoid topics about crime fighting.”

The blonde girl felt Peter’s erection under her, but it didn't bother her in the least. She stopped hovering to feel it better, Peter kissed her nape before realizing something. “That’s why she didn’t fight me when I told her she couldn’t join the spider-gang?”

She leaned even more into him and answered, “Yeah, but you know it’s a good thing, after all, you wouldn’t be in charge if she joined too.”

That was of course something that always happened. Jean’s presence and charisma always thrust her in a leadership position at least when it concerned her inner circle and even her family; they deferred to her often. That was why Peter didn't want her to join them permanently. The two Jessicas, Patsy and Cindy needed to be independent and think for themselves, even more so when they were fighting or saving people.  Peter prompted them to use their heads more or to come up with plans when they patrolled, they always switched which of them led.

Peter put his chin on the top of Gwen's head. “I see, I hope she’s really okay. When I see her at the base, she puts me to work and we only discuss and build stuff and never speak about personal stuff you know.”

The blonde rolled her eyes. *Typical Jean, when she got a screwdriver in her hand she  automatically entered into a trance and tinkered in her lab.* Gwen knew that it was a bit hypocritical from her part, the same thing happened to her when she entered the lab.

Gwen decided to change the subject to something that bothered her. “By the way, where is Drew?”

“She’s taking a break from school and getting herself checked by one of the docs at the base.”

"Hey guys, I think I am dreaming…" Jessica interrupted them as she pointed a finger to the parking's entrance.

Vrooom. The roaring sounds of an engine attracted Gwen’s attention. She looked up. Pulling into the school’s parking was a sleek black car, the design was aerodynamic with a windshield slope set at 62 degrees, two concealed pop-up headlights and a large, glass-dominated hatchback. It was an esthetically pleasant car, but Gwen didn’t understand why Jessica and Patsy looked so surprised. The blonde looked at Peter’s face and saw the same expression.

Gwen couldn’t discern who was driving as the windows were too opaque; the car parked in a delinelighted slot before the school entrance and stopped.

“Why are you reacting like this guys? This is just a car.” Gwen said with a confused expression.

Everyone around Gwen gasped, not just her immediate friends but people around them and looked the blonde as if she was mad.

“Gwen this is no simple car!” Jessica shouted at her friend.

The dark haired teenage girl clothed in a white woolen sweater, grey jeans and brown boots shook her head at Gwen. Then her younger sister, Patsy who was at her side looked at her from head to toes.

“Blasphemy! I disown you Gwen!” Patsy added.

*The Jones sisters, always so dramatic.* Gwen sarcastically thought, rolling her eyes.

The car doors opened, they immediately recognized Cindy who looked a bit disoriented. She closed the car door, looked around her, ignoring completely the other students who looked at her with envy or awe and then her search stopped when her eyes found Gwen and the group. From the other car door, long legs covered in black tights and black thigh high boots were the first to be visible; then a beautiful redhead with shoulder length hair and a woolen short red dress exited the car. She had a backpack in her right hand. There were different reactions to Jean finally appearing, some people didn't recognize her, some others did, or gasped and pointed fingers at her.

“I’m not surprised. Jean always knows how to make an entrance.” Gwen chuckled after saying that.

Her friends laughed as they agreed with her.

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean…
08:10 AM

 

 

It was back to school for me again, and I hated it already, but for the sake of my plan I needed to graduate from Midtown High with the highest GPA possible. My eyes roamed on the people amongst the parking, the white colored school building, the trees surrounding it. I recognized some people off-hand, such as Liz and Flash, Mary Jane, who were watching me as well; they looked surprised.

Everything seemed to be the same, it was like time had stopped for them, even the fact of those thirsty geek kids around me watching me as if I was a piece of meat, I knew I was attractive but could at least try to be subtle. It was strange to have to navigate the feelings fueled hormones of everyone here in the mind of the students again, it was like coming back to a website she hadn’t bothered to go onto for months.

From the student’s minds, I gathered secrets, new and old; current gossip and miscellaneous information. Most of them were so simple that I couldn’t bother with them, they all focused on the present and status, who wasn’t poor and who was the hottest guy or girl. Very little of them understood that they needed to study, graduate and go to college to obtain good jobs in the future to have a decent life. I closed the Pontiac’s door and began walking toward my friends with Cindy in tow.

My musings stopped when I noticed three people in particular with malevolent thoughts and intentions. I didn't have any problem in spotting where those feelings came from, to my empathy it was as if a pillar made of pettiness, fear, pride and antipathy towered into the sky. It came from a group of three girls, one was petite, blonde and cute, wearing a green coat and brown boots, she was smiling but she didn't feel any of those feelings, it was a mask. She was the kind of girl who was a follower and able to do anything to not be targeted, inside her heart she was small and weak, her will was brittle, I could guess that she had been bullied all her life and that she was now looking to turn her life around by being the one who bullys others now. Her name was Francine Burke.

At her side was a tall black girl with dreadlocks, chocolate brown eyes and a soft face that reminded me of a young Rihanna from my previous life. Her name was Christina Green and I liked her fashion sense, she had on a warm black jacket lined with white fur, sky blue jeans and black leather combat boots. She was braver than the previous girl and kind of smart, from her memories and thoughts she wanted to become some kind of dietician, she wanted to avoid trouble but she owed the petite blonde girl. I was disappointed. The girl was also a follower but she was in doubt of what her friends have been doing to the student population.

And here was the leader of this motley crew, her name was Sasha Kusnesov and she was a auburn haired willowy young woman with icy blue eyes who should have been on a Victoria secret magazine, she was taller than me and somewhat attractive. On the ladder of hotness, I am a ten and she was an eight. And it seemed that she knew it, that is why she was killing me with her eyes at the moment. She wore a black leather blazer that covered the long sleeved tight white shirt espousing her bust, at least she won with her rack, they looked like large oranges.  My eyes fell on her flared blue jeans and velvet ankle boots. She was trendy and seemed to know how to color code and... I think I saw Halle Berry wearing similar outfits; but there was more to fashion than emulating celebrities.

In my previous life I went to school to be a stylist and the study of fashion trends from history was important. Trend died for a time and made comebacks all the time; that was why I didn’t throw away anything. Sasha's outside appearance was impeccably good, but her mentality and personality left to be desired. It was normal, she was raised by a rich family and given everything on a silver platter. She has become an entitled little bitch who sees anyone better than her as a threat.

Sasha was afraid of me, because of the rumors about me always unearthing people's secrets and using them to destroy them. My presence had kept her in check and she had kept her head down with her friends; but when I disappeared mid November, she had seen it as a sign to advance her social life and become the quote new queen of Midtown unquote. I meanly giggled at her ridiculous ambition and aspiration of the girl. She can be the queen if she wants, I don't care one bit… but, there were things she did that didn't sit well with me to attain her position. I shrugged, I will take care of this at lunch.

"Hey guys." I raised my hands to my friends.

"Jean, finally, you are here." Patsy was the first to welcome me, she walked up to me and we kissed each other's cheek.

She wore a black winter coat with golden yellow fur trimmed hood, painted on dark grey jeans and black boots. A dark grey woolen cap covered her red hair.

"Hi Cindy." The little redhead happily hugged my girlfriend.

"Patsy." They kissed each other as well.

I began hugging and kissing each of my friends, Peter blushed still not used to physical displays of affection from me; Gwen and I high-fived each other, Jessica fist bumped me and put away her walkman.

Then I noticed that someone was missing."Huh, where's Jessie?"

To make the distinction between Jessica Jones and Jessica Drew, the first was dubbed Jess, the second Jessie. It took a while to get used to it. Gwen laughed, because Peter seems to have asked the same question some minutes ago. She still didn’t warm up to Jessie yet, must be because she was still the clingy type and fiercely on my side; note for later, I needed to teach Jessie how to think for herself. I used my aerokinesis to muffle the sounds around us, to not let anyone hear as Peter was catching me up on what he has been up to with Cindy and Jessie. It seemed that the spider-gang had competition, someone mimicking batman seemed to be going vigilante on everyone. Damn, that’s weird, just when I wanted to show off my Batwoman costume! Peter then took out a transparent plastic bag with a call card in it. There was a familiar symbol on it.

Frowning, I took the bag and looked at the white card with the streamlined red embossed bat symbol. “Huh, weird.”

My friend looked at me, Jess speaking first. “What is?”

Looking at her I answered, “I drew this exact symbol when I made my costume in december.”

She was in an all black outfit, consisting of a long coat, jeans, warm woolen cap and boots. All freshly made of smart fabric. When I showed the girls the new fabricator at Egypt base, Jessica was one of the girls who have gone crazy with it, she gathered all of us to design and create our own clothes made of the sturdy fabric. All of them were now protected a modicum against conventional weapons in their civilian life and after what happened in December, they forced and guilt tripped our parents into having at least a jacket or coat made of the smart fabric.

Jess raised an eyebrow at me and sarcastically said, “Which one? I mean Jean you have so many…”

Cindy laughed. “She got ya there, Jeanie.”

Hmph. “Laugh it up, but I believe in always being prepared.” I glared at the two who just kept laughing at me.

Giving the plastic bag to Cindy who watched the card with interest, I said, “Anyway, yeah you remember that talk we had about a new name for my hero persona?”

For a brief moment, Cindy didn’t see what I was talking about then her eyes lit up in remembrance. “Mhm, oh yeah! You spoke about becoming Batwoman when I told you that you can't be Phoenix for a while.”

Cindy’s eyes narrowed, then she gave back the plastic bag to Peter. “This is some strange coincidence going on there. I don’t like this, someone stole your idea, Jeanie.”

Gwen gave her own info as she had gleaned them from her father, Captain Stacy. “And this vigilante is quite brutal. My dad keeps finding criminals who need the hospitals, or are maimed. That vigilante, he or she, has started targeting big names from the Maggia and other organized crime families and gangs. They have started to arm up heavily to take them out, I fear that a gang war will be upon us soon.”

I froze at that, I needed my peace of mind and New York’s burning isn’t good for it. My eyes fell on Peter who had a resolute expression on his face. “Well, shit. Pete I think we need to step up our game. I’m going to give you access to the orbital tracking platform and the surveillance satellites.”

“Thanks Jean, this might help. Are you going to help?”

I was about to answer that when I felt a familiar presence come behind me; as I turned to see who it was, I found myself looking down at one of my people. Crimson long hair covered by a black woolen cap, clear green eyes and a svelte figure covered up by a black leather jacket, a green sweet wrap dress, tights on her legs and black mid calf boots.

“Hello, Jean.” Angelica Jones, Firestar greeted me. I quickly dismissed the sound muffling barrier.

“Angie is that you?” She looked smoking hot. *Down me, she’s Patsy’s age.*

The other redhead laughed, flipped her hair back and said, “Do you know anyone else with hair that fabulous?”

As a matter of fact, no. That level of sleekness in hair is inhuman, she got some job done it seems or Samira was opening an esthetic division in Oscorp that was already churning out miracles. But yes, I recognized that hair. I always remarked on it since I’ve been tweaking Angelica’s powers for energy immunity and boost her body capabilities taken from Havok and Sunfire.

I quickly caught her by an arm and pulled her into my group of friends, reengaging the sound muffling barrier to avoid being overheard. Everyone looked at Angelica with envy, as if my clique was the ‘in’ one or something. Can’t those kids find something else to do other than looking at us?

“Well… no, so you were cleared by Miss H to come to school?” I asked Angelica.

It was Samira who found our current therapist, Miss H. She had a PhD in Psychology and another in Criminology. She originally worked in SHIELD, but since the scandal with HYDRA she quit and now she worked part time as a CSI  in the 23rd Precinct Police Department  in Manhattan. She was well worth the exorbitant price I wrote on her monthly check.

Angelica gave me a teasing smile. “Yeah, because you are attending.” But her emotions were telling me something else, that she was there to be another layer of protection for my friends and I.

Oh, so that’s Samira’s angle, she wants eyes on me; she was worried about me and because I died when I forgot about her advice, she was being a hovering ninny. I clicked my tongue, I wasn’t a kid. But to her I was a ‘dangerous’ kid with too much power that needed a firm guiding hand and a bit of common sense. Why common sense? Well it all started when she participated in telling me not to make WMD. She was no fun… A bit like Peggy who formed a coalition with my mother, Raven, Irene and the other mothers of my groups to keep us superpowered kids in line. The women have somehow wrenched power of veto on everything I decided to do. Like the implementation of technology, buying lands and buildings or even forming my company. It reminds me that poor Ruby Hale was also being given common sense classes when Maria Castle and her family adopted her.

Gwen looked at Angelica with an appraising glance, Patsy narrowed her eyes, not liking that another redhead was joining the group somehow. Jessica sent choice words to me in my mind about robbing the cradle. Cindy was interested in Angelica and sent me questions about how I knew her. I let her access my memories to catch her up with who the new girl was. Peter did his panty-dropping-nice-guy smile technique that made Angelica blush. Since the guy stopped wearing baggy clothes and was more confident, he got games, too bad for the local girls, he was taken by Gwen.

I glared at the dense lady killer, who stopped smiling and showed me a confused expression. *Ok now that’s better.*

“Hey, guys, this is my friend, Angelica Jones.” I announced.

When learning my fellow redhead’s name, Gwen asked Angelica, “Any relation with the Jones sisters here?”

She was interrupted though. “Nope, never met her before, Patsy?” Jessica said with a shake of her head.

Patsy crossed her arms against her chest. “You know that Jones is a widespread common name.”

“I don’t know any of you either, my grandmother and father would have told me if we had family in the Queens.” Angelica didn’t like the annoyed look Patsy kept sending her.

To defuse any coming catfight, I quickly proceeded to finish this meet and greet. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, this is Gwen Stacy.” I pointed a finger at the petite blonde girl, then my index pointed at the boy amongst us. “And Peter Parker, he is cute, really smart and he is Gwen’s boyfriend. Don’t fall in love with him no matter how sweet he is.” I warned by keeping the expression on my face’s straight.

Patsy and Jessica laughed, while Gwen nodded. She had told me how she had problems with girls trying to steal him now that he didn’t look like the geek king.

“Erm, Okay?” Angelica looked awkwardly at me and Peter.

I nodded, happy that she was warned away from Peter. Even in the comics, Peter always got a lot of girls, like Sue Storm, Silver Sable and a lot of other powerful ladies who eventually get turned off by his 'woe is me, my life is hell' but he didn't do that shit anymore so he is even more attractive. I gave him five years tops before he asked Gwen to marry him. But something told me that Gwen was going to the same kind of relationship as I, a polyamorous one, because she kind of wanted to emulate me and she liked girls.

Grinning, I continued to speak. “Good. And those are Patricia and Jessica Jones. But you can call them Patsy and Jessica, it's shorter.”

Angelica waved at the Jones sisters. “Charmed.”

"And of course I leave the best for last, Angelica this is my girlfriend, Cindy Moon.” I said as I left Angelica’s side to walk into Cindy’s arms and smooch her on her lips.

Angelica smiled at Cindy and greeted her with a pretty smile, "Hello."

"She’s cute, Jean. I say we keep her." Smiling, Cindy looked at me.

<No, too young. You and your redhead fetish…> I warned Cindy, I didn't see Angelica like that.

Cindy sent me the equivalent of a mental pout. <That’s your fault!>

<I plead the fifth.> I laughed.

"I certainly think so, Cin." I responded, and just like that Angelica was accepted in the group.

I felt almost everyone in my circle of friends accept Angelica. Patsy and Jessica were suspicious by nature and would stay wary. Gwen and Peter were worried about discussing sensitive stuff around Angelica, but Cindy put those two at ease with her next sentence.

"Her powers remind me of yours." My girlfriend blurted out for my friend to hear.

Angelica's subtly glowed gold as she used her microwave aura to warm the air around us, making the temperature rise to at least seventeen degrees from what my Augmented Reality glasses tell me. She had come far in her control of her abilities, before she would have made it Sahara hot. I projected my approval in the form of an empathic hug that made the little redhead blush.

Gwen's eyes widened as she felt the temperature shift and saw Angelica’s eyes. "Wait, she has powers?!"

I liked to surprise her, she had the most awesome reactions. "Yeah, powerful ones, like me, Angelica was kidnapped by Sinister as well, because his dumb agents thought that she was me. When I escaped I saved her and sent her to Samira."

"That bitch? She always looks so smug, always makes me want to slap her." Jessica had a really bad reaction to my precog friend always acting like she knew best, it was also in part because Samira was beautiful enough to make a girl doubt her sexual orientation.

Angelica narrowed her eyes at Jessica who didn't even flinch when her glowing eyes trained on her. "Big sis Sam isn't that bad…"

My best friend chuckled and flipped her hair. "Oh, she has you trained already."

Angelica glared at Jessica and was about to say a retort when the school’s bell rang and the automatic doors of the building opened. It was time for school, well… for my friends, me I had to go see the principal for a meeting and discuss about my GED, I only needed to stay one month at school, then I intended to either go to Columbia University or NYU for the degrees I needed to start to take the science and corporate worlds.

Our gathering broke up and we entered the school building, I found Angelica following me as she was also a returnee who needed to see the principal. We walked toward the administrative wing, avoiding students in the aisles, and my redheaded young friend was telling me how awesome it was to use her powers now without having to fear for them to slowly kill her. I always came through for my friends.

 

# # #

 

Midtown High
Administrative wing
8:30 AM

 

 

"Principal Davis is ready to receive you, Miss Grey." The secretary said to me with a professional demeanor. She straightened her glasses as she opened the door to the principal's office to let me enter. I read the golden plaque framed upon it which was engraved with 'Principal A. Davis'.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hightower." I gave her a thankful smile as I took my red woolen cap from my head.

She nodded and returned at her desk while I walked into the Principal’s office. It was well decorated, I wasn’t surprised to see framed degrees with the man’s name on them, but the sport trophies and pictures of the star athletes on every inch of the walls was a turn off. The man was some kind of a collector of influence and he seemed to like to have a role in the future of everyone going to school here. He wasn’t a bad person, but… "Good morning Mr. Davis."

"Good morning, Miss Grey." A man with golden rimmed glasses and short grey hair said from a heavy oak desk, he was wearing a tasteful blue Armani suit.

He looked like a competent grandpa, at least he wasn't a Dumbledore. He was the guy I used to expel all those jocks and slutty cheerleaders, he had also chosen to sit on the disciplinary committee to have more control on the clubs to avoid another scandal. The man gave me a kind smile that I returned. "Thanks for receiving me, sir."

Principal Davis chuckled in mirth. "Well, who am I to not receive one of the school's biggest investors? You and Miss Al Ghul made a sizable donation to the school district and this establishment."

But I heard the reproach understated in his voice and the sour-like feeling he exuded. He didn't like giving preferential treatment to anyone, but the school board was forcing him to accommodate me.

I didn't want to begin the meeting on a bad note so I said with the most sincere and happy smile, "I did that because I love this school, I met my best friends and the person I love here."

Principal Davis was caught off-guard by my honest confession, then I felt the walls around his heart melt. He said more jovially, "Please, have a seat, Miss Grey."

I sat with as much grace as I could, then once I was at ease, the man linked his fingers together and said solemnly, "First, I'd like to welcome you back and to tell you how relieved I am that you are in good health… at least physically."

I chuckled internally, the man was aware of the fact that I was now seeing someone for my mental health. Peggy, Phil and strangely Fury helped me craft a story to explain why I was kidnapped, and that my captivity and subsequent retrieval caused me to be followed by a therapist. "Thank you, sir. I am happy that my therapist cleared me to finally go to school again."

The principal smiled but swiftly became serious as he said, "I heard that this entire kidnapping affair is because you have come into money."

And here it is, he wanted confirmation about what had happened. "Yes, last year, I received quite a sizable inheritance from my family abroad, uncle Nate was old money you see…"

The principal nodded, my family had Scottish roots and we do have family there. And I did gain money, investment and real estates by killing good ol’ Nate. The best lies were always mixed with truth. My therapist, Miss H would ask me why I felt the need to deceive the world about what happened to me, why I never gave a straight answer, that I kept lying to her, but there were things that I couldn’t tell her, notably about the two hundred million deaths I caused. I gave her a sanitized version of my fight with the Marauders and Sinister.

When there is so much truth mixed with lies, how can a person know the truth? Truth is subjective. Facts are not. Spin is equivalent to truth these days, and any two people who tell you what happened somewhere will unconsciously put their own spin on it, in other words telling their version of truth. Certain truths that are understood relate to the general morality of humanity, but if that has to be emphasized or forced on others when they are not ready to accept, unfolds questions specifically that the truth cannot be of universal nature unless it is accepted by all equally.

I continued weaving my web of lies after projecting sadness through my empathy. “Unfortunately, there were some discontents in my uncle's family, you see... Uncle Nate had a son who wasn't willing to be left with nothing. So last November, my cousin kidnapped me and sent a video to my parents about not revealing this sordid affair. Strangely, my cousin didn't want to kill me, though he was pretty adamant to make me sign away the money. Fortunately for me, my Aunt Peggy found me and straightened the situation.”

I implied that he had been dealt with, and the principal seemed to have caught on. His smile was frozen on his face, he took ten seconds to come back to normal. "I see, well, I am glad that everything seems to have worked out."

Nothing more was said as the principal checked his notes and typed something on his keyboard, his focus on the screen. My glasses and phone let me hack the antique computer -Yes I consider 90s tech antique now- and I saw that he was consulting my student file. The man looked at me when he finished reading through it. "So, I heard that you want to pass your GED, Miss Grey. Are you sure that you want to do this? A General Education Diploma is... not always viewed in the same regard as a high school diploma, Miss Grey and it is more challenging to get into college with one. And there's also the fact that you will miss the full high school experience if you pursue this course of action."

I almost laughed when principal Davis said that. Beyond my friends I barely had any acquaintances and no good experience with high-school life. I wanted to focus on my education, I didn't want any of the influence of teasing and bullying or even try to control any of those kids' actions by being a queen bee. What's more, I didn't want Wanda to join this school and have any bad experiences, I would prefer for her to be homeschooled. Gwen and Peter might join me too and Patsy and Jessica could enter the superpowered school I intend to build… so many things to do, and I had so little time.

It was with candor that I answered Principal Davis. "I know, principal but obtaining my GED offers better chances of furthering my education. I am interested in getting multiple PhD’s for my future business enterprises. Getting a GED will allow me better chances of being accepted into the programs I heard of in the local colleges and universities."

It was a toss between Columbia, Cornell and NYU. I crossed my legs and thought that I could ask Peggy for a recommendation to any of the establishments. The more connections I displayed the more those places of learning would be interested in letting me join.

The principal seemed to have telepathy of his own as he told me with a sly smile, "Let me guess, with your new found wealth, more doors might open for you?"

I returned the smile, turned up to eleven. "Essentially, sir." I said putting my hands on the desk and knocking on it.

Principal Davis leaned in his leather desk chair and looked at me in contemplation. "I see… is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

Looking at him directly in the eyes, I crossed my arms and said with conviction, "My path is set."

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Very well, Miss Grey. You have an exceptional GPA of 4.5, because of this if you decide to 'student' about 2-3 times per week for an hour each session, then it is possible to earn your GED in as little as three months. Even if you only study once per week for about 90 minutes per session, you can be ready for the test in less than a year. Although every person is different and your preparation results will vary, there are far fewer time commitments to worry about when choosing this option over a high school diploma."

"Three months? Nope, I have things to do, Principal Davis." Like building my new house and opening Starrware and Starlab.

Starrware industries and Starlab's mission will be geared towards progressive technology in providing solutions to the planet's environmental problems and general medical and technological breakthroughs to make people's lives as comfortable as possible, Gwen and Barbara were already on board.

With a lot of swagger, I boasted, "Give me one, and I will be out of your hair, sir."

The principal stared at me and did the gesture that all my older friends, siblings and parents did when I began to act out, he facepalmed. "Miss Grey… from what I see from your file, you have taken all the electives available, it's inhumanly impossible to have your GED in one month…"

My grades were the highest in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Physical/Earth Science. However, before getting kidnapped, I intended to load myself with enough electives to make any future college or university want to fight amongst themselves to have me. So I took Environmental Science, Forensic Science and Astronomy.Anything to justify my future endeavors and economic moves. I had several colleges lined up already that mom and dad were eager for me to go to, though Peggy had told me to stay well away from MIT, even if they asked me or gave me incentives, women seemed to be discriminated against in this illustrious patriarchal institution.

"Don't worry about me, I am driven and want to succeed." I said while lacing my voice with a mental compulsion.

The man was worrying that I couldn't handle such workload, he was sweet and caring, but I didn't have time to be coddled, I had an empire to build. It hurt me to use Jedi mind tricks on someone who had my well-being in mind, but I didn't have much time, this period of calm in my life could suddenly stop and staying in a school full of kids was dangerous.

I finished Hydra and Sinister, but I still had many of them left, the church of humanity, the purifiers, AIM, Magneto and Xavier and a lot of minor organizations that deserve to be wiped out mercilessly. But for now, I had my personal development to see to, principal Davis gave in to my demands and I hashed out a plan and schedule that will be forwarded to my parents for approval.

Then after some time, I left the man’s office with a pep in my steps.

 

# # #

 

Lunch break12:06

 

 

I strode toward the table where Liz Allan, Flash Thompson and Mary Jane Watson were secluding themselves. The three of them looked at me with trepidation as I approached, ignoring the looks that were on me. I had a good reason to go meet them, one of them was guilt. I was guilty of making her current life hell with only a handful of friends at her side. Though it was not my fault if some bitches were spreading rumors about her being an accomplice in the murder of Norman Osborn, a fact that was completely untrue.

I have been in her shoes and wasn't able to abandon the poor dears to the wolves, and the fact that she had completely changed from what she had been since I last saw her, motivated my decision to help her, because Mary Jane has become ostracized and reviled since I took out those Osborne assholes. It reminds me that I had to unearth the man and destroy his body after his death as he had already taken the imperfect Oz serum, that shit would resuscitate him if I hadn't acted.

"Hey Flash!" I shouted as I kept my food tray in my hands. "Can I join you?" I smiled for effect.

The three of them looked at each other before Flash awkwardly asked, "Huh, Grey? You sure you want to?"

The boy looked around himself, people were watching them attentively to see what happened. I felt that Flash was still holding onto what people thought of him, but his need for approval and social superiority wasn’t as strong for his love for Liz and his friendship for Mary Jane.Even though I caused that change in him September of last year, the guy had free will and I really liked that he had stuck by his friends. It showed that he was worth knowing. Maybe it was going to be time to bring him into the circle. Of course I will have to invite those two as well, but I felt that they needed a nudge to be truly part of my people.

"I am." I said with decisiveness.

The boy looked me in the eyes, for a brief instant, then smiled.  "Then please sit."

There was hope burning inside Flash, hope that I could help him and his friends. I was not a hero, at least not a conventional one. I believed that if you helped people, you had a responsibility to see to their well-being until they didn’t need you.

I put my tray on the side of the table facing the three and asked, "So how are you guys? It’s been some time."

“Well life goes on, Jean. Though I heard you didn't have a good time last year.” Liz was the first to answer as she played with her food that consisted of steaks, potato gratin and sauce. Yum, basic high-school food, how I missed you. Not.

Tasting the gratin and meat, I decided that I had eaten worse and swallowed with difficulty the food, at least the steak, seemed decent. Then I registered what Liz asked and stuck my fork in the meat. "You bet I didn't, my Uncle from abroad left me money and it created problems for me." I growled.

Mary Jane and Liz’ eyes widened in surprise. But it was the other redhead who asked, "So you were really kidnapped?"

People around us were straining their ears to listen to our conversation. It was also an excellent way to stop future rumors about how I came back and what happened to me if I aired the story Peggy told me to feed everyone. I took one of the plastic cups at the center of the table from one of the dispensaries and reached for the pitcher of water, then poured me some before telling the three, "Yeah, I almost died you know? This has changed my perspective on what's truly important."

Flash was curious, it saddened him that Jean had to live through this, he had seen how her father and mother looked when they had come to school when she was gone, it must not have been easy for anyone in her family.

"And what is that?" Flash asked, wanting to glean any pearl of wisdom that he could.

I grinned at the three. "It's obvious: Family, friends, health, purpose and love. They're the most crucial factor for happiness and, in combination with your calling, tend to be people's reasons to live."

"Oh." MJ was surprised by that, then she began thinking hard about what I said.

Flash put a hand on Liz' and smiled at her. *Oh, he already knew.* That made me even prouder of him.

Then I decided to continue my little lesson. "You see all those people around us?" I waved at the obvious 'in' cliques around us, footballers, cheerleaders, basketers and most of the vapid and shallow kids.

Liz, Flash and Mary Jane nodded in synch, then I told them, "They don't matter, high-school is just a pit stop in life. Sure you develop community and social skills thanks to it, but it isn't important; I could have spent my teenage years being homeschooled but I didn't, I was forced to. Though I admit that I still met good friends here, Jessica, Patsy, Gwen and Peter though the last one grew on me slowly. So to succeed what I can tell is that you need to hold on to the true friends you have and do your best to live well."

I looked at each of them meaningfully. My eyes stopped on Mary Jane in particular and I think she understood what I was saying.

"This is deep." Flash had on a thoughtful expression. Then his hands formed into fists as he looked at the girls at his side protectively. His hand linked with Liz' and I almost said something that would have ruined the moment but I could keep my mouth in check by stuffing a slice of steak in it.

Mary Jane tucked a strand of hair behind her left ear and asked, "So you came here because you know…" she seemed to realize why I came here, the girl wasn't stupid, thanks Stan Lee.

"Sasha Kusnesov is a shrew, that girl is also a sociopath. What she's doing to you and others shouldn't be happening, this is a school, an institution of learning, not a cutthroat fashion show." I ranted.

This was pissing me off, I went out of my way to make Midtown high bully free while I was there, I got kidnapped and boom an even bigger bully replaced the losers I destroyed. Nature always abhors a vacuum it seemed.

"Damn right she is, I think she is so vile she turned off my teenage hormones." Flash joked with a grin.

Liz and I tittered at that, the guy was funny. Mary Jane focused her bottle green eyes on me, she didn't look happy at all, maybe she thought I didn't come to speak with them with good intentions.

"Why are you speaking to us? We were never friends…" The redhead asked.

Liz and Flash kept silent, it seemed that they wanted to know as well. This wasn’t rocket science what I was doing, I decided to pull them in my group and involve them in my affairs. Flash had value to me as a future symbiote host for my cleansed and sane Venom, Liz would be there to assist him and Mary Jane… I had plans for her now that she had changed. She was no longer that shallow and dumb redhead I had met last year. I just hoped I wasn't making Gwen's life harder by doing this.

I smiled at Mary Jane and asked, "MJ, can I call you MJ?"

The redhead nodded after looking at me for thirty seconds. Tit for tat, I decided to give them a bit of my life story, I took care of distorting sounds around us and use a keep away compulsion going with my telepathy to make this more private."Before coming to Midtown high I was bullied by girls I had considered my friends since pre school."

Mary Jane and Liz stood up at my confession clearly confused and surprised. The redhead was the most vocal of the two. "No way! I mean you are Jean Grey, the school Queen! You take no shit from anyone, you are untouchable!"

Her outburst floored me, was this what she saw me like? Or… I felt a similar feeling coming from her; a feeling that I felt from Jessica Drew, one of my new friends who basically worshiped me. I shook my head, Mary Jane must have sought to emulate me, that's how she didn't kill any of the girls who had been tormenting her. She let the insults slide off her. Poor girl, she had the wrong impression, I was a vindictive and merciless gal.

I leaned in my plastic chair and stared at her, "Queen you say? And have I ever cared about such a meaningless title before? Do you think I like being kept under people's scrutiny at all times?" I projected a sliver of anger that suffused into the entire cafeteria.

Mary Jane started to think, me I simply started eating again while awaiting for my fellow redhead answers. I had the time to finish my lunch when Mary Jane finally said, "I finally understand, you don't care but you get back at people who crossed you..."

I clapped, and downed my glass of water and said, "Good girl, you get it. Like I told you, school drama doesn't matter to me, I've seen what it makes people do. Prestige, money, power, those are just tools to get what you want. The distinction between a good and bad person is how you use them. We may not have been friends in the past, MJ but nothing stops us now from becoming so." I held my hand to her in friendship.

*And I owe you.* I said in the depth of my heart, nothing would have happened to her if it wasn't for me.

"Okay… okay." Mary Jane said as she took my hand and shook it tightly.

My eyes turned to the two others people present. "Good, Flash, Liz, the offer stands for you as well. I hope you will come meet me when school ends in the parking lot, I want you to join me and my friends. We might go to a Macdonald’s or something."

Liz was excited by the invitation but didn't show it outwardly, Flash gave me a smile. "Yeah, we will." He decided for the two of them.

Then MJ threw me a fastball. "Say Jean, what do you intend to do to Kusnezov?"

Was I so transparent? I intended to do something to her alright, nothing that could be traced back to me. But everyone is going to suspect me, if anything drastic happened to the shrew. "Me? I don't know what you are talking about." I averted my gaze from Mary Jane's.

The redhead narrowed her eyes at me. "But it's you who…"

Flash understood that I wasn't going to answer to that line of questioning and put a hand on the other redhead’s shoulder to stop her from prying further. "Let it go MJ, there's such things as plausible deniability."

I smiled predatorily at them, yes Sasha Kusnesov won't stay in Midtown high for long when I am done with her… no one bullies my people even the one on probation.

 

# # #

 

15:55
Parking lot

 

Today, I started with French class, I already knew the language so I didn't pay much attention, then we had History, after lunch I then had English and to finish the school day Mathematics HL. It was fun, the principal let me study the hardest Mathematics course in the program; from what I read from the description of the program: Further Mathematics, as studied within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, is a Higher Level (HL) course that can be taken in conjunction with Mathematics HL or on its own. It consists of studying all four of the options in Mathematics HL.

In Math class, we had started learning Linear algebra and even though it was somewhat simple to understand and go through the entire subject, I intended to focus on the other subjects and tonight with EVE and brush up on this as much as I could. As the teacher was explaining the subject my mind and knowledge automatically resolved everything.

I was actually relieved when the bell signifying the end of school for today rang and accepted the homework, Mister Dean has given us for next class. In the hallway I looked for Cindy, but she found me and sneaked behind me. I rewarded her with a toe curling kiss before she pulled me toward the school building's exit.

To anyone watching us, we walked in silence, but mentally we exchanged memories, feelings and impressions to quickly catch up on the day. It seemed that the others were not happy that I missed sitting at lunch break with them, Cindy was one of them, but it was for a good reason, as now she supported my decision to bring in the trio of Mary Jane, Flash and Liz into the group. She was aware that I could still erase their memories if they couldn’t handle the truth about us. But I wouldn’t let them join right away in the circle, I was going to ease them slowly into it, by inviting them home, or to a fast food joint. Damn it’s going to take a week at least to be sure they could handle it.

When we were out, my glasses showed me where EVE had parked herself, strangely the Pontiac was at Peter’s Highland Green 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 side. The vehicle the cheapskate spider boy and Ben didn’t want to let me modify for him! My dad, Frank, Barton and Avery even stopped me from doing it stealthily with the excuse that a man first’s car was important and that it was bonding time between father and son that I couldn’t interfere with. Well at least he let me modify the car’s shell and the Pyroclastic Lamination to make the vehicle heat resistant enough.

Though I wouldn’t let him touch the project I had with Barbara and Doctor Kinney, so I could understand. I really loved those older gals. Ugh, I was doing it again, I had something for tough brainy girls. I dread the day I meet Sue Storm, I’d definitely make her mine. Or will I? It all depends if Reeds has hypnotized her and sunk his claws in her. The guy was a creep.

Anyway, as we walked into the parking lot toward my car, I noticed that the gang was now checking out my car and Peter’s. Patsy seemed to have discovered that EVE could talk and tried to make the AI speak to her. Mary Jane and her friends were there, looking at Patsy as if she was crazy and seemed to want to stay well away from her.

Gwen looked more guarded than usual, she kind of had reason for it I guess; no talking shop for her and me this afternoon. Hands linked with Cindy, I arrived amongst my friends and said, “Heya guys, I know you like my car but she’s kinda shy so don’t crowd her too much.”

“Hey Red.” Flash called me.

Mary Jane, Angelica, me and Patsy looked at the muscular boy at the same time. “Flash… you know there’s like four redheads present right now?” I laughed at him when he had the decency to look sheepish.

So to stop this from being a problem I introduced everyone again, Angelica was relieved to not be the only new member of our little fellowship. Including Liz, Flash and Mary Jane in the group had been surprisingly easy, I still had to explain why via telepathy to my friends though. It was to protect them and they were an investment for later as well.

Gwen knew why I was bringing those three with us to our gathering. Beside Mary Jane being pretty, she was aware of what had been happening to the girl and she approved of me taking my fellow redhead under my wing.

“Hey Jeanie, how was school today?” The little blonde asked me as she leaned against my car.

I made an annoyed face, that translated my feeling about going back to school. “Kinda boring actually, I know all the material already. I think my plan to coast till I am given my GED is a fair one.”

I observed that Mary Jane tensed when she listened to our conversation; she must have been bored from listening to Flash gush about Pete’s car. And there was a bit of panic in her state of mind, well yeah this was kind of bad news for her, as she wanted to rely on me and my friends for protection. *Don’t worry, MJ.* I soothed her spirit with an empathic hug.

Her body relaxed, but she looked around her to see who had hugged her. I smiled at her reaction. As for my little blonde friend, Gwen looked sad, this wasn’t what she wanted to hear it seemed. “You still plan on coming to school everyday, right?”

I shrugged. “No, maybe? At least three days a week, we will see if my mom forces me to. By the way, Principal Davis changed my schedule and we don't share classes like before, it sucks.”

Looking around me, Flash, Liz, the Jones had the same sadness coming from their state of mind at the news. Cindy didn’t care as she could come live to the base and with me when she wanted with her teleport beacon while the others had to come to my house to even access the teleporter to Egypt base.

Looking still alarmed, Mary Jane asked, “Jean what do you mean, you’ll get a GED? Are you going to quit school?”

Sighing heavily, I responded, “Not for the foreseeable future, MJ.”

The redhead was relieved at my reassurance; it would take me one month to graduate as I wanted to set a record for the GPA of this school to be accepted to the targeted colleges I wished to join. She still needed some background on what was happening, at least the spy version of it.

“You see, MJ. I received a sizable fortune from my uncle Nate, and some of his companies will fall under my control when I am eighteen. So, my parents and our lawyer have come up with this plan that I must graduate early and as stipulated from my uncle’s will, I must get to college and take some business courses to have full control of my assets. For now, my lawyers and my parents are managing everything.”

“This… sucks.” Mary Jane said dejected.

I let go of Cindy’s hand and went to my fellow redhead and engulfed her in a hug. “Being rich is a lot of work, but I am determined to succeed. So, MJ we are going to take advantage of all the time we have left, Mhm?”

Cindy quirked her lips upward in a smile at the blatant manipulation that I was practicing on the other girl; I kind of noticed the calculating gaze she was throwing at us as she watched us hug. This girl was a pervert, but I approved, Mary Jane sure had a sexy body. My eyes fell on Peter, *Sorry Pete, we are going to steal one of your potential love interests.*

<Were you always this good of a liar, Jeanie?> Jessica asked me via our link, interrupting my train of thought.

<Spycraft 101, always mix a bit of the truth with your lies for them to be believable.> I sent her back.

Jessica opened the Pontiac’s door and entered my car after showing me a legendary eye roll. <Okay, Matahari.>

I narrowed my eyes at the snarky pink haired girl, she was going to pay for that. <That’s Madame Matahari to you.>

Everything was going well, everyone seemed to thaw at the presence of the four newcomers in our group, and Mary Jane didn’t leave my arms since I began hugging her, and Cindy started to speak with the girl we intended to slowly corrupt to our ways. But hey, this is Marvel, the universe had to shit on us as a principle. I was discussing fashion with Mary Jane and Angelica when I tensed as a familiar thought stream and pillar of petty feelings approached us.

Sasha Kusnesov had to ruin the gathering, the bitch. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Mary Jane raised her gaze to the sky and mouthed off, “Great, the harpies are here.”

Sasha and her friends came to us, stepping aside from the spots full of snow to avoid slipping. Hmm, I melted them with a thought, preparing the terrain because it seemed that those girls had come to pick a fight with us. Sasha and her friends moved like people used to fight. *Strange*

“Oh, wittle Mary Jane has fangs now?” The petite blonde at Sasha’s side did a good rendition of Bellatrix Lestrange. But she couldn’t pull it off well, I felt that she was trying too hard.

The auburn girl, Sasha said with a saccharine tone while staring at Mary Jane, “Well, the crybaby had to find a big strong woman to be protected from little ol’ me.”  Then her gaze settled on me and asked, “Say Grey, did the little slut promise you to make it worth your while for your protection?”

My eyes widened at the lame banter. *Okay, did Marvel decide that I needed my own Draco Malfoy to spice up my life? I really hope not.*

Of course Cindy came to the rescue as she pinched herself and asked out loud, “Wow, Jeanie is that bimbo real?”

I snorted at that. “It seems so, though she needs to come up with more vocabulary to insult us. She sounds so… thuggish.”

I felt the pillar of pettiness darken, at the same time as the girl’s face. She stomped toward me, I put myself between her and Mary Jane; Sasha then glared at me. “Bitch, you don’t want to mess with me. You and your friends better piss off and leave the little slut here.”

Me and my friends looked at the weird female troglodyte that has come to us, roaring its fake superiority. It was Jessica who laughed first, then Patsy and Cindy. It was like an avalanche of laughter came over from my friends, until it was too much for my empathy and I laughed in turn. I held onto my stomach; wow, this girl was a riot. Was she hoping to intimidate me? Me and my friends, we have fought against Hydra’s armies, nuked places all over the world, come up with technological wonders and that little girl hoped to be taken seriously by us?

It seemed the girl didn’t like being mocked so she threw the first punch, I sidestepped from the jab, then got surprised by the front kick coming toward me, that I fortunately defended with my knee. Then Sasha began to attack me in earnest, right, right, left; I deflected each of her jabs with my hands until she backed off from me as I entered a basic Wing Chun stance.

Sasha knew how to fight, and as I analyzed her stance, came to the realization that she had learned a shit ton of fighting styles, taekwondo, karate, jiujitsu, kravmaga and… taijutsu. It was the last one that confounded me. The only users of taijutsu in New York were in our little group, Matt and Elektra and the… Hand. I quickly tried to plunder Sasha’s mind like earlier but my attempt was rebuffed by a solid mental wall.

*What the hell?* I seemed to have shown my surprise on my face as Sasha took advantage of it and attacked.

She lunged at me and threw consecutive kicks, high, mid and low, that I avoided first with my hands to deflect the first kick, with my knee for the second and simply stepping back for the third and while she extended herself, I assaulted her back with open palms and fist that she evaded as well. *Oooh, she’s good!*

We separated at this point, despite us, a crowd had formed around to see us fight; damn I was too focused on her. Peter and Flash wanted to intervene, but it seemed that Angelica, Cindy and Gwen told them not to.

“Not bad.” I said as I entered my stance once again, this time I will focus on speed to quickly take her out.

Sasha sniffed with disgust, but I felt that she was a bit impressed. “You aren’t just a spoiled rich bitch, I see.”

“However, you aren’t good enough.” I said with a come on gesture with my left hand.

This seemed to piss Sasha off. “We will see about that.”

She said as she sprung up to me and feinted a left jab, that I ignored completely, knowing her intention with my empathy. The second jab was the real one. So I deflected again but this time I got serious by moving faster than she and punched her in the abdomen, stopping her cold as she exhaled an ‘oof’ then I swiftly caught one of her hands and flipped her. She landed on the cold ground face first and with an axe kick I hit Sasha between the shoulder blades and began punching her consecutively on her head. The auburn haired girl protected her head with her arms and ten seconds later she chose to counter attack by trying to catch my legs to make me fall and grapple with me on the ground, but I backflipped away from her and landed on the hood of my car. While Sasha stood up, I lunged at her and unleashed a flurry of three heavy kicks on her while I was in the air.

Two kicks landed on Sasha’s arms that she put forward to protect her head, but the third hit her on the temple and she fell on the ground completely KO’d. Landing on the ground, I loomed over the girl. “This fight is over, and I am the victor.” I made my most awesome Doctor Doom quote.

But it wasn’t over yet for my foe’s friends. When their friend fell, Sasha’s friends attacked me all of a sudden. But I sensed them coming, Christina Green lunged at me, intent on dragging me to the ground but a well placed front kick batted her away from me and into a nearby Volvo. The little cute blonde, Francine started with a series of punches that I sidestepped and then when I let her grab my arm to see what she would do, she tried some judo throw on me. But my balance was better than hers and I was stronger than her physically, so I stood ram rode while she tried.

Bored, my free hand glowed slightly gold with chi when flicked her behind the skull, making her fall unconscious to her friend’s side. With a smile I nodded at a work well done and mimed wiping my hands together. I then turned to the crowd, some looked in awe, some terrified, and I think some guys were planning to fap while thinking of me… eww!

“Nothing to see here, guys, scatter!” I shouted.

And Lo and behold, they seemed to obey, Sasha was lucky that we were yet in the twenty first century, her humiliation would have been complete if those teenagers around us had smartphones. Mary Jane was like a redheaded missile that plowed into me and hugged me tightly. Her respect for me shifted into hero worship and that wasn’t too good, I had enough of that with Jessica Drew, Laura and Maddie.

“Hey MJ, that bitch was vile. You have my respect for holding on that much against her.” I said while patting her head.

My fellow redhead stepped back from me a little, and looked at me with stars in her eyes. “You were amazing! Since when are you a ninja? Can you teach me?”

“Part time Ninja.” I corrected her. “And why not? I plan for you to learn to defend yourself when I won’t be here.”

Mary Jane laughed with tears in her eyes at that. Cindy snapped her fingers loudly, and made signs for everyone that it was time to leave. “Chop, chop everyone, we don’t want to languish here.”

I pulled Mary Jane toward the Pontiac and made her board to the back while Cindy took shotgun. I watched as Liz and Flash went to the boy’s own vehicle three parking slots further and the rest of my friends filed into Peter’s car. EVE who was the soul of discretion didn’t say anything when my Pontiac started the engine. Mary Jane still had eyes googling at the dashboard that seemed so futuristic; Cindy smiled at her expression as she fiddled with the hologram to turn on the radio to play some AC/DC songs.

As we left the parking lot, my eyes were on the holographic rear view mirror and I watched as that Christina girl stumbled to her friends and checked their vitals. That girl was too soft to be a bully.

 

# # #

(Sasha Kusnesov)

 

Nurse Office
10 minutes later

 

“Ouch, did someone get the plate of the truck that hit me?” Sasha said with a rough voice.

The auburn girl was into a bed, she had something cold against the right side of her face, she took it and saw that it was packed ice. Then she felt hands on her, and detected the familiar candy smell of Francine’s perfume. “Here Sasha, sit up. Damn the right side of your head is swelling, Grey got you good.”

“Fran?” Sasha slurred, then her icy blue eyes fell on her blonde friend.

“Yeah?” Francine asked as she inspected Sasha’s face.

“That girl, Grey is some kind of master, I think. She moved faster than sensei.” Sasha said, thoughtful, she was now regretting ever fighting the girl. She had thought that Grey returning meant nothing for her status at school, but she was wrong.

Acting rashly had cost her her rep while the girl she had been bullying was now well protected. Francine looked at her friend and made her hold the ice pack against her face.

“I noticed, she’s stronger than her too.” Was Francine’s opinion.

Sasha growled as she replayed the fight against Grey, it was clear the girl played with her, it looked like she was used to fighting stronger and faster opponents. This didn’t look good for her school life at all; now everyone was going to pick on them. Or… then Sasha noticed that one of her friends was missing.

“Where's Tina?” Sasha asked Francine.

Francine made a face. “The nurse sent her to the hospital... she got bruised and cracked ribs.”

“Fuck, this is serious.” Sasha lamented, she was sure to get into trouble with their sensei.

“You bet, Sasha. You are really in trouble, right now.” A voice coming from the entrance of the room said.

Turning her head, Sasha’s eyes widened as she recognized the familiar voice of her sensei, who was her legal guardian as well. It was obvious that they would call on her. From the door, the tall auburn haired woman strode toward Sasha, with a disappointed expression on her face. She wore a winter jacket lined with fur and a t-shirt with the Chikara Dojo logo on it; her long legs were covered by dark blue jeans that looked to be painted on them, she had on dark brown trendy leather boots.

Sasha lowered her eyes, not willing to see that look on the woman she considered a big sister as well as a role model. They had the same icy blue eyes, others would often think that the two of them were related if they didn’t have a closer look and noticed that the older woman clearly had Asian roots compared to Sasha’s clear Eurasian ones.

“Colleen, I can explain!” Sasha exclaimed with a panicked expression on her face.

Colleen primly held herself and stopped at Sasha’s side.“I already heard from Christina what happened, you are using my teaching to torment and lord over your fellow students.”

The younger girl averted her eyes. “I…”

“Don’t lie.” Colleen bopped her on the nose, eliciting a grunt from Sasha.

“Yes, I did.” Sasha growled, still not looking at Colleen in the eyes.

The older woman took Sasha’s face between her hands and checked her wounds. She clicked her tongue and took the ice pack from Sasha’s hand and put it at her side. Colleen’s hand glowed with white yellow energy and Sasha’s expression soothed as warmth suffused her aches. Colleen was healing her. Her sensei then took on her intransigent voice as she said, “When we return home you’ll go directly to your bedroom. No TV, no Phone. You will meditate on your bad deeds and for further punishment, I will stop teaching you for one month and you’ll clean the Dojo for the same length of time.”

Sasha looked up at her and whined, “But it’s not fair!”

Colleen smiled ruefully at her disciple. “I thought you knew that already, life isn’t fair, young lady.”

Sasha mumbled, “It’s not fair…”

Colleen stopped healing her ward, the swelling was sufficiently less worse than before. She couldn’t heal Sasha all the way or people would get suspicious.

“So who was it that defeated you?” The woman asked, curious that someone could take on Sasha, it’s been eight months since she had been instructing her and Sasha was her best student so far.

The young woman’s face scrunched into a sneer. “Some redheaded tramp who was stronger than me,” Then she calmed down after breathing in and out, then said, “and it pains me to say it, but she was more skilled than you as well, sensei.”

Colleen’s right eyebrow rose, her demeanor switching from curious to clearly interested. “Really?”

Sasha nodded like a bob head. “Really, she was faster and stronger than me, one moment I am dominating the fight, and one second later she’s all over me and I wake up in this bed.”

A voice interrupted them. “And there’s something worse, Sensei.”

Sasha had asked Colleen to teach her friend some martial arts, so she was allowed to call the older woman like that. Colleen looked startled, “Ah sorry, Francine, I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

Francine waved away her apology. “It’s okay, you are worried about Sasha.”

“Yes.” Colleen nodded.

Sasha was the one to make the two of them go back to the previous subject. “What worries you, Fran?”

The little blonde looked a bit frightened. “I felt the same sensation when Sensei used that Chi stuff on me when Grey hit me behind the head.”

“Oh?!” Sasha exclaimed, now understanding how clearly outmatched this fight had been. Then she looked at her sensei and was disturbed by the expression she was seeing now on her face.

Colleen smile’s became dazzling. “Interesting.”

 

# # #

 

Back with Jean...

 

I felt a chill going down my back, as if something really bad just happened. My precognition was telling me that I fucked up somehow and that it may be time to be back on guard. I bit into my hamburger and let my mental field cover the entire city, just in case. I hoped I wouldn’t be fucked over too much, but this was Marvel.