I showed him my hand covered in a tactical fingerless glove and raised a finger at each thing I observed. "High, there are visible and invisible guards all around; enhanced individuals too but they are mentally unstable. Ah, and they have energy weapons too, like the one you went against in WWII, but those don't vaporize, they act more like plasma weapons, they burn."
Looking at him in the eyes, Steve never asked how I knew he encountered energy weapons in the war. He was more focused on the problems I enunciated to him. He sighed and then leaned against the Samson's right door. "This… we don't have enough people, us against everyone there? A full team is needed... I wish the guys were here."
By the guys he meant the Howling Commandos. Chimera looked at me, grinning; the Cap didn't realize that we didn't need anyone else. I could take this country if I wanted and didn't care about destroying it wholesale. But what was needed for this operation was finesse and stealth instead of unstoppable power. No, we would infiltrate the camp from the inside.
I patted the Cap on his armored shoulder pad. "Don't worry, we are going to come laterally at this problem." I told him and retracted my hand and turned in the direction of the base that I sensed Peggy was still in.
I conjured hologram constructs between us for Chimera and Steve to look at. "We will get Peggy first, thanks to my portal manipulation this is going to be the easiest part of the operation; then once we retrieved her, Chimera will go back to base with her and put her in medical. After that, you and I will infiltrate the bunker to gather the data and research stored here for intel. I will kill everyone on the way, stop them from ringing any alarms, and plant the fusion bomb to erase this stain from the map then we will be out of here."
Replaying the holograms for Steve who looked fascinated, Chimera interrupted by asking a question in a hysterical manner, she had begun to shake me. "Boss? A fusion bomb what for ?!"
I smiled sweetly at her, patting her cheek. "Don't worry 'mera, it's completely without fallout, I tested it in space."
What a big boom it was! I tried to replicate a NOVA bomb from Halo. With Wakandan knowhow, a cluster of nine nuclear fusion warheads encased in a lithium triteride case was a piece of cake. I exploded an asteroid the size of an Independence Day ship with that, you know the Mothership? That shit was 600 km, I had to lift a similar asteroid out of the kuiper belt and do the test near Neptune. My inner scientist was telling me that the explosion could have been bigger if I hadn't botched the synthesizing of the lithium triteride.
Chimera seemed reassured that I hadn't just built a bomb without testing it and let go of me. Steve raised his hand and asked, "What's a fusion bomb?"
Chimera and I looked at each other, then the blonde took it upon herself to enlighten the poor Cap. "Err... how to explain, it's like an atomic bomb, Cap. However, it's different as apparently it's some sort of clean nuke with no radiation fallout."
Steve looked at me with horror. "Why do you need something so powerful? And on american soil?"
It's not like they would be able to detect it yet, so I would take advantage of their ignorance. "It's not powerful." I said as I took the lunch box sized fusion bomb from Goldie's hammer space and showed it to Steve. "It's just enough to take out the base entirely, not the entire state. I did the math. And this is a message for Pierce, you don't fuck with my friends or grandma." There, I said it. No one fucks with Peggy, she's family.
Chimera went to sit on one of the passenger seats near the cockpit's entrance. She facepalmed, hiding her eyes. "Oh boss, I knew you were pissed… it's the thing with Sinister all over again!" She said aloud with dread in her voice.
Steve walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, it was supposed to be calming but I didn't know the guy for long so it fell short. "Is there anything I can do to convince you not to do it?" He asked with a soothing voice.
I shook my head and batted away his hand. "Nothing. After this we are going Squiddie hunting with the SHIELD agents loyal to Peggy and taking all those Hydra high command assholes. Peggy will help when I am done healing her." Oh, I would do better than healing her… I had plans for the rest of the family too.
Steve looked at me as if I was a particularly trying person to get along with. He kept making comparisons between me and Howard Stark in his mind. *Rude!*
The Captain began to tighten his helmet on his head and looked at Chimera and I with a disappointed expression. "Very well, let's do this, but later we are going to have words…"
Snorting, I crossed my arms and told him bluntly what I thought about his patronizing attitude. "Steve, I respect you... But you are not my dad, okay?"
He tried to retort to that but nothing was said. "..."
I nodded, satisfied that he understood what a bad idea it was to try to convince me to not do something. It was finally time to go. "Let's do this! Ah! Oh I forgot, take this knife, Cap." It was a tactical knife that Goldie stole from SHIELD's armory, it was one of the first things I thought about for the Cap's kit. I had transmuted the steel into adamantium, well secondary adamantium to be precise, I had had to work at it to even be able to make the proto-adamantium. A lot of energy was needed for such.
I threw it at him and he caught the knife and its sheath; took the knife out and inspected the length and metal, as well as the balance.
"This is a good knife." He said as he began to play with it by doing some kind of unknown kata.
The monomolecular edge on the knife split the air making a tearing sound as it moved. I laughed nervously, I could barely follow the Cap's movements, he was faster than Elektra sensei. "Yes, I know, it's really sharp… careful with it. It can pierce armor."
He stopped, gave me a smile for the first time and said, "Handy."
Oh god, why are those dimples so perfect? Peggy how could you not jump the guy when you could? Chimera stood transfixed as she watched him. The Cap flinched as he noticed the gazes we threw him and asked nervously, "Let's go now?"
"Yeah, sure… I am ready." I told him, fucking attractive super soldier...
"Me too boss." Chimera said as she had an energy rifle in her hand, I never noticed when she took it from the cockpit.
# # #
(Cpt. Steve Grant Rogers)
The redheaded teenage girl opened one of her portals, it was big enough for the two of them to pass through. Steve didn't show it outwardly but he just couldn't believe that such things were possible and half thought that he was dreaming still. But the pain he felt when he cut himself with his new knife told him he was being silly.
At least Miss Jean had put on a different outfit, a red leather jacket, and something she had called tactical pants and boots. There was a tactical belt at her hips and a body harness with some kind of pistols in their sheaths which he couldn't identify the make or model. The shiny and sleek silver pistol in her hand reminded him of Red Skull's own, able to shoot energy bolts.
"Okay, let me enter first." Jean said as she made for the portal, but a hand caught her shoulder, she turned to see that it was the Cap.
Lifting her head, she looked at the Captain's face obscured by his helmet. There was an intransigent expression etched on it. "No, I have the shield and armor, I should be first."
He was clearly the heavy in the group but he didn't understand why Miss Jean face slacken in anger, he was about to enter the portal when she said, "Fine, okay."
Steve stopped, he had heard the same tone in Peggy's voice before; when a woman said 'fine' it wasn't. He turned to Miss Jean and said; "You are important for this mission, all will be lost if you get injured, always expect the unexpected."
Her face gained more warmth from the frosty expression she had five seconds ago. "Sorry, Cap… I am used to being in charge, you know?"
*Oh, she's the one who normally gives orders, she must not be used to deferring to someone else. Bucky was a bit like that...* He closed his eyes as he crushed the memories of his best friend seeking to re-emerge, it wasn't the time to be lost in mourning. Peggy was alive… his Peggy was alive and that was all that mattered to him.
He reopened his eyes and gave the redheaded lassy a smile, nodded and said, "I totally understand. But I wish to impart common sense and experience to you."
Miss Jean's face became clouded in thought, reminding Steve of himself, she was clearly reminiscing the past, then she stared up at him with a sheepish expression. "Well, it's true that I made some questionable decisions before… Okay, I will defer to you for now."
He became relieved that she didn't seek to argue with him; he had seen how strong her personality was from her interactions with everyone. They respected her, but Steve couldn't say if it was out of fear or leadership.
Steve took his pistol from his belt holster and put his shield before him to protect his center of mass and entered the portal without waiting for Jean. He arrived in a hospital room, full of beeping machinery, similar to the ones he saw when he awakened. The walls were white and bland, with only the painting of a flower on the wall behind the medical bed.
The form of a elderly woman was on the medical bed, she had white hair and a similar hairstyle to the woman he kept seeing in his dreams. He didn't see an old woman but the love of his life. His lips quirked into a smile, Steve was about to walk to her when he felt his female companion arrive behind him, he turned to her, only to see her lunge at him, he was shocked and ready to deflect her assault with his shield when she hit something invisible.
Steve heard a crack and a grunt, the noise of bone cracking, he was intimately familiar with it; then Miss Jean wrenched her hand to the right and he heard another bone crack. The crackling and the visible arcs of lightning running from Miss Jean's arms to what she was holding in her hand sizzled and little by little a black suited man covered from head to toe in some kind of skintight outfit appeared.
The redhead's piercing gaze fell on Steve. "Like I told you Cap, there are some invisible guards." She stood up and dusted her hands.
Steve looked down at the body on the grey tiled floor, lost about what to think. "This isn't what I expected when you told me that." An invisible enemy, that was the stuff of nightmares and supposed to stay imaginary in his time. Well, it seemed that Hydra succeeded on the technological front.
Jean put a hand on his gauntlet. "I should have been more accurate, I am sorry." As Steve looked into her eyes, he saw that she looked apologetic.
He shrugged and his eyes focused on the occupied medical bed in the room. "Peggy is there." He walked toward it, only to be stopped by Jean.
"Stop." She said as she placed her hand on his chest as she placed herself between him and the bed. "We must check for traps first."
Her piercing green eyes were full of determination, Steve felt that she would have her way, whatever he thought. He frowned. "Why would they trap her bed?" To him, it was unconscionable that someone could trap the hospital bed of someone in convalescence.
Jean snorted and looked at him as if he was naive. "Because Pierce knows he can't stop me with conventional means. If killing Peggy can make me furious and make mistakes…? He would totally do it."
That spoke of an evil and practical mindset that turned Steve's stomach. Even Red Skull wouldn't fall so low. "I don't like this Pierce gentleman already."
Miss Jean's eyes glowed gold, making him flinch a bit. "He is no man, he is just a squiddie that will get burned." Her voice gained a certain echo as she spoke. She blinked her eyes, then the golden glow was replaced by her normal emerald green orbs.
Miss Jean turned to the bed, and with a sweep of her arms, some kind of golden light covered Peggy and the bed. From under it, there was indeed a box that was turned into dust without fanfare, then Miss Jean walked up to her and put her hands on Peggy's body. Steve placed himself at her side and looked on in worry at her, then at Peggy who had some kind of mask on her face.
"Is she okay?" Steve asked, his eyes settling on the diminutive form of the love of his life.
Miss Jean growled as she spoke. "They implanted some sort of GPS tracker inside of her and some…" The redhead tilted her head. "...poisoned Capsules?"
With urgency, Steve said, "Can you take them out?"
Jean nodded. "Easily. I just have to teleport them out."
Steve didn't care what, but he wanted the redhead to do something. "Do it, please."
Miss Jean held her hand before her hand cupped and in a flash of pale blue light, a round and silvery object appeared, it was quickly turned to dust too. Then three orbs full of a dark liquid appeared next in her hand. Those didn't turn into dust, but were absorbed into Miss Jean's hands in a golden ooze like substance. "I will keep those, it might come in handy to develop an antidote for them."
"Alright." Steve nodded.
The lassy began to disconnect the IV connected to Peggy's left arm, slowly to avoid any surprise. Then she frowned and cursed as Peggy began to seize; she took her hands from her and then suddenly they began to slowly light up with golden ethereal flames that she applied on the older female. Steve almost interrupted her but Peggy didn't seem to catch on fire and little by little the seizure stopped as Miss Jean's light fire (?) spread inside his old… flame's body. *It's not the moment to make puns, Steve.*
Miss Jean's fire stopped filling Peggy's body and retracted inside her own; but Peggy was still positively glowing. Steve could see her arteries and veins highlighted with white light, the light was stronger in her head. Steve wanted to ask questions but didn't dare interrupt her. For over five minutes, Miss Jean continued to work on Peggy, before exhaling a relieved sigh as she took her hands off Peggy.
"I fixed the damage they had done when they Captured her… you see, Pierce had made his goons inject her with some kind of memory erasing serum that your friend Howard Stark made before his death. It's not even stable for use from what I've seen from the serum's molecular structure that was still coursing through her body. I... I had to fix her hippocampus, her neocortex and her amygdala from the damage that this corrosive shit had caused. Peggy is allergic to that serum." Miss Jean said as she turned toward him and her eyes began glowing again.
Most of what she explained passed right through his ears, all he understood was that Hydra goons had damaged Peggy's brain with some kind of solution to erase her memories but she had a bad reaction to it. Steve understood that people from the nineties were smarter than the people from his era, however, they were prone to dismissing practical solutions to simple problems.
As he mused the difference between the world of now and from before, Miss Jean was caressing Peggy's brow and musing out loud, "When I get to that Pierce guy, death will be the least of his problems."
The girl was vengeful and bloodthirsty, Steve was surprised that no one had sat her for a talk about those habits of her. "I think Peggy will want to do it herself."
She turned and looked at him in the eyes, anger in them; Steve didn't recoil or show weakness. What she sought in his eyes must have pleased as she smiled predatorily. "And I will help her, if that's the case."
The man who dated this young woman was in for a rude time; Miss Jean frowned at him, but he decided to not give her the time to get mad. "Is Peggy alright to transport?"
Her facial expression shifted to one that said 'well played' and she turned to Peggy who was still in the bed. "Yes, come help me."
Peggy ended up in his arms and it had never felt so right to have her there, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Miss Jean took the bedsheet and covered Peggy with it, waved her hand to the naked wall on the right and a portal opened on the Samson duocopter, if Steve remembered the name right. They walked up to it and the door opened, the blonde, Chimera with her rifle in hand.
"Ready the Samson, you are getting out of here with Peggy." Miss Jean hollered.
Peggy stirred in Steve arms, he walked up slowly to not wake her up yet. Steve climbed the little ramp that morphed into stairs that Chimera activated on one of the Samson interior panels.
"Sure boss, I had hoped to test my new ectoplasmic constructs, but if we can be back earlier…." Chimera left for the cockpit.
Miss Jean touched another panel, typed a numerical code on the keyboard and the seat at the end of the Samson passenger compartment turned into a stretcher with the seatbelts turning into a harness.
"Put her on the stretcher." Miss Jean commanded.
He did just as she asked and put her on the stretcher, she strapped in Peggy and touched her one last time with her glowing hands to check on her health. Steve didn't understand how he got used to the young woman's ability to do supernatural acts as if they were nothing. He had questions, questions that could wait until after the mission was completed.
Jean exited the Samson and pulled Steve out with her, the two propellers came alive and then the flying craft took off. The redhead waved her hand and a portal opened, big enough for the Samson to pass. Steve looked up with apprehension as the vehicle entered the strange aperture in the air.
A hand touched his shoulder, turning his head he saw Jean smiling at him in reassurance. "Don't worry, when she wakes up, you'll have all the time in the world to catch up."
With a firm nod he said, "Thank you for this opportunity."
She let go of him, and spent over thirty seconds observing him, the intensity of her gaze was kind of unnerving to Steve.
Miss Jean gratified him with another smile. "The fact that she's old and grey doesn't seem to bother you the least."
Steve fumbled with his utility belt, unconsciously checking his mission-specific equipment. He then looked at the young woman who had been waiting for something to be said. "I dreamed of her for fifty one years."
Jean tilted her head as she looked at him and stepped back from him as if she had been burned by something and looked on in wonder. "That's true love I feel from you, you know she never forgot you? She never married?"
*True love? What is she saying?* Steve asked himself if the girl was somehow reading his feelings. *That's silly.* He shook his head. Then he registered what she had said, if he knew Peggy as well as he did she focused on her career after the war and forgot romance completely. He would have preferred that she had moved on and was happy… "I will make this right."
At those words, Jean nodded. "I will help you, Steve. You are an alright guy so far. You and her deserve another chance."
He frowned at her thinking about Peggy's white hair and the ravage of age on her body. "I don't know what you could do that could rewind the damages of time, Miss Jean."
With an impish grin, the young woman replied. "Oh, challenge accepted."
# # #
Back with Jean…
Camp Lehigh
5 minutes later
Exiting the portal, we were once again in the hospital room, I zipped up my jacket and Goldie phased the tactical harness and belt with all my weapons and kit to over my jacket. Steve took his pistol in hand and watched me prepare myself. I looked at the Cap's body armor, I had made do with the current armor technology I had developed previously for Cindy's first costume -Which I had subtly upgraded since, without telling her- and it was a tri-weave mesh layer still with the same motility layer and the temperature control; it could resist rifle fire and I added the unstable molecule treatment to it.
It was complicated, yet should be enough, I would upgrade it later as Peter and I didn't have enough time to make a suit to the same level as ours.
Looking through the wall, I saw that the guards in cloaked suits were still posted there. They hadn't even changed shifts yet. "When we exit this room, I'm going to make the invisible guards become visible, I will seal the corridor at both entry and exit points with my powers."
"I am ready."
I formed a construct in the form of a fist and hit the room's door, then I sent out an orb shaped photokinetic construct whose sole job would be to make it easy for us to see the suited guys. The only weakness those suits made by Hydra had, was that if they were struck with a specific wavelength of the light spectrum, they were made visible once again, the suit couldn't bend the light around them.
*Design failure.* I spat mentally with a disgusted tone as I dissipated the fist like construct, the Captain lunged into the hole I made.
Following him, I manifested telekinetic weapons in the form of Sai, they twirled in my hands; Elektra sensei's memories and my own draconian training with her had prepared me in their use. With a thought I sealed both ends of the corridor while the Cap was being shot at and defending himself with his shield. The orb colored everyone in light imperceptible to the human eyes, but all the cloaked guards were visible now.
I sent a concussive beam at the nearest one who was about to jump Steve, it caught him in the air and slammed him into another dark suited man. As their projectile weapons went dry all of them pulled their energy pistols, but Steve lunged at the guy nearest him and shield bashed him and with a crack he fell dead, with my TK, I pulled the next of them to the Cap who caught him with a haymaker in the crotch.
The noise of something cracking was distinguishable and the man fell too, screaming in soprano. I laughed and jumped into the fray between two of the suited guys, in concert they attacked one low and the other tried to punch my face, lightly jumping to avoid the sweeping kick, I landed on the man's extended leg and then pierced my other foe's forearm and sent a debilitating wave of mental energy inside his body, killing him on the spot as I supercharged his nerves and brain. Jumping again, I hit the other guy with a full powered kick to his head.
Snap. To finish him off I stabbed him in the heart with my telekinetic Sai. I felt another one of those suited guys behind me, I was about to move away or send a TK burst when Cap jumped and performed a hook kick that slammed into that guy's sternum. He aimed his pistol and shot the black suited hydra agent three times, two bullets in the heart and one in the head.
I felt the last guy about to shoot Cap, but before that I threw my telekinetic Sai into his goggled eye which shattered on impact and skewered his head. My Sai dissipated into an explosion that gradually disintegrated the bodies they were planted into; I took a P226 pistol from my holster and walked to each of the still living agents and shot them in the heart and head.
Steve watched me work as I emotionlessly took care of looting the weapons they had, they were an interesting design; I would dissect them later. Turning my head to Steve I said, "We will go to the storage level and steal some stuff there, or would you prefer going after the computers first?"
The cap looked at me as if I was a thief as I looted the weapons and their magazines and batteries. "Shouldn't we separate, to cover more-"
"No, you'd get killed without my lightwave construct, it's what allows us to see those cloaked fuckers and don't look at me like that, I won those weapons by right of conquest fair and square!"
*Oh my god did he just roll his eyes at me?* Cap checked his custom pistol, that no normal man would be able to wield. It was basically ripped off from the .454 Casull Auto from Hellsing belonging to Alucard. It was a bit long, but it did the job.
"Let's go raid the storage level." Cap huffed as he waited for me.
"That's right, Cap." I said as I holstered my pistol and let go of the TK barriers at the corridors ends.
The level after the medical one was the storage one, we took the concrete staircase leading to it, while shining the way with my lightwave construct. Cap was the tank so he went first into them, took care of the visible guards in the stairs by throwing his shield at them, making it bounce and taking them down, it boomeranged back to his waiting hand.
"I like your style." I complimented him as I took my pistol out and shot the guards fatally.
"Thanks." Cap gave me a tight nod, this time I didn't loot the guard but sabotaged the weapons by destroying the containment unit inside the energy weapons, they would explode the next time someone tried to use them.
We arrived at the guarded door leading to the storage level, I skewered the two guards and the invisible one with telekinetic bolts in the brain. Disintegrated the door and casually entered through it followed by Steve striding behind me. There were countless rows of shelves full of wooden cases with serial numbers on them.
I whistled and decided to take everything, but where could I store everything? I mean I didn't have the- oh sure I did! The UK base was big enough. I opened multiple portals and began to empty the storage level of everything into the UK base's hangar, fortunately it was empty. Thirty minutes later, the storage level was empty, no one came to interrupt me or take us on.
Frowning, I noticed that the cameras at different angles in the room were still on. "It was too easy." With a thought I destroyed them, as the boxy fixed cameras turned into chunks… I realized it didn't matter that they had seen us, the end result of this operation was self-evident. That kind of thing seemed to happen to me a lot, I decided I would dedicate a part of my time to developing electronic and surveillance countermeasures.
Cap took his pistol in hand and loaded a fresh clip into it. "I agree. They must be waiting to ambush us somewhere."
"Guard my body." I told him, as I stepped outside of my physical form and spread my awareness.
I phased through the different levels of this bunker and ended up in the command center, there were a lot of people gathered in it, mainly the commanding officers, some were Hydra, some were not. I had begun to eavesdrop.
"Sir, they destroyed the cameras, we are blind." One of the operators sitting before his console showed the completely dark partitioned screens on the big display before him.
The colonel present slammed his fist on the wall at his side. "Damn it, how did they pass the perimeter? Someone, check the entry logs!"
A female operator said as she was consulting a register. "Sir, there wasn't anyone stopped at control today, not even for deliveries."
The colonel looked anguished. "There must be something!"
I scanned his mind and the result pleased me, he was the Hydra agent in charge of this Camp, he was also responsible for the laboratory where they tested their amoral experiments. Everyone here knew what was going on, I thought about sparing the non-Hydra affiliated but this was damning...
The colonel passed his hands through his hair, putting it in disarray. "Shit, send security at them."
"Everyone?" The first operator asked for clarification.
Their superior officer walked up to them, his face deforming into a mask of anger, replied, "Everyone! You saw it too, right? They killed everyone in the corridors and stairwell with unnatural abilities!"
*How rude! My powers are natural!* I pouted at the metahuman hater.
"E-even… the experiments?" The female operator's voice quavered, there was fear in her eyes.
The colonel froze, he looked at the woman with a serious expression. "Are we still able to control them?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes sir."
The commanding officer smiled devilishly. "Send them in too." Scanning his mind, I saw the unnatural type of enhanced soldiers they had access to, they didn't even have any sense of morality left or ability to feel emotions anymore.
I chose that moment to return to my body; when I opened my eyes next I decided that it was time to hightail it, but before that…
# # #
(Colonel Thomas Eaton)
Command Center
5 minutes later
"Sir! We have lost the computer network!"
Thomas closed his eyes, a migraine spearing his frontal lobe as things devolved to utter chaos. He had recognized the source of their problem, the young woman's files had been passed to him by Director Pierce himself. There was no doubt that they had already absconded with their special guest...
"Can you ask for reinforcements?" He asked Warrant officer Wallace, who shook her head lamely at him.
Things worsened even more as Chief Warrant officer Poole shouted, "Sir we just lost the phone line and the radio!"
"I have no choice then." Thomas stood up and took a stick-drive from his hidden breast pocket, he walked up to Wallace's station and slid the device into the console's port.
The Hydra symbol appeared on the screen, replacing the US Army logo and the Command Center's hidden satellite uplink activated. Colonel Thomas typed a numerical password and then when access was granted typed a short message: "Guest taken, base compromised."
"Sir, what are you-" Wallance didn't have the time to finish her sentence before Chief Warrant Officer Poole shot two bullets in her brain with his service weapon.
"Dispose of her, Poole." Thomas took the stick-key from the console and placed it back in his pocket.
"Yes, sir." The young man stood up and began the clean up.
It was however at that moment that something appeared before Thomas on the console, a metallic case, the size of a lunch box, there was a digital screen on its face. A countdown of five seconds slowly passed. The Colonel didn't even have the time to flee like his instincts told him to when his world went white.
# # #
Back with Jean…
10 km from Camp Lehigh
A column of blue light speared the sky as my fusion bomb gift exploded. It was the equivalent of what had struck Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, but the blast was more restrained to the totality of Camp Lehigh's surface. I smelled the ionized oxygen and watched as the normally invisible neutrons became momentarily present in the light spectrum in a red band in the pillar; then the mushroom cloud was expanding in the sky and the air-blast and shockwaves of the explosion spread to my position. I covered Steve and myself with a solid shield to protect us.
We were waiting on the edge of the forest between Camp Lehigh and the nearest town. What? You thought I would let myself get swarmed by serum altered enhanced psychopaths, cloaked invisible agents and US army personnel just for the fun of it? No, I would leave that for Wolverine and the Thing, those two guys were the kind who wanted to tell a story about shit like that happening to them. To me the objective had always been to take Peggy back, steal stuff and destroy that base.
I turned to Cap who looked with an expression of fear etched on his face, he seemed transfixed. He was terrified, he looked at himself and his shield. "The super soldiers don't matter anymore."
At this moment Cap felt utterly lost, not recognizing the environment around him; I truly thought that he would have a panic attack right there. I walked up to him, slowly and put a hand on his biceps. *Oh, it is quite hard.* Shut up, hormones!
Sighing, I gave him the welcome to superhuman society speech. "Cap, the world has changed. Super soldiers, nukes? Those are nothing compared to the threats that will popup in the near future. Cap, you have just become part of a bigger universe, that you never knew existed. So… I advise you to acclimatize to this new era, you are going to see some truly crazy shit over the decades to come."
Cap looked at me, different emotions passing over his face, they settled on acceptance. He would still have things that would make him wish he had died in that plane. He nodded. "I will take this... under advisement, Miss Jean."
I smiled at him, opened a portal in the clearing. "Let's go back to Peggy?"
He turned his face to the golden aperture. "Yes, let's."
We walked up to it and disappeared through the tear in space; I had shit to do, squiddies to kill, but first we needed Peggy, and she needed to be on her A-game. I knew what I had to do.
# # #
(Director Donald Pierce)
Cordoned area around Camp Lehigh area
1 Km from the crater
3 hours later
01:02 PM
A nuclear explosion without fallout on American soil; that was the kind of event that was now alarming everyone in Washington. They were all panicking like headless chickens as reality settled in; the United States was not prepared to deal with an attack by a terrorist group using an improvised nuclear device. The country should have been prepared, as the risk was real even if the probability was low, and doing so could have saved a great many lives.
Pierce walked up to the crater where Camp Lehigh should have been, the gravel cracked under his feet; the border of the crater was earth and stone, the air-blast of the explosion having blown away or destroyed the vegetation. The Director looked at the pit, it was a kilometer in diameter and four hundred meters deep. There was nothing left of the base, the destruction was thorough. The experiments and research that Hydra had done here had been to develop enhanced personnel and weapons, important for their eventual takeover. Hydra hadn't needed this debacle, the scrutiny alone was slowing plans that Pierce and his allies had enacted since they removed Peggy Carter.
He walked back toward the cordon, not wishing to look inside the crater, the simple fact that there was no fallout at all told him that his foe was anything but normal. Peggy Carter being rescued meant only one thing, that Jean Grey thwarted him yet again, taking away any leverage that he had to force her hand.
The mere fact that subject Grey was able to destroy one of their facilities with such ease made her a danger to their grand vision: World domination. Pierce and his faction hoped to achieve it through terrorism and subversive acts. They wanted to create a new world order with themselves in charge with the anonymity of using the SHIELD brand name.
But what was the point of this plan if a meddlesome teenage girl could just appear out of nowhere with the ability to eavesdrop in the minds of everyone she came across and reveal what they were all about? To him, Jean Grey was an operational security nightmare. Now, the SHIELD division of Hydra had to live through infighting between splinter groups and different factions of the same organization and a young woman that had more power than she deserved and the will to see their end.
The proof of it was behind him, she was willing to 'nuke' them… he had received the message loud and clear, because the utter destruction of this base proved it; they had touched her reverse scale and now they would pay the price. She seemed rather put out that her mentor had been taken and her friends and their families attacked.
*I fear that there's no way to settle this in a civilized manner.* Pierce thought as he stopped before the technicians and scientists charged with analyzing the damage and the cause of the crater.
"What do we have gentlemen, ladies?" Pierce asked jovially.
One of the scientists wearing a SHIELD skinsuit covered by a lab coat looked at him and, recognizing him, said "Director… Sir, what we are seeing here simply shouldn't be possible."
"How so?" Pierce straightened his glasses.
The man shook his head, he seemed reluctant to explain their discoveries. He looked at a female technician typing on her laptop's keyboard. She shrugged and returned to work, leaving the honor of reporting their findings to her colleague. "Err… Sir, the device used wasn't the normal kind, in fact I don't think that anyone has the technology to control the radius and the ability to make a clean nuclear device. Our techs…" The man pointed a thumb behind him "have been roaming around the crater and the woods, the geiger counters have barely beeped; though... the readings we got of the local background radiation said it was stronger an hour ago and returned to normal before we arrived, something or some process happening when the bomb detonated made it so that it faded into the local background radiation."
Pierce understood that they had nothing for him and that wouldn't do at all.
"I'm sorry to say that the technology exists ladies and gentlemen, look behind me…" Pierce turned and pointed a finger at the crater. "And we don't have it." This was the important point of this conversation.
"I can't go back to Washington empty handed and tell the old boys that someone has used some new kind of nuke on one of our bases and that we don't have answers. We must also find a way to spin this FUBAR situation so that the public doesn't panic; I don't know what you'll write in your report but it better say that it was an experiment of ours gone wrong through an act of god."
One of the technicians behind him asked, "Are you asking us to lie?"
Pierce chuckled and gave the technician an amused stare. "Lie? No. Sooner or later we will find the ones who did it and we will acquire the technology." Pierce gave them a predatory smile; the technicians and scientists stood straighter, knowing that if that happens they would be the first ones to dissect the technology and then test it later. "But for now, we cannot panic those old fogeys in congress. Do you understand?"
The scientist he spoke to first said, "Sir, we do."
Pierce nodded. He liked to give such speeches to the troops and motivate them. "What more can you tell me about this device?"
"It definitely uses Helium-3 as a source for nuclear fusion…" The man before him explained.
As he continued the scientist told Pierce that Helium-3 (He3) was a gas that had the potential to be used as a fuel in future nuclear fusion power plants. There was very little Helium-3 available on Earth, that there was an abundance of it on the moon and Jupiter, the gas giant. The cost of making a bomb using such a rare element was prohibitive and unconscionable.
*So where did she find Helium-3 to…* Pierce frowned and remembered that NASA had been reporting about anomalies in orbit and around Mars and Jupiter. *Am I fishing too far? But the infiltration of Camp Lehigh speaks of resources comparable to SHIELD, money, scientists, vehicles and personnel. Where did she obtain all that?*
Suddenly, Pierce felt that he had been underestimating Jean Grey all along. He took his glasses from his nose and looked up into the afternoon sky. "I think I need to take steps to not be swept away by the oncoming storm." He took his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
"Darling? Yes, I am sorry for cancelling, but I have something important to tell you… I know you wanted us to go on that trip to Europe…"
# # #
Back with Jean…
Egypt base
02:05 PM
Cap, Gwen, Phil, Fury, and I were in the lab. Fury was looking all around him like a kid at the candy store, Peggy was on the cushioned lab table and Gwen was scanning her to see if there was anything wrong with her as she still hadn't woken up. She was wearing a grey hospital gown that I found in the locker lovingly named 'wardrobe for lab rat' -Fuck you Sinister- Gwen had also covered her in electrodes.
The computer did a reading on her vitals that were good from what I could read on the screen, however, Gwen's sad face told me everything I needed to know. Another thing to put on Pierce's head.
I was prevented from entering madness and destroying a moon in the solar system to calm myself by the next question asked by Steve. "Why isn't she waking up?"
Turning to him, I noticed how Steve was holding onto Peggy's hand, I heard a crack in his voice that had me worried. It was Gwen who answered the question first. "Her brain was more damaged than you thought, Jeanie."
*Damn it, she could have said it with more tact!* I glared at her and she averted her gaze guiltily.
"Shit!" Fury shouted what everyone was thinking.
Okay, I spread a feeling of peace to calm down everyone around me. I put my hands on each of my temples, I had to think about this; this wasn't good, I couldn't lose her. Peggy was important, to me, there was no way I was going to leave her in that state.
"What… what can we do?" Phil asked, voice neutral but with red-rimmed eyes.
That floored me, uncle Phil was emotional. I couldn't and shouldn't let him feel what I was sensing from him. He was preparing himself to mourn. I stood straighter and walked up to the lab table and put myself at Steve's side. "Well, I see I have to speed up my time table."
I had thought that Peggy would be awake and that I would have her permission to use Phoenix rebirth on her and enhance her body. It seems Marvel was conspiring against me, trying to take her from me. I wouldn't let it, I swear by Stan Lee.
I poked Steve's face with a finger and focused on him; I was looking at how the serum had amplified everything in him, it was damn scary. It was as if his body was forcefully made to evolve over millions of years in one go. I didn't mind that everyone thought me strange as I was proceeding with my analysis.
"What are you going to do, Miss Jean?" Steve looked at me as if I had become mad and almost stepped back, but my TK kept him firmly in that spot.
His body was complex and a beautiful machine at work. He had everything enhanced, life force, intelligence, endurance and stamina, dexterity, agility… "I am looking at you with one of my powers, Cap." I said aloud as I finished the scan with my life-sight.
He chuckled nervously, he had seen what I was able to do and didn't want any of those lethal abilities I possessed turned against him. "What for?" He asked.
I let go of Steve's face, having filed away the template of his body for my project, I was one hundred percent sure that I could recreate the super soldier serum, but I didn't need it. I didn't like the fact that it amplified the mental traits of the user. "I want to copy the enhancements you have and tweak them a bit to remake Peggy's body. You see, I am one hundred percent certain that I can heal her thoroughly and even give her back her youth, but making her a base human again isn't good enough for me, what we need is to make Peggy like you."
I felt more than saw Fury walk aggressively to me, he turned me and made me face him. "Grey, we didn't give you leave to experiment on our direct superior."
Glaring at him I said, "Fuck- beat it Fury. The term experiment suggests that Peggy might not survive; I didn't nuke an american base for nothing… I want aunt Peggy back."
He spluttered at my revelation, and was about to say something when Phil caught him and took him aside. They spoke for a while, whispering about something, I could hear them but I decided for my sanity that I wouldn't eavesdrop. As for Steve, he looked at me with undiluted hope, it was embarrassing. Five minutes later, uncle Phil and Fury came back and said that I should try.
Fury glared at me as if I was public enemy number one. I ignored him, his attitude almost made me throw him out of those proceedings. I sighed and clapped for everyone's attention. "Gentlemen and Gwen, the solution is clear. I have the power, I can remake Peggy, faster, better, stronger, smarter, even more powerful than ever before." I smiled as I showed them the Phoenix flame dancing in my hands.
Then I decided that a demonstration of my previous work was needed. "Gwen, show them the thing."
The blonde flinched, not liking being put upon and stared at everyone's gaze on her. She obviously knew what I was speaking about as I manifested a one ton block of metal that slammed onto the ground. "Err… are you sure Jeanie?"
I nodded. "Yeah do it."
Gwen's shoulders sagged, she let go of her scanner, placed it on the lab table and strode toward the square block. She dug her fingers into the block as if it was putty and lifted it over her head, then slowly levitated off the ground. With little effort, Gwen then tore the condensed block of metal; when I had changed her, she wasn't able to do the same thing, but like I thought she had become even stronger.
Fury looked mesmerized by what Gwen could do, looking from me to my best friend. The blonde let go of the remainder of the metal block, letting it slam onto the ground. Then I turned to the men and said sweetly, "As you can see, Gwen has powers. She wasn't born like this, but I gave them to her for her protection. There's no need to worry about me fucking this up, Peggy will be fine."
"You… since when do you have a Kryptonian on your team, Jean?" Phil stared at Gwen with the zeal of a fanboy.
That's what he got from that? Sometimes Phil was too nerdy. "Like I told Cap earlier, the world is bigger than you think. And no, Gweny is not an alien... uncle Phil."
"Miss Jean?" Steve's voice interrupted me. His armor clanged with his shield on his back as he turned to me.
"Cap?"
I felt trust blossom inside him, he was worse than Peter, the pillar of hope that rose almost blinded me. It felt warm and pleasant as he continued to speak. "Do it, everyone here wants Peggy back. But what's more you are trying to give her back the time she lost with… I-" He was having a hard time formulating what he was thinking, how strange. He was known to give impromptu speeches.
"I understand what you are trying to say. Give me an hour." I interrupted him, assuring him that I would give him back his love.
"Thank you."
After this I shooed everyone out. When everyone left the medical room, I wasn't surprised to sense that the paranoid feelings in Fury's heart redoubled; he wasn't a friend anymore, so I read his mind. What I saw disturbed me, he was already seeing me at the head of an army of powered individuals and taking on the world. Well… he wasn't too far off my goals… of having a private army to protect my people was certainly in the works.
I shrugged, cracked my knuckles and got to work.
The Phoenix rebirth was entirely dependent upon my will. The process could encompass any and all characteristics of the subject (body, mind, soul, abilities, nature), and may range from slight improvements to complete rebirth. I not only wanted Peggy healthy, but young again, at her peak; basically the same age as Elektra sensei. But I didn't want to make her just a vanilla human, she needed to be able to keep up with Steve or anyone else in my entourage. This was my apology to her for not rescuing her earlier.
Mentally I looked at Steve's stats and amplified them further, when I was done, Peggy's physical and mental abilities would be glaringly, obviously, and supernaturally superior over any kind of enhanced artificial human. I basically upgraded and streamlined Steve's supersoldier abilities ten times over. It would make Peggy's capabilities far beyond natural levels, making her immensely stronger, faster, durable and smarter than regular humans.
"She's going to be like an amazon from the old DC comics." I said as I kept my image and the changes that I want to make to Peggy in mind.
SKREEEE! I let the Phoenix Force fill my being and looked at the body before me; Peggy was aware of everything happening to her, she was just stuck in her body, unable to move, her soul was vacillating and almost about to be snuffed out.
"NEVER." My flames engulfed her, taking on the form of an egg. I felt it when I formed the cocoon of fire around her, but the change was already taking her, her body disappeared and turned into a collection of loose particles. Her soul was being safeguarded and reinforced by another part of me holding Peggy tight. And this was how I was going to completely remake her. I was now changing the conceptual nature of her body, improving its capabilities to amplify what a super soldier could already do.
It wasn't simple, but it took roughly an hour to do what would have taken Sinister at least a year. When I was done, I placed Peggy's soul into her spiritual core and it grafted perfectly onto her newly formed physical shell. Peggy was still asleep, but I felt that she wanted to wake up, she tensed; she remembered what had happened to her and was about to panic.
I soothed her spirit with a thread of empathy and infused focus and peace into her; that everything was alright. Her body went slack. I sighed in relief, I didn't want to be the first person she saw. It was Steve's moment. I tilted my head and thought about a certain Parker matriarch. *I will give her a tune up tonight too.*
# # #
(Margaret Elizabeth "Peggy" Carter )
Date ?
Place?
She opened her eyes to a wall of orange and yellow fire, she panicked and punched it, realizing that it didn't hurt, she wasn't burning. Peggy was left panting as the fire dissipated, turning white and simply ceasing to be. She was in a cave… no some sort of bunker and there were countless machines around her, medical ones she guessed.
There was a door at the end of the room, it was white with a little window at its center, surely to permit the staff to see if the room was occupied. Then Peggy realized that she was naked as she felt a breeze on her skin, she looked at her arms and frowned. Those weren't her arms, her skin was too tight, her breasts were not sagging anymore. "Bloody hell."
Peggy flinched, putting a hand on her mouth as she heard herself speak, this was her voice; she didn't sound like an old woman anymore. Was she dreaming? That wall of fire she saw when she woke up, was it a sign that she was in hell? She deserved it, she had allowed a big evil to survive. Closing her eyes, she accepted her fate.
The brunette felt herself being flicked on the forehead. Don't be silly. You are a good person, you would never go to hell, Peggy. Even if you went there I would still pick you up.
Peggy jumped from the cushioned medical table and landed gracefully on her feet. There was a strange sense of power and boundless energy she felt but she casually dismissed these sensations as she had heard the familiar voice of her protégé. "Jean? Girl, is that you?"
A feeling went through her that could only be described as 'Duh' and she heard a chuckle. I rescued you, and gave you back some time.
Peggy's eyes widened in surprise. "How? You-"
I brought back someone you need, too. Jean interrupted her train of thought.
Motes of light appeared and assembled to form grey pajamas on her body, it was strangely snug on her and form fitting. The door opened and someone she had lost hope to ever see again passed through it. Her vision became blurry as the man in iconic blue, white and red armor strode to her and took off his streamlined helmet, completely different from the one of before.
Peggy felt as if she was in a dream, she pinched herself and winced in pain. The blonde haired and blue eyed man that she kept seeing in her dreams took one of her hands in his and looked into her eyes. Peggy sniffled.
"Steve…" There were so many emotions in just the one name.
"Peggy." Steve said with wonder. Looking her up and down, from head to toe, her hair was brunette again and her eyes sparkled with life and… sadness. The British woman caught Steve's harness at a speed faster than a cobra striking and her other hand slammed on the man's right cheek. SLAP. He would have been propelled back to the door if Peggy hadn't held onto him.
Peggy was momentarily surprised by her strength and speed; she shook her head, it wasn't the time. She glared at Steve who held onto his cheek and saw the blood on his glove showing that he had a split lip. "You're late."
Steve had the decency to show guilt, he closed his eyes and exhaled a long drawn sigh. "I… deserved that."
Peggy took pity on him as she saw that he meant it, she seized his other harness and pulled him toward her. "Shut up and kiss me, you stupid idiot."
He obeyed and the two lost all sense of time and their surroundings as their miraculous reunion continued well into the night.
# # #
December 24th, 1996
Lab Complex
Medical room
03:45 AM
Peggy opened her eyes, feeling sore in places she would never have thought would be sore again. But she felt them slowly being soothed, and frowned at the strange sensation. She was in bed with Steve. They had done all sorts of lewd things on the medical bed and she didn't feel guilty at all. Why should she? It had been years since she had felt like a woman. She appreciated the way Steve held onto her tightly, as if afraid that she would disappear; it made her smile, because she felt the same way.
Peggy could smell sweat and sex, they had been going at it until just two hours ago and Steve had been rather… enthusiastic even though it was his first time. He had quickly gotten the hang of how to please her, bringing her to climax with clinical efficiency. *He needs more practice and I am eager to let him have it.*
But the intelligence agent in Peggy told her that she shouldn't indulge too much and should explore her new environment. However, the cage of muscles she was enveloped in didn't allow her to move; Peggy tried to pry herself from Steve's arms but they tightened around her.
"Pegs, you are awake?" Steve's muffled voice reached her ear.
She felt his hot breath on her cheek and smiled contentedly. "Yes, hun." Peggy held onto him and Steve slightly loosened his hold on her.
"You had barely…" Steve frowned as he thought, then his face cleared. "Two hours of sleep."
Peggy thought that it was longer than that, she felt like she had had at least eight hours of sleep. "Strange, I feel refreshed, I think I don't need much sleep any more."
Steve suddenly looked worried and freed Peggy from his embrace and sat upright, carefully hiding his privates with the bedsheet. "Jean told us that she would change you when she was done healing you, I guess she really meant it."
Peggy looked up, a sense of dread welling up in her. "Changed how?"
Steve began slowly fondling Peggy's hair she regaled in the sensation until her man spoke. "I don't really understand what she did, but she asked me permission to look at my body." Steve didn't realize that he should have phrased his sentence differently.
Peggy froze, then caught Steve's hand and lifted her head to look him in the eyes. "How close did she look?"
With an eyebrow cocked and a quirk of his lips Steve said, "Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?"
Harrumphing, at that presumption, Peggy sat upright then pouted at Steve. "She's barely seventeen, and you aren't into redheads."
Peggy remembered that Irish bimbo trying to get into Steve's pants fifty one years ago; she wasn't above using her position to try to sideline her to get to Steve. *God, how can I remember something from that long ago so perfectly?*
Steve put a hand around her waist, looking briefly at her chest then back at her face. Enough to remind Peggy that Steve was a man but still a gentle one.
"Never was…" Steve looked at her, as if she was the only woman that mattered to him.
To Peggy this was flattering and bolstering her ego in a way she had never felt before. She was running on a high that it was difficult for her to let go, but she calmed down, she forced herself to. "So what did she do to me?" Peggy stayed on subject.
The smile on Steve's lips disappeared, replaced by an anguished expression. He held onto Peggy tightly. "Pegs… it was bad; they had operated on you, put some poison capsules inside you with something called a miniaturized GPS tracking device. They also had injected you with-"
"A memory erasure serum, made by Howard." Peggy continued his sentence, still reliving that moment when she had felt more powerless than ever before in her life.
Her fist closed, making cracking noises. *I won't let it happen again.*
Steve nodded. "You wouldn't wake up and Jean said that you were dying, that your soul was fading…"
Peggy whipped her head toward him, looking at him in surprise. "My soul?" She had never believed in such drivel, but Jean being able to see her soul? That girl had powers that even she couldn't fathom, always using some random ability to serve her purpose. Every time Peggy interacted with Jean Grey or a mutant, they challenged her worldview.
They stayed silent for a while, Peggy wondering what Jean had shown to Steve to make the super soldier so introspective. She didn't need to wait for long as Steve spoke. "Peggy, the things she's able to do… I have a hard time believing that Jean Grey is human."
The brunette looked at him with a glare. "She's just a girl, Steve. I took her under my protection, powers or no, I will never see her differently."
Peggy had failed Jean once, but a second time? That was never going to happen.
"She could take on an army." Steve remarked.
He looked really sure of that, but Peggy knew better; the girl would never do anything to jeopardize her family. Taking down armies would put her on the map and wanted everywhere, just like Steve was. Peggy poked a finger at his chest. "You've done that too, Steve."
The blond haired man smiled. "You can also do that now, Pegs."
And there was the crux of the conversation, Jean had changed her, made her even stronger than Steve if her experience from last night was any indication. She had outlasted him in their... copulation and even bruised him; Peggy may have been too passionate in the moment. "I don't feel like it… it's weird now and I have to reassess everything that I can do. A lot of things are amplified now and my senses are out of this world, but there seems to be some built-in natural restrictions allowing me to dial down everything." Peggy looked at her hands, closing and opening them.
Steve stared at her with an evaluating gaze. "Jean does good work, maybe as good as Erskine."
That struck Peggy, Jean wasn't a scientist… not yet at least even though her knowledge and classes at school showed that she was inclined to become one. But for her to be able to be compared with the creator of the super soldier serum? "Jean is still in High school she would never-"
Steve raised a hand, making Peggy stop and told her bluntly, "Peggy, she made a nuclear bomb and used it."
Peggy's heart skipped, then she froze and looked at Steve. "You are kidding, right?"
Steve shook his head, his face taking on the haunted look of a man who had seen something that had shaken him. "No…"
Not being able to comprehend what she was hearing for a long time, Peggy prompted an explanation from Steve who told her everything he had done with Jean Grey. When he was finished, time seemed to slow down for Peggy who after swiftly making a decision, pushed any of her feelings out of the way.
Peggy became the SHIELD director she still was and said to Steve. "I think I need to go speak with my wayward charge." She quickly exited the bed, determination in every movement she made.
# # #
3 hours later
Dormitories
Common Room
Jean seemed to have known that she was in trouble as she was not in her lab or in her apartment. It was as she exited the tunnel leading to the dormitories section and into the common room that Peggy spotted her protégé. But she became distracted as her nose was attracted to the smell of bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, tomatoes and mushrooms, toast and... was that coffee? How could those smells be so distinctive? Steve caught Peggy's arm and pulled her to a table, the furniture was spartan and without ornament. The room had a recent paint job in blue, and was covered by posters with quotes as well as some large portraits.
All this told Peggy that the work on this room was new, that it wasn't like that before. There was a gigantic screen installed on the wall, facing some kind of booth for privacy, it looked familiar, like something you'd see in a American diner from the fifties. Peggy sniffed, they smelled new and recently installed from the marks she could see on the ground.
Seeking out Jean in the room, Peggy finally found her; there was a booth with four redheads, and a blond, they all looked as if they were from the same family; it wasn't a surprise for Peggy to recognize Jean and her elder sisters, there was a younger Jean in the crowd and that floored the agent. *Since when does Jean have a little sister?*
Jean was fussing over the little one as if she was a baby, she turned her head and finally noticed her. Peggy was almost blinded by the bright smile thrown her way by her charge. "I am here, Peggy! Come please!"
Peggy strode toward the booth, her tight white sundress limiting her movements; this was one of the things she was angry about. Jean had given her something so... revealing. The bright and innocent smile of the teenager didn't deceive her in the least, Peggy knew that Jean had done it deliberately; Steve had to get a quickie after he had seen her in it; then she had to convince him that such a dress was normal and that he wouldn't have to punch anyone for looking at her the wrong way.
Narrowing her eyes, Peggy stomped as she shouted, "Jean! We have to talk, young lady!"
Everyone present stared between Peggy and Jean; the elder Grey sisters watched the drama unfold with rapt attention and smiles on their faces. Voice low and a nervous chuckle Jean replied, "Aww, don't be like that Peggy."
In a flash of blue light, Jean disappeared from the table she sat at and was suddenly before Peggy and hugged her fiercely. "I did it for you." The teenage girl said in her ear.
Peggy's arms locked around the redhead's body, in a sense she understood what Jean felt. Only her family and friends mattered to her; still, this was a dangerous path to take, viewing those around her as either allies or enemies. Today's friend could be tomorrow's enemy and the reverse was also true. It's important to respect even those you disagree with at the moment because you never know who might be helpful down the line. "Jean…"
Jean stepped back but still held onto Peggy and told her with eyes glowing. "I'd do it again. No one messes with my loved ones."
Peggy blinked and the golden glowing eyes disappeared, a smile blossomed on Jean's face. The agent sighed and patted Jean's cheek. She resolved herself that Jean would be a work in progress and that she wasn't a psychopath at least, it would have been bad for the world. "At least, I know you care."
Jean laughed. "Of course I do! You are like my fav grandma…" She checked out Peggy's body covered by the too tight sundress. "...well, you don't look like one anymore." Jean snickered and let go of her.
Peggy reddened, she couldn't believe that a girl barely out of her nappy was checking her out. "You cheeky brat, don't think I won't-"
Someone interrupted her, it was the young blonde woman at the other end of the table who stood up and walked up to her. Like Jean she wore a blue puff sleeve summer dress, but hers had floral prints. "Peggy, I am so glad you're okay."
Her voice was familiar, her posture as well; she looked like Jean but with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Who…?"
The blonde's eyes widened, there was a bit of sadness in them as well. "You don't recognize me? It's me, Elaine!"
Peggy stepped back and stared in more detail at the gorgeous blonde, she was barely twenty five and had a voluptuous body; an hourglass figure, and slightly toned muscles. Yes, now she was seeing the resemblance, she looked like what Elaine might have looked like in her youth. But Peggy refused to see it. "No… you are too young."
The snickering of the redhead at her side disturbed Peggy, Jean went to hug the young blonde woman and kissed her cheek. As she turned to Peggy she said, "Did you think I would make you young again and leave my parents in the lurch?"
*No, no you wouldn't.* Peggy thought as she looked between Elaine and her daughter. "I see." Then Peggy turned her head to the girls at the table behind them and looked at the Jean clone in particular, she didn't know how right she was with her guess.
"Who is that?" Peggy lifted her chin toward Madelyn.
Jean looked at the preteen looking girl and said with warmness, "This is Madelyn, my little sister."
Peggy narrowed her eyes at the little girl who held onto Sarah Grey as she felt shy. "You don't have a little sister, Jean." The agent said with certainty.
Jean placed herself between Madelyn and Peggy. "Sinister cloned me, technically I am her mother. But…"
Madelyn interrupted Jean. "Mother Elektra told me that calling Big sis Jean, mother is dangerous. So, she's my sister now."
Peggy looked at how the girl held herself, the childish lilt of her voice and noticed how young Madelyn seemed, the syrup on her face as she had been eating pancakes. Everything screamed toddler to her, there was no way she was that young with the body of a preteen, right? The agent didn't know what to think, she needed more information to evaluate the situation. "I think we all need to discuss this after breakfast, is that okay with you, Elaine?"
Elaine nodded and returned to the table, sat and then looked at Peggy, signalling her to take a chair and join them. "John is going to be here soon and he needs to be here for the retelling anyway. You and your boyfriend can join us?"
Everyone looked at Steve who had stayed rather silent. He smiled, then nodded at Peggy. Two chairs floated down and were added to the booth, clearly something Jean would do. But Peggy was surprised to see that it was Sarah Grey doing the moving with her mind by adding plates and loading food onto them for Steve and Peggy.
*Yes, I have a lot of things to catch up on.* Peggy realized.
# # #
(Phil Coulson)
Communication room
10:12 AM
He couldn't believe he was seeing her awake, she was younger, stronger and her mind was sharper. Peggy Carter was watching Fury's presentation having confirmed her status and given the codes and passphrase signalling that it was really her. He was now briefing her about what had happened and now she looked quite shocked by what she was hearing.
Captain Rogers was at the side of the room, observing from afar, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his face had become steadily darker and he looked disappointed; Phil couldn't even look him in the eyes, somehow thinking that the people had failed the man.
Phil's gaze settled back on Peggy who sat on a chair behind the central desk in the room. The holographic screen scrolling down with different folders and files liberated from the hard drives from Camp Lehigh.
"Have you confirmed it?" Peggy asked once Fury was done reporting.
Fury put himself at attention, "Yes, Ma'am. Jean Grey detonated a fusion bomb on a military base, project Rebirth had never ceased and had become a haven for the more reclusive and unethical scientists Hydra possess. Thanks to the hard drives retrieved by Captain Rogers and Jean Grey we know what they were all about."
The black man manipulated the mouse and on the holo-screen some videos began to play, some showing horrible human experimentation and others showing weapons testing. "Illegal experiments on humans, designer drugs and other kinds of serums to enhance the body, weapons testing… there's a lot more."
Peggy stared at the screen with disgust, her hands trembled as rage appeared visibly on her face. She watched as each of the video clips ended. The SHIELD director was now seeing how dangerous Hydra had become, they weren't just entrenched in their government, they led it and it took them fifty one years; a great number of countries were also almost taken over.
*They didn't lose, losing the war was barely a setback for them at some point as they used the United States' goodwill as a springboard to spread their ideology.*
The desk fractured where Peggy's elbows were. "And it was in New Jersey, in my sphere of influence."
The silence was deafening, none of the men present tried to console her or sugarcoat it to her. Steve looked down at Peggy, a troubled expression passing on her face.
Fury looked at Phil, then at the cap. Each of the men were in their own thoughts, but he took his courage in hand and chose to say, "Yes, ma'am."
A fierce glare was directed at Fury who put himself even more at attention. "What is being done to unveil this situation to people we trust?"
"Ma'am we can't go to the usual contacts for this. We have no means to know who is Hydra or SHIELD…"
Fury was wrong, Jean was there… but he didn't want to be indebted to her. *Too bad that I already took the necessary steps to secure Jean's help. She can see who is guilty or innocent.*
Peggy threaded her fingers together and put them under her chin. "Then… I declare that we are going dark and will start Operation Clean Sweep." Peggy looked at Phil and Fury with a fierce smile. "We will ask forgiveness later, but we are going to need to take out the Hydra High Command in our country and beyond. I took steps to secure help… and Jean Grey has promised to support us; however, it's not going to be free."
Fury let go of his military posture in shock. "What?" The man had hoped that this operation would be only with his people and that the girl would only lend them her resources.
Phil chuckled and took a twenty dollar bill from his pocket and went to give it to the Cap who received it with a smug smile. "I told you he wouldn't like it."
# # #
Back with Jean…
Bayville
Darkholm Mansion
08:15 AM (US Local time)
I appeared before a driveway leading to an American colonial style three story house with a blue tiled roof and a gorgeous garden of flowers surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn. I located Mystique there in Bayville; her current cover was that of a high school principal, she lived there with someone, I could detect a female mind inside beside Raven's.
Walking to the house's entrance, I knocked on the glossy blue wooden door and pushed the bell's button and waited. I was seeking out Raven's help for a good reason. It was time to rally the troops and fight for what was right. Fury had reluctantly given me a list of people to go pick up, most of them would be tough extractions in what I now considered enemy territory. The man was ordered to play nice with me and stay professional, so I had to meet him halfway too. So, now I treated him with all the respect I would give a casual acquaintance. I hoped he didn't mistake my fake smiles and professional body language as me deferring to him. I'd totally punch him in the throat if I knew I wouldn't lose respect in the eyes of Steve, Phil and Peggy.
After a bout of meditation I remembered details from his biography in the Marvel Database, Fury, the one who wasn't the Disney cookie cutter version was a highly paranoid individual who often made enemies of people who would otherwise be allies as in the long term he shafted them or took advantage of them for some conspiracy or other scheme. This Fury wasn't like that yet, but I saw the signs of his descent into paranoia; my instincts told me to watch my back as long as he was alive.
With Fury taking his own people and allies on the op, why shouldn't I do the same? If there was someone who was good at infiltration it was a certain shapeshifter, the first metahuman I had come to like more than Logan. And I was being careful, I didn't want him to order any of his people to stab me in the back; although I wouldn't be surprised if he did. This was why I found myself before Raven's door, I could trust her at least more than Fury.
Looking at my foot, checked if I was presentable; I was wearing my best attire of the day, a tight black long sleeved deep V neck shirt, matching black tight leather mini skirt and knee high boots.
*I look good.* I didn't opt for a jacket as the weather had no effect on me.
Sensing someone approaching and opening the door, a taller and lithe teenaged girl with brunette hair with a white lock of hair and pale green eyes appeared. She wore a wooly green sweater, black jeans and comfy bunny slippers. She looked annoyed and I felt that she was rather unwilling to cooperate from the get go. "Who are ya?"
I instantly knew who she was and it was all I could do to not fangirl over her. With an engaging smile I said, "Good morning, I am Jean Grey and I've come to see Miss Darkholm." I didn't hold my hand out to her, I knew better.
She narrowed her eyes at me. "Ya a student or somethin'?" Looking me up and down, her gaze settled for half a second on my cleavage, my hair and eyes.
I nodded. "Oh, yes she taught me a lot of things."
"Fine, ya can enter." She said, and I found her southern belle accent really attractive.
I entered Mystique's domain, waited for Rogue -because yes it was Rogue!- to close the door, she also gave me disposable slippers made of some kind of paper material to put over my boots. I watched her going deeper inside the house, my gaze firmly fixed on her ass. *The comics were accurate.*
She stopped in the short corridor leading to a massive living room. Everything was either blue, white or gold, Raven sure had a good theme there. Rogue turned to me, her eyes stormy and a hand on her hips. "Will ya follow instead of watchin' ma ass?"
Why was she so cute even… calm down me, you have Cindy remember? I sighed, "Of course, I couldn't but think how beautiful you were, you have a nice ass." I answered truthfully.
She blushed prettily, caught herself then glared back at me. "Did ya come tah hit on me?"
I chuckled and straightened a lock of hair falling on my face. "I really want to say yes. Sadly, it would be a lie if I said it, and if there's something I am not, it's a liar. I've really come to look for Miss Darkholm."
She looked me up and down, a faint smile on her lips. "Sure, tell yerself that sugah."
I shrugged, it didn't matter if she didn't believe me. She intentionally rolled her hips as she walked up to the next room and shouted: "Mom, there's some redheaded girl here for you!"
*Wow, she has a great set of lungs.* I thought.
There was silence for five seconds before a familiar voice shouted from the first floor, "I'm coming!"
Crossing my arms under my chest, I looked at Rogue, then at the furniture and decoration. This house felt lived in, not a decoy house that an operative would use to have some cover story. *So, Raven lives here for real.*
Rogue observed me, and finally acted like a host. "Do ya want somethin' to eat, or tea?"
Uncrossing my arms I nodded. "Tea please, though I didn't come empty handed either, here." Two stacked boxes of German Hazelnut cookies appeared in my hands in a flash of blue light.
"Aaah!" Rogue stepped back and fell, shocked by my display of power.
Frowning, I looked at her surprised face, made the box float around me and said, "Hmm, there's nothing to fear you know?"
Wasn't she used to displays of metahuman abilities? I found it weird that she reacted this way. I held my hand to her, with the intention of helping her back on her feet.
However, Rogue skittishly back paddled across the floor with fear in her eyes. "Stay back!"
Stomping feet were heard as they ran down the stairs leading upstairs. I wasn't surprised to see Raven in a warm and long woolen white dress. She had glasses and her blue skin and golden eyes were clearly visible; Raven's gaze instantly zeroed in on the fallen girl. "Anna!"
The shapeshifter placed herself between me and her daughter, wiping a fast kick to my face at the same time; I held a finger reinforced with chi and stopped her from kicking me in the neck. "Hi, Raven?"
Raven slightly let her stance go and looked at me with wide eyes. "Jean?!" The shapeshifter let her leg fall and straightened herself.
I lifted my head and grinned tauntingly. "In the flesh."
Raven's skin shifted back to beige instead of blue, she walked up to me. "I thought…" Then she stopped and stepped back as she realized something. "no wait... Sinister had you, how can I be sure that you are who you look like or haven't been brainwashed?"
She's the first one to actually ask the question and be on her guard, Raven was healthily paranoid. I tilted my head and sent a stream of memories into her mind, I showed her how I killed Sinister and all his clones. "That's a good question." I said and showed a wrathful expression on my face. "I killed the fucker with these hands. Not before he could clone me though."
I felt Rogue… no, Anna's fear spiked as she listened to me. Then, I felt fear coming from Raven, it seemed that showing her how I could raze the entire planet on a whim didn't do her peace of mind any good.
Raven slowly approached me, hesitantly put a hand on my face and inspected me. I could sense her discomfort and wariness slowly lower as she looked into my eyes. She gave me a bright smile with all teeth that reached her sparkling gold eyes. "Where have you been? Your parents were kidnapped by SHIELD, I heard?"
My smile quickly melted, leaving place to my lips thinning. "No, I took them to safety; someplace secret for now."
Raven pushed her glasses up her nose after observing me for a long moment. "Why are you here?"
"I've come to ask you for help." I said, and made the cookie boxes float toward her and made her catch them. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Can we discuss this over tea and these cookies I brought?" I bribed her with sweets, one of her known weaknesses.
She sniffed the box and her face lit up with eagerness, then looked at me who was smiling with a smug smile.
Raven harrumphed, then she nodded. "Very well Jean, follow me."
I looked at Anna who averted her gaze from mine, it made me somehow sad. Raven looked between us two and sighed. "Anna, she doesn't want to hurt you."
If I wanted to, all I would need was to nuke the house, but I didn't say it out loud. My head turned to Raven who looked embarrassed by the reaction of her daughter, there must be a story there. "Raven, you should have told me you had a daughter my age, she is so pretty."
The shapeshifter said nothing and left to prepare tea. She was still wary of me and wanted to keep her secrets, like the fact that Anna was her biological daughter. This was completely different from what I knew from canon Rogue and Mystique. *Marvel, what in the name of Stan Lee are you doing?* Another proof that I couldn't rely on my canon knowledge.
With a weary smile I focused on Anna and held my hand to her. "Here let me help you, darling."
Fear etched on her delicate and graceful face, she didn't want to touch me because her metahuman ability had awakened three years ago. I didn't even have to use my telepathy on her, her mind was so terrified and undisciplined that it was as if she was her own Imax theater and let me see her memories and projected her thoughts by shouting them at me.
"I c-can't touch you." Anna backed away a little more and her back hit the sofa.
"Oh dear, I assure you that nothing will happen if you do, take my hand." I insisted.
The fear she felt was replaced by resolve, she looked at me and took my hand, "Your funeral…"
Our skin touched and her powers automatically tried to absorb my vitality, my memories and essence; they allowed her to copy abilities. It seemed that she wasn't limited to only those, I would have to study her more in depth but for now it was easy to block her from absorbing anything from me. I hefted her up, she widened her eyes as she felt nothing rushing from me to her.
"See." I gave her my most handsome smile.
She still held onto my hand, looked from it to my face and shouted in complete awe. "How are you…?!" I let go of her, but she grabbed my hand with something akin to desperation and said, "Wait…"
But it wasn't meant to be as Raven appeared through the door leading to the kitchen and asked, "Is something the matter?"
I said nothing as I took my hand back from Anna; Raven felt quite surprised that I could touch her but didn't show it outwardly. She had a lot of self control. "Jean, maybe we should take this in the tea room?"
"Sure." I said to Raven after waving my hand at the girl. "It was nice to meet you Anna." I followed her mother to the tea room where we would without a doubt be able to talk business.