c14

Egypt Base

December 19th, 1996

I was dreaming, I knew that but reliving so many different memories, impressions and using skills I wasn't aware I had was clearly beneficial. The Phoenix Force was one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, possessing the unlimited power to create and destroy anything and everything. I needed this knowledge to stay in control of the phoenix force.

Phoenix was helping me by giving me the memories of countless hosts who had gained control of the Phoenix Force and proceeded to help her safeguard the universe. I was learning how to go swim into a sun, generate cosmic storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, cosmic rays, coronal mass ejection and black holes. It was dangerous; having this level of power was a massive responsibility and I didn't want to use those kinds of phenomena yet.

I wouldn't shirk my duties, though. I made a deal and I planned on seeing it through. As I watched a Phoenix host use the same disintegration waves I used on Sinister and Sublime, I asked myself if there was a way to lower the power of such an ability without it consuming and removing a near infinite amount of molecules per second.

One of the most controversial abilities to date was the life-force control; a female host was taking the "life energy" from some kind of space whale, rendering it "dead"; I wasn't surprised though, the Phoenix Force could control and manipulate life and death itself. If I were to use such an ability on an entire planet what would happen? I visualized Mars, and thought that maybe this was what had happened to it.

Phoenix continued to filter the more relevant memories and skills to me; cosmic pyrokinesis, one of my favorite skills from Phoenix. The next host generated cosmic flames; they could be created under any conditions, even the impossible ones such as the vacuum of space or underwater. These flames did not require oxygen to burn, burning so intensely that matter was wholly consumed without by-products such as ash. The host had perfect control over these flames, and they only consumed what it willed.

I had noticed that it burned everything I wanted to burn just like the wiki had said it would. Energy absorption was the next skill, I was shown that I could directly absorb, manipulate and fully control any type of energy; such as the energy of a star, a black hole or even a whole galaxy. This… was scary as hell. The next ability that another female host showed me was where she was transmigrating throughout time and space by folding its energy back into itself, causing it to collapse akin to a black hole. Then she reformed herself when she'd reached her destination in another part of the universe, much like the Phoenix of ancient myths.

Cosmic teleportation was simply awesome, the next host teleported herself and others across vast distances such as to another planet or galaxy, or farther, even an entirely different timeline. Then the memories became more esoteric and touched on temporal manipulation, the skills Phoenix had used to show Peter what had happened to his counterpart in Earth 616, control over existence, matter transmutation, limited nigh-omnipotence and future life force tap.

I preferred the more concrete skills such as a concussive force blast powerful enough to destroy whole planetary bodies. Then Phoenix pecked me on the head again to pay attention to her more abstract skills. (It's important.)

I was shown how everything was interlinked- that there was an ecology to everything. The movement of planets, galaxies and their clusters. How to influence a species or fight incursions from beyond the multiverse. I learned to dissociate myself from my feelings when doing those tasks and to be one with the Phoenix Force, its instrument. I was a bloody cosmic gardener, it made me laugh.

(This is what it means to be a Phoenix avatar.) Phoenix added grandly as she had a representation of the universe between her hands.

I nodded. "I understand."

Phoenix pressed a palm against my cheek. (Do you?)

Not totally but I was sure that, with experience, I'd perfect my understanding. "I will be ready for the role."

She sighed, she knew me a bit too well. (Good enough.)

I stared into my hands, feeling the power that was coursing through me, the understanding of each of my abilities. I could do whatever I wanted, my power was only limited by my imagination and will on the fabric of reality. "Hmm, I can now fly unaided through the vacuum of space, and can travel interstellar distances faster than the speed of light. The possibilities."

(Now it's time to wake up, you have people to protect.) My cosmic counterpart slapped me back into my body.

# # #

04:35 PM (Egypt time)

Opening my eyes, I jolted upright. I remained in my bed inside my new bedroom. Feeling rested and aware of my environment, I sluggishly exited the red and white bedsheets of my bed. "That was a nice nap, what time is it?"

Taking the tablet that was charging on the nightstand on the left of the bed, the lock screen showed me that it was 04:36 PM right now, I whistled. I'd slept for half a day. That realization jolted me out of bed and made me teleport to the showers and proceed to get a cool shower. I missed my mom, dad and even Madelyn who I had left with Elektra to get to know her better.

Goldie stored my clothes and I walked naked into the showers. The ground was covered in non-slip white tiles, the shower system was kind of high-tech and reminded me of those artificial waterfalls I had seen in TV ads in my previous reality.

All of a sudden it dawned on me that my symbiote had become unnaturally silent since we retrieved Venom. Maybe she had something on her mind? "How are you doing today, Goldie? Is there anything different since we changed?"

[Uncertain: Changed something has.] Something was making Goldie feel anxious and… lost?

I pushed the water tap of the waterfall shower and it fell in a trickle on me at first, gradually getting stronger. "Like what? Can we still use the powers from the people whose DNA you assimilated?"

This was an ability I didn't want her to lose; it was precious and a game changer. I pushed the button of the soap dispensary and took a handful, lathering it onto my skin.

[Acquiescence: It's about the Voice of the Cosmos, we are cut off from it.]

So Goldie was unable to call for help to the nearest Klyntar hosts. I didn't think we'd lost anything too precious; Goldie was in my body when I had gotten my rebirth, she may have gotten cut off from the Klyntar network but she must have gained new abilities. "Is it really bad? Because I don't want to think about what would happen if more Klyntar were to come on my planet."

Goldie was silent for a moment. Then with a lot of doubt and worries, she added, [Uncertain: Different it is. What should I do?]

I hugged my Klyntar friend mentally and began to think fast. I didn't like the fact that she seemed to hurt inside like this. Then a lightbulb lit up in my mind. "You can create your own network with your own progeny, right?"

[Pondering: Think about this I must.] Goldie then went silent, but I could still feel her thinking.

Smiling, I was pleased I'd given her something to think about. "Okay, dear. Give me your answer when you are ready."

All I received at that was her acquiescence, meanwhile I finished my ablutions. I felt really clean after the problems of this morning. I felt good, rested but not at peace. This was becoming a problem, I needed introspection. The waterfall shower ceased to flow and I dried myself with a thought. Holding a few locks of hair, I noted that I needed a hairdresser, urgently.

I was surprised that Goldie wasn't dressing me like she usually did; the symbiote was really busy thinking, so I did the next best thing. As I walked out of the shower room, my Phoenix costume materialized on my body. It was red and gold, still with the Phoenix Force Symbol. I hated it, it looked like a silly spandex suit; nevertheless it was simply too comfortable because it felt like I wore nothing. As I looked closer at the fabric I observed that it was made of the psionic energy! So the Phoenix costume was pure psionic energy, and capable of materializing instantly and conforming to whatever shape and structure the wearer chooses. A bit like the Green Lantern's uniforms. Hmm, it was essentially pure energy wrapped around me, and designed to keep me comfortable, safe, and no longer needing to eat, sleep, or worry about traveling through space.

"This is handy, but I still don't like the spandex look. Maybe I can customize it?" A thought for later.

By spreading my awareness, I felt that everyone was gathered in the kitchen. May and Ben were getting to know my subordinates and Pete was scarfing down food like a pig. I shook my head. Not wanting to see anyone, I teleported out of the base and appeared in the sky and a verdant valley was under me. It was beautiful, an oasis sheltered in the desert; and it was mine.

I smiled at this little fact and let my inner fire out, allowing it to flow through me as the Phoenix Force filled my entire being. My own personal power swelled to almost infinity. Lifting my head I decided to give myself a little treat and go on a walk throughout the solar system.

SKREEE! I blasted out into the sky and quickly reached the Thermosphere, I turned myself mid flight and looked at the blue and green globe under me. As I ascended, shooting for the stars, my planet's size was becoming very small. As I left orbit, I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. There was so much debris and so many satellites around it that I found it… unsanitary and not responsible.

*Maybe there was a business in recycling them for cheap, that's a plan.* I opened my life-sight.

I hadn't had time to admire Earth the last time I had been in space since I had been busy killing Sinister and his stable of clones, but Earth was beautiful. I was born on this planet. I gazed at its blue oceans and green wilderness; its deserts and jungles, the lakes. I loved her so much. She was beauty; she was wonder; she was heaven by divine design.

My life-sight focused on the organisms all over the surface and the depths of the oceans. Earth, she was ecology; she was genetics, her lifeforms evolved and my love for her was absolute. In this wide universe there could be no finer planet for any species than their natural home. However, my sight also showed me the ugliness, the pollution spread all over my beautiful world.

The top ten sites of pollution were Chernobyl- the infamous site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Dzerzhinsk, Russia, one of Russia's principal manufacturing sites of chemical weapons. Kabwe, Zambia, legacy of decades of lead and zinc mining had left a city poisoned by debilitating concentrations of lead dust in the soil and by metals in the water. The same for Oroya in Peru, another mining town. Linfen, in China where residents literally choked on coal dust in the evenings. Mailuu-Suu was home to nearly two million cubic meters of radioactive mining waste that threatened the entire Ferghana valley, one of the most fertile and densely populated areas in Central Asia. Norilsk, Russia, an industrial city founded in 1935 as a slave labor camp, the Siberian city of Norilsk housed the world's largest heavy metals smelting complex.

Then Sumgayit, in Azerbaijan where harmful emissions of industrial and agricultural chemicals were released annually. And the worst of the worst, in China, Tianying, that was one of the largest lead production bases; the lead concentrations in the air and soil made my eyes water just by looking at it. How could people live in this filth?

They needed to open their eyes and see the many gifts bestowed upon us by the planet. What more did they want? What more did they need? What could I do to fix the planet? Because I was sure as hell not leaving it like this!

It all came down to great power and great responsibilities again. My hands twitched, knowing I could fix everything with a wave of them, but- would humanity learn if I just did it myself? No, they would continue on as though nothing had changed. What I needed to do was create the tools to enable them to clean up their messes, and educate them to not repeat their mistakes.

Hmph, "Easier said than done."

My Phoenix flames coalesced around me in the Raptor of life's form, space debris and micro-meteorite bouncing off me. With a thought, I went to warp speed toward Jupiter. Earth became miniscule as I travelled faster than the speed of light. I travelled from Earth to the Jovian planet in one minute; just like that I covered 633.54 million km.

I stopped flying and watched as familiar stripes and swirls were now before my eyes. I felt its immense gravity; but it had no hold on me as I didn't want it to. I passed a hand into its windy clouds. It was actually cold. The atmosphere was made of hydrogen and helium. I could smell the ammonia and see the water in the clouds. I flew backward as I saw the giant red spot bigger than Earth, it was a storm that had been raging for hundreds of years.

I passed between Io and Jupiter and went back to Warp, this time shooting for Mars, I wasn't crazy enough to go to Titan yet. I flamed over Mars and landed on its surface with a crack, leaving a little crater. Looking left and right, I checked to see if there was anyone. Spreading my awareness all over the planet, I found… no one. With my life-sight I did discover bacteria.

Looking into the sky I saw that the sky of Mars near the Sun appeared blue, while the sky far away from the Sun appeared red. I was the first person on Mars since... ever! With my TK, I dug a bit more into the crater and enlarged it for over three kilometers in diameter and used the martian soil to cover it with a crystalyne diamond dome; then I buried deep for over ten meters and packed the soil and transmuted it to stone.

I created stairs that led up and to an exit which I opened in the dome's lattice, that I elongated to turn into a makeshift entry lock. I levitated sixty meters up in the air, and there was a lot of space there. With a wave, I covered the base of the future martian house with another dome made of stone. "It's going to be great, all I need are more tools and resources to develop it. A good hobby for later."

Landing, I glanced up again. As the dome was transparent, the sky was still visible to me, the disk of the Sun appearing mostly white, with a slight bluish tinge. I would need to be careful with ionizing radiation when I brought the girls. I teleported outside the dome, it wasn't necessary for me to take a breath but I could still analyze the atmosphere with my powers. There was not much air on Mars- the atmospheric pressure there was less than one one-hundredth of what we breathed on Earth. There was potential there.

I would need a lot of icy comets to melt and thicken the atmosphere. Mars was alive. Dying, yes, but still alive. My Phoenix powers compelled me to attempt to save her, but I lacked time and didn't feel confident in my mastery of the Phoenix Force, yet. I walked away from my domed future residence and thought about the dreams Phoenix had led me through.

Control. I needed control and the red costume showed me how lacking I was in that domain. My heart was full of hatred for my dead enemies. Fear was what controlled my heart and guided my actions. What was there to fear anymore? Sinister? I buried his ashes in the sand.

Was I afraid because I didn't know what the future would bring? I had lived in fear for years and now I was finally free. But I didn't know what to do? I stared into the sky, allowing my awareness to spread all over the solar system and I focused on the Earth. "It needs my help. That's home. On it, everyone I love, everyone I know, needs to thrive and Stan Lee only knows how fucked up this universe is."

Was I strong enough, though? Marvel had a tendency to try to strike back hard. Fear of the unknown, yes that was a problem. I couldn't let fear control me though so I would smash through every obstacle. I put my fist before me, and fire covered my entire body. The Dune Litany Against Fear came to my mind, it portrayed exactly what I wanted.

"I will not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

I will face my fear.

I will let it pass through me.

When the fear has gone,

there shall be nothing.

Only I will remain."

I repeated the Litany Against Fear like a mantra until I believed it, up till my mind focused on my future goals. Better the world, better myself and bring those worthy into the sun. *Nah, sounded too man-of-steely.*

"I will just make a ton of money, heal the planet and try to lead metahumans and vanilla humans into the future by cooperating like I originally wanted to." Something strange occured when I said that, my costume changing from red to green. The color change spread from the Phoenix Force Symbol to the entire psionic cloth-like construct covering my body.

I grinned at it. "Well that's a big sign that I am on the right path."

(Congratulations, you won't go mad with power anymore.)

I jumped in surprise, holding my hand on my chest. "Huh, thanks Phoenix…"

(Now go back home, mom needs to speak with you.)

I really didn't like how she tried to boss me around. A no was on the tip of my tongue but mom wanting to see me was more important. "Fine, I needed to give her one of the satellite communicators anyway." I sighed and opened a portal to my lab, not caring that I was on Mars.

Looking behind me, I stared at the big dome and smiled. Then, I entered the portal, curious about what my mother wanted.

# # #

(Elaine Grey)

New York, Queens

Penthouse

01:37 PM

Elaine dialed her friend's number again only to reach the voice-mail for the third time. The Grey matriarch hung up the handset of the phone back on the desk. She looked at the time om the clock nearest to her and bit her lips. *Peggy isn't answering. Strange.*

Elaine heard the main door to the penthouse's entrance open, and the soft footfalls and the crinking of grocery bags could be heard."Mom, can you please come give me some help?!"

"Julia?" Elaine cried out from the living room.

The Grey Matriarch walked out of the living room to the entry hall, dressed in a black heavy winter coat with two large grocery bags in her arms. She couldn't see her daughter's face as the bags obscured it."I got everything you asked me on the list."

Elaine helped her daughter, taking a looked inside, it was mainly ingredients for tonight's dinner. "Good girl, but why didn't you ask any of the nice young men guarding this place to help you?"

Julia whispered in a conspiratorial tone, "Well, I don't trust them… Jean doesn't either, so I assumed that I shouldn't ask anything."

Elaine sighed, lamenting that her daughters were all being paranoid about SHIELD because Jean didn't trust them and that was enough for her. The two women went to the kitchen to store the groceries, they were done in ten minutes. However the arrival of a certain younger redhead in a flash of blue light surprised them.

Jean appeared in a green skin-tight and form fitting costume with a strange bird symbol on her, her gloves, sash and thigh high boots were a golden color. She oozed maturity and sex appeal. *There's no way my daughter will go out like this!*

"Hi there, mom." Jean greeted, voice low.

Julia glomped her younger sister, holding her tight. "Jean! You are back."

Elaine's mood lightened at the display of affection between her two had become distant when the eldest had left for university so it was great to see that blood was thicker than water and that there were no hard feelings between them.

Julia let go of Jean and Elaine seized this brief instant to ask in a disapproving tone. "Jean what are you wearing?"

The younger redhead looked down at herself, cheeks reddening and she crossed her arms under her breasts and petulantly said, "That's my Phoenix costume."

Jean must have felt that Elaine didn't approve of her current get up that didn't leave anything to the imagination and opted to become defiant and ready to argue.

Julia chuckled. "It's really corny."

The comment made Jean feel self conscious of her costume and in a haze of flame it slowly disappeared until the young woman wore a different outfit that covered her as the previous costume disappeared. She now wore a turquoise top with an expansive cleavage window and tactical black pants with a tasteful belt with a golden falcon shaped buckle. "Tell me about it… at least I can change clothes at the drop of a hat now."

Julia gaped at her sister, then gushed over her, holding onto her shoulders. "That is so unfair! I want to know how to do that too!"

Jean smiled patronizingly. "Maybe another time, sis." And Julia looked stubborn, not letting go of her sister at all. The sisters were intransigent like that.

Elaine's youngest sighed, trying to ignore her sister by turning to her mother. "Hey, mom, I felt that you needed to see me. Is there something I can do for you?"

She nodded, taking her daughter's hand in hers. "Yes, are you down for dinner with us tonight?"

Jean was hiding for a reason that escaped Elaine, holed up in Egypt and helping people. The matriarch wanted her daughter back with her, like she used to- before all that freedom changed her and she developed bad habits. She had lived alone before meeting her husband, John, and it wasn't a good period in her life.

Elaine put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and looked at her in the eyes. "I invited Peggy, but there seems to be complications as she isn't answering my calls"

Jean's mother wouldn't say that it was also a means to curb Jean's streak of bad decisions. Peggy often had good ideas on how to handle her daughter; she could lead Jean to think it's good for her to do certain actions, like staying with them more or returning to school. Elaine was aware that Jean wanted to test out of school and work on going to college pronto, but she wanted her daughter to not lose her way or stop interacting with people.

As Elaine schemed, Jean pondered over the current loss of contact with her mentor. "Strange, she never lets go of it. Let's give it another hour and we will call her again."

Elaine nodded, happy her baby was distracted from her own feelings and wouldn't guess her intentions. "If you are hungry now, I can give you something filling to help you before dinner."

A smile slowly spread on Jean's face, her stomach rumbling on cue. "Huh, that's fine I guess." The younger Grey blushed as her belly continued to make a show of its smirked. Her daughter was a glutton and could easily be bribed with food, just like her elder sisters. But there was no reward without the stick. "And are you helping with the cooking, Jean?"

Jean must have seen something in the eyes of her mother as she plastered a fake smile on her face and shouted with mock enthusiasm, "Totally! I wouldn't have it any other way, mom."

Elaine laughed and pulled her daughter toward the kitchen island. Julia whispered 'sucker' in the background as she giggled at Jean's meekness toward their mother, then smiled as she trailed after them to help, leaving her winter coat on the nearest hanger.

# # #

Back with Jean…

05:05 PM

I'd been roped into making dinner because I was a sucker like that where my mom was concerned. She just had to ask with those scary eyes and I kept folding like a house of cards. It made me wonder where the superpowered being that had killed Sinister and had reshaped landscapes or had gone to Mars was. I was currently peeling potatoes, like a good daughter would for her mother.

Sighing, I continued to peel multiple potatoes with TK which was actually a good control exercise. I took my time though, not wanting to go too fast and mess up the ingredients. There was something refreshing about doing mundane tasks with my powers. It was grounding. It made me realize that I wanted things to go back to normal too, be there with my family and hang out with my friends.

As we worked, mom, Julia and I were also watching a spanish soap opera marathon. As the last episode was ending I was already done with the potatoes that I crushed into purée in a bowl for my mother. I looked at the time and frowned, Peggy should have called back already to tell us if she was coming or not. She was too responsible and conscientious to leave us hanging like this.

"Mom, I'm going to call uncle Phil. He must know what has been happening." A feeling of foreboding filled me.

"Alright, Jean." My mom said absently as she observed as the actress proceeded to order the assassination of the love interest.

There was no way she was focusing on what I said. I shrugged and took out my GSM from Goldie's mysterious storing space. Since it was discharged it wouldn't turn on. I sighed; it'd been one month since I had bothered with it. A crafty smile blossomed upon my face as I took out the battery from the phone and slowly began charging it with a really low charge of electricity.

The battery would be damaged after a bit of use, but I intended to build myself a smartphone anyway. I did have the tech for it. After five minutes I stopped charging the battery and slotted it back into the phone and turned it on. It was one of those old Nokia brick phones that were super solid.

*Hmm, I am at half the bar for the battery.*

I quickly scrolled through my contact list through the tiny digital screen and found uncle Phil's number. Hitting call, I pressed the phone against my ear and listened as there was a dial tone. It went straight to voicemail.

"Hello, this is Phil. Thanks for calling. Please leave your name, number, and the reason you'd like to chat, and I'll get back to you ASAP."

Beep.

"Fuck." I muttered, trying again.

It gave me the same message, and I was forced to call on a number I thought I never would, I called Fury. Fifteen seconds later, it didn't even get to the dial tone, straight up telling me this number wasn't in service. The feeling of foreboding intensified yet again.

It was time to go check what was going on. "Mom, I will need to check on Peggy. I have a bad feeling." I called out.

For once, the soap opera didn't hold her rapt attention and she turned to me. "Go, we need to know if something has happened. Your dad and Sarah will be here soon enough too."

I nodded and my current outfit disappeared in favor of my Phoenix costume. I glanced down and it was still green, perfect. I teleported out of the living room and found myself in the sky and I cloaked directly in order to not be seen. Cerberus HQ was under me, the tall building was a hive of activity even this late in the day.

Pushing my awareness, I scanned the building for Phil, Nick, Peggy and even some of my agent friends. Alice, Eve and Francesco were there, but they felt anxious about something. Phil had... disappeared? Fury had simply signed off today after trying to find Peggy. I didn't have to look for their memories; they kept shouting the rumors in their minds.

Peggy disappearing and her most trusted agents with her? Something smells rotten in Denmark. I teleported to Astoria, in Queens. This part of Queens was a multicultural neighborhood of low-rise residences and small businesses. I had spied on Peggy going there in astral form to know where she lived. I arrived at the red brick townhouse with a big garden, there was no one here.

Floating up to the porch, I searched for the alarm that had to be here; there was already the keypad next to the door. Testing the windows, I noticed they were all bulletproof. I wouldn't be surprised if this entire house was in fact a fortress. *This is Peggy's house alright.*

As I peered inside, I got enough spatial information to teleport inside. The door was behind me and I could see that the place didn't seem disturbed at all. Still, the gnawing feeling remained within me, and those instincts were more than my own. I decided to use temporal manipulation to see what happened there.

The ability that I was about to use was somewhat like psychometry, people left imprints of their psionic energy -what an aura was made of- and I was able to tap into them to obtain historical memories or sensations concerning places, beings and objects they observed. With a wave of my hand, everything around me gained a blue tint.

I wanted to know what had happened here today, starting with this morning. The scene began with someone entering through the door, a tall woman, with blue eyes and blond hair, dressed in a black pantsuit. I noticed that she was armed. She called out for Peggy and I was surprised to discover that she was Sharon Carter, my mentor's niece.

Peggy exited her kitchen and entered the living room with a cup of tea in her hands. They kissed each other on the cheeks and some inane pleasantries and gossip began to be shared. I fast forwarded the scene until Sharon left the house and Peggy was left alone and went to the dining room to work on her work laptop. It looked sturdy and big- military built.

There came the call she received from her mother about dinner, and the women began to speak about her. It was heartwarming to see the eyes of the old woman filled with a fondness that was also evident in her voice, and exchanging pleasantries with Elaine Grey. Peggy then told her that she would be here for dinner. Then for hours she continued to work and saw that she must have found something disturbing because it was the first time she heard her mentor cuss.

"Bloody hell."

Then her phone rang, and she scowled when she saw the caller ID. "Pierce."

I stopped the scene, and augmented my hearing to hear what the man would say. And it was nothing good when she played the scene again.

"You really shouldn't have accessed those files," Jean heard the posh accented man tell her.

"You're HYDRA." Peggy accused.

"Obviously, you think we didn't notice your little stunt about keeping our agents out of the East North East branch?" Jean thought she was smug, but this guy put her levels to shame. She asked herself if it was the same Pierce guy from the Winter Soldier Movie, and she hoped not; she hated the guy.

And then everything happened as if I was into a spy movie when two transparent figures immobilized Peggy on her chair. Some kind of commando guy in high-tech cloaking suits, it wasn't as powerful as her Star Trek inspired cloaking field but the fact that Hydra had this was worrying. One of the suited men held the phone to Peggy's ear.

"If you kill me, they'll know it was you," Peggy spoke, remaining cool as a cucumber. That had my utmost respect.

Peggy continued, "There's security cameras in this room. It'll blow your cover and expose you."

Jean bristled at Pierce's strange laugh. "Except I won't kill you; it would raise too many questions. Instead, I just need you to forget. You'll forget everything that happened in the last three months."

Peggy scoffed with moxie."How do you plan on doing that?"

I smiled until I saw the jet injector in one of the special suited men's hands. I feared for my mentor's life at this point.

"The memory loss serum Howard had worked on shortly before his death. It's a shame we never got to properly test the long-term effects, but either way, we know it will work and make you forget. But just to be safe, we'll give you slightly more than usual." It was at this moment that I watched the short fight between Peggy and the two men and I was impressed to see she'd almost won. But there was a third hidden man who tackled her and immobilized her on the ground with a choke hold. They injected Peggy with the solution to erase her memories.

"Good night, Carter, by the time you wake up, you won't remember any of this." I heard Pierce on the phone.

Steadily, a feeling of rage bubbled up in me because of this presumptuous man and what he was doing to one of my heroes.

Then something else happened and Peggy's body began to seize, the men around her panicking. They tried to hold her down. One of them took Peggy's phone and spoke in it. "Boss we may have a problem, Miss Carter seems to react badly to the solution."

"Crap, bring her to the facility. She must not die, is that understood?" I heard the sliver of panic in f Pierce's voice.

The man didn't take off his visor at all when he spoke. "Yes, boss." He hung up the phone, and placed it into one of his belt pouches. He looked at the panicked agents and commanded, "Load her up, we need to move!"

My anger burned inside of me, my Phoenix costume flickering between green and red the whole time until I chose to channel my anger. I became rational, I decided to follow their psionic imprint and I exited the house.

# # #

It wasn't difficult to follow them, they left by non-descript van, abandoned it to take an armored SUV, where they injected something into Peggy that stopped her seizure. She was sleeping as they were leaving Queens for somewhere in Manhattan. There they took a helicopter and I followed them to New Jersey. I followed the ghostly vehicle to Camp Lehigh.

"It's oddly familiar… oh." It came to me just then.

I was pretty sure it was where Project Rebirth was happening and that Abraham Erkine proceeded to test candidates for the super soldier serum. The camp was surrounded by woods, there was still minimal activity from it. Vehicles, guards and different installations told me that this was an off the book operation going on here. I landed near the helicopter and looked as a doctor helped by soldiers loaded Peggy on a stretcher and disappeared inside the facility. I pushed my awareness and sought her out . A smile spread on my face as I found her sleeping mind.

I wanted to take her immediately but something stopped me from doing so. Pierce was both mine and Peggy's enemy so I couldn't leave him at my back. *Never again.*

I needed to uproot him and Hydra from SHIELD- it was certain that he would come after me if I resurfaced. I had swept away all their bugs and cameras in the penthouse but even there my parents and sisters weren't safe. Before making a move to save Peggy, I needed to stash away dad, mom and my sisters as well as securing my friends and their families in a location unknown to Hydra and under my control.

Just in case, I created a mental link between Peggy and me. It disgusted me to do this to her without her consent but I would ask for forgiveness later. It was permanent and wherever they moved her on the planet, I would find her. I resisted my impulse of wanting to destroy everything and leave with her, but I needed to do this right.

I needed to find Phil and Nick. I levitated and left Camp Lehigh through the sky and flamed and found myself outside the atmosphere at mach seven and stayed in orbit. I didn't need a cerebro but I still needed to focus hard to find a specific person. I pushed my awareness all over North America and looked for him.

# # #

(Charles Xavier)

New York, Westchester County

Xavier's school for the gifted

Underground Bunker

Charles was on Cerebro looking for new mutants having awakened their gifts. He'd found one in Wisconsin and another in Kentucky. Logan and Cyclops had already gone to recruit the boy. The screen of the super computer suddenly showed a huge psionic signature all over North America. Charles quickly put on his helmet and focused on spreading his awareness, momentarily gaining near-omnipotence of what was happening.

The psionic energy he could feel was familiar, and immediately he knew who it was. Jean Grey. He had never thought that she was so powerful and didn't need a machine to spread her telepathic gift all over the world. He felt when she focused on him and he saw her astral form appear before him. She wore a green and gold form hugging costume with the symbol of a golden bird on her chest.

Her face was neutral as she greeted him with a nod, "Professor."

The bald professor remembered their last conversation and how she had effortlessly sent him back into his body when he had detected her and went to look for her in that warehouse in Queens. "Jean, you look… well." He loosened his tie as she continued to observe him.

Charles briefly remembered the memories of Peggy telling him that he was a horrible man. Jean's eyes widened.

He barely felt the pressure on his mind, but he understood that Jean was somewhat upset. He was surprised... She had just read his mind without even trying, what about his defenses or mental shields? Her eyes glowed yellow with fire, her costume slowly turning red as he stared at her. There was a lot of fury being thrown out in the room. He watched as the young woman closed her eyes and the wrath storm slowly subsided. Her costume turning green again, when she reopened her eyes it was to see a disappointed expression on her face.

"I am sorry Jean, if I knew…" Charles started, only to be interrupted.

Jean raised a hand to stop him and spoke over him. "I will visit you again another time and we will talk again, professor. I never expected your defenses to be so light. You are no longer the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room, you should train yourself more. There are things on this planet that can kill you."

"Goodbye." The young woman's astral form dissipated, and Charles exhaled a sigh of relief.

He took off the Cerebro helmet and put it in its place on the super computer. The level of power the young woman clearly exhibited was well beyond what he had thought her capable of. Charles had feared for his life when her eyes had glowed and her costume changed color. He still was; she could kill him and everyone in the school with a thought and it would be his fault.

Would she do that, though? She didn't seem to want to take his life. With a swish, the door to Cerebro's room opened, letting Ororo Munroe appear in her full body dark blue and gold tight fitting X-men uniform walk toward the professor. She looked at the professor and put a hand on his and asked, "Is something wrong?"

A sorrowful expression appeared on Charles' face. "Yes, I may have jeopardized the entire school."

Ororo flinched at that. "Charles?"

He shook his head, passing a hand on his shaved head. Then he stared straight into the african beauty's blue eyes. "You remember Miss Grey?"

Ororo frowned and tried to remember, her expression clearing when she did. "The one Logan and you went to look after."

Charles nodded. "She may want my life."

Ororo stood taller when she heard this. The sclera in her eyes disappeared, now completely white. "Why?"

The bald professor heard the tension in her voice, she was ready for action at a moment's notice. He doubted that his younger friend would be enough to stop Jean Grey if she ever came here with nefarious intentions. "Because, Ororo, I am part of why she has been living in fear for years."

He remembered the day where they had had the chance to take down Sinister once and for all, but the mad scientist bought his life with his service. As usual, Charles had given him a chance, against Magneto's wishes. It was ten years ago on Bar Sinister.

Ororo shook her white colored mane, having no context to judge how dire the situation is. "Could you give me more than that?"

Charles turned his chair toward the exit. "Please follow me, it's better if we have this discussion over tea."

The weather mistress followed him, uncertainty etched onto her face. Asking herself if it was the usual reveal of secret Charles always did that exploded in their faces and embroiled her and the students into shenanigans.

# # #

(Phil Coulson)

Tremley

Route 95

06:45 PM

Phil was in deep trouble. He'd exfiltrated from the building serving as a front for SHIELD when he saw Pierce and his goons enter his floor as if they owned it. Then they began asking questions about Peggy's policies and went through IT to have a log of all the files she consulted. Since then, he tried to call her, but she didn't respond- even when he texted her the code they had agreed to, she had stayed silent.

Nick was the first to leave after he saw Pierce rummage in their mentor's office. He had never seen his friend so pissed off before. Fury had gone dark ever since. Phil would have attempted to stay in the building and investigated what was going on but he'd been called to Peggy's office and had a conversation with Pierce asking him if he had seen Nick.

After that, he'd asked why they had stopped rotating personnel. Phil played dumb, his guts telling him to not answer. He was dismissed and then he was assaulted by one of Pierce's agents in the elevator. Phil disabled him, took his weapon and hightailed it to the parking lot and took his personal vehicle. Since then he grabbed one of his bail out bags that he kept in a locker at his bank. He was on the way to Texas with an off the book vehicle after abandoning his previous car.

Now he was on the road, swerving between cars, aware that Pierce and his mooks must have taken control of the New York SHIELD branch. Pierce was the SHIELD director of the Washington branch, and him being there was against protocol.

As he thought about the Hydra problem, Phil felt his car lurch and then fly into the air. He looked through the door's window as he kept gaining in altitude and the highway became a thin band under him. He didn't panic, it would not do anything; nevertheless he took his pistol from his shoulder holster and switched the safety off.

The passenger door suddenly opened and there appeared someone he believed he'd never see- a person he felt he failed. Her hair flew widely in the winds, on her face an impish grin blossomed. "Hi uncle Phil."

She looked different, older and more mature. The green costume didn't hide anything of her curvy yet athletic body. "Jean?"

He disapproved of her current get up, but it wasn't important. She wormed her way through the car and hugged him. After a moment, she released him, chuckling. "The one and only, huh… maybe not."

Phil filed away that little lapse in her dialogue and asked the question he cared the most about."You escaped?"

With a laugh and a hard stare, Jean flipped her hair and said, "I killed the guy and took his stuff."

Phil smiled, turning off the engine of the car. "That's my girl." His smile was proud and his eyes gleamed with something malicious. Phil reengaged the safety on his pistol and stored it in his holster, Jean was observing him with a smile on her face. He couldn't guess what she was thinking or how she'd found him but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Phil completely ignored the fact that he was thousands of meters into the sky, he straightened the lapel of his suit, but as he made a mental inventory of his belongings he was interrupted by Jean who said, "You are on the run."

Phil leaned in his seat, he felt the car move, still following the highway. "What gave you that idea?" The agent asked, almost sarcastic.

There was silence for a moment before Jean dropped a bomb on him. "Pierce has Peggy. He is the Hydra high chief." She began to play with a lock of hair, looking straight into the windshield.

Phil could only say, "Shit."

He had hoped that just like Nick, Peggy would have escaped and avoided the net. Clearly, Pierce had come prepared for them...

"Language." Jean interrupted his thread of thoughts.

The agent gave her a tight smile, even flushing slightly. "Sorry. But what are we going to do now?"

"Now? Now, I'm going to bring you to my base. I have to get my friends and their families too though." Jean uncrossed her arms, and turned her head to him, gazing into his eyes.

Phil saw the hard age in the teenager that wasn't there a month ago. Not only had she matured but he believed her when she said she killed everyone who had made her life hell. Phil's expression turned serious. "We need to contact Fury."

"I intend to." Jean lifted her chin and a golden portal opened before them, Phil's heart skipping a beat as they entered it. After passing it they entered into some kind of hanger with strange flying vehicles inside.

The portal behind them collapsed on itself and closed. Phil exited the car and looked on around him in awe. There was an honest to god blimp here, and... was that a fleet of helicopters with coaxial propellers? And there was a… yacht?

"What's a boat doing in a cavern?" Phil asked out loud.

Jean, who had exited the car, laughed at him while shrugging. "Beats me, old Nath was a quirky guy."

The redhead walked toward an exit on the right side of the hangar. Phil was following her but swore deep in his heart that he would pilot one of those helicopters very soon. They ended up in a tunnel after passing the heavily armored door giving access to it.

"This is a sprawling complex." Phil observed as the corridors and tunnels turned in irregular ways. He even guessed that they were inside a mountain and not underground thanks to the holes in the tunnel walls that were more or less part of the ventilation system.

The young woman in the too provoking green costume stopped walking, turned to Phil and gave him an especially bright smile. "Yes, the security is shody too, you should have seen how easy it was to infiltrate and subvert the computers. I need to update everything."

Phil's eyes narrowed, he put his hands in his pockets trying to remember anything from Jean knowing how to do sabotage work. "Since when did you have training in infiltration, Jeanie?"

Jean raised an eyebrow at him, tilted her head and put a hand on her hips. "You want to know the truth?"

Phil had seen his girlfriend wear the same expression before and he stepped back, not wanting to fall into the trap of asking questions that might be dangerous. "You are not… obligated to do so." He took a hand out of his jacket pocket and waved nonchalantly at her. At least he tried to.

She grinned at him, confident that she could still appear unsettling to him."I trust you Phil, you deserve to be given information about the full scope of what I can do." Still, Jean threw him a bone. "We will do that after I get my people to safety."

Phil nodded. He was quickly led to what Jean had called the dormitories and was introduced to Hans her butler and her right hand called Chimera. All powered individuals. Phil and Hans stared at each other, evaluating the other man, gauging their own worth.

"Please boys, stop the dick measuring contest." Chimera piped up.

They were in the kitchen and Jean had disappeared in the same golden portal that had brought him here to go look for her family and friends. Phil sat at the bar with a stiff drink before him. Hans and Chimera were behind said bar, fixing food for tomorrow. The agent stared at the lithe blonde before him as she busied herself into dicing vegetables.

There was something familiar about her face- someone he had seen in his files. "Miss Chimera, you seem vaguely familiar."

She lifted her head, shooting him a sensual smile. "Woah, barely here and you are already pulling moves on me, Mister Coulson I'm not that easy." She pointed her kitchen knife at him and then returned to work.

Phil stood gobsmacked, not understanding how she'd come to that conclusion. She was certainly attractive, but wasn't his type at all. She seemed more childish than anything, with Jean's mental age; a teenager in a woman's body. Hans chuckled at his dumbfounded expression and returned to helping his colleague.

The agent was given something like a flat screen out of Star Trek that acted like a personal computer where he could consult the base's database. Music, movies and restricted access to the hangars and facilities. Jean had access to this technology and more it seemed, he hoped after everything was settled with their Hydra infestation that his surrogate niece would be amenable to exchanging the computer technology.

He discovered a file pertaining to the number of bases connected to this one and his eyebrows climbed to his forehead when he was made aware that there was teleportation tech available here, but its status was marked as offline. Now Phil understood how Jean's kidnappers had disappeared, he saw the potential of the technology and decided that he was going to have a conversation with Jean if she ever thought of disseminating it.

Phil took a swig of Whiskey but at the same moment another portal opened in the kitchen between the dinner tables and the bar. Out of it a person was thrown and slid to Phil's feet. The man was african american, wore a SHIELD uniform and a black coat over it.

"Fury?" Phil put his glass on the bar, his eyes not leaving the body of the man.

Looking up, the man wore a bandage over his head and hiding his right eye, it was bleeding. "Phil?"

The agent looked inside the portal, seeing a dark place illuminated by Jean's burning body. The fire disappeared and the portal collapsed. Phil shook his head and stood up, also helping his friend up from the wooden tiles.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Fury narrowed his good eye.

Phil helped his friend to sit on one of the stools. "Just like you, I was rescued by our favorite redhead."

"I was about to get killed by Pierce's goon squad and then she killed them all by immolating them."

The body of a black suited man wearing a helmet visor landed at Fury's side. Jean passed through the portal, and closed it. Her costume became an open backed carmine dress with black tights and ankle boots. A hooded winter coat appeared over her dress.

"Stay here, don't touch the body, I need to get my people." Jean clipped before disappearing in a shower of blue light.

Phil and Fury looked at each other. "Totally sandbagging us." They said in sync.

# # #

Back with Jean…

07:15 PM

I appeared in the living room, and the first thing I could see was Sarah, my elder sister talking with someone. A SHIELD agent in a light armored uniform with tactical gear on his belt that I didn't recognize. I tried to read his mind but my half hearted attempt was rebuffed by something cold and machine like. I narrowed my eyes; this was one of the stuff those assassins had used against me to stay undetectable.

"Fuck off." I strongly pushed the suggestion in his mind.

The little box on his belt linked via cable to a headset, simply exploded. Sparks made the man flinch, burning the right side of his head and his eyes became glassy and he left through the door. I looked at Sarah who stared at the man doing exactly what I told him.

Sarah scowled at me. "Jean? What's gotten into you?!"

There was a hint of fear coursing through her as she saw an example of what telepathy can do. She walked up to me and made a move to grasp my left arm.

I batted away her hand, getting into her face and looking her dead in the eye. "Shut up, it's not the time."

Sarah stumbled back, afraid. "What?"

I put a hand on her shoulder and said with conviction, "We are in danger, go look for mom and the others. We are leaving."

She scowled, not used to me giving her orders and tried to argue. "But!"

I sighed. "Sarah, I am trying to save your life. Will you listen?"

Something in my expression must have caught her attention because she lowered her eyes and looked meek. "Okay." She gave in, her voice little.

Sarah quickly ran to the dining room. Meanwhile I began to pack everything valuable into Goldie like our clothes, our family portrait and photos albums. I took everything that belonged to us and left the furniture that was already provided when we came to live here. Even the kitchen appliances, the pots and pans didn't belong to us.

The first person I saw when I entered the kitchen was dad. He basically tackled me and hugged me to death. "Can't breath!"

Dad let go of me as he stepped back, but still held me by my shoulders. "Where have you been!?"

I smiled at him, then at everyone. "Well, I am going to show you, you are all going with me."

Julia was the first to react at my declaration. "Jean?"

I didn't want to have to explain everything again so I'd make it count this time. "Can I show you why we must all get lost fast?"

They looked at each other and then nodded. Wow, they truly trusted me.

Sarah, Julia, Mom and Dad closed their eyes and I brought them into my confidence, showing them through my memories everything I unearthed about the current modern Hydra. I even showed them what happened to Peggy. Mom and Dad's mood shifted and when I stopped, anger simmering in them; in contrast, Julia and Sarah were afraid.

I held my right hand to them. "Come with me if you want to live." I was serious.

Julia broke the tension, laughing. My parents looked confused as she did and Sarah simply massaged the bridge of her nose and scrunched her face. "Please no movie quotes…" She said as she thought out loud that I was a big geek.

I huffed. "Fine, I already packed all our stuff. Huh, the mashed potatoes and fine steaks I'm going to take them with us." I lifted all the food on the kitchen island in the air.

"Always thinking about what's important huh sis?" I rolled my eyes. Julia may be afraid but she could still be snarky.

With a snap of my fingers, a portal opened to my private kitchen in Egypt base. My parents and sisters looked on in awe at the spatial phenomenon. At the same time, I felt a spike of activity at the foot of the building. I felt the same cold and machine-like protections on multiple individuals. I punted their car into the air as if I kicked them myself. Through my awareness I felt them crash on the road, I took care of protecting passersby and other cars.

I shrugged, and then ushered my family through the portal and then once they were all safely in my base I closed the aperture. "Welcome to our new home!"

I put the food on the massive kitchen island. Julia had to rain on my parade with her comments. "Hm, it's not much…"

I turned to her, seeing that she smiled at her successful attempt at needling me. I pressed a clenched fist against my hip and said with a look around, "Well what did you expect? It's barely decorated but… still a modern kitchen, Lia."

My kitchen featured flat surfaces, geometric forms, and little ornaments. The dark tile floor, islands, or even butcher-block countertops could bring in the warmth of light wood. The numerous kitchen cabinets on the walls were full of kitchen appliances, table cutlery and spices. Sarah walked up to the immense fridge and oohed and ahed at the space inside. Mom and dad followed suit.

After they finished inspecting the kitchen, mom asked, "Where are our rooms?"

I stopped leaning against the island and answered her almost instantly, "I will bring you to the apartments, there are a lot of bedrooms, though the master one is for me, of course."

Dad and Mom glanced at each other, then back at me. It was mom who nodded, saying, "Of course."

I showed them the rooms they had access to, each of my sisters chose a room next to mine and my parents took the second biggest room. Then I immediately unloaded the stuff from the penthouse into the living room for everyone.

"You weren't kidding when you said you took all our stuff." Mom mumbled.

"I am better than a moving company!" I boasted with a superman pose.

My family laughed at me, Sarah patting my head like I was a child. "You are silly."

Hmph, they still treat me like a kid. "I guess… now follow me, I will bring you to Phil and Nick."

I took Sarah's hand and pulled her with me to the exit, dad and the rest following suit. He also asked about our two allies. "They are alive?"

"Yeah, though Nick lost an eye." I revealed.

Dad winced, mom's smile turned thin and Julia didn't sound concerned. We walked out of my apartments and took one of the tunnels leading to the dormitories. At the same time, I gave each of them a communicator if they are ever lost in the base. I think I should give them a plan of the base just in case. We quickly arrived in the common room's kitchen and dining room, only to see Hans mop the ground where I had dumped the body of that Hydra agent while Chimera was attending to Nick's wound.

I examined the ground floor, black tiles shining under the hanging lights of the common room. "Hans, where's the body?"

He glared at me, wearing his butler uniform and holding a mop in his hands. He looked frustrated with me. "You left a dead body in the common kitchen, do you have any idea of how unsanitary that is."

Everyone focused their attention on me, and I could feel a particular set of eyes behind that burned a hole behind my neck. I felt that it was maybe time for a tactical retreat. I made a show of looking at my watch and said aloud, "Oh, look at the time. I must go look for Jessica and her family."

Hans raised his hand and tried to stop me from leaving. "No, Jean stay-"

Too late; I teleported to my best friend's house. I found myself before the porch of the Jones' family. I sighed in relief, Hans could be rather intense sometimes; but he was right to, I shouldn't have left a dead body in the kitchen. Mom wasn't happy with me either… I shrugged, I will worry about it later.

Knock. Knock. I beat on the door. The cold wind that was bearing down on me didn't affect me at all. Then I remembered that to Alisa Jones I was still kidnapped and missing. I hoped that I wouldn't have to explain everything that happened. It was better to get them moving and let mom and dad do it.

I called on my friend, using the mental link between us. Jessica it's me, come quick.

Jeanie?! Jessica's mind voice called me out.

I knocked again, I heard shuffling from behind the dark wooden door that suddenly opened to reveal my best friend. She wore a dark blue pullover with another fairy knitted on it, black jeans with tears at the knee. Her feet were bare. Inside I felt the warmth generated by the radiator. Tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear I greeted my friend. "Hey fairy, I've come to get you."

Jessica narrowed her eyes at me calling her a fairy. "Who's the fairy, birdy?"

Damn, I shouldn't have told her about the Phoenix. I raised my hands in defeat… "Okay okay, not the bird thing please…"

A foxy grin spread on her face, too smug for me to continue to suffer it. "That's what I thought. Huh, why did you come? We had a meeting this weekend and if Patsy sees you now she won't let you go, you know?"

I smiled. It'd been a while since I'd seen my number one fan but this wasn't the moment for that. "Well that's great, 'cause you are all coming with me, a rogue faction from SHIELD want to take all my friends and their families hostage to control me. Go pack your stuff quickly, we are leaving for Egypt base."

A spike of fear took root in Jessica but it subsided when she realized that I was there to protect them. Then she began to think what moving would also mean telling her adoptive mom about her powers and what they have been up to. "But Alisa and Brad won't want to…"

I met Alisa before, but that Brad guy? Never, he was almost an absentee father. I shrugged, hugged her and murmured in her ear, "Lemme speak to them."

She stepped out of my embrace, her voice full of determination when she said, "I will get Patsy to help." With that, she ran back into the house. I entered through the door and walked through the all white and beige decorated living room, following Jessica. I found that it was already 08:12 PM on the clock. Alisa and her husband watched as Jessica pulled Patsy away from the dinner table to go pack their stuff. Patsy looked at me, almost stopping, but Jessica forced her to walk. Their parents looked from them to me.

"Hi, Alisa." I waved at my friend's mom. She looked smashing in her T-shirt, yoga pants and slippers.

Her blue eyes widened in recognition. She stood and came to pull me into a hug. "Jeanie you are back? How? Where were you?!"

Her husband leaned in his chair, looking at us. "Who is this?"

Bradley Jones had black hair, and green eyes. He was wearing a white shirt paired with some comfy pants. I didn't know the guy and he was a naturally wary guy. A paranoid, he took time to open up to people, but once he did, he trusted strongly. A really private man who would do anything for his family. That's what my telepathy told me.

*Jessica could have got a really worse adoptive family, but she lucked out.* I observed in my heart.

Alisa introduced us. "This is Jess' best friend, I told you about her, do you remember?"

Bradley was thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "Oh? Wait- wasn't she kidnapped?"

"Mr Jones, Alisa I need to speak to you." I said but I instantly detected people surrounding the house. SHIELD again…

"But it seems we don't have the time. You need to follow me to safety. My parents are already safe and they will tell you everything you need to know." I turned my back on them and walked up to exit the dinner room.

"Wait, Jean what are you saying? What do you mean we need to go to safety?" Alisa called after me, following me into the living room.

When the entrance door exploded, her question was answered. I kept the shrapnel from destroying the interior by holding it in place. The Hydra agents that were about to enter in force stood and I blasted them all with my optic blast. It wasn't enough to end them and I walked toward the door pieces and exited the house, fixed the entrance and repaired the door.

I looked at the agents on the ground, some already recovering or exiting the armored SUVs they came in. I held my hand before me and with a lifting motion, the agents and vehicles rose ten meters in the air. Some of them found the courage to aim their rifles at me and shoot but with a thought the bullets stopped in the air matrix style one meter from me.

*Hmm, I should be faster than that, what if these were energy bolts…* I needed training.

They kept firing at me even though their positions were precarious. I huffed and as a result I sent a disintegration wave at them. The bullets, their weapons, armor and vehicles were all vaporized. I found myself with very naked Hydra scum in the air, I let them fall ten meters to the ground, not caring for their safety at all. Those were all Pierce's agents.

I walked toward them, and approached the nearest who was still intact. I wasn't surprised when I recognized one of them. I had seen this face in the MCU movie, the winter soldier. "As I live and breath, Brock Rumlow."

"What? How do you..?"The confused man began freezing

He was powerfully built, his hair black and eyes grey. But he was at my feet, unharmed and vulnerable, I couldn't take him seriously. "Oh, I know a lot of things. Now, you were sent here to take my friends, right?"

Brock scowled at me, even though he was shivering. "I will say nothing."

Tilting my head, I couldn't understand what he just said, wasn't he told about me at all? "Who told you that you needed to speak? Your little toys to make me stop reading your mind don't work on me, and I just disintegrated it."

I felt terror spread through him. "We weren't the only team sent out…" He tried to intimidate me and press me so I'd make a mistake and let him go.

A tight smile appeared on my face."Oh, you sent some of them to Sensei, Gwen and… my girlfriend."

Rumlow was gaining in confidence. "We have leverage at this point, surrender and-"

I cackled at his bravado, then stared into his eyes. "You have nothing, you really think I would leave my friends and their families without defenses?"

He kept silent at this point, his ass freezing in the snow. I didn't intend to help any of these wahoos, their comeuppance was barely starting. "Now then, I suppose I could be cruel and torture you before I kill you, considering what you would do to my friends and their parents. But no… I guess I will just give you a message for Pierce; unfortunately for your friends behind you, I only need you."

There was a series of cracking sounds as I broke the other agents' neck. Rumlow looked behind him and at the unmoving forms of his colleague. "I guess you only need to be able to talk too."

In panic he turned his head to me and tried to negotiate, but I didn't want that. "Please no… don't-"

I crushed his legs and he screamed as the pain lanced through his body. "Don't cry, you did worse to others."

He was specialized in intelligence gathering and breaking people to make them talk. He had done far worse than I had.

"Now, I want you to listen to me."

His screaming persisted. I sighed and slapped him and numbed the pain for a moment, he stopped screaming, but the tears in his eyes and his mewling continued. "Listen to me." I said as I crouched and took his face between my hands. He nodded.

"Tell Pierce that he better run, because I am going to destroy his house of cards, little by little. He shouldn't have done what he did to Peggy or tried to take my girlfriend and friends. Capiche?" If Pierce ran, he would bring me to all his allies, and I planned to ferret and crush them all.

He nodded, still gazing at me in horror as though I was the devil or something. My smile was bright. "Good, now I must go do the same to your friends in the other teams. With luck I won't have to kill them like I did to your dead colleagues."

I got to my feet, looking down at him. "You are a tough guy, you won't die if I leave you in the snowed street right?" Rumlow didn't dare whine or move now. I looked around me and stilled the mind of the witnesses. They all stopped moving, I stopped the cars too and erased the mind of every gawking witness. I walked back into the house, seeing Alisa staring at me in fear.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Alisa. They would have done worse to you if I didn't intervene."

She stayed silent, but dug deep for some strength to nod and allow me in. The house had grown cold. Bradley held a metal bat and a pistol. "It's okay Mr Jones, I took care of the problem."

"Alisa go take the go bag, we are leaving." Bradley said with a commanding voice. "And you Jean, you better have an explanation for all this…"

I turned to his wife. "Go take your stuff, I will send you to safety, okay?"

They went together to their bedroom upstairs, and ten minutes later, everyone was assembled in the living room with the girls having big suitcases at their sides. I waved my hand and opened a portal, Jessica taking all the large suitcases and entering first. Patsy followed after her. Their parents were more afraid of the unknown, but Mr Jones took his wife's hand and pulled her inside. I directly sent them to the common room in the dormitories section of the base. The portal closed.

I nodded then teleported to the foot of Cindy's apartment block. There was only one thing I could say, it was complete chaos there. Looking up I noticed that there was a big hole in the apartment's terrasse and I could hear people shooting at someone else. It was completely dark inside Cindy's apartment but the occasional flash of rifle fire illuminated the place.

Looking down, I stared at the bodies of the mangled Hydra agents at my feet. *She's having fun.* I levitated and entered through the hole and flamed, illuminating everything in the destroyed apartment. Weapon fire was suddenly focused on me, by controlling the magnetic force in a field the size of a basketball before me, I attracted the bullets to congregate in that single spot before me.

When the Hydra agents ran out of bullets I saw the camouflaged form of Cindy attack one of the men from behind and garoted him with web silk and broke his neck with a wrench of her hands. I sent the bullets back at the remaining shooters. They all dropped dead when I targeted their middles. I felt as their minds dissipated.

Cindy landed on the ground and tackled me; kissing me full on the mouth, I could feel her brimming with battle lust. We kissed for another one minute before we let go of each other.

"Hydra?" My girlfriend asked, I was never going to leave her in the dark and I told her as much as I could about what happened in SHIELD since I came back.

I nodded. "Hydra."

She wasn't in costume yet; she fought them in the dark and unarmored. I was guessing she didn't have the time to put on her costume. *That's a problem.*

"I will go grab my bug out bag. Can you heal my dad? He is with mom, she fainted from shock." I felt Cindy's emotions, she didn't care much for her mother, but she loved her dad and the man was still attached to the shrew. I asked myself why when she made the life of her daughter hell and piled unreasonable expectations on her shoulders.

"Okay." I shrugged.

Cindy pecked my cheek with a kiss and headed to her room. I thought about Nari Moon and decided that I would lock up my laboratories when I get back to base; I didn't want that woman's nose in my stuff. I walked toward the bedroom where they had holed themselves in. I stopped flaming and returned to normal. The door was barricaded, I rolled my eyes and moved the obstacles with my TK and opened it.

I was suddenly attacked by a seven year old boy, who was super cute in his He-man pajamas. I made him float, he began to struggle, and to avoid hurting him, I put him to sleep. I cradled the little boy, who is surely Cindy's little brother, in my arms and walked into the bedroom. Everything was disturbed inside, the closets, the furniture, on the bed there was a petite woman with a bob cut and in a lab coat; protecting her was a taller man with black hair and brown eyes, wearing glasses and clad in Captain America pajamas.

Activating my life-sight, I looked at him. His arm was bleeding, fortunately there seemed to be no artery nicked. He began to shake as I walked toward him.

"Hi, Mr Moon. I am Cindy's friend, I've come to help." I presented him with my best smile; after all I needed to make a good impression on my future father in law.

Albert Moon looked at me, completely tired, but he tried to stand up and take a threatening stance. "W-where's my daughter?"

*What a good guy, no wonder Cindy is so stubborn.*

"I am here, dad!" Cindy shouted from her room.

He crumbled back on his bed, a sigh of relief leaving him.

With my girlfriend vouching for me, I continued to speak, nearing him. "I have to heal you, then we need to get outta here, deal?"

Albert Frowned. "Heal?" He saw no first aid kit at my side or device.

*Ah, he is observant too.*

I walked up to the bed, put Cindy's brother down and put a hand on Albert. He flinched as I took out the bullet. As I examined it, I noticed that it was caseless. I shrugged and encouraged Mr Moon's body to heal his wound, my hand glowed gold for thirty seconds before the damage was undone. The man looked at me with trepidation as I casually healed him.

Albert stared at me as I took my hand back. "You are more than friends with my daughter, aren't you?"

Pleasantly surprised, I couldn't help but praise him. "You are a sharp man." I continued looking at him and felt the protective instinct of the man. "You care for her. You respect her boundaries and... she told you, she prefers girls. You never told your wife, why?"

At this point the man didn't question how I knew all this and rolled with it. He sighed and rolled his shoulder. He noticed how it didn't hurt anymore, his back pain that had been killing him for a while seemed to have been healed too. "I love Nari, but if there's something she is not, it's that she's not tolerant."

Albert continued, looking me in the eyes. "She is used to forcing her opinion on everyone… I am waiting for Cindy to move out and lose our number at any moment if my wife discovers it." He revealed as he stood up.

*If that ever happened, I would bring my girlfriend home and support her.*

I touched his arm in comfort. "Don't worry, if that happens, I will take her in. My parents like her and support us. In the near future, we are going to be family, soon." I patted his arm and then let go. Through my life sight I saw that he was fully recovered. "Okay, you are good now, can you go gather clothes and take your precious stuff, we are going to move."

Albert nodded. "Okay. Please, guard them well."

I smiled at him. "Of course."

Cindy and her father were even faster than the Jones', and came with at least one week's worth of clothes. Cindy was dressed in her costume, her father unable to move his eyes off her. I felt all his questions. I opened a portal to the common room and lo and behold I could see Nick and Phil from the other side, they waved at me.

"Go, Mr Moon. I will fix the apartment and-"

Cindy interrupted me as she put herself between me and her dad. "I will stay with her, dad."

Her father who had Cindy's mom in his arms frowned at her. "Cindy? No, you must come with us." His tone brokered no argument, but it didn't move his daughter at all, she was stubborn like that.

"No, I must help Jeanie." Cindy stepped back at my side and took my hand.

They looked at each other for a moment before her father understood there was no way he could make her change her mind. "Fine, but stay safe."

He walked through the portal and I made his son float through it, Phil making sure to catch him; then it was their go bag's turn. Then I closed the spatial aperture. Cindy chose that moment to tackle me again and climb into my arms, holding me tight with her legs around my hips. This was her display of gratitude for saving her family.

While I was kissing the hell out of this gorgeous girl, I repaired the place, disintegrated the dead Hydra goons. When we came up for air again, everything looked pristine. Cindy looked around her and smiled.

Then her face became serious, "Jessica?"

"Saved her and her family." I answered with confidence.

Even though she disliked Gwen, Cindy still asked about her situation. "Gwen?"

Spreading my awareness, I felt my favorite blonde to the east. I narrowed my eyes as I discovered that she was moving. "Let's go look for her, knowing her, she must have surrendered or something." I spoke, Cindy in my arms. I opened a portal in the air over the area where I felt Gwen, I wasn't surprised to find ourselves on the freeway, looking at the traffic.

I immediately zeroed-in on a SUV fleet tearing up the road at fast speed. Smirking, I covered myself and Cindy in a force bubble and flew at high speed and caught up with them. I landed on the road, one hundred meters from them and stopped the traffic and everyone beside Gwen and her parents. It seems they took them hostage to stop Gwen's rampage. She had killed some of them when they had stormed her house.

Releasing Cindy, we neared the vehicles and when I waved my hand, they disintegrated. Gwen took advantage of this and killed the guy next to her. She was still unable to control her strength, this needed to change. Cindy took down the lead guy who was about to fire his rifle at us, by wrenching it from his hand by shooting web fluid and rider-kicked him in the head.

The loud crunch I heard evoked a chuckle from me. We killed at least half of them before one of them got smart and put a gun on Gwen's dad temple. "Enough!"

"Surrender! Or he will get it."

"Well, well, well. Finally a smart squid. However…" With a gaze his weapon disappeared. Gwen's dad headbutted the Hydra goon with the back of his head, making him fall. I threw him one of my pistols and Captain Stacy caught it, took the safety off, pointed the pistol at the guy at his feet and began unloading the clip into him.

Meanwhile, Gwen was occupied taking care of her mother who looked shaken by that experience. We had no time to go to their house and take their stuff this time. I opened a portal and shouted, "Hey guys, enter the portal, I promise it's safe."

Gwen took her mom in her arms, floated from the ground and flew into it. Captain Stacy followed them and I noticed that he didn't care if it was dangerous. I teleported my pistol back to my hand though. Captain Stacy looked at his hands, then at me. I waved at him and pushed with a TK nudge in the portal, just like I did to Fury earlier and closed it.

"Who is left?" Cindy asked, snaking a hand around my waist and leaning into me. "Elektra Sensei."

Cindy snorted. "As if she wouldn't have killed all those who had come after her."

Well… she had a point. I created a TK platform under our feet and surrounded us with a force bubble and levitated us to the north where I could feel my sensei's mind. We didn't take a portal this time, but flew at high speed toward the dojo. Five minutes later, we were over the Gym's building our sensei lived in. We landed in the snow on the roof. Cindy and I looked at each other because it was too silent, we nodded and walked slowly to the Dojo's sliding door.

We could hear arguing from the dojo and Cindy was about to open the door but I stopped her. I pressed a finger against my lips, listening.

"Elektra, why did you kill them?"

"They wanted to take us and I had to protect Madelyn." The mellifluous and accented voice of Elektra rang.

I heard a male grunt. "Maybe… but- huh, wait there's someone."

*Of course fucking Matt Murdock is here.* The dojo grew silent and I decided to open the door. I wasn't surprised to see a billy club flying in my face. Cindy acted faster than me and caught it mid air.

"Good evening, everyone."

"Jean!" Elektra seemed happy to see me, because I was interrupting the rant Matt was slowly ramping up into. Cindy threw Matt's half of his club back to him, he took it from the air and then focused his attention on us.

Matt sightlessly turned toward me. "Phoenix, what are you… oh yes, you are part of the problem."

*Fuck you too, Matt.*

I crossed my arms, leveling him with a stare. "Whatever, I'm going to have to take Sensei with us. She's a target."

Elektra stepped back and looked reluctant. "Jean I don't think I can."

*Oh no you won't be left here to be a hostage that I have to rescue if Pierce throws everything at you.*

But I didn't say that, but expressed in a low yet reasonable voice, "Do it for Maddy, I already took all my friends and their families to my base. This is temporary, the guy after us will be…" I looked at Matt. "Dealt with."

I uncrossed my arms to poke Matt in the biceps. "And before you argue with me, Mister devil pants. The man is so highly placed that he can and will order hits on you. You better come too."

Cindy giggled, falling to the ground in fits of laughter. "Mister… devil pants."

Elektra smiled too, and Matt flushed. It was cute. "More importantly, Maddy is here, right?" I needn't ask, the door linking the dojo to Elektra's apartment opened and a red missile in the form a girl ran at me, deftly sidestepping the dead bodies and the blood on the wooden floor to tackle me.

"Oof." I almost fell on my ass there.

Maddy lifted her head, staring at me with glistening eyes. "Mother-"

I hear Elektra cough. Madelyn stopped speaking, and stiffened. "I mean big sister Jean." She corrected herself.

"Huh, that's new." I patted her head and hugged her back.

I looked at my sensei, discovering a gleam in her eyes that I couldn't identify. She spoke and this was with a tone brokering no arguments. "You are too young to be a mother, Jean. Instead, I made it so that she would only call you big sister."

I raised an eyebrow at that, looked down at the little girl in my arms, she looked chastised. *Poor little girl must have fallen afoul of Elektra's draconian side.* I realized.

I didn't really care what Maddy called me; we were blood. "If you say so, are you leaving with us? And is Matty coming with us?"

"Mister Murdock to you." Matt growled.

I looked at him, my voice sweet like honey. "Don't be like that, Matty. Did you forget how we met the first time? We exchanged fists, shouldn't we be friends and-"

He threw his billy club at me and I caught it with my TK. "Fine, Matt."

"Men, really." Elektra rolled her eyes at him, but she was smiling.

My sensei fell silent and I felt that she was thinking. Meanwhile I decided to help a bit and disintegrated the bodies on the ground, I didn't take any of the weapons, they were normal ones and I had no use for them. I disappeared the blood too and fixed the wooden floor. I did a lot of fixing today, but there's no way I would leave any of my people's houses in shambles.

"Are we going back?" Maddy asked sheepishly.

I caressed her head and nodded. "Well you and I, for sure."

Elektra was still deep in her thoughts with Matt's arms around her. He looked around not smelling the blood on the floor anymore. I needed to do something nice for the man, maybe I could give him back his vision, at least an enhanced one, I know that I can heal him.

Cindy poked me. I stared at her as she took off her half mask. "Jean, introduce us."

Maddy let go of me and turned to my girlfriend, not moving an inch and staring at her hard. I couldn't describe what she was feeling, but Maddy had no ill will toward my Cindy.

"Ah yeah… Maddy, this is my girlfriend, Cindy." I said.

Madelyn hid behind me, shy."She's pretty."

Cindy laughed at that, her eyes shining with mirth. "Wow, even another you wants to make a move on me huh."

I glared at her. "Hey, she has good taste."

Cindy blushed at that. I couldn't wait to get my hands on her later… She's too cute for her own good. I was interrupted again by Madelyn's question. "What's a girlfriend?"

Elektra intervened at this point and placed herself between me and Maddy. With a threatening gaze she whispered in my ear, "If I have to give her the birds and the bees explanation because of you, we will have some harsh sparring sessions, Jean."

I gulped at that, but my smile remained. "So that means you want to come with us?"

Elektra sensei nodded. "Yes, I cannot leave Maddy alone, Matt will come, only for a few days."

I could work with that. Matt and sensei returned to the apartment to take some stuff. The blind vigilante had half of his clothes in sensei's closet, practically living together with her. The only reason he hadn't moved in yet was because this was supposed to be a secret place. Not so secret, since Hydra or… SHIELD had discovered it.

Elektra and Matt came back to the dojo with two suitcases. Maddy went to Elektra and helped her with a backpack that was surely full of weapons and her kunoichi outfit. I secretly wanted one, but I don't think I could, I mean, was I even genin level in Ninjutsu? I planned to ask sensei later.

"Is everyone ready?"

There was a chorus of yes and ayes. I created a portal and once again it opened in the common room. This time Captain Stacy, Dad, Nick and Phil waited for us. Elektra passed first, followed Madelyn who helped Matt by pulling him by the arm. I noticed that he didn't snap at her at all. Cindy grasped my hand in hers and we followed suit.

After we passed, I closed the portal and went to sit on one of the stools at the bar with Cindy following me. Jessica was there too, waiting. I noticed that there were people that were missing like my mother, Chimera and my sisters. Mrs Stacy was there too, sitting at one of the tables with a mug between her hands while Alisa Jones was leaning in a chair before her.

"Hey Jess."

"Jeanie, you got everyone?" She asked, taking a swig of the pepsi can in her hand.

I needed to get Hans to disappear those; I am a coca person. "Yeah." I answered, still wanting to take the chair at her side.

Jessica flinched when she stared right behind me. "Errr, I don't want to alarm you but there's a clone of you behind you."

I turned and found Madelyn following me, looking at Jessica's pink hair. She waved at her, gave me a hug and then left. Jessica blinked, wiped her eyes and looked at her can of pepsi. "Did you roofie me?"

We looked as the young redhead ran to Elektra who was being given an explanation on what was happening by Phil and Nick whose wounds have been dressed.

"No, she's real. That's my clone, Madelyn." And a bundle of cuteness I really liked.

Jessica took another swig of pepsi, but realized the can was empty and cussed. "Shit."

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