Interlude 9

(Or how Anna-Marie started dating two freaky girls)

January 13th, 1997
Egypt
Raptor Valley

Anna ran, avoiding the low hanging tree branches of the spiral like trees threatening to stop her. She couldn't stop, if she stopped something terrible was going to happen! As if to prove her right, a searing red pain bolt coming from her right side struck her leg and made her fall in the mud puddle, staining and soaking the top of her body. Anna growled and stood back up and bore with the pain and crawled in the tall grass to hide. 

She growled as she crouched back up and slowly moved toward the goal, the pillar of light that will make this entire exercise stop. That redhead hounding her was as beautiful as she was sadistic. How could she be scared and aroused at the same time? *Scaroused maybe, wait was that even a word?* The brunette sighed heavily, if only the red head didn't make her nipples so hard. Or send a shiver of fear down her back she would be able to figure it out. 

Jean must be messing with her head. But dat ass and those toned thighs…*Yum.*  

"Anna, where are you?" Anna heard Jean call her.

She was tired, and needed a shower; they have been doing this for one hour already. Hell, she could already feel the swamp forming underneath her arms. Jean had decided to train her body before training her mind and gave her incentive to want to control her power, not because she cannot touch anybody but because she needed them simply to live. After all, their world wasn't safe, their fight with Hydra had proven that.

Anna noiselessly hid behind bushy trees with alacrity. 

Jean's voice rang in the air, "Hiding won't change the outcome, you know? You won't reach the pillar, I won't let you."

A rush of anger hit Anna, she tightened her fists and wanted to shout, *Bitch!*

It was clearly the wrong thing to do as the trees disintegrated around Anna and left her in plain view and the redhead in dark blue paramilitary clothes found her. "Ahah! Here you are!!"

"Shit!" Anna cursed, she tried to stand up, but felt that pressure on her that kept her from doing so.

Jean smiled at her and loomed over her. "You need more mental discipline, Anna. This won't do. I could feel your anger from twenty meters over there and heard you project your thoughts as well."

While Jean reprimanded her, the brunette took a handful of earth in her hand and threw it at Jean’s face. *Eat that pocket sand, bitch!* When she didn't feel the strong pressure then ran with all her might. Not checking if she had blinded her, Anna zig zagged between the trees, jumped over the bushes, and avoided any pools of mud on her way. As she ran toward her goal, she observed that the terrain was getting pretty steep. She wiped her forehead because she was sweating as if she was in a sauna. It soaked her clothes, and smelled horrible.

"Hey, Anna." Jean said after blowing in her left ear.

Anna-Marie fell on the ground in another puddle of mudd, she looked at Jean who was floating over her with a smug smile on her face. "Damn ya, Jean!"

Jean landed at Anna-Marie's side and used her TK to clean her clothes and skin. "Aww don't be like that, I told you I would stop you, no? The exercise is concluded." The pillar that was a big holographic construct simply disappeared with a wave of Jean’s hand. The redhead simply looked at her with that confident smile that Anna-Marie had come to love. With Jean she felt safe, appreciated and wanted.

Still, Anna-Marie had her pride. She wasn't going to become a parasite, a little flower who isn't able to pull her own weight. "Ah want to conti-"

Jean cut her off by asking, "Do you want to touch me?" As she held her hand before her and toward Anna-Marie who stepped back and raised her hands to cross her arms over her body in protection.

Anna-Marie shook her head vigorously. "No! Ya said that ya won't defend yerself! Ah don't wanna to absorb yer po-"

Jean walked up to her, forcing Anna-Marie to back down and step back against a tree. "But you need to know if the one who gives you consent to let you absorb their power won’t faint, just like in the other Rogue in the timeline I’ve shown you. Why do you make this so much harder than it should?"

The redhead looked at Anna-Marie in the eyes, she averted her eyes when Jean smiled, white teeth out. Anna-Marie pushed her delicately, careful to not touch skin. "That’s… Ah just don't want to, kay?"

Jean and Anna-Marie looked into each other's eyes, the brunette licked her lips in nervousness, until she heard, "Fine." From the redhead who let out a sigh of frustration.

Anna-Marie felt like she had disappointed Jean, she was about to relent when the girl made a one hundred eighty change in mood, as she smiled at her and looked as if she wanted to devour her. “So do you want to train? I can show you how to make a mind palace and store the powers you absorb and access them when you want to.” 

Jean then approached her and touched her face; Anna-Marie waited for the inevitable time when the girl she liked would fall on the ground unconscious. But nothing happened, Jean had a compassionate expression on her face. “Mmh... But first you must want to change, Anna. You are scared of yourself.”

 

# # #

 

The water fell on her from the shower head. She thoroughly rubbed herself with the bath glove, removing dead skin cells while also increasing the lather of her body wash. It smelled like cherry blossom, her favorite smell. Anna-Marie was actually happy that there was no one else there, she now had time to think about what Jean was talking about. Anna was aware that she was traumatized by what she had done to Cody Robbins, her first boyfriend, when she put him into a coma after absorbing his life energy. 

Since then she has shunned contact and intimacy for good reason, but it jaded her and made her a cynic. Anna-Marie was aware that it was better to face the reality of what happened rather than wondering about what might have happened if she didn’t have those powers. She needed to speak about what happened, with someone, Jean or… a professional?

Anna-Marie, nodded. She felt that she needed all the help that could get. She put her hand on the counter covered in dark tiles of the walk-in shower she was using, it didn’t have a door so it took less space than an ordinary shower. The water fell on her body like a cascade with the shower heads placed strategically to replicate that effect.

“Hehe, Jean you were right she’s in here.” Anna-Marie heard a feminine voice say that made her jump.

“Eep!!” The metahuman girl cried out, losing the bottle of shampoo and letting it fall on the black tiles.

The brunette turned and covered her chest and lower body with her hands; only to see Jean with the athletic asian girl she had seen previously in the gym. She was looking back at her as if she was a tasty morsel that she was about to swallow up. It wasn’t that they were there that was embarrassing, but it was their state of undress.

Anna-Marie’s eyes were stuck on the magical chest belonging to the hot redhead behind the asian girl. Jean spoke, but her words didn’t register as the metahuman girl could barely think. 

Jean giggled. “Cindy, I told you she was. She’s super easy to follow with my telepathy.”

Anna-Marie felt herself hugged mentally and full of warmth. It was clearly Jean using her powers on her. “Anna, I told you that bottling your feelings up can make you feel worse and can damage your health. I promised that I will help you make everything right.”

Anna-Marie’s brain rebooted, and she lifted her head to finally look into Jean’s emerald green eyes; the redhead smiled at her smugly. Anna-marie averted her eyes and gave her an awkward greeting and tried to get them to leave her to her own devices. “Hey… um… now, we’re in the showers.”

Her argument was instantly dismissed by Cindy who was at Jean’s side. “Yes, but we are all girls here, aren’t we?”

Anna-Marie wanted to tell her to buzz off, but Cindy’s state of undress was distracting. “That’s not… ah-” she blushed profusely and gave them her back to avoid further embarrassing herself.

The asian girl seemed to take pleasure in Anna-Marie’s discomfort. The girl turned her head to Jean who grinned a bit at her. “She’s so cute when she’s all bashful, you were right, Jeanie.”

More giggling, then Anna-Marie felt a gaze directed to her bottom and she heard, “Hey Cin, do you think she needs help with rubbing herself?”

Turning toward them suddenly, the brunette backed away and quickly said, “Ahm good! No thank ya!”

“Tssk.” Cindy simply clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, she had her towel over her left shoulder.

Glaring at the girl, Anna-Marie was about to tell her to back off when Jean put a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear; Cindy looked decently chastised when Jean straightened back up and said aloud, “Let’s stop, we are creeping her out.”

“Fine…” Cindy pouted.

Jean shook her head with a big smile plastered on her face, without a doubt finding the other girl adorable or some such. Anna-Marie didn’t like to compare herself to others, or think ill of someone because they had something she wanted but she thought, *Jean could have someone better than her.* 

*Like me.* A traitorous thought followed up her previous assessment.

There was an awkward silence that stretched for over thirty seconds, before Jean approached the other girl, wringing her hands. “So, um Anna. We wanted to ask you something.” Jean began to say, she was finding it difficult to look the brunette in the eyes.

Another silent moment stretched, it was Anna-Marie’s turn to find a different facet to Jean; the girl who was always hyper confident was now nervous before her, there was a certain irony there. Gaze sliding onto Cindy, the other girl, she found that she was the same. Anna-Marie closed her eyes and sighed, calming herself down; when she reopened her eyes it was to do as if the scene from earlier didn’t happen. 

“Jean, Cindy what cain Ah do for ya.” The brunette asked upfront.

Jean laughed shakily, and scratched behind her head, then turned to Cindy. “Well… damn it, how do you ask out someone you are interested in, Cindy? I couldn’t even ask you.”

Anna-Marie looked astonished by that statement from Jean. She felt as if someone had given her a hammer strike on the head… she held onto the shower partition with all her might.

Cindy tilted her head, looking a bit at Anna-Marie’s reaction. “Well, I did lure you in the girl’s toilet and just jumped and kissed you, I don’t know how you normally do it.”

None of the girls present here knew how to come on someone they were interested in; beside being blunt they need a methodology. Anna-marie looked at Cindy as if she was a particularly venomous predator after she revealed how she enticed Jean. *Well the girl knows what she wants…*

The brunette looked at both of them in the eyes in turn and began massaging her temples. This situation was giving her a headache. “So… ya girls… ya ambushed me here ‘cause ya wanna date me? Both?”

Jean made a seductive smile that slowly appeared on her face as she looked smolderingly at Anna-Marie, who began blushing. Cindy giggled at the action and chose to be blunt with the other girl, “Jeanie likes you, she really likes how you feel. And I really want to try that Polyamory thing…”

Wracking her brain, Anna-Marie tried to remember what a Polyamory was, she had come to know the meaning of it when she had started to read more erotica. Polyamory: A non-monogamous relationship that follows certain guidelines. Polyamory specifically refers to people who have multiple romantic relationships at the same time. *That’s nuts.*

Frowning, Anna-Marie asked by pointing her finger at Jean, “So to date Jean here, Ah’d have to… what date ya too?” Her index finally pointed at Cindy.

Cindy grinned, then she put her bangs out of her face for Anna-marie to see her shiny brown eyes full of mirth. “Of course, we are in love with each other and will without a doubt end up married, but we are aware that people need diversity to make it work…”

Anna looked at Cindy, she was kind of a pervert but if she didn’t know that and met her without her opening her mouth, the brunette would be interested, she was the kind of the same size as her, athletic and bubbly. She was different from Jean who was thick and fit with very muscular thighs that Anna-Marie wished to have around her head. Jean still remained very feminine despite her training regiment that was insane. The girl wasn’t humble, but you could feel safe with her and help you get there yourself. As for Cindy though, there was something that screamed ‘hunter’ when Anna looked at her, but she wouldn’t be with Jean if she was someone bad, right?

Tilting her head she began to say, “Now that Ah look at ya… ya’re kind of cute as well, Cindy.”

Cindy’s eyebrows raised, she turned to Jean and asked, “She’s lezzie?”

Jean made a so-so gesture and answered, “No, she’s bi, like me. But… she’s more-”

Cindy quickly covered Jean’s mouth.“Nope, zip it, Jean. Don’t give spoilers.”

Jean laughed and raised her hand to take Cindy’s that covered her mouth.  “Alright.” The redhead placed herself behind the asian girl and put her hand on Cindy’s waist, looking at Anna. “So, interested?”

Anna-Marie was stumped by their behaviors, she also didn’t understand why Jean was being so aggressive as well. Hadn’t she rejected her previously?

“Ah don’t understand, ya refused me earlier…” The brunette asked Jean.

Jean let go of Cindy and placed herself between Anna and her current girlfriend. “That was before I received permission from Cindy.” The redhead pointed with her thumb at the other pretty girl.  “I’m not into cheating…”

*At least Jean has integrity…* Anna-Marie thought.*She didn’t want to lead me on and had been upfront with me from the get go.*

“So… Jean. Ya like me.” The shower simply stopped now that Anna wasn’t under them; the detector of movement was really sensible on those. Jean blushed and nodded, she was about to say something but was cut off by Cindy.

“She likes your cute smile, legs, and ass.” The dark haired girl piped up.

Jean glared at Cindy who looked unrepentant. Turning to face Anna-Marie, the redhead looked in her bottle green eyes. “And what I like the most in you is... that despite all the shit you went through you still hang on, I like my girls strong.”

Anna-Marie smiled, at least now she knew the girl she liked respected her; she was tempted to say yes right now, but she needed to ask her mothers for some advice… “Okay, so… Ah have trouble focusin' and reachin' a decision with ya two bein' naked, could ya…?”

Cindy nodded and took Jean by the arm. “Well, it was mainly to show you the goods, before you signed up. Now I'm sure that you will say yes. We are going to take our showers as well.”

The two left Anna-Marie with her own thoughts. The girl was clearly excited that she was reaching her goal so fast, but she needed to be able to hit it off with Cindy as well. This was clearly different from what she had imagined, Jean will surely work out a way for her to touch other people, she wasn’t worried. She returned to her shower, thoughtful about what the two girls had in store for her.

 

# # #

 

January 14th, 1997
Lab Complex

After consulting Raven and Irene the previous day, Anna-Marie walked with purpose to the lab complex. Irene had made her choose her best outfit consisting of an off brand short sleeved green t-shirt, a box pleated black skirt and gladiator style sandals. Raven helped her with a minimal makeup, nothing that would impede her in the humidity ridden valley they were in.

Anna-Marie avoided the men and women in the tunnels, all those new faces were the product of her own mother’s work. Raven had been tirelessly recruiting to staff the base. She hit Military Veteran hospitals, the streets of New York and other dubious places for the unwanted and people desperate for a new beginning. Anna-Marie had seen some of the new cooks and farmers for the base, they were mostly homeless teenage moms or men who were previously handicaped with missings limbs who had no prospects for work.

Anna passed a worker team replacing the old steel support beams lining the tunnels with new ones to maintain the dimensions and safe working conditions of the tunnel. That was one of the things that bothered the brunette, Jean was doing all that work to update a perfectly good functioning base and all her justification was: “You’ll thank me later when the shit hits the fan in the next ten years.” Cryptic and mysterious as hell.

On the way there, exiting the entrance of the lab complex, she met an attractive tall blue eyed blonde in a blue body-suit and a lab coat speaking to a raven haired woman with cold green eyes in a similar get up.

The blonde looked happy and she was all smiles and had one of those tablets that acted like an interactive computer with flat screens right from Star Trek; she seemed to watch something interesting on it. “This is incredible, Sarah. We have only been there for two weeks and we already found a way to produce an all-purpose medicinal salve.”

The raven haired woman put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder and nodded. “That’s all well and good, Barbara but we need to create a delivery system… ah, hello there, young lady.” The woman finally noticed that Anna-Marie was in their way.

The neutral gaze of the woman before her made Anna somewhat nervous, she waved her hands and said, “Hey, um… Ah’m Anna and Ah’ve come here to speak with Jean, is she here.”

Raising an eyebrow, the ravenette crossed her arms and began to say, “She’s busy with-”

But the blonde woman, Barbara, put herself between the other woman and Anna-marie to interrupt her. “Yes, she’s here! We can help you enter and go to her personal lab space if you want.”

The ravenette poked Barbara’s shoulder two times and said, “But Barbara, isn’t Jean busy working on her environmental control device? When you tried to interrupt her last time she almost used a force push on you.”

Barbara chuckled nervously at that revelation, and Anna-Marie didn’t feel like getting slammed into something for interrupting Jean Grey. “If she’s too busy, Ah cain come back later.”

Barbara rolled her eyes and said quickly, “No, stay here, I need a quick talk with Sarah here.”

Then the blonde took Sarah’s hand and pulled her aside and they began to whisper; Anna-Marie saw the woman named Sarah flinch and look at her, some kind of dawning realization lighting up in her gaze. Then Sarah nodded and smiled stiffly at Anna. Then all of a sudden, Anna-Marie was ushered into the lab complex, the ceiling stood very far away, as if someone had hollowed the mountain to fit even more space; Anna could see in real time that more levels were being built to the lab as there were workers installing silver colored beams as a sort of frame. 

A tool and some debris fell from one of the walls, but something akin to a force field stopped it’s descent. That stunned Anna more than the robotic arms soldering and moving the beams. Barbara then brought her to the newly constructed lobby where Anna was scanned at the entrance portal rather thoroughly.

[Anna-Marie Darkholm, Metahuman, 17 years old, permission granted.] A cold feminine voice informed all of her identity.

A badge was quickly delivered in a slot from a hole in the mechanized portal, Sarah took it and gave it to Anna who placed the badge on her left boob. “Ya got a talkin’ computer in here?” The young woman asked conversationally as she looked everywhere.

Partitions were being built and crates full of materials were fed into a machine that formed walls with a grey substance that looked like concrete but smelled like plastic. A bearded man of medium height, with a walkman and headphones was dancing while painting the walls, on the back of his lab coat the name Klaw was written. 

“That was E.V.E, she’s in charge of our entire operation.” Barbara answered to Anna.

“And the most powerful sentient computer on the planet.” Sarah gave further information that Anna wasn't sure was true, there’s no absolute in life after all.

The women guided Anna to the end of the  lab complex. Rock music could be heard blaring from the door with a sign written on it 'Jean’s toyshop' and Anna laughed at that. She could hear Jean singing along in the background with welding noises. Anna filed away that Jean was a big fan of AC/DC

 

I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (Thunder)
I looked 'round
And I knew there was no turning back (Thunder)
My mind raced
And I thought, what could I do? (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (Thunder)
Sound of the drums
Beating in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart

You've been - thunderstruck

 

"E.V.E, could you announce our presence to Jean, please?" Sarah asked out loud.

 

Went down the highway
Broke the limit, we hit the town
Went through to Texas
Yeah, Texas, and we had some fun
We met some girls-

 

Anna waited with trepidation as the music went on for another minute then simply stopped almost at the same time as she heard a lot of things clanking together or falling; she even heard a powerful explosion and a ‘shit’ being thrown by Jean. Anna looked at the disapproving glare that Sarah was throwing at the door, and Barbara began simply laughing.

The door to the lab opened with a ‘woosh’ of air, Jean appeared with frizzy hair, blackened lab coat and blue body-suit that had seen better days. No one laughed when Jean glared at the two adult scientists.

Barbara began to say quickly and by pushing Anna before her, “Boss, we brought you, young Anna, here.”

The woman knew what to expect when Jean was in one of her moods and didn’t want to be on shit duty like Ulysses Klaw has been since the start with his salacious comments and behavior.

Jean’s eyes focused on Anna while she said, “Thank you, Barb, Dr. Kinney.” Then she looked up at the two women. “See you at dinner, ok?”

Barbara caught Sarah’s arm. “Okay, we’re skedaddling, have a good time!” She gave Jean a wink and knowing smile and pulled the other woman away. They already began gossiping about what was happening.

“Hi, Anna.” Jean waved the other teen in. The brunette smiled and entered only to see a big burn mark on the dark blue vinyl-like floor with pieces of metal dug into it. There were a lot of shiny things in there made of stainless steel, including tables, cabinets and even picture frames. Glass is also heavily featured as there are screens everywhere! And even the doors are glass. This lends an open, transparent look to the whole space. Stained concrete walls give the space a clean, smooth look and feel and Anna-marie had no doubt it helped in clean up should an over-zealous test or incident like just now should occur.

The brunette turned to Jean who had a put upon expression as she looked at the state her lab was in. “Hey, Jean, um... what were ya doin’?”

Jean looked really frustrated. “I was trying to create a grav-plate to simulate gravity in an environment where it's low or nonexistent.”

Jean led Anna-Marie to a table with a laptop on it.

“Oh… why did it explode?” Anna asked as a chair came into existence and Jean made her sit on it.

She looked gratefully at Jean as her own chair materialized for her and she began to tell what happened. “That’s because the current tetryon battery I’m using isn't the best… they aren’t made to sustain the current system, it’s not stable; so I’ll need to make a fusion powered one, I guess. But the current one in the base doesn't hold a charge for long, it means that I’ll have to come up with a new paradigm for them… mumble, mumble.” Jean began mumbling about something called an arc reactor, and it went over Anna’s head.

Grinning, Anna simply said, “What a big brain ya have.”

Jean simply blushed, then realized that the girl must be here for something. “Thanks… so what did you come here for?”

Still grinning, but with a raised eyebrow; Anna asked tauntingly, “Can’t ya read it from mah mind?”

Jean shook her head. “I try to not read the mind of my friends, though using my empathy is fair game.”

Anna noticed how Jean's clothes and hair were slowly returning back to normal as if nothing had happened. It was another mystery about the girl she liked. “Ya’re being really conscientious about this, huh.”

“I try.” Jean leaned in her seat, with a big smile that made Anna laugh a bit.

Nothing was said for a moment until Anna found her courage, she had been nervous all morning. “So, Ah’ve decided to give it a chance… the thingy we spoke about with Cindy. Us datin’ and that polyamory thang...”

Jean’s smile was so radiant that she actually lit up the room, actually, she was surrounded by a halo of flame that reached the ceiling. “That’s great, really great!” She stood up and was about to tackle Anna when the blonde backed away by jumping out of her chair.

“Okay, calm down Jean.” Making the redhead look at the halo of flames.

The redhead stopped moving, breathed in and out and when she looked at Anna it was with an embarrassing smile, her face was completely red as she began to say, “Sorry, but I’ve been thinking of kissing you since you did that to me the last time.”

Anna-Marie was pleased to know that she wasn't the only one who was nervous about all this relationship stuff. She was rather smug, and her expression showed it. “Hehe, so Ah’ve left an impression.”

Things devolved into small talk and a tour of Jean’s labspace. Hand in hand, Jean first showed Anna the lounge, where there is a small but nice kitchenette area complete with an espresso maker and various cups and saucers because the redhead likes to experiment with caffeinated beverages… Caffeine is known to boost mental acuity, so it makes perfect sense that Jean would dabble into making her own brew to boost herself. There is a nice stainless-steel fridge to the left of the kitchenette, the fridge has a glass front and it was housing what looks like a dozen Mexican Coca cola bottles. 

From what Jean was saying it was the best Coca cola around because, “Mexican Coke is made with cane sugar while American Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup, yuck. Plastic and metal cans that American Coke comes in can affect its taste, and Mexican Coke comes in glass bottles, which might help it to maintain a better flavor.”

“Huhu, lemme try it.” Anna opened the fridge, took a bottle of coke; she uncorked it and then began to drink.  Nothing was said for a moment as she now understood why Jean made a big deal out of the taste of the beverage. “Okay, now… this is a billion times bettah!” Anna exclaimed with a stunned expression.

With a smug grin, Jean said, “Told you. And now welcome to the Coke’s church my padawan. With you, we will be able to burn the local Pepsi heretics!”

In the lounge area, there were a lot of decorations that seemed too highbrow for someone like Jean; some expensive looking paintings and statues which gives the space a bit of eye candy in a way that a completely stainless-steel deco would not. There are a couple of stainless-steel trash cans next to the kitchenette that were linked to some kind of tube-like system that connected to the workspace and the big rectangular machine in its center that Jean called a ‘Fabricator’, something she built and that replaced her 3D printer.

Next to this caffeine dispensing station you’ll find a well-worn modern Chesterfield black sofa that the girls sat on, placed in front of the sofa is a glass coffee table with expected tablets, coffee mugs and electronic pieces. There’s a glass side table next to the couch with a metal modernist lamp. Directly in front of the sofa is a large 3D Holographic screen mounted on the wall and a stainless-steel cabinet underneath. On top of the cabinet sat a couple of framed pictures of Jean’s friends and family, moments preserved in time, then there were pictures of Jupiter. It looked beautiful.

After showing to Anna-Marie how Jean could pirate TV feeds from all over the world on her holographic screen, the two girls transitioned from the lounge area to the area where Jean does most of her design work. Jean has created her own supercomputer where she can record and maybe sketch up on some crazy ideas she might have or get thanks to a really advanced CAD program setup on her wood and metal desk.

Anna found this section of the workshop messy, but you can tell it’s a constantly used workstation with papers, books, and objects strewn about the desks. When she pointed that out to Jean she defended herself by saying that: The idea here is to have materials and working ideas out in plain sight, where Jean can easily get to them and pick up where she left off.

Speaking of desks, there are a few things going on here. Anna was introduced to a cool holographic display table, Jean said that she had gotten the idea from Tony Stark, that rich inventor businessman; but Anna was sure that nothing this advanced was on the market yet. The redhead showed Anna how she can mock up holographic representations of her designs and even interact with them.

The visit extended to the rest of the lab complex and Jean floated them to the sections being built, like a testing area for weapons, a biological lab, and housing units for people who can’t find the time to move to the dorms. There was even an indoor pool being added. Jean landed in the lobby with Anna and let her observe everything around her.

There were signs with quotes written on them, the more striking ones were those:

 

“Si vis pacem, para bellum.”

 

If you want peace, prepare for war. Anna knew it from Irene's history and Latin lesson, there was something going on in there; even more so when Jean smiled as she looked at it. She knew how violent the redhead could become, but it seemed that Jean liked to be prepared. *For what? I don’t know.* Anna then turned her head toward the sign that was taking an entire wall,  in the background planet Earth was pictured in all its glory. She began to read it, it was long and kind of boring until she reached the end...

 

“...It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”

 

“This seems out of place to me. Given the rest of the wonders I’ve seen here. I mean… it’s nice, but…” Anna began to say with apprehension.

Jean passed a hand around Anna's waist and glued herself to her; the brunette didn’t tell her to stop or anything. The redhead began to say, “It’s supposed to help me and the other scientists here to keep things in perspective.”

“But?” Because there was always a but, and Jean didn’t seem to be the kind to be in it only for the philosophy, Anna wanted a definitive answer from the redhead.

Letting go of her new tentative girlfriend, Jean loomed into her eyes and said with a smug laugh, “But now it just reminds me how much there is to discover and own.”

Anna didn't say anything for ten seconds and began thinking that she was now dating some kind of sexy megalomaniac girl. “That’s concerning… Jean.”

As if she didn't hear what Anna-Marie said Jean continued to speak, “Especially considering that Earth is not the only world to harbor life.”

“Ha ha.” Anna laughed out loud, Jean took her hand and started to pull her and asked idly, “It’s a joke right?”

Jean started to say noncommittal and then deflected, “Sure, sure. Anyway, wanna go on a date?”

Anna-Marie stopped walking and then the girl started to negotiate for a date and settle to go on a picnic somewhere exotic.

 

# # #

 

3 days later
11:09 AM
Egypt base

This was a good day, there was no sand storm, the sky was clear with only passing clouds. Irene let Anna-Marie out of her French language lessons after a gruesome oral and written exam. She went directly to the common room, where Jean and Cindy waited for her with a platter of food. Fish and chips seemed to be on the menu today, with some homemade juice that the farming department came up with, it was local and it was fresh.

This was one of the things Anna-Marie liked with this place, it was quickly becoming self-sustaining from the world outside. The brunette walked toward the couple with trepidation, passing time with Jean and having fun exploring her lab three days ago had erased any misgivings she had about the situation she found herself in; still her mother had told her to be prudent and responsible.

"Hey, Jean, Cindy." Anna-marie greeted her two (tentative?) girlfriends, slid into their booth and sat at the same table.

They had seen her coming and greeted her as well. 

"Hi." Cindy waved at Anna and ate a golden and tasty french fry.

Jean watched her, Anna was wearing a vintage looking black long sleeved slim mini dress that zipped up and showed a large neckline. Her black ankle length high heeled boots looked fabulous to the redhead. "Hello, you look smashing, Anna." Jean said with an appreciative gaze.

"I like her outfit as well and her hair is perfect." Cindy piped up, as she admired the short wavy shoulder length hair of the other girl. The white streaks in her hair made her quite unique usually, but it married well with her outfit.

Jean grinned as she finished eating her fries and said, "Too bad we need to get her out of it."

"What?" The brunette stood up, blushing profusely; finding that the girls were going too fast or… Anna then stared at the two they were laughing at her. She quickly got it that they were just teasing her.

Cindy hid a smile behind her hand as she looked at Anna’s expression.  Jean thread her fingers together and placed her linked hands under her chin. "Well... you see, you said that you wanted to go somewhere exotic, remember?"

Anna frowned, she remembered that it was her idea; she didn’t want to have a common date, she was a pretty traditional girl, so she wanted a picnic with Jean and Cindy. "Yeah but-"

"And did you notice the tight body-suit suit I am wearing?" Jean stood up and showed that she wore a full body suit that looked really tight with blue and pink accents, the boots’ soles were platform wedge and looked impractical but Jean still looked kickass with them.

Anna devoured the redhead with her eyes. "It espouses your body rather well, sugah."

For once it was Jean who was made to be embarrassed and blushing. "Thanks… Anna. "

Still something bothered Anna, Jean liked the color red a lot, why was her suit blue and pink, this color scheme was too… girly for her. "Why is your suit blue and pink? It looks like latex but the texture is all wrong."

Jean laughed and looked at the two girls in turn. "Cindy asked me the same thing earlier… but to answer this, I can tell you I based this suit on the one Samus Aran wears in the Metroid games. It's able to resist small caliber kinetic and energy weapons, perforation, is stab proof, resist slashing and is pressurized. It enhances the user's movements and possesses a climate control device at the belt powered by a fusion battery, you know the thing I told you that I would develop three days ago?"

“I like the blaster pistol on the belt, it’s a nice touch.” Cindy piped up, causing Jean to high-five her. The possibility of playing space bounty hunter was one of the things they wanted to do.

Anna tilted her head. "Metrowhat? And why does it look like ya just described some kind of... space suit?" Yes that’s what it looked like to the metahuman girl.

Jean looked at Anna with an impressed expression. "Anna, has anyone told you that you are really smart?"

The brunette averted her eyes, flushing at the compliment. "Not recently. But Ah appreciate the compliment."

"Own it girl! Hot and smart, just like I like them." Jean said with a thumbs up.

Just like promised, Anna-Marie was shuttled to Jean and Cindy's apartment and made to get naked behind a dressing screen and given instructions on how to don her spacesuit. It was the same kind of skin-suit that Jean and Cindy wore, but hers was green and yellow, reminding Anna-Marie of what she had seen her double in the other dimension wear. Jean had a big smile as she looked at her handiwork. She even gave Anna an armored brown vintage pilot jacket exclusively fitted for her to go with it.

Anna-Marie stared at herself in the floor length mirror, her fist on her hips. “Ah look rad.”

The redhead at her side threw a disapproving glare at Cindy who drooled over Anna, literally. “Cindy stop drooling…”

Cindy looked at Jean pleasingly, the girl was about to grope Anna when she was stopped by her girlfriend.  “But! Look, boobies and tight booty!”

Jean rolled her eyes. “Yes you’ll play with them when we get to know each other better. Don't be a creeper.”

The dark haired girl began to glare and pout at Jean. Anna, who witnessed the scene, smiled nervously… “Her behavior is flatterin' and disturbin' at the same time…”

Jean then went to hug Cindy and kiss her forehead lovingly, she couldn't resist when the spider girl was pouting after all. “I know right? But I got used to it.”

"Hey! I'm right here." Cindy said while her face was in Jean’s chest.

"We know." Anna and Jean answered in synch with a teasing tone.

Things evolved after that, the girls went to the Transportation room that was getting through a makeover and a technology update as Jean found a way to boost the accuracy and range of her teleporters. The girls walked on the pedestal and placed themselves on each of the circular glowing blue slots; Anna-Marie looked at the place with wonder, it really looked like this room was out of Star Trek TNG, she looked up and saw the device linked to the teleporter on the ceiling. 

Anna-Marie pointed her finger at the silver circle with glowing LED lines on the ceiling. "What’s this?"

Jean lifted her head, smiled and asked, "That ring over the ceiling?" 

"Yeah." Anna nodded.

"This is the device that actually boosts the teleporter, when the teleporter converts our bodies to energy we pass through the rings and then the matter stream is transmitted to another set of rings and reassembles us safely. The previous method of teleportation was more limited and dangerous."

Frowning, Anna asked, "How limited?" She wouldn't board that teleporter thing if it was dangerous...

"We couldn't reach some of the more shielded areas of Earth, now it's child play. And our bits don't get messed up if someone messes with the teleportation." Jean revealed after taking a tablet from her utility belt and starting entering commands.

With wide eyes, Anna said, "That’s disturbin'."

Cindy put a hand around Anna's shoulders in reassurance.  "Jean is all about safety with her stuff, it shows with all the things she invents." Cindy informed Anna. 

The teleporter thrummed, light surrounded the girls and they all disappeared from the transporter room. 371.11 million km away from Earth under a diamond dome treated to replicate the protections against harmful radiation, the three girls appeared in a flash of light on a similar teleporter platform that was located in a gun metal grey room with a control terminal facing the platform.

What Anna didn’t anticipate was the bank of lockers at the right side of the room and the computer screens integrated with the walls all around them. “Huh, are we in another base?”

Jean, who had gone directly to the lockers, took out some helmets from them, she threw a black and white one to Cindy, put on a blue one and approached Anna with a green one in her hands. “Yes. Here, put this on.”

Anna looked at the light weight helmet and could easily see herself in the mirrored visor, the outer shell was smooth and the inside was padded. There was some electronics inside as well. “A helmet? Why? And why does it look like a power ranger helmet?”

Jean gaped. “Damn, you noticed! Ok, I can salvage this, all I can tell you is that it’s a surprise… you’ll see everything will be made clear once you put this on and go outside, do you trust me?”

Squinting her eyes in suspicion, Anna looked worryingly at the helmet and sighed, choosing to trust her tentative paramours. “Ya haven’t led me wrong so far.”

Anna put on the helmet, it was sure to ruin her current hairstyle, but the sacrifice needed to be made. Jean and Cindy went before her to the door which was in fact an airlock. They passed through after a moment in the compartment with the pressure normalizing. The solid metal door opened slowly to reveal that it was night and that everywhere you could see dry, desert landscape of red sand and rocks, there were hexagonal buildings all around the place as well as some weird spires protected by fences. The spires seemed to release a blue colored mist in the air; Anna looked up and noticed that they were under some kind of crystalline structure.

Jean took her tablet from her pouch again and operated it, the opacity of the crystalline structure changed and the sky was completely black with the light of the stars shining down; nebulae were completely visible as well.

"Girls, are we on fuckin' Mars?" Anna asked in wonder.

The communicator inside her helmet transmitted her emotional question that was swiftly and laconically answered. To Anna the gravity felt weaker, it was strange to her as there wasn't that sensation when she was in the building with the teleporter. *Jean must have done something.*

"Yep." Cindy said as she pulled the other girl toward one of the big grey hexagonal structures with a glass-like ceiling.

“What’s this?” Anna pointed to the building that strangely looked like a greenhouse.

“That’s the garden.” Jean said cryptically.

“We will have our picnic there.” Cindy added.

Anna nodded and kept looking around her enraptured by the fact that she was on a new planet. “I can’t believe we are having our first date on another planet, no one can top that as a first date.”

Jean and Cindy were ruining her for any relationship she could have if this tentative Polyamory relationship didn't pan out. Anna-Marie was going to have a skewed sense of value and of what is possible. Once they arrived at the next airlock leading inside the garden, Jean entered a code in the panel next to it. After a moment, the three girls embarked inside the structure and were assailed by different devices that proceeded to decontaminate them. 

"I don't like airlocks." Anna muttered, unfortunately she didn't know how to not broadcast what she said on the comm channel. 

"But this is necessary." Jean argued as she heard the brunette. Then she opened the door when the pressure normalized.

Anna-Marie could scarcely believe what she was seeing, the place was big, at least the size of a football field. There was a pool of clear water at the center of the hexagon where water cascades over-fountain into said pool. At the edge of the pool, green grass and exotic trees such as a cherry blossom, Hinoki Cypress and Japanese maple stretched their branches gracefully. There were beds of flowers far from the pool, and some outbuildings that looked like tool sheds.

“Welcome to the garden.” Jean said grandly after taking her helmet off, a big smile spread on her face. “You can breathe the air here, and the gravity is similar to Earth’s.” The redhead informed the other two.

Anna took off her helmet and shook her head untangle her hair. She had an excited expression on her face. “This is awesome, how long did it take you to do all this, Jean?”

With a smug grin, Jean answered, “Officially? Two months.” She showed two fingers.

Cindy pinched Jean on the arm, causing the redhead to yelp in pain. “She used her time dilation field to speed up her work, again.” Cindy began to take off her helmet. When her face was visible, she didn’t look happy with Jean at all.

The girl was shaving months off her life and it didn’t sit well with the spider girl.

Looking chastised, the redhead tried to argue. “Hey, this was for a good cause, our first date with Anna.” She rubbed the spot where she was pinched.

Anna looked at Cindy with confusion. “I don’t know what a time dilation field is, but it sounds rather important.”

“I will tell you over lunch.” Cindy said with a glare at Jean.

Jean laughed nervously and started to walk away. “Come with me, everyone.”

Fifty meters from the clear water pool, Jean showed the girls the way to a black picnic table with a red blanket spread over it; two big picnic baskets on the left and right. Jean began to open them and put the food on the table. This was how Anna-Marie’s first date went, they talked about things such as Jean spending too much time tinkering, their hates and likes while eating delicious salad, lasagna, chicken salad in a bread wrap and drinking hot pink lemonade made by Jean.

It was after dessert that Jean gave Anna-Marie a present in a black little box with Anna’s name on it. When the brunette opened it, she was surprised to see a lone silver earring. Anna liked it a lot, it was made with a feminine and delicate design, accentuated with a gemstone that shone beautifully at the tip of the swinging teardrop design of the earring.

“It’s beautiful.” Anna said with a tone loaded with emotion.

Jean grinned at the brunette’s reaction. “With this you can control your powers.”

“Really?” Anna tore her gaze from the earrings and looked at Jean with shock.

The redhead began to explain how it worked. “Yes, it works by detecting your X-gene and neutralizing it. But with a thought, you can switch it off or on, we don’t want you to be defenseless. But be careful, the diamond and the silver are full of circuitry; so avoid bathing or showering with it.”

“This is…” When Anna heard the word diamond, she widened her eyes. It was a big diamond, after all.

As if she was reading her mind, Jean pushed the box closer to Anna with her TK and began to say, “I created it for you, but this is a crutch. What we want is for you to consciously control your power, right?”

Anna stiffened at Jean’s imperious tone; but she still had a smile on her face. “It’s still the best gift ever.”

“Glad you like it!” The redhead became all smiles again.

“Oh and this is from Cindy.” Jean slid another box to Anna, but this one was bigger.

Anna opened the black box, and took the purple outfit, it even had matching shoes… “Is that a purple dress?” If it could be called that, the dress would barely cover her undies.

Cindy had an expectant expression on her face as she argued, “You need more color in your wardrobe than black and green, you should show more skin as well, girl.”

“This is scandalously short, Cindy…” Anna began to say.

“And you’ll rock it. Now you can wear something like it, your power is no problem anymore.” Cindy laughed.

Jean looked at Cindy as if she was being particularly frustrating, then went back to speak to Anna. “The dress is for the party we will organize for the creation of my Metahuman group. I and Cin really want to dance with you.”

“Ok, then… but... about the group, can I join?” Anna knew that Jean was about to do great stuff for their people, it was the reason her moms switched sides from the Brotherhood to Jean’s.

Raising an eyebrow, Jean said, “You are already part of it Anna, you are being trained by me directly.” As if it was super obvious.

The brunette put the dress back in its box. “Good, so far this is the best date ever.”

“We aim to please.” Jean and Cindy said in synch.

The date finished like this, with the girl speaking about things that they were about to do for the future; Jean looked up at the domed skylight and smiled for a mission well accomplished.

 

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A/N: Next is chapter 15 part 2, but I am only 4k in it, so be patient, and the patreon will be first to have it.

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