A/N: Chapter 3 for Xmas! Enjoy guys!

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Chapter 3

Annandale-on-Hudson
Grey House

I was in a foul mood. I couldn’t believe that my first sortie as Phoenix had an outcome like this; I saved the Waynes, only for Matt Murdock to swoop in and try talking me out from killing those... those monsters?

He was such a hypocrite! But whatever, I would continue to stomp out evil as much as I could; some monsters should be killed. I stopped this train of thought and reminded myself of this quote, ‘He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.’

Nietzsche was onto something, The key word in the first sentence was ‘fights.’ When one fights, one often justifies one's actions by what it does to one's opponents. People who consider killing to be wrong are often willing to take a life in self-defense.

In practice, it is often very hard to stop undertaking these actions when the monster is gone. Considering the case of the warrior who has to come back to live in a society where the instincts that kept him alive for years now have disastrously unacceptable outcomes.

There is also the concern of the monster's perspective. Often the mere fact that you are fighting against them can make you a monster in their eyes. Then you have to consider all of these issues from their perspective. Suddenly they may be willing to kill in self-defense when they otherwise thought killing was wrong.

The abyss is a more difficult one to capture in words. If given a choice, I prefer to simply stare at the phrasing I already have: ‘If you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.’ At the very least, there is certainly a reflexive property to this action. You are staring at the abyss, presumably with the intent to understand it. This means you must be forming an image of the abyss in your mind. When it comes to concepts of emptiness, the image of emptiness is often indistinguishable from the emptiness itself.

I didn’t take pleasure in killing those guys in the alleyway, but it sure felt right to crush them under my heels, like the evil cockroaches they were. Through my empathy they had radiated of so much evil that I irrationally wanted to destroy them at all costs so their stench and vileness would dissipate.  

It was as if my empathic ability had linked with my sense of smell. Shaking my head, I let go of this image and looked under me. After twenty minutes of travel, I finally reached my town, my home visible to me. 

*Home sweet home.*

Gradually lowering my elevation, I finally landed behind my home. I paused for a few beats, remaining in the same place so my mental detection could alert me if anyone in the house was awake. My parents were still blissfully asleep. I levitated from the ground, not wanting to leave any footprints on the lawn. Floating to the door, I opened it with my TK. Upon entering the house, I locked the backdoor. I was relieved to have washed my boots in the Hudson River, because imagine the rookie mistake of leaving bloody footprints leading to my bedroom? Surprisingly, thug blood and brain was hard to clean, and I had to scrape everything with TK. Floating up the stairs, I quickly reach my bedroom. 

Letting out a sigh, I stripped out of my hoodie and yoga shirt, tossed aside my boots, and peeled the faux leather jeans from my legs. I looked at the time, 01:45 AM.

*Time to sleep then we will go jogging in four hours. I will sleep in history class I imagine.*

Not bothering to take off my underwear, I collapsed into my bed and closed my eyes. Sleep was quickly granted to me.

 

# # #

 

September, 8th  1996

 

The alarm blared, and blearily I opened my eyes and looked at the digital screen on it. It was 05:30.  

Rising from  bed, I rubbed my eyes and resisted giving in and going back to bed. It was difficult, but I found the willpower to get out of bed. I dropped on the ground and began to do some push-ups; thirty-one later I finally felt awake.

I stood up, crinkled my neck and went to look for my red tracksuit. Fortunately, mom cleaned it and as I put it on my stomach rumbled. Today, I was going to run, shower, and then make breakfast.

Red tracksuit on, I exited my bedroom, brushing my teeth in the bathroom as I began to investigate the state of the assimilation of agent Shane's knowledge and skills in my mind.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was there. Now I knew Kravmaga, Jeet Kune Do, Tai-Chi, Judo and Aikido; there was a bit of Muay Thai in her martial skills too. Hhah, they were mine now! Agent Shane was an expert tactician, a hand-to-hand combatant and a secret agent; she knew how to infiltrate or exfiltrate places.

There were also skills that translated well with the knowledge replication, such as the Marksmanship expertise of the woman and the mastery of various other weapons. Maybe, just maybe I would get to use that one day.

Then I realized that I needed to train in everything for it to become like second nature. That's fine! Nothing worth having was easy to obtain. Though, now I have the skills necessary to defend myself, even if my power was being dampened. 

And then, like a lightning rod, an idea hit me.

*Dampened?* Here was an idea that bode well with me. With my telepathy, I should be able to stop a mutant or another type of enhanced from accessing their power.

*Something to try later when I find someone like me.* 

I simply couldn't do that to Jessica as her strength was innate. And we had a tentative friendship that would be ruined if I messed with her mind- even superficially. Leaving home, I found myself on the patio. I stepped onto the stone slabs leading to the garden where mom had her rose bushes. There was enough space here on the green lawn for me to begin my exercises.

Dropping in a prone position on the ground I began to do push-ups, and from the knowledge I stole from Agent Shane it tells me that I should be able to hold for two minutes. As I lowered and raised my body only using the strength of my arms I stopped boosting my body with my psionic energy. Immediately, the exercise became harder.

*Tactile TK is such a cheat, but if I can raise my base stats, how strong will I become?* I cheered myself as my arms shook after just fifty seconds.

Forcing myself I held on doing more push-ups for sixty seconds and then I fell face first onto the stone slabs. “Fuck.”

With my arms feeling like jelly and the sweat already starting to flow down my back and forehead I continued the next exercise, abdominal endurance training or more commonly known as sit-ups. Urgh, Shane’s knowledge was full of technical terms for everything that had more common names, I hoped that I wouldn’t be speaking like that either. I lasted longer as I did them, one minutes and forty seconds; almost two minutes.

Standing up, I jogged on the pavement which bordered my house, following Annandale road as usual. Every two days,  I went for a run in the early morning. I liked it here in my hometown, though the entirety of this hamlet consisted of the Bard College. When I passed my first kilometer I was already arriving at the copse of trees near the Chapel but it wasn’t my stop. 

Finally in view of my destination, I stopped at Elizabeth Stambler Garden and looked for the tree I used to practice my pull-ups. I caught the solid low branch and lifted myself doing pull-ups. My arms still burned from the earlier push-ups, but I pushed myself again for thirty seconds.

Then I fell on my butt as my hands let go of the solid branch. “Ouch.”

“Becoming a badass is hard.” I complained out loud.

I envisioned doing this exercise each morning, and stopping on the weekend. My goal was to reach the optimum human fitness at least on the level of my favorite superheroine, Natasha Romanov. Lifting off the grass, which cushioned my fall, I ran back out of the Garden, and ran for another mile at maximum speed towards my home. My eyes fell on the people already hard at work on the road, the street cleaners were organizing themselves to maintain the town, and other people were already leaving for work leaving their and boarding their cars.

Looking at my watch I see that it was already 06:20 AM.

I pushed myself further, as it was almost time for me to make breakfast. My mental detection field located a bunch of unfamiliar minds- all were sharp and focused. Finding the source, it seemed to be within a black nondescript surveillance truck. My new assimilated knowledge helped me recognize the type of plate they used. I didn’t stop running, or it would raise suspicions. “SHIELD has more teams out in my town.” I whispered.

I took extra care and caution tino making sure I wasn’t being followed, and arrived at home quickly. I entered the house from the front, bowling over the door of the porch, I opened and closed it once inside. Panting heavily due to the severe exertion, I calmed down little by little and went on auto-pilot.

Using levitation, I landed in the short corridor to enter my bedroom. Peeling off my sweaty clothing, I tossed them into the dirty laundry basket, and immediately headed to the shower. Twenty minutes later, I was feeling thoroughly refreshed and clean, also mom and dad were awake and about to start the day.

Withdrawing from the bathroom, I began thinking of what this day held in store for me. *I’m going to see if I can take Jessica with me to the junkyard I located so we can  test our powers and I’m going to try to locate my new sensei. She’s hard to get ahold of.*

With my TK, I opted to dress in a black skirt, my red leather jacket and a white halter crop top from my wardrobe. I focused on my underwear drawers; after five minutes of making them float and orbite around me, I chose a sexy black lace underwire push up bra and black lace thong to match it. I slowly put them on and once I was done I looked at myself and appreciated the view.

*I look like one of those Victoria's Secret models.* I gushed.

I wished I had a camera to take my pic, because I need to see when I get ripped enough. Laughing, the rest of my underwear  folded themselves and neatly arranged in my drawers, when I snapped my fingers.

Not wasting any time, I slipped into the black tights, and the clothing I had chosen. I examined myself in the mirror, noting that the outfit lacked something. Then, I saw what needed to be added.

Within the depths of my wardrobe, I sought for one of the belts I used when I accompanied my dad at his old college. It was adorned with a golden buckle. “Perfect.” I admired, as I put the black leather belt on.

Making my red jacket float to me, I caught it, shrugging into it. I opened my wooden jewelry box on my dresser. Mom had gifted it to me, with it being full with old accessories and golden and silver jewelry that had been my granny’s.

I grasped one of my favorites- a golden choker necklace in the form of a bird with a small chain. At the same time my hair was being combed and brushed with my TK into a middle parted long hairstyle. I took really good care of my hair with special natural hair product that I had to order from an Indian Cherokee shop. 

*I would hate to see all this hair go.* I said to myself as I stroked it with a hand.

Finally ready for school, I opened my school bad with a nudge of my mind, all of my writing kits and notebooks flying into it. I walked over to it, and zipped it close. I checked my school ID and driver's licence, credit card and wallet. Assured everything was there, I switched off the lights and floated down to the first floor. “Jean, breakfast!” Mom called out. “I’m coming, mom!” I shouted back.

Landing on the ground, I strode to the kitchen, my eyes trailing on the breakfast table filled with enough food for five people. She was baking a cake at the moment, surely for when I got back from school this afternoon.

“You are already preparing everything.” I commented, noticing the pitcher full of self-pressed orange juice, and plates of sausages and eggs.

Mom gave me her signature smile and flipped her blonde hair. “You need to go take your friend and the drive to Manhattan is two hours long. Don't worry about breakfast in the morning anymore, ok?

I was about to protest, arguing that I liked helping her. “But-”

But with a wave of her hand she commanded. “Sit, Jeany. And eat, because I know how hungry you get after going running.”

“Fine…” I huffed, before my eyes focused on a plate she placed at the center of the table with the eggs and sausages. “Are those pancakes?!”

I quickly took a seat and mom stared at me, fondness shining in her eyes. 

The pancakes were doused in maple syrup, and I found them tasting soft after hurrying to put them in my mouth. They were oh-so delicious. Eating four of them with a serving of sausage and eggs, I finished my breakfast in thirty minutes while discussing with dad about my future.

As I sipped some fruit juice, I pondered over it. “I want to study genetics, computer science and at least two different branches of engineering.”

“Oh which ones?” Dad asked. 

I placed my drink down, finally done. Checking the time it was 06:55 AM.

“Computer and Biomedical Engineering.” I chirped.

Dad put his newspaper on the table and stared at me for a longtime. Then he began to laugh, “Is this part of your plan for the future, the one you told us about?”

Nodding, I continued to speak. “Yes, I plan to major in computer engineering and minor in bioengineering, comp sci and then genetics.”

Dad didn't think I was being ridiculous, and knew if I chose those fields of study that I could really make something of myself. I smiled at him, and then he nodded back at me, took his newspaper back and said, “I believe in you.”

There it was- the unconditional trust dad had in me. “Thanks. I love you Dad.”

He peered at me from behind the newspaper. “I love you too sweetheart.”

“Jean, time to leave! Don’t forget to take your lunch!” Mom hollered from inside the kitchen.

“Okay!” I shouted back, took the red tupperware lunch box from the table and with a woosh I left at super speed.

 

# # #

 

Manhattan, Queens
Forest Hills neighborhood

 

Finally parked in front of Jessica’s home, I exited my car, closing the door quietly. Her home was two stories high, a brick house with a chimney, a beautiful garden surrounding the house and a vegetable garden on the right of the property. 

I found it kind of idyllic. Seeing this little slice of paradise in the middle of an urban landscape was truly strange, as if the people living inside tried too hard to be perfect.

*Jessica must have it hard here.* I mused to myself. Nevertheless, I was now before the entrance door, rapping my fist against the door. I wasn’t surprised to see a typical soccer mom standing on the other side of the door.   Her brunette hair was luminous, and her blue eyes shone. She had an hourglass figure, and as she stared at me, there was an easy smile playing at her full lips. She wore a grey t-shirt and blue jeans with cute sandals.

As I stared at her, her smile widened.“Hello, what can I do for you?” She greeted. 

“Hi.” I waved at the woman. “Hum, I came to take Jessica to school.”

“Oh, you must be Jean Grey.” 

She was curious about me. As her eyes trailed over me, from head to toe, I knew she was already categorizing me into the trendy looking teenager girl box in her mind.  <She looks okay, not someone who looks like a bad influence, but I will still watch out for her.> I heard her surface thoughts.

“That’s me.” I nodded.

For a minute, we remained silent, until she said, “Jessica spoke a lot about you, I am happy that she finally made a friend.”

I smiled. “We have tons of things in common.”

She returned my smile, flipping her hair. “I learned that you are just like her- a loner. I guess birds of a feather flock together. You seem to be a good girl, Jean. Take good care of Jessie.”

In my heart, I cackled. Jessica’s adoptive mother was a walking cliché. She had a gossip network, and she kept herself informed about things occuring in school. Was she that desperate to have control of her… daughters? There were two other female minds in the house- one felt like Jessica and I was clueless as to who the other was. 

My smile intact, I bopped my head. “I intend to, ma’am.”

She frowned at me calling her ma’am, as though she didn’t like being referred to a term that symbolized old age. Seriously? 

“Call me Alisa or Mrs Jones.” I remember this name from the Marvel Database wiki. There wasn’t a lot of info about her. But to keep giving the vain woman something to feel good about I complimented, “You have such a beautiful name.”

“Oh my, thank you.” She flushed. 

*God, she’s so predictable! I feel that she likes me a lot now.* Alisa liked to be admired. Since she couldn’t have kids, she focused on her social career, striving to make people believe she was the perfect housewife. To show her generosity, and kindness, she adopted Jessica. Hearing footsteps nearing, a voice called out, “Mom, is it Jean?!”

The older woman pushed herself out of the way, and here came my new friend. She wore her usual black hoodie and blue skirt with ripped black tights and designer boots. The girl must not be aware of it but she did the same judgemental check Alisa Jones did to me. She must have liked what she saw as she said “Hi.” and waved to me.

“Hi, Jess.” I waved back.

I felt another mind coming behind Alisa and Jess. It was a younger girl, a redhead like me, with blue eyes and clothed more conservatively than Jessica. She wore black jeans, a grey top and a purple almost black jacket with her school bag. She looked… hopeful?

Jessica walked up to me, took my arm and whispered next to my ear, “I have bad news.”

“Oh?” I already got the gist of it, from the pleading gaze the younger teen was giving me.

“My sister asked if she could come to school with us.” Jessica said, she didn’t sound happy about it.

“Damn.” I whispered back.

I had hoped to speak to Jess about the Junkyard and how to develop a training regimen for herself. It had always hit me how lacking Jessica Jones was in the comics and netflix show. She was a diamond in the rough and, with decent training, she could be one of the strongest heroines in Marvel. In the show she was a drunk and seeing what happened throughout her history, I kind of understood why. Especially after knowing what that Purple guy put her through.

*But that’s not going to happen on my watch. Some people in this universe deserve a happy ending and others a gruesome death.* I said to myself.

“What’s her name?” I asked with mild annoyance.

Jessica chuckled at my attitude. “Patsy.”

“What?!” I said as I looked at the other redhead with wide eyes.

Wow, wait wasn’t Patsy supposed to be blonde or something? Oh yes, she’s a redhead in the comic version! Patsy Walker aka Hellcat. This just became awesome, I met three heroes in a span of two days.

“Ok, we will take her with us.” I said confidently.

“Ah, that’s kind of you Jean.” Alisa said all smile.

Through my empathy I felt the glow of love she felt for Patsy to who she hugged, and gave a big wet kiss on the cheek, pushed the other redhead on the porch and closed the door of the house. I felt that there was a bunch of favoritism there, the blonde soccer mom seemed to love Patsy more than Jessica. The pink haired punk rolled her eyes at her adoptive mother’s shenanigans, took her adoptive sister by the arm and pulled her toward my Camaro.

I shrugged, *Well, Marvel seems to want me to speed up my plan and form a team.*

Walking towards my car, plans and schemes formed through my mind and adjusting the more variables were introduced. Jessica took shotgun, Patsy already seated at the back. Well, they sure were easygoing.

“C’mon Jean, don’t be a slowpoke!” Jessica was bossy. 

“I’m coming, you pink fairy!”Patsy giggled at that. <She sure does look like one with her pink hair.> I heard her say in her mind. It was a bubbling thought that she couldn’t help but transmit to me.

Heading to the car, I started it once I eased myself in the driver's seat. “I feel the need for speed.”

Jessica frowned and tried to say, “What-” But I sped like crazy to the school, the speed shutting her up.

 

# # #

 

Forest Hills
Midtown High School

When we arrived at school it was just over 8 AM.  I Parking in the car park, we exited. Patsy and Jessica were wide eyed, their hair  in disarray. 

“Girls, that won't do.” I held out a hairbrush to them. Jessica almost tore my hand off as she snatched it. “That's your fault! Where did you learn to drive like that?”

That was a good question, but I couldn't just tell her that I absorbed the knowledge of a secret agent who was trained in evasive driving with Patsy listening in.

“It was like being on a rollercoaster.” Patsy whined.

I felt bad now. “Aww, sorry I will drive slower next time.” 

The younger girl shook her head. “No that’s fine! I really liked it!” She hid her face in her hands, but not her smile. Deep down, Patsy was an adrenaline junkie like me.

“Oh awesome. Another speed junky!” Jessica rolled her eyes, looking into a hand mirror as she ran the hair brush through her pink locks. It was funny, but I decided to go help Patsy with hers. She gladly accepted. I didn’t know why she was so eager to become my friend but I felt her desperation. “Calm down, Pat.” I told her as I styled her hair differently as fast as I could. She never realized that I used my TK to style her hair in a french braid.

“Here.” 

She looked at herself in the right side mirror of my car. “I like it!” She sent me a dazzling smile. I noticed that other students were focused on us, waiting to spy on me or admire me, upon coming with two other people.  Normally I would ignore them, but they were having weird thoughts about Jessica and Patsy. Things like they didn’t deserve to be seen with me or something along the same lines. I stared at them and reached for their minds and pushed in their mind that they don’t want to mess with my friends, ever.

Their eyes went glassy eyed for one second, and then left. It put a smile on my face. We went into the school building, where there was a literal sea of students before us. Girls roamed in packs and boys being boys. Geeks were in herds for security in numbers; the jocks preyed upon them all the time to feel like they were badass. Patsy and Jessica locked step with me as we walked among the throng of students.

At the same time, I looked at the time on my wristwatch, noticing it was already 08:25 AM. I frowned, placing a hand on Patsy’s shoulder. “Okay, Patsy it’s time to go to class, you have five minutes to go take things in your locker.”

The other redhead nodded and before leaving, asked, “I will see you later?”

Why was she so needy suddenly? “Of course. Girl I will get you back home, ok?”

“Sweet.” She waved, before disappearing in the sea of teenagers.I walked up to the corridor where my locker was located, Jessica silently following; strangely her locker was near mine. In fact, I shared a corridor with Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, and Jessica Jones. That was a weird set of coincidences. Entering the combination in my locker, I grabbed ahold of my history and french language books.

I had history with Jessica, along with chemistry and P.E. 

“You like the kid?” Jessica asked randomly. I looked at her and there was some kind of vulnerability in her, a kind of flaw that shouldn’t be there. To me, Jessica Jones was that tough chick with a saving people thing who fought her own demons everyday.

*However, she’s not like that. Mentally she’s still a kid, she has started to feel hardship when her parents and brother died and had to adjust to the family who adopted her.*

My hand rested against her cheek, and she flinched, almost stepping back but stopped, letting it rest there. 

“As much as I like you, Jess.” Then I remembered that I have plans for her. “Say are you free after school?” I asked nonchalantly.

Jessica frowned, taking my hand in her own.  “Are you asking me out?”

I snorted. *Wow this was out of the blue even for her.* I knew she wasn’t interested in girls, that’s why I didn’t come onto her. “Jess, you are gorgeous but you aren’t my type. I’d prefer to have you as a friend.”

She laughed at that, but then turned serious. “Hum… I heard you like asian girls.”

My smile froze on my face and my eyes zeroed-in on Jessica who stepped back from the intensity of my gaze.

“Who said that?” I clipped, promising violence through my tone. Jessica raised her hands before herself to placate me, answering instantly. “Almost all the bitches at school who are jealous of you, and because they see you speak and get physical with Cindy Moon.”

I heaved a sigh, fine. It wasn’t as if my preferences where hard to divine.... “Yes, I like girls and boys. And Cindy and another are on my list.”

I caught no judgement or mocking thoughts from Jessica, and when she smiled I knew I made the right decision in befriending her. She was such a good kid at this age, too bad some didn’t see it.

She arched an eyebrow. “The best of both worlds?”

I broke into a bout of laughter, lightly slapping her arm. “You preach it sister.”

The bell rang, signalling classes had started. We were late. Looking at each other, we ran together to the room where we have history class.

 

# # #

 

History class was boring, some events where the same and others were different, though I didn’t care about the class. The history teacher was an old guy who could make hysterical hyenas sleep. I took advantage of the two hours of class to refine the plan I had concerning university and my future business. I was aware that humans were too self centered to accept a new race of people among themselves from the goodness of their heart, so I intend to appeal to their greed.

The way to be always on top was to do this by becoming a symbol, I had ideas and the prescience to take advantage of everything in this era and the information I knew about the people in this universe. Technology was one of the game changers, then go on the same path as Magneto without relying on terrorism. All the future haters and intolerant bastards who were  going to dehumanize mutant or powered people? I was going to bat them away with cold, hard scientific facts which would prove they were wrong, and portray them as the stupid bigots they were. Besides that, I didn’t like the term mutants. I needed a new name for my people. We were an emergent subrace from the human and we all had powers and an immune system that laughed at AIDS or HIV. I wrote in bold letters on my notebook ‘Innovades’. 

I saw it in a Gundam anime in my last life. In the show, Innovades are artificially made to exist as a space faring species. Through gene manipulation and nanomachines, Innovades are able to suppress their aging and can adapt into the harsh environment of space. *I am gonna use this word to name our race, it sounded more acceptable than mutant! We are not monsters, after all!*

But I needed to make some discoveries, and some money, before people would listen to me.  I needed to be someone at the same level as Tony Stark or Hank Pym. My gender and my youth would be held against me, even though I would be bringing fresh ideas and innovations. Pym, for example is a misogynist and a bit crazy, Ultron’s thought pattern show it as his personality is completely based on his. The old boy club of the engineers, I won’t be able to join it, but I didn’t care, what truly mattered were results.

*They will be brought to the future kicking and screaming.* I giggled to myself.

“Miss Grey, are you finding the birth of Communism in Russia in 1900 funny?” Mister Del, the teacher called out, putting a stop to my train of thought.  Damn, you can’t even plot world conquest without being interrupted by the peons.

“Yes,  Mr. Del.” 

He sneered at me. “Could you tell us why?”

Through my empathy, I saw he looked down on me because I was young, beautiful and didn’t follow his droning voice telling us facts more than genuine history. I hated the American school system. I didn’t need to pay attention; everyone else was and the subject became clear to me.

Smiling, I stared in his double focals glass that made his black eyes look even bigger and said, “Of course, I find it funny that a system based on Marxism failed so completely. The Bolshevik party seized power during the Russian Revolution and created the Soviet Union; a super power led by a mad man who killed more people than even Hitler and is still lauded as a hero by all Russians even till now. People are really gullible.”

Utter silence descended in the class. My classmates were eagerly waiting for Mister Del to correct me, and send me out of class for perturbing his class. But it was clearly not to be as the teacher blinked at me and mused, “Hum, yes. You clearly already know about the subject…” 

Mister Del coughed twice, before resuming his quest to bore us to death. I snorted, and continued to plan. Through my seismic sense I felt something coming toward me, I grabbed it with my  TK aura. I let my invisible arms land the object on my desk. I was surprised to see a folded piece of paper. I opened it and saw a note.

We didn’t get to speak about what you wanted to do after school. - Jess

I smiled. Yes I have a plan with her. Instead of writing a note to send back, I focused on Jessica's mind. She was located at the back of the class near the closest glass window.Oh so slowly I established a mental link between my mind and Jessica's. Now to speak with her, all I had to do is cross the bridge and speak to her.

<Yes, I  wanted to go training with you.> Jessica flinched when she heard my voice in her head.

I felt her surprise, and  panic. That wouldn't do. She didn't need people to think that she was crazy. <Calm down, Jess. It's Jean. I am speaking to you with my mind. No need to speak aloud. Just think and we can communicate without written notes.>

Her panic subsided. I didn’t dare look behind me to see how Jessica handled our mental conversation. Mister Del was still gunning for me, after all. <Wow. You are not reading my mind, right?>

She had a fear about people seeing her most precious secrets, since she was a really private person.

Internally, I chuckled. <No, Jess. I promise, it's only surface thoughts, not memories or feelings.>

<Cool!!> She commented, now that she was calm. Jessica realized how awesome it was to speak without getting caught in class.

<I know right?> I answered.

We began to talk about inane things, like fashion and music. Jessica was a fan of Nightwish, Aerosmith and Nickelback. As for me, I was an AC/DC groupie, a Bon Jovi whore and a secret RnB lover, but there was no way that I was going to confess that to punk rock Jessica. We were in the second hour of history class when I agreed to lend her some of the albums I had at home and she would do the same.

In my notebook, I took notes on things I needed to see. I was in 1996 and I needed to know what company to invest in and the new tech that build the cozy life in the 2010’s. The chief one was Amazon, the current leader in E-commerce in the other reality of my other self, Hybrid technology might also be out in 1997: but I didn’t know, after all the differences in this reality and my previous one was palpable.

It went like this in my notes:

The world wide web
Google (Need to invest in it ASAP)
Apple
Android
Hubble

E-commerce
Amazon 1995
Alibaba 1999

Operating systems
Windows
1991 Linux
Stark’s? (I remember that he made one for his line of computer)

Miscellaneous
PDAs (Invest in Apple? But I hate their products)
Java programming 1995 (Sun Microsystems/Oracle 2010)
DVD (Out any day, now)
Cellphones (2G soon, must invent smartphone before anyone else)
MP3 Players 1997-1998 (If I remember right, but knowing Marvel it will fuck with me)
Hybrid technology 1997 (Toyota Prius released in Japan)
Near Field Communication 1997 (I can’t believe it started being used in toys, lol)
USB flash drives 1999-2000 (That’s actually super important! Need to get the tech)
MQ-1 Predator drones exist in 1995 (drones technology exist already)
Digital Video Record (DVR) in 1999
Playstation 1994
Wifi (When? 2000?)
GPS 1995

Result of knowing everything here, was that I needed money! A lot of money, like in the millions to start up; and I needed to do more research, to see what was out there. I couldn’t just rely on my other worldly knowledge. Fortunately, my telepathy armed me to uncover information. My attention was divided between Jessica talking about her life before being adopted, on my note and in small part on the class.

<Don’t worry Jess, I will not let anything bad happen to you. You have suffered enough, losing your parents must have been trying.> I genuinely felt for her.

Imagining myself without my mom and dad was dire. I love them to bits. Not being able to speak or hug mom, or speak history and politics with dad… or going to picnic? Hugging mentally the girl, I found that Jessica reciprocated it. She was a fast learner with telepathic talk- she already found me in my mindscape and speaking with me.

My inner world was made to be familiar, so I found myself in my house and we were sitting near each other on the sofa while on the big TV screen we could see what was happening in class. It was strange to have someone sharing mental space with me; it meant that Jessica might have a knack for mental defense which not everyone was suited for.

<By the way, I still need to teach you to shield your mind, another telepath could walk-in and mess with you…> I told her in passing, still taking notes.

Jessica’s mental mimic held onto my tightly and she shouted, <I really want to learn!> 

I could see that she didn’t forget her first freak out about hearing another voice in her head. Smiling at her, I nodded. <We will begin after school, I promise. Though I must tell you that I established a permanent mental link between our two minds, for the sake of protection I am also protecting yours, acting like a shield. Is that ok?>

She wrung her hands, looking at me nervously. <I don't know what to feel, Jean… but I think that you are a good person, I-I can feel your emotions right now. You really want to protect me.>

<That's because I'm projecting my feelings and my mind to you. I want you to trust me. You are my friend and I take care of those I call friends.> 

It was as simple as that, you could use this ability tele-empathy, it allowed me to communicate through emotions. It was a variation of my empathic ability that I always depended on; sometimes I think that if I lost my powers I would become even more distrustful of human beings as I was no longer used to interpreting people without them.

Even though I tried to not feel Jessica's emotions, they came through to me. I felt the start of something I call platonic love- love destined for friends- bypass my filter. She was grateful, and there I felt our friendship deepen slightly. It was crazy how fast a relationship could be built with telepathy. 

<Ok, you seem to know your stuff, let's have it on a trial basis.> Jessica said, taking the decision.

I decided right here to always ask her when I was about to do something with telepathy. I wouldn’t want to lose her trust, because she had grown on me.

<You can speak to me, whenever you want. Distance doesn't matter with this link between us, ok?> I revealed.

<This is better than speaking on a telephone!> She was gushing. 

I can feel that she might abuse that ability I just gave her really soon. Fortunately, I controlled access. After a moment, Jessica finally eased in the mindscape with me, so much so that I decided to tell her about the junkyard training I prepared for us.

She became enthused at the prospect of testing herself, and seeing what she was made off. I liked this part of her. We were jolted out of my mindscape when the bell shrilled. I didn’t like the experience. Mister Del gave us homework and bid us a good day. Next class was French and for Jessica it was Mathematics, I wished her good luck and we went our separate ways but we were never apart.

 

# # #

 

Lunch Break

I saw Jessica coming. She hesitated, but when she saw my smile, she strode toward me, taking a seat at my usual table. I took out my lunch box and she followed suit. She looked at my lunch box and shook her head, this was a clear sign that I was a momma's girl. But she stopped thinking that when the lasagna's smell wafted to her nose.

“I love mom's food.” I stabbed my plastic forks in the lasagna and began to eat.

Jessica literally drooled as I was eating. “Hum…”

I looked from my lunch box and asked, “What did Alisa give you?”

She wanted to ask me for a bite, and I wanted her to, before I offered. Jessica needed to be more forthright with others and stop bottling up her problems and feelings. 

“Leftovers from last night's dinner. Mashed potatoes with chicken breast.” 

It sounded good enough. “Hmm, do you want to share?”

She nodded eagerly, her hair bouncing, which made me chuckle. Jessica gave me half of her lunch and I gave her half of mine and we ate in silence for the most part. The pink haired punk girl was cooing at how delicious mom’s food tasted. Alisa Jones was an adequate cook, though she had nothing on my mom. The chicken was decently seasoned, but she was nothing to write about.

“What are you doing this weekend?” I asked when we were almost done eating.

“Huh?” as she swallowed her food, Jessica began to think. “Hum, my homework and staying at home.”

Basically she planned to watch TV till her brain cells died. “Would you be interested in coming to my house for the weekend?”

The pink haired girl stared at me for a whole thirty seconds, before entering negotiation mode. “Will we have the same level of delicious food?” She indicated to the rest of the lasagna in her lunch box with her fork. The laugh I let out was throaty. “Darling, I will show you a full course meal if you come.”

Wiping my mouth with tissue, I put the plastic cutlery in my empty lunch box. Lifting my head, I saw Jessica’s eyes shine with anticipation. “I will ask Alisa tonight.”

“Yes!” I raised my fist in the air.

Jessica laughed at my antics, but I was happy. I finally got a friend to come home with me for the weekend. It’s been five years since I last had that. 

Her smile disappeared though. “But, knowing Alisa, she might force us to take Patsy alongside.” 

I snapped my fingers. “Damn.”

Jessica finished her own meal before awkwardly looking right and left, not wanting anyone to hear her and then whispered, “Hum, Jean. Do your parents know about your powers?” 

I nodded, and I leaned in my plastic chair. “Yes, I had to tell them about the TK and telepathy.”

“TK?” Jessica was clueless. 

“Telekinesis.” I enlightened her.

She understood. “Ah yeah. So you can make things float?”

Looking into her brown eyes, I decided to be a bit more precise in the powerset I was cultivating. “Jess, telekinesis is so much more versatile… for example it allows me to enhance my condition, allowing me  to increase my strength, speed, reflexes, endurance, durability, agility, leap, stamina, healing, senses etc.”

Jessica whistled at that. She recalled how I overpowered her physically yesterday. She understood how I did it now.

Then I continued to speak, “But I…” I shook my head. “Let’s just say that I could destroy this school if I really wanted. I will show you when we go to the junkyard, ok?”

With her brown eyes wide open, Jessica stared at me with something akin to interest. “I can’t wait.”

I laughed. What a simple girl- she didn’t even bat an eye at me telling her that I could nuke this place. After calming down, I asked my friend, “I want to ask you something though. Do Patsy and Alisa know of your super powers?” 

“Fuck, no! Miss perfect would see me as a monster, or worse.” She glared at me for even asking. I smiled, as she already felt at ease with me to exchange banter.

Tilting my head I thought deeply about it, and reviewed what I felt when I scanned Patsy and Alisa. “I think Alisa would do what you said, but Patsy? No, she likes you too much.”

She blinked twice, cleary taken aback. “She likes me? Even though I am mean to her? Even though...”

I put a hand on Jessica's. “Yeah, you should tell her. At least at home you would have someone who has your back. And maybe just maybe we could include her in our talk if your adoptive mother is foisting her on us.”

My friend lowered her eyes looking at my hands on hers and linked our fingers. “I will… I will think about it.”

She let go of me and began to think. “Hey, I was just telling you what I felt with my empathy.”

Jessica lifted her head and then her eyes began to become troubled. She felt unsettled about everything I've been telling her.

“Jean you have so much power…” I closed my eyes and thought about the time I was scared of myself. “Yeah I know. It was scary at first. I kept hearing people’s thoughts in my head all the time.”

“How did you gain control over them?” Jessica asked, eager to gain more insight into my life. “Well I was watching Star Trek, and I imagined being in control of the Enterprise in my head. Actually, my telepathic shield looks like the ship with the shield deployed all the time. This is how I defend myself from telepathic intrusion.” I said, all the while hoping she didn't think I was a nerd. Which I wasn't- I was a badass geeky vigilante.

Jessica frowned. “You speak as if you have… met another telepath before.”

I shut my eyes, and my hands shook when I remembered the man who set me on this course of action. The path of domination, and when I see him next I'm going to take everything from him. No one makes me live in fear! I felt a hand cover my own. 

I opened my eyes, seeing worry plastered across Jessica’s face. I calmed inside.  “Yeah I did, and they are… dangerous. That’s why I am adamant you learn how to shield your mind Jess. If we hang out together, you might meet some of those guys again.”

As I let that bomb drop, we stared at each other and nodded in synch. “I don’t want to get my brain rummaged through… or worse.”

“Don’t worry, the next person trying to do that to you will have a… nasty surprise.” My tone was forceful.

Jessica shook her head and for once she didn't feel curious about what I meant. “I don’t wanna know.”

“Good.” I didn't want to tell Jessica about my nocturnal activities. Changing the subject, I asked,”What are your wishes after highschool?”

“I was thinking of going in the military.” She sounded unsure. 

I vigorously shook my head. “Nope, they would experiment on you.”

It sounded logical to me! She would outperform every being there. 

“Huh… right.” Her cheeks turned red again. 

Seeing that I had an in, I decided to recruit her early for the plan. “You should work for me. I intend to open a business.”

“What type of business?” Now she sounded interested. 

“I plan on opening a company which will start off by specializing in electronics and then I intend to diversify. Things to help powered people like us too.” 

Her interest didn't wane yet, but she shrugged and answered me non-committally. “Huh, we will see.”

Well, I tried. I will help her however I can. “I will always have a job for you, Jess.”

The bell rang at this instant, and it was time to go to the final class of the day. We stood up and put our lunch boxes into our bags and left the cafeteria.

 

# # #

 

Queens
Junkyard Fabio and son

I returned Jessica and Patsy to their home, and Jessica came back after she dumped her school bag in her room. Her adoptive sister looked sad that she couldn’t follow us, but she had to go to her dancing activities that Alisa had forced on her. Now we  were in the junkyard east of the Queens, surrounded by many broken appliances.

“Ok, Jeany. Where do we start?” Jessica asked impatiently, though she was jumping around in excitement.

Looking around me, I sought for something to start with. It should be light, not covered in filth and easy to dispose off… ah found it. My eyes fell on a busted washing machine.

“Well… I want you to lift stuff. You will begin small,  so see if you can lift that washing machine there?” Pointing to said machine, Jessica’s eyes followed.  “Too easy.” Jessica smiled, as she walked up toward the half crushed machine. She seized it in her hands where her fingers dug into the metal of the appliances to find purchase, then she lifted it, not even straining at all.

Jessica looked at me with a big grin on her face. “See.”

“Yes.” I said deadpan, not impressed at all.

She frowned at my expression. “You can do better?”

“Actually, yeah.” Jean said, waving her hand and everything around Jessica began to float.

Microwaves, washing machines, TV, even an old truck had lifted from the ground with sinister creaks. I made them levitate and orbit around Jessica, the typical red psionic energy of my power visible. She looked around her at the show of junk flying around like fireflies, in a state of awe. Jessica huffed. “You show off.”

“Takes one to know one, Jones.” I pointed, with a smug smile.

“Hmph.” Jessica felt that I could do more than this but was downplaying it.

Well to be frank I was, but I want to introduce her slowly to what an Omega level mutant could do. I could lift everything around us in that junkyard and crush it

I wanted to show her that telekinesis was clearly more than what TV shows or movies made it to be. For example, in the movie Carrie it wasn’t used to its maximum potential, but it had been a horror one. Though a few doors closing and a slaughter at a prom wasn’t really descriptive of the ability.

 “So what else?” Jessica asked me, she had regained confidence in herself rather fast.

I liked that, she didn’t dwell on what she couldn’t do but on what she might possibly be able to do.

“This was clearly no challenge to you… hmm. Oh I know!” I ran to the area we had passed by earlier with all the truck carcasses.

I pushed the littering junk on the ground out of the way with TK to avoid tripping, this jacket and skirt were expensive and I didn’t want to have any yucky stain on them.

I felt that Jessica was following me. Before I knew it, she caught up to me even though I was running at about 40 km/h or so. “Where are you going?!”

*Impressive, she can keep up with me.* I thought.

“We are going to see if my theory is right.” I said aloud to her.

With a burst of speed I went ahead of her and found myself at the foot of the vehicle pile.  “Huh?” Jessica had been surprised to be left behind, she was frowning; but I didn’t leave her time to dwell on my clear superiority, she needed to find her own legs after all, not compare herself to me. My super speed was decent, but Quicksilver could run circles around me, so I’m not going to get cocky for so little.

“I think that if you train really hard, you could be really strong Jess.” I told her when she arrived near me by skidding on the ground to slow her run.

*Swag.* I thought.

Jessica wasn’t even sweating. She had more stamina than I thought, I was a bit jealous.

“How strong are we talking about?” The pink haired girl asked.

“Superman strong.” I said with seriousness. 

Jessica stared at me for a moment before I felt mirth bubble in her thoughts. Pfft. Jessica began laughing at me.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I asked. “What?”

Jessica continued to laugh at me and between breath she said, “You are such a comic geek.”

“So?” I didn’t see what was funny, I liked my comics. I had a collection of them in my bookshelf. It was a piece of my home reality that I would never have thought that I would be able to see in the Marvel universe. Though I was happy to not have ended up in the DC universe, if I had, I would totally end up being Kara Zor-El or something.

A sly glint shone in Jessica’s brown eyes and she said, “What would happen if I was to tell everyone, particularly to those jocks wanking about you, that the unofficial queen of the school was a big nerd?”

I scowled at her. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Ah yeah? How are you going to stop me?” She turned her nose up at me.

I ran at super speed after my friend, but Jessica jumped into the air before I could catch her and flew low, taunting. “You can’t even catch me!” She looked down on me with a smug smile.

“Never underestimate me, Jones.” I said as I stomped my feet on the ground and rose into the air after her.

Jessica’s eyes widened as she looked at me catch up to her, but she snapped out of her shock and ran away. What should have been a session to see what we could do ended up being a game of tag between the two of us. Fortunately, I had deployed a keep away mental field; two flying girls in a junkyard might attract attention.

Thirty minutes later, we landed and were dead lifting cars, Jessica kept turning car carcasses into balls of metal the size of a soccer ball. Me, I showed her that I could do the same, and the junkyard became littered with metal balls of all colors.

We also saw the limit of what we could do with Jessica unable to lift a semi-truck fully loaded. I still could but decided not to show off. “Well, I guess we finally know where you should start your training. This weekend we will find something heavier for you to lift.”

Jessica thought hard about it. I felt a lot of hesitation within her, and knew she was hiding something from me which she wouldn’t dare voice aloud, or in her surface thoughts. She was talking too fast for  telepathic speak.

*That’s what happens when you give a new toy to teenagers, they adapt scary fast to it…* I realized.

She shrugged, her expression guarded.  “Why? It’s not like I will be using my strength or anything.”

I call bullshit on that. I knew her. At least I read about her. Almost conversationally I told her, “I plan to become a superheroine.”

Jessica’s head whipped toward me so fast I flinched. She smiled at me and empathically I felt relief as she let go of the tension in her shoulders. “Oh. I wasn’t the only one to have that silly dream then.”

“In fact… I already am one. I saved the lives of two people last night.” I remembered the Waynes, and the calling card of Thomas was burning a hole in my wallet now that I thought about it.

“Last night?” Jessica was interested. 

Caught her, hook, line and sinker. “Do you want me to show you?”

Astonished, she approached me and held onto my shoulders. “You can do that?!”

Thank god that I was still being surrounded by a telekinetic field or else she might have crushed my shoulders. I took her hands in mine. “Yes, If I focus really hard I can see the memories of people but I can also project my memories into their minds, it’s a two way street.”

<Huh, why is she telling me that instead of just showing me?> Jessica asked herself.

I caught that because she thought loudly about it, and decided to answer her question. “Well, because Jess, you are a very private person and I don’t want to take advantage of you, I prefer to ask you permission when it concerns the integrity of your mind.”

Jessica hugged me tightly at that, she felt so warm; I hugged her back, then she pushed me away as she was embarrassed by the physical contact we had, as she wasn’t used to it. “Thanks, Jean. Hum, c-can you show me?”

“Sure!” I cheered, as I crossed the mental bridge separating our minds and then on the big TV screen in my mindscape. I showed her what happened last night.

Jessica watched with rapt attention at the memory, and flinched when she saw the bullet destined for Martha ricocheting on my psionic force-field ending up hitting the black guy and him falling on the ground screaming. She cheered, when she saw me drop kicking the other latino guy. When the white guy fainted and soiled his pants, Jessica struggled to breathe, laughing so greatly. Fast forwarding the memory, I decided not to show her how I killed the guys, instead showing when the Waynes expressed their gratitude to me. I didn’t want to disgust her, nor did I feel proud of it at all.

“That was awesome!” Jessica hugged me again, and I patted her head.

Nodding, I gave her a dazzling smile. “Yeah it was a rush, and there was this warm glow in my belly when they thanked me… I’m going to keep being a superhero.”

I felt a decision taking root in my friend’s heart and with hesitation she asked me, “D-do you think I could be one?! That I could go with you?”

Closing my eyes, I began to weigh the pros and cons of this idea. Jess could act as my moral compass- I didn’t want to kill people left, right and center, and she could stop me. But it was dangerous, so I was going to wait for her to be prepared before I said yes. I wouldn’t let her think it was simply all a game. It wasn’t. Opening my eyes, I saw a hopeful Jessica looking at me with puppy dog eyes. I won’t be swayed that easily! “I will be frank Jess, I think you have potential. But before going out there, I want you to be able to hold your own.”

Jessica became giddy as she realized that I was not telling her no, so I decided to continue to speak before she got it into her head that she needed to follow me tonight.

“Look Jess, I can protect myself, as you can see I am bulletproof. Well from what I can see so are you…”

She interrupted me again and asked, “I am bulletproof?! How do you know that?”

I wasn’t about to tell her that I saw a list of her known powers on a database from a different reality. 

“Your skin is kinda dense.” I said as I pinched her, and she didn’t even feel it. Wow, with a cheeky grin I decided to test the resistance of her body and tissues. I floated a stone from the ground, covered it in psionic energy for it to not shatter on contact and fired it at Jessica’s body outside the mindscape.

“Ouch!” She cried.

I laughed when she glared at me. “You see, you are bullet proof.”

“Now, watch the red car on your right.” I launched stones at it with the power of a gatling gun. As the stones peppered the car, holes appeared in the door and its main body. Jess gaped in shock as she noticed how serious I was. She walked up to the car, touching the holes in its doors with her hands and tore the one out of the carcass of the vehicle and looks at hole from the two sides of it. When she looked at me, I saw the fear in her eyes. 

Walking up to her, I took the car door out of her hand and looked at it. The holes were not large. “I hit you with the same strength, but with just one stone. Although I still think you can get wounded.”

Jessica began to think about that, though I felt that it didn’t turn her from the decision of becoming a superhero. She passed her fingers in the holes and then looked at me. “That’s… my clothes would get tattered as they are not bulletproof too, right?”

*Wow, just wow. Her priorities are skewed.* 

She was vividly imagining herself going crime fighting but getting her clothes full of holes until they tore up and showed some intimate places… I wanted to laugh at how weird her imagination was. After calming myself, and when I was sure that I wouldn’t be laughing at Jessica, I answered her. “Yeah, that’s why I’m not going to take you with me, yet. I must first prepare a bulletproof costume for us. Can you wait and train your skills before going out there with me?”

“Okay, I will wait but… Jeany I know you can fight, I saw you in your memory. Do you think you could teach me to be a ninja like you?”

That I could do! “Well… yes I can teach you right now if you want. I can upload the knowledge in your brain, but you’d still need to train to possess the muscle memory to be an effective fighter.”

“Do it!” Jessica threw away the red car door, and with a crash it ended up on the carcass of the vehicle I created holes in.

Wow, she was so impatient. “Okay… but I warn you, you are going to get a big headache.”

“Hurry!”

I had warned her and she wanted this, so who was I to tell her no? “Yeah, yeah. Be patient, okay?”

I advanced on her, placing a hand on each side of her head, gazing into her brown eyes.  Then I began to project knowledge into Jessica’s mind, as I went really slow, it allowed me to instantly transfer and make her understand and integrates the knowledge of the Martial skills of Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do in her brain without a risk of overflow.

After five minutes, I finished. Jessica massaged her temples, whining. “Ouch ouch ouch.”

I giggled. “See I told you it would hurt.”

Her answer was to throw a punch at me, which I evaded by nonchalantly leaning my head to the right. Catching her arm, I threw her from my shoulder and onto the ground. Jessica came back on her feet, resembling those from a  Kung Fu’s movie by doing some gymnastics and we began to fight in earnest. For a while shockwaves and dust were being thrown around by the displacement of air due to our fast and powerful strikes that surely could be heard all over the junkyard. 

I must have done something good with the slow knowledge projection because Jessica slowly integrated the moves I possessed. However, I knew the same move, so could easily counter her. She often found herself on the ground staring at the blue sky on her back.

Jessica stood, not wishing to fight again. 

“See, we will need a lot of training to get you up to spar.”

The integration of knowledge was still occurring, and I was sure that Jessica would become a decent fighter after a good night's sleep and training.

“Fine!” Jessica glared at me. She burned with the passion of wanting to take me down at least once. She made me sweat though, as it was hard to keep up with her stamina. It means I needed to up my game as I wanted her as a sidekick- not the other way around.  

As she took in her state, she growled. “Urgh, look at me, I look so dirty.”

Her tights were full of holes, and her hoodie was torn. “Yeah, sorry about that.” I looked at the time on my wristwatch. “I think it’s time to go home, it's already 06:30 PM.”

Jessica’s piercing gaze settled on me as she inspected her hoodie. “You owe me a new hoodie, Jean.”

I waved at her, avoiding her gaze. “Okay, we will try to go shopping tomorrow.”

She fisted the air. “Yes!” 

I took her arm and we flew into the air, on a search for my car. We found it where I had left it behind another vehicle. I kept us invisible when I checked that no one was looking at us and lifted the force cloak to enter my Camaro. Ten minutes later, I brought Jessica back to the Jones’s home, asking Alisa if Jessica could come stay over at my house for the weekend tomorrow.

Alisa accepted, but at the condition that I could let Patsy join. Jessica didn’t feel enthused by that, but I accepted. It was time to bring Patsy in on the secret anyway; Jessica needed help at home and for someone other than me to have her back. After telling everyone goodbye, I climbed into my Camaro and left the neighborhood, I found a secluded and spacious alley and parked my car there. Looking left and right and with my mental detection field on to see if there was anyone I decided to try a little something I thought about this morning at the end of history class.

I spread my TK field all over my car and with enough focus it lifted into the air. *Now to see if my theory is right…*

By projecting my TK field around my car, I willed it to bend the light around it. I invented this while thinking about Star Wars force cloak ability and the cloaking device in Star trek. I think that this ability made me completely invisible to the electromagnetic and telepathic spectrum, but I might be wrong until someone could in fact sense me.

I could still see the car and myself as I was bathed in red psionic energy. My theory was that if I could make myself invisible, why couldn’t I make something else? I tested it, now satisfied. This also meant that I could fly my car from my town to Manhattan in record time! But I still needed to be careful,as  radar might still be able to pick me up.

With a thought, my car rose into the air and I flew into the sky at the driving wheel of my Camaro. I felt awesome as I zipped between building and followed the road to reach Annandale-on-Hudson.

 

# # #

(Elektra Natchios)

 

Hell’s Kitchen
06:12 PM

Elektra Natchios wasn't happy at all. Since last night in fact, Matt Murdock, her boyfriend was being more violent than usual as they exchanged blows during their sparring session. She avoided, jumped and countered. Matt put her on the defensive until she had enough and absorbed the force in his strike to use it against him and send him flying to the wall and with swiftness put the blunted edge of her training Sai on his throat.

“Yield.” She commanded,  pushing the point of her weapon in his neck. Her eyes were cold and unrelenting.

Matt, sighed and then his breathing settled. “I yield.”

Lowering her weapon, Elektra eyes turned warm in an instant. She folded her arms around the blind man, hugging and kissing him. They came up for air two minutes later. The greek woman looked at the face of her lover, asking him, “Matt, agápi (darling) what’s gotten into you?”

He reached out for his woman. “I’m sorry, honey… this- I had a bad night last evening.”

The assassin allowed him to grasp onto her right arm, guiding Matt to the sofa, out of the dojo area of his loft, where they sat in silence. . Elektra positioned herself in his arms, and Matt sniffed her scent. They remained like that for a few beats. She knew Matt would tell her what happened without her needing to ask.   placed herself in his arm, Matt sniffed her long mane of black hair and they stayed like that for a moment. The assassin knew that her Matt will tell her the story without being asked. This was how they rolled- no secrets, no lies, only complete trust.

“Last night I went patrolling as usual.” Matt started, his fingers running through her hair. “and I stopped the usual mugging and human trafficking scum. But as I was returning home, two people were attacked by a group of three wannabe gangsters, ready to molest a woman while holding her husband at gunpoint.”

Elektra nodded at that, and smiled. Her Matt possessed this heroic streak in him that he would use to curb his wilder urges. Though she liked how rough he was in bed due to them.

“You saved them of course…?” Elektra commented, absently.

Matt growled, a sure sign that he was happy. “No I didn't.” 

“What?!” Elektra shouted, jumping out of his embrace to tower over him. *No, I can’t believe Matt stood still while watching people getting hurt. If he did, he isn’t the man I lo-* Elektra began to think.

Matt interrupted her mental monologue. “Someone else intervened.”

*Oh, I guess I was too quick to judge…* Elektra reddened, her embarrassment clear to see for Matt who smiled slightly at her;  she came back to sit on Matt’s lap.

Without preamble, she began to ask questions. “Who? How strong was he? Did he save them?”

Matt growled again, correcting, “She.”

“Oh, a woman.” Elektra looked at him, finding it cute how frustrated he looked.“A young woman.” He cleared.

He began describing her. “Sixteen-eighteen years old at the most, she was… different. She was faster than you, stronger too and she had weird abilities such as flying or I think telekinesis?”

Elektra looked ludicrously at Matt,. She had seen weird things in her life as an assassin, but not people with such flagrant ability that Matt described. She really wanted to meet this girl, now.

The assassin stroked Matt’s short hair. “You came back with bruised ribs and bruises all over your body, so you fought her. Why? If she was saving those people.”

Matt leaned his head into Elektra’s hand. “She let one of assailants run and told him to live a life free of crime for no reason I could understand, then she proceeded to try to kill the two others.”

She had expected that. Matt wouldn’t be bothered by someone trying to do good, but killers in general. He had that pesky habit to let his foes live as well, but she learned to accept that defect in his mentality. To Elektra, Matt’s behavior about killing and helping people reminded her of the Knights of old, he had a similar honor code: to protect the weak and defenceless, to give succour to widows and orphans, to live by honour and glory, at all times to speak the truth, and to despise pecuniary reward.

*He is my devilish knight.* Elektra chuckled.

But something Matt had said nudged in her brain. “Wait, she let one get free? What was so special about him?”

Matt nodded. “Well, he was just a kid; barely the same age as her and I don’t think he knew with what type of crew he was running with.”

The girl didn’t seem too bad, Elektra didn’t understand what Matt had against her. She let the kid go. “So she was aware of that fact. What about the two others?”

Matt kept silent for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts about what happened last night. Elektra continued to stroke his arm in encouragement, the blind man never thinking that he was being subtly manipulated by her feminine wiles.

Matt finally spoke.“That’s where it gets murky, because she kept saying that they deserved death; that their body count was longer than I thought and attacking people like this couple wasn’t the first time they did such a thing.”

Elektra halted.  On her travels she had encountered people like that who always knew things or predicted them. The Chaste employed them and protected them; but there was a good chance that the young woman, Matt was speaking about was some kind of self-taught martial mystic.

The Chaste was a mystical martial arts enclave founded by Izo, and led by Stick. Coincidentally, he was Matt’s previous teacher as well as Elektra’s. They lived apart from society in a remote wilderness location that could only be accessed by climbing "the Wall," a sheer cliff too high for the average human being. The climb also served as an entrance exam. The Chaste's mission was to combat the Hand, a clan of ninja that worship an ancient spirit named the Beast.

Elektra’s goal was to destroy the Hand for killing her father. She was interested in meeting this young woman, maybe she was part of something that she could use to destroy her enemies. If there was something Elektra has learned throughout her life, it’s that coincidence didn’t exist.

The assassin said with a thoughtful tone, “I think our mysterious heroine is able to differentiate who is guilty or not. How was her fighting ability?”

Matt thought fast about what his lover guessed, it would explain why the young woman, Phoenix was adamant in killing the two men. “One moment she’s a bumbling newbie and the next she’s like she was someone who has been moderately trained. But with her power and speed she could keep up with me.”

Moderately trained for Matt was someone akin to the military and special forces of his country. To have that degree of proficiency so young spoke of talent.

“Intriguing.” Elektra scommented, letting Matt toy with her breast; he was a really handsy man.

Elektra focused on what her lover was saying, instead of what he was doing to her body; it was a matter of control, but Matt’s superior tactile senses knew every of her erogenous areas. She couldn’t stop the moan that she emitted from getting out.

Matt chuckled devilishly in his girlfriend’s ear. He could stay serious while still having his fun. “In the end, I couldn’t stop her from killing the two men. With her telekinesis, she crushed the head of the first one with her foot and crushed the entire body of the one she had previously crippled with some kind of energy she interacted with through her aura.”

And she could control her Chi? Elektra wanted to fight against this girl. Though, with everything Matt told her, Elektra got a profile of the young girl he confronted. She was a good person and was not afraid to do things that needed to be done, it spoke of resolve, willpower tempered with honor.

“And you fought her, I think.... Matt I think you are lucky to be left alive.” Elektra added.

She was happy that Matt wasn’t killed, Elektra didn’t know what she would have done if Matt was killed. This girl wasn’t the killer her lover thought she was- at least Elektra thought so.

“How so? I won, didn’t I? She ran away.” Matt frowned.

*Oooh, men and their little ego.* Elektra laughed internally.

“No, agápi, she let you live. The wounds on your body... the young woman avoided every vital points and she just roughed you up.” 

Matt felt humbled by Elektra’s revelation. “I- yes you are right, you know, now that I think about it, she told me that she was looking for me.”

That got the attention of Elektra and she stopped Matt’s hand to continue to do wonderful things to her body. “Why?”

Matt coughed, feeling his woman’s right hand on his. Elektra was strong for a woman. “She wanted to become my disciple.” 

Elektra stood up, and began to pace before the sofa. Matt, in his daredevil costume was unknown to most, was just an urban legend at this point, and the girl knowing about him further pointed toward Martial Mystic business, or worse the Ancient One meddling.

But maybe Elektra was seeing too much into it. “Strange, she must know about you from someone else.”

As if Matt read her mind, he said, “Elektra, I think she’s just a kid who’s trying to play hero, if you meet her don’t fight her, I will.”

Elektra’s eyes veered on Matt’s face. He oozed seriousness, and had this stubborn expression etched on his face that brokered no argument.

*I don’t think so, Matt. This young girl- I will take care of her.* 

 

# # #

 

Manhattan
Hell’s Kitchen
10:00 PM

Elektra was spying on a known allies apart of the Hand, and had been for hours.  She was sticking to the ceiling of the penthouse Wilson Fick, also known as Kingpin, owned at the top of Norton, a high-class hotel he just purchased. Wilson Fisk, nicknamed the Kingpin; she was sticking to the ceiling of the penthouse he owned at the top of the Norton, a high-class hotel he just bought. Currently the man was pursuing a black haired woman, who wasn’t fazed by his ugly looks, and great weight.  

Though Elektra knew this was all a show as looks could be deceiving. Wilson Fisk just looked fat when in fact he was made of muscles. Elektra feared that made him a too powerful opponent to take on for Matt in the future; she had seen him use his strength on one of the new vigilantes in the city, spider-something, she couldn’t remember his name for the life of her, it had sounded so silly. Fisk was strong enough to use his heavy oak desk and large sofa as weapons, and possessed the ability to crush a skull without effort. 

The scene she had spied upon in his office at the Fisk tower earlier, where she saw him kill an incompetent employee, still played in her mind.  She lightly shook her head, not wanting her movement to be noticed in the darkness of the high ceiling.

Fisk was a shrewd, but capable man, whose financial empire was backed by his criminal enterprises. He was a criminal genius, highly skilled strategist and organizer.  He employs numerous henchmen, and scientists. Elektra knew that, but she was scared by the fierce loyalty she had seen his employees give him; she didn’t know if it was dedication, fear- or both.

“Vanessa, honey, you can’t believe the day I had today.” The crime lord seemed to be the classical type of husband who told his problems to his wife.

“I don’t want to know, Will. You know that I don’t like when you talk business at home.” Vanessa’s tone was tern, her cold blue eyes forcing her husband to look down on his food.

“I’m sorry, I forgot. Nessa you know, we should go skiing in the Alps with the kids just like you wanted.” The man tried to negotiate. He took a swig of wine, averting his eyes, clearly avoiding looking at his wife. 

Elektra almost chuckled. It seemed the Kingpin was human like everyone else. He couldn’t even stand tall against his wife’s gaze.

After a long moment, Vanessa seemed to think about her husband’s proposal. “There will be no business talk on this trip? Just us as a family with my little ones?”

Fisk looked hotly at his wife, slapping his fork on the nice white tablecloth “They are mine too, Nessa!” His voice raised. 

“Then act like it!” Vanessa shouted back, here eyes colder. 

Fisk seemed to deflate under his wife’s expression. “I’m sorry, Nessa. I will try to be there for Richi and Princess.”

They began to eat in silence again, before Vanessa took a moment to once again speak, calmly. “What about Maya? She’s my daughter too.”

Fisk sighed, stared at his wife and said, “She’s training, she doesn’t like me interrupting.”

Vanessa scowled. “Force her to. She needs a life too, Wilson. I know she likes to dance and play the piano but there’s so much more to life and I want her to socialize!”

Maya Lopez was the Fisks recently adopted daughter, and from the information Elektra had dug she learned she was fifteen years old now and a prodigy as a dancer, pianist and boxer. Occasionally moonlighting as a performance artist.

“I will, now can we have a normal dinner?!” The man pleaded, rolling his eyes at her.

Elektra then saw the black haired woman take her cutlery knife and threw it with accuracy in the T-boned steak he was eating.  “Don’t take that tone with me, Wilson Grant Fisk.” 

He lowered his eyes, sounding apologetic. “I’m sorry, Nessa.”

The woman smiled appreciatively and nodded. “Better.”

*That woman is dangerous.* Elektra thought. 

The strange couple finished their dinner. Vanessa Fisk retired for the night and waited for Wilson Fisk to leave for her to do the same, but it didn’t go as planned. The man surprised Elektra when he said, “Now that you know that much about my family life, assassin. What do you intend to do with this information?”

*He knows I am here! How?!” Elektra was taken aback.

Fisk continued to speak. “Did someone hire you? Will I have to take you in for you to tell me who it is? Damn, I’m lucky you didn’t attack while Vanessa were here, she would have accused me of bringing work at home again.”

Elektra didn’t waste time indulging in a conversation, instead sending a kunai at the light switch of the dining room, darkness descending on the room. Fisk didn’t seem bothered by this as he launched the table at the ceiling to dislodge her. She let herself fall to the ground on her knees, and stood back up, throwing a smoke bomb. Smoke spread in the room almost instantly, and Elektra sent kunais at the last known position of the Kingpin.

Then she fled, through the glass window, breaking it as she passed through.She threw herself from the ledge, into the air, and launched her graphook at the flagpole on the neighboring building and swung onto another’s roof.

“Skatá (Shit).” Landing with a roll on the gravel of the roof, she continued to move, as staying in movement was life and out of the reach of the Kingpin and his allies.

The female assassin continued to run, but her instincts told her that she was being followed. She wasn’t surprised when she was surrounded by seven ninjas, all clad in the same red uniform Gi. One in particular stood ahead of the lot of them, standing taller. He swaggered toward her, striding like a panther, thinking that Elektra Natchios was a prey. She was going to dissuade him of this notion really soon.

“Elektra Natchios, you will come with us. The Hand and Madame Gao want their dog back.” The red clothed man hissed.

Elektra made an unladylike snort and answered. “I am no dog, Akuma.”

Akuma laughed throatily, his eyes never leaving her form. “Yes you are, and you are a reprehensible one. A bitch who bit the hand that fed her and spit on the love the Madame showed her.”

"I'm not going back." Elektra growled.

“Then I guess we will have to drag you back kicking and screaming all the way.” The man said as he unsheathed his Ninjato, the rest of the group surrounded Elektra mimicking him.

Elektra unsheathed her twin Sais, twirled them in her hands and adopted a fighting stance. The Hand ninjas knew her reputation and how deadly Elektra was. They had been hounding her for months now after she quit to become a freelance assassin. For Akuma, there was no quitting the Hand, the only way to do so was in a bodybag.

Akuma attacked first, launching himself at Elektra, trying to strike her with a downward swing that she promptly evaded. She kneed him in the stomach and sent a kunai at the nearest ninja, catching him in the throat. She then avoided being skewered by a ninja who attacked her from behind and threw her head back to scrunch his face with the back of her head. She heard a loud crunch and her foe was on the ground, unmoving.

*Five left.* Elektra counted.

Agilely, she somersaulted, throwing herself in the air and launching her homing kunais at the rest of her enemies. She killed two this way as they got their skull pierced the others evaded the throwing knives by deflecting them with their swords. Quickly, they answered to her assault by launching their Kusarigama at her while she was airborne.

With her Sai, Elektra deflected two of the heavy ball chain, but was caught by one that wrapped itself around her left arm. The ninja pulled and neutralized one of her weapons, Akuma took advantage of the luck of his subordinate to try drop kick Elektra in the stomach but she countered it by launching her free Sai at his face.

Akuma was forced to deflect the weapon but while he did that, Elektra jumped,  and while in the air, rotates her legs, kicking the red clothed ninja three times, sending him flying and crashing on the ground. Another Ninja sent his Kusarigama at her caught her feet and made her stumble when she landed on the ground. Then they quickly surrounded her, their Ninjatos pointy ends threatening to skewer her.

“Finally, we got you, Bitch.” Akuma said as he stood back up.

“This isn’t over yet-” Elektra was about to say, when something heavy fell on one of the Hand’s ninjas.

Elektra saw that he was turned into paste by a clearly heavy load but the person having landed on him couldn’t be more than fifty kilograms or so.

“Hi, am I too late to the party?” The voice was juvenile- clearly female and that of a teenager.

“You’ll pay for that.” Akuma told her.

“Right.” The newcomer answered sassily, but with a wave of her hand the ball chains wrapped around the assassin shattered.  Elektra found herself free and immediately stood back up.

The young woman then launched a beam of red light from her hand at a ninja on the right and as he was hit he screamed bloody murder as if something was stabbing him repeatedly and fell dead on the ground.

“Another one bites the dust. Do you want to continue?” She asked tauntingly.

Akuma was startled by the abilities this woman showed. He looked at his subordinate, who nodded and entered in a fighting stance.

“If you attack me, I promise you that I will break each of your necks personally, like the chicken you all are. Are you really going to do this?” The young girl had moxxi, Elektra thought, and she found herself liking her savior more and more.

They answered by attacking her in combo. She stepped back so fast that she had left an afterimage and when the remaining ninjas struck it, she caught their ninjatos in her hand and Elektra didn’t know what she did but the blades turned into iron sand and she controlled it? And sent it to cover one of the ninjas who suddenly found himself unable to breathe. He fell dead. Then she looked at the remaining one who wasn’t Akuma and he was lifted him from the ground.

To Elektra the ninja was being strangled and he beat his feet until the young woman in the dark hoodie  tilted her head. With a loud crack, the ninja was killed, his head clearly not facing the front of his body anymore. Elektra approved of her ruthlessness, and nodded appreciatively at her. It’s too bad that she got too focused on her target and left an opening for Akuma to stab her in the thigh.

“Ouch!” She screamed in pain.

Akuma was astonished, he felt his sword meet resistance, there was barely any blood on his blade and on the ground. She looked at him, her hood was now lowered, revealing the youth and beauty of his opponent and her despondent green eyes glowing in the dark. 

She was really young, a redhead, barely Elektra’s height. An aura of red energy suddenly surrounded her. Elektra saw as the gravel around her cleared and floated in the air as she felt the hatred of the young redhead as she projected it. Akuma stepped back now knowing he was now fighting a martial mystic. 

What Elektra saw next made her thankful that Matt didn’t come with her today, the girl released from her eyes, beams of energy that struck Akuma and made him fly in the air and crash in the metal cistern on the roof, pushing him into the metal and leaving an indentation.

“P-please, mer-cy.” Akuma tried to say.

The young girl took the Ninjato and threw it at the Akuma, it landed on his right thigh, the same place where he had wounded her.

“I am sure that you heard that a lot from your victims, asshole.” She walked up to him and unmasked him, the Ninja was still stuck in the cistern.

He was a man of asian descent, he had a gigantic scar on his face marring it. “What you sayin’ now, you suckass? I told you I would break your fuckin’ neck, you slant eyed motherfucker!”

Elektra was surprised by all the swearing, but it made her laugh; then she saw the young woman do what she just threatened, Akuma was no more when she heard a loud bone crack, his head was at an odd angle. Her savior crushed his head with a stare. Some brain matter, and blood, fell onto the ground. *I keep getting involved with the strange… and it keeps getting weirder.*

“Now let’s see how the Hand is going to ressuscite you, if there’s no body.” Elektra was surprised to know that this girl already knew who she was fighting against and knew the method her enemies were fond of.

She proceeded to loot the bodies of each ninja; Shuriken, Kunais and sword flew and placed themselves at her feet. Elektra then became scared when she saw the red ki of the girl surrounding each of the bodies and… she didn’t know what she was seeing, but their bodies were disappearing, turning into dust and lifting in the air becoming fine particles of light.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Miss Natchios.” The young woman promised, as she turned to Elektra.

Elektra frowned, her Sais flying back into her hand. “How do you know my name?” 

The girl giggled. “You are famous as an assassin and the deadliest woman after Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow.”

So she did know her from someone else. Did they fight? Or did she use some other source to sought her out?

“What do you want from me?” Elektra asked, but she had an incline on what the girl wanted.

The redhead bowed slightly and said, “Instructions, I asked Daredevil, but he has this weird sense of justice and I saw that we weren’t compatible as teacher and disciple. Then I decided if I was to continue with this life, that I would get instruction from the best, you.”

The assassin nodded, understanding.

“Are you sure that you want to continue down this path? Those who live by the sword die by it.” Elektra was strangely taken in by the eloquence of the young woman. She remembers when she was this young, all she could think about was about fashion and the next boy that attracted her attention at school.

“Miss Natchios.” The redhead called her.

Elektra became startled. She didn’t like to lose herself down memory lane after such events but it often happened when she remembered her father. “Call me Elektra, you saved my life, I can allow you that much.”

Elektra saw the young girl coughing, fighting down a squeal. She felt that this young woman admired her as if she was a fan. This was a strange sensation for her. “Okay, hum Elektra I will tell you why. As long as I remember I wanted to do what was right, but it had taken a man to tell me before he died that with great power comes great responsibility.”

Her red chi like aura spread all around her and she said, “I have all those abilities but I can barely control them. I need guidance.”

Her explanation sounded rehearsed to Elektra, but this was a decent motivation she had there; she reminded Elektra of herself at a younger age, she couldn't but see herself in the position that strange younger woman. “Why don’t you go to the Chaste? I can give you their location.”

The redhead laughed, snorted, then laughed again, “They are all a bunch of fools, too set in their ways to see that the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough they think they are, it will beat them to their knees and keep them there permanently. They are letting their morals and lofty ideals run the show when their enemies don’t play nice.”

It was said, as if this young woman knew the final fate of the Chaste. *Is she touched by the gift of prophecy too? Is she like this woman? Destiny was her name, right?*

Elektra gave the young woman a nod. “I agree with your opinion about them, but why should I take you as my disciple?”

Jean walked up to Elektra who tensed as the young girl advanced, they were face to face until she kneeled and was now lowering her head. “Please, I am dogged at the heels by an enemy too powerful for me to fight yet. He wants to take away my freedom and turn me into a broodmare.”

When the girl pleaded, it broke Elektra’s heart to hear such fear and plea for help from the mouth of a powerful person such as her. She didn’t understand, this young woman was strong, Elektra was sure that she could take on the New York chapter of the Hand by herself; what kind of monster could make her so afraid for her life?

“Who?” Elektra wanted to know who could be so dangerous.

The younger  redhead lifted her head and looked back at her. “I cannot tell you, he would know, he is always watching.” She said as she shook her head vigorously.

Her decision was already taken when she saw the haunted look in those green eyes. “Very well, what is your name young woman?”

“Jean, Jean Grey but others call me Phoenix.” There were tears falling down Jean’s cheeks.

Elektra placed a hand on her left shoulder. “Do you swear to always listen to me, Jean Grey? Helping me like I would be helping you? Of never lying to me and never to keep secrets from me?”

“Yes, I swear, Master.” Jean bowed her head, smiling. 

Elektra smiled back at her, elation laced in her tone when she said, “Then stand up Phoenix. I accept you as my disciple.”

“Thank you.” The girl sobbed, hugging Elektra who tapped on her back, embarrassed by the affection suddenly coming from the girl.

 

# # #

(Agent Phil Coulson)

 

Queens
Cerberus Security, HQ
September, 9th  1996
10:00 AM

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but the third time? It's, undeniably, enemy action. Ian Fleming had voiced this. As he mulled over this quote, Agent Phil Coulson knew that there was something rotten in Annandale-on-Hudson. First with his partner Katherine Shane, also affectionately called Kat who wished to change assignment because it was boring to stay in the car each night for so long. The change in assignment was accepted, after all, Kat had been patrolling the place for weeks and she was a Level 4 agent, she could choose her missions.

Katherine went to DC to investigate a SHIELD facility that went dark. Then it happened again, four agents this time asked for a reassignment. It was allowed and another team was dispatched. However, this time Phil waited to have them settle in their roles to let them go. He found the team deeply asleep and unable to be risen unless you harmed them.

Phil knew his agents, after all they were conscientious, responsible and good people. Sleeping on the job wasn’t something they would do. When it happened a third time, Phil knew that he should do something and be proactive, he couldn’t let his subordinates be prey to whatever was happening in this little town.

The agent took his phone and typed a number. After the third tonality, the line reached the caller. “Hello, Mrs Director, I request an urgent meeting.”

He heard the old feminine voice say. “Is there a situation?”

Phil heaved a sigh, then looked upon the papers with demand of reassignment on his desk.“I cannot say, but I need to speak to you face to face.”

“Come see me.” She replied, before hanging up. 

Phil did the same, and stood from his chair and took the papers, quickly walking to the nearest door.