X-Men Neo
Issue 9
"Stalker"
Charles Xavier had been running both a high school, and one of the most powerful strike forces on Earth for years. Those kinds of tasks tended to be stressful to most people, but Xavier had managed to maintain a fairly stable composure throughout the entire time that he'd been the headmaster of the Xavier Institute. However, he was nearly making up for it that afternoon, as he held a telephone receiver in one hand. Xavier's face was scarlet.
"What do you mean by that?" Xavier demanded from the person at the other end of the phone.
The reply wasn't encouraging.
"I don't care." Xavier exclaimed angrily, "You told me before any of this even started that you'd be honored to take my case. What changed?"
Again, the reply was infuriating.
"You should have thought about that before you signed our agreement." Xavier replied furiously.
After a few more seconds, Xavier exclaimed, "Fine, then, but if you plan to abandon our agreement, you abandon it completely. You certainly won't be getting paid!"
With that, Xavier slammed the receiver back into place. He was very, very steamed about the whole affair. It shouldn't have been so complicated to find a good lawyer, and defend his property from the people who were trying to steal it out from under him. The facts were plain enough to any reasonable person. Unfortunately, most judges and juries could be bought, and as Xavier was learning, the vast majority of attorneys were the same way. For the right price, they were willing to drop his case like a hot potato.
In that respect, Xavier was in a very bad position. His opponents in his struggle to retain legal control over his own property were Donald Pierce and Harry Leland, and it was possible that others were involved as well. However, even if it was just the two of them, that was bad enough. Each was wealthier than Xavier by several times, which meant that their ability to survive complicated legal battles, and generally dominate the entire legal system vastly exceeded Xavier's own. As a clear indication of just how bad things had gotten, the man that Xavier had just hung up on had been the fifth attorney that he'd been attempting to get legal assistance from. It had only taken the man a single day to realize that Xavier's opponents were quite capable of both bribes and threats, each to a great extent, and he hadn't taken Xavier's case, despite having agreed to it at first.
Of course, Xavier had made a pretty loud ruckus when he'd been reacting to that attorney's decision to jump ship, and he knew that at least two people in the mansion were guaranteed to have overheard his anger and desperation; maybe more. He didn't like having to give bad news to his students, or to anyone else that he cared about, but he couldn't keep such important things from them anymore. The X-men deserved to know what was going on. As hard as they'd worked, and as much as they'd risked, it looked like they were on the verge of losing their fight with Pierce and Leland.
However, just as Xavier was about to send a telepathic message to the X-men, to summon them to his study, he noticed a very strong thought; so strong that it occupied his full attention for a moment.
"Not yet, Chuck. Talk with me about it first."
Xavier sighed, but Logan had really gone out of his way in the past to help, and he deserved that much consideration at least, even if talking with Logan about the problem only made it worse.
"Alright." Xavier replied to Logan telepathically, "Meet me in my study at once."
Logan, it seemed, took that request seriously, because he entered Xavier's study less than half a minute later.
"What's this about, Chuck?" Logan asked, closing the doors as he stepped inside.
"Logan..." Xavier replied, "The X-men have done a lot of hard work, to help support me and this school, and I don't like to admit defeat, but even in spite of all the work they've done, I don't see any way that we can get out of this without a loss of some kind. Leland and Pierce are cutting me off at every turn. I can't even get a handhold into the legal system."
"There's always the direct approach." Logan said icily, but Xavier just shook his head.
"I don't want to resolve this with force, Logan. I'm already a thief and a kidnapper. I have no desire to become a murderer as well. In spite of the vows I've made to the X-men, I can't cross that line."
"So that's it?" Logan asked suspiciously, "You're just giving up? That's not like you, Chuck. Why would you even call the X-men if all you wanted was to give them rotten news like that?"
"You've seen through me again, I'm afraid." Xavier replied, though he didn't smile. He didn't dare. The decisions that he was faced with were too serious and grave for that.
"When Mister Edison first told me about this danger to my school and my property, he said that I'd be faced with two choices; to either submit to the administration of Pierce and Leland, or to move my school to some other building. Either way, half of the connections I've made at this school would probably fall to pieces, or at the very least, suffer horrible confusion, and nearly lose track of me. However, I'm starting to see that there is a third option; one that Edison hadn't taken into consideration when he spoke with me before. I can attempt to make telepathic contact with Doctor Strange."
Logan's whole face flushed almost at once.
"Huh?" Logan asked, unwilling to believe what was being said.
"Strange is not only a powerful sorcerer, but the leader of the Avengers as well. They have the backing of Anthony Stark, who could, I suspect, help us in this situation. Also, I believe that at least one member of their team is an attorney, and they might also know someone who can unravel the mystery of who intruded into the mansion a week ago, and wrote the threat against Anna on the wall."
"Chuck..." Logan said, exasperated, "These are the Avengers you're talking about. Anna pretty much tore apart the first team, and we've got her downstairs right now. Plus, Strange doesn't even know you're a mutant. If you try to send a mental message to him, he'll realize immediately, and if you plan on bringing a detective in here, you're asking to be linked to the X-men. Didn't any of that occur to you? It's not an option, Chuck."
"Yes, Logan." Xavier replied sadly, "I've had time to consider all of those factors. Making contact with Strange would definitely put me, the X-men, and my entire school at the mercy of the Avengers, and it would put Anna in no small danger too, but at the moment, we're at the mercy of Pierce and Leland instead. I'd prefer to place my fate in the hands of the Avengers, rather than into the clutches of those two, who've gone to such lengths to seize control over my school, and my students. For me, at least, it's an option worth considering, but you're right to say that it puts us all at risk. That's why I don't feel like I can make that sort of choice until I've consulted the X-men about it. This kind of decision is very dangerous, for them as well as for me. It could put them all at great risk if the Avengers choose to bring charges against the X-men for the laws we've broken."
"It's a stupid idea, Chuck." Logan replied angrily, "The X-men have always been seen as troublemakers in the past, and I can guarantee you, the Avengers aren't going to take pity on us; especially not now, when we've got their worst enemy in our basement. Unless..."
Suddenly, realization dawned on Logan's face, and he started to flush a little again.
"You're not thinking of using her as a peace offering, are you?"
"The thought had crossed my mind." Xavier replied grimly, "I don't have any desire to sacrifice anyone, and I don't really think the Avengers would kill her, but she may have been placed into our grasp for a reason. I'd prefer to be able to benefit from her time here, given how little progress she's made in her reformation. If the Avengers demand it, I will surrender her to them, so long as they can provide a better prison for her. However, regardless, if their plan is to kill her, I'd prefer to die myself, rather than let that happen."
Logan's face was turning a deeper red, as Xavier said those things, but like it or not, there was nothing either of them could do to escape that difficult choice. All they could do was open up that choice to the others who deserved to take part in it.
"X-men," Xavier said telepathically, "Please meet me in my study as soon as possible. We have an important decision to make."
Anna drifted into consciousness again, just as she had numerous times over the last week and a half. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, but that was becoming the norm. Something about her imprisonment was affecting her. It might, of course, have just been the drugs, but Anna suspected that it was more than that.
Although her thoughts had been somewhat muddled in the time she'd spent in that cell, Anna hadn't just stopped thinking. In fact, her thoughts had been distressingly intense and dark. There hadn't been much clarity to them, and it was hard for her to sustain any anger against her captors. However, the same wasn't true for herself. As she'd dwelled in that cell, Anna had gradually lost the will to fight against her own feelings, and what had emerged from those feelings had been a deep revulsion, and self-loathing, the likes of which she'd only experienced once before.
At the time, Anna had assumed that the experience had been Xavier's doing, but it was quickly becoming obvious that Xavier hadn't, in fact, used his abilities to attack her when she'd invaded the mansion before. He'd merely shown her the side of herself that she'd spent so long trying to cover up and ignore.
In the past, everything had been fairly simple for Anna. She had power, and she was going to get more. She had to follow through with the plan, gaining power over the world, and then just have a good time for the rest of her life. It was the mentality that was most prevalent; even among humans, and it was the one that Raven had taught her to appreciate. Anna had just been following that mentality to its natural conclusion; the quest for power and fun taken to its greatest extreme by the one person who had an easier time acquiring power than anyone else in the world.
However, when Raven's plan had collapsed into ruin, so had Anna's. Anna's drive to obtain power and fun was only as great as it was because Raven had lied to her. She'd told Anna that the only goal that mattered was ensuring that mutants ascended to power over the world, and that if the brotherhood ever accomplished that, then that accomplishment would have a much larger meaning than simple mutant powers could ever have, and would make them all happy. As Anna had started to doubt Raven's word about that, both of their lives had lost their purpose, and as such, each of them had lost some of their drive.
Even so, Anna had continued to take her own path, trying her best to live her life and have fun, but it wasn't working, and she couldn't be sure why that was. The question had produced, in her, thoughts of whether her failure to conquer the world for mutants really was the source of her discontent. If so, then Raven had been right all along. However, Anna doubted that somewhat. No one had ever managed to conquer the world completely, so there was no way that Raven could have known whether that would make Anna happy or not.
Still, Anna had enough power that no one could really get in her way, and that was, she'd convinced herself, enough. She had all the power that she needed, and she could engage in all the fun activities that she might ever want to experience, completely free of worries about being interrupted, or forced by others into a different life direction. She was in charge of her own destiny; a very rare fate indeed.
Despite all of that, however, Anna had started to feel pretty rotten during her time alone. At first, she'd assumed that rotten feeling was due to loneliness. Others might have just ignored the feeling completely, but with the wisdom of Hank Pym and Thor, she knew that she couldn't do that. That feeling was a part of herself, and to allow a part of oneself to gain strength unnoticed was, according to Thor, a recipe for disaster. Apparently, his half-brother Loki had frequently tricked people into turning against themselves in that manner; by causing an aspect of themselves to gain strength and eventual dominance through a magic spell. Anna didn't think that Loki was responsible for how she felt, but she didn't want to lose control of herself either.
Unfortunately, Anna hadn't been able to pin down exactly what it was that had been making her feel so bad. Xavier claimed that she had some kind of darkness inside of her, that she was using to hide from the truth. It was possible that that darkness, or even the truth itself, was prompting her feelings of misery, but if so, how could she get the feelings to stop? Anna had continued to wonder than over the course of her first four days in that cell, under the Xavier Institute.
Very soon after her arrival in the Institute, however, Anna had felt her fear returning as well. The message that had been burned into the wall near her cell was obviously a warning to her, though she couldn't tell who that warning was from, or why they'd chosen to send her a message in precisely that way. However it had happened, Anna hadn't seen who was responsible. She'd been unconscious while the message had been written, so she hadn't caught even a glimpse of the person responsible for it. It was irritating, and a little terrifying, but Anna was stuck in that cell. She'd reiterated to numerous people, including Professor Xavier, that she hadn't seen who'd written that message, and after a while, the questioning had stopped, and Anna had been left alone to worry in solitude.
Midway through Anna's fifth day in that prison, the X-men still showed no signs of releasing her. She wasn't surprised by that point, and was too heavily-drugged to be disappointed. She'd expected her day to be a lonely one, with only enough human contact to deliver her bare-bones meals. However, just after Anna had finished lunch, she realized that there was someone just outside of her cell.
The person hadn't been there a second before, and had seemed to appear in a simple flash of light. She was clearly a mutant, and made no secret of that, but Anna had never seen her before. She was in her late teens, had long, blond hair, and was about medium height for a person of her age. She also seemed to be dressed in some kind of light armor, though it didn't inhibit her range of motion at all, and a gemstone hung on a thin chain around her neck. Anna barely thought anything of the mutant girl at first, but as the blond-haired mutant drew closer to her cell, Anna could see something in her eyes; something that Thor would have recognized. Anna saw in those eyes the fire of a killer so ferocious that nearly everything else about her; her personality, hopes, and dreams, had all needed to wrap around that central, murderous intent, in order to remain attached to her at all. Anna knew just what Thor would have thought of such a person, because she heard his voice in her head, as soon as the girl had appeared.
"This one knows no joy. She is no warrior, but a weapon. Though weapons may learn to fight, as a warrior does, only a warrior earns the enjoyment of victory, and the delight of conquering a worthy foe. Only a warrior can understand the passion and joy of what life truly is, after having faced death in battle. Treat her with neither envy nor fear. She is no kind of warrior at all."
"I've heard that you were once very powerful." the blond girl said curiously.
"Ah still have all mah powahs." Anna replied a little testily, "Ah haven't heard anything about you, though."
"I would prefer not to tell the story of my teenage years to anyone," the girl said, "but you can call me Magik for now."
"Charming." Anna replied, though her words seemed to have incensed the blond girl very effectively.
"I'm not charming." Magik said angrily, "I'm a fearful ruler. I conquer and control by force."
"Ah." Anna replied with a smirk, "For a minute, ah thought ah was gonna get bored. So what did you want with me anyway, huh?"
Magik was clearly still angry, but she spoke quickly and urgently.
"I want to know more about you. You lived your life without fear of upsetting others, and because of that, your struggle to seize power was unimpeded by sentiment. Tell me your secret."
"First tell me yours." Anna replied.
It was obvious that Magik was quickly growing angry with Anna, but Anna wasn't afraid of her. In fact, in spite of the young girl's insistences, Anna found her somewhat interesting, and even almost cute. If not for the bloodthirsty look in Magik's eyes, Anna might even have liked her. However, something about Magik reminded Anna of the way she used to be; all determined to force herself on others, and frustrated when it didn't quite go that easily. Anna would have loved to be able to converse with Magik more intelligently, but the drugs were still impeding her ability to think clearly.
"The full story of my life would take too long," Magik said at last, "and there are details I'd prefer to leave out anyway. In brief, I spent my teenage years in another world, fighting with all my might to survive and gain power for myself."
"Another world?" Anna asked, amazed to find herself believing the strange story, "Incredible. Did you ever manage to take the whole place over?"
Magik's face was still a mask of dislike and distaste, as she replied to that question with a simple "Yes."
Of course, if Magik was bluffing, Anna would probably have found out about it soon enough, but Anna suspected that she was, in fact, telling the truth, in which case, her weapon-like mentality had an obvious source. Beyond a certain point, the struggle for survival could truly warp a person's mentality like that; even the mentality of a little girl.
Anna had a couple of moments to reflect on her own mentality as she realized that; the lessons she'd learned from her father's death, her "rescue" by Raven, her role in killing the Avengers and taking control of their powers, her discovery of her mother's real motives, and her eventual independence, or at least what she'd hoped would be independence. They hadn't been normal experiences for her a girl her age, and having had the chance to re-examine them, Anna was pretty convinced that her own world view had been somewhat twisted by them. When she finally decided to try replying to Magik, she wasn't sure she'd have much to say, however.
"Ah think you're headed upstream against the current, when you aught to be headed in the other direction, mahself," Anna said sadly, "but the truth is, ah just used to close mahself off from all mah feelings of worry about what other folks felt. There's nothing special about that. S'called denial. Ah figured if ah just ignored how people felt, it wouldn't bug me."
Magik and Anna just faced each other for several seconds after that. Neither had much more to say to the other, though they had different reasons for their hesitation.
"This is meaningless." Magik finally said, "I can learn nothing from you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Anna asked, a little insulted.
"I thought that you might have found a method that I'd overlooked in accomplishing great deeds in this world, but I was mistaken." Magik replied angrily, "Man isn't as easily understood as daemons are. That makes this entire affair much more difficult."
"What are you really saying?" Anna asked, curiously. However, Magik didn't seem eager to share, and in just a moment, turned to leave.
However, by that point, Anna could tell that there was a part of herself that was deeply longing to speak; a part of herself that had something very important to say. Anna could have resisted that part; suppressed that urge, but she wasn't very good at that sort of thing.
"Thy silence is a poor defense." Anna found herself saying, all trace of her accent missing from the words as she spoke them. The only part of her that was speaking then was the part that was the mighty Thor.
"I don't need to defend myself to you." Magik said, growing irritated.
"Aye." Anna replied with more than a little sarcasm, "Truly, thou art happy enough. Did thy conquest ever bring thee joy, even of the slightest amount?"
"I was satisfied with it." Illyana said, evading the issue, and seeming not to have taken the difference in Anna's voice as a sign of anything serious, "That's as close to joy as anyone can really get. Anything deeper than that is a deception; an illusion."
Then Anna found herself doing something somewhat worrying, even to her. She was laughing at Magik. She was laughing hard; a big, hearty laugh, as if she were standing over Magik in triumph, rather than being imprisoned in any kind of cage.
"What are you doing?" Magik demanded, "Stop that!"
Eventually, Anna did stop, though it took her a few moments. At last, she spoke with a smile on her face, in spite of her exhaustion and worry.
"Who art thou to command one such as I?"
At that point, Magik seemed to have grown an inch or two taller, and the look of ferocity in her eyes had increased substantially.
"I am Magik; sorceress supreme of limbo, defeater of Belasco the merciless, high queen of all the daemons, and the most powerful warrior ever to emerge from that realm!"
"Nay." Anna replied, still smiling, "Sorceress thou may be. Defeater thou may be. Queen thou most definitely art, but a warrior? Nay."
"You dare to question me?" Magik demanded, "You would say that I'm not a warrior from inside that cell?"
"A warrior's worth is not found only in the victories that she claims," Anna replied, still smiling, "but it the great, delightful celebrations held in her honor after a successful raid or conquest, and the honor and loyalty with which she serves. Thy grasp of killing may be thorough, but thou art no warrior of any kind, until thou dost understand the meaning of honor, and the joys of victory and revelry. Even to fall before a worthy enemy is no sort of tragedy for a true warrior, and a warrior alone can decide to live in peace and happiness. Others are merely forced into it. Thou art merely a killer; not a warrior."
At first, it looked as if Anna's words were getting a rise out of Magik, but after a few seconds, she headed for the stairs again, looking crestfallen, and it was obvious that she was, in fact, several inches taller than she'd been before.
"Your words won't convince me to set you free, at least." Magik said, "I'm leaving you to your imprisonment now."
Anna was still smiling, however, as Magik's size diminished back to normal, and gave her one parting shot.
"Do as thou must, mortal."
Magik paused by the stairs, and for a moment, seemed about to change her mind, but at last, she let out a heavy sigh. Just a second later, a disc-like shape that seemed to be made of light materialized under her feet. Soon, both she and the disc were gone.
That exchange had happened to Anna several days before, and if nothing else, it had taught her something very important. Conquering the world didn't make people happy. In fact, it made it even harder for them to recognize happiness.
That discovery had ruled out one possibility; the possibility that Raven had been right. However, it still left Anna with the question of what, exactly, was upsetting her so much, and why she couldn't seem to resolve her problem instead of just ignoring it. She spent two days worrying about that before she decided to consult the Avengers again.
"Come out." Anna said, and in moments, Thor, Pym and the Wasp were standing in front of her, with her father off to one side.
"Ah don't get it." Anna said as the four stood in front of her, "Why can't ah shake this feeling? It's not just the drugs, is it?"
It looked as if those people were a little sad, however, because what they had to say was going to be hard for Anna to accept.
"You're starting to feel remorse for what you've done in the past." Pym said after a few moments, "Taking people out of the world, and robbing their families of the chance to know them is a very severe thing to do, and a very serious action to take. I'm guessing that you never really took it seriously when you killed us. Our families must have faced the tragic inevitability of losing us for good. It's possible that you might just be upset that you caused people like them so much misery without even thinking it through."
"But ah don't even know those folks." Anna objected, but Pym replied very quickly, and with warm-hearted gentleness.
"Yes you do. In fact, you know them as well as we did. That's partly the source of your remorse. You remember my parents as well as I do. You remember how Janet's father died, and the kind of people who Thor had as family and friends. You remember them all as if they were your own relatives, and I think that some part of you wants to stop eating expensive meals, partying, and dancing, and try to comfort them over the loss of their family. Still, you know that as our killer, you never can."
Anna looked bewildered and lost, as Pym explained those things so completely and well. Of course, it made sense; Pym was a great genius and he was a part of her at that point; perhaps her most intelligent part. His explanations; distressing though they were, carried the ring of truth when Anna listened to them. She couldn't stand it. She hated to think about it. In fact, it was the truth that she'd been trying to hide from in the darkness of her thoughts. It was what Xavier had wanted her to face, and yet, she didn't know how. Anna Marie Darkholme had never faced her pain and sorrow before.
As the minutes ticked by, Anna was, if anything, feeling more horrible than ever.
"That's the real reason why I called you all together." Xavier said, a grim expression on his face, "This decision could effect us all for the rest of our lives, and I don't think it would be right for me to make it for the rest of you. I've asked Sheila to make the choice in case of a tie, but I don't expect that it will come to that. Do we place our trust in the Avengers, or do we face the loss of the institute together?"
Xavier could see that different expressions were traveling across the faces of the X-men, as they each considered the situation, thinking about it from their own point of view; each thinking about different factors. At last, however, it seemed that each X-man was ready to make their choice.
Anna lay on the floor of her cell, drifting back into consciousness again. It was unpleasant for her to be conscious, not because her dreams were comforting, but because as long as she was awake, the guilt was there too, hanging over her like the darkest storm cloud that had ever existed. It was the very worst feeling that she could imagine, and it never weakened; not even for a second.
The truth that Anna had been trying to hide from hadn't been something she'd needed to learn from others. She'd seen and heard the helpless screams of Janet Van Dyne as she'd died in Anna's grip, and she remembered how Janet had felt at that point. Janet hadn't been the only Avenger who'd screamed on that day, but her feelings of helpless fear and loss had been the strongest of all the Avengers. Anna had always struggled to ignore those memories, but ever since she'd focused on them, just once, she'd realized that she couldn't ignore them anymore.
From that point on, those memories and feelings would be there, and those screams were continuing to echo through her head, as part of both her own memories, and Janet's. It was no longer the drugs alone that were making Anna lethargic. Drugs were bad enough, but Anna just couldn't gather up the will to move anymore. The screams were too much.
Even as another flash of light deposited three people into the area just outside of her cell, Anna knew that she couldn't move, because the screaming was still there. She barely even had enough will to recognize the people. One of them was graying slightly, and had a mustache, and a red cloak, held in place with a large, metal eye that was, at the time, closed. The second was a red-haired woman, dressed all in black. The third was perhaps the most recognizable of all the modern superhumans. She had a black mask, long, blond hair, and a large lightning bolt symbol along the front of her uniform. Two of the beings were obviously Doctor Strange and Miss Marvel, though Anna had never seen the third before.
"Widow." Strange said in a commanding tone, "Look over their security measures. Are they good enough to hold her?"
The woman who apparently referred to herself as Widow spent only a couple of seconds examining the machines, before she nodded.
"There are about four people in the world who could set up a better containment system than this one. Two are Avengers, and the other two are Doctor Richards, and Doom."
"What about the message on the wall?" Strange asked curiously. Widow seemed to have barely even glanced at it, but she already had a full evaluation ready.
"It wasn't written by anything solid. Those words were burned into the wall by some kind of explosion of high-friction energy."
"High-friction?" Miss Marvel asked, confused, "Wait a minute. Wouldn't that melt the metal too?"
"Part of it is melted." Widow replied, "However, in this instance, friction within the wall was accelerated to the point where the wall itself burst open in small areas. That's how the words were created. Obviously, we're dealing with someone who can create intense friction in the air, and even inside of objects."
"Now the question becomes; who could do that?" Strange said, looking distracted, as he thought it over.
"Again, it's a short list." Widow replied, "Most of them are Avengers. Yourself, the Human Torch... Namor might be able to, if he were to really get creative. Any of the technological experts we work with could probably have rigged something up; Doom, Richards, Iron Man, Mole Man, myself..."
"Ah... Ah could've done it."
At once, all three Avengers, who'd paid so little direct attention to Anna up to that point, turned to face her as one. They all seemed surprised that she'd spoken up at all. After all, they knew who she was, and she must have known who they were. Even so, she was trying to help them. It caught them off guard.
"You?" Strange asked, "How?"
"Ah just have to create atmospheric friction inside the tiny air pockets in the wall." Anna said, though she was still too exhausted to get up, "Problem is, ah couldn't do it while ah'm drugged, so it couldn't have been me."
"You have the power to create atmospheric friction?" Miss Marvel asked, astonished.
"Ah get the powahs of everybody ah touch..." Anna said miserably, "All of 'em. Ah get their powahs, their thoughts, their memories... Everything."
The moment that Widow heard that, her eyes widened, and she turned to face Strange quickly.
"I know who's responsible for this," Widow said, "but don't make snap judgments about this girl. She might not be as great a danger as she's been in the past."
"What?" Strange asked, barely able to believe what Widow was saying, "Widow, this girl killed three members of the Avengers. She has to face justice for what she did."
"Right," Widow replied, "but don't try to attack her. I think she's already facing justice for what she's done, and we can't afford to devote too much manpower to her at the moment, anyway."
Strange glanced at Widow once, then at Anna, then back at Widow, but her answer clearly hadn't satisfied him. Miss Marvel, though, seemed a little more satisfied by Widow's answer, even if she didn't understand all the reasoning behind it.
"What is it, Widow?" Miss Marvel asked, seemingly determined to get to the heart of the matter, "How's she facing justice?"
Widow looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if struggling to come up with an answer to that question, but at last, she said, "Aside from the fact that she's started to feel guilty over her crimes, real justice is what happens when each person gets exactly what they deserve. Because of that, it's very difficult and rare for a murder case to result in a just outcome."
There was no reply to that for several seconds, but at last, Strange had started to look very confused, and a question finally escaped his lips; a question he couldn't hold in anymore.
"I'm not following you." Strange said, "What are you suggesting, exactly?"
"I'm suggesting that you don't try to punish her until this investigation is complete." Widow replied, "We don't have enough information about her stalker to make snap judgments. If it's who I think it is... We can't afford to make assumptions, though."
Widow's reply hadn't satisfied Strange or Miss Marvel, but she clearly wasn't going to explain herself any further, so Strange started moving his hands into a number of new gestures, causing Widow to vanish again. A moment later, Strange had placed one hand on his forehead, and closed his eyes, then opened them again. That was when he and Miss Marvel also disappeared, leaving Anna to wonder what they had planned for her, and what, exactly, they were trying to accomplish, that was demanding so much of their time.
Professor Xavier had shared a brief telepathic discussion with Doctor Strange before he'd departed. In that discussion, Strange had let Xavier know what they'd discovered about the writing on the wall, and mentioned the glowing evaluation that the X-men's containment system had been given. However, it wasn't until Strange returned to the Avengers mansion, that he told Xavier anything more substantial than that.
"Xavier," Strange had said, "We're facing a pretty large problem at the moment. Obviously, we can't commit you, or the X-men to help us with that problem, but if and when it's resolved, we'll be able to help you with your legal troubles."
"And Anna?" Xavier asked. It was the last matter that he needed clarification on.
"We haven't made any decisions about her yet." Strange replied, "Of course, if she's becoming too dangerous or expensive to take care of, we can take her off your hands, but we're not going to try to press charges against her, until the current crisis is over."
"I ask because I hope that I might still be able to make some progress in helping her learn to face the crimes that she's committed."
"That would make it easier for her to stand trial." Strange admitted, "You can keep trying, if you'd like."
"Thank you." Xavier replied, and that was the end of their latest communication.
Xavier felt pretty bad about what had happened as the afternoon wore on into the evening. Although he was pleased that the Avengers had been so sympathetic to the X-men and their plight, and were so eager to help them out in their impending legal battle, there was a slight guilt hanging over Xavier's head, about letting them know where Anna was. Although she'd done a great deal to earn the retribution of the law, Xavier couldn't help but feel as if he were betraying her somehow. Assuming that the stalker was found, and everything went as planned, Anna would probably be prosecuted to the full extent of the law by the Avengers. It was a fate that she'd very much earned, and yet... The whole thing made Xavier very sad.
Xavier hadn't bothered trying to read Anna's mind, since hours before he'd contacted the Avengers, but as he paid one final visit to her cell that evening, he knew that it was time to do so. Anna was lying limp and listless on the floor of her cell, and it wasn't just the drugs. A tray of food was lying next to her untouched. She usually finished her meals almost immediately, so there was obviously a problem. Anna's facial expression, and failure to respond were, to Xavier, indicative of someone in a near-catatonic state, and when he scanned her mind in the hopes of discovering why, what he found in her thoughts shocked him.
From rapidly-tiring defiance, Anna's thoughts had transformed completely. She was feeling nearly overwhelmed by bitterness and remorse, and almost every thought that was passing through her head was another self-accusation in a cascade of voices that didn't seem, to Xavier, to be her own. For a moment, the professor considered how dangerous she might still be, but he knew that he had to turn off the gas jets, and remove the airborne sedative from Anna's prison. If she kept going the way she was; consumed by thoughts of guilt, but lacking the energy she needed to reason them out, it was only going to damage her psyche in the end. Besides, if Anna did, in fact, make some attempt at an escape, Xavier could always just render her unconscious again, with the same mental ability he'd used against his half brother Cain.
The professor watched as the gas was gradually removed from the prison, and Anna started to breathe a bit more rapidly; her powerful lungs reacting to the fresh air that was being filtered into her cell. Even so, she was in a haze, and her mind was all a jumble of guilt and despair. She couldn't bring herself to stand up, even once the prison opened, and Xavier sat only a few feet away from her. All she needed to do was rush forward with her superhuman speed and grab him, and then she'd be free again, and she could deal with the X-men, and whoever else was after her.
The idea crossed her mind only once, before plummeting into oblivion for good. Anna's days of killing people to get what she wanted were over. Already, she realized, she was consumed by guilt over what she'd done in the past, and she couldn't see any means of escaping that guilt. She wouldn't dive so quickly into the same mistake again.
Xavier felt every nuance of Anna's thoughts as she made those important choices, though in truth, her thoughts were still too intense and guilt-ridden to motivate her into doing anything that involved getting up. Anna had gotten over the drugs in seconds, and yet, to judge from her lack of energy, one might have thought that she was still badly drugged. Her expression looked both painful and listless. Xavier had hardly ever seen such a depth of guilt; such bottomless sadness over past actions in anyone Anna's age before. There couldn't be any doubt of her sincerity.
After over a week, and just as the Avengers had left, Anna had done what Xavier had asked her to; pulling back the veil of darkness that protected her from the truth, and she'd been nearly shattered by that truth. It was progress in a sense, but as much, and as totally as Anna have leapt into self-serving mania, she seemed to have leapt just as totally into remorse and self-loathing. She was still in no kind of position to apologize for what she'd done, much less stand trial for her crimes, which meant that Xavier still had work to do. He could easily have made quick contact with her telepathically, but there was a chance that she might see that as a sign of further mistrust; another sign of her guilt, and another reminder of it. Xavier knew that he needed to be more careful than that with her. At that point, she needed someone to pull her back from the brink of despair; someone who was trying to help her, not tamper with her thoughts.
"Anna." Xavier said aloud, but he received no reply from her, so he tried again.
"Anna." Xavier repeated, "Can you hear me?"
Anna's eyes darted towards Xavier a moment later, though she didn't dare to say anything. She could hear him well enough; she just couldn't bring herself to speak.
"I'm pleased that you've chosen to confront the truth." Xavier said, as Anna lay on the floor of her cell, "Now you'll need to learn to do the right thing; to do your best to make up for the hurt that you've caused. In some ways, I'm sure that will be the hardest part of your recovery. Learning what the right thing to do is will probably be painful for you. Actually gathering up the strength to do the right thing will be even harder, and will require a great deal of struggle and effort."
Anna still couldn't bring herself to speak, but her next thought was very forceful. Xavier could hear it coming, and was certain that she meant for him to hear it.
"Shut up. I listened to your advice before, and look what happened."
"I've done you the courtesy of not invading your mind since you began to make this progress." Xavier said a bit flatly, "The least that you could do for me in exchange is speak to me aloud if you have something to say."
Anna was still swamped by guilt, and low on motivation. Even so, Xavier's remark had upset her a great deal, and that anger and discontentment was driving her to fight the guilt for a moment; to crowd it out of her mind as best she could, until she could find the strength to use her voice again. It was a necessary step for her, and Xavier was careful not to assist her with it mentally. It was something that she needed to learn for herself.
Motivated by her anger with Xavier, and her discontent over her situation, Anna gradually opened her mouth, and braced her arms against the floor. In only a few moments, she'd forced herself into an upright, seated position, and glared at Xavier from where she was, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, as if trying to get used to the idea of using it again.
For a few moments, it seemed that Anna's first words to the professor were going to be an exclamation of anger and distaste, but then, she slumped forward, putting her face in her hands. Her fingers became soaked very quickly as the deep breath that she'd wanted to use for rebuking Xavier came out as a series of pitiful sobs.
Xavier's position was a pretty bad one at that point. His instinct would have been to move closer and comfort the girl, but her prison was on a raised platform that his wheelchair couldn't reach, and anyway, there was a great deal of evidence to suggest that touching her would have been enough to kill the professor. No one, he realized gradually, could get close enough to comfort Anna, and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Anna was too miserable, at the moment, to be comforted so easily. Xavier would just have to communicate with her gradually, and do what he could to help her work through her guilt.
"Ah just..." Anna gasped, as she looked up again at Xavier, "Ah didn't mean to hurt anybody. Ah swear. Ah thought that if ah took people, they'd be happier and nicer... Ah see them when ah call them; the people ah took. They show up, and they're all so smart and healthy, and they're all happy. Ah didn't think it was like really killing... Ah never..."
"You didn't think that you were really killing people?" Xavier asked, looking disturbed, "Who told you that?"
"Raven did." Anna gasped out, "She said that nobody's powahs were evil, and since ah basically just took peoples lives, and made them part of mine, she said... She said ah wasn't killing them; ah was giving them a chance to be part of something bigger... Ah hung onto that, because... Because, if that was true, it would've meant mah daddy wasn't really dead."
Xavier's eyes widened when Anna said that. Obviously, her problems went much deeper than he'd originally thought. It was deeply worrying, because he wasn't certain that he could penetrate that level of abnormal psychology.
"Ah... Ah always sorta knew ah was killing folks, ah guess..." Anna admitted desperately, "but ah didn't really think it was the same as real killing, y'know, because their personalities, powahs and skills all stick around in me. When ah found out what... Ah didn't think it was the same, but then ah saw the truth about them; what they would really have thought about me and..."
Anna was in tears again in just a moment, and Xavier had a foothold. Although Anna's specific problem was unique, her kind of sorrow was a very common one. There had been, over the course of the last several decades, a large number of cases in which women had discovered that they were, in fact, guilty of murder, despite not having realized it before. In the vast majority of those cases, they were overwhelmed by crushing guilt over what they'd done, and their emotional and mental stability collapsed; sometimes overnight. It was never easy for a woman like that to take responsibility for what she'd done, and learn to face her guilt, but it had been done successfully in the past. Anna's position wasn't too different from theirs, so Xavier knew what to do next.
"You did kill people." Xavier admitted, "You didn't have any right to, but you did it anyway. Now that that's done, what are you going to do next? You can't go back and change the things you did in the past. How will you cope with what happened in the here and now?"
"Ah... Ah don't think ah can." Anna muttered.
"If you can't cope with your actions, then you can't make restitution for them either." Xavier replied, "In that case, you'll only be doing another disservice to the people you've hurt. I know that there are things you could do for the people who you hurt the most by what you did, but you can't do those things until you have the strength to confront your guilt and put it into its proper place within your life."
"Ah don't want to feel guilty." Anna blurted out, "Not like this. There's gotta be something ah can do to stop it."
"There are quite a few things that you could do to stop your guilt," Xavier replied, "but none of them would solve your problem. Your real issue has always been your refusal to face your guilt, which is why it's grown so much stronger. You can refuse to face it again, but if you do that, you'll never be able to confront your problems. You'll never have the strength to face the need for restitution, and you'll be trapped forever in the meaningless darkness of self-delusion. I don't think that's what you really want."
Anna looked lost for several seconds, but at last, she spoke, and she seemed more open to Xavier's plan than before.
"What do ah have to do?" Anna asked.
"You'll need to decide who to make restitution to. Who did you hurt the most, and how can you make amends for the damage that you did?" Xavier explained slowly, "Once you've answered those questions, you'll have plans of your own."
"Captain America," Anna recited at once, "Iron Man, Marie and Larry Pym. Ah have to start with them. Ah know they felt the worst over what ah did."
Xavier nodded, but in that moment, he was faced with something of a crisis. Scanning Anna's thoughts to determine her sincerity would almost certainly be seen as an act of mistrust, and drugging her again would have been even worse. Obviously, Xavier needed to do something about Anna. She wanted to make amends, but nothing could really be done until the following day. He didn't want to do anything that would make the Avengers angry, and yet, he wasn't sure that he could keep her imprisoned, unless she did something to prove herself dangerous again.
Charles Xavier just wasn't the kind of person who was accustomed to striking the first blow in a conflict. He'd always preferred to hope for the best, even from someone who'd proven untrustworthy in the past. In fact, his entire dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and other human beings was founded on that tendency; his desire not to make the first attack out of fear or mistrust. Unfortunately, that desire left him with very few choices, where Anna was concerned, so for the first time in all the years that he'd known her, Xavier decided to take Anna into his confidence.
"I'm not certain what to do next." Xavier said sadly, "If I try to put you back in that prison, you'll lapse back into despair, and none of what we've said will have meant anything, but if I let you run loose, and someone gets hurt, or even killed, I'll be to blame, and Logan will tell me that I was naive for trusting you. In addition, there's always the chance that you might decide to leave the institute overnight, which would upset the Avengers quite a bit. They're hoping to bring you to trial for what you did, I think."
Anna just nodded. It made sense that the Avengers would try something like that. After all, they might have had three more members if not for her.
"Ah can't help you there, Xavier." Anna said sadly, "Ah can tell you ah don't want to hurt anybody anymore, but ah'll bet it won't mean a thing."
Anna said those words with complete sincerity, and even without telepathy, Xavier could tell that she was really feeling that way; miserable and unwilling to destroy anyone else. He'd learned caution since he'd first founded the Xavier Institute, and yet, Charles Xavier couldn't ignore the kind of person he was on the inside. His sense of caution told him to do one thing, but every other thought and feeling in his being told him something else. That was when Xavier knew that he couldn't keep Anna imprisoned anymore, no matter how great the danger was. The moment that he fell asleep, Anna would be free to attack or escape, but he had to take that chance; he had to hope for the best.
"I'll assign you a room." Xavier said, "But you'll be expected to stand trial for your crimes later. I can't do anything to protect you from that."
"Ah see..." Anna muttered. She was obviously feeling very down, and she didn't seem eager to make any kind of reply, though whether it was because of her guilt, or because she didn't have a lot of experience with thanking people, Xavier wasn't sure.
The room that Xavier gave to Anna was a relatively shabby one. In fact, it was bare and white, just like the rooms he'd given to each of his students when they'd first arrived, and it was a good deal smaller than most of the residential rooms at the institute. Even so, it had a fairly comfortable bed, and a window that looked out onto the institute grounds.
Anna had been drifting in and out of consciousness for over a week and a half by that point, but it had been so long since she'd seen the night sky, that the very sight drew out her already-strong exhaustion. In moments, she collapsed into bed, and drifted back into unconsciousness, still pursued somewhat into her dreams by her feelings of guilt.
When Anna woke up, it was still very early. In fact, the sun hadn't even come up. It was probably something like two in the morning, but she'd been woken by the sound of a loud thumping noise in her room.
Though she was still feeling groggy, and emotionally-overwhelmed, Anna struggled to sit up in bed, and see what the problem was. There, she saw the most shocking and astonishing thing that she'd seen in months.
Anna's window was letting warm air into her room, having been opened noiselessly during the night, and there were two figures standing in the darkness of her room. Both were tall, and one seemed to have grabbed the other from behind. However, the one in front was wearing an expensive-looking suit, while the other was holding what appeared to be a large hammer made of wood and metal.
More than one thing about that situation worried Anna. The suit looked just like a hundred other expensive suits of its type worldwide, but the hammer was quite unique, and it was very familiar to Anna, though she couldn't make out the faces of either man distinctly.
"Fool!" she heard one man exclaim, "You've woken her!"
"Bite thy tongue." Another voice replied, and in moments, the two had moved with speed that rivaled Anna's own, shooting back out through the window together. In under a second, Anna had begun using her own powers again, rushing to the window with as much speed as she could summon. Once there, however, she could see that the man in the suit seemed to be disintegrating, or rather, transforming. From his posture, he looked mainly furious, and badly disappointed by the turn that things had taken, but even so, his whole body seemed to be changing into a cloud of bats, that started to fly away from the institute grounds.
By that point, the other figure was looking away from Anna, but despite the lack of sunlight, she could see enough of him to understand what was going on, and all of her muscles tensed up in preparation for the fight that she was definitely about to be forced into. The man standing there on the institute lawn was dressed in large armor, to match his powerful build. There was a helmet on his head, and a long, brown cloak hung from his armor at the shoulders. In his right hand, he held a powerful-looking hammer, and his hair was long and blond. Anna wasn't sure how it was possible, but she knew who the new arrival was, even before he turned to face her. It was Thor; the Norse god of thunder.
For a few moments, Anna was speechless, though she herself flew out through the window, to meet with the thunder god. She could see that he was watching her warily, as any true warrior would, and yet, when she descended to the ground, he didn't seem tense. In fact, he looked very relaxed, which probably meant that he wasn't afraid of her, and wanted her to see him at his best.
For nearly fifteen seconds, the two circled each other on the lawn of the Institute. Thor obviously expected Anna to say something, but Anna didn't know what to say. Finally, Thor seemed to be getting bored with the silence, and spoke up.
"Thou dost wish to know how I survived our encounter." Thor said aloud.
"You didn't survive." Anna said, a little anger rising in her, though she was mainly just worried as she spoke, "Ah absorbed you completely. Nobody ah do that to survives. Even now, ah've still got your powahs, your thoughts, your memories, and philosophies..."
"To kill a god is not so easy a thing." Thor replied, his expression becoming stern, "A god is not made up of merely flesh and blood, nor was my presence in this body dependent upon the power that thou didst steal."
Anna made no sign of wanting to hear Thor's explanation, but he started to explain nonetheless.
"My power is bestowed upon mortal beings who are worthy, through this hammer," Thor explained, "but my true essence, at present, is within the hammer, as a force of great energy. When thou didst conquer me by treachery and deceit, the body that was a manifestation of my powers was drained away under thy touch, and my true force was badly diminished as well. It has taken a great deal of time to replenish it, and re-establish my physical form. My restoration was completed a mere month ago, and almost at once, I decided to take back what was mine; to remove thee from the world, so that once again, I might be the only bearer of the power of Thor; its true owner."
"You were the one that knocked me right outta the sky," Anna realized aloud, "and you wrote that message on the wall near mah cell. Were you the one who broke into mah room a while back too?"
"Nay." Thor replied, "My first intrusion into thy quarters was tonight. I think, perhaps, that the fiend who I've recently chased from thy room has been following thee for a long time, though it makes no difference now."
"No." Anna replied, looking at the ground for a moment, "Ah guess not."
Thor could hear a motor vehicle approaching the Institute from a ways away, but aside from that, there was nothing to interfere with his next move, and Anna's glance at the ground had afforded him the ideal opportunity to strike.
Digging one foot into the ground, Thor shot forward, swinging his hammer with a level of speed and power that few other living beings could duplicate. Anna caught Thor's attack square in the chin, and her whole neck was thrown into massive discomfort, as the force of the blow knocked her backwards across the institute grounds. However, in a sense, the pain had done her more good than harm, because it had woken her up to what was really happening to her, and what she was doing wrong.
Before Thor had appeared, Anna had been consumed by guilt and sorrow, and she'd lost most of her willpower while she was surrounded by that grief, but when Thor had begun his attack, her baser instincts had started to kick in; the same instincts on which Thor himself depended. Anna quickly realized the danger that she was in, and straightened up in mid-air, hoping that she could react in time to block Thor's next attack. She may not have been Thor himself, but she'd felt the spirit of a warrior inside of her, ever since she'd absorbed his powers, and no true warrior could just lay down and die when faced with a strong opponent.
Quickly, Thor charged to the attack again, striking Anna in the stomach with his hammer; refusing to let up, but as he did so, Anna had seized a joint in his armor with one hand, and swung the other around into his face. She could feel her fist straining to maintain its force, and to stay in one piece when she made that punch, but it was obvious that Thor had felt her attack. As strong as he was, her strength was precisely the same, and there were, she realized, other advantages that she could count on in a fight against him.
As fast as she could, Anna swung one leg around, in the hopes of knocking Thor back, while he was still disoriented by her punch, but he recovered too quickly for her, blocking her kick, and knocking her further up into the air, with a vicious backhanded assault.
As Thor and Anna fought, each sped up, increasing both the speed and force of their blows, and the height at which they flew. The fight grew more intense with every moment. Each blow was like thunder itself, and the two combatants rose further and further into the air, neither willing to give in to the other. Anna was starting to show a strong resolve at that point, although if Thor saw that resolve in her, he gave no sign of noticing it. Anna had determined not to try to absorb Thor's powers again. Whether she won or lost, she was going to do it through her effort; not by stealing from her enemy, like she had before. She was going to win or lose with the honor of a warrior.
At last, however, Anna started to increase in size and mass, as she called upon the power of Henry Pym. She continued flying through the air with enormous speed, trading earth-shaking blows with Thor, but at a hundred feet tall, she was in a much better position to endure his attacks. In fact, she was starting to feel them more as low-level nudges, than genuine punches and kicks, and although she was still hurting, and still having trouble fighting Thor, she'd definitely gained the upper hand. The entire thing was immensely exciting. Hank's ability to become a giant was one that she'd never needed to use before, and she wasn't used to aiming for very small targets with her fists. That, of course, was how it felt to her at the time. She'd grown a great deal larger than Thor, but that really only made him seem smaller and harder to hit.
After each struggled for a while against the other in that manner, however, Anna swung one fist at Thor, and found, to her surprise, that he seemed to have vanished. In moments, she heard his voice from directly behind her, and he sounded more disappointed than furious.
"Thou hast done me honor in showing me thy full powers, and in abstaining from petty tricks, like the kind that thou didst use to fell me two years ago. I salute thee for doing me that honor."
"Ah didn't want to trick you anymore, Thor." Anna replied sadly, "Ah don't want to hurt anybody anymore, and ah especially don't want to kill anyone. Ah've killed folks before, but ah don't want to live like that anymore."
"After today," Thor replied, "thou shalt never live that way again. Thy honor has been commendable. Continue to display it, and I shall grant thee the great honor of a warrior's death in battle, and the greater honor of seeing the true power of the thunder god."
"True powah?" Anna asked, confused, "Ah've got all your powahs."
"Nay." Thor replied, "Did I not tell thee that a god is more than mere flesh and blood? In turn, the power that thou didst take from my body was great, but only the true Thor of Asgard possesses the soul of a god. Within that soul, other powers are concealed. Now, witness them, and die with honor, and I shall hold a ceremony in thy name. In the eyes of my people, thou shalt have been redeemed by that, and we may meet again in Valhalla."
Anna didn't like the sound of that very much. It was probably still the human desire to live, that remained a part of her, in spite of all she'd done, but still, even if Thor wasn't bluffing, Anna knew that she couldn't cheat, and try to trick Thor again, or remove her gloves, and try to absorb his power a second time. The combined honor of three founding Avengers had become a part of her, and she couldn't ignore it anymore. She had to hold herself up to a code of conduct; of principle. Anna couldn't attempt to atone for her sins, unless she was willing to honor the memories of those she'd killed. All that was left of Janet, Hank, and Anna's father was a part of her, and she needed to do what they would have done in her situation; she needed to defend herself fairly.
However, the power that Thor was using was pretty terrifying. Although Anna couldn't see Thor at that point, she had the distinct feeling that there was something very large nearby, even by her standards; something much bigger than her, in fact. After only a moment had passed, Anna saw the storm clouds gathering in the air, and realized with dread that her own dominion over the weather was slipping. Thor was regaining control over his domain, and in another second, she heard a voice so loud, that it seemed to shake the sky. She recognized it quickly as the voice of Thor, but it was so much louder and more commanding, that she was shaken to her very bones by it.
"Stop what thou art doing and look up. Face the god of thunder and be judged."
In spite of herself, Anna found that she was indeed looking upward, into the rapidly-gathering clouds. The rain poured down onto her face, and then, as lightning flashed across the sky, Anna caught the glimpse of a monstrous figure; at least ten times her own size. It rose up into the clouds, and it was definitely Thor.
Thor had said that his true powers were a manifestation of his immortal soul. If that were true, then it seemed unlikely that the vision Anna had just seen was accurate. If Thor could have transformed into a giant, he would probably have kept pace with her own increase in size. Undoubtedly, what he'd just shown her was an illusion; a trick to attempt to convince her that he was much larger and more threatening than he actually was. The problem was that as much as she tried to tell herself that it was just an illusion, Anna still felt her body shaking with every new sign of Thor that emerged; every word spoken with such volume and conviction; every image of a monstrously-powerful being that was placed before her. She was in helpless awe of Thor, and would have been, even if he'd had no other powers at all. Whether he was a genuine god of thunder or not, his soul was proving to be stronger than hers, and it was shaking her resolve.
"Think not" the image said, "that thy size is truly an advantage."
When she heard those words, Anna felt an extremely hard blow come down on the small of her back. She wasn't sure how Thor had managed such a powerful attack. Maybe he'd used his hammer to turn the electrical energy of the storm into kinetic force, but however he'd done it, Thor's attack had hurt her physically, just as his loud announcements were hurting her spiritually and emotionally. In moments, her size was decreasing again. She just couldn't keep it up. She'd been struggling with her guilt before, and with Thor striking right at the heart of her self-esteem, she couldn't keep up the fight. He'd been right. She couldn't have won against him. It was over for her.
As Anna's will abandoned her once again, she found herself plummeting to the ground. She needed concentration to remain airborne. Whatever Thor was doing, it was robbing her of all her feelings of hope; feelings that had become much too rare already, thanks to her recent revelation about her past crimes. Without hope, she couldn't concentrate, and without concentration, she was headed for the ground, picking up speed fast.
Anna knew that the impact with the ground wouldn't hurt her much. The only thing nearby that could do real damage to her was Thor himself, and since she'd lost the will to fight back, she was helpless against him. Anna closed both eyes in resignation. A moment later, a sharp, powerful impact hit her right in the stomach, and she blacked out.
A strange mixture of feelings passed through Thor as he stood on the grounds of the Xavier Institute, having driven his hammer into Anna's stomach from underneath. Because she'd possessed all of his strength, she'd been a very powerful opponent. He truly had needed to use his full abilities to defeat her. At the same time, her existence was an obscenity, not only to Thor himself, but to the Wasp, to Giant Man, and to anyone else that Anna had killed. She made a mockery out of life and death, and Thor knew that he had to put an end to that mockery.
The problem was that although Thor knew what he had to do, he wasn't feeling quite as furious with Anna any longer. He reminded himself of the underhanded trick that she'd used to ambush him, to murder two members of his team, and to nearly do the same to him. He reminded himself of the great wickedness that she'd used his powers for, and yet, the thirst for her blood was fading from his feelings. When he looked at her, lying on the ground at his feet, he was starting to see something more than a perversion of everything he was, and everything he believed in. He was looking at the warrior that she'd become; the fighter who attacked her enemies with her full power, but refused to resort to treachery. Thor knew that he had to finish her, for the sake of those she'd killed, but having seen the kind of person she'd become, his own rage towards her had diminished.
"Thou hast grown to become an honorable warrior." Thor muttered, as he stood over Anna's unconscious body, though he knew she couldn't hear him, "Perhaps thou shalt be forgiven for thy treachery in the halls of my father."
With that, Thor raised his hammer into the air, feeling it crackle with electricity. No foe, he realized, had ever brought him so close to true death, but to honor the memory of his comrades, he needed to finish her.
However, just as Thor was about to bring his hammer down on Anna's head, he heard another voice from behind him; a voice he recognized.
"I won't try to stop you, Thor, but do you really think that's what Jan and Hank would want?"
Thor had sensed that someone was approaching him, but he was still surprised by the number of people who'd gathered so nearby. He was just as surprised that he had, for the most part, failed to notice them, however. He could see that Doctor Strange was there, and Iron Man, in a type of armor that Thor had never seen before. There was also a short, shaggy-looking man, who seemed to have approached the group from the mansion. A bald man in a wheelchair was also gradually getting closer from the mansion's front door. However, none of them had asked Thor the question he'd just heard.
The one who'd spoken to Thor was a figure who'd stepped forth from amidst the others. He was dressed in red, white, and blue, and he had a disc-shaped shield slung over one arm.
"Captain." Thor said, looking stunned for a moment, "Is it not what thou wouldst want, in their place?"
"I may not believe in everything America's done over the last sixty years, but I still believe in the American dream." Captain America said only a few seconds later, "Maybe that doesn't mean as much if you've been around longer than America has, but it's a big thing to me. One of the things we always believed in was that people deserve the right to a fair trial. It's one of our most basic laws. I know Jan and Hank respected the law in that regard. They wouldn't have wanted you to become an executioner in their names, just like I wouldn't want you to be one for me."
"This girl killed our comrades!" Thor exclaimed, looking lost and abandoned, but Captain America just sighed.
"Yes, she did," he said, "and she's going to stand trial for that, but there are more important things than how a person dies. I have to admit; for a while, I was driven by the memory of how our friends died, and that was a mistake. I should have paid less attention to how they died, and more to how they lived. Janet Van Dyne was a social being, who found joy in works of art, and creative thinking. Hank Pym was a scientist who preferred to spend his time doing research, rather than fighting. Even so, they both recognized the need for good people to take direct action whenever something threatened the innocent; not for revenge, but for protection. If I honor the way that they lived, I have to follow their example, but killing Anna won't bring them back."
"There are things which thou hast not considered." Thor replied, lowing his hammer for a moment, "No matter what sentence this girl receives, she will survive it. From me, she gained an agelessness, which shall last for millennia; perhaps even until the universe itself ends. Further imprisonment may feel like punishment to her at first, but years are something that she can now afford to lose. How can she be made to suffer as I have suffered; as thou hast suffered? How can she be made to feel the pain of loss?"
"She doesn't need your help to feel pain."
Those words had come from the bald man in the wheelchair, who'd finally reached the scene. He didn't look afraid, in spite of how many powerful people surrounded him, however. In fact, he seemed mainly sad, as if sharing in Anna's misfortune at that very moment.
"Just recently," the bald man said, "Anna Marie came to grips with her guilt over the murders that she committed. Since then, her mind has been full of disturbing thoughts. She remembers all the pain and misery that her victims experienced in the moments before they died, and I can't think of anything that could more efficiently remind someone of their guilt in a murder. In fact, I'm sure that there are only a few worse punishments for a crime. If you're afraid that Anna might not be suffering sufficiently for what she did, I think that I can lay those fears to rest."
Thor looked frustrated and annoyed, but he looped the strap of his hammer around his wrist again, clearly intending not to strike out with it anytime soon.
"I feel badly cheated." Thor muttered, "By right, her deeds against me entitle me to her life. Thy ways may have been well-respected by the Wasp, by Giant Man, and by thyself, Captain America, but to me, they make little sense. Out of honor to my fallen comrades, I shall respect their wishes, but I do not believe I shall ever agree with them."
"I'm glad that's settled." Doctor Strange remarked, finally taking a deep breath in relief, "We need to get back to New York. We can't afford to stay here long."
"Why?" Logan asked, not having heard anything about what had happened to make the Avengers so busy.
"From the looks of things," Strange replied, "the world might be coming to an end. Some kind of being surfaced in New York recently, who has some unbelievable powers. I've never seen anything like them. He says he's made the Earth's most pivotal judgment, and he may already have summoned some destructive cosmic being, even more powerful than himself. He's already done a great deal of damage, and we haven't been able to stop him."
"Then my assistance is needed." Thor said, straightening up, with the look of a veteran soldier who'd just been called to battle.
Captain America nodded, saying "It's good to have you back, old friend."
However, as Strange was starting to make the gestures needed to establish a portal back into New York, there was the sound of dirt being scraped aside, and an exhausted, shaky female voice said "wait."
Strange stopped what he was doing in that moment, and all eyes turned to gaze in the direction of the voice. Somehow, Anna had already recovered somewhat from the pounding she'd taken just moments earlier, and was scrambling to get back upright, though it was obvious that she was still very woozy and disoriented. Even so, the time she'd spent drugged, sorrowful, and learning to cope with a warrior's spirit dwelling inside of her had given her the strength that she needed to face her exhaustion and misery. Some might have said that she was growing up for the first time in her life; learning to face reality like an adult, but Thor could see what was really happening. Anna was becoming more than just an adult; she was becoming a warrior.
"Sounds like... Sounds like..." Anna gasped as loud as she could, while scrambling to her feet, "Sounds like y'all need mah help."
No one there was certain that they liked the idea, but they didn't snap at her either, giving her a moment to explain herself.
"Look, you said there's a guy in New York who might be able to end the world somehow..." Anna tried to explain, "Suppose you're right, and he pulls it off, because ah didn't help out. Nobody's gonna be helped by that, and if things don't work out, it might be mah last chance to do the right thing for once. You gotta let me in on this. Ah know it's what Jan and Hank would want. They'd want their powahs used to help folks."
"If you try to betray us," Doctor Strange said, after considering the matter for only a few moments, "it won't help you at all. As long as you remember that, I don't see any reason why you can't help us out in this one mission. Is that a problem for anyone else?"
Most of the people gathered remained silent when that question was asked. It was only Iron Man who spoke up.
"We need all the help we can get right now." Iron Man said a little nervously, "It doesn't make me happy, but it's better than dying."
"Aye," Thor concurred, looking at Anna warily, "but if this crisis can be averted, we promise thee no reward in exchange."
"Ah don't want one." Anna said, and indeed, she didn't seem to have any obvious ulterior motive, to judge by her facial expression, which was very despondent.
Nodding once, Strange spread his hands out again, in another sequence of mystical gestures, and in moments, most of the people in that yard had vanished, leaving only Logan and the professor behind.
"So what now, Chuck?" Logan asked, looking more curious than scared.
"Now, we need to follow them." Xavier replied, "Things may be working out well for Anna and Thor, but this is still bad news for the rest of us, and the Avengers clearly need our assistance, whether they want to ask for it or not. We have to mobilize as quickly as possible, and head for New York. If the Avengers need our help, we can't just sit here and hope it all works out. We may be mutants, but we're still as human as anyone, and we live in the same world as everyone else. We all need to share the responsibility of making sure that things work out, and saving as many lives as possible."
Much of the time, Logan and Xavier disagreed on what course of action would do the most good, but in that instance, it certainly seemed that their path was clear. Quickly, Logan dashed for the hangar, as Xavier began to contact the X-men telepathically, all of whom had been woken by the sounds of battle, or the voice of Thor. They all had a very dangerous kind of mission on their hands again, and it was time to get to work.
End.