Chapter 1: Continuation of the End
Angelica Jones had wanted nothing to do with either side of the Registration Act, supportive or opposing. She had gone as far as to retire, abandoning the identity of the mutant Firestar, to avoid the carnage the Civil War wrought upon New York, and thus evaded all contact with either side.
That period of isolation ended today.
A man appeared at the front door of her apartment. His arms were covered in tattoos and he had a long black Mohawk running down his head. He looked rather confident as Angelica opened the door.
"Hello?" she asked.
"You're Angelica Jones, right?" said the man.
"Y-yes," Angelica replied.
"Name's Daken," said the man. "I'm from the Avengers."
"The…Avengers?" Angelica asked, having seen the news broadcast revealing Osborn's team of Dark Avengers to the world.
"Right," Daken said. "There's a new team of X-Men that's going to be starting up."
"You…want me to be part of it?" Angelica stammered. Something about this man intimidated her like nothing other…as if his very smell was the smell or horror.
"Smart girl," Daken smirked. "Want to get going?"
"I…I can't," Angelica said. "I gave up being Firestar when the Registration Act came around."
"Don't worry about it," Daken said. "You join up, you're home free, no persecution at all. If you don't…"
Two curving claws burst from between Daken's knuckles, a third emerging from below his fist.
"Then we might have a problem," Daken said.
"Threatening a lady?" a Cajun-accented voice said. "Now that's just rude, mon frer."
"What?" Daken spun around, and found another man, this one with crimson eyes and messy brown hair.
"Looks like ol' Remy needs to teach you some manners!" said Remy LeBeau, an on-and-off member of the X-Men who went by the codename of Gambit.
"Just try it!" Daken snarled, preparing both sets of claws as Gambit pulled a cylinder out of his coat.
Daken lunged just as Remy's cylinder extended into a long staff. The Cajun quickly side-stepped the son of Wolverine and let him crash into the wall. Daken pulled his claws out in time to be struck with Remy's staff, and with the Cajun mutant's kinetic energy power charging it, Daken went flying down the hall.
"That won't keep him busy for long," Remy pointed out, grabbing Angelica's wrist. "Let's go, chere."
"But—" Angelica tried to interject, but Remy cut her off.
"You'd rather take your chances with your charming visitor?" Remy asked, using his staff to gesture at the charging Daken.
"Point taken!" Angelica cried, Remy pulling her along as he ran towards a window. With a pole-vault out, Remy and a screaming Angelica were flung onto a rooftop, with Daken still in pursuit.
"Gonna have to fly us out, chere!" Remy cried as they ran across the roof.
"But I haven't flown in months!" Angelica replied.
"Then we'd better hope you're not rusty, eh, chere?" Remy smirked. At the edge of the rooftop, the two suddenly stopped, as did Daken.
"Nowhere left to run," Daken smirked.
"Maybe so," Remy replied, also smirking. "But, if you're anything like your old man—"
"I AM NOT!" Daken roared, charging towards Remy and Angelica. Unfortunately, Remy simply side-stepped again, this time sticking out his staff and tripping Daken off of the roof.
"As Remy was saying," said the Cajun, "if you're anything like your old man, you'd know that if you do something stupid you'd fall off the roof."
He turned to Angelica.
"Mind flying us out, chere?" Remy asked. "If you don't mind, how about doing it before our friend Daken gets bored with his nap?"
"Well…okay," Angelica said, taking hold of Remy and levitating off the ground. "Where do we go?"
"Remy know a place," smiled the Cajun. "Just let Remy give you directions."
Later, the two had arrived at their destination.
"The Baxter Building?" Angelica said. "You could've just said that was where you wanted to go!"
"And ruin the surprise?" Remy smirked. "Remy think not."
The Cajun mutant led Angelica inside, and the latter immediately gasped. Parts of the wall appeared to have been torn off, and there were claw-like slashes in the wall.
"This place looks like a war happened here!" Angelica gasped.
"Osborn's Avengers did come here some time ago, after the abduction of Mr. Fantastic," a new voice said. "Obviously, a war would be the result, even if they were only searching for items Richards could have used against Osborn."
A man in a white hooded cloak entered the foyer, guns strapped to his belt.
"I trust Daken did not follow?" asked the white-cloaked man.
"He's just having his sleepy time," Remy replied. "By the time Wolvie Junior wakes up, he'll figure out that he's heading back to Osborn empty-handed."
"And you are unharmed?" the man in the white-cloak asked Angelica.
"I-I'm fine," she said. "Who are you?"
"I am called Moon Knight," said the cloaked man. "Gambit and I are part of a small resistance movement, dedicated to stopping Osborn from committing any more acts of terror."
"And other stuff!" a fourth voice cried as a orange-and-blue creature with a vague resemblance to Spider-Man swung in on a chain-like strand of webbing.
Angelica let out a scream the moment she saw this latest newcomer.
"Toxin, you were supposed to stay in the computer room until Angelica was more familiar with her surroundings," Moon Knight said sternly.
"Aw, but it's so boring in there!" Toxin whined.
"You'll have to forgive Toxin," Moon Knight said to Angelica. "His symbiote is still rather…child-like."
"Symbiote?" Angelica gasped.
Toxin's face split, revealing that of a normal man underneath.
"Spawned from Carnage," said the man. "I'm Pat Mulligan, by the way. Sorry if Toxin scared you. We try not to do that too much."
"Mr. Mulligan is much more reasonable than his Symbiote," Moon Knight said.
"Well, this discussion about Venom's lovely grandchild is very fascinating," said Remy, "but I think it's time we brought our friend here to who we wanted her to see."
"Me? See who?" Angelica asked.
"The one who founded this resistance movement," Moon Knight answered.
"Your…leader?" Angelica asked.
"That's about right," Pat nodded. "We'll show you."
After a somewhat long elevator ride (made longer by Toxin's childish behavior), the four arrived at the computer room of the Baxter Building. Remy was first out of the elevator, grandly gesturing for Angelica to leave as well.
The former Firestar stepped out of the elevator, and saw the back of a chair mounted in front of many computer panels. The chair swiveled, and Angelica saw the founder of the resistance.
Borderline.
"Hi," said the nineteen-year-old with a casual wave of the hand.