Rachel had never actually been to the Avengers' Mansion, that hallowed base of so many of New York's most powerful heroes. And this was only the East Coast base. The Avengers in Los Angeles had a mansion of their own as well.

Unfortunately for her, though, she and Rory were asked to wait in the foyer of the mansion until Shannon got back. Apparently the lower levels weren't places for pedestrians to be traipsing in and out, Shannon had said.

Rachel had resigned herself to her seat on an antique wingback, her arms folded and her legs crossed. As much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, there were several emotions running through her at this very moment. One of them was extreme concern for Frankie. She told herself that it wasn't because he was her first love: she would be concerned for anyone who was caught in the position. But she knew that was a lie.

The other issue was that she did feel a rush of exhilaration: like this was a life that she could have been living had she decided to follow in her parents' footsteps. She'd rarely ever regretted choosing not to pursue the family business. Especially after she'd lost her mother to superheroics. Jean Grey-Summers had died on a space station while saving the lives of her friends and a civilian on a mission. That had left her husband, Scott, and her two children, Nathan and Rachel, with a significant void in their lives.

Some years later her father would find love with a former villainess, Emma Frost. And they had a child, Rachel's younger sister, Katie.

Rachel looked over at her best friend, who was levitating across from her, her legs folded beneath her as she gathered energy.

"What are you doing?" asked Rachel.

"Preparing," she said. "I'd teleport us to the Amazon but I get the feeling that I'm going to need as much of my magic as possible."

"Or I could be of some assistance."

It was William 'Billy' Maximoff, draped in a silky, blue shawl, running his fingers through his dark hair. He was regally traipsing down the staircase. He gave Rachel a cursory glance as he approached them but really fixated his gaze on Rory.

"Well, well," he said, with a mischievous smile. "Look at you. Can't conjure up a teleportation spell, princess? Tragic. But that's okay. I'll always be able to do what you can't."

Rory, who was still meditating, only scowled in response.

"Billy, stop taunting her," said Shannon, making her way towards them.

She was now dressed as American Dream: basically a version of her father's old uniform, shield and all. The uniform clung to her beautiful body and Rachel wanted to find something cruel to telepathically tell Rory about her but she couldn't say a word about the beautiful girl.

"I have a Quinjet," said American Dream.

"Don't be silly. I can get you there in two seconds," said Billy. "But how would you get back?" He gave Rory a withering look.

"I'm sure if Rory can't get us back, Shannon can call you," said Rachel, defending her friend.

"And who might you be?" asked Billy, cupping his chin and tilting his head.

"Rachel. Rachel Summers."

"Summers? Oh, I see. Well look at you, making yourself useful and what not," said Billy, nodding his head. "Good luck. Where are you heading exactly?"

"The Amazon," said Rory, standing up. "Rachel and I both know where it is so we'll help."

Rory stood behind him and put one hand on his shoulder and Rory instructed Rachel to put her hand on the other shoulder.

He then extended his hands towards the door of the Avengers Mansion and closed his eyes before he started mumbling incoherent words to himself. A beam of energy left his fingers which collided with the door, which began to glow. It sprang open and all Rachel could see was a dark forest on the other side.

"Your welcome," said Billy, shrugging Rory and Rachel off.

"Thanks for your help, Billy," said American Dream, as she walked passed them towards the Amazon.

"It's no problem," he said. "Anything for Franklin."

He turned on his heel, back into the cavernous mansion.

Rory and Rachel followed American Dream through the door, which immediately slammed behind them and then disappeared. They were now trapped in the Amazon.

Rachel used her telepathy to scan for Franklin. "I got him. Follow me."

Without thinking about it, Rachel used her telekinesis to lift herself up and begin flying through the thickness of the Amazon, also creating a path for herself. Rory had also started flying behind her. To Rachel's surprise, American Dream was keeping up. She couldn't fly but in what looked like an advanced form of parkour, American Dream wasn't far behind them.

Rachel suddenly stopped and floated back down to the ground. She could sense Franklin but all she could see was forest.

"There's a powerful spell at play here," said Rory, landing next to Rachel.

"Can you break it?" asked American Dream, her hand on her hips. She wasn't even looking like she was remotely out of breath.

Rory rubbed her palms together, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. With her exhale, she waved her hand and all of a sudden a tall, stone wall appeared in front of them.

"What a mighty tall wall. One of you wouldn't mind giving a girl a boost, would you?" asked American Dream, looking up at the wall.

Rachel used her telekinesis to lift herself and American Dream over the wall while Rory followed and they landed on the other side with a soft thud. Rachel hadn't expected to see a medieval castle on the other side, though. It looked totally out of place in the Amazon.

"What the hell is this?" asked American Dream, perplexed. "This is where my Frankie is?"

"Come on," said Rachel, ignoring the 'my Frankie'. "I sense him up in the tower. He's weak. But he's okay."

They floated up to a large, oval window. When they looked in, they could see Franklin fast asleep on a large canopy bed. Rachel propelled American Dream into the room first. She supposed that she would want to see her fiancé before they both did: she had a right. Then she and Rory passed the threshold together and both young women grabbed their heads and began screaming, both in agonizing pain.

Rachel could feel the presence of Franklin's kidnapper as if a ton of bricks had been thrown against her brain. And she supposed that Rory was feeling the same way too.

"What are you doing?" yelled American Dream, who now had Franklin in her arms. "This is a rescue mission! Did you want to alert the kidnapper that we're here?"

"They didn't have much of a choice, I'm afraid."

Standing in the doorway on the other side of the room was a tall, slim woman wearing a long, black dress that had the same medieval style of the castle. Her raven hair was in a thick braid behind her head. She had high, sharp cheekbones and beautiful, almond-shaped brown eyes. She looked only a few years older than any of them.

American Dream let go of Franklin and charged towards the woman at full force. But she caught American Dream's fist and then flung her across the room, into a stone wall.

"Dumb insolence," murmured the woman, in her vague accent. "To think that you could come into my house undetected. I've grown accustomed to the occasional hiker passing by. But you, little girl with the white hair. You broke my spell. Not an easy feat."

Rory was still writhing on the ground next to Rachel. But she managed to say, "Maybe you're not as superior a witch as you think."

The woman laughed. "I doubt that. But I like you. And I think I'll let you live. Your friends, on the other hand..."

She waved one of her hands in Rory's direction and Rachel noticed Rory's face relax: she was no longer in pain, though she couldn't move.

Rachel closed her eyes. This was some kind of telepathic attack and under the tutelage of her stepmother, Rachel had learned how to get out of this situation. All it took was a little focus...

Almost immediately she felt her mind reclaimed.

"Well, that was unexpected," said the woman.

"I'm sure this is too," said Rachel, lifting herself off of the ground. She focused her psionic energy in the direction of the woman and launched a psychic attack.

Her name was Selene and she was a powerful and extremely long-lived telepath. And over the years she'd gathered information on practicing magic so she was a formidable witch as well. No wonder it took Rachel and Rory's combined abilities to track her down. She had been tracking Franklin for some time because he was an especially powerful mutant with so much energy that she could siphon just a little from him and live for a hundred years.

So she had put him in a psychic coma and intended to keep him as her prisoner.

Suddenly Rachel felt herself pushed out of Selene's mind and immobilized next to Rory.

"Very unexpected," said Selene, drifting just a little at the psychic assault. "I haven't had my mind scanned like that in maybe five hundred years. Nobody has been that brave. Or is that just stupid."

She looked over at American Dream who was up and charging towards her again. And with a flick of the wrist, she used her powers to trap the young heroine, as if in a vice grip, before she flung her straight out the window, past Rachel and Rory.

But Selene had used her magic on them both so they couldn't move to save her.

"You," said Selene. She extended a hand and used her own telekinesis to pull a fighting Rachel closer to her. Rachel ended up with Selene's fingers wrapped around her throat, her long nails digging into her skin. Selene's brown eyes began to turn red as she locked eyes with Rachel. "Don't fight me, child."

It took all of Rachel's willpower not to succumb to Selene's mind control.

Selene extended her free hand in Rory's direction, pulling her in as well. "I don't really want to hurt either of you, you know. In all my years I've been so alone, girls. So, so alone. I've always wanted children. And then you two come along. A powerful witch and a powerful telepath. Do you know what we can achieve together?"

"Actually..." Rachel mustered up as much will power as she could. "Actually, I do."

She grabbed Rory's hand and combined their energies. She hoped that the overload would be too much for Selene. And it was. She felt an explosion of psionic energy in the room that throw her to the other side and then all she saw was black.

"Ray?"

When Rachel came to, she was in Franklin's arms. Her head was on his lap and he was looking down at her, a concerned expression on his face. He was running his fingers against her cheek in that familiar way that he used to when they had been together what seemed like a lifetime ago.

He still looked so handsome, even with this stupid, long hair. And she felt that he was so happy to see that she had come to save him. Like part of him hoped that things would go back to the way they had been. As if he'd forgotten that he was, in fact, engaged to someone as beautiful and strong as American Dream.

"Oh my God!" she yelped. "Shannon!"

She sprang to her feet and ran to the window, looking down to the ground almost twelve stories down. And there Shannon was, sprawled out. Rachel flew down to check on the superheroine.

Shannon looked like there were multiple broken bones. She was alive but just barely and she had all the signs of being in a coma.

"Shannon!" yelled Franklin, floating down. Rachel got up and made way for him.

"We need to get her to a hospital. Fast. Let me go look for Rory," she said, lifting herself up.

As she floated up, she could hear her ex-boyfriend crying but she composed herself as she entered the bedroom again, searching for Rory, who was still passed out in a corner of the room. Instinctively she scanned for Selene too. But the witch was gone.

She went to Rory's side and shook her awake. "Rory? We need to get to the nearest hospital."

"I'm...I'm too weak," said Rory, slowly coming to. "I..."

"You need to rest," said Rachel. "I'll figure this out."

Rachel used her telepathy and found a hospital not too far away from their location. She slung Rory's arm over her shoulder and flew them both down to Franklin and Shannon.

"Follow me," she said. "I know where we need to go."