We keep getting closer and closer to the present, but there are still a few years to go yet. Still, some pieces are coming into play, and you'll begin to get a better idea of what's coming.
Again, a few cameos from the DC universe in this one. Though, again, Smallville will be more directly addressed in BOR... and on that. NEXT WEEK we go back to BOUQUET OF ROSES. We'll be there between four and six weeks (cannot remember the exact numbers of chapters, before coming back here for a last arc before the part I'm sure a lot of you are waiting for (and if you don't know what I'm talking about that means you haven't yet guessed what's coming... I'm sure you'll deduce it soon).
The song in this chapter is "The Call" as sung by Regina Spektor, it's part of the "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" OST.
So, hope you'll enjoy this chapter. You'll be getting a new POV here, Hakon's! And a little surprise I've been cooking up for you... hope you'll enjoy it!
The Call
It wasn't the end... barely a new beginning for us all.
Daisy Johnson was born on July 2nd, 1992. Jiaying had a long labor, but aside from being quite exhausted, she was completely healthy. Truth was I hadn't been sure how good an idea it might be for her to give birth at home, instead of a hospital, but in the end Calvin and I'd managed just fine. The baby was born, her parents were healthy, and very happy. We left China the next day.
Even then, Calvin managed to convince us to become Daisy's godparents.
"This is a bad idea." I tried to argue. "We're leaving tomorrow! What kind of godparents would leave their godchild... and you know we cannot stay."
"I still don't understand what makes you think you cannot stay." Calvin argued in return. "I mean. I know you and Serrure aren't exactly... normal, but so what? I'm not judging." He shrugged. "In any case, Jiaying and her people don't exactly follow the tradition of godparents... I do, and you're my friends, so of course I want it to be you." He made another pause before adding. "Even if you leave now. I know that if one day Daisy really needs you, you'll be there for her."
"Always." I assured him without hesitation.
"See?" He smiled widely at me (he'd been smiling so much in recent months). "That makes you the perfect candidate for godmother."
In the end I stopped fighting him. We had a small naming ceremony for Daisy, were named as godparents, and then we placed a necklace around her neck. It was quite different from anything we might have done before. First, because we didn't have access to asgardian metals (Rose's and Willow's bracelets had used up Loki's last reserves), but still we used the best metals we could. The chain was long, and twisted to make a double necklace, one longer than the other (and Daisy would be able to pull on one or the other to decide which one she wanted higher and which one lower); one had two small plaques with engravings connected to Jiaying and Calvin, symbols that identified them; the other had a smaller, round mantra pendant.
"It's beautiful..." Jiaying murmured quietly.
We just smiled at her. What we never told her was that the necklace was spelled, meant to protect Daisy when possible, and also so no one except her would be able to take it off. The spells were not as numerous or as strong as the ones in my nightingale pendant or in our daughter's bracelets, but that was because, without a true connection, there was little we could anchor those spells on (it wasn't a matter of blood, Willow's hadn't been ours by blood after all, it was a matter of being ours, and while Daisy might be dear, she wasn't our daughter, she already had wonderful parents, she didn't need us).
Calvin drove us to the airport (we needed to keep appearances after all), but the moment he was out of sight we dropped into a shadow and traveled back to America (no way were we sitting for eighteen hours on a plane). We dropped by for a brief visit with Hakon (he was busy, working some black-ops for Shannon -seeing how she actually knew who he was, and knew better than to reveal his identity to anyone-); and we phoned Howard, Marge and Shannon to say our goodbyes (for obvious reasons we couldn't do those in person). Then, we finally traveled to Westchester for our last goodbyes.
We spent the rest of our day there, enjoying the time, playing with our grandkids, and the rest of the mutant children staying the summer at the Institute. We, of course, also spent time with our daughter, making sure she'd be alright, that she'd know how to get in touch with us if it ever became necessary (though both Loki and I knew she was quite capable of looking after herself), and simply just having a good time.
At the end of the time the kids practically begged me to sing to them one last time; they knew we were leaving on a trip, and wouldn't be back for a while, even if they didn't know why we were leaving or exactly where we were going (then again, no one but Rose and Hakon knew that). I mock-pouted for a while, but eventually gave in (which brought some cheering). And so, soon enough we were all sitting in the children's favored sitting room, all of them around me as I thought of the best song to sing; eventually I ended doing what I usually did... making one up:
"It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye"
"Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye"
"Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye"
As the song came to an end I held Nina tightly against my chest, kissing her hair and breathing in her scent. My match had an arm around Django, while our daughter was curled up in between us, like she used to when she was a little girl... I was going to miss them, both Loki and I would, dearly... but we just couldn't stay.
We'd already stayed longer than we should have. I could still remember the odd sensation I'd gotten on the 2nd of February, when Silbhé Salani was born... my love had called it an awareness, I could sense my younger self, because inside we were practically the same person (not exactly, because a person is made not only of DNA, but also of memories, and experiences, and many other things... but still). In any case, it was risky for us to stay, but once Jiaying had expressed her decision not to go to a hospital I knew we couldn't leave Calvin to handle the birth on his own. Even if we'd never told them the truth about us... I knew that if something had gone wrong I'd have rather revealed our secrets and used my power to heal either Jiaying, Daisy or both, than letting something happen to them. Still, she'd been born, the Johnsons were all safe, they'd be alright, and it was time for my love and I to leave...
Nina, Django, Rose, Charles and Max followed us all the way to the gates of the estate. There we didn't say a word, goodbyes simply weren't our style (at least those that weren't songs), so instead we just shared kisses and hugs, and then my love and I walked away. We walked down the street, until we were sure no one would be able to see us anymore, then we clasped hands, dropped into the shadows; and just like that, we left Earth behind.
We wouldn't be back for almost twenty years...
xXx Hakon's POV xXx
One might wonder if the Norns, the Fates, or whatever other Higher Power might be out there, were the kind to laugh at us. It seemed like too much of a coincidence when so much began happening exactly after my parents left Earth... too much to really be one. But what do I know? Gifted I might be, but I cannot presume to be the kind to grasp the 'big picture', no, I'm more the kind to fight with all I am, to protect all I can, and hope for the best.
Hakon Stark-Serrure was my name (or, I suppose Salani-Hvedrungr... it depended on where, and when, I was exactly); I'd also been given the nickname/codename of Frostbite by some friends due to my power over ice (and the fact that, before I could control it, I'd give frostbite to all who touched me... except my parents, they'd always been immune to that). Former military man, I served my country for twenty years, reaching the rank of Colonel before retiring at forty, not because I wanted to, or because I couldn't continue... but because, being Jotun by birth, I simply wasn't aging anymore. It would have been too risky to stay, even with the alliances several governments had with the X-Men and other, smaller, groups of gifted, there was no way of knowing how my superiors would have reacted, had they found out. So when they gave me an out, an opportunity to retire honorably, I took it. Of course, my idea of retirement wasn't the same most veterans would choose. I didn't go back to civilian life, not by a long shot, instead I did my best to help people, gifted and human alike, with whatever skills were needed (whether they were my elemental powers, military training, or some of the other tricks under my sleeves).
Through the years I got the chance to help the X-Men a number of times, assist in CIA missions, other gifted who weren't fortunate enough to have someone near to help them. I even got to help a young mutant-girl train her powers, when no one else knew how to deal with the fact that her powers just seemed to be too great for her body. That was a nice experience, to know I wasn't just good at fighting, I could also teach...
In 1992 I was 'working in the shadows' doing secret missions for Shannon Carter (who was in truth the real Peggy Carter, having been affected by her bond to Steve Rogers... making it so she hadn't really aged since the 1940s, she had enhanced senses, strength, speed and endurance... and she was liable to fall asleep at any given time and not wake up for months, or even years), and, indirectly, for SHIELD.
A copy of a report reached me almost a month after my parents departed. An operation in South America had gone very well, and very wrong, at the same time. On the one hand, fifteen young mutants (from young children to a teen-aged girl) who had been kidnapped and sold into literal slavery had been rescued from a secret base in the Andes... on the other hand, their rescuers had died keeping the mercenaries holding them captive back, while the children escaped, and they'd been none other than Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Peter and Wendy Maximoff were dead...
By the time I managed to get in touch with the people in the Xavier Institute there was nothing I could do. Rose was gone, had gone to ground so thoroughly no one had the slightest idea where my sister was (or so they said). I knew better than to think I could find her; tracking had never been my thing, and I wasn't a sorcerer, so that was out too. All I could do (however much I might hate it) was sit and wait, wait for my sister to either ask for help, or recover herself from whatever she was going through exactly.
Less than three months later, another report came. That one about something that had happened in Three Mile Island... a former military facility that was supposed to have been abandoned for more than a decade... I really didn't like the smell of that. It was only made worse as I looked through the report. The Elite SHIELD team (meaning Shannon Carter, Nicholas Fury and Kathryn Adler) had flown to the island after a report of 'something' happening there. Only to find the remains of a fight, including the bodies of several people, most of them military, including a General who had suspicious connections to William Stryker, as well as a civilian woman called Kayla Silverfox, a Canadian school teacher (and what the hell was a school-teacher doing in a secret military facility of all places!); though the worst of all was the man, who showed evident signs of both having been gifted, and having been experimented on. The pictures were almost enough to make me sick (worse than even some of the things Bolivar Trask had done to his own 'subjects' in the early seventies... and I'd always thought that to be bad enough).
As if that weren't enough, some of the other bodies in the island had also quite obviously been experimented on, and some had clearly been mutants. I wasn't sure what emotion ought to be stronger in me in that moment: the horror and the fury at what those poor people had gone through, or the relief that they were dead, that they were at peace... Also, there were twenty cages in that place, most of which had been obviously filled recently, and not nearly enough bodies. I had no idea if that was supposed to be a good or a bad thing and judging by the notes Shannon had made on the margins, she agreed with me).
SHIELD had no idea what had happened in that facility. There were those who suspected that the X-Men had been at the location before SHIELD (there were apparently signs of an aircraft, quite different from those military used), but the mutant leaders were being especially tight-lipped about it all. Even Moira MacTaggert, married to a former X-Man herself and in good relations with all of them had gotten nothing (or perhaps she did know and wasn't sharing the information, for whatever the reason...).
Bottom line, we had no idea what had happened in that place, or what was causing the sudden tensions between SHIELD and the X-Men; though I suspected they couldn't be good, not at all (it would be a while before I realized how right I was).
Then, as if those two messes weren't enough, there was yet another on March of the following year. Two full tactical teams disappeared, last known locations: China, more specifically: the Hunan Province... I went covertly and what I found... it was like a scene taken out of a nightmare (or out of the past... of the war), a small town in the middle of nowhere, while the place as a whole seemed to be mostly fine, everyone was dead, their bodies left abandoned in their homes, the streets, like so much trash. Some looked like they'd tried to fight, showed signs of struggle, even wounds, but more than half had no signs of anything at all, as if they'd just dropped dead for no reason at all. It was a chilling prospect.
I tried to find my parents' friends. I had never known their names, but from their few stories, there had been a single doctor in all the place... the clinic was a mess, the greatest struggle appeared to have taken place there. Yet there were no bodies inside. I had no idea what to believe. None of the bodies looked like they might belong to a doctor (or an American, for that matter)... too many questions, and no answers at all.
The worst part perhaps was when I turned in my report and Shannon informed that, officially, SHIELD wouldn't be pursuing the matter. Two full tactical teams missing, a small town pretty much massacred, and SHIELD wasn't investigating?! What the hell was going on?! Of course, 'official' meant very little when it came to a woman like Agent 13... she informed me she'd keep an eye on things, see what she could find. If nothing else, all those people deserved justice.
xXx
I was given a new mission in 1994. According to reports from another government group, there was a group of gifted gathering in Kansas of all places, causing trouble. While the other group claimed to have things under control, and most of the people at SHIELD seemed to be willing to take them at their word... Shannon was more of a skeptic. She couldn't go, as she was too well known, so it was left to me.
What I found... I could have never imagined. The backstreets of Metropolis, Kansas seemed to have pretty much turned into a battlefield for the war between the government group: Checkmate, and the team of gifted in 'colorful' attires.
It took me no time at all to realize who the good guys really were. (One only needed to see who was more interested in keeping innocents safe, sometimes even at cost to themselves). I never actually planned on getting involved, it wasn't part of the plan. I knew I needed to gather proof to take to Shannon, so SHIELD would know Checkmate weren't the good guys... and yet, again, the Norns decided to laugh at me, at us all.
It was the worst fight yet since I'd arrived to the city. I was using a sniper's sight to try and pick up things, anything that might serve as proof to the higher ups. I was also trying to deduce why it seemed like the 'heroes' appeared to be loosing all of a sudden; they'd dominated the previous fights, and not only because Checkmate had many soldiers, but only one gifted (and the heroes' teamwork was much better...). When I suddenly sensed an attack... one coming my way.
My reaction was instinctive, I dropped the rifle and threw myself to a side. Spinning around on one knee to see what looked like a staff hit the very spot on the rooftop where I'd been not three seconds before. It was being held by a man in blue, red and white (and I still couldn't help but feel like he was mocking the Captain with that getup).
"Why are you attacking me?!" I blurted out before I could think better of it.
"I make the questions kid." He retorted. "Who the hell are you?! You don't look stupid enough to be with Checkmate."
"Excuse me?!" I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be an insult or praise...
For all answer he touched my rifle with the side of his staff, I couldn't help myself and rolled my eyes at the implication.
"Really?" I drawled. "If I wanted you dead, you would be dead, period."
"You really think so?" He arched a brow, probably intrigued by my cockiness.
"I know so." Twenty years in the military hadn't passed in vain, and I hadn't survived Vietnam by letting others protect me, it just wasn't my style.
"Who are you then?" He asked, a bit less hostile than before.
I was just about to answer that question, while at the same time trying to find a way to explain what exactly I was doing in the city, without telling him that I'd originally thought him and his friends to be the villains, when I became abruptly aware to the steep drop in temperature.
"Icicle!" Someone on street level cried out.
Both of us turned our eyes down just in time to see the woman with the hawk wings (Hawkgirl I'd heard someone call her) trying to get up, yet too dazed to do so, something I guessed was caused by a hit to the head, judging by the slight dent in her helmet. And there was a blue man, skin covered completely in frost, approaching her, power gathering in one hand... or on the device he held. I didn't need my sister's powers to know what was coming.
Yet again my reaction was instinctive... though not my instincts as a soldier, but those as a Warrior. It didn't occur to me to reach for the rifle (then again, it's unlikely the man with the staff would have allowed it, and time was short), so instead I jumped off the ceiling, allowing my body to shift midfall, just in time for the attack that 'Icicle' had just released to hit me instead of the woman on the ground.
"Hawkgirl!" A man yelled with more than a hint of panic.
I imagined he hadn't seen me, and the frost all around us wasn't helping matters any. Still, there was no time to stop and talk, I conjured a spear made of pure ice and threw it at the enemy.
A scuffle followed, the man kept shooting ice, and kept being surprised when, instead of dodging his attacks, I took them straight on, never stopping, never slowing down.
"What the hell are you?!" He roared at some point, furious at not being able to kill me.
"I, unlike you, truly have ice in my veins." I answered cryptically.
I was trying to take him down without killing him, I really was, and then the man went truly nuts. He used his gun to hit me in the face, making me fall. Then he was upon me, his bare hands around my neck, trying to choke me. My power reacted instinctively to protect me, only he didn't just get frostbite in his hands, they covered in ice, an ice that soon expanded, covering his hands, arms, and almost all of his body. By the time the heroes got him off me, it was too late, the man was already dead.
"Merde (Shit)!" I cursed in French. "Putain (Fuck)!"
"Interesting vocabulary you got kid." One of the heroes deadpanned.
"Not a kid." I replied automatically as I pushed myself to my feet. "I'm screwed. How am I supposed to explain to my boss what the hell happened here?! This is a royal mess, and I'm absolutely screwed... Boss's gonna kill me..."
I broke up as I realized the sideways glances they all kept giving me.
"I'm not going to turn around and kill you all, you know?" I said in a drawl, rolling my eyes. "Like I told your friend on the roof, if I wanted you dead, you'd all be dead, period."
"Yes, because that's so comforting..." A man in a long coat, a hat and a freaky gas-mask spoke up.
"It should be." I snapped. "You're alive, aren't you?"
"We are." Hawkgirl stepped in. "You saved us, saved me... why?"
I decided there was no point trying to sugarcoat things, they either would believe me, or they wouldn't, and there was no point fretting about it.
"I have... well, she's actually more of a friend than a boss." I admitted with a shrug. "She works for the government. And sometimes, when she cannot investigate something herself, because she is too well-known, or it's a delicate situation, she asks me to do it." I shrugged again. "Not like I have anything better to do. So I came. Initially I was lead to believe that Checkmate were the good guys, working for the government and all that, and you were the villains, creating mayhem in the city." It looked like more than one of them would complain, but I waved a hand to stop them. "Of course, I'm not blind. The truth was fairly obvious once I saw one of your fights."
"What did you see?" A man in a dark blue and gold suit, with a golden mask-helmet asked, sounding honestly curious.
"I saw you taking risks, taking hits, to keep innocent civilians safe." I answered honestly. "In my experience, villains don't do that. Evil people don't do that."
"And you have much experience, do you?" The man with the bird wings asked with a scoff.
"I was in Vietnam, twenty years in the army all told, and have been helping gifted and humans around the world for almost as long, so you tell me..." I retorted.
"But..." Hawkgirl sounded half-lost. "How is that possible? You look so young..."
"I'm older than I look, miss." I answered politely.
"Wait a second, wait a second!" A blonde woman in a black bodysuit spoke for the first time. "You're one of the freaks, and you work for the government?!"
"I am gifted, not a freak." I corrected, taking offense at her choice of term. "And yes, though only indirectly. My friend is the only one who knows... well, the truth about me. And my family of course, but they aren't around right now..."
"Your family..." Hawkgirl called suddenly. "Are you related to Serrure and Rossi?!"
"Hawkgirl, you cannot think..." Hawkman began.
"How do you know those names?" I interrupted him, curious.
"So you do know them!" Hawkgirl sounded honestly delighted by that fact.
"My parents have used those names." I answered honestly.
"Wait, so you're their son?!" Hawkman was evidently shocked.
"Just how old are those two?" The blonde in black demanded.
"Oh..." I breathed out, as I suddenly saw the winged couple and it came to me. "You're the prince and his consort aren't you? From Egypt..."
The rest of the team began quietly ribbing them, I could guess that Hawkgirl was blushing, while Hawkman looked straight at me.
"You know of us." He said simply.
"My parents used to tell me your story when I was a little boy." I admitted with a very light blush. "I always loved hearing about the friends they'd made during their travels."
"Guys..." The man with the staff (who'd finally gotten off the rooftop... thankfully with my rifle) called as he joined us. "As enlightening as this conversation seems to be. I really think we should go before the police gets here... or Checkmate returns." He turned to me. "You got a name kid?"
"I'm not a kid." I repeated. "And you may call me Frostbite."
Really, they might know my parents (either from another lifetime or their current one, I didn't know for sure yet), but there was no way I was trusting those guys without proof.
I did trust them enough not to stab me in the back, though, and agreed to follow them to their base, where we had a long talk about who they were, what the JSA was supposed to stand for... and what Checkmate truly intended. I couldn't believe we'd gotten the situation so wrong (and a part of me feared that had been no accident or misunderstanding on either part either).
I got in touch with Shannon a couple of hours later, but by then the shit had already hit the fan, in a mayor way. Apparently Checkmate had reported that a new 'rogue enhanced' had killed the leader of their squad, a man called Joar Mahkent. No report was made of his cryo-gun, or any other thing that might make them look bad. No, as far as official versions went, the JSA were the villains... and so was I.
"You cannot come back, Hakon." Shannon warned me. "Not to DC, it's too dangerous. They have a picture of you. With blue skin and red eyes... but still, it's too risky."
"You do realize something is rotten in all this, right?" I muttered darkly. "First Three Mile Island, then China, and now this? What the hell is going on inside SHIELD, Shannon? I mean, isn't it a bit fast for the higher-ups to go all dark on us? Allow themselves to become corrupted?"
"I have no idea what's going on." She admitted, and I could tell how much it cost her. "Though I agree with you that something is really wrong. We cannot keep using this line, it might be compromised. I'll try to get in touch with you once it's safe. You better not get killed Hakon, what will I tell your parents then?"
I rolled my eyes before saying something else (a meaningless platitude) and hanging up.
"Everything alright kid?" Hakwman asked.
I'd given up on telling them I wasn't a kid, there seemed to be no point.
"No." I admitted, running a hand through my damp hair (the frost having melted on me). "I... nothing's alright at all..."
xXx
I ended up staying with the JSA for almost two years, helping them evade Checkmate. It wasn't easy, especially when, as far as the public was concerned, we were the villains (and when they did not care about hurting or even killing innocents during our confrontations).
Things went to hell (again? Even more?) in '96. I was finally getting used to things with the JSA (had semi-officially moved in with Carter and Shayera and took great delight in helping them take care of their baby, who'd been born exactly six months after I'd met them), when my mobile rang... everyone shushed instantly, that phone hadn't rung in months, and everyone knew that only three people in the world had the number (my sister, my former student, and Shannon...).
It wasn't made any better when I heard a near-panicking woman on the other side. Shannon... no Agent Peggy Carter did not do panic. She was too smart, too calm to panic... but she was on the edge of a panic attack. I was packed and on my bike in less than five minutes.
By the time I reached her... I was quite aware of the fact that, had it been anyone other than her (anyone not enhanced) she wouldn't have survived. There was a still-healing bullet wound on her chest, just beneath her collarbone. It was bad enough that, even with her superhealing it was probably going to scar...
"Shannon!" I cried out, practically stumbling as I saw her.
She had managed to get herself to a safe house, one few people inside SHIELD knew about (a part of me wondered darkly if that was the only reason she was still alive).
"How bad is it?" I asked, as I focused on helping her change her bandages (she'd been trying to do that with one arm and it wasn't easy). "I'm not a healer and have no idea how to help."
"It's alright, it's mostly healing on its own." She admitted, panting just a little. "That's not the real problem, though."
"Then what is?" I asked her.
"I'm falling asleep." She admitted grimly. "The kind of sleep I don't think I'll wake from any time soon, probably not for a good few years..."
I knew her condition, of course I did. My parents had always suspected she'd be falling asleep again at some point before the Captain was found (they knew when that would be, though they were the only ones... I think they hadn't wanted to create false-hopes, in case something changed or went wrong or anything).
"What happened Shannon?" I asked, quietly.
And then the dreaded word came out, the last I could have ever expected to hear her say:
"Hydra..."
xXx
"Hydra?! What the hell do you mean with Hydra?!"
I'd listened to Shannon's explanation about what had happened, growing increasingly worried and horrified as she went on. Then I'd managed to get us to another safe-house, helped her into a bath (which she, thankfully, could handle all on her own), and then helped her into bed. She knew she couldn't stay there, it wasn't safe.
A couple of days later arrangements had been made and I'd gotten her to the original house, in the outskirts of London, to the same warded room where Peggy Carter-Rogers had first fallen asleep. Marge's youngest: Stephanie, would keep an eye on her (the woman wasn't connected in any way with SHIELD, was in fact retired from the SSR, and in that moment was one of few people we could trust with the safety of the sleeping wife of Captain America).
During that time I'd also gotten in touch with some contacts and arranged for SHIELD to find the safe-house where I'd found Shannon; they wouldn't be finding her, obviously, or any sign of me; but they would find her bloody clothes and bandages, and traces of enough blood to have her declared dead (cruel, perhaps, to her friends, but necessary nonetheless). I'd also made a single call to Carter, apologizing and explaining in as few words as I could why it was a bad idea to go back to Metropolis, I wasn't about to put them, and especially not their kid, in danger. In two years I'd grown to see them almost as family, I would protect them if I could.
Then, once all that was finalized, I took a plane to New York, to Westchester... Max and Charles had received me quickly enough. However, all that ended when they heard the news I was there to deliver to them...
"I mean exactly what it sounds like." I retorted. "Hydra still exists, and it's inside of SHIELD..." I thought back to Peru, the authorities with little interest in finding the missing mutants; Three Mile Island and its corpses and empty cages; the JSA and Checkmate; China and a devastated little town... Shannon had been pursuing that, she'd apparently gotten too close, and almost paid for it with her life. "Actually, I think it might have infiltrated a lot more than just SHIELD."
"Wasn't Hydra supposed to have been eradication?" Charles asked quietly.
"We were told they were defeated." Max's own reaction was much stronger, almost visceral, which was probably no surprise, all things considered. "That they were finished with the war!"
"Don't you think I know that?!" My reaction was just as intense, I couldn't help myself. "How do you think I feel?! I was there, the Howling Commandos? I consider them my friends. The Captain... Steve... and now to learn that everything they fought for was for nothing, that all the loses were in vain because Hydra is still around, and apparently stronger than it was! This should have ended fifty years ago! And instead it's only gotten worse!"
"Hakon..." Charles began, very softly.
"They almost killed my friend." I added, forcing myself to calm down (frost was beginning to appear on my clothes, and the chair I was sitting on). "Shannon... she got too close to them, came close to discovering... something. They tried to kill her, if she didn't heal as fast as she does she would have died for sure." And Steve too, still alone, in the ice. "I... I just don't understand how they could have gotten so far with no one noticing..."
"What if they did notice?" Charles offered.
"They just weren't as lucky as your friend." Max added for good measure.
A shiver ran down my spine as the possibility ran through my head. The people who'd died under mysterious circumstances over the last fifty years, a list that began with almost a handful of Howling Commandos, including Jacob Sholto, Marge's husband... Marge herself, she was supposed to be in that car, with her husband, but Stephanie had been sick... The thought of cars brought another idea: Howard... I suddenly felt sick, was forced to swallow down bile.
"If you're right... if you're right this is so much bigger than I imagined, that even Shannon believed." I forced myself to speak, as I ran a hand through my hair. "What are we supposed to do now? I... I have no idea what to do now. My parents are gone, they won't be back for more than a decade... Rose... I have no idea where she is... though she's probably safer far away from this mess and... I don't even know who we can trust anymore."
"Ourselves, our family." Max stated, his voice sounding surprisingly soft after his initial rage. "That much we can trust."
"We might not be able to do much, not at this stage." Charles stated, thoughtfully. "Then again, if they aren't revealing themselves, that means they're not ready to be out in the light either."
"How does that help us?" I didn't understand.
"It means we have time." Max clarified for me. "Time to solidify our position, to prepare..." He turned to face his partner. "I told you war was coming."
"That you did." Charles agreed. "And yet, this is not a matter of humans vs. mutants..."
"No." I stepped in. "It's a matter of a few Neo-Nazi sympathizers against those who might be willing to fight them, with the world as a battlefield and the rest of humanity as pawns..."
It was much, much worse than any war Magneto could have ever envisioned.
"We'll get through this." Max stated, surprisingly strong.
"How are you so sure?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Because the opposite isn't an option." She replied simply.
It really wasn't, because the opposite would mean that evil had won, it would probably mean the end of the world... no, that definitely wasn't an option.
xXx
So we made plans, and contingencies, and even contingencies for the contingencies. For the good of all of us, and of everyone under our care, we wouldn't be able to stay in contact after that day. Checkmate already had me in its crosshairs, and there was a chance the same could be said for SHIELD, sooner or later.
Charles and Max promised to train their X-Men, have a team ready to fight when the time came to do so. Max might be the kind who would prefer to go after his enemies, instead of waiting for them to come, and Charles might be a pacifist who never wanted there to be a war; but in the end they were capable of compromise. There was a war coming, there was nothing they could do to change that, but that didn't mean they had to risk it when they weren't ready, and they would take advantage of that time to make sure they would, indeed, be ready when the time came. They apparently had some quite promising young students, not just Jean Grey, but also my former subordinate, Alex's, nephew: Scott Summers (the kid had been in Three Mile Island, was one of those who were rescued... and the X-Men had definitely been involved; though less than I had expected); and then there was Ororo Munroe, the oldest of the young mutants to have been rescued in South America. And of course Kurt, and the older mutants like Raven, Irene, Suzanne, and so many others. Yes, a promising bunch indeed.
One last, encrypted call to the Halls made sure that they, and everyone else in the JSA would go to ground (or at least as much as they could, considering their respective situations). Even if that meant that their 'hero' reputations would be pretty much ruined, it was the lesser of two evils in that moment. I seriously suspected that if Checkmate managed to do what it'd planned, and destroyed them... not only that wouldn't have helped them any, but while a reputation could be recovered, with time and effort, a life couldn't.
My little sister was still missing (and to make matters worse, so was my nephew. And all Max and Charles knew for sure was that he'd left a letter where he explained he could no longer live in a place where everyone was so absolutely different from him; he'd taken his inheritance and left the country; and that had been two years prior.), and while I could have contacted Rose (she'd left me her mobile number in case of an emergency), I couldn't help but think she'd be much safer, if she stayed where she was. So I decided to let her be. Whenever she decided to rejoin the world would be soon enough.
I trusted Shannon was safe (Stephanie would take good care of her, she was a good woman), and there was nothing I could do for Cap, or for Tony Stark (I had a feeling I'd only put the both of us in danger if I tried to approach him; especially if my insane hunch was right and Hydra was somehow connected to the death of Uncle Howard and Maria). So in the end I hoped for the best, and then disappeared myself.
The plan wasn't for me to hide, not at all. Instead I planned on traveling. Hopefully if I kept moving Hydra (or Checkmate, or whoever else might be working with/for them) wouldn't be able to find me. Meanwhile I would try to find allies, keep those who might be threatened safe, and above all, find out as much as I could about Hydra and what they might be planning. Just how much they might have changed, how many governments and organizations they might have infiltrated or allied with.
Charles and Max were right, after all, a war was coming, and we needed to be ready for it if we wanted to win it (there was no other acceptable result).
xXx 3rd Person POV xXx
In the fall of 1995 Sia finally reached the goal she'd been working towards for more than thirty years... she found the Winter Soldier. Of course, the fact that he was in Russia, inside a facility known as the Red Room made things more than a little problematic. Sif, however, was nothing if not brave and resourceful (and more than a little insane), so rather than trying a covert approach (which would have probably failed anyway), she went into the situation straight on.
After nearly a month of interrogations and tests, the Red Room welcomed the Valkyrie into their group. It had been quite easy to convince them all that she was as much as a Super Soldier as Captain America had been, though less known (the Captain's Shadow, someone called her). It also took no effort to spin a story they could believe, and even corroborate to a point: that she'd worked as an agent for the SSR after the end of WWII, that she'd quit after the Cuban Missile Crisis (though she made them believe there had been something darker behind it all, rather than how emotional she'd been at the time), and most importantly, that she'd seen the Winter Soldier in Dallas in 1963 and had been trying to track him since. She knew exactly who he was, had known since that day, known that he was none other than Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes...
By the end of the month the Red Room were convinced that the Valkyrie was a deserter from their enemies, and how convenient for them? Also, as it turned out the Soldier's programming had a few... glitches. He kept remembering things at the worst possible times (for them). Two people in particular seemed to fight to stay in his mind: Steve Rogers, and Sia Serrure. The fact that one of them was there and willing to join them was simply convenient for everyone involved.
Once convinced that, even if they didn't exactly have the Valkyrie's full loyalty, she at least was not their enemy, and was unlikely to be a mole, they put her to work. She was given the name of Taisia, and she was given the task to train the girls that had been recruited into the Black Widow Program, along with Yasha (the name the Red Room had given the Soldier).
Most days the Soldier acted like little more than automaton, and while that hurt Sif deeply, she made sure never to show it. Showing feelings would be the same as showing weakness, and that couldn't be allowed, not when both her life and that of her beloved hung on the line.
The happiest moment of Sia's life was the first time Yasha had one of his episodes. She was given permission to be with him while the girls attended their ballet classes. There, as Sia cradled him in her arms in the privacy of his room, Yasha's eyes suddenly gained a light that had been absent for so long, as he fixed his sight on her and a single word left his lips:
"Lover...?" He asked, sounding more lost than she'd ever heard him.
The word alone was almost enough to make Sia burst into tears, instead she crashed her mouth against his, kissing him like she wanted to swallow him whole, and he responded just as strongly. It was as if they just clicked.
Clothes were shed, until they were skin on skin. They both knew it was insane; she especially knew that there would need to be some fast thinking afterwards, she would have to think of some way to convince the Red Room not to kill her (or him) or send her away. However, that was a worry for later, in that moment all that mattered was the two of them. And as they reached their climax entwined in each other, words began spilling from the goddess's lips:
"I promise you that from this day on, you will be my only one. I shall look at no other the way I look at you, I shall think of no other the way I think about you, I shall talk to no other the way I talk to you, I shall desire no other the way I desire you, and I shall with no other the way I lay with you. I shall be with no other for you are now and forever shall be my one and only; my friend, my lover, my partner, my match..."
And, with just those words, the balance changed... forever.
So... what do you think? (For those thinking about coming at me with pitchforks and torches, might I remind you that you need me alive and well in order to finish posting this?)
See ya NEXT WEEK in BOUQUET OF ROSES!