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Central Park, New York City
A Couple of Days Later, Late Morning
Alexia's POV
"You're certainly a hard man to get in touch with 'Frank Rook'." She said as a man in a very well done disguise sat down on the bench next to her, "But then I guess that's the whole point."
Not that she'd skimped on her disguise either.
After telling Rachel that she wanted to take a trip into NYC she took the money that her 'Spider-girl' rescue team said they didn't want and hopped a bus for the city. Marvel Girl had offered to go with her and show her around but she'd tossed out the reasoning that she wasn't a complete idiot and could navigate the big city easily enough. Add to that the fact that she'd reached a point in her training that it'd take something pretty impressive to make her fire off an SOS and she would be fine. The X-Woman had been a little hesitant but after tossing one of the communicators that were stored at the Academy the trip had been okayed.
She figured it was safe to say that the communicator probably had a tracking device built into it and Rachel was probably checking in on her every hour on the hour for signs of trouble.
Once the trip was okayed she'd gone through the usual prep work for a one day trip to NYC and had left just the way she'd have been expected to leave. However the moment she'd gotten into the city she'd gone to the nearest costume shop and bought the best black wig they had then went to the closest clothes store to grab a baseball cap. Then to top it all off she got a pair of dark sunglasses that'd make it impossible for anyone to see her eyes and therefore make a note of her eye colour. It was a big cliché but since she planned on chucking the whole lot of it the second she was sure no one was looking it didn't matter.
"Get to the point. You said in your message that you had a job for me." Frank Rook said in a no nonsense tone of voice, "Never mind that I'm not a killer for hire and I usually kill the people that hire those kind of scumbags."
"I worded it that way to get you here." She said not offended at all at the man's demand, "All I'm asking you to do is what you usually do but to the people on these files."
Taking the portable data drive from her pocket she placed it on the bench between the two of them.
"What's on it?" Frank Rook asked not making a single move to pick it up.
"Files stolen from a company belonging to one Norman Osborn who despite the exoneration campaign to the contrary IS the Green Goblin." She replied casually gazing about for any sign of eavesdroppers, "They were successfully decrypted a couple of days ago and after looking them over I found that they contain project information for creating super humans with dangerous abilities. The part that pisses me off and I'm hoping will piss you off is the fact that Osborn provides the projects with 'test subjects' and doesn't care about whether or not they survive the experiments. As long as the end result is something combat capable and reliable you could probably fill a few mass graves with the 'failures' who didn't survive the experiments."
Nothing.
In the comics the man had been shown capable of discipline but at the same time the man's almost fevered hatred of criminals had a habit of overwhelming him from time to time. She'd thought that her bit of news might've been enough to produce a few cracks but since it hadn't she could only presume that he was waiting until after he'd verified the data himself.
"Assuming you're telling the truth and assuming the information is legitimate what do you want done?" Frank Rook asked not giving anything away as to which way he was learning mentally.
"Simple. At present going after Osborn directly isn't feasible. He's too high profile at the moment and is probably expecting people to strike at him directly anyway." She replied speaking the words she'd practiced on the trip to NYC, "Instead we strike at these companies and these projects to hamstring any future plans he has while costing him a fortune. Kill the people who knew the truth but continued with the experiments anyway. Anyone who can ignore the suffering of innocent people and keep working are monsters. The assistants and drones that helped out I'll leave to your discretion based on what they could've done but chose not to do. As for the innocent people…free who you can but if they look like they're not long for this world or that living would be an existence of pain for them…end it."
"Not exactly what I'd expect from one of Xavier's crew." Frank Rook said turning slightly to look at her.
Crap.
"Dare I ask what gave me away?" she asked while mentally making a note to as for training in the art of disguise.
"The attack on the company was pretty high profile and half of the people involved were X-Men. Since the rest don't have teen sidekicks it'd make sense that you're associated with one of them." Frank Rook asked showing that he was capable of deductive reasoning.
Made sense.
People who were all direct and brutish wouldn't last very long after declaring war on the criminal element.
"They don't know I'm here doing this. For them it'll be enough to turn this info over to the feds or S.H.I.E.L.D." she explained leaning back a bit more on the bench, "There'll be due process and warrants and that'll give Osborn the openings he needs to save what he can while throwing a few expendable employees under the proverbial bus. Assuming he can't just grease the right hands and leverage the others to get the entire thing swept under a damn large rug. I can't let that happen. If the projects and those involved in them aren't dealt with the suffering will just start up someplace else. We know where they're happening and who's involved NOW. Waiting and due process will only make things worse."
"I'll need to verify the authenticity of the data and if it checks out then you've got a deal." Frank Rook said after a minute or so of contemplation.
"Don't take too long 'Frank Rook'." She said relieved that they'd made it past this hurdle, "Once the information gets passed on to the law enforcement agencies they'll start to move too. Unless you want them barging in at the wrong time or getting in your way the sooner you start your offensive the less complicated it'll be."
"I'll keep that in mind." Frank Rook said with a nod as he picked up the portable data drive.
"Another thing to keep in mind is that if you needed backup there's another person in Europe taking on Osborn's operations. The usual Spider-Man package but a decidedly more brutal way of using the powers." She said remembering the other person she'd sought to contact but had been unable to, "He's got a bloody bone to pick with Osborn and if you show him the files he'd probably be all too happy to lend a hand."
"I work alone in the field." Frank Rook stated clearly and with no room for creative interpretation.
"Maybe but the more damage you do the more Osborn will put villains for hire and mercs in your path. You're good but at your core you're just a human being with lots of training and lots of guns." She said pointing out the hard truth as she saw it, "You have limits. All Osborn has to do is figure out a way to push you past them or assign someone who exceeds them to protect these projects. If you're really dead set against having an ally then just think of him as a decoy or another weapon for you to point and shoot. He might get pissed but I don't think he'll mind too much so long as Osborn's plans get torn to shreds."
"And does this 'weapon' have a name?" Frank Rook asked with an unidentifiable tone of voice.
"Kaine. He's thrown down with Spider-Man a few times and has a habit of seriously burning the faces of his victims in the shape of a hand." She replied remembering reading those issues, "He's got no qualms about killing those who deserve it and the term 'excessive force' might as well not exist for him. I'm betting you both have the same opinion when it comes to innocent bystanders as well."
Frank didn't say anything more after that but instead stood up and began to make his way out of the park. He didn't need anything like contact info for her nor did she need contact info for him. She'd already committed to memory the names of the companies and the people involved in the inhuman projects Osborn was backing. Once things got going she was sure the deaths and destruction would make headline news getting air time on TV and the front page of every major newspaper in the world. That would be how she'd know that 'Frank Rook' had taken the job and was making progress in eliminating Osborn's projects before they could bear fruit.
The only way this could backfire on her would be if one of the white hats discovered that she had provided the man who'd just left with the files and pointed him in the right direction. She could cover up the fact that she'd put the files onto an external data storage device by saying it was a precaution in case Osborn somehow took actions to retrieve the files either directly or electronically. As for Kaine and 'Frank Rook' showing up to raise their usual hell that could be written off as them finding out on their own about whatever Osborn was up to.
However if 'Frank Rook' let slip how he came to possess the data or if the portable data drive was found in the man's possession it could lead to them discovering which systems it'd interfaced with. When it came up that it'd come from the Academy computer she'd been screwed no two ways about it.
Still I'd better keep an extra lock on my mind for the next couple of weeks and do my best not to look suspicious. She thought waiting a full five minutes before making her own way out of the park.
Fortunately she had experience with both.
Her lessons with Rachel would keep the truth from getting out of her brain telepathically and if she could keep most people from finding out about her home life with Tony and Jessica she could do this no problem.
As for Frank he was sure that the man wouldn't make the mistake of taking the portable data drive with him on missions and would probably cover his tracks a variety of ways.
There was a reason why The Punisher had the reputation he did and hadn't been killed off by his enemies after all. He'd manage well enough and if not then hopefully Pete's younger and more troubled brother Kaine would be enough to up the odds of their mission succeeding. With a little luck by the time it was all over with Norman Osborn would find it impossible to continue with his plans as they'd originally been envisioned. The madman would either have to completely start from scratch OR rework the original ones drastically enough that it'd cost him tons of money as well as time.
THAT would be the vengeance that would be visited upon the Green Goblin for all the evil things he'd done thus far and dilute the darkness he'd produce in the future.
As for the people that'd likely die as a result of the Punisher and Kaine's actions she would trust them to keep the fatalities to the men and women who deserved it. Who would deserve it? It would be those people who didn't feel even the least bit of remorse or guilt for the things they did or did not do in connection to the projects. It would be the people who actually took pleasure in the suffering they caused during the course of their work and actively tried to prolong the suffering as much as they could. While some might argue that if it was too dangerous to do anything good especially when it placed ones own life in danger then it was understandable she saw it as just a form of either cowardice or selfishness. If life in Sunnydale had taught her anything it was that death could come for you at any time and no one could avoid it save in the utilization of unholy methods.
If you weren't doing what you could to oppose evil then you were through your inaction helping it to succeed.
She didn't know how far she'd get living up to that statement but she'd do her best just the same.
One Week Later
Massachusets Academy
Rachel Grey-Summers' POV
"This marks the third Europe based company to come under attack from the terrorist internationally known as 'The Punisher' and it looks as though the body count is going to keep on rising." The news anchor said from a place behind the area the local police had cordoned off, "While the local police have not disclosed official numbers or names it seems unlikely that Inc will escape the death tolls suffered by Alchemax and Multivex. With such drastic upheavals in the European corporate world the stock market is expected to be unstable as various investors strive to anticipate which way the wind will blow. One can only hope that Frank Castle will soon be captured and his bloody rampage brought to a swift end."
Good luck with that! She thought before changing the channel to something a little less aggravating.
While she might not have ever gone against the psycho herself she knew enough to know that every law enforcer and hero had been trying to put a stop to the Punisher's activities for awhile now. Seeing as how it was impossible for a normal human to be both incarcerated AND creating a body count in Europe the murderer was still free with no incarceration in sight.
It'd started just a few days after Beast had reported that his systems had successfully managed to decrypt the information Misty Knight had acquired from their raid on Osborn's facility. Naturally she'd asked to be present when they went over the data but what'd been revealed made her wonder just how lax the law enforcement community truly was in Europe. The atrocities, the crimes against humanity and the complete disregard for human life were so much that they almost managed to make Mister Sinister look average. She'd immediately proposed that they form a strike team and begin to systematically dismantle every operation one by one until there was nothing left.
Too bad her Dad and Frost had opposed her on this matter.
They'd told her that if they'd been included on the original mission to save Spidey's daughter and managed to keep things more low key it might've been possible. However with the news coverage that the assault had gotten as well as the legal trouble that'd followed neither heads of the Institute had wanted to risk rocking the boat further. International sentiment had never been great for mutants and the brazen way that Alexia's team had ignored the law had only made things worse. Thus in an effort to placate the various agencies and governments her father had decided to show restraint on any further independent actions undertaken by people affiliated with X-Teams or the Institute.
Unless it directly pertained to mutants or had global repercussions they would not take action.
At least for the foreseeable future and until things calmed down enough for the restriction to be lifted.
When she'd asked who'd be provided with the information she'd been told that it would be given to S.H.I.E.L.D to handle since they had both the international clout and the firepower to handle something this big. That…had more or less been acceptable since she'd seen what Fury's organization could do when they needed to and she figured that Osborn would be hard pressed to block them. Some stuff would still get through most likely or slip through the cracks but that was just how life was when it came to fighting the good fight. Sometimes it didn't matter how much of an effort was put into trying to stop a villain or capture the culprit.
Nevertheless everyone who considered themselves heroes soldiered on in spite of this determined to make the world better even if only a little bit.
She'd told Alexia about this but predictably the girl didn't like the idea of leaving what they'd started in the hands of someone else even if it was S.H.I.E.L.D. When asked why her sort of sister had replied by saying that in all the comic books she'd read S.H.I.E.L.D might've been better than most militaries or agencies but they still weren't quite enough to run with the super powered crowd. Their human bodies and the limits on their technology made it so that they could only take on threats a little above their own level.
It was kind of like how normal police officers could do their job well enough but there were times they had no choice but to call in S.W.A.T or even the military.
While she wouldn't downplay the capabilities of S.H.I.E.L.D quite so much she conceded that there were threats that the agents of that organization simply were not qualified to handle. In this case though she felt that as long as they did a first rate job preparing the multi-national organization would manage well enough. She did her best to convey this to Alexia and eventually the girl relented stating that she'd wait until Osborn gained a decisive upper hand before taking action on her own.
Not the answer she was hoping for but it'd have to do for the time being.
Since the meeting with her Dad and Frost though things had gone from controlled to out of control in the form of Frank Castle aka The Punisher launching an assault on the companies involved with Osborn. While the first attack on some of Alchemax's holdings had been written off as coincidence concerns had been raised when Multivex had come under fire next. For one thing it was unusual for Castle to move so swiftly from target to target since even that man would take the time to research a target before launching an assault. Such research took time especially when more than one target was involved so the only way the Punisher could be moving so swiftly was if someone else had done the research for him.
This had led to them investigating the possibility that someone involved in the original rescue operation had told Castle what he wanted to know or the information that'd been decrypted had been stolen. However as of last night those possibilities had been crossed off the list. All of the members of the team that'd rescued 'Little May' had been spoken with and all of them had denied having any contact with Frank Castle. An electronic examination of the computer systems at the Institute had shown no signs of anyone having hacked in from the outside and the only logged access to the files had been Alexia, Hank, Cyclops and Frost.
She'd been a little concerned when records had shown that her little sister had made a copy of the files but that had proven to be pointless. Alexia had explained that she'd been concerned that Osborn might try to retrieve the files or just delete them so she'd made a backup copy before hiding it on Academy grounds. While commendable they'd still needed to verify that the backup hadn't been what was stolen and so as a group they'd followed Alexia to the hiding place.
It turned out that the hiding place was an airtight metal box buried at the very bottom of a lake that was on the edge of Frost's property.
According to Alexia she'd employed every psionic technique she'd been taught to ensure that no one would spot her on the trip to the lake, during the burying of the box and the return to the Academy's main building. After demonstrating before Frost her ability to use each psionic technique even Frost had been forced to admit that it would've taken someone trained in the psionic arts to follow her to the lake.
After some basic telekinesis the box was pulled from the bottom of the lake and with the key that Alexia provided it was opened to reveal the portable data drive still inside. However Frost being the bitch she was insisted on them taking the drive back to the Academy to see if it was indeed the real deal or if the contents had been accessed since it'd been buried. So it'd been with some satisfaction that it'd been proven by Beast remotely as well as with the skills of those present that no one had accessed the drive since it'd been buried.
With all the known methods of how the data could've gotten into Castle's hand proven to be dead ends the parties involved had been forced to accept that the Punisher had come into possession of it on his own.
"They still going on about that?" came a voice that caused her to look over the back of the couch towards the speaker.
Just like she'd expected it was Alexia clad in her usual laze about clothes looking annoyed by the fact that Castle's attacks were still being shown on the news.
"Yep. It's a sad fact that if it goes bang or boom the newshounds will keep reporting about it until something bigger comes along." She said sympathizing since there'd been more than a few times she'd wished that a particular story would be dropped.
"You think if we convinced everyone in the house to streak at the next Yankees ball game it'd be enough to get everyone's attention?" Alexia asked with one of her playful and mischief laden smirks.
"Heheheheheheheheheh! Probably but good luck trying to convince the Cuckoos to sign on for something like that!" she laughed imagining how it'd look if the five of them actually did it.
"I'd probably have an easier time convincing Frost to officially become a real nun! Hahahahahahahaha!" Alexia laughed joining her in her hilarity.
"Or convince Cap to work at a strip club for a month!" she fired back imagining with great hilarity how uncomfortable Steve would probably be in such an environment.
Whatever club the man probably worked at though would probably get record business for as long as he was there though.
From there the two of them just enjoyed each other's company throwing out the odd improbable situation for laughs before settling on a movie that neither of them had seen before. It'd been during this though that a funny looked had appeared on Alexia's face and when she'd inquired she found out that her sister had been writing up scripts in her spare time. The younger redhead had followed up on the idea of taking TV shows and movies from her own reality for use in a sales pitch with various studios. However even with enough scripts written up for one of her TV show ideas Alexia was still hesitant about taking the plunge. Therefore her sister asked her to read them through in order to make sure that they were the best they could possibly be and therefore more likely to succeed.
So when night fell and she decided to go to bed early with an armload of the scripts she turned to the first page prepared to be somewhat entertained by the story.
After all countless people try on a daily basis to write up scripts in the hope that they'll hit it big but almost none of them actually succeeded.
What're the odds that Alexia would produce something worthy of the big name studios right off the bat?
Manhattan
Two Weeks Later
In Front of Fantastic Pictures Inc.
Alexia Grey's POV
Here it is. My big chance to make some cash and maybe claim a little bit of fame. She thought looking at the studio that'd called her about her script for the TV version of her life in Sunnydale.
She'd originally planned on pitching the show idea to one of the more well established TV studios since people knew about them and so if it hit the airwaves it'd get more exposure. However Rachel had pointed out that no established company was going to take the risk of accepting a script from a relative unknown like her. They were more likely to accept scripts from writers who'd already earned a measure of acclaim and therefore were a safe investment for the millions of dollars going into the show. Instead Marvel Girl had suggested pitching the script to a relatively new TV studio that had solid backing but was too freshly founded that they'd have trouble getting big names to sign on. A studio like that would be more open to ideas that would help them gain traction in the entertainment business so that they could make more money and therefore hire on more known actors and actresses.
If the TV show wound up being a big enough hit the studio would be grateful to the person who helped their star rise.
That was what brought her to what she'd learned was the new entertainment division of Fantastic Four inc. According to Rachel the company had originally been founded as a way for Reed Richards to patent his various inventions and disseminate them into society. However as the cost of acquiring materials and equipment for Mister Fantastic's inventions went up they'd been forced to branch out into various lucrative venues. One of those of course venues was the business of producing movies and television shows. With the right person behind the wheel quite a bit of money could be made.
Too bad when she'd found out who'd been put in charge of the division her confidence in it had dropped.
Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch.
Now don't get her wrong, Johnny had read like he was a great guy to hang out with, but when it came to things like responsibility as well as thinking before doing…well…he was pretty much a kid trapped in a man's body. From what she'd dug up after getting the call about the meeting the division had been in business for a little over four months without any sign of trouble. However during that time they also hadn't put out anything remarkable enough for people to feel safe investing in it or accepting job offers from it.
Still it was the first studio she'd applied to and it's given her a call back almost immediately. If nothing else it'd provide her with the experience she'd need for future meetings so she'd come off as less of an amateur.
Reaching out for the handle of the front door of the building she summoned up all the courage she could muster since it was a fact that no one bought something the creator wasn't confident in.
It was just as her hand was about to make contact with the handle though that a feeling shot through her that she felt had to be akin to what people felt when they saw an avalanche coming their way. Immediately she looked to the east where instinct told her it was coming however no matter how she stretched out her powers or strained her eyes she couldn't see anything. There was nothing psionically or physically detectable that'd explain what she was feeling at the moment but still the sensation persisted.
Deciding to follow her instincts she called upon not only the mutant gifts she'd gained from being turned into a teenage Jean Grey but also the pseudo-Phoenix Force within her. Even as she felt the clothes she'd worn to the meeting transform she could see the fires of the Phoenix emerge from her body before beginning to circle around her like a mini-tornado. In less than five seconds not only was she clad in her Dark Phoenix costume but she'd also managed to erect a protective layer of psionic flame around her body. She'd practiced with Rachel how to create telekinetic armour as a counter to enemies fast enough to make evasion impossible and strong enough to do real damage if the blow landed. It wasn't all that much harder for her to add a little Phoenix Force cosmic power to the mix in order to max out how well she'd be protected.
When nothing happened she almost thought that she'd blown things out of proportion.
Then a wave of white light tinged with gold shot past her so swiftly that her mind barely had time to conceive of it never mind define it. In the blink of an eye pressure unlike anything she'd ever experienced pressed in on her armour like a giant's hand attempting to crush her completely. However if there was one thing people could say about her it was that she didn't give up just because things got tough. If she was that sort of person then she would've run away from home, committed suicide or already be even stevens with Tony in the booze drinking department. Turning her willpower into adamantium she fought against the force trying to crush her and once she felt it was far enough from her body she locked each section of the armour in place further reinforcing its strength.
Now the question was how long she could keep this up.
Rachel had put her through quite a few stamina training sessions to make sure she'd be able to keep a protective barrier up long enough or fly civilians to safety. It hadn't been anything like this but those lessons were still serving her well in keeping the hostile force at bay and then suddenly the pressure retreated to a tolerable level. It was still out there, she could feel it, but it was more like a wolf watching her from just inside a forest with hostile eyes. If she let her guard down it'd try again and likely be on her before she realized it.
Guess I'm in for the stamina training session of my life. She thought as she opened her eyes having closed them so that she could focus better on protecting herself, Joy!
When her eyes were fully open though the sight beheld her was not the Manhattan of a minute ago but at the same time it kinda was the same. Many of the buildings were right where she remembered them being and the sidewalks were just as populated as she remembered them being but there was one glaring difference.
Mutants and humans.
As far as she knew humans were the dominant breed of mankind ruling over just about everything with mutants being the minority that was being discriminated against. For every hundred humans you might run into on the streets of Manhattan you might spot one mutant and that fit with the concept of mutants making up less than one percent of the world population. However now looking about the streets she could see that something had happened to almost reverse the situation with both subtle as well as obvious mutants outnumbering the baseline humans she could see. It wasn't quite as bad as she remembered it being for mutants but the bottom line was that it was a drastic shift from what she remembered the reality she called home being prior to being assaulted by the unseen force. When added to the fact that signs, advertisements and newspapers also corroborated the change in population dominance and she could only come to one conclusion.
I thought I'd have a LITTLE more time before being caught up in a multi-title story arc. She thought with some dismay, Guess I better find out just what the changes are so I don't wind up causing a international incident.
With that in mind she took to the sky soaring ever higher until she was fairly sure that she was well above the eyes on the ground as well as any airborne travellers. Once there she crossed her legs and adopt a meditative pose before reaching out with her telepathy to feel out the thoughts of the people walking the Earth. She'd only open herself up as much as she could bear without risking the loss of the protective armour she'd wrapped herself in but it should be enough to get the lay of the land.
Little by little information entered into her mind with her organizing it as best she could just like Rachel had taught her when going over the basics of telepathy. Naturally the first thing she got hit with was the fact that the lopsided mutant to human population wasn't just restricted to Manhattan but rather it was the case all over the world. Somehow mutants had gone from being a persecuted minority to being the rising dominant species on the planet with baseline humans receding at an increasing rate. It was predicted that within three generations baseline humans would be gone entirely leaving the Earth populated entirely by mutants.
When trying to figure out who's behind the change on a global level always look to who's benefited the most. She thought as she began to seek out the desired information.
It didn't take her long to find out that the person who'd benefited the absolute most from the change in reality was none other than Magento aka Eric Lensherr. From exposing a government conspiracy in the seventies to rising to rule over his own country to his fellow leaders agreeing with just about anything that came out of his mouth it all put the master of magnetism in the top spot. With Quicksilver, the Scarlet witch and her children filling out the royal family it perfectly meshed with a mutant dominant society. The leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had always desired a world where mutants ruled and humans were made to pay for every injustice perpetrated against mutants. Now somehow he'd gained it with humans being in the same position mutants had once been in with little if anything being in the way of baseline humanity going extinct.
Gotta find some way to shift things back to the way they're supposed to be. She thought opening her eyes as her need for telepathic focus went away, But in order to do that I need to find out how it happened in the first place and for that I'm gonna need help.
A metaphorical little voice in her head warned her that just because she'd managed to retain who she was that didn't mean that there were others. Any force capable of rewriting the history of an entire world and reversing the situation between man and mutant was a force to be reckoned with. However most of her refused to accept that she was on her own because no matter what progress she'd made in her training or what she'd managed to accomplish thus far she was definitely NOT a one woman army.
The question is 'who should I get help from?' and she'd need to think on that.
It was then that her psionic senses picked up on a mind approaching her position and out of curiosity she looked in its direction to see who it was.
Huh. Not the help that I'd been thinking about but she'll do. She thought turning fully to face the approaching woman.
Who was she?
Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel aka Warbird aka Binary.
Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel's POV
"This is Captain Marvel. I've got eyes on the unknown bogey." She said through her com-piece, "It's a girl, college age, wrapped in some sort of fire themed energy."
"Satellite scans confirm the presence of the energy but it's not quite matching up against what we have in our database." Lieutenant Reynolds said showing that he wasn't just sitting on his hands, "Part of it is a match for psionic energy and its strength level definitely puts it in the Omega range but the rest…the closest match is what we caught a peek of when Ronan first showed up. Eggheads are still having trouble agreeing on what he's got inside that hammer of his."
"Think he'll be able to shed some light on the little lady if we let him see the sensor data?" she asked even though she had a feeling she already knew what the answer would be.
"No go on that. Director Shaw wants more intel on our unknown before we let them in on things." He replied sounding like he approved of the move, "If this is a Homo-superior matter then there's no need to get the Kree involved."
"And if it isn't?" she asked just as she was about to close to speaking distance.
"Then Shaw wants to know enough going into that discussion to spot the lies and identify the half truths." He replied sounding like verbal sparring and chess playing was to be expected.
She couldn't disagree with that even if she didn't like it.
She was a soldier, a hero, not some boardroom politician that wielded words as their weapons to weave webs of strategy and deceit. She'd like things a lot better if people were more straightforward and cut out the bullshit but you can't always get what you want. If Shaw wanted to play things close to the vest until they had enough data to see through whatever sanitized truths the Kree saw fit to share with them then she'd play along.
They might be looking to form an alliance with the blue boys but that didn't mean that they completely trusted them. After all for all the strides mutants and baseline humans had made technologically speaking they still hadn't figured out intergalactic travel and spaceship weaponry to the same degree the Kree had.
One of Shaw's espionage guys probably has the job of trying to steal tech secrets while Ronan's delegation is here. She thought as she crossed the last couple of feet, If the spy bungles it they'll just throw him under the bus and say the spy is a race traitor working for some sapien terrorist group. Probably have all the 'evidence' on standby even now.
Whatever.
While she might be the world's most popular non-mutant hero she still saw herself as a soldier and that meant leaving the big decisions to the brass and focusing on the mission at hand. In this particular case it was making contact with the unknown that'd popped up on the satellites twenty-five minutes ago and kindly asking them to descend for questioning.
Can you hear me? She thought since they were too high up for normal talking and she couldn't see any communications gear on the girl's head.
Of course. Nice job broadcasting your thoughts. The girl thought into her head confirming telepathic ability, Don't know too many people who bother practicing.
Kinda a job requirement for me. She thought back feeling a bit of satisfaction for the compliment, Now care to explain what you're doing up here? You've broken a half dozen laws flying this high without the required paperwork.
Didn't know it was such a big deal. The girl thought with a slight frown, I made sure to fly high enough that I wouldn't run into anything and nothing would run into me. What's the problem?
The problem is that there are rules for flyers and a lot of them deal with where you can fly and how high you can go. She thought back resisting to roll her eyes at the typical teenage ignorance, I don't really know the whole legalese about it but bottom line you need to come with me. Seeing as how you're ignorant of the laws I can probably get them to let things slide this once so long as you don't do it again. Sound good?
The redhead looked to be thinking it over but just before she was going to try and sweeten the pot a bit she got the nod before the psionic sister began to descend back to Manhattan. Following her down she decided to check back with Reynolds to see if they managed to get an identity match off of the mini-cams built into her domino mask. One of the sad realities of being the most popular non-mutant hero was that even then the House of M didn't trust you completely. Oh they'd told her they were just to help with support or for post mission briefings but she wasn't stupid. They were there primarily to keep an eye on her and let the people in charge know what she was up to in the field just in case she decided to defect to some anti-mutant group.
Not that she would of course.
As much as she might not like how Homo-Sapiens were being treated every day terrorism wasn't the answer. Besides it'd been genetically proven that baseline humans were in decline and that within three generations they'd be gone entirely. Without some groundbreaking genetic tinkering there was no way to fight evolution and even if they managed it they'd be hypocrites. After all their entire platform was based on the evil of mutants and the deviation from the Homo Sapiens that the x-gene represented. If they wound up using technology to alter their own kind and prevent the extinction of Homo Sapiens they would only be doing artificially when nature had done naturally.
Bottom line her life might not be perfect but she saw no upside to fighting a battle that's already been decided by Mother Nature.
"Got an ID on the girl Reynolds?" she asked through her com-piece.
"Nothing and that shouldn't be possible." Reynolds replied in her ear sounding a little frustrated, "She doesn't look older than twenty and gene registration started twenty-five years ago. She should be in the system with a complete history attached but I've got nothing. Either she's black ops and her info's been scrubbed from the system or her parents were anti-registration and have been raising her off the grid."
"Don't think she's black ops. Doesn't have any of the signs." She said recalling everything she'd seen on approach as well as during the telepathic conversation, "And her being raised off the grid would explain why she didn't know about the no fly zones and laws."
"Maybe. Director Shaw wants you to guide her down to the Manhattan heli-carrier for questioning." Reynolds said sounding a little skeptical, "Doesn't sound like he plans on taking a hardline with the girl. Just wants some answers and some forms filled out so she's in the system. Might even make the pitch to have her enroll at the Academy."
"Can't say that'd be a bad idea." She said as her HUD showed she was under a minute from talk possible altitude, "Even with mutants being the dominant demographic omega levels aren't very common. Having a psionic at that level is some major firepower and if that other energy is useful I wouldn't be surprised if the brass tried to fast track her."
"As long as I don't have to salute her in five years I'm okay with that." Reynolds said with a humorous tone of voice.
She had to laugh a bit at that.
The two of them chatted a bit longer but when she and the redhead entered the altitude range that made normal talking possible she figured it'd be a good idea to get a jump start on the Q&A.
"So you got a name or should I just call you Flamebird?" she asked figuring with the gold bird symbol, the fiery aura and the red bodysuit the codename was appropriate.
"Howsabout I give you a codename to start with and if you're on the up and up I'll toss you the name Mom and Dad gave me? Good enough?" the girl asked countering her inquiry with another one.
"Good enough." She replied even though she figured the brass would insist on a civilian name regardless of what the teenager decided.
"Then call me Phoenix." The named redhead said with a small smile.
"It fits." She said believing that it was way better than some of the names the rookies tried to submit upon graduating from the Academy, "Any special reason you wanted to see the planet from so high up?"
"Mostly just wanted some alone time to think and didn't want a 747 running me over." Phoenix replied casually not sounding worried at all.
"And you couldn't get that on the ground?" she asked figuring there were plenty of legal places to find some peace and quiet.
"I'm a telepath. Even if I locked myself in my room I'd still pick up the thoughts of people who don't know how to contain their thoughts." Phoenix replied with a shake of her head, "This high up though? Much easier to pretend that there's no one around but me."
This also told her that while not new to her mutant powers the girl was sensitive enough to the mental broadcasts of others that tranquility was hard to come by. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was good in the sense that Phoenix was likely limited to the basic tricks most telepaths learned right out of the gate and probably only had a loose understanding of the other energy mixed in with the psionic. If worse came to worse she was pretty sure they could take her down with minimal trouble if only because they had superior skill as well as experience.
The bad part however was that because the sensor readings from the satellites couldn't properly identify the secondary energy they didn't have any clue about its nature or limitations. For all they knew it could turn out to be the great equalizer making any effort to subdue the girl should she prove dangerous that much harder to pull off without a ton of collateral damage. Not that Phoenix was acting anything like someone who was dangerous but in her time as Captain Marvel she'd met a few people who were masters at pulling off the whole 'I am so innocent I could not possibly be a threat to anyone' routine. Just because she didn't think Phoenix was black ops and trained in how to appear innocent didn't mean that wasn't precisely the case.
No one was perfect after all.
"So…just how much trouble do you think I'm in?" Phoenix asked as they reached an altitude where they could make out more of Manhattan's details.
"Not too much. From what a friend of mine said you're not on file so that'll work wonders with the whole ignorance excuse and you haven't done any harm so you're safe from that." She replied even as she spotted the heli-carrier, "As long as you're honest and don't leave too many unanswered questions you'll probably get off with a slap on the wrist."
"I'll do what I can but there're some secrets that aren't mine to tell." Phoenix replied with a little reluctance, "Without the go ahead from specific people I can't say a thing."
"That's good enough for me." She said feeling the same way about some of the secrets she was keeping bottled up in the darkest depths of her mind.
The law was one thing but the people who were important to her deserved nothing but her complete loyalty.
S.H.I.E.L.D Heli-Carrier
Circling Manhattan
Alexia's POV
Madame Web, Mystique, Rogue, Nightcrawler… she thought as she passed the people she could identify in the hallway, Not a single normal agent in the entire bunch. I guess it makes sense since this is practically mirror-mirror Earth but it's still strange.
Mostly because she could still remember how things used to be and seeing such awesome changes still had her a little off kilter. She wasn't reaching out with her telepathy to look into anyone's mind since she was fairly sure she was being watched electronically and telepathically at the moment. However listening to those aboard the heli-carrier who didn't have the skill or the aptitude for keeping their thoughts to themselves was fair game as far as she was concerned. Naturally she tuned out the personal relationship stuff since it didn't really matter to her but the rest interested her significantly.
Down in Australia the Hulk apparently went Aboriginal and there were standing orders to avoid that region handed down by Magneto. However if the rumour mill was anything to go by the mutant in charge down there was tossing about some dangerous ideas that practically guaranteed that the jade giant would get mad. When that happened there'd either be a mutiny against the current president or the entire Magneto sponsored government would get tossed out.
Iron Man was still a big shot business man but his dad was alive and it sounded like a lot of agents aboard the heli-carrier thought that the only reason he was doing good was because Magneto let him do good. Like if Tony Stark or his father Howard did so much as one thing that was out of line the entire company could be brought down inside of twenty-four hours. Oh and apparently the Stark guys did the occasional guest match in something called 'Robo Death Match' involving watered down Sentinels along with people in Iron Man armour rip offs.
Those were the big things she picked up on but she knew that there had to be others. Whenever something like this happened in the comic books every big name character was brought along for the ride. Some wound up dead, some wound up in normal lives instead of super lives and some got turned into villains. So the odds were good that there were good people who could help her but then there was the problem of their minds. Anytime the timeline got changed or something rewrote reality memories got altered as well until everyone thought the changes were normal and things had always been that way. Sure some of the people with mind powers or some means of protecting their true memories might exist but how easy it'd be to bring them to the surface she didn't know. It could even be the case that whatever had tried to crush her during the changes was responsible for it all and if so she'd have to stretch out her power to everyone she 'woke up' in order to keep them from backsliding.
I'm doing fine now, managing to keep up my own protective field without a problem, but if I start spreading the power around that could change. She thought noticing Captain Marvel opening a door and gesturing her inside, I need particulars about how this world's changed and why before I start doing anything flashy.
First thing to find out: the state of the world. Not what was told by the news or through official statements but the TRUTH as can only be learned through firsthand experiences. Were things good here? Was there some secret darkness the world was clueless about? Would it really be right to switch things back to how she remembered them being? Sure in the comics they made it sound like changing things back to the way they were was the moral decision to make. That while the new might be wonderful and all it was a lie that should never have become reality in the first place. For her though she needed more than some rule of morality or the writer's own mandate to turn things back to normal at the end of the story arc.
She needed to know that this version of reality really needed to be unmade.
Second thing to find out: how the hell reality got changed in the first place. Was it time travel? Was it someone with reality warping powers? Was it magic? If the comics taught her one thing it was that the writers were pretty damn good at pulling new methods of dramatic changes out of their asses when they needed to pump up revenue. The only problem was that this meant she had more possibilities to look into than she knew what to deal with and nowhere near the resources to get it done quickly.
That led to the third thing to find out about: if she really was the only one who remembered how things were before or if there were others out there. If there were then she could try to predict where they'd be or where they would go and then get there ahead of them. Once that was done she could covertly confirm that they knew the real deal and approach them so they could pool ideas for how to fix everything. If everyone whose brains had been rewritten thought those who'd kept their minds were exactly who they thought they were it could net them some access to real resources. After all it looked like every X-Team member was living the high life or worked some grade A jobs so they could use that to their advantage.
Maybe.
Sitting down in the chair in a text book interrogation room she watched as Captain Marvel took up a semi-relaxed position in the corner no doubt waiting for the assigned agent to arrive. Who that agent could be was a mystery but it'd probably be someone with a mutant power that'd let them determine honesty or see things about her through some sort of contact. Being a comic book geek she'd probably be able to identify them once she saw them and then counter their attempts to peek too deeply into info that'd only cause her trouble. Naturally they'd know about her blocking them but she was reasonably sure that the excuse she gave Captain Marvel would explain that sufficiently.
It was ten minutes later that the door opened to reveal two people one of whom she recognized and the other that caused an itch to develop in her mind that wasn't quite recognition.
The one that she recognized was none other than Sebastian Shaw, Black King of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, one of the most dangerous and evil mutants every to grace the pages of a Marvel comic book. He had the mutant power to take whatever energy was directed at him and use it to get things like enhanced durability and superhuman strength. Seeing as how he was wearing the same uniform as everyone else on the heli-carrier and the more metal accessories someone had the higher their rank usually was then Shaw was definitely one of the top people in S.H.I.E.L.D and had been for awhile. So either whatever had rewritten reality had turned Shaw into a good guy or S.H.I.E.L.D was rotten and the poison went all the way to the core.
The one that she didn't recognize was a woman with black opaque glasses that were only just large enough to conceal her eyes and smooth black hair done up in a ponytail. She could tell without using her powers to check that the woman was not very strong physically speaking but there was…something…that told her that the female agent's strengths resided elsewhere. Whatever the truth was it was the woman who'd have to be EXTRA careful around because the most Shaw could do was try to beat her to death. Until she found out who the woman was and what her power set was she was an unknown and unknowns were always a threat.
"No need to be so tense young lady." Shaw said in what was probably meant to be a 'trustworthy teacher' tone of voice, "As Captain Marvel told you on the way down you might've broken a few rules but it's nothing that can't be brushed away after some discussion. So long as you don't try to start something we won't either Miss..?"
"You can call me Phoenix. As for calming down…" she said not throwing out her civvie name, "…can't exactly do that. Not safe."
"What do you mean?" Shaw asked and in that moment she had an epiphany.
Assuming what'd almost crushed her earlier was a person or some sort of tech then there had to be some sort of energy signature involved. Something that could be tracked down or at least something that could be narrowed down to a specific area. The same thing went for anyone who was managing to keep who they really were intact while resisting the foreign entity's efforts to rewrite them to better fit the new 'real world'. There'd be signs of them resisting even as there were signs of something trying to get at them. If she could word things just right in this little Q&A session maybe she could get S.H.I.E.L.D to do most of the leg work for her. Once she had locations of where the distortions or odd energy anomalies were located she'd bail and seek them out either to gain allies or identify who'd rewritten the Marvel universe.
It wasn't like she had any better ideas.
"I know this'll probably sound crazy but…I'm not exactly from around here." She replied choosing her words with as much care as she could without being suspicious about it, "And I don't mean the planet. I mean this reality as a whole."
"Explain." Shaw said even as the woman's gaze never left her head.
"The world I know, the one I call home, isn't anything like this one. I was having a perfectly normal day when I sensed something coming my way with the threat level of a tsunami." She explained thinking back and censoring some things while approving other things, "Not liking it I put up the strongest protective field I could. It almost wasn't enough. Felt like something was trying to crush me. When it pulled back I took a look around and saw a world very different from what I knew. It's why I went up in the air to think. I wanted to know just how much was different."
"What's different?" Captain Marvel asked joining the conversation.
"For one thing this world has its minorities reversed. Where I'm from mutants are the one percent of the world's population and baseline humans are the other ninety-nine percent." She replied measuring their reactions in turn, "For another your counterpart's no law enforcer. He's the Black King of the Hellfire Club, leader of their Inner Circle, and always up to the usual villain cliché plans. Money, power and figuring out ways to get the most of the first two without really caring about laws or morals."
"And the reason you still have your protective field up?" Shaw asked retaking control of the conversation.
"Whatever tried to crush me, whatever brought me here, is still keeping an eye on me." She replied taking a moment to confirm what she claimed psionically, "I let my guard down, my field drops, and I might not get it back up again before it does whatever it wants to do to me."
"And what do you think it wants to do to you?" he asked not giving an inch in terms of motivation.
"Dunno. Maybe to change me into a better fit for this reality." She replied honestly figuring that she was an anomaly that needed to be dealt with, "Maybe just kill me 'cause I'm a threat to whatever its plans are. All I know is I refuse to roll over for anyone or anything!"
THAT last bit got a smirk from Captain Marvel and she got the impression that the blonde approved of that particular stance.
"Assuming I believe your story what are your plans?" Shaw asked not committing to either acceptance or denial just yet.
"Find a way to get home if possible." She replied honestly trying to keep things close to the vest, "Keep whatever it is that brought me here from changing me into whatever it wants. Beyond that? Don't have a clue."
"Not very ambitious." Shaw said with a modicum of disappointment, "But practical. I'll have to clear this with Lord Magnus but I believe we can offer you some assistance in your ventures. In the meantime I will leave Agent Webb with you to help get the paperwork filled out. It is after all likely to take some time before we can figure out how to send you home and you can't get anything done if you don't legally exist."
"GREAT! Piles upon piles of forms and a great way to get a case of hand cramps!" she exclaimed sarcastically as her mind pictured just how much signature writing needed to be done, "All this fancy tech and you haven't figured out a way to do away with paperwork."
"Sadly my dear as long as there is a bureaucracy there will be paperwork." Shaw said with a crack of humour on his face, "Fortunately for you the registration process is relatively quick and painless. It should all be done by the end of the day."
Looking at the clock mounted on the wall she could see it was only a little past eleven in the morning.
Most people equated the 'end of the day' to be around five in the evening.
That meant she had six hours of boring paperwork to deal with.
Yay.
The funny thing was the paperwork was probably going to be the easiest thing she'd be doing during this entire mess.
Hours Later
The Holo-Conference Room Aboard the Manhattan Heli-carrier
Captain Marvel's POV
"What have you learned?" Lord Magnus asked via hologram in the middle of the room.
"As part of the 'registration process' we acquired a sample of her DNA and though it was obtained through unconventional means it was still viable." Shaw replied as she sat in on the meeting, "We tried to find even a partial match in the genetic database. There wasn't one."
"That…is troubling. The database was created for security purposes and yet you're telling me that someone has managed to avoid it for the better part of two decades." Lord Magnus said in a concerned tone, "That has some ominous implications."
"If you're concerned that she's some sort of artificial creation of sapien terrorists I very much doubt it." Shaw said scoffing at the idea, "Nothing I've seen in any of my reports suggests that they have the resources or the inclination to produce a mutant psionic weapon. They'd likely consider it blasphemy to even propose creating something they despise to take back the planet."
"Even if they did one teenage girl is hardly enough to retake a single city never mind a planet." She said agreeing with Shaw on the matter.
"Close but not quite right." Shaw said glancing at her for a few moments, "While we were registering her we had her stand in the quantum chamber to 'check for foreign contagions' and ran a scan. It confirmed that she's an omega level telepath as well as the presence of what our scientists can only describe as 'cosmic energy' and has them worried about our ability to detain her should we need to."
"And are YOU worried Colonel Shaw?" Lord Magnus asked no doubt wondering if there really was reason for concern.
The eggheads did have a tendency to get a little over excited at times and blow things a little out of proportion.
"No. Regardless of the powers she possesses she is still a student in their use and we have agents with years of training and experience." Colonel Shaw replied sounding completely confident in his words, "If this 'Phoenix' proves to be a threat then we will simply attack her at her weakest point: her mind."
"I would think that for an omega level telepath her mind would be where she is strongest." Lord Magnus said poking a hole in the S.H.I.E.L.D director's statement.
"Regardless of what form a mutant's power takes it is but a tool at the end of the day." Shaw said his confidence not wavering in the least, "A tool is only dangerous if the one wielding it is given the opportunity to use it. Until it can be unequivocally proven that we do not need to worry about the girl we put a minder with her, someone capable of neutralizing her in an instant, to act as a 'guide' to our world. If she tries anything she'll be neutralized."
"So you do see her as a threat?" Lord Magnus asked pointing out that such precautions are only necessary when a threat is present.
"I consider anyone with that much power a potential threat Lord Magnus." Shaw replied not flinching at all, "I simply believe that until her loyalty to you is unshakable or she has been returned to her reality of origin we need to operate under the premise that she is a potential threat."
"Understood. However ensure whoever you assign as her 'guide' is someone who encourages trust and has every reason to be loyal to House Magnus." Lord Magnus said in a tone that could only be an order, "No official orders. Nothing to create a hostile atmosphere between the two but at the same time someone who can be relied upon to act should it become necessary."
"To make Phoenix see the world through their eyes and create a bond of friendship to restrain her should any thoughts of misbehaving occur." Shaw said with a smirk of appreciation, "I believe I know just the agent for the job."
"Good." Lord Magnus said before turning to Agent Webb, "Were you able to glean anything from her Agent Webb?"
"Her telepathic abilities are formidable Lord Magnus and her efforts to protect herself from the unknown threat she mentioned are considerable. The fact that she's managed to maintain her protective field for so long is a testament to both her power as well as her training." Agent Webb replied keeping her tone polite, "However telepathy is only one of my abilities I was able to catch a glimpse, a burst of prescience, upon touching her DNA sample."
"And?" Director Shaw asked when his psi-division agent didn't elaborate.
"She has power beyond even her understanding." Agent Webb replied in ominous tones, "However she will only unleash it in the presence of callous disregard for innocent lives."
"Then I suggest you ensure that your chosen guide doesn't take our little fire bird anyplace 'sensitive' and that the agent is kept apprised of any operation locations." Lord Magnus said taking the warning to heart, "We all know that high ideals must often be compromised for the greater good."
Translation: sometimes you need to get your hands dirty to keep the world spinning.
She didn't like those missions but fortunately for her she made a much better public relations vehicle than a wet works agent. She wasn't weak and she wasn't a coward but at the same time freezing her emotions and doing the deed left a bad taste in her brain for weeks. She knew what her duty was and her briefings made it clear why the assigned action was necessary.
Still…maybe if Phoenix stuck around things might get better.
Sometimes the presence of a great power is enough to prevent wrongs from being committed.
If for some reason or other Phoenix couldn't go home or chose to stay maybe the anti-mutant groups would be less enthusiastic about taking aggressive action. Make it clear enough that the girl could switch off the minds of an entire city if she wanted to and a sapien would have to be crazy to try something. Better yet if they arranged for her to pop up in random places all over the world and there'd be no way for any troublemakers to know ahead of time where she was.
Yes. Phoenix could be a BIG asset if she chose to stay here.
"How much longer until we have enough information to show to the Ronan the Accuser?" Lord Magnus asked bringing up another aspect of the investigation into their 'guest'.
"Not long. With her protective barrier up in the quantum chamber we were give more than enough data to work with." Director Shaw replied with confidence, "By tomorrow we should have enough information to show the Kree without implying the existence of anything tangible. So long as 'Phoenix' does not do anything to draw attention to herself we will hold all the cards."
"Excellent. Keep me apprised of your progress Colonel Shaw." Lord Magnus said before the transmission ended leaving just three people in the room.
"So who'd you have in mind as her guide?" she asked curios as to who would be charged with winning Phoneix's trust.
"Yes. Agent Illyana Rasputin. Codename Magik." Director Shaw replied walking over to a wall screen before bringing up the relevant personnel file, "A recent graduate of the Academy just waiting for a slot to open up on one of our newer teams. Her mutant gift is referred to as 'stepping disks' that allow her to cross vast distances near instantly as well as stand in mid-air. She's roughly the same age as Phoenix and outside of combat situations she's not all that much different from any other girl her age. She's also proven herself to be immune to telepathy so even if her charge tried to peek inside her mind it wouldn't work."
"And if our guest proves to be troublesome Magik can just use one of her stepping discs to teleport her into a hold cell. Nice." She said liking how the graduate's power could defuse things so neatly.
"Indeed. However it will take some time for our techs to construct a cell capable of holding an Omega level mutant psionic." Director Shaw said letting the reality of things set in, "I think I'll have their first stop be the New Mutant Leadership Institute. It's not combat based but rather focused more on building a greater tomorrow and that's a very positive image to behold. A couple of days to a week there should be ample time for the cell to be made and after that we can let Phoenix see more of the world."
"And what about this threat she's worried about? The thing that tried to crush her and is waiting to pounce?" she asked pointing out the last detail to discuss.
"I've had our people review video footage, satellite data and any reports made by mutants whose powers might make them sensitive to such things." Director Shaw replied not sounding worried in the least, "They found no sign of any anomalous energy much less evidence of an intelligent mind at work. They believe it's far more likely that the pressure she felt was simply our reality acclimating to her presence and any lingering sensation of 'being watched' just being harmless echoes. By this time next year I doubt she'll sense anything to be alarmed about."
"And getting her home?" she asked even though she kind of hoped the girl stayed.
"Under the pretence of making sure no lingering reality rupture exists for things to spill through we've cordoned off everything within two blocks of her estimated arrival point." Director Shaw replied moving to his chair behind his desk, "Forge and McCoy will lead the team investigating the area. If there's anyway we can help Phoenix get home they'll find out. If not…well…it'd be quite the front pager to groom her to be S.H.I.E. rising star and the face of a new generation of agents."
HERE we GO! The PR angle! She thought barely able to keep her reaction to a half eye roll.
Instead of making it so that people could make up their own minds about Phoenix S.H.I.E.L.D was already planning a PR blitz to make the girl into their headliner. The redhead will be to S.H.I.E.L.D what Captain America was to the old American military or at least that's what Colonel Shaw will likely be pushing for.
"Would that be so bad Carol?" Agent Webb asked in a kind voice, "Rogers was an icon that many aspired to emulate and was one of the few sapiens back then who tried to bridge the gap between homo sapien and homo superior. I should think that the girl would be proud to walk down the same path."
"Indeed an excellent idea Captain Marvel." Director Shaw said with a positive smile, "Should Forge and McCoy fail to provide her with a way home she could do a world of good here."
True.
If they really did want Phoenix to become the mutant Captain America of her generation then she'd have to be the ideal, the epitome of what it meant to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and have the charisma to inspire others. Some of that could be learned through instruction but some of it was something a person either naturally had or didn't have. Even with the sheer variety of mutant powers out there she had yet to hear of one capable of altering every aspect of a person until they were tailor made for something.
If such a mutant existed she'd be afraid.
VERY afraid.