> 	Angelica Jones stared at the unopened letter that had arrived
> for her earlier that morning.  Jarvis had been forwarding all of her
> and her fianc‚ Vance's mail to them in France since they had left the
> Avengers a few months ago.  He had been kind enough to sort out all
> of their fan mail from their personal correspondence and send it to
> the couple.  The fan mail he sent to them about once a week. 
> Personal letters were sent to a different address, and when they
> arrived the Avengers butler immediately sent them on.  The letter
> before her was of the personal kind and filled her with unease.
> 	Before the letter had arrived, Angelica had been in a good
> mood.  She had gotten and A on a history exam, her French tutor said

an A

> she was picking up the language very quickly, and she had spent the
> last hour in her equestrian class riding.  Angelica loved horses, and
> she rode them whenever she could.  But over the last few years she
> had hardly ever had time.  That's why she immediately signed up for
> the class when she saw it listed at the college.  
> 	She and Vance were attending school in France.  When they had
> decided to leave the Avengers to spend more time together, Janet Van
> Dyne, the Winsome Wasp, had graciously offered to let them use her
> villa.  Jan had a soft spot for young lovers.  Her love life sounded

Her own love love

> like something out of a soap opera, so she was always happy to help
> out a young couple.  In fact, she had taken Angelica under her wing,
> so to speak, when she and Vance joined the Avengers. During her
> tenure Janet had given her a new costume and her husband Hank had

and Jan's husband

> helped her with reproductive problems due to a complication of her
> powers.   
> 	When she'd gotten the mail from the box that morning,
> Angelica had been excited to see a package from Jan among the mail.
> She immediately opened the package and found a box inside.  On top of
> the box was a note: 
> 
> Angel, 
>      Sue, Jen and I went shopping the other day, and as soon as I saw
> this I knew it was perfect for you. You can wear it to dinner when
> you make Vance take you to Pairs!
> All my love,
> Jan
> 
> 	Angelica pulled the box out and sat it on her lap.  Inside
> she found a complete evening gown.  Jan had sent her a dress from

complete evening outfit.

> Yves Said Laurent's newest collection.  The dress was a full black

Saint

> gown with a black wrap.  Jan had even included black heels and a pair
> of earrings.  It was going to look great on her.

(it might be a cute touch to have jan send angel some sexy black lace
lingerie/underwear for *under* the gown too, that would fit nicely
with jan taking an interest in their love life <g>)

> 	After she hung the dress up, Angelica turned to the rest of
> the mail.  She had a letter from her father.  He told her that he was
> doing fine, that he was waiting on some work, as always, and that he
> missed her.  Next was a letter from Robbie.  They usually emailed the
> Warriors, but Robbie had sent them some pictures from a party.  It
> seemed that Rich had a little too much fun, and Robbie got some
> embarrassing photos of him.   It was the last letter that filled her
> with dread.  The postmark read Snow Valley Massachusetts.  It was a
> place that Angelica had not been to in years, and had no desire to
> revisit.  Snow Valley was the home of the Massachusetts Academy, and
> Emma Frost.  The names sounded innocent enough, but names are
> deceptive.  And everything about the Academy and Emma had been
> deceptive.  
> 	On the outside the Academy was a prestigious boarding school
> for children of the rich and powerful.  Any student that attended was
> one of the social elite and considered an up and comer.  Admittance
> into the school was a guarantee into the Ivy League as well as the
> upper crust of society.  At the Academy old and new money met and
> formed early partnerships.  The basis of many Fortune 500 companies
> was laid as friendships between the students formed.  

friendships formed between the students.

> 	Emma Frost was headmistress of the school, and was herself
> independently wealthy.  She was president and CEO of the
> international conglomerate Frost Enterprises, which she had formed

which she had put together

> from the bottom up.  Emma came from a family that was at one time
> wealthy and members of high society, but had started to decline over

but which had started

> the last few generations.  They were by no means poor, but their name
> carried more weight than their money.  Emma used that family name to
> help build up her company, and fortune.  The Frost name opened doors
> that would have been tightly shut to a young woman, and she used it

to any other young woman

> to her full advantage.  With the little money she had and some very
> smart and lucky investments, Emma was soon one of the wealthiest
> women on earth.  Since her company was so large and well off, Emma
> didn't have to do much to run it.  Most of her duties were delegated
> to vice presidents.  So she opened the school as a hobby.  At least
> that's what the world at large believed.  
> 	In all actuality the Massachusetts Academy was run by the
> Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club to train young mutants.  To the
> general public, and many of its members, the Hellfire Club was
> nothing more than a private club for the elite of society.  Few knew
> that the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club planned mutant domination

i didn't think the inner circle particularly cared about *mutant*
domination of the world, i think they just wanted domination by the
inner circle, who just conveniently happened to be mutants.  but it's
not like they share magneto's "mutant agenda"...

> of the world through the use of big business.  Most of the members of
> the Inner Circle were themselves mutants and all were very powerful
> businessmen.   
> 	Mutants were tracked down and brought from around the world
> to attend school at the Academy.  While there they would take classes
> with normal students, and enjoy the benefits that the Academy had to
> offer.  But in secret they would train and hone their mutant powers,
> which were to be used for the benefit of the Hellfire Club.  They
> formed a team called the Hellions, and were a strike force for the
> Club.  Upon graduation, mutant students would go to the best colleges
> and later become leaders in their own right.  But always they would
> advance the Hellfire Club agenda.   
> 	Emma Frost was actually the White Queen of the Hellfire Club,
> and ran the school to help meet their goals.  Frost was herself a
> powerful mutant, a telepath of the highest order.  Only a few people
> on earth had minds more powerful than hers.  It was with this power
> that Frost had gained her fortune.  She used it to pick the minds of
> stockbrokers, CEO's, and even world leaders.  With the information

CEOs

> she gained she was able to invest her money in the best possible way.
> What others saw as a highly risky investment or a foolhardy move, she
> knew to be a sure-fire winner.  Frost was quickly able to rise from
> rags to riches.   
> 	When her mutant power manifested itself though, Angelica knew
> none of this.  She had not even heard of the Massachusetts Academy,
> much less Emma Frost or the Hellfire Club.  At the time she was just
> deathly afraid and had no idea what was happening to her.  Her
> grandmother had died soon after Angelica's microwave powers awoke and
> her father thought she was a freak of nature.  Everything in her life
> had crumbled before her eyes.  It made her an easy target for Frost. 
> 	Emma took Angelica to the Academy, and quickly became a
> mother figure to the young girl.  Angelica was given the code-name
> Firestar, and taught how to use the destructive microwave energy that
> flowed through her body.  While at the Academy, Emma manipulated
> Angelica's mind and kept her isolated from the other students in
> order to make the her more dependant on Emma.  All of this was done
> to make Angelica into an assassin for the Hellfire Club.  Emma planed
> to have her kill the Black Queen, Selen.  

Selene

(since you make a point of mentioning above how angel loves horses
and riding, i'm surprised not to see anywhere in this reminiscing 
any mention of emma tricking angel into thinking her out-of-control
powers killed her horse at the academy)

> 	Angelica found out about how she had been used and
> manipulated for years, and turned against Emma.  In a fit of rage,
> she used all of her training as Firestar and more power than she even
> knew she had, and destroyed the huge Hellfire Club complex under the
> school.  Before she left she made Emma promise to never bother her
> again.  
> 	In the years since they she had only heard from Emma twice. 

since then

> Once when Emma had the Hellions fight the Warriors to bring her back.
> Since then the Hellions had mostly been killed, and Emma put into a
> coma.  The Academy had been handed over to Charles Xavier, and shut
> down.  When Emma awoke, Xavier reopened the school and put Emma and
> Sean Cassidy in charge as headmasters.  The school again taught
> mutants, but this time under Xavier's dream, not the Hellfire Club's.
> A few months ago Angelica ran into Emma and her new students.  The
> meeting had not gone very well, but the two had come to a grudging
> understanding.  
> 	Since then Angelica had not heard a word from Emma.  Until
> today.  The letter was staring at her from the table where she had
> set it.  The postmark glared at her, daring her to open it.  The
> return address threw memories from childhood at her, daring her to

'childhood'  doesn't seem to fit there, since angel was a teenager
when she went to the academy...

> face past ghosts and fears.  
> 	"Angel, is something wrong?"  Vance asked her.  He had just
> come in and for the past few minutes he'd been standing in the
> doorway.  Angelica had not noticed.  He could tell something was
> troubling his fianc‚e.  She was normally very upbeat, but he could
> see by the way that she stared at the unopened envelope that
> something was wrong.
> 	The sound of Vance's voice brought Angelica back to the here
> and now.  "HHMM?,"  she said.  It took her a few seconds to notice

"Hmmm?' she

> that Vance was in the room. "Oh, hi honey."  Angelica only glanced at
> him for a second, and her eyes darted back to the envelope.  "I'm

a second, before her eyes darted

> fine, I guess.  I just don't want to open that letter."
> 	Vance sat down next to Angelica and put one arm around her
> shoulder.  "And what can be so bad about a little old letter?"  He
> was acting playful, trying to cheer his lover up.  The letter floated
> off the table and gently landed in his free hand.  Vance, like
> Angelica was a mutant.  His was the power of telekinesis.  He could

Angelica, was

> move objects with his mind.  "Now lets see this big bad letter, shall

let's

> we."  He looked down on the envelope and immediately noticed the
> return address.  It only took him a second to realize what the
> problem was.  "Oh man, Angel.  I'm so sorry.  I didn't know.  Do you
> want me to get rid of it?"
> 	Angelica hugged Vance and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.
> "It's okay, Vance.  Like you said, you didn't know," she told him. 
> "But no, I need to open it.  I've been sitting in here staring at it

sitting here

> for over an hour now.  As much as I'd like to ignore it, I don't
> think I can. Besides, I can't run from my ghosts forever.  And Emma
> knows how I feel about her.  If she was brave enough to try and talk
> to me again, I should have the respect to at least hear her out."

that last line reads quite awkwardly -- maybe change it to 'should
have the courage to' (to play off the 'brave' just above), or to
'should make an effort to'

> 	"Well, I'm here for you honey.  You don't have to do this

you, honey.

> alone."
> 	A tear ran down Angelica's face.  "I know you are.  After all
> we've been through how can I not know it?"  She smiled through her
> tears.  "I love you, Vance."  
> 	He smiled back at her, as he wiped the tears from her face. 
> "I love you too, my Angel."
> 	"And anyway, for all I know this is nothing."  She sounded
> like she was trying to convince herself more that she was Vance.  "It
> could be about my school records or something.  When we signed up for
> our college classes here, they needed our high school transcripts. 
> Maybe Frost is writing about that."
> 	Vance decided that it would be best to let her work though

through (not 'though')

> this on her own.  He knew that it was something more than high school
> records.  But she had to get the courage up on herself.  "It could

get her courage up for herself.

> be, honey.  She could just be checking to make sure everything got to
> the school alright."
> 	Angelica stared at the letter in Vance's hand.  She knew that
> until she opened it she wouldn't know what it contained.  But she
> still could not bring herself to take the letter from Vance and read
> it.  "Vance," she asked quietly, "could you read the letter to me?"  
> 	Her fianc‚e looked down on her with love in his eyes.  "Of
> course, Angel." 
> 	Vance used his telekinesis to open the envelope.  He reached
> in and pulled out the letter inside.  Flowing cursive script filled
> the Xavier Institute stationary.  In his tenor voice Vance began to
> read the letter out loud.
> 
> Dear Angelica,
> 	 I know that you would like nothing more than to never hear
> from me again, but the events of the last few months have given me
> cause to seek you out.  The Academy has recently suffered a tragic
> loss. Once again, one of my students has perished. We had reopened
> the Academy up to human students, and a group of them killed him when

the Academy to human students,

> they found out that he was a mutant. 
> 	The death of yet another of my students has cut me to the
> core. It has made both Sean and I realize that we have not done near
> enough to prepare our students for the world outside these walls. We
> have realized that we need help. Our students need a new, fresh
> perspective.
> 	That is the purpose of this letter. Professor Xavier, Sean
> and I would like to make a proposition to you and Mr. Astrovik. We
> would like for you to both come to the Academy and help us teach the
> students. You have both experienced the hate and fear that awaits
> mutants in the outside world, and you have both risen above it. As
> Avengers you were role models of what mutants can aspire to. And
> since you are both young you could relate to the students in ways
> that we cannot.
> 	All that we ask at this time is that you come to the Academy,
> meet the students and talk with us. Hopefully you will see how we
> need you both here. 
> 	Also, I have hope that we can begin to reconcile our
> differences. With Everett's recent death I have also come to realize
> that time is precious. You were once like a daughter to me, and I
> betrayed you. I hope this can be an opportunity for us to heal wounds
> of the past.
> Sincerely,
> Emma Frost 
> 
> 	When he was done reading, Vance put his arm around Angelica
> and laid the opened letter back in front of her.  He could tell that
> she was thinking over every word he had read out loud.  After a few
> moments of silence Angelica picked up the letter and read it herself.
> Tears again flowed from her eyes.
> 	Suddenly, the letter caught fire.  "How dare she?"  Angelica
> yelled through the sobs.  The fiery haired mutant jumped up and
> stormed around the room.  "How dare she try to manipulate me again! 
> She's using the death of one of her students to lure me back!   She
> gets another kid killed and she thinks she can use it to make up with
> me!  After all she's done she thinks I'll just come walking back? 
> The gall!  That woman ruined my childhood!  She manipulated and
> controlled me, messed with my mind and isolated me from everyone! 
> She turned my own dad against me!  Killed my only friend!  She even
> tried to turn me into a killer! My God, I loved her like a mother! 
> And she thinks we can just `heal the wounds of the past'!" 
> 	Vance noticed that the temperature in the room was
> drastically rising, as was Angelica's temper.  She had to be really

rising drastically,

> upset to start to lose control of her powers.  He went over to her
> and took her in his arms.  "It's okay, Angel," he comforted her.  The
> floodgates holding back her tears opened wide with his soothing
> words.  Vance ran his hand through her hair and she cried into his
> shoulder as they sunk to the floor.  He could feel the tears start to
> soak through his shirt.  As her anger gave way to grief, the
> temperature in the room began to drop back down.  
> 	"I...I...I can't go back, Vance," Angelica choked out.  "I just
> can't.  It's too painful."  She held Vance tight as she continued to
> cry.  "She lost another one.  Just like Sharon, Jennifer, and the
> others."  Vance realized that she was talking about the dead
> Hellions.  Angelica had never been close to the other students at the
> Academy, but their deaths still haunted her.  "After what she's done,
> how can I go back?"
> 	Vance wasn't sure if she was asking a hypothetical, or an

hypothetical or (take out the comma there)

> actual question, but he answered her anyway.  "You can go back for
> the kids, Angel."  He wasn't even aware that he'd spoken aloud until
> the words had left his mouth.  
> 	Angelica stared up at him.  Her face was wet, make up

makeup

> smudged, and eyes bloodshot.  Tears still ran down her face.  "What
> are you talking about?"
> 	Vance hadn't thought through what he was going to suggest,
> but there was no stopping now.  "I'm just saying that if you...well,
> if we go, it's not going to be for Frost.  It's going to be for those
> kids.  You told her that if you found out something had happened to
> those kids, you'd be all over her.  Well, something has happened. 
> And it looks like Frost is asking you to keep your word, in her own
> way."
> 	Angelica stared at Vance for awhile, her mind trying to
> reason out what he was suggesting, while her emotions raged at the
> events of the last few minutes.  
> 	"I hate to say it, but she's right, Angel."  Angelica laid
> her head his lap while he talked.  Vance continued to run his hands
> through her long red hair.  "We have been though hell, and come out
> on top.  Maybe it's time to give some back."
>