will1@earthling.net

 Short Bright Bugspray of the Soul

 (or, Who's Your Mummudrai?)

 by Phil Hartman

 DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's, except
for the Summers twins (more on them in a 
few stories), who are mine. It's all fiction.
No money is being made off of this. Etc.

 NOTE: Violence, language, imagery, and
the unleashed wrath of a British psi ...

 NOTE 2: Set during New X-Men 116.
This runs concurrent with "Brown and White
and Remembering."  It's also AU, hence why
Scott's never merged with Apocalypse, he
and Jean have tons of kids, and a certain 
Braddock is alive, Caucasian and telepathic ... ;) 

-------------------------------------------

 SNIKT

 "Logan, she's got an inhibitor collar, ankle
and wrist shackles," Scott Summers said,
weariness grating in his voice and his walk
as he marched the strange, sadistic bald woman
he and the Wolverine had captured in Ecuador
down the hall before him.

 "Ain't Lady Genocide there I'm smellin',
One-Eye," Logan growled, glaring sidelong at
the still-mute, and perversely grinning, woman
whom they only knew as "Cassanda," and that
because she'd slipped during their fight. 

 The Canadian had slashed her voicebox to stop
her from verbally ordering her Sentinels to
incinerate him and Scott, but neither X-Man
believed for a moment that she was any less
dangerous because she'd been taken prisoner.
At Scott's request, Jean had had the latest team
of New Mutants teleport themselves, and Scott
and Jean's youngest children, Brian and Brandon,
to Avengers Mansion until the adults dealt with
the strange new enemy.
 
 #We owe the Avengers for letting the kids 
stay - hopefully we can get them home soon,#
Scott thought, nudging Cassandra forward out
of the hangar bay and into the monorail back 
to the mansion. She snorted, watching Logan's
confused expression, and just sat down with
another cruel smile.

 #She reminds me of someone ... Jean? Is
that gravitic containment unit ready?# Scott
thought over his rapport, glad to be back home
and eager to hug his wife - even if their kids
had had to be evacuated, he could at least be
with their mother.

 ~It's up and running, hon. The kids are OK,
and they asked me to tell you that they
missed you. I'm just glad they're safe. Is that
'Cassandra' causing any trouble?~ Jean sent,
sounding almost distracted.

 #Just being obnoxious and all 'evil, 
opaque mastermind,'# Scott thought,
turning his nose up at Cassandra as she
leered at him. The bald woman actually
stuck her tongue out at Cyclops, who 
rolled his eyes behind his visor.

 ~Oh! I haven't had a chance to tell you - 
Franklin Richards resurrected someone 
close to us! I bet that's why Logan's acting
edgy - he's smelling her scent,~ Jean added,
her mental voice growing happier as the
monorail car came to the mansion terminus.

 #Really? Who could that be?# Scott thought,
gently pushing Cassandra to her feet and 
walking her out of the car. Logan took the
rear, still sniffing and - to Scott's admittedly
juvenile amusement - looking unsettled.

 "Damnit, it smells like - but she ain't smelled
like THAT since friggin' Doomstadt ..." Logan
muttered, looking left to right.

 ~Well, it's nice to see that the little details
are correct, as well as my physical body,~
a teasing, friendly mental voice rang in Scott
and Logan's minds. 

 For the rest of his days, Scott would smile
with far too much satisfaction at the 
expression on the Wolverine's face as 
they watched the cloaked figure on the 
platform step forward from the shadows.

 "SunuvaBITCH," Logan finally growled.

 "YOU ... ?"

-----------------------------------------

  "Nothing."

 "Jeez, Drake, you're actin' more depressed
than the tin man here. And that's sayin' a lot,"
Jubilation Lee sniffed as she, Bobby Drake,
and Piotr Rasputin pulled in to the drive of
the Xavier estate in Bobby's Jeep.

 "Not now, Jubes, OK? I'm really worried.
Cecilia might not want anything to do with
the spandex scene, but she wouldn't just 
vanish like that and not leave some forwarding
info," Iceman grumbled. He shut off the engine,
and got out of the Jeep before staring at the
ground with a frustrated scowl.

 It wasn't so much that Cecilia was MIA; it
was that she was the second major X-woman
to go off the radar in less than a week. And
that hurt, losing friends - Bobby had gotten
the art of being "just friends" with women
down rather well.

 #Hurts less when you can't get a date,#
a snarky part of Iceman's psyche muttered.
He shook his head and tried not to think of 
another X-woman who'd left ... even if he
knew where she was all too well.

 At least Emma had called. At least Bobby
knew she was still alive, but who knew 
where Cecilia was - or how she was. She'd
become a good friend over the years since
O:ZT, and Bobby had been almost ecstatic
to watch Ceceilia grow closer to a mutual
friend ...

 #What am I gonna tell Hank?# Bobby
fretted. #He almost gets killed by some
psycho, and he turns into a big blue
version of the Cheshire Cat ... and we 
lost ...#

 "Bobby! Peter! Jubilee!"

 Bobby looked up at the sky, managing
a faint smile as Warren Worthington 
came in for a landing. What made the
aquakinetic blink was that Warren was
*white-skinned* again, and grinning. 

 "Tovarisch! You have returned - and
you are no longer blue!" Piotr boomed,
smiling as he and Warren clasped each
other's forearms. Jubilee was actually
*quiet* for a moment, then smirked as
Warren released Piotr and kissed her
hand.

 "Really good plastic surgeon? Or
another mutation?" Jubilee asked.

 "Another mutation. And wait until
I tell you who I have to thank for it,"
Warren said, beaming as his wings
fluttered. 

 ~Really, Warren. You're spoiling all
the fun,~ a telepathic voice rang in
the minds of the returned X-Men, and
Bobby blinked.

 That almost sounded like - 
 
 "Nyet ..." Piotr whispered, blinking
in shock as a butterfly appeared.

 "No. Freakin'. Way. You were, like,
run through," the 19-year-old Jubilation
breathed, her eyes bulging.

 "Is ... is that ... " Bobby stammered,
unable to let himself believe.

 He held out a hand as the "butterfly"
approached, knowing intellectually
that it was pointless, but in his heart -

 ~Yes, Bobby, it's me. Now get in
here so we can share stories, and I can
try and help you find Cecilia,~ the
"butterfly" ordered in an unacented
mental voice.

 For the first time in about a week, Bobby
Drake finally grinned, and he whooped as
he led the charge downstairs. 

--------------------------------------

 Even if she was still having images of Twinkies
flash before her eyes, Betsy Braddock didn't
regret telepathically welcoming her fellow
X-Men home. 

 It felt good - the warm welcomes, the
naughty little joy at surprising the others,
and the sense that things were finally 
going *right.*

 #I'd better double-check on Marie and
Remy,# Betsy thought, entering Cerebra - 
and the cavelike nature of the upgraded
"big sister" of Cerebro was still a little 
odd for the reincarnated telepath to deal
with.

 #It's rather like a womb - and not
necessarily a pleasant one,# Betsy thought,
placing the Cerebra helmet on her head 
and concentrating. The physical world
fell away as she let her psi-self flutter
onto the astral plane, and she spared a
moment to enjoy its sheer beauty.

 There were, surprisingly, fairly large
astral "voids" between population centers;
animals and even, to a degree, plants, had
astral presences, but true sentience left the
biggest clusters of "lights" on the astral plane.
If Betsy let herself "view" Earth's astral
signature from orbit - and that was possible,
given the degree of telepathic enhancement
Cerebra was allowing her - it was rather
like looking at those pictures of the dark
side of Earth, where the countries were
outlined by their streetlights and other
illumination.

 #Focus, silly girl. You can indulge your 
sense of whimsy *after* you help foil
that ugly witch Cassandra's plans,# Betsy
reminded herself. She cast her butterfly
eastward, around the curve of the world
and away from the astral disruption of
the sun (there'd once been a fascinating term
paper by Xi'an about the connection between
solar storms and long-range telepathic 
interference), to find two specific minds.

 One was very horny and self-absorbed - 
or rather, his mental "mask" was, as he
dreamed of worshipping the other, female
mental signature nearby. As usual,
despite his roguish exterior, Gambit was
tied to Rogue, and Betsy smiled at Remy
LeBeau for it.
 
 As far as Marie LaVonne herself, she 
was focused on her son, Charles Lehnsherr,
as well as determined not to let Genosha
be exterminated by the Sentinels Betsy
and a number of the New Mutants had precogged
in the near future. The telepath felt a pang of 
remorse at asking Rogue to divert from
coming home to see Charles, but of all
the X-Men, Marie's magnetic powers made
her the best suited to taking out giant killer
robots.
 
 Assuming her backup was paying attention
to more than Marie's ass - 

  ~LeBeau. Pay attention to the *other* local
surroundings, hmm?~ a wry, teasing British
woman's voice rang in Remy's mind, as he
rolled his eyes.

 ~Psylocke. I be a little more professional
than that, oui?~ Remy thought, playing up
his accent to a derisive snort from Betsy.

 ~As if. Tell Marie we've moved Charles and
the other students to Avengers Mansion - there's
no telling what this 'Cassandra' creature
might be capable of. The Ecuadorian authorities
have been informed of the Master Mold in
their jungle, also. We still haven't detected any
sign of Sentinels headed for - wait -~ Betsy
sent, her mental voice suddenly wavering.

 "Betts? Wha -" Remy muttered, blinking at
the sudden - confusion? - he felt/heard from
his teammate -

 - and then the psi-link just cut out. 

 Betsy hated doing that, but she'd "heard"
a mental cry from just over the Canadian
border - a familiar mental call for help, and
one she couldn't dare risk ignoring.

 ~Cecilia?~ Betsy capped, refocusing her
attention on North America, and snarling
when her psi-probe seemed to VANISH
into a psionic blind spot somewhere in
Quebec.

 [Correlate anomaly against known mutants
with power-damping abilities,] Betsy ordered
Cerebra. The machine complied with a seeming
"whir" of circuits, even though Betsy knew 
there was no actual noise, except her perception
of Cerebra's processing. Not being an actual 
cyberpath, or being able to comprehend machine
"language," was something of a frustration for
Betsy.

 #Or maybe I'm just rusty in this. It's been
a while since I WAS a telepath,# she reminded
herself, smiling wryly despite her fears for
Cecilia and her aggravation at the strange
damping field she'd run into. If it was artificial,
it was too large to be a pocket of psi-damping
metal ore (not that there were too many of
those in the world) ...

 [MATCH CONFIRMED: DAMPER FIELD MATCHES
POWER SIGNATURE OF ENTITY: LEECH,] Cerebra
replied.

 #Magnified to THAT degree and area? Damnit,
this can't be good,# Betsy thought, fear rising
in her throat. She concentrated and added, 
[Record damper field coordinates and print off
map of location. Disengage mental link.]

 [CONFIRMED,] Cerebra replied. Betsy removed
the helmet and grabbed the map printout as soon
as it finished, then headed down the hall to get
Hank and the others - they had to be told about
Cecilia, and God only knew who was using poor
Leech if his powers had been amplified that much -

 - and then she was standing ankle-deep in ...
organic material, of a kind she was sure she
didn't want to concentrate upon.

 "What in the bloody HELL is this filth?"
Betsy snapped - she didn't swear casually,
as much out of preference as of breeding,
but she was in a hurry, and didn't have any
bloody time for mental games or precognitive
absurdity.

 "Wewcome to the bwack bug room, Betsy,"
she heard, and she manifested her psychic
sword - still a Romanesque design, not the
katana she'd had while in Kwannon's body -
to provide a little light.

 The giant beetle-like creatures ringing the
walls, illuminated by her sword's purple glow,
were hardly what Betsy had expected.

 "And just what in the name of God is THIS
supposed to be, hmm? I've fought the Brood,
for heaven's sake - if this is supposed to be
some kind of prelude to me living out my
greatest nightmares, I'm not bloody impressed.
I already did that earlier today when I fought
the Crimson Dawn and won, thank you very
much," Betsy snapped.

 She lunged, then, and slashed at one of the bugs,
shielding herself inside a suit of armor to 
keep the resultant psychic ichor gushing from
the wounded insect from splattering on her. 
The armor's design - Western European - 
wasn't lost on Betsy, but she focused on
cutting through the "bug" and getting out
of the illusion - 

 - and then she was in the adjunct to the medlab, 
where the gravitic holding cell had been breached,
and the now-armored "Cassandra" was FRYING 
Logan's left arm, even as she seemed to be 
psychically lashing Jeam - 

 - and Scott was kneeling, holding his head, while
Hank seemed to be blind, and Xavier was looking
horrified - 

 - and Jubilee was crying something about Synch,
while Piotr moaned similarly for Illyana and Bobby
was screaming about flames -

 - and Warren looked the worst of all, in a fetal
position on the floor, whimpering
about Eskimoes with big, glowing spears.

 #They're all in their own individual 'black
bug rooms,' or something similar - this Cassandra
played us for fools, masking her telepathic powers,#
Betsy thought, masking her own psi-print.

 She let Cassandra focus on Logan - his healing factor
*should* protect him from the worst of Cassandra's
apparently psychokinetic assaults - and snuck closer;
regardless of whether her body was Caucasian or
Asian, Betsy had lost none of her ninja skills, and 
she'd been careful not to alert their foe that she'd
broken free of the illusion.

 ~You did that rather well, dear. But I'm not Charles'
opposite number because I *lack* perception,~
Cassandra sneered in Betsy's mind, and the bald
telepath tossed Logan aside to turn and face Betsy.

 #Sod it -#

 Betsy psi-squirted her discovery about Cecilia
and Leech to Hank, who would be the best capable
 to make use of the data, even as she focused her
telepathic power - 

 - and the British telepath struck home,
her psycho-blast piercing Cassandra's shields,
and letting Betsy into the attacker's mind -

 If the black bug room had been disgusting,
this was positively sickening; it was as if
evil had been distilled into psionic essence
and given physical form, mocking Xavier - 

 #Of COURSE! She's his opposite number - 
if this is some kind of bizarre genderswapped
'evil twin' of Charles', then her psionic might
makes perfect sense!# Betsy realized, slashing
at the sudden tendrils of psionic ichor which 
threatened to *drown* her in Cassandra - 

 "DAH, SPAWN OF EVIL!!"

 ~The cavalry -~ Betsy realized, laughing wildly
as blue lightning tossed her free of Cassandra's
mind and the "holding cell" became bright as
day with Rogue's attack.

  The telepath blinked, letting Warren help her 
to her feet, as the suddenly-returned Marie
blasted Cassandra with her magnetic power.
"They pulled the old ' stop their rotation
relative to the Earth' trick and zipped
here - Gambit's still sick from over-acceleration,
but Rogue's holding her own," Warren
yelled over the crackle of EM pulses.

 "And telepathy is effectively useless
in such an environment. Well-done,"
Betsy applauded, running to where Remy
was sitting, looking rather dazed, beside
Hank. Scott, Jean, Bobby, and Jubilee had
charged their powers, while Piotr stood near
Xavier and tended to the still-scorched Logan.

 "If I become steel -" Piotr said, and Betsy
patted his shoulder; she remembered what
happened any time Colossus became a living
lightning rod. His sense of frustration rang
in her own mind, and she looked at Xavier
as he watched the stalemate with a sickened
expression.

 "Charles, what IS she?! She claims to be
a dark reflection of yours!" Betsy shouted
over the crackle of energies.

 "I fear she might be right. There's only
one explanation for why Cassandra is so
powerful - she may well be my long-lost
twin sister. Or, something worse - a 
manifestation of my dark half, a 'mummudrai'
as the Shi'ar call such entities," Xavier 
yelled.

 "Well, we bettah figure out somethin' to
do 'bout this wildcat, 'fore she gets loose!"
Rogue yelped, as Cassandra's flames started
to leap free of the magnetic force bubble
the Magnetic Mississippi Marauder had created
to hold the attacker.

 "There IS nothing to be 'done,' you 
Southern-fried Lehnsherr-breeder," 
Cassandra spat, a triumphant look on her face
as her power aura grew beyond 
the bubble - 

 - and was pulled behind her, toward an open 
teleportal, as Bishop walked through with a
disapproving smirk, followed by Storm, Sage,
Neal Shaara, Lifeguard, and a now-X-uniform-clad
Davis Cameron - #he must've won his argument
to have his power triggered,# Betsy realized, since
none of the others were teleporters.

 "YES!" Bobby whooped, and Jean beamed when
Ororo ran to hug her. The returned "Xtreme"
team quickly greeted the other X-Men, keeping
a careful watch on where Bishop was barely
draining Cassandra of her energies.

 "All gathered together. How appropriate for me
to KILL YOU ALL TOGETHER! BWAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!" 
Cassandra cackled, her aura surging.

 And Betsy concentrated - she couldn't have
been resurrected, have been able to reunite
friends and virtual family, have even maybe
found Cecilia, only to die at the hands and mind
of some pathetic shadow of Charles Xavier - 

 ~Warren. Forgive me if this doesn't work. And
thank Franklin for me one more time,~ she sent,
letting action and thought become one, as her
psychic sword cohered - 

 - and COHERED - 

-------------------------------------------

 - and the collected X-Men watched, in as much
wonder as terror, as the psychic blade in Betsy's
right hand pierced Cassandra's skull.

 And the psychic blade in Betsy's left hand pierced
Cassandra's heart.

 The bald woman wheezed, collapsing, her energies
shrinking into her, as Betsy's blades vanished and
the British woman fell backwards into Warren's
arms. He cradled her, pulling her away from
Cassandra, whose body started to -

 - well, MELT.

 "Her telekinetic latency. It must have manifested
at the last second - it probably went latent again,
but it lasted long enough to allow Elizabeth to strike
at Cassandra's centers of power," Sage said. She
monitored Cassandra's discorporation, while Hank
checked Betsy, and the other X-Men gathered
around.

  "Charles ..." Ororo began, reaching for Xavier's
hand as Jean put an arm around her shoulders.

 "I should be the one to apologize, Ororo. I was so
focused on other crises that I failed to listen.
And Elizabeth may have paid the price for my 
distraction ... again," Xavier said, watching
as Hank checked Betsy's vitals, and Cassandra's 
body completely vanished.
 
 "Whatever happens, you're welcome back here,
all of you," Scott insisted, and Jean gave him a
grateful look as Ororo shared his quiet smile.

 Then Jean and Xavier both cried out, and
Warren looked horrified.

 "Her astral form -" Jean whispered, clinging to
Scott.

 "Betsy's mind is ... *missing.*"

------------------------------------------
 tbc ...
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