Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Betsy/Star Wars) Fanged Butterfly 2: Knightcross 58A/? (PG-13) From: Phil Hartman Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:31:08 +0000 will1@earthling.net Fanged Butterfly Vol. 2: Knightcross Chapter 58A by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. WARNING: Violence, language, themes. ----------------------------------------------------- 5/9/08: Xavier Institute for Paragenetic Studies, 1307 Greymalkin Lane, Salem Center, N.Y.: 11:00 hrs EDT: ----------------------------------------------------- Mara was still reeling - happily - from the revelations about her family - that she HAD one - but the urgent Force-call from Jaina had cut the reunion short. Anything that might help them gain insight into how Jacen had gone Sith took precedence over warm fuzzies right now ... and information on Skrulls (and the Chiss loathing of them, apparently?) tied into Jacen's brainkriff. Mara STILL planned to take Madelyne up on her offer of bar-hopping that night, however - she seemed like the most fun of her sisters. To their delight, Jean, Betsy, Sara and Ororo, Betsy and Jean's dear friend, had opted in. First, though, they had to deal with the surprise that not only was Jag's older sister Cherith - believed dead during the Vong War - alive, but a deep-cover human agent for the Chiss, on Earth. AND her cover identity was a high-ranking SHIELD agent, "Sharon Carter" - a woman who'd actually died years earlier in a horrible self-immolation caused by braintwisting. The irony was, Betsy had pointed out, "Sharon" was in an intimate relationship with "Captain America" - a blatantly propagandist (from Mara's point of view, anyhow) "superhero" promoting a fairly ... Rebel ... agenda. Well, the ex-Hand in Mara saw Americans' self-perspective as fairly Rebel-like. The country had even been founded in a very Rebel fashion, according to the primitive Holonet-like com-net infodump she'd accessed at her parents.' Of course, Mara didn't SAY any of this to her long-lost family; she acknowledged that democracy had some positives. Some. Mostly involving tearing off Farmboy's clothes whenever they were in the mood, instead of having to wait ... Back to "Sharon." The infoswap was too convenient for Mara's comfort level when Cherith came asking for Ben. This older woman - younger than Mara by about 25 years - just came walking up to Xavier's school and asked for Mara's teenaged son ... ? #She's PROBABLY too smart to try THAT,# Mara reminded herself as she, Luke, Ben, all of the Solos, Tahiri, Jag, Betsy, Xavier, Scott, Jean and Jake found seats in Xavier's library. If Cherith's Chiss handlers were testing Ben's pliability when faced with a pretty blonde ... Mara had taken him aside on his 13th birthday and talked to him about defenses against feminine wiles which only a former Hand could impart to her son. And, Mara thought with some sorrow, Ben wasn't quite so trusting of family, either ... she hoped he wasn't embittered against the wrong people. Jacen's betrayal stung Mara deep ... and Luke had been so - tame - for so long ... so had the Council ... /I don't want Jacen dead, Mom. But I promise - I'm thinking, now. `There never seems to be a right answer,' remember? And you and Dad came to help me,/ Ben sent back, smiling over his shoulder. Yeah, her kid was turning out OK after all. Despite everything ... ------------------------------------------------------------ The irony was thicker than gelmeat, Betsy reflected. #A Chiss-raised human spy from a proper Imperial family assumes the identity of a dead SHIELD agent and ends up kriffing Captain America. A Rebel by any measure. Oh. My. FORCE,# Betsy laughed inwardly, watching "Sharon Carter" - actually Cherith Fel - sit semi-uncomfortably as most of the extended Skywalker-Solo family gathered. "Thank you for seeing me so quickly. I didn't break cover for just any reason - your meeting aboard the Peak, with SWORD, IASA and Stargate Command, was well-spent. There IS evidence of deep-cover Skrull activity here on Earth, and worse, they aren't seem detectable by most means," Cherith said, her wrist-com holoproj lighting up - Betsy's eyes narrowed as she watched a woman she thought was Echo - one of Daredevil's enemies? - stab Elektra Natchios through the heart ... but who hit the ground was a dead SKRULL woman in Elektra's garb. "I don't trust SHIELD; they let Maria Hill - a Skrull - in. SWORD's pickier, more thorough about their vetting process, so I trust that all of you are who you say you are ... that, and what I've been authorized to reveal about the Chiss activity on Earth isn't for SHIELD's ears, either," Cherith said, sighing. She glanced at Xavier, and Scott and Jean, and the three shared a look amongst themselves - then Xavier said, "If you wish ..." "Well, it IS your home. I just - I was given quite a bit of autonomy on this mission. The particulars, I hope you understand, can't be shared, but ... let's just say obviously, being a SHIELD agent, keeping tabs on superhuman activity is part of my remit. What I'm NOT sure of is how much of the Aristocra's infodump I'm authorized to share with the X-Men, given your connections to the CSA and SHIELD," Cherith said, glancing at the suspicious-looking Jake. "Oh, so Formbi's calling, is he?" Betsy asked wryly - the old troll had never been overtly rude to her when she'd been patrolling the Unknown Regions for a way home before, but his annoyance and smug arrogance had been impossible to miss ... Cherith gave her a rather annoyed look, but Betsy just smiled a little too sweetly - oh, the poor girl was a stalwart loyalist, was she? Hmph. Sad. Betsy rather hoped Wedge's relatives had SOME degree of courage to question their Imperial upbringing ... But the only one Betsy knew really well was Jag, and he was hardly a "good" Fel child, anyhow. A good PERSON, but that was because he was Jag. "Well ... IF your masters are so afraid of powered humans finding out about the GFFA, it's a little late," Jake pointed out. "And if you want to help us kill Skrulls -" "Help the Galactic Alliance kill Skrulls. Earth is ... hands-off. Part of the treaty Thrawn helped negotiate 50 years ago. Now, IF your real power-brokers were to approach my handlers ... well, that may depend a lot on what happens here. You X-folk had better stay - this transmission is on a timetable, and - now," Cherith said, activating her holowatch ... to show an image of the largest circular combat control center Betsy had ever SEEN. It LOOKED like it was large enough to handle comm traffic from across the galaxy; an enormous holo of the entire galactic disk floated at eye level, while tiers of comm stations and illuminated screens lit the otherwise darkened chamber. The camera POV shifted, to show the middle-aged, rather overweight Aristocra Formbi, as the galactic image shifted. A large circular bracket formed around one tiny star in the same spiral arm as Csilla, and Formbi began to speak. "Good morning, Earth - Professor Xavier, Mr. and Mrs. Summers, Captain Summers, a pleasure to meet you, after all this time. I feel as if I've come to know you, or at least your psych profiles. Your work for racial peace is most admirable - please, Professor, don't try to claim humans and mutants are seperate species, young Jacob's existence proves your races can breed successfully," Formbi praised, actually sounding sincere. His smile became more pleasant, although a bit more ... concerned ... when he turned to Betsy, and said, "Dear Elizabeth ... we owe you a sincere apology. Were it not for your landing on Sernpidal, we would have sought you out and offered a way home. As it were, your joining the Jedi endangered our efforts to keep Terran powered beings from expanding into the galaxy ... but neither did we seek to harm you. I regret our continued refusal to help you get home." "Yes, well ... the nerf has left the barn, now hasn't it?" Betsy said, trying not to be bitter ... and failing. "HA! Such colorful language. And the Masters Skywalker, the Solos - and young Ben. YOUR work, young man, is MOST admirable - anyone who helps put an end to the Skrull FILTH is always welcome on Csilla," Formbi said, as Ben blushed. "Thank you, sir. Some of our work ..." Ben trailed off, trying to be polite, but Formbi's expression grew - gentle? "Granted, the Colonel's diversion into Corellian-baiting is regrettable. But never let ANYONE tell you that the Galactic Anti-Skrull Guard's original remit was misguided. DEATH! DEATH TO SKRULLS! Ahem - sorry. Overpatriotic moment. Bad Formbi. To the information we need to share," Formbi continued, looking rather embarrassed. "Thrawn was not the first to find Earth. It was our first purpose for being seeded on Csilla, after the genetic changes that allowed us to breathe on lower gravity worlds than our ancestors' native Hala," Formbi began, and Betsy smiled. "You were Kree," Betsy asked, and Formbi smiled, unusually open and honest. "Many millenia ago ... yes. After the debacle with the Inhumans, in which our ancestors experimented on the Eternal genetic offshoot of your species left behind by the Celestials, Kree scouts found the humans on Coruscant, and panicked. We were set to guard against the spread of humans FROM the Core, to Earth. So, Csilla was seeded with our ancestors," Formbi said, shrugging. He became ... focused as he added, "But the exile was a dishonor in the eyes of the Kree Empire, since our ancestors disagreed with the first strike tactics of the Empire. We had no argument leaving what you know as the Large Magellanic Cloud behind." "Sir, you said prevent the spread of humans FROM the Core. Why?" Ben asked, and Betsy radiated approval at his insight. Formbi chuckled, and looked at Ben approvingly. "Your mother's son indeed. Simple, young Ben. Combine the raw enhanced genetic power of Terran, or Earthling, mutancy with the faster than light capabilities of the Coreward humans ... what the Kree, Skrull and Shi'ar races fear would become reality: Powered humans with the chance to spread like wildfire." "No wonder my arrival set off alarms on Csilla. You had to know exactly who I was, or at least what my telepathy meant: a Terran mutant coming Coreward was the warning sign of what you feared was invasion," Betsy realized. "If it had been Magnus ... or that brat of a son of his, who sought active mutant colonization of the galaxy ... perhaps. You, at least, act nobly, and consider your deeds," Formbi said, waving at a bank of techs to lift the shielding filters from what comm transmissions they were monitoring ... and there was CBNC, CNN, and a few hundred cam shots from around Earth ... which looked ... not terribly dated. "So MANY of those pesky unexplained UFO sightings on your world are Chiss clawcraft adapted with holoshrouds. Quite fun, really. The declining number of UFO sightings in recent years is due to you and your fellow heroes honing your technology; in some ways, you rival us," Formbi said, half-smiling. He became more serious as he continued, saying, "The Skrull incursions on Corellia AND Coruscant give us every reason to believe the shapeshifting vermin are attempting to foment war to throw the Galactic Alliance - and, very likely, the Imperial Remnant - into disarray for some kind of strike at Earth. "There are apocryphal reports of a Skrull religious sect, supported by a renegade ex-wife of that bastard Emperor Dorrek, believing that Earth is somehow a Skrull `promised land,' bequeathed to them by their pagan deities. More dangerous are the reports of the Skrulls somehow using magic to mask even their thoughts when they morph into powered beings." "Jacen sensed something weird from that fake Thrackan before he killed him on Centerpoint, though," Ben said. Formbi nodded at him, replying, "Thrackan Sal-Solo - I hope you DID kill the real one after he resurfaced, Captain Solo, or at least Fett's granddaughter did - wouldn't need a complicated replacement. A SKILLED one, yes, but a standard Skrull could do the dirty deed. Done dirt cheap - DAMNIT! I can't get that song out of my HEAD!" Betsy had to fight very, VERY hard to keep from laughing; Jacob had turned beet-red in his efforts, while the rest of the crowd either looked confused or effected their best stoic expressions. Oddly, it was Xavier who giggled. But then, Charles always had a secret love for hair metal rock. Probably envious ... "Sir, if the Chiss are so worried about keeping Core humans away from Earth, then why ... trust us?" Ben asked. Formbi drew the galaxy map back to the galactic scale, and frowned. "Terran humanity is a concern, but honestly ... Hala can go hang. They have become degenerate savages, much like Earth's Rome in its latter days, clinging to the stagnation of the Supreme Intelligence's rule. We Chiss have closer threats than the old country," he said, marking a swath of the Unknown Regions in red, south from Earth. "The Scarrans and Goa'uld?" Betsy queried, and Formbi looked both surprised and approving. "SWORD has seen fit to trust you with that information. About time. If Stark's `Initiative' project actually works, the United States might have the trained superhumans to deal with those relic species - of course, the Zn'rx, or Snarks, are more of a relevant threat, but I'm sure young Franklin Richards' friends in the `Power Pack' could update you on the latest Snark machinations," Formbi said. "I don't suppose we could ask you for an updated astrogation map from Earth back to the GA?" Han asked, even as Leia looked at him warningly - he was behaving, for Han, but ... Formbi looked confused. "I'm rather surprised, Captain Solo. SWORD has all that data - we share information on a constant basis. They should release it to you in the interest of interplanetary relations; it's in Earth's governments' best interest to keep the Alliance and the rest of the wider galaxy hidden from the masses," he said, and the Summerses stirred, offended - "I think what Formbi means is that we need to consider the psychological shock the reality of Star Wars would have on the average person. Aliens are one thing, but the existence of galaxy-spanning political powers with enough firepower to slag or atomize planets are quite another," Betsy interjected - Formbi COULD be tolerable, but he was Chiss. Their haughtiness had a terrible sense of timing. "OK, so how do we shake that info loose from Brand?" Anakin asked, glancing at Tahiri - whether in concern she'd get jealous at his choice of words, or for advice on how to "shake" that information loose, Betsy wasn't sure. "Well, given that the treaty keeping the Empire off of Earth in exchange for Thrawn's return was negotiated between Gilad Pellaeon - yes, the `Old Man' gets around quite a bit - and the United States government ... I'd say you have to talk to the sitting President. The United Nations is a rather sad joke - but then, Earth's so self-involved with religious, political, ethnic and other strife that it's a miracle you haven't incinerated yourselves, even without your superhuman factions. Sorry, but I really have to go - oh, and Baron-Emperor-in-Exile Fel? Your exile is rescinded," Formbi said, as the holo winked out. Jag *almost* smiled, Cherith looked both relieved and worried, Han muttered, and the X-Men present looked ... a little out of place. "OK, so we're sociopolitically backward compared to the rest of the galaxy. He didn't have to rub it in," Jake grumbled. "We do have some progress to work from, however. President Kelly is far more amenable to visitors from the mutant community these days, and I'm sure Agent Brand has filled him in on the presence of the Skywalkers and Solos. Your Highness, as a skilled negotiator ..." Xavier trailed off, and Leia nodded. "I've been wanting to meet with a leader of your world since I learned there's no global government. I'm not authorized to share technology or offer a place in the Galactic Alliance, but if this president is a reasonable person, perhaps we can talk," Leia said. "Well, count me out. You folks've been polite, but I'm no great speaker. The hyperdrive's still polarized, and we keep finding fried fuses throughout the system - it could take a standard week to get things back up to speed. Good thing we keep a LOT of spare parts," Han admitted, glancing at Cherith - She held up her hands. "OHHHH no. I don't even have a ship to get off-world. And I've risked more than enough as it is just by blowing my cover. I *do* hope I can trust you X-Men not to tell ... certain people ... who I am?" Cherith asked. Scott and Xavier frowned, but Jean replied neutrally, "I'm sure we'd love to be the ones to break Captain America's heart, by telling him that he's sleeping with an extraplanetary spy masquerading as a dead woman." #OUCH,# Betsy thought, as Cherith paled - but Jake coughed and said, "Mom ... everyone ... strictly speaking, we are bound by secrecy agreements? Agent Fel - Agent 13 - IS a member of SHIELD -" "And a double-agent for these Chiss," Scott rasped. Cherith flashed him an angry glare. "We're just not authorized to hold your hands while you spat with xenothreats or help you settle planets!" she snapped. "Fine. I just hope you can live with yourself ..." Jean growled, slipping outside with Scott. Xavier was more polite, but still cool, and left with Leia, Han and Jake, as Anakin and Tahiri went back to working on the Falcon. "I've a social call to pay to this `Camp Hammond' - I want to talk to Tony Stark about his arrogance with this `Initiative' of his," Betsy said, leaving Jag, Jaina, and the Skywalkers with Cherith ... hoping it wouldn't be inflammatory, for some reason. ----------------------------------------------------- As Aunt Betsy left, Ben looked at Cherith and asked, "You said you had more info on killing Skrulls?" She took a datachip from her belt and handed it to him. "All the updated information on Skrull activities on Earth - our work in the GA's been curtailed, with GAG digging out operatives from EVERY other intel group," Cherith said. "Thanks. Uhm ... can I ask how you survived? I mean, the Vong?" Ben wondered - he figured Jag probably wanted to know, but couldn't ask. Cherith smiled kindly and said, "Sorry, need to know. But I did zag instead of zig. We're not all blindly Imp drones - that what you've been taught? Probably not YOU, since your mother's an ex-Hand, but ..." "Hey, if you want to trade barbs, `sister-in-law,' Ben's an undeserving target," Jaina shot back, and Ben gave her a grateful look - he hadn't THOUGHT Cherith was trying to be mean, but ... Cherith looked at Jaina kind of funny, then smiled - and this time, it was a little cold. "BEN, out of all of you, has had the only real courage to deal with the threat at the door. But then, he's GA, not Rebel, now is he? Even a nasty, Cap-humping Imp bitch like me knows that," she said. Mom reached for Ben, but he squeezed her hand - /I'm OK,/ he sent, a little annoyed AND grateful - then said, a little cold himself, "You're talking about the Vong war." Cherith smiled. "Another point for the kid. Well, young man - almost 14, right? You'd actually earn that lieutenant's rank in the Ascendancy, way you're going. Yeah. Maybe I AM a little bitter about the NR dragging its heels at Sernpidal. And Yavin IV. And on. And ON," she said - meaner. This time, Jaina was the one with the coldness - but she was smiling a little ... creepily, too, even as she patted Ben's shoulder. "Let me take this one, Ben?" she asked. /Just don't hurt her, or get hurt?/ Ben asked, meaning it - he LIKED Jaya, she'd always been nice to him, even when he'd been a brat - /Hey, you woke up from Jacen's mind-trick. You're NOT a brat - you need help, lemme know. Cherith here is a little out of your league, though, OK?/ Jaya asked, and Ben nodded. Part of growing up was picking your battles, after all. ---------------------------------------------------------- "Look, you two - we're guests in a library, and I love you both, so can you PLEASE not draw blood?" Jag asked, sounding almost ... resigned. "Relax, Jag. I won't punch Her Imperial Iciness if she doesn't toss any at me," Jaina replied, glancing at Jag - poor Jaggie. "OK, that's it - Ben, c'mon. No need to witness this," Luke said, and Ben reluctantly left with him and Mara. Mara gave Jaina another Force-reminder not to tear the place up, and Jaina acknowledged it ... she just couldn't promise not to rip CHERITH's assumptions apart ... "Jaina -" Jag began - but Jaina kissed him, then pushed him onto the couch, and smiled at Cherith. HER fight. "Let's cut the crap, Cherith - you can deal with the fact that Jag married a Solo, but not that he married a Rebel? Or is it the Jedi thing? Because I've heard this before," Jaina said, letting ice back into her tone. "First fighter I fixed? TIE. Old school. First boyfriend? Fringer `scum' on Imperial Center - yeah, I know Coruscant's old name. First lightsaber? Red - Brakiss' toy, the sadist. First genocide? The shipwomb on Sernpidal - thank you, Durron. First darkside Vongfry? Escaping Myrkr ... "So, guess what? I'm NOT so Rebel as you think - or you admit." "WHAT!?" Cherith gasped - oh, Jaina was going to ENJOY this ... She allowed herself a little grin, shrugging as she said, "So, yeah, I know Imps are people too - I married one, after all. "You , though ... you're just a hypocrite. And you hate yourself for it." Cherith was SEETHING - time to dump a harsh amount of ice on that temper, Jaina thought, her eyes narrowing as she zeroed in for the kill ... "Jaya ..." Jag asked; he knew her well enough, that she was going to like this. Probably too much. "Relax, lover," Jaina soothed, smiling cruelly at the look of disgust the words brought to Cherith's face - yeah, she needed to throttle back. A little. "Oh, don't worry - I'll spare you the usual `Alderaan, Caamas, Honoghr' line of propaganda. The one was as much Tarkin as anyone; the second, a massive kriff-up on the Bothans' part; the third, essentially my bastard grandfather - yes, I DO admit Vader was a bastard, redeemed or not. Shocked?" Jaina mocked, smirking as Cherith looked ... deflated. That was when Jaina narrowed her eyes and said, "The Remnant - and the Empire of the Hand - aren't monsters. I get it. But their leaders HAVEN'T MOVED ON from their mistakes, any more than the hardest Rebels have." "How do you figure that?" Cherith asked, a little bemused ... #Laugh it up, schutta. Prepare for a nasty punch-line ...# "There are signs - a handful - that some among the Moffs are getting the idea that nonhumans can be useful for more than cannon fodder. And their treatment of women is improving. But your very presence here kind of begs the question - why should Soontir Fel's daughter feel like she had to fake her own death and rut with a living symbol of Rebel ideals on a backwater planet, if the Remnant's grown up?" Jaina asked, too sweetly. "DAMN YOU!" Cherith SHRIEKED - but Jaina pushed her back into her chair, standing herself and glaring down at her. "I'm. Not. DONE. If you have an issue with me because of my midichlorian count - I can't change that. I DID change my `slow-to-kill-shavitheads' reflex, however, so please don't spew the `Jedi pacifism = weakness' crap. Been there, done that. I agree, you have a nek chewing your leg, shoot the kriffer," Jaina said, tapping into her disgust - as much at the Order as at Cherith. "If you have an issue with my parentage, well, your parents obviously thought highly enough of me not to give Jag grief about me marrying him - not that that would've stopped two grown adults, but Soontir and Wyn are two of the five people whose opinion really mattered, so get over it. The other three, in case you can't figure it out, are my parents and Jag. "If you have an issue with my training, well - *I*, personally, WAS out killing Vong, thank you, not wasting my time mindkriffing politicos. "And please, PLEASE, don't give me the argument about moral high ground. Yes, we should've killed the Praetorite Vong at Sernpidal. I almost lost Chewie there; we lost way too many good people. But whether or not the Empire or the Rebels had the moral high ground - whether it would've mattered in who got the first shot at the Vong ... it's never been that black or white. I learned that a LONG time ago. I've seen both, and liked and hated parts of both. "So, I stopped pretending to be a Rebel or an Imperial, and became a person. A bounty hunter. And Jag came along - out of love. We're honest with each other and with ourselves, as much as it might hurt, because that's a formula for living. If you resent me, resent me for what I resent MYSELF for - not confronting Jacen long before now," Jaina concluded, looking at Cherith and feeling ... not contempt, anymore. It might have been sympathy, but Cherith left before Jaina could figure it out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cherith stormed out - WOW, Jaina had ticked HER off ... Ben sat with Mom, as Dad looked around the big front hall of the school, and sometimes kids or teachers walked by - then blinked, almost asked, and didn't ... it was kind of funny. But Ben did kind of wish he didn't have a braid. He might fit in better ... or maybe they feared Luke Skywalker. Ben ... kind of resented him ... But Ben felt HORRIBLE about that, too. Dad couldn't help being Dad - and he'd come to help rescue him. Wasn't it all dark-side, these feelings? "You need to get something off your chest," Mom said - Ben smiled, kind of glad of the interruption, kind of scared ... But Mom and Dad had always let Ben ask questions. "I ... I guess I just don't know why I *had* to be apprenticed to Jacen. I mean - you guys love me, and I love you. I don't doubt that - it's ..." Ben trailed off, not sure how to finish asking - "Why didn't I see it? Why didn't I see him going - where he went?" Ben looked at Dad - REALLY looked - and he didn't see someone who scared him, even if Dad never meant to ... Dad looked OLD. "I've been asking myself that same question, Ben. Maybe I ... I practically raised him myself, you know. I didn't let him or the other kids have a real childhood - and when it came time for you to learn ... Jacen had come back, full of knowledge. I thought he could help you, and instead, he -" Dad said, getting ... sad. He got TEARS in his eyes, and Ben felt awful, as Dad said in a tight voice, "I let you go. I thought he could do a better job, probably because I thought I'd succeeded with him ... because ..." "Because I was afraid of being a father. That I'd be like -" "Dad ..." Ben said, wiping his own eyes - he stood and hugged Dad, Dad couldn't THINK he was like - /You're NOT VADER,/ Ben sent, and Dad smiled a little. "No. But I didn't let enough people question, either. Keep asking the tough ones, Ben," Dad said, and Ben hugged him. That was how Ben figured things out - asking enough questions. It was slow and hard ... but maybe Jedi NEEDED that, AND the Force. "While we're here - we've got some time. I know the ladies are planning some activities. You want to find something to do, together? No ... special talents, just ... normal things for ... here?" Dad asked, and Ben grinned - he MEANT it - ?! "The ladies' `activities,' Farmboy, had better NOT have male equivalents, given the ... chaotic nature of what we have planned," Mom tried to joke, and Ben AND Dad blushed - "Well, I could find some of these - what did Marrissa call them - `fanclubs'?" Dad said, with a straight face - he WOULDN'T ... "You MEAN `fanGIRLS,' smart-shebs. And don't even think it - you either, Ben. Go play - I dunno, the local equivalent of shockball or something," Mom laughed ... it all felt OK, just joking around ... #We're being just regular people. And it's great,# Ben thought ... Maybe he would cut that braid. -------------------------------------------------------------- tbc ...