Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Havok/Madelyne) Echoes in the Canyon 3/3 (PG-15) Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 21:41:55 -0800 (PST) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Echoes in the Canyon Conclusion by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're all Marvel's. It's all fiction. No money is being made off of this. Etc. NOTE: Violence, language, mature themes, etc. ------------------------------------------------------- 10/30/1995: Somewhere in Nebraska: 05:00 hrs CST: ------------------------------------------------------- "You'd better not be lying, demon." N'astihr had heard similar threats from similar victims in the past few thousand years. But this particular target was actually someone who posed a threat ... ... which made his plan all the more sweet. "I swear by all I hold unholy, o Goblyn Queen, the answers to your questions await beyond this portal," the winged, horse-faced arch-demon said in a humble tone. His companion - the scantily-clad, crimson-haired Madelyne Pryor - blasted open the door to the underground complex with a burst of telekinetic force and led the way inside. She was enjoying her newfound abilities, as well as feeling more than a little afraid of what she was now capable of. #Alex - all of you - forgive me. But when I started feeling this ... power ... rising within me, I couldn't resist. Yeesh - how comic-book is THAT thought?# Madelyne reflected with a wry smirk. It vanished, replaced by a look of transcendent horror, when she saw the laboratory. There were growth tanks - she recognized the general technology from stories from the various X-Men, who'd dealt with enough insane geneticists and biologists to recognize such devices - and control panels. And hoses. Lots of hoses. But one of the tanks drew Madelyne to look at it. Rather, she dusted off and examined a plaque on its front. MADELYNE Codex: 1 Series: 1 Ident: 1 It wasn't until an infant, laying in a creche inside the tank, grew from baby to girl to woman before Madelyne's eyes, that she screamed. Then fire wrapped around her neck and legs and arms, and N'astihr vanished from sight. ------------------------------------------------------- #God, don't let me be too late ...# The air crackled outside the abandoned orphanage, admitting a spandex-clad Alex Summers. He pulled the cowl of his Havok costume into place over his head and followed the tracks, ignoring the chill of the late October night. #I thought something was weird. But it wasn't until the sensors confirmed another psion at the base - sensors Maddy calibrated - besides Betsy that I could trust my instincts. The others have the Marauders to track ... I owe Maddy so much. I can't leave her to whatever her powers might be doing to her,# Alex thought. #Or what she might do with them ...# The past year had been wonderful for them both, but Alex wasn't blind. He knew that he was heading down a dangerous road with Madelyne. He had been ever since they'd reunited in San Francisco. #The real question is, who do I love? Lorna? Maddy? Neither? Both? I have to choose,# Alex sighed inwardly. Then he saw the high-heel tracks. And the cloven hooves beside them. "Oh, Maddy, please tell me you're not working with - sonofabitch!" Alex yelled as the ground shook. He bolted for the exterior entrance to the basement. ------------------------------------------------------- "I won't be held by you! I won't be CONDEMNED by you!" Nathaniel Essex was not an easy man to impress. The last time he'd actually stated that fact had been when he'd set up a certain Acadian to do his dirtiest work. That time had ended in near-disaster, just like tonight was shaping up to be. #If only Jean Grey hadn't returned from the 'dead' before Madelyne could meet Scott ... ah, well. I never should have let the Marauders be the ones to go after Madelyne, obviously,# Sinister thought as he dove for cover. "I'm no mere clone, Sinister! I know what I am, who I might be - and I'm not afraid to KICK YOUR ASS HERE AND NOW!" Madelyne shrieked, letting her power erupt from her. The orphanage ... disappeared. "Well, that was constructive," Sinister coughed from beneath a pile of dirt. He looked around, noting the blast radius and the rather satisfying pile of scorched green-skinned demon to his right. "Poor N'astirh. He never did realize who he was playing with. I didn't need him anyway ..." Sinister gagged as fiery talons lifted him by the throat. His psionics and his metamorphic abilities seemed to be less than effective at the moment - ~I'm blocking your access to both. I'm really not sure if I should just mindfry you now, or if I should leave something for poor Scott. He is my 'brother-in-law,' after all,~ Madelyne - now clad in a Black Queen costume - sent, her eyes pulsing with the same psionic flame as her aura. "MADDY! NO!" "You're joking," Sinister wheezed as Madelyne dropped him. The geneticist looked on with a mixture of incredulity and mild disappointment as Havok approached from the edge of the crater. "Alex ... meet the monster who 'made' me from Jean's DNA. Mister Sinister, the beast who sent the Marauders to kill the Morlocks, then I. He even tortured you and your brother, although neither of you remember that yet," Madelyne said, giving Sinister a glare of disgust. Alex went pale, but stood his ground as Madelyne landed beside him. "Maddy, please. I know you're angry. But you've gotta listen to me. The Phoenix Force - you - you're too powerful to just go off like this," he pleaded. "Alex, I'm not going to eat a star or something! All I want is justice! The Marauders killed hundreds of people. They shot me. And this animal ordered it all to happen!" Madelyne snapped. Then the metal among the ruins started to twitch. "Oh, shit. Not now," Alex groaned. Madelyne's only response was a feral snarl as Malice descended from the far edge of the crater. "Better late than never, eh, boss? And look who's here to play with," the possessed Lorna Dane cackled. Her laughter was cut off by a gurgle, then a horrific scream, as Madelyne gestured absently. "Let the girl go, Malice. You're a ghost with a sadism problem, and I don't want any distractions," Madelyne sneered, gripping Malice's transparent astral form in a fiery talon. ~Psi-bitch! I'll - AIEEGKH -~ Malice projected. Alex shuddered as the astral plane jerked, and Malice was simply - - gone. "She'll have a while to think about her wickedness. I'm not in the mood to randomly slaughter my enemies, anyway," Madelyne huffed as she stomped over to where Sinister was catching his breath. Alex barely heard Madelyne's declaration as he bolted to Lorna's side. "Hon ...?" he asked, taking her in his arms. "Alex ... oh, God, Alex ..." Lorna sobbed, clinging to him. He helped her up and let her lean on him, but he couldn't help but look at Madelyne and Sinister. "She's Dark Phoenix reincarnated, Lor. I'm sorry, but I can't let this happen again," Alex whispered into Lorna's ear. He set her down gently on the ground, then kissed her forehead, and turned to face Madelyne. "Where does it stop, Maddy? You take 'justice' for Sinister's victims, and then who's next? The Marauders? Magneto? The Brotherhood? You read the Phoenix's file the same as the rest of us," Alex called. "Hypocrisy is really not your strong suit, Alex. You took down members of that Brood nest in Australia. You're no saint," Madelyne sneered. "I can't destroy worlds, Madelyne! That's the difference! I'm not talking moral high ground or Xavier's philosophy or any of that other crap! You're a walking extinction event, for Christ's sake! If you lose control, we're all screwed!" Alex shouted - he wanted to keep his plasma energies inside, but his control was still shitty - - and that night in San Francisco, where Malice had taunted him as she'd fled in Lorna's body, came back. #Could I kill Maddy if I had to? I couldn't when it was Malice ... Lorna. Can I do it now?# Alex thought, sweating despite the winter chill. Then the flames around Madelyne went out, and she slumped to the dirt like a puppet with her strings cut. Sinister fell also, but snarled when he was pinned by metal wreckage. Alex gave Lorna a grateful smile, which she returned, and they walked over to where Madelyne was sitting and crying. "I should thank you," Lorna said softly. She dropped to one knee beside Madelyne, who had hugged her knees up beneath her chin. "Don't thank me yet. I fell in love with your boyfriend," Madelyne sniffed. She wiped her eyes, then watched as Alex knelt before the two women and removed his cowl. "And if you hadn't, the entire world might be Phoenix chow," Lorna pointed out. She gave Alex a stern look and added, "That doesn't let you off the hook, you realize. It's been more than a year, mister, and my would-be rival was the one who freed me from Malice. We're going to help Madelyne, then we're going to have a long talk." #Oh, this is not shaping up to be a good night at all,# Alex thought with a wince. ------------------------------------------------------- "I don't want to let you go. But I have no right to keep you here, either." After several long-winded explanations to the X-Men (who were not pleased about Madelyne hogging the comm suite), X-Factor (Jean had been having fits the instant Madelyne had called on the Phoenix Force) and Valerie Cooper and Freedom Force (Sinister was heading for a cell at the Vault), Alex, Lorna and Madelyne had gotten changed and regrouped at a small bar in Mexico Logan had recommended. "I appreciate that, Alex. Because, quite frankly, I'm still messed up inside and more than a little pissed off at you. Malice made me do Godawful things, and you never once looked for me," Lorna said, glaring at her boyfriend over her seltzer water. "I tried! Lorna, I swear -" Alex began. "It wasn't his fault." Both mutants looked at Madelyne, who was sitting on Alex's side of the booth and about as far away from him as she could get. She gave them a guilty look, then adjusted her "I'm With The Furry Stupid" shirt and uncrossed her arms. "I knew where the Marauders were for months. I ... just wanted the X-Men to myself. I felt safe with them, especially with Alex. Lorna, I'm sorry. I ... just needed time to re-emerge from my amnesia. Then, N'astihr showed up and offered to give me my truth back, and ... it all went wrong. I used you, Alex, and I'm sorry," Madelyne said in a small voice. "My GOD, Maddy! I - you used me for a Goddamned security blanket!? You're the host of the frigging Phoenix, for Christ's sake! What could I give you that it couldn't!?" Alex blurted. Madelyne dabbed at her eyes with a napkin and mumbled a single word. "Home." Alex bit back his next words while Lorna raised an eyebrow. "She's right. You're ... comfortable. Scott has Jean and the kids and the leadership thing, and he has his moments of compassion. But you're the softy, Alex. You need comforting in your moments of 'why-am-I-not-Scott'-ness, and you're secure enough in who you are to hug for no reason other than we need you," Lorna said, fighting a smile. "You love me because I'm a doormat?" Alex groaned. "NO!" Lorna and Madelyne both yelled. "My God, Alex, you came halfway around the world for me! For that matter, you wouldn't even sleep with me for comfort, because you're either too damn committed to Lorna or too damn noble. Scott would charge after Jean for love and chivalry and Xavier, but you do it because it's the right thing to do," Madelyne all but laughed. "You didn't - whoa. You had her, at arm's length, and you never - damnit, Alex, why didn't you TELL me that!?" Lorna exclaimed. "We were a little busy saving the world from - well, sorry, Maddy, but you did get a little nuts there," Alex said, feeling lost. He almost jumped when Madelyne kissed his cheek and teked herself over and past him out of the booth. "You're sweet, Alex Summers. You always have been. You know who you belong with. As for me ... I need to go find who I belong with. Maybe it's even just little old me. Tell Ororo and the others I'm sorry, and I promise, no eating the world," Madelyne called as she left the bar. Alex looked after her, then looked at Lorna with wide eyes. "You didn't - damnit, Alex. You let me be a harpy for no reason," Lorna sniffled. "But you were right to be angry -" Alex began. He was silenced when a pair of green lips covered his. "Shut up, you silly, silly man. And come on. There's a world out there, and I want to get you as far away from wherever Madelyne's going as soon as possible," Lorna ordered with a growing smile. Alex paid the tab, then rose, and took Lorna's hand. "If she's leaving, maybe we should stay and dance a while?" Alex suggested. Lorna just hugged him, and walked with him to the jukebox. The sun seemed to flicker once, a bird-shape around it, as it sank over the bar. ------------------------------------------------------- finis