Subject: [OTL]: (Age of Madelyne) Morrigan Chapter 4/? (PG-13) Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 16:21:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Age of Madelyne: Morrigan Chapter 4 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Everyone here is Marvel's. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. CONTINUITY: Alternate; explanation below. NOTE: " - spoken word # - personal thought ~ - telepathy * - flashback -------------------------------------------------------- 6/16/2001: X-Mansion Boathouse: 10:40 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "1994 ... the year it all came together, and fell apart again," Maddie said, thoughtfully, as she pushed the plate of breakfast pastries in front of Nate. "Thanks," the boy said, gnawing on a blueberry muffin. "Didja make thesh? They're great !" "You're too kind, sweetie," Maddie laughed. "Got my old bones up at 9 a.m. to set up this spread." Nate gratefully accepted a glass of milk from Scott, while Emma gave Maddie a sidelong glance. ~He's growing,~ Emma sent. ~Perhaps a bit much ... ?~ ~It's the virus. Hank theorizes that Nate's constant subconsious use of his TK to keep the virus in check requires more food consumption than usual,~ Maddie replied. ~That, and he has hit puberty - his voice's been breaking, his power levels've spiked, and he's started having precognitive flashes. Mostly deja vu, from what he's told me, but given his power potential ...~ ~A full-blown chronokinetic ?~ Emma sent, surprise evident in her mental voice if not on her face. ~Time always has been something we've played hob with,~ Maddie psi-chuckled. ~Whether it was Kitty travelling back and forth astrally, or Bishop ...~ "1994 was when Bishop showed up, wasn't it ?" Emma reminisced. Her face darkened as she added, "It was also the year - well." "Yes - there were a lot of changes in 1994," Scott agreed, sighing. "And it all started with the Shadow King's return." ******************************************************** 9/9/1994: Muir Island Genetic Research Station, Orkney Islands, Scotland: 08:00 hrs local: -------------------------------------------------------- "Grmmh ..." "Charles !?" Maddie shouted, shaking her former mentor awake. Charles Xavier sat bolt-upright in bed, gasping, and blinked back tears. "David," he rasped, clutching Maddie's outstretched hand. "Madelyne - oh, God, he's gone. My son is gone." "Let it out, Charles," Maddie said, letting the bald man lean on her. "I know the pain, believe me - or at least the fear of losing a child." "Yes ... you would," Xavier whispered, sitting up and looking mournfully at Maddie. "Is Nathan - ?" "The ... virus's spread stopped, when he started using his TK to hold it back," Maddie mumbled, looking at her hands. "He's been practicing with the 'Professor' - the new name Ship's psionic nexus gave itself after it linked with Nate to help him restrain the virus. Nate's made a lot of progress - he's even keeping the virus at bay when he's asleep. It's like some part of his mind is able to keep the TK active." "Nothing surprises me about you and yours, Madelyne," Xavier said, gently. Maddie looked at him, and he smiled, adding, "I know you have lingering doubts about your place among the X-Men, my dear. But please, never doubt that you are a vital, unique individual, and a necessary part of this family." "Thanks," Maddie said, giving Xavier a confident smile. "But I've known who I am ever since we dealt with Sinister. I ... sometimes have flashes - of the Phoenix, of Jean - but I know who I am, and that's all that matters." "And that's all that matters to me, as well," she heard, before looking over her shoulder to smile at Scott. "Nate and Ray are asleep - they found a place to crash in one of the guest cottages," Scott said, pulling up a chair beside Maddie. "Artie, Leech and Sarah are scattered in sleeping bags, and Rina and young Charles are in the living room of the cottage." "Thank God they weren't down here when ..." Maddie breathed, shaking her head. She let Scott wrap an arm around her shoulders, and Xavier closed his eyes. "Charles, I know your stance on ... dealing ... with villains. But Farouk left me no choice," Maddie said, looking directly at Xavier. Xavier opened his eyes, and nodded, a grim expression flickering across his face. "He very nearly had enough power to begin spreading his taint across the planet," Xavier said. "We must never resort to killing unless it is a last resort. But in this circumstance ..." His fists clenched on the blanket over him, and he said a word that sent Scott's eyebrows somewhere into the vicinity of Scott's hairline. "I apologize," Xavier said, almost blushing. "But Farouk took my SON -" He hugged himself, then, and Maddie and Scott hugged him. ******************************************************** "I really wonder if that was what led to the start of Onslaught," Scott breathed, waving Rachel over from where she had exited the cove. "Y'really think so, Dad ?" Nate gulped, wide-eyed. "That kind of loss could have driven Charles to the path he took. He was never so relentless, so self-demanding, before," Maddie agreed. "After Muir, he withdrew ... into self-pity, not grief." "We almost had some grief then, too," Rachel said, sitting beside Nate and squeezing Maddie's shoulder. "After what Fitzroy's attack did -" Emma and Maddie winced "After what he TRIED to do, Rachel," Emma said, sighing. "The Hellions ..." ******************************************************** 10/31/1994: Somewhere in the Arctic Circle, north of Greenland: 22:00 hrs local time: -------------------------------------------------------- The screams - young, terrified, and horrifically cut short - awoke her. #uh- The Hellfire Club !?# Maddie thought, opening her eyes. She reinforced her mindshields, and glanced about from where she was laying on some kind of metal table. Technological devices, and dozens of youthful bodies clad in purple and lavender, were what she saw. #OH MY GOD ! The Hellions - ALL of them - that green-haired lunatic -# Maddie realized, sitting up and looking at the man in question. He was young - #Maybe Sam or Dani's age,# Maddie realized, wondering for a second where her former students had disappeared to after the chaos at the mansion's underground complex months earlier - with green hair shaved at the sides of his head, up to a mess of curls on top of his head. "She's awake," the man - English, Maddie thought, from the accent - said, turning around to look at her with an expression of hatred. "How quaint. I wanted you up and about, to make you suffer all the more, Frost." "Sorry, kid, but - oh, boy," Maddie began, looking at herself. Blonde hair dangled in her eyes. She was clad in a white bustier and G-string, with thigh-high boots. And the fur stole at her neck was chafing her. #Emma's body -# Maddie realized, rolling her eyes. #This is going to be hard to explain to Scott ...# Then the roof exploded, Piotr Rasputin fell on top of several of Fitzroy's lackies, and all hell broke loose. "Maddie - I mean, Emma - I mean - aw, geezh, c'mon, lady, let's get outta here !" Maddie heard, before Warren swooped down and lifted her out of the volcano. -------------------------------------------------------- ~Concentrate, Madelyne,~ Xavier sent, as Maddie felt the elder telepath "scooping" her psyche together into a coherent whole. ~I'm trying, Charles, but this G-string is riding up,~ Maddie tried to joke. #Not really a good time to be flippant, girl - talk about irony, Jean Grey's clone and the Phoenix's soulshard being resurrected AGAIN -# Then reality flip-flopped - - as a flash of a reserved, irate, and grief-stricken mind shot past Maddie - - and she sat upright, red hair dangling in her eyes once more. "I'm - Charles, you did it !" Maddie laughed, hugging Xavier. She felt his joy, below the reserve and the concern for the other X-Men, and returned Forge's thumbs-up sign. "I thought I felt another presence," Xavier said, looking intently at Emma's body after he released Maddie to stand. "She's alive. Hurt, terribly - crushed below her grief and the injuries to her body, but she's alive, and fighting," Maddie said, looking at Emma with an expression which made Xavier blink. Maddie looked at Xavier and said, "Charles, she's ... wrong, in many ways, but she's still human. She saw the Hellions as her children - their murders hurt her, deeply." ******************************************************** "And I thank you for your empathy, and today, friendship," Emma said, clanking her glass against Maddie's. "Well, you've grown out of that whole 'bitter, lonely telepath turned ice queen of vengeance' bit," Maddie teased. "Besides, anyone who could grow enough to win Jubilee's respect deserves my vote of confidence." ******************************************************** 8/31/1996: Xavier Institute for Higher Learning: Boathouse: 18:00 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "We'll miss ya, Jubes," Nate said, hugging his oft-kidsitter around the legs. "Take care, firecracker," Rachel agreed, squeezing Jubilee's hand. "Hey, I'll be fine - I got you guys at my back, right ?" Jubilee laughed, hugging the Summers kids. She turned, and shook Scott's hand as she said, "You'd better protect 'em, Cyke. Or- " "JUBILEEEEEE !!!!" "Rina - OOF !" Jubilee blurted, as Rina Logan tackle-hugged her. The 9-year-old clung to her foster sister, and sobbed. "Don't go - please," Rina whimpered. She looked over her shoulder at Logan and Elektra, but Elektra gave her daughter a sympathetic shake of the head. "Jubilee has to follow her own path, darling," Elektra said, letting Rina run to her. "But we'll miss her." "And I, you, sensei," Jubilee said, bowing formally before she hugged Elektra and Rina for a long moment. The 15-year-old girl looked at Logan for a long moment, then smirked and said, "Tell ya what I told Cyke, here -" "Got it, darlin'," Logan said in an unusually thick tone of voice, returning Jubilee's hug. "Y'take care too, right ?" "Sure, Wolvie," Jubilee said, releasing her friend and foster father. Finally, the girl looked at Maddie, who was holding a small wrapped package. "A little something," Maddie said, smiling sadly. Jubilee accepted the package, and unwrapped it as her eyes lit up. "The Crazed Sugar Bomb Commandoes' new CD !? Maddie, how'd - ooh, never mind, you're, like, a SAINT !!!!" Jubilee exclaimed, hugging the psion. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou !!!!!!!" "Just promise me two things," Maddie said, holding the girl tight for a moment. "Don't give Emma and Sean TOO much grief, and visit. Often. Got it ?" "Always," Jubilee said, leaning back and smiling at her friends. "You guys take it easy, OK ? I - I gotta car to catch." She picked up her bag and headed for the waiting car, trying not to cry. ******************************************************** "God, if only that'd been the worst thing we'd endured that year ..." Maddie's voice trailed off, and she looked at Rachel and Nate with overt concern. "How - how much do you guys remember about that October ?" their mother asked. Nate winced, and Rachel's voice went soft as she replied, "Enough. At least with the Phalanx, we were able to hide with Gram and Gran and Aunt Sara and the twins - but ... with Onslaught ..." Emma and Maddie shuddered, and Scott coughed, looking at the floor. ******************************************************** 10/31/1996: X-Mansion Main Foyer: 23:58 hrs EST: -------------------------------------------------------- "MADDIE !!!" "SCOTT !" Madelyne screamed, floating amidst the Phoenix Effect as Onslaught loomed over the unconscious Juggernaut. "Get the kids OUT of here !" The drooling body of Magneto fell from Onslaught's hands, and the red and purple titan boomed, laughing as it said, "I WILL CONSUME YOUR CHILDREN, LITTLE PHOENIX. AND WITH THEM, THE WORLD WILL BOW BEFORE ME. HAD YOU TAKEN UP MY OFFER BEFORE, PERHAPS YOU COULD HAVE SAVED THEM." Maddie flew between the retreating X-Men and Onslaught, waiting until her kids, along with Artie, Leech, Rina, Sarah and Chuck Lehnsherr were away to turn back to Onslaught. "You ate Magneto's mind, up on Avalon, a year ago," Maddie rasped, floating higher amidst the Phoenix. "You betrayed every principle we ever shared, Charles - you defiled the dream. I've done things to bend it, things I'm not proud of. But to threaten your spiritual grandchildren - to TWIST us from within ? "IT ENDS HERE." The fire and the light filled the mansion, and from outside, Scott could see the Phoenix's head rising from the shattered ruin - - diving, like the raptor it represented - - and then, a scream, like a trapped rabbit might make, cut mercifully short. ******************************************************** "God ..." "I'm still sorry," Maddie whispered, resting her face in her hands. Scott pulled her to him, and she coiled in his lap, letting him hold her. "M-Mom, you ... you didn't have a choice. The Professor was going to consume every mind on Earth," Rachel said, looking ill as she spoke. "You saved us all." "I know. But he was right - we'd both crossed terrible lines, sweetie," Maddie said, shaking her head as she looked up. "I hope and pray you two never have to kill. It's a horrible thing. I've done it too many times - Apocalypse, Sinister, the Shadow King ..." "B-but the Professor's still alive," Nate said, looking around the table with a hopeful expression. "'The lights are on, but nobody's home,'" Emma whispered, drawing a scowl from Scott. "At least, not that we can tell," Maddie agreed, slipping from Scott's embrace to sit between Rachel and Emma. "And compared to what came the next year, even Onslaught was mild ..." -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: Operation: Zero Tolerance, the Kelly Act, the Sydney Olympics, and looking to the future ... --------------------------------------------------------