Subject: [OTL]: Tormented by the eX-wife
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 19:00:07 -0800
From: Jason Barnett <barnett@shentel.net>


Tormented by the eX-wife

All characters belong to Marvel.  No money made.  Feedback please.

"Hi honey, I'm home!" Madelyne Pryor called out in a mock sweet voice as
she opened a fake door.  The door was part of perfect replica of the house
she and Scott had lived in when they were married in Alaska.

Scott looked at her from where he was manacled to the couch.  "Are these
necessary?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"They certainly are darling.  After all you may not be a telepath but
you've had so much training and being linked to a telepath you might be
willing to take your chances about being lost on the Astral Plane.  Can't
have that can we?"

"Why are you doing this Madelyne?  I'm not even a part of your life
anymore."

"Not part of my life?  Don't be silly.  You're the father of my son, you'll
always be a part of my life.  But really isn't this the arrangement.  I get
you when she isn't here.  She died, I get you, you get trapped on the
Astral Plane and she doesn't know, I get you."

"I'd think you'd have learned that this insane vendetta against Jean
doesn't do anything but hurt you.  I created the rift that will never fully
heal between you and Nathan, it caused your first death."

"She stole my husband and my baby.  I'm supposed to treat her like my best
friend?"

"She only started treating Nathan like her son after we found out that you
were her clone and you died.  And as for us... we were having problems and
you know it.  You started getting jealous for no reason.  You were more
obsessed with her than me.  You tried to isolate me from my friends, the
people who had been a family to me.  We all figured out that you were part
of the reason why I lost to Storm so easily."

Her eyes narrowed.  "I'm the cause of all your problems, aren't I?  I
didn't even have powers then and you know that."

"They were emerging.  It was subconscious."

"Besides I obviously had reasons to be obsessing about her.  You left me
for her at the first oppertunity.  Abandoned your wife and child without a
second thought or a look back."

"That's a damn lie," Scott said through clinched teeth.  "I left for New
York because Warren called and told me he needed to see me.  I didn't even
know Jean was alive until I got there.  And then my mind was so screwed up
I couldn't even think straight which I wouldn't be surprised if it was
caused by you too.  I was tormented for weeks about about what to say to
you.  I still loved you but I loved Jean too.  When I finally went to talk
to you, you were gone."

"That's right.  I was on the run because the Marauders were trying to take
our baby.  If you'd been there for us, you could have protected us!  But
you never really loved me... you only wanted Jean's body.  And that just
proves what a shallow person you are.  All I was, was a temporary
replacement supplied by Sinister and the Phoenix."

"Don't you think I've thought of that!  But be reasonable, you know what
the Marauders did to the Morlocks and the X-men.  If I'd been there then
you might not have run.  We all could have been killed.  We rescued Nathan
when we got the chance and we took care of him.  You died twice, against
the Advesary and as the Goblin Queen before Jean and I really began our
relationship again.  We spent twelve years of our lives in an apocalyptic
future raising him.  You seduced Alex and tried to sacrifice Nathan to
demons."

"I WAS INSANE!  I admit it the demonic powers had driven me insane but I
wasn't before that and I'm not now.  You let my son get infected with a
deadly virus, because of that he's an old man and I'll never be able to
make amends to him."

"That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"I was there watching, you know.  Just barely, it was long before I gained
enough coherence for Nate to grab me and resurrect me but I was.  Thanks to
the part of the Phoenix Force that helped create me.  I'll probably never 
really die because of that."

"Oh, believe me, I'm happy about the Phoenix."

"You are?"

"Of course.  The part that created you was the part that Jean rejected.
The capacity for evil of the Dark Phoenix.  If it hadn't been in you, then
it would have still been a part of the Phoenix Force when it joined with
her, and who knows what it could have done to her."

She slapped him hard accross the face, then chuckled.  "Ohh, you're good,
Scott.  I didn't expect you to be clever enough to get me away from what I
was going to do."

She sat down next to him on the couch and picked up a remote control.

"What are doing?"

"I thought that you might want to watch something."

'If it's something you want to show me, I don't think I want to see it."

"I'm sure you do."

"So where exactly does an astral ghost go like you do all the time?  It's
been something I've been trying to figure out.  I can't judge time well
here."

'I do all sorts of things.  Make sure Threnody stays away from Nate most of
the time, try and see if I'm able to pull myself together into a physical
form yet.  You know you're a grandfather."

"Yes, of course I know about Tyler, and I also know about Hyperstorm."

"Actually I meant Nate has a kid now.  He doesn't know it but he does.  She
flipped on the screen and it showed Threnody holding a baby.

"And you're keeping her from deciding to go to him, so you're keeping him
from his chance to be a father.  After all you complain about what I did to
you I'd think that family values would be high on your priority list."

"Oh, they are but Nate's so powerful I'd don't want anyone other than me
influencing him.  But back to business.  The Astral Plane has got a sort
recording system that lets you look back into the past."

The TV started to show a scene with a plane.  Inside Alex was battling
Greystone when the plane blew up.  "Hear that?  Greystone's mental scream
lasted for all of a second but Alex's continued, fading slowly.  When a
person's body is blown to atoms what happened to Greystone is what normally
happens.  That means Alex is still alive, I don't know where he is but he's
out there somewhere.  I bet you haven't even thought of your little brother
since he died."

"I've thought of him a lot.  His death helped me decide to retire and I
spent so much time with Lorna recently I've been thinking about him almost
non-stop."

"Oh, yes, that little fight that you were in.  I bet you're wondering how
that turned out.  Just watch."

The screen began to show the battle between the Twelve and Apocalypse
beginning with him throwing himself into Apocalypse to prevent him merging
with Nate.  The moment before the merging happened, Madelyne had done what
she had done to himself and Cable earlier, pulling his mind out of his body
and sticking it on the Astral Plane.

"Really I don't see how he's survived so long.  He's a moron.  Nate can
barely contain his own power.  Apocalypse wanted to add his plus power
stolen from the twelve of you.  He would have been dead in seconds if that
had happened."

Scott really didn't pay attention to her as he watched Apocalypse use his
body and the new found power in several failed attempts to twist reality,
even pretending to be him in an attempt to divide Jean from the team.

In the end Cable was preparing to finish him off when Jean intervened,
stopping him.  "Oh, god Jean don't do it.  Even if I was there I'd rather
be dead then let that monster use my body."

"Tell me something Scott.  Since your mind is out of your body will you
feel guilty about what he does?"

"Of course not."

"Would you if you were stuck there?"

"Of course. If I was there I'd be able to try to stop him."

"You wouldn't stand a chance against a mind that old.  He probably know
every mental trick in the book as long as he's been around."

The next scenes were of the aftermath of the battle, the team mourning his
death, Jean having problems accepting it.

"She'll claim to keep faith that you're alive.  She'll say she'll always
love you but that's it."

Logan put his arm around Jean hugging her trying to console her on the
screen.

"With their chemistry and the fact he's always had feelings for her I bet
they'll be in bed together in under two months.  And you'll get to watch
every minute of it."  'Of course since this is a place made for telepaths
it doesn't have to be real for me to show it to you.'

The End