Monet's Challenge, Area 51, MG 30 *HF*
By MarvelGirl
"I'm busy."
"It's Molly. Can I talk to you?"
"Come on in."
The door creaked open to reveal an athletic-looking young woman, 25 years of age, with piercing blue eyes and long black hair slicked into a ponytail. She was wearing the armor of the Phoenix Corps, a division of AfterMath, Inc., the longest running team in MG's PhoenixFlame Industries. She sat down in the chair opposite Jean. She looked at the Queen in the eye as only she could truly do.
"I'm worried about you, Mom. You were depressed before the party... God knows we all still are... but you seem even more... aggrivated?.. now. What's wrong?"
"A few things."
"Come on Mom. You know you can talk to me. I know the main reason, and for right now there's nothing I can do about that, but what else?"
"I'm being poisoned."
"WHAT?"
"Calm down, it's not killing me. It's keeping me alive."
"I don't understand, Mom."
"Look at me. Carefully, now. What do you see?"
"I see my mother, a woman I respect more than anything else."
"What else?"
"What am I looking for?"
"My age."
"You look like you always have."
"Exactly. I look exactly the same as I did when I married your father when I was 23. He looks old enough to be MY father, for Christ's sake."
Molly sat in silence for a moment.
"I never really thought about it, Mom."
"Nobody has, until yesterday. An old friend of your dad's walked up to me and asked me how I was doing. He then asked me what year of college I was in. He thought I was you."
"That's freaky, but why is it happening?"
"It's the Phoenix copy. It's keeping me young. It doesn't want it's host to be weak."
"You're talking like it's a parasite."
"In essence, it is, but not for my life or energy, but for my body. I'm 51 years old and still get carded for alcohol."
"So you're eternally young. People become vampires just to do that. You just gotta keep a copy of a timeless entity under control."
"It's not the entity, just the power. In any case, I'm scared."
"Eh? My mom? Scared? Riiiight."
"I mean it. I'm pretty much immortal." Marvel Girl stood up and walked to the window, looking down on the new recruits. Her tone became solemn and almost ominous. "I'm going to watch you all grow old and die. Everyone. You, your brother and sister, your father, my friends, the rest of my family, all of them. Until the end of time."
Molly just sat there for a moment in a stunned but thoughtful silence.
"Well look at it this way: you know all the words to "It's the End of the World as We Know It..."
"And I Feel Fine. Quit acting like your father."
"Huh?"
Jean grinned. "He always manages to make me smile when I feel like a bitch."
Molly walked up to Jean and gave her a hug. "Hey, what are kids for, besides being made to do the chores y'all are to lazy to. Besides, I have some good news..."
"What's that?"
"I found out yesterday that I passed the Bar. I'll be able to defend tomorrow."
Jean nodded slowly. "Why did he do it?"
"We don't know that he did, Mom. However, when we get to Phoenix, Dad can fill us in with the details. He also said something about a romantic dinner for two? That's tonight, so we have time to kill."
"Right. Thanks Molly. We'll leave at 3. Meantime, I can do the weapons bunker inspection."
"'Kay. 3, front yard."
"Yup."
"I love ya, Mom."
"Love you too, kiddo. We'll get through this."
"I know we will. After all, we're Greys... the GOOD kind."
Molly gave Jean another hug and left.
Jean sighed. Again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She really was supposed to inspect the weapons bunker, but she didn't really have it in her to be that vindictive today. She notified the staff of the cancellation, and walked down to Memory Hall. She stood there, surrounded by the images and videos of 30 years of the Grey Court. Here one could find all the history of the Court, from it's first incarnation and all members thereafter, to all it's allies. good memories only. Jean sat down in one of the chairs and relaxed. She called up some vid files and across the theater style screen danced images of earlier times. Her friends, in their youth, laughed at parties, weddings battle victories, births... One such birth was her daughter, Jenny, who was now helping crisis control with Zack in Arizona. Jean had to chuckle at the footage of Scrib playing with the then-infant.
"I thought you might be in here" John, the current Grey Queen's Knight startled her.
"Hey you." Jean paused the video. "What can I do for you?"
"I need to talk about... him."
Jean sighed. -=No good shall come of this,=- she thought. "You never wanted to talk about him before."
"I know, but I'm 21 now, I feel I need to know about him in order to figure out what I'm about outside my position in the court. I mean, why did he drop me here? Why did he want you to raise me? I don't get it, Jean."
"I think you should sit down for this, Johnny." He sat in the chair next to her.
"Now, the man you will see in this first image is your father. It will also explain why me. Then other photos will come up. But you need to promise me one thing."
"What's that?"
"You can't tell the King that these still exist. Zack got a little bit jealous when he first saw them, and wanted me to get rid of them. I couldn't do that."
"No problem, Auntie."
"Alright." The Queen took a deep breath. "Computer - personal file MGB. Passcode: Peekaboo."
_-FILES ACCESSED-_
An image of a kissing couple came on screen. One of the two was Jean. The other was the Knight's father, the man once known as Blaze.
Other images of the two appeared, and they all showed good times.
"You dated my father?"
"For a short time. He and I were sort of kindred spirits. He made me laugh."
"So what happened to the two of you?"
"He told me he had some personal issues to attend to, and just never came back. I hadn't even heard from him until you came here."
"So either way, you would have ended up my mom."
Jean smiled. "Looks that way, kiddo..."
Jean's watch beeped. 3:00.
"I know, you gotta go, Jean. Thanks. Can I...?"
"Look as long as you'd like, but shut it down when you're done."
"No problem, and thanks."
"Any time, Johnny."
He hugged her, then she got up and left the room. Showtime.
-------The Flight to Phoenix---------
The pair were quiet. Molly knew these were hard times, and her mother would be in deep thought on the flight. Molly knew Jean better than most people, because Molly was born a bit different. From day one, she could sense her mother's emotions, know what she was feeling, and even was born with her mother's expertise in fighting and other skills. This was all because Molly inhereted a rare gift: her own Phoenix entity. The copy of the cosmic being ingrained in Marvel Girl so many years ago had become a part of the Grey family soul. Directly down the line, all of Marvel Girl's decendants' eldest children will be born with the Phoenix, and all have memories of their ancestors, all the way back to Jean L. Grey.
Unfortunately, the way things were, Jean would be there to explain the foggy parts. In that respect, though, the idea of immortality to find out what your decendants were like would be interesting.
Molly looked at her mother with concern. Sure, Jean's been pissed before. Molly had even accidentally witnessed her kill an enemy. However, this mood was different. It was more solemn than Molly was used to, and she couldn't sense one pure emotion from another. She sighed. Molly did have some good news, but it would have to wait until they met up with Dad and Jenny.
They skipped up out of the atmosphere full Phoenix, and headed toward Arizona via earth orbit. They were almost there when an unexpected playful mood eminated from Jean to Molly. She looked at her mom, who nodded toward the right. Molly smiled. They hadn't done this since she was a kid.
Jean broke orbit with a burst of speed and flew off in the direction of the solar system's center. Molly took off after her. The two were flying so fast it seemed as if the bird-shaped flames around them were straining to keep up. Jean slingshot around the sun with Molly in tow. They stopped on the other side, looked at each other, nodded 3 times... and flew straight into the sun.
When Molly was a child, she called this Heaven.
The light, the warmth, was magical. At times, it was as if you could hear singing from the light. Molly called that the angel chorus. The way it surrounded you was unlike any mental or physical pleasure that a human could attain. And on this trip, like so many others, it was all too short. Molly held back a bit while Jean waited on the other side.
With a renewed sense of confidence and calm, the pair finished their trek to Arizona.
MG
The Grey Queen
Mistress of the *WEG*
Goddess of Insanity
Next in Line for Editor 4 YEARS RUNNING! *LOL*
Official Annoyer of Mufasa
Keeper of the Flying Monkeys
Nicest Bitch of the Board
Mafia Boss of the XMBB
One of them XMBB old timers
Nawlins survivor!
Goddess of Chaos
Yes, I was here for Sneakerchat!
Wolverine's Ex-Wife (kept the lead pipe in the divorce settlement!)
Venom's Ex-Wife (kept nothing, it all reaked of brain pizza!!)
Official Hawkass kicker!
RPG GODDESS!!! BOW BEFORE ME!!!
Queen Shannon #1
Person who needs more titles!!!
Keeper of STUFF!!!
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Which Angel would you be?
By Angel Falls