Not all Redheads

November 29, 2018:

Nate, Alex and Lorna run into a redhead.. she isn't Jean. Surprise!

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Alex Summers hasn't really been a prominent figure within the house after the end of Inferno. He's been spending a lot of time at Harry's and in the city at the various safe houses. He's just not felt exactly comfortable at the mansion with all the ghosts of this reality and the previous reality where he spent 6 years of his life.

Today however, Alex can be found in the rec room holding a pool cue, leaned over a table and lining up a shot at the 15. Aiming toward the corner pocket and ready to stroke. Currently, he's dressed in sneakers, jeans, and his long sleeved black (with silver lines) unstable molecule shirt. His hair has grown longer, somewhat 90's unkempt. There is a beer bottle on a nearby shelf, of which he's barely even touched along with a half empty bottle of Smart Water.

*

The Professor was missing and there were portals opening all over. So much for that job in Mutant Town and moving out of the Mansion. Rogue's call to return had kept Lorna close by, on high alert to any chance that another portal might open up again. She had theories, based on various texts and studies that she might be able to do something or interact with the portal. (So long as it wasn't alien and or magic) She'd run into plenty of portals where she could sense the rifts in reality previously.. but these? She had no idea, she had missed them thus far.

So she'd stayed at the Mansion, and like an over protective hound, checked on literally everything she could to stay busy. She reviewed security repeatedly, watching the clip of the Professor's vanishing. She'd helped to manage Thanksgiving dinner for the kids that were stuck there.. and belatedly, started to step in with training the younger kids.

Mostly because a few had asked her. Which had resulted in no small amount of dodging thrown objects and Lorna yelling at them to move it.

For now though, coming off of a training session with some of the older teenagers, Lorna trailed a few into the Rec room. She wore a thick black sweat-shirt, linked through with metal rivets and pins, a pair of jeans and knee high boots. Her steps magnetically lighter than they should've been.

Green eyes spotted Alex almost immediately, and she blinked in slight surprise. "Hey."

*

Nate has also been scarce the last few weeks. He spent most of the demon invasion in New York, returned briefly, and then went back to help rebuilding Mutant Town. He just found out Xavier is missing.

In fact he feels he has been missing a few things. But the last three months it feels the whole world has been at hold. Political troubles took a step back to a war situation, and even now people seems more reluctant to misjudge and point fingers. Maybe the reminder there are enemies outside out to eat humankind makes other troubles seem small? Nate remembers something like this happening also after the Apokolips raid on Metropolis.

He is more cynical now. This is just a phase, it won't last.

He still needs to reconnect with the X-Men, though. And find Xavier. He likes Xavier, despite disagreeing with half what he says. He is too damn nice; it is hard to dislike him. So, who is around. "Alex!" He greets, "long time no see, you returned to the team?"

*

A missing Xavier and busy Senior Members has left one particular visitor on a long wait in the front room where the tune of muzak begins to take it's toll on any remaining sanity the red head has. Elevator music was made for short rides and zen in cramped spaces, not for hours where Madelyne is now looking at her bare wrist like she had a watch and a long exhale that rests her tea cup on the tiny saucer with an audible *tink*.

"Patience is a virtue~" She hums out in an exhale before stilletto boots collide with the persian rug beneath her and she is rising. Neither pertain... Several steps and the sliding pocket door is opened and Maddy is left to wandering.

*

Alex was about to take the shot when Lorna and Nate entered and called his name. Pleased to see them both, he paused and stood erect. Placing the pool cue onto the table. He takes a few steps toward the new entries, having not seen Nate in (years for him), he is very pleased to see him and will offer his hand or a hug, depending on which Nate chooses as they draw close. He states in a clear and pleased tone, "Hey guys. Lorna. Nate, it's been forever, how you been man?"

*

A sigh escaped Lorna as she waved a hand a turned down the volume on a nearby TV where a few kids were playing some loud and overly obnoxious video game. Cries of 'Hey!' started up only to freeze up at the glower from the green haired mutant that caused it. A few grumbles and mutters followed but the students seemed just as happy that she hadn't turned off and or fried the game out of existence.

A glance followed Alex's approach, and a smile flickered to life on Lorna's expression. "Glad to see you're in one piece." She murmured smoothly, glancing over at the pool table. Just as a student came running up to the room. "Hey, there's some lady in the front room and she's been there for a while and I dunno who she is—" The kid broke off as he spoke in a hurried rush, gaze swinging toward the more experienced 'adults' in the room. IE. Lorna, Nate and Alex. The closest cluster of 'responsible' people the kid had found.

A blink followed, and Lorna shifted on her toes, "Hmm? What? Some lady?" But the kid was off, and thundering down the hallway.

*

Nate shakes Alex hand, and pats his back. Not the hugging type, sorry 'uncle'. "It has?" Alex seems older, and Nate -is- older, his fire dimmed. Taller and more scarred, too. "I'm fine. Still standing and still kicking ass," he smirks faintly and then nods to Lorna as greeting.

The passing of the kids goes barely noticed. The comment about someone waiting? Uh, where are Scott and Jean anyway. He has not seen them since before the demon invasion started. But it is not the first time he has lost track of the school troubles. "Hey, I heard Xavier went missing. What are you doing about it? And what can I do to help?"

*

Opening doors lead the woman into the hustle and bustle of… Children.. A curl of upper lip exposes just a flash of upper canine. Either a sneer or by the curl of one corner of deep ruby lips it could pass as a retained grin. Barely.

Weaving through the bodies, she moves with a predatorial grace, eased on the heels of boots that wrap over knees and lack just beneath leather clad thighs. Abdomen is bare, a corseted halter binding her torso, framed in a gray fur lined synth jacket that falls in length to the back of knees. Madelyne would be the mirror image of Jean down to the piercing emerald gaze, but in a yin-yang fashion.

Heading upstairs the kid that relayed the message zips past her, barely missing, but close enough her gaze snaps towards him and then back up the stairs until her wandering brings her to the Rec Room level. Slowly her gaze travels to drink in every minute detail in passing, heading towards where all the bulk of lingering noise remains. The Rec Room.

*

There's very little regard to the 'front room lady' in Alex's mind. He's not here for visitors or the whole school thing. Nor does he worry about visitors in a place that's more heavily armed than a military base.

However, Alex does notice the visual change in Nate, it crosses his mind with a concerned look that passes quickly, it's only replaced by another concern about Xavier's absence, "Hang on, what?" are his words in response to Nate's query. Hopefully Lorna will be fielding that because he's not gotten the low-down or been briefed since his arrival today. And speaking of Lorna, he smiles her welcoming remark, but suddenly there's the whole Xavier gone thing at the forefront of his mind.

*

A huff of breath, and Lorna reached up to drag her hand through green curls a top her head. "We've got nothing. Rogue sent out a message on the comms telling everyone to stick close. We can't get a scent or anything, because.. duh.. portals. And we haven't heard anything. She said she got a response from Jean, but we haven't heard back from Scott or Storm. It's possible that they might've fallen through their own portals too." She grimaced, her gaze swinging back toward Alex.

"We need to help keep things stable here, and find out what we can. When Jean gets here we can ask her to do a search with Cerebro—"Her voice had dropped as she spoke, but even then, she realized that Alex likely had no devices to get the messages these days.

"I'll get you some new tech, I forgot to ask if you had anything now." She offered a sympathetic smile, and even then, her gaze leapt to the doorway. Where she blinked, eyebrows furrowing as she spotted what looked to be a Gothic Jean in the doorway.

A beat passed, as she shifted around Alex, who had his back toward the door.

"Jean?" She called, "Jean? You scared the kids with that getup.."

*

Portals? Nate thought it was some lingering problem back in New York, not something that could hit them this north of the city, and in the supposedly safe school. So what now… Now a redhead shows up, and he pales visibly. "That… is not Jean," Nate steps forward, standing before Lorna. Flashbacks of Genosha, and his body burning to ash going through his mind. But he investigated the identity of the woman, once he recovered. "What are you doing here, Madelyne?"

*

Portals? Nate thought it was some lingering problem back in New York, not something that could hit them this north of the city, and in the supposedly safe school. So what now… Now a redhead shows up, and he pales visibly. "That… is not Jean," Nate steps forward, standing before Lorna. Flashbacks of Genosha, and his body burning to ash going through his mind. But he investigated the identity of the woman, once he recovered. "She is the woman from Genosha. The one in the lab that almost destroyed Hammer Bay."

*

Portals? Nate thought it was some lingering problem back in New York, not something that could hit them this north of the city, and in the supposedly safe school. So what now… Now a redhead shows up, and he pales visibly. "That… is not …" Flashbacks of Genosha, and his body burning to ash going through his mind.

Grimacing, he pushes away those bleak memories and tries to scan the woman's mind lightly. Shields. Of course. His eyes narrow and he adds nothing.

*

Madelyne is slowly trailing those eyes across the room, from each youth, to those who seem to bare more 'Seasoned' time within these walls, walls she finds familiar, yet different - displaced, and full of unfamiliar faces. Donnie Darko moment or theme song? It fits enough with the darker mien.

Lorna, Nate, and Alex get a slower drag of inspection, but when Lorna calls her 'Jean', Madelyne stops in her pass-over and her eyes refocus on the green haired mutant like it took a moment of resistance to do so. Dragging a clawed cat across carpeting levels.

Arms crossed over her chest, her facade in place firmly, a solid mask when arms fold across her chest, nails dinpling over the synth fabric on her forearm. "I think I am the least of their worries, right…" Nate's utterance has her tilting her head his way, eyes redirecting with a lift of brow. She felt that /nudge/ and lifted her chin in that visible show of resistance. "… Now."

*

Listening intently to Lorna's assessment of the situation regarding the portals and Xavier's absence, Alex is oblivious to the world around him, especially behind him. Then he perks up with the hope of Jean being here - because it's been a long time. He turns on his heel just as Nate clarifies that it's not Jean. When his blue eyes land on Madelyne, he knows her for who she is. Nate's historical reference isn't necessary.

He takes a step to the side, defensively. His powers suddenly spark to life and he's surrounded by bands of fiery plasma. He mutters, angrily, "Maddie.." His hands come up and he commands to the crowd of children, "EVERYONE GET DOWN!". Then it's quickly followed by the whole leader within him as he says, "LORNA, NATE! HIT HER HARD AND FAST. TAKE HER DOWN! SHE WILL ENSLAVE US ALL!"

It's almost like he's having a flashback. His mind is very conflicted. Twisted and confused. Anyone who reads minds will know that he's intimately familiar with Madelyne and there's three distinct emotions; Fear, Hatred, and Love. This conflict is clear that he has been in this position before. Such that it's like yelling 'Charlie in the treeline!' to a vietnam vet. Alex sees Madelyne as a clear and present danger.

That's when it happens. The fiery plasma erupts from his shoulders, down his raised arms, and then from his hands toward Madelyne with a shockwave and a resounding FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!. He fully intends to take her down with lethal force.

*

Lorna didn't get it. Didn't understand the threat. She hadn't been exactly coherent when she'd been in Genosha and under the control of Malice while everyone else slept. She didn't have clear memories of any of it, and certainly hadn't seen the redhead. It didn't click. Nate spoke to the jade eyed, fire haired woman in all black. Or at the way the woman spoke in response..

Alex's actions, his words, his reaction? It took her by complete shock, she dropped, reflexively as she gasped and threw out her hands, throwing out her powers and pulling on the little bits of metal that the students had on their persons and pulling that down too. Whether they wanted it or not. "Alex?! What the hell?!" She screamed.

*

It is funny how events tend to go around in life. A few years ago it would have been Nate the one overwhelmed by a flashback and striking blindly. Alex was supposed to be a serious, studious soon to be doctor in Geophysics. The stable guy.

Nate is not acting, and when in the school the usual hyper-alertness patterns of behavior that underlay his lifestyle are somewhat subdued. He fails to see it coming until Alex distress hits him like a hammer in the empathic senses. "Alex, wait!" He manages, too late. Then he is tackling the older man, reaching also with his mind to 'push' him to stop the stream of plasma that can easily turn the whole building into a smoking crater.

*

It is a moment, a tic at one corner of those kohl lined eyes, making them a bit more piercing in the narrowing set as if she is trying to poke back at Nate, a silken slip, a mere whisper over his own mental shields. A ribbon of her own psionic touch - falling downward, seeking the familiarity and the why off the scarred mutant and just before she attempts to pluck at a telepathic thread..

Thats….not…

Maddie..

Jean.

A sharp withdrawal from that curiosity towards Nate and that gaze snaps towards Alex and the split second between curiousity and defense is one that gives her enough time to see what Lorna did and react in kind. A telekinetic shove ripples across the room, a sudden pressure that rises and then drops, furniture splintering and cracking under the force when her hands unfold from the cross over her chest. Like a puppeteer, any Lorna did not lower, drop with the downward twist of fingers (even Nate) to apply pressure until she draws it back with a beckoning curl of fingers and shields herself with a brace of arms in front of her face, that TK field sparking and cracking beneath the pressure, but instead of a Phoenix huen Flame in response it is laced with a darker purple hue, veined in black in the fissures his blast causes.

"How. Dare. You.."

*

Alex has been tackled before. He's skilled in self defense, hand to hand, and that sort of combat is nothing compared to the challenges he's faced over the years. Alex turns with the tackle and pushes Nate to the side. Letting his nephew continue on with his own inertia and leaving Alex behind to face Madelyne again.

However, the mental 'push' is something that will easily work. Alex is the constant target for manipulation. And Nate's 'manipulation' causes Alex to shut off his powers. However, he immediately recognizes the mental attack. He intones, covering Lorna's question as well as Nate's challenge. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, SHE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL. SHE'S THE REASON FOR THE DEMON ATTACK!"

But his words are quickly silenced as the telekinetic shockwave ripples through the room. He's struck squarely and blasted back across the room and through the window. He'll fall 20 feet to the grass covered ground below. His head strikes hard and he's knocked unconscious.

<Footnotes: He believes that Madelyne is pursuing him. Coming to exact her revenge for going against her wishes, keeping Scotty from her, and even eventually defeating her in the previous reality. He also believes that Madelyne is responsible for Inferno. When it was actually Illyana.>

*

Nate is also an accomplished martial artist, but he was trying to stop Alex without breaking bones, so he fails to grasp him firmly and his attack is deflected, he hits the floor and rolls back his feet quickly, satisfied the psychic shutdown worked. Alex' rant makes him arch an eyebrow in surprise. "No, the demons was… something els…"

Then Maddie's telekinetic burst hits them. Nate was still very close to the blonde Summers. Contrarily to the older mutant, he can protect himself from a TK-burst. But he is still pushed out the room, though a wall, momentarily stunned. A second later he sees Alex fall, and he dives to catch him a little late. «Lorna» he sends to the green-haired woman, «Alex is hurt bad, I am going to take him to the medbay, but watch out that redhead. She is NOT Jean. I think I -should- know her. But do not. Be wary.»

*

Slowly as the blasts and redoubled powers echoed and thrummed through the room, causing destruction and chaos, Lorna rose up again. She breathed hard, her own magnetic fields forcefully expanding around her in a protective barrier as she stretched her hands out at either side of her, letting the kids up as the debris cleared and Nate yanked Alex away to the med bay. She scowled in the boy's direction, and turned her gaze to the redheaded woman.

"Get out of here." She snapped at the students that lingered and they needed no further instruction as they bolted away.

Finally, the green haired woman turned her gaze to Madelyne. "I'm sorry that Alex attacked you like that. He's not exactly stable these days." She frowned, glancing back over her shoulder once. "He's going through shit." She pursed her lips, and with a look of concentration started to sweep her powers through the area, checking for structural damage and finding none, she exhaled a breath.

*

Maddy wavered in her stance as the TK Triquetra refuses to mesh and becomes a backlash unexpected by the Redheaded and Darkened "Jean".

Attempting to force Nate and any others to drop with her own power while she would deflect, backfires and causes a blast that sends Nate through(into?) a wall, Alex - out a window and into uncontrolled flight and a crash landing.

"Shi—-" /t/. Her shield rapidly dissolved to try and aid in the crash-landing Alex would take, but that dark violet and shadowed essence licks out like feeble outstretched fingers and then dissolves with that of the purely psionic.

Maddy is melding with that dark magik Havok fears, but this Maddy is not as far gone, not yet. Not while she forges her place here, and this first encounter has a slowly building Castle of hatred and resentment this Queen has never recalled earning….

The backlash is going to be more than temporeal, and as that red stroke of another fallen strand caresses her cheek, those emerald eyes narrow and become stricken in lighting that is nearly neon-lightning!

Almost like the lighting striking Lorna's hair as she turns to the woman clad in synth and fur while she rises… slowly… Facing her with a sweep of a thumb to take dark blood from beneath nostrils, smearing it between fingertips.

Before Lorna's eyes that blood dissipates into fragments of black crust and floats from the subtle gesture into the shadows around them.

"We are all… Going through," A pause as she watches the ashen flow of her blood disappear into corners already inspected by Lorna for integrity. "Shit." Although, now Maddy's head tilts to the green haired mutant, her gaze a bit more assessing, as if targeting something familiar. "Do I know you?"

Genosha. Nate was right in the backdrop of his suspicions unspoken, but Maddy is still recovering from that 'coma' and erasure of who and what she once was.

Being remade.
Reborn.
No Phoenix from this fire.

"I meant no harm here." Stated lowly, but truth in the strength of her words as she finally looks away from Lorna and through the holes in the walls - shaped in the forms of Nate…. Then Alex. "Who is he?"

Could be meant for Alex, or Nate. But as that question comes she looks back upon Lorna as if it also pertains to her.

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