Part 37

The death of Crimson Valkeyrie

By Skytower

Athena’s first thought when she woke up was Tiffany. She opened her eyes but movement was impossible. She was strapped to a table and the hum around her neck told her that a power canceling collar was around her throat.

“White Owl.”

Athena looked to her left and saw that Tiffany was strapped down to the table beside her. They were in a huge medical lab. Craning her neck Athena could see other tables and rows of monitor screens and medical equipment. Le Joueur sat in a cell against the far wall. On a table beside Crimson Athena saw Mystique. The mutant was nude and strapped down and there was an IV hooked up to her arm. Mystique’s eyes were glazed but she was awake.

“Where are we?”

“That you really don’t need to know,” A man wearing a lab coat said appearing from somewhere out of Athena’s line of sight. He was tall with silver hair and gray eyes. Beneath the lab coat he wore a blue SHIELD uniform. His name tag identified him as Dr. Glen.

“How dare you!” Athena growled pulling at her restraints. “Do you think you can get away with this?”

“Yes,” He said simply and turned to Crimson. “We are SHIELD White Owl, we can do anything and we will do anything to protect the planet.”

“By helping a murderess?” Crimson demanded.

“Ms. Marvel is one of us,” Dr. Glen said. He plunged a needle into Crimson’s arm and Athena ground her teeth in frustration as the man drew blood from her lover. “And Destiny isn’t really dead.”

“I saw her die!”

“Death isn’t permanent with the techniques we have,” Dr. Glen said. He looked at the vial of blood that he had drawn from Crimson. “And this will help us develop even better ones.”

“That won’t get you anything,” Crimson said. “My blood is safeguarded, once it leaves my body it breaks down.”

“Well we’ll set you up for some intensive scans before we let you go,” Dr. Glen said. “We’ve been curious about you for some time.”

“Not even SHIELD can get away with all of this,” Athena said.

“Miss. Nichols,” Dr. Glen said in a patronizing tone, “what makes you think you know anything? We’ve covered for Ms. Marvel before. Both she and the X-men work for us as do the rest of the Avengers. You will too once we’re done here.”

“Never!” Athena said.

“They can do it,” A weak voice said and Athena looked at Mystique. She was obviously fighting the drug to talk. “They’ll reach into your head and twist it. If they can’t…” She looked away. “If they can’t they’ll take your family and call you a supervillain.”

“This is crazy!” Crimson said. “You’re telling us that SHIELD will aid and abet a murderess?”

“Ms. Marvel and the rest protect the planet,” Dr. Glen said. “A few killings is a small price to pay for that. More importantly they keep the power structure intact.”

“He means his power structure,” Le Joueur said from her cell.

“Our power structure keeps the world safe,” Dr. Glen said. He looked up. “Welcome professor.”

Athena looked over and saw Prof Xavier being wheeled across the room by Rogue. She noticed that Rogue moved stiffly.

“Rogue!” Mystique shouted but Rogue ignored her.

“Don’t bother Mystique,” Prof Xavier said and his tone was dismissive. “She isn’t even aware of what’s going on.”

“Why not?” Athena demanded.

“Because I’ve told her not to be aware,” Prof Xavier said. “Some of the X-men are aware of the relationship that exist between SHIELD and the X-Men. Some like Rogue wouldn’t accept it.”

“It serves your purpose to keep her ignorant,” Mystique accused. “That way she’s the perfect reformed mutant.”

“Exactly,” Professor Xavier said. “A pity your mind couldn’t be altered.”

“We have a HYDRA team ready when you are finished,” Dr. Glen said. “Once you alter their minds all the evidence will lead to a frame up and this business will be over.”

“HYDRA?” Athena demanded.

“One of our subdivisions,” Dr. Glenn said. “A good way to justify SHIELD funding. You really don’t know much about how the world works do you?”

“I’ll start with Crimson first,” Professor Xavier said.

“No!”

It was a low groan and a plea from Athena. She strained at her straps as the bald man stared at Crimson and she saw her lovers eyes start to close. Then one wall of the room exploded in ward in a shower of dust and rubble. Through the rubble stepped U1trawoman.

“Took you long enough,” Le Joueur said.

“They hid you well,” U1trawoman said striding toward her cage.

“Back off lady!” Rogue shouted flying toward her.

“Don’t let her touch you!” Athena shouted and realized a second later that she was aiding U1trawoman.

The aid probably wasn’t needed. U1trawoman grabbed Rogue in mid-air and spun her around and then sent her flying back where she came. Rogue crashed into the medical tables and they all tipped over.

Athena felt the table land heavily and realized that one of her straps had come loose. With an angry jerk she pulled and it broke and as it did so she heard the hum stop and felt her full strength return. Then she heard U1trawoman scream as Professor Xavier stared at her.

“Get out of my head!”

Athena hesitated, torn for a moment between the reality she had always known and the reality that had just been revealed to her. Who was the villain here? But then she thought of the way Professor Xavier had attacked Crimson and the decision was made. She pulled herself free from the rest of the table and shoved it across the floor into him.

“Now what?” Crimson said crawling over beside her. She had managed to free herself from her table too. Mystique had managed to pull the IV out of her arm and was working on getting her other arm free.

They both ducked as Rogue went flying over their heads.

“We get the hell out of here,” Athena said.

They heard the sound of steel bending and looked over to see U1trawoman tear the bars of Le Joueur’s cage apart.

“That way,” Crimson said pointing at the whole in the wall that U1trawoman had created.

Athena nodded and they both flew toward the whole.

Tina watched the readouts carefully. Managing the virtual reality world was only part of her task, the other part was to keep and eye on White Owl’s mental status. Even so she glanced up when she saw Shadow Web hovering around the medical tables. Mystique, Le Joueur, White Owl and U1trawoman lay on the tables, their faces and heads obscured by the huge VR helmets. Shadow Web ran a scanner over U1trawoman’s body and then joined Tina at the main console.

“That woman has a unique physiology.”

“She’s not human,” Tina agreed.

“Such power and beauty.”

“Don’t peak too fast White Owl,” Tina said adjusting Athena’s emotional response.

“Yet now she’s so vulnerable.”

“She isn’t,” Tina said, trying to concentrate on the task at hand and wishing that Shadow Web would go away. “Her skin’s invulnerable and her brain makes her immune to any shadow tech we have.”

“We could keep her here and then…”

“Then we’d have fun dealing with Dark Star and War Cat,” Tina said. An alarm sounded on the console and she moved quickly to adjust the reality. “Danm the program’s glitching!”

“Componsate you idiot!”

Tina ignored her and concentrated on re-doing White Owl’s simulated reality.

“Help,” Mystique asked weakly as they started to crawl.

“Can you fly?” Athena asked Crimson. The power canceling straps had left her a bit weak. She felt herself fading in and out of the world.

“Yea I think so,” Crimson said.

“Come on.”

They each took one of Mystique’s arms and lifted her up only to crash back down as Rogue flew into them. Remembering the last attack Athena scrambled away from her and kicked the other woman in the jaw.

“That way!” Crimson shouted as U1trawoman punched a whole through the wall in the back of Le Joueur’s cell.

Gathering up Mystique they flew after the woman and emerged from the cell into a gymnasium. Athena felt her blood suddenly chill and they stopped. Le Joueur and U1trawoman were right in front of them. The place was large, with a track field, swimming pool, target range and weight set. Wolverine was jogging around the track, Storm, Nightcrawler and a young woman were swimming in the pool, Colossus was working out with the weights and Cyclops was practicing his eye beams on the target range.

“Stop them!” Rogue’s shout came from the other room.

Cyclops opened up first and his optic blast knocked U1trawoman off balance. But she recovered quickly and her own eye beams leapt forth to hit his. For a moment they held each other in a stalemate but then in a flash of smoke Nightcrawler appeared behind U1trawoman and grabbed her head, pulling it back. Her eye beams cut a swath through the ceiling for a moment but then they closed as Cyclops beam struck her in the throat and stunned her. By that time Colossus had closed with her and the huge metal man started pounding her stomach.

“Up there,” Athena pointed to the whole in the ceiling.

They started to fly up only to be met with a sudden snow storm that blew them across the gym and into the wall above the track. Athena was stunned but managed to get up in time to meet Wolverine’s charge.

“Should’a just stayed down,” Wolverine said as his claws raked her arm cutting through her glove and drawing blood.

“We don’t stay down!” Crimson shouted rising and blowing him back with a gust of wind.

“The wind is my province!” Storm shouted landing on the track and hitting them with a rain storm.

Crimson drew her guns and fired hitting the woman and as Storm fell the rain stopped. But before they could move Wolverine was attacking again. Athena felt her heart stop as his claws sliced toward Crimson. Time seemed to slow, stop and then Athena blinked as Crimson was suddenly a half a foot away from where she had been. Instead of Wolverine’s claws slicing through her stomach they cut across her thigh.

Athena stopped thinking when she saw Crimson’s blood and she tackled Wolverine. She pounded at his stomach and throat knowing that his unbreakable bones would make a jaw shot useless. He was stunned but threw her off and Athena landed near Crimson. Wolverine started to go after them again but was hit by a flying Nightcrawler and they both fell down.

Athena looked up and saw that U1trawoman was still slugging it out with Colossus and now Rogue was attacking her as well. Cyclops was hitting her on and off with his eyes beams when ever he saw a chance.

“If she looses we’ll never get out of here,” Mystique said crawling over to them.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Crimson said holding her leg. Her fast healing ability had already closed the wound.

“Can you fly?” Athena asked.

“I need a minute,” Crimson said.

“Ok,” Athena looked at Mystique. “Stay with her and I promise we’ll get you out too.”

“Agreed,” Mystique said.

Athena gathered herself and flew at top speed into Cyclops. He didn’t even see her coming and she pressed her advantage after he went down by kicking him in the jaw and slamming her elbow into his rib cage.

She looked up and saw that U1trawoman was down on her knees. Colossus had grabbed her in a bear hug and Rogue had grabbed her head and was absorbing the woman’s powers. Athena knew that if Rogue got those powers they were all lost.

Cyclops moaned and started to get up. Thinking quickly Athena grabbed his head and tore off his visor. The red beams shot from his eyes and she turned his head so that they hit Rogue and knocked her away.

With a curse Cyclops turned his head and Athena found herself flying across the gym to crash into the weights. She lay there stunned and the young woman who had been with Storm appeared over her. The woman had brown hair and eyes and there was a wicked smile on her face as she brought a weight toward Athena’s face.

“Back off!” Crimson shouted tackling her. They went down and Athena heard Crimson curse as the weight fell onto her ankle.

“C-Listers,” The young woman snarled wrestling with Crimson. “You should have just let the Professor change your minds!”

“Shut up!” Crimson said and floored the young woman with a solid hit to the jaw.

“Look out,” Mystique shouted and Athena rolled away as Wolverine’s claws sliced a weight bar in half.

“She’s right,” he said coming toward Athena. “Now it looks like you’re just going to have to vanish.”

“Not today,” Athena said. She could see that Mystique was struggling against Nightcrawler, U1trawoman was still battling Colossus and Crimson was still wrestling the young woman. The fight was going on too long; they’d have SHIELD troops to deal with soon.

Wolverine came at her and Athena dodged him and planted a knee into his stomach. He twisted and got her arm in a good grip and she pulled back her head as his clawed flashed toward it. If that blow had connected Athena knew that it would have torn half of her face off. Twisting around she broke his grip and then brought her knee up into his groin and then got behind him and got him into a choke hold. Wolverine surged back and they crashed into the weights. Athena gasped as she felt her back slam into them.

“Time’s up,” He said drawing back his claws. Athena was too dazed to move as she saw them come toward her throat. But at the last moment a weight slammed into the side of his head and he fell away stunned.

“You owe me one,” Le Joueur said as she helped Athena sit up.

“Come,” U1trawoman said appearing beside them both. She gathered up Le Joueur in her arms. “We’re leaving now!” She looked at Athena. “You had best leave too.”

She flew up and out through the hole in the roof. Athena looked and saw that Crimson had beaten the young woman and was staggering toward her. She didn’t see Mystique anywhere.

“Let’s get out of here,” Crimson said. She was still limping.

“Right,” Athena agreed. She took Crimson’s hand and they started to fly up.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“No!” Tina shouted as warning lights flashed on her console. “Don’t you dare crash on me!”

She ignored Shadow Web’s comments as her hands flew over the controls.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

Athena looked down. For a moment she was sure that had been Wolverine’s voice, but it was the young woman and she held the weight bar that he had cut in half. Athena tried to swerve but the young woman threw it and Athena felt Crimson’s reaction as the makeshift spear erupted from her stomach and then cut across Athena’s own stomach.

They fell and the fall seemed to take forever. Crimson’s lurched as the bar was pushed through when it hit the floor and Athena pulled it out of her and threw it away.

"Crimson!" Athena begged picking her friend up. Crimson's blood felt warm as it soaked the front of her costume. She could already see the light fading from her friend’s -- no from her lover’s--eyes! "Hold on," she begged "I’ll get you to a hospital."

"Too late," Tiffany said raising her hand and pointing.

Athena followed her hand and realized that they were surrounded by the X-men. The young woman had a fierce look of triumph on her face.

“C-Listers,” She sneered.

"You should have listened to us," Rogue said. Her uniform was scorched but other than that she was unharmed. "No one had to get hurt."

"Athena," Crimson whispered "get away, get help…"

Athena's mind was torn between grief and survival, between reason and logic and the soul shattering pain that she was in. Everything that she had based her life on was slipping away from her as easily as Crimson's blood escaped her body. She saw professor Xavier roll his way across the gym toward them and she realized that there was nothing she could do. If she stayed she wouldn't even remember what had happened. They’d get away with it all.

Pulling every flare bomb she had from her belt Athena closed her eyes and then threw them onto the floor. When the X-Men reacted by drawing back Athena flew as fast as she could up and out of the building. Once out she chose a direction at random and flew as fast as she could. As soon as Athena was three buildings away she dove into an alley and then started weaving in and out of buildings. But she could hear them behind her. They followed, never far away. For hours she flew and hid until at last exhaustion forced her to stop. She took refuge under an overpass and pushed herself into the shadows. She could hear them calling to one another as they searched. Weariness, shock and grief tore through Athena’s soul. Her mind was still having trouble accepting what had happened.

Crimson dead? Murdered by the X-Men? Athena realized that she had to get help. But who? Who could she trust? For the rest of the night Athena wrestled with the question. But for each person she thought of, the next thought was how vulnerable he or she would be. What could anyone do against SHIELD, the X-men… and the Avengers? Had Tania already been taken over? Tania was her friend! Athena wasn’t even sure that she could go to the amazon. It started to rain and then storm and Athena pushed further back into her hiding space as the fear and grief kept striking home like a dagger. The image of Crimson looking up at her as her life blood flowed away hovered in Athena's mind. It kept repeating again and again and Athena curled herself up into a tight ball as misery and grief ate at her.

Tina sat back in her chair exhausted as the shadow tech phased White Owl’s mind into a simulated sleep. That had been close.

“That was an interesting simulation,” U1trawoman said sitting up. She looked tired and so did Mystique.

“Something went wrong,” Mystique said.

“Yes,” Tina said. “The program glitched. It nearly crashed and the wrong person killed Crimson. It was supposed to be Wolverine.”

“Instead it was Shadow Cat,” Mystique said.

“I don’t know her,” U1trawoman said.

“Youngest member of the X-men,” Tina said reading from the profile on her display. “Eighteen years old, can phase through solid objects. The computer mistakenly grafted a bit of Wolverine’s personality profile onto her.”

“It still worked,” Mystique said coming up to stand beside her. “How is White Owl?”

“In a simulated sleep condition,” Tina said. “I can keep her in a nightmare state for,” she checked the readings, “three more hours before her mind will break. By that time we’ll have the next simulation set up.”

“I’m curious about this one,” U1trawoman said. “I had more trouble with the X-men than I should have.”

“No,” Tina said, “it was on spec and they would have beaten you if White Owl hadn’t taken out Cyclops.”

“Has AIM been running battle simulations on me?” U1trawoman asked and Tina chilled at the tone in her voice. She was glad that Shadow Web had left the room before the woman had woken up.

“The X-men have,” Mystique said. “What we saw in the VR was partly based on the danger room program that I stole from them. That’s how they would have fought you.”

U1trawoman frowned deeply.

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Tina said. “Right now White Owl is on the edge, she thinks the X-men killed Crimson and are part of a huge military industrial conspiracy. The next scenario we run will start to put her in your camp.”

“Why do you think White Owl can succeed?” U1trawoman said. “You said yourself she’s not powerful enough.”

“I asked that when we first met,” Mystique asked. “The answer won’t please you.”

“Heroes don’t loose,” Tina said.

“I’ve beaten heroes,” U1trawoman said.

“They’ve beaten you,” Tina said and forced herself to stay calm as the woman glared at her.

“Heroes fight for things,” Tina said allowing some of her desperation into her voice. If she could just get someone to understand what she was saying… Why didn’t anyone listen to her? Even Mystique did really believe her theory.

“Heroes fight for things,” Tina said again. “They fight for their country, they fight for other people, they fight to protect… The Soviet Superwoman once beat you even though you out-match her in strength, Spider-Man once held you off for nearly a day and you’re way more powerful than he is. Soviet was fighting to protect her lover; Spider-man was fighting to protect the city… Look at the trouble Crimson gave you. When you fight for something nine times out of ten the universe gives you a break.”

“That’s absurd,” U1trawoman said.

“Is it?” Mystique asked her. “Look at the supervillains in the world. How many of our schemes have worked? The heroes always seem to come up with some desperate strategy, some last minute burst of strength. We can plan for years and they’ll find the one flaw.”

“She’s right,” Le Joueur said, walking up to the console. “I’ve seen many desperate gambles pay off.”

“Well if you are right and White Owl goes for the X-men she will be the villain.”

“She won’t know that,” Tina said.

“Wait,” U1trawoman said. “Are you telling me that you don’t know the rest of the plan?”

“No I don’t,” Tina said. “Not this part of it. I know what I’m going to do with the Avengers, but I don’t know how White Owl is going to destroy the X-men.”

“And you agreed to this?” U1trawoman demanded, looking at Mystique.

“Not at first,” Mystique said. “But Destiny foresaw favorable time lines if we signed up and I have to admit that Tina’s idea has an appeal. I hate to admit it but Rogue is a far more effective fighter now than she was when she was with me. There’s no greater ally than a converted enemy.”

“Camelot wasn’t brought down by force of arms,” Tina said, “It was treachery. I don’t know what White Owl is going to do, but I’ll bet my life she’ll come up with a way to take down the X-men that would never have occurred to any of us.”

“I’ll take that bet,” U1trawoman said and Tina found herself once again chilled by the woman.

Part 38

Outed

"No," Tania said "she has no comment at this time beyond what the Avengers have already said."

Tania put the phone down quickly before more questions could be asked. She didn't take her hand off of it though because in the past few hours it hadn't stopped ringing. Unlisted numbers were no obstacle to a press corps that smelled blood. Carol sat at her kitchen table drinking coffee and reading through the email messages on her laptop. Tania could see from the look on her face that few of the messages were positive.

"Enough," Carol said closing the laptop. "I'm going to have to switch e-mail accounts again. I did that three times while I was staying at the mansion. I can't even go on the discussion boards anymore."

"If you'd like," Tania said "we could go to my home. Not my home here, but my real home. I would love for you to meet my daughter."

"No," Carol said standing up and walking over to her "everyone would just see that as me running away." Carol reached over and un-plugged the phone. "That doesn't mean I have to talk to anyone again for a while." She wandered over to the big glass window that gave her a view of the city. "I don't know how many times I’ve saved this city. That's a silly thing to say isn't it? That's a selfish thing to say to. No matter what I’ve done it doesn’t give me the right to do anything I want. But I haven’t done anything!"

"They don’t know that," Tania said walking over to her. "You never saved this city for glory or thanks. You've never done anything…"

"Oh yes I have," Carol said. "You think I don't love the press attention? When it's favorable anyway. I love being asked for my autograph, I laugh when they put my head on a naked supermodels body. And I really love it when I stomp some super villain into the ground. Tania I fight crime in a bathing suit and knee-high boots! Of course I love the attention!" She laughed and then turned serious. “But I've had some hard times too, I've lost my powers, I've gotten drunk when I've had my powers and there've been times when I haven't really been a superhero. Things that I've done, things that I'm not proud of."

"Carol that describes anyone who's ever worn a costume to fight crime."

"Oh don't tell me you're as bad as I am," Carol said.

"Well of course not," Tania said smiling "how can someone as perfect as me be as bad as you? Oh no, wait. See right there what I did? It should have been 'as perfect as I'. Now I've used bad English, I am as bad as you ain't I?"

Carol broke up laughing and Tania joined her and for a few minutes they just hugged each other and laughed as the tension broke. Then suddenly they stopped laughing. There was silence for a long moment and then Carol leaned over and kissed Tania. Tania returned the kiss. At first the kiss was a sisterly kiss but within a minute a wave of passion erupted within both of them. The kiss turned long and hard. Suddenly the two women could get enough of each other. They kissed and hugged, stumbling across the living room into the bedroom and onto the bed. Once there they started to wildly pull off each other's clothing.

In response to a silent command that neither of them consciously recognized, neither woman remembered to turn off the light or close the curtain.

What no super villain would ever understand, Tania thought to herself. What she could never make them realize no matter how many times she tried, was that a sexual climax was only part of the lovemaking experience. Of course that was the problem with so many of them. They didn’t realize that sex was a partnership, not a war. The goal was shared pleasure, not conquest. The other part that was less realized consciously and almost never acknowledged was afterwards. Not lying beside your partner basking in the afterglow of a sexual high, it was waking up with them beside you. Feeling the heat from their body even before you were completely awake. A person was never as helpless as a when they were in a deep sleep. To fall asleep with someone beside you was a sign of great trust. For an Amazon it was an even greater sign of trust. Once Tania reached a sexual climax any superstrength she had left her for at least seven hours. Considering how strong Carol was that was seven hours of complete helplessness and Tania hadn’t been worried for a moment. She opened her eyes and looked on Carol’s body. Despite all her power Carol did not have the overly muscled body of a bodybuilder. Her muscles were there but they weren’t obvious. Tania ran her eyes up Carol’s body. The strong legs, her sex that given Tania so much pleasure the night before, the flat stomach and the gentle swell of her breasts. Her surprisingly sensitive nipples, her neck and finally her face. Awake Carol’s face reflected her personality; driven and sharp with her eyes always focused on her goal. But asleep her face was gentle and calm. Suddenly Tania felt an overwhelming surge of love for the other woman. The feeling was so intense that for a moment Tania held her breath. She’d never felt that sort of intense feeling before except for the first time she had held Julia in her arms.

The doorbell rang and Carol’s eyes instantly opened and her face changed. Tania understood. The world was waiting and Carol would rise to the challenge.

“Good morning lover,” Carol said smiling.

“Good morning lover,” Tania echoed matching the smile.

The doorbell rang again and Carol rolled off the bed and grabbed a robe. It was a silk Asian robe with a red Dragon on the back. Tania watched her go and leaned back onto the pillows. She felt at peace with the world but the moment she heard Jennifer’s voice in the other room that peace vanished. Jennifer came storming into the room with Carol close behind her.

“Jenifer what is…” Carol was saying as Jennifer ignored her and stormed over to the window.

“Jesus Carol how long have you lived in the city?” Jenifer asked pulling the curtain closed and handing her a newspaper.

“Oh my God!” Carol swore.

Tania jumped off of the bed and rushed over to her. Wordlessly Carol handed her the newspaper. Tania gasped and felt her heart sank. As she looked at the picture of her and Carol making love she realized that beautiful moment of just a few minutes ago was gone. Their first time together would always have a stain on it now. The newspaper had taken something of unparalleled beauty and crushed it. Shock quickly gave way to rage and Tania looked at the caption under the picture.

“Photo taken by Zach and Andrea Murphy?” Tania asked. “How? How could they have known? We didn’t know ourselves. Last night just… Happened.”

“They were probably waiting just on the off chance that he’d snap something of you two on the balcony,” Jenifer said. “This is just a lucky shot.”

“They’ll be lucky to live after I get through with them,” Carol growled. Energy flared around her and she was once more in her Ms. Marvel costume.

“You can’t touch them Carol,” Jenifer said. “I’ve been through this sort of thing before. You might be able to sue but that’s it. Touch them and they sue and they win. Besides that isn’t the worst of it. Read the front page.”

“Abby is missing?” Tania said reading the story. “And we’re suspected?”

“Why the hell are we suspected?” Carol demanded grabbing the paper away from Tania.

“Because she was last seen in our company, yelling at us and her car is in the police lot in pieces. Almost exactly as if someone with superhuman strength had pounded it for a while. The cameras in the criminal courts building were out for a half-hour after she left us.”

“This frame up has grown,” Tania said.

“And it’s gotten better,” Jenifer said “the DA is moving to appoint a special prosecutor. It’s not only us though SHIELD is implicated too. We could be looking at a congressional level investigation. In the meantime Carol you are restrained once again, this time from leaving the planet or the country. Tania I have a feeling that your restraining order will come this afternoon.”

“What the hell are we going to do,” Carol said as her rage ebbed and puzzlement set in. “Jenifer who ever’s doing this is 2 to 3 steps ahead of us.”

“What is their goal?” Tania asked. “To eliminate trust in the avengers and SHIELD? That’s been tried before and it’s failed. Not all of the public may like superhumans but they do rely on us.”

“Maybe it’s just personal against me?” Carol suggested.

“It’s a lot bigger than just you,” Jenifer said. “With White Owl and Crimson Valkyrie missing the X-Men are under the microscope again. There’s even a few wild senators screaming for the government to activate the Sentinels robot program.”

Tania saw Carol’s mouth harden into a straight line and she could understand why. Sentinels were the government’s answer to superpowered mutant menaces. Giant, nearly unstoppable robots that didn’t really distinguish between good mutants and bad mutants. They were the ultimate sign of hysteria.

“What do we do then?” Tania said.

“Put some clothes on,” Jenifer suggested and Tania realized that she was still nude.

“Remember to close the curtain,” Carol added sitting down on the bed. “God how could I have been so dumb?”

“Yeah,” Jenifer said sitting down on the bed and looking at them “about you two? How long?”

“Just last night,” Carol said.

“What you think,” Jenifer asked “magic spell, mind control…”

“What makes you think it’s not true love?” Tania demanded angrily as she put her costume on.

“Because last year the Christmas party I made a move and even though Carol was drunk at the time she slapped me through a wall,” Jenifer said. “Along with a stern lecture about how she wasn’t gay, hadn’t been gay before and wouldn’t ever be gay.”

“I wasn’t that drunk,” Carol said “you were. Anyway this is different. I had Charles scan both of us.”

“So you two are an item now?” Jenifer asked.

“Yes we are,” Carol said in a tone of voice that made it a challenge. Despite everything Tania welcomed that tone of voice. “I fought this for a long time Jen, I put Tania through hell and she still didn’t back away from me. Last night…” She paused and Tania filled in the rest of the sentence for her.

“Last night Carol realized that love doesn’t have a gender boundary,” Tania said. “It is our business Jenifer, no one else’s.”

“Tania right now the picture of you two – without the naughty bits blurred out – is at the top of Google, Yahoo and Bing search trends,” Jenifer said. “TMZ and even the regular news outlets are running your story. Your shaved, Carol isn’t and that’s started a whole set of threads on the Avenger’s message boards. The moderators can barely keep up. I can guarantee you that in a week that picture will be on every voyeur’s hard drive who can connect to the Internet. I’ve been there ladies, a few years back some guy in a helicopter snapped a picture of me sunbathing topless on top of the Baxter building. We’re not only superheroes we’re celebrities. You’re going to start getting letters asking you about sexual techniques, right-wing religious groups are going to start protesting against you, the gay and lesbian alliances are going to start hounding you for donations and they’ll want you to be spokespeople…” She reached over and held up the paper. “This picture is a tombstone for any privacy you have in the future. At least until the next big story comes along. You’re both blonde, both beautiful and now as far as the press is concerned you’re both public property.”

“Then let it happen,” Carol said. “Let it all happen.”

“It’s going to be rough,” Jenifer said.

“It will be rough as long as we stay together,” Tania said walking over to Carol. Carol took her hand and then hugged and kissed her.

“I hear true love can handle anything,” Carol said. “It should be able to handle the tabloids.”

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