End of Hope

by Skytower

Part 1.  Escape to Hell

The moment the sound stopped Sue Storm Richards noticed it. Others perhaps would not have, after all the noise had been part of her waking and sleeping life for more than a decade. It was not a loud noise, indeed it was barely perceptible to anyone more than a half a foot away. The power hum of the neural inhibitor collar was flat and low. But Sue never stopped hearing it, never stopped hating it. So when it stopped she acted as she had acted countless times in her dreams.

They were in the garden when the noise stopped. Sue and Janet Van Dyne, working on the small patch of Earth, both trying desperately to grow enough food for the coming winter. The garden was located in the center of Mutant Reservation number 4, a barren patch of land in upstate New York that had formerly been an industrial park. It was not much of a reservation anymore. What had started out as an enforced community of over a hundred mutants and mutant sympathizers had been whittled down by disease murder and suicide to just two women. Neither of them mutants. Sue wasn't sure why they kept the place open just for her and Jan, especially since Jan had long ago ceased to be a threat to anyone. But the Sentinels were robots. Conservative, uncaring of cost, just concerned with results. So the camp was kept open. Janet and Sue were allowed to live in the small-unheated hut and farm for the food they needed to survive. Five human guards and ten sentinel robots watched over them constantly.

Up until a few seconds ago, that had been more than enough.

Jim Standish was the first to die. He was 27 years old, liked the Beatles and smoked cigars. The cigars had been given Jim problems for a while now, slowing him down despite his young age. Sue suspected they were contaminated. It had been over a week since he had last raped her and two weeks since he had put out his cigars on Jan or one of her dolls. The jagged claw-like edge of Sue's invisible force field sliced through his throat silently. Jim screamed and fell to the ground, screaming hysterically and thrashing about. Sue ignored him and picked up his gun. It was a laser stun gun, one of Reed's designs and it took her only moments to reset it, overloading the stun setting to something far more dangerous, aim and fire at the Sentinel robot walking toward them. Her first shot hit the 20-foot tall robot in the neck, severing his communications array. Her next two shots sliced open his upper leg exposing the robots hydrogen fuel tanks. Her third shot punctured the tanks.

The explosion enveloped the camp in a blazing inferno. Sue tore the power inhibiting collar off of her neck, tossed the now powerless gun away, swept Jan into her arms and ran in the chaos she had created.

The industrial park had never been cleaned and the first explosion was only that. Sue turned herself and Jan invisible and used her force field to escape the smoke and heat. Sentinels crossed her path, finding her with their sensors, but the other guards fared as badly as Jason had. With their guns Sue was able to cripple the other Sentinel robots, aiming for their communications arrays and central processors, leaving the giant robots staggering around like drunken men.

Dragging a passive Jan along Sue made for the river on the other side of the park. The river was an open sewer, foul smelling and full of dark chemical waste that would take centuries to fully wash away. She reached the river just as the last Sentinel attacked. Plasma beams bounced harmlessly off of Sue's force field as she leapt into the polluted water.

"Stop or face punishment." the robot stated tonelessly. He stepped into the water, ignoring the chemicals.

Sue ignored the pain from the plasma bolts that were coming out of the mechanical man's hand and aimed carefully. Pain she could handle. There was only one shot left in her last commandeered stun riffle and the waves caused her bubble force field to bounce up and down in the chemical soup. The beam hit its mark, slicing open the Sentinels foot as he lifted it from the water. When he put the foot back down the corrosive chemicals found an easy path into his systems. After a few more steps the leg gave out and the robot fell sideways into the water. Sue braced herself as the hot chemicals short out the sentinel's power system and it exploded. The force of the explosion created a shockwave that propelled Sue and Jan down the river. In less than ten minutes Sue had finally escaped over a decade of imprisonment.

Behind them the fire and smoke went on. It would go on until it burnt itself out. Sue hoped she and Jan would be thought burned in the fire. Part of her wished they had been.

"We forgot my dollies." Jan pouted, stamping her foot. Her short mop of light brown hair and small body emphasized the child like act.

"It's ok honey I'll get you new ones." Sue said stroking her hair. Jan sighed and slumped down. Sue reformed her bubble into a more streamlined shape and sat down beside her. With a thought she turned both of them invisible. Then Sue drew Jan's head onto her lap as the currents propelled them down stream. Jan sighed and snuggled in closer to her. Sue started to stroke her friend's hair and hum a lullaby. As always she felt the scars on Jan's head and as always she did not let the anger show in her song.


The first week at the camp was Sue's introduction to hell, or so she thought. It took her years to realize that there were many types of hell, and years after that to decide that she would probably visit them all before she died.

She and Jan were the only two super powered inhabitants of the camp. The others were suspected mutant sympathizers. Lines were formed immediately and the two women were on the wrong side of those lines. The Sentinels had a precise plan for dealing with super powered beings and they followed it. Ultra detailed examinations were made of both women; then both women were sterilized, interrogated for information and released into the general prisoner population. Through it all the inhibitor collars kept them helpless.

The beatings and gang rapes that followed did not break either Jan or Sue. They fought back all the time, and paid for it. Often weeks would go by between rapes simply because neither woman was physically able to stand another attack. The Sentinels had forbidden their deaths and no one would cross the robots. During this time news filtered in from the outside. The Sentinels had taken over the country, the continent and had only been stopped there because the rest of the world threatened a nuclear war if the Sentinels went any further. The rest of the world recognized the Sentinels as the de-facto US government and signed treaties. Treaties that let the Sentinels do what ever they wanted.

Sue did not believe it at first, nor did Jan. It was hard to believe that the world would simply abandon not only the beings that had saved it so many times, but he entire population of the US, Mexico, South America and Canada as well. But as one year turned into two and two into three they both came to believe it.

By the fourth year the population of the camp was cut in half, but Sue and Jan were still outcast. A new group of guards was brought in. One of them was a tall brute named Red Maxwell. Sue had seldom seen a more sadistic man in her life. He raped both her and Jan, never caring when or where or what condition they were in. When they fought back he beat them, almost to death in some cases. In the first two months he was there Sue and Jan each lost three teeth to his club. Sue would never forget Red Maxwell. He was the first man she ever killed.

He had cornered Jan in their small tin-can hut. Sue had gone for water because Jan was too weak to get up. When Sue came back Red was there. Drunk, he had laughingly pinned Jan beneath his body and was using his club to pound small nails into her head.

Sue fought him and he loved it. By then she was too week physically to put up much of a fight, neither she nor Jan were fed more than once every 4 days. Still rage and hate drove her to give him a few good blows. This enraged Red and he drove her across the compound with blow after blow and kick after kick. The other guards and the rest of the prisoners cheered him on. Red cornered Sue against a barbed wire fenced and used a length of against her face. In doing so he had to break a piece of a fence post and the sharp edge found its way into Sue's hand. She drove it under his chin and used the last of her strength to shove it into his brain.


For a few weeks after that Jan and Sue were left alone. Somehow Sue dragged herself back to Jan and pulled the nails from her friend's head. The nails were old and rusty and Jan was soon caught in a fever. Sue tended to her with what she could find. At night she would sneak into other the barracks and steal food rations. A few times she had to fight, many times she had to kill. But by then Sue had decided that she and Jan were going to live, no matter what. Anger and hatred burned in her for the other inhabitants of the camp. The more sick Jan became the more desperate Sue became, and the more desperate the more ruthless. Jan survived; Sue's conscience did not.

Jan may have survived her fever, but her mind was mostly gone. She had the mind and memories of a 5-year-old. That didn't stop the rapes or beatings, but Jan didn't fight back anymore. She would cry and curl up in a little ball. Sue still fought back and paid for it. Jan started to make dolls of scrap wood and torn fabric, giving them the names of the fallen heroes. It was a great source of amusement to the rest of the camp and they often played Keep-a-way with the dolls. Until Sue made a doll of her own. Her doll was ridged with tiny metal spikes that Sue had soaked for days in the remains of a dead rat. Everyone who played with that doll soon got sick and died.

I wish it were over Jan, Sue thought as they drifted. I wish we were just held captive in some supervillain's dungeon. But we aren't. I can't believe that I used to think of the Moleman and Dr. Doom as menaces to humanity. Doom. He was killed when they nuked Latveria. I wish he had lived, he and Reed were the only ones who might have stopped all of this.

That was a lie Sue often told herself and for a moment she actually believed it. But the moment passed and she realized that the Sentinels hadn't been born or operated in a vacuum. At any point before The Day the robots could have been stopped. But few groups had the political clout to go against a popular president and the economy of the 90's was too good to want to rock the boat. The anti-mutant rhetoric coming from the administration was the most well thought out anyone had ever seen. Arguments that seemed incredibly reasonable in specific context were used, arguments that were easily punctured once taken out of that context. But no one bothered. Sue hadn't been too worried, neither had Jan or the Avengers.

And we were too busy protecting the world to think about our own safety, Sue thought bitterly. Saving it from the Kree, the Skrull, They, the Roxxon take over attempt... battle after battle, sacrifice after sacrifice... for what? We never asked for a parade, we never asked for money... we never asked for anything. Ben lost Alicia saving New York from They... he still wasn't able to walk down the street without being jeered at. We should have noticed, but Ben never said anything. Did we show them weakness when we stopped wearing our Fantastic Four uniforms in public? We didn't think about it then, it just made for easier travel. How many times did the police harass us? Why didn't I notice what was going on?

Jan stirred slightly in her slumber and Sue hugged her closer. The thoughts ran through her mind at night, every night, like song she couldn't get out of her head. The only way she could stop them was to plan an escape. She had planned an escape for years. Her one hope was that she and Jan could reach Atillan. The In-human's were never mentioned and they were the one group that the Sentinels had never asked about. If Atillan was still free they had a chance. If not there was still the Kree space ship that the In-human's had stored for Reed. Sue and Jan were going to leave Earth if they could, there were worlds out there where they might find some sort of life.

"But first we have to get there." Sue whispered. The sun was setting as the current picked up. Sue kept them invisible and hoped for more speed.

By the next day Sentinel robots were flying overhead. Sue and Jan abandoned the river and struck out west through the forest. They had an advantage that it was early summer, not winter. The Sentinel's thermal imaging satellites would have picked them up instantly in winter. But Sue had planned for that; she rubbed cold mud on their bodies and kept them moving through the deepest part of the woods. They moved at night and during the day Sue dug a hollow out of the Earth with her force field for them to sleep in. It was always at least 10 feet deep and they would huddle together for warmth. In the morning Sue made sure to leave no trace. They ate whatever Sue could catch, from small animals to bugs to roots. Occasionally they would see or hear a robot, but they were far off. Sue hoped that the robots would look for her in the east. If they went by her history at all they would expect her to try and get to the ocean and Atlantis. But Sue never expected any help from Namor. From what she heard in the camp Atlantis had signed a treaty with the Sentinels before everyone else. Sue hoped that the wild country of Canada could be a sanctuary for as long as she and Jan needed it. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all she had.

If the eating was poor and the traveling was hard at least they were free. Sue had a moment of pure happiness each morning as the sun rose and she realized they were free. It was only a moment, but it was a moment to be treasured.

It was over a month after their escape that Jan rediscovered her powers. They were sleeping, taking advantage of fallen tree for shelter from a harsh northern wind. Sue slept lightly and at Jan's first shout she was instantly awake. Jan lay where she had fallen asleep huddled against Sue as she always did. She was trembling, her eyes wide with fright and the grey tunic that she wore was abandoned underneath her.

"Bad Jan." Jan whispered, hugging her knees to her chest. "Jan bad, bad Jan."

Sue hugged Jan and rocked her back and forth until the hysteria passed.

"What did Jan do that was bad?" Sue asked.

"Jan... Jan bad girl... Jan bad."

"Jan is not bad." Sue said pulling away from her friend to look Jan in the eye. It was a clear night with a full moon that gave enough light to see by. Jan looked more like a life-sized doll come to life then a grown woman. She had never been a large person and her years of child-like behavior had shrunk her in Sue's eyes. But that was a mental adjustment. Sue suddenly realized what had scared her friend so much.

"Jan got small?" Sue asked.

"Jan had a bad dream, Jan scared, Jan get small. Bad Jan!"

"Jan is not bad." Sue said.

A frightened whisper and a trembling body were Jan's only response.

"Sue says it's ok for Jan to do that."

"Not bad?" Jan looked up at Sue and the terror in her eyes infuriated the Invisible Woman. "Men say it was bad, they beat Jan, they hurt..."

"They aren't here." Sue said firmly. "Jan can shrink when ever she wants if men aren't here."

"Jan can?"

"She can." Sue said. "Try it now."

For a moment there was terror in Jan's eyes. Then she blinked and closed them. The shrinking process only lasted a few seconds. One moment she was a normal woman and the next she was a 6-inch tall fairy with wings. Almost instantly she was normal again and hugging Sue with all her strength.

"Jan bad." she whispered again and again. Sue calmed Jan to sleep with a lullaby and then let her own tears flow freely as she drifted off as well.

Over the next few weeks Jan gradually got over the fear of her powers. She took to reveling in them, calling her self: "Fairy Jan" and riding on Sue's shoulders. She stopped being normal sized at all. Jan sang nonsense songs and flittered about in the air until she got tired and Sue had to carry her. It was hard at times, Jan had a very short attention span and Sue had to keep watch for her constantly. One morning Jan flew away on a lark and it took Sue the rest of the day to find her, but not her tunic. From then on small or large Jan was nude. Sue tore a piece of her own tunic and used it as a line from her wrist to Jan's leg. This reduced her own tunic to just a halter shirt, but Sue didn't care. In the camp she had learned how easily personal modesty could be lost. Every day she and Jan were stood up against a concrete wall, stripped and then hit with streams from fire hoses. Once every three months the guards drew lots to see who would get to shave every bit of hair off of both women while the others watched. Bets were made on when the first cut would come. The guards said it was the rules, they had to keep the prisoners clean. But they only did it to Sue and Jan.


Sue kept track of time as they traveled. She moved them constantly in random directions, but gradually kept heading west. Her powers protected them from animals and once or twice they found a river or stream to wash in. Her main worry aside from capture was the weather. Neither of them would survive a winter. But speed brought with it the risk of capture. If winter closed in on them Sue's hope was to find some abandoned place that they could hide out in until spring.

Roads and highways they avoided. Now and then Sue would steal food from an isolated farmhouse, never enough to be noticed. They were scouting out a farmhouse when the attack happened.

It was an isolated farm, with barely a dirt road leading from it to a crumbling highway. There was a barn, a hen house and in the pasture some horses grazed quietly. The house was a worn two-story structure with a wide front porch. A man, the farmer Sue guessed, was tied to the porch. He was a tall man, well built with dark black hair. In the yard next to the house a woman was being held down and raped while her daughter was being held by another man and forced to watch. The woman was almost as tall as her husband, with red hair and her daughter had red hair as well.

Sue and Jan had come in late. They had been watching the farmhouse for two days, planning the best way to take what little they could. From their position they saw two motorcycles and a Winnebago drawn by a team of four horses.


There were six attackers in all. Three men, three women. Two men were starting on the rape of the woman while a third struggled with the little girl. Two of the women exchanged a bottle and took turns beating the farmer. While they did that another woman was carrying boxes from the house to the Winnebago.

"Jan help?" Jan asked with more of her old voice than Sue had heard in a decade. "Jan and Sue help?"

"Sue will help." Sue said. "Jan will stay here and wait."


Invisibly Sue sped toward the house, gliding on her force field. It only took her a minute to get there and she moved on the man who was attacking the little girl first. He was tall whip-thin man with thinning blonde hair and a tattoo of a vulture on his chin. A double chop to his neck stunned him and then Sue followed it up with a punch to the throat that crushed his windpipe. He went down grabbing at his throat and Sue turned to the two men who were raping the woman. They were twins, heavyset with no hair and broken teeth. They hadn't realized anything was going on. Sue planted her elbow into the base of one's spine and heard it crack. He fell back paralyzed and she moved to the next person. He was looking up in surprise and puzzlement as Sue's next blow took out his windpipe and his eyes.

The women had abandoned he farmer and one of them was coming toward where she thought Sue was, waving a knife wildly.

"Mutie!" he shouted. "One of em must be a mutie! Kill em all!"

He started to shout more but then fell to the Earth and clawed at the force field Sue had put around his head.

Bullets started to ricochet off her force field and Sue dropped to the ground. The woman next to the farmer had pulled a gun and was shooting in every direction. The bullets wouldn't get through Sue's force field but they could hit the little girl and her mother. Sue turned visible for just a moment and leapt away, then turned invisible again. It worked and the bullets followed her.

Out of the corner of her eye Sue saw the woman rush to untie her husband. The woman who was firing at Sue suddenly fell to the ground clawing at her face. The other woman was down on the ground not moving. It took a few minutes for the one with the gun to join her.

Sue held the force field until all of the bodies stopped twitching. Then she stood up and looked around. There was one missing.

A blast from the Winnebago hit her force field and Sue screamed in pain as the mental feed back hit her brain. She stumbled and became visible. The woman, as tall and thin as the first man Sue had attacked, stepped out of the camper holding a hi-tech gun.

"Mutie!" she snarled and fired again.

Sue rolled away from the blast and then came up and surrounded the gun and the woman with a force field. The mental feedback was rough as it exploded but Sue held on. She held the force field until the dust and smoke settled. When she released the field there was nothing left of either the woman or the gun but a small smoking crater.

Sue stood up and took a deep breath, trying to control her trembling body. The fight had taken about ten minutes and it was the first one she had been in since the escape. The fighting moves were still with her, more lethal now than they had been, but her body was still malnourished. Sue was thankful there weren't more of them.

A sharp pain in her leg caused Sue to stagger and fall. She looked down at the dart sticking out of her leg and darkness claimed her before she even realized it.


Sue woke up to darkness. She was blindfolded, her wrist held at her waist by some sort of belt restraint. She was lying on a rough carpet and the room smelled of spices and wood smoke. The sound of a muted radio came from somewhere nearby.

"She's awake mom!" the little girl shouted as Sue sat up. Her ankles were chained as well and her tunic was gone.

After a few moments a set of footsteps announced the presence of the mother.

"Ok Sheila, you go eat now."

A painful moan from close by shot through Sue's thoughts.

"Jan?" She said and tried to rise. A rope attached to the belt around her waist pulled her back. "Jan!"

"She's in the bed to your left." The woman said. Her voice held no malice, but no sympathy either.

"Most of her is anyways." the girl said with a laugh.

"Sheila go eat." the woman said sternly.

"What is wrong with her?" Sue demanded. The blindfold was fabric, she guessed it was a sleeping mask. The restraints were leather.

"She went after Jake after he shot you." the woman said. "We had to defend ourselves."

"I got her foot with my slingshot." The girl said proudly. "Took it clean off."

"Sheila!" the woman said sharply. "Go eat NOW!"

The sound of a smack accompanied the order and Sue heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

"My husband is a vet." The woman said. "Once your friend was normal he was able to treat her, but the foot had to go. Miss Van Dyne will live."

"You are welcome." Sue said dryly.

"You being here is going to cause us more trouble than the raiders Mrs. Richards." the woman said. "Even after the Sentinel's take you away we'll be marked as a mutie hot spot and bounty hunters will come from miles. It'll be years before we get any peace."

"Where am I?" Sue asked. "Who are you?"

"My name is Julia Hoffman." The woman said. "Your on our farm about 30 miles outside of La Corte, ten miles from the Canadian border, or what use to be the Canadian border."

Sue sighed and let her self slump against the wall. The rough wood was cold against her back.

"Where are my clothes?"

"There wasn't anything left of that thing." Julia said. "I'd give you something, but I'm guessing where you're going you don't need clothes."

"No." Sue said wearily. "I guess I don't. What about the raiders? Did I get them all?"

Julia hesitated for a moment and Sue could see her shifting uncomfortably.

"Yea, you got'em. I'm grateful for Sheila."

"I can tell." Sue said giving her bonds a tug.

"It's not easy for us Mrs. Richards." Julia said. "I was an engineer at Stark when the Day happened, Jake was a bio-chemist. After it was over we had to spend a month telling the Sentinels we didn't know anything, then they just turned us loose. We had nothing left in the city. If Jake didn't have this place from his parents we'd have starved. Even with this place it's been hell ever since."

"How do things stand in the rest of the country?" Sue asked. She was keeping her voice tired and broken, with no hint of the fury she felt.

"Like Mad Max come to life." Julia said. "The Sentinel's took over and laid down some new laws, no tech above tubes, no teaching above high school, no real national government... What you have now is hundreds of small territories ruled by whoever can rule'em."

Julia sighed.

"I was on the fast track at Stark, executive suite all the way. I used to have a corvette, a red corvette with flames on it, now all I have is a horse. Gas isn't legal unless you're on Sentinel business."

"I finished mom." Sheila said. "Are we going to feed the muties?"

"I'll feed them later." Julia said. "Go and get ready for bed."

"We aren't supposed to feed them are we?" Sheila asked. "At school they said it's a waste of food."

"Get ready for bed." Julia said sternly.

Sheila retreated and again Sue could see her captor shifting uneasily.

"They learn that stuff in school."

"You don't teach them the truth?" Sue asked.

"If we do and word gets out then we get labeled as sympathizers." There was the sound of a chair being moved. "It's not easy out there Mrs. Richards. Everyone and anyone could be a spy for the Sentinels or what's left of the government."

Sue said nothing for a few moments.

"Is there any resistance?" she asked at last.

"Not that's ever mentioned." Julia said. "Sometimes something big happens, but news is censored. We never hear the truth of it."

"I heard a rumor the Sentinels were built by Stark Industries." Sue said.

"Flat out lie." Julia said with some heat in her voice. "Tony Stark fought to the end, even though the government really put the screws to him. When the Day happened a squad of Sentinels walked up to the gate. Mr. Stark sounded the evacuation and Iron Man showed up to fight. Next thing anyone knew there was a big crater where the factory complex was. Never saw either of them again."

Tony Stark was Iron Man. Tony Stark was dead. Sue had known it, but hearing from someone else somehow made it seem real. She slumped against the wall and curled up into a ball.

"If it makes you feel any better the Sentinels never came out of Stark Industries."

"It helps a little." Sue said, her voice drained of all emotion. "Are you going to feed us? We haven't eaten for days."

"Just leftovers." Julia said. "All I can spare."

"Anything." Sue said. "Please."

"I'm ready for bed mom." Sheila said.

"Ok, you stay here and watch them ok? Don't touch 'em, just watch 'em."

"Ok."

Julia left and Sue heard her footsteps as they went down a set of stairs.

"You need to use the bathroom or anything?" Sheila asked.

"No." Sue said. She started to rub her head against the wall.

"Do muties use bathrooms?" Sheila asked. "Miss Hellinski says they don't."

"She's wrong." Sue said. "We use them just like you do."

"Why are you doing that with you head?"

"Headache." Sue said.

"Oh."

"Why'd you help us today?"

"You were in trouble." Sue said. "I used to help a lot of people in trouble."

"Before you wrecked the country?"

"We didn't do anything Sheila." Sue said. "Some of us were good, some of us were bad. Your teacher is lying to you."

"Why would she lie?"

"Ask her sometime." Sue said.

"Don't you dare." Julia said walking into the room. Fear and anger competed in her voice. "Sheila don't let me hear about you asking your teachers anything like that you hear me?"

Julia turned to Sue.

"Are you trying to..."

Her voice trailed away to a choked whisper, as she looked Sue in the eyes. The blindfold hung awkwardly on Sue's face. The tray of food dropped to the floor and Julie and Sheila clawed at the force fields Sue had put over their heads. She held them in place with other force fields until both mother and daughter fell to the floor unconscious.

Jan lay on the bed, nude with a chain going from her neck to the head board. Attached to her left leg was a gleaming metal cylinder that gave of a slight hum. Sue stroked her head, checked the cylinder and then took the chain off, snapping the small lock with one of her force fields. Then she turned to glare at Julia and her daughter. They were where she had been. Sue had been tied up with bondage equipment and ropes, easy enough to get out of for someone trained in escape as she had been. But for someone like Julia the only way she was getting loose was when someone freed her. Beside her Sheila was wrapped in a blanket and cocooned up to her neck with yards of rope. The girl looked at Sue with curious, yet not scared eyes.

"I thought you said no tech." Sue said.

"It's bootleg." Julia said. "Jake bought it on the black market to use on the cows. It'll work."

"I know it will." Sue said. "My husband designed it. Then he gave the patent away for free."

She left them and walked out into the hallway. Sue and Jan had been kept in what looked to be a spare bedroom. Across from it was the master bedroom, down the hall was a bathroom and across from that Sheila's room.


In the master bedroom Sue stood in shock and looked at herself in a full-length mirror. She hadn't seen herself in a mirror in years. What the refection showed was far more than mere age. The grey had seeped further into the edges of her blonde hair, hair grown a little past shoulder length at long last after years of hell camp enforced shortness. Her skin, always light, was nearly white and her eyes had retreated further into her head, as if to escape from the horrors she had seen. Sue didn't have to open her mouth to see the broken, yellow teeth and the scars on her body showed starkly against her white skin. The flesh on her body hung off of tired bones and her ribs could easily be seen. Her breasts were flat and lifeless showing the many small burn scars from cigars and cigarettes. Sue looked more like someone who had been dead for a week rather than a living person.

But the greatest scar stared back at her. A jagged half burn/half slice that started above her left eye and ran down one side of her face and across her mouth and throat. The fact that her skin was stretched across her skull like an old parchment only made her look that much worse.

A spike of white-hot rage shattered the mirror. After that Sue pulled the rage back into herself and got to work. She guessed the Jake would not be back until the next day, that meant she and Jan had to be gone soon.

Sue went through Julia's closet and found a set of expensive dresses, silk nightgowns and pajama's and other designer clothes. Julia and Jake, Sue guessed, had done some looting before fleeing the city. At the bottom of the closet was a suitcase full of cash and a jewlery box. In the dresser draw she found some pants and a shirt that fit her too loosely. Sue solved that problem with a belt but could do nothing about the shoes. The bedroom was nicely furnished, with a large brass bed covered with a thick quilt and a tv/vcr combo unit across from it. Dozens of tapes were piled next to the tv.


In Sheilia's room Sue found a tape player, some schoolbooks and a poster that she tore off the wall and ripped to shreds. The poster was one of the anti-mutant posters that had haunted New York in the years before the Day. It showed a slobbering mutant monster tearing apart a crowd of people. The monster was an amalgam of the Thing, Reed, Sue and Johny. The FF had tried suing but they had been laughed out of court by a judge who ignored all but the part of the law he agreed with. The appeal had been turned down as well.

Sue took a quick look at her captives, satisfied herself that they were still captive and then went down stairs.

Down stairs were a spacious living room with a large screen tv and vcr, a dining room with a fire place and a room with a hot tub in it. It had not been a working farm before the Day Sue realized. It had been a vacation home. The kitchen was well kept up and stocked with food. Sue concentrated and the floor turned invisible, revealing a well-hidden room. It took only moments to find the trap door after moving the fridge. In a cellar was a mini-warehouse filled with boxes and boxes of caned food.

"Leftovers." Sue whispered. "All I can spare."

Sue looked at the food and trembled. The house was clean, it was in better shape than it looked from the outside, and they had more food than Sue had seen for years.

Getting herself under control Sue went back up stairs and searched. Everything was well hidden, but not to someone who could make things invisible. She found cubbyholes and between wall spaces filled with guns and ammunition, gold, more videotapes and even a computer. Under the hot tub was a box of jewelry and a few gold bars.

She went outside. The raiders had been dragged to the side of the Winnebago and lined up. Each of them sported a knife wound to the chest. Sue doubted that Julia and her family would even acknowledge that they had been saved. Their story would be that they overcame the raiders and then captured Sue and Jan, or that Sue and Jan had been with the raiders.

Sue searched the bodies but found nothing she could use. The boots on the two women weren't her size and their clothing was too dirty to wear. Then she searched the Winnebago. Inside was a mess of money, jewelry, guns, bottles of wine and scotch, drugs and a box of grenades. On the dashboard was a list of frequencies and their assignments as well as a hand held scanner. There were a few police, some state police, some names that Sue took to be private police forces and a number of Sentinel frequencies. There was also a pair of high powered military binoculars. Sue took the list, the scanner, the binoculars and the grenades.


Three hours later Sue finished loading a supply of food into the saddlebags of one of the motorcycles. Along with the food was all the gas she could siphon out of the other motorcycle, some warmer clothing for herself and Jan, a few of the guns, the grenades, binoculars, scanner and a supply of ammo and a few of Sheila's dolls. It was a heavy load but Sue thought the bike could take it. She led it far enough away and then went back and then un-hitched the horses from the Winnebago. Then she led them to the barn and tied them off there. It galled Sue to give anything to Julia and her family, but the horses were too tame to let go wild. Returning to the Winnebago she put three grenades into the inside and was back at the house before they blew up. There was no gas, but enough of the camper burned to hide what she had taken. Then she rolled the second bike over to the barn and buried it under the compost heap. It would be a few weeks at least before they found it.


That done she went back upstairs. Jan was still asleep, and would be until the healing unit on her leg determined she was out of danger and pain.

"What exploded?" Julia asked ask as soon as Sue came into the room.

"The raiders rigged a trap in the camper." Sue said. "Don't worry, fires out, horses are safe. I put them in your barn. We'll take the bikes."

Sue carefully wrapped her up in a blanket and then turned to face Julia. Julia stared back at her calmly. There was no fear in her eyes, she knew Sue wouldn't kill her. Sue's blood boiled as she looked at the other woman. Julia was actually a little overweight.

"Really suffering." Sue said. "Not a single luxury. A hot tub, tv/vcr..."

"We pay big to have those things." Julia said. "It ain't easy, you have to wheel and deal with freaks and raiders and no one helps anyone but themselves."

"If my husband and my family had thought that way this planet would be a burnt out cinder in space." Sue said. "If I followed that philosophy you wouldn't have survived the morning."

"We do what we have to." Julia insisted not turning away. Sue walked over to her and bent down. "Everyone..."

Sue stuffed a rag into her mouth and tied it there with a tight jerk. Then she put the blindfold that she had worn over Julia's eyes.

"I ripped up the poster in your room." Sue said turning to Sheila.

"That was mine!" Sheila said with the outrage only a little girl could have. She squirmed in her bonds.

"Yea it was." Sue agreed. "I ripped up a poster that was a lie." Sue bent down so that they were face to face. "Your teachers and your mother are lying to you Sheila. Mutants weren't the problem. Mankind was. From the day I got these powers, by accident, my family and I strove to help people, just like I did this morning. We put our lives on the line countless times. We suffered pain, we faced down creatures of the dark you can't even imagine. But one day a bunch of robots came and killed my family. We weren't mutants, most of the superheroes killed on the Day weren't mutants. Nobody seemed to care. They gave Jan and I to a bunch of men who did to us a thousand, thousand times what those men were going to do to you this morning. They did things to Jan and me I hope you never even imagine. Things your mother won't tell you. Things your teachers won't tell you."

"You're lying." Sheila said.

"If I'm lying how come your alive?" Sue demanded. She lifted her shirt out of her pants and revealed a scar going straight across her stomach. "The Sentinels cut me open Sheila, I can't have anymore children. Not ever." Sue's voice choked for a moment. "And they killed my son."

"But..." Sheila stared the scar and her voice died.

"How come I'm leaving with only what I need to survive and I'm not burning this place to the ground? You maimed my friend and she never harmed you. Who was the bad gal there this morning? Ask yourself that. If mutants are as bad as they say how come you are still alive? If we're such a threat that a little girl with a slingshot could take one of us out how could we threaten the world? If we're so bad how come you're just tied up? I could kill you both easily."

Julia was struggling and making noises but Sue ignored her. Sue was looking into a pair of frightened grey eyes. They were the innocent eyes of a child and Sue was killing that child. She was replacing the innocence with reality. Sue didn't care and a part of her was even enjoying it.

Chew on this Julia, Sue thought. Then tell me about pain.

"Do you believe in God Sheila?"

Sheila swallowed and nodded.

Sue gently rapped her knuckles on Sheila's forehead.

"God gave you a brain. Use it. Don't take any truth for granted that you don't find out yourself. Your mother, your father, your friends, your teachers... the Sentinels... they'll all lie. They'll lie to protect you, they'll lie to get wealth, they'll lie to get power. Don't forget what I'm telling you now Sheila."

"I won't." Sheila whispered and Sue hated the way she felt at the new tone in Sheila's voice. But better that Sheila know the truth rather than her mother's lies.

Keep saying that to yourself Sue, Sue thought to herself. And keep trying to believe it.


"Don't forget this either." Sue said. "Lies hurt, but the truth hurts more. Your mother and your father live the lie because the truth would kill them. You want to live like that, that's up to you. Living a lie is easy, living a truth hurts. The truth is mankind stabbed me and my friends in the back. They murdered and raped us and killed our children. Your mother and father didn't even try to stop them. They just did what she said they did. They ran. They and millions like them didn't help us, so when the Sentinels were through with us no one was there to help them. That's why the world is the way it is Sheila. Because your parents were cowards who went along to get along. That's the truth Sheila. And because of what your parents did this morning I'm through helping. So the next time I see a little girl like you in trouble I'm not going to help. Because of what your parents did she's on her own. So's the rest of humanity. I'd wish you luck, but the truth is I just don't care anymore."

Sheila was crying and Julia was struggling and screaming against her bonds. Sue took a deep breath and then stood up and went over to Jan. Bending down she checked the healing unit and then picked Jan up in her arms.

"Julia." Sue said in a calm and tired voice "For the record. I have never in my life owned a corvette. Of any color."


From the farmhouse Sue took her, Jan and the bike south west as fast as she could. She couldn't chance Canada, not right now with Sentinels no doubt alerted to where she had been. For two days she used her force field to move them over roads, through pastures and forest and down streams and rivers. She kept her ear tuned to the scanner. Most of what she heard was background traffic. There was an announcement of a bounty on her and Jan's head. Sue didn't know what; "Sent-Bucks" were, but she wasn't surprised that the police could collect it. Most of the chatter after that were police officers speculating on whether she was alive, dead or worth the trouble. From the radio reports she heard Julia and her husband had indeed claimed that Sue and Jan were working with the raiders. A further report stated that the "mutie-bitches" had stolen most of the Hoffman's winter food supply. When she heard that Sue stopped feeling guilty about what she had said to Sheila.

When they turned onto a two-lane highway that was filled with burnt out cars Sue began to slow down. The cars on the road were too weathered to be new. Most of them still held corpses. From the looks of the road some airplane or robot had strafed it from the air. Moving down the roadway, five feet above it for safety, was like moving though the valley of the dead. Highway scavengers had long since had their fill and moved on, but the summer was still hot and the bugs were not done yet. A nest of wasps had built their home in an old red Ford Mustang, in the chest of the long dead driver. They flew in and out through the entrance in his throat. Two of the wasps crawled over the corpse's mirrored sunglasses.

The road came to a stop at a wrecked bridge. Sue stopped at that point and took a deep breath. She was bone tired and hungry. The bridge spanned a two-hundred-foot gorge and at the bottom was a dry riverbed. The riverbed was filled with the ruins of the bridge and the cars and trucks that had been on it. Night was closing in and at night her invisibility would be useless. Sue took out the binoculars and looked down, scanning the wreckage. There was no sign of life save for a coyote. Satisfied she put the binoculars away and used her force field to float them gently down to the bottom.


She guided them over to a hollow that had been formed by part of the bridge coming to rest on a semi truck. Sue packed them both in carefully, put the bike in front of the hollow as a gate, put a gun within reach and then checked on Jan.

"How you doing Jan honey." Sue asked in a soft voice as her friends eyes fluttered open.

"Sue? Sue ok?"

"I'm fine." Sue said. "How's Jan?"

"Jan broke." Jan said starting to cry. "Lost foot. Jan's foot not like rabbits foot, Jan's foot unlucky."

"It's ok honey." Sue said softly. The healing unit emitted a soft beep and Sue unhooked it from Jan's leg. It revealed a smooth stump at the end of Jan's leg. There was no scaring, no infection. If Reed had been given another few years the unit might have even grown the foot back.

"Will Sue leave Jan?" Jan asked quietly. The question forced the memory of Reed out of Sue's mind. "Sue should, Jan no good. Jan hasn't been good for years."

"I won't leave you Jan." Sue said. She leaned over and brushed the hair away from Jan's forehead. "I'll never leave you, no matter what."

"Jan... I can't help you Sue." Jan said and for a moment the woman that was broke through the child. "We both know it... I... Jan..."

"I'm not leaving you." Sue said firmly.

Jan collapsed back onto the blanket and the moment past.

"Jan sorry Sue." Jan said, once again the child.

"It's ok Jan." Sue said. She had suspected that the long sleep induced by the healing unit might help Jan's mind, Reed had hinted that about the unit. He'd been exited about the possibilities. But it hadn't been enough.

"Here Jan." Sue said holding up a Barbie Doll infront of her.

"Carol!" Jan said.

"Yes you can call her Carol." Sue said. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, very."

"Ok you play with Carol while I fix us something to eat ok?"

"Ok."

While Jan hummed softly to herself and talked to the Barbie Doll Sue opened one of the cans of tuna fish and milk. They had enough for at least a week, maybe two. Jan ate quickly and settled into a true sleep. Sue sighed and leaned back against the stone. She didn't sleep, much as she wanted too, but she didn't stay awake either. Her eyes half closed, her breathing steady, Sue eased her mind into the twilight between awake and asleep. Here she could rest, she could dream, but not be caught unawares.


Daylight brought something neither Sue nor Jan had enjoyed for many years: a good breakfast. Though Sue hadn't dared risk a fire at night she lit a very small one and heated up two cans of spaghetti and meatballs. After they ate Jan shrunk down to sit on Sue's shoulder and they explored the ravine.

Though she hadn't been able to tell the night before Sue now guessed that the roadway had become a battleground. A group of refugees had been caught between two small armies and paid the price. All that were left of the dead were bones, most picked apart. It had been a savage battle. One group had been the Anti-mutant Brigade and the sight of their grey uniforms angered Sue. The Grey's had been the back up troops for the Sentinels. Fanatical, vicious, well trained and paid they had followed in the robots wake and taken out any survivors they deemed sympathetic to mutants. The other fallen dead wore the yellow jumpsuits of A.I.M. In between them were families, single men and women and children. Sue found one skeleton in front of a bombed out station wagon. It was a man with half his chest blasted away. Inside were the remains of a woman and a baby. A pacifier was still in the baby's mouth.

Further along a man in a business suit lay face down. In his hand was a tightly gripped lottery ticked. Sue had to laugh when she pried it from his still clenched bones. It was a winning scratch ticket, 50,000.000 dollars.

There were more and more cases like that, people fighting to the death or running in terror, attacking or defending. When she found the turned over ambulance Sue realized how truly bad it had been. In the ambulance were the remains of a child, about ten Sue guessed. From the looks of the scene one of the Grey's had shot his plasma riffle though the ambulance attendant to get to the child. The ambulance had been stripped completely.

"Bad." Jan said.

"Yes." Sue agreed.

In a kind of shock she wandered over the battlefield. Sue had been in battles, she could tell at a glance how someone had died. Neither the AIM soldiers or the Grey's had cared about who stood in their way, and none of the people caught in the battle tried to help each other at all. Families fought and died together, but Sue saw evidence that they often fought against each other instead of the soldiers. Those cars with the most bodies around them that were not soldiers were the expensive cars.

The sun and the temperature rose as one. It was late morning when Sue found something useful. An overturned van with the logo of the New York Times yielded bundles of different newspapers. Sue and Jan sat in the shade of the truck and started to read. Jan laughed at the comics while Sue looked through the headlines. They were dated June 22 of 2000; 2 years after Sue and Jan had been captured. Most of the stories dealt with the increasing chaos in the country and the calls on the President to reign in the Sentinels and the Greys. Sue was shocked to learn that the Baxter Building had been taken over as Sentinel HQ. Reed had set the computers to clean their memories in case of a takeover from any source, but the machinery was still there. It burned her that products of his genius were being used to help the robots. There were articles on how mutants were being treated in captivity, all of them propaganda.

One story turned Sue's heart to ice. It was headlined; "In-human City destroyed by Nuclear attack." She read the story and realized that the Sentinels hadn't asked about Atillan because they hadn't known about it. But Sue guessed Black Bolt hadn't wanted to take any chances so he decided to launch the city into orbit and take his people to the stars. The Sentinels spotted it; thought it was Asteroid M, Magneto's base, and attacked. The city was brought to Earth in an explosion that took out the city of Toronto.

That's it then, Sue thought as she put the paper aside. We have no friends left. We have no place to go.

That wasn't exactly true of course and she knew it. If they were able to get out of the Sentinels' domain Sue was sure that she and Jan could find sanctuary. But that sanctuary would come at a price. Whatever country allowed them in would no doubt want Sue to help them fight the Sentinels.

Sue sighed as she looked out over the battlefield. She hated the robots, but they were just robots. Humanity had built them to destroy her and her friends. Now that humanity had lost control of the force it had unleashed, that same humanity would demand that Sue help stop that force. It would be her duty to help save mankind, she who had been blessed with greater power than the rest of them.

The arguments and counter arguments ran through Sue's mind. Her old self, the woman who had been part of the Fantastic Four, would have agreed without hesitation. That part argued that only a few men had built the Sentinels. But that argument withered and died as Sue looked out over the battlefield. It withered and died as she remembered the day of her capture in New York. A capture not by Sentinel robots or even of Grey's, but by police aided by a crowd. It was buried when she thought of Julia complaining of her hard life.

Sue stood up and looked at the death around her.

"I'm through fighting for you." Sue said standing up and gazing at the field of corpses. She spoke in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. Still the Earth seemed to shift beneath her feet and a breeze picked up where there was none before.

We'll go south for now, Sue thought standing up. Winter is coming and we'll have a better chance in a warm climate. There might be one last place, the old Kree facility in the Arctic Circle... Reed never had a chance to tell anyone about it. But Antarctica..., maybe a ship is still functional. But Antarctica is a continent and a half away, all of it controlled by the Sentinels or their allies.

For long minutes despair gripped her, then Jan laughed at a Family Circle cartoon and anger replaced despair.

Jan deserves something better than this, Sue thought. So do I damnit! If we are the last two...

"You wanted us gone, fine. We're going." She said to the battlefield. "I don't care what it takes, who I have to go through or who gets hurt." Sue closed her eyes tightly against the tears that were threatening to flow. She could actually feel the principles of an entire lifetime leaving her as she spoke. It was if she was speaking some dark incantation and damning her soul to hell.

Sue opened her eyes and looked out over the corpses.

"Just don't get in our way." She warned.


For the next few months Sue took herself and Jan on a zigzag pattern across what had been the Eastern and Mid-Western United States. Avoiding people was easier than she thought. More often she and Jan encountered old battlefields and burnt out towns than anything else. Sue would oven settle them invisibly on or behind a train so they could move faster. The railroads were still moving but the machinery was starting to degrade. Sue wondered how long it would be before the steam locomotive returned to service. She always made sure to get off long before they reached a city and even avoided some of the larger stations. From the chatter the scanner picked up Sue guessed that the Sentinels monitored stations, not the tracks themselves. Along the way she picked up other newspapers and different newscasts.

Gradually a picture formed in Sue's mind. Without the Avengers, the Fantastic Four or the other super groups to oppose them the criminal syndicates, seeing the U.S. on the edge of ruin anyway, tried to carve out individual kingdoms. From the type of chatter Sue picked up on her scanner and from the programs she listened too on the bikes radio, some had succeeded. Hydra and Aim were still actually at war over in Montana while the Maggia held firm in Louisiana. The Taskmaster ruled Las Vegas, but how he avoided classification as mutant was a mystery to Sue. California was ruled by the Shroud, New York state by the Kingpin. Other than that individual governors ruled each state. The Sentinels simply didn't care what form of government existed as long as their rules were followed.


When the railroads became too risky Sue and Jan took to the back roads. They traveled by day, keeping invisible and using the bike to coast down roads. Gas was very rare and Sue wanted to save what they had in case she needed it. They ate well enough to put weight and strength back onto their bodies. Sue quickly perfected the art of robbery. Farm houses were her first choice, but raider gangs as well. When she hit raider gangs Sue left no survivors. She also took care not to kill with her powers unless she needed too. The best way she found was to use a knife and simply kill the sentry, then kill everyone else while they slept. When Sue robbed family farms she did so quietly and was not seen. Deep down she was grateful for that, despite her feelings Sue didn't know if she could actually kill whole families. She and Jan did head the in the opposite direction if she saw any sign of raiders attacking a house, farm or village. Jan complained about that some times but Sue just turned them away and moved as fast as she could.

She and Jan listened to the radio at night and often the airwaves were full of anti-mutant hate. The X-men were the true villains of the age, at least according to the commentators. But the Avengers and the FF were not spared. Histories were broadcast of the Avengers and the FF, distorted lies that painted both groups as tyrannical overlords. Songs about the Day were common, and in all cases they celebrated the Sentinel's actions. After a while Sue learned to make sure Jan was asleep before she listened to the radio. It was the only way to stop her friend from having nightmares. Sue scanned night after night for any underground or resistance radio, any station that might come even close to the truth. She found none.

From time to time Sue did find snippets of information that were useful. Old newspapers in abandoned houses yielded history. The Sentinels had executed the President. Sue read with ironic amusement how Sentinels had destroyed the White House, despite it being defended by Grey's. The President had decided that the robots were going too far and when they ignored his orders and declared him a mutant sympathizer he had called for the: "the men and women of this great country to rise up and fight back against the inhuman products of our science."

No one had helped him or the Greys that day and Sue had to laugh at the end of the story. It was no surprise that the vice-president was sworn into office the next day and pledged to continue the fight against the mutant menace.

International news was different. The Black Widow now ruled Russia as a queen; the Middle East was a gigantic radioactive zone. The Israeli's and the Arab's had finally settled things once and for all with mutual destruction. Ninety-nine percent of China's population had been wiped out by a genetically engineered virus, the Chinese governments own answer to the mutant problem. The virus had mutated, something Sue found horribly ironic, and had only been stopped when it ran into a counter-virus released by the Mandarin. He now ruled what was left of the country as well as India and Pakistan. Africa was not ruled by anyone as far as Sue could tell. There were no organized governments left on the continent.

Europe at least, as far as Sue could tell, was ruled by the old countries; France, Germany, Italy, Spain, all of who had signed treaties allowing the Sentinels anti-mutant programs to function. Humanity had been separated into three categories. H for Human, allowed to breed, A for Anomalous, Forbidden to breed, and M for Mutant. Anyone classified as M were either killed, given to the Sentinels for experimentation and sterilization, or interned by their own governments in special camps under Sentinel supervision. If they had any powers at all they were killed instantly.

Only England, Ireland and Scotland stood against it all. Surrounded by a force field the island had completely cut itself off from the world. No one was sure who was ruling it, but no force was able to get through the force field. One newspaper account describe how a fishing boat wandered out of the range of the force field, made its catch and then moved back in. A Sentinel robot had been holding onto the ship and it simply vanished inside with the ship. Nothing was ever heard of the robot again.

Though the papers revealed what had happened none of them were more recent than 2007. It was 2014 and Sue wondered what had happened since. The radio rarely gave a national much less an international report. It seemed the world had gotten larger and few were interested in hearing about it anymore. Sue wondered if curiosity had become a crime.

They were somewhere in Nevada when Sue and Jan finally met with another set of New York survivors of the Day. Sue and Jan were moving down a highway, visible and with the engine on. Sue had picked up more gas from a raider camp and had decided it would be better to travel openly for a while. Nevada had become a biker state run by the TaskMaster and the Hells Angels. By that time Sue and Jan had let their hair grow long and both had found jeans and leather jackets. Jan's stump was stuffed into a boot filled with padding and strapped halfway up her leg under her pants. She could pass for normal from a distance. She could even walk a bit, but that was painful without a cane. Sue had found them helmets and boiled the head lice out of them. They looked like any other bikers on the road.

Even so Sue mostly kept to deserted roads. If she saw anyone coming she would signal Jan who would keep one hand on her gun. Jan still had the mind of a child, but that child had learned to kill.

It was just past sun up, and a glint of light on the western horizon caught Sue's eye. She slowed the bike and watched it. Planes were very rare in the skies, but Sentinel robots did not shine in the light. She slowed the bike to a stop and she and Jan watched as the plane sank toward the ground. It was smoking and Sue could see other glints of light around it. Taking out the binoculars Sue focused on the distance.

"We hide?" Jan asked. One of the basic rules Sue had drummed into her was that in case of trouble Jan and Sue would hide or run. It didn't matter whether that trouble was a fire, flood, battle between armies or even two raider gangs fighting it out. Run or hide was their only options.

Sue's sharp intake of air told Jan that this was something new.

"Take a look." Sue said passing Jan the binoculars.

An Avengers Quinjet was a compact wide-bodied supersonic jet. Based on a design from Reed and modified somewhat by Tony Stark, the jet was considered a very advanced flying machine. Sue had never expected to see one again. But in the distance the large glint was a Quinjet, with the stylized "A" on the

ail fin.

"We help?" Jan asked.

Sue bit her lip. It could be a trap. As far as she knew no Avengers were alive besides Jan. But then Sue was listed as dead in some places. Could some Avengers have survived? Sue took the binoculars back and focused on the attacking aircraft. They were small and black, no markings. That was not Sentinel tech.

"We investigate." Sue said, putting the binoculars away. "Carefully."

An hour later they stopped behind the wreck of a school bus and watched. Sue had cut the engine on the bike and had been keeping them invisible for the past half an hour. Now she and Jan left the bike and looked around the side of the bus. The Quinjet had come to rest in the desert. It wasn't badly damaged and from the looks of things who ever had been flying it had put up a ground fight. They had lost. The four ships that had been attacking were on the ground, one of them a smoking wreck. By the downed quinjet two women were being gang raped.

"We help!" Jan snarled as she started pulling her clothes off. She had learned once again to use her bio-elctric Wasp stings but still had to go into battle nude.

"We wait." Sue said stopping her.

"But..."

"We wait." Sue said firmly. "Jan count."

"Count?"

"Count the bad men Jan."

Jan looked around the bus and started to count. She could only go up to ten before loosing track, but the message sank in.

"We wait." She agreed. "But the girls..."

"Are on their own." Sue said and then added: "For now."

Sue looked around the bus again. The men were dressed in black combat suits with a red skull on the chest. There were 30 of them, well armed and from the looks of them well trained.

"Jan strip." Sue said. "We'll look, but Jan stays on Sue's shoulder and does nothing, says nothing. Understand?"

"Jan understands." Jan said and started to pull off her clothes.


The man in charge was tall, blond and every inch the Prussian officer. He was about fifty with stern hazel eyes and a strong jaw. His nose looked like it had been broken and badly set more than once, making his bearing even sterner. He was talking to field video link. Sue stayed quiet and watched over his shoulder. On the screen the Red Skull stood in a torture room. In one hand was a whip. Behind him was a man on a rack.

After all the heroes have gone Earth will belong to the cockroaches, Sue thought bitterly. The Skull is no mutant; he has no powers, so the Sentinels left him alone and killed Captain America.


"We have quelled the resistance." The officer was saying. "Our stealth units have been successful in masking us from Sentinel detection, but we don't know how long they will be effective. We have the women, the children and the old man."

"Bring them all to me alive." the Red Skull said. "Your men may have your fun with the women, but not the children or the old man."

He paused to crack the whip against the man on the rack and Sue started as she heard the man scream. She knew that voice.

A young soldier hurried over to the commander. Sue doubted he was much older than sixteen or seventeen. He carried a large package and his face was red with excitement. He stopped and saluted, the Nazi salute turned Sue's stomach, handed it too the commander and then left. The package was about the size of an artist portfolio. The commander opened it and smiled.

"There is more my leader." He said smiling. "I will also bring you this gift."

Captain America's shield glinted in the sunlight. Sue felt Jan's wings start to move and reached up and took hold of her friends legs. The shield was indestructible, painted with circular red and white stripes with a large white star on a blue background in its center.

"Excellent." the Skull said. "What of the quinjet?"

"Repairable." The commander said. "We shall lift off within the hour."

"Proceed directly here." The Red Skull said. "A great reward will be waiting for you."

The commander cut the link and then turned to start shouting orders. By that time Sue and Jan were heading out of the compound back toward the bike.

"We help." Jan insisted. "Kill them!"

"Calm down Jan." Sue said as they took cover behind the bus. She took hold of Jan's legs and held her friend. Sue took a few deep breaths to calm her own anger.

"We'll help and we'll kill Jan, but we'll do it the right way. Remember, we're all that's left." Sue started to go through their belongings, picking and choosing what to keep and what to leave. When she was done she sat down to watch.

"But..."

"Jan." Sue said firmly. "We are the last Jan. If we fail, it's the camp again. No one will come to rescue us."

"Jan understand." the Wasp said, turning pale at the memories that word inspired.

The commander was very good at his estimates. While Sue and Jan watched men climbed all over the quinjet, repairing and refueling it. They were young, but they were well trained and motivated. And they were all American.

While they did the repairs on the outside screams came from inside of the jet. The men working to repair the quinjet laughed and made crude jokes as they heard the screams. Jan's wings fluttered once or twice but Sue kept a firm hold on her legs. This was their chance and Sue wasn't going to loose that chance for someone she had never met. Who ever it was in the quinjet would just have to be satisfied with vengeance.


They snuck on board just as the quinjet was being moved into position for takeoff. The inside of a quinjet was 15 feet long and ten feet high. Three rows of three chairs were in the back, in the front were a pilot, co-pilot and navigator seats. A nude woman was strapped into one of seats in the front row. She had been one of the victims of the rapes and for a moment Sue's heart faltered. Then she sealed off the part of her that could feel sympathy. The woman had long red hair, a face that was still young enough to be striking and a slim figure. She was cut and bruised and the remains of the rape were still drying on her skin. Beside her was a nude teenager. Sue recognized her, though the last time she had seen her the girl had been no more than four. She had Wanda's red hair, but Steve's strong jaw and his blue eyes. Her body was still young enough to be growing. The young woman had freckles, long arms and slightly big hands, large breasts and skinny legs. In a few years she would be beautiful, but first nature was cursing her with an awkward phase. She too had been been raped.

I'm sorry Steve, Sue thought. The apology felt like wet sand in her mind. Please forgive me Wanda, but there was nothing I could have done to save your daughter.

Rebecca Janet Rodgers sat quietly, awake and aware. She was in shock, Sue realized. This was the first time Rebecca had been raped. Sue could tell that from the way the teen ignored the pain and the bruises. In fact Rebecca looked like she was trying to ignore the world.

In the next row were two unconscious children. The boy was wearing a T-shirt that said; "Ben" and the girl was wearing a T-shirt that said; "May". They were wearing jeans as well. They both had red hair and obviously belonged to the older woman. The boy had a stronger jaw than the girl, but she had a more serious look to her face, even in sleep. Sue hoped that they hadn't seen what had happened to their mother.

In the next row was Jarvis, the Avengers butler. Sue was astonished to see him alive. The years had not been kind to him. He was bent, with one blind eye, a scar on his bald head, a scraggily beard and twisted foot. He was dressed in worn clothing.

Sue put her belongings down beside a storage locker and sat down on the floor.

They took off, two men flying the craft, two men watching the prisoners. One of the men playfully fondled Rebecca's breasts. Rebecca cringed and whimpered slightly, causing him to laugh and pinch her nipple.

Where do such men come from, Sue wondered. He was tall, well built, good looking. Sue would never understand why such men turned to rape. But then she never understood why men would serve the Red Skull. Over the past decade Sue had come to realize she had never understood the rest of humanity at all. She held on to Jan's legs and contented herself with the knowledge that the man would not live through the flight.

An alarm sounded five minutes after they were airborne.

"Sentinels!" the commander swore.

Sue's blood turned cold at the name.

"Ten sentinels." the co-pilot said. "Stealth is ineffective."

"Order the others to turn back and engage." The commander said as he banked the craft to the right.

The co-pilot relayed the orders and Sue edged up closer to see the instruments. They had been flying south, now they were heading southwest.

"They will not be able to defeat the robots," the co-pilot said.

"They will give us time." The commander said coldly. "Can you operate the missiles on this craft?"

"Yes sir."

"Bring them online." The commander flipped a switch and a holographic map of Nevada appeared. The quinjet was represented as a green blip, ahead of them was the city of Las Vegas. He pointed his finger at a point a little bit on the other side of the city. "This is the fusion reactor that powers the city. Hit it with every missile we have as we fly toward it. The radiation will hide us from the Sentinels and we will head west at top speed."

"That will destroy the city." the co-pilot remarked.

"Them or us." The commander shrugged.

Sue kept a tight grip on Jan as her friend tried to fly away and attack.

"Sue!" Jan hissed into her ear as they got closer and closer to the city. Sue squeezed her friend's legs tighter.

"Our fighters are destroyed." The co-pilot reported a few minutes later. "Three Sentinel robots still in pursuit. Missiles are targeted. We will fire in 4 minutes."

"How soon will the Sentinels reach us?"

"Six minutes."

"Good." The commander paused then went on. "I shall miss the city, it was a fun place for a man who knew what he wanted."

"I was there last month." the co-pilot said. "There is a woman I shall miss, she could do incredible things with her..."

A buzzing sound on the panel got his attention and he flipped a switch.

"We are being warned away." The co-pilot said, listening to some unknown ground controller. "The fusion plants defenses are being activated. They may destroy the missiles."

"Reducing altitude." The commander said. "Let us see if they can hit something that is only a few meters above the ground. Use the quinjets particle beam weapons, fire into the city. A few hotspots may distract the fusion plants defenses."

"Yes sir."

"Let JAN GO!" Jan cried in Sue's ear, her voice nearly hysterical. Sue kept hold of her.

Payback, Sue thought savagely. Chew on this Julia. She pulled Jan off of her shoulder and hugged the Wasp to her chest. This is our best chance Jan. If they escape, we escape, but if they get caught we get caught. Remember the camp? Remember New York? Remember the Day!

Jan was crying and beating at Sue's chest with tiny fist. She could use her Wasp sting to get away, but they both knew she wouldn't do that. Luckily the tension in the cabin was to thick for the guards to notice the slight sound.

"We have our hotspots." the co-pilot reported. "Three buildings on fire."

Fire, they killed Johny with fire. They hit him with modified napalm and forced him to nova, then they hit him again and again until he burned to death. People cheered. A building was pushed over onto Reed and a crowd of Greys hacked him to pieces with swords while he was trapped.

"One minute to firing." the co-pilot said coolly.

It was the tone of his voice that got to Sue. The calm, matter of fact way he spoke. Her eyes rested on Captain America's shield. Within her soul that small part of her that survived the rapes, the torture and the betrayal against the part of her that tried not to care. Two movies played themselves endlessly in her mind, one showed innocent people, children, running and dying, the other showed those same people laughing as they collected pieces of Reed's body for souvenirs.

"Forty five seconds." the co-pilot said. "Sentinels are 1 minute 30 seconds from intercept."

Sue didn't remember screaming. Later everyone said she screamed but she couldn't remember it. Everything happened in a slow blur of emotion to her.

She dropped her invisibility and at the same time let Jan go. Even as she was doing that Sue struck out with four invisible sheets, decapitating the Red Skull's men. Blood sprayed everywhere as the headless bodies twitched and jerked in their death dances. The faces on the heads displayed astonishment as the brains within them died.

Leaping into the pilot's seat Sue aborted the missile launch and kicked in the after burners. The quinjet lurched forward and Sue shot over the fusion plant with the force of a sonic-boom trailing in her wake. The instant she passed over the fusion plant she turned the quinjet invisible and pulled the sick back hard. The turn nearly lost Sue the control of the jet but she hung on. They were in a long loop and warning lights were going on all over the panel. Sue ignored them and held on. The loop crested and the quinjet started down again. The tactic had worked. The Sentinel robots were a mile away from the fusion plant, scanning the horizon in front of them. They became aware of the quinjet behind them a few moments too late. Sue launched the missiles, destroying them and then headed the quinjet south-west. She poured on the speed as the craft zipped over the rest of the country at roughly 80 feet of altitude. Sue kept the quinjet that close even as they went over the mountains and through canyons. She hoped that the sonic booms would play havoc with just about every instrument that could have tracked them.

It only took them fifteen minutes to reach the coast and only when they were fifty miles out did Sue ease up on the throttle. She climbed, slowing at the same time to let the heat trail from the engines fade. Then she cut the engines, banked left and glided until she was only 40 feet above the waves. The Engines came on at low power and Sue set them on a very slow course south-west. She took a deep breath and looked back. Shocked faces and a blood-splattered cabin greeted her. Shocked faces and one grateful face. A normal sized Jan smiled at her and Sue gave her a small smile back.

That was stupid, Sue thought. We'll pay for it someday. At least I hope it will be someday. There won't be any gratitude. No parade. If we went back they'd haul us out and hang us. I was stupid, but I can live with stupidity I guess. But why do I have to keep saving people who hate me?

"Miss Janet." Jarvis said, his voice still the cultured English that Sue remembered. Sue looked at the instruments and checked on the fuel. They still a half tank. A quick mental calculation told her that it was enough, with luck. Sue called up the navigational computer and started to set a course.

"Mrs. Richards?" said the woman with the straight red hair. She had come up beside Sue. "I thought you were dead."

"I wasn't that lucky." Sue said turning around. Sue smiled at her and the woman recoiled at the scar on her face. Sue pushed the reaction aside and turned back to the controls. She set the auto-pilot to follow the course and then stood up. Only then did Sue realize she had been sitting on the dead commanders body since she had taken control of the jet. She was covered in his blood.

"This is MJ." the Wasp said flying over to them.

"Mary Jane Parker." the woman said. "Thank you. Thank you for saving us. She looked at the dead bodies. "Can we clean this up a bit before my children wake up?"

"And perhaps find some clothing for the ladies?" Jarvis asked standing up. He was trying not to look at the three naked women.

The request struck Sue as silly. Then she realized that Jarvis and Mary Jane were serious.

They've been leading a civilized life, Sue thought. My god! I didn't think anyone still could.


"Their all dead." Rebecca said walking slowly up to the front of the cabin. She looked at Sue and flinched at the scar on her face. "You killed them."

"Yes." Sue said. "I did."

Turning to the controls Sue pressed a few switches and the holographic display showed the water under the quinjet.

"Water is clear, we can dump the bodies."

"This thing can scan under the water?" Mary Jane asked.

"When you deal with Atlantis it's a good idea." Sue said.

"You're from Atlantis?" Rebecca asked still in shock.

"No." Sue said. She operated a switch and the quinjet settled closer to the water. "I've got some shirts you can use while we clean up."


While they cleaned up the blood and disposed of the bodies Sue told Mary, Rebecca and Jarvis what had happened to her and Jan. The shock and horror on their faces hit Sue harder than she thought it would. She could see pity as well. Sue ran through it all in a calm but hard voice. Jan added comments occasionally and the way they looked at her was even worse. Jan seemed to sense it as well and after a time shrank, curled up between the sleeping children and went to sleep herself. Sue wanted to shout at them, to tell them that Jan was still Jan, even if she did have the mind of a child.

But they remembered the Jan before the Day. The strong, perky woman who still held the record for the most costumes worn by one heroine. The woman who had led the Avengers into battle more than once. Sue still remembered that Jan as well, but she had gotten used to the new Jan and did not think less of her. Jarvis and Mary Jane could not hide their reactions, and Rebecca was even worse. Sue decided to let it go and continued their story.

The hardest part, as Sue knew it would be, came when Mary Jane and Rebecca realized when Sue had found them.


"You didn't do anything?" Mary Jane demanded? "They were raping us!"

"Why didn't you stop them?" Rebecca shouted.

"Look at me!" Sue screamed so harshly that both women stepped back. Sue looked both of them in the eyes. "Look at me." She said more softly. "There were 30 of them. Well armed, well trained. Jan and I wouldn't have stood a chance."

"But..." Rebecca started to protest and then trailed off.

"Rebecca the day we could charge in against impossible odds and win is over. If I had tried and failed it would have meant back to the camps for Jan and I. I wasn't going to take that chance." She looked at both of them almost pleading for understanding. "I know what you went through, I went through it for 12 years! 12 YEARS!" Sue shouted. "I'm sorry but I won't chance going through that again. Your safe now, that's the best I could do."

After that they cleaned in silence. Jarvis produced some mechanics coveralls from a storage locker. He moved slowly, both from injuries and age, but the same dignity that he had always had was still there. After he handed them the clothes he went up to the front of the cabin and sat in the front row.

"We can take a swim to get cleaned up." Sue said, again checking the scanner. She set the quinjet to be stationary. "No more than five minutes."

Sue stripped as she walked toward the hatch. She had just reached it when she heard a collective gasp. Sue whirled, expecting to see an enemy.

"What?" Sue demanded.

"Your... your... body..." Mary Jane said.

"The scars..." Rebecca echoed.

Jarvis turned pale and looked away, but Mary Jane and Rebecca just stared at her. Sue saw understanding on their faces at last.

"You don't go through life without picking up a few scars." Sue said, then she dove out of the jet and into the water.

Hours later the children were still asleep, as were Jan and Jarvis. Mary Jane sat in the co-pilots seat and Rebecca stood behind her. Sue sat in the pilot's seat and kept an eye on the scanners. They were all wearing orange mechanics coveralls. Sue was shocked to learn that Mary Jane had been married to Spiderman and that the children were his. Spiderman had never seemed like the type to settle down and marry.

"The Day caught us off guard." Mary Jane said. "It'd been getting harder for Peter, he couldn't swing across town anymore without getting jeered at. But we never dreamed what was coming."

"None of us did." Sue said.

"He figured it out after the Sentinels killed Daredevil." Mary Jane said. "We got home and pulled the kids out of day care, we were going to head toward the Baxter Building but by then the riots had started and cut us off. We made it to Avengers mansion. The defenses held the Sentinels and the Greys off for most of the day. The Avengers called for help."

"And the SHIELD helicarrier showed up." Sue said in a tone of voice bitter enough to shatter glass.

"We thought they had come to help too, but suddenly all our defenses went down. Reed had been designing stuff for SHIELD for years. While he was doing that they slipped a virus into the main computer."


"The mansion was being over run." Mary Jane said. She put her arm on Rebecca's shoulder. "Captain America and the Scarlet Witch got impaled by the same spear."

"Dad gave me his shield just when he died." Rebecca said. That she saw it at only four or five and could still talk about it told Sue a lot about Rebecca. "He and mom tried to say something... but I never heard it. They died too quick."

They were quiet for a few minutes after that.

The Grey's and the administrations greatest problem with the super hero community was Captain America. Others could be smeared, but not Cap. The press respected him; the public loved and admired him. When he spoke out against the anti-mutant campaign they were at a loss.

Until he married the Scarlet Witch. Then they started to report that he was being mind controlled. Bewitched. When photo's surfaced of Wanda in bed with both the Vision and Wonderman it caused a rift in their marriage. It took months for Steve and Wanda to reconcile, and to find out that the Vision, Wanda and WonderMan had been under the control of the Red Skull. A year after that they had Rebecca. But the scandal worked, diverting enough attention away from Steve's message about how dangerous the anti-mutant move was. When Rebecca had been born, a normal human, the Grey's had actually launched a court action to take her away from Steve and Wanda. Only a slim decision by the Supreme Court had stopped it from happening. Sue remembered that at the time Steve took it as proof the system could work.

"When the SHIELD helicarier blasted the mansion Peter managed to get us out by the sewer. The Grey's were waiting for us, but Peter fought through them. He got us to Doctor Strange's house in Greenwitch Village. The Grey's and the Sentinels were close behind us." Mary Jane's voice choked for a moment. "Peter told us to get going, then jumped into them to give us time. I saw a Sentinel stun him and the crowd closed in..."

"It all came down to numbers that day." Sue said. "It was like a human tide washing over us."

"We were safe for a day in Doctor Strange's house." Mary Jane said. "The Sentinels and the helicarier couldn't get past his magic. But the Grey's had some sort of charm that broke the shield. Doctor Strange conjured up some mystic portal and sent us to an Avengers safe house outside of Las Vegas. He was going to follow but... I didn't even know the Avenger's had safe houses."

"They built them after Rebecca was born." Sue said. "Just in case."

"Yea." Rebecca said bitterly. "It's not like I could ever have defended myself. I proved that today."

"Rebecca..." Mary Jane started.

"No Aunt Mary!" Rebecca said, starting to cry. "I'm useless! My mom could shake up mountains, my dad was the best... look at me, I... I'm... human."

She broke down crying and Mary Jane joined her. They hugged each other and Sue let them cry while she checked the instruments. They were still on course, and both night and a weather front were moving in.

"You're not useless." Mary Jane insisted as the crying slowly stopped.

"No, I got boobs." Rebecca said. "As long as I got them I can get through life."

"Don't be an idiot!" Sue snapped. "Mary Jane is right. I had all the power you don't and I couldn't save myself either."

"But I never had any power." Rebecca protested. "I'm never good at anything."

"Your only 17." Mary Jane said.

"The only thing that limits a person is that person." Sue said. "Your father said that and he was right."

"He failed." Rebecca said sullenly.

"We all did." Sue said.

"The Grey's and the government spent years building up the hate." Mary Jane said. "I couldn't believe the people who went along with them."

"National security." Sue said. "It was their mantra. It convinced people like Nick Fury. That really was the beginning of the end. But we didn't see it."

"But my mother and father were super heroes!" Rebecca protested. "They were legends! I couldn't even... I couldn't even shoot the guys who were raping us." She looked at Mary Jane and looked ready to cry again. "I couldn't shoot, I tried but I couldn't pull the trigger. I'm sorry."

"Your father would be proud of you." Sue said. "Even at the worst he never killed."

"You killed." Rebecca said.

"Jan and I were six years in the camp before I killed anyone." Sue said. "I killed the man who used a club to pound nails into her skull." Sue fingered the scar on her face. "I killed him after he gave me this. But before that I spent six years being raped and beaten. Even now I'd rather run than fight or kill. Some people never can kill, I never thought I could. It's not fun Rebecca. Each time I kill I feel a bit of my soul twist itself into a knot and drag me a little further into hell."

"I just felt so..."

"I know." Sue said. "But you're not useless, your not just a pair of breasts, you're just like the rest of us, a good person thrown into a nightmare. Don't beat yourself up for being a good person."

Rebecca sank into the navigator's chair and was silent. Sue turned to Mary Jane.

"How did you manage to hide out all these years?"

"We hid out for a few months." Mary Jane said. "We were luckier than I thought, Doctor Strange's portal shot us forward a few years. The heat was off. There was enough food to last that long. We sat and watched the country collapse. When the food ran out I had to shop. I wasn't sure what we were going to do. Then the TaskMaster took over Las Vegas. He showed up at the safe house one day. He knew who I was, who we all were. Someone spotted me in the market."

"What did he want?"

"Me." Mary Jane said. "The wife of Spiderman. It gave him a pretty good boost in esteem when he showed me off as his. Then loaned me out." Mary Jane sighed. "I guess there's not a lot of difference between a model and a prostitute after all."

"Yes there is." Sue said. "You didn't have much of a choice."

"Not really." Mary Jane agreed. "It worked for a while, even when I wasn't such a big deal anymore. He let me work as a stripper to keep us in food."

"He was just waiting for me to grow up." Rebecca said. "Once I got boobs he wanted to start to shop me around. I didn't go for it; he didn't press me on it. I could never figure out why."

"He had other things to deal with." Mary Jane said. "Up until a few months ago he was fighting off a territorial challenge from the Shroud. It was after he got a treaty done and things settled down that he remembered you. Then he made a deal with the Red Skull to let the Skull's men have R&R in Vegas. Somehow the Red Skull learned that the Daughter of Captain America was in Las Vegas."

"He sold me." Rebecca said bitterly.

"He sold us all." Mary Jane said. "I got a tip a few hours before the Skull's men got to our place. Enough time to get the kids and try to get away in the Quinjet. But they caught us."

"What now?" Rebecca said after a few minutes of silence. "Where are we going?"

"A week before the Day the Fantastic Four discovered a Kree maintenance and supply base in Antarctica." Sue said. "It looked like they had pulled out because of a Skrull infiltration. There were two ships in the drydock. We were going to go back so Reed could spend some time studying the technology..." Sue sighed. "Reed used to love to do that."

"At any rate," Sue continued drawing away from Mary Jane's hand as she started to reach out to her, "if the place is still there the ships will still be there. There are a lot of worlds out there where the name of the Fantastic Four is still honored."

"You're going to leave the planet?" Rebecca asked.

"As fast as I can." Sue said. "You are all welcome to come if you want."

"Leave Earth?" Mary Jane repeated.

"What is there for us here?" Sue asked. "How long before May and Ben are scoped out by Sentinels? Rebecca how long before the Red Skull finds you again? Come with Jan and I. It may not be safe, but it might be safer."

"But... Leave Earth?" Rebecca asked. "Shouldn't we try to stop the Sentinels or something?"

"How?" Sue asked. "More importantly why?"

"What?"

"Mary Jane you were in New York for the Day. Do you really think there is anything worth saving? Anybody? Did anyone try to help your family?"

Mary Jane leaned back in her chair and slowly shook her head.

"Humanity's made its choice." Sue said coldly. "They wanted the Sentinels, they've got the Sentinels. There is no reason for you or me or anyone else to pull them back off of the edge of the cliff. If we do they'll just toss US off instead."

"So... we just leave? Just like that?" Rebecca asked.

"That's what I plan to do." Sue said turning back to the controls. "As fast as I can. Jan is coming with me. You can make up your own mind."

They flew on in silence after that. Sue kept her eyes on the controls, but she could feel Mary Jane's and Rebecca's on her.


They think I'm abandoning Earth. Sue thought. Well maybe I am. They've had a hard time of it, but it's paradise compared to what Jan and I went through. I hope they come with us, but there is no way in hell I'm staying on this planet with the Sentinels in charge and no way in hell I'm going to fight them again. I'd loose.


The children woke up crying and Mary Jane and Rebecca went to them, leaving Sue alone at the controls.

... To be continued.

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