psinex@yahoo.com Reverse Polarity: Cocoon Woman vs. Leather Queen by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Everyone here is Marvel's. Please don't sue. CONTINUITY NOTE: This takes place just before and during UXM 134 ... -------------------------------------------------------- Jamaica Bay, NYC: 5/1/1989: 23:00 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- ... Where ... ? Flame ... pain ... that offer ... Scott ... ? No - that garden, that - groom ? That ... FACE ... Scott ! This is ... wrong ... SCOTT ! Those images - Fighting - a duel - and - HER. Steel clashing on white - a revolution, but a lie - NOOOOOOOOOO !!!!! -------------------------------------------------------- Hellfire Club Mansion, Manhattan: 23:00:01 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "... and that, I trust, Cyclops, will teach you not to underestimate the power of the Hellfire Club," Jason Wyngarde mocked the ruby-quartz-helmeted, quivering prisoner on the floor, Shaw, Leland and Pierce joining in the evil laughter by firelight. "Storm ! Colossus ! Look - CYCLOPS IS ALIVE !" Nightcrawler shouted as Scott Summers struggled to his feet. #The way I feel right now, Nightcrawler, I wish I wasn't,# Scott thought, his chest a mass of agony. Jean Grey regarded her once-lover with a look of confusion, as if her mind was somewhere else. She looked southward, and turned back to regard Wyngarde with a predatory stare. #Wait,# she thought, her mind suddenly drawn southward again. #That - NO - # -------------------------------------------------------- Avengers Mansion: -------------------------------------------------------- "What's that you say, dockmaster ? Some sort of waterspout ?" Hank McCoy asked the Jamaica Bay Port Authority stationmaster over the Avengers' priority line. "It jes - OH MY GOD ! There's some kinda light shootin' outta the bay !?" the stationmaster shouted. The camera panned, letting Beast get a look at what was going on. "Oh my stars and garters," Hank whispered. A titanic waterspout was shooting out of the normally-tranquil bay, and spat a giant, barnacle-covered object out. Hank's jaw dropped as a last flash of light shattered the object - - and a red-haired woman floated, dripping, above the bay. "Oh my stars and garterless old friends," Hank whispered. He scribbled a quick note for Jarvis and the other Avengers, and bolted for the hangar. -------------------------------------------------------- Hellfire Club: -------------------------------------------------------- Jean turned with another look of confusion, giving way to fear, as Mastermind regarded her with an arched eyebrow. "M'lady ? Is something wrong ?" Wyngarde asked, helping Jean to a chair. "N-no," the Black Queen said, smiling faintly with a promise of lust on her lips. #So much easier to believe in Jason,# she thought, a tiny sliver of Scott-ness dying at the base of her skull. Cyclops gave a muted scream of horror from within his mask until Shaw rapped on the helmet. "Oh, come now, Cyclops. You can't be giving up so easily ?" the Black King mocked. #She's GONE,# Scott thought, sickened. #Our rapport ... the Jean I knew would never succumb like this ... !# ~MAYBE BECAUSE SHE'S NOT ME.~ The roof exploded, and Harry Leland screamed as an invisible hand grabbed him, throwing him atop Donald Pierce with contemptuous ease. "YOU PROMISED ME SALVATION," a voice - an oh-so-familiar and yet terrifying voice - boomed from above, shattering the X-Men's shackles and wrapping them around Shaw's throat. "NOOOOOO !!!!!" the Black Queen screamed. "YOU LIED ! YOU LEFT ME TO ROT IN THAT COCOON AND TOOK MY MAN !" the voice screamed, descending amidst a shroud of roof debris. One shard of shingle pinned the Black Queen to the couch by her cape, while Mastermind whispered, "It can't be ..." The shroud shattered, just as Wolverine burst in sending Hellfire guards flying. His nose twitched, and he looked ashen for the first time since the X-Men had met him. "Oh flamin' shit," Logan whispered. Jean Grey floated over Jean Grey, mercy on neither of their faces. "YOU -!" the airborne Jean - clad in a tattered cocktail dress, her hair drenched - screamed, pointing at the Black Queen. "You're nothing but a LIE, a vicarious lie living MY LIFE ! AND I WANT IT BACK !" She looked at Scott with fear and pleaded as he donned his visor, "I want my love back ..." "Well, it's too late," the Black Queen hissed, smiling evilly as she pulled the shingleshard from her cape and unfurling her whip. "Scott's-" An optic blast sent Mastermind flying, and Scott stepped between the women. "Scott is his OWN man, Jean - whoever you are," Scott said in a strangled voice. "We'll let the Professor sort this out - for right now, we've got to get the Inner Circle restrained -" "This is - GHUACK !?" Shaw cried, the chains wrapping tighter about his throat. Jean glared at him with contempt and hissed, "SIT. DOWN." She landed, glaring at the Black Queen, and hissed, "Tell them the truth - the shuttle was crashing, I was dying, and you materialized, promising to make it all right. Instead you took MY form - locked me up in a 'healing' cocoon - and you TOOK MY LIFE !" The Queen stood, hate blazing off of her, and snarled, "What if YOU'RE the fake !? The real Jean never had such powers - Scott, please - " Scott looked at them with an expression of pain and moaned, "I can't - you both FEEL -" "Take your time," the tattered-Jean said gently. Scott smiled - #God he's gorgeous when he smiles,# Jean thought - and kissed her hard on the lips. "The real Jean wouldn't force me to make a decision until I was ready," he said, glaring at the Black Queen. "THEN YOU WILL DIE WITH HER," the Queen boomed, her outfit giving way to red and gold - - until Jean kicked her in the stomach and leapt atop her, fury on her face. "ANIMAL ! SLUT ! I'LL SEND YOU BACK TO SPACE IN A BODYBAG !!" Jean screamed. "TWO YEARS I WAITED, ROTTING, IN THAT POD ! YOU STOLE MY LIFE - ALL I HAD WERE SENSATIONS ALONG OUR PSI-LINK " "WELL, NOW YOU PAY !" "You're kidding, right ?" Phoenix mocked, grinning as a red and gold version of her costume manifested fully upon her. She telekinetically threw Jean aside into Scott's arms, and stood - - and all was fire. "THERE," Dark Phoenix grinned as she waited for the smoke to clear. "THAT SHOULD -" Her head snapped back with the force of a punch. "Should what ?" Jean snapped, walking out of the smoke. She gut-punched the Phoenix and grabbed her by the hair, spitting, "You can't do it. Go ahead - try to cook me." "I'll - GRACHK - KILL YOU -" Phoenix gurgled. The firebird effect surrounded them both, but the X-Men were shocked to see Jean unaffected. "Subconsciously, you know if I die, you die as well," Jean said with pity in her tone. "You can't bear to commit what you think is suicide - you really think you're me." "And you ... you can't bring yourself to kill ... me," Phoenix mocked, slumping into a fried chair in one of the corners. They glared at each other, and Ororo asked, "What do we do ?" "You mean, windrider, what do I do," Phoenix sighed. "I ... I want it all, but ..." She looked at Jean with agony, and for an instant the original felt actual sympathy for her twin. "I just wanted human sensation - I didn't mean ..." Phoenix sobbed. "But if I stay -" She began to glow, dissolving into starfire and light. Jean leapt back into Scott's arms, letting him hold her, as Phoenix shattered into nothingness. "Finally," Jean sighed, looking into Scott's eyes. "Jean ... I - " Scott whispered. Jean held a finger to his lips, followed by her own, and kissed him long and hard. "You realized at the end. And that's what matters," Jean smiled softly. "Now, let's go find a cop to give these Hellfire jerks over ..." She shuddered, and clung to Scott with a sob. "TWO YEARS, SCOTT !?" Jean shrieked. "TWO YEARS GONE !!" They clung to each other, while the others let them console and began the explanations to the authorities. -------------------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE: X-Mansion: 5/2/1989: 08:00 hrs EST: -------------------------------------------------------- "Jean !?" Charles Xavier smiled, looking at his dressed and cleaned-up former pupil in the hallway. Angel wheeled Xavier in, noting immediately the look on Jean's face. #This is not good,# Warren thought, wincing as Jean took Xavier's hand. "Hello, Charles," Jean said in a formal tone. "Jean ... I -" Xavier began, concern taking the place of joy. "YOU ! You're THE telepath on our world, and you couldn't figure out that she was a LIE !?" Jean shouted, tears flying from her eyes. "I can forgive Ororo, Logan and Scott - the Phoenix was a near-perfect duplicate - but YOU !? You knew my mind inside and OUT, Charles ! You should have known !" Xavier withdrew his hand and looked heartbroken, replying, "I ... agree, child -" "DO. NOT. CALL. ME. DAUGHTER," Jean snarled. "I KNOW what you really wanted to do with me, Charles. When the Phoenix discorporated, I knew all she did - I'll probably never be able to get rid of her ... taint ... permanently. And in that moment, I KNEW what she had known - what she suspected." "You want me." Scott looked utterly horrified, and Logan's claws went in and out at a fearful pace. Kurt and Hank turned periwinkle, while Piotr covered his mouth and Ororo whispered something in Kenyan. Charles shuddered and said, "I ... when you were younger, I ..." "YOUNGER !?" Scott screamed, clutching Jean to him. "If you - my GOD, Professor - !" "I NEVER DID ANYTHING !" Xavier bellowed. "Do you REALLY think I could do anything like that ?" "Right now I don't know you at all," Jean whispered. "And that almost hurts more than you failing me." She telekinetically grabbed her suitcases from the staircase and pushed her way past Warren, breaking into a run as she wiped her eyes. "Jean - !" Xavier cried, reaching for her. Scott walked past, taking a duffle bag of his own, and looked back at Xavier with a mixed expression. "Goodbye, sir," he said, following Jean to a motorcycle she'd bought from Logan. They donned their helmets and got on, Scott wrapping his arms around Jean's waist as they roared out of the driveway. ~Can you 'hear' me ?~ Jean sent, turning west. ~Loud and clear,~ Scott thought with a mental smile. They took comfort in each other's thoughts for a while, winding their way down to the interstate. ~I called my folks last night - told them I'll see them soon,~ Jean told Scott. ~For right now, I want to get lost, Scott, just you and me. As far away from the X-Men as possible - I love them, but I want you to myself.~ ~And I want you,~ Scott thought. ~Jean ... we don't have to go back if you don't want.~ ~I - Scott - but you've always been - !?~ Jean thought, surprise and a tiny seed of joy beginning to blossom. ~This is my dream, Red,~ Scott smiled as they turned onto the turnpike. ~You and I. Xavier's dream was that we should live with other humans as equals - let's go do it.~ ~You, sir, are on,~ Jean grinned. ~Take that map and tell me where to turn. Pick a town.~ Scott unfurled the U.S. map and pointed at the west coast. ~Sunnydale, California ?~ he thought. -------------------------------------------------------- TBC ... -------------------------------------------------------- end _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com