Growing Up A Superhero (10)
From The Ashes 1/1
JBMcDragon

She had been sitting there for the better part of an hour. At first Cable had watched her watching him, then, as he felt fingers of telepathy probing at the outskirts of his mind he had gone back to paying most of his attention to his gun. Mentally, well within his shields, he had smiled and allowed the probing. He continued to clean his guns, sitting on the couch with the small teen below him, at his feet, watching him intently. Her reddish brown hair was tucked into a messy ponytail, and her green eyes were looking vacantly in his direction.

Small, delicate telepathic fingers touched the boundaries of his mental shields and he blew a cold feeling in her direction. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shiver, and one corner of her mouth kicked up in a smile. The feeling, as if a window in the mental plane had been left open and a chilly breeze blew, was returned to him. Neither made eye contact with the other. Cable continued to clean his gun, feeling her small, childlike mental fingers touch and probe his boundaries. A touch here, a pull there. Testing. Feeling. Getting to know.

It was odd to think of this fifteen year-old girl as his sister, though from her mental touch it was obvious they were related. They had the same tone, the one Jean shared. Although Cable's mental feel was more rugged, scarred, and this one was loving and tender still with youth. And probing.

He smothered a smile as she pushed a bit harder against his shields, seeing if they would give. Push. Pull. Poke. Prod. Touch and feel and thunk.

He didn't mind. In fact, he was enjoying it. Playing with his sister, letting her test her own mental abilities while pretending that nothing was going on for the outside world. People looking in the door shot him quizzical looks, watching her watch him so very intently, both of them in absolute silence.

He could feel her "fingers" still, probing. Testing. She was very curious.

A boxer can throw a punch at up to fourteen miles per hour, twice as fast as most snakes can strike. The difference is not in speed, but in warning. When a boxer punches, his arm draws back first, letting people know he's about to hit. When a snake strikes there is no backward movement. There is no warning, and so the strike is unexpected, and terrifying.

When she hit his shields, it was as a snake with the power of a seven-forty-seven behind it.

Cable gasped when the pain lanced through his mind, as his mental walls shattered and collapsed, and his consciousness started to spin into darkness. It was with great difficulty that he struggled back up at all, and that was to find an alien presence flowing through his mind like a cold stream. He moved to attack it, sister or no, and was held back like a small child with a tiny fraction of the power.

***

Jean was in the rec room with her husband when the shot of pain was felt. She stiffened, her face paling, and then the pain was gone. Her first thought was of her telepathic daughter, Brigette.

"Something's wrong," she said in response to Scott's inquisitive feeling. "Brigette?" She got up, running out of the room. The pain was gone, quashed, but traces lingered and those she followed to the family room.

Only two figures were in the small room. Cable, his bulk sprawled on the couch with a gun in his lap, and Brigette at his feet, cross legged, looking up at him almost curiously. The room was glowing yellow with power flowing from the child-like figure. Cable's eye was blazing, adding to the light in the room.

A bird hovered in the air above Brigette, wings outspread.

"Phoenix!" Jean shouted, horrified. "No!"

Brigette's head didn't turn as Jean lashed out mentally, trying to disarm the young girl without hurting her.

Fire sprung up, separating them physically as telepathy easily knocked away Jean's blast and then held out all mental interference.

There was nothing anyone could do as Brigette continued looking serenely up at Nate.

***

The T-O virus raged uncontrolled through Cable's body as his powers were nulled. He raged against the restraints placed on him, fear that the virus wouldn't be stopped making him even stronger than before as panic fueled his mental muscles. The presence that acted as one and felt like three gently pushed him away, and went for the T-O virus itself. There was a moment's discomfort, then the infiltrating presence forced the virus back into place.

With frustration Cable helplessly felt it as it--for the presence was both male and female--wound through his mind, almost carefully avoiding anything personal. Cable wrenched his own consciousness away, to the right and down, and suddenly he could see his own brain as though they were in the astral plane. Experiences made the plane mountainous, people and creatures walking through his mind like things remembered. Through the darkness that was Cable wound a new creature, a stream of golden light forging a path, weaving around anything of any sort of personal nature. In his plane-form, Cable started to go after it, only to be stopped by a cage of light. Furiously, helplessly, he watched as the stream flowed swiftly to the back of his mind, diving deeper in between things that even he had forgotten.

It reached all the way back, pooling coolly against the area his psychic links were stored. Another blast of power, another surge of pain and it shot through another wall. Beneath the wall was a tunnel, like a long since dissolved psychic link. Nearby, his other link--the one to Domino--seethed purple. This one was black, and dead. And yet the power dove down anyway, sucked faster and faster into the blackness. Cable had no idea where it could be going, and he was torn between hoping it would disappear entirely and wanting her--his sister--to be all right.

***

Jean watched as a rip appeared in the middle of the room, pink and seething and feeling almost . . . angry. She swallowed as someone started to appear, praying that her child was powerful enough to control what she may be starting.

***

Brigette/Phoenix/Cody could feel something in the bottom of the hole, the same thing they had felt at the outside of Cable's mind, only stronger. They dove after it, feeling as they got closer a presence, another mind. The link should have been dead, and almost was. There was something odd about this mind, something that wasn't quite right. It wasn't . . . here. It was lost, perhaps, or somewhere . . . not here. Brigette/Phoenix/Cody wasn't sure where that was, but it wasn't Earth. Or anywhere on Earth's plane.

#I know her,# Phoenix, Brigette's innermost mind, thought. Phoenix knew her. Who her? The her at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel went down forever, without air or hope or light. Brigette/Phoenix/Cody continued, though fear started to clutch at Brigette's heart. Then, suddenly, after what seemed like forever, there was a bright glow, far away though it was. They raced toward it, faster and faster.

Somewhere they exited Cable's mind, entering a new time and place, something unstable and shifting. Brigette/Phoenix/Cody sunk hooks down into the edge of Cable's mind, using him as a lifeline as they grasped for the mind adrift out here, lost. A mind at the end of the tunnel. A mind in trouble.

It brushed against them, barely, hardly conscious at all. Phoenix wrapped it up, safely tucking it away. With a twist they turned back, tracing their path, scrambling to get back up the mental slope they had flowed down. Then it was dark once more, the turbulent waters of where the lost mind had been gone, and Brigette/Phoenix/Cody shot faster and faster back out of the link/tunnel, into Cable's mind. The link was revived as they raced out of the tunnel, and they didn't bother setting that wall back up, instead leaving the link active. Brigette/Phoenix/Cody retraced their path, and as they started to leave Cable's mind they gave him back the use of it, then shot out of the borders of his mental shield. There they hesitated, pausing for precious moments even as they could feel his counter attack building. They put the shield back up, where it had been before, leaving no trace of the blinding pain that crushing it had given Cable, and no trace of the rubble that had been there. Swiftly they made it stronger and heavier, leaving Cable only slightly mollified.

Then, with a mental snap, they were back in Brigette's body, breathing deeply and looking up at Cable. Brigette's body shuddered as her mind returned, and would have tried to die if Phoenix hadn't been there to control it until the spasms that the sudden entering of the three minds had caused slowly ceased. Then, carefully, like letting go of a butterfly one has found, Phoenix released the consciousness they had brought back with them.

The temporal rift Phoenix had activated using Cable's powers flared brighter, depositing a young woman on the floor of the room before dying away. Her mind, released from its captivity in the timestream, fluttered uncertainly back into her body.

The fire that had been created died down, leaving things unburned. The power receded, and Jean rushed in, followed by the other X-Men.

"Brigette!" Jean screamed, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her before enveloping her in a giant hug. Her own mind reached out, touching that of the younger girl's, making sure that nothing had been hurt.

Brigette's head snapped back and she scowled as Jean hugged her tightly.

Power built in the room as Cable awoke, his entire body screaming to fight the thing that had invaded him so easily. Tightly, he control his response, looking around the room with both mind and eyes. Phoenix was curled in the back of Brigette's mind, and it offered a mental apology. Slowly, as if watching him as it would a wild animal it had angered, it steered his mind toward the girl who had been pulled from the timestream.

It was as if water had been poured on fire, and Cable, no longer as blindingly furious as he had been moments before, looked in shock at the woman. "Rachel?"

He held his breath as if afraid to believe it. A mental scan of his own mind proved that he was not hallucinating, and that nothing had been touched by Brigette/Phoenix/Cody, and only a residual soreness was left where the walls had once been.

Rachel lay on the floor, breathing raggedly. She was naked, and shuddering. Scott rushed into the room, grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch and covering her body. Her red hair was matted with sweat on her forehead, and the scars that ran across her face were red and angry.

"How?" Jean asked, still hugging her fifteen year-old daughter to her while staring at Rachel and Scott as they sat on the floor. Slowly, as if unable to believe what her eyes told her, she moved toward the time tossed woman and touched her. One arm around Brigette, she flung the other around Rachel's neck and buried her face in the woman's red hair before pulling back to look at her again with wonder.

"I don't know," Cable muttered, rubbing his eyes. He eyed Brigette with far greater respect than he had before. "But she's powerful. Phoenix?"

Jean looked away from Rachel, eyeing Brigette, scowling and nodding. "Phoenix, Brigette, Cody. They all live in her body, and they're all powerful. Combined it's . . . " she glanced down at the top of Brigette's head and was silent. The girl was exhausted. "How, Brij?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know. I don't understand it all," Brigette sighed. She was quiet for a minute, then said "Phoenix does."

Brigette's body stiffened and the glow spread out around her again. "What?" The voice was different. Older, deeper.

Jean's arms tightened convulsively as the Phoenix presence came to the forefront of Brigette's mind. It had taken a long time for the three minds to strike a balance within the child's body, and even now it made Jean nervous when one of the other personalities took over.

"How, Phoenix?" Scott asked, his arms wrapped around an almost unconscious Rachel.

"Cody felt her soul, lost." Her face twisted for a moment, scowling and glaring at something only she could see. A form shuddered, then, slowly coming into existence. A young man sat cross legged on the floor, smiling. It was the same man, the same smile, the same ghostly apparition that had become such a common sight around the X-Mansion.

"I felt her," he said, his voice seeming to come from his phantom-like body. "I cast my mind out one day, and felt her presence. I wasn't sure where it was from or anything, I only knew that she was alive and shouldn't be there. I told Phoenix, helped her to find it. She said it was Rachel." Cody smiled, while Phoenix/Brigette glowered at him for stealing her spotlight.

"*Anyway,*" Phoenix said, while Cody yawned and disappeared, "the feeling got stronger when Cable was here." Her slight shoulders shrugged. "So we went through his shields--" her eyes flickered up at his face, "--sorry."

Cable scowled furiously, his mind still ready for any other attack that might come. Even with Phoenix's influence--for he knew she must have helped make him not so angry--he was having a hard time keeping his mind in check, and not lashing out.

"We found the link and followed it. None of us can time travel, but we pulled her mind back through the link. Since Cable was here we used his own mind as a funnel into this time. With her mind here, her body followed." Phoenix stopped and looked over at Rachel. "We didn't know she was in the time stream. But I suppose it's good that we found her." She blinked and her stiff spine collapsed slightly. "Are you mad at me, Nate?" she asked, and her voice was young again.

Cable hesitated, then sighed. "Because you saved a life, no." He leaned forward then, his cold blue eyes meeting Brigette's young ones. "But if you ever enter my mind again without my consent, I will find a way to take Phoenix out of there."

Jean's arms tightened, but she couldn't disagree with what Cable had said. God knew she had considered taking the goddess out herself.

Brigette smiled slightly, shrugging one shoulder. "I'll agree to that. Unless it's an emergency." She smiled slightly smugly. "And if you still want to take her out then, you can try."

Cable ground his teeth, opened his mouth, then thought better of it and snapped it shut again. The horrible part was, she was right. He could try to get Phoenix out of there, but there would be no guarantees.

"Brigette, tell someone before you do anything like that again," Jean said, pulling Brigette's head up to look at her.

"Sorry Mom," she said, her voice upset for the first time. "It was kinda a surprise for me too."

"How's Rachel?" Cable asked, getting up and walking to where she was cradled in Scott's arms. She looked exactly as old as she had the last time he'd seen her, at Scott and Jean's wedding seventeen years ago.

"She's . . . stable." Scott brushed her red hair out of her face, smoothing his hand across her flushed cheek. "Her pulse is steady. Jean? Her mind?"

Jean closed her eyes, sending a light probe to her daughter of an alternate future. "Chaotic, right now. I think she'll be fine."

"How could she be here, if she was in the future?" Cable asked, frowning as he touched her cheek with a blunt finger.

"Ah, the wonderful abilities of being a Summers'," Warren said dryly from behind them.

"Why do we let you visit?" Jean teased as he received mental hits from Brigette, Cable, Jean and Betsy simultaneously.

"Although," Scott said dryly, "there really is no better way to explain it."

Cable chuckled, and Rachel moaned slightly. Scott cradled her, sitting her up higher.

"Where . . . ?" she murmured, her eyes fluttering open.

"You're home, Rachel," Scott said softly. "You're going to be safe now."

She sighed and nodded against his chest, letting her head rest.

"You did okay," Cable growled unwillingly at Brigette.

Brigette grinned. "I know." She got up, feeling better now, and eyed Rachel. "You're another relative?" she asked, a note of despair in her voice.

Cable chuckled.

Rachel smiled, though her eyes were still closed. The Phoenix flared briefly, entering her mind and catching her up to date on what had happened while she had been "gone."

"Yeah, Brij," she said, her voice hoarse. "I'm your sister. Sort of."

Brigette sighed. "I don't know how I'm ever going to learn how to keep up with this family tree."

Jean grinned. "Blame your father. He's the Summers."

Scott grinned, still cradling Rachel. He tucked the top of her head under his chin, and she let it rest there happily. The mood in the room had lightened, and was almost festive. "Thanks, Brij," he mouthed.

Brigette grinned and sat down next to Nate. "I did so good," she said, smiling.

Nate eyed her. Just don't ever do that again without asking.

Brigette smiled. So sorry. I will next time. But hopefully there won't be one. I don't think I can hack anymore weird family ties.

Cable gave a short bark of laughter, earning questioning looks from the people around. He just shook his head. "Someone call Kitty, she'll be glad to see Rache," he said.

"And I'll get the chips!" Warren announced. "We haven't had a reason to celebrate around here in a long time!"

Brigette's head snapped up. "A party? Maybe having more family isn't so bad after all. . . ."

Cable chuckled as he stood up. "Good to see you've got some family love," he said sarcastically. With a small amount of irritation he found it was impossible to stay angry at her. Turning inward, he checked his mind again. There were traces of her in his own psyche, as if she had forgotten to pick up after herself as she'd left. The strain had been telling on Phoenix. With a wry smile, he checked and saw that there was a small, very tenuous link left open to the child's mind, one she probably wasn't even aware of. Quietly he tested it, seeing how hard it would be to remove. Almost impossible. Cable shrugged. Just by the fact that she had traveled through his mind he knew her well, seen parts of her she might not even know about. They had touched each other and left traces of a sort that wouldn't be easy to remove. Essentially, they were bound together.

Cable eyed the girl. At least she was smart.

Brigette smiled serenely at what he had said a moment before. "I have enough family. I just care about the party." She stopped, her eyes turning vacant as she spoke with one of the personalities inside her. She turned, eyeing Rachel. "You were the Phoenix host before me?"

Rachel nodded slowly, letting Scott help her to her feet. She was recovering quickly, and already looked better.

Brigette eyed her appreciatively. "Hmm. Maybe you are okay after all."

Rachel chuckled, a dry sound. "Gee, thanks."

Brigette shrugged. "Having three people in your head makes you a little strange."

Rachel looked up at her, as if calling a bluff. "Try having many different times in your head. It gets even worse. You have no excuse."

Brigette grinned. She'd never been told that before. Watching Rachel as she walked by out of the corner of her eye, she asked, "Will you talk about living in the timestream?"

Rachel nodded amenably.

Brigette slanted a look at Cable, who rarely talked about living in the future. "Cool. Maybe I'll like having another older sister after all, since brothers stink."

Cable slanted her a look, twisting his lips in a mockery of a smile. "Better get used to it." You're stuck with me.

*****************************

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