CHAPTER 57: Under new management

GERRY

I was fucking pissed as I walked out of the Maneater. I worked so hard to integrate myself into the lives of these women and even invented a plague that I could pretend to cure just to make myself seem necessary. 

Then an actual disaster threatens to ruin everything. 

“Dr. Manheim? Sir?” 

It was Peggy. She must have seen me marching out and, bless her heart, wanted to find out what I was angry about so she could help. I paused to glare at the Super-Bot, who was standing directly outside the door, still in the trench coat I’d gotten for it. I wanted to strike it. To release my frustrations on it. 

“What’s wrong?” She paused just behind me, just begging to be abused, begging to be made useful. 

“Kate just called me. She said we have half an hour before The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. start a war with the Justice League.” 

She was quiet. She was as tired of this shit as I was. Maybe more. 

I stared down the alleyway right next to the club. Then I pulled out the Phantom Zone projector and pulled the trigger. There was a flash and a shrieking hiss of electricity. Then Maria Hill had staggered to the floor of the alley. 

“Pick her up,” I ordered the Super-Bot. 

It nodded and marched over, scooping up Maria and throwing her over its shoulder fireman style. 

“C’mon,” I said, taking Peggy’s hand in my own. “We’ve got work to do.”

EMMA

Hope Summers sat at the head of the Quiet Council of Krakoa, in a black and yellow cloak, watching the footage of the Avengers-Justice League standoff over the hologram projecting from the center of the table. 

Neither Emma nor Mystique had been particularly big fans of Jean. Finding out that her daughter was the messiah of all mutant-kind had not been a rough day. Finding out they were going to have to suck up to this nineteen-year-old brat and actually negotiate with her if they wanted to rule Krakoa had been worse. 

The only conciliation they’d received was the fact that one of Hope’s first actions as a member of the Quiet Council was to exile her own mother from Krakoa. 

“We need to do something,” Emma said, on the other side of the table. 

“We don’t have any information on the situation at the moment, which would indicate Krakoa is in danger,” Hope said, using telekinesis to flick between channels. 

“Wonder Woman showed up here and promised to come back if she found evidence of mutant responsibility.” Mystique pointed out. 

“Someone out there is lying about this psychic virus existing…they are trying to frame us,” Emma said, leaning over the table. 

Hope sighed, deeply. “Wonder Woman is not a threat. I have never sensed within her a hatred for our kind. Her distaste for all of humanity is too strong.” 

Emma shared a look with Mystique. 

“You think we should just wait until something goes wrong to respond?” Mystique asked. 

“I think acting prematurely could precipitate our destruction,” Hope said, switching off the hologram. 

“It is easy to forget how limited we were before our abilities manifested. Humans are ruled by fear and inadequacy.” Hope said, settling her fingers on the edge of the table. “They will react to the slightest threat with immediate violence. Until we know more, it would not do well to draw attention to us.” 

Emma opened her mouth to retort. Then her head throbbed and she had to grab the edge of the table to steady herself.

“What’s wrong?” Mystique asked, appearing behind her and placing a hand on her shoulders. 

Even as she winced with pain, Emma could hear Hope letting out a little grunt of pain to mimic her own. 

“Something’s wrong…” Emma said, staring at pale-eyed her reflection in the glass surface of the table. 

M’GANN

She lay atop her mattress staring at the shadowed ceiling and trying to force the terrible images out of her mind. But they kept bouncing around inside her skull, red squiggly lines burned into her retina like rivulets of lava. 

Her hands balled into fists around the covers of the bed as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shake away the distant phantoms. She could still see Mrs. Maximoff’s knowing smile. She could taste her smugness, she could hear her high-pitched cackling laugh. It was wrong. It was all wrong. 

Megan jumped out of bed and hurried downstairs. She had to tell her parents before…before whatever it was that Mrs. Maximoff had shown her came true. 

She turned the corner from the front hall into the dining room. The table was not set for dinner. Maybe…she’d missed it? She peeked into the kitchen. There were no dishes in the sink. 

Turning back into the dining room she looked out the window. The car was still there. And her parents had been here when she came inside. 

So they must be upstairs, in their bedroom. Maybe they’d noticed how distressed she was now and right now they were on the phone with the school counselor, checking in with how she’d been doing. Yes, that was it. They were upstairs, worrying over her like always. She’d tell them what had happened and they’d call Chief McWilliams. 

But…what could Chief McWilliams do against Mrs. Maximoff? What could any of them do?

No, she had to try. She would tell her parents and together they’d think of something. The important thing was that they knew something was wrong. 

She raced back up the stairs and shoved open the door to the bedroom, the words “Mom and Dad…” breathless on her lips. 

There was no one in the bedroom though. In fact, it looked like there had never been anyone in there at all. The bed had been stripped of its sheets and covers. Just a bare, white, uninviting mattress. The walls were bare. No photos of their fishing trips down to the creek. No hand-embroidered present from Grandma. 

Her father’s desk in the corner was missing the mementos of his work at the police station. It had been wrapped in plastic like they were about to move. 

Slowly, she backed out of the room, the dawning horror of what she’d witnessed pressing in on her. She didn’t know how. She didn’t know why. But she knew that Mrs. Maximoff had taken her parents away.

MARIA

She lay in the back seat of the car with the robot while Manheim whispered to Peggy in the front seat. It took an incredible amount of concentration to pierce through the fog that had filled her mind during her second trip into the Phantom Zone. But she was beginning to suspect that they were in Bobbi’s car. 

Yes, a quick glance at the sparse decoration and copiously vacuumed carpets confirmed it. She wondered where Bobbi was. Not that it mattered at the moment. Bobbi was on his side now. You thought you knew somebody…

“Listen up…the situation at S.H.I.E.L.D. has gotten worse. Now, are you going to help me save your fucking organization, or do need more time in solitary?” Manheim yelled back to her.

Maria lifted her gaze from the carpet. Then she nodded. She had no idea that being alone could be so awful. Often, she’d wished that she could have a little time to herself without having to delegate her many responsibilities and thus trust someone she knew would inevitably let her down. 

Being in the Phantom Zone was, ironically, the perfect vacation, in that you could come back well-rested a few seconds later. Except you wouldn’t know it had only been a few seconds. And there were no beaches or massage parlors. Just nothing, forever. You could bring whatever you wanted with you. You’d get sick of it eventually.

Maria had often considered meditation, in her quest to live a less stressful life. She’d read about ascetics who spent their whole lives in quiet and unbroken contemplation. 

She was now certain that the whole thing was a crock. There was nothing particularly beautiful about nothing. It was in fact, the ever-shifting nature of the world and the impossibility of an absence of stimuli that it created that made the process of meditation worth consideration in the first place. 

She felt the air pouring into her pores. She felt the rumble of the car beneath her. And she couldn’t believe that Superman of all people, had sent creatures into the Phantom Zone. It seemed to her the most excruciating pain, the most prolonged execution was preferable to the interminable process of mental disintegration that came with becoming one with the void. 

Maria had never been particularly scared of death throughout her life. Now, she longed to bask in the resplendent diversity of sensation that this world offered and never again contemplate the impermanence of her existence and its relation to everything else. 

“Peggy is going to say that she rescued you. And you’re going to tell everyone that Sharon is the one who abducted you in the first place, alright?” 

Maria nodded again. (MARIA: +8 SP)(-57 SP) She would give him anything. Everything she had and more. As long as he didn’t send her back to that monotony. 

She realized that she was crying and tentatively tried to wipe away the tears before he saw them. 

She’d never noticed before…just how beautiful everything was. Everything that was ugly and aged, crumbling and rotting. It was still there. It was present and had shape and color to it. And thus it was worth admiring. The tears kept falling and she couldn’t help but think of all the people she’d killed. All the people who would never be able to appreciate anything ever again. 

She let out a sob and shoved her face into her lap, tugging at her hair with her fingers and sobbing into her thighs. She couldn’t help it. It was all too much. The first time in the void, she’d clung to the hope of being released. The second time, that hope had crumbled, just like everything else, until all that was left was the blunt nub of her mind desperate for stimulation. 

“Oh for the love of…” They pulled over and she heard the door open. He was coming around, probably to smack her about for making noise. But she couldn’t stop herself, even if it meant being sent back there. She couldn’t hold onto everything that insisted on being felt and which tore and burned its way through her. 

She was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. She wasn’t allowed to break down and start sobbing in front of other people. She wasn’t allowed to regret anything. But she couldn’t help it. There was nothing but regret. Regret that she had wasted so much of her life and destroyed the lives of so many others, without ever knowing the value of a single day, a single hour. 

A hand touched her back and she stilled, before cringing into the warmth of the touch. It had been so long since she’d been close to another human being. When Elizabeth hugged her before, she’d been annoyed. Now she wished she’d never let go. 

“Are you gonna do this again when we get to the headquarters? Because we don’t have much time…like I know this is my fault and all, but we’ve still only got like five minutes if we want to prevent the downfall of Western civilization.” 

It was him. He was comforting her with his simple touch. She twisted and pressed her cheek to his hairy knuckles. Then she shook her head, eyes glistening, her whole form trembling. 

“Please don’t stop touching me…” She begged. 

He sighed. “Peggy is going to help you along, alright?”

She closed her eyes and nodded. It didn’t matter anymore. Just as long as she didn’t go back, just as long as he didn’t make her go back. 

M’GANN

Megan lay in the center of the living room, pressing herself into the carpet and shivering with terror at the sudden realization of the malleableness of her existence. Then she took a deep breath, sniffed loudly, and climbed to her feet. 

She wasn’t going to give up her parents so easily. She wasn’t going to let that old witch win. 

Soon she’d opened the front door and was marching across the street. She almost tripped, twice, on her way over. It had rained a little while she was inside and the asphalt was damp, eliciting squeaking and smacking noises from her sneakers. 

The Maximoff porch was empty, but the rocking chair was still rocking with momentum. The little white gate around the cottage, which was identical to the one around every house, was open. So was the front door of the house. She still kicked it for emphasis as she entered. 

The lights were all off. The radio had been tuned down to a low rumble of incoherently muffled lyrics. It sounded like it was something by Billie Holiday though.

She stood in the darkened hall and balled her fists at her side. “Just…give them back, okay? Just give them back and I’ll leave.” 

There was no response. But Megan could already hear the dark chuckling of her sneering adversary. She wasn’t afraid of Megan. How could she be, when she’d seen all she had?

Megan took a step into the hall, trying to ignore the creak of the floorboards beneath her wet shoes or the rattle of the wind through the trees. She could hear their branches, scraping the windows and the roof. It was like claws, scraping on the outside of the cottage, looking for a way in, searching for a chance to rip her to ribbons. 

She increased her pace, marginally, marching straight to the back of the house. If she was an evil witch, that’s where she’d put the people she stole away. 

The door to the master bedroom was unlocked and she had to steel her fraying nerves before she opened it. 

Her parents weren’t inside. 

Instead, there was a man, made of metal, sliced into five or six different pieces, piled up in the corner of the room. His eyes were still blinking and his jaw twitched as if he was struggling to speak. 

Megan slammed the door shut and held the knob with both hands until she was sure that nothing was going to attempt to come barreling out. Slowly, she released the sweat-smeared knob and backed away from the door. She glanced back and forth, looking for the basement door. They would be in the basement. They had to be in the basement. That was where evil people put the things that they didn’t want anyone to find, the basement. 

Did this house have a basement?

Two hands wrapped around her shoulders and twisted her around so that she was face-to-face with the monster. 

“It took you long enough,” Wanda said, her eyes burning with blood-red light. Then she wrapped both hands around Megan’s head and everything peeled back. 

M’gann screamed as the crackling waves of crimson energy cascaded across the tender creases of her brain. Her form became liquid, then gas, and then she was just a sundered soul, writhing between the fingers of a creature beyond time, beyond space. 

“Did they really believe that they could trap the greatest witch on Earth, with this poxy illusion? I am the woman who crushed my own father’s skull with his helmet. I left Victor Von Doom to the mercy of his subjects and watched as they tore him limb from limb. I sent Galactus fleeing back into the void. I am the original sin, all that is wicked and all that is changing is mine. I am the Scarlet Witch…eternal and invincible and with your help, child, I will remind them all, of who I am and how they created me…every waking thought will be a nightmare…until all they howl and weep like the animals they are.” 

Wanda grinned. And the grin stretched across the cavity of M’gann’s mind, searing, slicing through all knowledge. 

M’gann knew in that instant, that the thing in front of her, which was no more human than she was, could turn her to pulp if she wanted to. She could drain all the powers from her body and claim them as her own. 

But she didn’t. Instead, Wanda fed her power into M’gann, like a mother forcing an infant to drink. And all she could do was scream as her telepathy was amplified one hundredfold. 

CLEA

In a realm beyond this one, the Sorceress Supreme levitated in the air, a selection of books levitating around her. In her lap sat a glowing white book, inscribed with words beyond the reckoning of any normal mortal. As she reached for the half-empty teacup floating nearby, the barriers between the world trembled. 

And her eyes glowed briefly with recognition. 

“Oh no…” 

KATE

She waited, at the edge of the lot, glancing occasionally at her watch and trying not to look as nervous as she felt. The rest of the Justice League had shown up; Dinah, Emiko, and Zatanna, but also the reserves; Avery, Beatriz, Kimiyo, and Tora. Young Justice, M’gann’s former team, had shown up as well; Bette, Cassie, Celina, Djinn, Irey, Lorena, Kira, Odette, Rachel, and Xiomara. 

The rest of the Avengers had shown up too. Ant-Girl, Echo, Firestar, Mesmer, Ms. Marvel, Thor and The Wasp. Spider-Woman was up on the roof, with Silver Sable, Quake, and a dozen others. 

All around there were police. State troopers had encircled the front of the S.H.I.E.L.D. with barricades and high above, helicopters hung over the proceeding. Someone, somewhere, with a megaphone was ordering Diana and the rest to stand down. 

Kate knew that was it was more likely it was going to rain cotton candy. 

There was some commotion on the other side of the barriers. Then she saw the ranks of split and he was being escorted out of the crowd. She tried to conceal her smile. But inside she was beaming. He was here! He was going to make everything alright.

Her enthusiasm was somewhat naturally dampened by the presence of two of her rival slaves. Specifically, Peggy. That cunt took so much pleasure in being the perfect domesticated bitch, that it was impossible not to be jealous of her. She also was clearly a dyke in disguise. She’d been in the military, she’d pretended to pine after one guy for years, I mean c’mon!

If she could just get the bitch to admit she was addicted to licking pussy, she wouldn’t have to worry about her monopolizing Gerry’s time anymore. 

His eyes met Kate as he walked with Peggy, Maria, and one of the Super-bots toward the standoff in the center of the plaza. Afraid of how his arrival might be received, she moved to join him, and he shook his head. It was a tiny gesture, barely perceptible. But it was enough to make her root herself to the ground. 

She watched as he marched up to where Diana and the others had turned to meet him. Some words were exchanged. Then he marched past her and past the Avengers, straight into the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. For a moment everyone stood in uncertain silence. 

Then Diana lifted up into the air and projected her voice across the plaza. 

“The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. claims that M’gann was taken by a rogue element in S.H.I.E.L.D. and that she will release her momentarily. Remain on guard.” 

Kate let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She wished she could be in there with Gerry so that she could know what was happening but more importantly, so that she could help. 

But all she could do was wait and hope. 

GERRY

Sharon was waiting for us inside. I tried to focus on the very important conversation we were about to have and not on whether or not I’d just screwed my chance to use my commanding aura on all those superheroines out there. 

“Maria? Where have you been? What’s happened?” Sharon’s eyes narrowed on me. I hoped that I looked less guilty than I felt. 

“Peggy…saved me…” Maria looked at Peggy, who she was still leaning against. Then she glanced at me and then back at the crowd of agents who’d appeared around us. “Agent Rodriguez?”

A bald woman with cybernetic arms stepped forward. “Yes, Ma’am?”

“Arrest Sharon Carter,” Maria said, letting go of Peggy and shoving herself to her feet. 

Sharon was as shocked as everyone else. Agent Rodriguez though, didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Sharon’s arms and shoved her to the ground. 

“Please don’t struggle,” Rodriguez said, as she held Sharon down. 

“You-you can’t do this! I didn’t do anything wrong! What are you even charging me with?” Sharon demanded as she wiggled about on the floor, obviously disobeying Rodriguez’s command. 

“You kidnapped me. You sent Black Widow to kill Supergirl. And now I’ve come back to find you abducted a member of the Justice League.” Maria said. “You are relieved of duty until further notice, Sharon. Rodriguez, take her to the basement.” 

Rodriguez nodded as she lifted Sharon onto her feet and two other agents joined her in keeping Sharon restrained. 

“That isn’t true! I didn’t abduct anyone!” Sharon cried. “Let me go! Listen to me, that’s not Maria. It’s one of the Martians! It’s disguised itself as her. Let me go!”

“Sharon, please…go with some dignity,” Peggy instructed. 

Sharon’s eyes bugged and she shook her head. “They…they’re being mind-controlled! Let me go! Let me go!!”

We all waited until her cries had disappeared down a nearby hall. Then I clapped my hands together. 

“Well, with that taken care of, I’m afraid that Director Hill has had a very trying past few days. So Captain and Carter and I will be accompanying her upstairs.”

“What about that thing?” Spider-Woman asked, hanging from the ceiling and pointing to the Super-bot. 

I jumped when I noticed her. She must have crawled in after us when the doors opened. 

“That is a security measure loaned to the department by Supergirl. It can protect Director Hill from any further attempts at insurrection.” I stated. Then I turned and took one of Maria’s arms. “You’ll have to excuse us; we have much to discuss.” 

The elevator ride was uncomfortable, believe me. I didn’t sense any hesitance in Maria about what she’d just done to Sharon. But then I wasn’t sensing anything from Maria. She seemed…quiet. I wondered how badly I’d broken her. If I’d gone too far. 

Well, it was all for the greater good, wasn’t it? And by that of course I meant my personal fulfillment. 

The elevator doors opened, and we hurried her to the office before she had another mental breakdown. Once we were inside and the security cameras had been deactivated, I finally relaxed. 

My position had become more precarious. But if I didn’t want to have to put my life in danger, I probably should have chosen a different profession. 

“Alright, where’s Miss Martian?” I asked. 

Maria blinked for a second. “I don’t…I…I didn’t authorize her imprisonment. If you give me a moment though…I can look it up.”

I groaned. So, Sharon really had started this snafu, huh? Well, that made me a little excited to “interrogate” her later. The bitch had almost mucked up all my plans. 

“Good. Great.” I said when I realized that Maria was waiting for my okay. 

As she scurried behind her desk, I looked around at the pictures on the walls. They were all commendations for service. There was a framed letter too, from the president. 

I sneered. “How long will it take to announce that Peggy is retiring?”

Maria took a deep breath. “Umm, we should probably wait until everything is a little more stable.” 

I resisted the urge to kick one of the filing cabinets in the corner. It wouldn’t do anything. I realized that it had been a while since I’d fucked something. And by a while, I meant like…eight hours maybe. I glanced back at Maria. I wanted to throw her over the desk and fuck and spank her ass until it was red. 

I guess I could do that with Peggy, fuck her atop Maria’s desk. That would humiliate Maria a little. I looked Peggy over. She was just as tall, muscular, and full breasted as ever. I supposed that when you fucked Power Girl, everything else was kind of a step-down. Maybe Wonder Woman would prove the exception to that rule. She was almost as busty as Power Girl, but her raven hair and tanned skin made her somehow much more appealing. I’d fucked a dozen bimbos just like Karen, although I’d always had to pay for the privilege one way or another. 

Wonder Woman had been just as imposing and beautiful as I’d imagined. Plus, her attitude was even more stuck up than Karen had been. She was literally a princess. And I was going to watch her suck me off if it was the last thing I did. 

“What about making Bobbi the assistant director?” I asked. I was pissed that I had missed Bobbi’s big show. Sharon was gonna pay for that too. I was tired of these spy bitches screwing everything up for me. 

“It would look better if we, uh, I waited to have Sharon convicted of something,” Maria said, tentatively. I could tell she was desperate not to set me off. 

It just made me madder. 

I turned to face her. Having superheroines at my beck and call wasn’t just desensitizing me to beautiful women, it was making me more impatient than ever. I took a deep breath. Just because everyone else was allowing me to be petulant doesn’t mean I should. That was a bad look and it led to mistakes. 

“I have some bad news…regarding Miss Martian,” Maria said, cowering into her seat. 

I narrowed my eyes, then marched over and leaned across the desk. “What kind of bad news?”