LJ presents: Strange Horizons, part one
If you like comics, you owe it to yourself to check out Edison Rex. Honestly, it's one of the best archetypal superhero comics I've read. Admittedly I'm a sucker for that sort of thing - Alan Moore's Supreme, Austin Grossman's Soon I Will be Invincible - but Rex is just a great comic, top to bottom. And, as of this morning, I owe it a debt of gratitude.
For a few months I've been trying, without success, to explain archetype superhero fiction (using "knowing wink" versions of characters to comment on/further explore their mainstream counterparts) to LJ. She's expressed some sadness that her heroes (Ironclad et al) are so tied to Marvel and DC characters; she thinks it means she could never write them as an adult. I've wanted to convince her that's not the case - that, with but a few cosmetic/name changes, they could star in original works - because her stories are too darn special to let slip away.
Showing her Edison Rex, and especially its urban crime-fighter, Eclipse (you'll get no spoilers from me) turned the tide. LJ's faith in her creativity is renewed and, while there'll be no changes to the girls as we know them, she's now aware of their future potential. Whether she chooses to make use of that is up to her. I just wanted her to understand the power of the world she's imagined and why, for all us adults reading along, it's such a great place to visit.
Also: it gives me great pleasure to announce that, having followed the New Avengers around these past few installments, the young heroes are back!
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LJ presents:
STRANGE HORIZONS
PART ONE
Written and directed by LJ
Novelisation by SF
For the first time in many months, spirits were high inside Hero Headquarters. Having won both a battle and the renewed trust of the citizenry, the New Avengers went about their tasks and duties with vigor and positivity. There was, Thor noted, just one problem: Shield Maiden, Ironclad, Sunburst and Quickdraw were still miserable. And so the prince of Asgard hit upon what he thought was a truly brilliant idea.
"No," Dr Strange said sternly.
"It's a marvelous idea," Thor continued brightly, undeterred. "Four heroes, dauntless and strong yet still learning about the world..."
"No."
"... growing, now, into the powerful super-women they will be - our inheritors, our legacy, tasked with protecting the innocent..."
"No!"
"... and not only the innocent of this realm and this dimension, but of all realms and all dimensions..."
"No!" Strange thundered. "I will not allow Ironclad and her friends into the Sanctum Sanctorum! They are ill-equipped for what they may encounter within its walls and it is entirely too dangerous!"
Thor ached an eyebrow. "Ill-equipped, good doctor? Too dangerous? For the four heroes who felled Ultron itself?"
Strange sighed loudly, realising he had lost the fight.
----------
"A home for the misunderstood and mistaken? A refuge for man and mutant alike, no matter their sins? Pah! Let mighty Atrocitus into your tiny castle, you weaklings, and we'll see how well your mewling compassion can withstand the fire of my rage!"
Scarlet Witch, Vision, Harley Quinn, Deadpool and Poison Ivy warily circled the volcanic alien. None of them understood how Atrocitus had escaped his Sciencell on Oa, nor why he'd target them, but they weren't about to let the House of M burn down. Swords drawn, muscles tensed, powers at the ready, they were about to attack when Magneto landed right in front of their assailant.
"Ah, the fool in charge," Atrocitus roared. Droplets of crimson napalm sizzled between his teeth. "Come to welcome me to your halfway house?"
Magneto's sour expression did not change. "You already know you're welcome here," he said dryly. "Any home of mine is a home of yours... Raven."
Before the others could react, 'Atrocitus' melted, warped and re-formed into Mystique! The mutant shape-shifter was infuriated; she hadn't impersonated a judge and followed Magneto's plan in order to set up a "low-rent bargain-basement X-Mansion rip-off!", but to start building the homo superior empire! While Scarlet Witch seethed over her father's deception, the master of magnetism worked to cool tempers. Mystique wasn't interested in her old flame's change of heart: as far as she was concerned, Erik deserved only scorn for betraying his ideals and selling her out "over a teenager".
Clearly stricken, Magneto coldly informed Mystique she was still welcome in the House of M. He floated away, quickly pursued by Scarlet Witch - who had more than a few questions she wanted answered. Mystique turned on her heel and stormed away as the others headed inside. As he reached the drawbridge, Deadpool stopped suddenly - he was sure he'd glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye. Telling Harley he'd catch up with her later, the merc with a mouth went on a little scouting expedition.
----------
Shield Maiden, Sunburst and Ironclad were beyond excited, their misery temporarily forgotten: they were inside the hallowed halls of the Sanctum Sanctorum! Though they'd grown up in and around the mansion, the topmost floor... the mystic floor... had always been off-limits. But no more! They were free to roam... within reason. There were strict rules, of course (they were not to touch anything, not to commune with any wandering spirits and most especially not bring anything out of the Sanctum) but, on the whole, the Sorcerer Supreme had realised that, yes, he did trust them to do the right thing.
What the girls found inside delighted them. Every doorway led to something miraculous. There were rooms without gravity, rooms that contained entire universes, rooms that served as habitats for mythological creatures and rooms that, well, defied description. Even the windows were cool - a trans-dimensional space, the Sanctum existed both atop Hero Headquarters and at its original Bleecker St, Greenwich Village address, simultaneously. The trio could see both Super Hero City and New York City outside; Ironclad's mind was alive with thoughts of tesseract technology and quantum physics.
Quickdraw was... less than impressed. In fact the speedster was vibrating in place so rapidly that she was almost invisible to the naked eye. And so it was that Shield Maiden, Ironclad and Sunburst learned their friend's deepest, darkest, most well-kept secret: she was afraid of magic. "It's a Flash tradition," she insisted, somewhat pathetically, when the others failed to suppress their laughter. "My family's all about science, and rational thought, and things you can prove! Even my Dad hates magic! So there!"
Shield Maiden pointed over the speedster's shoulder. "Unicorn," she said.
"Eek!" Quickdraw shrieked, streaking down the hallway at top speed and vanishing around a corner. Her friends fell on the floor laughing, clutching their sides. Quickdraw heard them and doubled back. "That was not funny, you guys," she sulked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot in annoyance. "And besides, the jokes on you anyway - now you're upside-down thanks to the relative gravity in this stupid place." She pulled down her mask and stuck her tongue out.
The others didn't have the heart to tell her she was floating, upside-down, in mid-air. Indeed, they felt it best they not point out anything else.
Further exploration rewarded them with even more incredible discoveries, from singing oceans to spindly, delicate mirror-people. Some of their finds were more pedestrian (who knew the Sorcerer Supreme had a collection of 1980s B-grade ninja movies... on VHS?) but, on the whole, their trip into the Sanctum Sanctorum was a dream come true. At least, it was until Quickdraw summoned up enough courage to finally open a door, all on her own... and the girls came face to face with the dread Dormammu!
The tyrannical ruler of the Dark Dimension bellowed at them, raking them with a soul-wrenching glare. Thankfully he could not attack, restrained as he was by a barrier separating his dimension from ours. Nonetheless the encounter terrified the heroes (and near-traumatised poor Quickdraw) so much they retreated out of the room as fast as they could. In fact, they ran out screaming without looking where they were going... and collided with another person!
It was a girl, roughly their age, possessed of an almost ethereal beauty. She was dressed in a simple tunic and pants, with an enormous and ornate cape billowing around her neck and shoulders. A single streak of silver split her jet-black hair. Her eyes and smile dazzled them but, at the same time, appeared somewhat dreamy... as if she was looking through, rather than at, the heroes. "Hello," she said, her voice oddly melodic and sing-song. "What might you be?"
"Uh," Ironclad stammered, "we're, um, we're super heroes. Ironclad, Shield Maiden, Sunburst and Quickdraw."
"Ooh, you have names," the girl squealed delightedly. "I love it when new friends come with names. It makes things so much easier because, you know, some things don't like the names you give them and then it gets all odd at the tea party when you're putting out the place cards or addressing people over the second course." As she spoke she drifted in space, floating up and away and then returning sideways. "So this is much lovelier than that."
"This is creeping me the heck out," Quickdraw whispered tensely, vibrating in place again.
"Super heroes," the girl said, as if trying out the word for the first time. "No, I don't think I've had any of those before. There were the suprahemetites, of course, with their wonderful gasses, and the ongloheroes with those interesting hats." She clapped. "Oh! Do you have hats that make gasses?"
Shield Maiden muscled her way forward. "Hold on," she said, ever the no-nonsense one. "Before this goes on any further, who are you?"
The girl blinked. "That's odd," she said, her unconcerned tone not at all matching her words. "Usually they know who I am - which of course makes the tea parties all the easier. This is different, I like it!" She floated in space again, drifting until she was at 180 degrees to the girls and sitting, cross-legged, on absolutely nothing at all. "My name's Selena," she said. "Selena Strange."
----------
It had been a good hunt (unexpectedly so) but Deadpool had finally run his quarry to ground. Oh, his prey was skilled indeed (the little bugger seemed to know every last nook and cranny of the House of M) but the merc was better. He drew his swords and, gargling his best Tarzan-style jungle war cry, leaped out and cornered...
... a frightened little kid in a $10 Halloween costume?
"Don't hurt me, please!" the boy sobbed. "I'll find a way to pay for the food, I promise!"
Deadpool sheathed his blades and took a long, hard look at his target. The boy was filthy, his cheap costume and cape were ragged and in tatters. What might have once been a plastic bone was tucked into his belt, alongside an archaic walkman. Though obviously terrified, the boy's expression could not be seen because it was hidden behind a plastic skull mask. Deadpool's keen, analytic mind absorbed all the data and came up with a sublimely eloquent response.
"Que?" he asked.
"Don't look upon me, your eyes will burn," the boy continued hysterically. "And how could they not? Whose sight-orbs could handle the sheer evil, the pure vile disgusting-ness that is Lord Death-Man? Yet you have survived my grim visage, dauntless hero, and run me to ground with your hard-working spirit. Make my death a quick one, I beg of you, that my torment may end and I can go on to the next life without further suffering!"
Deadpool scratched his head. "Kid, you're a lunatic," he said. "And quite honestly, if I'm telling you that, then you've got serious mental problems. How the heck did you wind up inside of this place?"
And so (in equally histrionic hyperbole) Lord Death-Man relayed his tale of woe. No sooner had MODOK and Abomination adopted him than the dull-witted duo forgot his existence. Left to fend for himself inside Villainville, Lord Death-Man had scratched out a meager existence. He'd been safe, more or less, until Lex Luthor's hostile take-over; he'd somehow managed to avoid the civil war and stay hidden in the gaps between the Brainiac technology. "And then you all came," he wailed.
"Pretty funky story, kid," Deadpool said. "I'm supposed to believe you were able to hide from Doom, Luthor, Octavius and Magneto? Hah! Where the heck was this ultra-super-secret hidey-hole, then?"
"Under the stairs," Lord Death-Man sobbed.
Deadpool froze. Something in his chest seized up. He knew, only too well, what it was like to live under the stairs while everyone else went about their lives. And he knew how it felt to be taken for granted by, taken advantage of by, forgotten by those who didn't live under the stairs. And he knew, most of all, how it burned to be betrayed by those who'd agreed to take you in and show you the way.
"Stand up, kiddo," he said warmly. "You and me? We need to talk."
----------
With every passing second, the situation within the Sanctum Sanctorum grew weirder. Gravity, formerly semi-reliable, was now completely out of whack. Sections of the floor turned into puddles... or pudding... beneath one's feet. One of the walls had detached itself from the hallway and gone for a walk, waving as it sauntered past. And Ironclad, Sunburst and Shield Maiden had agreed, instantly and silently, not to tell Quickdraw that the chair into which she'd collapsed had transformed into a scaly, feathered octopus that used its tentacles like helicopter blades to propel itself around the room.
Getting answers out of Selena Strange, meanwhile, was nigh-on impossible. She'd evaporated before their eyes, mid-sentence, before coming down as a sprinkle of rain from a storm cloud several feet away. They ran to her; the wind created by their arrival blew her apart like a mist. Her swirling, vaporous form turned into sand and deposited itself into a dustpan, which then transformed into a couch upon which she reclined. This time - suddenly and without explanation - she was cradling a small monkey in her arms.
Sunburst, desperate to gain control of events, tried a different approach. "What a lovely monkey," she soothed.
"What's a 'monkey'?" Selena asked.
It took time... and had to wait until after a train full of sock-puppet dragons crossed the hallway... but eventually the heroes started piecing things together. Selena Strange was the daughter of Stephen Strange. She'd lived her whole life inside the Sanctum, being educated by her father and his long-time ally and confidante, Wong. The monkey was actually Kikou, her mystic familiar. He had the ability to turn into a slavering, savage were-gorilla, and did so whenever he felt Selena was threatened (as Ironclad discovered, accidentally and to her dismay). And, as far as Selena was concerned, the four newcomers to her world weren't real. They were just another set of imaginary friends, "like all my other friends", who'd likely disappear as soon as she stopped thinking about them.
Shield Maiden took stock. "She's a sweet, innocent, naive, magically-powered super hero daughter who's been locked up inside her father's house her entire life. She's got no concept of what a human is and no knowledge of planet Earth. Anything that's not inside the Sanctum isn't real to her, and a lot of what's here isn't real either."
Quickdraw helicoptered past, eyes squeezed tightly shut behind her mask. "It's Tangled, on drugs," she called as she flew out of sight.
"Fathers," Sunburst said, and the word seemed rife with deep, dark undertones. "I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of fathers with secrets. But more than that: I can't tell you how angry I am that Strange has sat in judgment on our fathers while he's keeping his daughter locked in her room! If my x-ray vision worked in here, I'd find out where he was and I'd..."
"What is the meaning of this?!!?" Dr Strange's cry was like a thunderclap. Every head turned; Kikou let go of Ironclad, shrank back to his normal size and leaped into Selena's arms. The sorcerer stormed toward them all, his face a mask of barely-restrained fury. "I let you into my home, my sanctum, and this is how you repay me? You reward my trust with this... this... betrayal?"
"Betrayal?" Sunburst snapped. "We're not the ones who look down on our friends for keeping secrets! We're not hypocrites who keep little girls shielded from the world - and so addled they don't even realise there is a real world!" Her expression was more than a match for Strange's, and her eyes glowed red with heat vision. "I think it's time you explained yourself, Doctor."
Strange turned to Selena. "Selena," he said, "atrigothragtu!" The girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she pitched over, sound asleep. The moment her body hit the floor, the Sanctum Sanctorum... turned into a regular, ordinary New York brownstone. Everything was 100 per cent normal again, including the chair beneath which Quickdraw found herself.
"This is how the Sanctum is supposed to look," Strange said wearily. "There are doors and portals to other realms, yes, but it has always been a retreat... a sanctuary... a normal home. And so it was until one night, 16 years ago, when Wong and I found a baby on the front step of the Bleecker St entrance. A little girl in a basket, with nothing save the cloth in which she was swaddled and a note. That note made it clear the baby... Selena... was my daughter." He looked up. "Before you ask: while I've had the pleasure of knowing many amazing women in my life, none of them could have been Selena's mother."
"Er," Ironclad muttered. "Awkward."
"It took but minutes for us to learn of Selena's... unique nature," Strange continued. He spoke as if a great weight was being lifted from his shoulders. "Put simply, she is an unconscious reality-shifter. Whatever she thinks of is made manifest, instantly. The world around her warps and changes to match her perspective, her whims, her most capricious desires. Exposing her to the earthly plane would be disastrous. Not only could she wreak havoc on innocent people, without meaning to do harm, but she could be corrupted by outside influences. It was best to keep her here, cloistered, where the magics of the Sanctum could both cloak her from nefarious forces and provide some form of education for her young mind."
"That's noble," Shield Maiden said, "and exactly the sort of thing a father - a hero - would do." She put her hand on Strange's shoulder. "But you already know she can't live like this forever, Doctor. You're out battling evil every day... what if, God forbid, something happens to you? She'd be all alone, uncertain of whether you were even real in the first place. You've got to, well, loosen the apron strings a little. Trust that she's learned from you. Introduce her to world. The four of us, we can help you with it and..."
"No!" Strange proclaimed, gesturing toward them with both hands. "You have caused enough havoc for one day! Begone from my home!" He shouted an unintelligible incantation and, in a flash of light, all four heroes disappeared. The sorcerer slumped forward, overcome with emotion, and struggled to regain his composure. Once he had, he straightened his back and clicked his fingers. Selena roused instantly and looked about, momentarily confused. It lasted but an instant; in less than the batting of an eyelid, the Sanctum once again became a kaleidoscope of chaotic magical unreality.
"Daddy," she asked, "where did those girls go?"
Strange smiled and ruffled her hair. "Where do they always go, darling?"
"Oh," Selena replied, "of course! Thanks, Daddy." She kissed him on the cheek and skipped away, the air around her turning into leaves that eddied crazily in her wake.
Strange watched her go, his heart unbearably heavy.
----------
"I may be inexperienced with emotions," Vision said, "but I know enough to detect a heavy heart."
Mystique whirled around, drew bead with her blaster and fired off a flurry of shots. Vision, still intangible from floating up through the mountain range, watched them pass through his form. "A heavy heart," he continued, "and more than a little anxiety."
The shape-shifter holstered her blaster and scowled. "Go away, android."
"Your turn of phrase intrigues me," Vision said, fluxing solid and walking to her side. Mystique had climbed to one of the higher peaks in the range - one that afforded her an unobscured view of the House of M. "Going away is the behaviour I would have expected of you, given your encounter with Erik. Instead you remain in the area and continue watching us, setting off the sensors I installed previously."
Mystique glanced side to side, trying to find Vision's security measures. She failed; the synthezoid was far too crafty to place his 'electronic eyes' in plain sight. "Why are you still here, Raven Darkholme?" he asked. "And, more importantly, am I able to assist you?"
"You?" Mystique snorted. "You're part of the problem - you and your girlfriend. Somewhere along the line your muddle-headed do-gooder ways rubbed off on Erik. He's forgotten why we do this, why we fight, why we wanted Quickdraw on-side in the first place. He disgusts me."
"I doubt that very much," Vision corrected, earning him a hard stare. "I would submit you are intrigued by the change in Erik, particularly how much his new attitude reminds you of Charles Xavier. And, after all the years of running, hiding and fighting, I would submit you are less concerned with ruling the world than you are having a comfortable, welcoming place from which to observe it. In short, Mystique, I believe you wish to take Erik up on his offer and are barred from doing so only by your pride."
The mutant's fierce expression softened, but only momentarily. "Me? Live with all of you? Hah! Do you know the chaos I could wreak amongst a bunch of losers, misfits and lunatics like you lot?" She leaned close and tapped Vision on the chest. "All I'd need to do is take on a couple of your forms, spread some gossip and watch you destroy yourselves. In less than 24 hours I'd have each and every one of you foaming at the mouth with bloodlust. Your precious House of M would be rubble by sunset!"
Vision's face was neutral. "It is truly sad to learn you view yourself as a destroyer," he said, "worse, an unconscious one. I would submit that this, too, is a self-delusion born of pride - one that would not stand up to reality. As such I agree with your suggested course of action and welcome the eventual result." He turned intangible once more and began to sink into the mountain.
"Wait," Mystique yelled. "What 'course of action'?"
"Your decision to spend 24 hours in the House of M to see what eventuates," Vision said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "This will be fascinating indeed." He sank below the rock and was gone.
Mystique glared, almost uncomprehendingly, at the spot where he'd been. She was utterly livid - more angry than Atrocitus could ever be, she fancied - at having been manipulated by a walking toaster! And yet his words had cut deep... too deep. With a loud sigh of resignation, she started to make her way down the mountain. "This is not going to work," she huffed.
----------
For a short time, there was no sound on the mountain save the wind - and then, with a flash of light, Sunburst and her friends magically appeared! "The mountains? He dumped us on the mountains?" she fumed. "Of all the..."
"Land!" Quickdraw cried, hugged a large rock. "Solid chunks of scientifically-explainable carbon! Oh, how I love you!"
"... dim-witted, narrow-minded, arrogant, stuck-up, self-important..."
"... mama loves you, yes she does; she loves running on you and never ever wants to leave you ever again..."
Shield Maiden watched her friends babble and shook her head. Ironclad was strangely silent. "You okay, Maria?" Shield Maiden asked.
"No," Ironclad replied, "I most decidedly am not. Lara's right; this secret-keeping nonsense has gone on too long. We've all seen where it leads and the four of us have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't happen again. So if the high-and-mighty Dr Strange can't figure out how to control his Omega-level threat of a daughter, then someone needs to find the other half of the equation and solve this problem."
"The mother," Shield Maiden breathed. "You're going to find Selena's mother."
"We're going to find her," Ironclad said, "and Selena is coming with us. She needs to learn what the real world is - to see it for herself - so she has a reason to want to control her powers. Plus she has a right to know her past, especially if dear ol' dad isn't going to share the details."
Quickdraw and Sunburst joined them. "More magic?" the speedster groaned. "Aw, nuts. Still, you know I'm in."
"Me too," Sunburst nodded. "Though I should point out none of us are really equipped to handle magic-users. I may not have my father's weakness to sorcery but that doesn't make me any more immune to it than the three of you are."
Ironclad smiled. "Got that covered. Move in close, ladies." The girls huddled around her as if they were having a group hug, and she looked up to the sky. "Heimdall," she bellowed. "I'm calling in that favour you owe me!"
"Favour?" Shield Maiden asked.
"Heimdall?" Sunburst wondered.
"Oh crap," Quickdraw squeaked, closing her eyes and wincing.
A brilliant beam of rainbow-coloured light... the celestial touch if Bifrost, the famed Asgardian transportation system... stabbed down from the heavens and enveloped them, drawing them up into the skies and toward the Realm Eternal.
-----TO BE CONTINUED!-----
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF
For a few months I've been trying, without success, to explain archetype superhero fiction (using "knowing wink" versions of characters to comment on/further explore their mainstream counterparts) to LJ. She's expressed some sadness that her heroes (Ironclad et al) are so tied to Marvel and DC characters; she thinks it means she could never write them as an adult. I've wanted to convince her that's not the case - that, with but a few cosmetic/name changes, they could star in original works - because her stories are too darn special to let slip away.
Showing her Edison Rex, and especially its urban crime-fighter, Eclipse (you'll get no spoilers from me) turned the tide. LJ's faith in her creativity is renewed and, while there'll be no changes to the girls as we know them, she's now aware of their future potential. Whether she chooses to make use of that is up to her. I just wanted her to understand the power of the world she's imagined and why, for all us adults reading along, it's such a great place to visit.
Also: it gives me great pleasure to announce that, having followed the New Avengers around these past few installments, the young heroes are back!
----------
LJ presents:
STRANGE HORIZONS
PART ONE
Written and directed by LJ
Novelisation by SF
For the first time in many months, spirits were high inside Hero Headquarters. Having won both a battle and the renewed trust of the citizenry, the New Avengers went about their tasks and duties with vigor and positivity. There was, Thor noted, just one problem: Shield Maiden, Ironclad, Sunburst and Quickdraw were still miserable. And so the prince of Asgard hit upon what he thought was a truly brilliant idea.
"No," Dr Strange said sternly.
"It's a marvelous idea," Thor continued brightly, undeterred. "Four heroes, dauntless and strong yet still learning about the world..."
"No."
"... growing, now, into the powerful super-women they will be - our inheritors, our legacy, tasked with protecting the innocent..."
"No!"
"... and not only the innocent of this realm and this dimension, but of all realms and all dimensions..."
"No!" Strange thundered. "I will not allow Ironclad and her friends into the Sanctum Sanctorum! They are ill-equipped for what they may encounter within its walls and it is entirely too dangerous!"
Thor ached an eyebrow. "Ill-equipped, good doctor? Too dangerous? For the four heroes who felled Ultron itself?"
Strange sighed loudly, realising he had lost the fight.
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"A home for the misunderstood and mistaken? A refuge for man and mutant alike, no matter their sins? Pah! Let mighty Atrocitus into your tiny castle, you weaklings, and we'll see how well your mewling compassion can withstand the fire of my rage!"
Scarlet Witch, Vision, Harley Quinn, Deadpool and Poison Ivy warily circled the volcanic alien. None of them understood how Atrocitus had escaped his Sciencell on Oa, nor why he'd target them, but they weren't about to let the House of M burn down. Swords drawn, muscles tensed, powers at the ready, they were about to attack when Magneto landed right in front of their assailant.
"Ah, the fool in charge," Atrocitus roared. Droplets of crimson napalm sizzled between his teeth. "Come to welcome me to your halfway house?"
Magneto's sour expression did not change. "You already know you're welcome here," he said dryly. "Any home of mine is a home of yours... Raven."
Before the others could react, 'Atrocitus' melted, warped and re-formed into Mystique! The mutant shape-shifter was infuriated; she hadn't impersonated a judge and followed Magneto's plan in order to set up a "low-rent bargain-basement X-Mansion rip-off!", but to start building the homo superior empire! While Scarlet Witch seethed over her father's deception, the master of magnetism worked to cool tempers. Mystique wasn't interested in her old flame's change of heart: as far as she was concerned, Erik deserved only scorn for betraying his ideals and selling her out "over a teenager".
Clearly stricken, Magneto coldly informed Mystique she was still welcome in the House of M. He floated away, quickly pursued by Scarlet Witch - who had more than a few questions she wanted answered. Mystique turned on her heel and stormed away as the others headed inside. As he reached the drawbridge, Deadpool stopped suddenly - he was sure he'd glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye. Telling Harley he'd catch up with her later, the merc with a mouth went on a little scouting expedition.
----------
Shield Maiden, Sunburst and Ironclad were beyond excited, their misery temporarily forgotten: they were inside the hallowed halls of the Sanctum Sanctorum! Though they'd grown up in and around the mansion, the topmost floor... the mystic floor... had always been off-limits. But no more! They were free to roam... within reason. There were strict rules, of course (they were not to touch anything, not to commune with any wandering spirits and most especially not bring anything out of the Sanctum) but, on the whole, the Sorcerer Supreme had realised that, yes, he did trust them to do the right thing.
What the girls found inside delighted them. Every doorway led to something miraculous. There were rooms without gravity, rooms that contained entire universes, rooms that served as habitats for mythological creatures and rooms that, well, defied description. Even the windows were cool - a trans-dimensional space, the Sanctum existed both atop Hero Headquarters and at its original Bleecker St, Greenwich Village address, simultaneously. The trio could see both Super Hero City and New York City outside; Ironclad's mind was alive with thoughts of tesseract technology and quantum physics.
Quickdraw was... less than impressed. In fact the speedster was vibrating in place so rapidly that she was almost invisible to the naked eye. And so it was that Shield Maiden, Ironclad and Sunburst learned their friend's deepest, darkest, most well-kept secret: she was afraid of magic. "It's a Flash tradition," she insisted, somewhat pathetically, when the others failed to suppress their laughter. "My family's all about science, and rational thought, and things you can prove! Even my Dad hates magic! So there!"
Shield Maiden pointed over the speedster's shoulder. "Unicorn," she said.
"Eek!" Quickdraw shrieked, streaking down the hallway at top speed and vanishing around a corner. Her friends fell on the floor laughing, clutching their sides. Quickdraw heard them and doubled back. "That was not funny, you guys," she sulked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot in annoyance. "And besides, the jokes on you anyway - now you're upside-down thanks to the relative gravity in this stupid place." She pulled down her mask and stuck her tongue out.
The others didn't have the heart to tell her she was floating, upside-down, in mid-air. Indeed, they felt it best they not point out anything else.
Further exploration rewarded them with even more incredible discoveries, from singing oceans to spindly, delicate mirror-people. Some of their finds were more pedestrian (who knew the Sorcerer Supreme had a collection of 1980s B-grade ninja movies... on VHS?) but, on the whole, their trip into the Sanctum Sanctorum was a dream come true. At least, it was until Quickdraw summoned up enough courage to finally open a door, all on her own... and the girls came face to face with the dread Dormammu!
The tyrannical ruler of the Dark Dimension bellowed at them, raking them with a soul-wrenching glare. Thankfully he could not attack, restrained as he was by a barrier separating his dimension from ours. Nonetheless the encounter terrified the heroes (and near-traumatised poor Quickdraw) so much they retreated out of the room as fast as they could. In fact, they ran out screaming without looking where they were going... and collided with another person!
It was a girl, roughly their age, possessed of an almost ethereal beauty. She was dressed in a simple tunic and pants, with an enormous and ornate cape billowing around her neck and shoulders. A single streak of silver split her jet-black hair. Her eyes and smile dazzled them but, at the same time, appeared somewhat dreamy... as if she was looking through, rather than at, the heroes. "Hello," she said, her voice oddly melodic and sing-song. "What might you be?"
"Uh," Ironclad stammered, "we're, um, we're super heroes. Ironclad, Shield Maiden, Sunburst and Quickdraw."
"Ooh, you have names," the girl squealed delightedly. "I love it when new friends come with names. It makes things so much easier because, you know, some things don't like the names you give them and then it gets all odd at the tea party when you're putting out the place cards or addressing people over the second course." As she spoke she drifted in space, floating up and away and then returning sideways. "So this is much lovelier than that."
"This is creeping me the heck out," Quickdraw whispered tensely, vibrating in place again.
"Super heroes," the girl said, as if trying out the word for the first time. "No, I don't think I've had any of those before. There were the suprahemetites, of course, with their wonderful gasses, and the ongloheroes with those interesting hats." She clapped. "Oh! Do you have hats that make gasses?"
Shield Maiden muscled her way forward. "Hold on," she said, ever the no-nonsense one. "Before this goes on any further, who are you?"
The girl blinked. "That's odd," she said, her unconcerned tone not at all matching her words. "Usually they know who I am - which of course makes the tea parties all the easier. This is different, I like it!" She floated in space again, drifting until she was at 180 degrees to the girls and sitting, cross-legged, on absolutely nothing at all. "My name's Selena," she said. "Selena Strange."
----------
It had been a good hunt (unexpectedly so) but Deadpool had finally run his quarry to ground. Oh, his prey was skilled indeed (the little bugger seemed to know every last nook and cranny of the House of M) but the merc was better. He drew his swords and, gargling his best Tarzan-style jungle war cry, leaped out and cornered...
... a frightened little kid in a $10 Halloween costume?
"Don't hurt me, please!" the boy sobbed. "I'll find a way to pay for the food, I promise!"
Deadpool sheathed his blades and took a long, hard look at his target. The boy was filthy, his cheap costume and cape were ragged and in tatters. What might have once been a plastic bone was tucked into his belt, alongside an archaic walkman. Though obviously terrified, the boy's expression could not be seen because it was hidden behind a plastic skull mask. Deadpool's keen, analytic mind absorbed all the data and came up with a sublimely eloquent response.
"Que?" he asked.
"Don't look upon me, your eyes will burn," the boy continued hysterically. "And how could they not? Whose sight-orbs could handle the sheer evil, the pure vile disgusting-ness that is Lord Death-Man? Yet you have survived my grim visage, dauntless hero, and run me to ground with your hard-working spirit. Make my death a quick one, I beg of you, that my torment may end and I can go on to the next life without further suffering!"
Deadpool scratched his head. "Kid, you're a lunatic," he said. "And quite honestly, if I'm telling you that, then you've got serious mental problems. How the heck did you wind up inside of this place?"
And so (in equally histrionic hyperbole) Lord Death-Man relayed his tale of woe. No sooner had MODOK and Abomination adopted him than the dull-witted duo forgot his existence. Left to fend for himself inside Villainville, Lord Death-Man had scratched out a meager existence. He'd been safe, more or less, until Lex Luthor's hostile take-over; he'd somehow managed to avoid the civil war and stay hidden in the gaps between the Brainiac technology. "And then you all came," he wailed.
"Pretty funky story, kid," Deadpool said. "I'm supposed to believe you were able to hide from Doom, Luthor, Octavius and Magneto? Hah! Where the heck was this ultra-super-secret hidey-hole, then?"
"Under the stairs," Lord Death-Man sobbed.
Deadpool froze. Something in his chest seized up. He knew, only too well, what it was like to live under the stairs while everyone else went about their lives. And he knew how it felt to be taken for granted by, taken advantage of by, forgotten by those who didn't live under the stairs. And he knew, most of all, how it burned to be betrayed by those who'd agreed to take you in and show you the way.
"Stand up, kiddo," he said warmly. "You and me? We need to talk."
----------
With every passing second, the situation within the Sanctum Sanctorum grew weirder. Gravity, formerly semi-reliable, was now completely out of whack. Sections of the floor turned into puddles... or pudding... beneath one's feet. One of the walls had detached itself from the hallway and gone for a walk, waving as it sauntered past. And Ironclad, Sunburst and Shield Maiden had agreed, instantly and silently, not to tell Quickdraw that the chair into which she'd collapsed had transformed into a scaly, feathered octopus that used its tentacles like helicopter blades to propel itself around the room.
Getting answers out of Selena Strange, meanwhile, was nigh-on impossible. She'd evaporated before their eyes, mid-sentence, before coming down as a sprinkle of rain from a storm cloud several feet away. They ran to her; the wind created by their arrival blew her apart like a mist. Her swirling, vaporous form turned into sand and deposited itself into a dustpan, which then transformed into a couch upon which she reclined. This time - suddenly and without explanation - she was cradling a small monkey in her arms.
Sunburst, desperate to gain control of events, tried a different approach. "What a lovely monkey," she soothed.
"What's a 'monkey'?" Selena asked.
It took time... and had to wait until after a train full of sock-puppet dragons crossed the hallway... but eventually the heroes started piecing things together. Selena Strange was the daughter of Stephen Strange. She'd lived her whole life inside the Sanctum, being educated by her father and his long-time ally and confidante, Wong. The monkey was actually Kikou, her mystic familiar. He had the ability to turn into a slavering, savage were-gorilla, and did so whenever he felt Selena was threatened (as Ironclad discovered, accidentally and to her dismay). And, as far as Selena was concerned, the four newcomers to her world weren't real. They were just another set of imaginary friends, "like all my other friends", who'd likely disappear as soon as she stopped thinking about them.
Shield Maiden took stock. "She's a sweet, innocent, naive, magically-powered super hero daughter who's been locked up inside her father's house her entire life. She's got no concept of what a human is and no knowledge of planet Earth. Anything that's not inside the Sanctum isn't real to her, and a lot of what's here isn't real either."
Quickdraw helicoptered past, eyes squeezed tightly shut behind her mask. "It's Tangled, on drugs," she called as she flew out of sight.
"Fathers," Sunburst said, and the word seemed rife with deep, dark undertones. "I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of fathers with secrets. But more than that: I can't tell you how angry I am that Strange has sat in judgment on our fathers while he's keeping his daughter locked in her room! If my x-ray vision worked in here, I'd find out where he was and I'd..."
"What is the meaning of this?!!?" Dr Strange's cry was like a thunderclap. Every head turned; Kikou let go of Ironclad, shrank back to his normal size and leaped into Selena's arms. The sorcerer stormed toward them all, his face a mask of barely-restrained fury. "I let you into my home, my sanctum, and this is how you repay me? You reward my trust with this... this... betrayal?"
"Betrayal?" Sunburst snapped. "We're not the ones who look down on our friends for keeping secrets! We're not hypocrites who keep little girls shielded from the world - and so addled they don't even realise there is a real world!" Her expression was more than a match for Strange's, and her eyes glowed red with heat vision. "I think it's time you explained yourself, Doctor."
Strange turned to Selena. "Selena," he said, "atrigothragtu!" The girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she pitched over, sound asleep. The moment her body hit the floor, the Sanctum Sanctorum... turned into a regular, ordinary New York brownstone. Everything was 100 per cent normal again, including the chair beneath which Quickdraw found herself.
"This is how the Sanctum is supposed to look," Strange said wearily. "There are doors and portals to other realms, yes, but it has always been a retreat... a sanctuary... a normal home. And so it was until one night, 16 years ago, when Wong and I found a baby on the front step of the Bleecker St entrance. A little girl in a basket, with nothing save the cloth in which she was swaddled and a note. That note made it clear the baby... Selena... was my daughter." He looked up. "Before you ask: while I've had the pleasure of knowing many amazing women in my life, none of them could have been Selena's mother."
"Er," Ironclad muttered. "Awkward."
"It took but minutes for us to learn of Selena's... unique nature," Strange continued. He spoke as if a great weight was being lifted from his shoulders. "Put simply, she is an unconscious reality-shifter. Whatever she thinks of is made manifest, instantly. The world around her warps and changes to match her perspective, her whims, her most capricious desires. Exposing her to the earthly plane would be disastrous. Not only could she wreak havoc on innocent people, without meaning to do harm, but she could be corrupted by outside influences. It was best to keep her here, cloistered, where the magics of the Sanctum could both cloak her from nefarious forces and provide some form of education for her young mind."
"That's noble," Shield Maiden said, "and exactly the sort of thing a father - a hero - would do." She put her hand on Strange's shoulder. "But you already know she can't live like this forever, Doctor. You're out battling evil every day... what if, God forbid, something happens to you? She'd be all alone, uncertain of whether you were even real in the first place. You've got to, well, loosen the apron strings a little. Trust that she's learned from you. Introduce her to world. The four of us, we can help you with it and..."
"No!" Strange proclaimed, gesturing toward them with both hands. "You have caused enough havoc for one day! Begone from my home!" He shouted an unintelligible incantation and, in a flash of light, all four heroes disappeared. The sorcerer slumped forward, overcome with emotion, and struggled to regain his composure. Once he had, he straightened his back and clicked his fingers. Selena roused instantly and looked about, momentarily confused. It lasted but an instant; in less than the batting of an eyelid, the Sanctum once again became a kaleidoscope of chaotic magical unreality.
"Daddy," she asked, "where did those girls go?"
Strange smiled and ruffled her hair. "Where do they always go, darling?"
"Oh," Selena replied, "of course! Thanks, Daddy." She kissed him on the cheek and skipped away, the air around her turning into leaves that eddied crazily in her wake.
Strange watched her go, his heart unbearably heavy.
----------
"I may be inexperienced with emotions," Vision said, "but I know enough to detect a heavy heart."
Mystique whirled around, drew bead with her blaster and fired off a flurry of shots. Vision, still intangible from floating up through the mountain range, watched them pass through his form. "A heavy heart," he continued, "and more than a little anxiety."
The shape-shifter holstered her blaster and scowled. "Go away, android."
"Your turn of phrase intrigues me," Vision said, fluxing solid and walking to her side. Mystique had climbed to one of the higher peaks in the range - one that afforded her an unobscured view of the House of M. "Going away is the behaviour I would have expected of you, given your encounter with Erik. Instead you remain in the area and continue watching us, setting off the sensors I installed previously."
Mystique glanced side to side, trying to find Vision's security measures. She failed; the synthezoid was far too crafty to place his 'electronic eyes' in plain sight. "Why are you still here, Raven Darkholme?" he asked. "And, more importantly, am I able to assist you?"
"You?" Mystique snorted. "You're part of the problem - you and your girlfriend. Somewhere along the line your muddle-headed do-gooder ways rubbed off on Erik. He's forgotten why we do this, why we fight, why we wanted Quickdraw on-side in the first place. He disgusts me."
"I doubt that very much," Vision corrected, earning him a hard stare. "I would submit you are intrigued by the change in Erik, particularly how much his new attitude reminds you of Charles Xavier. And, after all the years of running, hiding and fighting, I would submit you are less concerned with ruling the world than you are having a comfortable, welcoming place from which to observe it. In short, Mystique, I believe you wish to take Erik up on his offer and are barred from doing so only by your pride."
The mutant's fierce expression softened, but only momentarily. "Me? Live with all of you? Hah! Do you know the chaos I could wreak amongst a bunch of losers, misfits and lunatics like you lot?" She leaned close and tapped Vision on the chest. "All I'd need to do is take on a couple of your forms, spread some gossip and watch you destroy yourselves. In less than 24 hours I'd have each and every one of you foaming at the mouth with bloodlust. Your precious House of M would be rubble by sunset!"
Vision's face was neutral. "It is truly sad to learn you view yourself as a destroyer," he said, "worse, an unconscious one. I would submit that this, too, is a self-delusion born of pride - one that would not stand up to reality. As such I agree with your suggested course of action and welcome the eventual result." He turned intangible once more and began to sink into the mountain.
"Wait," Mystique yelled. "What 'course of action'?"
"Your decision to spend 24 hours in the House of M to see what eventuates," Vision said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "This will be fascinating indeed." He sank below the rock and was gone.
Mystique glared, almost uncomprehendingly, at the spot where he'd been. She was utterly livid - more angry than Atrocitus could ever be, she fancied - at having been manipulated by a walking toaster! And yet his words had cut deep... too deep. With a loud sigh of resignation, she started to make her way down the mountain. "This is not going to work," she huffed.
----------
For a short time, there was no sound on the mountain save the wind - and then, with a flash of light, Sunburst and her friends magically appeared! "The mountains? He dumped us on the mountains?" she fumed. "Of all the..."
"Land!" Quickdraw cried, hugged a large rock. "Solid chunks of scientifically-explainable carbon! Oh, how I love you!"
"... dim-witted, narrow-minded, arrogant, stuck-up, self-important..."
"... mama loves you, yes she does; she loves running on you and never ever wants to leave you ever again..."
Shield Maiden watched her friends babble and shook her head. Ironclad was strangely silent. "You okay, Maria?" Shield Maiden asked.
"No," Ironclad replied, "I most decidedly am not. Lara's right; this secret-keeping nonsense has gone on too long. We've all seen where it leads and the four of us have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't happen again. So if the high-and-mighty Dr Strange can't figure out how to control his Omega-level threat of a daughter, then someone needs to find the other half of the equation and solve this problem."
"The mother," Shield Maiden breathed. "You're going to find Selena's mother."
"We're going to find her," Ironclad said, "and Selena is coming with us. She needs to learn what the real world is - to see it for herself - so she has a reason to want to control her powers. Plus she has a right to know her past, especially if dear ol' dad isn't going to share the details."
Quickdraw and Sunburst joined them. "More magic?" the speedster groaned. "Aw, nuts. Still, you know I'm in."
"Me too," Sunburst nodded. "Though I should point out none of us are really equipped to handle magic-users. I may not have my father's weakness to sorcery but that doesn't make me any more immune to it than the three of you are."
Ironclad smiled. "Got that covered. Move in close, ladies." The girls huddled around her as if they were having a group hug, and she looked up to the sky. "Heimdall," she bellowed. "I'm calling in that favour you owe me!"
"Favour?" Shield Maiden asked.
"Heimdall?" Sunburst wondered.
"Oh crap," Quickdraw squeaked, closing her eyes and wincing.
A brilliant beam of rainbow-coloured light... the celestial touch if Bifrost, the famed Asgardian transportation system... stabbed down from the heavens and enveloped them, drawing them up into the skies and toward the Realm Eternal.
-----TO BE CONTINUED!-----
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF