exsilium | [video]

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[On the screen is a blond woman, to all appearances human and doing a not-quite-perfect job hiding the kind of resigned annoyance only seen in those for whom getting hauled across space and time is just a bothersome day at the office. She's instantly recognizable to people from a wide number of related universes—it's Susan Richards, the Invisible Woman, visible for this conversation and wearing a black-and-white version of the Fantastic Four's classic blue uniform with the distinctive "4" logo on the chest. It's been almost two days and there's no sign of her teammates, so it's time to cast a wider net.]

Hello. My name is Susan Richards. I'm going to swallow my pride and assume that doesn't mean anything to most of you. [The necessity of doing so doesn't seem to bother her, even though the idea of not being known on sight is strange. Sue laughs a little, and lets go of her irritation. The only real problem here is that her family isn't, and that's always been a self-correcting state of affairs.]

If it does, however, do me a favor and check in? Avengers, X-Men, SHIELD—I'm not picky. [Sue's already run into two people from home. Maybe there are more. She'll even take villains, if only so she can keep an eye on them.]

Everyone else, nice to meet you. Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?

[OOC: Fourth-walling is okay as long as your character's not going to be a jerk about it. Canon fail post is thisaway.]

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[He nods a little]

Nature prefers entropy to stasis. And mutants - we're genetic entropy.

[He takes another sip of his drink]

And it wasn't Rachel - she'd have told me. She wasn't sure how the Avengers found out.

Not that it matters, anyway - they decided to play Big Brother and showed up at Utopia to take her into 'protective custody'. [His tone alone conveys his disgust and disappointment, there.] Scott did right by her, though, and stood his ground.

[Sue chuckles.] My genes aren't all that staid anymore, either.

[The further news wipes the smile off her face.] Good lord. Don't tell me there was a fight.

[She will put everyone in time out. Everyone.]

[Normally he'd be interested in a conversation about genetics and evolution and mankind's future, but right now, it's just... not something he has the energy for]

They had the helicarrier full of Avengers cloaked over Utopia, Sue.

[He just sounds tired and disappointed. Because Steve Rogers is a man he respects the hell out of, and that he'd do something like that is hard for Nate to swallow]

Hope did the best thing she could do in the situation and bolted.

[What the hell? Sue feels a headache coming on.]

And somehow talking wasn't an option? No matter what they think of Utopia, Steve and Tony and the rest had to know showing up in force wouldn't go anywhere good. Scott's Extinction Team is a match for practically anything on the planet.

[Sue's aware she's not telling Nate anything he doesn't already know, but she's perceptive, and he wouldn't be this exhausted if it had just been a tense faceoff followed by a skirmish. Things must have gotten worse, and she doesn't want to believe it.]

Apparently they were going to Logan for Phoenix advice.

[Which doesn't excuse them, but at the same time, it does explain some of the insanity about the whole situation]

Hope decided to face it head-on herself. Grabbed Logan, stole an AIM shuttle, and headed for the Moon. [Is that a Proud Dad smile there? Yes it is. Best daughter. It fades quickly though, because he hasn't even gotten to the horrible parts of this]

Logan called the Avengers, though, so by the time they landed the whole Blue Area was crawling with Avengers and X-Men. Stark tried to build some sort of.... Phoenix-killing gun, and tried it out. Shattered it - but that meant it went into five other mutants instead of it's intended host. Scott, Emma, Namor, and Piotr and Illyana Rasputin, codenames Colossus and Magik.

[Sue can shield her mind with a force field, but it would never occur to her to do so against a friend, so Nate can pick up the babel that is her reaction to the news--why did everyone have to make things worse, why would Tony do that, what if it had affected the whole universe, what if it had hurt Jean, or Hope, or any of the Phoenix hosts, how would the new hosts react, how could they even manage something it took Jean so long to learn to control--but the thought that makes it out is:]

Namor?

[Like his temper wasn't hair-trigger before.]

[He's getting that general impression off her]

I know.

[And that's answer to everything spoken and unspoken. There's more he could go on about, but there's more of the main story to be told]

Things were fine for a while - the 'Phoenix Five' were using their powers to change the world for the better. I woke up a few times during that, though it's kind of fuzzy.

[He sighs]

Avengers couldn't leave well enough alone, though, and... well, they weren't meant to hold the Phoenix's powers. It started to corrupt them - Magik and Colossus turned on each other first. Namor decided to declare war on Wakanda by himself.

My God. [Sue takes a much bigger swig of her beer than would be considered strictly ladylike.]

I--how bad was it? [The Phoenix alone is a horrible destructive power, and Namor can call on the armies of Atlantis, while Wakanda itself is far from defenseless.] We were just going to see T'Challa and Ororo next week.

Pretty bad, from what I heard. Though that isn't much - Wakanda's pretty much a no-go for any mutant. Wouldn't even let Storm help repair the damage, and it was pretty clear Namor was acting on his own.

[Sue's utterly shocked. T'Challa has always been one of the most level-headed, ethical people she knows. And it sounds like he and Ororo have separated.

She just looks down at her beer.]

This isn't nearly strong enough.

[The expression on his face is probably best described as an amused grimace. There's a reason he's drinking something stronger than usual]

I'd get it now - this story only becomes more of a mess.

[Sue's hard-pressed to think how it could get worse than having two of her oldest friends at each other's throats, but she knows perfectly well it's possible, and she signals for a server.]

If Utopia sank, I don't want to hear about it.

[Nate's expression actually manages to look a little more grim at that, but he waits until Sue's drink arrives before he says any more.]

The Avengers and the X-Men who'd joined them confronted Scott and Emma at Utopia. They brought Charles with them, and he tried to stop them. Tried to Scott.

[Nate pauses to take another sip of his drink]

Scott, he - he took Emma's half of the Phoenix force. And he lashed out at Charles. And killed him.

[His voice cracks a little there. He's been trying very hard not to think about that, and saying it out loud is even harder]

And that - snapped him. He became the Dark Phoenix.

[Sue's mind is a horrified blank.]

...Charles? Oh God, no.

[And Nate is blocking that out almost instinctively, because his own grief is almost more than he can handle.]

I know.

You--you said the Phoenix...dispersed. What happened? Who stopped Scott?

[She's terrified the answer will be "Franklin."]

Hope and... Wanda, actually. I don't know the details, really, but Hope took the Phoenix Force into herself, fixed most of the damage Scott caused to the world when he snapped, and then they... dispersed it. And activated hundreds of new mutants.

What about Charles?

[This thread is now "Sue points out the single biggest plot hole in AvX."]

[He just shakes his head because he can't bring himself to say it aloud again.]

Oh, God.

[It's not like people don't come back from the dead all the time, but the hope is almost worse than having to come to terms with the loss.]

I know. And there's not a damn thing I can do about it. [Which is the part he hates the most]

The others. Is everyone else all right?

[Or as all right as you get in the wake of something like this.]

As far as I know. Scott and pretty much all his former Extinction Team and the Phoenix hosts are on the run. They actually had him in lock-up just long enough for him to make a point before breaking out.

[If he sounds very faintly impressed, it's because, well, he's the kind of person who breaks out of jail, not Scott. And they've argued about methods and ideals for years now.]

Hope's taking a stab at 'normal' - she was doing okay last time I checked up on her.

In jail? He was possessed by the Phoenix. You can't argue that he was responsible for his actions. Don't tell me they're trying to press charges against the hosts.

[You know that point mutants keep making about the world hating them? Sue's not entirely inclined to disagree.]

...At least Hope's managing.

SHIELD and the Avengers are trying. I can't say I'm happy with everything Scott did, but... I'm a Summers. We know the Phoenix far too well for me to really blame him.

And yeah. She's a tough kid - I hope things work out while I'm not there.

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