[video]

[fantasticforcefields]

[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.]

Comments

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

[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.

[fantasticforcefields]

[Sue's mind is a horrified blank.]

...Charles? Oh God, no.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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

I know.

[fantasticforcefields]

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

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

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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.

[fantasticforcefields]

What about Charles?

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

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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

[fantasticforcefields]

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.]

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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

[fantasticforcefields]

The others. Is everyone else all right?

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

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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.

[fantasticforcefields]

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.

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

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.