Hello, hello

[disintegrator]

WHO: The Power kids and Sue Storm
WHERE: uhhhh some place with privacy?
WHEN: Wednesday
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: The kids have questions and Sue just might have the answers.
FORMAT: Quick-ish


[The past few days for Katie had consisted of trying to catch her brother up with her timeline and arguing with said brother about nearly all of it. While, despite the fighting, she was glad to have him here, Katie was just as glad for the break seeing Sue would provide. Katie had been wanting the chance to really talk to her since she arrived and she knew Alex would have questions as well.

Katie ran past and ahead of her brother, looking around for Sue and expression just daring her brother to make any fuss today.]

Comments

[invisibly]

Our daughter? [She's heard even less about Valeria than she's heard about Franklin.] Valeria, right? What are they like?

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex shrugs uncomfortably, glancing at his sister. ] Thing is, I knew Frank when he was just four years old. He's probably changed since then, right, Katie? And I don't know Valeria at all.

[disintegrator]

He did, some. He's more [She gestures out in front of her uselessly, looking to her brother.] confident, then he used to be. He's gets into everything and he's kind of a dork. [She smiles at Sue to show she means it kindly.]

Val's a genius. Like really a genius. Even as young as she is you can tell she's a Richards.

[invisibly]

[Sue smiles at that. She almost allows herself to feel proud of her alternative universe future daughter. But she doesn't know anything about that world's Reed. If he's anything like the Reed from Johnny's world, being a Richards might not be such a good thing.]

How did you all meet and become friends?

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex shares another look with his sister. how far back does he need to go on this one? even if Sue's been briefed on the Power Pack stuff, it's still a long story. ]

Well...Frank was the one who came and found us, first, in the park one day. He said he had seen us all in a 'special dream' he had. But we didn't know he was your son at first! I mean--that is, Mrs. Richards' son. We thought he was just a weird kid! But it turned out he was right after all about the dreams.

[disintegrator]

[She shrugs at her brother, and goes for the shorter version.]

His dreams ended up helping us with one of our enemies. And after we dealt with that he ended up staying with us a while. The Fantastic Four weren't around at the time. He actually stayed with us a lot when the Four had to go away. Anyway, after he helped us out the first time we all just stuck together.

[invisibly]

[Sue furrows her brows.]

Does Franklin have powers, like precognition?

[weightoftheworld]

Sure does! He has a lot of 'special dreams'. They sort of let him know if and when something bad's gonna happen...but not always the way you'd expect.

[ which is to say, none of them are very good at recognizing foreshadowing when they see it. ]

[disintegrator]

He had other powers too. Like a sort of astral projection.

[invisibly]

Did he... did he get them because of the accident? Because of our exposure to the cosmic rays?

[Suddenly this is a concern. She'd never considered it's possible effects on her future children before.]

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex frowns, considering the question. ]

He's definitely a mutant. Whether it's because of the cosmic rays, that's...

[ suddenly he cuts off, suddenly feeling a bit guilty. Franklin had always acted so nervous and insecure about his parents' reactions to his powers - maybe the kid wouldn't appreciate Alex telling Sue all this. ]

[disintegrator]

[Katie shrugs slightly.]

It doesn't necessarily mean that was the cause. A lot of people are mutants.

[She's trying to keep her tone causal. It's already out, but she doesn't want this Sue worrying about things like this. Or for Franklin to show up and know things like this were worrying her.]

[invisibly]

Like Namor. Namor was a mutant.

[And so far, one of her closest friends in the City. Or, he was until he ported out.]

And the X-Men, of course. I'm sorry, I keep bombarding you with all these questions.

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex smiles a bit. ]

It's alright, Sue. To be honest, we've...kinda got some questions for you too.

[ LIKE WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE FF SERIOUSLY ]

[disintegrator]

[Katie nods at her brother]

We'd like to know about Mr. Richards.

[invisibly]

[She nods, trying not to look too grim.]

I thought you might. Reed is from a different universe than I am. Johnny is from the same world that Reed is. He-- Reed, I mean-- apparently did some very terrible things in that world.

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex nods impatiently. ]

Yeah, we heard that part already. We were wondering just what exactly it was that he did, that's made everyone's so afraid of him! [ it's just so unfathomable to Alex. even if the guy does seem to be sort of a jerk, he hasn't acted like any of the villains Alex has ever fought--Queen Maraud and Carmody were always so openly hateful, and they never wasted an opportunity to strike first. ] Rachel couldn't give us any details--can you tell us what you know about it, Sue? What you know about him?

[disintegrator]

And you don't have to sugar-coat it. We can handle it, whatever it is.

[invisibly]

[Sue hesitates. Can children really understand what it is that Reed did in Johnny and Ben's world? She speaks slowly, keeping calm so as not to excite them.]

He destroyed the Baxter Building. And he destroyed Asgard. [She takes a deep breath.] He killed his own parents, and thousands of other innocent people.

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex's eyes widen in shock. whatever he was expecting, that wasn't it. ]

He--He killed his own parents, even? O-Ohmigosh...

[disintegrator]

[Katie turns a little pale, unconsciously inching closer to her brother.]

He seemed nice. I didn't think it'd be so awful.

[invisibly]

I know it's difficult to believe. I couldn't believe what I was hearing either. But it's been corroborated by several people.

[weightoftheworld]

[ Alex narrows his eyes, putting a hand on Katie's shoulder without looking at her. ]

And who are they, exactly? The guys saying all this?

[ because if this is coming down to a game of 'he said, she said' among a group of people who seem to be from entirely different universes, Alex wants to know who all the players are. he's not certain he can trust anyone here aside from Katie and Rachel, yet. ]

[disintegrator]

[She leans slightly into his hand, frowning thoughtfully at Sue.]

Your brother?

[He's the only one she knows to be from the same world as Reed.]

[invisibly]

Yes. Johnny, Spider-Woman, Gwen. And Mr. Nygma-- even though he isn't from that same world, he has the power to detect lies. He knew that Reed was lying when he denied what happened.