The Invisible Woman Retires

"I can't do this anymore," Sue Storm admitted.

It was a family meeting. Just Reed, Johnny, Ben, and Alicia. Peter Parker, Spider-Man, felt awkward standing there as the blonde heroine sat there in her civilian garb.

"Ah, c'mon, Suzie," Ben said. "We've all taken our lickin's from villains a time or two, and we all bounce back."

"Not this time," Sue said. Her head hung low, hands on her knees. "I wasn't just beaten, Ben. I folded. People could have died. I wasn't just weak, I gave up. I gave in. And I liked it. I can't risk my family, or civilians, just because I can't control myself."

She gave a weak, sad smile.

"It was a good run, but I can't take that risk. I've asked Peter to step in as my replacement. Our powersets are different, but he's worked with us extensively before, and I think he'll fit into the team," she said. "I hope you'll all respect my decision. I'm the Invisible Woman no more."

The men all went to the roof for a beer. They watched the sun set on Manhattan, cold microbrews in hand.

"So, we all agree that was bullcrap, right?" Ben said. "She's gotta be under the influence of some villain."

"Before the meeting, we did a full physical and power assessment," Reed Richards said. "She's perfectly healthy, her powers intact. But her confidence is shattered."

"Psychics?" Johnny said. "I could call the X-Men. They have telepaths."

"She let Emma Frost scan her mind," Reed said. "She confirmed that it was a confidence issue. That Sue suffered a severe psychological shock, and it's unearthed a lot of psychosexual issues. Apparently Sue was already...unsteady. That's part of the reason she was seeing a psychiatrist."

"But we can fix that, right?" Ben said. "Rewire her memories, stage some stunt so she can regain her confidence—"

"I know I'm new here," Peter said. "But I don't like the idea of manipulating Sue's memories."

He didn't have to expand on that. They already knew the mess that such machinations had on his life and marriage.

"So we just—do nothing?" Ben said, his great stony shoulders sinking.

"For now, chum," Reed said. "For now, we continue on as before, with Peter here as her—hopefully temporary—replacement. And we support Sue however we can."

Moonstone popped the champagne cork with a thumb. A grand cru. She didn't normally go in for the bubbly, but this was a special occasion. The blonde was in a gold robe, in her own apartment, and smiled at the message that Sue Storm had just sent out, now scrolling across the news on the television screen.

Her official retirement. The Invisible Woman was done.

She had won.

For a single golden moment, the beautiful blonde toasted the screen. She drained the glass in a single gulp. Letting the warmth fill her body.

Then someone knocked at the door. A discordant note in her celebration.

She frowned and, with the easy confidence of a woman empowered by an alien gemstone, unaware of any psychic prodding.

A vision in white latex stood before her, her corset lifting her cleavage up to legendary levels. Blonde, tall (thanks to the stiletto heels), stately. Her face a mask of disdain. Karla Sofen recognized her immediately as Emma Frost, the White Queen. Yet Moonstone felt no sudden rise of alarm. Her whole mood was strangely mellow.

"Drop the robe," Frost said with a gesture.

Moonstone obliged her, setting the champagne flute down and then shucking the golden robe. She stood before the mutant mistress of telepathy, utterly nude and unconcerned. Frost looked her up and down, and in a split second, ceased to be a being of living flesh, and became a clear, crystalline statue. Karla had heard of Emma's secondary mutation, the ability to turn into a form of living diamond.

The blonde villain frowned, suddenly aware that she was naked and facing an extraordinarily powerful and ethically challenged mutant.

Then a diamond foot slammed into her cunt.

It was a testament to Karla's enhanced anatomy that the foot did not rip straight through her pleasure pocket and gut her like a fish. As it was, the naked villain immediately went to her knees, vomiting up the champagne she had just swallowed.

Frost set the point of her heel on Moonstone's neck. Diamond became flesh again. Telepathic clamps seized on the villain's mind, preventing even the thought of fighting back.

"Your psychological manipulation of Sue Storm was sophisticated," Emma Frost acknowledged. "No psychic traces for a telepath to find. Only the memories. But you were in those memories, you arrogant cow. Did you really think no one would check on you? That your part in this little tragedy would go undiscovered? Doom should have chosen a smarter partner."

Moonstone couldn't answer. She couldn't think. Emma Frost's telepathy was like a scalpel. With a thought, she could lobotomize Karla Sofen.

"Not a crime I could prove in any court," Emma Frost said with a sigh. "Not that I think prison is appropriate for someone like you. No. I have a much better plan."