Q&A at the Baxter Building

The Inanna Presentation
The Baxter Building
10 Days PGR

"--daresay we have more experience with the post-deceased recovery process than any other semi-organized group," the blue furred cat-simian in the tweed suit was saying to Mary Jane. "Jean's the best known of course, though that's a bit exaggerated. Still. Wolverine, Cyclops, Angel, the whole team at one point... at least one point, I should say. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure... regardless. Professor Xavier more than once... though right now he's... well, I don't mean to be morbid."

"You're not," Mary Jane said. "Honestly, there was no way we were going to try to do something like this without reaching out to the Xavier Institute -- much less to you."

"Well, that's hardly a 'much less' situation. I'm not currently with the Institute. Though they are in good hands. I do believe the Head of School is -- ah! Yes! Katherine! Attend, if you would be so kind!"

A pretty brown haired girl in a suit with a loose tie slipped through the crowd -- literally, in the case of a sputtering Thing who stared after her. "Kitty!"

"Sorry, Ben! I'll bring you Yancy bagels tomorrow!"

"Yer my favorite X-Man, Kitty! Tell Storm that! And tell her I want my CDs back!"

"Those things were blown up like three mansions ago!" She turned, grinning. "Hey Hank. Hey MJ." She grinned, cocking her head. "Gooood presentation. Nice dramatic beats. Ten out of ten. Would attend again." She looked off to the side. "So that's really her, huh? The legendary Gwen Stacy?"

"It really is," Mary Jane said. "Did you ever get a chance to meet her?"

"Meet her? MJ... she died before I ever expressed as a mutant, much less went to the school. God. I mean... X-Men know more about returning from the grave than almost anybody, but... my entire career as an X-Man happened after she died. I want to say she died a few months before Nightcrawler and Colossus joined the team. But... I know Spidey pretty well. And..."

"Indeed," Hank said, looking at the blonde. She was talking to Stephen Strange and Jennifer Walters. "She is something of a legend. A moment of lost youth, perhaps. Back again... in a world she never made."

Kitty looked around. "Oh God. Don't tell me Howard's here."

Gwen, in the meantime, was smiling a relatively professional smile -- though the green skinned titan in front of her was saying some really good things. "There hasn't been a lot of case law on it yet, but given the number of people to do the 'not dead yet I don't want to go on the cart' shuffle it's come up a lot. That means there are some de facto processes you can go through. Probated stuff's harder, admittedly, but as far as your grades and your driver's license -- hey, I'll come see you. Pro bono. One ex-dead chick to another."

Gwen smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Walters. That means a lot."

"Does it mean enough to call me Jen? Because that's what you're supposed to do." She grinned.

"I admit I was surprised to be contacted for this gathering," Doctor Strange said. "But pleasantly so. A number of these so-called 'investigations' focus so much on the scientific they end up completely forgetting the paramystical. And... as a medical doctor I admit the concept of revivification is fascinating. If... admittedly, a fast route to being portrayed by Peter Cushing in the film adaptation."

"I can totally see you as Grand Moff Tarkin, Doc!" The newcomer was blond, wearing blue, and smiling broadly. "And hello there, Gwen. You look absolutely amazing."

Gwen smiled a bit more. "Johnny Storm. It has been... eternity since I last saw you, since I'm pretty sure we've never met."

"Well, sure -- if you want to be technical. But Spidey and I go way back. Way, way back. I remember when he had that terrible acne -- I told him 'hey, Webhead -- maybe lay off all the saturated fats.' Glad you're not dead. I like the whole non-**** foundation thing. You know, I died... man, must have been a dozen, maybe fifteen times a little while back. Endless war in the Negative Zone. Revival worms. You know how it goes. No big. Just saying. Kinda a personal best. No offense -- the Spiders do great at the coming back thing, I'm sure. Still. Nice to have so much in common."

"Fifteen times?" Gwen said, eyebrows arched. "You are a special fellow indeed!" She half-smiled. "As I recall, among the Spiders the current record-holder's twenty-eight. But good effort."

"Twen-- what?"

"That sounds like an interesting case study for your new Foundation, Miss Stacy."

Gwen froze. She took a deep breath. She'd been preparing for this...

Gwen smiled. "Doctor Richards. It's... amazing to meet you."

"It's good to meet you, too," Sue Richards said, stepping over to take Gwen's hands. "I remember when... well. Johnny spent... three? Three weeks just following Spider-Man around, keeping watch over him, after..."

"I know he did. It means a lot to me. It meant a lot to Spider-Man."

"Wha-- he never saw me!"

"Yeah... you may have heard of 'spider-sense?' It's kind of this thing he does?"

Despite himself, Johnny laughed. "Yeah. He... he was really..." Johnny shook his head. "Anyway -- long story short we should go out. Say, Lindy's for cheesecake? They have one named after me. No offense and not to be crass, but it's to die for."

"Johnny!" Sue snapped, though she was grinning just a bit.

"Why Mister Storm... I never date a man who just cost me twenty dollars." Gwen affected outrage.

"Cost yo-- huh?"

"Our mutual friend. He bet me twenty that you'd not only hit on me, but use **** puns to do it."

"Miss Stacy," Reed said, "I wanted to talk with you for a few minutes about the methodology you're going to be using to conduct some of your studies. I can understand your desire to use a... holistic approach, I suppose -- though I'm concerned that too much of an emphasis on non-standard technique could be seen as compromising your research's rigor. Perhaps, if you and your team have the time, we could--"

Despite herself, Gwen's look turned cold -- not that Mister Fantastic seemed to notice. Sue and Johnny both looked a bit startled however. "Well, Doctor Richards... between your arch nemesis using a multidisciplinary approach in his studies and the fact that as I recall, you once literally stormed the Gates of Heaven to demand they return Benjamin Grimm after his own passing, I'd think you'd be more open minded."

Doctor Strange blinked, turning to look at Reed. Reed himself looked startled. "...that's not common knowledge," he said. "And I'm quite certain Spider-Man isn't aware of that particular trip."

"Imagine that. And thank you very much again for hosting this presentation. I can see why so many people I respect speak so highly of you. Excuse me, won't you?"

Jen watched Gwen leave, then looked back at Reed. "Did you... perform experiments on her dog or something?"

"I've no idea," Reed said. "I'm certain we've never met. I'm more concerned that she seems to have knowledge of classified experiments and missions. Though... she did seem a touch..."

"She didn't seem a 'touch' anything, Reed," Sue said, softly. "She hates you. I... Johnny -- do you have any idea why? She seems okay with you, me, and Ben...?"

"No... but I'll ask Peter about it. I'll say this. She's tightly wound."

"Of course she is," Doctor Strange said. "She has undergone a massive psychological trauma within the last ten days. I hope she's receiving significant therapy."

"Yeah, Doc?" Jen said. "I'm pretty sure one reason Inanna's organizing in the first place is because people like her don't usually have good therapeutic options."

"Mm. Looks like Tony's on an intercept course," Johnny said. "Maybe he'll figure out what's going on."

Over near the catering table, Gwen was taking a deep breath and composing herself. Damn it. She couldn't afford to indulge in petty--

"Nice job, Miss Stacy. I like your restraint in not punching Reed. Especially since Reed's probably... twenty-seven percent more punchable than I am? Of course, when you punch me it actually hurts but, you know, it can be a fun visual anyway. Sometimes his head bounces around like a bobblehead."

"Hi, Tony," Gwen muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Nah. You did fine. No worries. 'Cept Jen and Sue are, you know. Busybodies. But they'll probably get distracted. And hey -- Peter brought Cindy here once, and Reed managed to tell her she needed a shrink, so -- you know. His bedside manner isn't great."

"No, it's not," Gwen said.

"Still, you still hate me more, right? I mean, I wanna place first in something."

"Sorry. Reed's one of the two people I hate most in the universe. You're not the second."

"...who's second? The Red Skull? Hitler? Bobby Flay? You do know of Bobby Flay, don't you? In that mysterious world of the past, they still had overspiced tex-mex, didn't they?"

"Who's second? Who do you think. And how did you manage to leave him a suit of armor. You didn't even do that with Stane."

"Yeah, well. I forgot a notebook. I made Stane work for it. I didn't have time to scuttle all my stuff -- especially since most of it had just been scuttled by the Skrulls. The government handed it over to him." Tony frowned. "Do you really hate Reed Richards as much as you hate Norman Osborn?"

"Of course I do." She looked sidelong at Tony. "For everything that infuriated me about you... I still could remember you'd forgotten all of those events. And been punished for it, by karma if nothing else. Reed? Came out of that whole thing and went on vacation with his wife." She looked at the table. "He remembers what he did. What he did to Peter and everyone else. He remembers how much Peter suffered, remembers how utterly convinced he was that the Negative Zone prison made sense. He remembers the Thor clone and the Illuminati meetings and blowing up universes."

"He put them back. Gwen -- Reed's..."

"Reed once backhanded his wife, Tony. Just like Hank Pym backhanded Janet Van Dyne. But instead of doing it out of his own mental illness, he literally did it as attempted therapy. Don't make excuses for him."

Tony paused. "I'm not," he said. "I happen to know about that incident. You know what else I know about it?"

"Do tell me."

"I know it happened a year before you died."

Gwen froze. "What?"

"Gwen... whatever I did, whatever Reed did? Whatever happened? None of that explains why Ollie apparently gave you a brain-wiki for things you shouldn't know."

"...no. It doesn't."

"Look." He fished a silver bracelet out of his pocket. "I threw this together after reviewing some tech-specs on detection and analysis methods for different kinds of magic. You don't need to do anything with it. Just wear it when you're around Ollie. It'll get some info on what she is and what she's doing."

Gwen stared at it, then looked up at Tony. "And what'll it tell you about me in the process? And do I really deserve it? I mean, I didn't even out my own secret identity to the world, first."

"Gwen--"

"I'm not going to give you a chance to scan me and Ollie, Tony. If you're curious as to why? Review the lyrics to 'Itsy Bitsy Spider.' Excuse me, please. I need to find another direction to go and not be around someone I don't want to talk to any more."

"...fair. Take a crab puff with you. They're sublime."