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prue84¯ omniverse [REALITIES] . . . . . . . . [NON]
captain [BRITAIN]. . . . . . . . . . . . [CANON]
¯ [More_Captains _ [02]
[Britain _ 2 [of ?]
┌ ┐
MORE CAPTAINS BRITAIN
CHAPTER 2
└ ┘
[Photo by Mike Collins.]
DATAFILE: EARTH-33
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Title: Alpha Briton
Name: Edward “Eddie” Braddock
Origins: Earth-33
Seat: 33
Tested: Yes
Choice: Amulet of Right
REALITY ANNOTATIONS
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Core designation: Universe-33
Reality designation: Startling Stories
Type: Alternate reality
DETAILS
Reality in which super-powers, as in body modifications or genetic
mutations that give an individual superior abilities, don't exist.
Super-heroes make use either of technology or magical artifacts,
most of the times incorporated in their costumes; when divested of
their gadgets they are average individuals and can count only on
tactical and fighting training. Timelines-constant super-hero teams
such as Fantastic Four, Avengers and X-Men thus do not exist.
A comic book loosely based on this reality alternate versions of Reed
Richards, Ben Grim and siblings Susan and Johnny Storm, in which
they are depicted as the Fantastic Four, has been released, soon
followed by other titles in which are portrayed fictional characters
vaguely inspired by what Avengers and X-Men are in other realities.
It hasn't been excluded that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the authors of
said comic books, ever had any glimpses into alternative timelines;
similarities between the stories they told and events as developed in
several realities, suggest they might have had access to at least one;
specific detail pinpoint to either Earth-20051 (Marvel Adventures) or
Earth-563 (Season One).
Overall history of reality, up to the early 20th century and the
avoidance of the events that would lead to World War II, is similar to
Earth-616.
Curiously, most of the individuals who in other realities are marked
with the x-gene, are here born with the opposite gender than their
common one.
OVERVIEW
After the Great Depression which effects dragged for two decades,
Earth has entered the second half of the 20th century going through
an economic expansion.
Technological advances in the atomic field, such as the discovery of
nuclear fission, has brought innovations and dangers. A geopolitical
tension between the between U.S.A. and the Soviet Union is a
looming threat, as both countries have successfully developed
nuclear weapons and have added them to their arsenals. Still,
the masses enjoy the new decade and its improvements, and are
embracing a new times of growing wealth and optimism.
Super-heroes, which scarce presence has been recorded at least
since the 40s, are now entering into a Golden Era: as technology
becomes more affordable, and thanks to the growing fame of comic
books (magazines that depict feats and adventures of super powered
individuals with uncanny abilities), more and more are emerging to
protect the people from criminals and injustice.
For additional info, see: Startling Stories: The Fantastic Four – Unstable
Molecules.
MAJOR POINTS OF DIFFERENCE FROM 616
(EARTH OF CB PRIME)
World War I was concluded with a different fall-out than usual:
although greatly resized, the Austro-Hungarian Empire wasn't
dissolved and replaced by a republic until the Germany-Austrian
conflict in the 40s.
Hitler never raised to power in Germany and Mussolini was killed
before he could found the Italian Fascist Party. Although smaller
hostile acts in Europe lead to skirmishes and wars between declining
European powers, conflicts didn't escalate in the catastrophic World
War II.
The Fantastic Four members never launched into space and didn't
gain their powers. Gamma bomb hasn't been developed, and Asgard
has been destroyed centuries ago.
SUPERPOWERS STATUS
Existing: yes. (only basic physical types, such strength and flight).
Temporarily gained only through the use of magical artifacts,
reliant to the ownership or brandishing of the artifact.
Mutants: no.
Mutants do not exist or their existence hasn't been recorded yet.
Mental powers such as psychics are scarce, but only low-level
telepathy as been recorded.
BIO OVERVIEW
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Full name (if applicable): Edward “Eddie” Braddock
(born: Arthur Albert Hartwood)
Powers: --
Other abilities: Martial arts. Standard combat training. Fencing.
Previous affiliation (if applicable): --
Fled from home to pursue his dreams, aristocratic disowned Eddie
Braddock made a name for himself in Hollywood where he raised to
worldwide fame as one of the main stars of the industry's Golden Era
and a heart-throb until the woman who would become his wife
managed to tie him down.
Once he received the test, he left his demanding job to fully commit
to the life of a masked superhero, and be a respectable dotting
husband and father in the free time. Wearing the national colors of
his homeland, he serves as the mysterious British champion who
inspires thousands of young men who read of his adventures in the
Captain Britain comic book.
[Photo by Alan Davis; edited by Hakka-Prue84. See Annotations for resorces and references.]
<< Click to access to the fullsize file. >>
ABRIDGED BIO
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Scroll down for basic html reading.
Krakoa-styled reading available only through the links below.
FORMATTED WAY
Archive of Our Own.
SquidgeWorld.
CROSSPOSTED
Livejournal.
Tumblr.
BBCB ANNOTATIONS
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Alpha Briton does not have mutant powers and can be employed in
scenarios when mutation is targeted.
He has not shown psychic abilities of any kind. All his abilities and
skills are provided by the Amulet of Right and training.
THE COUNCIL OF CAPTAIN BRITAIN
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THE PROJECT
For other chapters in the series, see the masterpost.
NOTES ABOUT THE STORY
Since the post is already a very long textwall, these have been
collected at this additional post.
[Expanded AU, page 1 of 1]
_ _
[abridged [READ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . full_fic]
[life story [MORE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . below]
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ABRIDGED BIO
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Lady Jacqueline, née Braddock, a talented mind in the science field and secretly the patriotic champion Lady Britain, renounced to her career dreams and heroic feats when she married Lord Elijah Hartwood, a member of British lowest aristocracy who has no need to work to keep his family and spends most of his days with pastimes fitting to a lord of his status, including fox hunting and enjoying sports involving horses.
Arthur Albert is their second child; born ten years after James, he enjoys the perks of not being the eldest while also not suffering the condition of being born female in the early 50s in a reactionary and sexist society, as his twin sister Breanna does.
Like his older brother James before him, Arthur Albert is raised in the luxurious Hartwood manor, where he receives an education fitting to his status under the tutelage of private tutors. He gets lessons in horse-riding and fencing, but also in arts and literature.
His grandfather, John Braddock, is a World War decorated hero and entertains him with tales about his time in the trenches, or how – captured on enemy land – he heroically escaped from a POW camp with the creative use of a salvaged bottle, some carefully collected petrol and a single matchstick. He fought alongside the legendary Union Jack, a mysterious man clad in the colors of their flag who protected Britain from potential threats to national security during the darkest times. He also mentions the enigmatic Lady Britain, a masked woman armed with a golden staff who patrolled London's streets for a while, well before Arthur Albert was born. Arthur Albert, enthralled by the stories, learns to yearn for adventure and a life that goes beyond the confines of his lineage.
It's in these years that a new, refreshing wave of comic books featuring more realistic superheroes are getting printed in the USA, reaching soon the other side of the pond. In the Hartwood house such publications, deemed derogatorily “picture books”, aren't allowed. They depict men and women doing incredible feats and living adventurous lives, protected by a mask. But John Braddock, although son of a different century, is surprisingly open-minded for his age, and secretly collects them so that Arthur Albert can read them when he comes to the old Braddock manor. He prompts Arthur Albert to state his preferences, and to say what he'd wish to change in the stories, or how he would act in the super-hero's place. Lord Elijah Hartwood would throw a fit, and would even go as far as to forbid his son to ever see his grandfather, should he know. This is one of Arthur Albert and John's small secrets.
A bit too reckless and a daredevil for his father's liking, Arthur Albert all in all can't say he suffered through his childhood.
James is the black sheep of the family. Although he's never been the epitome of the perfect, well-bred boy Elijah Hartwood expected his first-born to be, James's life takes a turn when he's in high school and gets drawn to the modern ideas of a group of radical students, who preach for equality and freedom for all the colonies. Elijah immediately enrolls James on a boarding school were his son will be protected by dangerous politics, but the damage is already done. What follows, are years in which James's beliefs are challenged by the strict ways of close-minded teachers, further radicalizing him. Still, James is nothing but clever, and agrees to hide his true alliances and play by his father's rules until it suits him.
He is accepted in a prestigious university, as his father and the father before him. James's bizarre conduct is tolerated as long as James hides behind a proper image of first-born into the British upper class, and his eccentric lifestyle of anti-materialistic peace-lover is kept under wraps thanks to the Hartwood's power that manages to silence any journalist that might uncover James's unproper activities. Rebellious and open-minded, in a vibrant place such as a university he grows resentful of the conservative ways and the belief that the greatness of British Empire has to be preserved, and joins an underground movement that actively fights against these outdated ideas.
A scandal erupts when he's 24: James is arrested during a protest against the government on politics regarding the status of the British colonies and the brutal repressions against those who peacefully advocate for freedom in those lands. Elijah's powerful connections pulls some string and James is out of prison in few hours, his criminal record clean and free of charges, but his actions have brought shame to the Hartwood family.
No child of the nobility is allowed to embrace such radicals ideas, for all the British aristocracy are loyal to the Empire and their stance on the British colonization is conflicting with the one James marched for. Unless he gets his priorities sorted, James will be unfitting to inherit the household and to be a proper Hartwood. In the hopes to fix him, Elijah has him sent to a mental institution, where he's subjected to medical procedures that eventually damage his mind.
As the second in line, and only other son, then teenager Arthur Albert is asked to step in as future heir of the Hartwood noble household. But Arthur Albert has no interest in being shaped into what his father wants for him to be, under the threat of being sent away like they did with James if he fails to satisfy his father's expectations. He has big dreams, and none of them involve him being stuck in the old world of aristocrats with long titles and little touch with reality. While his twin sister Breanna is the perfect Hartwood, model student in the female college where she's sent to and proper lady at every tea party, Arthur Albert isn't interested in attending prestigious universities and is bored at every activity that entertains the lords. He favors the high-velocity of sports cars over horses and is more interested in movies than plays. His ultimate dream would be become a masked superhero like the legendary Union Jack and live a precarious, exciting life, although he knows there'll never be such a chance for the likes of him.
Arthur Albert and Elijah clash for most of Arthur Albert's late teens, with Jacqueline attempting to balance between them, neither fully agreeing with her husband but not siding with her son either. Breanna switches from times in which she attempts to comfort him to times when she criticizes his attitude; tied herself to a role that she didn't ask and with no leverage on their father, Breanna is of little use to Arthur Albert. Only their maternal grandfather, the old John Braddock, war hero and accomplished pilot, seems to understand him, indulging his interests in airplanes and cars. He's too old now to pilot the biplane fighter he bought in poor conditions after the War and restored himself, but he's always eager to teach his nephew everything he knows about aircraft and air battles. His death is a psychological blow for Arthur Albert, who suddenly looses his first and only ally within the family.
Sent to a male-only boarding school, Arthur Albert's rebellious streak is put to a test, but the rigid rules of the place accomplish nothing, if not making Arthur Albert even more convinced that this isn't the life he wants. He has his first sexual experiences with Tom Lennox, the son of an influential politician who, ironically, spews hatred on homosexuality, and then experiments with other pupils, although he officially (but secretly) looses his virginity to the charming Gabriel, a senior two years older than him about to be shipped out by the family to military Academy. It's thanks to Gabriel, that Arthur Albert discovers that he might be interested in males, after all.
Arthur Albert surrounds himself with friends not fitting to his heritage, for either race, status or political believes. Young men and women of different backgrounds, but none of them coming from the same upbringing of his.
There's Logan, a grumpy Canadian who came to the UK to escape his abusive father and a set future in the army. He has two jobs and he doesn't like to waste time on dilly-dallying when he can do something with his hands.
There's Kurt, a cheerful German who left behind a career as acrobat and contortionist in a small circus to find a better life. He was born with four fingers on a hand, making him a freak. He's Logan's best friend and they share a small apartment.
There's Charlie Cluster, an orphaned French lover of luxury but with no money to pay for such a lifestyle, who moved into the UK to find her path and become rich through any means (and also to avoid some legal issues). Athletic and sharp of mind, she's a master of misdirection and she's a pro at shoplifting. She's adopted. Her mysterious brother is involved in shady activities all around the world (possibly a marksman, as she has hinted once or twice), and sends her some money to get by so she doesn't need to get a low-pay job.
There's Kiyoko, a reserved Japanese fleeing from his own dangerous past, which is revealed to be a connection to a ninja clan involved with anything illegal. Formidable martial artist and trained in the art of sword-figthing with a katana, he was to marry the daughter of a crime lord but, as he wasn't interested in such an union, he fled before he could be punished for defying his father and bringing shame on all their family. Kiyoko is his chosen name, the name for his new life; he renounced to his birth name when he rejected his family, and that name is dead to him.
There's Uhuru, a refined Kenyan whose parents are linked to radical movements back home and are currently fighting to win independence from the British rule. He's in London because his father wanted for him to enroll into a prestigious university and get on a path to become a future ambassador, but he knows the real reason for his presence in the UK is because his mother was scared about a possible war erupting and sent him away before things got heated.
There's Polina, a shy Russian who grabbed the chance to leave the Soviet as soon as it happened in front of her, despite being the sister of a national hero (an astronaut died in an accident occurred in space) and having been offered to enter the national's Olympic team for the shot put. She's taller than them all and build like a docker, she can even beat Logan at arm wrestling with her eyes closed, but she's the gentlest soul Arthur Albert ever met, and wished only she could find a job that could support her true passion: painting.
Together they're a knit group that call themselves the X-Force, a word play between Extra and Force, as they fancy themselves an extraordinary force of rebellion against a society that would never agree with them banding together. When they meet, they hit the more underground locales of London, listening to emerging music groups and new styles such as rock 'n' roll while drinking beer, but also talk about radical politics. Arthur Albert enjoys his time with them, uncaring for what his family might think of him, should he be discovered hanging out with this colorful array of commoners.
Arthur Albert understands that he might be drawn both to males and females at the same time. She has brief romances with a string of girls, who swoon at his dashing beauty and refined manners, but he also finds himself appreciating the exotic beauty of Kiyoko, although he doesn't bring up the courage to ask the Japanese what he thinks about male romances. He instead ends up in the bed with Charlie, who is a firm believer of sexual freedom with no strings attached.
His physical relationship with Charlie is no secret within the team, and there's no judgment, not even from Polina, who still suffers from the strict education regarding sex she received at home.
When Charlie's mysterious brother pops up, bringing expensive champagne and the keys to a luxurious suite in the best hotel in London, Arthur Albert is with them. He wakes up the morning later in a huge king-size bed with a bloody headache and the two brothers' naked bodies near him. By the status of the bed, not to mention his own lack of clothes, it doesn't take a genius to understand that they all have been involved in some forbidden and very sinful act of sexual activities. Arthur Albert isn't as disgusted nor mortified as he should be. The experience teaches him that (other than not drinking too much champagne) he mostly leans on the female form of the human being, but he's unwilling to forbid himself to enjoy the other side of the spectrum just because old-fashioned norms say so. And when the siblings awake, he's up for some other fun.
Charlie's brother, Charles, vanishes few days later, heading to whichever job he does, and Arthur Albert searches for novelty elsewhere, but Arthur Albert never regrets that crazy night at The Ritz – even if he still doesn't remember all of it.
*
Lord Elijah never discovers about his son's “perverted sexuality”, the term he would use should he know, but it doesn't mean Arthur Albert can forever keep his friendships from his family.
He strives to keep up the pace at university, so to not get his father's breath on the neck, but eventually his family's shadow reaches him.
It's few months before his 21st birthday when, after the last clash with his strict father over what is allowed and what is not allowed to people like them, Arthur Albert packs his bags: he can't further live in that house, and threatens to not return until his father understands that it's time they give up their outdated and archaic beliefs and embrace the modern times, where there is no place for close-minded aristocracy. Elijah is unwilling to compromise, especially not after James. In his mind, the more they keep the leash short, the less likely what happened to James will repeat with their other son. Believing his son to be acting up, he doesn't stop him and physically prevents Jacqueline from saying or doing anything when Arthur Albert slams the door behind his back.
Arthur Albert has acted on the spur of the moment and has nowhere to go. He has friends willing to offer him a bed for a week or two, but he cannot live off the X-Force forever. Under a fake name and with the help of Logan, who always know where to look and who to talk to, he finds a temporary job as usher in a movie theater – it's during this time, that Arthur Albert decides that he'd like to be one of the charming men he sees on the screen. Sadly, a peer of his father recognizes him and Elijah Hartwood is made aware that his heir is working like any poor class. Lord Elijah pulls strings and has Arthur Albert fired and banished from available jobs in the surroundings, in the belief that – penniless – the black sheep will be forced to return home and bow his head. Arthur Albert isn't meek when he knocks on the door of the Hartwood Manor. Far from willing to bow to Elijah's authority, he's combative and ready to take on his father for what he perceives as an unacceptable interference. He firmly believes he has the right to choose for his own, which includes even making bad choices and fuck up: he's no child, to be ordered around by a father. He's an adult now, and entitled to his own life.
An heated argument follows, with each of them saying things they might regret but not ready to give an inch to the other. All ends when Elijah gives his aut aut: either Arthur Albert returns, and behaves, or he will be banished and disowned. Arthur Albert doesn't do well with blackmail: he tells his father to go to hell. Jacqueline, silenced by her authoritative husband, doesn't find in herself the will to make a stand, thus siding with Elijah against Arthur Albert – the disappointment and sense of betrayal caused by his mother's choice to not help him cuts Arthur Albert deep.
Breanna is spared such a depressing scene, as she's away at university when Arthur Albert last leaves the Manor and cuts ties with his family.
It's both shock and emancipation, though, for now Arthur Albert is free from any expectation his strict father ever had for him. He's free to pursue any career he likes. Just, not in the UK. Despite aristocracy being outdated, the Hartwood are still too powerful and their ties reach everywhere: there's no hope for Arthur Albert Hartwood to fully free himself from the family's shadow until he stays on the island. Still, he has no means to move away, but his X-Force friends chip in and for his birthday they get him a ticket to Los Angeles.
Penniless, Arthur Albert lands in the city of angels with only the content of his suitcase and the hope to become someone despite his heavy surname. To support himself, he takes any kind of job that can pay for food and a room where to sleep. Even if he grew up in a rich manor, with a full staff and a butler to oversee everything, he isn't scared of getting his hands dirty, if it means he can stay in the US and pursue his dream of becoming a movie star. He has no money to apply to an university dramatics program, so he can only hope that his looks will be enough to catch someone's attention. He sends a picture of himself to many talent scouts, until one accepts to take him on as a client. The talent scout changes his name, as custom in Hollywood, but Arthur Albert fights to choose himself what he'll be called from now on, and they eventually find an agreement on Edward Braddock, same name but his grandfather's surname, to homage the only man who encouraged him to always follow his dreams and to never give up.
Edward Braddock – Eddie – makes his acting debut as a small part in a Germany-Austrian war-inspired movie. He makes an impression for his skills, all the more commendable as he didn't have any previous experience in front of the camera. His knowledge about airplane battles helps him, and he silently thanks his grandfather for this.
Eddie is then signed to a long-term contract by one of the main film production companies, and receives coaching in every field that might come useful for an actor. He's already proficient in horseback riding and fencing, and he was taught ballroom dancing to be a proper partner at high-society balls, but he's somehow lacking in singing and has desperate need for acting lessons. In the meantime, he's featured in film magazines: Eddie is uncannily amazing and he's promoted.
He gets his first screen credits and further small parts. With his refined manners, his British accent and his blond hair, he is usually given parts as a noble or an educated man, a role that Eddie learns to hate; unfortunately he has no power to pick his roles yet. But he asks to be assigned to elocution lessons to learn the American accent and get rid of his natural one.
It takes him five years to get his first leading role. He's still half-unknown, but his career is on the right path.
***
Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington is born in one of the most rich families of the US, as the only child of Kenneth Frost and Margaret Worthington.
Margaret is the second-born daughter of Warren Worthington Sr., a tycoon who built one of the largest private fortunes of the country. An older brother, Warren Jr., died in a tragic car crash, making Margaret the eldest of two remaining siblings. Burtram, focused on useless activities and pastimes fitting to penniless slackers, is judged a failure and unreliable by Warren Sr, who disowns him and cuts him out of the family fortune, leaving only Margaret as potential heir. Because of the strict patriarchy and old mentality of Warren Worthington Sr., though, she isn't allowed to flank – and in the future relieve – her father. Margaret is asked to marry into a wealthy family instead, so that her husband may take late Warren Jr.'s intended role at Sr.'s side. Margaret might not like the imposition, but she doesn't find it odd nor unjust either, and hers is an arranged engagement with the son of a Warren Sr.'s business friend. A tight and detailed prenuptial agreement is signed, to protect Margaret in case of divorce and keep the family fortune in the hands of a true Worthington, even of a female gender, and Kenneth also agrees that their children will take their mother's surname to carry on the family lineage. Kenneth has no chance to get his hands on the Frost family fortune, since his father already picked his eldest, Winston Frost, as the sole heir, and marrying into the Worthingtons is his only hope to continue to be part of the US most influential lineages. This union requires him to sacrifice the rights of a husband, but he has much more to gain in achievements and reputation as a man.
Kenneth and Margaret don't love each other, but they get along; after the marriage, Kenneth is hired at the Worthington Industries to learn the job by Warren Sr. as designed heir at the position of board director.
Wilhelmina Kenna is their only child. Both Kenneth and Warren Sr. hoped for a male, each for their own reasons, but no other pregnancy follows (a failure that both men will blame Margaret for). Sr. resigns that he'll never have his longed-for grandson and that will have once again to do with a female heir to carry on the bloodline and fortune of the Worthington.
Wilhelmina grows up receiving the proper education for a future upper class woman of the time – she learns all the activities fitting to a young girl and she's kept away from anything that is perceived for males.
She suffers through all her early childhood, forbidden to do what she expresses interest in, and coerced into doing what she doesn't like. At the age of 3 she is sent to classic ballet lessons, an activity she quickly grows to hate, but that her mother insist is necessary, for she will learn discipline and turn into an elegant swan; the teacher is brutal and callous, quick to punish any failure with her stick and offend the girls for any physical imperfection. Wilhelmina is mocked by the middle-aged, inflexible former ballerina for her shoulders, considered too broad and unbalanced for a girl. With her mother deaf to her complains and nobody to side with her when she returns from a lesson crying from the cruel words, Wilhelmina can but bite her lips and – as his father once says – suck it up, even when the insults turn to perceived chubbiness that should be removed by indulging with less cakes and sweets.
She is forced to sit between the dozens of dolls his mother bought her until she deigns herself to use them, and physically punished any time she runs away from the big room to climb on trees instead. She is ordered to stop acting like an insolent girl toward the woman who attempts to teach her how to play piano, and is scolded whenever she expresses interest in sports that are considered inappropriate for either her status or gender.
She doesn't have true friends: forbidden to mingle with the children of the staff, she's forced to play with the daughters of his father's or his grandfather's peers, and none of them share her interests. She disdains pretending to be a little high-society girl having tea with friends, and she never touched the giant dollhouse, built like a luxurious manor, that her grandmother, the Mrs. Frost, commissioned for her, nor the insane amount of precious dresses her dolls get.
She manages to strike a friendship with the brother of one of her female friends, though: Terence Southern is two years younger than her and, surprisingly, he doesn't profess embarrassment nor he's offended at the very idea of hanging out with a girl. Perhaps Terence indulged Wilhelmina to scare her or have a laugh at her, but when he starts to talk about the last adventure of Nembo Kid, Wilhelmina is genuinely intrigued, and Terence finally has someone to talk to about his favorite superheroes. Either Margaret doesn't pay attention, or she pretends to not see, as Wilhelmina favors Terence over her female friends (who aren't really friends in the first place) and together they vanish to hide in the greenhouse and read the comics Terry brings.
Comics books open up a new world for Wilhelmina, a world where, hidden behind masks, people do incredible feats. Although girls still stand one step behind their male peers, at least they can do more than cook and play the part of the good wife whose life revolves around their husband; Wilhelmina might be still a little girl, but she already feels the pressure of her being born female. She is forbidden to buy or own a copy, for they are considered boys reading material, so she has to rely on Terry, who always manage to introduce a floppy or two inside the Worthington Estate hiding it under the shirt.
Wilhelmina's and Terry's closeness gets strong in the following years, allowed by Margaret who indulges her daughter this out of ordinary, eccentric friendship. But both grow out of childhood and soon they are teenagers, and their vision of each other changes, switching from buddies who bonded over comic books, to something more. More and more they talk less about their superheroes and more about themselves, and their bodies get closer when they huddle up to read from the same floppy. Until the flirting start. Not something too explicit, but they eventually overcome each other's embarrassment.
They are discovered kissing and they both are reprimanded for it. Margaret, disappointed by her daughter's behavior, regrets she ever indulged Terry's visits and the boy is forbidden to ever return to the Estate. Kenneth is quick to blame his wife for allowing such an unacceptable association to happen in the first place, as boys and girls aren't meant to hang out until it's time to settle down and marry. Margaret bites her tongue and doesn't retort, opting for the easier way of letting Kenneth believe she agrees with him.
Wilhelmina throws a tantrum and she's even punished with skipped meals more than once, but Terry doesn't return. Warren Sr., the imposing grandfather, has other prospective fiances in mind for his only granddaughter, after all, and he doesn't want to risk Wilhelmina ruins herself with a boy that, for as much as he might be good and heir of a rich family himself, isn't worthy of becoming the next generation of Worthingtons-in-law to sit on the Worthington Industries board director's seat.
*
To remove any temptation, on orders of Warren Sr., Wilhelmina is quickly sent away to a prestigious female-only exclusive college in Westchester. Founded and headed by Ms. Charlotte Xavier, the classes at Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies are small so to better focus on a personalized education. Wilhelmina has four other classmates to strike a friendship with. Summer Scott, stoic and dutiful and a mind more leaning to mathematics and strategies than to what society expects from young girls, is the orphaned first-born of a Canadian shipping magnate. Roberta Drake, only daughter of the founder of a renowned account firm, completely uninterested in boys. Lorna Dane, illegitimate daughter of a Jewish foreign diplomat, expected to act like a proper, modest girl while suppressing a rebellious streak, and eager to please her father. Harriet McCoy, taller than any girl she's ever seen, with big, ungraceful hands but a genius brain and the potential to become one of the most revolutionary researchers of the century, has been granted an invite to the school. Her hopes is to graduate and enter Columbia University, where Dr. Richards teaches. She's a fan of Dr. Richard's work, and Ms. Xavier manages to get her articles about his most recent research on molecules and the existence of sub-atoms. But her mind is also full of projects, technologies for which the world isn't ready yet.
Once again, the world of comic books finds Wilhelmina. Ms. Xavier fancies herself a feminist, although she hides her true leanings in front of the conservative parents who come to her for imparting a “proper education” to their girls, and holds a lesson on the subject of women in superhero stories. Wilhelmina's mind is changed by the questions Ms. Xavier raises. Each of them students are given, as assignment, a comic book title, and they have to prepare a paper about the innovations and regressions they see in the story, and particularly applied to the figure of the woman as portrayed in the title. Wilhelmina is thus introduced to Vapor Girl, a blond scantily clad woman in corset and shorts with a love interest in the army. It only lasts six issue, before the title is canceled, but Wilhelmina has enough material for his own analysis.
They are teenagers, but when evening comes and they retire to bed, the girls pretend to play like children. Their clothes discarded, only in their underwear and their locks flowing out of the modest hairdo of the day, they pretend to be the superheroines they read about. Wilhelmina is Vapor Girl, in new stories they come up with their huge imaginations. Each take turn in playing the mandatory love interest of the superheroine. They don't go further than a brush of lips or a fake passionate embrace like they show in movies, but – as half naked as they are – it's still the most intimate each of them has ever been with another person.
Her father too busy with his position in the Worthington Industries and her mother too preoccupied of her role of proper socialite, Wilhelmina's parents seldom call, let alone pay her a visit. They barely show up for his first birthday away from home, reason for Wilhelmina to hold a grudge. But, presented with the prospect of a party in which she's forced to smile and be polite with girls she stopped liking when she was 8, she quickly changes her mind. Besides, Ms. Xavier arranges for a small surprise celebration: for the first time, Wilhelmina's birthday isn't an opportunity for his parents to show off their wealth, or to strengthen connections, but she's treated as the main guest and lavished not with luxurious and useless knick-knacks but gifts that meet her interests and tastes.
Wilhelmina's first winter break brings a novelty. Ms. Xavier has arranged to bring her class to the East Coast for a couple of days, and she included a visit to Los Angeles and a tour to Hollywood. While enjoying the surroundings in a packet street, Wilhelmina is courted by a talent scout, who promises her that her grace and beauty will grant her a bright future in Hollywood. Wilhelmina declines, uninterested: if she could pick a career, and she had the freedom to choose for her own life, acting wouldn't be her first choice. Still, Ms. Xavier, to whom Wilhelmina immediately tells about the bizarre offer, suggests she didn't close to opportunities and offers to accompany her to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts: she knows the President and she can organize a visit. A new world opens to Wilhelmina, but is reluctant to follow Ms. Xavier's advice: she will never be allowed to act, in her future awaits a good marriage and an array of children to continue the bloodline, or so her grandfather told her since she can remember. Also, she fears that someone might recognize her: the Worthington have connections, and she could bet that there might be a friend of her grandfather in the school board. If her grandfather were to discover that she wants to study acting, she would be in deep trouble. Ms. Xavier has a solution for that: Wilhelmina is presented with a wig, luscious red curls that, on her pale skin and slim face, manage to completely change her appearance, so much that Wilhelmina herself struggles to recognize herself in the mirror when she dons it the first time.
Despite the Academy had already met its semester quota, Ms. Xavier's influence obtains her an interview. Under the supervision of the Headmistress, and with the help of her friends, she prepares a scene and she's admitted.
Her days are now full: in the mornings she follows the study course at the college, and in the afternoon she attends the two-years course at the Academy.
During the second winter holidays, Wilhelmina returns home to discover that she's to meet the boy she'll marry. Cameron Hodge is the grandson of a business partner of Warren Sr. and his school career has already been diverted to focus on economics, so that he will be best prepared to be second in line for the board director's seat at the Worthington Industries.
Wilhelmina throws a scene. She cannot accept that someone else chose who she'll marry, but what irks her more is that nobody has ever considered that she might follow a course of studies to become a board director once her grandfather first and father then will retire. She can't see why a complete stranger she barely recalls from a visit or two at the Estate could be considered fitting for the role while her, the only one who carries the surname and the blood of the Worthington, is put aside as unworthy. She cites as an example few European women, but her grandfather wants to hear nothing about it: it's not a job for a woman, to head an economical conglomerate. What hurts the most is that her own mother doesn't take her side: it's not what women do, she says. Good women become dotting wives, they don't go into business – they call that occupation “businessman” for a reason, she says.
Anyone who matters in New York's upper class is invited to an exclusive gala, and teen Wilhelmina goes, her first public appearance with Cameron Hodge – the engagement will be made official only when she'll be of age. It's here, between elegant dresses and gleaming jewels, that future heiress Wilhelmina Kenna and nobleman-turned-actor Arthur Albert Hartwood meet for the first time. He's there as part of the British delegation, the new generation of pompous aristocrats that will arise once their fathers retire, and finds the whole thing quite boring. As a young woman, Wilhelmina is barely acknowledged, when discussions eventually turn on politics and economics. They both look around, in search of a distraction, and they notice each other. Arthur Albert, always the charming, comes to her with invitation for a dance, during which they have the chance to talk about each other, sharing their common hatred for the very people surrounding them.
In the following days, as she's busy with a shopping spree to buy Christmas gifts, Wilhelmina has the feeling she's stalked, for he finds Arthur Albert wherever she goes – although he acts as the most gentleman he could. She's flattered by the genuine courting he puts up, but she's also been taught to play hard to catch, and so she keeps to herself. Enough to drive Arthur Albert to amp up his charm. There's a passionate stolen kiss under a decorated tree, as proper to a love story fitting to a novel to make housewives sigh and dream, but as it has started their romance ends, as the year draws to its end. Arthur Albert is to fly back to the UK, and Wilhelmina will soon return to the school.
Wilhelmina successfully finishes the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During the graduation performance she fears someone might recognize her despite the red wig she wears and tell her parents, but her lucky star makes sure that all goes well and her new achievements remains unknown to her family. It's been a hobby for her, and she doesn't plan to ever use the degree – it will be her secret.
*
New comic books find the small but stocked library of the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies. Ms. Xavier firmly believes that this new genre of comics will become successful in the future, and the unique story-telling will be perfect to convey important messages or analyze issues that plague the society in a simple and yet subtle way that perhaps will turn out even better that pamphlets and tedious books. The five students are thus introduced to the incredible adventures of The Fantastic Four and to The Mightiest Avengers, but the title that is most successful between the girls is the newest title, The Uncanny X-Men. Unlike the other two fictional groups, which are compromised by adults, some well into their thirties, the X-Men feature a group of five youngsters with incredible powers given them by mutations. Lead by their stern professor and students of a private school by day, they hide their abilities to pass for average people. Each of the characters, four boys and one girl, have qualities and flaws. Ms. Xavier had a hunch that her young ladies would've loved this title the best, and isn't surprised when she's revealed that each student has picked their own favorite in which they might see themselves. The Uncanny X-Men feature a varied rooster, after all, and each of the characters have traits that Ms. Xavier can spot in her own girls, from the stoic attitude of Summer Scott, similar to the one of X-Men's Cyclops, to the apt intelligence of the X-Men's Beast the Headmistress can find in Harriet.
As the most feminine of the group, the girls expect Wilhelmina to take a liking for the X-Men's Marvel Girl, but Wilhelmina grows an attraction for the captivating Angel instead, the rich mutant who has wings to fly, and once in bed she dreams of waking up sprouting a pair of wings and finally be able to fly. At times she feels they could be alike, if not for their gender – and her lack of wings, of course.
The Headmistress suddenly has a request for Harriet, more a challenge actually: to develop a mean to let a person fly. Harriet puts aside other projects in order to prove Ms. Xavier that she can succeed. It takes Harriet months, but she designs the prototype of a harness with artificial wings. Ms. Xavier appoints Wilhelmina as the tester, under the pretense that of all the girls she's the only one who received extensively training in classic ballet and knows all about balance and discipline of body and mind. Wilhelmina – novel Icarus – finally discovers the delight of flying like her favorite comic-book superhero. At first it's a matter of floating without falling, but with training (and endless failures), Wilhelmina finally gets the hang of it.
The Uncanny X-Men turn out to encourage each of the girls to grow into better selves. As new issues are released, and new adventures told, Ms. Xavier's students challenge themselves – as if the hurdles they read on paper and how the mutant heroes overcome them, helped them face their own.
Summer finally overcomes her deep sense of failure for not finding any interest in any activity fitting to a lady, and embraces her interests in politics – now she can see herself succeeding in becoming the first-born U.S. female President, or at least give all of herself for such a dream. Her grandparents have never been unkind, but she knows she'll have to fight them for such a career.
Lorna understands that it will do her no good to cancel what she is in order to become the perfect daddy's girl for a man who has never been part of her life until recently – that she's entitled to choose for her own, and not let a parent she barely knows to dictate what she wants to be. She will work on herself in order to not let her father have such an hold on her, to grow out of the self-imposed shackles and free herself from this need to please this distant and harsh man.
Harriet promises herself that she won't settle for becoming a nameless researcher in a group of male peers, only for her discoveries to be claimed and monetized by a man. Now, in the controlled setting of the school's laboratory, and with the apparent limitless resources of the headmistress, she starts to design machines advanced decades from what is on the market.
Roberta, the youngest of them all, draws up the courage to open up on the confusing feelings she is repressing, and – with the gentle coaching of Lorna – she eventually realizes what a part of her always knew: that not only she doesn't wish to marry – like, ever – but that she actually fancies girls. She's not ready to act on her feelings, but it's already helpful that her friends don't think she's a freak for wanting to indulge in what she's always been lead to believe were impure and perverted ways of life.
Wilhelmina is less prompted into a change. Wilhelmina already knows what's expected from her and she's not ready to grow out of her cage, for as much as a part of her kicks and scream inside to rebel and face her grandfather. Ms. Xavier asks her why she picked the Angel, out of the X-Men rooster. And when Wilhelmina points to the wings, the Headmistress leads Wilhelmina to acknowledge the true reason why she's such obsessed with wings, something more to do with the wish to escape out of a cage built around her and to soar above it all, than the physical action of flying in the cold skies.
Wilhelmina and Lorna bond over their repressive and sexist families. They find themselves sharing the dream to become superheroes, and right any wrong. To prove that they are as worth as any other man, and that they will never need a man to flourish. And, yet, both acutely aware that such an option is forbidden to girls like them. Roberta, naive and free like only teenagers can be, is the one to suggest they did it – that they took advantage of their time away from home to fulfill their dreams and pretend to be superheroes just for a while. What their families won't discover won't hurt them, right?
The last months of the third – and last – year at the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies, Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington and Lorna Dane indeed turn into real superheroines.
Harriet's ever-growing stack of inventions hide many jewels between half-abandoned projects and discarded ideas. Lorna is drawn to a device that involves magnetism. She never expressed much interest in science so far, focused on studying history to please her father, but – Harriet growing impatience notwithstanding – she manages to understand a little what the device does and she quickly learns how to use it. The gauntlets fit her hands nicely, and she feels powerful when she manages to lift a heavy weight just by raising her arm in the air.
Their super abilities provided to, Wilhelmina and Lorna move to the next step: built their own superhero avatar. Summer is the only one of them who is proficient at sewing – she hates the activity but she's good at it. Roberta's fantasy in designing extravagant clothes is unmatched. Together, Summer and Roberta provide Lorna and Wilhelmina costumes fitting for their adventures. Lorna's main color is green, her favorite: a long dyed wig held in place by a tiara, a revealing bodice, opaque stockings and a long cape to hide the back-pack device connected to her gauntlets. Wilhelmina is fitted with a white and red catsuit to cover her from neck to toe, with the large pair of white feathers-covered articulated wings sprouting out from two holes in the back; the red wig is a loyal friend to Wilhelmina and she covers her natural blonde head with it. The last touch is masks, to protect their identities.
With the complicity of their friends, who take the oath that they'll keep the secret, and with Harriet's inventions, they take the streets to patrol the night like true superheroes. Magnetrix and the Red Angel together face some thugs and rumors about a superheroine who glides on low-key criminals with artificial wings or a woman in green moving objects with the power of will makes it to the news. If Ms. Xavier knows that behind the Magnetrix and the Red Angel hide two of her girls, she pretends not to, allowing Wilhelmina and Lorna to slip out of their room's window each night and return unseen in time to catch some sleep.
*
With graduation Wilhelmina looses the most freedom she ever enjoyed in her life. She has grown so much in the three years she had been away, and it's a challenge for her to readjust to a house that suddenly feels outdated and belonging to the previous century.
Back at the Worthington Estate, she is forced to the closeness of Cameron Hodge. She doesn't actively hate him, and he turns out to be a decent man, all things considered, but she doesn't love him. Cameron loves her, on the contrary, or at least is enamored with the girl he thinks Wilhelmina Worthington is. Gone are her adventures as the Red Angel, the companion of Magnetrix, impossible to bring home the harness and all the things Harriet designed for her; gone are the nights spent with the girls, dreaming about a different life when they can choose for themselves and not be stuck with what their families expect from them. Gone the illusion that one day she could be like the X-Men's Angel, a rich young man enjoying the freedom of his age and status, tied to earth only by his wish to have friends but belonging to the sky above.
Torn between duties and what she wants, it's a matter of time before she rebels. She's eighteenth. Her grandfather presses for the engagement to be made public, and a marriage in two years. Cameron grows restless the more months pass by, and harasses her to spend all their time together.
But another issue worries Wilhelmina. During her tenure as Red Angel, she uncovered the unscrupulous activities of a man called The Dazzler, whom Magnetrix managed to unmask as none other than Burt Worthington, Wilhelmina's uncle. But in the scuffle that ensured, Burt has managed to unmask her as well. After the shock of seeing each other in the least expected time and place, they have reached a silent agreement: as each knows the other's biggest secret, there's no chance for blackmailing. Wilhelmina thus can't reveal that her uncle has managed to use his contacts at the Worthington Industries to cover his illegal traffics, and Burt can't humiliate Wilhelmina with the revelation that she played superhero instead of studying. They don't have any chance to meet, as Burt isn't welcome in the Estate, but once in a while he pays a visit when Warren Sr. isn't home, and every time he smirks at her, as if challenging her to speak. Wilhelmina would, but she's acutely aware that her family wouldn't forgive her, should they discover her night activities.
To let Burt keep up with his shady activities is safer, for Wilhelmina. The Red Angel in her cries out in outrage, but Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington has her hands tied.
*
During one of the family's reunion for a Sunday lunch, without consulting with her in advance, Cameron Hodge asks for silence and announces that they are to marry. Wilhelmina hasn't been given any chance to agree (or not) to the proposal and, under the hawkish eyes of her grandfather and the pleased looks of her parents, she falls silent – angered and upset. An argument between her and Cameron ensues, as soon as they are alone. And Cameron reveals his true face: his grip leaves livid fingerprints on Wilhelmina's arms when he restrains her. Wilhelmina isn't a woman easily scared, she has learned to trust in herself and not let any imposing man frighten her, but the crazy light in Cameron's eyes has her shiver. He's not sane, and she tries to explain her mother that Cameron has two faces, one of which he hides well, but her mother doesn't believe her, accusing her to act like a whimsical girl. Not even the signs on her arms are enough for Margaret to side with her. But Wilhelmina is undeterred and decides to bring the matter right in the lap of the only one who has the power to put a stop to all of his: her grandfather. Warren Sr. laughs instead, claiming that it's normal for a husband to apply some force if his wife is misbehaving. They aren't married yet, but Wilhelmina is already treated as Cameron's property, not only by Cameron himself but her whole family as well.
She finds a surprising ally in her uncle Burt. He has his own agenda, and to remove Wilhelmina from the chessboard would go well with his plans to ease himself back into Warren Sr.'s good graces, but he takes Wilhelmina aside and explains that he knows about Cameron's eccentricities, and suggests she flies as far as she can while she can. He will speak with Margaret, his sister listens to him despite Sr.'s hostility, and he will try to convince her that the engagement must be broken before it's too late – in exchange for Wilhelmina's word that she will share the fortune with him once Sr. dies and she'll inherit the stocks Sr. already arranged for her to have upon his death.
But not even Burt's interested interference can do anything. Preparations for the marriage go on. Margaret oversees everything, and Wilhelmina is barely free to leave the Estate in order to go to the atelier that will make her the gown – she's never alone, Cameron's sister is attached to her hips, as if Cameron feared that she might fly away before he managed to chain her.
Cameron grows oppressive. He isn't scared of showing his true self now, as long as they are alone. But Wilhelmina isn't defenseless, she learned a trick or two while she was the Red Angel, and hits back. And once again she demands that her parents back her when she'll call the engagement off. Her father angrily orders her to grow up and stop acting like a whimsical child and she's even forced to meet Cameron and beg his forgiveness for her unproper behavior.
But now Cameron knows that the Worthington will always side with him, and he doesn't show restraint any longer. A week later Wilhelmina removes the big diamond ring she wears on her pinky and throws it in Cameron's face, calling the engagement off.
Warren Sr., outside the US for business, hastily returns home to face the crisis. Grandfather and granddaughter fight, Sr. believes it's within his rights to order Wilhelmina around as if she were one of his lackeys, and Wilhelmina is tired of bowing her head and let others take decisions in her place. She is more than capable to handle things on her own, she doesn't need a husband and certainly not a violent one as Cameron. She will enroll into any university of their choices, and graduate in economics – she will enter the Industries and make her own career until she'll be deemed worthy to sit on the boards of directors, she's ready to take an oath that she will succeed, she'll put herself into this, she won't fail them. But Sr. derides her. Everything is settled and it will be Cameron Hodge, as her husband, to command, both on the fortune and the new family they will build together. Wilhelmina scrambles to defend herself. She cites Ms. Stark, as an example of a woman in charge of a large corporation and an even larger fortune. Her grandfather gets red at the mere name, going on a rant on how that skank is proof that women should be kept away from anything that isn't a kitchen or a tea room. A woman who makes the headlines for her scandalous way of life, a licentious and a drunkard, certainly a reason for poor Howard Stark to turn in his grave for the shame of having sired such a daughter. The proof for how things can get wrong, if an heir-less industrialist dies before seeing their wayward daughters married to proper men who will keep them on a leash and under control. A mistake that he, Warren Worthington Sr. will not do. No woman will ever sit on his boards of directors, he won't allow it. And if she doesn't agree, she knows the way to the door.
Wilhelmina is alone. Her mother looks away when she searches for her help. Wilhelmina is put in front of an impossible choice: either she meekly returns to Cameron, begging him to marry her despite her attitude, or she can kiss the Worthington fortune goodbye. Wilhelmina, disappointed by the betrayal, picks up whatever she can fit in a bag and leaves, struggling to not let teardrops fall on her cheeks until she's out. She has some spare money and a taxi takes her to the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies, hoping that the headmistress will help her.
For a week, and then two, she waits, welcome guest at the school, hoping against all hopes that at least her mother will find her and show empathy. But nobody seems to care about her whereabouts, and Wilhelmina has to acknowledge that her life as a Worthington is ended, and she needs to build herself another one from scratch.
Ms. Xavier arranges to reunite her with her former schoolmates. Harriet suggests that she dons once again the costume of the Red Angel, promises she'll continue to provide devices and gadgets, but the superhero job doesn't pay for food or housing, and her cash stash won't last forever. It's Lorna who reminds her of that one time in which someone tried to offer her an acting gig. Now that she's no more a future heiress, she's free to pursue acting, should she want to. Lucky for her, Summer remembers the name on the business card Wilhelmina threw out that day years before: a visit to the talent scout's office is worth it, all things considered.
Ms. Xavier's gift is an address written on a note. A dear boy of his works in Los Angeles as a magazine model – she already called and he's willing to help, and even share his apartment for the time being, until Wilhelmina is able to stand on her own two feet. With the note in the pocket and the promise of a new life ahead, Wilhelmina leaves New York for the West Coast. Roberta is with her: she fought with her father but she might as well enroll to university like her father wants, and any city is fine.
Wilhelmina shows up at the talent scout's office and she's immediately accepted. As long as she's willing to work hard, he'll make a star out of her (and, luckily for Wilhelmina, she isn't on the receiving ends of “special requests” to earn the man's collaboration). Wilhelmina presses for a name change: she knows her family will never allow for her to take up acting, and as long as she'll wear the Worthington surname, they will be able to find her out, and shut down any path ahead with their money. She gets the name Katherine Wallis. She's not fan, but anything if she can get rid of the last link to the family who betrayed her.
Xavier's contact turns out to be a nice guy. His name is John Jr. Grey, has fiery red hair and a nice attitude and they immediately like each other. And possibly more than like, at least from Wilhelmina's part, who falls for him in an unrequited love that reveals itself the day when her friends pay a visit to see how she settled up, and John Jr. has eyes only for Summer and her more reserved beauty.
***
Eddie Braddock is now a rising star. Gone is his British accent and, asked to dye his hair, now sports a black elegant-styled mane. He's been hired for every kind of roles, and has proven he's versatile. He has an uncanny ability to quickly learn his lines and he's easy to work with, making him the dear of the majors. He has made money and he enjoys a eccentric lifestyle, he drives fast cars and women love him. But in the secret of his private life he has a big appetite for any shape people come with. Not homosexual, but not entirely heterosexual either. Although he's discreet, the nature of his relationship with the singer Alastair Dazzler is known among his colleagues. He has big appetites, and he's not scared of exercising them.
Publicly, his studios generate stories about his liaisons with a variety of his female colleagues, painting him as an eligible bachelor who doesn't have time to commit to a single woman.
The last young actress the PR department want him to date is Katherine Wallis, on contract by the same company Eddie works for. They both have changed since that evening at the gala in New York – more than in mere name. Katherine has further grown in grace and beauty, and sports red wavy flocks that make her appear a different person than the young Wilhelmina Arthur Albert once courted. And Eddie too has changed for the better. Upon their first meeting at the filming studios, when they are introduced to each other, neither recognizes the other from a forgotten past and a lone, passionate kiss. While Eddie is used to get along with the studios bizarre requests, Katherine isn't, and she's reluctant to accept to play the part of the fake date of the leading actor just to advance her own career. She's been cast to be one of the women who rotate around Eddie's main character, and the publicity would help the success of the movie, so she can't exactly refuse and her cooperation is required. During filming, they spend time together and genuine feelings blossom. But Eddie is too used to philandering around, while Katherine has just come out of an abusive relationship and isn't looking forward for commitment, so nothing serious follows.
Wilhelmina discovers that her mother has secretly kept updated on her whereabouts, hiring a private investigator to find out where she ended up, when one day she receives a letter. Margaret admits that she had been wrong in never siding with her pleas of help, and wishes she acted differently when it was time to face Warren Sr.'s wrath. She cannot change the past but wishes all the best for her daughter, hoping that she might find in acting the happiness she wasn't allowed in the Worthington household. Wilhelmina and her mother start a prolific correspondence, in which Wilhelmina signs herself with the nickname Angel and asks his old friend John Jr. to be the recipient and the mail to be delivered at his house.
Further time passes by. Katherine Wallis gets more roles and finally her career seems about to hit. At the last minute, the leading woman to star alongside Eddie as the main love interest drops out due to personal issues, and Katherine is asked to replace her. Eddie and Katherine meet again. Chemistry between them is undeniable, bringing more nuance to their roles. They're both acclaimed and the movie receives astounding reviews. And the fake kisses in front of the camera might turn real once offset. For a while they date, and they are spotted together at parties. In private, they finally come out, revealing to be both runaways who searched for hiding in Hollywood, and their common upbringing is reason to get closer outside of the glamour of their public lives.
Eddie's eyes wander a bit too much, though, and temptations don't lack in their lifestyle, especially when the both of them work and Katherine has no interest in quitting to be the housewife of one of the most popular movie stars. Katherine is also cold and self-centered at times, making things no easier for the more expansive and confident Eddie. Their romance in the following years is rocky and complicated, they break up to then return together for a couple of times and, by the time Katherine is a main star on her own, they are off again.
For a while Eddie secretly dates the leading actor of the Fantomex tv series, Jean-Philippe Cluster – who despite the same surname, don't seem to be related to his once friend Charlie and her mysterious brother Charles.
Katherine receives flattering mail, but for the thousands of love letters the studios gets, the ones with the most troubling content arrive at her home, with no stamp on the envelope. She gets flowers and other gifts, all signed by a mysterious Mr. Right, who declares his wish to marry her and make her his own. Katherine is annoyed but thinks that nothing bad will happen, and underestimates the danger, as Mr. Right's attentions are erratic at best: to months of red roses delivered daily follow months of silence.
Katherine Wallis, ahead of her times, is one of the first famous women to attend flight school and fight to get a pilot's license. In interviews, when asked about this passion of hers, she jokingly claims that in a previous life she must have been a bird.
Katherine in the years has kept in touch with those she calls “her four girls”. Each of them have moved on, like their mutants counterparts, which disbanded after the death of their mentor when the title was canceled at issue #47.
John Jr. has proposed to Summer and together they moved back to Alaska, where they live a quiet life loving each other, untroubled and with more money to keep them than what they can spend. Katherine is ecstatic when she gets the news that Summer is pregnant and will soon give birth to a baby boy – although she secretly hopes the baby will take his father's outstanding beauty.
Roberta has brilliantly graduated but situation at home had been one of constant fight. Her mother has discovered and accepted Roberta's preferences. Her father, none the wiser, keeps reminding Roberta it's time to get herself a man and marry before she's too old to make babies. Her and her father's relationship deteriorated because of this and they barely talk to each other, but Robert has nowhere else to go and still works at the family's firm.
Harriet has managed to meet Dr. Richards, her hero, but she missed the chance to work with him. She has been hired by a research company, but her brilliant job is still eclipsed by the more mediocre men who keep getting promoted over her, so she has learned to tone down her discoveries and give back exactly as much as the company gives her, no ounce more.
Lorna has got her degree in archaeology and she lives most of the year on sites. It's not the career she had in mind, but she likes it better than any other future a woman of her status could aim to. The relationship with her father is rocky, he's genuine in his attempts to reach out and learn how to be family, but his duties and at times old-minded attitude lead too heated arguments followed by months of silence by both father and daughter. She has found two siblings, though – one brother and a sister, who Lorna cherishes and who love her back.
*
After years of absence from his country, Eddie returns to London when his sister Breanna, against their father's wishes, invites him to her wedding with bank owner Curt Ross. It's the first time, since that day when he left home, that Eddie and his father meet. Elijah Hartwood doesn't even nod to acknowledge his presence at the ceremony, but Jacqueline embraces her son – admitting that she has seen every movie he starred in. Breanna asks her brother when he'll finally marry a woman who will make him an honest man, but Eddie agrees that he doesn't see himself chained in a marriage.
Around the same time, Katherine Wallis too is fated to return home. Margaret begs Wilhelmina to fly to New York when Warren Sr.'s health deteriorates. She hopes for grandfather and only granddaughter to reconcile before it's too late. Wilhelmina is reluctant but eventually relents. Warren Sr. will never admit that he was wrong, and won't ask forgiveness either, but he's willing to accept Wilhelmina in the household again, on the condition that she immediately retires from what he calls “a slim cut above streetwalker” and dyes her hair back to blond, for red hair are fitting only to “questionable women”. He dies without making any step toward a reconciliation. Still, in his last will, Warren Sr. hasn't included any mention of disinheriting Wilhelmina as he always threatened to, and Wilhelmina Kenna not only receives the shares in the Worthington Industries she was promised when she still was the obedient good girl of the Estate but Warren Sr. left instructions for Kenneth to hold the chair of board director until Wilhelmina proves to be ready to relieve him.
As the legal matters are tended to, she stays at the Worthington Estate. Her father barely speaks to her, but this time Margaret is willing to shut her husband up when arguments degenerate – for as much as Warren Sr. appointed him to board director, the stock holder is still Margaret and the Estate is hers now.
Cameron Hodge arrogantly crawls back into Wilhelmina's life. First is the pretext of condolences, then a wish to apologize for his appalling behavior and mend fences. Terry Southern returns as well. They both are adults now, and he's already sitting in a couple of boards of directors. Wilhelmina and Terry rekindle their romance: not only Terry doesn't care that Wilhelmina is a famous actress, but he's happy that she found her true path, even if it comes with obligations that eventually recall her to Los Angeles. But now Wilhelmina has some leverage and obtains from the studio that she be able to live in New York. She buys a flat in Soho, Manhattan, and takes residence there. Wilhelmina and Terry live together. Despite the strict education she received, Wilhelmina has long since ditched the expectation that she must stay virgin until marriage. She does her best to keep her private life private, but she's not scared should anyone release to magazines that she left Los Angeles to live with a man who isn't her husband.
But Cameron doesn't accept her choices. Unable to move on, one day stumbles upon the flat, a gun in his pocket, accusing Terry of stealing him Wilhelmina and poisoning her mind. He blames Terry for everything, including a “lifestyle” a man should never allow their woman to have, and to which he will put a stop once Wilhelmina will be his wife. He will make sure Wilhelmina will return to be a modest woman, and not the slut Terry made of her. Cameron doesn't hide that he has double reasons for wanting Wilhelmina, one is an obsessive, unhealthy attraction and the other is the promise of controlling the fortune Wilhelmina is the future heir of. Under the thread of a gun pointed at him, Terry is ordered by a crazed Cameron to swear he will vanish from Wilhelmina's life, so that Wilhelmina might finally realize to whom she belongs to.
Wilhelmina's arrival is unexpected. Cameron, spooked, fires his weapon, hitting Terry in the chest. Wilhelmina spurts into action, trying to take the gun from Cameron. Another fire is shot, this time killing Cameron on the spot. Wilhelmina is left to rocking Terry for the man's last breaths. The police, called by an alarmed resident, finds her still holding the lifeless body of Terry.
Investigations reveal the years-long stalking of Cameron to Katherine Wallis, and Margaret tells the police about Cameron's violent past behavior. The Worthington's money and connections buy the silence of everyone involved, but eventually the story is released, alongside the reveal that Katherine Wallis, the Hollywood rising star of grace and beauty, is Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington, heiress to a fortune. Katherine Wallis/Wilhelmina Worthington is painted as the victim of a crazed man who never accepted a broken engagement, and Terry is portrayed as a close family friend who was caught in the crossfire and wrongly perceived by Hodge as a rival.
Burt weasels into the life of Cameron Hodge's mother. Once widowed, now that her son has died, she is the sole heir to the Hodge's fortune, and Burt wants to put his hands on that. The woman falls for his gentle manners and in the span of few months the marriage is held. With a small industry empire of his own, Burt exits the Worthington's household and his attempts to get his part of the immense fortune are permanently put to rest. To further fight against Wilhelmina would be a waste of time and money and he has a new life to look forward to.
Now that her true identity has leaked and her life has become more complicated than ever, Wilhelmina takes temporarily leave from her acting duties, dropping out of a project that would later warrant her replacement an Award.
Surprisingly, one day Eddie shows up at her door. He's missed her and, worried about her well-being, has jumped on the first flight to see her in the flesh and check how she was faring. Wilhelmina is a very private woman, when her emotions and turmoils are involved, but she melts down and his arms are a welcome refuge for her to finally let all her tears out.
They agree to resume their romance, despite the distance.
*
Less than a year after Terry's tragic loss, Kenneth Frost dies of heart-attack and Wilhelmina becomes the principal shareholder of Worthington Industries. At 27, she's officially the fifth richest person in the U.S. and the third richest woman in the world. She has to fight against an hostile boards of directors and, backed by her mother, she finally has her seat. A competent new board director is elected, but Wilhelmina is willing to pursue the position as soon as she's ready. But her choice to personally manage her fortune requires that she officially retires from acting and put Katherine Wallis to her final rest, so she might focus on her next occupation.
Her first act as heiress is to personally allocate funds to offer Harriet to leave her current job at a research company and head her own laboratory. Her long-time friends at the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies are invited to become business partner, with the stocks equally split between them five (her way to repay them for how they supported her through the years). The small subsidiary company, called X-Factor, Incorporated, is dedicated to Harriet's inventions, and in few years amasses plenty of patents. The X-Factor Inc. produces and manufactures appliances and other innovations that seem to come out of a Sci-fi novel set fifty years in the future. But X-Factor Inc. also sponsor a superheroine. Lorna Dane might've become an archaeologist, but she never forgot the excitement and fulfillment she felt when she put a green wig on her head and used the marvels of technology and science to master the magnetic forces. But the life of a superhero is an expensive one, especially if the superhero needs special devices that cannot be acquired easily, so her feats as Magnetrix have been a memory of the past.
Wilhelmina, remembering the words of regret in Lorna's letters, calls her with the proposal to pull the green costume out of the closet and bring back Magnetrix. Lorna can't believe her ears, and jumps on the chance. She changes her name to a better sounding Polaris and, with a slightly updated costume to reflect her maturity (and show more cleavage), she returns to her first love: superheroing.
Taking a leaf out of Susan Sturm and the Fantastic Four Enterprises Susan helms, Wilhelmina establishes the X-Factor Trust, a foundation in which funnel the resources necessary to sponsor Magnetrix. And when Lorna suggests to create a superhero team, she's given full discretionary power to pick the rooster, with her as team leader. The innovative idea of a public superhero team, in contrast to the more secret ones that operated during the War and in the following two decades, draws attention and interest from Marvel Comics, the publisher of the comic books that were part of the formative years of Ms. Xavier's five girls, that negotiates for licensing. Gone are the times of The Uncanny X-Men, as the title has been canceled with its issue #47 and the disbanding of the team, but there's still huge request for new superheroes that might entertain the new generations.
But Wilhelmina Worthington's involvement, officially only as one the backers, also piques the interest in Hollywood. A major expresses interest in acquiring rights for a tv series featuring the astonishing Magnetrix as the feminist super-heroine for the modern world.
Harriet continues to provide to the X-Factor's needs for gadgets and equipment, with the help of her assistant, the talented Jamie Madrox. But she's also looking into Dr. Richards forgotten research on what he labeled unstable molecules: Dr. Richards dropped the research when he was redirected to the national space program, but agreed the use of his research to Harriet on terms that any discovery will not be monetized and any patent will be shared with the Fantastic Four Foundation no-profit. Harriet foresees the use for these sub-atomic clusters as the textile for the costumes of superheroes, should she succeed were Dr. Richards stopped: to stabilize them into a polymer. It's still a long path, before this can be achieved, but Harriet has time, and there's no lack of funds, since there is no private manufacturing industries pressing for results.
Wilhelmina eventually makes a move for the seat that belonged to her father and her grandfather before him. The board fights back with everything they can, including a slandering campaign about her past as actress and Cameron Hodge's story, but they fail. Each decision she makes is met with open hostility. Not even when the first year's results under her helm are certified to be positive, the board of directors relents their personal fight against their female CEO. They even resort to legal means to stop her: a request to have Wilhelmina removed from the seat of CEO on the basis that no serious woman would date a renowned playboy such as Eddie Braddock, nor the competent president of a company the likes of the Worthington Enterprise would back a superhero team.
Wilhelmina hires Nelson & Murdock, the same firm that assists the Fantastic Four Corporation on their legal issues. Attorney Murdock gives a vibrant closing argument and the judge rules for Wilhelmina.
And Wilhelmina then plans her revenge, to take out the board. A deep investigation proves the board's involvement in a conspiracy to get illegal control of the company, and also unveils the corruption from a rival company, none other than the Frost Technologies lead by Wilhelmina's uncle, the reactionary Winston Frost. Wilhelmina gets the resignations of all the members of the board on her desk in the next 24 hours and can start anew.
The Worthington Industries, under her management, further grow and in few years, led by the achievements of the X-Factor subsidiary, become a competitor to Stark Industries. There is no hostility between the two giants, though: Wilhelmina and Ms. Stark not only find an agreement to not step on each other's toes, but they also strike a friendship that will benefit both each other and women in the US. Each pulling their strings and making good use of their economical powers, they support feminist movements and also fund campaign for more women to be elected in the Congress.
*
Eddie's relationship with Wilhelmina, between highs and lows, holds. He's a natural flirt and he works with the most beautiful women of the planet, so temptation is daily. Eddie has eyes to see, and he can't suppress his attraction, but he's committed now and Wilhelmina is the woman he always returns to. Touches and a little too affectionate gestures may happen, but he never goes further. Gone are the times when Eddie Braddock shared at least a passionate kiss off-set with any of her female co-leads.
Eddie Braddock never considered marriage, or he just doesn't see himself as husband material. Or he's just happy with the life he leads. But Wilhelmina yearns for more. At their second anniversary she expects a proposal that doesn't come. And when it becomes clear that their relationship is stagnant and Eddie isn't ready to take it to the next step, she decides for them to break up with no explanation besides a generic “we have too different goals to work”, leaving Eddie's heart in shambles. Eddie had never been happier than since he resumed his romance with Wilhelmina and doesn't understand the sudden decision to truncate their relationship: he thought everything was fine and there weren't issues that would push Wilhelmina to put a stop on them. And doesn't accept it either. He manages to track down one of Wilhelmina's best friends, John Grey, and he's both enlightened and shocked to hear the real reason why Wilhelmina pulled the plug on their romance.
Breanna and Wilhelmina had the chance to get to know each other before a blind Eddie almost ruined it all. She's the one Eddie calls in the middle of the night to ask if he can be a good husband. Breanna reassures him that he can be whatever he wants, if properly motivated, and she has the feeling Wilhelmina can be the right woman to keep her wayward twin brother in check. Breanna ends the call urging him to make the proposal, before a better suitor finds Wilhelmina and sweeps her away to the altar.
The necessary time to be prepared, and Eddie shows up at Wilhelmina's luxurious flat and gets on his knees, pulling out a ring with a diamond the size of a walnut he acquired at one of the world's most exclusive jewelry brands – a stone that is yet to be named and that would be later christened the Braddock-Worthington diamond.
The prenuptial is as scary as expected, and involves a whole army of lawyers to write it down, but Eddie has no care for the Worthington's fortune: he's rich on his own, he doesn't need Wilhelmina's money, and he doesn't fight on the matter.
The only point that gets the two parties in a deadlock is the question of their children's surname, for the Worthington family presses for the future heir of the Worthington fortune to keep the surname, and Eddie's legals fight back on the basis that the right to give the surname to the children belongs to the husband. Eddie might be open-minded and not chained by obsolete sexists customs, but on the surname he discovers he might be a little more patriarchal that he thought and he's not that much willing to surrender.
In the end they compromise on leaving the matter to be discussed when the time will require for it to be settled.
Wilhelmina, proving that she's willing to trust him, has refused the suggestion from her legal team to press for a clause that would leave him completely broke should she believe him a cheater – something that Eddie truly appreciates, even if he feels it unnecessary. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, someone wise said, but even if he were that much stupid to chase other girls when she has a beauty such a Wilhelmina waiting for him at home, it would be complete suicide to anger a woman as powerful as Wilhelmina Worthington over a nameless and worthless fling: she has the money and connections to buy out a studio if she wished so, even just to get him kicked out of Hollywood. It's a recurring joke between them, although Wilhelmina would never be such petty as to ruin Eddie's career even if he cheated on her. (He can't say the same about Wilhelmina's new favorite best friend, Ms. Stark; that woman might've flirted with him like she meant to get him naked and against a wall right in front of Wilhelmina, but she's not a woman who would take his side, should he break Wilhelmina's heart). They have an agreement, though. Wilhelmina has come to accept that men are men, and an illicit affair is to be expected, and the duty of a good wife is to pretend to not see and ignore the other woman – it's a teaching that her mother instilled in her when she was still a girl, and it's too late to change her mind. Wilhelmina is willing to overlook as long as it's a casual one-night stand – if she even ears that he's indulging himself with a woman more than once, she'll kick him out so quick that he will land on his ass before he understood what happened.
It's the unofficial concession to have flings, as if it were a necessity, but Eddie won't cheat on Wilhelmina just because she's been raised thinking it's right for a husband to cheat on his wife. Wilhelmina might not believe that men can be faithful to their wives, but Eddie is set on proving her wrong.
The wedding ceremony is private – for as much private a ceremony between a former actress now billionaire heiress and one of Hollywood's icons can be. Some of the U.S. film industry's brightest stars are invited, but also members of the most prominent New York upper-class, as they all are in some ways connected to the Worthingtons by blood or other kind of relations. Eddie's old-friends, the X-Forcers, are all tracked down, and each receives their invitation – including Charlie. Although Eddie, when Wilhelmina is not looking, slips a handwritten note in the envelope begging Charlie to keep the secret on their Ritz two-days parties; Wilhelmina might know that he swings for both teams, but it's not wise to tell her everything about how he has come to accept his duality in love and romances nor how much open he is regarding sexual intimacies.
Even though he has officially changed his name to Edward Braddock, Eddie is still an Hartwood and can't escape that. He's not happy about it, as it took him many years to finally put his past life behind his back, but Wilhelmina talks him into sending invitations to all his family, including his father. The stubborn Lord Elijah initially refuses to even consider to go: not only his heir has disgraced their name by picking up an acting career but he's also marrying an American woman who, despite being considered akin to a princess for the amount of fortune she sits on, she is no aristocracy. But he's no getting any younger, and Arthur Albert remains the only male heir of the household.
It's a shocking surprise for Eddie to see his parents show up at the ceremony. He ignores that, the day before the wedding, Jacqueline had the chance to meet Wilhelmina and sat down with the bride-to-be for a long-expected conversation with her soon daughter-in-law.
Lord Elijah Hartwood is cold, and employs the typical manners of a British nobleman who disapproves of a person but is required to be polite by etiquette. Still, it's his obligation to inform the now Mrs. Braddock that she has become part of the noble house of the Hartwood and has therefore acquired Arthur Albert's titles, including the right to be called Lady from now on. It's not an approval, but Lord Elijah has no choice but accept that nothing will return the man known as Edward Braddock to Arthur Albert Hartwood and the expectations Elijah held for his second son. It's a long way to full reconciliation between father and son, but it's a first step.
During the banquet that follows the ceremony, Roberta Drake is introduced to Christine Frost, one of Wilhelmina's cousins. It's Christine's first time she resurfaces since she's been released from the mental institution where her father, the late Winston Frost, had her sent to, and she's clearly overwhelmed. Her younger brother, Emmett Frost, has stepped up as new CEO of the Frost Technologies and is willing to let her sister have access to some of the family's fortune their father left him; it's thanks to him and his influence, that Christine is free, and it's him who wanted her to come to the event and be seen in a semi-public event.
Roberta and Christine spend the whole banquet together, talking and bonding as if they were knit friends who had been close since kindergarten. To Roberta, Christine eventually confesses that the reason why her father had her locked in an institution was because he found out she liked girls. They figure out together what it means to be lesbians in a society when feminism and sexual freedom is at its dawn.
*
There's no respite for the Hartwood and their scandalous romances.
At a gala, Breanna is introduced to Constantin Puceanu, a British Romani Olympic-level swordsman, and Breanna immediately falls in love with him and his candor. His growing affections for the sport champion is the last straw for her already damaged child-less marriage with Curt. The divorce that follows is painful and traumatic, as Curt isn't willing to let Breanna go, but Breanna eventually is free to marry Constantin, and soon she gives him their first child, the beautiful Jacqueline, named after Breanna's mother. For once, it won't be Arthur Albert the object of Lord Elijah's rage. But the birth of his first granddaughter eventually mellows even the rock-hard heart of Lord Hartwood.
Eddie immediately falls in love with his niece and can't wait for Breanna to give him a nephew too: he looks forward to become the eccentric and spoiling uncle of his sister's rugrats.
Eddie loves children, but never press the matter on Wilhelmina – he's not sure he is a man made to be a father, and doesn't want to push his wife in a role that she might not want. His keen eyes don't miss the way Wilhelmina struggles to act when she's in the presence of Jacqueline, awkward and uncomfortable.
Wilhelmina has always considered motherhood more a duty than a dream. She's not against making a family, quite the contrary, she's not much keen on the whole pregnancy side of it. Still, after focusing on her career, she's reminded by her mother that she'll be getting no younger and it's time for her womb to be put to use before it's too late. Their first child is named Edward Jr. from the father, as custom for the first male-born the Worthington family, and he's appended the Worthington surname, settling a matter that had been reason for friction between husband and wife since before the marriage. Eddie is smitten and, once he discovers the joys of fatherhood, might be eager to make other babies – Wilhelmina permitting.
***
Before she met Elijah Hartwood, Jacqueline Braddock was offered the honor to become the champion of Britain, chosen by the great Merlyn and imbued by the energies of the British islands themselves. Encouraged by her father John, she accepted the challenge and took the name of Lady Avalon. Her father introduced her to Lord Falsworth, the original Union Jack, who mentored her until she was ready to become the hero Britain needed and, protected by a full-head mask that covered all her face, she served as the premier female protector of the Empire. She partnered with the second Union Jack, Brian Falsworth, when he decided to step up and take up his father's mantle. Striking a friendship that would last up to Brian's tragic end, Jacqueline was honored to be privy of the true nature of Brian's “special relationship” with his close friend Roger Aubrey. When Brian died in Germany during the Germany-Austrian war, Jacqueline – wearing the costume of Lady Avalon – was at his funeral, comforting the devastated Robert.
But all changed when Jacqueline and Elijah met. Jacqueline is charmed by Lord Hartwood's refined manners, and she is honored at his courting. But she never trusts him enough to share with him her secret identity of Lady Avalon, for he has an old-fashioned concept of the role of a woman, and masked superheroine isn't included in what he might accept as a suiting occupation for one – especially for the woman he proposes to and will become the new Lady Hartwood.
With her marriage soon to be celebrated and knowing that her husband would never accept for her to be the Lady Avalon, Jacqueline relinquished the gold staff and retired, to be a wife and a mother. Given the early status of the superhero existence in this reality, no other Captain Britain was chosen, and a champion from other realities would be temporary assigned to Earth-33 if necessity arose.
On the day of her 21st birthday, Merlyn came to Breanna's dreams offering her the chance to become a champion like her mother before her. Powered by a golden scepter, and her face completely masked with the colors of the Union Jack, Breanna served for a while as Lady Briton, her mother the guardian of her secret. But her growing duties as the daughter of Lord Hartwood coupled with the risk of being accidentally unmasked or to put her family in danger, lead Breanna to the hard decision to return the Amulet of Right, and another prospective champion to be picked in her stead. Arthur Albert, then already Edward Braddock, was not offered the mantle: Roma considered Arthur Albert immature and unable to abide to duties and rules, as his choice to desert his family to escape to Los Angeles proved.
The reality again was left without a native Captain Britain.
The test comes to Eddie when Wilhelmina is expecting their first child. He is now deemed ready for the honor and the task that wearing Captain Britain's mantle requires. Back when Breanna confessed him that she was the woman behind the Lady Briton mask, Eddie wondered what he lacked for Merlyn to pick his twin instead of him. He had come to think that Merlyn for some reason preferred his champions to be women, but a part of him – the part that, prompted by his grandfather, enjoyed to read comic books about superheroes and their uncanny powers – always envied Breanna for the chance he wasn't given.
During the dream he is warned that he must not look behind in the past and make comparisons to his sister, and he must embrace the mantle with pureness of heart, with no jealousy, revenge or recriminations to drive his choice. It isn't easy for Eddie, but he promises he'll do his best. And, proof he has his heart in the right place, he picks the Amulet of Right.
The investiture is his secret. He looks at Wilhelmina, now always annoyed by the mood swinging caused by the pregnancy, and fears that she won't understand what led him to accept. He fears that Wilhelmina will force him to choose between his – theirs – family and the mantle. The fact Wilhelmina founded a superhero team and siphons money into it doesn't reassure Eddie that she will accept that her own husband wants his own superhero career.
Under the pretense of seeing his British family more and claiming to be missing his nephews, a couple of days later Eddie flies to the UK where he shares the news with his mother and his sister. Both happy for him, they are eager to help him – as long as he wants to be Captain Britain, they will support him. They are concerned about Eddie's decision to not talk with Wilhelmina but, while Breanna doesn't agree and insists Wilhelmina needs to know, Jacqueline understands, for she did the same when it was her the mantle and the responsibility.
Eddie reaches out for Kiyoko, explaining he needs to talk him about something. They meet in a quiet small pub near the Hartwood manor. Kiyoko is the first outside of his family he tells about it: Eddie feels he is betraying Wilhelmina's trust by doing so, but the fear of loosing his own family over this is too strong and the risk too high to dare. Eddie asks Kiyoko to tutor him: to become a worthy champion, he must learn how to fight, so to not depend on a golden staff to defend himself. But he cannot move into the UK, Eddie must return to New York: he can't afford to stay longer, he has a pregnant wife at home and he wants to be there for her (not to mention he doesn't want to risk that Wilhelmina might discover he's keeping secrets with her). Kiyoko accepts to teach him martial arts and train him into the art of sword fighting. He also agrees to follow him in the US, under any pretense Eddie chooses to tell his wife – if Eddie decides to tell his wife about his coming.
For the following weeks Eddie hides his lessons with Kiyoko to Wilhelmina, to the point that she becomes suspicious and asks him if he's seeing someone she might know about. Embarrassed, and offended for the accusation of cheating when he never gave Wilhelmina reasons to doubt about his fidelity, Eddie reacts in the wrong way, and they have an heated fight followed by days of mutual silence.
Until Eddie acknowledges that Wilhelmina deserves to know the truth before the idea of him being a cheater on a pregnant wife can cement in her mind. Unexpectedly, Wilhelmina actually burst out into a laugh when he admits he'd been scared of telling her his secret and that he was almost tempted to try his luck with faking a steamy romance with Kiyoko instead. The laugh is so violent that, for a moment, Eddie starts to fear for her and their children's healthy – or her sanity. Ever heard of the first partner of Magnetrix, the Red Angel?, she asks. A dumbfounded Eddie thus discovers that his wife, way before moving to Los Angeles for a temporary career in acting, had been a superhero on her own. Nonetheless to say, Eddie's way to celebrate the resumed harmony is to pick Wilhelmina up bride-style out of a sudden and dash out of the open window, to share with her the gift of flight that she will never be afforded without the use of artificial wings.
That very night Eddie lays awake, wondering how much stupid was for him to fear Wilhelmina's rejection over having a superhero as husband. Still, they agree that he'll be the most discreet, and that no one must know that Captain Britain is in any way related to Edward Braddock – both for their safety and for their sanity. Eddie gives his word: nobody will ever discover his secret identity.
The oath is threatened by external circumstances beyond Eddie's control.
It's an afternoon, and Eddie is – with hindsight luckily – lingering at home, lounging on his comfortable Chesterfield chair, busy reading a new script his agent has forwarded him. Suddenly he is hit with something, a feeling that someone is calling out for him. There is no voice, nor the magical spirit of a medieval wizard appears in front of him. Still, he tilts his head up, as if to hear words coming from another time and place.
Wilhelmina enters the room when he's already standing, his eyes vacant and all his senses focused on the call. Her voice is enough to break the enchantment. Eddie finds himself back in the plush room, a shocked Wilhelmina calling his name with growing distress. He doesn't know what happened, he doesn't understand himself why he's standing, the hand closed around the tilt of an imaginary sword he doesn't own, he just knows something has happened and he has the nagging feeling that something has changed within himself. But is the look on Wilhelmina's face that truly brings him back to the now and here. He runs to his wife, worried that she might be ill and require medical help, but everything is wrong, and he's suddenly pulled back by something tightening around his neck. The weight of a cloak that got caught – a cloak that shouldn't exist in the first place. And then he meets his reflection in the mirror hanging over the fireplace. His hair are purple.
He can call himself lucky that Wilhelmina is too stunned – and her 8-months bump is in the way, blocking her movements – to kick him out of the house at once. But he's quick to make a discreet phone call to his personal coiffeur for an urgent house call, with the request to bring some black dye with him. It's just his luck that the weather doesn't agree with him and a major winter storm keeps the planes grounded for a couple of days.
Only a week later, when things are settled down, Eddie finally discovers what happened that resulted in him having to wear beanies in his own house for two days straight until he could dye his hair back to a more fitting black.
“When the citadel calls, Captain Britain must answer” he's told. He didn't answer. And thus he might as well saved his own life, for other Captains Britain like him were summoned to fight a great battle for which he wasn't prepared yet. Once again he has to thank Wilhelmina, for she's been the reason why he didn't respond to the call.
The trouble with the purple hair is explained when he finds himself in front of a woman who claims to be his alternate version who asks him to be on the lookout for another woman like her and that yes, there's a whole army of people who are him but each living in their own worlds, to meet only when the Multiverse is in need. Eddie's head spins over the explanation, and once again silently sends a thanks to his grandfather who introduced him to science fiction novels, else he wouldn't know where to start to digest the concept of alternate universes.
When he's officially introduced to his Captain Britain peers, irked by the over abundance of female versions of him holding the Captain Britain title, he decides to change it and picks the name Alpha Briton. Wilhelmina, once she overcomes the very idea of other timelines, finds it hilarious and perplexing at the same time that, on most of those Earths, Edward Braddock is an Elizabeth Braddock but completely looses her mind on the one who is the Queen of the United Kingdom. Eddie might find himself pondering about the kind of man Wilhelmina is in those realities, though – he's fairly sure hat his counterparts have found their own Wilhelmina, or at least he likes to think he and Wilhelmina are meant to be even elsewhere-elsewhen. And he promises himself to ask, the next time the Corps meet. He would not dislike to see how a male Wilhelmina looks: he can bet he's as strikingly handsome as Wilhelmina is.
The Captain Britain Corps have been recently reformed, and he is given time to learn and grow into the costume before being recalled into action. Kiyoko is an amazing teacher, Eddie learns so much in little time under his tutelage. Eddie offers Kiyoko to become his sidekick, but Kiyoko refuses – he won't be caught wearing a ridiculous costume just to entertain a friend.
Kurt and Logan are eventually let in into the secret as well. Kurt is a master acrobat and he's more than happy to share his knowledge with Eddie. Eddie will never be as athletic as him, but he at least tries.
Edward Braddock has already become a movie legend, he got his star on the recently created Walk of Fame and has collected a wide array of awards, although the Award is still avoiding him. But Eddie is now considering to retire, and become a full-time superhero. Although it pains him, Eddie is aware that he cannot keep both his lives – his duties as superhero don't go well with his job as actor. He had a fulfilling career, and he wouldn't be the first actor to retire when at the top. Still, he's reluctant to, and he can't make up his mind, for he really loves acting. Wilhelmina has already said that she will back him up whichever choice he'll make: she has been a low-level superhero once, she has known the trills of the job and she would never be as coldhearted and insensitive to deprive him of that joy, if that's what he wants. She'll be fine either way, but she has to admit – against all reason – that she might be happier, should Eddie pick the costume over the movies.
And so Eddie retires. The announcement comes after months since the last time he was seen on a set – still, it comes as a shock for Hollywood, who has to say goodbye to one of its darlings. He wants to focus on his family, it's the official explanation – he got everything he wanted and he's ready for his next life as husband and father, he says. Nobody could ever fancy that Edward Braddock left the movie scenes because he's too busy with his superhero career. With a face like his, Eddie knows he will never be allowed to unmask, or even switch to a less covering costume. To protect his identity, and not lead potential enemies and grudges on Wilhelmina and their family, Eddie will always have to hide behind the full mask that reveals only the upper part of his hair.
Unlike the armored costume, who eventually changes back to his original one with the rampant lion, there's no change regarding his unnatural color of head: the hideous purple still plagues him. He knows nothing about magic, restoring spells and glass mosaics bearing the liking of a female version of him, but he trust his Captains peers on the matter, and the purple is there to stay, in place of his natural blonde. He has dyed his hair since his first attempts at acting, when he still was a penniless British bloke hoping to break in Hollywood. It doesn't pain him to sit through regular sessions to get the regrowth covered, although now he cannot ask a professional coiffure anymore and has to trust his mane into the equally capable hands of Polina.
Yet, the unusual color is starting to grown on him. He feels it, it would make him stand out, as a proper superhero picked by Merlyn in person should be, and the shade would match with the deep blue of his costume. He's toying with the idea of keeping it, and make Captain Britain the first superhero with purple hair. The only thing holding him back is that such a radical choice will require him to wear a black wig for his everyday life, to hide the dual identity, and the very thought makes his scalp itch.
It would be easier to change his current Captain Britain mask to a full cowl and wear a black wig under it, so Eddie Braddock would wear his new natural hue, but then he would cause yet another scandal – and he doesn't look forward to risk Wilhelmina's rage over something as trivial as the color of the hair. Besides, he's a father now, and no respectable father wears his hair purple.
Perhaps in the future such a dye will be acceptable, or perhaps one day he will feel bold enough to challenge Wilhelmina and appear in public with a purple mane and start a trend. But not now. The world is not ready for a former actor to keep his hair purple. But the superhero niche is another world.
With the powers granted him by the golden staff, Eddie can easily fly between the US and the UK without the need of jumping on an airplane, although he strives to stay at home as much as he can. He has decided to be a superhero, but he wants to be there for his son as well.
Wilhelmina, after some time off to care to their newborn, resumes her duties as businesswoman, and she's now even more ruthless on the job that she's ever been. Unlike all books about fatherhood Eddie read suggested, motherhood didn't make Wilhelmina sweeter nor mellowed her. Perhaps it takes another child for the charm to work; Eddie is working on that.
Wilhelmina sadly has too many duties, both as mother and CEO of a fortune, to indulge herself once again as the Red Angel, but a part of hers cherishes the dream that one day she will be free of all the obligations that keep her feet firmly stuck on earth, and she'll be allowed to wear the artificial wings harness once again and fight crime alongside Eddie as the first real-life superhero romantic couple.
Marvel Comics editor, Stan Lee, intrigued by the news of the first feats of a new British national superhero and willing to expand the company's market in the UK with a specific title that would meet the tastes of the English people, reaches out with an offer to acquire the rights for a comic book inspired by the hero wearing the Union Jack color.
Eddie is appalled, Wilhelmina is excited: she had been reading the production of Marvel Comics since she was a teen, after all, and some of her choices are linked to those comic books.
Finalize the agreement is a difficulty on its own, as Eddie cannot sign with his own given name, nor can send his pit bull of a wife to negotiate the technicalities. He could hide behind the X-Factor Inc., but it would mean get the Alpha Briton identity too closer to Wilhelmina Worthington's interests for his liking. In the end, Eddie, as Alpha Briton, asks for an appointment with Susan Sturm, the woman behind the Fantastic Four fortune and, wearing his full Union Jack-themed costume, marches in her office, asking her to be the intermediate for the deal. He doesn't need the money, he reassures, so he'll be fine with all compensations and rights to go to the Fantastic Four Foundation and be used for a charity cause. Susan accepts and Alpha Briton leaves after shaking her hand, thankful for the cooperation.
Sue Sturm gets Alpha Briton a good deal, both monetarily and on what Alpha Briton has control over. Susan has to be let in into the secret, or at least a portion of it: she needs to have a contact, in case she has needs to get in touch with Alpha Briton, unless they want her to sign a Briton-signal like in the parody of certain comic books.
Kiyoko, who together with Logan has opened a dojo in New York, agrees to be his spokesperson. It's at the dojo that Susan Sturm has the scripts the Fantastic Four gets from Marvel Comics forwarded. Eddie can approve or reject each of them, a duty he gladly leaves to Wilhelmina, who reads the scripts in bed with the focus of an Award-winner actress who is examining a movie script before decide if the project is worth her name to be attached to it or not.
Captain Britain (Marvel doesn't seem to think Alpha Briton is a working name) becomes a good seller in the UK and eventually introduces new characters and companions to the titular character. Eddie finds it hilarious that they suggest he is given a twin sister: the name Elizabeth and the purple hair might be his idea, an Easter egg only he might find amusement from, but it makes him giddy for days, and eager to share the news with his female alternate versions.
The issue in which the Red Angel and his mask-less counterpart as an American girl with a mysterious past is introduced as potential new partner for Captain Britain, is Eddie's secret gift for Wilhelmina's birthday. He has the first mint copy of the floppy sent to him and he has it packed for a surprise, complete with autograph by Alpha Briton. Wilhelmina to this day doesn't know how he managed to talk Stan Lee and Jack Kirby into taking a real, even if short-lived, superheroine and make her the romantic interest of the dashing Captain Britain. Although she might suspect Lorna Dane's secret involvement, the mighty Magnetrix doesn't talk.
captain [BRITAIN]. . . . . . . . . . . . [CANON]
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[Britain _ 2 [of ?]
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MORE CAPTAINS BRITAIN
CHAPTER 2
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DATAFILE: EARTH-33
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Title: Alpha Briton
Name: Edward “Eddie” Braddock
Origins: Earth-33
Seat: 33
Tested: Yes
Choice: Amulet of Right
REALITY ANNOTATIONS
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Core designation: Universe-33
Reality designation: Startling Stories
Type: Alternate reality
DETAILS
Reality in which super-powers, as in body modifications or genetic
mutations that give an individual superior abilities, don't exist.
Super-heroes make use either of technology or magical artifacts,
most of the times incorporated in their costumes; when divested of
their gadgets they are average individuals and can count only on
tactical and fighting training. Timelines-constant super-hero teams
such as Fantastic Four, Avengers and X-Men thus do not exist.
A comic book loosely based on this reality alternate versions of Reed
Richards, Ben Grim and siblings Susan and Johnny Storm, in which
they are depicted as the Fantastic Four, has been released, soon
followed by other titles in which are portrayed fictional characters
vaguely inspired by what Avengers and X-Men are in other realities.
It hasn't been excluded that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the authors of
said comic books, ever had any glimpses into alternative timelines;
similarities between the stories they told and events as developed in
several realities, suggest they might have had access to at least one;
specific detail pinpoint to either Earth-20051 (Marvel Adventures) or
Earth-563 (Season One).
Overall history of reality, up to the early 20th century and the
avoidance of the events that would lead to World War II, is similar to
Earth-616.
Curiously, most of the individuals who in other realities are marked
with the x-gene, are here born with the opposite gender than their
common one.
OVERVIEW
After the Great Depression which effects dragged for two decades,
Earth has entered the second half of the 20th century going through
an economic expansion.
Technological advances in the atomic field, such as the discovery of
nuclear fission, has brought innovations and dangers. A geopolitical
tension between the between U.S.A. and the Soviet Union is a
looming threat, as both countries have successfully developed
nuclear weapons and have added them to their arsenals. Still,
the masses enjoy the new decade and its improvements, and are
embracing a new times of growing wealth and optimism.
Super-heroes, which scarce presence has been recorded at least
since the 40s, are now entering into a Golden Era: as technology
becomes more affordable, and thanks to the growing fame of comic
books (magazines that depict feats and adventures of super powered
individuals with uncanny abilities), more and more are emerging to
protect the people from criminals and injustice.
For additional info, see: Startling Stories: The Fantastic Four – Unstable
Molecules.
MAJOR POINTS OF DIFFERENCE FROM 616
(EARTH OF CB PRIME)
World War I was concluded with a different fall-out than usual:
although greatly resized, the Austro-Hungarian Empire wasn't
dissolved and replaced by a republic until the Germany-Austrian
conflict in the 40s.
Hitler never raised to power in Germany and Mussolini was killed
before he could found the Italian Fascist Party. Although smaller
hostile acts in Europe lead to skirmishes and wars between declining
European powers, conflicts didn't escalate in the catastrophic World
War II.
The Fantastic Four members never launched into space and didn't
gain their powers. Gamma bomb hasn't been developed, and Asgard
has been destroyed centuries ago.
SUPERPOWERS STATUS
Existing: yes. (only basic physical types, such strength and flight).
Temporarily gained only through the use of magical artifacts,
reliant to the ownership or brandishing of the artifact.
Mutants: no.
Mutants do not exist or their existence hasn't been recorded yet.
Mental powers such as psychics are scarce, but only low-level
telepathy as been recorded.
BIO OVERVIEW
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Full name (if applicable): Edward “Eddie” Braddock
(born: Arthur Albert Hartwood)
Powers: --
Other abilities: Martial arts. Standard combat training. Fencing.
Previous affiliation (if applicable): --
Fled from home to pursue his dreams, aristocratic disowned Eddie
Braddock made a name for himself in Hollywood where he raised to
worldwide fame as one of the main stars of the industry's Golden Era
and a heart-throb until the woman who would become his wife
managed to tie him down.
Once he received the test, he left his demanding job to fully commit
to the life of a masked superhero, and be a respectable dotting
husband and father in the free time. Wearing the national colors of
his homeland, he serves as the mysterious British champion who
inspires thousands of young men who read of his adventures in the
Captain Britain comic book.
<< Click to access to the fullsize file. >>
ABRIDGED BIO
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Scroll down for basic html reading.
Krakoa-styled reading available only through the links below.
FORMATTED WAY
Archive of Our Own.
SquidgeWorld.
CROSSPOSTED
Livejournal.
Tumblr.
BBCB ANNOTATIONS
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Alpha Briton does not have mutant powers and can be employed in
scenarios when mutation is targeted.
He has not shown psychic abilities of any kind. All his abilities and
skills are provided by the Amulet of Right and training.
THE COUNCIL OF CAPTAIN BRITAIN
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THE PROJECT
For other chapters in the series, see the masterpost.
NOTES ABOUT THE STORY
Since the post is already a very long textwall, these have been
collected at this additional post.
[Expanded AU, page 1 of 1]
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[abridged [READ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . full_fic]
[life story [MORE] . . . . . . . . . . . . . below]
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ABRIDGED BIO
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Lady Jacqueline, née Braddock, a talented mind in the science field and secretly the patriotic champion Lady Britain, renounced to her career dreams and heroic feats when she married Lord Elijah Hartwood, a member of British lowest aristocracy who has no need to work to keep his family and spends most of his days with pastimes fitting to a lord of his status, including fox hunting and enjoying sports involving horses.
Arthur Albert is their second child; born ten years after James, he enjoys the perks of not being the eldest while also not suffering the condition of being born female in the early 50s in a reactionary and sexist society, as his twin sister Breanna does.
Like his older brother James before him, Arthur Albert is raised in the luxurious Hartwood manor, where he receives an education fitting to his status under the tutelage of private tutors. He gets lessons in horse-riding and fencing, but also in arts and literature.
His grandfather, John Braddock, is a World War decorated hero and entertains him with tales about his time in the trenches, or how – captured on enemy land – he heroically escaped from a POW camp with the creative use of a salvaged bottle, some carefully collected petrol and a single matchstick. He fought alongside the legendary Union Jack, a mysterious man clad in the colors of their flag who protected Britain from potential threats to national security during the darkest times. He also mentions the enigmatic Lady Britain, a masked woman armed with a golden staff who patrolled London's streets for a while, well before Arthur Albert was born. Arthur Albert, enthralled by the stories, learns to yearn for adventure and a life that goes beyond the confines of his lineage.
It's in these years that a new, refreshing wave of comic books featuring more realistic superheroes are getting printed in the USA, reaching soon the other side of the pond. In the Hartwood house such publications, deemed derogatorily “picture books”, aren't allowed. They depict men and women doing incredible feats and living adventurous lives, protected by a mask. But John Braddock, although son of a different century, is surprisingly open-minded for his age, and secretly collects them so that Arthur Albert can read them when he comes to the old Braddock manor. He prompts Arthur Albert to state his preferences, and to say what he'd wish to change in the stories, or how he would act in the super-hero's place. Lord Elijah Hartwood would throw a fit, and would even go as far as to forbid his son to ever see his grandfather, should he know. This is one of Arthur Albert and John's small secrets.
A bit too reckless and a daredevil for his father's liking, Arthur Albert all in all can't say he suffered through his childhood.
James is the black sheep of the family. Although he's never been the epitome of the perfect, well-bred boy Elijah Hartwood expected his first-born to be, James's life takes a turn when he's in high school and gets drawn to the modern ideas of a group of radical students, who preach for equality and freedom for all the colonies. Elijah immediately enrolls James on a boarding school were his son will be protected by dangerous politics, but the damage is already done. What follows, are years in which James's beliefs are challenged by the strict ways of close-minded teachers, further radicalizing him. Still, James is nothing but clever, and agrees to hide his true alliances and play by his father's rules until it suits him.
He is accepted in a prestigious university, as his father and the father before him. James's bizarre conduct is tolerated as long as James hides behind a proper image of first-born into the British upper class, and his eccentric lifestyle of anti-materialistic peace-lover is kept under wraps thanks to the Hartwood's power that manages to silence any journalist that might uncover James's unproper activities. Rebellious and open-minded, in a vibrant place such as a university he grows resentful of the conservative ways and the belief that the greatness of British Empire has to be preserved, and joins an underground movement that actively fights against these outdated ideas.
A scandal erupts when he's 24: James is arrested during a protest against the government on politics regarding the status of the British colonies and the brutal repressions against those who peacefully advocate for freedom in those lands. Elijah's powerful connections pulls some string and James is out of prison in few hours, his criminal record clean and free of charges, but his actions have brought shame to the Hartwood family.
No child of the nobility is allowed to embrace such radicals ideas, for all the British aristocracy are loyal to the Empire and their stance on the British colonization is conflicting with the one James marched for. Unless he gets his priorities sorted, James will be unfitting to inherit the household and to be a proper Hartwood. In the hopes to fix him, Elijah has him sent to a mental institution, where he's subjected to medical procedures that eventually damage his mind.
As the second in line, and only other son, then teenager Arthur Albert is asked to step in as future heir of the Hartwood noble household. But Arthur Albert has no interest in being shaped into what his father wants for him to be, under the threat of being sent away like they did with James if he fails to satisfy his father's expectations. He has big dreams, and none of them involve him being stuck in the old world of aristocrats with long titles and little touch with reality. While his twin sister Breanna is the perfect Hartwood, model student in the female college where she's sent to and proper lady at every tea party, Arthur Albert isn't interested in attending prestigious universities and is bored at every activity that entertains the lords. He favors the high-velocity of sports cars over horses and is more interested in movies than plays. His ultimate dream would be become a masked superhero like the legendary Union Jack and live a precarious, exciting life, although he knows there'll never be such a chance for the likes of him.
Arthur Albert and Elijah clash for most of Arthur Albert's late teens, with Jacqueline attempting to balance between them, neither fully agreeing with her husband but not siding with her son either. Breanna switches from times in which she attempts to comfort him to times when she criticizes his attitude; tied herself to a role that she didn't ask and with no leverage on their father, Breanna is of little use to Arthur Albert. Only their maternal grandfather, the old John Braddock, war hero and accomplished pilot, seems to understand him, indulging his interests in airplanes and cars. He's too old now to pilot the biplane fighter he bought in poor conditions after the War and restored himself, but he's always eager to teach his nephew everything he knows about aircraft and air battles. His death is a psychological blow for Arthur Albert, who suddenly looses his first and only ally within the family.
Sent to a male-only boarding school, Arthur Albert's rebellious streak is put to a test, but the rigid rules of the place accomplish nothing, if not making Arthur Albert even more convinced that this isn't the life he wants. He has his first sexual experiences with Tom Lennox, the son of an influential politician who, ironically, spews hatred on homosexuality, and then experiments with other pupils, although he officially (but secretly) looses his virginity to the charming Gabriel, a senior two years older than him about to be shipped out by the family to military Academy. It's thanks to Gabriel, that Arthur Albert discovers that he might be interested in males, after all.
Arthur Albert surrounds himself with friends not fitting to his heritage, for either race, status or political believes. Young men and women of different backgrounds, but none of them coming from the same upbringing of his.
There's Logan, a grumpy Canadian who came to the UK to escape his abusive father and a set future in the army. He has two jobs and he doesn't like to waste time on dilly-dallying when he can do something with his hands.
There's Kurt, a cheerful German who left behind a career as acrobat and contortionist in a small circus to find a better life. He was born with four fingers on a hand, making him a freak. He's Logan's best friend and they share a small apartment.
There's Charlie Cluster, an orphaned French lover of luxury but with no money to pay for such a lifestyle, who moved into the UK to find her path and become rich through any means (and also to avoid some legal issues). Athletic and sharp of mind, she's a master of misdirection and she's a pro at shoplifting. She's adopted. Her mysterious brother is involved in shady activities all around the world (possibly a marksman, as she has hinted once or twice), and sends her some money to get by so she doesn't need to get a low-pay job.
There's Kiyoko, a reserved Japanese fleeing from his own dangerous past, which is revealed to be a connection to a ninja clan involved with anything illegal. Formidable martial artist and trained in the art of sword-figthing with a katana, he was to marry the daughter of a crime lord but, as he wasn't interested in such an union, he fled before he could be punished for defying his father and bringing shame on all their family. Kiyoko is his chosen name, the name for his new life; he renounced to his birth name when he rejected his family, and that name is dead to him.
There's Uhuru, a refined Kenyan whose parents are linked to radical movements back home and are currently fighting to win independence from the British rule. He's in London because his father wanted for him to enroll into a prestigious university and get on a path to become a future ambassador, but he knows the real reason for his presence in the UK is because his mother was scared about a possible war erupting and sent him away before things got heated.
There's Polina, a shy Russian who grabbed the chance to leave the Soviet as soon as it happened in front of her, despite being the sister of a national hero (an astronaut died in an accident occurred in space) and having been offered to enter the national's Olympic team for the shot put. She's taller than them all and build like a docker, she can even beat Logan at arm wrestling with her eyes closed, but she's the gentlest soul Arthur Albert ever met, and wished only she could find a job that could support her true passion: painting.
Together they're a knit group that call themselves the X-Force, a word play between Extra and Force, as they fancy themselves an extraordinary force of rebellion against a society that would never agree with them banding together. When they meet, they hit the more underground locales of London, listening to emerging music groups and new styles such as rock 'n' roll while drinking beer, but also talk about radical politics. Arthur Albert enjoys his time with them, uncaring for what his family might think of him, should he be discovered hanging out with this colorful array of commoners.
Arthur Albert understands that he might be drawn both to males and females at the same time. She has brief romances with a string of girls, who swoon at his dashing beauty and refined manners, but he also finds himself appreciating the exotic beauty of Kiyoko, although he doesn't bring up the courage to ask the Japanese what he thinks about male romances. He instead ends up in the bed with Charlie, who is a firm believer of sexual freedom with no strings attached.
His physical relationship with Charlie is no secret within the team, and there's no judgment, not even from Polina, who still suffers from the strict education regarding sex she received at home.
When Charlie's mysterious brother pops up, bringing expensive champagne and the keys to a luxurious suite in the best hotel in London, Arthur Albert is with them. He wakes up the morning later in a huge king-size bed with a bloody headache and the two brothers' naked bodies near him. By the status of the bed, not to mention his own lack of clothes, it doesn't take a genius to understand that they all have been involved in some forbidden and very sinful act of sexual activities. Arthur Albert isn't as disgusted nor mortified as he should be. The experience teaches him that (other than not drinking too much champagne) he mostly leans on the female form of the human being, but he's unwilling to forbid himself to enjoy the other side of the spectrum just because old-fashioned norms say so. And when the siblings awake, he's up for some other fun.
Charlie's brother, Charles, vanishes few days later, heading to whichever job he does, and Arthur Albert searches for novelty elsewhere, but Arthur Albert never regrets that crazy night at The Ritz – even if he still doesn't remember all of it.
*
Lord Elijah never discovers about his son's “perverted sexuality”, the term he would use should he know, but it doesn't mean Arthur Albert can forever keep his friendships from his family.
He strives to keep up the pace at university, so to not get his father's breath on the neck, but eventually his family's shadow reaches him.
It's few months before his 21st birthday when, after the last clash with his strict father over what is allowed and what is not allowed to people like them, Arthur Albert packs his bags: he can't further live in that house, and threatens to not return until his father understands that it's time they give up their outdated and archaic beliefs and embrace the modern times, where there is no place for close-minded aristocracy. Elijah is unwilling to compromise, especially not after James. In his mind, the more they keep the leash short, the less likely what happened to James will repeat with their other son. Believing his son to be acting up, he doesn't stop him and physically prevents Jacqueline from saying or doing anything when Arthur Albert slams the door behind his back.
Arthur Albert has acted on the spur of the moment and has nowhere to go. He has friends willing to offer him a bed for a week or two, but he cannot live off the X-Force forever. Under a fake name and with the help of Logan, who always know where to look and who to talk to, he finds a temporary job as usher in a movie theater – it's during this time, that Arthur Albert decides that he'd like to be one of the charming men he sees on the screen. Sadly, a peer of his father recognizes him and Elijah Hartwood is made aware that his heir is working like any poor class. Lord Elijah pulls strings and has Arthur Albert fired and banished from available jobs in the surroundings, in the belief that – penniless – the black sheep will be forced to return home and bow his head. Arthur Albert isn't meek when he knocks on the door of the Hartwood Manor. Far from willing to bow to Elijah's authority, he's combative and ready to take on his father for what he perceives as an unacceptable interference. He firmly believes he has the right to choose for his own, which includes even making bad choices and fuck up: he's no child, to be ordered around by a father. He's an adult now, and entitled to his own life.
An heated argument follows, with each of them saying things they might regret but not ready to give an inch to the other. All ends when Elijah gives his aut aut: either Arthur Albert returns, and behaves, or he will be banished and disowned. Arthur Albert doesn't do well with blackmail: he tells his father to go to hell. Jacqueline, silenced by her authoritative husband, doesn't find in herself the will to make a stand, thus siding with Elijah against Arthur Albert – the disappointment and sense of betrayal caused by his mother's choice to not help him cuts Arthur Albert deep.
Breanna is spared such a depressing scene, as she's away at university when Arthur Albert last leaves the Manor and cuts ties with his family.
It's both shock and emancipation, though, for now Arthur Albert is free from any expectation his strict father ever had for him. He's free to pursue any career he likes. Just, not in the UK. Despite aristocracy being outdated, the Hartwood are still too powerful and their ties reach everywhere: there's no hope for Arthur Albert Hartwood to fully free himself from the family's shadow until he stays on the island. Still, he has no means to move away, but his X-Force friends chip in and for his birthday they get him a ticket to Los Angeles.
Penniless, Arthur Albert lands in the city of angels with only the content of his suitcase and the hope to become someone despite his heavy surname. To support himself, he takes any kind of job that can pay for food and a room where to sleep. Even if he grew up in a rich manor, with a full staff and a butler to oversee everything, he isn't scared of getting his hands dirty, if it means he can stay in the US and pursue his dream of becoming a movie star. He has no money to apply to an university dramatics program, so he can only hope that his looks will be enough to catch someone's attention. He sends a picture of himself to many talent scouts, until one accepts to take him on as a client. The talent scout changes his name, as custom in Hollywood, but Arthur Albert fights to choose himself what he'll be called from now on, and they eventually find an agreement on Edward Braddock, same name but his grandfather's surname, to homage the only man who encouraged him to always follow his dreams and to never give up.
Edward Braddock – Eddie – makes his acting debut as a small part in a Germany-Austrian war-inspired movie. He makes an impression for his skills, all the more commendable as he didn't have any previous experience in front of the camera. His knowledge about airplane battles helps him, and he silently thanks his grandfather for this.
Eddie is then signed to a long-term contract by one of the main film production companies, and receives coaching in every field that might come useful for an actor. He's already proficient in horseback riding and fencing, and he was taught ballroom dancing to be a proper partner at high-society balls, but he's somehow lacking in singing and has desperate need for acting lessons. In the meantime, he's featured in film magazines: Eddie is uncannily amazing and he's promoted.
He gets his first screen credits and further small parts. With his refined manners, his British accent and his blond hair, he is usually given parts as a noble or an educated man, a role that Eddie learns to hate; unfortunately he has no power to pick his roles yet. But he asks to be assigned to elocution lessons to learn the American accent and get rid of his natural one.
It takes him five years to get his first leading role. He's still half-unknown, but his career is on the right path.
***
Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington is born in one of the most rich families of the US, as the only child of Kenneth Frost and Margaret Worthington.
Margaret is the second-born daughter of Warren Worthington Sr., a tycoon who built one of the largest private fortunes of the country. An older brother, Warren Jr., died in a tragic car crash, making Margaret the eldest of two remaining siblings. Burtram, focused on useless activities and pastimes fitting to penniless slackers, is judged a failure and unreliable by Warren Sr, who disowns him and cuts him out of the family fortune, leaving only Margaret as potential heir. Because of the strict patriarchy and old mentality of Warren Worthington Sr., though, she isn't allowed to flank – and in the future relieve – her father. Margaret is asked to marry into a wealthy family instead, so that her husband may take late Warren Jr.'s intended role at Sr.'s side. Margaret might not like the imposition, but she doesn't find it odd nor unjust either, and hers is an arranged engagement with the son of a Warren Sr.'s business friend. A tight and detailed prenuptial agreement is signed, to protect Margaret in case of divorce and keep the family fortune in the hands of a true Worthington, even of a female gender, and Kenneth also agrees that their children will take their mother's surname to carry on the family lineage. Kenneth has no chance to get his hands on the Frost family fortune, since his father already picked his eldest, Winston Frost, as the sole heir, and marrying into the Worthingtons is his only hope to continue to be part of the US most influential lineages. This union requires him to sacrifice the rights of a husband, but he has much more to gain in achievements and reputation as a man.
Kenneth and Margaret don't love each other, but they get along; after the marriage, Kenneth is hired at the Worthington Industries to learn the job by Warren Sr. as designed heir at the position of board director.
Wilhelmina Kenna is their only child. Both Kenneth and Warren Sr. hoped for a male, each for their own reasons, but no other pregnancy follows (a failure that both men will blame Margaret for). Sr. resigns that he'll never have his longed-for grandson and that will have once again to do with a female heir to carry on the bloodline and fortune of the Worthington.
Wilhelmina grows up receiving the proper education for a future upper class woman of the time – she learns all the activities fitting to a young girl and she's kept away from anything that is perceived for males.
She suffers through all her early childhood, forbidden to do what she expresses interest in, and coerced into doing what she doesn't like. At the age of 3 she is sent to classic ballet lessons, an activity she quickly grows to hate, but that her mother insist is necessary, for she will learn discipline and turn into an elegant swan; the teacher is brutal and callous, quick to punish any failure with her stick and offend the girls for any physical imperfection. Wilhelmina is mocked by the middle-aged, inflexible former ballerina for her shoulders, considered too broad and unbalanced for a girl. With her mother deaf to her complains and nobody to side with her when she returns from a lesson crying from the cruel words, Wilhelmina can but bite her lips and – as his father once says – suck it up, even when the insults turn to perceived chubbiness that should be removed by indulging with less cakes and sweets.
She is forced to sit between the dozens of dolls his mother bought her until she deigns herself to use them, and physically punished any time she runs away from the big room to climb on trees instead. She is ordered to stop acting like an insolent girl toward the woman who attempts to teach her how to play piano, and is scolded whenever she expresses interest in sports that are considered inappropriate for either her status or gender.
She doesn't have true friends: forbidden to mingle with the children of the staff, she's forced to play with the daughters of his father's or his grandfather's peers, and none of them share her interests. She disdains pretending to be a little high-society girl having tea with friends, and she never touched the giant dollhouse, built like a luxurious manor, that her grandmother, the Mrs. Frost, commissioned for her, nor the insane amount of precious dresses her dolls get.
She manages to strike a friendship with the brother of one of her female friends, though: Terence Southern is two years younger than her and, surprisingly, he doesn't profess embarrassment nor he's offended at the very idea of hanging out with a girl. Perhaps Terence indulged Wilhelmina to scare her or have a laugh at her, but when he starts to talk about the last adventure of Nembo Kid, Wilhelmina is genuinely intrigued, and Terence finally has someone to talk to about his favorite superheroes. Either Margaret doesn't pay attention, or she pretends to not see, as Wilhelmina favors Terence over her female friends (who aren't really friends in the first place) and together they vanish to hide in the greenhouse and read the comics Terry brings.
Comics books open up a new world for Wilhelmina, a world where, hidden behind masks, people do incredible feats. Although girls still stand one step behind their male peers, at least they can do more than cook and play the part of the good wife whose life revolves around their husband; Wilhelmina might be still a little girl, but she already feels the pressure of her being born female. She is forbidden to buy or own a copy, for they are considered boys reading material, so she has to rely on Terry, who always manage to introduce a floppy or two inside the Worthington Estate hiding it under the shirt.
Wilhelmina's and Terry's closeness gets strong in the following years, allowed by Margaret who indulges her daughter this out of ordinary, eccentric friendship. But both grow out of childhood and soon they are teenagers, and their vision of each other changes, switching from buddies who bonded over comic books, to something more. More and more they talk less about their superheroes and more about themselves, and their bodies get closer when they huddle up to read from the same floppy. Until the flirting start. Not something too explicit, but they eventually overcome each other's embarrassment.
They are discovered kissing and they both are reprimanded for it. Margaret, disappointed by her daughter's behavior, regrets she ever indulged Terry's visits and the boy is forbidden to ever return to the Estate. Kenneth is quick to blame his wife for allowing such an unacceptable association to happen in the first place, as boys and girls aren't meant to hang out until it's time to settle down and marry. Margaret bites her tongue and doesn't retort, opting for the easier way of letting Kenneth believe she agrees with him.
Wilhelmina throws a tantrum and she's even punished with skipped meals more than once, but Terry doesn't return. Warren Sr., the imposing grandfather, has other prospective fiances in mind for his only granddaughter, after all, and he doesn't want to risk Wilhelmina ruins herself with a boy that, for as much as he might be good and heir of a rich family himself, isn't worthy of becoming the next generation of Worthingtons-in-law to sit on the Worthington Industries board director's seat.
*
To remove any temptation, on orders of Warren Sr., Wilhelmina is quickly sent away to a prestigious female-only exclusive college in Westchester. Founded and headed by Ms. Charlotte Xavier, the classes at Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies are small so to better focus on a personalized education. Wilhelmina has four other classmates to strike a friendship with. Summer Scott, stoic and dutiful and a mind more leaning to mathematics and strategies than to what society expects from young girls, is the orphaned first-born of a Canadian shipping magnate. Roberta Drake, only daughter of the founder of a renowned account firm, completely uninterested in boys. Lorna Dane, illegitimate daughter of a Jewish foreign diplomat, expected to act like a proper, modest girl while suppressing a rebellious streak, and eager to please her father. Harriet McCoy, taller than any girl she's ever seen, with big, ungraceful hands but a genius brain and the potential to become one of the most revolutionary researchers of the century, has been granted an invite to the school. Her hopes is to graduate and enter Columbia University, where Dr. Richards teaches. She's a fan of Dr. Richard's work, and Ms. Xavier manages to get her articles about his most recent research on molecules and the existence of sub-atoms. But her mind is also full of projects, technologies for which the world isn't ready yet.
Once again, the world of comic books finds Wilhelmina. Ms. Xavier fancies herself a feminist, although she hides her true leanings in front of the conservative parents who come to her for imparting a “proper education” to their girls, and holds a lesson on the subject of women in superhero stories. Wilhelmina's mind is changed by the questions Ms. Xavier raises. Each of them students are given, as assignment, a comic book title, and they have to prepare a paper about the innovations and regressions they see in the story, and particularly applied to the figure of the woman as portrayed in the title. Wilhelmina is thus introduced to Vapor Girl, a blond scantily clad woman in corset and shorts with a love interest in the army. It only lasts six issue, before the title is canceled, but Wilhelmina has enough material for his own analysis.
They are teenagers, but when evening comes and they retire to bed, the girls pretend to play like children. Their clothes discarded, only in their underwear and their locks flowing out of the modest hairdo of the day, they pretend to be the superheroines they read about. Wilhelmina is Vapor Girl, in new stories they come up with their huge imaginations. Each take turn in playing the mandatory love interest of the superheroine. They don't go further than a brush of lips or a fake passionate embrace like they show in movies, but – as half naked as they are – it's still the most intimate each of them has ever been with another person.
Her father too busy with his position in the Worthington Industries and her mother too preoccupied of her role of proper socialite, Wilhelmina's parents seldom call, let alone pay her a visit. They barely show up for his first birthday away from home, reason for Wilhelmina to hold a grudge. But, presented with the prospect of a party in which she's forced to smile and be polite with girls she stopped liking when she was 8, she quickly changes her mind. Besides, Ms. Xavier arranges for a small surprise celebration: for the first time, Wilhelmina's birthday isn't an opportunity for his parents to show off their wealth, or to strengthen connections, but she's treated as the main guest and lavished not with luxurious and useless knick-knacks but gifts that meet her interests and tastes.
Wilhelmina's first winter break brings a novelty. Ms. Xavier has arranged to bring her class to the East Coast for a couple of days, and she included a visit to Los Angeles and a tour to Hollywood. While enjoying the surroundings in a packet street, Wilhelmina is courted by a talent scout, who promises her that her grace and beauty will grant her a bright future in Hollywood. Wilhelmina declines, uninterested: if she could pick a career, and she had the freedom to choose for her own life, acting wouldn't be her first choice. Still, Ms. Xavier, to whom Wilhelmina immediately tells about the bizarre offer, suggests she didn't close to opportunities and offers to accompany her to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts: she knows the President and she can organize a visit. A new world opens to Wilhelmina, but is reluctant to follow Ms. Xavier's advice: she will never be allowed to act, in her future awaits a good marriage and an array of children to continue the bloodline, or so her grandfather told her since she can remember. Also, she fears that someone might recognize her: the Worthington have connections, and she could bet that there might be a friend of her grandfather in the school board. If her grandfather were to discover that she wants to study acting, she would be in deep trouble. Ms. Xavier has a solution for that: Wilhelmina is presented with a wig, luscious red curls that, on her pale skin and slim face, manage to completely change her appearance, so much that Wilhelmina herself struggles to recognize herself in the mirror when she dons it the first time.
Despite the Academy had already met its semester quota, Ms. Xavier's influence obtains her an interview. Under the supervision of the Headmistress, and with the help of her friends, she prepares a scene and she's admitted.
Her days are now full: in the mornings she follows the study course at the college, and in the afternoon she attends the two-years course at the Academy.
During the second winter holidays, Wilhelmina returns home to discover that she's to meet the boy she'll marry. Cameron Hodge is the grandson of a business partner of Warren Sr. and his school career has already been diverted to focus on economics, so that he will be best prepared to be second in line for the board director's seat at the Worthington Industries.
Wilhelmina throws a scene. She cannot accept that someone else chose who she'll marry, but what irks her more is that nobody has ever considered that she might follow a course of studies to become a board director once her grandfather first and father then will retire. She can't see why a complete stranger she barely recalls from a visit or two at the Estate could be considered fitting for the role while her, the only one who carries the surname and the blood of the Worthington, is put aside as unworthy. She cites as an example few European women, but her grandfather wants to hear nothing about it: it's not a job for a woman, to head an economical conglomerate. What hurts the most is that her own mother doesn't take her side: it's not what women do, she says. Good women become dotting wives, they don't go into business – they call that occupation “businessman” for a reason, she says.
Anyone who matters in New York's upper class is invited to an exclusive gala, and teen Wilhelmina goes, her first public appearance with Cameron Hodge – the engagement will be made official only when she'll be of age. It's here, between elegant dresses and gleaming jewels, that future heiress Wilhelmina Kenna and nobleman-turned-actor Arthur Albert Hartwood meet for the first time. He's there as part of the British delegation, the new generation of pompous aristocrats that will arise once their fathers retire, and finds the whole thing quite boring. As a young woman, Wilhelmina is barely acknowledged, when discussions eventually turn on politics and economics. They both look around, in search of a distraction, and they notice each other. Arthur Albert, always the charming, comes to her with invitation for a dance, during which they have the chance to talk about each other, sharing their common hatred for the very people surrounding them.
In the following days, as she's busy with a shopping spree to buy Christmas gifts, Wilhelmina has the feeling she's stalked, for he finds Arthur Albert wherever she goes – although he acts as the most gentleman he could. She's flattered by the genuine courting he puts up, but she's also been taught to play hard to catch, and so she keeps to herself. Enough to drive Arthur Albert to amp up his charm. There's a passionate stolen kiss under a decorated tree, as proper to a love story fitting to a novel to make housewives sigh and dream, but as it has started their romance ends, as the year draws to its end. Arthur Albert is to fly back to the UK, and Wilhelmina will soon return to the school.
Wilhelmina successfully finishes the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During the graduation performance she fears someone might recognize her despite the red wig she wears and tell her parents, but her lucky star makes sure that all goes well and her new achievements remains unknown to her family. It's been a hobby for her, and she doesn't plan to ever use the degree – it will be her secret.
*
New comic books find the small but stocked library of the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies. Ms. Xavier firmly believes that this new genre of comics will become successful in the future, and the unique story-telling will be perfect to convey important messages or analyze issues that plague the society in a simple and yet subtle way that perhaps will turn out even better that pamphlets and tedious books. The five students are thus introduced to the incredible adventures of The Fantastic Four and to The Mightiest Avengers, but the title that is most successful between the girls is the newest title, The Uncanny X-Men. Unlike the other two fictional groups, which are compromised by adults, some well into their thirties, the X-Men feature a group of five youngsters with incredible powers given them by mutations. Lead by their stern professor and students of a private school by day, they hide their abilities to pass for average people. Each of the characters, four boys and one girl, have qualities and flaws. Ms. Xavier had a hunch that her young ladies would've loved this title the best, and isn't surprised when she's revealed that each student has picked their own favorite in which they might see themselves. The Uncanny X-Men feature a varied rooster, after all, and each of the characters have traits that Ms. Xavier can spot in her own girls, from the stoic attitude of Summer Scott, similar to the one of X-Men's Cyclops, to the apt intelligence of the X-Men's Beast the Headmistress can find in Harriet.
As the most feminine of the group, the girls expect Wilhelmina to take a liking for the X-Men's Marvel Girl, but Wilhelmina grows an attraction for the captivating Angel instead, the rich mutant who has wings to fly, and once in bed she dreams of waking up sprouting a pair of wings and finally be able to fly. At times she feels they could be alike, if not for their gender – and her lack of wings, of course.
The Headmistress suddenly has a request for Harriet, more a challenge actually: to develop a mean to let a person fly. Harriet puts aside other projects in order to prove Ms. Xavier that she can succeed. It takes Harriet months, but she designs the prototype of a harness with artificial wings. Ms. Xavier appoints Wilhelmina as the tester, under the pretense that of all the girls she's the only one who received extensively training in classic ballet and knows all about balance and discipline of body and mind. Wilhelmina – novel Icarus – finally discovers the delight of flying like her favorite comic-book superhero. At first it's a matter of floating without falling, but with training (and endless failures), Wilhelmina finally gets the hang of it.
The Uncanny X-Men turn out to encourage each of the girls to grow into better selves. As new issues are released, and new adventures told, Ms. Xavier's students challenge themselves – as if the hurdles they read on paper and how the mutant heroes overcome them, helped them face their own.
Summer finally overcomes her deep sense of failure for not finding any interest in any activity fitting to a lady, and embraces her interests in politics – now she can see herself succeeding in becoming the first-born U.S. female President, or at least give all of herself for such a dream. Her grandparents have never been unkind, but she knows she'll have to fight them for such a career.
Lorna understands that it will do her no good to cancel what she is in order to become the perfect daddy's girl for a man who has never been part of her life until recently – that she's entitled to choose for her own, and not let a parent she barely knows to dictate what she wants to be. She will work on herself in order to not let her father have such an hold on her, to grow out of the self-imposed shackles and free herself from this need to please this distant and harsh man.
Harriet promises herself that she won't settle for becoming a nameless researcher in a group of male peers, only for her discoveries to be claimed and monetized by a man. Now, in the controlled setting of the school's laboratory, and with the apparent limitless resources of the headmistress, she starts to design machines advanced decades from what is on the market.
Roberta, the youngest of them all, draws up the courage to open up on the confusing feelings she is repressing, and – with the gentle coaching of Lorna – she eventually realizes what a part of her always knew: that not only she doesn't wish to marry – like, ever – but that she actually fancies girls. She's not ready to act on her feelings, but it's already helpful that her friends don't think she's a freak for wanting to indulge in what she's always been lead to believe were impure and perverted ways of life.
Wilhelmina is less prompted into a change. Wilhelmina already knows what's expected from her and she's not ready to grow out of her cage, for as much as a part of her kicks and scream inside to rebel and face her grandfather. Ms. Xavier asks her why she picked the Angel, out of the X-Men rooster. And when Wilhelmina points to the wings, the Headmistress leads Wilhelmina to acknowledge the true reason why she's such obsessed with wings, something more to do with the wish to escape out of a cage built around her and to soar above it all, than the physical action of flying in the cold skies.
Wilhelmina and Lorna bond over their repressive and sexist families. They find themselves sharing the dream to become superheroes, and right any wrong. To prove that they are as worth as any other man, and that they will never need a man to flourish. And, yet, both acutely aware that such an option is forbidden to girls like them. Roberta, naive and free like only teenagers can be, is the one to suggest they did it – that they took advantage of their time away from home to fulfill their dreams and pretend to be superheroes just for a while. What their families won't discover won't hurt them, right?
The last months of the third – and last – year at the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies, Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington and Lorna Dane indeed turn into real superheroines.
Harriet's ever-growing stack of inventions hide many jewels between half-abandoned projects and discarded ideas. Lorna is drawn to a device that involves magnetism. She never expressed much interest in science so far, focused on studying history to please her father, but – Harriet growing impatience notwithstanding – she manages to understand a little what the device does and she quickly learns how to use it. The gauntlets fit her hands nicely, and she feels powerful when she manages to lift a heavy weight just by raising her arm in the air.
Their super abilities provided to, Wilhelmina and Lorna move to the next step: built their own superhero avatar. Summer is the only one of them who is proficient at sewing – she hates the activity but she's good at it. Roberta's fantasy in designing extravagant clothes is unmatched. Together, Summer and Roberta provide Lorna and Wilhelmina costumes fitting for their adventures. Lorna's main color is green, her favorite: a long dyed wig held in place by a tiara, a revealing bodice, opaque stockings and a long cape to hide the back-pack device connected to her gauntlets. Wilhelmina is fitted with a white and red catsuit to cover her from neck to toe, with the large pair of white feathers-covered articulated wings sprouting out from two holes in the back; the red wig is a loyal friend to Wilhelmina and she covers her natural blonde head with it. The last touch is masks, to protect their identities.
With the complicity of their friends, who take the oath that they'll keep the secret, and with Harriet's inventions, they take the streets to patrol the night like true superheroes. Magnetrix and the Red Angel together face some thugs and rumors about a superheroine who glides on low-key criminals with artificial wings or a woman in green moving objects with the power of will makes it to the news. If Ms. Xavier knows that behind the Magnetrix and the Red Angel hide two of her girls, she pretends not to, allowing Wilhelmina and Lorna to slip out of their room's window each night and return unseen in time to catch some sleep.
*
With graduation Wilhelmina looses the most freedom she ever enjoyed in her life. She has grown so much in the three years she had been away, and it's a challenge for her to readjust to a house that suddenly feels outdated and belonging to the previous century.
Back at the Worthington Estate, she is forced to the closeness of Cameron Hodge. She doesn't actively hate him, and he turns out to be a decent man, all things considered, but she doesn't love him. Cameron loves her, on the contrary, or at least is enamored with the girl he thinks Wilhelmina Worthington is. Gone are her adventures as the Red Angel, the companion of Magnetrix, impossible to bring home the harness and all the things Harriet designed for her; gone are the nights spent with the girls, dreaming about a different life when they can choose for themselves and not be stuck with what their families expect from them. Gone the illusion that one day she could be like the X-Men's Angel, a rich young man enjoying the freedom of his age and status, tied to earth only by his wish to have friends but belonging to the sky above.
Torn between duties and what she wants, it's a matter of time before she rebels. She's eighteenth. Her grandfather presses for the engagement to be made public, and a marriage in two years. Cameron grows restless the more months pass by, and harasses her to spend all their time together.
But another issue worries Wilhelmina. During her tenure as Red Angel, she uncovered the unscrupulous activities of a man called The Dazzler, whom Magnetrix managed to unmask as none other than Burt Worthington, Wilhelmina's uncle. But in the scuffle that ensured, Burt has managed to unmask her as well. After the shock of seeing each other in the least expected time and place, they have reached a silent agreement: as each knows the other's biggest secret, there's no chance for blackmailing. Wilhelmina thus can't reveal that her uncle has managed to use his contacts at the Worthington Industries to cover his illegal traffics, and Burt can't humiliate Wilhelmina with the revelation that she played superhero instead of studying. They don't have any chance to meet, as Burt isn't welcome in the Estate, but once in a while he pays a visit when Warren Sr. isn't home, and every time he smirks at her, as if challenging her to speak. Wilhelmina would, but she's acutely aware that her family wouldn't forgive her, should they discover her night activities.
To let Burt keep up with his shady activities is safer, for Wilhelmina. The Red Angel in her cries out in outrage, but Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington has her hands tied.
*
During one of the family's reunion for a Sunday lunch, without consulting with her in advance, Cameron Hodge asks for silence and announces that they are to marry. Wilhelmina hasn't been given any chance to agree (or not) to the proposal and, under the hawkish eyes of her grandfather and the pleased looks of her parents, she falls silent – angered and upset. An argument between her and Cameron ensues, as soon as they are alone. And Cameron reveals his true face: his grip leaves livid fingerprints on Wilhelmina's arms when he restrains her. Wilhelmina isn't a woman easily scared, she has learned to trust in herself and not let any imposing man frighten her, but the crazy light in Cameron's eyes has her shiver. He's not sane, and she tries to explain her mother that Cameron has two faces, one of which he hides well, but her mother doesn't believe her, accusing her to act like a whimsical girl. Not even the signs on her arms are enough for Margaret to side with her. But Wilhelmina is undeterred and decides to bring the matter right in the lap of the only one who has the power to put a stop to all of his: her grandfather. Warren Sr. laughs instead, claiming that it's normal for a husband to apply some force if his wife is misbehaving. They aren't married yet, but Wilhelmina is already treated as Cameron's property, not only by Cameron himself but her whole family as well.
She finds a surprising ally in her uncle Burt. He has his own agenda, and to remove Wilhelmina from the chessboard would go well with his plans to ease himself back into Warren Sr.'s good graces, but he takes Wilhelmina aside and explains that he knows about Cameron's eccentricities, and suggests she flies as far as she can while she can. He will speak with Margaret, his sister listens to him despite Sr.'s hostility, and he will try to convince her that the engagement must be broken before it's too late – in exchange for Wilhelmina's word that she will share the fortune with him once Sr. dies and she'll inherit the stocks Sr. already arranged for her to have upon his death.
But not even Burt's interested interference can do anything. Preparations for the marriage go on. Margaret oversees everything, and Wilhelmina is barely free to leave the Estate in order to go to the atelier that will make her the gown – she's never alone, Cameron's sister is attached to her hips, as if Cameron feared that she might fly away before he managed to chain her.
Cameron grows oppressive. He isn't scared of showing his true self now, as long as they are alone. But Wilhelmina isn't defenseless, she learned a trick or two while she was the Red Angel, and hits back. And once again she demands that her parents back her when she'll call the engagement off. Her father angrily orders her to grow up and stop acting like a whimsical child and she's even forced to meet Cameron and beg his forgiveness for her unproper behavior.
But now Cameron knows that the Worthington will always side with him, and he doesn't show restraint any longer. A week later Wilhelmina removes the big diamond ring she wears on her pinky and throws it in Cameron's face, calling the engagement off.
Warren Sr., outside the US for business, hastily returns home to face the crisis. Grandfather and granddaughter fight, Sr. believes it's within his rights to order Wilhelmina around as if she were one of his lackeys, and Wilhelmina is tired of bowing her head and let others take decisions in her place. She is more than capable to handle things on her own, she doesn't need a husband and certainly not a violent one as Cameron. She will enroll into any university of their choices, and graduate in economics – she will enter the Industries and make her own career until she'll be deemed worthy to sit on the boards of directors, she's ready to take an oath that she will succeed, she'll put herself into this, she won't fail them. But Sr. derides her. Everything is settled and it will be Cameron Hodge, as her husband, to command, both on the fortune and the new family they will build together. Wilhelmina scrambles to defend herself. She cites Ms. Stark, as an example of a woman in charge of a large corporation and an even larger fortune. Her grandfather gets red at the mere name, going on a rant on how that skank is proof that women should be kept away from anything that isn't a kitchen or a tea room. A woman who makes the headlines for her scandalous way of life, a licentious and a drunkard, certainly a reason for poor Howard Stark to turn in his grave for the shame of having sired such a daughter. The proof for how things can get wrong, if an heir-less industrialist dies before seeing their wayward daughters married to proper men who will keep them on a leash and under control. A mistake that he, Warren Worthington Sr. will not do. No woman will ever sit on his boards of directors, he won't allow it. And if she doesn't agree, she knows the way to the door.
Wilhelmina is alone. Her mother looks away when she searches for her help. Wilhelmina is put in front of an impossible choice: either she meekly returns to Cameron, begging him to marry her despite her attitude, or she can kiss the Worthington fortune goodbye. Wilhelmina, disappointed by the betrayal, picks up whatever she can fit in a bag and leaves, struggling to not let teardrops fall on her cheeks until she's out. She has some spare money and a taxi takes her to the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies, hoping that the headmistress will help her.
For a week, and then two, she waits, welcome guest at the school, hoping against all hopes that at least her mother will find her and show empathy. But nobody seems to care about her whereabouts, and Wilhelmina has to acknowledge that her life as a Worthington is ended, and she needs to build herself another one from scratch.
Ms. Xavier arranges to reunite her with her former schoolmates. Harriet suggests that she dons once again the costume of the Red Angel, promises she'll continue to provide devices and gadgets, but the superhero job doesn't pay for food or housing, and her cash stash won't last forever. It's Lorna who reminds her of that one time in which someone tried to offer her an acting gig. Now that she's no more a future heiress, she's free to pursue acting, should she want to. Lucky for her, Summer remembers the name on the business card Wilhelmina threw out that day years before: a visit to the talent scout's office is worth it, all things considered.
Ms. Xavier's gift is an address written on a note. A dear boy of his works in Los Angeles as a magazine model – she already called and he's willing to help, and even share his apartment for the time being, until Wilhelmina is able to stand on her own two feet. With the note in the pocket and the promise of a new life ahead, Wilhelmina leaves New York for the West Coast. Roberta is with her: she fought with her father but she might as well enroll to university like her father wants, and any city is fine.
Wilhelmina shows up at the talent scout's office and she's immediately accepted. As long as she's willing to work hard, he'll make a star out of her (and, luckily for Wilhelmina, she isn't on the receiving ends of “special requests” to earn the man's collaboration). Wilhelmina presses for a name change: she knows her family will never allow for her to take up acting, and as long as she'll wear the Worthington surname, they will be able to find her out, and shut down any path ahead with their money. She gets the name Katherine Wallis. She's not fan, but anything if she can get rid of the last link to the family who betrayed her.
Xavier's contact turns out to be a nice guy. His name is John Jr. Grey, has fiery red hair and a nice attitude and they immediately like each other. And possibly more than like, at least from Wilhelmina's part, who falls for him in an unrequited love that reveals itself the day when her friends pay a visit to see how she settled up, and John Jr. has eyes only for Summer and her more reserved beauty.
***
Eddie Braddock is now a rising star. Gone is his British accent and, asked to dye his hair, now sports a black elegant-styled mane. He's been hired for every kind of roles, and has proven he's versatile. He has an uncanny ability to quickly learn his lines and he's easy to work with, making him the dear of the majors. He has made money and he enjoys a eccentric lifestyle, he drives fast cars and women love him. But in the secret of his private life he has a big appetite for any shape people come with. Not homosexual, but not entirely heterosexual either. Although he's discreet, the nature of his relationship with the singer Alastair Dazzler is known among his colleagues. He has big appetites, and he's not scared of exercising them.
Publicly, his studios generate stories about his liaisons with a variety of his female colleagues, painting him as an eligible bachelor who doesn't have time to commit to a single woman.
The last young actress the PR department want him to date is Katherine Wallis, on contract by the same company Eddie works for. They both have changed since that evening at the gala in New York – more than in mere name. Katherine has further grown in grace and beauty, and sports red wavy flocks that make her appear a different person than the young Wilhelmina Arthur Albert once courted. And Eddie too has changed for the better. Upon their first meeting at the filming studios, when they are introduced to each other, neither recognizes the other from a forgotten past and a lone, passionate kiss. While Eddie is used to get along with the studios bizarre requests, Katherine isn't, and she's reluctant to accept to play the part of the fake date of the leading actor just to advance her own career. She's been cast to be one of the women who rotate around Eddie's main character, and the publicity would help the success of the movie, so she can't exactly refuse and her cooperation is required. During filming, they spend time together and genuine feelings blossom. But Eddie is too used to philandering around, while Katherine has just come out of an abusive relationship and isn't looking forward for commitment, so nothing serious follows.
Wilhelmina discovers that her mother has secretly kept updated on her whereabouts, hiring a private investigator to find out where she ended up, when one day she receives a letter. Margaret admits that she had been wrong in never siding with her pleas of help, and wishes she acted differently when it was time to face Warren Sr.'s wrath. She cannot change the past but wishes all the best for her daughter, hoping that she might find in acting the happiness she wasn't allowed in the Worthington household. Wilhelmina and her mother start a prolific correspondence, in which Wilhelmina signs herself with the nickname Angel and asks his old friend John Jr. to be the recipient and the mail to be delivered at his house.
Further time passes by. Katherine Wallis gets more roles and finally her career seems about to hit. At the last minute, the leading woman to star alongside Eddie as the main love interest drops out due to personal issues, and Katherine is asked to replace her. Eddie and Katherine meet again. Chemistry between them is undeniable, bringing more nuance to their roles. They're both acclaimed and the movie receives astounding reviews. And the fake kisses in front of the camera might turn real once offset. For a while they date, and they are spotted together at parties. In private, they finally come out, revealing to be both runaways who searched for hiding in Hollywood, and their common upbringing is reason to get closer outside of the glamour of their public lives.
Eddie's eyes wander a bit too much, though, and temptations don't lack in their lifestyle, especially when the both of them work and Katherine has no interest in quitting to be the housewife of one of the most popular movie stars. Katherine is also cold and self-centered at times, making things no easier for the more expansive and confident Eddie. Their romance in the following years is rocky and complicated, they break up to then return together for a couple of times and, by the time Katherine is a main star on her own, they are off again.
For a while Eddie secretly dates the leading actor of the Fantomex tv series, Jean-Philippe Cluster – who despite the same surname, don't seem to be related to his once friend Charlie and her mysterious brother Charles.
Katherine receives flattering mail, but for the thousands of love letters the studios gets, the ones with the most troubling content arrive at her home, with no stamp on the envelope. She gets flowers and other gifts, all signed by a mysterious Mr. Right, who declares his wish to marry her and make her his own. Katherine is annoyed but thinks that nothing bad will happen, and underestimates the danger, as Mr. Right's attentions are erratic at best: to months of red roses delivered daily follow months of silence.
Katherine Wallis, ahead of her times, is one of the first famous women to attend flight school and fight to get a pilot's license. In interviews, when asked about this passion of hers, she jokingly claims that in a previous life she must have been a bird.
Katherine in the years has kept in touch with those she calls “her four girls”. Each of them have moved on, like their mutants counterparts, which disbanded after the death of their mentor when the title was canceled at issue #47.
John Jr. has proposed to Summer and together they moved back to Alaska, where they live a quiet life loving each other, untroubled and with more money to keep them than what they can spend. Katherine is ecstatic when she gets the news that Summer is pregnant and will soon give birth to a baby boy – although she secretly hopes the baby will take his father's outstanding beauty.
Roberta has brilliantly graduated but situation at home had been one of constant fight. Her mother has discovered and accepted Roberta's preferences. Her father, none the wiser, keeps reminding Roberta it's time to get herself a man and marry before she's too old to make babies. Her and her father's relationship deteriorated because of this and they barely talk to each other, but Robert has nowhere else to go and still works at the family's firm.
Harriet has managed to meet Dr. Richards, her hero, but she missed the chance to work with him. She has been hired by a research company, but her brilliant job is still eclipsed by the more mediocre men who keep getting promoted over her, so she has learned to tone down her discoveries and give back exactly as much as the company gives her, no ounce more.
Lorna has got her degree in archaeology and she lives most of the year on sites. It's not the career she had in mind, but she likes it better than any other future a woman of her status could aim to. The relationship with her father is rocky, he's genuine in his attempts to reach out and learn how to be family, but his duties and at times old-minded attitude lead too heated arguments followed by months of silence by both father and daughter. She has found two siblings, though – one brother and a sister, who Lorna cherishes and who love her back.
*
After years of absence from his country, Eddie returns to London when his sister Breanna, against their father's wishes, invites him to her wedding with bank owner Curt Ross. It's the first time, since that day when he left home, that Eddie and his father meet. Elijah Hartwood doesn't even nod to acknowledge his presence at the ceremony, but Jacqueline embraces her son – admitting that she has seen every movie he starred in. Breanna asks her brother when he'll finally marry a woman who will make him an honest man, but Eddie agrees that he doesn't see himself chained in a marriage.
Around the same time, Katherine Wallis too is fated to return home. Margaret begs Wilhelmina to fly to New York when Warren Sr.'s health deteriorates. She hopes for grandfather and only granddaughter to reconcile before it's too late. Wilhelmina is reluctant but eventually relents. Warren Sr. will never admit that he was wrong, and won't ask forgiveness either, but he's willing to accept Wilhelmina in the household again, on the condition that she immediately retires from what he calls “a slim cut above streetwalker” and dyes her hair back to blond, for red hair are fitting only to “questionable women”. He dies without making any step toward a reconciliation. Still, in his last will, Warren Sr. hasn't included any mention of disinheriting Wilhelmina as he always threatened to, and Wilhelmina Kenna not only receives the shares in the Worthington Industries she was promised when she still was the obedient good girl of the Estate but Warren Sr. left instructions for Kenneth to hold the chair of board director until Wilhelmina proves to be ready to relieve him.
As the legal matters are tended to, she stays at the Worthington Estate. Her father barely speaks to her, but this time Margaret is willing to shut her husband up when arguments degenerate – for as much as Warren Sr. appointed him to board director, the stock holder is still Margaret and the Estate is hers now.
Cameron Hodge arrogantly crawls back into Wilhelmina's life. First is the pretext of condolences, then a wish to apologize for his appalling behavior and mend fences. Terry Southern returns as well. They both are adults now, and he's already sitting in a couple of boards of directors. Wilhelmina and Terry rekindle their romance: not only Terry doesn't care that Wilhelmina is a famous actress, but he's happy that she found her true path, even if it comes with obligations that eventually recall her to Los Angeles. But now Wilhelmina has some leverage and obtains from the studio that she be able to live in New York. She buys a flat in Soho, Manhattan, and takes residence there. Wilhelmina and Terry live together. Despite the strict education she received, Wilhelmina has long since ditched the expectation that she must stay virgin until marriage. She does her best to keep her private life private, but she's not scared should anyone release to magazines that she left Los Angeles to live with a man who isn't her husband.
But Cameron doesn't accept her choices. Unable to move on, one day stumbles upon the flat, a gun in his pocket, accusing Terry of stealing him Wilhelmina and poisoning her mind. He blames Terry for everything, including a “lifestyle” a man should never allow their woman to have, and to which he will put a stop once Wilhelmina will be his wife. He will make sure Wilhelmina will return to be a modest woman, and not the slut Terry made of her. Cameron doesn't hide that he has double reasons for wanting Wilhelmina, one is an obsessive, unhealthy attraction and the other is the promise of controlling the fortune Wilhelmina is the future heir of. Under the thread of a gun pointed at him, Terry is ordered by a crazed Cameron to swear he will vanish from Wilhelmina's life, so that Wilhelmina might finally realize to whom she belongs to.
Wilhelmina's arrival is unexpected. Cameron, spooked, fires his weapon, hitting Terry in the chest. Wilhelmina spurts into action, trying to take the gun from Cameron. Another fire is shot, this time killing Cameron on the spot. Wilhelmina is left to rocking Terry for the man's last breaths. The police, called by an alarmed resident, finds her still holding the lifeless body of Terry.
Investigations reveal the years-long stalking of Cameron to Katherine Wallis, and Margaret tells the police about Cameron's violent past behavior. The Worthington's money and connections buy the silence of everyone involved, but eventually the story is released, alongside the reveal that Katherine Wallis, the Hollywood rising star of grace and beauty, is Wilhelmina Kenna Worthington, heiress to a fortune. Katherine Wallis/Wilhelmina Worthington is painted as the victim of a crazed man who never accepted a broken engagement, and Terry is portrayed as a close family friend who was caught in the crossfire and wrongly perceived by Hodge as a rival.
Burt weasels into the life of Cameron Hodge's mother. Once widowed, now that her son has died, she is the sole heir to the Hodge's fortune, and Burt wants to put his hands on that. The woman falls for his gentle manners and in the span of few months the marriage is held. With a small industry empire of his own, Burt exits the Worthington's household and his attempts to get his part of the immense fortune are permanently put to rest. To further fight against Wilhelmina would be a waste of time and money and he has a new life to look forward to.
Now that her true identity has leaked and her life has become more complicated than ever, Wilhelmina takes temporarily leave from her acting duties, dropping out of a project that would later warrant her replacement an Award.
Surprisingly, one day Eddie shows up at her door. He's missed her and, worried about her well-being, has jumped on the first flight to see her in the flesh and check how she was faring. Wilhelmina is a very private woman, when her emotions and turmoils are involved, but she melts down and his arms are a welcome refuge for her to finally let all her tears out.
They agree to resume their romance, despite the distance.
*
Less than a year after Terry's tragic loss, Kenneth Frost dies of heart-attack and Wilhelmina becomes the principal shareholder of Worthington Industries. At 27, she's officially the fifth richest person in the U.S. and the third richest woman in the world. She has to fight against an hostile boards of directors and, backed by her mother, she finally has her seat. A competent new board director is elected, but Wilhelmina is willing to pursue the position as soon as she's ready. But her choice to personally manage her fortune requires that she officially retires from acting and put Katherine Wallis to her final rest, so she might focus on her next occupation.
Her first act as heiress is to personally allocate funds to offer Harriet to leave her current job at a research company and head her own laboratory. Her long-time friends at the Xavier's School for Refined Young Ladies are invited to become business partner, with the stocks equally split between them five (her way to repay them for how they supported her through the years). The small subsidiary company, called X-Factor, Incorporated, is dedicated to Harriet's inventions, and in few years amasses plenty of patents. The X-Factor Inc. produces and manufactures appliances and other innovations that seem to come out of a Sci-fi novel set fifty years in the future. But X-Factor Inc. also sponsor a superheroine. Lorna Dane might've become an archaeologist, but she never forgot the excitement and fulfillment she felt when she put a green wig on her head and used the marvels of technology and science to master the magnetic forces. But the life of a superhero is an expensive one, especially if the superhero needs special devices that cannot be acquired easily, so her feats as Magnetrix have been a memory of the past.
Wilhelmina, remembering the words of regret in Lorna's letters, calls her with the proposal to pull the green costume out of the closet and bring back Magnetrix. Lorna can't believe her ears, and jumps on the chance. She changes her name to a better sounding Polaris and, with a slightly updated costume to reflect her maturity (and show more cleavage), she returns to her first love: superheroing.
Taking a leaf out of Susan Sturm and the Fantastic Four Enterprises Susan helms, Wilhelmina establishes the X-Factor Trust, a foundation in which funnel the resources necessary to sponsor Magnetrix. And when Lorna suggests to create a superhero team, she's given full discretionary power to pick the rooster, with her as team leader. The innovative idea of a public superhero team, in contrast to the more secret ones that operated during the War and in the following two decades, draws attention and interest from Marvel Comics, the publisher of the comic books that were part of the formative years of Ms. Xavier's five girls, that negotiates for licensing. Gone are the times of The Uncanny X-Men, as the title has been canceled with its issue #47 and the disbanding of the team, but there's still huge request for new superheroes that might entertain the new generations.
But Wilhelmina Worthington's involvement, officially only as one the backers, also piques the interest in Hollywood. A major expresses interest in acquiring rights for a tv series featuring the astonishing Magnetrix as the feminist super-heroine for the modern world.
Harriet continues to provide to the X-Factor's needs for gadgets and equipment, with the help of her assistant, the talented Jamie Madrox. But she's also looking into Dr. Richards forgotten research on what he labeled unstable molecules: Dr. Richards dropped the research when he was redirected to the national space program, but agreed the use of his research to Harriet on terms that any discovery will not be monetized and any patent will be shared with the Fantastic Four Foundation no-profit. Harriet foresees the use for these sub-atomic clusters as the textile for the costumes of superheroes, should she succeed were Dr. Richards stopped: to stabilize them into a polymer. It's still a long path, before this can be achieved, but Harriet has time, and there's no lack of funds, since there is no private manufacturing industries pressing for results.
Wilhelmina eventually makes a move for the seat that belonged to her father and her grandfather before him. The board fights back with everything they can, including a slandering campaign about her past as actress and Cameron Hodge's story, but they fail. Each decision she makes is met with open hostility. Not even when the first year's results under her helm are certified to be positive, the board of directors relents their personal fight against their female CEO. They even resort to legal means to stop her: a request to have Wilhelmina removed from the seat of CEO on the basis that no serious woman would date a renowned playboy such as Eddie Braddock, nor the competent president of a company the likes of the Worthington Enterprise would back a superhero team.
Wilhelmina hires Nelson & Murdock, the same firm that assists the Fantastic Four Corporation on their legal issues. Attorney Murdock gives a vibrant closing argument and the judge rules for Wilhelmina.
And Wilhelmina then plans her revenge, to take out the board. A deep investigation proves the board's involvement in a conspiracy to get illegal control of the company, and also unveils the corruption from a rival company, none other than the Frost Technologies lead by Wilhelmina's uncle, the reactionary Winston Frost. Wilhelmina gets the resignations of all the members of the board on her desk in the next 24 hours and can start anew.
The Worthington Industries, under her management, further grow and in few years, led by the achievements of the X-Factor subsidiary, become a competitor to Stark Industries. There is no hostility between the two giants, though: Wilhelmina and Ms. Stark not only find an agreement to not step on each other's toes, but they also strike a friendship that will benefit both each other and women in the US. Each pulling their strings and making good use of their economical powers, they support feminist movements and also fund campaign for more women to be elected in the Congress.
*
Eddie's relationship with Wilhelmina, between highs and lows, holds. He's a natural flirt and he works with the most beautiful women of the planet, so temptation is daily. Eddie has eyes to see, and he can't suppress his attraction, but he's committed now and Wilhelmina is the woman he always returns to. Touches and a little too affectionate gestures may happen, but he never goes further. Gone are the times when Eddie Braddock shared at least a passionate kiss off-set with any of her female co-leads.
Eddie Braddock never considered marriage, or he just doesn't see himself as husband material. Or he's just happy with the life he leads. But Wilhelmina yearns for more. At their second anniversary she expects a proposal that doesn't come. And when it becomes clear that their relationship is stagnant and Eddie isn't ready to take it to the next step, she decides for them to break up with no explanation besides a generic “we have too different goals to work”, leaving Eddie's heart in shambles. Eddie had never been happier than since he resumed his romance with Wilhelmina and doesn't understand the sudden decision to truncate their relationship: he thought everything was fine and there weren't issues that would push Wilhelmina to put a stop on them. And doesn't accept it either. He manages to track down one of Wilhelmina's best friends, John Grey, and he's both enlightened and shocked to hear the real reason why Wilhelmina pulled the plug on their romance.
Breanna and Wilhelmina had the chance to get to know each other before a blind Eddie almost ruined it all. She's the one Eddie calls in the middle of the night to ask if he can be a good husband. Breanna reassures him that he can be whatever he wants, if properly motivated, and she has the feeling Wilhelmina can be the right woman to keep her wayward twin brother in check. Breanna ends the call urging him to make the proposal, before a better suitor finds Wilhelmina and sweeps her away to the altar.
The necessary time to be prepared, and Eddie shows up at Wilhelmina's luxurious flat and gets on his knees, pulling out a ring with a diamond the size of a walnut he acquired at one of the world's most exclusive jewelry brands – a stone that is yet to be named and that would be later christened the Braddock-Worthington diamond.
The prenuptial is as scary as expected, and involves a whole army of lawyers to write it down, but Eddie has no care for the Worthington's fortune: he's rich on his own, he doesn't need Wilhelmina's money, and he doesn't fight on the matter.
The only point that gets the two parties in a deadlock is the question of their children's surname, for the Worthington family presses for the future heir of the Worthington fortune to keep the surname, and Eddie's legals fight back on the basis that the right to give the surname to the children belongs to the husband. Eddie might be open-minded and not chained by obsolete sexists customs, but on the surname he discovers he might be a little more patriarchal that he thought and he's not that much willing to surrender.
In the end they compromise on leaving the matter to be discussed when the time will require for it to be settled.
Wilhelmina, proving that she's willing to trust him, has refused the suggestion from her legal team to press for a clause that would leave him completely broke should she believe him a cheater – something that Eddie truly appreciates, even if he feels it unnecessary. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, someone wise said, but even if he were that much stupid to chase other girls when she has a beauty such a Wilhelmina waiting for him at home, it would be complete suicide to anger a woman as powerful as Wilhelmina Worthington over a nameless and worthless fling: she has the money and connections to buy out a studio if she wished so, even just to get him kicked out of Hollywood. It's a recurring joke between them, although Wilhelmina would never be such petty as to ruin Eddie's career even if he cheated on her. (He can't say the same about Wilhelmina's new favorite best friend, Ms. Stark; that woman might've flirted with him like she meant to get him naked and against a wall right in front of Wilhelmina, but she's not a woman who would take his side, should he break Wilhelmina's heart). They have an agreement, though. Wilhelmina has come to accept that men are men, and an illicit affair is to be expected, and the duty of a good wife is to pretend to not see and ignore the other woman – it's a teaching that her mother instilled in her when she was still a girl, and it's too late to change her mind. Wilhelmina is willing to overlook as long as it's a casual one-night stand – if she even ears that he's indulging himself with a woman more than once, she'll kick him out so quick that he will land on his ass before he understood what happened.
It's the unofficial concession to have flings, as if it were a necessity, but Eddie won't cheat on Wilhelmina just because she's been raised thinking it's right for a husband to cheat on his wife. Wilhelmina might not believe that men can be faithful to their wives, but Eddie is set on proving her wrong.
The wedding ceremony is private – for as much private a ceremony between a former actress now billionaire heiress and one of Hollywood's icons can be. Some of the U.S. film industry's brightest stars are invited, but also members of the most prominent New York upper-class, as they all are in some ways connected to the Worthingtons by blood or other kind of relations. Eddie's old-friends, the X-Forcers, are all tracked down, and each receives their invitation – including Charlie. Although Eddie, when Wilhelmina is not looking, slips a handwritten note in the envelope begging Charlie to keep the secret on their Ritz two-days parties; Wilhelmina might know that he swings for both teams, but it's not wise to tell her everything about how he has come to accept his duality in love and romances nor how much open he is regarding sexual intimacies.
Even though he has officially changed his name to Edward Braddock, Eddie is still an Hartwood and can't escape that. He's not happy about it, as it took him many years to finally put his past life behind his back, but Wilhelmina talks him into sending invitations to all his family, including his father. The stubborn Lord Elijah initially refuses to even consider to go: not only his heir has disgraced their name by picking up an acting career but he's also marrying an American woman who, despite being considered akin to a princess for the amount of fortune she sits on, she is no aristocracy. But he's no getting any younger, and Arthur Albert remains the only male heir of the household.
It's a shocking surprise for Eddie to see his parents show up at the ceremony. He ignores that, the day before the wedding, Jacqueline had the chance to meet Wilhelmina and sat down with the bride-to-be for a long-expected conversation with her soon daughter-in-law.
Lord Elijah Hartwood is cold, and employs the typical manners of a British nobleman who disapproves of a person but is required to be polite by etiquette. Still, it's his obligation to inform the now Mrs. Braddock that she has become part of the noble house of the Hartwood and has therefore acquired Arthur Albert's titles, including the right to be called Lady from now on. It's not an approval, but Lord Elijah has no choice but accept that nothing will return the man known as Edward Braddock to Arthur Albert Hartwood and the expectations Elijah held for his second son. It's a long way to full reconciliation between father and son, but it's a first step.
During the banquet that follows the ceremony, Roberta Drake is introduced to Christine Frost, one of Wilhelmina's cousins. It's Christine's first time she resurfaces since she's been released from the mental institution where her father, the late Winston Frost, had her sent to, and she's clearly overwhelmed. Her younger brother, Emmett Frost, has stepped up as new CEO of the Frost Technologies and is willing to let her sister have access to some of the family's fortune their father left him; it's thanks to him and his influence, that Christine is free, and it's him who wanted her to come to the event and be seen in a semi-public event.
Roberta and Christine spend the whole banquet together, talking and bonding as if they were knit friends who had been close since kindergarten. To Roberta, Christine eventually confesses that the reason why her father had her locked in an institution was because he found out she liked girls. They figure out together what it means to be lesbians in a society when feminism and sexual freedom is at its dawn.
*
There's no respite for the Hartwood and their scandalous romances.
At a gala, Breanna is introduced to Constantin Puceanu, a British Romani Olympic-level swordsman, and Breanna immediately falls in love with him and his candor. His growing affections for the sport champion is the last straw for her already damaged child-less marriage with Curt. The divorce that follows is painful and traumatic, as Curt isn't willing to let Breanna go, but Breanna eventually is free to marry Constantin, and soon she gives him their first child, the beautiful Jacqueline, named after Breanna's mother. For once, it won't be Arthur Albert the object of Lord Elijah's rage. But the birth of his first granddaughter eventually mellows even the rock-hard heart of Lord Hartwood.
Eddie immediately falls in love with his niece and can't wait for Breanna to give him a nephew too: he looks forward to become the eccentric and spoiling uncle of his sister's rugrats.
Eddie loves children, but never press the matter on Wilhelmina – he's not sure he is a man made to be a father, and doesn't want to push his wife in a role that she might not want. His keen eyes don't miss the way Wilhelmina struggles to act when she's in the presence of Jacqueline, awkward and uncomfortable.
Wilhelmina has always considered motherhood more a duty than a dream. She's not against making a family, quite the contrary, she's not much keen on the whole pregnancy side of it. Still, after focusing on her career, she's reminded by her mother that she'll be getting no younger and it's time for her womb to be put to use before it's too late. Their first child is named Edward Jr. from the father, as custom for the first male-born the Worthington family, and he's appended the Worthington surname, settling a matter that had been reason for friction between husband and wife since before the marriage. Eddie is smitten and, once he discovers the joys of fatherhood, might be eager to make other babies – Wilhelmina permitting.
***
Before she met Elijah Hartwood, Jacqueline Braddock was offered the honor to become the champion of Britain, chosen by the great Merlyn and imbued by the energies of the British islands themselves. Encouraged by her father John, she accepted the challenge and took the name of Lady Avalon. Her father introduced her to Lord Falsworth, the original Union Jack, who mentored her until she was ready to become the hero Britain needed and, protected by a full-head mask that covered all her face, she served as the premier female protector of the Empire. She partnered with the second Union Jack, Brian Falsworth, when he decided to step up and take up his father's mantle. Striking a friendship that would last up to Brian's tragic end, Jacqueline was honored to be privy of the true nature of Brian's “special relationship” with his close friend Roger Aubrey. When Brian died in Germany during the Germany-Austrian war, Jacqueline – wearing the costume of Lady Avalon – was at his funeral, comforting the devastated Robert.
But all changed when Jacqueline and Elijah met. Jacqueline is charmed by Lord Hartwood's refined manners, and she is honored at his courting. But she never trusts him enough to share with him her secret identity of Lady Avalon, for he has an old-fashioned concept of the role of a woman, and masked superheroine isn't included in what he might accept as a suiting occupation for one – especially for the woman he proposes to and will become the new Lady Hartwood.
With her marriage soon to be celebrated and knowing that her husband would never accept for her to be the Lady Avalon, Jacqueline relinquished the gold staff and retired, to be a wife and a mother. Given the early status of the superhero existence in this reality, no other Captain Britain was chosen, and a champion from other realities would be temporary assigned to Earth-33 if necessity arose.
On the day of her 21st birthday, Merlyn came to Breanna's dreams offering her the chance to become a champion like her mother before her. Powered by a golden scepter, and her face completely masked with the colors of the Union Jack, Breanna served for a while as Lady Briton, her mother the guardian of her secret. But her growing duties as the daughter of Lord Hartwood coupled with the risk of being accidentally unmasked or to put her family in danger, lead Breanna to the hard decision to return the Amulet of Right, and another prospective champion to be picked in her stead. Arthur Albert, then already Edward Braddock, was not offered the mantle: Roma considered Arthur Albert immature and unable to abide to duties and rules, as his choice to desert his family to escape to Los Angeles proved.
The reality again was left without a native Captain Britain.
The test comes to Eddie when Wilhelmina is expecting their first child. He is now deemed ready for the honor and the task that wearing Captain Britain's mantle requires. Back when Breanna confessed him that she was the woman behind the Lady Briton mask, Eddie wondered what he lacked for Merlyn to pick his twin instead of him. He had come to think that Merlyn for some reason preferred his champions to be women, but a part of him – the part that, prompted by his grandfather, enjoyed to read comic books about superheroes and their uncanny powers – always envied Breanna for the chance he wasn't given.
During the dream he is warned that he must not look behind in the past and make comparisons to his sister, and he must embrace the mantle with pureness of heart, with no jealousy, revenge or recriminations to drive his choice. It isn't easy for Eddie, but he promises he'll do his best. And, proof he has his heart in the right place, he picks the Amulet of Right.
The investiture is his secret. He looks at Wilhelmina, now always annoyed by the mood swinging caused by the pregnancy, and fears that she won't understand what led him to accept. He fears that Wilhelmina will force him to choose between his – theirs – family and the mantle. The fact Wilhelmina founded a superhero team and siphons money into it doesn't reassure Eddie that she will accept that her own husband wants his own superhero career.
Under the pretense of seeing his British family more and claiming to be missing his nephews, a couple of days later Eddie flies to the UK where he shares the news with his mother and his sister. Both happy for him, they are eager to help him – as long as he wants to be Captain Britain, they will support him. They are concerned about Eddie's decision to not talk with Wilhelmina but, while Breanna doesn't agree and insists Wilhelmina needs to know, Jacqueline understands, for she did the same when it was her the mantle and the responsibility.
Eddie reaches out for Kiyoko, explaining he needs to talk him about something. They meet in a quiet small pub near the Hartwood manor. Kiyoko is the first outside of his family he tells about it: Eddie feels he is betraying Wilhelmina's trust by doing so, but the fear of loosing his own family over this is too strong and the risk too high to dare. Eddie asks Kiyoko to tutor him: to become a worthy champion, he must learn how to fight, so to not depend on a golden staff to defend himself. But he cannot move into the UK, Eddie must return to New York: he can't afford to stay longer, he has a pregnant wife at home and he wants to be there for her (not to mention he doesn't want to risk that Wilhelmina might discover he's keeping secrets with her). Kiyoko accepts to teach him martial arts and train him into the art of sword fighting. He also agrees to follow him in the US, under any pretense Eddie chooses to tell his wife – if Eddie decides to tell his wife about his coming.
For the following weeks Eddie hides his lessons with Kiyoko to Wilhelmina, to the point that she becomes suspicious and asks him if he's seeing someone she might know about. Embarrassed, and offended for the accusation of cheating when he never gave Wilhelmina reasons to doubt about his fidelity, Eddie reacts in the wrong way, and they have an heated fight followed by days of mutual silence.
Until Eddie acknowledges that Wilhelmina deserves to know the truth before the idea of him being a cheater on a pregnant wife can cement in her mind. Unexpectedly, Wilhelmina actually burst out into a laugh when he admits he'd been scared of telling her his secret and that he was almost tempted to try his luck with faking a steamy romance with Kiyoko instead. The laugh is so violent that, for a moment, Eddie starts to fear for her and their children's healthy – or her sanity. Ever heard of the first partner of Magnetrix, the Red Angel?, she asks. A dumbfounded Eddie thus discovers that his wife, way before moving to Los Angeles for a temporary career in acting, had been a superhero on her own. Nonetheless to say, Eddie's way to celebrate the resumed harmony is to pick Wilhelmina up bride-style out of a sudden and dash out of the open window, to share with her the gift of flight that she will never be afforded without the use of artificial wings.
That very night Eddie lays awake, wondering how much stupid was for him to fear Wilhelmina's rejection over having a superhero as husband. Still, they agree that he'll be the most discreet, and that no one must know that Captain Britain is in any way related to Edward Braddock – both for their safety and for their sanity. Eddie gives his word: nobody will ever discover his secret identity.
The oath is threatened by external circumstances beyond Eddie's control.
It's an afternoon, and Eddie is – with hindsight luckily – lingering at home, lounging on his comfortable Chesterfield chair, busy reading a new script his agent has forwarded him. Suddenly he is hit with something, a feeling that someone is calling out for him. There is no voice, nor the magical spirit of a medieval wizard appears in front of him. Still, he tilts his head up, as if to hear words coming from another time and place.
Wilhelmina enters the room when he's already standing, his eyes vacant and all his senses focused on the call. Her voice is enough to break the enchantment. Eddie finds himself back in the plush room, a shocked Wilhelmina calling his name with growing distress. He doesn't know what happened, he doesn't understand himself why he's standing, the hand closed around the tilt of an imaginary sword he doesn't own, he just knows something has happened and he has the nagging feeling that something has changed within himself. But is the look on Wilhelmina's face that truly brings him back to the now and here. He runs to his wife, worried that she might be ill and require medical help, but everything is wrong, and he's suddenly pulled back by something tightening around his neck. The weight of a cloak that got caught – a cloak that shouldn't exist in the first place. And then he meets his reflection in the mirror hanging over the fireplace. His hair are purple.
He can call himself lucky that Wilhelmina is too stunned – and her 8-months bump is in the way, blocking her movements – to kick him out of the house at once. But he's quick to make a discreet phone call to his personal coiffeur for an urgent house call, with the request to bring some black dye with him. It's just his luck that the weather doesn't agree with him and a major winter storm keeps the planes grounded for a couple of days.
Only a week later, when things are settled down, Eddie finally discovers what happened that resulted in him having to wear beanies in his own house for two days straight until he could dye his hair back to a more fitting black.
“When the citadel calls, Captain Britain must answer” he's told. He didn't answer. And thus he might as well saved his own life, for other Captains Britain like him were summoned to fight a great battle for which he wasn't prepared yet. Once again he has to thank Wilhelmina, for she's been the reason why he didn't respond to the call.
The trouble with the purple hair is explained when he finds himself in front of a woman who claims to be his alternate version who asks him to be on the lookout for another woman like her and that yes, there's a whole army of people who are him but each living in their own worlds, to meet only when the Multiverse is in need. Eddie's head spins over the explanation, and once again silently sends a thanks to his grandfather who introduced him to science fiction novels, else he wouldn't know where to start to digest the concept of alternate universes.
When he's officially introduced to his Captain Britain peers, irked by the over abundance of female versions of him holding the Captain Britain title, he decides to change it and picks the name Alpha Briton. Wilhelmina, once she overcomes the very idea of other timelines, finds it hilarious and perplexing at the same time that, on most of those Earths, Edward Braddock is an Elizabeth Braddock but completely looses her mind on the one who is the Queen of the United Kingdom. Eddie might find himself pondering about the kind of man Wilhelmina is in those realities, though – he's fairly sure hat his counterparts have found their own Wilhelmina, or at least he likes to think he and Wilhelmina are meant to be even elsewhere-elsewhen. And he promises himself to ask, the next time the Corps meet. He would not dislike to see how a male Wilhelmina looks: he can bet he's as strikingly handsome as Wilhelmina is.
The Captain Britain Corps have been recently reformed, and he is given time to learn and grow into the costume before being recalled into action. Kiyoko is an amazing teacher, Eddie learns so much in little time under his tutelage. Eddie offers Kiyoko to become his sidekick, but Kiyoko refuses – he won't be caught wearing a ridiculous costume just to entertain a friend.
Kurt and Logan are eventually let in into the secret as well. Kurt is a master acrobat and he's more than happy to share his knowledge with Eddie. Eddie will never be as athletic as him, but he at least tries.
Edward Braddock has already become a movie legend, he got his star on the recently created Walk of Fame and has collected a wide array of awards, although the Award is still avoiding him. But Eddie is now considering to retire, and become a full-time superhero. Although it pains him, Eddie is aware that he cannot keep both his lives – his duties as superhero don't go well with his job as actor. He had a fulfilling career, and he wouldn't be the first actor to retire when at the top. Still, he's reluctant to, and he can't make up his mind, for he really loves acting. Wilhelmina has already said that she will back him up whichever choice he'll make: she has been a low-level superhero once, she has known the trills of the job and she would never be as coldhearted and insensitive to deprive him of that joy, if that's what he wants. She'll be fine either way, but she has to admit – against all reason – that she might be happier, should Eddie pick the costume over the movies.
And so Eddie retires. The announcement comes after months since the last time he was seen on a set – still, it comes as a shock for Hollywood, who has to say goodbye to one of its darlings. He wants to focus on his family, it's the official explanation – he got everything he wanted and he's ready for his next life as husband and father, he says. Nobody could ever fancy that Edward Braddock left the movie scenes because he's too busy with his superhero career. With a face like his, Eddie knows he will never be allowed to unmask, or even switch to a less covering costume. To protect his identity, and not lead potential enemies and grudges on Wilhelmina and their family, Eddie will always have to hide behind the full mask that reveals only the upper part of his hair.
Unlike the armored costume, who eventually changes back to his original one with the rampant lion, there's no change regarding his unnatural color of head: the hideous purple still plagues him. He knows nothing about magic, restoring spells and glass mosaics bearing the liking of a female version of him, but he trust his Captains peers on the matter, and the purple is there to stay, in place of his natural blonde. He has dyed his hair since his first attempts at acting, when he still was a penniless British bloke hoping to break in Hollywood. It doesn't pain him to sit through regular sessions to get the regrowth covered, although now he cannot ask a professional coiffure anymore and has to trust his mane into the equally capable hands of Polina.
Yet, the unusual color is starting to grown on him. He feels it, it would make him stand out, as a proper superhero picked by Merlyn in person should be, and the shade would match with the deep blue of his costume. He's toying with the idea of keeping it, and make Captain Britain the first superhero with purple hair. The only thing holding him back is that such a radical choice will require him to wear a black wig for his everyday life, to hide the dual identity, and the very thought makes his scalp itch.
It would be easier to change his current Captain Britain mask to a full cowl and wear a black wig under it, so Eddie Braddock would wear his new natural hue, but then he would cause yet another scandal – and he doesn't look forward to risk Wilhelmina's rage over something as trivial as the color of the hair. Besides, he's a father now, and no respectable father wears his hair purple.
Perhaps in the future such a dye will be acceptable, or perhaps one day he will feel bold enough to challenge Wilhelmina and appear in public with a purple mane and start a trend. But not now. The world is not ready for a former actor to keep his hair purple. But the superhero niche is another world.
With the powers granted him by the golden staff, Eddie can easily fly between the US and the UK without the need of jumping on an airplane, although he strives to stay at home as much as he can. He has decided to be a superhero, but he wants to be there for his son as well.
Wilhelmina, after some time off to care to their newborn, resumes her duties as businesswoman, and she's now even more ruthless on the job that she's ever been. Unlike all books about fatherhood Eddie read suggested, motherhood didn't make Wilhelmina sweeter nor mellowed her. Perhaps it takes another child for the charm to work; Eddie is working on that.
Wilhelmina sadly has too many duties, both as mother and CEO of a fortune, to indulge herself once again as the Red Angel, but a part of hers cherishes the dream that one day she will be free of all the obligations that keep her feet firmly stuck on earth, and she'll be allowed to wear the artificial wings harness once again and fight crime alongside Eddie as the first real-life superhero romantic couple.
Marvel Comics editor, Stan Lee, intrigued by the news of the first feats of a new British national superhero and willing to expand the company's market in the UK with a specific title that would meet the tastes of the English people, reaches out with an offer to acquire the rights for a comic book inspired by the hero wearing the Union Jack color.
Eddie is appalled, Wilhelmina is excited: she had been reading the production of Marvel Comics since she was a teen, after all, and some of her choices are linked to those comic books.
Finalize the agreement is a difficulty on its own, as Eddie cannot sign with his own given name, nor can send his pit bull of a wife to negotiate the technicalities. He could hide behind the X-Factor Inc., but it would mean get the Alpha Briton identity too closer to Wilhelmina Worthington's interests for his liking. In the end, Eddie, as Alpha Briton, asks for an appointment with Susan Sturm, the woman behind the Fantastic Four fortune and, wearing his full Union Jack-themed costume, marches in her office, asking her to be the intermediate for the deal. He doesn't need the money, he reassures, so he'll be fine with all compensations and rights to go to the Fantastic Four Foundation and be used for a charity cause. Susan accepts and Alpha Briton leaves after shaking her hand, thankful for the cooperation.
Sue Sturm gets Alpha Briton a good deal, both monetarily and on what Alpha Briton has control over. Susan has to be let in into the secret, or at least a portion of it: she needs to have a contact, in case she has needs to get in touch with Alpha Briton, unless they want her to sign a Briton-signal like in the parody of certain comic books.
Kiyoko, who together with Logan has opened a dojo in New York, agrees to be his spokesperson. It's at the dojo that Susan Sturm has the scripts the Fantastic Four gets from Marvel Comics forwarded. Eddie can approve or reject each of them, a duty he gladly leaves to Wilhelmina, who reads the scripts in bed with the focus of an Award-winner actress who is examining a movie script before decide if the project is worth her name to be attached to it or not.
Captain Britain (Marvel doesn't seem to think Alpha Briton is a working name) becomes a good seller in the UK and eventually introduces new characters and companions to the titular character. Eddie finds it hilarious that they suggest he is given a twin sister: the name Elizabeth and the purple hair might be his idea, an Easter egg only he might find amusement from, but it makes him giddy for days, and eager to share the news with his female alternate versions.
The issue in which the Red Angel and his mask-less counterpart as an American girl with a mysterious past is introduced as potential new partner for Captain Britain, is Eddie's secret gift for Wilhelmina's birthday. He has the first mint copy of the floppy sent to him and he has it packed for a surprise, complete with autograph by Alpha Briton. Wilhelmina to this day doesn't know how he managed to talk Stan Lee and Jack Kirby into taking a real, even if short-lived, superheroine and make her the romantic interest of the dashing Captain Britain. Although she might suspect Lorna Dane's secret involvement, the mighty Magnetrix doesn't talk.
