X-Men
Chapter 1: Dark Pheonix
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but what I've done with them is. I accept no rights to the using of these characters, and cannot be held legally responsible for their use. This is only a fan-fic, and is not meant for mass publication
What happens when the most powerful cosmic entity in history is taken away from the hands of good, and is given to the forces of evil? That is exactly what happens in the case of the Pheonix. Her powers strengthened from an already astonishing rate by the presence of an entity of the same name, she was the most powerful being in the universe. Now, however, this entity has been infused into her vampiric doppelganger, the Black Queen of the Brotherhood. It, surprisingly, started with a routine patrol over her hometown of Westchester, NY. One she, oddly, went on alone.
Meanwhile, Mystique is casting a spell in the shadows. A spell to do the Black Queen's dirty work.
"I call upon the forces of darkness; I call upon you to expel the Pheonix entity from the one named Jean Grey. Expel it from her, and reinfuse it into the one named Madelyne Pryor," Mystique chanted in Latin, followed by an explosion of darkness that covered the area like a blanket. The explosion also sent Dr. Grey into a deep sleep until later that night.
"It's strange, Scott. You know, everything turned dark, and the next thing I know, it's three hours later and I can't use my Pheonix powers, just my regular mental powers," Jean explained to her fiance', Scott Summers, also called Cyclops.
"I don't know what to tell you, hun. Maybe it was just time for the entity to leave," he offered as an explanation.
"No, I would have known if that were it! I'm getting visions of something very bad happening with my old powers in the future, but it's too hazy to tell what. I just have to get to it before it happens," she replied.
"We'll get on it tomorrow, but for now, let's just go to bed," he said as he led her to their room.
"Finally," Madelyne said to her fellow Brotherhood members, "I have the powers of the Pheonix under my control!"
"Yes, Ms. Pryor. Now we can destroy the X-Men once and for all, and proceed with our plan to destroy all mankind in the coming of Apocalypse," Mortimer Toynbee, a.k.a. Toad, proceeded.
"Yes, Toad. Yes!" Madelyne said with an evil grin as she shot flames into the air.
It's the next morning, and Jean is explaining her situation to long time friend and teammate, Ororo Munroe, or Storm.
"I just don't know what could have happened, Ororo. What do you think it was?" Jean asked her friend with a hint of distress in her voice.
"Jean, I grew up around a lot of voodoo and black magic. That could be a possibility. It's all I can think of it being," Ororo offered.
"What can I do about it?"
"Do you know anyone that is well taught in the ways of white magic?"
"Wanda Maximoff, I guess."
"Scarlet Witch?"
"Yeah."
"She may be able to counter whatever spell was put on you then."
"I can only hope so..."
Later that same day, Jean calls her friend and Avenger, Wanda Maximoff.
"So, Wanda, can you help me?" Jean asked.
"I'm sorry, hun, but I need to know who cast the spell, what spell it was, and where the entity was transferred to," Wanda replied.
"Completely."
"Well, I'll call when I find out, I guess."
You do that, okay?"
"Okay, bye Wanda."
"Bye Jean," Wanda said as they both hung up.
Meanwhile, at the Mutant Academy, Warren Worthington III, or Angel, is about to reveal his best kept secret to his best friend and team leader, Kitty Pryde, or Shadowcat. While she thinks he's going to tell her that he likes her, it's something much different.
"So, Warren, what was it you wanted to tell me?" Kitty asked, while secretly hoping her assumptions were correct, Come on, tell me you want me to be with you instead of Peter...
"Um, I'm not sure how to tell you this, Kitty," He started to tell her.
"It's okay, Warren. Whatever it is, you can tell me," she said, PLEASE tell me...
"Um, I'm," he proceeded, "I'm, um, I'm gay."
"Huh?" Please be joking!
"I'm gay." Please don't hate me!
"Are you joking?" Say you are.
"No, I'm not."
DAMN! "How long have you known?"
"I guess I've always known."
"Always?"
"Yeah."
"I just thought that you were gonna say that you liked me."
He smiles at the thought, "Oh, Kitty..."
"I had the hugest crush on you for such the longest time." Why am I telling you this?
"Wow. I'm flattered," he said as he and his friend embraced. "You do have Peter."
"Yeah, you're right. Just remember that he's mine. Not yours!" She said jokingly.
"I know. Anyway, I kinda have a thing for Sam."
"Guthrie?!?"
"Yeah."
"As in Cannonball?"
"You don't catch on too quickly, do you?"
"Oh ha ha, funnyman!"
"Well..." he said as they walked out of Warren's room, arms over each other's shoulders.
Back at Xavier Manor, Dr. Grey is still trying to figure out what to do. Helping her is fellow telepath and X-Men member, Emma Frost, or White Queen.
"Maybe, Jean, Cerebro will enhance your clairvoyance like it did for the Professor before he lost his powers," Emma suggested.
"That's a good idea, Emma, but I have yet to successfully use Cerebro. It might not work," Jean replied,
"It's still worth a try."
"Might be," Jean said as she left the room on her way to Cerebro.
Moments later, she arrives at the door to the Cerebro room. The computer security system asks her to place her hand on the circular area at the center of the door for verification.
"Welcome Dr. Grey," it says in a monotonic, mechanical voice.
She makes her way to the helmet connected to the Cerebro computer system, a sophisticated system used to enhance mental powers. She sits in the chair and places the helmet on her head.
I hope this works, she thinks as she switches on the machine. she starts to get visions of her and Madelyne Pryor fighting. Madelyne is using the Pheonix powers. That's all jean needed, or wanted, to know. She turned off the machine, took off the helmet, and left for her room to prepare for the battle yet to come.
Back in Scott and Jean's room, Jean is preparing for battle.
"Jean, are you sure you should be doing this alone?" Scott asked his fiance'.
"Scott, this is my fight! I need to do this alone because the rest of you might get hurt, or even killed," Jean replies.
"But, Jean. You can't do anything if magic is the cause! All I want you to do is find out what spell it was, and come back. Let Wanda do the rest," Scott pleaded.
"Okay, but I'm not trained for stealth, so if I get caught I'll be forced to-"
"Call for back up," Scott interrupted.
"Yeah, 'call for back up,'" Jean replies.
"Okay. Be careful!"
"I will, I promise," Jean said as she kissed Scott good-bye, and leaves in full uniform for the Blackbird hangar.
In the Blackbird hangar, Jean sees Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy, or Beast, starting to exit the team's hummer.
"Well, Dr. Grey. I see you're in full uniform, and moving towards the vehicle in which I've just exited. May I inquire what sort of scintillating mission you're bringing yourself to?" Dr. McCoy long-windedly asks his friendly cohort.
"I'm going to find out how to reclaim my powers, Hank," Jean quickly answers, still in motion towards the hummer.
"But why in uniform?" He asked as she climbed into the hummer.
"I'm going to the Brotherhood's lair," She answered right before driving off.
"Oh my stars and garters!"
In the lair of the Brotherhood, the team of evil mutants is plotting their next move.
"As soon as we have captured the twelve keys, we can perform the ceremony of the coming of Apocalypse!" Magneto exclaims in a sinister voice.
"And you and I can rule the world in humanity's absence," Black Queen continued.
"But how do we know who the twelve are?" Toad asked.
"The ancient prophecy says," Mystique says, reading from an old, weathered book, " '...and as the bloodline continued, so did the twelve. Just as blood passed to blood, the keys to Apocalypse passed with it."
"So we trace the bloodline?" Toad inquired.
"I'd imagine so, dear Toad," Mystique answered.
"Well, let's get on it, then!" Magneto ordered, and all obeyed, scattering like mice to trace an ancient bloodline.
Just as this was going on, however, Jean, in using her telepathic abilities, found, and arrived, at the Brotherhood's secret lair. The Hellfire Club, a very "exclusive" club for Westchester's "hierarchy" was it's secret location.
No wonder it's so hard to become a member! Jean thought to herself as she hopped out of the hummer and made her way to the door. How am I supposed to get in? Knock? she wondered before she saw the open window on the third floor. Sensing that no one was up there by using a psionic scan, she telekinetically lifted herself to the correct height and entered through the window. Now that I'm in, where do I start? she asked herself as she noticed that she was in some sort of library. I guess this is as good a place as any.
Meanwhile, one floor down, Sabretooth sniffed the air.
"Someone's here," he proclaimed.
"Where?" Mystique asked
"Third floor," he answered
"Let's go," Mystique stated as they made their way to the stairs.
On the third floor, Jean looked through the books, trying to find what she needed. An old text catches her eye. It's an ancient, thick book, bound in what looks like mummified flesh. The word "Apocalypse" is burned into the binding.
What's this? Jean thought as she reached for the book. When she pulled the book down from the shelf, it knocked down several other books as well. Luckily, she stopped them with her telekinesis, leaving them only inches from the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was close! she thought. Suddenly, she had a vision of Sabretooth and Mystique walking down the hall. Oh ... This isn't good.
Mystique and Sabretooth made their way down the hall and to the library. Sabretooth sniffed again, "She's in here," he says.
"How do you know it's female?" Mystique wondered.
Women's perfume," Sabretooth answered.
"Oh," Mystique replied as she turned the doorknob and pushed the heavy double doors open. No one is in here, imbecile!"
"But I smell her," Sabretooth said, sniffing again. He looked up, and saw Jean telekinetically lower herself from the ceiling.
"Sorry I barged in so unexpected, but I believe something of mine is here. Can you help me find it?" Jean said, sarcastically.
"You'll die here, woman!" Sabretooth snarled at her, and with murder his only thought, he leapt at her. She hovered higher, avoiding his attack. She lowered quickly on his head, knocking him unconscious.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but I plan on living very many more years," she said before catching a roundhouse to the back of the head, knocking her halfway across the room.
"Not if I can help it," the bringer of the kick, Mystique, said.
"That was your last mistake, bitch!" Jean exclaimed right before telekinetically lifting Mystique and hitting her head against the wall, also knocking her unconscious. I'd better call for Scott.
*Scott, I need you to get over to the Hellfire Club, right now!* Jean said, telepathically.
*What is it, Jean?* Scott asked.
*I'm starting to think there is gonna be a little problem. I'm sensing that the Black Queen, with my powers, no less, is here. Please hurry!*
*I'm on my way, hun.*
*Thanks, Scott,* she said, followed by an explosion through the floor, right beneath her feet. From the hole rises Madelyne Pryor, surrounded by an aura of flames with two huge, fiery wings coming out from her back.
"Do you realize how much power you had?" Madelyne asked.
"Yes, and I also realize how bad it is that it's in your hands!" Jean exclaimed as she let loose at full strength with every attack possible, but Madelyne brushed away every attack with a gesture.
"Bad? Ha! Bad is an understatement! For you and your fellow X-Men, this qualifies as horrific!" Madelyne proclaimed, "Do you have any last requests?"
"Let me see, for just a moment, what you look like, aside from all those powers," Jean said.
"A Strange request, but one I will honor," Madelyne said as she powered down.
ZACKT!
Cyclops, knocking her to the ground blasted a fury of laser at her from behind.
"Thank god you arrived when you did!" Jean exclaimed.
"Let's get out of here before the rest of the Brotherhood gets up here," Scott said, hugging his fiance'.
"Hold on, let me get this," she said, reaching for the book she had earlier.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
"I'm not sure, but it might hold some answers as to what's going on."
"Well, get it and let's go," Scott said, and then left with his fiance'.
Later, that same night, in the Hellfire Club, the Brotherhood has gathered to discuss what just happened.
The worst part is, they made off with the book of Apocalypse!" Mystique exclaimed with great fury.
"We will regain it when we carry out the next phase of our plan," Magneto stated, "When we destroy the only one who can stop the coming of Apocalypse!"
"Who is that, Sir?" Toad asked
"The one I speak of is the one they call Blink."
To be continued in Chapter 2: The Omega Complex