Chapter Six: Song of Despair.
Harry Potter feared that this was going to happen. The moment that Jean started getting the headaches, he watched her nervously. He didn't know how it would happen or when it would happen. All he knew was it would happen. The green eyes of the young man flashed when he followed her progress. Her power was insane and it was unchartable..
It would be unwise to try and stall this from happening. It already was a bad enough situation as it was. There was a glow that emitted from her body and the Phoenix rotated on the spot. She swayed back and forth in the midst of the air. Her glow personified the power that someone like her had.
Harry turned to Xavier who thought about breaking through her barriers.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Harry said and Xavier opened his mouth. He shook his head. "You know, I don't really care what you did, because that doesn't matter right now. You took the decision that you thought was the best. There was only one problem."
Harry paused and added as an afterthought.
"You were wrong."
The green eyed young man frowned in frustrated and he saw Claire and Kara step to either side of him. Ororo leaned in and tried to figure out what was going on here.
"Surely there is some way that we can help," Ororo said with a frown across her face.
She hated seeing her friend like this. Jean looked for a second like she was going through some kind of seizure when she felt the power.
"Maybe we can drain off a little power," Rogue suggested and she slowly pulled her glove off.
Harry's eyes turned towards her and he shook his head. "Trust me, that kind of power would be a bit too spicy for you."
"Can you see, that I have risen?" Jean asked and her voice echoed suddenly.
Harry knew that power might make even the most well adjusted people insane and Jean had a lot of stress.
"We need to take her down!" Cyclops yelled and he took half of a step forward.
Harry figured that Scott would want to try.
"Scott, I wouldn't go in there, you're out of your weight class," Harry warned him.
Scott shook his head. "You tried everything that you could, but you couldn't save her. That just proves that you're not as good as you think you are."
"Well we're in mutual company," Harry said, and he saw Scott move on in.
'What an idiot!' Harry groaned to himself mentally, shaking his head.
Ororo or the rest of the X-Men couldn't even react because there was a barrier that was placed up. Scott moved forward but now it was too late for any of them to drag his ass out of the fire before it got burned.
"JEAN!" Scott yelled to her and she turned towards him, a bit of disdain dripping from her voice when she spoke.
"It's you," Jean whispered in her harshest voice and she clutched her fists together. There was a second where she glared him down.
'Scott, you need to get out of there, now!' Charles warned him, but his warning fell on deaf ears.
Time slowed down around them and Scott stared up at Jean. He tried to rush towards here and blast an optic blast towards her.
Harry edged forward to get involved, but because of how Jean manipulated the fabric of time and space, he was not getting to save Cyclops in time. He really didn't want to but he figured that he might as well make the effort.
"You tried and attacked me!" Jean yelled and she caused Scott to be held down with her telekinesis. It was nearly crushing. "You think that you have all of the answers because he's Xavier's Chosen One. When in reality, all he's doing is living vicariously through you. You see, if he ever could walk, you're no longer needed. Until then, you're his avatar, out there leading the X-Men in his image. And his image is nearly as flawed as Magneto's….peace or war, both of them have their downsides."
Scott felt himself curbstomped by her telekinesis onto the ground. His glasses broke and she held his eye beams in. His eyes felt like that were burning from what she did to him. He groaned and almost screamed in absolute agony!
"Please Jean, come to your senses!" Scott yelled, and Jean raised her hand.
"I'll make sure that you understand where this world is going now!" Jean yelled and she engulfed Scott in cosmic fire.
She wanted to make him sweat; she wanted to make him scream. Jean couldn't bring herself to kill him, even though she thought that it would be doing the world a service. It was like putting down a mentally challenged puppy dog to her. She could finish him off, but it wouldn't really work.
Jean's hand raised and Scott vanished in a pop.
There was a large crash across the town and the X-Men all cringed.
"Do not worry, I teleported him off, but he won't be waking up for a while," Jean said and she shook her head. "Maybe he'll learn his lesson."
She had a confusing range of thoughts. All of that power flooding in at once caused her headache to suddenly worsen. She heard all of the thoughts around her.
Time frozen from the bubble she placed herself in, to allow her powers to grow completely. A crusty red cocoon wrapped around her and her powers only grew every single moment that her arising continued.
Lily Evans was never really the model of tact and she could see what was happening around her.
"You blocked her powers," Lily whispered to Xavier.
Xavier felt like he was getting the third degree. He couldn't deny it. At the same time, he felt as if he had to defend himself.
"I had no choice, I thought it was for the best," Xavier said defensively, and he shook his head.
He thought that it was the best. There was evidence that he had in front of him that it wasn't the best. That power came, something burst in Jean's mind that caused her to lose sense of herself temporary. Now she retreated into this cocoon momentarily when the thoughts got too much of her.
Xavier frowned, he heard an angry buzz of thoughts and he realized that it wasn't going from Jean. Rather it was coming in from the redhead right next to his side.
"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?" Lily asked Xavier and her arms folded together across her chest. The redhead looked rather agitated on the sheer principle of the matter. Her mind was buzzing. "There are always other ways, other than blocking her powers full stop. Did you realize how dangerous that was?"
"I realized the potential danger of it, yes," Xavier said, his voice bubbling in annoyance. He couldn't believe that he was being questioned because of this situation. He already could feel agitated enough by it. "But, it was dangerous to allow her to have that level of power that young. Especially the trauma that she went through at such a young age."
"So you blocked her memories and her powers," Lily said and Harry casually stepped in between his mother and Xavier.
This might not really end well and the focus would go away from Jean. So he had to allow cooler heads to prevail.
"Yes, if I had done things differently, I wouldn't have done it that way," Charles said and he tried to get a fix on Jean's mind.
Harry wasn't going to warn Charles about the dangers of interfering with Jean's mind ever again. She would register his presence as an absolute and utter threat after the last time. That much was obvious.
"Yeah, I guess that you couldn't," Lily commented in her most icy tone that she could muster.
If looks could kill, Charles Xavier would have been deader than dead. There was no question about it at all. Lily's anger was terrifying and it was something that could not be taught. The fact that she was able to keep most of her temper in check really proved how much self control that she head.
Xavier didn't focus on that. He focused on finding one of his oldest students and bringing her back around. Mostly because he felt a lot of guilt, and he made this mess, he would have to fix it. He focused on her.
'Jean?' Charles asked to her in a tentative voice.
He thought that he might have reached her but she was giving him a silent treatment. His mind tried to get into hers.
"Just back off Charles," Ororo said, she could see the urgency in Harry's eyes. She was really feeling nervous, especially after Jean did what she did to Scott. And she held back, that was the scariest part about that.
The two of them were friends for a long time even after Scott tried to push for more. The Phoenix regarded Scott Summers as a nuisance at best. Ororo shuddered to think what could happen to Charles Xavier if that's what happened to a minor annoyance.
"Charles, you should back off," Ororo repeated to him.
Logan leaned in. "Yeah, Chuck, you should leave well enough alone."
'I have to try,' Charles thought to himself, his guilt was burning through his mind. 'Jean, I know that you're in there somewhere. Somewhere amongst the power of the Phoenix Force.'
'I am the Phoenix Force now,' Jean thought to him and her anger bubbled to an increased surface. 'That's what I always had the potential to be. You never wanted the power to come out. You knew that I wouldn't fit your vision. Your little avatar, your little boy scout, you couldn't appreciate anything but your vision.'
'That's not true at all Jean, you know that's not true,' Charles thought to her and there was a moment where he suddenly felt even more nervous.
Harry could see Charles in a trance. He was locked on the Astral Plane talking with Jean. Harry tried to look inside and he came to one realization.
"It's too late now," Harry told Ororo and Logan.
"Yeah, even I figured that much," Logan grunted.
"What's going to happen to him now?" Kurt asked, he had been watching in awe.
"Nothing good, nothing good," Kitty muttered underneath her breath and she held her hands together. She could feel the power and it alarmed her.
"If he angered the Phoenix and tried to chain her, then by universal right, any consequences will be his to suffer," Kara commented and several eyes turned towards her. She was still transfixed in awe over that power. "That's what the legend has said, and until it gets contradicted…."
They all nodded in understanding. Harry didn't really know what was going to happen next. He just hoped that Xavier was going to handle this nicely.
Lily understood was about to happen and summarized it nicely. "He's pretty much fucked."
They didn't really need to say anything further than that. Charles Xavier was completely and utterly screwed and not in the good way at all.
'Jean, I can't even begin to understand what you're going though,' Xavier said to her in a gentle voice. 'But you know, I hope that you calm down, I'm sorry for what happened.'
There was a brief second that Jean almost seemed pacified by his statement. Perhaps she had been too hard on him. Perhaps there were circumstances that were beyond the man's control. She should have given him a chance, as insane as that would have been.
'Maybe you're right,' Jean thought to him and she breathed in and out. Her voice remained completely calm. 'Maybe you don't understand, maybe you have realized that you've made a mistake and feel bad.'
For one brief moment, Charles Xavier felt some relief. He believed that he had finally gotten through to her. The healing could begin after that. He couldn't erase the past. That was one of his greatest regrets. No amount of fixing someone's mind would change what happened.
'Yes, I'm sure that you don't understand,' Jean commented and her voice grew completely tranquil when she spoke. 'But I guess that I'll find a way to make you understand, and I'll make you understand when I make you a prisoner in your own mind!'
Jean gave a psychic shriek and Xavier tried to pull out of her mind to protect herself. He was locked inside his own mind and it was much too late for him to escape.
'You don't dare enter my mind, Charles Xavier, and think that you can rearrange what I think,' the Phoenix whispered with a smile on her face. 'The key is in your hand, but you'll only be able to use it to escape your own mind, when I seal you in the back of your head. You'll never escape this prison.'
'Jean, you got to understand,' Charles thought, a painstaking look in his eyes.
As it turned out, she understood better than anyone else. Much like the Phoenix had been for so many years, Charles Xavier became a prisoner of his own mind.
Harry Potter knew instantly that the lights were on for Charles Xavier but there was absolutely no one home. The green eyed young man took half of a step forward and he waved his hand in front of his head.
"He's….he's….." Ororo thought.
"He brought it upon himself," Jean said and she closed her eyes. "Anyone who gets in my way will fell the full wrath of the Phoenix!"
"Yes, Jean, I understand that you're upset," Harry said, choosing his words carefully. He stepped towards her and he was outside the barrier.
He could have removed it and allowed her in. That might provoke her however.
"I've long since passed upset, Har," Jean whispered underneath her breath and she could feel the thumping in her head.
The final barriers that Xavier put up melted away. The problem was that her mind wasn't assimilating with the powers that she had. There is a thumping that could be heard and the thoughts of everyone near her went into her mind.
"STOP IT!" Jean yelled suddenly.
'Calm down,' a quieter voice whispered in the back of her head and the redhead shook her head, trying to return back to some sense of reality.
Jean did calm down and she folded her arms, breathing in and out. She calmed herself down a little bit more.
"I've long since gotten past upset, this world…it feels like it's a nightmare," Jean whispered underneath her breath.
"It can be a nightmare," Harry agreed with her, he didn't doubt this at all. "Only if you allow it to be a nightmare."
"It is one," Jean said and she shook her head and tried to keep her head up.
"The power of the Phoenix is immense, but you can learn to control in," Harry told her and Jean's eyes flashed to him.
"I know that I can control it, I was born to control the awesome power of the Phoenix."
Time returned to what it should have been, with the Phoenix fading from reality.
"When I return, it will be only when the world is doomed and needs change, and I will change it!" The Phoenix yelled and she disappeared into a flash of fire.
The spot where she was glowed with an immense heat and left a trace. Harry established a tracking beacon seconds before she was able to disappear into the night.
"Say what you want about her, but she can make an exit," Kara whispered in awe and she nudged Claire, who nodded.
Claire had heard rumors of what the Phoenix Force and what it could do. Hearing the rumors and seeing things up close and personal were two different things. Her nerve endings tingled by being so up and close to this amazing cosmic power.
"You were blown away from the power it gave off, weren't you?" Kara asked her and Claire nodded in response.
"Yes, I was," Claire agreed with Kara and she shook her head after a half of a second. Her heart beat quicker.
She took a moment to collect her thoughts; she needed a lot more time than normal to collect her thoughts. Claire walked over and saw Harry looking into the distance.
"You're going to go after her, aren't you?" Claire asked.
"What do you think?" Harry asked her.
Claire's mouth shifted into a grin. "I don't think, I know that you're going to do it."
"And he will do it," Kara said with confidence. If the Phoenix really wanted him out of the way, she would destroy him.
That proved that the Phoenix Force did one thing. It had signaled out Harry as her mate. Kara commended the Phoenix Force on her amazing taste. She wouldn't have argued with her at any rate. Still she had amazing taste.
She looked at Harry and her eyes burned when she looked at Harry. Kara closed her eyes, realizing the signs and counted to ten. Her mother told her about this and she needed to get control.
Kara let out the breath that she held and she returned to control. Her breathing came in and out and Claire turned towards her, giving her a raised eyebrow for a look.
"Just got to calm down," Kara said. "This has been a tough day."
Claire understood what Kara was going through. She had come out of the box and then had been thrown right into the middle of an alien invasion. Then there was the attack of the Phoenix and the Kree disappeared to save themselves.
"It's just another Thursday night around here, really," Claire said and she put her arm tighter around her cousin.
"Yeah, I think that Earth isn't going to be dull as people might say it is," Kara said, and there was nothing other than excitement that brimmed through her body.
Claire laughed at that statement. "Trust me when I say, Earth is the furthest thing in the world from dull."
The amount of times that she almost died in her life, that was proof positive that Earth wasn't dull. Actually there was no almost about it last time. Claire figured that people might have gotten sick about hearing about that by now. She didn't bring it up even though her death was a defining moment of the development of her life.
"So?" Lily asked Harry abruptly.
"Jean is the only one who can remove the blocks," Harry informed them all.
"You mean you can't do it?" Ororo asked and Harry shook his head.
"Well I can, but it would be unwise to try," Harry said to her.
The Phoenix arranged it in such a way that if anyone but herself and Xavier tried to remove the blocks, it would completely fry his brain. It would be a danger to allow a brilliant mind such as Charles Xavier to be damaged. Even though Harry came to odds with the man, he couldn't really wish his potential fate on anyone.
"What about Scott?" Ororo asked, almost dreading the answer to that question.
Harry figured that the answers could be found somewhere in the city. He would rematerialize in a catatonic state completely in a little bit. He was sure that Jean did something to Scott to sink the message in, really forcefully to be honest.
Gwen Stacy got the sense that her flight had gotten back too late. It was just one of those feelings of dread that she had and couldn't shake. Therefore she missed a lot of the show. She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or not because of that.
'Which might make me insane,' Gwen thought when she made her way outside of the city limits.
There wasn't a hint of an alien invasion in the slightest. She had the suit all ready and everything and it was the heavy duty one. The one that had all of the firepower and it could do some real damage to these invaders.
She frowned, sliding across the streets. She spotted the SHIELD agents roaming around. Gwen felt herself nudged behind a barrier and they were talking.
"We got to get this cleaned up, no telling if the Kree is going to come back….."
"After what we saw, I think that not many of them made it out of there at time," one of the SHIELD agents commented.
Gwen frowned, that statement was curious. She decided that it was time to check in with her contact. The blonde typed in a brief message, hammering away at it on the keypad. Her message pretty much said what it needed to say.
Do you mind telling me what's going on here?'
There was a long pause and Gwen wondered if her hacker friend was available. The blonde shifted on her feet and bent on her knees. She waited impatiently and almost moved off to get some information.
There was more information that came in for her finally.
Yeah, we've got a bit of a problem. Apparently, Miss Grey's powers came in to their fullest potential and in the worst way. I only got a few video images. I'm pretty sure that Harry can tell you more about it when you see him. He said that he will return my call in a minute, so if you see him before then, make sure that you ask him.
Gwen was going to ask him. Harry mentioned that Jean was having some growing pains with her powers. Nothing like this, at least as far as she knew. Her hands dropped to her hips and there was a lengthy sigh in response.
'Oh boy, it's going to be one of those days,' Gwen thought and she craned her neck.
She saw Claire hovering in the air. It was obvious that Claire tried to find her as much as Gwen looked for Harry. That much was sure when Claire rushed to Gwen. The blonde took half of a step back.
"It's good to see you again," Claire said with a smile.
"I'm sure that it is," Gwen said and she had some questions. "Where's Harry?"
"He's over there," Claire informed her. "You missed a lot of the action."
Gwen smirked when she looked over at the aftermath. "I figured about that much. If you could fill me in, it'd be great."
Almost immediately, Gwen could tell that there was a whole lot that she missed. That much was judged by the look of pained amusement crossing Claire's face.
Claire shook her head. "Well a lot's happened, but I'll try and do the best that I can."
"That's all that I ask from you," Gwen told the dark haired girl. She decided to cut to the chase. "Something happened with Jean, I knew that much."
Claire jumped into an explanation, her eyebrows furrowed in intense and heavy concentration. "The thing is that the Kree arrived, and they were after Kara and I…"
"Kara?" Gwen asked Claire.
"My cousin from Krypton," Claire explained and Gwen nodded.
The pieces from this situation slowly began to form in Gwen's mind. It was a wonder that she hadn't figured out what happened by now.
"That's what Harry found in the ship," Gwen muttered underneath her breath.
"Exactly," Claire said, and she ensured that Gwen was still listening. "Her ship was what accidentally signaled the Kree and lead to the alien invasion. We had a scuffle with the Kree and eventually Jean snapped."
"Oh that doesn't sound good," Gwen whistled.
She knew Jean Grey and she could be a pretty nice person. Unless she was provoked, which in that event, you better watch out. She was still a redhead and had a fiery temper. It was unwise to make her mad.
"It's not good, because it isn't."
Gwen smiled when Harry turned up. The two of them greeted each other, quickly, and discreetly.
"I really wish that we could be seeing each other again under better circumstances," Gwen said and she rushed over.
Harry swept her up into a strong hug, pulling her into it. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"So, did your ride work out well?" Harry asked and Gwen shook her head rapidly.
"Yeah, it's fine, thank you, I would have been over there for about a decade if you didn't hook me up," Gwen said, and sighed.
Being stuck in an International airport was not her idea of a good time. In fact she would go as far as to say it sucked hard.
"Claire said something happened to Jean," Gwen picked back up.
"Yes, Charles Xavier decided that it would be a good idea to block a portion of her powers, and not to slowly remove the blocks over time," Harry said and Gwen frowned deeply. "You know to allow the powers to seep out."
"Yeah, that would have been a better idea," Gwen said, crossing her arms underneath her chest.
"She took out the Kree, most of them at least, although some might have teleported off before she had her cosmic related temper tantrum," Harry said and frowned. "Exactly how many of them, I'm not sure."
It when without saying that he should be under the assumption that there was more than enough to come back and bite him and the rest of the world later. Therefore, Harry expected a replay of the Kree invasion sooner rather than later. They would worry about that later. Jean was first and foremost.
"I think," Harry said, pulling Claire in towards him. "It's time for us to take a trip to the Fortress."
Claire raised her eyebrow up to her forehead and nodded in agreement. She understood things perfectly.
"Gwen, this is Kara, Kara this is another one of my girlfriends, Gwen Stacy," Harry said, introducing the two blondes with each other.
"Well, Harry does have quite the taste in women," Kara said, with a smile on her face and she looked over Gwen.
It was then her X-Ray vision kicked in. It was accidentally kicked in of course. She averted her eyes, but a grin crossed her face.
To Be Continued On October 9th, 2014.
So, Jean doesn't take too kindly to certain people. Or maybe the Phoenix does, or maybe both. They are one and the same after all.
It's time to track down Jean from the outer reaches of the universe in the next chapter.