Notes: I know, right? Poor Jubinoh. They both need hugs. So badly.


Chapter 12: Burn Out the Corruption


When they got to Hala some time later, Noh-Varr was understandably shocked when he saw what had happened to his world. It was just like Jubilee had described, with buildings in ruin and the streets a mess and Shi'ar everywhere — and he couldn't stop staring at it in disbelief. He had always been taught that the Kree were supreme, so how could this happen?

Sure, he had seen universes where his people didn't rule everything or had been wiped out by the Phoenix, but it had always been an either-or kind of situation. They were either dead or not yet rulers — but they were always on the right path.

This… this was the despair of a failing kingdom, and he hated it.

"Nobody told me about any of this," he said very quietly, not really expecting an answer from the others since he had been more or less left to his own thoughts this whole time. It was more that he was just… overwhelmed by how far the Kree had fallen in this universe, and he couldn't keep it to himself.

"They were never in power like you were used to seeing," Jean told him without turning to look at him. He could see that there was anger there, just boiling beneath the surface, and he couldn't help but lament the loss of their friendship.

If the orders had come from anyone but the Supremor...

Noh frowned for a moment and then looked back out at the destruction. "I have seen Hala ravaged by Phoenix fire in other realities, but this is somehow… sadder," he told her quietly. "A dying world in desperation."

It wasn't any better as the group of them made their way down the streets to where the Supremor was housed, slipping under the radar for the most part — and though Noh wasn't aware of it, the X-Men were keeping an eye on him too. Jean knew what a danger his open mind was — not just to them but to himself — and it was that knowledge that fueled her anger, not necessarily the fact that he had bent to the Supremor's demands. Not when she knew how much he based his entire existence around subservience.

For as overrun as Hala was, the group of X-Men simply weren't going to get into the building without running into a few Shi'ar — and that was the case when two guards patrolling the building spotted the group and recognized the X-Men. "What are the X-Men doing on Hala?" one of them asked.

Noh glared up at the guards and was pulling back, ready to simply kill the two guards — they were on Hala now, after all, so these were his rules, not the X-Men's — but Jean reached out to stop him, projecting out, Don't engage, an instant before both of the guards simply dropped from a telepathic assault.

He spun to face her with an obvious frown, his eyes narrowed. Even here you insist on not killing? This is my world, even if it is so different.

We're not going to give away the fact that we're here.

He let out a breath and shook his head, sure that this was just another way to explain away the non-lethal rule, since on a planet full of Kree, surely a dead Shi'ar or two wasn't that much of a giveaway. The Kree he knew would be killing them often. And well.

He was still shaking his head to himself as the group of them entered the building when another message came through to his mind, once more stopping him in his tracks.

The X-Men cannot be trusted not to side with the Shi'ar. They are sympathetic to enemies of the Kree Empire, enough to ally with the Shi'ar and embrace their technology. You have been lied to, Noh-Varr Charles Xavier was consort to the empress herself. For this reason, they cannot be trusted and must be subdued. Kree Accusers are coming to your position, and you will aid them in subduing the X-Men.

Noh froze, still wide-eyed even long after the message had been relayed — and it was clear the rest of the group at least knew he had gotten a message by the fact that they had stopped with him.

He didn't know what to think of the order. He had seen himself that the X-Men trained in their Danger Room to take down Shi'ar, and K had assured him they had fought the Shi'ar — there was no mistaking the nonverbal sign she'd given him even before they could communicate properly. And Charles… Charles had been with him every single day. Noh trusted him almost as much as he trusted Jubilee.

But to hear that he was consort of a Shi'ar empress…

There was no reason to believe the Supremor was lying. The Supreme Intelligence wouldn't lie.

But it had to be mistaken in its conclusions.

They came of their own free will, Noh argued at long last. That means more than I can articulate, because I don't quite understand it.

They came to see the weakness of Hala. They brought more members than you were ordered to bring, reinforcements for their aims. You have brought enemies of the Empire to the homeworld itself and have endangered the plans of the Supreme Intelligence.

Noh stood up a bit straighter at the dressing down, his frown deepening. No. I trust them. If they were enemies of the Kree, I would know by now. He shook his head. We are the superior species. It is our job to nurture their potential.

To our advantage.

Exactly! Noh bit his lip, outright nervous, since he'd never argued with the Supreme Intelligence before. Plex, sure, but the Supremor? I brought them here, like you asked. But they came of their own free will, and they should remain so.

Individual agency is irrelevant to the goals of the Empire, came the response at the same moment a pair of Kree Accusers arrived — and with that, rather than argue with Noh any longer, the Supremor simply filled the young man's mind with the directive to capture the X-Men by any means. It didn't give him a choice in the matter, shoving what was Noh's conscious mind into the little music shop in his mindscape and taking over the rest.

In an instant, Noh had rushed forward and simply sent K sprawling with a fast, hard hit right to the chest that was enough to shatter her heart on the impact almost before the X-Men could even blink. The Accusers rushed into the fight as well — but for Noh, that was as far as he got before Kurt teleported right to him to wrap him up from behind.

Noh bent over nearly in half trying to get Kurt off of him, but Kurt simply knocked him out with a hit to the back of the head, dropping him where he was, before he looked over to K with an expression of pure fury that was almost audible — though clearly not as loud as Scott swearing.

The fight was over faster than the Kree had probably expected when Scott simply blasted the Accusers through three walls before he replaced the visor and knelt down by K to check for a pulse, still looking furious. "Jean…" he said slowly and didn't even need to finish the sentence for her to know what he was thinking.

Yeah, I know. I'm with you.

Scott was getting to his feet when Kurt teleported back to the group, adamantium cuffs in hand that they had 'liberated' from their raid on the Weapon X program. He simply pulled Noh's hands — and feet — behind him to make sure the young man couldn't do anything. And when Noh did start to stir, that meant the first thing he saw was K, and the expression on his face alone made clear to the rest of the group how much he was outright devastated. He felt he had been betrayed — not even in his universe had he been forced into service for the Empire. He had always served willingly, and this was like a slap in the face after everything he'd done.

"Let's pay the Supremor a visit," Scott said to Jean.

Jean's hands went out from her sides and she levitated up, the flames dancing around her as the she and Scott headed toward the Supremor. The two of them led the way, and any resistance that met them was simply tossed to the side.

"Your threat is irrelevant," the Supremor said as they arrived, the words audible as well as echoing in their minds. "At this very moment, Accusers surround your remaining teammate and will kill him if you continue your aggression."

"What do you want?" Jean asked, floating slightly higher than she had been as the flames started to take an actual shape.

"You will burn the Shi'ar from this planet and further the goals of the Empire."

"I will burn the corruption from this planet," Jean replied as her voice took on a more sinister tone, and the Phoenix's presence was allowed to show through.

Scott smirked up at Jean for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, me too," he said before he turned toward the Supremor and simply let the Supreme Intelligence have it — the full blast with no visor on — simply creaming the large almost-creature.

The fires of the Phoenix rose upward, and the cosmic power's scream echoed the streets of Hala as Jean rose up higher until she was barely visible to the naked eye — only the fiery form of the Phoenix easy to see in the otherwise dark sky. Another screech seemed to echo the city and the minds of all of those that occupied Hala moments before Jean started her dive with fiery wings outstretched and burning through everything in her path that she found to be corrupt.

The destruction was visible even from where the rest of the team was, and Noh looked on with his eyes wide and that same look of devastation on his face before he simply closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the ground, unwilling to watch his planet be destroyed. He was sure that's what was happening, after all. He'd brought the Phoenix to Hala, and this was the result.

Kurt turned as the Accusers around them watched the destruction, clearly shaken and pale. And while they were distracted, a low, rumbling growl cut through the immediate area. Kurt was not entirely surprised to see K finally getting her bearings about her; she was not at all pleased at the manner in which she woke up, obviously ready to fight, and he realized quickly that she was not going to listen to any kind of reason. "It's time for us to go," Kurt told Noh before he took a hold of the young man and simply teleported away just as K launched herself toward the nearest Accuser, snarling loudly, with her claws outstretched.

What Noh didn't get to see was the fact that in her wake, Jean wasn't indiscriminately destroying everyone and everything. The Phoenix flames washed over women and children, leaving them untouched. Innocent Kree were also left alone, but anyone from any species that had been committing atrocities … they all burned and left nothing but ash behind.

From the blackbird, the flames were easy enough to see, and the cries of the Phoenix were inescapable, as were the echoing snarls and screams of those that were falling victim to the X-men still rushing through Hala.

"We did not come here to start a war," Kurt said in an overly stern tone.

Noh didn't raise his gaze at all. "The purpose was only to finish one," he said. He wasn't arguing the point, though his ears were ringing with screams and he had to wonder what the X-Men considered to be war… Still, perhaps Kurt was right — this wasn't war; it was slaughter.

"And that is what they are doing now. Ending the war," Kurt said. "Even if these Kree attacked us."

Once more, Noh simply nodded. "Yes. We did."

Kurt let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat. It was clear to him that Noh was still in too much distress to talk to him just yet. But the others would join them in a matter of time; Jean had already projected as much to him. They just needed to let Jean burn the fires out and let K calm down before it was safe to return to where the Accusers stood. So for the moment, Kurt simply sat with Noh, and the young man seemed content to be still and silent and devastated by everything that had happened — until, finally, it was time.

Bring him back, Jean projected to both of them.

In an instant, Kurt had teleported them both to where the other three were — where K looked a bit bloodied and Scott had his arm around Jean's waist, but none of them looked overly injured beyond K's torn uniform.

"I'm sorry," Noh told K.

"I don't want to hear it," K growled back, and Noh simply nodded again and went back to staring at the ground. Jean was still floating — though she had Scott at the same level as herself so he could remain close as the remaining Accusers watched warily and many Kree began to gather around them.

"Your planet was corrupted with self-serving, power-hungry monsters that found it fit to enslave you," Jean said — still in that odd, tritone-like voice. "I will not allow injustices such as this to stand. Choose your next leader wisely." For a moment, she met Ronan's gaze and held it until the Accuser barely tipped his head.

Saving a planet from itself and an invasion. All in a day's work for you, right, Jean? Scott projected to her when it was clear no one below them was going to argue with her in the least.

Right, because I did it alone, she replied with a little smirk that was apparent even in her mental voice.

You'd have gotten to the big head eventually; I was just impatient, he replied with a smirk to match hers, and she shook her head at him before she pulled him into a kiss that lasted the whole way through the float back down to ground level.

No one tried to stop the X-Men from going back to the blackbird, though since Noh was still tied, Kurt simply teleported him — and K — back to the jet. The young man simply went back to his silence, his eyes closed and his head down, but Kurt was more concerned with sitting with K, his forehead resting against hers as they went back to speaking in quiet German together.

Scott and Jean still had their arms wrapped around each other when they finally arrived at the blackbird to join the others, and Scott went right to the cockpit to get them home. They were all ready to be done.

It wasn't long into the flight when Kurt shifted just a bit and readjusted how he was sitting. K was asleep with her head on his shoulder — obviously catching up on the healing and more than a little glad to have someone she trusted for a reliable pillow. "Noh, would you please come here?" Kurt requested.

The young man looked surprised to be addressed before he simply scooted over to where Kurt was. "Will she be alright?" he asked, first and foremost, since that was clearly a top concern for him.

"Yes, she'll be fine. It will take a little time, but she'll be fine." Kurt held up the key to the handcuffs. "It's time you got those off. I didn't want you to run away where we couldn't talk to you."

"Where would I go?" Noh asked simply.

Kurt shrugged. "Away from us, needlessly." He leaned Noh's way slightly, though he didn't disturb K. "We still want to be sure that you're alright. Our offer to stay remains."

Noh glanced up to meet Kurt's gaze for a moment before he nodded quietly. "I don't have anywhere else to go," he admitted.

"We would still like for you to choose," Kurt told him. "I know you weren't under your own power when everything started to happen."

"No one on Hala knows that," Noh said quietly. "To their estimation, I brought the Phoenix to Hala."

"I'm not entirely sure that is the case." Kurt smirked. "And if that is what they know, then they may just thank you for it."

"It doesn't matter," Noh said. "They aren't my Empire." He sounded tired, resigned, almost lifeless — it was obvious that the trip to Hala had dealt him more of a blow than he could quite comprehend. Whether that was the state of Hala and the Kree, the invasion of his mind, or the moments he had spent convinced that the Phoenix was going to destroy everything he knew… it was hard to tell.

"No, they are not the Empire you knew," Kurt agreed. "But … they have a chance now to do things right, and no Shi'ar are there to stop them."

Noh took in a deep breath and then looked up at Kurt at last. "Should I stay with them?" he asked.

"That is entirely up to you," Kurt told him. "Though I hope that you would consider staying with us for a bit longer. You haven't taken your turn in dance class yet."

Noh shook his head lightly but couldn't help smiling. "I wanted to ask for a waltz," he said.

"Then I will help you find the right selection," Kurt offered.

"I would appreciate that," Noh said, though his gaze had drifted to K. "Are you sure... ?"

Kurt smiled as he glanced down at his sleeping friend. "Yes. Very."

Noh nodded slowly. "I think … I don't know what to do. But I prefer to stay with you rather than to stay with a dying Empire."

Kurt nodded again. "You're welcome — you should know that."

Noh was silent for a long time, simply processing everything that had happened — though it was obvious he was struggling to do even that. "The Supremor told me you were allies of the Shi'ar," he said slowly.

Kurt let out a long, slow breath. "Once upon a time, we were … persuaded to cooperate with them, though it was never much more than that, and certainly not a true alliance." He watched Noh carefully. "It was more of a very close friendship between Charles and Lilandra — the Empress at the time. But she was not like the rest of the Shi'ar. She wanted to employ Charles' theory on peace, but … she was too far ahead of her time, as far as the Shi'ar were concerned."

Noh was quiet for a longer time still before he let out a breath. "What a strange reality," he said at last. "That the Shi'ar embrace a theory of peace more readily than the Kree."

"That was the trouble, of course," Kurt said. "Her brother killed her for her beliefs before they could spread." He smiled sadly at that. "And it was because of how her brother treated the enslaved citizens of Hala."

"I cannot imagine a world where the Shi'ar disagree on how to deal with Kree," he said, shaking his head.

"It was only her, sadly," Kurt told him. "But she'd hoped her position as Empress would make a difference."

"Then I see where she and Charles would find common ground," Noh said with a soft smile. "Hoping for peace in a world filled with violence."

"And … it's Charles' proof that trying to force it will not work," Jean added to the little chat. "Win their hearts first — and their sensibilities will follow."

Noh glanced up at Jean and tipped his head to the side. "You preach nonviolence, but you agreed to come with me and run the Shi'ar out of Hala. Why?"

"Because I know how despicable the Shi'ar are," she replied. "They won't change. And what they were doing on Hala was … unforgivable."

"Then there are exceptions to your rule?" Noh tipped his head a little further. "In the worst of cases, perhaps."

"There are always exceptions," she agreed. "As much as we try not to allow that to happen."

"But I am not an exception," Noh surmised.

"What do you think you did that was so wrong?"

"Attempted murder, for one thing," he pointed out.

Jean stared at him openly for a moment, glanced over to where K was still sleeping, and shook her head. "Are you kidding me? She'll probably use this as a knock on the guys. All that firepower — and she's the biggest threat."

"Well, of course," Noh said as if it was obvious. "Adamantium claws, the ability to heal… besides the Phoenix, that is much harder to stop than anything else your team can do. She can keep going even after she is stopped."

"What happened to her was hard. It was a rough hit. But believe it or not, she's had worse," Jean told him quietly. "The adamantium itself, for instance."

"She wasn't born or engineered with it?"

"No," Jean said. "Neither was Logan."

Noh held her gaze for a moment before he simply sat back and put his head in his hands. "I want to go home," he said softly.

"If there's a way ... and that's really what you want … then we'll help if we can," Jean told him.

"You cannot cross the dimensional barrier," he said.

She smirked at him, and her tone shifted to a teasing one. "Are you doubting me? All this fire — I should be able to do something."

Noh picked his head up and frowned at her for a moment before he saw her teasing smile and shook his head. "No, I meant ... there is a dimensional barrier around my reality. The Kree there wouldn't let anything pass into it — in that way, they will never risk their power."

She smiled a little more warmly at him. "I was only teasing," she said. "If you can't get back home, then maybe the best we can do is make this dimension as good as we can. I'm sorry it was such a horrible trip for you. But from what I saw in Ronan's mind, he will do his best to follow their ways to the letter."

"That is good to hear," Noh said. "But I think I would rather stay on your world."

"We'd love for you to stay," Jean promised. "All of us."

Noh frowned her way for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure that is true," he said, "but all the same, I plan to prove myself. And… ask you and Charles to secure my mind so this cannot happen." He met her gaze. "This should not happen again. I am so sorry."

"No, it shouldn't," she said. "But that was a large part of why we were so slow to tell you about Hala. I'm sorry to have withheld information." When Noh still looked down, she let out a breath and tried to reassure him. "You did no lasting damage here — and I can promise you that K took it out on the Kree that were trying to capture her once she was on her feet again."

He nodded and leaned back again. "You knew," he said slowly. "You knew that it was dangerous."

"And I tried to protect you from it, but I couldn't take the choice away from you."

"Again ... free will." He smirked at her for a moment. "I've felt its absence in this universe, and it's nothing like what I am used to. No wonder you value it."

She gave him a little smile and pointed to a cabinet toward the back of the blackbird. "If you're in need of a little recharge, there's water and food back there." She gave Scott's arm a squeeze as she turned back to the cockpit. "Let's go home."