Rogue was silent in the jet, occasionally answering questions on what she had last seen of Phoenix. Her eyes were once again green, but she was snappy and constantly frowning due to a colossal headache. Scott observed her carefully, she seemed to be fighting battles in her mind, they had all recognised the blue eyes that surfaced in the war room and the dangers of Rogue's powers going haywire again.

The Professor stayed silent, Storm was up front and Kurt sat silently behind Rogue. He looked out the window, they had faced trials before but this seemed so much more real, there was a real possibility that they may lose Jean all together and looking at Scott, him as well if that were to happen. He sighed and leant his head back against the chair, everything was wrong. Ever since Rogue had pushed Mystique off the cliff and subsequently absorbed Carol Danvers it had seemed like they were just waiting for the next catastrophe and now they were dealing with Phoenix and Sinister. He did something he hadn't done in a long time, he closed his eyes and prayed.

As they landed in the desert to the west of the Egyptian portion of the Nile, the Professor turned to them all, remembering the last time they had entered Egypt during the fight with Apocalypse. "X-Men, Rogue has informed us this was the last known location of Phoenix. According to the descriptions Phoenix is currently learning what it can of human history, the Valley of the Kings was where she was at that time, she may no longer be there. We must also be aware that the local populace and the tourists do not appear to have noticed the presence. Since the Apocalypse incidents, the security has been stepped up also. We will search tomb by tomb in the valley of the kings before moving on. Kurt, you will teleport yourself and Rogue, me and Scott will search with the aid of my powers. Storm will be on hand to provide cover if needed. Do not draw unnecessary attention to yourselves and do not attempt to confront Phoenix alone, call me. The maps you have show you which tombs to search." With that he nodded and they turned to depart.

Kurt grabbed Rogue's gloved hand and looking at the map ported them directly to the back of a tomb, thankful for the early hour of the day and the reduced number of tourists that now came to Egypt. No one was in the back room of the tomb when they appeared. There was no sign of Phoenix, but voices could be heard from another part of the tomb.

"Put your image inducer on Kurt." Rogue muttered quietly as she morphed with the aid of Mystique's powers into civilian clothing and masked her white streaks. Making like they were just awed at the carvings and paintings on the wall they made there way to the next room. Three people were being shown around by a guide, Kurt took the rise in level of noise to direct a quiet question at Rogue.

"How did you do that Rogue? What's going on with your powers?" Rogue looked down at him briefly, seeing the worry in his face.

"Ah had to let them out in order to wake up, for now ah have all their powers to a limited extent."

"Will they try to take over?"

"Not for now, ah don't know about after we get Jean back – if ah think they will ah'll let yah knock me out, don't worry." She smiled a little to try and lighten the tone, for a hyperactive optimist Kurt could be rather dramatic and morose at times.

He smiled wryly, not really seeing the humour. They made their way to the entrance of the tomb – no sign of Phoenix, in either flames or Jean's body. Ducking behind the ticket booth Kurt ported them to the next tomb.

Scott and the Professor had searched three tombs in the Valley, hidden through the Professors powers, but with no luck. They met back with Rogue and Kurt in the centre of the valley beside the refreshment stand. Rogue still wore the slight disguise, the Professor noted this, but chose not to say anything.

"We must assume Phoenix has moved on." He stated to them, they all nodded. "Short of searching every known tourist attraction in Egypt, I am unsure as to how to continue, let us return to the blackbird and we will attempt to plan."

Once back at the jet they sat in their seats looking dejected. Kurt looked around at their sad faces, not defeated – but almost there. Rogue's Phoenix powers had disappeared all together now, one of the only powers she wasn't able to pull up on demand now.

"Well, if the Phoenix is looking to learn, maybe it's doing it chronologically? Maybe it has moved to the next period now?" he looked at them all a he spoke, the Professor looked thoughtful.

"It is a good suggestion Kurt. Professor?" Storm looked over at Charles, who eyed them all from behind steepled fingers.

"Yes that might be an option, if the Egyptian New Kingdom is where she was a few hours ago – Rogue do you know how long she was here?"

"She was in the country for the last two days, before that it was somewhere ah didn't recognise – looked desert like though."

"Two days for 3000 years of history, if she was in the middle east before that looking at the early times of Man's history, then it would be a safe bet to say that she has moved on to Greek or Roman history. However, I'm not sure how we could possibly search that far – Roman especially covers a long time and a large area." The Professor frowned, without the ability to track Phoenix they were at a loss, she moved unseen through the countries she was in – if she had appeared then surely there would have been reports on the news somewhere, but as it stood the world was unaware of the alien inhabitant. He looked up suddenly, "I may have an idea of how we can trace her. I will need to call in some favours. Storm – can you take us to Muir Island?"

Storm nodded and immediately went to the controls, as the plane took off he turned to the X-Men, "Whilst Phoenix is invisible to the human eye and my telepathy, there is a small chance that we may be able to track her through radiation or another form of energy she might be leaving behind."

"You think they could do that at Muir Island?" Scott asked, scared to let any hope seep into his voice.

The Professor nodded, "They have one of the most advanced monitoring labs in the world, specifically designed, like cerebro, to aid in the understanding of mutants and their powers. Phoenix is not a mutant, but she must put off some form of energy trail which means there must be a way to track it. We must try any avenue we can, if this doesn't work then we must also ask Magneto." At this the students looked up in shock.

"Magneto? Why him?" Rogue asked

"Physical bodies affect the magnetic field in some shape or form – he might be able to trace it if we can't, although his powers are great they may not be able to trace so accurately as a scanner should be able."

"It is worth a shot for Jean's sake." Kurt said quietly, "Even if it does feel like we may need to call on our enemy for help."