Ultimate X-Men:
Issue 71
Phoenix?: Part 1
Angel lay in his bed, eyes closed and smiling. It was a piece of cake, Professor. Angel mindspoke to his mentor. Apparently, Xavier reject is the easiest way to get accepted to Ms. Frost's Academy of Tomorrow.
So I assume you've settled in and are mingling well with the others, Warren? Xavier mindspoke back, eyes closed concentrating on the conversion. Xavier was good at what he did and was considered one of the most powerful telepaths in the world, but talking from Westchester to Chicago was hard work. Are you getting along with your new classmates?
Oh yeah. In fact I'm going to the Homecoming dance tonight. No date, though, not with… Angel paused as he thought about the woman he loved. "How is Ali?"
Still no progress, I'm sorry, to say. Blink seems to be in the same condition; although the doctors are worried about the mind spike she had a few weeks ago.
"Hey, you plain to nap all day?" Angel's roommate said as Angel opened his eyes to the sound of the boy's voice. "I thought you were going to the grocery store with me later?"
"Huh?" Angel said focusing on the boy's voice. "Sure, whenever you want." I should go Professor.
I should go as well. Xavier said as he heard a voice calling to him as well.
"What is with you today, Professor?" Jean asked as he opened his eyes and looked up at the woman. "You seem very preoccupied."
Xavier looked at the woman and then the man joining her. The two had been waiting for the young man to join them. Ever since coming to this timeline Xavier wanted to test Alex with his telepath abilities. The boy claimed to not know of them, and never released that he had them.
Which puzzled Xavier to the core.
Being from the future and having no telepaths to train him Xavier could understand the lack of knowledge, but to not know completely was unheard of. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."
Alex walked up to Jean and smiled at the girl. She gave him a quick smile in return and looked back at Xavier. Xavier noted the tension between the two, or the fact that Jean still didn't care for the boy. It was almost like she was jealous of another telepath, but Xavier thought that that was ridiculous.
"If you'll excuse the brief lapse in my attention, I'd like to get started. I'd rather not sedate him any more than Fury and his men already have. I don't know what they gave him, but he's been out for over twelve hours now."
"I'm ready when you are." Jean said simply.
"Why am I here?" Alex said looking at both of the mutants. "I'm not even a full member of the X-Men, nor do I have full control over my telepathic abilities…"
"You are hear, my young Alex, because you do not posses full control over your telepathic abilities." Xavier said thinking that was plain enough. "The more practice you get, the better you'll be." Xavier said giving the boy a slight smile.
"Fine, but let's make this quick. I have a date." Alex said slightly annoyed. Alex stopped and looked at the two in front of him. He didn't know why he snapped, it seemed lately that he wasn't acting like himself.
He didn't like it in the least. "Sorry, I… I don't know why I snapped."
Xavier shook his head. "We have been through a lot in the past couple of months… it's only natural for tensions to rise."
Xavier placed a hand on his head and looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes.
The three mutants appeared in a small neutral-toned colored kitchen. They were watching three people eating breakfast at a small table; the blond boy that Fury brought in and two older adults.
"Uh, hi." Elliot said as he looked away from his parents and at the three mutants staring at him. "Can you tell me why I'm eating with my parents? I thought they were dead. I thought I killed them."
"Don't say that, honey." His mother said picking up her cup of coffee.
"Glenda, he's a grown man now. He can say what he wants." His father said, picking up a piece of bacon and putting it in his mouth.
"I'm afraid that is true." Xavier said wheeling himself closer to the boy. "Your parents are dead. Their deaths were an accident. Your mutant powers were…"
"I told you we was dead, Glenda." Elliot's father interrupted Xavier. "Let's get out of here."
"Mutant?" Elliot said slowly pushing himself from the table and standing up. "I remember now, that's what the man with the missing eye said, Nick Fury. I saw him on TV, he said I was mutant." Elliot took a better look at Xavier and Jean. "You're that guy, aren't you? The famous mutant Professor?"
The house around them slowly started to disappear. The four mutants found themselves standing on a sandy beach with the ocean crashing along the shore. "Yes, I'm Professor Charles Xavier and these are my students, Jean Grey and Alex…" Xavier let his voice trail off as he remembered that he couldn't tell anyone Alex's last name, so he left it at just that, Alex.
"Nice to meet you." Elliot said taking Jean's hand and shaking it and then taking Alex's.
"You've been turned over to my custody after being arrested by SHIELD. It seems you caused a bit of disturbance when your powers first manifested." Xavier said placing his hands behind his back.
"My powers?" Elliot said rubbing his chin and looking around the beach. "So all that stuff that was happening to me… I was doing that? The mansion… the field." He stopped to look at the three mutants standing in front of him. "My parents?"
Jean walked up to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm afraid so." Was all she could say. What could you say to someone who had killed their parents?
"That said, now is not the time for mourning and self-pity." Xavier quickly said taking a step forward. "We have a bit of a situation at the moment. Sadly, these kinds of incidents are not uncommon. The first few days after a person's X-gene becomes active can be very dangerous."
"I'll say." Elliot said looking around and taking in the ocean air. "Where in the world are we? What happened to my kitchen?"
"We're inside your mind." Alex said smiling at the young man. "None of this around you is real… we're seeing places pulled from your memory.
Elliot smiled and turned away from the three mutants. "Yeah… I remember this place now. We came here on vacation once. It was cool."
"Elliot, please." Xavier said bring the young man back around to look at the three. "Please pay attention. You have been remanded to my custody because you have been deemed out-of-control. Until I determine that you will not destroy my school when you regain consciousness, I will have to keep you sedated."
"Uh, well… if I recall, I was able to stop using my powers at one point last night." Elliot quickly said. "I don't quite know how to use my powers but I think I know how to not use them at the very least."
"So you think you wouldn't do any damage if we allowed you to wake up?" Jean asked, crossing her arms under her chest.
"Thinking back, I was scared before reacting to the things going on around me… not knowing what they were or how they were happening." Elliot said looking down at his feet, realizing that he was in nothing but his boxers. He quickly looked away from everyone blushing. "Knowing that I'm a mutant, and that I was the one doing those things… as long as I stay calm I think I can control it."
"I can assist you in keeping your powers under control as long as you will allow it." Xavier said, smiling at the boy. "If you will agree, I think we can end this and allow you to awaken."
Elliot smiled at Xavier and then turned his smile to the other two mutants, neither one of them looked very impressed with the young man. "Sure, yeah. I mean… whatever it takes." Elliot said sounding unsure of himself.
Elliot woke up and pushed himself off the hard bed he was sleeping on. "That was quick." He said smiling at the woman.
"Actually, we've been out of your mind for twenty minutes, hence the absence of Alex." Jean said not sounding too thrilled on either account. "It took that long just to revive you."
"As promised, I'll keep an eye on you… help you keep your powers under control for now. How do you feel?" Xavier asked.
"I feel fin—"
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Cyclops asked as he walked into the room.
"This is Elliot Boggs." Xavier said turning his chair to look at Scott and waving a hand in the direction of Elliot. "He'll be staying with us indefinitely. I would like you to show him around."
Scott walked up to the man and held out his hand, Elliot took it and they smiled at each other. "I'd be happy to, sir."
"Cyclops, right?" Elliot said, letting his hand go. "I've seen you on the news. It's good to meet you."
"Thank you, Scott." Xavier said looking at all three mutants in the room. "Now if you'll excuse us I have something I'd like to talk to Jean about."
"Right." Cyclops said turning away from the two and leading Elliot out of the room. "Right this way Elliot." Can I see you later? Scott added mentally to Jean.
Jean smiled at the man before he turned around and added, Nothing could keep me away.
After the two men left and closed the door behind them Xavier wheeled himself around to look at the young woman.
"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Charles?"
"There is an organization that is willing to fund us." Xavier said wheeling himself closer to the woman. "As you know, the money we… acquired from the Hellfire Club is all but gone, and is not enough to sustain our operations without the government support we recently turned down." Xavier placed his hands in his lap and thought carefully on how to proceed.
"This organization seems completely benign. I was allowed to scan their leader's mind. There seems to be no deception involved, although I feel like she is holding something back. The only catch is that they wish to be allowed to determine if you are in fact…" He paused to look at the woman. "The Phoenix."
Jean stood up from her sitting position and looked surprised at Xavier. "Phoenix? What… is this about the Hellfire Club again?"
"No. Although, there seems to be a connection... Have you ever heard of the Church of the Shi'ar Enlightenment?" Xavier asked the woman.
"What about Alex?" Jean asked placing her hands on her hips, ignoring the question.
Xavier shook his head. "They do not know about the… The Future X-Men… and I wish to leave it that way… but allow me to explain the rest."
Rogue walked into the kitchen looking for Logan and found him leaning up against a wall eating a bowl of cereal. "Oh, there you are Wolverine." She said, sounding not so sure of herself as she neared the man.
She hadn't really talked to him since she had been back and was worried about what he might think of her… on how she treated him. "I've been looking all over for you. Guy on the phone says he's an old pal. Says you'd remember him, the name's Nathan Fitzgerald?"
Logan groaned as he put the bowl of cereal down on the island in the middle of the kitchen and reached for the phone. "Thanks, kid."
Logan watched as the girl turned around and walked out of the kitchen humming to herself. When he watched her leave out of the hall he finally put the phone to his ear. "What do you want, Nick?"
"You don't skip a beat, do you?" Fury said over the phone. "You're a hard man to get a hold of."
"My cell's off, what do you want?" Logan growled.
"I have an office in Harlem. Go to West 125th Street. You should be able to follow my scent from there. Meet me in less than an hour. It's important."
"If you've got something to tell me, why didn't you just do it when you were here last night?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Fury said confusion in his voice.
"Oh, so we're back to playing that game then, huh? I got a choice here?"
"I can make you regret not coming." Fury threatened.
"I'll be there in two hours." Logan said hanging up the phone before Fury could say anything else.
"Are you already off the phone?" Rogue asked slowly walking back into the kitchen.
"Yeah." Logan said as he took a seat at the bar in the kitchen and pushed his bowl of cereal away.
"Hey!" Rogue yelled as Logan reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"We ain't had a chance to talk, you and me. Not since you came back." Wolverine pulled the girl closer to him. She could feel his hot breath on her and she winced at what he might do to her. "I wasn't exactly thrilled about you running off with that Cajun lowlife, Gambit, but I'm sorry to hear about what happened to him." Logan's voice almost took on a sorrowful tone. "You okay, Rogue?"
Rogue was taken aback at the question. She wasn't expected this from Logan at all. "Was weird at first… the powers, I mean." Rogue said trying to figure out where the conversion was going. "I'm getting used to it now."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you." Logan said letting go on the girl's wrist and looking down at his feet. "Is Bobby helping you get over all that?"
"I'm not talking to you about that." She said smiling at him and turning to leave.
"Fine with me." He smiled back at her. "I've got a busy day ahead of me anyway."
"I suppose the first thing we should do is get you some clothes." Scott said as he walked down the hall with Elliot right next to him.
"Oh yeah… totally." Elliot laughed as he remembered again that he was only in his boxers. "I can't wait to get into my new costume. Has it already been designed? I kinda wanted to make a few suggestions." Elliot was talking very fast as the two teenagers walked down the hall. "I've got ideas, I mean, nothing that would absolutely have to be followed, of course.
"It's a little early for a uniform, Elliot." Scott said smiling at the young man's enthusiasm. We don't even know if you're going to be able to effectively use your powers. I was thinking something more along the lines of jeans and a t-shirt. You look to be about my size. Let's swing by my room."
"So…" Elliot said looking away from the man and stealing quick glances around the hall. "Who exactly is it that designs all the costumes here?"
Scott opened the door to his room and ignored the question. Elliot walked right into the room with him and followed Scott to the closet door. "Just grab anything out of this closet. Too bad Peter and Alex left already, they were going shopping in the city and they could have taken you along."
"They want to run tests on me like I'm some lab rat?" Jean said almost yelling at this point. "And you agreed to this? What were you thinking?"
"Jean, I would prefer you not take that tone with me." Xavier said, narrowing his eyes at the young woman. "I only agreed to bring the offer to you and allow you to make the decision on your own.
"That said, I would recommend you accept their offer. Lilandra assured me that you would not be harmed. While I do not believe her religious theories to be true, you can't ignore the coincidences between her beliefs and what you seem to be experiencing."
"And what about Alex?" Jean said crossing her arms under her chest asking the questions for the second time.
"Although he shows the same powers as you, he doesn't seem to be experiencing the effects like you." Xavier said looking worried at the thought of two of his students going through the same thing.
"Which brings us back to not knowing much about—"
"Jean, we have been over this before." Xavier cut her off. "I told you, he has told me everything that he knows and I decided that it would be best if the future stay just that. The future." Xavier quickly turned the conversion back to the direction he wanted it in. "I think this may be the best way to find out exactly what is going on with you right now. Or, at the very least, get closer to some answers." He paused and looked at the woman, sighing. "It couldn't hurt."
"You're sure about that?" Jean said narrowing her eyes and deciding not to bring up Alex again. She unfolded her arms and took a step closer to Xavier. "I trust you, Charles. If you promise you'll be there, and that you trust this woman… I'll do it."
Xavier smiled up at the woman and placed his hands on the wheels of his chair, getting ready to turn around. "Thank you. And, Jean; call me Professor."
"Fine, but Lilandra." Jean said placing her hands on her hips. "You're on a first name basis with this woman? Assuming that is a first name…" Jean turned away from the man and looked at the wall. "What is she, some cocktail waitress?"
"Okay, program off." Storm said as she got to her feet. "That's not exactly what I had planned when I wrote this program… but it works." Storm said as the other two mutants gathered around her. "Thanks for giving it a run-through with me." Storm, Iceman, and Rogue had just finished another program in the danger room that Storm had designed.
Storm was happy with the outcome.
"Anytime." Rogue said smiling as Iceman wrapped an arm around her waist. "Thanks for the workout."
"So it looks like things with more mass make bigger explosions… interesting." Storm said taking note of Rogue's new mutant ability. "Of all the things you could carry in order to charge up and use as weapons… why cards?"
Storm was looking at Rogue in wonderment. The woman hadn't had those powers for a very long time, but she was using them like a pro. Rogue had recently gained the powers of a man by the name of Gambit and Storm had asked the woman to enter the training room so she could test her new powers.
It worked clearly, but not the way Storm was hoping for it too.
"I don't really know." Rogue said placing her hands on her hips. "Easy to carry a bunch?" She said nodding her head and smiling.
The three walked out of the danger room and down the hall, not even noticing Scott and Elliot walking towards them. "There go a few of your teammates leaving the Danger Room after what looks like a grueling training session." Elliot looked at Scott, confused. "I'll talk more about the Danger Room later." He pointed at the white haired woman. "That is Storm, Iceman and Rogue." As he pointed to each other student.
Scott smiled to himself. He felt like he was being a pretty good tour guide, although he wasn't sounding like himself. He was trying to change for Jean and he hoped this was something that she wanted him to be.
More of an adult.
"I'll have to introduce you to the rest later, Colossus, Phoenix, Phase, and Charger are in the city, shopping." Scott glanced over at Elliot, making sure that he was still following. "We've been pretty busy since the New X-Men arrived and they haven't had time to… adjust." Scott was trying to find the right words to say without telling the young man that the group was from the future.
"Teammates?" Elliot asked clearly not listening to the rest of what Scott had said. "So I am on the team? I'm an X-Man?"
"Maybe after a few months of training." Scott said looking at the young man. "What's got you so excited about being an X-Man, Elliot?"
"My parents are dead, man…" Elliot said pleading with Scott. "My life is over. I'm a mutant. The old rules are gone, everything I thought I was going to be, what I was going to do…" Elliot stopped, holding back the tears. "It's all gone."
Scott looked at the man, not knowing what to say. He knew how he felt when he found out he was a mutant…
"But I don't know… I've seen you on the news; the X-Men are cool. This gives me something to look forward to." Elliot said looking down at his feet and sniffing loudly. "Or at the very least, distract me."
"I can understand that…" Scott finally said pushing a button on the wall and watching the door open. "C'mon, the hanger is through here."
The two walked into the hanger as the doors to the roof were opening. A huge X-Wing was flying down and landing where the old one use to land, before Magneto destroyed it. Scott whistled as he watched the X-Wing land. "Wasn't expecting this."
Scott noticed that Jean and Xavier were waiting on the platform when the X-Wing landed and the door slowly opened up. Two figures walked out of the still running X-Wing and Xavier smiled at them.
"I take it you didn't have any trouble finding the place?" Xavier asked as Lilandra neared them.
"Not at all." Lilandra said as she stopped in front of the two mutants. "One new X-Wing as promised. Feel free to have you technicians look over it, but I assure you there are no differences from the previous model." She paused as she looked at them. "Although I will admit I decided to add some upgrades."
Xavier nodded at the woman. "Oh, and I'd like to introduce you to an associate of mine. This is Gerald, my assistant."
"I believe you're already aware, but this is Jean Grey." Xavier said waving a hand at the red haired teenager next to him.
"It's an honor to meet you, Ms. Grey." Lilandra said reaching out her hand to shake Jean's.
Jean stared at the hand until Xavier coughed and Jean held out her hand to shake the woman's. Lilandra smiled and the three began to walk away from the X-Wing.
Scott and Elliot walked up to the four people on the platform and smiled at Jean. "I didn't know we were getting a new X-Wing, when did this…?"
"Excuse me, Scott." Xavier cut the young man off. "I'll have to explain everything later." Xavier wheeled himself away as he followed the other three down the hall into a side room.
"It looks… smaller on TV." Elliot said walking up to the X-Wing and reaching a hand up to touch the belly of the ship.
"That's what Angel said too." Scott said walking up behind the young man, he smiled. "Although I think this is a little bit bigger."
"I want to learn to fly it…" Elliot said turning to look at Scott. "I don't think I can fly on my own, not that I would know." He said quickly adding the last part.
"That's what I'm talking about." Scott said turning away from the teenager and leading him away from the X-Wing. "You don't even know. How do you think you'd even be close to ready for action?"
"I can feel my powers…" Elliot quickly put in. "Just below the surface… I can feel where they are; I think I can control them."
"Well, we'll let the Professor be the judge of that." Scott said as he turned back to face the young man. "For now, keep them under the surface."
"I held my own against Fury's guards when they attacked me." Elliot said defensively. "If you guys would just throw me in the mix, I know I could prove myself."
"As many X-Men as we have running around this place these day's something really bad would have to happen for us to use you before you're ready." Scott said turning to the plane and rubbing a hand across the belly of her.
"Yeah?" Elliot asked, sounding interested.
New York City:
"Welcome to Macy's." Peter said as he pushed open the door. Alex, Anna, and Michael walked in and looked around, totally surprised at what they were seeing.
Alex looked up into the air and saw that the store went for at least another three floors and his jaw dropped. All this time in this timeline and he never really got to look at anything.
Never before could he have imagined all this stuff in one place. Who needs this much stuff? Peter grabbed his hand as he dragged him towards the men's area.
Anna and Michael quickly followed behind as they entered the men's area of the store. Peter went towards the jeans and started pulling some off the hanger and handing them to Alex.
"Here… try these on while I go find you some tops." Peter said as he rushed over to the other side of the department. Alex looked at his two friends and shrugged his shoulders.
"Isn't he cute when he gets excited?" Alex said holding at least six pairs of jeans.
Anna smiled as he watched the big man run from table to table grabbing shirts and polos. "How are we supposed to pay for all this?" Anna asked.
"I don't have a clue…" Alex said walking over to the changing rooms. "I guess Xavier gave us some money." Peter came rushing over with a hand full of shirts and he stared at Michael and Anna.
"Why haven't you two found anything yet?"
Michael looked at the big man and smiled. "I don't think anything could fit me in here."
"Ridicules." Peter said handing a shirt to the big man. "I think this would be your size."
"Thanks…" Michael said taking the shirt and looking at Anna, who smiled up at him.
"Here… let's let the two love birds play dress up together and we'll go shopping over here." Anna smiled pulling Michael away from a pleading Alex.
Before the group could split off a huge explosion sounded from the first floor. Alex ran out of the dressing room with just his new pair of jeans on wondering what was happening.
"One side, socialites! The Brotherhood has come to play!" Toad said jumping onto a counter, throwing jewelry and perfume into the air. Quickly following the Toad was Blob, Mastermind, and then Multiple Man appeared.
"This is gonna be fun." Toad said as he jumped towards the group of X-Men.
Westchester Hospital:
Nightcrawler sat alone on the edge of Alison's bed in the hospital. He looked sadder than he had ever felt and maybe even a great deal more.
"I vonder if you can hear me, Ali. They say not much is known about comas. So it's at least possible that you can hear me." He moved closer and made himself more comfortable.
"I enjoy these talks a lot. They are special to me. I do not know if it vould be the same if you could hear me. I don't like to vonder vhat you vould think of me if you were listening." Nightcrawler said sighing and looking down at the floor.
"Ever since the fight with Deathstrike which put you here… I do not have anyone any more, Ali. I am alone. Mein freund, Peter, Colossus, he… he lied to me for so long, Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let the tears show. "I could… no can forgive what he is, but I thought ve vere friends. I though he vould of told me." A single tear fell from his eyes.
"Peter is a deceiver… He lied to me… I don't know how to forgive him." Nightcrawler said jumping off the bed and walking to the window.
"Warren isn't even around for our Danger Room games anymore. He abandoned me as well. Oh, how I miss him." Nightcrawler whined as he rubbed another tear from his eyes. "Now, I am truly alone."
Nightcrawler turned back around and looked at the sleeping Ali. He reached out for her and brushed some stray hair away from her face. "All I have now is you…" Nightcrawler touch the woman and a warm feeling rushed through him.
All he needed was Ali, nothing else. No one else.
Peter and Warren would pay for what they did to him; he would make sure of that.
Macey's:
"You have chosen the wrong day to attack us, Toad." Peter said turning his flesh into metal, making his shirt rip apart into tiny pieces.
"Let's stop talking and fry them!" Phoenix said, floating in the air and being consumed with fire. Phase and Charger quickly moved in different directions to try and split the Brotherhood apart.
"Phoenix, I couldn't agree with you more…" Colossus said as he ran towards the Blob who was standing in the middle of the group. As Colossus ran into to him Colossus felt the fat of the man shift and envelope him, then just as quickly it burst him out in the opposite direction.
"I'm the Blob!" The Blob said as he laughed. "If I don't won't to move I ain't movin'." He yelled as Colossus flew back across the department store and into a group of mannequins.
"Take them down, X-Men!" Phoenix yelled at Charger and Phase. Charger was running towards Multiple Man when a bright red tongue wrapped around her neck. She yelled as she was pulled back and thrown away from the group.
"Charger!" Phase yelled as he changed direction to run towards Toad. Multiple Man stopped him however when four copies of the mutant appeared around him. "I don't have time for this!" He shouted as he punched one of the copies and four more popped up.
Phase was quickly outnumbered as more and more copies poured over him.
"Phase!" Phoenix shouted as he directed his energy beam at Multiple Man.
Colossus slowly got to his feet and looked at the scene before him. Anna was being thrashed about by Toad's tong and Phase was being over powered by all the copies of Multiple Man. The one that hurt him the most however was seeing Alex crying on the floor holding on to nothing. Colossus took quick note of the man in the corner, Mastermind.
"I have to call for back up."
To be continued: