Apocalypse looked at the small group of the X-Men and smiled. "Ah, the Legendary Phoenix," he said, looking at Jean. "And Wolverine. And I take it the others with you are Storm, Colossus, Pyro, Beast, Iceman and…Emma Frost. I see that Magneto was not the only one who betrayed me."
John raised his eyebrow at Apocalypse's knowledge and glanced at Bobby, who only shrugged as Emma smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "What can I say?"
"Yes, what can you say?" Apocalypse retorted. "I will be sure you will suffer an unbearable death."
Emma gulped and turned to Logan. "See?" she barked. "I told you he was a maniac!"
"This ends tonight, Apocalypse," Storm told him.
"I believe so to, but the night ends for you X-Men. You, the humans and all the mutants who oppose me."
"You've got that wrong, Apocalypse," Jean said. "You might be powerful, I don't doubt that, but you can't beat us."
Apocalypse smirked. "We'll see. Sentinels, attack!"
Five of the Sentinels moved on his command simultaneously. Bobby stepped forward and lifted his hand using his powers to freeze on of the Sentinels feet. The machine wobbled at first then lost his balance and fell to the earth, shaking the land. Logan growled and leapt forward, his claws extended, and cut off the head of the machine. Jean watched as the light in the machines eyes faded out. As each second passed, the sky grew darker and darker as lightning lit up the sky and the thunder crashed. Ororo timed the strike perfectly, as a lightning bolt came down from the heavens and hit one of the Sentinels straight from the head down, lighting his whole metallic body as he fell to the ground, motionless.
Apocalypse growled dangerously as he watched the second machine fall to the ground. He pointed at the X-Men as his followers stepped in behind him. "Kill them!" he shouted.
A sudden roar was heard from the crowd as they charged towards Xavier's students. Logan watched as the crowd approached them quickly and a quick flash of that fateful night on Alcatraz came flooding through his memory. Jean turned to Logan, sensing his un-comfort and seeing his memories. Logan immediately regretted the memory when he saw the look on Jean's face, a mask of pain, horror, and surprise. Without taking her eyes off Logan, Jean used her telekinesis and sent the whole crowd of mutants hurling backwards. Logan smirked at Jean as John used his powers and forced a fire on another one of the machines as it hit the ground in a pile of smoke and melted metal. Jean glanced around. Three down…dozens more to go.
Kitty sighed and shot an angry glare at Scott, once more. "This is like, so insane. We've been walking around in a circle for the past ten minutes."
Erik nodded. "She's right. This is a waste of time and effort."
"These are the directions Emma gave us," Scott snapped. "So if you got any better ideas…"
"Gambit do," Remy replied.
"Keep them to yourself," Scott finished.
Remy rolled his eyes. 'Remy'
"What da hell?"
'Remy. It's Charles.'
'You doin' it again, Chuck.'
"Is everything alright?" Mystique asked.
Remy nodded quickly and waved her off. "It's fine, cherie."
'I am sorry, Remy. I know you don't like telepathy but I couldn't reach you much more easier than the others.'
'What can Gambit help you wit?'
'I have a feeling you are walking into a trap. I will lead you to the control room.'
Remy stopped walking. "Uh, guys. Gambit think we headin' the wrong way."
Scott stopped and turned to the Cajun. "And what makes you think that?"
Remy shrugged. "Gut instant?"
Scott scoffed and continued to walk on, but no one followed. Scott sensed this and turned around, watching each other them. "You're not serious…"
"Yeah, I think we should," Kitty said smugly.
Scott threw up his hands. "Fine, lead the way."
Remy nodded and followed the Professor's directions. But Remy was worried about how the others were holding up. 'We've already wasted enough time…'
Hank leapt forward and tackled several mutants, knocking them out. The ones who did get past Hank, Logan took care of. As Jean finished off her opponents, she smiled as she saw another Sentinel being brought down by John. In this seemingly impossible battle, the X-Men were winning…and Apocalypse was anything but thrilled.
Before Jean knew it, or even sensed it, she was grabbed from behind and throw several yards away. She went through the glass in one of the near by buildings and hit the floor with a thud. Jean struggled to catch her breath and stand, but she lost her balance and slipped on the floor, cutting herself from the shattered glass.
'Finish this,' Phoenix growled.
'Gimme a second,' Jean hissed through the pain. She had cuts all over her arms and legs and some of the glass incised her uniform. Just as Jean stood once more, with the aid and power of Phoenix, Apocalypse stood in front of the broken window staring Jean down. The first thing that caught his sight were her flesh wounds.
"I never knew that the Phoenix could be wounded so easily," he mused.
"What makes you think I can?" Jean shot back.
As the fires of the Phoenix consumed her, she let out an angry yell and raised her hand towards Apocalypse, sending him crashing in the opposite building, using her powers. Jean flew out of the building and stood in the middle of the street, watching as Apocalypse recovered from the sudden attack. As he stood, his eyes widened, discovering that Jean's mortal flesh wounds had disappeared and Jean's eyes were a pitch black color.
Jean grinned evilly knowing what he was thinking. "I told you," she said. "Are you sure you saw what you think you saw?"
Apocalypse frowned. "What game are you trying to pull with me, Phoenix?"
Jean titled her head to the side. "You call this a game?"
Once more, Jean used her telekinesis against Apocalypse, but he fought it standing his ground and growling with frustration. Logan watched from afar and frowned as he saw Jean grinning, clearly enjoying what she was doing. Don't let it control you, Jeannie, he pleaded.
Scott and the others quickly ran down the hallway. "Hurry!" Scott called, "We're running out of time."
Finally, they reached the end of the hallway and into another huge room. They all skidded to a stop and looked on in horror and disbelief.
"Unbelievable," Mystique whispered.
"We have to destroy that?" Kitty cried.
They all looked up at perhaps the largest Sentinel of all, of which was sitting as if he was the king. Scott followed the wires that came from the massive machine and was hooked up to another machine, one that had an computer. "Okay, Mystique, Magneto, you're up. The rest of us will find a way to release the cure for the virus."
The Brotherhood members nodded and advanced to the computer while the others step-sided around the giant Sentinel. "Hold it right there!" they heard. Scott and the others quickly turned, prepared to attack, when they were meant with dozens of guns and the military soldiers staring at them. Scott looked around. They fell right into a trap.
Jean grunted as she hit the ground, again, and tasted blood. She pulled herself up again and spared a look around as Apocalypse slowly walked up to her, watching her carefully. Jean saw as Apocalypse's followers quickly started to outnumber Logan and the others. She saw Logan get hit hard with an object in the head. She saw Ororo begin forced to the ground and Bobby and John battling several mutants each, and not being far enough to use their powers. What scared her more were the Sentinels that were approaching. Jean closed her eyes. They didn't make it…
"So do you see now, Phoenix?" Apocalypse grinned. "You cannot beat En Sabah Nur. You cannot beat my army."
Jean watched as the Sentinels surrounded them. She was so surprised at how quickly the battle had turned on them. They had the advantage…surprise and the skill and yet…
Jean suddenly turned around to see Emma Frost standing there, in the middle of the battle, with a terrified look on her face. As Emma and Jean made eye contact, Emma suddenly grinned. Jean felt a fiery in her that she hadn't felt in a long time. Her whole body began to shake with anger and her very soul darken. That backstabbing bitch.
Emma shrugged. "Sorry, dear. But his offer was much more pleasing than yours," she giggled. "Have fun," she winked at Jean and walked away.
Jean's gaze was adverted as the Sentinels all stepped forward and uttered two words: Terminate X-Men. Jean closed her eyes, feeling defeat within her and her team mates. So…this is how it'll end.
