And I'm back with the second chapter to the second story is the X-Strike Chronicles series!
Chapter Two: She's Back
"When an individual acquires great power, the use or misuse of the power is everything. Will it be for the greater good? Or will it be used for destructive ends? Now, this is a question that we must ask ourselves. Why? Because we are mutants. For physics, this presents a particular problem. When is it acceptable to use our power and when do we cross that invisible line that turns us into tyrants over our fellow man?"
"But Einstein said that ethics are exclusively a human concern, without any superhuman authority behind it," Kitty argued.
"Einstein wasn't a mutant, as far as we know," Xavier joked. Kyle was in his ethics class. Professor X was teaching him and other students his age. Storm and Professor X recommended the class to Kyle since he was still learning how to control his powers- mostly anger. Ethics was one of his favorite subjects- listening to people arguing on ethics-based topics and staring at Kitty- what?
Kyle went alert just as the kids started laughing at Professor X's joke. Professor X noticed Kyle's sudden movement from daydreaming to being alert.
"Pay attention, Kyle," The Professor told Kyle telepathically. "You wouldn't want to miss another joke, especially if it's about you."
That's when Kyle saw a drawing on his notebook. It was a mildly-accurate sketch of Kitty Pryde. He had no idea that he could draw, neither did he know that he was drawing Kitty. This was one of the many changes happening to Kyle. He would have muscle memory of things he had no mental memory of. Like Drawing. The other day, Kyle had accurately guessed the Danger room's robot weak spot without knowing barely anything about robots. And he was an expert at playing poker(without gambiling with money). He quickly hid the drawing of Kitty into his notebook.
"Now this case study was sent to me by a colleague, Dr Moira MacTaggert." Professor X addressed one of the students. "Jones?"
Jones blinked, and the Tv screen in the room flickered on. A video of a woman appeared.
"The man you see here was born with no higher-level brain functions." Dr Moira explained in the video. "His organs and nervous system work, but he has no consciousness to speak of."
The Professor paused the video. "Now what if we were to transfer the consciousness of one person, say a father of four with terminal cancer, into the body of this man? How are we to decide what falls within the range of ethical behavior and what-" The Professor stopped to look out the window as dark clouds formed in the sky.
"Professor?" Jones asked.
"We'll continue this tomorrow. Class dismissed." Professor X said.
After packing his books, Kyle and the other students left Xavier's office.
"Who gets the award for Mr Obvious this week? Professor Charles Xavier." Kitty joked.
"What was the joke?" Kyle asked.
"Were you not paying attention?" Kitty asked.
"I was, I just got distracted." Kyle admitted.
Kitty stopped him. "That's the problem, Kyle. You've been distracted at random times this week. First in the Danger Room, that time in Intro to Public Speaking, and now Ethics. What's going on?"
"Nothing going on!" Kyle hissed. "Everybody gets distracted."
"I told you, you could come to me if you wanted to talk about it."
"What's there to talk about?" Kyle asked.
"What is distracting you, Kyle?" Kitty asked as they rounded the corner to down the hallway of the mansion.
"I- I don't know." Kyle responded. "I have to get to my other class." Kyle walked away from her to another classroom. A sheet of paper slipped out of his notebook.
"Wait, you dropped something-" Kitty started to say. She picked up the paper that showed the drawing of her.
"The forecast was for sunny skies," The Professor said. Storm stood on the balcony of the mansion. Her eyes were white as rain and thunder raged in the sky. Storm whirled around, realizing what she was doing.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Storm said. Her eyes went white again and the dark clouds faded away, and the sky was sunny again.
"I don't have to be psychic to see that something's bothering you." Charles Xavier said.
"I don't understand. Magneto's a fugitive. We have a mutant in the cabinet, a president who understands us. Why are we still hiding?" Storm demanded.
"We're not hiding," Professor X corrected her. "But we still have some enemies out there. And I must protect my students. You know that."
"Yes, but we can't be students forever." Storm retorted.
"Storm, I haven't thought of you as my student for years," Charles pointed out. "In fact, I thought that you might take my place someday."
Storm froze. "But Scott-"
"Scott's a changed man," He interrupted. "He took Jean's death so hard. Yes things are better out there, But you-"
"Professor, that day is a long way off," Storm answered.
"Perhaps not as long as we think. You of all people know how fast the weather can change."The Professor wheeled away and Storm narrowed her eyes at him.
"There's something you're not telling us," Storm retorted.
"We have company," The Professor answered.
Henry (Hank) McCoy, codename Beast, stood in Professor X's office, examining a painting on the wall, just as Storm and Professor X entered. He was dressed in a suit and tie, with his blue hair slicked back.
"Hank?"
"Ororo! Charles!" He exclaimed. Storm went over to Hank and hugged him.
"Hank! I love what you've done with your hair," Storm complemented.
"You too," Beast answered.
"Welcome back, Henry," Charles Xavier said.
"Nice to see you again, Charles," Beast answered. "Where's Scott?"
"Who's the furball?" Logan interrupted.
"Hank McCoy, Secretary of Mutant Affairs." Beast responded.
"Right, right, The secretary. Nice suit." Logan answered.
"Henry, this is Logan," Storm introduced. "He's-uh- Wolverine."
"Wolverine," Hank said. "I hear you're quite an animal."
"Look who's talkin'." Logan retorted.
Beast snarled at him, revealing shiny-white pointed teeth.
Scott Summers drove on his motorbike to Alkali Lake. Most of the snow there had melted. Stryker's base there was completely submerged in the water, unable to be seen. William Stryker was not in his mind. Slinging his backpack on his motorbike, he stepped onto a large rock that jutted out of the bank over a portion of the Alkali lake. The winds of the area started to pick up suddenly, and Scott panicked.
"Scott." A voice said.
"Stop it." Cyclops hissed.
"Scott!" Jean's voice said louder.
"Stop it," Scott said.
"SCOTT!" Jean's voice echoed into his head.
"No!" Scott cried, kneeling onto the ground, covering his ears.
"SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOOTTTTT-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Scott shouted into the sky. Scott yanked off his glasses and sent an optic beam from his eyes into the water. Scott's eyes started to burn so he closed his eyes and felt to his side, placing his glasses back on. Then Scott sensed something changing. It seemed like his laser beams triggered something in the water. A whirlpool started to form in the water to Scott's fright. Suddenly a geyser of water shot up into the air, knocking Scott onto his back. As he struggled to stand back up, a bright yellow light shone before him. The light was in the shape of a bird...or phoenix. Scott shielded his eyes for a few seconds before removing his hand to see a woman's shadow appear. Then the light faded and Scott's eyes widened under his visor. It was Jean. Her hair was longer and was slightly drenched.
"Scott," She gasped.
"How?" Cyclops demanded, getting to his feet to walk towards her.
Jean examined herself. "I don't know." Scott raced to her and embraced her, and Jean returned to hug.
"I wanna see your eyes," Jean whispered.
Scott's smile quickly faded.
"Take them off," Jean said, starting to reach for his visor.
"No!" Scott hissed.
"Trust me," She said. "I can control it now."
Scott froze. Then Jean took off his sunglasses to see Scott's eyes closed firmly.
"Open them," Jean whispered. "You can't hurt me."
Scott hesitated then slowly opened his eyes. His eyes glowed bright red before fading, revealing his blue eyes. Scott gasped. Then he leaned forward, kissing her. As he kissed her, suddenly he felt his mind go blank before everything went black.
"I AM THE PHOENIX!" said a loud voice, the mix of Jean's voice and another deeper voice. Jean collapsed to the ground as the bright light faded.
"Scott, Scott, Scott, Scott,
Professor X's voice rang throughout the mansion. Ororo and Logan ran to him.
"What happened?" Storm demanded.
"No clue!" Logan responded as they headed to Xavier's office. "Professor, are you okay?"
The Professor whirled around in his wheelchair. "Get to Alkali Lake.
Kyle heard the voice and burst into the hallway after his classes were finished.
"What's going on?" Kyle asked as Bobby and Rogue joined him.
"No idea," Bobby answered as Logan and Storm ran towards the basement.
"Where are you going?" Kyle asked as he and Bobby joined the adults.
"Something happened to Scott at Alkali Lake. We're going to find him," Storm answered.
"I'm going with you." Rogue answered, running for her suit.
"No." Logan retorted. "Stay here with the Professor."
Logan and Storm suited up and got into the X-jet. When they landed near some trees, it was super foggy.
"You don't want to be here," Storm told Logan as they exited the plane.
"Do you?" Logan interrupted. A rock bounced off Logan's shoulder. They saw a bunch of small rocks floating in the air.
"I can't see anything," Logan grumbled.
"I can take care of that," Storm said. Her eyes went white as the small cloud faded away, revealing the shocking sight. Rocks floated around them. The shores of Alkali lake were a wreck.
"Let's split up." Storm said. Logan walked off to see Cyclops visor floating in the air.
"Ororo?" Logan questioned.
"Logan," said a weak voice. Logan whirled around to see Scott floating upside down in the air. His eyes were not covered with a visor, and no lasers were coming out.
"Scott?" Logan gasped. He grabbed Scott and the other mutant stopped levitating like the rocks and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"LOGAN!"
Logan laid Scott on the ground and ran to Ororo.
"Something happened to Cyclops-" Logan started to say. Then he froze. Storm stood in front of an unconscious Jean, laying on the ground.
"Get her in the Jet." Logan gasped.
The two arrived at the mansion in a hurry. Professor X was waiting.
"Get Scott to the medbay!" Storm shouted. Beast carried Scott to the medbay, where they had to hook him to a ventilator. Scott kept mumbling inaudible words like 'Jean'.
Jean on the other hand was put on a platform in the basement, with a mini-Cerebro shaped helmet on her head. The Professor decided to keep Jean's resurrection a secret for now, not to alarm most of the students. The only ones who knew were Xavier, Logan, Storm, Beast, and Scott.
"The sheer mass of water that collapsed on Jean should have obliterated her completely," Professor X said. "The only explanation of Jean's survival is that her powers wrapped her in a cocoon of telekinetic energy."
"Is she gonna be okay?" Logan asked.
"Jean Grey is the only class five mutant I've ever encountered. When she was a girl, I created a series of psychic barriers to hide the horrible future that would come to her."
"What?" Logan exclaimed.
"As a young girl, Jean would have terrifying visions, some showed abundance and joy while some showed fire and destruction of the earth. These visions were sent to her from a powerful entity, which calls itself the Phoenix. A purely instinctual creature, all desire, joy, and rage. The Phoenix lent some of its power to Jean when she saved us at Alkali."
"She knew this?" Logan asked.
"It's unclear how much she knew. Far more critical is whether the woman in front of us is the Jean Grey we know... or the Phoenix struggling to take over. The Phoenix may have done so already. I fear that the Phoenix must have resurrected Jean after her death at Alkali. She might be in pain."
"She looks pretty peaceful to me," Logan responded.
"Because I'm keeping her that way," Professor said answered. "I tried to recreate the psychic blocks, but the Phoenix is blocking me."
Logan looked horrified. "What have you done to her?"
"Logan you have to understand-"
"You're talkin about a person's mind here,"
"She has to be controlled,"
Logan began to become angry. "Control? You know sometimes when you cage the beast, the beast gets angry.
"You have no idea," Professor X responded. "You have know idea what she's capable of."
"No, Professor, I had no idea what YOU were capable of."
"I had a terrible choice to make," Professor X admitted. " I chose the lesser of two evils."
"Well it sounds like Jean had no choice at all," Logan retorted.
"I don't have to explain myself, not to you," Xavier responded.
Beast came into the room. "Charles-"
"What's wrong?" Charles asked, sensing the fear in Beast.
"It's Scott. He's awake."
Originally, I was going to have Kyle stowaway to go with Logan and Storm to Alkali, but I seemed kind of dry to have him there, and it made more sense to have Kyle stay at the mansion. I made The Phoenix a separate entity instead of Jean's mutant power, as I've said so many times. I'll also let Jean have some control of the Phoenix, while the Phoenix has some power over Jean. I hated when in the movie, every time Jean wasn't in control, she acted like a 90 year old elderly woman staring into nowhere like she's brain dead. Cyclops will not die, as you've seen. Some of this story will be based slightly of the X-Men the Dark Phoenix, even though that movie was worse than X-Men the Last Stand. Here's your teasers:
"LEAVE US ALONE!"
"No, It's what you want,"
"This is your final warning, Charles Xavier."
Update will be next week!