The X-men strive to use their powers to save a world that hates and fears them. Despite being employed by Tony Stark, that doesn't mean they do not witness the hatred many have for them. Recently, they've witnessed just how deep that hatred can run when they had a run-in with William Stryker and his Purifiers.

Charles Xavier, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, and Ororo Munroe withstood unspeakable torture for days on end at the hands of Stryker. However, the one most affected by the after-effects of this torture is Jean Grey, who has been plagued by strange visions and nightmares.

And her most recent nightmare took her back to a time where these strange visions haunted her. As she lays in the infirmary at X-Corporation, the X-men fear that this is a precursor for what's to come for the heart of their team.

Issue 74: The Phoenix Saga Part 1

X-Corporation Tower – Convalescence Room

"Hnnn," Jean groaned as she felt she was coming back to consciousness. Her head spun as she opened her eyes slowly, attempting at sitting up. But she felt hands pushing her back to lay down.

"Not quite yet, Jean," said Cecilia in a commanding tone that Jean knew not to argue with.

Jean could feel Scott's hand in hers as Cecilia pushed her down on the bed to lay back down. Jean's eyes closed again as she noticed she was attached to monitors that were watching her blood pressure, cerebral patterns, and heartbeat.

Suddenly, she remembered what she had done the previous night in her sleep. Her nightmare had been of after she'd awoken from her coma at the age of nine years old. She'd heard voice after voice. But there had been one voice that had been so calming, it still sent chills down the young woman's spine. She remembered how she had destroyed the objects in Scott's bedroom and bathroom as she felt Cecilia's hand resting on her forehead, smoothing her hair back.

"Stay like that just a while longer; I need to make sure your vitals are stable," Cecilia said. "After I'm finished, the professor wants to see you for a therapy session."

Jean nodded, feeling Cecilia's hand moving from her forehead and Scott leaning over to place a soft kiss there. Cecilia went towards the monitors, only to see Jean's vitals were once again completely stable. There wasn't anything abnormal about them.

"Alright," Cecilia said, satisfied as she removed all the wires keeping track of Jean's vitals. "You're clear."

Jean nodded, staying silent even as Scott leaned over to whisper in her ear that he was going to save her a place at the breakfast table. Suddenly, Jean was being hit with another migraine as objects began to shake around her. She let out a whimper as Cecilia helped her sit up and rise to her feet, a firm arm around her waist to guide her to the professor's study. Cecilia saw Jean's knees were buckling underneath her weight as she got Jean out of the infirmary and to Xavier's office.

"It's alright," Cecilia murmured to Jean as she felt Jean's head laying on her shoulder.

Jean could feel tears filling her eyes as she reminisced about what had occurred the previous night. She'd hurt Ororo, Scott, Hank, and Cecilia while in her sleep. It was the last thing that she wanted to happen. A quiet sob escaped her lips as she began sinking down to her knees. She felt Cecilia's arms wrapping around her and the older woman's hand rubbing against her back.

"I-I'm sorry," Jean managed to get out quietly. Her body was starting to shake.

"Shhh, it's alright it was just an accident," Cecilia whispered. "It's fine."

"No, it's not fine," Jean sobbed. "I don't know what's happening to me!"

Cecilia gently rubbed Jean's back as she murmured, "It's okay. C'mon, get up. We'll get you to the professor. He'll help you. You're going to be fine, sweetheart." Gently, Cecilia pulled Jean back up so they could continue to venture towards the professor's office.

Upon reaching Xavier's office, Cecilia gently got Jean laying back on the couch, and backed out of the room to allow Xavier the space to begin. Before Jean knew it, she was feeling Xavier's presence in her mind, slowly fortifying blocks on her powers.

Jean felt her head aching as she lay there on the couch in Xavier's study, her eyes clenched harder. She could feel that she was making several objects in the room tremble even as her powers were being suppressed.

Jean swallowed as she felt the effects of the mental blocks being placed on her mind, blocking out her powers.

'Hold on, Jean. Just a few more . . .' the professor told her.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Professor Xavier removed his hands from the sides of her head. She slowly sat up.

"So, what's the verdict, Professor?" Jean asked as she rubbed her aching head, taking an Advil hoping it would ease her headache.

"Well, I'd like to say that for now, your powers are stable my dear. I think that if you do not push yourself too hard with your training, you should be alright. I will tell Logan and Scott to keep the Danger Room sessions on a fairly easy level until we figure out what is wrong with you," Xavier told her.

Jean swallowed hard as she felt the tears starting to burn in her eyes. "Professor, my nightmares keep getting worse. I-I keep seeing these flashes of things that happened in my life, mostly of the car accident, and of when I awoke from my coma. But I've also been seeing what I think is the end of the world. I-I can feel all this death . . . destruction in my dreams. And I do not think that it is just the mind-reading or the telekinesis, it is something else. It feels like some dark power inside, and it's growing, like a fire. I thought that I was getting better. I just keep fearing that one day, I am going to hurt somebody."

"You are getting better. And you will," Xavier tried to assure his "daughter." "You just have to be patient."

"No, no, you do not understand what it is like to be afraid to shut your eyes! To be trapped inside your own head," Jean said, shaking her head as the tears made their way down her cheeks.

"I think that I do," Xavier told her softly. "You and I were both subjected to torture that is unspeakable. We were held hostage by Stryker for a total of four days, Jean. The things that I saw, the sensations I experienced, I cannot and will not forget. But Jean, I promise you, one day you will be in complete control over your power. And you will have nothing to fear."

Jean nodded, wiping the tears off her face as she rose from her seat. She leaned over and hugged the professor. He returned her embrace as he kissed her forehead, fatherly. Jean proceeded to walk out of the professor's office, already feeling a lot better than she had hours ago.

As she walked down the halls towards the kitchen so that she could eat breakfast with Scott, Kurt, Anna-Marie, Ororo and Remy, Jean was musing over what had happened.

'This feeling, what I've been experiencing in my nightmares recently, it all seems so familiar. I just cannot pinpoint where I've heard that voice before,' she thought as she made her way into the kitchen, smelling the aroma of Remy's cooking. The scent of bacon, coffee, eggs and waffles greeted her as she sat down next to Ororo.

"Jean, coffee?" Scott asked her.

"No, green tea, please," she requested, rubbing her eyes. "I could use anything else but coffee. And if I were of age, I'd say vodka."

Remy and Anna-Marie each looked at her in worry as she said that. "Alright, you must be stressed if you're sayin' you wanna drink, sugah," Anna-Marie said.

"Someone, call the exorcist!" Remy said.

"Shut up," Jean moaned. "After what happened last night, I could use something to help me forget about how stressed I am."

"From my experience, yoga helps," Ororo quipped.

"I hope you're right," Jean replied as she took her portion of waffles. However, she made a face when she noticed what was missing. "Kurt, you ate all the bacon again, didn't you?"

"Sorry," Kurt said, hands in the air. "You know me, and my metabolism, Jean . . ."

"It's fine," Jean said as she went to grab a frying pan to make more bacon.

"Well, aside from the stress you've been under, how are things?" Scott asked her, moving to wrap an arm around her waist.

"The professor keeps placing blocks on my mind. I don't think they're doing much of anything at this point," Jean said as Forge and Cecilia came into the room.

Everyone sighed at that and went silent. They knew Jean was underneath a lot more stress than most of them. They all knew Jean held back from her full potential with her powers because she had reservations about a person that she loved dearly getting hurt. The thought of Jean hurting someone, even if it was unintentional, brought her the most pain. Her telepathy made her especially sensitive, which was why everyone was so worried about her and the professor. They worried if somehow, Jean's nightmare and power surge she'd had somehow were triggered from the torture she underwent.

"Jean, do you think somehow, the torture you were put through by the Purifiers caused your powers to grow out of control?" Cecilia surmised.

"Yes, that could be a possibility," whispered Jean as she focused on not burning the bacon. "But I do not want to think about it. I can't. I'm focused on applying to colleges, and I'm just hoping I get accepted into NYU's pre-med program."

"You will," said Ororo.

"Hopefully," Jean said, closing her eyes.

STS-1011980 Shuttle – Hours Later

Neil Armstrong once said, "One small step for man." However, for SHIELD scientist Doctor Peter Corbeau, the small step in his research for SHIELD just turned into a much larger one.

After the discovery of the alien pod that had crashed on the shores of Genosha, Nick Fury and Abigail Brand of SHIELD had assigned Dr. Corbeau the case. Nick Fury had been adamant to Dr. Corbeau about keeping information on the "Shi'ar" in house. This was especially after the betrayal of Jasper Sitwell, who had fed information about the X-men from Tony Stark to the Purifiers. With the combined research Hank McCoy had done, Corbeau knew he had to uncover more.

As a result, Nick Fury and Dr. Abigail Brand had decided it would be best to send Dr. Corbeau and a team of SHIELD's top scientists out to outer space in an effort to gather more data. After a tedious few day out in orbit, Dr. Corbeau had finally managed to find a pod that looked similar to the pod from Genosha. It was a sight that greatly fascinated the scientists to no end.

"Alright, Dr. Corbeau, we're ready to analyze this technology from the Shi'ar," said Dr. Joan Singer.

"Thank you, Dr. Singer. Ever since hearing of an alien pod crashing on the shores of Genosha, SHIELD has been adamant about wanting to collect more data. Dr. Brand would be pleased," said Dr. Peter Corbeau from where he stood on the STS-1011980 shuttle, observing from the cockpit.

"Well, we should be thanking the X-men for having collected the data first," said the captain, Simon Lee.

"Absolutely, Lee. I know that Fury and Brand are going to want to have every ounce of this data that we collect. But I also know they want to keep this information in house. After all, this technology was found on Genosha first by the Brotherhood and members of the X-men," Dr. Singer said. "However, the readings from the alien pod, and this technology we found out here today, they both have the same energy signature. I did not think that aliens could ever exist until this happened."

"You'd be surprised, Singer," Dr. Corbeau said to his assistant. "We live in a world with mutants. I think after having seen mutants such as the X-men in this world, anything is possible."

'I am hoping that this data will lead to a breakthrough,' thought Dr. Corbeau as he leaned down to examine the Shi'ar alien pod that they found hours ago. After weeks of searching for the alien technology in depths of space, they had finally managed to find a pod that just happened to be out in orbit. No one was occupying the pod when they had found it, but the team of scientists could not have been more thrilled.

"Alright, we're going to have to get this pod back to Nick Fury and Abigail Brand for further testing, immediately. They're both going to want this in their custody," Dr. Singer said.

"Agreed, let's pack up and head on back home," said Captain Lee.

Just as Dr. Corbeau was preparing to take the alien pod with him out of the cockpit, he could hear a sound that sounded like beeping. He could see the strange, red glow from inside the pod intensifying. As the glow intensified in color and brightness, the beeping sound seemed to grow louder. It was almost as though the pod was a ticking time bomb.

"Dr. Corbeau, what's going on?" asked Dr. Singer.

"I do not know, Dr. Singer," Corbeau said with a shake of his head as he leaned in further to examine the strange pod. "I think maybe this pod is sending out a distress call to whoever these Shi'ar people are."

"Distress call? But there's no one inside the pod!" said another doctor, Dr. Bryan Kinberg.

"I know that, Kinberg!" Corbeau said, swiping a hand across his forehead as he prepared to send out a call to Abigail Brand at SHIELD. However, that was when a loud, booming crash could be heard, and the noxious smell of fire and smoke filled the air. All the scientists and the captain on board coughed and choked as Dr. Corbeau desperately tried contacting Dr. Brand, knowing she and Fury would be able to send help.

X-Corporation Tower – Tony's Office

"Tony, Tony . . . Stark!" said the voice of SHIELD director, Nick Fury, as he tried to get into contact with Tony.

Tony, who was sitting in his office, had been in preparation of leaving to go home to Malibu when Fury called. Answering the line, Tony could see the SHIELD director had an expression of worry permeated on his features. "Yeah, boss?" he asked.

"Stark, I am glad that I reached you. Your help is needed, immediately. There's an emergency, and we could use the help of you, the Avengers, and the X-men," Fury said.

"What is it that you need us to do?" Tony asked seriously.

"SHIELD has sent a team of scientists out on a mission to space to collect data on the group of aliens known as the Shi'ar. Ever since that alien pod crashed on the island of Genosha, SHIELD has been in contact with Hank McCoy. He's been uncovering as of the data as he could, but we needed more. The shuttle carrying our team has been caught in combustion from what we think to be a solar flare. We need the X-men and the Avengers to perform a rescue mission, ASAP. Reason why we are calling you, is because we must keep this in house. We cannot call NASA and make this public," Fury said sternly.

"I will only send the best," Tony assured Fury. He proceeded to speak telepathically to Xavier, saying, 'Old Man, send Logan, Cecilia, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Ororo, Hank and Warren to my office, immediately!' After sending the message to Xavier, he proceeded to make a call to Hank Pym, Jan, Wanda and Pietro, telling them to get to X-Corporation. Before he knew it, Wanda and Pietro appeared with Pym and Jan. Jean, Scott, Ororo, Kurt, Hank, Warren, Cecilia and Logan came into the room.

"You wanted to see us, Mr. Stark?" asked Warren.

"Yes, Angel. I just got a distress call from Nick Fury regarding a team of scientists he sent on a mission to outer space. Apparently, they were collecting data on the Shi'ar technology that crashed on Genosha. They're in danger; caught in a combustion that happened out there. We're going to have to get over there so that we can get the scientists and the captain off that spacecraft and to safety," Tony explained. "I will be going with you all, because I just recently fashioned the Iron Man suit to reach higher altitudes and temperatures. And McCoy, I understand that you have been working on a piece of technology to allow the Blackbird to go to outer space?"

"I have been Tony," McCoy said. "But are you sure it is wise to send Jean, Scott, Ororo, Warren, Kurt, Wanda and Pietro on this mission?"

"You, me, Pym, Jan, Logan and Cecilia are going to be up there with them," Tony said.

"Yeah, but –" Cecilia started to say.

"No buts, Dr. Reyes, we've got to do this," Tony insisted.

"But Tony, we've got no experience for a mission like this!" pointed out Scott. "Since when are we trained astronauts?!"

"Scott, you can pilot the Blackbird, you can handle a space shuttle," Tony said. "I've got faith in all of you. We're going; that's final."

"Alright. We're doing space missions now. Cool," Pietro shrugged.

"Alright, let's go!" Tony said.

Everyone breathed out exasperated sighs as they followed Tony to the war room to suit up.

"Hey, Jean, are you okay with this? I can always ask Tony to leave you behind if you're uncomfortable," Scott said to her gently, taking her by the hand.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine with this. It's okay, Slim," Jean said in a tone that didn't sound very convincing.

Scott just pulled her close to his side and kissed her on the forehead, before saying, "You know I'll always protect you. I'll never let anything happen to you. You know that, right?"

Jean nodded softly before tilting her head to kiss Scott softly on the lips.

Scott, Jean, Kurt, Cecilia, Ororo, McCoy and Warren proceeded to put on their uniforms, feeling completely apprehensive about the mission. They could hardly dare to believe that Tony would agree to send them out on a trip to outer space for a rescue mission. However, before they could even board the Blackbird, Warren proceeded to pull Tony aside. He saw from the corner of his eye Jean and Scott hugging each other a lot tighter than they typically would; it was a display of Jean's anxiety about this mission. Scott was rubbing circles on Jean's back, and Jean had her face pressed into Scott's neck, her fingers clawing at the material of his uniform. Warren knew he needed to talk to Tony now, or he never would be able to.

"Mr. Stark," he whispered. "Are you sure that this is a good idea to send Jean out on this mission? She's barely got any control of her powers as is. She just got through four days of torture at the hands of the Purifiers. The other night she'd woken up screaming and she had a power surge! Why are you sending her, of all people?"

"Because she's one of the best we've got. She's our most powerful telekinetic and I know she can do this. She can do anything she puts her mind to. I've got every ounce of confidence in her that she can do this," Tony said.

"Tony, I don't know why you're doing this," said Warren with an exasperated look on his face.

"Look, War . . . the other day, the professor, Lilandra and I had a conference with President Kelly. We need to secure his trust in us. I feel us doing this; it will be something worth his while," Tony said.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Warren asked. "You're willing to risk us because you want to gain the trust of the president? What makes you think this will make a difference when it comes to mutants? Why bother trying to make us look good by doing this?"

"Warren, look kid, we've got to do this. It was Nick Fury's request we handle it; he wants it in house. If it becomes public, there will be a zoo. That's final," Tony said, and he climbed up into the cockpit beside Scott so that they could pilot the Blackbird towards their destination. However, as Warren sat there next to Jean, he could not help but realize that she was uneasy. Her anxiety seemed to be pouring off her. She had her eyes closed and her breathing consisted of quick, small breaths.

Even though Warren didn't love Jean romantically, he still loved her and saw her as a sister. He knew everyone else felt the same way. She'd been one of his best friends from the moment she had been recruited and brought in. He couldn't help but worry about her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah, yeah, Warren I'm just nervous," Jean admitted.

"Look, are you sure you're up to something like this?" asked Cecilia in a serious tone, leaning a hand on Jean's shoulder gently.

"It has to be done," Jean insisted. "The mission comes first."

"Jean, you know if something goes wrong, I'll tell Tony to turn us back around, right?" he asked her.

Jean nodded, turning to face him with a nervous smile. "Yeah, yeah I trust you," she whispered.

Warren breathed out another sigh he was holding in. He looked over at Logan, who was sitting not far from them with Kurt and Jan. He gave Logan a look that said, "Watch out for her . . . we need to make sure she is safe."

Logan nodded in agreement as Tony and Scott continued to pilot the jet to the higher altitudes of outer space. As they reached their destination, they could see the burning space shuttle not too far ahead.

"Oh, good Lord," whispered Giant Man from where he sat.

"That's . . . a solar flare?" whispered Wasp.

"I've never seen a reading like this," Beast said.

"Alright, you all, we've got to get on that aircraft. Cyclops, get the bird as close as possible. We need to get everyone off that shuttle immediately," Iron Man said.

"Agreed. Okay, here's the plan. Kurt, we'll need you to teleport in!" Cyclops ordered.

"Nein, Scott! If I don't see vhere I am going, who knows vhere I'll end up?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Alright. How about I do something about that?" Cyclops used the lever on the control panel which would allow him to lower down to a special area of the jet, which had been designed for him in case of situations like this. Placed in that space was an area for his visor, which would allow him to get his optic blast beams to reach a further distance. He fired an optic blast beam at the shuttle to make a clear opening for Nightcrawler to see inside, and to also control the spin. Once the task was complete, Cyclops issued his next command.

"Okay! Kurt, take Pietro; go!" Cyclops barked in his authoritative tone. "And Storm, Wanda, seal those cracks!"

Nightcrawler nodded and latched onto Quicksilver's shoulder, while Storm used her powers to create a level of moisture to freeze the cracks in the spacecraft. Scarlet Witch used her telekinesis to form a shield around the shuttle. Together, the Nightcrawler and Quicksilver entered the spacecraft so that Quicksilver could get the astronauts on board out of their seatbelts.

"Be right back," Quicksilver said, and with that, he began running to the astronauts who were still buckled into their seatbelts. Nightcrawler proceeded to get all the astronauts out of the spacecraft. However, when Quicksilver saw the solar flare coming closer, he whispered, "Oh, shit." Before he knew it, Nightcrawler grabbed his arm and teleported him back to the X-jet.

Once they were on the jet, however, Doctor Corbeau was hit with a sudden realization.

"The captain!" he coughed out. "He's – He's still on board!"

"Well, someone needs to go back and hold the shuttle together. The flare is coming closer, and Storm and I cannot hold the structure much longer," Scarlet Witch informed them.

"Jean, can you do it?" asked Iron Man.

"No, Tony! No," Angel said with a shake of his head. "That's insane."

"Warren, I can do this. It's just until Kurt can get the captain off the shuttle," Marvel Girl said stubbornly. "But I cannot hold the structure together from here. I need to get inside."

"Are you sure?" asked Doctor Reyes.

"Guys, it better get done quick, because that solar flare is coming a lot closer to the shuttle by the second," Iron Man insisted.

"Alright, Jean. Go," Cyclops said.

Marvel Girl grabbed onto Nightcrawler, and he teleported them towards the cockpit. Marvel Girl proceeded to put a telekinetic shield around the shuttle, holding the structural integrity while Nightcrawler worked to get the captain out of the spacecraft and back to the Blackbird. However, just as Nightcrawler was getting the captain out of his seatbelt, Marvel Girl noticed the solar flare was inching even closer towards her. She intensified her telekinesis to try and push it away from her and Nightcrawler, but she knew that most likely, there wasn't going to be a high chance Nightcrawler would be able to get both her and the captain back to the Blackbird in time.

'Kurt, Kurt, you gotta go! I-I won't be able to hold it back much longer!'

'Jean!'

'Go, get the captain to safety! Don't worry about me!'

Nightcrawler proceeded to teleport the captain out to safety, leaving Marvel Girl behind to continue holding the space shuttle together. As Nightcrawler appeared in a puff of smoke on the jet, Cyclops took notice that his girlfriend wasn't with the blue, fuzzy mutant.

"Kurt . . . Kurt, where's Jean? Where is she?!" he cried out.

"I-I'm sorry . . . she told me to leave her behind!" Nightcrawler said apologetically as their heads all turned in the direction of the strange, glowing, radiation flare came toward the cockpit of the shuttle. Storm's eyes grew wide as she watched it happen.

"Jean," she breathed out as she took in what her best friend was doing.

Inside the shuttle, Jean Grey could feel the solar flare coming closer toward her as she tried to intensify the telekinetic shielding around her body. However, she found that she couldn't hold it as her head pounded with a splitting headache. That was when she could hear the others yelling at her through the communications link.

"JEAN!" screamed out Angel and Storm at the same time.

"JEANNIE!" Wolverine hollered.

"JEAN! JEAN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? ANSWER ME!" Cyclops was yelling.

That was when Marvel Girl let out a loud scream of pain as the incineration surrounded her entire body, and she broke out of the cockpit, continuing to scream.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The pain was unbearable. The sensation of burning on her skin overwhelmed her as the tears made their way into her eyes. She felt her head starting to pound with a horrible headache as she heard thousands of voices filling her mind. They could have been from other galaxies . . . universes . . . that was when she heard a soft, calm voice.

It was the same voice she had heard in her nightmare the other night . . . the same voice that had spoken to her when she awoke from her coma in the hospital. It was bizarre and petrifying, yet exhilarating at the same time.

"It's time."

The X-men and the Avengers members watched as the woman that they all loved screamed out in agony. Wasp had her hands cupped over her mouth as she watched. For Angel and Cyclops and Wolverine, it was painful to listen to. They could hear Marvel Girl crying out, "Scott . . . Logan . . . W-Warren! Help me!"

Before they knew it, the combustion surrounding Marvel Girl shrunk in size. They saw how pale her features were, and how the strange orange glow surrounded her entire body. The veins in her face and neck seemed to be made of fire as they blazed with that bizarre aura.

"JEAN! GOD DAMMIT!" Cyclops yelled as he raced out of the cockpit of the Blackbird. "NIGHTCRAWLER, GET HER NOW!"

Nightcrawler nodded and complied. He teleported out to where Marvel Girl was and got her onto the jet. Cyclops caught hold of his girlfriend as Cecilia, Angel, Storm and Wolverine surrounded her.

Her whole body looked as though it were surrounded by conflagrations. Her hair was dancing wildly. Her eyes were blazing with a strange, blood orange-colored heugh accentuated with purple, and the veins on her face were still sticking out. Her face was contorted with pain, and her nose was bleeding. But what was odd was that the blood pouring from her nose didn't look normal. It had an odd, orange-purple tint to it, as though it had changed, too.

Her head was pounding with an awful migraine that brought forward a feeling of dizziness and nausea, and it felt as though it was going to split open. Her whole body was quivering weakly. She could still hear dozens of voices in her mind as she stared up at her friends with haze-filled eyes. The world was swirling around her as she whimpered and moaned. Tears were rolling down her face as she took in shuddering breaths, cuddling into Cyclops' chest as Angel knelt beside her.

"Jean, Jean, can you hear us?" Angel asked anxiously, patting her cheeks as Cyclops pushed Jean's hair out of her face. Angel's voice broke the sounds of the voices in her mind and made her mind feel clearer.

"Goddess," Storm whispered bewildered by what she was witnessing.

"Take it easy, babe," Cyclops whispered gently, stroking her hair. "Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out."

Marvel Girl was feeling a foreboding sense of fear rolling through her stomach. She tried to follow her boyfriend's soothing mantra on how to breathe, but the queasiness overwhelmed her as her stomach turned. Retching noises could be heard from her as she turned her head to the side, and she threw up. Angel held her hair back away from her face as she got sick. After she finished vomiting, she let out one last cough before turning her head into Cyclops' shoulder. She weakly wrapped her arms around Cyclops' neck, and he shifted her into his lap so he could cradle her.

"Jean, are you okay?" Cyclops asked her. "Sweetheart, answer me."

"Ow . . . my head," Marvel Girl whimpered. "Did I do it? Is everybody okay?"

"Yes, Jeannie . . . everyone's okay, darlin'," Wolverine told her gently as Cecilia knelt next to her. Cecilia leaned over and pressed a motherly kiss against her forehead as Iron Man got into the cockpit to fly them back to Earth.

"Easy, babe," Cyclops whispered, smoothing a hand over her forehead before kissing it gently. "Just rest for now," he added as he watched Marvel Girl finally nod off, using his shoulder as a pillow as she felt Cecilia pulling her cowl off her face. The last thing she felt was a blanket wrapping around her, and with that, she fainted. However, she heard two last words from Cyclops before her world went black.

"It's okay."

Up next: The Phoenix Saga Part 2