Ok, I've gotten a few reviews since i updated last night and i hope i'm updating fast enough for some of you. This is all supposed to make up for my lack of updating recently. I hope to have the next few chapters up as soon as possible but my mother is breathing down my neck about getting my AP Biology work done.
ENJOY!
Chapter 7: A Mission Gone Wrong
Late Summer
Summer flew by all too quickly for Jean Grey, she had barely even gotten to explore the budding relationship between her and Scott, which she was now free to pursue ever since her breakup with Warren. She still couldn't get over the fact that he had slapped her; she had known he would do something, but she had been expecting something more aggressive than a slap. She supposed that her preconceived notions about the man were right. He wouldn't risk doing anything that would tarnish his appearance, both literally and figuratively. The man had beeninsufferable to her, she had known from the beginning that she would never be able to live out rest of her life with him. She would always be busy trying to obtain an education while he would be philandering around from bombshell to bombshell.
But Jean tried not to let any of that bother her now, summer was almost over and Scott would be leaving for college soon. He still hadn't forgiven her for just throwing her education away so she could remain at the institute where she claimed she was needed more. Jean had never told Scott her true reasons. She wanted to remain at the institute, much to Hank's request, so she would be safer and her powers monitored more easily, lest anything unexpected should happen. What Jean didn't know, was that the unexpected, the unthinkable, was going to happen.
It was such a beautiful day that Scott had chosen as the day he would leave very near the end of August. He had packed all of his belongings the night before and loaded them into his car along with a few extra "gifts" he had received. It was early afternoon when Scott walked out ofthe mansion for the last time; he didn't know if he would be back, he couldn't bare to be around Jean. They had been fighting nonstop over her decision and couldn't even stand to be in each other's presence for more than a few minutes. Jean wanted to resolve all of that before he left, but Scott never came looking for her. She was right in front of him the whole time and he never saw her.
"Jean?" Jean looked up from her seat on one of the stone benches to see Ororo walking toward. "Child, what's wrong?" the older woman asked upon seeing the tears in Jean's eyes. Ororo took a seat next to her and wrapped an arm around Jean's shoulders. "What's troubling you?"
"I love him." Jean sobbed. "I love him so much…"
"Then you should tell him, Jean. What did I tell you?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, Ororo. Scott and I were done before we even started. You've heard us all summer long."
"It was sad and painful to hear, believe me, Jean. I never wanted this for the two of you. I imagined a fine day such as this with Scott in a handsome suit and you in the most beautiful white dress there ever was."
"That's not going to happen, Storm. Not ever!" Jean exclaimed and took off toward the mansion covering her face in hands. She ran right by Scott who was saying goodbye to everyone, and he actually noticed her. It troubled immediately why Jean was crying so severely and he rushed after her. Jean didn't head inside the mansion instead she ran to the back and fought her way through bushes to a cliff that overlooked the ocean where several training sessions were held.
"Jean! Wait!" Jean looked behind her to see Scott crashing through the bushes. "Jean? What's wrong?"
"Why do you care?" Jean shouted at him. "Since when do you care about me?" Jean turned on him and ran at him. "Since when does anybody care about me?" Jean cried as Scott caught her. She cried hard into his chest holding him tight. "Please don't go, Scott. I need you here, I want you here!"
"I can't just not go, Jean. You can come with me and live with me. You can always enroll next year. It's never too late."
Jean picked her head up to look at Scott. "Is it too late for us, Scott? I don't want to fight with you anymore. It's breaking my heart. I… I love you."
Scott stood there holding Jean to him as she finished her sobs then she lifted her face up towards him once more only to be met with a soft kiss. Scott wrapped his arms around her holding her close. "I love you, too, Jean." He whispered stroking her face. "No it's not too late for us. We'll work something out, I promise." With that Jean wrapped her arms around Scott once more and hugged him; she didn't know that she was hugging him for the last time.
Mid November
Jean hadn't seen Scott in almost three and a half months, though she had spoken to him often enough and e-mailed him constantly asking to set up a lunch or dinner date as soon as he was free, but Scott never was his work kept him as busy as if he were still field leader at the mansion. Now Jean was and she realized right away that it wasn't as easy as Scott made it look, she had to constantly keep in mind that Scott was male and had the naturally commanding presence. Jean couldn't complain though she liked having control over some of the whiners.
But there was also a lot of other worked involved other than just running the training sessions and keeping the students in order. She had to plan the sessions, fly the X-Jet, and it was her judgment on missions that everyone had to listen to. Jean was soon to learn that her judgment wasn't always good.
She, Logan, and Ororo were called one afternoon to Professor Xavier's study where he had just returned from Cerebro. He informed the three of them that he had found a young girl by the name of Elizabeth Braddock, a telepath just like Jean, but weak, frightened and alone in an abandoned warehouse some miles away. Xavier stressed that he wanted to find her and get her to the mansion before Magneto could. The man never passed up a chance to add one more to his ranks. Jean was charged with planning the mission while Logan and Ororo were to select the students who would accompany the three of them.
"How old is she?" Jean asked.
"About your age, Jean, so she may need a little persuading at this point to come with us."
"Yes, sir." Jean walked out behind Logan and Ororo. While Jean spent massive amounts of time in the briefing room going over every scenario she could and planning the safest mission possible, Logan and Ororo chose Kitty, Kurt, Evan, Rogue, Amara, and Bobby to be the ones to accompany them on the mission.
The next morning they prepared to leave. After Jean and Logan had briefed the team on the mission Logan readied the jet while Jean went to see Xavier.
"Professor?" she asked quietly from the doorway.
"Yes, Jean. You're nervous aren't you? This is your first mission as field leader; I would be surprised if you weren't. What do you need to say, Jean?"
"Professor, I wanted to talk to you about my powers, and I've got the feeling that they aren't going to remain as calm as they have been for much longer. And I just wanted to say that… There's a chance I won't be returning from this mission."
"Jean don't say that, my dear… Your powers are why you are here. You've been allowing me to help you, and you know that it as been successful. You'll be all right, Jean."
Jean shook her head. "I don't know, professor, I just don't know…"
"Are you ready for this, Red?" Logan asked as Jean took her seat in the pilot seat beside him.
"Yeah." Jean said shakily. Logan felt the light shudder as Jean's let her telekinesis slip for just a moment. He reached overand placed a black-gloved hand over her bare one.
"You'll be fine, Jean." He said comfortingly. "Do you want me to fly?"
"No, I can handle it." Jean told herself. "I can handle this."
The flight to the warehouse was uneventful save for a few shudders that were caused by Jean as her nerves began to flare up again. Logan was right there to keep her calm; he would be with her throughout the entirety of the mission. Jean had secretly confided in him that her last test with Hank showed her powers at 5 on his reader. There was no going back now. They arrived at the warehouse and the jet emptied. Jean gave the orders for everyone to be on their guard, find whom they were looking for, and to meet back at the jet as soon as possible. Everyone would be contacted as soon as Elizabeth was safe inside the jet.
"Logan, Amara, Bobby, and I will take care of the inside, everyone else you know your teams let's find her and get out of here." Jean spoke into her wristcom. Jean looked around as she and her team entered the warehouse. There was no sign of a girl, or Magneto and his Acolytes. But Xavier had told her the day before that they could be anywhere. "Keep a close eye out. You know how unpredictable these guys are." Jean stated as they careful moved around in search of the girl.
"Logan, Jean?" Ororo's voice spoke through the intercom.
"What is it?" Jean asked back into hers.
"We found her, she's outside. She seems all right. We're taking her back to the jet."
Jean let out a deep sigh of relief; the mission was going very smoothly so far. "Good, we'll just check the inside to make sure no one else is in here then we'll be out, gather the others and get everyone on the jet."
"Will do."
"Good work, Jean." Logan called to her.
"Yes, excellent work, Jeannie…"
Jean looked up to see Avalanche, Lance Alvers, staring down at her from atop a high pile of crates. "Too bad your little boyfriend isn't here to save you. We were actually hoping it would be him we were going to destroy, but I guess you'll just have to do. After all, what's a team without their leader?" Avalanche jumped down and landed hard causing the entire warehouse to shake and the area outside as well.
"Oh no…" Kitty whispered to herself. "I would know these tremors anywhere."
"Shadowcat, don't!" Storm yelled after her as the young girl ran inside.
"Well, well, Jeannie. Looks like you've had a couple upgrades." Lance remarked upon seeing the fire burning in the young woman's eyes. "Can you stop this?" Lance sneered. Jean heard a pounding behind her and even before Fred Dukes reached her he was thrown back and into a pile of crates knocked unconscious. Jean never broke eye contact with Lance as the fire in her eyes continued to burn. Lance registered shock on his face.
"How 'bout me!" came a cry from above. Jean looked up and immediately Toad was paralyzed inside a telekinetic bubble. "Hey, what gives? Let me out, come on!" Jean dropped the bubble and Toad fell to the floor. "Oh man… You're on your own with this one, man! She's gone mental!" Toad hopped off with a speed that could nearly match Pietro's.
"Hmm… Not bad."
Jean whipped around and stopped Quicksilver in midair. "Yo! Since when can you do that?" Jean sent the young man crashing into a wall.
"Is that all you've got?" Jean asked turning back to Lance. She looked around her; suddenly there was Wolverine, Storm, Shadowcat, Rogue, and Nightcrawler at her sides. She realized that they had already gotten the younger team members on the jet. Jean turned her gaze back to Lance who was now flanked by Blob, who had overcome the knock he had taken, Quicksilver, Pyro, and the Master of Magnetism himself, Magneto.
"I'm surprised with you, Ms. Grey, I would have suspected with a mind like yours, nearly equal to that of Charles, you would have known this was a set up."
"Maybe I did, and maybe I decided to still take that chance." Jean hissed in a voice that was not her own. "Everyone out!" She commanded. "This is between me and him."
"Jean, what are you talking about?" Logan asked. Jean turned and only looked at him her gaze explained everything. "Jean, no, I won't let you…"
"I said go. I can handle this…"
Logan heard the shake in the young woman's voice. This was her chance to prove herself as a leader; she was doing the exact same thing Scott would have done. Take on the enemy alone without endangering the lives of his teammates. Wolverine and Storm escorted the rest of the team out while Magneto bid his Acolytes to leave as well. Soon it was only him and Jean. "Let's see what you've got." Magneto jeered, his voice ringing from under his helmet.
Jean lifted herself into the air and jumped backwards doing a back flip ten feet in the air and landing herself in midair as fire erupted around her body and she let out an ear-piercing screech. "Phoenix…" Magneto whispered to himself. Magneto lifted himself into the air using the metal walls around him. Jean stared intently at him as fire burned around her but didn't burn her. "We don't have to fight this battle, Jean."
"Yes we do." The voice speaking sounded nothing like Jean, but deeper, darker even. "You tried to harm my friends. No one gets away with that, not even an old friend of Xavier." Jean lashed out with fire and Magneto lashed out with a force shield to protect himself. It didn't hold. He was knocked to the floor. Jean landed swiftly on her feet and approached him as the fire around her body died. Magneto stood up standing his ground firmly as Jean walked briskly toward him the fire appearing around her once more.
Outside the rest of X-Men watched and listened intently. They could hear the battle raging inside and they all feared the worst for Jean. Logan had quickly explained to Ororo why Jean was doing this. He was now currently holding the struggling woman who wanted to get back inside and save Jean. "I won't allow her to do this, Logan! I won't allow her to kill herself!"
"There's nothing you can do, Ororo!" Logan yelled back. Logan forced the woman in his arms to look at him. "This is Jean's choice. Scott would've made the same one you know it! There's nothing we can do!"
"I won't stand here and watch her die!"
Inside Jean was still battling Magneto to the ground every time he advanced on her. "I'll have you know, Jean." He called out as the young woman began approaching him, "I know your intentions and I must say that it saddens me that you have chosen to end it this way. I could teach you about this new power of yours. The Phoenix-Force. It has chosen you, Jean. A great honor. Join me and I will help you to control it, to understand it."
"I'd rather DIE than join you, Magneto!" Jean bellowed. She watched as the man before hergot to his feet.
"I'm sorry you've chosen that."
"I'll be glad for it." Jean hissed.
Outside the team had to suddenly back away as the warehouse exploded from within. Logan caught a glimpse of five metal orbs lifting off and zooming from view as the warehouse erupted into flames.
"JEAN!" Ororo yelled. "No! Logan, we have to save her! We have to save her!"
"We can't, Ororo!" Logan pulled the woman onto the jet as she continued to scream and struggle against him. As Logan looked back at the warehouse before he boarded he thought he saw the body of the young woman who had saved the team. She was covered in flames, lying still, but she wasn't burning. She wasn't burning…
A/N: Don't yell at me for having Logan just leave Jean there to die. If this is a Phoenix tale you all know that she is coming back. Logan was the only who understood why Jean was doing what she did. I portrayed her as fearing herself of growing too powerful and not being able to control it. She thought that if that should happen she would wind destroying everyone around her that she loved. Jean wouldn't take that chance. PLEASE REVIEW!
