Inferno

Chapter 4: Phoenix

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel.

Shout Outs-

Lil Jean- Sorry, no plans for Jean to go all Phoenix-y, it's Rachel's gimmick in this fic.

Ellen- Nope, no plans for Emma. I think Selene is enough, don't you?

X-Cyclops- Jean and Scott will talk about everything in the next chapter when they take Rachel to meet the Greys.

Ruby631- Come to think of it, that is pretty darned cute.

Slickboy444- Selene's always a joy to write. Don't worry; this isn't going to turn in to a character-bashing fic. If anything it's a Jott-centric fic and you know just how I feel about Scott and Jean.

GothikStrawberry- I might add the Hellfire Club into this, if I come up with a way how.

Agent-G- I'm sorry that you didn't like the fight, but that's just how it ended in the comics, Xavier popped up and scared Selene away with a psychic blast. I hope that you'll be able to recognise the inspiration for the Danger Room session.

Thanks to- X0001.

Xavier's-

Rachel was sitting in the rec room alone, just watching the TV. She had been awfully quiet ever since the battle with Selene and only one person had been able to break her out of her funk. A certain blue-furred somebody.

Back in the day, Rachel didn't really see Kurt like that, but after seeing his teenage version; she had to admit that he was pretty damn cute. Not to mention that Kurt was the kindest, most chivalrous young man that Rachel had ever met. It was a wonder why he was still single. It was a pity that his blue fur and general demonic appearance put any possible suitors off. Kurt Wagner was a wonderful person to be around, and pretty flexible too.

Rachel smiled at that thought and began to daydream about the fuzzy blue elf.

Rachel was so immersed in her daydream that she didn't notice Kurt walk into the room.

'Hey Rachel, vhat'cha doin'?' Kurt asked as he leant over the back of the sofa.

Rachel yelped in surprise and lashed out with a telekinetic blast, throwing Kurt against the wall.

'Oh God Kurt, I'm so sorry!' Rachel winced as she ran over to the fallen elf. 'I wasn't thinking, I just lashed out…'

'No problem.' Kurt groaned as he rubbed his head. 'I've had worse.'

Rachel helped Kurt up and chewed on her lip embarrassedly.

'I should've paid attention, I'm sorry.'

'And it still doesn't matter.' Kurt replied as he put his hand on Rachel's shoulder. 'You're still jumpy after ze fight viz zhat Selene voman, I can see zhat now. Perhaps I'm the one that should be apologising.'

A thin smile spread across Rachel's face as she put a hand on top of Kurt's.

'You're too damn kind, you know that Fuzzy?' She said.

'Ja, I get zhat a lot.' Kurt replied. 'It's my curse.'

Rachel gently squeezed Kurt's hand, feeling the silky fur that covered it. It was like stroking velvet. She looked into Kurt's eyes and marvelled at how beautiful they were. Kurt looked back into Rachel's beautiful green orbs and felt his face heat up.

Rachel nervously moistened her lips and leant in closer to the fuzzy elf.

'R-Rachel, vhat're you doing…?' Kurt whispered, starting to feel rather hot under the collar.

Rachel didn't say a word as she gently brushed her lips against Kurt's. The feeling of Kurt's fur against her face only spurred her on to deepen the kiss as she slowly ran her hands up his face, feeling the velvety soft fur.

Rachel's eyes snapped open as she sensed somebody else approach and quickly broke the kiss just in time to see Logan walk into the room.

'Red, Xavier wants ter see ya in the Danger Room.' The feral Canadian said, hardly noticing Rachel's flushed expression. 'He wants ter get a gauge on yer powers.'

'O-okay, I'll be right there…' Rachel said, trying to compose herself the best she could.

Kurt just stood there and watched Rachel leave.

Once Rachel was gone, Kurt put his hand to his lips; he could still feel the warm sensation of Rachel's lips against his.

'Vhat vas zhat…?'

The Danger Room-

Rachel was dressed in a spare New Recruits costume and was waiting in the Danger Room for her orders. She looked up at the control room high above her head and saw Professor Xavier sitting there with Logan, Scott and Jean stood there beside him.

'This is just a simple test to gauge your powers.' Xavier said telepathically. 'Nothing too complicated but you will face a small amount of peril.'

'I'm ready when you are, Professor.' Rachel replied.

Xavier nodded and began the simulation.

Rachel slowly levitated herself into the air as several robots appeared out of the ground. She soon dispatched them with a telekinetic blast. More appeared however and she dispatched them as quickly as she did the first batch.

'Hunh, they call this a test?' Rachel thought to herself. 'I've taken on whole squads of Sentinels by myself, this is child's play.'

Up in the control room, Scott watched as Rachel made quick work of the robots that she faced.

'Is it me or is she holding back?' He asked.

'It's not you.' Jean replied. 'Rachel is hardly even trying.'

Xavier then turned up the level on the simulation.

Down below them, Rachel turned to face the next squad of robots. She knocked them to the ground with another telekinetic blast. Instead of staying down however, the robots got back up and advanced on her. Several of them tried to shoot at her with energy beams but she just deflected them with a telekinetic force field. One energy beam ricocheted off the force field and hit the robot in the head, disabling it.

Rachel carried on like this, using her telekinesis as a shield to deflect the energy beams back at the robots.

'She's a quick learner.' Jean said as she saw Rachel spin around and use her telekinetic shield to deflect more energy beams away. 'It took me ages to use my powers like that. But I can sense that she's still holding back.'

'What's makin' her do that?' Logan asked. 'She ain't got nuthin' to fear, right?'

'There is only one way to find out, my friend.' Xavier replied as he turned up the level once more.

'Professor, are you sure that's safe?' Scott asked.

'Watch and learn Scott…'

Down below, Rachel had just disposed of the last of the robots when she heard a heavy clunk behind her. She spun around and saw a colossal robot like one of those Scout Walkers from Star Wars advance towards her.

'Now we're getting somewhere…'

Rachel let rip with another telekinetic blast at the huge robot but it hardly had any affect. The robot lowered its blasters at her.

'Professor, the fail-safes have failed.' Scott said. 'We have to stop the simulation.'

'No, not yet.' Xavier replied. 'Let us see how Rachel deals with this.'

Back in the Danger Room, the giant robot let rip with a rapid-fire volley of energy blasts. Rachel got up a telekinetic force field just in time but was being sent a step backwards with every blast that hit her shield.

Rachel reached the rear wall of the Danger Room and couldn't go further. The giant robot continued with its volley of energy blasts.

'That's it, I'm gonna go down there an' get her out of this…' Logan said.

Xavier just watched as a fiery aura began to surround Rachel.

Jean gasped as she felt a huge psionic burst of energy emanate form Rachel.

'Professor, can you…?'

'Yes, I can feel it too, Jean.' Xavier replied as he put his hand to his head. 'I haven't ever sensed this amount of psionic energy before.'

Back in the Danger Room, the fiery aura around Rachel began to take the shape of a giant bird as Rachel began to rise into the air.

Logan ran into the Danger Room and skidded to a halt at the sight before him.

'What the flamin'…?'

In the control room, Xavier and Jean's eyes widened in shock at what was coming next.

'Scott, get down!' Jena yelled.

'What…?'

Scott turned to see a colossal fire bird completely obscure the view before them.

Rachel let out a scream as the fire bird shot outwards, incinerating the giant robot.

Up in the control room, Xavier and the others dived for cover as the force of the psionic scream shattered the glass in the control room windows.

Once the smoke had settled, everybody sat up.

'What was that?' Scott asked.

'I believe that was Rachel cutting loose.' Xavier replied simply.

'All that from our daughter…' Jean said, her mind trying to process what had just happened.

Scott then sniffed the air.

'Can anybody smell… cooked meat?'

'Good God, Logan!' Xavier said. 'He was down there when that Phoenix manifested.

Down in the Danger Room, Logan got up and wobble don his feet.

'Well that sucked…' He groaned. 'And now I smell like a barbeque, nice…'

Logan coughed at the amount of smoke in the air as he tried to find Rachel.

'Red, you okay?' He called.

Logan was alerted by a groan coming form a pile of wreckage and made his way to uncover the remains of the giant robot.

He didn't get the chance however as Rachel levitated out of the pile of wreckage.

'Oh God, I am in so much trouble…' Rachel winced as she set herself down. 'Oh God Mr Logan, are you okay?'

'Just a li'l bit roasted, nuthin' I can't manage.' Logan replied. 'From the way that yer took down that robot, I'd say yer successfully completed yer first Danger Room session.'

Rachel smiled sheepishly.

'Umm… yay?'

TBC…

Next: Meet the Greys

Jean takes Rachel to meet her parents, John and Elaine Grey. How will they react once they find out that they have a granddaughter from an alternate future? How would you react under the same circumstances?