Bleeding Hearts
The Sequel to Weeping Willow
An X3 Fanfiction by Carrie
Chapter Seven
Anyone who had ever ridden aboard the Blackbird agreed that it was an incredible bit of technology. While its stealth mechanisms were impressive in themselves, the jet's speed was another thing entirely. The cross country flight took the X-Men all of twenty minutes which, for most of them, was far too soon.
Storm flew warily toward the island on which Alcatraz was perched. Kitty was instructed to put up their cloaking device minutes before they landed. The jet was now virtually invisible to the naked eye and the tension in the air was palpable.
"Holy shit," Jackie muttered from her seat at the window. Willow leaned over and, in the failing light, she could see an entire section missing from the Golden Gate Bridge. She wondered for a moment what had happened to it.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she asked Jackie.
"A big chunk of the bridge sitting on Alcatraz? Yeah, I see that," Jackie said, the color draining from her cheeks. She knew Magneto was powerful, but this was ridiculous.
"I'm going in for a landing," Storm warned them. As they got closer, everyone could see that the place had already been trashed. Crunched cars were strewn everywhere along with bits of debris from blows to the edifice of the prison itself. There were soldiers already there trying desperately to contain the situation with some kind of gun or other. Another army entirely was advancing on Worthington Labs. No one had to be told that this was Magneto's Brotherhood. Jackie was nervous. This really was going to be an all-out war, exactly as Logan had said. She began to do something she hadn't done in a long time: pray to God that everything would be alright.
Willow stared at the photo that she'd taken with her of her and Kurt. He was still out there somewhere. What would he do if he came back to an empty home, his friends wiped off the face of the earth? She pursed her green lips. That wasn't going to happen. They were the X-Men. Sure, they'd had some close calls, but everyone always came back home. Except for Scott. And the Professor.
Willow closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She reflected on why she was about to jump out of a jet into a raging battle. It was for life as she knew it. It was for her friends and the people who had taken her in and given her a home. It was for the people they'd lost in the recent past. It was so that she'd have a chance to see Kurt again. It was so that one day she could get married and have a family, and so many other things. She had every reason to give it her all and she was determined to return home, victorious. Without a word, Willow slipped the photograph into her boot so that she could have it with her when the fight began. Kurt couldn't be there for her in person, but she would draw from the thought of him the support she needed to get through this.
Storm brought the jet down neatly on the flat roof of one of the buildings. She unbuckled herself and stood up to face her fellow X-Men.
"Remember, you guys, we work as a team. Always. We are mindful of our surroundings and our fellow soldiers and we help when help is needed. We stay until the end," she said as everyone else released themselves from their seatbelts and stood up.
"Let's get this party started," Logan said grimly, popping his claws out of their tracts under his skin.
One by one, they exited the Blackbird. The wind picked up tremendously around them as Storm descended into the fray first, striking the ground with a shocking array of lightning bolts.
Hank followed her, flinging himself from one roof to the next, finally landing on the ground with an impressive thump.
Willow's eyes glowed bright green as ivy shot out of the ground below at a feverish pace, climbing up the concrete edifice in a thick mat. She jumped off the roof, catching herself halfway down on her ivy, only to spring off the wall moments later in a graceful back flip. Her landing was catlike: precise and, as always, feet first.
Angel swooped low, Jackie's elbows locked with his, and set her dangling feet down on the ground before flying off to find his father.
Colossus simply leapt off the roof, covering himself in his signature organic steel, and landed with an almighty thud.
Kitty embraced Bobby as the two of them made their entrance by jumping off the building and phasing into the ground below, only to emerge from the earth a second later. Bobby looked sick.
Finally, Logan positioned himself in a corner and slid down the side of the building, his adamantium claws ripping through solid concrete to slow his fall.
The X-Men spread out and formed a line, ready to fight for all they were worth against an army of mutants, whose numbers exceeded their own by about fifty. The odds were terrible, the situation was worse, but the eight of them was all the world had standing between peace and destruction.
"Everyone stay side by side," Wolverine instructed. "Whatever comes, we hold the line. We defend this place and the people in it at all costs." Adrenaline pumped into Jackie's veins as her hair stood on end. She could feel herself generating an unimaginable amount of electricity. All her inhibitions and doubts had disappeared. It was time to prove that she was a valuable asset to this team. Brave and ready to do what had to be done.
At Magneto's signal, the opposing force charged with chilling war cries. Before anyone gave her an order, Jackie raised her hands and released the energy that had been building inside her at the front line. Bolts of undiluted electricity shot from her fingers and tore at them with ungodly speed, rouge bolts striking the ground and leaving craters. The frontline fell almost simultaneously, but the next wave came trampling over the top of their fallen brethren in a fraction of a second.
"That one is powerful," Magneto said to Pyro as they watched the battle from afar. He was intrigued by Jackie's strength to say the least.
"She'll never join us," Pyro told him, remembering the slightly embarrassing episode outside the mansion. Magneto gave an indifferent little shrug as if to say 'oh well, her loss'.
Willow's eyes glowed in anticipation before the onslaught of soldiers reached them. In close contact situations such as the one that was fast approaching, she could only rely on her physical skills. Most plants weren't deadly unless ingested, which was certainly not an option here. If she was going to attempt using her plants at all, she would have to get creative.
In the blink of an eye, Magneto's mutants were on top of them. Wolverine, Colossus and Beast knocked down all that came near like rag dolls and most of them didn't get up. Willow wasn't nearly as strong as them, but she could pack a punch nonetheless. She dodged fists and kicks from all sides with the grace of a ballerina and smashed her gloved fists into the faces of her foes like a black belt. It usually took her more than one hit to bring her antagonists to the ground, but she was so quick on her feet that punches and kicks flew one right after another with the fiercest of grace.
Kitty was overconfident. They all knew that. But in a way, she had a right to be. If anyone tried to hurt her, all she had to do was become intangible just long enough for them to pass through her. After they had, she had a variety of ways at her disposal to knock them over from behind. She really had nothing to worry about.
Jackie was an impressive sight to behold. It was hard to believe that only months ago, she was terrified of her growing powers. Now, she used them expertly, shocking her foes into submission either by firing bolts at them or simply placing a hand on their chest, sending them unconscious to the ground. Once she got the initial bunch of mutants away from her close vicinity, she was able to fire more long distance shots, which was easier for her. For some reason, she was much better at controlling incredible amounts of electricity than she was at doing delicate tasks. Like turning on a light bulb, for instance. Large scale assaults, she quickly discovered, were more in her comfort zone and she wasn't afraid to let them have it anymore.
"We've cut their numbers by a third!" Hank announced enthusiastically.
"I thought you were a pacifist," Logan smirked as the next wave of mutants charged at them.
"Well, as Churchill said, 'there must come a time where all men must…'" Before he could finish, Magneto's second round of soldiers were upon them. He clothes-lined a charging mutant and delivered a bone shattering uppercut to another. "Oh, you get the point!" he growled to Logan.
There were too many for Willow to handle on her own. The first time around, most of their opponents went after those of her teammates that blatantly posed a threat: Wolverine, Colossus, Blackout, Beast. But some of them had caught on that she and Bobby were forces to be reckoned with as well. Now, she was overwhelmed and in need of some assistance.
"Iceman!" she shouted in Bobby's direction.
"Yeah," he answered, trying to make his way toward her through the battle.
"Little help would be nice!" she said. Soon, they were back to back, Bobby freezing his adversaries in their tracks, Willow dodging their attacks only to answer with some of her own. Unfortunately, their impending teamwork attracted twice the foes.
"Got anything in mind?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she answered, her eyes beginning to glow. Ten thick, thorny vines shot out of the ground so quickly that all most of them saw were green blurs. While she fought off those within reach, she willed the barbed vines around their ankles and, in a flash, they were hoisted off their feet. Each of them dangled above the battle field, held by the writhing, spine-covered plants, no less than thirty feet in the air. It all happened in a matter of seconds and Bobby wasn't sure where he came in. She seemed to be doing alright on her own.
"Freeze them!" Willow ordered.
"Wait…won't it hurt you?" he protested, recalling Danger Room sessions in which Willow had to quit early due to the injuries she sustained when her plants died.
"It doesn't matter," she barked. "Just do it!" Now with a moment of elbowroom, Iceman coated the vines in a thick layer of ice. It traveled all the way to the tips of the creepers. The mutants that Willow had captured were struggling to get free of their bonds with all their might, so she tightened her grip on them, shattering a little of the ice off the ends.
"You missed a spot," she smirked at her teammate. He grinned a little as he re-froze the vines as well as the mutants, just enough to send them into a sort of lethargic hibernation. Bobby held his fist up in front of him and Willow responded by giving it a pound with her own.
"Didn't feel a thing," she said proudly, just before she was sucker-punched in the jaw by a vicious looking woman. Willow crumpled to the ground, dazed. The woman teleported away before Bobby could deliver any kind of vengeance.
"You okay, Will?" he asked her, dropping to one knee and taking her by the shoulders.
"Help me up, man," she groaned as the radiance in her eyes died down and disappeared. The world around her spun and the whole left side of her face throbbed painfully as Bobby pulled her up to her feet. "Didn't even see her comin'…"
"You're bleeding," he said. Willow knew that; she could taste it in her mouth. She could also feel that her lower lip had been split open. She spit out the blood that had accumulated in her mouth and shook her head.
"I think I'm okay," she said, shaking off Bobby's supportive grip.
"You sure?"
"Positive," Willow answered, her senses finally beginning to clear. She could still feel her pulse throbbing where the mutant had cuffed her, but she would have to ignore it. This battle wasn't over, not by a long shot.
The X-Men were doing far too well for Magneto's taste. He knew they'd come to try, yet again, to save the day, but he had not expected them to be this resilient against his fierce army.
"Mr. Marko," Magneto said as he watched the last of his mutant pawns surge toward the X-Men. "You have the coordinates from Callisto. The boy we seek is in the main cell house, up there. Get inside. Find the boy. And kill him."
"With pleasure," the Juggernaut said with a grin. He secured his indestructible helmet on his head before taking off at a run, his footfalls sending tremors through the earth.
The X-Men saw what was coming and prepared to fight this beast of a man the best they could. Colossus positioned himself in front of the charging Juggernaut, ready to give him a punch that would render most people completely senseless. However, once Colossus was within Juggernaut's reach, he body-slammed Peter into a nearby crumbling wall, his organic steel body nearly colliding with Willow. She threw herself into a crouch just in time to avoid him. With a massive BOOM, Juggernaut entered Alcatraz – through a concrete wall.
"He's going for the boy!" Beast roared.
"Not if I get there first!" Kitty called behind her as she phased through the wall after the Juggernaut.
"Shit!" Willow cursed as she and Bobby helped Peter heave his hulking body up off the ground.
"She'll be alright," Peter assured her, still feeling dazed. "She is, after all, untouchable."
Jackie was getting tired. Fast. She had never exerted this much energy in a single fight. For once in her life, she started to feel as if she were running out of juice. What could she possibly do to defend herself if she was too exhausted to use her power? She had been working out regularly and was reasonably strong for a girl her age, but she had no extra speed, endurance or agility like Willow and Beast. And what good would it be if she passed out on the battlefield? She decided that she would try her best to use just enough electricity to render her opponents immobile instead of knocking them out or (to her disdain) killing them. She would just have to hope that they didn't feel like getting back up.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Storm in one-on-one combat with a female mutant who had incredible speed. Jackie assured herself that Storm could handle herself. In the split second that she took to observe Storm's fight, three of Magneto's mutants ganged up on her. She barely had time to gasp before her legs were kicked out from under her. She hit the ground hard just before the wind was knocked out of her by a sharp kick to the gut. An enormously fat mutant grabbed her by the front of her uniform, his massive grip ripping the material. He lifted her off the ground and brought her face close to his.
"You better stop shockin' everyone, traitor bitch," he hissed before spitting in her face. He threw her as hard as he could against a pile of rubble. She collided and rolled to the ground, miserably painful. She wiped the saliva out of her eyes and slowly picked herself up off the ground just in time to see that her enemies weren't done with her. Jackie tried to muster up enough electricity to take all three of them down, but only sparks flew from her fingers.
"Oh no…," she whispered frantically, trying again and again.
"Looks like you're outta luck," growled a woman with fierce, feline qualities as they advanced on her. They were going to kill her, Jackie knew. She looked around for her teammates, but her short frame was shrouded by her three looming adversaries. She doubted if anyone could even see her. The man that had thrown her managed to catch her by the throat and lift her off the ground. Jackie kicked him with all her might, but it didn't seem to affect him at all. She tried desperately to call for help, but his grip around her neck was too tight.
"Snap her neck, Blob," a man with white, slicked back hair said with a smirk. Blob tightened his grip and grinned. Jackie couldn't breathe anymore and she was getting light headed. Please, someone help me! She begged silently as tears rolled down her cheeks. Without warning, a giant blue blur rammed into Blob's head from behind, surprising him so much that he dropped Jackie. She gasped like a fish out of water, clutching her bruised neck. She looked up and saw none other than Hank McCoy, fending off her antagonists like Donkey Kong on speed. He threw himself, feet first at her feline foe, sending her to the ground with a thump. The white haired man took off with mind boggling rapidity, only slowing down enough to attack Beast. Hank swung his arms, trying to catch his attacker, but he was much too fast.
"Too slow," he sneered as he ran off to join the fray elsewhere. The speed demon gone, Hank only had one more mutant to deal with: The Blob.
"Good luck," he said with a grin. Instead of going for the main bulk of his body, Hank went for the face. He swung himself around a light post and let go. The look on Blob's face told Jackie that this was not what he had expected. Hank landed with his feet on Blob's shoulders, his prehensile toes ensuring that he would stay there. With an impressive roar, he began pummeling the Blob's face with his huge fists. Blob took a few heavy steps backward, trying to pry Beast off his upper body. Although Blob was stronger than Beast, he was a hell of a lot slower. Hank simply dodged all his attempts to free himself. Jackie instinctively threw her arms over her head in defense as Blob tipped backwards and fell, beaten senseless. The ground buckled under his massive frame and tremors radiated from his fallen mass. Hank jumped off his adversary in a graceful flip. He grinned through his panting.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"I think I'm spent," she said, looking battered and distressed. "I feel so drained, I can't use my electricity anymore."
"You've overexerted yourself," he diagnosed.
"Yeah," she said as he helped her to her feet.
"We've bested most of them," McCoy reported. "Now all that's left to deal with is…"
"Incoming!" they heard Logan shout. Beast and Blackout looked skyward just in time to see a car being hurled straight at them. Hank scooped up his weakened teammate and rolled free of the car's path.
"This can't be good," Jackie muttered as she watched the rest of the X-Men take cover. The car landed with a loud crash just before more cars were hurled into the air. Magneto, Jackie thought to herself, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of their nemesis.
"Stay back," Hank warned, herding her back behind the pile of debris that they were hiding against with a massive, furry arm. Suddenly, the night was illuminated by an intense orange glow. When the next car landed, they observed that it was nothing but a flaming skeleton.
"You guys alright?" called Logan from his hiding place a few yards away.
"Jackie's hurt, but she'll be fine," Hank shouted over the din.
"I'm done, Logan," Jackie told him. "I'm too tired to use my electricity. I'm sorry."
"Don't be, you've done good, kid," he said.
"What're we gonna do?" Jackie heard Bobby ask right before another flaming car crashed to the ground.
"John and Magneto are working together," Storm said, "but we're better." Logan held up a few discarded cure darts.
"Lets bring these sonsofbitches down," he growled.
"Best defense is a good offence, right?" Storm said with a little smirk.
"Hey, popsicle," he barked at Bobby. "Think you can take your old friend down?" Iceman looked a little worried. He was all too aware that Pyro was stronger than him. Failed Danger Room sessions had proven that. But there was no other option: he accepted the challenge.
"Careful, Bobby," Willow said as Iceman got up and headed back out onto the field to confront his old roommate. Through the smoke and flames, Jackie could see that her friend was bleeding from a severe split lip and she hoped that she'd be alright.
"Furball," Wolverine called to Beast, "How's that suit treatin' ya?"
"It's been better, but I think I can manage a few more miles on it," Hank said, volunteering to help in any way he could.
"Storm, I know it's hard in this heat, but we need some cover," Wolverine ordered. Without so much as a confirming nod, Storm's eyes turned white.
There was a dramatic change of temperature in the air as Bobby froze one of the ignited vehicles that were soaring toward them. It crashed to the ground, parts of the frozen, brittle frame breaking into pieces. While Bobby distracted Pyro, Storm created a thick blanket of fog that rolled lazily over the entire island, impairing most everyone's view of the battle.
"Tinman," Logan barked at Colossus, "I'm gonna need that throwing arm of yours." Peter nodded with a grunt. "Here," Logan said to Beast, tossing the darts over to him. "Get behind Magneto. I'm gonna distract him. You're only gonna have a few seconds to get him."
"Consider it done," Hank answered, carefully picking up the darts.
"Anything I can do?" Willow asked.
"Watch our backs," Logan said. "This could get ugly." He peered around the pile of debris that he was using for cover. Iceman and Pyro were well into their battle, and it wasn't looking good for Bobby. "Alright, let's get moving before anyone else gets hurt."
Wolverine and Colossus moved free of their makeshift trench, thick fog swirling around them. Beast slinked off quickly and quietly into the mist, leaving Jackie alone. She craned her neck to see what was going on. Willow was doing the same from behind the adjacent pile of rubble. The night was still ablaze with Pyro's intense fire as he and Bobby clashed. The latter was clearly wearing down as John bore more flames down on him. Iceman fell to his knees beneath Pyro's inferno, looking as if he only had moments ahead of him.
"Oh no…," Jackie whispered nervously as Bobby took a bigger beating than she'd ever seen him endure in the Danger Room. Just when she thought that all was lost, Bobby stood up, his body composed entirely of ice, and gave Pyro a heavy crack across the jaw. John fell backwards, unconscious.
As soon as Pyro was down, Colossus grabbed Wolverine by the belt and hurled him in Magneto's direction. His momentary flight was cut short as Magneto sensed him and pummeled him to the ground. Willow winced, knowing that a fall like that had to hurt, even with healing powers.
"You never learn, do you?" Magneto sneered as he put tremendous pressure on Logan's adamantium bones.
"Actually," Logan grunted. "I do." Jackie and Willow, now joined by Bobby, watched as Beast leapt out of the mist from behind, shoving four cure darts into Magneto's chest. A pang of regret shot through Willow's heart as she watched him fall to his knees, convulsing. He was powerless. Helpless. Human.
"No one should have to go through that involuntarily," she muttered.
"He would never have stopped," Bobby said, his icy form thawing out into pink flesh.
"Yeah," Willow said, knowing that he was right.
"Oh my God, what are they doing?" Jackie demanded as the three of them rose to their feet. The back-up troops had finally arrived on the island and began unloading their cartridges of darts straight toward Magneto, Logan, Beast and the Phoenix without so much as a second thought.
For one, gut-wrenching second, Willow feared that Logan and Hank might be hit. However, the darts didn't even make it halfway to their targets. Instead, they hung in midair by the hundreds. The Phoenix, who had been casually observing the battle from the bridge, was finally joining the fight. Her face contorted with anger as she tore apart the molecular structure of the darts that she was holding with her telekinesis. She turned around slowly and, as she did, the soldiers disintegrated as well, their remains blowing away in the wind.
"Jean!" Logan shouted, trying to get her attention away from her antagonists, but the Phoenix could not be distracted. Anger pulsed through her veins. How dare they even attempt to take her power away from her? How dare anyone try and tell her what to do with her own power? Charles, Magneto, Logan and these pathetic humans all thought they knew what was best for her, and she was tired of it. She was the Phoenix and she would make them realize what they were trying to quell.
She spread her arms and rose menacingly into the air. Her brown eyes had disappeared and in their place were a pair of shining black voids. Her face was ugly and dark, not even a shadow of the Jean Grey they had all known and loved remained. She propelled herself with the most horrifying grace from her perch on the edge of the bridge to the main island. Her entire body exuded an unbelievable amount of fiery energy that spread from its origin to the rest of the island.
Willow stared at her former friend and teacher, her mouth hanging ajar. This is what the Professor was trying to keep at bay when he set up the mental blocks in young Jean Grey's mind. At one point, Willow didn't agree with his judgment. But that was before she saw what the Phoenix was capable of. This was beyond terrifying. This was undiluted, awestruck fear, and not one person on the tiny island was immune.
The Phoenix's fiery frame burned brighter as the sound of crashing waves grew louder. The water did not descend back into the bay once it had buffeted the rocks that surrounded Alcatraz. Instead, thousands of gallons of water rose into the air, high above their heads, the laws of gravity powerless to stop it. At the same time, she began to pull the island apart. Any scrap of loose debris shot skyward as if the world were being turned upside down. The pile of concrete and rubble that Jackie, Willow and Bobby were hiding behind came apart and joined the rest of the wreckage in the air.
"EVERYONE OFF THE ISLAND!" Wolverine bellowed to everyone that could hear him. "NOW!"
Magneto, now just ordinary Erik Lensherr, lifted his torso just enough to see what was becoming of his mutant prodigy. The horrifying sight of her tearing apart the world at the seams made him realize his mistake. Charles was right, as he always had been. He should never have brought her here.
"What have I done?" he breathed to himself as he hauled his trembling body up off the ground, scrambling onto the bridge along with everyone else, mutant and human alike.
"Bobby, get Pyro," Willow barked at him, the leader within her surfacing. "Jackie, stay close to Bobby."
"Where do you think you're going?" Jackie demanded.
"I gotta find Kitty," she answered as she took off at a run towards the prison. Jackie reluctantly did as her friend instructed, hoping to God that they'd see each other again.
"Kitty!" Willow shouted above the din, her lungs filling with dust and hot ash. She coughed haggardly. "Kitty!"
"Willow?" she heard a familiar voice call. Willow looked over and saw the youngest member of the team, leading a little boy of about ten by the arm. She heaved a sigh of relief, not only because Kitty was unscathed, but because she had single-handedly saved the boy from the Juggernaut.
"We gotta get out of here, now!" Willow shouted. The three of them broke into an all out run, Willow bringing up the rear, towards the only exit that was available to them: the broken section of the Golden Gate Bridge. As they fled from the prison, Phoenix destroyed the last of Magneto's army, simply casting their molecules to the wind that she herself was creating. Willow hoped and prayed that they weren't next. They eventually caught up with Bobby and Jackie as they scrambled over fallen cars and the debris that the Phoenix had not sucked into her own gravitational pull.
Warren Worthington III swooped down on the chaos, his father safe in his San Francisco high rise. His hawk-like eyes observed what was going on in shocking detail: he saw people panicked, dying, and disintegrating, crawling like insects onto the bridge. The prison was barely even a building anymore, its remains piling up under the woman who was, without a doubt, the source of all the madness.
He was terrified of the power radiating through the air, but not so much as he was fearful of what had become of Jackie, the only true friend he had. He scanned the crowds for her white hair, but couldn't see her anywhere. His heart raced as he folded back his wings, sending him into a dive. He flared his wings and skimmed over the crowd.
"Jackie!" he shouted, trying to be heard over the cries of the people below him.
"Warren!" he heard someone shout behind him. He dropped to the ground and pushed through the throng that was flowing past him like a rip tide.
"Jackie, where are you!" he called, people jostling his enormous wings, accidentally ripping out feathers as they went. He pressed them tighter to his body as he continued through the panicked crowd.
All of a sudden, there she was in front of him, surging along with the crowd. Warren breathed a sigh of relief as he gathered her up into an embrace.
"Did you find your dad?" Jackie asked.
"Yes, he's safe," Warren answered.
"Good. That's more than I can say for us. We gotta keep moving," she told him as they broke apart.
"Whatever happens, I'm just glad I found you," he said with a smile.
"Me too. C'mon," she said, taking him by the arm and joining the herd.
For a group of people on the verge of total annihilation, the crowd moved along pretty easily. That is, until they ran out of bridge.
"What's the hold up!" Jackie roared at the people ahead of her.
"There's no where else to go," said a familiar voice beside her. Jackie looked to her right and saw the source of the voice: a girl with tousled sandy blonde hair that was coming out of a pair of buns atop her head. She had brown eyes, pink lips – and an X-Men uniform.
"Willow?" Jackie cried, aghast.
"Yeah?" Willow asked, looking at her friend as if she were crazy.
"What happened?" Jackie said.
"Whaddyou mean?" Willow wondered.
"Look at this!" Jackie cried, pulling a piece of Willow's hair in front of her face so she could see it. Willow's blood ran cold. She ripped off one of her gloves and discovered a set of flesh-colored fingers, no sign of green anywhere. Had she been cured without noticing? She checked her body for a dart, but found nothing.
"Calm down," Kitty said in Willow's ear. "This is Jimmy, he cancels out people's mutations if they get near him."
"I'm sorry," the little boy that was squished in between Kitty and Willow said.
"So I'm not…this isn't permanent?" Willow stammered.
"No," Kitty assured her.
"Okay, good," Willow sighed. "'Cause if we somehow get out of this alive, I want to be able to grow plants again."
"I just wanna say," Jackie piped up, the shock of seeing her friend in such an unnatural state wearing off, "if we don't get through this, you guys are the best friends I've ever had."
"Don't start with good-byes," Bobby snapped. "We're gonna make it. Logan'll stop her."
"I hope he can," Willow said. "Because nothing else will."
Waves of energy swept over the entire island as Logan drew nearer to Jean, his skin flaking off and exposing the muscle and bone underneath. Even with his healing factor working overtime, he felt inches from death. Every step he took, she challenged him with another destructive blast of her immense psyche. His clothes were nothing but rags now, but he didn't care. The woman he loved was mere feet away now. He had to save her and everyone else.
"You would die for them?" Phoenix growled, her dark, monstrous eyes staring straight through him into his very soul. His stubborn, unwillingness to submit to her power enraged her.
"No," he answered, shaking his head. "Not for them. For you!" The blackness that had consumed her eyes disappeared and, in its place, a fire burned within them. Just like that, the unchecked rage that she had been exhibiting floated away.
"Save me, Logan," she whispered, finally letting him near. Logan beheld her impossible beauty as he put an arm around her waist. With his free hand, he popped his claws and thrust them into her abdomen in one morbidly fluid motion. Jean's body seized against him, her hands clutching at him for support as her body failed. All at once, she relaxed, letting herself be held up by Logan's arms.
"That's better," she sighed as the life slipped away from her body. Logan felt her go limp in his hands and wept for his loss. The water that had been flowing up from the bay stopped its writhing and fell like rain. The rubble around him settled back down to earth.
Back on the bridge, everyone felt it the moment Jean's life force was extinguished. It was over. The only thing left to do for the X-Men was to go collect Wolverine, if he was still in one piece. They shuffled through the crowd, making their way back to Alcatraz. Once they were free of the throng, they looked upon the hellish destruction before them and were speechless.
Storm was the first to spot Logan, up on a pile of debris, cradling the body of Jean Grey. She felt broken all over again, just as she had felt when she learned that Scott was gone and when she laid eyes upon the Professor's vacant wheelchair. As much as Ororo loved Jean, it was easier for her to see her lifeless than to see her as an unstoppable monster. After all, she was well into coping with the death of her best friend when they found her washed up on the shores of Alkali Lake. Even so, revisiting Jean's death on Alcatraz was no less painful.
Ororo looked for the rooftop on which she'd parked the Blackbird, but the whole building was nothing but a shell. Their jet had been taken apart, molecule by molecule, just as everything else had been. With the heat of John's flames and the strong magnetic field from Magneto gone, she could use her powers to their full extent. Conjuring up a hefty breeze, she let it carry her to the top of the heap of rubble where Logan knelt, weeping silently.
"Logan," she said softly. He looked up at her, his eyes helpless. "We have to do something for the survivors on the bridge."
"Give me a minute," he said. She nodded, floating gently down to earth. The minute Storm began to wonder how they were all going to get off this god-forsaken island now that it was all over, the sound of helicopter blades met her ears. She let out a relieved sigh as the searchlights of no less than twenty five Black Hawk helicopters snapped on. Help was on the way.
