Chapter 24: Awakened In Time For Battle
MAX Mayfield had always felt unfortunate.
She'd come from a broken home. Her mother decided to marry a physically and emotionally abusive man, and a broken brother came along with him. She was then forced away from her father and moved to a town where she knew absolutely no one.
Even after she'd made friends, she wasn't easily accepted by all members of the Party at first. And when she'd found out about the Upside Down, it was later than everyone else so she wasn't able to fully comprehend and take it in like the rest did.
Then, everything became alright. She was dating the boy she liked, El was finally warming up to her. She had both Jean and Eleven for girl friends.
Max felt content. Even her strained relationship with her brother became a lot better..
That was until the Mind Flayer possessed Billy, and she was about to witness him being killed. Almost.
She ran into the mall to see the creature stabbing a tentacle into Billy's side, and its teeth bit into him instantly. But Billy was still holding onto the first one, still pushing, still screaming. Protecting El.
Another tentacle came around to his other side, biting, angry and painful, and it cut his scream off abruptly. The pain forced him down onto his knees and he started screaming again, black blood coming out of his mouth.
Billy slipped a little. He looked down to catch himself, and everything sounded echoey and far away, like he was underwater, but he could almost hear Max screaming his name.
Everything was in slow motion to Maxine as two more tentacles went snaking out towards her brother. He seemed to let go of the main one he'd been holding back, too weak to fight anymore.
The orange haired girl saw the creature rearing the main tentacle, the one that came out of what seemed to be its mouth. It was aiming for something. This was the killing blow.
All Max was thinking at the very moment was that; he was going to die, and she was going to see it.
Billy screamed; louder and harder than he had in his entire life, collecting the years worth of suppressed hate, anger, pain and fear, and he poured it all out into a scream that he was sure would be his last one.
Once the tentacle lunged at him, it was gone, just as fast as it came. It never touched him.
Something was happening.
The deathly extension of the biomass was suddenly reduced to ash. The disintegrated particles flew in the air and dissipated like they'd never existed to begin with.
Billy then stopped screaming. He noticed that the mouths of the tentacles attached to his sides were..loosening.
Eleven, Mike and Max were also right there to see it. The extensions of the grotesque dropped away from the blonde and didn't move to reattach themselves to him. They lay there, and the creature started to sway on its many feet.
The monster started wailing and stumbling like it's been hurt, like it was afraid of something.
Come to think of it, Max had caught the sight of something glowing that floated in her peripheral vision, but she hadn't paid it much thought at first. With the events that transpired, she couldn't have cared less if a firework was sparking in the air, above the mall's shattered skylight.
She only presumed it was fireworks. Crimson ones.
But as the creature turned its back on them, turned its back on Eleven -the girl it so desperately wanted to kill- Max's full attention was drawn to where the Mind Flayer was growling at.
"Jean?"
It seemed Max's luck was finally turning around.
~
The Mind Flayer released an angry shriek, so loud that it nearly pierced the ears of anyone in the vicinity. It heavily turned around, having identified the source of the immense psionic energy that wounded him. That person.. That thing.. It was nothing like El. It was barely human. But more importantly, it was a threat, and the Mind Flayer needed to eliminate every single thing that stood in its way to pave his physical form into this world. So, the Spider Monster moved to attack.
Jean maintained an unwavering, scrutinizing gaze upon the creature.
With the way she was now, Jean had been finally able to focus on the true form of the creature. Having been an amalgam of human and rodent remains, the Spider Monster's appearance was vile, to say the least. The surface of the creature was especially irregular, having been an assemblage of bodily tissues with bones belonging to the creature's victims jutting out from various parts of its body.
Her fear earlier -back when she had no memories of what she was, when she had no clue of what truly capable of- it had crippled all of her senses. She was so utterly weak and helpless. But now she could see everything. She could feel everything. Jean could finally protect the ones she cared for.
Jean Grey saw every tentacle crossing the air, her golden eyes plotting every single trajectory instantaneously. Her heightened senses were fully focused and her muscles and telekinetic abilities were already prepared to react. She raised her arm calmly, almost disdainfully, and blocked it with the wave of her hand, the tentacles flopping weakly to the ground.
The creature had no time to react once Jean projected her telekinetic energy as a purely concussive force. And the abomination was simply pushed back, unable to resist her power.
And just like that, she kept on attacking, slamming its vile form across the walls and floor of Starcourt, all the while being careful not to hurt her friends. The creature shrieked and struggled, unable to move its physical body as Jean took complete control over it, crushing and slashing at it against the broken marble and glass.
As she took care of this monster, Jean maintained a solid grip on the all-powerful force within her, holding back any ounce of herself that could lose control. She attempted to keep the balance on all of her emotions.
One wrong slip and she'd be regretting it.
'The Phoenix is equal parts good and evil. Pleasure and pain. Both sides. The whole coin.'
The Phoenix, the force within her, she could feel it instructing her, aiding her as she attacked.
So, Jean tried her best to keep the coin from tipping onto either side. To keep it static. And once she did, Jean felt in control. The Phoenix Force empowered her with a power in a kind of mutualistic relationship.
She felt she was one with it. Even if it had made her hurt people she cared for before, even if it made her scared of herself, she had to use it. She needed to use to save her new family.
There was only an enemy to be defeated. A monstrosity that was an enormous weapon, an entity that been had created to kill El Hopper and eventually her friends, and therefore eliminate the only thing standing in its way from annihilating the human race and taking over the Earth.
~
When Jean began throwing the monster everywhere, its body smashing walls and railings and the very tiles from the floor, the group focused on her, giving every ounce of attention they had to watch as she kicked its ass. Lifting it with her mind, apparently.
And, finally, it hit the floor, like a meteor colliding against a planet.
Robin couldn't believe in what her own eyes were seeing. Nothing in her life had prepared her to witness something like this. This wasn't just a simple battle anymore; it was a clash of inconceivable forces and she never felt more insignificant in all her life. She was even more so painfully reminded of her own weakness once that monster begrudgingly lunged one of its tentacles at them. Its head spun in their direction, banging his tentacle against the railing.
"Stay back! Move!" Steve and the rest tried to rush away before it could hit them.
Jean took notice, and thus created a protective force field out of psychokinetic energy to protect them from the strike.
And then the tentacle collided against her invisible shield. It was a wave of unstoppable force crashing against an immovable object. The sound alone was incredible.
"Holy shit." Lucas breathed out, his heart slamming in its ribcage as he watched the proxy for the Mind Flayer continuously trying to send blows towards them, only to fail.
"What is that?" Jonathan questioned with furrowed brows, seeing the invisible wall stopping it.
"She's protecting us."
Just as those words left Robin's lips, Jean flew closer to them, close enough so they'd gotten a better look at her and their bewilderment grew tenfold at the sight of her, the majority gasping. Her stance still as her number one task was to ensure their safety. She knew that everything rode on her shoulders at this moment.
Steve Harrington remainder silent and he couldn't pull his eyes away from Jean. His confusion consumed him at the moment as he stood frozen, supporting himself against the railing.
He wasn't a supposed to be here; he was on that field in Weathertop with Dustin, it wasn't his assigned mission to go back to the mall. But once they'd heard the growling on the radio, he knew something was wrong, so he went to try to help his friends. Give them a ride as a means for escape perhaps. But when they took off and drove away, being followed by the creature, he realized it was turning away and going back for Eleven, Max, and Jean. He wanted to help in any way he could, to counter any attack coming their way with the fireworks Lucas suggested they use.
Steve wasn't ashamed to say he almost had to change his shorts when he and Robin saw that spider-looking thing and, by the reactions of the people around him, he wasn't the only one. He expected a hard battle, lots of struggling and running, and lots of people injured.
He did not expect to see what he was seeing right now.
She was flying, Jean Grey was flying. Her hair defied gravity as it floated around her head like crimson silk. Her eyes shone bright yellow like the sun, and streaks of gold invaded her skin, marking it like a painting. A mist of various shades of red surrounded her extremities, seemingly empowering her every move.
While the rest watched in panic, their eyes widening in fear and intrigue from the redhead's appearance and what she could suddenly do, Steve, though, had an entirely different (and occasion inappropriate) thought in mind.
He found that she looked ethereal.
Thankfully, his distraction was short-lived when Jean flew away from him and landed down on the ground in front of El, an unconscious Billy, Max, and Mike.
Jean softly breathed as her feet gently tapped against the once polished floors, her eyes flickering between the spider-like creature and El who was behind her. With her telekinesis, the monstrous biomass had gone from wailing and stumbling to crashing into various storefronts and balconies, disoriented enough to not be a danger in the immediate moment.
Eleven, who was staring wide eyed at Jean, felt nothing but shocked at what was happening, even her throbbing leg stopped aching as all her attention was poured at her. Her friend, her sister, Jean matched blow by blow a creature..a monster covered from head to toe in hellish bumby skin.
"Jean?" She choked out.
Jean was battling the creature that had simply withstood every conceivable attack they dealt him, its tentacles that were actually unaffected every time it was hit and resisted Eleven's most powerful telekinetic attempts.
Hearing El oh-so-weakly muttering her name, Jean looked back. She sent a smile her way, trying to reassure her. But instead, it tore at El's chest because she sensed so much pain behind Jean's facade. Her friend was in a battle for her life and there wasn't a thing she could do to help.
"Stay back." Jean stated. Her movements were calculated and powerful as she walked back towards the monster.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the group members started moving again.
The creature had reoriented itself, picked itself back up and planted itself firmly again, and Jean could hear everyone on the balconies above screaming warnings. She heard the sharp intake of breath behind her as Max and Mike shuffled El and the faint Billy back, away from it.
Jean turned back towards the monster, and stalked towards it, closer than anyone's ever been without the intention of merging with it, and she put her arms out in front of her.
She took her feelings; love, protective urge, rage and pain and channeled it all into her balled-up fists that were glowing with the powerful force. And then she opened them, palms out towards the monster, fingers splayed open, she tore all of its extensions, pulling it apart molecule by molecule until it was reduced into nothing but terrified atoms floating into nothing.
The monster could only scream louder and louder before it fell down onto its front and now only legs, and then collapsed to the ground.
~
"The hell?" Nancy and Jonathan watched the girl wrecking the visibly indestructible creature, disintegrating most of its monstrous limbs that even El had difficulty severing. There was a stillness to her as she faced it that was unnerving.
Was this Jean even human?
~
"Woah." Mike mumbled. He was seated on the ground and he had his arm protectively wrapped around Eleven, her back was rested against his front as the two of them watched the scene unfold. His eyes shone with awe as he saw Jean fight that thing with ease. That monster that even Eleven had difficulty trying to beat was wailing and thrashing trying to get away from her. The Wheeler boy didn't even think that she was capable of doing anything other than read people's minds on occasions, but now he found out that she was just as badass as his girlfriend, if not more.
~
Jean used her telekinetic abilities on herself to levitate off the ground once more. She made her way to it, confident that the power she was about to unleash was of nature none of them have witnessed before. But the creature never hesitated, not even when so many of its parts died and disintegrated. It kept charging, even faster now, ignoring the wounds as it got closer to her.
Deciding it was time to deliver the finishing blow, Jean let go of the hold she had on the Phoenix as she spread her arms by her side. Small golden embers ignited from her before they exploded into a raging fire that enveloped her entire body, spreading until it extended beyond her and formed the shape of the legendary bird. She kept all this power directed on that creature and only it, making sure to guard the rest as she unleashed the fire within her.
Jean had felt like she was supposed to fix something that was already dying as she freed the people that melted and formed this horrendous thing. For a moment, Jean pitied them; she knew that those creatures were once innocent men and women, transformed against their will into living weapons. But the monster controlling them didn't let them feel pain or fear anymore, only the need to kill.
It would be a mercy to end them.
The Mind Flayer thought it was going to win at first. But now Jean would defeat it on both physical and astral planes.
On the astral plane, she had entered Billy's mind, but a door stood between her and the teenage boy. She could feel the Mind Flayer's strong telepathic presence keeping her out.
While on the physical plane, Jean allowed the power to surge through her. A presence inside her, an entity, was guiding her.
Meters above the floor, the creature below her, Jean knew exactly what she had to do.
Another surge of energy began to flow through her, and Jean tried to focus, to not be tempted by the delicious power.
Flames bursting out of her, her arms flew to the side as she tried to direct all the destructive force towards the monster. The Phoenix was taking over her body, it felt like a the heat of a thousand suns were all pouring their energy into Jean, feeding her. It felt incredible, and she screamed in release.
She had never been allowed to use her abilities like this before. Her whole life she had held back her powers, doing everything she could not to harm those who surrounded her. Scott, Storm, Peter, Kurt, the Professor, all of her friends and fellow mutants at Xavier's school, she was suppressing her true potential for their sake. But now she was letting go. She was opening the door that she'd been pushing shut. She was letting it burst out, letting out whatever was on the other side into this world.
On the astral plane, Jean shattered the portion of the Mind Flayer that implanted itself in Billy's mind, she severed whatever connection it had with him, cutting the viral communication it had forced upon him. She set him free.
Physically, Jean gave everything she had, ripping the monster apart, atom by atom, and not only that. She could feel all the life force that monster emitted being absorbed into her, fueling her further. She was sucking it dry of energy; the rush was euphoric, she thought she could absorb energy from sources as great as a supernova or even devour planets if she wanted to.
That terrified her.
~
Will Byers hadn't been as fascinated by the redhead who'd suddenly become a part of their lives as the rest of his friends were. Sure he was intrigued, the mysterious nature of her appearance was mind-boggling, her lack of memories was weird and her possession of telepathic abilities was interesting. But he was never surprised by anything anymore, not after the things he'd seen or been through, not after staring at evil right in the face and feeling it consume him. He thought he'd seen it all.
Until now that is.
Jean Grey looked like a savior. An uncaped hero appearing just when all seemed too bleak. Lucas silently agreed with his friend as he exchanged glances with his DD-obsessed friend once they saw what she was doing now. A bright golden light emanated from her body, enveloping her and extending out from her upper and lower limbs, he and Lucas gasped. All people on the balcony realized that it was fire that came through from her figure, and it was taking shape in the form of a bird.
A phoenix.
Her bursting flames illuminated the dimly lit mall. They could feel the warmth radiating from her, but Will was sure how scorching hot that energy truly was at the source, he didn't feel pain but he could sense how much agony the Proxy Mind Flayer was in.
~
The bird manifesting itself around Grey grew in size with the amount of energy she was absorbing.
Jean's body trembled with the amount of energy coursing through her veins, her face scrunched as she sucked the life force from the grotesque biomass. She could feel, sense and hear how it was both relieved and panicked as she drained the life out of it. The people trapped inside of it wished to be free, while the ancient power controlling them was fighting back with the small power it had left.
Nonetheless, she began to smile, because the monster was quickly fading, losing its ability to fight back. But her smile was quickly gone when she noticed what was happening to it.
Seconds later, the Mind Flayer began to convulse, he spun from side to side, thrashing his slimy head around. A loud thump echoed below her, as the monster shook the building with what was left of its weight.
It crumbled to the ground, dying on its own. Its presence no longer detected and the flames around the food court engulfed the dead creature in a fiery heat.
The energy surrounding Jean quickly dissipated, her crimson locks of hair that had been floating wildly slowly came down her shoulders. She took a deep breath, trying to contain her powers, trying to keep the Phoenix at bay now that it was no longer needed. Slowly, she hovered down to the mall's tattered floor and landed softly.
Sighing, Jean figured what must have happened. Hopper and Joyce came through. They must've closed the gate. It would be a lie if she said she wasn't relieved. Even if she handled this creature with ease, it was only a proxy. This spider fleshy thing was nothing compared to the real monster exerting its control from so far away. She wasn't sure if she could have handled it, and fortunately, she didn't have to.
The people around her were still processing what happened, most of them coming to the false conclusion that it was Jean who had taken the Mind Flayer's last breath. And they felt their hearts swell in content. Max was one of them until she felt her brother's ragged breath.
Maxine had dragged his body away supporting his half-conscious self. But now she felt his skin getting colder, and his chest movement ceasing.
Billy had been in and out, his eyes were fluttering open and shut through the whole ordeal. At one moment he felt free of any darkness looming over him and he didn't know how. (It was because Jean severed the connection on the astral level) But now he'd lost too much blood, all the chemicals he'd downed were catching up to him. His body was going into shock and soon, he would die. Billy knew that.
Max's eyes widened when she saw the morbid look of his face. "Billy, come on, it's over now." Max desperately said, her mouth trembling. She tried to convince herself that he'd heed her request and get up, that he was going to be alright. But she knew for a fact, even if Billy had freed himself from the Mind Flayer's control for that one moment, he was still possessed by that demonic force, she thought. And once the brain dies, the body dies.
"Billy? Billy. Billy, Billy, get up, please. Billy, get up, please, please. Billy. Billy, wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy Billy!" Her voice was frantic, words rushing out almost on top of each other with how fast she was going, displaying how desperate she was to get everything out before he closes his eyes, for good this time.
And Billy finally let himself look at her. Max was sweating and crying, and the bruise on her face was red and angry, it looked like it hurt like hell. He did that to her. He hated his breathless self for it.
"I'm sorry."
Billy looked deathly pale, almost ready to accept death rather than hide from it. He chose to accept his cursed fate, glancing up with tearful eyes as they faded away into nothing.
"Billy! BILLY!" Maxine wailed, as the whole of her body crumbled to the side, and thankfully, a teary eyed Eleven was right there to hold her.
"He's gone." Max choked out. She was trembling, her words slurring together a bit from both pain and exhaustion.
"No." Jean confidently declared, approaching the grieving redhead and the unconscious Hargrove. "He's not gone. I can still sense him." She declared after seeing the scene play out.
Max's face turned exalted and somewhat confused as she watched Jean crouch by her side. "What do you mean?" Max queried, her hesitant irises meeting with Jean's golden eyes. She was so different, Max thought.
Jean still maintained a stoic look, knowing that if she allowed herself to feel any shred of sadness, she would crumble. And if she crumbled, she could lose all control of herself. She couldn't afford that, because the Mind Flayer may have been defeated, but Jean was still taming the monster inside her. And there was nothing to be sad about, Jean believed. Even if Billy's body had given out, his mind was still present. Even in the clutches of death, Billy was still a fighter.
Eleven and Mike exchanged curious and confused glances as Jean extended her arm forward, placing the palm of her hot hand against Billy's cold cheeks.
"Billy," Jean's voice broke through the fog of pain and fear he was in as she stroked her thumb against his cheek.
Max almost jumped back when she saw the golden streaks appearing once again on Jean's skin. They pulsated like vessels, and Jean tapped into the energy that she had just drained from the Spider Monster and poured it all into Billy.
Fluttering her eyes shut, she continued to provide Billy with the life force he was lacking, all the same cleansing him with the warmth of the fire the Phoenix gave her. She could feel a portion of her subconscious slipping into Billy's reawakening mind, heeding no mind to the wide eyed glanced Max, El, Mike and even the rest of the party sent her.
'Jean?'
Billy's confused and utterly broken voice echoed its way towards her, and she regretfully sensed how much pain he was in. He was nothing but confused at how he could still see her inside his head, how he could still feel when he shouldn't at all. He thought he'd died...
His latest memory was that he was hurting. They were hurting. But Jean had barged in and found a way to end it all. She had severed the hive mind connection and the control it exerted. She'd saved him.
'It's okay, Billy. I've got you.'
~
And so, the Hargrove boy was dragged back into the land of the living with a deep and panicked inhale, prompting for everyone -save for Jean- to gasp in stunned shock.
He was alive.