Chapter Twelve: Change of Plans/To Stop Cerebro/The Big Chill

And here's Chapter Twelve! Okay, so I'm trying something kinda new. I realized how short this chapter would have been if I didn't do this, so I combined THREE scenes for this chapter! Plus, people keep asking for longer chapters, so I hope this is okay.

thewriternextdoo: Thanks! There's actually three chapters after this, only because I felt that the scene in the White House deserved a solo chapter, along with the epilogue. I may post those last two on the same day...

genbo: Wow, you had a lot to say! You do raise a good point, in that Rogue shouldn't crash the X-Jet in this version. However, I don't believe that the X-Men are teaching students how to fly it just yet. Rest assured, though: Rogue is able to safely fly it, thanks to her powers. Unfortunately, about the Phoenix thing, I already had a scene written for when Scott finds Jean at the lake, but it's much different than in the original (because I'm keeping him alive). I'm sorry that I won't be changing it to exactly how you want, but don't worry about this story – Rogue won't crash the Jet! (Besides, her 'crashing' the Jet wasn't why Jean sacrificed herself.)

Also, since no one acknowledged my little reference in the bottom AN last chapter ('Got it memorized?'), I'll let y'all know that it's from Kingdom Hearts, a video game series that I'm currently obsessed with. But worry not! I still have my passion for this story and the next!

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

"That's it." John snapped his lighter closed. He went to leave the Jet.

"Whoa," Bobby protested, standing up with Rogue. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm sick of this kid's table shit," said John, grabbing his jacket. "I'm going in there."

"John, they told us to stay here," said Rogue firmly. "Look, I hate it, too. But they said it's too dangerous for us. Do you want to get hurt?"

John sneered at her over his shoulder. "Do you always do as you're told?" Without waiting for an answer, he left.

They stared after him, not making an effort to follow him. Then Rogue looked at the control panel.

"Rogue?" Bobby asked.

"You know, he's right," she said, slowly heading to the panel. "It might be too dangerous, but we can't just keep sitting here. They might need our help!"

"What, you're gonna fly the Jet?" asked Bobby incredulously. "Do you even know how to fly it?"

She just shook her head, smiling mischievously. "No." She pointed to her temple. "But Scott does."

Cyclops supported Jean as they hurriedly tried to find Stryker's Cerebro. Then she stopped him.

"Cerebro," she whispered, her eyes wide in horror. "We're too late."

They both screamed from the sudden pain in their minds.

Magneto and Mystique had found the door to Stryker's Cerebro. After dispatching the soldiers guarding it, Magneto made sure his helmet was secure. Beside him, Mystique cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Throughout the dam, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, and the students collapsed as well. John was writhing around in the snow outside, while Bobby and Rogue were sprawled on the floor of the X-Jet.

Stryker had used his son, Jason, to manipulate Xavier into using his Cerebro to find, and kill, all mutants. It was his ultimate revenge plot, blinded by his anger at Jason's illusions driving his wife to suicide.

Magneto, however, was completely safe from the mental attack thanks to his helmet. He looked at Mystique, who was clutching her head.

"Erik, hurry!" she shouted, unconsciously shape-shifting into several people at once.

Magneto immediately faced the door and held up his hands. He managed to stop the attack by reconfiguring the dome of Stryker's Cerebro from the outside. He entered and rearranged the panels. Then Mystique, quickly recovering from the pain, shifted into Stryker and used Jason to manipulate Charles into killing humans instead.

"Goodbye, Charles," said Magneto, before leaving with Mystique.

Then alarms began blaring all over the dam, and water began break through the cracks.

After recovering from the strange mental attack, Storm, Nightcrawler, and the students quickly found the door to Stryker's Cerebro.

"What is this?" asked Nightcrawler.

"Cerebro," Storm answered.

"Storm!"

They turned to see Cyclops and Jean catching up to them. Storm saw that Jean was limping.

"Jean, are you okay?" she asked right away.

"I'll be fine," Jean assured her, though she grimaced slightly at the pain in her leg.

"What's happening?" Storm then asked, suddenly feeling uneasy as she looked at the door.

Jean used her telepathy to check inside Stryker's Cerebro. "Professor's still in there," she said, "with another mutant. He's trapped in some kind of illusion." Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Magneto's reversed Cerebro. It's not targeting mutants anymore."

"Who is it targeting?" Storm demanded urgently.

Jean looked grim. "Everyone else."

Stryker, whom Wolverine chained to the wheel of his helicopter, managed to free himself before yelling out in pain.

"Impossible!" he grunted before keeling over.

Charles, still in the illusion, was now attacking humans all over the world with Stryker's Cerebro. He needed to be stopped before every human on the planet was wiped out.

"Everybody stand back," warned Cyclops as he let go of Jean to fire at the door.

"Scott, no!" Jean quickly stopped him. "His mind is connected to Cerebro. Opening the door could kill him and everyone his mind is linked to."

"Wait," said Storm, looking at Nightcrawler. "Kurt, I need you to take me inside."

"Storm, who is this guy?" Cyclops demanded, having just noticed the new face. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kurt Wagner," he began, "but in the Munich circus –"

"He's a teleporter," Storm interrupted, placing a finger on his lips.

He looked at her seriously. "I told you," he said softly, "if I can't see where I'm going..."

She shook her head, staring deeply into his eyes. "I have faith in you." During their private conversation in the X-Jet, Kurt had been astonished that such a beautiful person could have so much anger inside them. Storm believed that anger can help one survive, but he told her that faith can as well.

"Don't believe anything you see in there," Jean warned them.

They understood. As Nightcrawler held Storm tightly to himself, he prayed, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth –"

Storm shut her eyes, listening to his prayer. With a bamf!, they teleported inside of Stryker's Cerebro.

"– as it is in heaven," Nightcrawler finished his prayer.

They had made it safely inside. They looked around, seeing panels run down or missing from the wall. Then they saw a young girl in a white nightgown standing where Cerebro and Charles should be.

"Hello," she said, looking curious. "What are you looking for?"

Knowing that this was an illusion, Storm didn't answer her. She looked around the room. "Professor, can you hear me?" she called out. "You've got to stop Cerebro now!"

"Who are you talking to?" the girl asked, amused.

Nightcrawler made a move towards her, but Storm stopped him.

"No, don't move," she whispered.

"But she's just a little girl," he said.

She shook her head. "No, she's not."

The girl smirked. "I've got my eyes on you," she taunted them. They saw that one eye was blue, while the other eye was green.

When Magneto and Mystique left the dam, they saw that Stryker, just barely hanging on to his life, was loosely chained to his helicopter, thanks to Wolverine.

"Mr. Stryker," said Magneto, kneeling under the helicopter. "Funny, we keep running into each other. Mark my words, it'll never happen again."

And he tightened the chains around his throat.

When they were about to take off in the helicopter, Mystique noticed John standing alone, watching them. After a moment, they let him join them.

John Allerdyce, codename Pyro, was now a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Storm looked around Stryker's Cerebro once more before turning to Nightcrawler. "Kurt, it's about to get very cold in here."

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised.

Facing the girl, Storm tilted her head as her eyes began glowing white. Cold wind began swirling around them.

"What are you doing?" the girl demanded.

The winds picked up, causing Nightcrawler to fall to his knees, shivering. Outside of the illusion, Jason was slowly freezing up.

"Stop it!" the girl shrieked.

"Jason..." Xavier whispered. The girl panicked behind him.

"He's going to be so angry at me!" she cried.

The girl in both illusions screamed in pain before fading away. Xavier, realizing what he was doing, quickly yanked off the helmet, ending the attacks on the humans along with the illusions. He turned around to see Storm standing behind Jason, her eyes slowly returning to normal.

Outside of Stryker's Cerebro, the dam was cracking all over. The walls around Cyclops, Jean, and the students broke down.

"Logan," Jean whispered, trying to find him with her telepathy. "Logan, where are you?"

Charles wheeled himself around to look at Jason. The panels were falling due to the vibrations of the dam cracking. Soon, debris was falling down on them. Nightcrawler quickly teleported Storm out. Then he came back and teleported back out with Charles, leaving Jason to join his mother.

And there's Chapter Twelve! Oh boy, next chapter...