Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men, Avengers or the New Warriors
Special thanks to slickboy444 for letting me borrow his OC Jack Robinson AKA Slayer
The Cry of the Phoenix
Final Chapter: Returning home
With the threat of the Phoenix over things returned to normal. With no one to oppose her rule Lilandra rose to the Shiar throne, carrying on a peaceful reign. James returned the X-men to earth, the ruined Xavier institute to be exact. As the Ultimatum landed on the ruined school grounds, the Cuckoos and Blindfold ran out of the subbasement. Sieg and Celeste ran at each other, tackling one another to the ground. Celeste held Sieg's shoulders tightly while he ran a hand across her cheek. The two young lovers kissed one another with passion that almost put Jean and Scott to shame.
"Find a room you two!" James said, shaking his head as he and the rest of the team got out of the jet.
"I can't believe that all this happened when I was away" Rachel said, looking at the ruins in horror.
"So what exactly are we going to do?" Domino asked.
"We could return to San Fran, after all we are treated like celebrities over there" Warren suggested.
"Yeah I want a chance to show those people the coolest member of the team" Bobby grinned.
Soldier's ears twitched as a grey and red limo drove towards the mansion. Some of the X-men stood their ground as the limo stopped just inches from James's legs. The Billionaire merely shook his head as he looked at his watch.
"You broke your previous record by 2 seconds Driver" James said as the driver poked his head out of the window, he had a cheesy grin across his face, along with a pair of sunglasses.
"What is with you and these grey and red colours?" Jack asked.
"A friend of mine had an infatuation with the colours"
One of the limo doors opened and some of the male young X-men dropped their jaws as James's gorgeous blonde haired secretary stepped out, wearing a red business dress and carrying a clipboard. She walked up to James's and placed a finger on his chest.
"Look at your suit, its filthy, did you wear that stupid Iron man rip off armour again?" She asked.
"Listen Gloria I think your overreacting just a little don't you think?" James asked with a sheepish smile on his face.
"Oh don't get started on that, I'd rather not be stuck with the company, next time let one of your androids handle it" Gloria said, her eyes then turned to Sieg holding Celeste and a smile crossed her face. "I knew you thought about girls, and Driver was actually betting me on whether you were gay or A-sexual" she said.
Sieg growled at Driver, whose head crept back into the car.
"Okay, what exactly are you guys doing here?" Pixie asked, fluttering in between James and Gloria.
"You see Megan despite how well things are going in San Francisco, I still feel that the world needs a school for mutants, and rather than having them go to Stark's little boot camp I've decided that I'll rebuild the school for you" James explained.
"But James, they're hardly any mutants left" Dani pointed out.
"You've got your powers back Miss Moonstar, whose to say that other mutants wont get their powers back, in fact a certain silver haired speedster is now a speedster again"
"Whose that?" Julian asked.
"Never mind! What I'm getting at is exactly what Slayer got at, who said that mutants had to end, who has the right to say no more mutants, some crazy woman?" James asked and some of the X-men who knew of the House of M had to chuckle at his comment.
"This seems very generous of you James but what's in it for you?" Xavier asked.
"It's actually quite simple really, I'll have a chance to spend some money that's actually growing cobwebs in my wallet and the mutants that will soon be born will have people to look up to, besides the Avengers have a team in every state, surely the X-men can have two teams"
"Maybe you're right, but what makes you think that more mutants will be born?" Emma asked sceptically.
"Well if one was born what's to stop others, besides it wouldn't hurt to spread the teams out, some of your kids still have a lot to learn about themselves and their powers" Gloria said.
"And where exactly is little Jeannie going to learn otherwise, with Bishop dead and the Purifiers gone for good there are less threats to the baby so why not have her live here at the mansion?" Slayer asked.
"Actually guys while Jean and I were in the Ultimatum's bathroom we both decided that we'd raise the girl" Scott said.
The X-men looked at the two lovers in confusion. Jean took the baby from Mindee and rocked her in her arms. Scott removed his visor and put on his shades.
"Jean and I want to spend a little time away from the X-men, we want to put our relationship back together, and I still need to catch up on everything that's happened while I've been away"
"And I don't know whether I have what it takes to teach these children" Xavier said, lowering his head as he thought about all the children that had died under his tutelage.
"Professor with all due respect we all make mistakes, the point is to learn from them and move on, I think out of all the people in the world you're the one whose most qualified to teach these children" Soldier said.
Soldier nodded his head in respect before he began walking towards the exit.
"Where are you going in your condition?" Rachel asked.
"Mutant Zero's gone, mission failed, the mission that was actually right however is a complete success so I'm not needed here" Soldier said. "But I will leave some of you with words" The masked man turned to the X-men, his eyes fixed on Emma, Jean and Scott and Sieg.
"Don't let anyone bring you down, that goes especially for you Sieg, not the people you protect, not the politicians, not even the Avengers, don't let anyone try to steer you. Scott, love Jean and protect her, no…look after each other and have as happy a life as you can while your together…cause in this world you never know what waits around the corner. Emma... try not to go after a married man"
Emma shook her head in anger at the mans comment but couldn't help but smile. The Cuckoos and Logan however merely laughed.
"Sieg, keep at it, your hero would be proud of the path your taking so stick to it…and more importantly don't register, you'll only be held back by the government"
Sieg nodded his head. With that said, Soldier began walking towards the exit.
"Soldier wait!" Jack called.
Soldier turned his head back towards Slayer, who had a calm expression across his face.
"Take the mask off!" Slayer said and Soldier widened his eyes, "Don't let your past drag you down, put it behind you"
Soldier merely walked away while Jack bowed his head in respect. Scott and Jean looked at one another, both captivated by the features of their lovers. They embraced and shared a passionate kiss that bought a smile to everyone's faces. Blindfold mover her head towards the sky, smiling for the bright future ahead.
Several weeks later
New York, home of the Mighty Avengers, but for strange reasons they never seem be around you need them, even with a giant robot rampaging. As usual people screamed and ran away. The greyish robot raised its foot, ready to squash a few petrified people. Suddenly a telekinetic force pushed the robot, sending it crashing to the ground. The machine rose to its feet, looking upon a band of X-men walking through the crowd. Amongst this group were Rachel Summers, Wolverine, Colossus, Havok, Angel and Emma Frost.
"Emma, get some of these people out" Havok commanded.
"It still amazes me how some people become so petrified" Emma sighed as she used her telepathy to make people run away from the incident.
"Rachel, give us some protection"
"You got it uncle Alex!" Rachel smiled.
The robot began firing beams from its eyes, but these beams only made contact with the telekinetic bubble Rachel created.
"Colossus, Wolverine give me a hole to fire in"
"Yes Comrade!" Colossus said as he grabbed Wolverine and threw him towards the robot.
Wolverine popped his claws out and stabbed them into the robots chest. He began slashing at its armour, tearing through until he had a clear view of the machines power core. Before he could raise his arm to stab it, the robot shot Wolverine off of him. Angel picked Havok up by his armpits and flew him towards the robots level. With a clear shot, Alex fired, disintegrating the robots power source. Some people that were left couldn't help but cheer as the robot crashed to the ground. Wolverine sniffed at the air and growled as a familiar man in red and gold armour landed on the remains of the robot.
"So you guys weren't happy with Cisco and Westchester were you? You just had to come and move in on my territory too huh?" Iron man asked.
"Well Mr Stark you see there's a perfectly good explanation for why we've come here, in fact he should be stepping out of the alleyway there in five seconds" Emma said as she pointed towards an alleyway.
And as she said, five seconds later an orange haired boy stepped out of the shadows, however unlike most boys his arms were giving off a living shadow affect. He looked at the X-men and smiled as Emma walked towards him.
"Ah Noah, I always wondered where you had gone" Emma said, smiling down at the young man.
"Hi Miss Frost, I was just minding my own business when some sentinel wannabe attacked me, my gauntlets were damaged and now my powers are really starting to act up" Noah explained.
"It's okay, we can get Forge to fix them right up" Emma said.
"Thanks but there's something else I was wondering you could help me with, a load of homeless kids suddenly have active mutations, low class ones but still it was rather strange"
"That's precisely why we're here" Emma said.
From the rooftops watched Slayer, his eyes glowing with a smile on his face. He looked at Emma welcoming the new mutants in her arms and three figures watching the group from the roof. Two of them were women, one Asian wearing a brown costume with a yellow W on her chest, as well as a pair of gauntlets and a mask covering her chin. Beside her was a brown haired girl wearing a domino mask with a black a brown outfit and jacket. Then there was a young man that remarkably resembled a friendlier looking apocalypse. The three New Warriors soon left the scene as the Black bird arrived.
The X-men and the Initiative reached a hesitant agreement. X-men would take care of mutants and the world, while the Avengers took care of America. The X-men would teach and train mutants, who in turn would decide whether they wanted a future in the Initiative or a future with the Xavier institute. As Slayer and Soldier said, mutants began manifesting, but with new mutants came new threats, but the X-men would face each one with a clear mind.
James's men had just started on constructing the new mansion. They had first spent time on rebuilding the memorial. Every student that had ever died now had a gravestone while statues stood of the fallen X-men Thunderbird, Bishop, Wolf Cub, Korvus, Wolfsbane and Bishop. James stood, watching the rebuilding while Driver supervised it.
"Comeonpeoplesurelyyoucanmovefasterthanthat!!" The hyperactive speedster said, running around the builders.
The subbasement had already been rebuilt thanks to Forge and Beast. Dani, Sam, Roberto and Amara now taught the Young X-men. The Starjammers had returned to space, with Warpath joining them so he could be with Hephzibah. Bobby walked through the corridors of the subbasement, guiding their guest around the place. He opened the door to the danger room, where inside the atmosphere now looked like a kids playroom.
"Nathan, you in here?" Bobby asked.
"Under here!" A voice called from underneath a pile of soft toys.
Nathan's head poked out of the toy pile, an annoyed expression spread across his face while the baby-sitting in the pram across from him giggled.
"Scott and Jean had better be back soon!" He growled.
"Yeah I figured you'd need help with the baby so I called a friend of yours over" Bobby said with a smile. "You can come in now!"
As soon as the man stepped into the room Cable widened his eyes in utter horror. Bobby merely smiled as he closed the door behind him, leaving Cable alone with a man dressed in a red and black costume. He was a merc with a mouth, or rather the merc with the mouth.
"Cable Cable Cable! Where have you been buddy?" Wade Wilson asked as he walked into the room.
Nathan couldn't bring himself to answer, rather his eyebrow twitched.
"Damn the Phoenix got you good, you've got to go through puberty again dude, oh so this is the baby that everybody made a fuss about, she's ten times as cute as you were as a baby, you know I looked up on the internet, apparently a lot of fans have been thinking that she's the 616 version of your sister or a reincarnated version of your mother…now it was odd enough that Cyclops was your father but you were old enough to be his grandfather but you have to look after your mom now…"
As Deadpool continued to rant and break the forth wall Cable could only sink back into the toy pile while Bobby laughed on the other side.
Elsewhere Jean and Scott, best friends and husband and wife sat in a restaurant. All expenses paid by the ever-charitable James. Jean was dressed in a beautiful green dress while Scott was dressed in a suit.
"It's been weird, not having the Phoenix inside me" Jean said as she read her menu.
"You don't miss it do you?" Scott asked.
"While I was there, on the outside I did my duty and watched life move forward, but I guess I couldn't fool him"
"By him you mean…"
"Yes, the Black Phoenix…I suppose you could've called him my friend, and out of all of us he was the one who hated the Phoenix the most, the one who loved his old life the most…that's why he rebelled, he wanted to see his loved ones again…he wanted to die and stay with them in the afterlife" Jean explained.
"I suppose I should have thanked him, without him then I wouldn't have been able to do this" Scott leant across the table and kissed his wife on the lips.
Jean grabbed the back of Scott's head and deepened the kiss. The two of them continued this passionate moment even with the waiter tapping his foot impatiently against the floor. When they finally separated the waiter placed a bottle of wine on the table.
"What's this?" Scott asked, looking at the expensive wine.
"From the gentleman at the back there" The Waiter said.
Jean and Scott looked curiously towards the bar. A blonde haired man wearing a tattered coat sat with his back to them. He moved his fingers into a salute to the couple, but he never looked back at them. Jean smiled as she remembered her days as Mutant Zero.
"Thank you Soldier" She whispered.
The man paid his tab and began walking away. On his way out a grin crossed his face as he saw Rogue and Gambit dancing with one another with Julian and Laura awkwardly following their moves. He walked out of the restaurant and put on his hood, hiding his features from the world. Though he didn't make a lot of friends out of the higher ups of the Initiative, his conscience was clear because he did the right thing.
At an unknown location, Sieg sat on the branch of a tree, looking up at the starlit sky. He could still remember the adventure he had with the X-men. In fact that was one of the only things he was thinking about. The X-men had always been his first favourite group of heroes and not only had he saved some of their lives, was on first name terms with each of them but he was now dating one of the Young X-men. Though he was still a fugitive of the law, Sieg had never been happier.
'They're got a long and difficult road ahead of them, hell mines probably going to be just as complicated, still any thing that gets thrown our way we can overcome' Sieg thought as he remembered the words that Slayer had told him.
"Don't be too concerned about your skill Sieg, we all make mistakes, some cost us more than others but there isn't anything we can do about them, just move on to the next fight…your probably not going to register but remember this if you think about it "you have the power, it's just a matter of how use It"…and you Victory Peace definitely know how to use it"
Though with so many adventures waiting for him, Sieg didn't really have much time to hang out with Celeste. Though the relationship probably wouldn't work out Sieg smiled that he would always have friends with the X-men. He smiled that he had made his heroes proud, smiled that mutants were finally moving forward, smiled that Jean and Scott could finally be together. And above all else he smiled that people could still put their faith in others.
The End of another adventure
Hope everyone enjoyed the fic, I certainly enjoyed writing it :). The idea came to me when Secret Invasion was being advertised and when i read slickboy's Phoenix Destiny fic I was encouraged by the idea of Scott's affair with Emma not being what it seemed. The OC's Gloria and Driver will appear at some point in my sequal to the Marvel unvierse series True Heroism. Noah appears in my X-men Academy X series, he's inspired by a character who was named but never appeared in the New X-men Academy X series as Hellion's lab partner. I originally made Noah as a light manipulating mutant with a possible multiple personality or another being in his body that could control shadows. But in my new version of Academy X (yes I'm restarting that fic again) he'll control both light and darkness and will be a regular student at the mansion with a normal mental state.
As for the Sieg/Celeste pairing I'll either have them break up or stay together in a possible sequal. Or I'll make a one-shot in which Sieg has to decide between Celeste or another young X-woman he's gaining an attraction to (cant figure out which one but the top of the list is Pixie). Some ideas I have for a possible sequal would involve either a crossover with the Exiles and the Shiar Imperial Guard in which the Phoenix corps of other realities try to restore the Phoenix of 616 by sacrificing the Earth. Another idea involves Gothica (an OC villain in my Marvel Universe series) placing Sieg in a nightmare trance, while the X-men telepaths attempt to pull him out of the trance, Slade Muga (another OC, not to be confused with the father of Aeon Slade Reilly) comes into conflict with the Initiative , the Runaways and even Selene in his search for a way to wake his friend up from the life threatening coma.
My restarted version of Academy X will be retitled The Dream we Share and puts more enthesive on the bonds that the students of the mansion and the X-men form with one another. Other highlights will be the love between Cyclops and Jean, Wolverine's rivalry and mutual grudging respect for Sabretooth (who is like the Exiles version of the character). And of course the fights of the X-men and Karl, an OC who I had previously used as a central character in the first arc but instead he'll be replacing Virgil in the main character slot. I'll probably post the beginning chapter before christmas, if you like the X-men you'll probably like or hate what I've got in mind.
Thank you to anyone who read my fic, leave a review telling what you thought if you'd like, also tell me what you think of my other ideas please