Etana walks in, her face solemn and tired.
"Steve, Tora and I are going to Utopia for with Rachel Grey for a few weeks."
"Why?"
"We need to train the Messiah Child. Rachel held the Phoenix Force for years and never had a world-eating catastrophe. Tora's basically Dragon and I've had dealings with the Phoenix Force in both its benevolent and malevolent forms over the years."
"You're training a teenager to take on the Phoenix Force?"
"Strictly speaking, the Phoenix is coming for Hope and Hope is the Phoenix. Look, it's complicated. Tora's the only one who really gets it and she's hoping to explain all that. You know, before the Phoenix properly comes and Hope suddenly has twelve times the power she should have, along with Jean Grey-Summers being back and lodging with the Phoenix in Hope Summers' mind. Well, strictly speaking, Jean and the Phoenix are one and the same."
There's something else and I can tell it.
"Tan?"
She sighs.
"Kubark has been withdrawn from the Jean Grey Academy and… Steve, we think the Shi'ar are preparing a strike on Utopia. They will kill Hope rather than let the Phoenix Force take another avatar."
"What…?!"
"Scott, the Shi'ar massacred almost the entire Grey family. The only survivors were Rachel Grey, Cable and X-Man. Tora's arranging a protective net and Xixy has agreed to send out a request for K'Meeri backup. But we can only expect them in six to eight weeks. Our reports from the Starjammers suggest we have less than a fourth of that time."
"You mean…?"
"The Shi'ar Imperium is coming to Earth, quite possibly to kill not only Hope Summers but Tora and all those of the Grey Genome and almost certainly Tora's entire blood family. That includes two under sixes, and a non-combatant who only agreed to return to the school in the agreement that she wouldn't fight as an X-Man. Projections also suggest all Omega-level telepaths will be killed. All in all, we estimate about twelve percent of the surviving mutant race will be wiped out by an unprovoked attack. Hope's been trained for this since the day she was born. She will be our saviour."
"Etana?"
She looks up, so exhausted.
"She has to be. Because if she isn't we've damned ourselves."
She hugs me tightly, her face twitching slightly. She's terrified.
"Steve, I've sent Stevie to the Baxter Building. It's the safest place for him. The school will still be a point of attack, despite the fact it's mainly children. We've already started our plans in case of a strategic attack on Utopia. All X-Men but Gambit, Frenzy and Karma would head to Utopia. And…Steve, if you hear us call, come running. We can't hold out against the Shi'ar Death Commandos forever."
I nod.
"I'll have Brand assessing it for me. A Shi'ar ship enters the solar system, we'll warn you. I promise won't let the X-Men fall."
She smiles.
"I know. I… I just needed it said. And… Steve, I love you."
She walks out and all I can feel is a dead pit in my stomach. Why do I feel like I just said goodbye to Etana for the last time?
