Hello everyone, thank you for the pms, faves and alerts, I hoped this would have more reviews but I don't mind, this is my attempt to save my favorite team no matter what. I have opened an Archive of Our Own account as well and this story can be found there too.

Enjoy...

Chapter Six – Invasion

The secondary Blackbird landed with grace, its engines going silent as the couple remained in the pilots' seats for a moment more and smiled at each other. They unstrapped and stood up. Scott reached the portable examination table where his daughter was asleep in her Merida costume and picked her up in his arms as Jean telekinetically clicked the table back in its original position against the wall of the aircraft. She guided their bags to float behind them as the ramp opened for them to move out of the plane. Jean was in a long black dress and Scott in black trousers and a grey blouse.

Being the leader of the X-Men, and -although not officially announced yet- the next Madame Secretary, had its perks. The clearance for landing in Orlando had been given within minutes that morning. Hope had the time of her life, a flight in the blackbird; it went supersonic and reached Disney World faster than any other plane could go. People had cheered for her and her famous parents as this was one of the rare occasions Jean was out and about with her family. Hope's parents had bought her all the things she wanted, including a Mickey with an X-men t-shirt on. They had so much fun and even if the couple hated it, they knew it was also good marketing; keeping people aware that mutants are beings with emotions and families like their own.

They had tried various meals within the resort, rode the rollercoasters and met the Disney princesses and Mickey with Minnie. Jean and Scott knew their photos would be all over the papers the next morning but they didn't mind. Hope had fun and a good memory to cherish with her parents before Jean could start moving back and forth in DC.

The couple moved to the main corridor of the underground facilities and Jean opened their way with her powers through doors and the elevators as Scott held their girl in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

We need a way to take off the nylon costume without waking her. Scott sent through their bond as the couple moved to the ground floor and from there to the grand staircase. Students passed by them but kept silent the moment they saw the sleeping child.

They reached their daughter's bedroom and got inside. Jean left the bags of merchandize soundlessly in the corner of her room. Scott turned around and Jean nodded for him. She levitated their girl, unzipped her costume off of her and she was glad she had thought of having her dressed in a plain t-shirt and trousers beneath. Jean also took off the girl's shoes and moved her towards the bed. The covers lifted and Jean put her daughter in the bed and covered her. A shower and fresh clothes would have to wait until the next day. Hope had fallen asleep during take-off in Jean's arms and she had put her back in the examination table to rest until they got home.

Scott and Jean smiled at their little one and Scott moved towards the bags and took the new Mickey, ripped the plastic tag and put it close to his daughter's arm. The couple marveled at their little one for a few more moments. Innocence, beauty, potential, their better selves were that child.

They exited her room in silence and closed the door behind her.

I'm not going to Disney World, ever again. Jean sent and Scott smiled as he opened the door of their bedroom. The thousands of people around them had been hectic, all their thoughts, excitement, children on high levels of sugar, it had almost been too much.

It was very crowded and cheesy. Scott sent and Jean chuckled as she moved her hair on one side for the zipper of her dress to be revealed on her back. Before she could move it down with her powers, Scott's fingers reached it and took it down slowly. Or maybe we're getting old for such kind of fun. He added teasingly and Jean smiled as he lowered his lips on her shoulder from behind, making her sigh and gasp the moment his lips touched the spot at the crook of her neck.

Speak for yourself, love. Jean sent through their link and Scott chuckled and turned her towards their private bathroom, her dress falling on their feet. Being away from the team hadn't kept her away from the Danger Room or the gym, she was a tall beautiful woman and she needed to be fit, staying out of missions meant only that she was the mansion's only defense.

'Beautiful,' Scott whispered against her ear as he trailed his hands on her belly and above her bra. One hand reached the C-section mark as the other kneaded one breast. 'Absolutely beautiful.' He added as he felt the slightest of insecurity about the mark on her body through their link. His own body was full of battle scars as well.

We need a shower. Jean sent and Scott nodded as he guided them towards the bathroom, more than glad to share the shower with his wife…

xXx

Static noise.

'Everything will be alright, sweetheart. This is absolutely normal.' Jean was reassuring her daughter.

Hope cried her eyes out.

Fire.

Pain, brain splitting pain.

Hope was screaming, holding her head.

Scott was on his knees, his hands clawing at the skin of his face.

She held her ground and engulfed their brains in time with a mental shield.

Jean ran from the boathouse -her house-, everything was a blur of color and light as she left her family behind to find the rest. Barefoot in a nightgown, her breath caught, her mind numb, her body was cold.

Charles.

Static noise.

Charles had been sick for days.

Fire.

Telekinetically, she slammed the doors open, bodies everywhere. The students were down, blood running from their ears, some of them had their eyes open, bloodshot, some others had their eyes closed .

She ran to the lower level. Her eyes wild, her own nose bleeding, she was tasting her blood.

Metallic taste.

Static noise.

Fire, wind and stars, Alpha Ursae Minoris.

Most students were alive, many were handicapped by the incident.

Their brains were assaulted, their powers muted in agony. Their control lost, their logic destroyed. Their emotions heighten.

She ran through the corridor. Towards Cerebro. She halted.

More bodies.

'The Westchester Incident has left seven dead; more than six hundred are feared to be injured. The death toll might rise.' a voice through a radio.

'I saw the end of the World….' Her own voice, from such a long time ago.

Static noise.

Fire and pain.

Ororo

Marie

Bobby

Kitty

Kurt

Elisabeth

Remy

All dead, blood all over, their eyes open.

Fire.

Violence.

Hope.

'Weapons of mass destruction.'

Logan was standing up, gasping.

'Charles had a seiz-' he tried to say before he could look at Ororo's lifeless body.

A place in the woods, concealed. Little children were playing.

Static noise.

A woman within a fire vortex. Not herself.

Passion.

'Mutants need to be eliminated.' Another voice.

A city in flames.

Giant robots were invading the mansion, Sentinels.

Eden.

A couple against each other, their figures distorted.

Static noise.

'Take him and go away,' Jean was running with Logan in the parking lot of the mansion. Charles still unconscious in Logan's arms, like a puppet, his nose was bleeding.

'She's dead,' Logan was chocking again and again, his voice broken. He looked at Charles in fear and hate, two things Jean saw for the first time in her friends' eyes for their mentor.

The Phoenix Force manifesting within her. This time for destruction, instead of creation.

'Take him and go!' Jean commanded him and almost shoved Charles in the back seat with her powers. The IVs still hanging from Charles' arm. The old man was regaining consciousness. His face frowned.

'Ro's dead!' Logan screamed in agony as Jean shoved a bag in the backseat with Charles. All his pills, all his medicine. All she had to give.

She would take the blame. She owed that to Charles for all the right choices he had made for all of them.

She turned around and slapped Logan across the face.

'RUN! Run, don't look back. Get out of the borders. Head south, I will manage all this. I will find you. They will come for him. GO!' Jean commanded again and shoved the keys in his hands.

Her life was destroyed.

Hope set fire to the boathouse, her powers manifesting.

Jean looked in horror from the distance.

Static noise.

Charles killed them all.

Hope was manifesting.

Jean would take the blame.

Special forces were approaching the mansion.

' ….instead of being the child of a Goddess, she will be the target of all of Charles' enemies…' Magneto shouted as Jean gripped him again in telekinetic vice grip while in Alcatraz.

Rage.

Fear.

Cities leveled to the ground.

Apocalypse.

Fury.

Jean took down Hope before she could kill her own father, the girl fell unconscious but alive.

Scott was in a coma.

Static noise.

Jean was collapsing on her knees, a scream ripping out of her throat.

The Phoenix Force.

She would take the blame.

In vain.

'Weapons of mass destruction.'

'She fought the good fight before she fell in Erebus.' A man's voice was chocking through his tears.

A young robust man with blond hair and blue eyes.

His features hard, his mind powerful, reality-bending powers.

A telepath.

Omega Five Mutant, maybe beyond.

Static noise within her head.

Jean's eyes opened widely and found herself gasping and her head throbbing as the ripple rushed through the entire mansion. The windows trembled. She reached to Hope, she was alive, awake and scared.

She looked around and found Scott struggling to stand up.

A powerful presence, she pushed it out of her head. He was there, somewhere. He was probably miles away from the mansion.

'What the…' he tried to focus as he switched visors. The entire mansion was awake. Jean was still disoriented. Everybody was confused and scared, her included.

Jean? Was that you? Scott sent but she had to ignore him and reach for Charles.

Silence, his mind was inactive, noon-responsive. A stroke.

Oh God.

Hope started screaming.

Jean reached for Hank in the only guest room they had kept empty for visitors.

'Check on Charles, now.' She commanded Hank as she and Scott tried to stand up and find their balance. Everyone was awake and out of their rooms as the couple got out of their own bedroom. They both rushed to Hope's room the moment the girl was opening the door and throwing herself at her mother's arms. Jean knelt down and looked at her child, she was ok, not in flames, her powers still asleep, her mind confused, her heart scared. 'It will be alright, baby,' she was reassuring her child as she hugged her tightly.

'Spit spot, back to bed, it was just an earthquake.' Storm's voice. Logan was following behind her, they were trying to send everyone back in their rooms but the children were all afraid. Murmurs and cries of fear and worry all over the place.

'What was that?' Logan wondered as all of them still tried to grasp what was happening.

The powerful presence lingered.

Ororo was alive, Logan was ok. Yet, it hadn't been a dream. More like a memory. Not her memory.

'Charles is not well,' Jean announced as Raven too rushed out of her room just like Kitty, Peter, Bobby and Marie did from their own shared bedrooms. Kurt, Remy and Elisabeth showed up, all of them were trying to put everyone back to bed but the kids were afraid. The team, minus two, were all there, Elisabeth was a telepath, not as powerful as Jean but Psylocke had seen at least some of it, Jean was sure. She could sense Charles was in a coma. The rest would soon know.

I am taking Charles down to the infirmary. Hank's voice was clearly distressed in Jean's mind.

The presence remained, reaching out telepathically, a man. Miles away.

'Someone broke through…' Elisabeth tried to focus on her next words, uneasy to accept it.

'Through space and time, I need to use Cerebro, we must find him. Raven, you need to go and help Hank at the infirmary.' Jean announced to her friend, she seemed to realize as her eyes filled with fear. Raven didn't expect another word as she turned around and left first. Scott seeing through the bond what Jean felt and saw. Even if the team wasn't sure what the two telepaths meant, they needed to focus.

'Phoenix, go to the Cerebro, then you come with us. Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Gambit, Rogue and Iceman, get ready. Shadowcat, Psylocke and Nightcrawler, I need you to stay behind and take care of the school. Beast will take care of the Professor.' Scott commanded, using their code names, putting everyone in context. Everyone nodded and set out for their different directions. Scott leaned down and kissed Hope on the cheek, reassured by Jean to move down bellow. Kitty remained close to Jean as the red head looked at her only child.

'Everything will be ok,' Jean reassured her daughter, her mind was racing. The powerful presence was reaching out again, searching but Jean was blocking it from everyone's minds. Whoever it was, he was a supreme telepath. She could trace back his mental imprint somewhere in downtown New York. Charles' mind was giving signs of revival. Not a lethal stroke. She had to check on him after the mission. But first, she had to focus on her daughter.

'Don't go, mommy, please,' Jean only then noticed the clutched Mickey at her daughter's hands. Hope was a brave girl, she rarely needed toys in her arms to sleep and Scott had left it with her mostly because she had fallen for it while at Disney World. But Hope was terrified, just like her mother was at the moment.

It will be alright. You are sleepy and calm, everything will be ok. Mommy and daddy will come back soon and everyone will be happy. I promise. Jean's power calmed her child's mind, made her yawn and Jean looked at Kitty who only nodded and took the girl up in her arms. You will sleep through the night peacefully. Dreams of… Merida and the fields of her country, beautiful fields and a clear sky. Jean guided her daughter's mind to slumber. She hated working like this on her child's brain instead of facing the issue but truth was, the issue at hand felt uncontrollable. She had to find the source of the problem, and if needed be, exterminate it.

'I'll take cake of her,' Kitty reassured her and only then Jean left for the lower levels in a hurry. The team had agreed, in the rare occasion Jean could ever be needed for a mission, another teammate would stay back for Hope, Kitty had volunteered as she was Hope's favorite aunt. Jean fought the urge to turn for the infirmary's direction. She was the only one able to help the team while Hank was more than enough to help Charles.

Hank? She asked, reaching across the base for her old friend. Raven had already reached the infirmary.

He's recovering. Hank said. Still unconscious but the stroke wasn't hard enough. I'm through CT and blood tests. I will have him in MIR in awhile. Go and when you are back we'll estimate how powerful it was. Hank's voice was steady in her head, calming her. Charles was in excellent hands, of that she was sure.

The doors to Cerebro opened only after her pupil was scanned. She moved in the corridor and took a deep breath. She needed to steady herself. She needed a moment of peace as the doors behind her closed.

Within the Cerebro nobody could reach her, the presence fell almost silent.

Almost.

She released a breath through her teeth and traced her fingers on the touchscreen, enabling it. Setting up the options for her brain, more powerful than Charles', faster and with a tendency to invade. Charles' was more gentle, he always humored that it might be because of her unstoppable telekinesis. She put on the helmet and closed her eyes.

She was connected with all the mutants of the world in a heartbeat. Hundreds of telepaths around the globe had felt the presence. She marveled at the unique connection in the scarlet-red lit room only for a moment. The presence was radiating power. Central Park, New York.

His eyes looked through her soul and mind, still unfocused. The static returned.

He was powerful.

Beyond Omega Five.

How was that even possible?

Hello Phoenix.

She broke the connection immediately with a gasp, like Apocalypse, he got through Cerebro and right at her focus. Jean opened the doors as Scott was already rushing in there in his uniform. She held herself from the panel, keeping steady.

'You found him?' Scott asked as he held her by the waist, seeing she felt shaken. Jean nodded frantically.

'Hyde Park. He's… he's waiting for us. He's powerful, Scott, but very confused.' Jean replied and her husband nodded.

'I need you to get ready. If he's so strong, you must come with us.' Scott's voice was calm but firm. The leader of her team, their leader.

'I need two minutes.' Jean only said as they were both moving out of the room and towards the lockers. The locker clicked open with a blink of her eyes and her uniform was there, red details all over the synthetic material, it wasn't a uniform, mostly an armor with a synthetic breastplate protecting her sternum.

She started dressing up, took an elastic band for her hair and got the long mane up in a ponytail, long hair never helped in missions, she knew. She hadn't been in a mission in years. She pushed the fear away. She had defeated powerful enemies before. She clicked all the units of the uniform with her powers in seconds, securing her body within the suit.

'Whoever he is, he's … ' Jean internally trailed off, Scott nodded as he checked on her for a moment, he hadn't seen her ready for a mission in more than a decade, yet he hadn't seen her so scared in longer than that.

'Surely, no more than you,' He sent back but Jean didn't want to show him her doubts. 'You'll do great, now come on,' Scott offered his hand and she took it. She was back in the age of tension and fear. Her child was left behind.

Fire and Guilt.

She pushed away the memories and nightmares, she followed her husband on the Blackbird.

The craft took off, everyone was silent. The communication radar was open for the USA Air Force to contact them when they would be reaching the center of New York.

Scott and Storm had to co-pilot. It was mostly Scott. Jean could feel Ororo's worry after eleven months inactive. She could feel her own fear after almost twelve years. Logan's instincts were kicking in. Lost or not from another timeline, he was ready to fight. Yet, he had to relearn how to pilot the jet, he was supposed to be second in command, after all. Another thing added in the never-ending list of the things he had to learn and catch up with, in this timeline. For a moment, Jean allowed herself to feel bad for her old friend and teammate. If Charles couldn't go on helping Logan catch up, she should help but it wouldn't be the same. She didn't know of the friendship Logan had with Charles in the other timeline but in this one, they were very close.

The rest were more composed, still shaken but composed. Jean took a good look at her team mates. Colossus was in human form, waiting for their flight to end. Rogue had her eyes closed, Iceman was looking away. Jean could sense they had been fighting before the ripple broke through. Gambit, as always, was looking at Rogue with interest in his dark eyes.

The static increased as they approached Central Park and Jean needed to focus. God, her mind was almost pulsing with the presence. Whoever it was, his brain was radiating the static through the atmosphere itself. She had never felt anything like this before, not without the Phoenix within.

'What the fuck is that?' Logan's voice broke through her stupor and made her look.

In the center of the Park, there was a massive dome, colorful yet semi-transparent, as if made by soap, the field that engulfed the Gothic Bridge and half the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir was radiating the odd static noise.

'X-Men, you take up on this,' the voice from the radar came the moment Scott reached for Jean.

Can you sense anything? Scott asked and Jean reached.

On the bridge, the man was waiting. No visible weapons, only his very brain. The bubble was harmless in itself. He made it to take down the noise so he can recover from the travel. They could move through it. He would allow them. He expected them. She sent all this to Scott who nodded and pivoted the Blackbird straight into the bubble. There were already police, army and press helicopters moving around the park.

The moment the Blackbird entered the bubble, everyone let a breath of relief as nothing actually happened. They half expected for the Blackbird to jerk and fall. The sounds of New York and the helicopters abated and the static increased.

The blackbird landed gracefully and the team was already moving out of the jet with Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops and Phoenix leading the path towards the man. The rest of the team following. He was standing in the middle of the Gothic Bridge, plain black clothes, eyes wild. He raised his hand the moment he saw them. Jean mimicked him and created a field around the X-Men. She extended her mind towards his harder than she intended. He didn't seem older than thirty two.

'Who are you?' She demanded and the young man smiled at her. She braced herself for an attack, the young man was powerful, the static almost ripped through her composure.

'What is the date?' he asked, as he looked around him. Did I make it on time? This slipped from his mind. He was disoriented. What is the year? Very disoriented. She attacked him with a fresh wave of confusion and pain through his mind.

Answer me. Jean demanded, his mind was shielded like no other she had ever encountered, yet still quiet unstable.

Fire and Agony. He was accustomed to both.

'Did you accept?' he asked her directly, trying to focus. 'All I want is Charles Xavier,' the man slipped mentally to her as the team moved around him in a circle. 'I won't hurt you,'. He added.

'We can do this the hard way, bub.' Logan was the first to speak and the blond man smirked as his other hand got raised. He was getting a grasp of things, he felt threatened and hostile against Logan.

What is the year? He wondered again.

Jean never expected to be hit so hard, this was probably the hardest a telepath ever attacked her. He broke through her defenses, almost tiring up half the power pockets of her brain, making her gasp and scream in pain as she struggled to hold her own powers in check. A slide and she could annihilate everyone around her. She dropped the protection field around her team only momentary; he found the chance and gripped them all in a telekinetic vice grip. His attack on her took its own toll as his nose started bleeding. He was trying to take the upper hand. She attacked him back with her telekinesis, he gritted his teeth and held his ground although she could see him struggling to remain on his feet. He wouldn't go down easily.

'Did you accept?!' he demanded this time vocally.

'Accept what!?' Jean half shouted, looking around her, he was holding everyone except her in a grasp. Just like she had done with Magneto at Alcatraz. She attacked him once again, harder than before. She could feel her brain reacting in the familiar tingling sensation when she took it too far. She made it to unleash Scott from the man's grasp. Scott immediately used his optic blast. Forcing the young man to use a shield around himself. The beam was getting absorbed from the shield, feeding it as it became an oval shell around him. He was absorbing other mutants' powers….

Scott stop! He's only getting stronger.

' .Accept?!' he demanded once again, forcing her to reply as he tightened his fist, making the team choke in their escaping breaths.

'Accept WHAT?!' She screamed this time, her teammates, her family were gasping to breath around her. She attacked him again, his shield breaking, her nose bleeding too. She tried to invade his mind, she felt like falling into a steel wall.

'Your position as Secretary, am I on time? Did you accept?'

'Yes, let them go, yes I accepted! Stop it!'

'Is Hank McCoy still alive?' the young man's question shocked her. She didn't dare wait as he still held the rest of the team. Her mind was throbbing in pain, the static noise driving her mad. He was dangerous, he knew of state secrets, he was wondering about the year and date. She was done dealing with time travelers.

STOP IT!

The young man didn't have time to react as she outstretched her arms. Tapping on her secondary mutation, awakening the force within her core. The firebird erupted from her body with a cry of fire and energy as she levitated herself above the Gothic Bridge. She destroyed the bubble around them. She tore through his confusion and momentary fear at her sight and gripped him in a cocoon of fire, breaking his grasp over the rest of the X-Men, squeezing the life out of him as she pressed with all her might. He was more powerful than her but he hadn't reached his full potential yet, she was older than him and only reaching new heights through her powers every time. Her bond with Scott helped to share the information, and keep herself in check as she felt her powers struggling to reach further, she couldn't kill him, she needed to learn about him.

Fire and Awe.

Franklin Richards

Reed and Susan Richards were his parents.

Jean knew them.

Hope knew him.

The glimpses of his dystopia seemed worse than Logan's.

He pushed her out of his brain with force she had never encountered before. She let go because she felt her grasp at his brain would cost her own brain damage if she resisted for much longer.

He let go of the entire team, the static finally stopped and he had to wipe away the blood from his nose. Jean was in pain but proud, she made him bleed, heavily. She would do much worse if he didn't open up soon.

'I'm here to save you all from an awful fate.' Franklin finally vocalized his intention.

Soooo this chapter was the most interesting to make so far, I hope you like it, the images with the static is a little bit of everything, things explained later on in this story, moments from Logan, Apocalypse, the westchester incident and some more things. Franklin is cannonly Rachel's husband but in this one he has a small twist ;)the bubble made by him is imagined as the one in Nteflix's Annihilation movie. In my mind's eye Franklin is like Alex Pettyfer, google him if you like :)

Thanks for sticking up with me and reading my fic, review is love

CP09