Chapter 6

Jean's PoV

The trip to Cairo is almost silent. Not even Bobby or Alex say anything, which is rare for trips like this. The clouds around the Blackbird are the dark, stormy types. It is unclear if those clouds are the original weather forecast or a result of a mother's unchecked nerves. But Scott pilots through the clouds with little turbulence.

We arrived unscathed, following the coordinates that The Professor sent us. Cairo is humid and busy with natives and tourists alike. Our suits don't let us blend in with the tourists, so we keep a low profile as we navigate through alleys instead of the crowded bazaars and streets. A group of Americans dressed in matching uniforms don't go unnoticed.

"It's so hot," Bobby complains, dropping ice down the back of his uniform. His typically pale complexion is bright pink, shining with sweat droplets.

"You think sixty-five is too hot, Bobby," Scott says. "Were you not expecting Cairo to be hot? When it is in a literal desert?"

"Places always sound cooler than they end up being in person. My ex wanted to take me into a sauna once, and he didn't know I was a mutant, so I went along because I didn't have a good reason without outing myself. I ended up cooking myself. Do you know saunas can get up to like two-hundred degrees? I know I'm a chilly guy, but why would anyone want to get that hot?"

'"I could list some medical reasons," I say as I slip sidewise down a skinny passage between buildings. I immediately feel horrible for Ororo and am about to suggest finding another way, but Ororo follows us with determination. She is not letting her claustrophobia get in the way of saving her daughter. I guess when it is your kid's safety in danger, the fear of them getting hurt surpasses all other fear.

"You okay, 'Ro?" Logan asks once we get through to the other side. We're met with a crossroad and we take a right down a nearly empty street.

"I will be once we find Kendall," Ororo replies. "Jean, can you sense her?"

I scan the area telepathically. There is so much interference caused by everyone in the surrounding area. So many thoughts and feelings, it's enough to be overwhelming while looking for someone. I finally find her imprint, but the moment I try to lock on her, it's as if a door is shut between our minds, like someone is blocking me from her.

"She is close," I answer. "But I think the Shadow King is keeping her brain closed to me. I found her but lost her before I could pinpoint her location."

"You lost her?" Ororo's brows furrow in concern.

I nod, wishing I could have delivered better news.

"Telepathically, yes. But that doesn't mean anything if the Shadow King is as strong of psychic as the Professor claims."

"That means he knows we're here," Scott says. We couldn't have been expecting to be able to sneak up on him, even if that would have been to our advantage. "He will be anticipating a fight. As Jean said, he's a strong telepath. We don't know what sort of tricks he will try playing on us."

"I will try to protect everyone the best I can," I assure. "But I cannot promise complete immunity to his power. Or any immunity at that."

"And why didn't the Professor come again?" Alex asks.

"We're not letting a man his age into the field, Alex," Scott replies.

"Or could it be Charles Xavier is a coward who hides behind his precious X-Men to do his dealings?" A disembodied voice speaks in my head, and by the reactions of everyone else, I know they heard it too. Ororo freezes in her footsteps, and a metallic SNIKT from Logan's claws can be heard.

"Like the coward who is preying off baby girls?" he demands to the air.

An intrusive laugh follows. I try to follow where it is coming from, but it's an echo chamber in my head. The Shadow King's voice is coming from every direction at once. His location cannot be pinpointed. It could be because he does not have a host body yet, but it is as if he is everywhere all at once.

"Jean?" Scott looks to me for answers, and I have to shake my head. So much for being the team's telepath. If I can't even find him, how will I protect the team from his attacks?

"I can't find him."

"What about Kendall?" Ororo questions.

"Don't worry about your daughter, Storm. She will be used for greater things now. Even a goddess like you couldn't even imagine the power she will be capable of. And it is all mine."

"Start looking for her in all these buildings. Enough of them are abandoned to be a hiding spot for him to have her," Scott orders.

"So quick you are to throw orders when you do not even know the powers I possess. Not even your wife can find me. Pitiful."

Despite his taunting, we separate into groups of twos. Ororo and Scott, Logan and Alex, and Bobby and me. I connect the entire team to a psychic channel so we can stay in communication.

"I don't like this guy. He is giving off Oblivion vibes," Bobby says as we duck through the doorway of the crumbling remains of a building. He is talking about an entity we fought as teens. My first and only experience with the astral plane. Although if what the Professor said is true about the Shadow King, it will not be my last.

It was also my first of a few tastes of death. Hopefully, I do not have any more.

I try scanning the area once again for Kendall but without success. My telepathy is all but useless in this scenario. We go through the building, looking for any sign of a baby, or an abstract entity. Climbing up the dusty, stone steps, I pause in my steps when I sense someone near. But as soon as the feeling appears, it goes away. Whoever it was is gone without a trace.

"Anyone else have the feeling someone is watching us?" Alex asks through the channel. "Like not Shadow King. Someone human. I keep looking over my shoulder but there's no one."

Before anyone could confirm or deny his experience, a loud infant's wail echoes from the alley below. Bobby and I speed down the stairs, along with the rest of the team from their respective areas. There is a sandstone wall standing between us and the alley. Scott blasts through it and we run through the rubble.

Kendall is nowhere to be found.

Logan swears under his breath, fists clenched. We all turn as the bricks Scott shot through began to stack themselves back up, trapping us in the alley. Scorpions crawl out from under the walls, their legs pattering against the dirt ground. They surround our feet, their pinchers snapping at our boots.

"What the hell?" Logan stomps at the arachnids, but for everyone he smashes, three more take their place. They're multiplying at a rapid pace, crawling up our feet and legs.

"It's the Shadow King!" I finally realize. I immediately try to block them from our minds. "They're not real. He's only playing tricks on our minds."

Bobby is pressed against the wall, trying to shake a scorpion off his shoe. "Well make him stop."

"I'm trying!" psychic imagery like this isn't something I have much experience with combating. My efforts only seem to make the situation worse.

Ororo gasps out in anguish as the bricks from the wall collapse on top of her and Bobby, crushing them. At my side, tendrils slither from out of the wall, wrapping around Scott and Alex's ankles and wrists. They're devoured into the wall, the stone engulfing them until there is nothing left of them.

Scorpions continue to climb over Logan until he is completely overtaken. One big pile of scorpions. They collect and collect, then start to spread as if melting. They disperse, and Logan is gone.

The walls start to stretch around me into a vast darkness. Everything around me disappeared and I'm alone as if floating in utter blackness, but my feet are planted on the ground. "Stop this!" I demand, still trying to fight it all telepathically. My voice echoes around me, repeating my command over and over and over.

"Shadow King!" I shout out. I am in over my head. Since the Phoenix broke through the psychic barriers in my brain, I had to cope with the sheer amount of power I possessed. I've finally accepted that I am far more powerful than I ever thought possible, but now I am being taken down a few pegs. I cannot break through the illusion he's put over my mind. I am stuck in the dark and bound with fear and desperation.

All the telepathic training I've had my entire life seems to be for nothing as I face a psychic monster like the Shadow King.

Suddenly it feels like my body plummets into icy cold water. The shock of the sensation sends electricity through my veins, and my heart jolts. I can't breathe. My sinuses burn as I inhale the water. Down my throat and into my lungs. I'm drowning. I'm scared. I cough and sputter on the liquid, but the more I fight against it, the heavier it feels around me. The more I fight against it, the more real everything feels around me.

I start to wonder if I am really about to die.

The water chills me to the bone and I know the effects of hypothermia will set in soon if it hasn't started already.

This isn't real.

I give up on fighting. The more energy I waste trying to stop the mirage, the less I will have to use on the Shadow King. I allow my body to sink toward the bottom of the water. It falls slowly, the darkness consuming me.

"Giving up?" Shadow King's disembodied voice comes from all around me.

"Have you?" I challenge back.

A spine-chilling laugh follows. And by the time I realize what is happening, it's too late. There is a sharp stab in my mind, the pain spreading across all my thoughts and emotions. I cry out and try to defend myself against the psych attack. I put my guard down, giving him the chance to attack. I feel my conscience fade, not unlike when the Professor would put me to sleep after specifically bad nightmares. But unlike those cases, this is unwelcome.

I fight it as much as I can, but in the end, I am nothing compared to his power.

I fall unconscious as the black fades back into the Cairo sun. Alertness comes back to me, but not enough to do anything about it. Faces stand above me. A group of bald, feminine features in armor. And a black figure with piercing, silver eyes. They speak a language I cannot comprehend.

What happens next is beyond me.

To Be Continued...