NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81: Phoenix Unleashed
Chapter 81: Phoenix Unleashed
Cole could not shake off the memory of what Astrid had shared with him, which he had inadvertently shared with her.
The weakened telepathy had revealed to him the existence of Mummurdai in this Earth iteration.
Still, Cole couldn’t tell if it was natural or just another byproduct of the strange temporal anomalies that had arisen lately.
I am fully aware that Marvel had issues with time-altering events. A few had occurred, but the nastier acts were either off the table or the perpetrators’ actions hadn’t reached that point.
The thought kept nagging at him, and he wondered if there was more to this than what met the eye.
The individual in question possessed a certain degree of understanding regarding a particular set of entities.
As per the Shi’ar myth, these entities, known as Mummurdrai or anti-selves, are said to be encountered by individuals before their birth and must be battled to proceed with the birth process.
Certain factions disagree on the origin of these entities, with some asserting that they are residents of the Astral Plane and are born simultaneously with each sentient being.
Professor Charles Xavier’s Mummurdrai, Cassandra Nova, is regarded as one of the most influential Mummurdrai in history. Upon awakening, Cassandra tried to strangle her brother, leading him to use his telepathic abilities to defend himself and kill her. Despite this apparent destruction, Nova managed to survive.
He had stayed the execution only because Xavier’s presence was needed—at least, that was Astrid’s estimation. The jury was out on that one, though.
When Cassandra came to her full power, only her brother could slay her, a notion Cole had hazarded to test himself on.
Although he couldn’t kill the Professor, he could place a heavy price for his attempts to put him in a coma, leaving him at the mercy of entities Xavier either knew about or suspected.
Like Xavier, Cole had gleaned details from Xavier’s mind. Cole didn’t have psychic abilities yet, but the sheer amount of minds he utilized had made it a forgone conclusion he had the potential to become psionic. Hell, if Doom could train his vast intellect to become psionic, why couldn’t he?
In any case, he would be rewarded for his action, and he needed a breather. Why did it seem like he was attacked by multiple groups right after the other? Was this some story? If so, it could have been written better. A real protagonist needed time to contemplate his gains.
Cole was unaware of his ability, but he had projected his consciousness hundreds of miles away from his physical body. This was an impressive feat that even the most skilled astral projectors needed help to achieve. Xavier, known for his powerful mutation, had only managed to accomplish this at the height of his abilities.
As he loomed before the towering structure of the school, a flood of memories from his past life overwhelmed him, causing him to pause and take in the sight before him. The X-Mansion’s location and appearance were strikingly reminiscent of the one he had seen in a movie, with its address at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he could have ever attended this school at some point in his past life. Though he didn’t have the answer to that question, he knew he was hard-wired to follow his predetermined path, no matter where it led him. He would get vengeance for his parent’s death. How that applied to those involved was solely based on how they contributed.
Students played outside; teachers stood near overseeing the young mutants, no doubt to stop anyone from getting seriously hurt; by the assortment of powers, he seemed he had to update this estimation on this Earth.
His eyes caught the plaque in front of the school. Mutatis Mutandis, a Medieval Latin phrase meaning “with things changed, that should be changed” or “once the necessary changes have been made.”
He looked back over the large field of the students and decided. None was the wiser to the threat that loomed overhead.
*****
Hank furiously tapped the keyboard inside the chamber at the control panels, his eyes growing concerned.
“This,” Hank stammered. Dread filled him as he turned and slammed his substantial clawed hand down onto the hit emergency button to no avail.
Jean nodded, shuddering as she second-guessed herself. Her hands were on her temple, and her focus zeroed in. She cleared her mind and latched on to the Professor’s astral tendril.
She screamed and fell to her knees, one hand still on her temple as the other rested on the floor.
Scott paused, his heart beating faster than it had ever done before. Dead silence descended upon the room like the call of the grave, a foretelling of his impending doom that lasted more than a dozen seconds before the pool finally stopped rippling.
Then, in the center of the room and under the shuttering lights and klaxon wails of alarms, a figure began to emerge at a prolonged rate—but the face that came up was focused solely on Xavier. It was an alien yet familiar, white-on-black tendril spooled around it dangerously.
“Oh, god. Hank…” Jean’s head shot up. Her biggest fear was retaliation. She wanted cooler heads to avail, but Xavier had been hard-pressed to proceed as if he had to do it.
“It’s him.”
The apparition had somehow gotten through the considerable protection that not even the most potent minds arrayed against them had been able to breach.
At that moment, the room’s temperature dropped. Breaths became visible as the occupants shivered. A fog settled across the ground, and almost rapidly, hoarfrost made a beeline toward Professor Xavier.
“I know my life is forfeited, but my students and the facility are innocent,” Xavier pleaded.
Scott gritted his teeth. He touched his visor and stared at the forming being. He recalled the teen from weeks ago, how they had stood over him judging his actions, and how he had been able to cancel both Pyro and Iceman, shrugging off his attacks.
“Innocent?” Cole scanned the room before shaking his head.
“They are your council, correct?”
Xavier didn’t respond.
“Exactly. I was fooled not to go after your school when I was attacked the first time. Let me show you that boundaries exist. I wonder what will happen once your tendrils are undone, who will remain loyal, and who among students and faculty will remain hypocrite.”
Xavier made eye contact with his friends and students as the frost traveled up his legs and reached his chest. He hadn’t a moment of respite, wanting to pass along a warning, knowing that he would be followed. He was still amazed at the boy.
‘This is my doing.’ Xavier thought.
‘Had I waited and learned what he was capable of,’ he sighed internally.
Boom.
Cyclops had unleashed a concentrated beam of conclusive force past him and blackened the metallic walls.
Cole peered at his reforming body and snarled back, but to everyone’s horror, he hadn’t attacked Cyclops but appeared before Xavier.
‘He’s able to manifest physically here. It’s almost like Remote Possession. Have I made a mistake?’
Jean, Hank, and Scott stared in disbelief, words unheard passing between them. Xavier’s head dropped before he looked back toward them, a tired smile on his face.
‘I’m sorry. Things will occur because I’ve made a mistake. A ten-.” His screaming made everyone take a knee as they felt the mental anguish.
‘No. You don’t get any last words, hypocrite.’ The apparition pulled the professor from the chair, the frost fully encasing the motorized wheelchair.
It was as if time came to a stop as they watched Xavier crippled body float in the air. The creature’s figure grew more substantial as it loomed in the room.
The first to break was Jean. She lashed out with her mind, only to be rebuffed. She reached out with her hand. She was also telekinetic, but her attempt caused her body to seize as the creature shifted its head to her and nodded roughly in her direction. She sailed across the room, her back slamming and destroying a set of consoles.
Scott exhaled, breath visible as the temperature lowered; he was like Bobby, he thought as he took more breaths. Jean’s shriek and assault awoke him from the sheer arrestement he felt.
He had never experienced such visceral fear before. It was all-encompassing, so potent that they stopped breathing.
He held in until something snapped in his head. He snatched his ruby quartz shades from his face in an impotent rage. His eyes burned brightly, and fractals crackled where his irises were supposed to be.
Hank reacted, but he had broken the hold too late.
“Die,” snarled Scott Summers.
Scott Summers was an alpha mutant at the peak of his Alpha power level. His ability had been misinterpreted for the better part of his life.
Only recently did he realize that he was more than just uncontrollable optic blasts. After many sleepless nights and countless hours of The Danger Room, he had raised the ceiling.
He confided in Hank, as he was the resident doctor and the foremost knowledgeable individual on mutant science, only for the doctor to request they bring Xavier in about his discovery. He quickly promised he wouldn’t speak or use his newfound power. He was confused. Why would he do that? What reason would he hide his ability? And where had this added power come from? It was coursing through him.
Anyone else would have been surprised, but not Cole. He had known about the Summers, especially Scott; his destructive potential was unlimited as long as he opened his eyes remained open.
Red iridescent twin beams of three detectable energies flashed into being; they were so bright and surprising that Jean and Hank shied away. Enraptured by his powers, Scott was immune to destructive energies that wreaked havoc inside the room.
Jean staggered to her feet, a bloody gash gushing blood on her temple; she swooned before pressing her hand to the wound, her other shielding her eyes, and the red light intensified.
“Scott, stop..”
“No!” He shouted.
She had no choice but to stop when an explosion snapped his beams off. Scott, unbothered, dived from another arcing bolt of energy. Looking forward, Jean was shocked to see Xavier and the monster shielded behind rotating mandalas.
Astonished at the power output, Cole protected himself with one of Dr. Strange’s most notable spells—the Shield Of Seraphim.
Scott slid across the floor, one, two, then a third consecutive supercharged blast flashed at his foe. ‘Has he always been this powerful?’ She thought.
Jean was flabbergasted again as the blast bent mid-flight around the floating shields. Two slammed into the monster, tearing rippling holes into his form, which was already healing alarmingly.
Xavier stared at her pale and weakened; she reached out to him.
‘Red Hood. Flee. I’ve made a mist-.”
“Enough,” the entity bellowed and positioned Xavier in front of another bending blast.
Jean’s hand shot out and arrested the blast, but not even she could hold it long enough. She redoubled her efforts as fireflies manifested around her, her hand trembling.
She gasped and faltered, the blast hitting Xavier in his arm, severing it at the elbow.
Xavier gritted his teeth but didn’t scream as he watched his students attempt to help him.
Jean righted herself, unaware of the manifestation. Saddened by the grievous wound, fear started to leave her as she grew angry at her weakness. The width of Scott’s beams widened, and more fractals cracked around his eyes.
Cole hadn’t even moved as he watched Scott prepare another destructive blast. He was shocked to see the most potent version of Scott Summers, which also meant his freaking overpowered brothers were around, and this also caused him to narrow down who the Broker might be. He glanced at Jean Grey.
He wouldn’t kill the professor. He was under contract. Astrid’s Counterbalance was for him not to take the Professor’s life. He was a man of his word. He never said he wouldn’t disallow maiming.
Cole chuckled. “Fitting for a cripple.”
Scott’s vision was narrowed. He hated Jason Todd, his power, freedom, and even his convictions. Whatever drove him to this rage hadn’t let go of him. His optic blasts intensified again, and his figure emerged from the ground as destructive energies rippled around him.
“Scott Summers,” his foe said mockingly, “you would make Vulcan and Havok proud.” Those names meant something, but his rage pushed them aside as the young leader of the X-men growled, and his eyes burned with ambient energies.
Cole looked at Hank, who looked troubled; whatever he was doing with the computers wasn’t working because of Alfred.
“I see,” he uttered, and he did. There were more secrets here than even he anticipated. “Excuse the mix-up. You’re truly worthy of the Summer’s name, but that’s enough.”
Scott’s power dimmed, but the blast happened nonetheless. Cole reformed his hand, stretching it into a hardened ectoplasm shield, black like his claws.
Cole didn’t realize it until he focused on Scott, but he had magnified Scott’s powers through his untested Lantern Powers. He recalled riling up Mama Carmichael once and sensing the rage of others, but it seemed he had done that subconsciously or something of the sort. He hadn’t done that before. Or was it something else? He felt like those fractals were somehow connected to the red zone, the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum.
‘This is something to look into. It would be funny if he had inadvertently brought the emotional electromagnetic forces here.’
‘No. Scott,’ Jean growled, her power clamping over his eyes.
Powerless, Scott roared and rushed ahead, willing to continue the fight. Cole’s shield transformed as tendrils shot outward. Scott dived over the web-like tendrils with the grace of a cat.
Jean’s vision swarmed as she held against the sheer ferocity of Scott’s power, her mind lost on his absurd level of strength; where had he gotten this power from? She erected a psionic bubble around herself and launched toward Xavier.
Hank had accessed the situation, speaking urgently as he worked.
“Jean, we’re losing him,” Hank shouted over the alarms, wondering when the other X-men would arrive. But he knew that first, the evacuation had to occur.
Jean nodded, her hands on her temple, her focus zeroed in. Scott was not going to listen to reason. Scott stopped. No matter what he did,d he couldn’t move.
He looked at her hatefully, not realizing that, for the first time, they had made eye contact. However, his eyes burned and rippled under the situation as his energy warred with the psychic shield.
“Free me, Jean. You don’t have what it takes to do what must be done; I aim to put him down.”
“Calm down and think, Scott. He has the professor.”
“I’m not here to kill the Professor,” Cole said as the three faced off.
He looked at her hatefully, not realizing that, for the first time, they had made eye contact. However, his eyes burned and rippled under the situation as his energy warred with the psychic shield.
“Jean, now or never.” Bellowed Hank. She cleared her mind and latched on to the Professor’s astral tendril.
She screamed and fell to her knees, one hand still on her temple as the other rested on the floor.
“Is that all you know how to do, Jean?” Cole asked.
“Scott…” Jean’s head shot up, her mind a whirled of emotions.
The air in the room turned icy, and a chill ran down their spines. A thin layer of delicate, crystalline hoarfrost formed around him, creating an otherworldly atmosphere.
The frost twinkled in the flashing warning light, casting an ethereal glow that filled the room with a cold aura.
Jean had sensed it before her eyes recognized it. Xavier’s shadow grew erratic before it vanished. Xavier’s haggard body drooped, and he stopped moving. The X-men all stared on in dread at the worst possible outcome.
Jean, struggling, reached out her hand. Her memories returned to her childhood, recalling their fond moments, only for her to be forced back to the present by a roaring Scott.
“You killed him,” she mumbled barely discernible over the alarms. Psionic energies emanated around her stationary figure. Jean’s hand outstretched shuttered. Her hair fluttered behind her, adrift by unknown winds. Her trademark red hair sparked as flames rolled down her mane.
Cole hadn’t even tried to contend with Jean’s powers. He vanished, reforming further away, putting distance between the two. Jean was at the possessed stage when he summarized. He had thought he fucked up for a second. He hadn’t even considered what was inside her when he came here.
Feeling helpless, Jean watched as Xavier’s lifeless body fell to the floor. Still, Hank acted and leaped across the room, snatching Xavier from the air.
The doors opened. Wolverine was the first one inside, with Storm hot on his heels.
Cyclops unleashed his power, unleashing a barrage of optic discharges that crackled with immense energy. However, Cole stood unfazed, his form being non-physical and thus impervious to the destructive force of Cyclops’ weakened blasts.
Despite the intensity of the attack, Cole remained calm and collected, ready to depart as his counterattack had been carried out. Xavier would be out of the picture, and if he did wake, he would be too weak to pose a problem.
Before he released his form, Jean screamed, and the Phoenix answered her, shrieking hatefully. Its jailer safeguards no mote. Its cage was slowly eroding.
Cole pointed a pitched claw at her and enunciated a spell backward; similar to Zatanna’s magic, he, too, could practice Logomancy.
“Dleihs,” he uttered; a transparent thin construct appeared between him and the emerging Phoenix.
Flames splashed against the magical shield like liquid fire; he could feel the hostility of the Phoenix as the thin construct shattered. Expecting the outcome, Cole floated backward.
Super heated air washed across him, but his innate resistance to heat only rebounded off of him—unlike the Phoenix host, who was vulnerable to fire. The Cloak of Destiny snapped around his shoulder, giving him the appearance of a magician.
Cole’s voice pierced through the silence. Speaking with an air of mockery, he said, “The Phoenix is awakening. Do you finally comprehend the extent of what The Professor had done to you?” His hands were adorned with white gloves as he spoke, adding an ominous touch to his unsettling demeanor.
Jean shrieked, ration long gone now, she wouldn’t answer but once she awakened there would be some questions needing an answer.
Her eyes are fiery, her personality eroding. Cole had seen this in the movies and comics. He could enjoy this battle some more. The rewards and his usage of so many abilities were bound to send his abilities to another level.
He was giddy and edging toward battle, but he knew he had no means to contend with the Phoenix. At least not now.
But who said he had to defeat it?
Wolverine, Storm, and Scott had all readied themselves, but Cole knew the battle would only be one vs one. The possessed Jean would burn them to ashes if they intervened.
“Lost control, have we?” Cole called out, his right hand extended, thumb and index finger pressed together, the runic symbol on the back of the glove glowing.
Snap.
