Laboratory. Mutant School.
Jean and Scott stood shoulder to shoulder over illuminated analysis screens, discussing dilution ratios and molecular stability curves. To them, the room was filled with data.
To Logan, sitting in the corner with a cheap cigar between his fingers, it looked like flirting.
He watched them in silence, jaw tight.
How am I inferior to Scott?
Stronger. Faster. Harder to kill. Better in a fight. Better in every fight.
Scott shoots beams from his eyes. So what?
I heal from anything. I've got claws that can cut through steel.
He had asked Jean before—more than once—what he lacked.
She never gave him a direct answer.
Jean finally turned toward him. "Logan, it's late. You should get some rest."
"I'm fine," he replied immediately.
Scott's patience thinned. "You sitting there smoking isn't helping. This is a lab."
"Then I won't smoke."
Logan crushed the cigar out in his palm without flinching.
Jean and Scott exchanged a look and returned to their work.
Time passed.
After nearly two hours, Jean lifted one of the military-issued dart pistols with telekinesis. It floated before her. She intended to dismantle it carefully and extract the healing dart.
Fatigue crept in.
Control slipped—just slightly.
The trigger compressed.
A dart fired.
Jean reacted instantly, freezing it midair less than a meter from her chest.
Scott and Logan both exhaled sharply.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked.
"I'm fine," Jean said, though her brow was tense. "Just tired."
"You've barely slept in two weeks. We'll continue tomorrow."
She nodded.
—
Bedroom.
Jean lay in the dark, eyes open.
A sound lingered in her mind. Faint. Persistent. Like a mosquito at the edge of hearing.
She turned over. Then again.
The whisper did not stop.
Finally, she sat upright and extended her consciousness inward.
The voice was not external.
It was hers.
She closed her eyes.
Her awareness drifted into her own mental landscape.
An island, shrouded in fog.
Then a voice echoed across the mist.
"You're finally here."
Black flames ignited at the island's edges.
They spread rapidly, consuming the terrain.
From the inferno, a massive black phoenix took shape and launched toward her.
—
Silver Manor.
Richard woke instantly.
The system interface hovered before him.
[Template Mission "Son of the Devil (IV)" Updated]
[Objective: Defeat rampaging "Dark Phoenix" Jean Grey within 30 minutes]
[Reward: True Devil Form]
[Time Remaining: 30:00]
His expression hardened.
He was on his feet in seconds.
Emma stirred. "What happened?"
"Something at the school."
"Do you need—"
"No. Stay here."
He vanished.
—
Sky above Mutant School.
The campus below looked like it had been bombarded.
Half the main building collapsed. The grounds were cratered. Smoke drifted through the air.
Richard's clothes transformed instantly into Sephiroth's black coat and silver pauldrons. Masamune materialized in his hand.
A dark red fireball screamed toward him.
He slashed.
The crescent energy wave collided with the projectile midair.
Explosion.
Energy scattered like a meteor shower.
He activated super vision.
Inside the ruins, dozens of students were trapped beneath debris. Iceman coordinated rescue efforts with Colossus and Kitty Pryde.
On the rear lawn, Cyclops and Storm lay unconscious.
Logan struggled beneath a slab of stone.
Professor X's wheelchair sat abandoned.
Charles himself was nowhere to be seen.
Richard didn't need confirmation.
Jean hovered above the grass, dark red aura burning around her. Eyes shadowed. Expression predatory.
Cyclops floated before her like suspended prey.
She tossed him aside when she noticed Richard.
Gravity shifted.
The stone crushing Logan lifted away under Richard's control.
"What happened?" Richard's voice entered Logan's mind.
"She snapped," Logan responded mentally. "Professor tried to stop her. She killed him."
Richard cut the link.
He forced consciousness back into Scott and Storm with a precise telepathic shock.
"I'll handle Jean. Evacuate the students."
He severed contact and faced her fully.
Jean attacked first.
A telekinetic shockwave roared toward him.
Richard absorbed it entirely.
Her expression flickered with surprise.
He moved.
Iai Slash.
Distance collapsed in an instant. The blade descended toward her neck at blinding speed.
It stopped twenty centimeters away.
A dark red barrier shimmered.
Phoenix Force.
Richard teleported back a hundred meters.
Too fast to kill cleanly.
He didn't hesitate.
Dimension Slash.
Space warped violently around Jean. Crescent spatial fractures sliced inward from all directions.
They passed through her form—
—and did nothing.
The Phoenix Force distorted space itself. It simply refused the cut.
She remained untouched.
Richard's eyes narrowed.
Of course.
The Phoenix Force manipulates time and space as fundamental properties.
Spatial severance alone wouldn't be enough.
Jean tilted her head slightly, almost amused.
The timer in his vision ticked down.
26:47 remaining.
He adjusted his grip on Masamune.
The real fight had just begun.
.....
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