I smirked. I saw what Yao did there.

"Sorcerer Supreme!" All three sorcerers took a deep bow in her presence.

Like the movies, The Sorcerer Supreme was a bald woman who looked past her prime, but her face differed notably from the actress who played her.

It was another reminder that I could not fully rely on my knowledge from the MCU. Sooner rather than later, I would encounter a notable change that I could not 'predict.'

"I'll take it from here," The Ancient one said, dismissing the rest of the sorcerers. They disappeared in a glowing fiery portal, and my eyes followed them with no small measure of curiosity.

"That will never not be cool," I said to Yao.

"It's the small things that keep the joy of the practice alive," Yao said with a warm smile.

"I suppose you know why I am here," I said, scratching my cheek.

"Surprisingly, I'm not entirely sure," she said, circling me with intrigue in her eyes. "The future has never been a mystery for me. I foresaw your birth decades before your father met your mother, and I know everything will happen every minute of every day until the day I die."

"Takes the excitement out of living, doesn't it?" I said to a contemplative Ancient one.

"I suppose you could say that, but there was a kind of certainty that came with always knowing," she mused, then turned to face me. "All that changed two months ago. You went from a reckless teenage overdue for some comeuppance to an obscured player whose every action destroys and creates timelines."

I cringed, paralyzed by panic.

"Oh," I said slowly.

Yao could kill me if she wanted to, and her age suggested she wouldn't hesitate to. No one stayed Sorcerer Supreme for centuries without developing a killer's instinct.

Still, she didn't strike me as the dramatic type who'd give a speech before offing their enemy.

In all likelihood, she just wanted to keep me alive and talking.

For now.

My presence obscuring the future also explained why Yao didn't see me coming.

"I am sorry about that. I didn't know."

The ancient one waved off my apology. "How would you," she said. "Honestly, I don't know whether to thank or eliminate you. On the one hand, the demons have noticed the change, but on the other, our future was not all that pleasant to begin with."

I laughed awkwardly. "And here I thought you would ease me into things."

"You thrive on the edge. Skirting the issue would've been a waste of both of our times," she said.

"You want me to fight the demons," I concluded.

"A month ago, I would've said it was too dangerous, but I just watched you change a major inflection point. The Phoenix Avatar was not supposed to begin unraveling her bond for another five years."

Unraveling.

I didn't like the sound of that, but there was no putting that genie back in the bottle. I'd been the one to approach Jean and promised I could help her. The least I could do was be a man of my word.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"About Jean, is there anything you can do for her?" I asked. "We both know just how bad things will get if we leave her to her devices."

The Ancient one considered me. "The Phoenix Force is beyond what you or I can comprehend. The only hope Jean has of staying her emergence is communing with her and coming to some sort of compromise."

I frowned. I'd hoped for more, but I'll take what I can get.

"Can you help her do that? Commune with the Phoenix?"

"I can," she said with some hesitation, "but it's ultimately up to Jean. I know you care deeply for her, but she…was never meant to survive. In every permutation of our future I've explored, Jean always dies, whether at the hands of the Wolverine, her lover, Scott, or by her own hand. It is brave that you're trying to save her from her fate, but it might be out of your hands."

My throat went dry. Fuck me. The Ancient One saw the fear in my eyes and spoke.

"But, remember, nothing is set in stone anymore," she said. "you made sure of that."

I nodded, already having a clue of what had to happen. The only problem was that it would be challenging and costly. My plan involved obtaining the Yamato, several purchases from Shin's store, and liberal use of the Infinity stones.

'But is she worth all that?' a voice said at the back of my head. 'She betrayed you the first chance she got.'

"You need to bring her in immediately if you hope to stay the Phoenix's emergence," Yao said, bringing me back into the moment.

"Now that she's become aware of the Phoenix, it will attempt to reach out and meld with her mind. Jean must learn to resist her influence, or she will become just as destructive as the Phoenix."

Crap. "On it," I said, pulling up my cell phone and dialing her number. Long seconds passed as her cell rang.

"D-Dante," Jean's voice shivered when she picked up the call.

"Jean?" A knot formed in my chest.

"Help–" her voice suddenly cut out, followed by a sharp static.

I turned to the Ancient one, but she had already formed a portal behind me. But oddly, it didn't lead to the mansion. It opened in an alley beside the SHIELD facility where I now trained.

I gave her an incredulous look.

"You need help," she said. "Get it before you head into a potentially deadly situation."

I didn't bother asking how she knew about my relationship with SHIELD after telling me she couldn't see my future.

"You're all the backup I need!" I insisted.

"I cannot be there. There's something truly urgent that requires our Order's attention," Yao said.

"More urgent than the destruction of our planet."

"The Demons have grown even more bold," she said. "They've mounted attacks on Sorcerer communes worldwide. New York is safe, though, so I can spare Daniel. He'll be glad to hear from you again. Until then, I think you should talk to SHIELD. It's time your employers learned about the threat of Jean Grey."

"Are you sure there's no other way we can play this? Fury will blow a gasket when he finds out that an Omega-level mutant has been possessed by a transdimensional fire chicken."

Yao chuckled. "He will. In fact, the entire world will, but it will not matter in the grand scheme of things. Like you said, Jean is the Avatar of a Transdimensional Primordial. She is no danger except from the thing inside of her."

The fallout of the Phoenix's exposure will be world-changing. Xavier will never recover from this, and Jean might be forced to leave the X-Men forever. People will know about and hunt for her, and the only place they will be safe on the planet will be with the Sorcerers.

"Fine," I grumbled, stepping through the portal she opened, "but I don't know how you expect me to sell them on letting the Sorcerers hold her."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Yao smiled as the portal winked behind me.

I stepped into Fury's office the moment I entered the base, much to the consternation of a blustering Secretary.

"We need to—" Fury was in the middle of a conversation with Natasha and Clint, and behind them was a large board with pictures and cutouts about assassinations, super soldiers, and Captain America.

There was a question mark on top of a familiar name.

Bruce Banner.

"Do you see something?" Fury asked, and I considered my answer for a moment.

The Hulk does go on to cause untold destruction, but he is also a quintessential Avenger. Prevent his creation, and I could save a lot of lives and eliminate a potentially powerful adversary before they were born. But then again…could Earth survive the battle of New York and all of the subsequent threats without the Hulk?

Maybe.

But how could I benefit from all of this? I scanned the room as a plan began to form.

"Don't keep us in suspense" Natasha said. "The director asked you a question?"

I narrowed my eyes, making a concerted effort to ignore the snark.

"Do you trust me, Fury?" I asked.

"Not as far as I can throw you, Kid," he answered, and I chuckled.

"Do you trust that I am self-interested enough to avert a potentially world-ending crisis?"

That got Fury's attention.

"Well, out with it."

"Remember my little stint at Xavier's mansion? I didn't only stay for the hospitality. I met one of the most powerful mutants alive."

Fury had a surprised look on his face and then shook his head. "There's never a dull moment with you, is there?"

"I try," I shrugged. "Anyways, I just got off the phone with her, and something is very wrong. The last time I saw her, she was wrapping up what was left of Xavier's hand."

Clint and Natasha seemed to raise a brow at the comment.

"What happened between you and the Old man?" Fury asked.