Chapter 133: Arrival of a Shield
2nd March 2006, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
Jasmine answered solemnly, “you are children now, but you won’t always stay this way. You’ll go travel the world, trying to find your place in it. And I can’t always be there behind you. And if you end up in trouble, I won’t always be there. You needed to learn not to depend on me all the time, or you wouldn’t survive on your own. I had faith that you could defeat Sinister and I was proved to be correct.”
Jean looked down and Jasmine continued, “Now, let’s get home. Are you two love birds going to keep hugging each other for the whole trip?”
Both teenagers blushed but still didn’t let go of each other when the portal appeared out of nowhere and swallowed them, sending them back to Sayre Manor.
It barely took them a couple of minutes before both teenagers passed out from exhaustion.
This had to be the most comfortable night’s sleep that Wanda had ever had, which made Jasmine’s wake up even more painful than it should have been.
Jasmine was always unusually cruel when it came to waking Wanda up. It might have to do with the fact that the teenager slept like a log, would never get out of bed without a hassle. One day, Jasmine stopped trying and just made an enchantment in her room to make loud siren sounds that wouldn’t stop until the girl was out of her room.
So, when the usual alarm started to blare, Wanda had to get out of bed, muttering and swearing at her sadistic teacher. What was unusual was the weird weight on her chest. Startled, the witch opened her eyes, to be met with messy red hair. Oh, right, she had shared her bed with Jean the previous night. Wanda took a better look at her friend, and from the expression on her face, the witch deduced that the redhead wasn’t a morning person either.
“What the fuck is this?” Jean screamed out.
Wanda almost burst out of laughter; finally, someone else would experience the hell she went through to wake up every day, “This is my alarm clock. Jasmine said it was the only way for me to wake up without her actually coming herself.”
Wanda heard Jean muttering insult at her mother figure and smiled. They really were alike, Jean and her.
Then, finally, the alarms stopped. Weird; they usually keep going until she leaves the bedroom. Her confused was then satisfied when Wanda’s bedroom door opened, revealing a fully dressed Jasmine.
“Rise and shine, girls. It’s time for school!”
Wait, what? Jean seemed to share her sentiment, “We don’t have school on Sunday, Ms. Sayre.”
Jasmine nodded, “Yes, you don’t have school on Sunday, but it’s Monday. You slept for 36 hours straight.”
“WHAT?” both teenagers yelled at unison.
“Well, yeah. Both of you overused your powers, it’s only natural that your body needed some rest to recuperate.”
“What about my teammates, did you tell them what happened?” Jean asked.
“It was made clear to me, the last time I was there, that I wasn’t welcome in the Xavier institute. They are not my concern and Xavier’s antagonism, especially towards Wanda, doesn’t give him any favors. Plus, I sent Kitty there after you were taken, but for some reason, they still haven’t done a rescue mission.”
Jean stayed silent at this, and Wanda tried to cheer her up, “Come on, we’re going to school in a few minutes, you’ll be able to explain everything in no time.”
Jean nodded, a little mollified but Wanda could tell that she was still a little tense.
They came down to eat some breakfast and a particularly large one at that; Both girls hadn’t eaten anything in over a day and so, realized how hungry they were and stuffed themselves with whatever they could eat, leaving behind any form of etiquette they might have learnt.
Once they were done, they went to the garage and sat in Jasmine’s car. They used their usual portal to New York where they started driving towards Bayville High.
“Oh, before I forget, you two should start being careful. Both of you have unlocked new aspects of your abilities, and very dangerous aspects at that. You’ll need to train them properly before you accidentally hurt someone.”
Wanda was curious, “Wait, what? I know that I used my reality manipulation for the first time, but what powers did Jean unlock?”
Jasmine answered back, “She unlocked her Phoenix Flames. This is the first manifestation of the cosmic energy inside her. This is the basics of the basics when it comes to cosmic energy. They are the flames that purify, whether by healing or destroying. They have the abilities to destroy or heal practically anything they touch, depending on the wielder’s desire and skill in using them. You’re very lucky that the Phoenix Force lets you use Cosmic energy as you wish. I am not that lucky.”
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Jean looked confused at that, “What, do you not know how to use cosmic energy?”
“Oh, I do. It’s just I cannot use it without the explicit permission of my patron. This mostly means that I only have access to my cosmic energy when I’m in my role as the avatar of Death. Death is stingy like that. Outside missions, my patron is always silent. To be honest, she has been silent for a while now.”
Jasmine’s voice faded in a very contemplative voice, before continuing, “Anyway, Wanda has also started to use her reality manipulation, which, as of now, is probably her most powerful ability yet. We’ll have to start with small stuff, and get bigger and bigger. This ability is as much a boon as it is a burden. You have access to immeasurable power, the world becomes like clay in your hand to do what you wish, but it also comes with responsibilities and rules. Rules that you’ll need to memorize and understand before even casting your first spell. You could easily shatter reality if you don’t know what you’re doing. Or worse, if you know what you’re doing and its consequence and what comes with it and still go through with it. Trust me, death would be a mercy compared to what would happen to you. So, again, Wanda, no reality manipulation, even in life and death, without I say that you’re ready.”
Wanda looked pale and nodded. This was the first time Jasmine was this insistent about her using her abilities. Were her powers really that dangerous? Could she kill millions, if not billions of people, by accident? She needed to speak to Jasmine later when they go home.
Both teenagers were contemplating what their new powers would mean for them, and what the consequences of revealing them would be. They had barely felt the time passing and were somewhat startled when they got to school this quickly.
The second Jean was out of the car, she was tackled by a brown blur. Kitty Pryde had pretty much launched herself at her friend and started babbling at her.
Jean kept smiling at her teammate who let her go, “Slowly, Kitty. I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”
Kitty took a deep breath, “I was so worried about you, Jean. What happened? I remember trying to save you from the weirdo who Scott invited I was knocked out. Then, I woke up in my bedroom in the institute and Scott had told the Professor that Wanda and Ms. Sayre had kidnapped Jean. I tried to tell them what happened but they wouldn’t listen to anything. This is really serious; they’re talking to government people. Apparently, Jean missing is a big deal, especially when the Professor labeled her an Omega mutant after what happened in Egypt.”
‘Wait, what?” Wanda yelled out, “they’re going to try to arrest Jasmine? Are they idiots or something?”
Kitty nodded, “I don’t know, but Jean needs to speak to the government people before they try to arrest Ms. Sayre.”
Jean nodded and they walked towards Jasmine’s classroom. They knocked and found themselves in front of Xavier, Logan, a bald black man wearing an eye patch and a trench coat, and a stunning redhead in spandex who was raising a gun to Jasmine’s head.
The history teacher looked unconcerned, and was still sitting down, her legs crossed and with an eyebrow raised. She looked like she wanted to scold them for their misbehavior, like they were students of hers, “May I help you, gentlemen, and lady, that is.”
The man with the eyepatch answered her, “You’re under arrest.”
Jasmine hummed, “Curious, very curious. And what am I accused of, in the first place?”
“Your charges are the kidnapping of a minor, treason against the United States of America, Espionage and theft of official documents from multiple agencies and many more. Let’s just say that you’ll be going away for a very long time.”
“Am I, now?”
“Yes, you’ll need to come with us, Ms. Sayre.”
Jasmine still didn’t seem panicked or even scared, “I don’t think so, Mr. Fury.”
What? Did she know who the man was? Any attempt at telepathy would have been noticed by Xavier and while Wanda knew how powerful Jasmine was, especially when it came to telepathy, a skilled telepath should notice someone using telepathy near him. It was how telepathy worked in the first place, by detecting and sending psionic energy. Xavier would never be able to stop her, but him warning his colleagues is a very likely possibility.
Everyone in front of Jasmine took a step back and raised their weapons, the redhead looked very close to shooting the teacher, “How do you know that name?”
“A lucky guess, I believe. He does look like a furious man, doesn’t he?”
“This isn’t a joke, Sayre. You’re coming with us; we have questions to ask you.”
Jasmine seemed amused by the man’s insistence, “And where am I going exactly, to the Triskelion or to the helicarrier?”
Again, everyone stiffened at what she just said. Jasmine was very skilled at getting people to shit themselves with a few words. The history teacher got up, slowly walked towards the intruders and continued, “Oh, and I though that SHIELD is supposed to be an international peace keeping organization, not tied down by a single government. I do wonder why the United States’ government is responsible to half your budget. Then again, who am I to comment of the hypocrisy of men.”
The intruders were frozen in shock at the woman’s words, “Oh, and who do we have here? Oh yes, Charles Xavier. I assumed he was to make sure that your minds would be untampered. Don’t worry, I have no need to uselessly break into your minds, not that Xavier here would be able to stop me if I really wanted to. Then again, you didn’t leave anything to chance, with Mr. Barton having a shot ready, in case I attack you or attempt to escape. Nice, guy, Barton. I really like his wife, what was her name again? Oh, right, Laura. A woman being able to keep him in line is very impressive woman, to say the least.”
The redhead was shaking, almost trying to pull the trigger, “Oh, and here is his partner. Natalia Romanova or is it Natasha Romanoff these days. Oh, the blood you spilled, the innocents you killed, the lives you have ruined, the children you killed. A shame you can’t have any, no matter what you wish, the opportunity was take from you, in a room in red.”
The woman, Natalia or Natasha, whatever her name was, pulled the trigger and a loud bang appeared, firing a bullet straight at the history teacher. Wanda almost screamed out, until she noticed that Jasmine’s form started to flicker and disappear, revealing a smiling Jasmine sitting at her desk, who looked like she was grading some papers.
She raised her head and smiled at the woman who just tried to kill her, “Testy, test, what a light trigger finger you have, Natalia,” She then turned to Fury, “Don’t try to intimidate me, Fury. Now, why don’t we get started.”
The smile Jasmine had on her face was similar to that of a shark. Wanda remembered her having this exact same smile on her face when she said that it was time for Wanda to start physical training. The young witch shivered at the memory, and felt a tinge of pity to the men confronting her teacher.