Chapter 90: Final Preparations

1st September 2005, Bayville

(Jean Grey POV)

Jean couldn’t come up with a better plan but she was still nervous; this plan banked on her fighting off Apocalypse’s control over Magneto and the Professor. She still had almost no control over her powers and she had no faith in her abilities to do it. Nonetheless, this was the best they will come up with considering the lack of intel.

Seeing no objection Logan continued, “Alright. Storm, get Nightcrawler here and everyone suit up. We meet at the Blackbird in ten minutes. Get ready.”

Jean sighed inwardly; this was going to be a troublesome mission, that’s for sure. It seems they were going to Egypt.

The flight to Egypt was both silent, awkward and uncomfortable for everyone. The passengers of the Blackbird had a history with each other and it was kinda uncomfortable to a telepath to be in the middle of it. Jean kept her telepathy up, at Logan’s order, to make sure that the Brotherhood weren’t planning on betraying them. Her newfound control over her powers allowed her to open her telepathy without the thoughts of others overwhelming her. She still had trouble in focusing on a single mind and filter out the rest but progress was progress.

By the middle of the flight, Jean had a headache from all the thoughts that kept assaulted her. But she could confirm something; tensions were high. From Logan paranoia, to Storm’s worry over the Professor, to Mystique’s worry over Kurt and Magneto, and finally, Pietro’s worry over his father, who happened to be this Magneto person everyone is so afraid of. Even Pietro was afraid of them.

The worst was Scott’s thoughts, who were either centered on her or on the Professor. The redhead never understood Scott’s obsession with her. Looking back, it started from the first time they met. She could have chalked it up to love at first sight or something but Jean never thought that it was a real thing. Love is something built over time so it’s completely illogical to be in love during a first meeting.

On the other hand, Scott was completely infatuated the second they ever met. It was odd. She never thought about it before but Scott had always been acting very weird whenever it concerned her. She had to think about it later.

But, believe it or not, Scott wasn’t the only one that was having fantasies about her. Fred, also known as Blob, was also imagining her as his girlfriend. It would have been sweet if he hadn’t tried to force to her to date her when they first met. Although, Jean understood his obsession, the large teenager was simply starved for affection. He had been ridiculed all his life and that made him angry. When Jean had helped him during his first day of school, it must have been the first time someone his age was genuinely kind to him. Almost everyone was mocking him for his size, which was just a byproduct of his mutation, and his lowered intellect, which can be attributed to a lack of formal education, due to a life in the circus.

It was cruel, to feel so alone all the time. So, at the first sign of affection, he tried to hold on to it like a starving man would to a piece a bread. He was so unused to simple kindness that he mistook it for a romantic relationship and tried to force her to be his girlfriend. She could have probably beat some sense into the misguided teenager, even if he didn’t listen to her, she would have used her telekinesis to push him away and just get away from him. But Scott had to do his righteous superhero thing and attack her captor, causing enmity between Blob and the X-men.

It made sense, Fred’s – or Blob’s – obsession with her. That doesn’t mean that she’s in any way comfortable staying near him for a long time. And normally, she would have been disgusted with him being so close but with being able to think somewhat clearly for the first time in years, it made her more aware to everything about her.

Following the awkward silence during the first half an hour of the flight, Dr. McCoy, ended up making a small report of his findings about Apocalypse’s powers. The list was very extensive and probably a lot of it was exaggerated or just made up by his worshippers but it was still extremely terrifying if even a fraction of it was true.

Apparently, aside from the portals and the sand manipulation, the first mutant was as resilient as Logan, capable of healing from any wound. From the Professor’s message, they inferred that he had some sort of mental powers since he was able to control Magneto somehow. To make this worse, he was also a telekinetic, like her but the most terrifying ability Dr. McCoy theorized is his matter manipulation. From what was written, Apocalypse could ‘shape the world as if it was clay’. Dr. McCoy theorized that it might be referenced to a very rare ability called transmutation but on a much larger and precise scale, hence matter manipulation.

The idea of someone able to control everything with a mass was completely terrifying and Jean could feel it tenfold as a telepath. It was really making her anxious and more than a little uncomfortable.

In the end, Jean just asked Logan for permission to turn off her telepathy, reassuring him that the members of the brotherhood were being genuine and had no plans on betraying them. In fact, they were as terrified as they were and only wanted to rescue their leader.

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He agreed, to her relief, and Jean could finally enjoy the psychic silence. What a difference a single technique could give her. She really needs to thank Ms. Sayre for teaching her this little trick. Speaking of her History teacher, Jean was still undecided about her. The green eyed woman hadn’t done anything nefarious or anything but there was something about her that didn’t make sense. Someone as powerful as her could do anything in the world. Telepathy and Telekinesis were very powerful abilities and the woman was a lot smarter than most of the other teachers. It didn’t make sense for her to just teach high school student and especially the one with the most mutants inside.

She also exactly started working in Bayville high when Jean started to go there. Excluding the fact that she’s extremely overqualified for her job, the location of her employment definitely isn’t a coincidence, especially when she admitted that she has been keeping an eye on the Professor after he apparently made a mess in Cuba.

Hidden goals aside, Ms. Sayre was very knowledgeable about her powers and could help her. After all, asking for just a few tips won’t make too much of a difference. She won’t make any decisions before talking to the Professor though. She needs to hear both sides of the story.

For now, Jean enjoyed her limited control over her powers who started to feel more complete every second. Like there was a dam that was slowly opening, flooding her with power. It was some odd feeling of completeness. Like she was seeing in black and white all her life and the colors were slowly returning. It was a nice feeling but her abilities were getting stronger as well. She could feel it, in her mind, and that terrified her. Jean was already struggling with controlling her powers and them getting stronger means it would be even more difficult to control.

Dr. McCoy’s announcement broke Jean from her thoughts about her powers, “We’re about to arrive in ten minutes. Be ready, we have no idea what happening; the whole area is a dead zone.”

The redhead was impressed with the speed of the Blackbird who took them from New York to Egypt in a couple of hours. Jean steeled herself for the fight ahead of her. The others not so much.

Jean looked around to find everyone fidgeting nervously. Pietro was actually almost trembling at the prospect of fighting his father. Kurt looked almost comically green, which was odd compared to his usual blue skin. He had never been in a mission like this before, neither had she for that matter, and was very inexperienced in the field.

Lance – or Avalanche – was squirming in his seat. He was obviously as scared as the others but tried to put on a brave face as a leader. Scott on the other hand wasn’t anxious in the slightest. It was very weird; even Mystique was afraid and while she was hiding it very well, Jean was a telepath and could still sense it. The shapeshifter was far more experienced than a teenage boy who can’t even control his powers properly. Scott seemed to think that everything would go well, as if they were in a simulation in the Danger Room. There was something deeply wrong with him and Jean was sure of it.

Sensing their unease, Logan stood up, “Alright, we’re about to have one of the hardest fights of our lives. We’ve all had our differences but this is bigger than all of us. Apocalypse is a danger to everyone and we need to stop him but more importantly, he took some of our own. The Professor helped us all, in a way, and he’s in danger now. It’s time for us to pay him back for everything he did. As for Magneto, I never cared for him, but he doesn’t deserve to live as a slave of another. He always wanted the best for our species. I’m putting my trust in you,” He turned to everyone in the plane, “all of you. Brotherhood or X-men, I don’t care. For just this time, we’re one team and we’ll beat this blue son of a bitch and take back what’s ours.”

Everyone nodded, and Jean could feel the tension slowly disappear into determination. It was impressive how Logan was able to do that. It felt so natural for him to do so. Maybe he was some sort of soldier before losing his memory?

“We’re about to arrive. Everyone ready themselves and stick to the plan.” Dr. McCoy’s voice rang out.

Jean took a look from the windows to find one of the most beautiful and terrifying sights she ever witnessed. It was a giant metallic pyramid that was being slowly built. Giant pillars of sand were being levitated into the air before floating towards the pyramid, transforming into some sort of metal. To think that all of this was the work of a single man. Huh, it seems like Dr. McCoy was right about the matter manipulation.

This was going to be a very painful mission.

Suddenly, the plane started to shake, the metal slowly being removed from the plane. The sudden change in pressure almost sucked everyone out of the plane but Jean was able to restrain everyone with her Telekinesis.

Jean heard Mystique mutter, “Magneto…”

Logan leapt into action, “Kurt, take us all out of here now.”

Kurt just nodded and then proceeded to teleport everyone from the crashing plane. She saw him teleport Scott, then Lance, Mystique, Blob and Quicksilver. He must have thought this through, Ororo was able to fly and Logan could heal from the crash. Jean knew she was next, and the usual sulfur smell entered her nostril, and she landed on the sand, rolling over. She heard the groans of everyone around her, assuring her that they were safe.

Jean heard an explosion at the distance, the impact pushing her back and sending a wave of sand towards them. The redhead coughed from the dirt before shakingly getting up. As the sand cleared, she could make up four figures in front of her. First was Magneto, who had a blank expression. Then there was that Angel man, Jean met once, however his wings were made of metal for some reason and had the same blank expression. Finally, there was this weird blond guy who was cackling in glee at them, he was wearing orange for some ungodly reason.

All three of them were wearing Magneto’s usual helmet, which made sure that she could hear them telepathically – Mystique had told her about the properties of the helmet – which negated half her powers, making things that much harder. There was no sign of the Professor anywhere.

Behind them was the same blue man in some weird metallic armor. He wasn’t even looking a them. Jean cursed her thoughts as he slowly turned around. Jean felt a shiver run through her spine and had some trouble breathing. She had no doubt in her mind that the being in front of her was the most powerful being she ever encountered in her eighteen years of life.

For the first time, Jean heard the man speak up, “It seems we have some uninvited visitors. Take care of them my Horsemen.”

His voice was gravely, and strangely inhuman. Jean could honestly say that she was terrified out of her mind. This was so out of her depth. The Horsemen nodded and Apocalypse turned his back on them, trusting his enforcers to take care of them.

Jean knew that would be the hardest fight of her life.