8 Invasion and Complications

Author's Note

Alright sorry this took so long, but College is really busting my ass. This chapter feels wrong to me, but I can't figure out why exactly, so I'm going to post it and let you guys tell me what's wrong with it. I feel like Xavier might've been OOC, but I didn't want Kevin to just up and leave and I feel like he'd want to protect the mutant secret as long as possible. Let me know what you guys think and I'm 100% open to changing a lot about this chapter. Also, I feel like I should clarify something about Kevin. He's still going to be a hero, for a variety of reasons. He just won't be one like Superman, but more of an anti-hero.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------With most of my preparations for leaving left I just had to tie up a few lose ends I hadn't had the time to deal with so far. The first three things I needed to get done were acquiring powers I hadn't yet. My first target was Mystique, so when I went back to school and found the principal walking down the hall I pretended to trip before grabbing her hand on my way down and absorbing.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Shapeshifting: Able to psionically alter the formation of biological cells at will, allowing you to shapeshift into any human being of either sex. Lvl 2/10]

Along with her power was one I had easy access to but hadn't taken the opportunity to drain yet. All it took was pulling Kitty up after she fell down during training to drain her.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Intangibility: The ability to phase through objects at will. Maximum size of objects other than user, basketball. Lvl 2/10]

I had thought about whether or not absorbing Jean was worth it and came to the conclusion it wasn't. Telekinesis and a potential boost to my telepathy weren't significant enough for me to risk having an encounter with the Phoenix. I should soon have the opportunity to absorb Thor since this is around the time Avengers happened, so I could just use that as a boost in power instead of taking that risk.

Those were the last loose ends I had to take care of before I was ready to leave the Institute. I could just leave, but the events of Avengers should give me the perfect way to leave, or it could go sideways. The way I saw it, since the X-Men exist here then they should help with the invasion. If they refuse to in pursuit of maintaining the secret of mutants, I could leave with that as my reason. If they do decide to help, I can leave saying I don't work well with a team in the field.

The next few days passed by normally, with my training continuing. It seems as though both the growth and amount of effort it took to level up a skill was exponential, so while I would get incredibly strong eventually, it would take more time to go from level 3 to 4 than 2 to 3. I continued to work on my car, it was pretty much done. The speed at which I could get things done with a combination of super speed and technopathy was insane, and I had already given it some upgrades here and there. I would need more materials to really upgrade it, but with an infinite supply of adamantium, this car wasn't breaking anytime soon. Soon, the day finally came for the invasion. I was sitting in the kitchen eating some lunch watching TV when the show I was watching was changed to show New York with a giant portal in the sky. Walking out of the kitchen, I found the rest of the X-Men all set up there.

"So I'm assuming you all saw the news." I said.

"Yeah, man aliens are real that's so cool." Kurt said.

"They're invading Kurt." Jean replied.

"True, but it is still cool that aliens exist." I chimed in.

Jean sighed before changing the subject "So Professor, should we suit up."

Xavier took a second to reply to her, before saying "I believe it is best that we stay here and allow the authorities to handle this. Every news station in the world is covering this and if we jump in it could lead to the exposure of mutant kind."

"But Professor, we can't just let people die." Jean said.

"I know Jean, but the public isn't ready for our existence yet."

"Neither are they ready for the existence of aliens, yet they just go exposed to them. Isn't it best to do it all at once, they would be more distracted by the aliens than our existence." I said.

"They very well may, or they could turn to us as an outlet for aggression since the aliens aren't close enough for them to lash out."

'He does have a point there, but I can still use this.'

"Well I don't care, I'm going to go help." I say while getting up and starting to walk towards the door.

"Kevin wait, if you leave now you will not be welcome back at the institute, we need to protect the secret of mutants." Xavier said.

My back was still turned towards him, so he couldn't see the smirk that just formed on my face.

"That's fine with me, I wouldn't want to stay here if this is how far you'll go to protect that secret anyway."

I continued walking out the door, but as I was leaving someone grabbed my hand. Turning around, I found Rogue looking at me.

"So you're just going to leave?" She said. The way she paused after leave, though, led me to think there was another word she wanted to add after that.

"Yeah, I'm going to go stop the aliens, and then I'm leaving here for good."

Rogue looked sad for a second, before a resolute expression came onto her face and she said "Then I'm coming with you."

My first instinct was to deny her instantly, but I thought about it for a second. 'Having a second absorber could be useful. As she is now, she can incapacitate people, but I'd have to get her to not care about draining people till they're dead so she can keep the power. I doubt she'd betray me considering I'm the only person she can touch.'

"Fine, but you won't be all that much help in this large scale of a fight right now. When I come back to get my stuff, I'll take you with me."

Rogue looked a little mad at me for saying she wouldn't be much help, which was good, it meant she'd try to fix it as quickly as possible. All the same, she nodded at what I said.

With that dealt with, I turned around and began leaving again before I was once again interrupted by someone grabbing my shoulder.

Turning to look at who did it, my frustration was getting to me as I said "Dammit people, if you keep delaying me the invasion will be over by the time I get there."

It turned out Jean was the one who tapped me. She looked amused at my outburst before she said "I'm coming with you."

I didn't want to deal with this anymore, so I just said "Fine, let's go." She nodded and we both began walking out of the door, before I was interrupted again.

"Jean wait, you should listen to the Professor and stay here." Scott called.

"No Scott, I'm not leaving those people there to die just to protect our secret. I'm disappointed you and everyone else is so willing to."

With that said, Jean and I left the institute and made our way outside. "How are we getting there?" Jean asked.

Without saying anything, I reached into my pocket and pulled out car keys with a button attached. Pressing the button, I waited for a few seconds before a black and green muscle car pulled up in front of us. It was identical to the car Kevin had in the tv show, with the outside being made entirely of Adamantium.

"Get in." I said before opening the door and getting in the driver's seat. Jean went around and got in the other side and I quickly drove towards the battle. As we were driving, Jean asked "When did you get a car?"

"Spent some free time working on it whenever I had the chance, found out I'm a pretty good mechanic."

We quickly arrived at the main spot of the invasion. We could see people running the opposite way as we drove towards the danger instead of away from it. Pulling to a stop in an alleyway, we both got out of the car and I left it where it was. It was one of the most durable things on the planet, I wasn't worried about it getting damaged.

Jean and I quickly made our way to where the majority of the fighting was. On the way, I absorbed adamantium. I knew I would probably have to showcase my abilities eventually, but I wasn't sure if I would really need them for this fight.

As soon as we arrived at the center of the battle we could see how destroyed it was. Buildings were falling over and bodies lay around us, unmoving. Before I could decide how I wanted to move, the decision was taken from me as a few Chitauri soldiers came towards us. Enlarging my hands, I reached out for a car near me, crushed it up into a ball, and threw it at them. The giant ball rolled over them, crushing the soldiers beneath it.

Jean, meanwhile, was using her telekinesis to pick up the people she could find and move them out of danger. A glider came towards her, but she used her telekinesis to make it crash into a wall and explode.

We continued to make our way through the city, saving who was near us and killing any Chitauri we came across. Eventually, we made it all the way to Stark tower, where the center of the beam was. Standing at the base of it, I could hear a smashing coming from the top.

'Looks like Hulk got to Loki.'

Before I could decide whether it was worth trying to get to the top or not, Jean said "Maybe I can find out who sent them." Before reaching up to her head and concentrating.

'Wait, aren't the Chitauri linked to Thanos.' I realized too late.

"Wait Jean stop..." But it was too late. Jean cried out and held her head, before releasing a scream as telekinetic force ripped around her, sending me flying back.

Recovering, I looked over to see her beginning to get cloaked in flames. 'Shit, the Phoenix is escaping whatever the hell Xavier did to keep it locked up. If she goes Dark Phoenix here, me and everyone else nearby is fucked.'

Quickly charging towards Jean, I tried to knock her out, but as I neared her, her eyes opened, but all that was contained within them was flames. She lifted her hand and threw me back with telekinesis. I slammed into a wall, but got back up quickly.

'I can't afford to hold back against Dark Phoenix.'

I teleported behind her, grabbing her in a bear hug while forming an adamantium shell around us. We were contained within a sphere, but she began leaking flames all around me. Without much of a choice, I began absorbing the flames. I heard a ding, but didn't have time to focus on it as I continued to absorb the flames, with the output increasing as time went on. Eventually, we were both completely surround by flames, with my entire body taking them in. Suddenly, my vision shifted and I found myself floating in a void, looking at a giant bird made of flames.

'If I'm gonna do this, I'm going all in.'

Reaching out, I begin to absorb the bird in front of me. It lets out a cry, before the suction increases, but half of the bird breaks off, vanishing into the void around me as the other half is sucked into me. My vision returns to normal, and I find Jean lying in my arms unconscious. There were several alerts, but I don't have time to deal with them. Willing the sphere around us to disappear, I find myself surrounded by the Avengers.

"Sup" I say, while raising my hand in a half wave.

Stark smirks before saying "Sup kid, see your using the invasion to make some progress."

Looking at where his eyes were directed, I noticed Jean was nuzzling into my shoulder. Ignoring it, I turn back towards the people around me before saying "And who are you guys supposed to be?"

"We're the Avengers son. I'm Steve Rodgers, can you tell us what just happened."

Deciding to play ignronat, I say "Hell if I know, my friend had an outburst, I just dealt with it."

"That wasn't an outburst, that was the Phoenix Force." Thor said.

"And what exactly is the Phoenix Force?" Natasha asked.

"The Phoenix Force is a cosmic entity that takes hosts and boosts their powers, but their hosts tend to be unstable and burn themselves out."

"So the girl is it's host?" Clint asks.

"Most likely." Thor responds.

Deciding it was about time I left, I say "Well that's all well and good, but we're tired and I'll deal with that later. So if you don't mind, we'll be leaving." I say while turning to walk in the direction my car is parked.

"Before I can move too far, Steve reaches out and grabs my shoulder while saying "Hold on son, we need to figure out how to deal with this Phoenix Force."

'Well isn't this convenient.' When Steve grabbed my shoulder, I reached up to grab his hand and remove it. His gloves had holes all in it from the battle, so it wasn't hard to absorb him. I got more notifications, but like the rest of them I ignored them for the moment.

'I should've just left Jean at the institute'

"And we'll deal with it, if I need help, I'll call. It's not like it's hard to find Stark."

"Hah, kids got a mouth on him."

"Fury doesn't want someone with that much power running around with no control." Steve says.

"Good for Fury, he can bring it up with me later, but right now we're leaving. You want to talk about this so badly, I'll come back in a few days to Stark tower."

'This is the best compromise I can probably get without a full on fight. I can escape easily, but I don't really feel like getting hunted down by SHIELD all the damn time. For the moment, I'm earthbound till I can get either a spaceship or sustainability in a vacuum.'

Steve hesitates before reaching up to his ear piece and listening. After a few seconds, he nods before turning back to me and saying "Okay, meet us at the tower in 3 days."

I nod my head before walking off in the direction of my car, still carrying Jean. I make it there quickly, and put Jean in the passengers seat before driving away from the city.

'I'm sure Fury's got some kind of tail on me, so I'll have to lost it.'

Using my Phase-Shifting, I teleported the car to the garage in my house once I was close enough. I hadn't gotten the house in my actual name, so Fury would have to work a little to even find me at all.

Once I entered, I went to a guest room and put Jean down in the bed before leaving and entering my own room. Sitting down, I finally took a look at the notifications I had gotten.

*Ding*

[Skill Gained: Phoenix Force Conduit: You are connected to the Phoenix Force in a deep way. Able to access its powers and make them your own. Understanding that connection is the key to unlocking its true power. Lvl 5/10]

[Skill Gained: Cosmic Fire Manipulation: The ability to create and control cosmic fire. Fire does not need oxygen to burn and can even burn in the depths of space. Lvl 2/10]

[Skill Leveled: Telepathy: The ability to read and manipulate minds. Able to enter yours and other people's mindscapes to search for deeper thoughts and memories. Beware, though, the mind does not like being entered deeply and will fight back. Able to plant suggestions in people's minds. Range increased massively, along with the amount of targets able to be affected by telepathy at a time. Lvl 8/10]

[Skill Gained: Telekinesis: The ability to move things with your mind. Currently able to move something the size of a bus. Lvl 6/10]

[Skill Gained: Super Strength: Strength greater than the average human. Current lifting strength: 300 pounds. Lvl 2/10]

'Well I can't say all the trouble this probably cause me wasn't worth it. I just got a massive boost in power, now I've just got to figure out how it is I'm going to deal with the aftermath.