A Fiery Disaster

[Back at the Mansion]

(Jean's POV)

As I watched Magneto threaten the lives of my friends and loved ones. I could feel unbridled rage running through my veins.

My tenuous hold on the Phoenix quickly slipped, and before I knew it I became a passenger in my own body; The Phoenix's instincts having taken over.

I barely caught a flash of blue and quick movement from the corner of my eye. And, seconds later, I could hear distant voices calling out for me. It all felt like a haze, their sounds drowned out by the feeling of power coursing through my body.

It was simply intoxicating, and any attempt at focusing was forgotten in the face of basking in this feeling of superiority. But, I was suddenly wrenched back to reality, by the Professor's telepathic voice.

" What the hell just happened?!" Bobby said.

I was panting trying to gain control of myself, while the ring Doug had gifted me; inscribed with warding runes was glowing bright.

The sudden spike of power overwhelmed the wards, turning it into half molten slag.

The ring was designed to block off my empathic powers as well as keep the Phoenix in check.

Especially after the events following the mutant research facility and the Phoenix's emergence when it fought the Shadow King.

I turned to Bobby, " Doug just decided to take on all the risk as he normally does. We need to find them, before it's too late. " I said, as the ring finally slipped off my finger and onto the floor.

" It may have been reckless, but I believe Douglas' swift actions may have saved us all. I've never felt such power before, the mutant who was with Erik... Who is he? " The Professor asked, turning his question towards the only person with an answer.

We all looked towards Wanda, kneeling beside her brother's passed out form. Thankfully, the sleeping spell cast on Pietro was still active, as well as the wards that sealed Wanda's magic and powers.

Noticing our gazes on her, she grimaced and said, " What? Am I supposed to be a good little hostage now, and answer your questions?"

" Surely you are worried about what he has done to your brother? From what he said, we don't know if your Pietro can handle a second mutation. " Hank said.

Her eyebrows drew up in worry and a hint of uncertainty, " Pietro will be fine. Apocalypse won't hurt his horsemen."

Logan scoffed," Didn't seem like the caring kind of guy. Are you willing to bet your brother's life on it though?"

She stayed silent, and moments later, with great reluctance said. " I won't say anything until I'm sure my brother is okay. Take us to a hospital and I'll talk. "

" Don't worry my dear, Dr. Maccoy is both a doctor and a geneticist and dare I say the world's most leading expert on mutants." The Professor said.

Minutes later Dr. Macoy was examing Pitero in the X-mansion's med lab, while the rest of the team, and I were busy integorrating Wanda about Apocalypse and his powers.

"Wait. I still don't get it." Bobby said.

" Well, I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Wanda said.

Admittedly, Wanda's explanation was both hard to believe and only raised more questions than it answered.

" Hard as it may be to believe, I think there may be some truth to what she says. I've known Erik for years, and I've never seen him this powerful before." The Professor said.

" Doug won't be able to take on both of them together. He needs backup." Logan stated.

" Hate to break it you, but I don't think you're going to be much help ." Scott said.

Logan growled," You're calling me useless glasses?"

" Scott has a point, your skeleton is practically metal. He'd rip you to shreds." I interrupted before it escalated to an argument.

Logan scoffed, but stayed silent. He knew we were right, but I knew it grated on his pride to be considered a liability, especially in a fight.

" We have to find them first. " I said, as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on finding Doug.

" I don't think he's on this continent anymore, unless he teleported to the Mirror dimension." I said, after scanning for his mind.

" Your telepathic range truly covers the continent? How marvelous." The Professor said, clearly impressed.

" I can scan further, but I am wary of expanding my range right now. My mental barriers are a bit worn out, and I don't have another ring to help hold the Phoenix back if it flares back up again. " I said.

" Then I think a visit to Cerebero should help us avoid any unnecessary trouble. "The Professor said.

( Sahara Dessert)

"What... What are you?" He choked out.

I was standing over Apocalypse's bleeding form. Our battle ended, as he lay before me on the ground mortally injured. He was missing a few limbs, practically torn to pieces.

Abomination's arrival gave me the reprieve I needed to come up with a plan. One that eventually ended with me trapping myself and Apocalypse inside the Mirror dimension.

Emil with his new upgrades was a force to be reckoned with. He was a Juggernaut, through and through, one that showed his value in today's battle. His physical strength and heavily irradiated body prevented Magneto from directly affecting his blood. And while Emil was busy acting as distraction to both the pseudo elemental and Magneto. I fought Apocalypse.

Admittedly I was spent. I can't remember a time where I have ever been pushed this far. Both mentally and physically.

My regeneration was pushed to it's limits from the copious amounts of damage it had to repair, but in the end. In this battle of attiration I was victourous.

Countless sigils and archaic symbols surrounded him, each one shone with untold power and meaning. They firmly attached themselves to his broken body, halting his regeneration. As well as any attempts of calling upon any of his powers.

The Mirror dimension was a place where you can warp reality and conjure dangerous spells. It was a testing ground for a sorcerer. Normally one couldn't escape without a sling ring.

The warping of the surrounding and the surfaces was due to the magic being used in the dimension. But, with everything made out of sand, and apparently one of his powers being able to control sand I didn't have that big of advantage as I normally would have.

I was actually starting to wonder how many powers Apocalypse truly hid.

So far, I've seen regeneration, energy manipulation, size alteration, telepathy, telekinesis and sand control just to name a few. I suspected there was more, and maybe Apocalypse himself failed to use most of them in our battle.

He did strike me as the brutish type though, which went to explain his propensity to relying on physical combat instead of long range attacks unless he was at a disadvantage.

Paired with his tactic of attacking the mind as well as the body. It was no surprise he hardly met those he couldn't defeat. Our battle escalated to the point, one would struggle to call it just that. More of a slug fist/ who can take the most beating and attacks before the other's healing factor gave up. Although I won, it wasn't without cost.

In a final act of desperation, Apocalypse slammed me with a physchic blast so powerful it practically crippled my Symbiote.

I quickly had to separate it from myself leaving me in my Nano-suit armor.

My suit still functioned, but it had seen better days. Abrasions and gashes could be seen all over the now dull armor. The Nano-machines struggling to reform.

I concentrated and tapped into the power of the time stone, and a few seconds later I was in a better condition, although not by much.

It wasn't much of an improvement, and sadly I wasn't able to save my Symbiote. After the mental attack it separated too quickly from me, and since I had to be touching it. I wasn't able to save it by reversing its time, since I could only rewind it to 30 seconds in the past.

I was saddened by its loss, it served me well. And, has been a part of me for the longest time. It almost felt like losing a limb and although there was possibility I could create another one. I was still upset.

I knelt down and decided to take some of Apocalypse's blood. This battle had cost me, and I wasn't going to let the chance to analyze his DNA go by.

I exited the mirror dimension only to be met by the sight of Magneto still fighting with the Abomination.

Emil was doing a splendid of distracting Magneto, but it was obvious he was losing. Badly. Magneto had managed to trap Emil in a giant sphere of molten metal, alongside the pseudo fire elemental. He was also drawing up more liquid metal and judging by the giant rotating disc forming above him. I think he planned on making Emil a few inches shorter by cutting him into size.

' I should have killed that bastard when I had the chance.' I thought as I prepared to open a portal in front of the attack headed towards Emil.

" Die! You Abomination." Magneto snarled, as he flung the rotating disc of liquid metal at Emil; trying to decapitate him.

Thankfully my plan worked and a portal opened right in front of the attack sending it a few miles away from us.

Magneto furiously spun around, and if glares could kill. I reckon I'd be dead a dozen times over judging by the sheer intensity of the hatred being directed at me.

" Hey Maggie! Miss me?" I asked.

" You?! What did you to Apocalypse?! Where is he?" He said, noticing his absence.

" You mean the oversized smurf? Eh..." I shrugged. " I poked him full of holes till he keeled over and died. Wasn't easy mind you. Had to burn him to make it stick." I said with a bloodthirsty grin, conjuring up a ball of flames in my hand to drive it home.

I was bluffing of course, since unfortunately I didn't have anything that could truly beat Magneto as he was right now, I decided to go for the intimidation act. And, judging by how quickly Magneto's face paled. It seems he was buying it.

" You...You fool! He was our salvation! The first mutant to ever live! He would have ushered in a new Era. One ruled by our kind. But, you!" He bit out with so much venom. A lesser man would have flinched.

"You had to ruin it." He accused with a finger pointed at me. "Over and Over again, you're always in the way!" He said with rage, and at each word his anger fueled rant seemed to shake the surroundings.

" Warning! Warning! A class 7 volcanic eruption has been detected. " Sophie's voice blared out in my helmet's HUD.

I swore as I ascended into the air towards Magneto." What the hell are you doing?"

" Only the strong shall inherit the earth. I won't stand for a lesser species being in control anymore." He declared, with madness dancing in his eyes.

This was bad. The maniac was giving me the if I can't have it, then no one can speech. Essentially flipping over the table, and telling everybody to go fuck themselves.

If I had known he would react this badly to Apocalypse's supposed death. I would have heavily reconsidered taunting him.

Last time, something on this scale erupted was 500 years ago. And, the damage was simply devastating.

To put it simply it claimed the lives of up to 120,000 people. Sending volcanic ash 40km into the sky. Until now, It was the most powerful eruption in recent history.

The pyroclastic flow caused the creation of a series of towering tsunamis. It's final eruption being 15 times more powerful than the largest bomb that humans have detonated. Its airwaves travelled seven times around the globe, producing a series of tsunamis that devastated the region.

Even if we considered that most of the initial damage would be somewhat mittigated by the fact of it being in the middle of the Sahara Desert and away from civilization. One, had to remember most of the damage caused by a volcano was due to volcanic ash flows as well as toxic gases that can travel hundreds of miles from the volcano.

Thanks to the last eruption that happened 500 years ago enormous amounts of Sulphur were emitted, and the world experienced a severe temperature drop that led to global crop failures.

Thousands starved to death in China while typhus spread across Europe. In the two years after the explosion, the price of grain in Switzerland more than quadrupled.

" Sophie. What's the estimated loss of life if Magneto goes through with this." I asked.

" Taking several factors into consideration. Judging by the temperature, wind speed, population density and overall ecological ramifications like air and water pollution. The total loss of life will amount to 400,000 within the first month. And, 4.5 million over the course of two years. " She said.

I cursed once again, as my mind ran through different scenarios. I gritted my teeth." Any ideas on how to stop him, he still has that damn shield around him. And, he can sense whenever I try to open a portal or teleport to him. "

" Even if you were to stop him right now, the reaction can not be stopped. The most optimal solution is to try and mitigate the aftereffects of the eruption." She said.

I was drawn out of the conversation by the sudden appearance of a portal, when Jean, Kitty and Bobby came running out.

Kitty had mandala shield at ready, Jean had a fiery aura surrounding her, and Bobby was sporting a new look; having chosen to use his ice form. 'Huh, didn't know he could do that yet.'

I was shaken out of my thoughts, by Jean's telepathic voice in my head.

<Doug! Are you okay what the hell is going on? Where's Apocalypse?>

< Hey, babe glad to see the ring worked. Sorry for not coming to welcome you personally, but I'm having a bit of an issue here. Let's just say things got a bit out of hand after I defeated Apocalypse. >

< Guys! Don't mean to interrupt, but is that a freaking volcano in the middle of the desert?! > Kitty said.

< Actually they're more common than you think... > I started.

<Not the time> she hissed. <What's happening?! >

< Long story short. Magneto got a power boost from Apocalypse. Got upset when I defeated Apocalypse. Decided to set off a super volcano. And, even if we stop him now. It's already too late, since the reaction has already started. Oh, and Sophie says, if we don't figure out a plan in say the next...? >

" 10 minutes." Sophie helpfully supplied, through that telepathic interface that connected her to me.

< millions of people are going to die. > I finished.

< Eh.. Isn't that like really bad? > Bobby said.

I snorted. < Understatement of the century. So, any ideas? >

< Runaway and fight another day? > Bobby suggested helpfully.

< Like hell. I didn't become a srocerer, so I can runaway when faced with danger. Plus I swore an Oath to protect humanity. And, if I'm being honest it feels like it's kind of my fault that Magneto's lost it. > I said.

< I'm not going to lie guys. I became an X-man so I can help people, but I'm not sure fighting a super volcano is even something that can be done. > He said, obvious fear and worry lacing his voice.

<Bobby. If it comes down to it, I'll make sure you guys get out of here alive. This is my mess to clean. > I said.

< No. Doug I won't let it happen, either you come back with us or I'm staying.> Jean stubbornly said.

I sighed. < Fine. Then let's make sure we all get out of this alive. >

Knowing Jean, as soon as she sets her mind on something it's practically impossible to change it. So, best I can hope, is that I don't monumentally screw this up and make sure we all survive this.

" After all I didn't become a sorcerer to be censored by mere reality."

( Chapter End)

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