Chapter 165 – Reactions

[2009 – October]

Xavier's expression was grave as he looked at the video material that Hank had gathered for him.

He had sensed a terrifying disturbance in the ambient psionic energy just a few minutes ago but hadn't been able to pinpoint it accurately before it had vanished without a trace.

"Damn, what a terrifying kid … ", Logan muttered as he looked at the screen from the side, and Charles found it hard to disagree with his old friend.

"The energy readings are different compared to anything that I have seen before.", Hank added with a deep frown, "To call him an Omega-level mutant … I'm afraid that such a description of his innate potential is simply lacking."

Nodding heavily, Ororo silently agreed as she stared at the destruction the young Elijah Frost had wrought upon the land, a fearful glint in the depths of her eyes.

She was an Omega-level mutant herself, as was Xavier, but neither of them could find the words to refute Hank's statement as the prowess the young mutant had displayed was just way beyond the scale of what a normal Omega-level mutant could do given the time that had passed since his awakening.

"In the past, I had thought that Erik was the most talented mutant that I would ever meet, that was until I met Jean.", Charles recounted as he sighed, a complex mix of emotions in the weathered gaze of his eyes, worry and exhaustion the most prominent.

"But Elijah … To do something like this … His control over his own power is simply inhuman, and his mind might be far stronger than even my own.", he shook his head as he continued quietly, "Even Erik can't summon such strength at will."

Charles knew that his old friend was widely acknowledged as the most powerful mutant, and Erik had done justice to this title as he had developed his own power to a truly terrifying degree. To do this though, he had trained for decades, sometimes under truly grueling conditions.

Now though, the elderly telepath realized that even his old friend's achievements paled in comparison to the dark-haired teen of the Frost family.

"He might be the most terrifying member of the mutant race. I can't even begin to guess where his limits lie.", Charles ended gravely.

And most worrying, was the fact that no one among the X-Men present voiced out any words of disagreement, all of them looking solemnly at the nightmarish figure of a living shadow that was shown on the screen, raging white flames wrathfully burning in its eyes with a purity that pierced into one's soul.

And even with this being just an image, and not a live one at that, most of those present didn't dare to let their gazes linger on those flaming eyes, as they seemed to make one's heart palpitate and one's mind tremble. Their power being traceless, yet terrible.

…

Deep furrows could be seen on his aged face under the metal helmet as Erik looked at the footage that one of the Brotherhood members, who had a mutation that allowed him to infiltrate the cybernetwork, had procured.

His finger tapped on the leather armrest of his chair as he watched the recordings again and again, the frown on his face only getting heavier until he stopped the recordings with a sigh.

"What a monster you managed to find Emma.", Erik whispered as he sat in his office, alone except for the cold gleam of metal that covered every surface of the room.

The Brotherhood, Charles and his X-Men, and Emma, of the three parties that had formed the temporary alliance to ensure the survival and prosperity of the mutant race, the last party had clearly been the weakest up until this point.

Emma didn't have any real threatening fighters below her as her Hellions were still immature despite the potential some of them had exhibited. And were it not for her own rather incredible prowess and her rather substantial political influence and economic strength, Erik wouldn't even have accepted her as an equal in their coalition.

Things had changed though in the last few weeks and months with the addition of Jean and Elijah, as well as Logan's daughter and/or clone - Erik wasn't sure which was the more accurate description - namely Laura Kinney.

Still, those changes hadn't been drastic as it had just seemed as if Emma's faction had obtained much greater potential with the addition of two Omega-level mutants, and a female fighter that was nearly as impressive as the 'legendary' Wolverine.

Now though, things were different.

Elijah Frost had powers that definitely rivaled his own, and Erik even suspected that the young man's abilities might have already surpassed him. If not, he most certainly would in the future.

Gauging the potential of an Omega-level mutant had always been very difficult as none of them could be measured by normal standards. Everyone one of them was said to represent the absolute peak of their own category, but such knowledge was only useful in the case that he understood which category Elijah belonged to.

His mind having been protected by an unbreachable mental shield since the moment he had awakened his powers, the true nature of the young Frost's abilities might very well be a mystery.

Still, speculations about that were useless as even now Elijah possessed destructive abilities that could flatten a whole city, effortlessly at that.

Needless to say, Erik's plans would have to be adjusted as he realized that clashing with the young man might very well end very badly for him. Different from Charles or Emma, over whom he had the definite advantage with his helmet, Elijah Frost's powers wouldn't be so easily negated.

What seemed like a silver lining though was the fact that Elijah's incredible demonstration of power would probably serve very well to intimidate the various governments and make it clear to them that mutantkind was not to be underestimated, much less exploited.

His merciless decimation of a whole secret base also made Erik hopeful that in the case of a conflict between the races, the young man mutant would be an absolutely terrifying force on the side of the mutants.

After all, it was impossible for someone that reaped life with such ease and ruthlessness to believe in Charles' endless preaching of peaceful coexistence.

…

Her Astral Form returning to her body, the Ancient One opened her eyes while looking ahead calmly, exhaling lightly as she leaned back into the wooden armchair.

She had sensed Elijah's use of Darkforce, which was unusual, considering that he normally concealed his presence from her.

Being worried about what had incited him to use his power on such a scale and so violently at that, the Ancient One had entered the Astral Realm to observe the happenings.

What she had found though, was different than what she had expected, even though not overly so.

"Your wrath has always been a terrible thing to experience … ", she shook her head and whispered with a sigh, "Let's hope humanity will be wiser in this time."