CHAPTER 72

Jean's eyes had an orange, almost flaming glow to it.

Even with her powers we were barely holding on as it were which was understandable since we were trying to hold back the force of tons on water with our meagre abilities.

The ground around us were already full with cracks which made me worry if the Jets had been able to fly away. 

"Quacks, the Jets aren't turning on! None of them are!" I heard the unmistakable voice of Bucky coming through my comms. 

"What?!"

"We can't take off quack!"

It looked like Jean got the same message from her comms as the look she gave me was one of indecision. We were faced with a hard choice, either one of us goes back and help get them out of the incoming wave range leaving the other to hold back everything which was impossible or we hold it long enough for them to get the  Jets started and fly out of here while we hold on. But none of that route were plausible. The risks outweighed the cost so we had to improvise and help them take off in a short time until the dam breaks on us. 

I pressed forth with my abilities, pushing it further even as the frost started creeping up my face. 

I couldn't let up even for a second. By now the part of the dam facing us was covered in ice but even I could tell that it wouldn't last a minute if I let up. The only reason the dam hadn't burst was that Jean was holding back the tide as much as she can. 

I could tell that she was facing a tough choice between the dam and the Jets but not me. 

Sure I was worried but I was sure that I could save at least Cap, Clint and Bucky with the minute or tens of seconds the frozen dam could buy us. While I wouldn't be able to save everyone, I was sure that I could get to them and erect a strong enough ice dome to protect them from the tide. 

But then again that wasn't a choice that I wanted to make. First of all was that it wouldn't sit well with Cap and the others and second was that I was the one who asked Logan for help and made him bring the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. 

By now I could tell that my entire body was frozen, even my eyes but I didn't have the time to wonder what it was doing to me and I continued to freeze the dam thing while Jean held it back for how long she could. 

I could tell that she was reaching her limit, hell she had reached her limit a long time and go and judging by the glow in her eyes, what she was drawing power from wasn't from herself but from the damned bird. 

Was it so much to wish that this wasn't a universe with the Phoenix? Or was it too phenomenal of a wish that Charles didn't play 'who runs the hood' with an entity capable of destroying the known universe?

Both the way her eyes glowed and hair flew back, which I was damned sure it wasn't because of the blowing wind, wasn't giving much of an assurance. 

This version of Jean was young, barely above 20, unlike the mature lady from X2, this one was just a young girl like the one from the Dark Phoenix movie. 

I had been hoping that Jean wouldn't go to space and set the movie script in motion but it turns out to be my wishful thinking. But then again, wasn't she too young to be unleashing the Phoenix?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Jean looked and stretched one of her hands backwards. 

Her being able to cross such a long distance with her telekinesis was enough of an indicator to show how far the Phoenix's influence was over her. 

She furrowed her brow in concentration before the two jets wobbled before she started raising both of them while at the same time helping me hold back the dam from bursting. 

It was surreal to see at least, how she raised both carriers and moved them to the sides, far away from the path the water would wash over when the dam bursts open. 

I didn't think she knew what was happening since she took the two damned things at least a kilometer away. 

After making sure that they wouldn't be washed over, she turned to me and immediately I knew she was failing. 

"I-I sorr-" I didn't hear her finish her sentence before I left the dam and shot myself towards her as she fell off the platform she stood on. The moment her hold on the dam was gone, the entire ice casing I made started showing cracks but I didn't even pay it attention, nor did I pay attention to the fact that I was surfing on an elongated ice path towards Jean with a full crystalline ice body. 

She was almost near the ground when I caught her and slid for a while before I stopped. 

Knowing that I was out of time, I immediately created a thick dome of ice which was way easier in this form as it just covered us before I felt like a ton of metal just slammed against me. 

The wave of water washed and slammed against the dome I created and I could see cracks already forming around it. 

I reinforced the ice and stayed there for a while, almost thirty minutes, for the raging Tides to calm down before I covered us in a ball of ice and carried Jean as I willed the ball of ice to shoot upwards. 

I couldn't connect to Bucky through the comms but I didn't mind as I pushed myself upwards as the ice ball broke immediately it reached the surface of the water. 

I created an ice board and surfed to where Jean dropped the rest of the team at. I was almost there before I felt something near me. 

I turned my head and was greeted with a green explosion on my crystal face, 

The explosion sent me careening through the lake for a while before I resurfaced again to get a good look at what happened and when I did… let's just say I wasn't happy. 

With the full body metal armor and mask on with a green vest and cape, flying above the water surface was Victor Von Doom. 

"That woman's power belongs to me. Hand her over and Doom will let you live." He said as one of his doom bots, not the Sentinels, flew to my front and held out its hands for me to deliver Jean. 

I wasn't impressed. I wasn't. 

"The others? What did you do to them?" I could hear his grunt as I answered his order with, from his perspective, an unrelated question. 

"Do no try and stall for help because none will aid you as they are rather… preoccupied at the moment." He said with that echo-y rasp voice of his. "Now hand her over, mutant."

I didn't listen to the second part of his sentence as my mind was processing what he meant by the others being preoccupied. Hopefully they were fighting his doom bots and not something else entirely. 

Now this was bad. I couldn't fight Doom while also protecting Jean from him. It wasn't a feasible plan since I didn't know how strong Doom was yet. But given that the Fantastic Four came into being less than two years ago, he shouldn't be all hax yet. 

But regardless of how strong Doom was, the fact of the matter was that I couldn't fight, not less someone like him, while still protecting Jean. 

"How dare you ignore Doom?! For your hubris, I will take her off your corpse."

I didn't wait to see what he was going to do and just blasted him with my lasers and immediately made my way towards the bank that the group was located. 

I dodged some of Doom's blast while I surfed before I got the group, but what I saw stunned me. 

Bucky's metal arm was gone while a blade pierced through his leg. Steve was doing okay but was being overwhelmed by the bots, Clint was on the ground… unresponsive. 

Some of the others had varying injuries, both from the fight with the Sentinels and also from their current fight. Some of the bots tried to come after me but energy spears found themselves lodged inside the bots' body before they exploded into scrap metals. 

I walked over to Susan who had a barrier around Johnny and dropped Jean by his side. 

"Keep her safe." Was the only thing I said before I turned to Doom who had arrived and just flew in the air whole he watched us. 

"So you wish to die by their sides? Pitiful, but not like I would expect much from a lesser being like you."

If this guy knew what was good for him then he'd shut up right this instant. 

"Victor why are you doing this?" Susan Storm called out to her fellow scientist. 

"You left me to die in that place!" Doom forgot his calm bad guy persona for a second and roared back. 

"You tried to kill us for the damned thing you psycho. You deserved what you got. Hell, here I was hoping I'd never see your ugly mug again." Ben Grimm taunted but the anger in his voice was clear for all to hear. 

"That power was rightfully mine and you kept me from it, but no longer as I have found something else just as precious." He turned to look at Jean which made me think if her knew her true identity but the next second I doubted it. 

Maybe he read the energies that was coming off Jean when she was exerting herself holding back the dam form bursting. What it was I didn't know and also didn't care for, but one thing I was sure of was that Von Doom was the last person I wanted near the Phoenix or any cosmic artifact. 

"Any last words? Doom had been far too merciful with you. No longer. Doom w-" 

"Hey Doomy or is it Dummy, can you drop the eight grade speech? We are all adults here for crying out loud."

He stopped whatever he was saying and cranked his neck to look at me. He both held the stare for a few seconds as we let the tension rise and the moment I knew he was about to cry out in rage like the power drunk baby he was, I was already in his face with a big ass ice hammer in my hand swinging at his stupid metal mug. 

His flew back with a painful cry but I wasn't about to let him off. I formed a red ball of destruction on my fingertip and sent it flying and impacting his chest which made him scream as the explosion rocked him further backwards. 

I was angry, rightfully so. 

What was it with megalomaniac villains and their thirst for chaos. 

As far as any Marvel fan was concerned, Victor Von Doom could've been the greatest ruler across the universe to have ever lived. His mind was way too smart for that of a human, even eclipsing the likes of Reed, Stark, Pym, Banner. 

He was as smart as his strength was terrifying. But like every great man, Von Doom had a flaw. 

Doom didn't want to rule, no that wasn't what he wanted. 

He wanted to Dominate. Or rather Doominate. 

He wanted all that his mind could encapsulate under his feet in worship and adoration. 

He wanted to be the best at everything, the numero uno of all. Be it wealth, knowledge, power, glory. He simply wanted it all and as far as what anyone who'd read the comics can tell you is that if not for the writers making shit up as they put pen to paper, Doom would have killed the Fantastic Four ten times over. 

I didn't feel anything for the man. 

I didn't care about his kingdom or what he could become because, for what he did to the others, Clint and Bucky… 

Doom will die by my hands today. 

Doom shot out from the ground he crashed against and flew straight at me with his hands glowing with green energy which he sent at me. 

I didn't do anything even as the energies collided against me and exploded. It was just fire, electricity and shockwaves. It wasn't enough. 

I could see Doom's face as his eyes widened behind the mask when he beheld the green sparks in my hand as green and red sparks of electricity ran across my crystalline body. 

"Want it back?" I could feel the way my voice vibrated which sounded ominous even as some of them flinched. 

Cracks started appearing over my crystalline form which change my body from my silver icy color to sliver red that glowed like ruby crystals. If Clint was awake I was sure he'd say something like it being too flashy. 

With my transformation complete I moved at a speed I couldn't before an appeared in front of Doom before punching him in his covered face with my hand that contained most of the energy he shot at me with. 

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