Scott’s POV
We had arrived at a remote location. When we were forced to leave the school, Storm created a hurricane to distract the students. It gave us just enough time to get into the jet and leave. I still couldn’t believe that Jean was powerful enough to do this. But it wasn’t Jean, it was the Phoenix. The professor sat in his wheelchair beneath a tree. Probably pondering what to do next. Logan wouldn’t speak to any of us, and I couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t exactly very open with us. A lot of bad shit happened to him, apparently. That’s all the Professor would tell us, though they weren’t his exact words. Ororo was pacing back and forth, making me very uncomfortable. The silence was quickly becoming unbearable.
“So,” Logan broke the silence. “What’s our next move?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Stated the Professor.
“We could go back to face her, catch her off guard.” I suggested.
“We can’t. Even my powers cannot protect all of our minds from the Phoenix.”
“Also, she may set the students upon us.” Ororo pointed out. Ororo valued her students higher than anything else in the universe. She could never destroy them. I could tell, she would sooner kill herself. We furthered discussing what to do when we realized that Logan had disappeared. The Professor looked worried.
“I can’t find him.” He said. Either he was dead, which was impossible, or he had a telepathic field protecting him. It would be impossible, even by his standards, to get far away enough from the Professor in this short amount of time. Suddenly, Logan jumped from behind a nearby tree and kicked his legs around under my feet, tripping me over. I was wondering what the hell had gotten into him when his appearance changed. He turned deep blue and transformed into a young girl with bright red hair.
“Raven.” Muttered the Professor. Raven! So this is what she really looked like… she didn’t look anything like what I thought she would. We had no more time to think about this, though, because she started attacking us left and right. I had no idea she was so advanced in combat. It was scary, next she ran at me. I couldn’t blast her, she was my friend. No, she betrayed me. She betrayed all of us. I turned on my visor and shot her back against a tree. She was knocked unconscious. The Professor slowly made his way up to her limp body. He laid his hand on her forehead and let out a sigh of relief.
“She is not a traitor. The Phoenix confused her mind and made her believe things that were not true.” He explained. Thank God, although now I felt very embarrassed that I had shot her against a tree.
Charles’ POV
In her weakened state, I was able to remove the mental barriers that the Phoenix used to manipulate her mind. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked around, clearly confused. When her brain finally registered what was going on, she burst into tears. Scott walked up to her and put his arm around her.
“Sorry I shoved you into a tree.” He whispered. She laughed briefly but was still suffering from a substantial amount of shock. She looked up at me, full of regret.
“I’m sorry professor,” she stuttered. “I didn’t mean to…” she trailed off into another round of sobbing. It took about 10 minutes for the shock to wear off.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “Professor, she’s taken them, the army!”
“Calm down, Raven. What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, when she tricked me she made me believe that you were using the school as your own army of mutants. I realise now that was her plan. Once you ran away, she took the students. And Logan, my God she took Wolverine!” She explained. “We’re done for!” She threw her arms up in exasperation. She paced back and forth for a few minutes before heading into the forest.
“Raven, where are you going?” I asked.
“To Magneto’s lair.” She replied simply.
“I thought you said we were done for!” exclaimed Scott.
“Well if I’m gonna die, I wanna go down fighting. Not just sitting around!” said Raven. I have to admit that I was happy to see this shy, timid girl become a strong and confident fighter. But she was so young. Too young to die.
“No.” said Ororo. Voicing my thoughts. “You are too young to die!”
“I concur.” Agreed Hank. They stood there with their backs to us. Refusing to move.
“There is an 80% chance that we will die if we go to fight.” I stated, and Ororo nodded her head. “But there will be a 100% chance of our death if we sit here and wait for the Phoenix to take over the world!” Ororo shot around and looked at me with annoyance. She, with Hank following, reluctantly joined the group and we headed off to fight for our lives, our school, and our planet.
