Rescue me (X-Men: Evolution - ROMY)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Rogue and Remy rushed through their morning routine and headed down to the basement. Storm and Hank were waiting outside cerebro, everyone else seemed to have been banished to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Grab something to eat," Storm said. "Depending on what the professor discovers, we may have to move fast."

They nodded and headed into the melee, both grabbing breakfast bars as they seemed easiest.

The professor entered about fifteen minutes later and silence quickly descended over the room. Oddly, Emma trailed in behind him. Was she still here?

Scott, who had been keeping a low profile in the corner, stood up.

"Good morning," Xavier smiled at the room. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to talk with you individually about the past few weeks, but Storm has filled me in on most details." He turned and smiled at Rogue. "But I would just like to say, how very happy I am to see you safe and well, Rogue. Hopefully we will get a chance to talk soon."

Rogue nodded her understanding.

"In the mean time, I have discovered Jean's location."

"Where?" Scott asked.

"Nebraska."

Everyone exchanged confused looks.

"I now realise that Jean is in fact two entities, Jean Grey and the Phoenix, and I am sorry that I couldn't penetrate her mind deeply enough to discover that before. Now that I do know, I can tell that it is Jean who is in charge at the moment."

"The Phoenix is gone?" Scott asked.

"No, Scott, not gone, just dormant. I didn't probe her mind too deeply because I feared how she would view such an intrusion, but it feels as though she is hiding."

"From what?" Logan asked.

"At a guess, I would say us."

"Why would she be afraid of us?" Scott demanded.

"Well the last time we confronted her, we did attack her," Hank said reasonably.

"Or maybe she's frightened for us," Rogue added. "Now she knows what she's capable of, maybe she doesn't want to hurt us."

"I hope so," the professor said. "In either case, I have decided that Scott and Rogue should be the ones to approach Jean this time. The rest of us all played a part in trying to stop her and even if Jean doesn't view us as a threat, the Phoenix might."

"So we're going alone?" Rogue asked.

"No, we will all go but you and Scott will be the only ones to approach her, unless things get out of hand. Also, no uniforms; we don't want to frighten her or appear as anything other than Jean's friends."

A few of the X-Men still had their uniforms, but most had been destroyed with the mansion.

"So then what do we do?" Rogue asked. Getting close to Jean was only one part of the equation, stopping the Phoenix was surely the most important thing.

"I have spoken with Emma, and she tells me that before Hellfire Club changed their agenda, she believes that they had a way to stop the Phoenix. In fact stopping the entity was what they were originally formed for."

"How?" Scott demanded, glaring at Emma.

"The Phoenix needs a host to survive, so it must be forced from Jean's body. If we can keep it out for long enough, it will die."

"What's to stop it entering one of us?" Rogue asked.

"And how do we force it out?" Scott added.