The Blood Phoenix 4: An X-Men: Dark Phoenix Fanfiction

Chapter 2: The Rescue

In space...

'I think this is not as much fun as I thought it would be,' Kurt said.

'That's... a solar flare?' Peter asked quizzically.

'No... I've never seen a reading like this,' Hank said. 'The orientation thruster's misfiring. That cabin won't hold for long.'

'Kurt, can you get in there?' Raven asked.

'It's spinning too fast. I can't see inside the window.'

'Scott, I need you to blast that thruster. Slow down the spin.' Within minutes, Scott lowered his chair down and used his optic laser beams to hit the thruster. It slowed down immediately.

'Kurt, take Peter. Go.' They teleported out of the jet. 'Storm, seal those cracks.' She sighed and her eyes went a milky white as she manipulated her powers of controlling the weather to seal the cracks in the space shuttle. Over the course of a few minutes, every member of the space shuttle Endeavour was in the X-Jet, waiting to head home. In minutes, Peter and Kurt returned to the jet.

'Oh shit,' I said.

'Strap in, we're headed home,' Raven yelled. We prepped the jet to head home, but then we heard one of the astronauts speak. I didn't have to read her mind to know something was wrong.

'Wait... our commander. He's not here. He was in the airlock working on the thruster.'

'The heat signature's rising fast.'

'I can't hold it any longer,' Storm said.

'We gotta get out of here!' Hank yelled, his voice full of panic as the minutes ticked down. We were in severe danger and if we didn't get out of here, I would never be able to see Charles again. And that scared me.

'I said strap in!' Raven yelled. Then Charles' voice came over the intercom. He was still using Cerebro.

'No. Raven, no. We're not leaving anyone behind.'

'I'm not putting this team in more danger,' she snapped.

'What about their team?' There was silence. 'Jean and Adelaide can hold that shuttle together. Can't you, Jean? You know you can do anything you set your mind to.'

'We can hold the ship together, but not from here, Charles,' I replied. 'We need to get inside.'

'The heat's spiking,' Hank said. 'We got less than a minute till those flares hit.'

'She said they can do it,' Scott spoke.

'30 seconds. Count it down. Go.' Kurt took the two of us and Jean and I came into the near wreck of a space shuttle. Slowly, we began to use our telekinetic powers to keep the shuttle in place.

'Jean, you can do this. We can both do this. Just think. Rage and serenity. Find that point,' I said to her. She nodded and we kept going, trying to hold the ship together.

'Got twenty seconds,' said Hank from inside the jet. Then I heard the countdown that I was dreading to hear. The countdown that would determine mine, Jean and the team's final moments. 'Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one.'

At the same time in the jet, Kurt teleported back to the jet with the missing commander.

'Where's Jean?' yelled Scott. 'Kurt, where is she?'

'I'm sorry!' Kurt blurted out.

'Brace for impact!' Hank yelled.

In the space shuttle, Jean and I could both feel the heat penetrating, getting closer to us. Just as it sped towards the jet, we both brought it closer to us. The solar flare instead began to make its way to us and we both absorbed the massive force. In an instant, we screamed from the shock of absorbing the impact of such a strong force. I knew that I either might die or at least be knocked unconscious from the physical and mental strain of it. But I knew that we were also saving the team. Then there was a sickening blast and everything went black.

A few minutes later, I could feel myself in someone's lap. I blinked and opened my eyes, letting my senses come back to life. I was in Raven's lap and worried faces were all around me. Hank, Scott, Ororo, Kurt and Peter were all staring at my face, waiting for me to revive... or at least speak.

'Is every... is everybody OK?'

'Yeah, we're OK,' Raven whispered, running her fingers through my hair.

'So let's go home.'