disclaimer I do not own the rights to any of the characters in this story, and make no claims to the artistic visions of the marvel universe. I know nothing of the sexuality of any of the creators, actors, or characters involved in the Marvel universe. Similarly, this story contains graphic descriptions of gay male sex. If you don't like that, they you should probably avert your eyes.
This story takes place in an alternate X-Men universe from the one in which the 3rd movie took place. Certain events occurred after X2 which changed the timeline. Jean, Scott and Professor X are all still alive, and there was no cure. The specifics of the timeline changes may be made apparent as the story progresses.
Chapter 4 -- "The Phoenix"
Last time:
Further, I told myself. My attention flowed out again, further, further, further, as far as I could extend it. The information rushing into my mind was too great for me to handle. I had extended too far, too fast. I was touching every water molecule for miles around, almost the entire state. I tried to pull back in, back to myself, but I realized with horror that I no longer knew where my body was. Which of the thousands of human-sized collections of water molecules was my body? I screamed inside my head, frantically searching for myself. I tried to find the lake, but I had gone out too far, there were many lakes inside my range. I started to despair, felt myself slipping away. It was as if the longer I stayed away from my body, the looser my connection to it was. I had been too ambitious, too eager to learn just how powerful I was. And it had killed me. I cursed myself for my idiocy, but I didn't waste too much time berating myself. I let go.
Just before I did so, I felt the touch of another. It was another mind, one who reacted to my mental screaming. I felt the other mind come closer to me, and then it touched me. I gasped in shock as I felt the awe-inspiring vastness of this other mind. The size and power of this mind were inconceivable to me, and I shrank back in fear. The strange mind seized me with its power and pulled me back to my body. I rocked backward and fell off the rock I had been sitting on. I lay on the dirt, dazed and confused, but glad to be alive. I sent waves of gratitude toward the powerful mind which had saved me. <Thanks.>
<You have much to learn, but you are well on your way.> I knew that voice. It echoed within my mind just like the awful memories of my nightmares.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"The Phoenix? What do you mean? Are you Jean Gray?" Dr. Gray had told us only yesterday that her codename was Phoenix.
I asked the voice to explain itself over and over, but I got no response. I no longer knew what to think about the voice. It had nearly driven me mad during my nightmare, but now it had just saved my life.
"Alex, are you all right?" I looked up and saw Echo and Bobby standing over me. Bobby's ice blue eyes were filled with alarm and concern. Echo's probably were too, but they were hidden by the ever-present sunglasses.
"Yea, I think so. I went out too far, and I got lost. I barely made it back, but I think I'm ok now." I didn't mention the voice of The Phoenix, or the fact that I would have died without it. I got up and brushed off the dirt I had gotten all over myself when I fell off the rock. I had been screaming during my panic, and attracted the attention of all of the other students in the small informal class. Bobby made as if to help me stand, but I avoided his aid. I was embarrassed enough without looking as though I needed help just to stand.
"I think I'll call it a day for now, no more class for me." With that I headed out to walk over the water, back toward the mansion. Despite the near-death experience and the extreme range I had showed, I was not overly exhausted, and could easily hold the membrane of the water firm enough for me to walk on. I also held it solid for Echo, who rushed over to walk back with me. He hesitated as he took his first few steps on top of the lake, but then quickly caught up with me.
"What happened to you man?" Echo grabbed my arm gently, bringing me to a stop. We stood in the middle of the lake (an odd sight I can assure you), and I explained it all to him. I told him about the nightmare, how I could do so much more than I thought I could do, and what had happened while meditating. I even told him about the voice, and the Phoenix. Something about him made me want to talk to him, to be friends with him. After I had revealed all of my secrets to him, I realized I didn't even know his real name.
"Kyle Sparks" he answered. "But nobody has called me that in a long time." He did not question me further about the incident, but seemed to take solace in the fact that I had opened up to him. He gave me time to digest, and I appreciated it.
We walked the rest of the way over the lake to the mansion, and parted ways. He reminded me again that we were going to play poker with some of his friends later that evening, and I promised to be there.
ECHO
I was truly glad to have befriended Hydrogue. I had only met him the previous night, but I knew that we would be very close. He was one of those people who just oozed friendship and warmth. He had a tranquil peace to him that was infectious, and benefited those around him. I had heard about him before meeting him of course, students tended to talk about new students when they arrived. One of my good friends had told me that Hydrogue had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, but I would never see them. I could not see colors, only shapes. I could see sound waves when they bounced back to me, and they gave me topographic view of the world around me. The world was black to me except where sound hit objects and people. Because of this I could see through many things to some extent without ever trying. Despite the fact that I could not see a lot of things, I could still tell that Hydrogue was an extremely handsome guy. His facial structure was perfect, with a strong jaw, strong cheekbones, and cute dimples. His body was an excellent specimen as well, which I learned from a blatant see-through ping during our power control class. He was short and small, but his musculature was solid and dense like a swimmer, giving him unexpected strength. His outer attractiveness was only part of the greatness about him, and not at all the reason that I cared for him.
As I watched Hydrogue walk away toward the mansion, I couldn't help but worry. I cared for my new friend a great deal; I could tell that he was a good person who deserved to have a good life. When he told me about what had happened during his meditation, and his subsequent saving by the Phoenix, my concern for him intensified a thousand times. I had played dumb to my friend, but I knew exactly what the Phoenix was. My hearing was so sensitive that I could literally hear anything that happened within miles of me if I tried to. This fact caused me a great deal of trouble sometimes, as I often learned things that others would prefer that I did not. Hydrogue believed that Jean Gray had saved him, but he could not be more wrong. I had once overheard Professor Xavier and Dr. Gray in one of their private psychiatric sessions, when Jean's alternate personality, The Phoenix, had surfaced. After that first time, I made sure to listen in on as many of these sessions as I could, to learn as much as possible. Jean Gray was a Class 5 mutant with potentially unlimited powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Apparently when Jean Gray had first been taken to the X mansion the professor had placed barriers within her mind in order to limit her powers. He did this in order to control the already brewing darkness in Jean's mind. Her powers were so immense, and she had harnessed them at such a young age, that her personality began to warp as a result. She reacted on instinct and emotion, and had an astounding superiority complex. When the professor blocked off some of Jean's mind, he locked away the source of the corruption and separated it from Jean's true personality. But an unforeseen consequence of this action was that instead of cutting out the cancer in Jean's mind, he had only hidden it. Jean's personality split on either side of the psychic barriers, with the mature, intelligent and developed woman on the outside, and the creature of rage and power on the inside. The alternate personality began to manifest itself while under hypnosis during their sessions, and began to call itself The Phoenix. Despite what people thought and what Jean herself told them, her codename did not come from the mythical resurrecting bird, but rather from the myth of the Phoenix Force, a being which supposedly created the whole multiverse and everything and everyone in it. The Phoenix Force was a source of immeasurable and incomprehensible power, the sum of all life and death, and Jean's alternate personality took on this name as its own. Jean's Class 5 powers remained locked away for many years, until, during an emergency, she had used the professor's machine Cerebro. Cerebro's telepathy-enhancing ability drew out more of Jean's power than she had ever used before, cracking the professor's psychic walls in her mind. Over the following years her powers grew more powerful and less controlled. Things that she could once have never conceived of doing, she could now do in her sleep. During another emergency at Alakali Lake, Jean used her increasing powers to hold back a tidal wave of water in order to save a jet full of X-Men and mutant children. Responding to a call from within her, she allowed the water to take her, crushing her beneath the surface of a newly formed lake. Jean was presumed dead for years, lying on the bottom of the lake. The Phoenix used this time to remove the shattered reamins of the the barriers inside Jean's mind, while protecting their mutual body in a bubble of telekintetic energy. While The Phoenix healed their body, it travelled the cosmos in a mental form, reveling in its new freedom from confinement. Jean and the Phoenix sensed the presence of old friends at the shore of Alakali Lake, and returned to their body. They emerged from the water in a bright and shining light and reveled themselves to the X-Men, who had come to pay homage to their fallen friend. The professor quickly sensed that the Phoenix had been freed from it's confines, and acted quickly. The Phoenix had belived itself to be among friends and was not expecting an attack. Together Jean and Xavier trapped The Phoenix again, in an even smaller cage than before. This left Jean with access to most of her limitless powers, but did not remove the threat forever.
And now it had found a way to affect the outside world. I was happy that it had saved my friend, but I was afraid of the implications. Even though The Phoenix was trapped within Jean's mind, it was still an immensely powerful phsychic being, and now it had learned to reach outside of itself from within its cage. The Phoenix was up to something, and it involved my friend. Something about him interested The Phoenix a great deal.
And I think I knew what it was.
HYDROGUE
Taking a shower after my ordeal on the grounds really helped me to relax. Because of my control over the water element, I technically don't nned to shower, as I can wash myself at any time. In fact, I had even honed my skills so that I could use my power to dissolve the stuble that grew on my face, which gave me an uncommonly smooth shave without ever picking up a razor. Even though I did not need to shower, I truly enjoyed them, and often took them in stressful times. Something about the heat and the steam in a shower I found utterly soothing, and the thrumming rhythm that I sensed in the hot vapor around me I found hypnotic and distracting from life. My senses were more highly attuned than ever that day, and I could feel the flow of the water all throughout the mansion pipe system. I could sense where all the water flowed from and toward, which other showers were on, and even and overall impression of who was in them. By sensing the shape of the water running down the people in their showers, I could "see" a mental picture of their overall shape. I briefly admired a couple of the young attractive-seeming guys, admiring their physiques and packages. I also noticed one older guy who felt a bit different from the others. He had a broad chest and back, and bulged with muscles. His body had a copous amount of hair covering the muscles. He was tall and masculine, with sexy features. His back rippled with muscle, and I could feel the water running down it and over his strong and solid ass. I was still trying to figure out what had made me pick him out of the crowd though. Something about the way he felt in my `water sense' was different from other people. His bones were strange, they were coated with some strange material which lacked any water (defeinitly not normal in an organic creature). I then remembered someone telling me about one of the senior mutants who had a metal skeleton. Wolverine was his mutant name. Wolverine turned to face the showerhead, and it gave me a rush of new details as the water struck his fornt side. I felt every ripple in his amazing and hairy stomach, and every pubic hair in his bush. But best of all, I could sense every detail of his thick and meaty cock, which hung low between his legs. My own cock began to stir as I envisioned just how large it would be when erect. My 8 inches sprang to life, and I started to touch it gently while revelling in the pure hotness of Logan. I started really jerking off now, and kept a close eye on Wolverine while I wandered through the other showers in the mansion. I stopped on one guy who semed like he was around my age. He was thin and short, but decently well built. He had a small but muscled body where everything popped out in great relief. He had the look of someone who exercised a lot and did not eat enough, and was therefor slightly emaciated. This makes him sound unattractive, but I assure you he was anything but. He must shave his body, because his chest, stomach, and groin were unnaturally smooth, and his armpits lacked any hair. My attention focused on him small and tight ass and his ample-looking package when I was shocked out of my reverie.
<Having fun violating people's privacy?> I recoiled from the voice which appeared inside my head, thinking that it was The Phoenix again. But after a second I realized that the Phoenix voice was always dark and menacing, with a powerful presence behind it, while this one was gentler, and seemed to be amused. It was also clearly the voice of a young male about my own age.
<Who are you?> I thought loudly inside my head, assuming that he could hear me now that the connection was made. I was correct.
Busted.
<I'm sorry, I got carried away.>
<Don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone. I would suggest that you not spy on a telepath again though.> He laughed inside my head, and I felt the connection end. Embarassed, I quickly jerked off in the shower, thinking about the amazing body and huge cock I had seen on Wolverine. I pulled on my cock vigorously, using soap as lube. I leaned forward to rest my head against the wall, the clod felt good against my skin. aAs I continued to jerk off, lso slipped a couple fingers around back, and played with my asshole a bit. I played with the opening gently, working my finger in a circle around it. I Put some soap on my fingers and slowly worked one into my ass. I grunted a bit as the first one popped through the tight ring of muscle. I moaned as the finger slid up inside me, delighting in the feeling. I loosened myself up and added a second finger, while increasing my pace on my cock. I slowly fucked myself with my fingers, rubbing my prostate gently and steadily. I pretended as though my fingers were Logan's enormous cock buried in my ass. It had been far too long since I had gotten a good fucking, and it made me horny as hell to do this. I shot my load quickly this way, spraying cum up onto my abs and the shower wall. I gasped for breath as I jammed my fingers into my ass hard, coaxing out a longer orgasm. I slipped my fingers out and washed the sweat from my body and ifnished cleaning up. After coming down from the post-orgasm high, I exited to shower and started to dry off. I wrapped my small towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom and into mine and Demon's bedroom. I was taken aback to discover that there was someone in our room, someone that I did not know.
The strnager was a very tall and very built young guy. He looked to be in his mid twenties, but he practically filled my room all by himself. He had short, dark hair, and dark eyes which bore straight into me. He had strong, handsome features which hinted at russian or slavic ancestry. His skin was smooth and looked soft, as though he were normally a gentle and caring soul. His arms were bare, and showed large and impressive muscles. He wore a suit of black leather, with a large X across the chest and another on the belt buckle. His V shaped physique showed nicely in the leather suit, bulging out in the chest, legs, and groin. He looked at me with an utter lack of embarrassment at having found me wearing only a small towel. His eyes traveled over my dark, wet hair, past my bright saphire eyes, down my smooth but well maintained torso, my flat stomach, and even gave a glance at the decent bulge which poked through the little towel I had around my waist. I had to hold the towel to keep it on me, and even so one of my muscled legs poked out of the V opening. I couldn't tell wehther or not he was examining me because he wanted to, or if he was merely assessing me as a threat.
"Who are you, and why are you in my room?" I tried not to let my irritzcation show in my voice when I spoke.
"My apologies for intruding at an inoportune time" he said, "my name is Piotr, but everyone calls me Colossus." I could see why. "Professor Xavier sent me to you, he wishes to speak with you."
"Oh." I was surprised to hear that. Why would the Professor want to speak with me? I asked the large stranger.
"I don't know" replied Colossus. "If you would please get dressed, it seemed urgent."
"Ok" I replied, and did as he requested. I quickly donned a pair of flateringly tight blue jeans and a dark gray t-shirt, trying to ignore the fact that Colossus kept watching me. When I was finished, I followed my large escort into the hallways to meet with the Professor.
At first we walked in silence, but then I decided against it.
"So what's with the leather outfit?" I asked.
Colussus chuckled a bit before answering "Its my uniform as one of the X-Men. We all have our own version of it."
"What are the X-Men?"
"All of the senior members of Professor Xavier's staff are a part of a group called the X-Men. We represent mutant-kind all over the world, and fight for their rights." Colossus seemed to shift personalities now, going from tough-guy attitude to a gentler, friendlier disposition. He seemed to be very proud of this group, and I wanted to ask more, but we had reached the Professor's office.
I had been here only once before, when I first arrived at the mansion. Colossus knocked on the door once, then opened it. Inside was a large, wood-lined room with a large desk, plenty of comfortable seats, a fireplace, and tons of books. The Professor was there in his wheelchair, and greeted me with a warm smile. He sat by a ring of chairs near the fireplace, and in one of the chairs sat Echo. Echo looked decidedly uncomfortable, but he did raise a hand in greeting.
"Welcome back to my office Alexander." The Professor said, indicating that I should sit with him and Echo. Colossus remained stainding by the door, resuming his tough-guy poise. I liked his real personality better.
I took a seat in a cusioned sofa-chair by the fireplace. Before I could ask, the Professor said "I know you are wondering why you are here. Your friend Echo here was asking some very difficult questions, and I felt it was time for the three of us to get together."
"What kind of questions?" I was very confused.
"We will get to that shortly. First, if you could please retell the story of what happened to you this afternoon by the lake." I shot Echo an angry glance. I had told him in confidence and he went straight to the Professor and told! "Now now, do not think ill of your friend. He did not tell me about what happened, and refuses to tell me any of the details you told him. However, I do know that something happened after talking to Storm and Bobby, and I know that what Echo has been asking about is related. So, if you would please inform me." I sighed, realizing that there was no point in denying the claim. Xavier was the most powerful psychic in the world after all. His asking me was only a formality, since he could take the information by force if he decided to. So, I told him the story of my meditation by the lake, and how I had gotten lost. I told him how I had been about to die when an immense presence calling itself The Phoenix had rescued me, and brought me back to my body. I also told him about the dream I had had the previous night, and how the Phoenix's voice was there as well. Through the entire story, the Professor showed little emotion, so it was difficult to gauge how much he had already known. After my story was over, he pondered for a moment, and we sat in silence. When he spoke again, his voice was grave indeed.
"Alex, do you know what The Phoenix is?" "No, I don't. At first, when it was only the dream, I thought it had just been a figment of my imagination. But I did not imagine what happened this afternoon. Then I thought that it might be Dr. Gray, but it didn't seem at all like her. Dr. Gray is very kind and caring, and The Phoenix was a torrent of emotions and power."
The Professor closed his eyes for a moment before answering. "The Phoenix is a creature of rage and power. It is pure emotion and irrationality. It's power is only exceeded by it's arrogance and self importance. It believes that it is the most powerful creature in all of the universe, and that the world should bow to it's will. It exists, largely, because of a mistake in judgement that I made 20 years ago." He went on to explain how he had placed the barriers within Jean Gray's mind, and the events which followed.
"Had I never locked the darker portion of Jean's mind away, she may have been able to temper herself and develop maturity. She may have mastered her powers."
"Or, she could have destroyed herself and countless others" I offered. "You can't blame yourself for this, you only did what you felt was best, both for Jean and for the world."
"Thank you for your support Alexander, many of my team members would disagree with you. Since the existence of the Phoenix became known to the others, the subject has been the center of many debates."
"Professor, I still don't uinderstand. If the Phoenix is indeed trapped within Jean's mind even more so than before, how is it contacting me? And why?"
"Echo has offered an excellent theory to this, and I believe it to be close to the truth. In order to allow Jean access to her powers and her full brain, we could not trap the Phoenix entirely. The Phoenix is unable to escape it's prison, but there are apparently gaps large enough for the Phoenix to use some of it's telepathic abilities. Since it is able to block even myself from knowing when it is contacting the outside world, it is impossible to say how long the Phoenix has been able to do this, and how much power it can use." I had difficulty following the details, as I was not a psychic, but I followed the general concepts.
"So, the Phoenix is still emprisoned, but it can contact others?" The Professor nodded.
"Then why did it help me? And why did it appear in my dream?"
"I believe that the Phoenix is looking for an ally in whatever scheme it has. It was unlocking previously unused powers in you during your sleep by heightening your emotions. And it helped you in order to keep you alive long enough to be of use."
"But why me?"
"You really havn't figured it out yet?" Echo asked, incredulous. I looked at him inquisitively. The Professor explained. "Hydrogue, you are the only other Class 5 mutant alive in the world besides Jean Gray."
Ok everybody, I know it took a long time to get this chapter out, but the holidays can be very busy for all. I hope you liked this one, it has a little of everything. Please let me know what you think. Look forward to next time, lots of new characters are coming!
Matt -- Phoenixfire543@yahoo.com