THE PHOENIX AND THE WOLVERINE.

PROLOGUE

Jean Grey; former teacher at Xavier Institute for the Gifted and former xman watched calmly as a metal hued man swung Wolverine at Magneto.

She could hear Wolverine's thoughts as he flew across the field as Beast crept towards Magneto's unprotected back.

"Well now...that is sneaky; should we interfere Jean ?" asked the Phoenix flame as it burned within her.

No she thought to it; let's see how this plays out.

She watched as Magneto was injected with the neutralizing drug ; the horror on his face was obvious as he realized he was now a human.

She did nothing as he turned to her with a pleading look.

"This is what will become of us all."

She turned to see Wolverine staring at her; his thoughts were bare and all he cared about was for her safety.

"Jean...it's over."

The Phoenix within her was silent and seemed calmed by the look of love on Wolverine's face.

Jean was about to move forward when the angry and fearful thoughts of hundreds of US army soldiers assaulted her senses; they were coming over the bridge that Magneto had 'borrowed' to make a path to the Alcatrez institute.

The thoughts of the US army men were to subdue or kill all mutants and they were to start with her.

The Phoenix and Jean screamed silently in fury and Wolverine noticed something was wrong when he heard the soldiers approaching and what they were shouting.

"No! No! Hold your fire!" yelled Wolverine but his pleas fell on deaf ears and the soldiers fired as soon as they were in range.

Jean's eyes turned pure back and the hypodermic needles stopped in mid flight, they disintegrated as she turned; then she started taking out the soldiers row by row as Wolverine and Beast watched in horror.

Wolverine turned to Beast. "Evacuate everyone while you still can!"

"And what will you be doing?" yelled a familiar female voice; Wolverine turned to Ororo as she hovered 6 feet above the ground.

"What I have to...just get out of here!" Storm stared at him for a few more seconds before turning to help Beast with the panicking soldiers and surviving mutants.

No one paid any attention to the depowered Magneto as he stared at the disaster he had unleashed before he forced himself to stand and run away with the survivors.

Wolverine turned back to face the telephath.

"Jean! I know you're still in there!" he yelled in pain as his voice drew her attention and she began to strip layers of his skin off him.

He doggedly made his way to Jean as structures disintegrated around her.

He could feel blistering burning pain with each heavy step; as his skin tried to regenerate as quickly as possible.

He groaned in pain as his regeneration struggled to keep up, if this kept on any longer ; he would die.

"You would die for them," snarled Jean as he came closer.

"No!" he yelled " not for them... for you!"

Something changed in her eyes as she looked into his mind and heart. She could see he spoke the truth. Jean felt the phoenix fade away; leaving her in control for a few precious seconds.

She knew what he had to do.

"Save me," tears ran down her face as she looked into Wolverine's tear-filled eyes.

He nodded stiffly. " I love you!" then he plunged three adamantium claws into her heart. Her face stiffened with pain then she smiled before the light went out of her eyes.

Wolverine held her and screamed in sorrow and despair.

"Pause," said a young male voice; suddenly everything was frozen in time as a young male teenager appeared dressed in a red and black uniform with a Starfleet combadge on the upper left side of his chest.

He turned to the only other person who was not frozen in time.

"So father; what do you think ?"

There was silence for several seconds as the second person took in the frozen disaster around him.

"Well for one thing, this lady doesn't do things by half ; when she's in the mood to destroy she goes all out...however my question to you junior is what are we doing here ?" asked an older version of the young man.

He was also wearing a red and black uniform with a Starfleet combadge; most of his race and a good number of the high ranking officials in Starfleet knew him as the dreaded 'Q'.

Q junior sighed. "I mean look at this...we, I mean I can do some good here."

Q senior looked at his son and had a sinking feeling what his offspring was about to suggest.

" Son..." he started.

"Dad; we can intervene here...she has tremendous potential to do good and change the fortunes of other less fortunate beings," he spoke over his father's voice.

Q stared. "What are you proposing to do son ?"

Q junior told him. Q senior stared at him in shock before replying.

"Absolutely not!"

"Why not ?" protested Q junior.

"You want to give the powers of a Q to her ?" he pointed at the frozen dying form of Jean Grey. "Have you seen the destruction she unleashed in less than 30 seconds ? Then try to imagine what she could do with one hundredth of your power!"

Q Junior rolled his eyes. "Dad; she will be using it to help the other group."

Q senior gave his son a scathing look that did not faze him. " Oh; you mean those idiots who created robots, mistreated them, then went to war against them and crossed the Armistice Line which triggered a nuclear attack which led to the deaths of 20 billion lives ? Surely you're not serious!"

"Goodness; can't I get any peace and quiet on my time off ?" The two Q males turned towards a female Q who had appeared beside Q junior. She was wearing the same red and black uniform as the two male Qs.

"Hi mum, "greeted Q junior cheerfully.

It was the turn of Q senior to roll his eyes. "You always have time off dear; how is this one more ...special!"

The female Q sighed. " Okay boys; what are you two up to ?"

"Nothing," replied father and son at the same time.

She gave them each a suspicious look. " Oh really," she took a look around her; noting the devastation and quickly realizing who was the cause of all the chaos.

"My, my; she is quite a strong one," she said approvingly.

"Exactly my thoughts mum and she should be given the opportunity to do a lot more," jumped in Q junior eagerly.

His mum looked at him closely. "What are you planning ?"

Q senior laughed dryly. "You're going to love his ideas."

Q junior glared at his father before stating his intentions. To his surprise his mum took it quite calmly; his father was beginning to look worried as his wife turned back to regard the frozen Jean grey with a speculative gleam in her eye.

"Your plan sounds...interesting," her son opened his mouth to talk " but," continued his mum over his unsaid words " she can't have any of our powers. She is not mature enough...not like Aunt Janeway."

Q junior closed his mouth as he tried to compare the telepath with his most favourite aunt and only godmother. In the end he had to agree; Aunt Janeway was a lot more level headed.

Q senior released a sigh of relief. "Thank the heavens we agree on something; but what will you do next junior ?"

"Huh ?" asked Q junior as he noticed both parents were looking at him.

"This is your intervention; we can only offer advice but this operation is officially your baby " said his mum.

Q junior winced at the word baby.

"Oh yes, baby is the right word my son; because once you start on this path, it will grow, take its first baby steps and may tend to run away from you. This might be a game to a Q but for the participants...this will be their lives in the palm of your hand," said his mum solemnly as she walked up to her son.

"She's right son; so do you still want to...intervene ?" Q senior folded his arms and waited for his son's reply.

Q junior said nothing; he looked at the frozen forms of Jean Grey and Wolverine for several moments.

His gaze was especially drawn to the anguish on Wolverine's face as he screamed at the heavens. He turned back to his parents.

"I have made my decision."

I

The scene unfroze and anyone looking at that moment would have seen a blinding flash around the two figures of Jean Grey and Wolverine. When the light faded; the two figures were gone.

During the next few weeks; two additional tombstones were added to the others on the lawn of Xavier's school for the gifted.

The names engraved on the two were Jean Grey and Wolverine.

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