CHAPTER 86 - FLAME AGAINST FIRE
The apartment was already half-ruin, walls smoking, plaster raining down. Jean stood blazing in emerald fire, wings of light spreading behind her. Firelord loomed opposite, his staff spinning like a comet's tail.
"HERALD OF GALACTUS," he thundered, "BRINGER OF STARS. DO YOU THINK YOUR FLAME CAN CHALLENGE MINE?"
Jean lifted her chin, fire licking from her eyes. "I don't think, Herald. I know."
Their clash shattered the night.
Firelord's first strike split the building in two, a column of cosmic fire searing upward. Jean rose with it, wings of green flame flaring wide, catching the blast and hurling it skyward. The shockwave bent rooftops for blocks.
They broke through the ceiling, their fight spilling into the sky above Greenwich Village. Flames turned midnight into dawn.
Firelord struck like a storm, staff whirling, each blow a sunburst. Jean met him with fire-talon claws, parrying, countering, driving him back. With each strike her confidence grew, power rushing through her veins.
'This power-it's limitless. I see his moves before he makes them. I feel the currents of his flame, and I bend them like rivers. God help me... it's intoxicating. I've never felt so alive.
She unleashed a cry, wings of Phoenix fire stretching across the heavens. The blast hurled Firelord into a radio tower, steel twisting and melting around him. He rose again, smoke curling from his golden skin, his eyes grim.
"You wield... more than mortal flame," he admitted. "But the Power Cosmic is eternal. You will FALL."
Jean's smile was fire itself. "Not tonight."
They slammed together, green fire and gold colliding, the shockwaves rattling the city below. Windows shattered for blocks, alarms wailed, the sky itself seemed to catch.
Back in the Grey apartment, the world shook with their duel above. Charles Xavier hunched in his chair, shielding Jean's parents and Misty with a psychic bubble. The building groaned as if ready to collapse.
And Erik the Red smiled.
"Perfect," he whispered. "The Phoenix keeps the Herald busy. The board is mine to play."
He raised his hands. Crimson light flared, and with a single blast he dropped every conscious soul in the room. Misty crumpled, the Greys slumped, Xavier's head lolled as the psychic bubble flickered and died. Only Lilandra stirred faintly, groaning in her battered suit.
Erik stepped forward, seized them both in a grip of scarlet energy, and turned toward the roof.
"Now... the gate."
Above, the sky burned with Phoenix fire. Neither Jean nor Firelord spared a glance for the world below. Their battle raged unchecked, while Erik began to carve open the stars.
The rooftop shook as Erik the Red carved his circle of power, crimson symbols etching themselves into the night. The Stargate flared, its surface swirling with alien stars. At his side hovered Xavier's chair and Lilandra's battered form, both caught in his grip of scarlet energy.
Engines thundered. The Blackbird roared into view, sweeping low over the rooftop.
"ERIK!" Cyclops' volce cut the night as the belly doors opened. "LET THEM GO!
Erik turned, hands blazing. "Too late!"
The blast struck the jet full on. Fire ripped across its hull, the shockwave threatening to tear it apart. Inside, alarms shrieked, the cabin tilting sideways.
'OUT!" Cyclops barked. 'JUMP NOW!"
One by one the X-Men hurled themselves into the night air, diving clear as the Blackbird shuddered under Erik's fury. Colossus landed heavy, Logan rolled low, Banshee spread his scream to slow his fall, Nightcrawler blinked from smoke to stone. They hit the rooftop in chaos, battered but alive.
But already, Erik dragged his captives toward the gate. His laughter cut through the night.
"Your arrival is meaningless. The princess is mine!"
The X-Men surged forward-only to be struck down by a sweeping wave of crimson power. They crashed to the roof, teeth rattling, vision swimming.
Lilandra stirred in his grasp, eyes fluttering. Erik's cloak snapped in the wind as he stepped through the circle.
And then-darkness. The Stargate collapsed In on itself, the light gone, only smoke and scorch marks left behind.
Cyclops pushed himself to his knees, visor glowing. "NO!"
Xavier's voice trembled as he forced words past his grief. "Her name... is Lilandra. She
commanded a revolt against her brother-the mad emperor of the Shl'ar. He seeks the unthinkable... the end of all existence. She failed... and fled to us for help. Erik the Red-Shakari, his hound-was sent to take her, or
destroy you in the attempt."
Below, the door burst open. Jean's parents stumbled out, Misty Knight steadying them. Their eyes darted to the team in tatters, then
to Xavier.
Mrs. Grey's voice cracked. "Charles... how? How did Jean fly? How did she fight that... that creature of fire? Who are these people?'
Before Xavier could answer, a glow bloomed. Jean stepped forward, fire licking around her, her eyes burning white.
'It isn't too late, Professor," she said. Her voice wasn't Jean's anymore-it was Phoenix.
She lifted her hands. Emerald fire twisted, caught the air, and from nothing a new circle
began to spin. The Stargate burned open again, green fire roaring where crimson had
been.
Her parents staggered back in horror as she hovered above the roof, her cloak of flame snapping in the wind.
'Jean..." her father whispered. "My God..."
'There's no time, Jean said, her voice both hers and not. She turned to Cyclops.
'Is it necessary, Professor?" Scott asked, visor gleaming red.
Xavier's face hardened, his voice firm. "Of course. If we do not go... the universe itself will die."
The team steeled themselves. One by one they leapt through the blazing circle.
Cyclops went first, visor burning. Storm followed, her cloak whipping in the fire. Colossus strode in like iron. Nightcrawler
blinked into the gate itself. Thunderbird and Sunfire dove as brothers of war, Banshee screaming defiance into the fire. Logan
glanced back once, growled, and disappeared into the green light.
Jean lingered, her arms spread, holding the
gate steady with her fire. Her parents watched, tears in their eyes, questions
breaking their lips-but she didn't answer. She only gave them one last look before she, too, huried herself into the blaze.
The Stargate snapped shut behind her.
And in the silence that followed, the fire
returned.
Firelord descended, staff blazing, eyes burning like stars. His voice shook the rooftop. "MUTANT OR NO, WOMAN OR NO-EARTH WILL PAY THE PRICE!"
Xavier's head rose. His voice was iron, cold and unshaken.
"Then burn it," he said. "Better one world fall... than the universe itself.'