"Now then, how about you teach me to isolate the unique radiation that Infinity Stones emit?" Alex asked as his separated body flew up to deal with the awakening eldritch abomination.
"I use my psychic power to create a cover over the main barrier," he said warily. Apex had not only kidnapped Ororo, but also wasn't taking the eldritch horror seriously. The situation left Charles indecisive as he reevaluated his choices.
"That's useless to me…" Alex shook his head, glancing at Laura from the corner of his eye. She was still very energetically hacking away at Wolverine, with no signs of fatigue in sight. "Do you have any other tricks to annoy me? If not, how about we go over to Cerebro and see what it is you're suppressing in there?"
"Don't—"
"Professor," Alex said. "You should understand that I'm merely extending a courtesy here. Even if you could somehow use the Space Stone to transport Cerebro away, I could still track it down now that I am prepared. Right now, the only reason I'm even keeping you alive is that I don't want to break the seal and wake up whatever it is you are suppressing."
Not giving Charles any chance to further consider things, Alex used a force field to lift the man's wheelchair and started walking toward the mansion.
Meanwhile, the sky had already darkened from the endless branches, vines, and roots that were flying up at the clone. Charles couldn't look away from the spectacle of intense lightning striking the approaching assailants, instantly vaporizing most of them. Compared to Storm's lightning, this one was on a whole different level.
As they entered the mansion, an earthquake struck the area and immediately shook the building's foundation, with multiple beams cracking and splintering, making it look like the house would collapse soon.
Alex didn't dally and quickly went into the basement as the tremors only grew stronger. Soon, they were at the entrance of Cerebro, where Alex pushed Charles forward.
"Open it."
"You don't know what you are playing with…"
"I know exactly what I'm playing with," Alex said. "I already have an idea of who is in there. If I didn't want to keep her suppressed, I would have long broken into this place."
"…" Charles had no choice but to use his psychic power to unlock the chamber for Alex, who was watching him like a hawk, ensuring he couldn't do anything else.
At the moment the door opened, Alex was greeted by the sight of a burning blaze of fire floating in the center, with two stones—the Space and Soul Stones—on either side. The Space Stone was emitting a visible blue glow at the sphere, seemingly containing the raging flames from going out of control. At the same time, the Soul Stone's power was being projected inside the sphere, suppressing whatever entity was responsible for the flames.
"Oh?" Alex raised a brow, finally sensing something amiss. "There's also the Time Stone. It's inside that sphere…makes sense that I wouldn't sense it. Jean Grey turned into an abomination, didn't she? One of those irradiated mutants…"
"Yes," Charles said, a deep sense of guilt in his eyes while looking at the flaming ball in the center, with no traces of the youthful girl that was Jean Grey inside.
"I don't sense any traces of the abomination virus on the Phoenix Force, but I assume it served as a catalyst and mutated Jean, its host. That probably enraged it into an uncontrollable frenzy. How did you hold it back ultimately? Just relying on these three fragmented Infinity Stones wouldn't be enough."
Charles didn't answer, making Alex sigh.
"This place has a minute or so tops before it destabilizes and the stones lose their synergy," he said. "Tell me the situation, and she may live. I know far more about dealing with the Phoenix Force than you."
"…I modified Jean's mind, suppressing her consciousness and using it as a makeshift seal to hold the Phoenix Force back. That seal can suppress it for a few seconds, so I had to use the Time Stone to prolong the seal's effect for as long as possible. The Space and Soul Stones both support that core seal."
"Quite ingenious…" Alex nodded. "It seems there's no choice then. I need your powers, Charles."
"…How?"
"You can guess."
"I…see," Charles said in a heavy tone as his shoulders slouched. "I was already prepared to die when those kids were sent away."
"Noble," Alex said. "Would be nobler if I hadn't found out about you making a deal with Stark and selling out Laura."
"If I hadn't done that, the mutants would have long gone extinct," he said. "I'm not proud of it, but if I had to choose again, I would still agree."
"I'm still curious," Alex said. "Why not Wolverine? What did Laura specifically have?"
"She was younger; her healing factor was stronger," Charles said. "You were correct when you scoffed at me and said that Stark was the one who wanted Laura."
"You know, if you told her, she might even have agreed to sacrifice herself," Alex said. "If nothing else, you and your people raised her right, if a bit naively for someone with superpowers."
"She would've," Charles nodded, a proud expression on his face. "But the others wouldn't. If they knew… This burden was mine alone to bear."
"Charles, I don't agree with you," Alex said. "But I do understand why you do what you do."
With that, Alex put his hand on the elderly man's shoulder.
"A selfish request from a dying man," he said. "I hope you can give the kids something to strive for… This life, isolated in this–this bubble. They deserve better. They are hidden underground. You can consider my request the ramblings of an old man, but please let them live. They fought me for a chance to save Laura."
Alex didn't say anything as Charles continued rambling the same things, eventually devoured the man, leaving an empty wheelchair in front of him.
[Bioenergy +0.82]
[Soul Energy +5.6]
For a dying old man, that's a massive amount of life force and soul energy. Then again, considering his potentially Omega-Class Telepathic powers, that's nothing surprising.
At the same time, Alex sensed the old man's active X-Gene and replicated its effects to the fullest extent. He directly incorporated his old ‹Hypnosis› ability and significantly enhanced it to an unbelievable level. Not only that, but the part of his ‹Biological Manipulation› that he used to interface with people's minds was also completely overhauled, merging into ‹Telepathy› and becoming incomparably stronger.
Unfortunately, since he'd devoured Charles to get the ability, the limit of ‹Telepathy› was defined. He could rely on his immense consciousness to enhance its scale and effect. But he couldn't break past the current limits of the ability and explore new possibilities as he could with Susan's Psionics Manifestation or Wanda's Chaos Magic.
«Skill Acquisition»
«Manipulations» :: ‹Lightning Divinity› ‹Advanced Blood Manipulation›
«Innate Abilities» :: ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›
«Derived Abilities» :: ‹Cosmic Physique Creation› ‹True Sixth Sense› ‹Inventory› ‹Intangibility› ‹Elemental Immunity› ‹Hypnosis› ‹Secondary Consciousness (Gaia)› ‹Psionics Manifestation› ‹Telepathy›
«Magical Abilities» :: ‹High Magic Affinity› ‹Hyperspace Affinity› ‹Wielder of Chaos› ‹Soul Devour›
«Authorities» :: ‹Time (7.5%)› ‹Mind (10%)› ‹Soul (7.5%)› ‹Reality (7.5%)› ‹Power (5%)› ‹Space (7.5%)›
«Cosmic Abilities» :: ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)› ‹Ambient Cosmic Manipulation›
Having devoured Charles, Alex made sure that the psychic energy barrier that Charles had been maintaining around the area remained in place, ensuring that no errant radiation could escape from the Infinity Stones.
With the necessary ability in hand and the area sufficiently secured, Alex finally brought his focus to the contained flaming sphere.
Alex didn't take any action for a moment and closed his eyes to probe the source of the Phoenix Force contained by the Infinity Stones.
Floating in the center of the sphere was Jean Grey, curled up in a fetal position, not a scrap of clothing on her body as flames kept erupting from all over her bare skin, directly vaporizing parts of her body. Even her hair was flaming orange, not a trace of the bright red that he found in Charles' memories.
The Time Stone was embedded in the center of her forehead. Its glaring green barely stood out against the endless orange flames as it periodically erupted with a faint green energy that reversed the damage the erupting flames had done to her body and reduced their immense number.
The entire system was suspended in a delicate balance, with all three Infinity Stones working in synergy to ensure the physical manifestation of the flames couldn't escape the sphere. At the same time, as Alex delved into Jean's mind with ‹Telepathy›, he identified the modifications that Charles had made to her consciousness.
What he sensed left him quite surprised.
That is an immensely powerful mind… Even stronger than the Jean I had my eye on previously.
The seal wasn't anything special. Charles had simply directed Jean's consciousness to remain in a state of slumber so that every bit of her mind could serve as the seal that suppressed the raging Phoenix Force that was attempting to rampage out of her body. With the help of the Soul Stone, the seal could completely isolate the Phoenix Force, ensuring that it couldn't affect Jean's surroundings in any manner possible.
"It seems this collar has a new host, Jean…" Alex said, summoning a specially made artifact from his ‹Inventory› into his hand.
***
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