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2nd September 2005, New York City
(Jean POV)
Jean was in the car, watching the city go by as it moved forward. She had no idea who would buy a car in New York as it would be easier to just take a cab or sothing. However, she was sitting in the backseat of the christened X-Car, which was just a normal back car. She had no idea why Scott always adds X before the na of any vehicle if it belonged to the institute. They even had an X-Van for crying out loud.
This car in particular was the Professor's. It was a black and gold Bentley who exuded luxury and prestige. Just how rich was the Professor? He always had enough money to access state of the art technologies like the danger room, the Blackbird or Cerebro. He also paid to fix whatever damage they caused while training or outside. Considering how destructive their mutations are, he must have cost him millions.
Anyway, Jean was sitting in a car that was too expensive for her to be comfortable sitting in, trying to ignore the awkward silence. Jean more or less understood where the Professor ca from when he decided to put his bindings. It must be terrifying to encounter a little girl as powerful as he described her to be. It was surprising that she was as powerful as the Professor who is considered the most powerful telepath in the world, when she was a child.
As understanding as Jean could be, there was a line and the man had crossed it. He took ten years of her life out of fear and it wouldn't be wrong to say that his arrogance stopped him from checking further. And while Jean wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. She was furious beyond belief but she still couldn't hate him. He had a hard choice in front of him and if she was honest with herself, she didn't know if the one he made was the correct one. She doesn't rember what happened in the desert when the bindings were removed but she had lost herself to her power, sothing that she can't allow to happen again.
Nevertheless, confusing feelings aside there was sothing that the redhead was sure of. She will never be able to trust Charles Xavier again. Which brings her to the matter of her teammates. Jean doesn't know how to deal with them, or even if she wants to stay at the mansion. She had once thought that the institute was the only place in the world where she felt free, but now it stifled her. It was a mory of her fake life and the redhead didn't know if her bonds with the rest of the X-n are as deep as she thought.
But here she was, sitting next to the man who practically killed her for no other reason than the fact that he was scared. They both knew that there was a lot to talk about but neither of them knew how to start. Logan was driving the car, so she was left alone with the Professor.
Trying to break the awkward silence, Jean asked, "Who was this guy again?"
The Professor pretty much jumped at the chance, "Doctor Stephen Strange, he was once considered one of the most skilled neuro surgeons in the world. Unfortunately, he was in a car accident and his hands were greatly injured. Trying to find a way to heal them, he traveled the world and found the answer in mysticism. Fascinated by it, he stopped practicing dicine and focused entirely in the art of sorcery."
"So, how did you et?"
The Professor chuckled, "Funnily enough, I t him before his accident during a conference. I have to say he was quite obnoxious and I have rarely seen anyone with a larger ego. It was well earned, of course, the man was brilliant but it made him very hard to work with. I encountered him years later while trying to stop my brother Cain who has enhanced his powers with a mystical artifact. Stephen was instruntal in apprehending him where he remains in a specialized prison until this day. We kept in touch ever since."
Huh, that was a lot more interesting than she thought. "Do you think he'll be able to help?"
Even if she tried to hide it, Jean was scared about the runes on her stomach. She had no idea what they could do and it's not like she could look up magical runes online. She certainly hoped that it was nothing harmful.
The Professor answered, "Stephen is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the planet and probably the next in line for the title of sorcerer supre," at her confused look, he continued, "It's the title for the leader of the sorcerers, and it's generally the most powerful and knowledgeable sorcerer who wields it. If there's anyone who could help you, it would be him."
Well, that cald her down significantly; at least he wasn't taken her to a nutjob or anything. She was still angry though. The burning rage inside her wasn't stopping anyti soon. Years of repressed emotions bubbling inside her, she had a trouble keeping it all inside. She almost lost it completely back at the mansion and the redhead had to resist the temptation to just smash everything around with her telekinesis.
The car finally stopped and Jean got out. She found herself standing in front of a peculiar building. It was a three-story Victorian-style brownstone townhouse built in the French Baroque architecture design with a Mansard roof with a weird looking glass symbol at the top. Jean looked at the address and saw it to be '177A Bleecker Street'. The building had a certain air of mystery, a prefect residence to a magician.
They walked up the stairs, well Jean and Logan walked, the Professor rolled up and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a man answered to door. He looked Oriental in origin and was wearing oriental clothing while holding himself with grace. He had brown eyes and looked to be around 5'8". He was also bald. He greeted them, "Good morning and welco to the New York sanctum sanctorum. My na is Wong and I am the assistant to Dr. Strange, he is expecting you. If you will follow "
He let them through and they walked inside. If Jean had to say sothing about the sanctum, it would be that it was odd. In term of furniture, everything matched the outside, continuing the Victorian the. But there were also so weird knickknacks showing that it is indeed the ho of a magician. There was an abundance of dieval armors, so weird looking paintings. Jean swears that she saw one of the vases glowing for so reason.
In the end, they passed through a dining room, walking by what Jean assus to be a library and towards a study where the man she presus is Stephen Strange was waiting for them. He was Caucasian with a dark hair and mustache that went down to create a thin beard on his chin. He had silver streaks on either side of his head that made him look dignified. The only thing that would let her know that the man was a sorcerer was what he was wearing. He was dressed in black pants and boots, a blue tunic, a yellow sash and a red cape with gold trim.
The man was imrsed in so old to, and looked up at his guests and smiled, "Charles, it's been a while. You said that it's urgent. What happened?"
The professor smiled in returned, "We fought a very powerful and ancient mutant in Egypt. His na was Apocalypse."
The doctor nodded, "Ah, Apocalypse. Around three thousand years old, I believe. I though he was dead, the people rose against him or sothing."
"No, he was simply imprisoned. He escaped a few days ago but was defeated by what I assu to be a sorcerer."
The doctor shook his head, "No, I would have known about it. It can't be a sorcerer."
"I only assu that it was a sorcerer because they put so sort of runes on one of my students. I was worried about the implication so I contacted you as soon as possible."
The forr doctor looked worriedly at her and just raised his hand. An orange Magical circle ca around his hand and another one ca around her and went through her body. The glow ca out and flew towards Strange's magic circle. Imdiately, an exact copy of her tattoo materialized in front of him. At least she didn't have to strip
Dr. Strange, on the other hand was gaping at the symbols in front of him. She heard him mutter, "Magnificent!!"
The man kept looking at the runes in reverence for what seems to be ten minutes straight. It kinda made her uncomfortable, Logan lost his patience and asked, "So what's the verdict, Doc?"
Dr. Strange was startled by the sound, having lost himself in his study of the runes, "Oh, yeah. This is the most magnificent and outstanding usage of runes I have even seen in my life. Whoever did this is more than just a master, he or she could revolutionize the field if they so wished. I have learnt more studying this array in the last ten minutes then thousands of hours in the library."
Logan growled, "That's great and all but what's it doing"
The ford doctor seed unperturbed by Logan's hostility, "I have no idea what the big rune is but I assu it's so sort of power source. The rest are a mix of Hieroglyphics and Surian runes. Few people tend to study them due to their complexity and even fewer have mastered them. Lucky for you, I am one of them. It's so sort of power regulator. More specifically with Psionic Energy."
"Psionic energy?" Jean asked.
"Psionic energy is the energy used only by the mind. It's often represented as telepathy and telekinesis but can be used in creating energy construct and much more. The array on you has a simple goal but it's extrely powerful hence its complexity. There are backups over backups in case sothing happens. The goal of the runes is to evaluate your control over psionic energy and only allows you to use what you can control. In its basis it's a training tool for soone with too much power and too little control. It also considers your ntality to make sure that you don't lose yourself to power. It also stops any attempt at ntal manipulation. It's truly a piece of art."
Jean's shoulders slumped in relief, tension leaving her. She needed this, a way to help her control over her powers. And she was now reassured about the runes as well. Two birds, one stone. And now the Professor can't out the bindings on and even if he could, there would be no reason to do it; she was going to be able to control her powers properly. For the first ti, the redhead thought that she was free.
The forr neurosurgeon asked, "Do have any idea who did that?"
Jean just shrugged; everything was a blur after the Professor removed his bindings. The bald telepath was just as clueless as her as he was away from the conflict. Surprisingly, Logan grunted in response, "Apocalypse recognized her. He called her Wadjet."
Dr. Strange humd thoughtfully, "The Wadjet. An old Egyptian Goddess, if I rember correctly. The Goddess of serpents and Magic. Here let check for a second. My master, the Ancient One, has notes dating back to Atlantis. There should be one about Wadjet sowhere."
He raised his hand and an orange portal appeared. He put his hand in and got a book from inside. He closed the portal and opened it. He rifled through the book until he found the page, "Ah, here it is, the Wadjet."
Suddenly, the man paled in fear and his scarred hands started to shake, he muttered a single word in a terrified tone, "Morrigan."
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