Nirvana (Revised)

Xavier Institute.

"Bzzzt—"

With a piercing burst of electrical static, every light and screen in the Mind Control Room went dark at once, plunging the room into dead silence. The backup power indicators struggled to flicker a few times before finally fading into darkness as well.

"Warning! Unknown... chaotic... signal detected..."

Aurora's warning had barely begun when she, too, fell completely silent before finishing her sentence.

Inside the Mind Control Room, Charles and Magneto, who had been discussing how to modify Cerebro, exchanged looks. Both saw a bad premonition on the other's face.

"Aurora? Aurora?!"

Charles kept calling out toward the darkened console, but Aurora gave no response.

The AI, which had always been exceptionally reliable, had unusually fallen dormant.

"Charles, what happened?" Magneto asked.

"Give me some time. I need to investigate..."

As Charles spoke, he slowly closed his eyes. Vast psychic power spread from him like an invisible tide, instantly covering the city, the state, and then nearly half of the United States.

Chaotic scenes flooded into his mind one after another.

The power grid had collapsed, transportation systems had failed, and countless vehicles had crashed into one another on dark roads. Numbers in bank databases vanished like waterfalls, returning to nothingness. Hospital backup generators emitted desperate alarms as life-support systems shut down one by one...

At last, his senses crossed thousands of kilometers and reached the Alameda Research Center in California...

Charles abruptly opened his eyes. His breath caught as one hand instinctively gripped the edge of the cold console, barely keeping himself upright.

"...It's Obadiah," Charles said slowly, his voice filled with disbelief. "He fused with Miles's ability!"

"What?!" Magneto's gaze instantly sharpened.

"Obadiah fused with Miles's ability to manipulate electronic signals. He caused this nationwide electronic storm!" Charles's voice gradually became hoarse. "What exactly is he trying to do?"

"You're saying Obadiah fused with Miles's ability to manipulate electronic signals?" Magneto repeated, a strange glint gradually appearing in his eyes.

Alameda Research Center, laboratory.

The instant Obadiah arrived, the invisible mental shackles enveloping the laboratory shattered.

The people controlled by Miles woke as if from a dream. Their last memories remained fixed on the terror of being forcibly controlled, only for them to see a cold corpse and two "monsters" facing each other the next second.

"Who is that?"

"Wait, what happened to Dr. Joseph?!"

Obadiah looked toward the crowd and casually waved a hand.

The next moment, terrifying telekinesis sent everyone who had approached flying away.

"Mutant!"

"He killed Dr. Joseph!"

Panic spread like a plague. Screams rose and fell as people scrambled toward the exit, and the laboratory instantly descended into chaos.

Miles glanced at Dr. Stasis's utterly lifeless body on the ground, then turned back toward the towering figure slowly approaching him. He clenched his teeth and slowly pressed his fingers against his temple.

"Charlotte, Dani... can you hear me?" Miles tried to contact the others through Telepathy.

"Miles, what happened?" Charlotte asked.

"Run!!"

After sending that final warning, Miles saw Obadiah reach out toward him.

It's over.

But at that moment, Madeleine, who had collapsed unconscious nearby, trembled slightly.

Then she suddenly opened her eyes!

BOOM—!!!

An indescribably terrifying force erupted around her!

It was neither a shockwave nor a soundwave, but a pure psychic storm that twisted the air into ripples. Dense cracks appeared across the laboratory's metal walls, while the ceiling lights exploded one after another, scattering sparks everywhere!

At the center of the chaos, Madeleine's body slowly rose from the ground and floated into the air.

Her eyes, filled with burning, pure, brilliantly scarlet crimson, locked onto Obadiah!

Sensing Obadiah's presence, Madeleine went berserk again!

Watching this unfold, Miles remembered what Dr. Stasis had said earlier.

If she erupts again, the process will be advanced indefinitely... She may be completely consumed by the Phoenix Force at any moment...

"...Has it already reached this point?"

Obadiah had also sensed Madeleine's condition, and he frowned.

His main reason for appearing here had been to kill Stasis, whom he had only recently discovered. Encountering Miles had been an unexpected bonus. He had originally intended to take Miles with him, but Madeleine had gone into an uncontrollable frenzy again.

Obadiah could tell that as Madeleine's life approached its final moments, her Phoenix Force had reached its limit. If he rashly fought her in this state... he would likely suffer grievous injuries that could not heal anytime soon. There was even a chance that he and Madeleine would perish together.

She was a bomb that had completely gone out of control. Fighting her had no meaning at all. Leaving her alone was the best choice, because she was about to blow herself up.

So Obadiah chose to retreat.

"Until next time."

With that, Obadiah decisively opened a spatial gate behind him, took one step back, and vanished along with the gate as if he had never been there.

The instant Obadiah left—

"AAAAAH—!!!"

Before the ripples from the closing spatial gate had even faded, a scarlet torrent of energy struck the spot where Obadiah had been standing with the force to destroy everything!

There was no explosion, no roar.

Everything in that patch of space—air, dust, even light—was instantly annihilated, leaving behind only a twisted, silent void.

With her attack missing and her target gone, Madeleine completely descended into madness.

She let out a shriek that tore through the heavens. It no longer sounded human, more like the resonance of pure energy. Miles's eardrums throbbed with pain, and his organs felt as if they were being displaced.

The Phoenix Force surrounding her transformed into an even more terrifying telekinetic storm!

BOOM—CRACK!

The laboratory's thick alloy walls burst apart. Countless cracks raced across their surfaces before the walls caved inward, twisted, and were finally torn into fragments by an invisible force!

The ceiling and upper floors did not even have time to fracture before they were blown into the sky, revealing the gloomy heavens beyond, where thunderclouds churned!

"Ugh!"

Miles did not even have time to react before an overwhelming telekinetic force seized him and hurled him away.

His vision went black as his body slammed into the remaining half of a load-bearing wall, then rolled back to the ground.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Centered on Madeleine, the scarlet energy storm frantically tore at reality.

She floated in midair, with no trace of humanity left in her eyes—only a pure desire for destruction that would burn everything away.

"Miles!"

"This is... Madeleine? What the hell happened?"

Charlotte and Dani appeared at the breach, followed by Laura and the grim-faced "Warpath," Prosta.

The moment they stepped into the ruins, they saw the figure in the sky, like a demonic god of the apocalypse.

"So this is her true power?!" Dani's face was filled with horror as she experienced Madeleine's strength from up close for the first time.

"There's no other way..." Miles struggled to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and took out the Phoenix Serum he had just obtained from Dr. Stasis. Without hesitation, he injected it into his neck.

"Urgh!!" Miles let out a pained growl. It felt as though aqua regia had been injected into his arteries, and searing agony spread through his blood into every part of his body!

Damn it, it has to work!!

Miles threw away the empty syringe, turned to Prosta, and shouted, "James! Get me in there!"

"What?!" Prosta was startled.

"Her telekinetic storm is too strong! My psychic power can't get close, so this is the only way!" Miles roared, his eyes bloodshot. "Hurry! Otherwise, we're all going to die!!"

Clearly, Miles planned to do what he had done before—enter Madeleine's mental world himself and pull her back from the brink of losing control!

"Understood!" Hearing Miles's explanation, Prosta stopped hesitating and hoisted Miles onto his shoulder.

"Hold on tight!"

With a roar, the muscles in his legs bulged. The ground beneath his feet instantly cracked, and he shot toward Madeleine at the storm's center like a cannonball!

Madeleine sensed the threat and released a piercing shriek. A scarlet energy shockwave gathered out of thin air and crashed down toward Prosta!

At that instant, Laura appeared in front of Prosta. She crossed her arms, and the metal claws in her hands snapped out with a clang, blocking the devastating strike!

BOOM—!!!

Energy collided with metal claws, erupting in blinding light.

Laura held on for less than a second before the irresistible force sent her flying, smashing heavily into distant rubble.

"Damn it..."

At the same time, "Moonstar" Dani activated her Telepathy. Yet after only a brief probe, she was slammed back by the terrifying psychic storm with a scream!

The difference in psychic power was too great.

"Get ready..."

Seizing the fleeting opportunity Laura and Dani had created, Prosta pushed through the storm's aftershocks and finally reached a point less than ten meters from Madeleine!

His arm muscles swelled to their limit, veins bulging as he used all his strength to hurl Miles from his shoulder toward the figure at the very center of the storm!

"Ugh..." Miles endured the terrifying impact of being within the telekinetic storm and growled as he released his psychic power without reserve to resist it!

Sensing Miles approaching, Madeleine slowly reached out toward him. Blazing crimson energy gathered in her palm, enough to destroy everything and reduce Miles to ashes!

But then her expression shifted, and the energy in her hand slowly dissipated.

Miles...

The next moment, Miles finally lunged forward and grabbed her!

"Madeleine! Wake up!!"

Miles let out a low roar and pressed both hands firmly against her head. At the same time, his consciousness plunged once more into Madeleine's mental space without reservation!

This was Miles's second time entering Madeleine's mental world, but the sight before him was several times more terrifying than before.

Crimson flames burned everything—sky, earth, even space itself. Amid the sea of fire, strands of ominous blackness continued to spread like ink dropped into clear water, carrying a pure aura of destruction that came from the very source.

The entire world was burning, collapsing, melting.

In the end, it would all be swallowed by that profound darkness.

In the world of flames, Miles staggered forward against the boundless inferno, heading toward where he remembered the girl might be.

"Madeleine?"

"Madeleine, where are you?"

His voice sounded unbearably hoarse and small within the collapsing world.

"I came to find you!"

After an unknown amount of time, Miles finally found the small figure curled up on the ground in a corner that darkness was about to completely consume.

She hugged her knees and buried her face deeply against them, her body trembling without stop.

"...So that's how it is..."

The girl's sobbing voice came in broken fragments.

"I'm not his daughter... I'm just a bomb..."

"A bomb that could explode at any time and kill everyone... a bomb..."

Miles came to stand before the girl and sighed. "You're not a weapon, and you're not a bomb... You're Madeleine."

"No, Miles, you don't understand..." Madeleine continued speaking hoarsely to herself. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I should have understood it long ago..."

"I've always been influenced by the Phoenix Force, which is why I instinctively... wanted to get close to you..."

"And then... the result was... that you and everyone else got dragged into all these dangerous things... I'm sorry... I'm truly sorry..."

Her voice was filled with endless regret and despair. As her emotions fluctuated, the collapse of the entire mental world continued to accelerate.

The sky fractured, and the earth broke apart.

Everything was about to be destroyed.

"Now isn't the time to apologize... Come with me first." Miles extended his hand toward Madeleine. "Let's go. Everyone is waiting for you..."

"No, I already... can't leave..."

As Madeleine spoke, she slowly raised her hand.

Then Miles clearly saw that the same black flames had begun burning in her palm.

The flames burned quietly and continuously. Without her realizing it, they had already spread across her entire body, devouring every part of her.

"Leave, Miles... If you don't go now, you'll be burned to death with me..."

Slap!

A soft sound rang out.

Miles grabbed Madeleine's hand, the one burning with black flames.

The next moment, soul-rending agony spread through all of Miles's consciousness!

"Miles! What are you doing?!" Madeleine was startled and instinctively tried to push him away, but Miles held tightly to her hand and refused to let go.

"...Ah... It really is... a little painful..."

Amid the agony of flames scorching his soul, Miles forced out a smile. "Hearing you describe it so horribly made me curious, so... I wanted to try it..."

As Miles spoke, the flames burning Madeleine's consciousness gradually spread onto Miles as well, scorching both of them at once.

"Miles! Don't do this!!" Madeleine's eyes widened. "You'll die!"

"I... I just wanted to try it," Miles said painfully. "When Gabriela died... I didn't make it in time... When X-24 was killed protecting me... I was powerless too..."

"So now... I don't want... to see... you... die like this too..."

"But... it's already too late..." Madeleine, half her body already burned away, looked at Miles as he gradually drew closer and said with a trembling voice, "Miles... you don't have to... go this far... for me..."

"I won't give up on you..."

As his consciousness faded, Miles murmured as if speaking to himself.

"...Because... you are..."

"The first girl... to tell me... 'I like you.'"

The next instant, black flames swept across the sky, completely devouring Miles and Madeleine's consciousness!

After an unknown amount of time, Miles slowly woke up.

He found himself lying inside the Blackbird's cabin, while beside him, Madeleine gradually opened her eyes as well.

The two looked at each other and saw a hint of something unusual in the other's eyes.

Their faces had been a little too close...

Then, they silently got up, pretending that nothing had happened earlier.

"Hey, you two..." Moonstar Dani covered her mouth, about to say something, when Laura beside her warned her with her claws.

[Shut up.]

Meanwhile, Miles struggled to get to his feet, secretly letting out a long breath.

Looks like it worked.

"Miles, are you all right?" Charlotte asked from nearby.

"I'm fine. I feel much better now," Miles replied.

"That's good." Charlotte nodded. "Come to think of it, you two earlier... uh, never mind. It's nothing."

Seeing Laura's icy gaze, Charlotte wisely shut her mouth.

Miles also turned back to glance at Laura. The siblings nodded in perfect understanding.

"That research center has already been sealed off by the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Prosta said. "Good thing we got you and Madeleine out early, or there would have been more trouble."

"Thanks, James." Miles nodded.

"No need to thank me." Prosta waved it off. "So where are we going next?"

"There's no rush. I need to contact the academy first..." As Miles spoke, he made his way with difficulty to the main pilot's seat in the cabin.

"Aurora, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Miles." Aurora's voice came through. "The academy base's mainframe has been restarted."

"How are things on Charles's end?"

"Professor Charles Xavier and Mr. Erik are discussing improvements to Cerebro in the Mind Control Room," Aurora replied. Then, in a subdued tone, she added, "I'm also investigating information related to the Leech Factory as thoroughly as possible, but unfortunately, the situation isn't looking very good."

"Hah... Ritts's Project ATHENA?" Miles muttered to himself. "Leave that issue to Charles and the others for now. It may take us some time before we can return... ngh!"

As he spoke, Miles suddenly shuddered, nearly collapsing to the floor again.

At that moment, he suddenly felt an unfamiliar force inside his body, burning like flames...

This is...

Before Miles could carefully sense it, Charles's voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "Miles, what's wrong? I heard you ran into Obadiah just now?!"

"It's fine. He's already gone."

Miles forced himself to stand and replied, "What about the academy? Are you all right?"

"Other than a large-scale power outage, there haven't been any other abnormalities. Did your investigation yield anything?"

"Yes. We found a lot."

Miles did not hide anything. Through Telepathy, he told Charles everything about the secrets of Four-in-One Essex, along with those insane plans.

"This... so that's how it was..."

After learning the truth, even Charles, with all his experience, was deeply shocked.

"Be careful, Charles," Miles said seriously. "I suspect that '♦' may be hiding within the academy!"

"I'll be careful. What about you? Are you returning immediately?"

"No... I still need to continue investigating," Miles said. "I just remembered another clue. Do you remember that female agent on the Roosevelt Island Bridge? I searched her memories. She was a double agent. Besides working for ATHENA, she also took orders from a strange man... I didn't think much of it before, but now it seems... there's a strong possibility that guy is connected to the mysterious '♦'!"

"You're still going to continue? Isn't that too dangerous?" Charles asked solemnly. "Obadiah has revived. He could come after you at any time!"

"Don't worry, Charles," Miles said. "This time... I have a way to deal with him..."

As he spoke, a wisp of golden-red Phoenix Fire flashed through Miles's eyes and vanished.

After ending his conversation with Charles, the memories of that female agent, Hummingbird, surfaced in Miles's mind again. He gradually locked onto the mysterious man hiding in the shadows.

It was the figure in Jennifer's memories—the one who had instructed her to muddy the intelligence between the ATHENA Office and Ritts, seemingly at odds with Ritts while remaining hidden behind the scenes.

"Aurora, help me find someone."

The next second, the portrait formed from those memories was transformed through Miles's consciousness into a stream of electronic data and sent directly into the Blackbird's central computer.

"Matching against the global database... facial-feature recognition..."

A few minutes later, Aurora delivered the results.

"Target locked."

"Christopher Lopez, forty-two years old. Level-two supervisor at the Johnson Secret Base in Montana..."

"Johnson Base? What kind of place is that?" Miles asked.

"It is a secret base deep within the Rocky Mountains. Hummingbird Jennifer stayed there for a period due to a special mission," Aurora replied. "At the same time, it was also where Mr. Erik, Magneto, was previously imprisoned."

"What?!" Miles's eyes widened. "Aurora, are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"..."

After receiving Aurora's confirmation, Miles fell silent and did not respond for a long time.