Black Phoenix

Professor X, who had been attending a state banquet, immediately rushed back to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Yet he had a faint premonition that something terrible was about to happen.

Ignoring the voices calling Jean a freak, he went straight into the laboratory.

He used the Cerebro machine to enter Jean's mind.

Jean was unconscious, but her consciousness was extremely active, even chaotic.

There was an immensely powerful force within Jean, much like the force he had sensed inside her all those years ago.

A fiery red phoenix appeared within her from time to time, battering against the "mental firewall" in her mind.

Professor X had created it with his psychic abilities to keep Jean from receiving those terrible memories.

It had worked before, sealing away those painful memories.

But now, with the Phoenix Force that had appeared from nowhere, the protective wall was shattered outright.

"Get out!"

At the same time, the sleeping Jean woke up.

Grief-stricken, Jean learned what had happened all these years.

Her father had not died in that car accident!

Her father had merely been deeply terrified by his daughter's superpowers and abandoned her, entrusting her to Professor X.

That alone might not have been much, but so much time had passed, and Jean's temperament had changed drastically.

An endless rage rose within her.

"That bastard!"

Once Jean discovered the truth, she was naturally furious beyond measure.

Sometimes, the truth itself was not so frightening. What was frightening was being deceived all along.

That was exactly how Jean felt after waking up.

Having lived amid lies all this time, it would have been strange if her mind had remained normal.

Especially since something had already been wrong with her.

The guilt of causing her mother's death, the anger at her father's abandonment, and Professor X's years of deception.

On top of that, the immense Phoenix Force had been constantly interfering with her.

Because she could not fully control the Phoenix Force, it frequently went out of control!

When Jean opened her eyes, they were a blazing red.

The silhouette of a phoenix flickered within her pupils.

In an instant, she vanished from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

"This is bad!"

Professor X trembled all over as he woke.

A true monster had emerged.

"Under the newly enacted Mutant Act, mutant Jean Grey, also known as Phoenix, has launched a killing spree in New York. Not only has she murdered civilians, she has also resisted the military. This incident has prompted deep reflection on mutants."

"..."

A few days later, Ke Chen and the others saw the news at home.

Captain Carter frowned. She had a faint urge to stop it, but Ke Chen stopped her in advance.

She knew herself that even as a super-soldier, she was absolutely no match for Jean, so she gave up.

Peggy was no fool. Though she had a strong sense of justice, she would not throw her life away.

Besides, while Jean had caused a huge commotion, there had not actually been many casualties.

The news had simply exaggerated it.

Jean was a kind girl. Even though she had gone dark now, the military had struck first, and only then had she fought back.

Lorna, meanwhile, was unhappy.

"Why should all mutants be held responsible for something she did alone?"

Lorna voiced the question.

But no one answered her.

The reason was that humans were simply too afraid of mutants.

Those without mutant abilities feared mutants. Some even envied and resented them. With no positive feelings toward them, they naturally wanted to destroy mutants.

It was an irreconcilable conflict.

Watching the television, Ke Chen knew that Phoenix had become Dark Phoenix.

Other than that, he had no particular thoughts about it.

He only wondered, with the D'Bari having been dealt with by him, who could possibly stop Dark Phoenix?

Dark Phoenix referred to Jean being controlled by the Phoenix Force.

She was no longer the one in control; her status had shifted from host to something else.

The person to blame for this was Professor X.

Jean herself also bore some responsibility.

She had always been too afraid to truly accept the Phoenix Force.

The violent Phoenix naturally took over her body instead.

This matter was clearly not going to end so easily.

The out-of-control Dark Phoenix would not care about much. Before long, a mutant died at her hands.

The news reported it, and not only did no one sympathize, countless people actually rejoiced at her misfortune.

Many loudly proclaimed the dangers of mutants, wanting to eradicate mutants completely.

It was as though the world would become peaceful without mutants.

Under such circumstances, Lorna became even less willing to display her mutant abilities outside.

Fortunately, she could already control her abilities perfectly.

The reason mutants were hated was that many of them could not control their abilities, causing them to lose control in public.

Uncontrolled powers were dangerous, and each incident injured many people to varying degrees.

On top of that, there were many people whose ambitions grew after gaining mutant abilities...

As a result, mutants became hated by everyone.

What made Jean feel especially awkward was that she had killed members of the X-Men, so naturally she could no longer return to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Because she could not control herself.

Sometimes, she could sense what she had done, yet she could not restrain her violence. Her emotions were easily stirred up.

Not long ago, she had gone to find Magneto again.

The result was another killing spree...

Even Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants was unwilling to take her in.

In this vast world, Jean suddenly felt as though she had nowhere to call home.

And since she often lost control, she dared not go near anyone she knew.

It was then that she encountered a woman.

The woman wore a black gauze dress and had an alluringly sinister air about her.

She called herself the Black Queen and invited Jean to join the Hellfire Club.

But Jean immediately saw that she had ulterior motives.

She decisively refused.

The Black Queen was indeed no match for her, and Jean defeated her with ease.

But this time, she did not kill her, choosing to leave instead.

She needed to find a way to control the Phoenix Force.

She did not want to become the Phoenix Force's puppet again.

Thus, Jean wandered the world without purpose.

But to her disappointment, there were barely even a few people in the world who had heard of the Phoenix Force. Even Professor X did not know what it was, only that it was powerful energy.

How could Jean possibly find a way to control it?

One day, Jean stood despairingly atop a cliff. Green fields surrounded her, making the place look like paradise on earth.

"Ah!"

The out-of-control Phoenix Force surged wildly through her body. A dimensional space faintly appeared before her. Inside, a woman who looked like a madwoman stared out in shock, but the space soon vanished again.

Then, Jean suddenly heard a discussion about the Phoenix Force by her ear.