The Microscopic Battle

Jean moved toward Russell. Her steps looked effortless, but each left a footprint several feet deep in the ground.

It wasn't because gravity had increased her weight. Matter was collapsing beneath her.

Atoms came apart under her feet. Molecules tore apart around her, and the air ionized into plasma, wrapping her body in a glowing, invisible film.

Russell didn't retreat. He stepped forward to meet her, crossing the rubble and leaving a crystalline footprint with every step.

It wasn't ice. He had rearranged carbon atoms into the crystal structure of diamond, making hard, transparent flowers bloom across the ground.

They met in the center of the ruins, less than two meters apart. As her white eyes met his blue ones, an invisible battlefield lay between them, made of countless microscopic worlds being created and destroyed at once.

Magneto wisely took Charles aside. For now, he had no intention of joining the fight.

One was the veteran Omega Mutant Charles had spoken of, wielding the Phoenix Force, which could destroy all things.

The other was Nova, an Omega Mutant whose Telekinesis reached deep into the microscopic realm, while his body possessed super healing, super strength, and other abilities.

Jean struck first. She extended a finger and drew it lightly through the air. In an instant, the air to Russell's right became a vacuum. It hadn't been sucked away. It had been erased.

Nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide molecules went from existing to not existing under Jean's subatomic control. The pressure around Russell's body lost its balance, pulling him to the right.

His skin began to swell in the vacuum. His blood vessels bulged, and his eyes protruded. It wasn't pain, but his body's natural response: without external pressure, everything inside pushed outward.

[Super Self-Healing Experience +1]

Russell didn't panic.