On hearing the Professor’s words everyone reacted. Static seemed to form in the area around Storm, her hair slowly beginning to rise, as an arc of lightning shot forth towards the boy.

Simultaneously Jubilee, responding angrily due to Wolverine’s condition, released a stream of multicolour fireworks towards him also.

Archangel, now in the air, caused him wings to flex, and from them shot forth a multitude of razor sharp blades, all coated with a substance designed to paralyse a person.

Gambit stood defiant and charged up his cards, the sent the kinetically charged Ace of Spades and it’s friend up towards the intruder.

Cyclops also released a full power blast up also, while Colossus let up and found himself stood on a invisible platform conjured by Jean Grey.

Finally Rogue hurled the tree she was holding on to, at full strength at him.

Psylocke waiting for an opportunity to present itself charged up her psychic knife, while Nightcrawler suddenly appeared in the air behind the boy and tried to grab him.

Sadly all Nightcrawler could grab was handfuls of air, as he came into the frictionless surface of Nate’s shield. Once again Kurt found himself falling, but this time towards the hard ground as opposed to the pool.

Less than a second after all the attacks headed to Nate, a surge of power was felt by those who could sense such things, one so powerful it nearly staggered them. Everyone on the ground, (save for Jean, the Professor, Beast and Wolverine) Rogue, Nightcrawler and Colossus felt as though they were being tied up by invisible bonds. Half a second later the bonds suddenly took on a real form. Bond that were created by the raw power of the astral plane and ones that only Colossus and Rogue would be capable to break.

Colossus smashed through his bonds with ease and began to punch the boy's shields. Peter could feel the shield beneath his metal fists, and he kept up his barrage. He met the boy’s eyes, and found a look almost a kin to pity there. Colossus was confused, why did the boy pity him. The confusion was added to when the boy then said, “I’m sorry Peter, please don’t take this personally.” There was no malice in the tone, but honest feeling. Why? More to the point, how did this boy know his name? And what was the apology for?

Then everything seemed to go into slow motion as Piotr Nikolievitch Rasputin felt a supremely powerful force smash into his side.

All the attacks that had been aimed at Nate, by the X-Men, just seemed to divert off course at the last minute, and all of them smashed cleanly into Peter. Cyclops’s blast, Jubilee’s fireworks, Gambit’s cards, Storm’s lightning bolt, Archangels blades, and Rogue’s tree all hit the Russian at once.

Colossus found himself knocked from the invisible platform and was sent hurtling towards the garage wall. The impact took out part of the wall and Colossus fell heavily to the floor. Unconscious.

At that point something inside one of the, usually more calm, X-Men snapped. Anger, no a rage suddenly began to build. The rest of the X-Men were bound fast on the ground, and now Colossus had been seriously hurt. All this for a poor frightened girl?

“Professor.” Jean Grey said evenly, “Look after the girl.” Before Xavier could react Jean had taken to the air, her telekinesis forming a shield around herself, and was now facing the intruder.

At that moment Beast rounded the corner of the mansion and took in the scene in front of him.

“You have crossed the line boy.” She said to him, the anger flashing in her eyes, “Now you will face me!”.

Nate looked up at the woman before him, a sense of pride in her swelled up inside him, but he knew that he had to face her, and defeat her, if the murderers victims were ever going to know justice. He never spoke, but the look in his eyes said volumes. I'm sorry, I have to do this, and I hope you understand. There was no anger left in his eyes, just a resolve that went as far beyond human as it was possible to do.

Nate fortified his shield, and went up to meet the woman before him, his telekinetic shields crackling against hers as they touched, and he prepared to fight.

Below the two of them was Nightcrawler was still encased in his bonds, but as the two shields met a lash of telekinetic energy lashed out towards him and moved him out of the way. Jean said no more, but simple locked eye contact with the intruder, her green eyes boring into his. Everyone around them could feel intense energy forming, a barrier that separated the two from the rest of the X-Men, all accept Professor X. He could not stop Jean from her actions, but he hoped to aid her in some way. While she battle with the boy telekinetically he attempted to break into the boy’s mind.

Nate approved of the shield around them, and strengthened it slightly with his own telekinetic abilities, before turning the rest of his attention towards jean. Around the edges of their shields he probed and tested, picking up loose objects from the floor and slamming them into her shields. She was good, as good as he had expected, but this wasn't a matter of choice, he had to beat her.

He barely noticed the nibble at his telepathic shields, assuming it was her attempt to breach his mind that way, as well as attacking him telekinetically. Slowly, gradually, he brought more of his telekinetic power to bear on her shields, striving with all of his strength to push through, to break through to jean and take her out of the fight. Energy burst within him, fueling him directly from the astral plane, as he fought with everything that he had against his opponent, though in his heart, he wished that he wouldn't have to do this, that she would lose, or give in without him having to hurt her seriously.

As the power raged around the two of them, the sounds of the telekinetic attacks reverberated around the area, rattling windows and causing those gathered around to wince at the impacts on the two shields.

Never before had Nate encountered a telekinetic that was his equal, not till now, though he knew that was all she was, his equal, he couldn't breach her shields with a direct telekinetic assault, nor could she breach his, not as things stood currently. He would need to do something more to win this fight.

Jean could feel heat rising around her, not real heat but more the mental force exerting itself on her body. She knew that she and the boy were evenly matched, but part of her was holding back, a part of her that had accidentally revealed itself earlier that morning to Scott and Logan. Something that frightened her. Still she focused all her current power on breaking his shield.

A crackling noise started to fill the air, and quite unexpectedly one of the upstairs windows’s shattered. Part of Jean’s power then went to stopping the glass from reigning down on those trapped below, this mild distraction caused her to move a foot backwards as he started to gain the upper hand. She brought all her power back to focus on him, and silently prayed that no one else would get hurt in this.

Nate pressed every advantage he could, and barely managed to move Jean more than a foot. It wasn't going to be enough, he would have to do something else he would regret later, and attack Jean in a different manner. He could feel their gathered powers around them, focused on each other, and knew, then and there that he wouldn't be able to breach her shields. He might be able to move her around, but to win this battle, he would either have to strike at her mind, an act that might do far more damage than he really wanted to, or he could resort to some other trickery.

It was with this in mind that he finally decided to take an extreme action. Reaching out with a part of his mind, he slipped into the mind of another, leaving a simple message. "I'm sorry" before he took control of their body.

Scott's visor snapped open, and his eyes were held open, causing a blast of viridian energy to flash towards jean. Tears formed in Nate's eyes as he released Scott, closing the visor and letting him once more control his eyes.

Nate turned, tears still forming in his eyes, to renew his assault on Jean, the viridian blast streaking towards her from behind.

Jean’s constant telepathic rapport also heard the message that the boy sent to her lover’s mind, and from that knew what was coming. Xavier also picked up on the intentions and relayed the message to Jean. All the bound X-Men, Beast, and Rogue, although free from her bonds could not approach the two telekinetics, watched in shock a full strength beam from Scott’s eyes headed towards Jean.

*How Dare You!* Jean’s voice echoed out into everyone’s minds despite the fact that the thought was aimed at Nate. The beam continued it’s course and just before it impacted with Jean’s body something most unexpected occurred. The beam seemed to separate out and encased her entire body with the bright energy, blocking her form from view.

Then a scream, loud and real sounded out, but one that sounded not entirely human, it sounded almost like a bird of prey. The energy around Jean’s body burst out from around her, smashing into the ground, where Kurt had been, and into the mansion, shattering the rest of the windows.

Jean’s body was now surrounded by what looked like fire and forming an image that almost everyone present had seen before. It looked like a Phoenix.

Jean’s power reached new levels, and the fire started to creep around Nate’s shields, the crackling noise and the intensity growing beyond belief.

“Oh my..” words escaped from Xavier’s lips. He had not expected this. He couldn’t do anything about it now, but continued his assault upon Nate’s mind, but also kept a close eye on Jean’s, in case…

Nate reeled from the shock, and the impact on his shields, The fires raged around him as the claws of the Phoenix grasped at his shields, crunching into them, and causing energy to ripple over them as Nate fought with all his power to keep up his shields. With all his telekinetic power used to hold the shield up, shields that were slowly failing even now, he only had one choice left to him, the one thing he didn't ever want to have to do, not to her, not to Jean.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, before opening them again. All around him, within his failing shields crackled the raw energy of the astral plane, energy that grew and grew, funneled directly into being by the sheer power of Nate's will.
Within Nate, the energy gathered, crackling through his body, consuming him as he brought it into being. The pain was almost more than he could cope with, but he needed to win, needed to beat the woman before him, one of the most important people in his life, though neither she nor Scott knew it, and he needed to defeat her, to break her will and cast her down. The pain of that decision almost crippled him.
Within him, things started to break, to burst from the energy that was flowing through is body, an energy that was never meant to be contained by a living being.

Blood began to stream down his face from his nose, and a wet cough brought more blood to his lips, yet his eyes shone with a resolve that fought past the pain to strike at his opponent.

Gathering all of his power together, his own life force combined with the raw, undiluted power of the astral plane, he thrust upwards, towards jeans mind, in a strike that no living thing could hope to stand against. A thrust that would strike deep into her mind and beyond, and Nate just hoped that she would survive the strike, for he knew that alone, even now, her mental shields would not be enough to stop it, he doubted anyone could stand alone against this thrust of power.

Nothing would stop this. Jean knew that one of them would die here and now, and that decision was made. She knew that Scott would be able to pick up on her thoughts and she hoped he knew how much she loved him, but this mutant was a danger to everyone and he had to be stopped.
Although her power seemed limitless in that moment she could feel something building within the boy, and with that build up came pain. Her entire body was filled with it. She was able to keep her shields up but her mind was almost consumed by it, and because of that the pain began to build in Scott’s mind too.

She could feel a scream building in her throat, and when the scream sounded she bore down on the boy, intending to throw everything she had at him, to launch one final assault. Flames seemed to flicker within her eyes.

At that point a voice broke into her mind, and into everyone else’s, *No Jean! Stop! He’s your son!*

Jean’s eyes cleared, “What!?” she said out loud, and in that moment she let her control of her power slip. A mistake. The boy’s burst of power came straight at her.

“No!” Xavier shouted and with his mind threw the power off course. The force ripped it’s way from Jean and smashed it’s way into the copse of trees, not far from Wolverine, and leveled them all.

The backlash from the assault struck full force into Jean, and through her to Scott. It didn’t cause any damage but the mental pain was great. Enough to make Jean lose control and fall to the ground.

The drain from the sheer power that struck out from Nate was far more than any mortal body could bear, and as he felt it leave him, the pain from the backlash hammered into his mind. As he plummeted to the ground, darkness threatened to overwhelm his mind, a darkness which he fought with the meager strength left to him. Just able to slow his descent, Nate still hit hard, driving the breath from his already tortured body. Blood erupted from his mouth and nose, and spilled onto the floor before him, as the pain that tore at his insides finally took its toll, and Nate descended into darkness.

Only he knew at that time, that as the fateful blow was struck, he had tried with all his power to divert it himself, so that it wouldn't kill his mother. Only the intervention of Xavier had provided the added power to divert the attack away from his mother, but the strain of pulling back on such an attack had been far more than he could cope with.

Inside him the bleeding continued, threatening his life as his lifeblood leaked out onto the floor. Anyone looking at him could tell that the damage wasn't caused by his mother, but was from some other source.