"Jean? Jean? JEAN!?" Remarked Pharaoh with a slight frown as he stood before Jean, calling out to her, even going so far as to grab her shoulders and violently shake her, yet nothing he did manage to awaken her.
Jean's been standing here unresponsively for the last five minutes, doing absolutely nothing; she hasn't so much as flinched; if it weren't for her heart still beating, I'd have thought she died. I continued to try and stir her awake, with the attempt being crazier than the last, but no matter what I did, she was unresponsive; no breath of frost or slap to the butt worked on her; it was all useless.
'Haa, alright, I think this counts as something went wrong; I'm shutting this thing off.' Thought Pharaoh with a frown as he looked at Jean in concern before grabbing the lever encased in glaze, which he easily broke without even trying, it was like it wasn't even there to begin with.
Grabbing the lever, I didn't hesitate and pulled the lever, causing the sound of numerous wires getting cut to ring out; granted, I'm sure I'm the only one who would've heard such a thing, but seeing Cerebo shut off, I sighed in relief before turning and looking at Jean.
"Jean, please tell me you're fine now. For the love of god, if this is a prank, I'll never talk to you again. Jean?" Asked Phaaoh in concern as he held Jean's shoulders and intently looked at her, though just like before, there was no response.
I looked all through her body, focusing all the way down her very DNA, yet I couldn't find anything wrong with her, which meant that whatever was happening to her was inside her mind, which was outside of my expertise, and I couldn't possibly help her.
"Dammit, what the fuck was she talking about before going quiet? A fire within her mind? How do I fucking help with such a little information?" Muttered Pharaoh anxiously as he aggressively rubbed his head before leaning against the control panel of Cerebo.
'Fuck, I'm going to need to get Professor X; he should hopefully be able to help Jean.' Thought Pharaoh with a frown as he lightly hit the control panel, causing a small dent in the metal, though to his surprise, the flights suddenly turned back on while Cerebo activated, the humming noise returning.
Seeing Cerebo turn on again, I looked back at the area where I punched before doing so again, yet nothing happened, causing me to frown as I looked around the area, searching through the walls for a possible generation that's connected to Cerebo through a different wire; however, no such luck.
"What the hell is happening? What's powering this thing?" Said Pharaoh with a frown as he looked at Cerebo while the lights continued to shine brighter and brighter, until they started popping.
With the popping of the lights, the previously bright room became dark once more while the humming noise of Cerebo continued to get louder and more intense; now, I didn't need to be a genius; I only needed to use my context clues to assume what was going to happen next.
Just as I predicted, Cerebo started to slowly break down; the various panels covering the wall started to spark with electricity, while some even caught on fire or exploded. Taking a deep breath, I blew a large gust of ice breath, freezing the entirety of Cerebo in a thick layer of ice, before turning around and looking at Jean.
'We should get out of here.' Mused Pharaoh lightly as he grabbed the helmet off of Jean, though the instant he did so, a mighty force of ethereal flames emerged from Jean, pushing his back while burning his skin.
Slamming against the iced-out Cerebo, I grabbed my burnt hands in pain before looking at Jean as she floated in the air where I had left her while an incredible amount of flames spewed from her body, and every second, they continued to increase in intensity.
"Ugh, J-Jean! Jean!" Yelled Pharaoh while grunting in pain as he pushed off the ice he was embedded into and tried to approach Jean, though the flames were keeping him at a distance.
Cursing under my breath, I touched the ice behind me and covered the Cerebo in my aura; with how quickly and intensely Jean's ethereal flames were expanding, it wouldn't take long before her powers escaped this room.
I continued to call out to Jean, but my voice fell on deaf ears as she floated in the air while her ethereal flames continued to grow, even reaching me despite being decently far away.
"F-Fuck, they hurt!" Muttered Pharaoh as he hissed in pain whenever the flames touched him, causing him to further back away; it was not like he had much space to begin with.
"P-Pharaoh! W-What the hell is happening to Jean!?" Exclaimed McCoy angrily in concern from the speaker as he watched everything happening from the computer in his room, only recently noticing the notification that someone had entered Cerebo.
"I-I don't know! O-One second, she was using Cerebo just fine, and the next, she was like this!" Replied Pharaoh loudly as he glanced through the many walls, looking at McCoy sitting in his chair.
It seemed Mr. McCoy was about as clueless as me since he took a second to respond, though, during that time, I was trying my best not to burn alive; however, my attempts at trying to contain Jean were proving futile, her flames burned right through my aura like it was nothing, it was the first time anything had managed to break through my aura, so I was decently surprised, but this wasn't helping out the situation.
"Dammit! T-Try to awaken Jean; she seems to be doing this subconsciously; if you don't awaken her, it'll continue!" Yelled McCoy through the speaker as he looked at Jean, noticing her closed eyes, while Pharaoh nodded in response.
Cutting open a hole through the ice, Cerebo, and several walls, I swiftly removed my suit and tossed it through the small hole that led to the outside. If I could help it, I'd like to save my suit from getting burnt; after all, I've got no way to repair it or make a new one.
"J-Jean! Ugh, J-Jean!" Yelled Pharaoh loudly while floating naked, though he didn't have the freedom to worry about that right now.
I don't know what changed over the last minute or so, but my calling finally worked as Jean's eyes fluttered open before she looked around, only to descend into fear.
"W-What's happening t-to me!?" Yelled Jean in fear as she looked at herself, though the sound of Pharaoh's voice helped to calm her down.
"W-We don't know; j-just calm down, Jean, and focus; this is just l-like when you first awakened your mutant powers." Stated Pharaoh as he looked at Jean while biting his finger whenever he was burned, trying his best to suppress his grunts of pain lest he worry her more.
My words seemed to work as Jean quickly calmed down and tried to focus on her power, which was seemingly working; her ethereal flames were slowly receding, though I should've known it wasn't going to be that quick since not even a second later, they suddenly erupted with even more intensity than before, expanding far beyond Cerebo and enveloping me in its flames.
"ARGHH!!" Yelled Pharaoh in agony as he swiftly flew through the hole he had previously made, slamming through various objects before arriving outside and floating in the sunlight.
Feeling my body heal, I took several deep breathes as I tried to calm down from the feeling of being burnt alive, as it was by no means pleasant; while doing so, I could hear Jean repeatedly calling me in worry, probably from my scream of pain, though this was only worsening her condition as her flames continued to rapidly expanding. Thankfully, Cerebo was built underneath a random open field, though if her power continued to grow, it'd eventually reach the school.
'Dammit, Jean's got to control her power quickly.' Thought Pharaoh as he ignored the various people gazing at his stark body and flew back down into the hole.
"P-Pharaoh, w-where are you!?" Yelled Jean fearfully as she floated in the air while looking frantically looking for Tut.
"I-I'm here, ugh, Jean. I-I'm okay, j-just a little bit of a rash. A-Anyways, Jean, you need to calm down and control your powers, alright?" Replied Pharaoh, peeking his head through the hole in the wall and glancing at Jean, only for part of his face to be singed.
"I-I'll try." Said Jean nervously in uncertainty as she attempted to calm down, though other than slowing down her powers, nothing happened; they continued to expand.
I tried to assist Jean as much as I could by being a calming voice, but she was far too flustered; it wasn't working anymore, and Mr. McCoy's voice didn't help either.
"J-Jean, y-your power is threatening to destroy the estate; you need to control yourself!" Stated McCoy from the speaker, his words further panicking Jean, while Pharaoh glared at him through the numerous walls.
Inwardly cursing at Mr. McCoy, I looked at Jean's nervous, agitated expression and gritted my teeth, as I knew getting her to calm down now would be difficult and take too long. Taking a deep breath, I prepared my mind before flying into the flames, burning my body as I approached Jean; without saying a single thing, I hugged her and flew through the ceiling, using my body to protect hers as we exited the underground and speedily flew into the air, while sun helped to heal my constantly burning body, though it was only delaying the painful inevitable.
"P-Pharaoh, g-get away, I-I'm burning you! Y-You're getting hurt!" Yelled Jean in fear as she looked at Tut while tears threatened to escape her eyes.
Looking at Jean's frightened self as we swiftly left the atmosphere and floated in the void of space, I grabbed her face before suddenly kissing her, causing her to widen her eyes in both fear and embarrassment as she tried to push me away, though I persisted and slowly her resistance died down until she was reciprocating the kiss. Unknown to Jean, the flames ethereal flames surrounding her were quickly summoned back into her body, though she was too busy kissing me to notice it.
'Haa, so I suppose those types of kisses work on both men and women alike.' Thought Pharaoh lightly while passionately kissing Jean, who was also naked.
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Now, my fellow readers, give me them power stones for this lovely chapter, and if by now you haven't figured out who the second woman in Pharaoh's harem will be, I'm just going to say it, you're fucking stupid. As for those who have correctly guessed his third woman, you're a genius, but you're going to need to be more specific; after all, the Marvel multiverse is so massive. (*Wink*)(*Wink*)(*Nudge*)(*Nudge*)