Chapter 206: Rose Emerging (2007)
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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12th June 2007, New York City
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
The man created a golden shield around his left hand and took out some sort of stick from his right hand.
There had to be something more to this stick, someone like Mordo wasn't an idiot with a gimmick. The witch spread her senses towards the stick and gasped at the energy contained inside it.
Before she could warn Jean, the redhead started to duel and threw a giant boulder at their opponent. Mordo just swung the small staff thing which extended itself into a whip and destroyed the boulder.
Wanda and Jean were gaping at the scene in front of them. It seemed that the fight would be a lot harder than they thought it would.
The man gave them a vicious grin, "Are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?"
Wanda sent a telepathic message to her partner, 'Jean, get inside his head. I'll keep him occupied by attacking him physically, you hang back and use your telepathy.'
Jean sent her a telepathic confirmation, and the young witch leapt into the air, her arms raised, her psionic blade pointed at her opponent.
Mordo didn't seem phased by the attack and ducked under her blow. She went past him, and the man just kicked her in the back. Wanda was able to right herself and land on her feet. She glared at the man's dismissal of her and sent a reality magic bolt at him. She had to keep him occupied enough for Jean to breach his mental barriers.
This was a common tactic she and Jean made when dealing with someone who knew how to protect their minds from telepaths. It required a lot of discipline, concentration and self control, something that people lose when they're fighting. So, Wanda does her best to infuriate and distract them, while Jean worms her way into their minds to knock them out.
The sorcerer didn't seem bothered by the incoming bolt of reality magic and just extended his staff into some sort of whip, grabbed the bolt of magic and sent it back at her. Wanda was so surprised by this, that she barely had enough time to make a shield to protect her from her own spell.
'I think we'll need to use my flames for this. It's the only thing we haven't tried yet.'
'I still haven't used my transmutation, but I didn't have an opportunity to do it.'
The redhead nodded, 'alright, let's take him by surprise.'
Before they could do anything, they were blasted back into the air, and they watched Mordo with surprise in their eyes. "Illusions can be very powerful against the uninitiated. Unfortunately for you, I am not uninitiated. This has gone on for long enough, goodbye, Wanda Maximoff, and Jean Grey, may you find peace in the next life."
As the man raised his staff, Jean readied her phoenix flames to surprise him. Nothing, as far as she knows, could resist these flames. Just as the redhead was preparing to attack, pure glowing white chains of hard light grabbed the man by his torso and threw him back.
Wanda knew this spell. This was her mother's spell. Was she back? The young witch looked at the source of the spell with hope in her eyes. That hope was immediately stifled when she saw who it was. It was a woman, who looked a bit older than them. She had red hair, hazel eyes. This wasn't Jasmine. This wasn't her mother.
The woman didn't let Mordo gather his strength. She sent another wave of chains at him, and the man dodged, but as he tried to grab them, he screamed in pain as frost enveloped his arm.
Mordo raised his staff and with more golden energy, broke the chains like he did Wanda's sword and Jean's shield. The man chose to run at her with some close combat. The woman bent back to protect herself from the thrust, and sent ice spikes at his feet, impaling them. As the man was trying to process his pain, the woman sent a spear made of hard light at him. The man was able to dodge it, but not completely. There was a large gash on his chest. His clothes were visibly repairing themselves, but the man was still bleeding.
The mystery woman smirked at him and summoned a circle of fire made of hard light. It surrounded both herself and Jean along with the mystery woman. The man kept sending attack after attack and the fire kept absorbing them, blocking them. This was a very powerful shield spell, and it was also one of her mother's creations.
When this mess was done with, she had a lot of questions for the mystery woman. But for now, they had to deal with an enraged Mordo. The man used his staff to destroy the spell once more. But the woman expected this somehow and sent hundreds of small razor sharp icicles at him. The man created a spherical shield to protect himself and Wanda gathered her powers properly and sent a giant bolt of lightning at the shield.
Under the pressure, the shield cracked and fell. The mystery woman had teleported in front of him with a loud crack and kicked him in the chest. Behind him, Wanda raised a wall of earth, transmutated it into steel and added some sharp spikes in the end. The man landed back first into them and screamed in pain, as two spikes the size of a nail impaled him in the back. Before he could collect himself, Jean created a psionic sword in each hand but this time the swords were enveloped in an orange fire. She must have combined them with her phoenix fire. Huh, that's a first for her.
Mordo had enough consciousness in him to block the sword with his staff. He released the golden energy once more, but this time it didn't affect Jean's blade. Mordo's eyes widened as Jean used her other hand to cut off his arm, more specifically, the one wielding the Staff of the Living Tribunal.
There was a shockwave of golden light as it happened, when the relic was separated from its chosen. Everyone was sent back once more. But Mordo got up, holding onto his handless arm. He looked at them, limping, "This is not over. I swear to you. I will kill the three of you. I will find your loved ones and skin them alive as they watch and then as you beg for mercy, I will impale you in the chest as you die a slow and painful death."
The man then disappeared, probably teleported or something.
The mystery woman chuckled, "That was such a clich threat. Why can't villains be original for once?"
Wanda stepped up and demanded, "Who are you?"
"My name is Rose Potter, and I hear you're looking for my sister, Jasmine Sayre."