Cyclops

Alarms began to blare as Alchemax Headquarters went into full lockdown. After being transported across eras — from the year 2099 back to the modern day — the anachronistic anomaly towering over Lower Manhattan had now become the prime target for a group of heroes looking to prevent any further damage to the already unstable fabric of reality.

Their primary goal: to deliver a portable version of the Timestream Reintegration Device to a secret lab inside where Moon Girl was waiting. If she could amplify the device’s power via an experimental strain of Chronovium, it might send Alchemax HQ back to its point of origin, repairing any damage that the chronal incursion had caused. Attacking a futuristic megacorporation that had its own private army was certainly a dangerous mission, but it was one the heroes knew they had no choice but to accept.

Devil Dinosaur let out a furious roar as he crashed through the tower’s fortified front gates. On the prehistoric predator’s back, the Punisher rode into action, firing his weapons at full blast to send Alchemax security guards and Public Eye officers running in terror. As the peculiar pair reveled in the chaos they were causing, Reed Richards and his other allies followed them into the breached building to locate Moon Girl and execute their plan. But one hero wasn’t sticking to the script. For once, Jean Grey wasn’t focused on saving the world. All she wanted was to save the man she loved.

“Scott,” she called out with her mind, “I’m coming for you…”

Using her telepathy, Jean scanned the tower for any trace of her beloved’s thoughts. But although she could feel Scott Summers in her heart, in her head there was nothing but silence. At best, Cyclops was being deliberately shielded from her detection. At worst, the experiments he had been subjected to while captive had shattered his mind to the point where it was no longer recognizable. Jean was not about to accept the latter as a possibility. The very thought of it caused her Phoenix Force to flare. Cosmic flames leapt from her body as she began to tear through everything in her path.

“Keep your cool, Jean,” Rogue said as she followed closely in the wake of Jean’s destruction. “We ain’t gonna have any chance of savin’ Cyclops if we bring the whole dang tower crashin’ down on us first!”

Jean turned and glared at her teammate, her eyes aflame. Rogue instantly recognized that look: a woman determined to protect the man she loves at any cost. Jean’s desire wasn’t just fueled by love, though. It was sustained by unbridled cosmic fury. Rogue knew that kind of passion could easily spiral out of control. And if anything had happened to Scott, she feared that things might escalate faster than any of the heroes present could control. Suddenly, she hoped more than ever that Scott Summers was still alive and well somewhere in this building… for all of their sakes…

Jean burned her way through a labyrinth of metal walls with ease, searching every room on every floor for any traces of her fellow founding X-Man. Finally, she reached a top-secret research & development facility where Cyclops was being held inside a ruby-quartz containment tube. Jean raced over to the tube and put her hand on the glass, mustering up all of her mental might to make contact with the man on the other side. Still nothing. Alchemax’s psychic dampeners were certainly impressive if they could block the mind of an Omega-level Mutant. But after a long, tense moment that seemed like an eternity, Scott Summers slowly turned and held his hand against the clear wall, perfectly aligned with Jean’s. He was still alive. And as far as Jean Grey was determined, there was nothing in this timeline — or any other — that would keep them apart any longer.

Jean raced over to the containment unit’s control panel and began to frantically search for a button that would safely release Cyclops from his crystalline prison. Meanwhile, Rogue still had her eyes on her captive ally and could sense that something wasn’t right.

“I know you’re desperate to get your beau outta there, Jeannie,” Rogue said, “but I don’t gotta be a mind reader to see that Scott’s tryin’ to warn us ‘bout somethin’.”

Jean turned back and looked closer, peering through the red-tinted crystal of the tube and into the eyes of her long lost love. It was rare that she got the chance to do so, since Scott’s Mutant powers usually forced him to keep his eyes concealed behind a special visor at all times. As their gaze met, Jean could see Scott’s pain… but also his fear. Their psychic rapport may have been blocked by Alchemax’s technology, but she didn’t need it to recognize that, for once in his life, Scott Summers was terrified. But of what?

The answer would have to wait. Scott suddenly snapped his head up in pain inside the containment tube. It was clear that the implants inside him were ravaging his body, and Jean knew she couldn’t wait any longer to set him free. She summoned the force of the Phoenix and shattered the crimson crystal container.

“Jean…” Scott said weakly as the walls of his prison began to crumble around him. “You… shouldn’t have done that…”

Before the ruby-quartz shards could even hit the floor, Cyclops was already releasing a powerful optic blast, decimating everything in his line of sight. Rogue instinctively leapt for cover while Jean erected a telekinetic shield around her body.

“Close your blasted eyes, Summers!” Rogue yelled.

“I… I can’t…” Cyclops replied, beams of pure concussive force still pouring from his eyes. “Whatever Alchemax did to me… they made sure I couldn’t close them… ever again…”

“Maybe this will help,” Jean said, presenting Cyclops one of his spare visors, which she had brought along with her in case of an emergency like this. She carefully floated it over to Cyclops in a telekinetic bubble, but his optic blast was so intense that it broke through the protective aura surrounding the visor and crushed it to dust.

“You have to get out of here…” Cyclops said. “My powers… They’re completely out of control… I can’t let myself hurt you… or anyone else…”

“I just found you again, Scott,” Jean said. Her own shield still held strong, but her heart ached as she felt her lover’s pain. “I won’t leave you. There has to be a solution…”

“I think I might have one,” a young girl’s voice replied over the building’s intercom. “Oh, this is Moon Girl, B-T-Dubs. Sorry to interrupt your reunion. But while we’re up here in my lab waiting on the TRD to calibrate, I figured I’d let you know what I know.”

“Mind fillin’ us in, kid?” Rogue asked from her hiding spot, which was growing less safe with every moment that passed.

“Okay…” Moon Girl said. “When Alchemax was trying to tap into the energy source that fuels Mr. Summers’ optic blasts, they needed a continuous flow of power. So they had to force his eyes open… like, permanently. That left his ocular physiology vulnerable. And when that energy was combined with Chronovium during their experiments, the chronal feedback caused a fundamental change to the biological structure of his eyes.”

“What kind of change?” Jean asked.

“Basically, his eyeballs crystallized,” Moon Girl replied.

“If he can’t close ‘em,” Rogue said, “then he can’t turn off his blasts. And there ain’t no way I can get close enough to steal his powers and shut ‘em down at the source!”

“There may be another way to fix it,” Moon Girl continued, “but it’s just a theory… and way too risky!”

“I don’t care how dangerous it is,” Jean said as she watched Cyclops writhe in agony as the endless surge of force erupted from his skull. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“That much power needs a safe place to go,” Moon Girl said. “Alchemax says it originates from some place called the ‘Punch Dimension.’ I’m still not convinced. Even if they’re right, though, it’s not like we can just send it back there. So instead, we need a way to absorb it… some sorta vessel for all of that overflowing energy. But I can’t think of a single thing on Earth with that kinda capacity!”

“I can,” Jean replied, the shape of a cosmic firebird forming around her body. “The Phoenix is life and creation incarnate. And ever since it was wounded by Knull on Klyntar, it has been seeking a source of energy potent enough to replenish it. Scott’s powers may be just what the Phoenix needs to stoke its flames… just as he’s always ignited the fire in my heart…”

“OMG! You guys are too cute!” Moon Girl squealed. “And also, that might actually work! Go get your man, Ms. Grey!”

With that, Jean dropped her telekinetic shield and began to walk slowly toward Cyclops. Despite their unrivaled concussive power, his optic blasts simply parted around her flaming figure, doing no damage to her Phoenix form whatsoever.

“Jean… please… no…” Cyclops pleaded.

But Jean continued her approach. When she finally reached Cyclops, Jean leaned in and looked directly into her longtime companion’s eyes. The endless stream of energy poured directly into Jean’s body at full blast. But she never moved. Never flinched. She just absorbed every ounce of force into herself, her cosmic flame growing ever brighter.

“Well, whaddaya know…” Rogue said in disbelief.

As Scott’s energy continued to restore the power of the Phoenix Force, Jean’s absorption seemed to be gradually stabilizing the intensity of his output. The lines between their physical forms began to blur. They were becoming one, body and soul.

“Look at me, Scott Summers,” Jean Grey whispered. “You have nothing to fear… not while I’m with you…”

Suddenly, the brilliant red light of Cyclops’s optic blasts was replaced by a burst of blinding white. And in that instant, everything changed.

With her energy now fully restored, Jean had taken on a new form — the White Phoenix. And her transformation had somehow stabilized the crystallization of Scott's eyes. It was as if the two had been reborn when their powers achieved a perfect balance.

Scott Summers shut his eyes tight as Jean Grey held him in her arms. As a single tear found its way out from underneath his closed eyelids, the sacred white radiance surrounding Jean slowly faded with it, as though it had been nothing more than a fleeting miracle.

After all this time, Cyclops was finally home again.