“That particular shade of orange quartz is Fire Quartz. That shade of yellow quartz is Lightning Quartz. Jean, I think we’re done on the shooting, come on back and thanks for your help!”

“That was pretty strong, huh?” Scott Summers asked, visor slit still golden.

“As strong as my best blast, with a LOT more range,” I admitted without shame. “Of course, you’ve got to pay for it, and it’s more specific in use. Hey, Ryder, come on up,” I said into coms.

Jean was coming back across the river, the steel target plate in tow as she flew over. Nova zipped up from the lower level. He was still doing absorption sessions, but they were lasting longer and getting more productive as he got used to the process.

“Hey, Scott!” he greeted the taller kid, shaking Scott’s hand as he set down. “I understand I’m here to get shot at?” he asked with a curious expression.

“An eclectic combination of electrokinesis, ambient static, and electron stripping. Should be much more useful than my blasts, right, Mentor?”

“We shall see, Dynamo. Cyclops, if you would?” the AI replied.

Scott put his hand up to his ear in surprise. They’d naturally put coms in his ear baffles, but he’d never heard Mentor’s voice before.

“Scott, you’re going to do this until you totally can’t. It takes 3 PP minimum to shoot off that beam, so just keep shooting him until you can’t anymore, and keep count.”

“Then I’ll know how big my Core is?” he reasoned.

“Precisely.”

“Got it!”

I pulled up the blast shield for the Fantasicar, waved Ryder over there so he could brace himself against it, then sat back and watched the resulting show.

Scott still fell over after the next thundershot, but not as badly. He really had to brace himself to get a shot off.

The energy pounded into the waiting Nova, who grimaced as he absorbed it directly.

“That will do nicely,” Mentor relayed.

“Until you’re empty, Scott,” I repeated, as Jean set down next to me, looking away from the bright flash and boom as Scott let go again.

Devasight, natch. Repulse kept the dust and wind at bay.

“That is a LOT of power he’s putting out, isn’t it?” Jean asked me. I handed her a pair of polarized glasses and she slipped them on.

“Yes. Just like heating steel red-hot in a fiftieth of a second,” I said as we talked around the thunderclap of his shots.

“I thought you were joking about his raw power compared to me, but I can see you weren’t. What kind of an upper limit are we talking about for him?” she asked me quietly.

“Oh, he’s Epsilon if he gets to Twenty. Can probably pick off a target on the moon, or run a saber beam through a mountain. He can probably get to the point where he can use a basic Fire or Thundershot as a Cantrip with practice and discipline before too long, albeit with reduced punch.

“Once he gets some solid ergakinesis under his belt to complement his beams, he’s gonna be terrifying,” I said confidently.

-------

The next morning...

“Two hundred and fourteen consecutive shots?” Cassandra blinked despite herself. “You’re saying he already has a Core at 646?” she repeated deliberately.

“He took off his visor and wasn’t beaming anything, completely empty. That sounds about right.” And he’d said it felt like he had a soul-sucking void inside him. The plan now was to use Depletion Training to see if it helped increase his Core, driving him down to nothing, then having him refill it...

“By the gods.” She rubbed her smooth head, staring at nothing. “I thought I had an impressive Core... My Natural Core is at 309. When I was first tested, it was at 240...”

“So, in the same area as Jean and Bobby. You’re sitting on around 490 in Reserves, right?”

She gave me a sharp glance after I was able to judge that so accurately. “You are dangerously perceptive, young lady,” she told me.

“Guesswork... and I memorized The Core Disciplines. Why do people have so much trouble doing basic math?” I rolled my eyes. “You should be sitting on a 40 Wisdom as a Twenty. Add two numbers together...” I put my fingers together.

She threw up her hands in defeat. “Very well. And Telepathy is nominally a Wisdom Discipline, of course. It is an incredible waste that you don’t have a Core, Dynamo.”

“Warlock wonders for the young lady, yay,” I replied dryly, lightning dancing between my fingers in a crackling display. “Was I right on Warren’s Seraphim Bloodline?” I asked as she flicked through the Assessment on him.

“Yes,” she sighed again, trying to read me again. “Aside from the wings, what tipped you to that?”

“His good looks. He went from the cover of GQ to Joe Streetboy Average. Pure masculine beauty reliant on psi power like that? What else could it be? Let us thank the heavens.” I looked skywards tellingly, mock piety on my face. She smirked in appreciation.

“If he can grow his Core enough, the healing power of his Bloodline should kick in. Unlike most such things, he should be able to confer it upon others. An... extraordinary gift from the Heavens,” she agreed with me, smiling. It was indeed a rare and precious gift.

“And he can sell it for a LOT of money, if he cares to.” Disease-curing wasn’t so widespread as to not be valuable, and injury healing likewise, at least in nations that hadn’t embraced the Core Disciplines. “Spare change to someone like him, of course, unless it can be replicated as a viable healing elixir of some kind.

“From a practical standpoint, it gives him a powerful avenue of growth with flight speed. He won’t be a true speedster, but his flight is already telekinetic. Growing it should not be a problem with his bloodline being what it is.”

“He must break what he perceives as his limits, but that should not be too difficult, given who he is associating with,” she acknowledged.

“Are you offended by the circlets, Director?” I asked her, tapping the band on my head. It was becoming standard wear, with Dr. Richards working on an unstable molecule version of it that could be adapted to those with powers, like Johnny Storm and himself.

“No, actually.” She smiled softly. “It is quiet here, Dyna. I can’t hear any outside thoughts at all. You have no idea how precious that is to a telepath. Normally I would have to don a helmet of my own to achieve the same effect, but such things are similar to pouring wax into your ears, very stuffy and uncomfortable.” She closed her eyes as she clasped her hands together. “It is rather like standing close to Mother.”

“She says significantly. I take it she’s watching the new Phoenix.”

“Dear, everyone is watching the new Phoenix,” Cassandra corrected me with a smile.

“Touché. Not surprising in the slightest, actu... the Hell was that?” I looked down sharply, and she frowned at the sudden move.

A second later there was a soft alarm. I came to my feet, and she followed suit, watching me closely.

“Artificial tremor, tremors, coming from the southeast.” I reached up to my ear. “Doc? Anything else?” My fingers flickered as I registered more impacts.

“Sonic traffic coming in from the waters. Running through the matches...” his voice responded instantly, having a finely conditioned response to the alarms going off here. I gestured Cassandra to follow me as I made my way to one of the nearer exits from the Building. The alarms’ tones changed.

“Uncleared air traffic in military formations,” I informed her. “Dammit, what are the odds this is Atlantean?”

Her eyes flickered. “Murican overfishing in the Atlantic is a byword, and the language has been increasingly tense recently. King Namor likely wouldn’t start a war, but the tribes of Atlantis are not completely under his control... and if they started something to redress the balance of things, that would not be unusual.”

I considered how dumb it was for an army to attack a city with the Molecule Man in it, and shook my head.

“Atlantean craft in numbers. Sea Raiders, landers, and transports,” Dr. Richards relayed to me. “We are likely hearing early shelling along the docks going off.”

“Removing any naval threats,” I sighed, opening up the wall exit. “I know this isn’t your fight, but you could be very polite about helping vacate civilians and making sure things don’t wind up in complete chaos.”

She sighed, eying the invisible barrier of the building’s psi-wards. “Back to the noise. I will not interfere with this matter, but I think a little mitigation around the edges won’t overly excite either side.”

The Atlanteans had advanced tech and magic. Any massive use of psi would likely trigger a very heated response in her direction, lest she reach out and melt their brains first.

“Well, then, I’m off to see about beating the crap out of some blue water-breathers.” I jumped out the window as I activated my Mask, looking south-east to where I could see a lot of flashing going on... and a lot of vessels moving up the East River at speed. “Doc, small flotilla of boats coming up the river. I imagine they’d like to secure the Baxter Building.”

“Let them try,” Susan’s cool voice came back, and I could hear wind in the background. “The field generators need a real test, anyways.”

“Flame on!” whooped Johnny, shooting into the sky. Since he pointed out their target by doing so, there were immediate cannon shots coming off the ships, plasma discharges cutting bright paths towards the windows of the Baxter Building.

They struck the new force field set up around the building, geometric patterns flowing over it and dumping the energy down into adamantium columns buttressing the building’s interior.

“How can we help?” Scott Summers broke in over coms.

“Do you have the test visor still?” I asked him promptly.

“I’m bringing it from the lab!” Hank McCoy broke in.

“Great! Doc should be firing up the Fantasicar, go meet up with him in it. Jean, psi-link, defend, civilian casualty control, Susan should have the TK offense angle covered. Angel, I want scouting and visuals, you’re spotting for Scott. Mr. Fantastic will likely take the fight to them with his team; he points at something, you shoot it! Ben should be coming out the ground floor and heading to the water to meet them. Hank, I want you on com traffic and monitoring so the Doc doesn’t need to. Bobby, remember us talking about your limits?”

“Uh, yeah?” he answered back hastily.

“Freeze the East River around their boats. The Rock needs to wander over and parade on their rain.”

“Oh. Oh! Okay...” He had kind of a dread thrill thing going on.

“What about you, Dynamo?” Dr. Richards broke in.

“I’m totally redundant there. I’m heading south where they’ll be landing the main infantry force. I am MUCH better in a brawl than sniping. If Bobby can ice up the river and you can knock out the boats, their landing options just got pretty limited unless they want to go up the sewers.”

“We got this, Dyna, and we’ll meet up with you down there. It’s Clobberin’ Time!” Grimm contributed. Glancing back, I saw his rocky form pounding across FF Plaza towards the river, daring them to shoot at him, even as Johnny swirled in loops through the air, avoiding their fire as he closed in on the lead boats.

Johnny’s fiery form was far, far tougher than it looked, trying to blast plasma just didn’t work too well, so those Atlanteans were going to be surprised even if they managed to hit him.

================

Assessments...

======

X-Men:

Warren Worthington:

Primary Tranche: Psion (biomorph). The advancement of his physical capabilities of flight and advancement of his Bloodline in all areas should be of primary importance to Warren. Everything else he does stems from this. He should end up the most overall psionically skilled member of the team.

Secondary Tranche: Melee, retrained to pure Mindblade. The higher tiers of the Mindblade include launching ranged attacks with the Mindblade, something he can likely adapt to his wings, making him dangerous in both close and ranged combat without having to carry an arsenal.

Tertiary Tranche: Minstrel (Courtier). Warren is the son of an extremely wealthy family, and basically raised as a member of the States aristocracy. Those skills need to be developed, and the Courtier excels in the social arena. It would not be wrong to say that Warren and his Angelic Bloodline should be cultivated as a spokesman for Powered in general and Mutants in particular, nor would he be averse to such a situation.

Hank McCoy:

Primary Tranche (chosen): Scout (investigator). While unafraid to mix it up in melee combat, Hank’s heart is not in combat, it is knowledge. A Class with great amounts of skill points and a mental focus shines and appeals to his deepest desires, and he thrives on teamwork over solo play.

Secondary Tranche: Alchemist. Hank prefers to work in the field of genetics, which aligns with Weird Science Alchemy and his own abilities. His, ah, inclinations to mess with his own natural abilities dovetail nicely with those of an Alchemist.

Tertiary Tranche: If he can be convinced to go Psion (Biomorph), then it should be extremely encouraged, giving him insights into genetic and physical conditions he could not get otherwise. If not, then Minstrel (Loremaster) would be most appropriate, once again appealing to his thirst for knowledge.

Robert Drake:

Primary Tranche: Psion (kinetic). Bobby is afraid of the power of his abilities and needs to develop the control to have confidence in them and in himself. Psion Levels will do this marvelously, plus allow him to branch out beyond his natural mutant specialization into other related energy forms with great synergies.

Secondary Tranche: Shifter. His iced form basically makes Bobby into a neo-Elemental Avatar, and he needs to learn to be unafraid of this change and employ it to the maximum of his ability. The Shifter abilities would be perfect for him.

Tertiary Tranche: Minstrel, with focuses on manipulation and control of ice into art. This will further improve his control, and the social skills that come by default will prove useful.

Scott Summers:

Primary Class (chosen): Archer. Scott is, by all measures, a primary ranged combatant, and more mastery of and confidence in his control over his eyebeams is exactly what he needs most.

Secondary Class: Psion (kinetic). The overwhelming need for control of his massive energy output renders this a requirement that cannot be avoided. The support techniques Scott can choose should only enhance his abilities to help and coordinate his team.

Tertiary Class: Scout (tactician). Scott has excellent command instincts and works best under pressure, while the stealth and teamwork focus aid in his ranged support options for his team.

Jean Grey:

Primary Class: Psion (telepath). The foremost requirement of being a Phoenix Avatar is keeping your sanity and control when in contact with such a contrary cosmic entity. All mental disciplines possible should support Jean’s willpower and development in this area. The Phoenix Energy from her Warlock Ranks will support her raw power even if she does not specifically develop in that area.

Secondary Class: Archer (Warlock). Jean will be a ranged combatant, and the fire and telekinetic options that will be open to her need to be wielded with skill and finesse. With potentially unlimited Warlock Ranks on command, the focus here is on controlling power, not gaining it.

Tertiary Class: Monk, with an extreme focus on Ocean, Moon, and Sun. These three Dragons are the most suitable for facing the whimsical desires of the Phoenix, and building mastery of one’s own mind and soul.