"Her evil personality is surfacing! I suggest we'd better..." Iron Man pointed at Jean and turned to Thea, his expression clearly saying: you're supposed to be the strong one here, so shut it down!
Thea watched for a moment and shook her head. "I don't know how far psychology has advanced on your side, but a personality that's been suppressed long-term will always rebound harder the longer it's kept down."
"You want to use this as an opportunity to resolve the psychological obstacle? I'm afraid that won't be easy." Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange, had been an exceptional surgeon in his previous career. He understood psychology, and he wasn't optimistic. In his view, treatment should be incremental, not attempted in the middle of an energy transfer. It was too chaotic.
"Jean's problem is the Phoenix Force. If we can dissolve the wall between her two personalities, she'll finally have a chance at genuine happiness. Where I'm from, there's a technique called dynamic structural psychotherapy. We can construct an adolescent environment around her, find common ground between both personalities, and then..."
As she spoke, Thea wove magic into the air, reconstructing a simulation of Jean's teenage years. Her father had been a history professor. Honestly, if not for the mutant factor, Jean's life could've been far more ordinary.
Doctor Strange's long face registered surprise. "I had no idea you were this accomplished in medicine."
"I hold doctorates in both genetic biology and medicine."
That bridged the gap between the two sorcerers considerably. From genetics to biopharmaceuticals, from theory to clinical practice, they found common ground everywhere. Doctor Strange was an authority in surgery; Thea had run her share of morally gray experiments and accumulated no small amount of knowledge. Add the sorcerer angle, linking magic to medicine, and both had distinctive perspectives to offer, though Thea suspected some of hers had originally been the Ancient One's.
The Ancient One had died early. Most of Doctor Strange's abilities were self-taught, and some of his ideas were, frankly, underdeveloped. When Thea pointed out the gaps, he couldn't help but marvel.
While they chatted happily, the rank-and-file sorcerers of the New York Sanctum, who walked around with their noses in the air on a normal day but were actually a bunch of lightweights, were losing their minds. The Phoenix Force was entering this dimension, its grandeur exceeding anything their imaginations could have produced. Forget keeping up appearances in front of the assembled heroes; some rushed to repair the wards, others reinforced existing defenses, and a few were glancing around nervously, ready to pack up and run.
Thea smiled inwardly. Out of respect for Doctor Strange, she snapped her fingers.
Wolverine's and Cyclops's rings began to slow their circulation. Jean, her momentum ebbing, gradually came back to herself.
"You people...?" Her brows arched slightly, dark red energy flickering across her palms. Then something seemed to register, and the tension drained away, settling into calm.
"How do you feel? Any discomfort?" Thea slipped into doctor mode.
"Lighter. Like half the weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And I think my personality has shifted a little..." Jean was no stranger to education. She'd been living at Xavier's school as a teacher, and though the professor didn't hold formal accreditation and his diplomas weren't exactly recognized in certain countries, Jean herself did hold a doctorate.
That doctorate might have been obtained with a nudge from telepathy, but she'd been through the academic system. After her personality split, she'd studied psychology on her own. She understood her own mental state.
"I don't think you need to reject that dark personality. It's part of you. Everyone carries darkness inside, even Superman over there, even your Captain America. As long as you understand what you're doing, that's enough. Get some rest."
Thea opened a portal back to Avengers HQ. The whole entourage filed through, leaving the Sanctum's rank-and-file sorcerers to clean up.
With Jean Grey, now the modified Dark Phoenix courtesy of Thea, plus the healed Grandmaster and Thea herself, that was three multiversal-tier fighters against Krona's multiversal apex. In theory, fifty-fifty odds.
Add Diana, Superman, Doctor Strange, and Thor as individual universe-tier combatants, plus Batman and Iron Man as the two cheat-code types, plus Captain America, who could take a punch from Thanos and embodied the core values of the United States of America...
Factor in the remaining heroes. Current lightweights with huge potential, like Scarlet Witch and Iceman, might be able to charge up a big move mid-battle and contribute something meaningful. All in all, their chances looked good.
A brief strategy session followed. Thea needed to stabilize her own condition. Her power level in this universe was volatile; she had to suppress certain extreme emotions to keep her strength steady.
And if their numerical advantage was going to count for anything, fighting inside Galactus's body was essential. Too many heroes lacked the ability to survive in open space.
With Jean on board, Thea stopped bringing up the idea of reviving Galactus.
The problem now was getting in. Krona wasn't stupid, wasn't a dungeon boss standing around waiting. He'd reinforced the spatial barrier. The moment they crossed through, they'd be staring down what was technically an energy gun but functionally a cosmic cannon.
That kind of firepower would drop Thea after a few direct hits. Standing there like a target maintaining a two-way passage? Absolutely not.
"We could take Star-Lord's ship, the Dawn. Fly it straight through. It's the toughest ship I've ever seen, but breaching the barrier would take an enormous energy source." Iron Man offered a solid idea, then huddled with Mister Fantastic and Batman to hash out the details. Star-Lord, the ship's actual owner, was politely ignored.
Seeing that there was nothing left for her to do here, Thea gently smoothed the furrow between Diana's brows. "Come on. Let's go out. This New York is worth exploring. I spotted a shoe store earlier that looked promising."
Her strength was long past the point where last-minute training would help. What she needed was to relax, and relaxation meant maximum combat effectiveness. Diana thought it over. Every trip to a parallel world was nothing but fighting. Taking some downtime before the big battle wasn't the worst idea. She agreed to the shopping trip.
If they were going shopping, swords and shields had to go. Diana changed into casual clothes, and the two of them walked out arm in arm.
The pentagonal layout of Avengers HQ was oddly confusing. Both goddesses had changed outfits and circled half the building before finding the exit.
By the time they reached the entrance, Tony Stark was already waiting in a car, dressed in a sharp suit with sunglasses and a neatly trimmed goatee, looking every bit the man of style. His chubby bodyguard, Happy Hogan, was behind the wheel.
"Two lovely ladies. Need a tour guide?"