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Moment of Awesome - Callisto: During the final battle against the Dark Phoenix, Callisto sacrifices all to cover the retreat.

Following on behind him, Callisto moved over to where she'd seen what she needed, a massive hulking sheet of internal blast-door that had been burst and twisted, one side a roughly serrated edge, the other still attached to the metal beam that had framed it - easily a ton and change in weight. As the debris beneath her feet continued its ominous vibrations she pulled the shard free from the wreckage, her weary muscles screaming in protest as she hauled it up from the ground.

She could almost feel her attention shifting back to them, could almost feel the charge in the air as the energy built up around the asteroid field of floating debris that lay between her and the Dark Phoenix.

The others scrambled across the wreckage as the debris finally made its move - suddenly, picking up momentum what should have been impossibly quickly, almost a blur in the air as they flew toward the retreating mutants. With a final almighty heave, Callisto lifted the shard and planted her feet, barely having time to put her shoulder to it before the onslaught hit.

It hit her like a truck, the noise of stone and metal meeting metal horrendous, deafening, the air drying and burning her lungs as the energy of the impact engulfed her. She could feel the shard itself vibrating, now, the metal heating and twisting in her grip, her burn-scarred skin blistering anew, and it wasn't a shield any more but yet another weapon, another object under the Dark Phoenix's control, and it would surely only be seconds before she used it.

Callisto closed her eyes.

"They're useless."

The air was thick with moisture, with the smell of chlorophyll and compost, and Callisto felt the heat like a wave as she entered.

"Hey, you in there, weathergirl? I know you're in there. I can't run these classes; they're no good, they're just gonna hurt themselves."

"That's where you come in," came the disembodied voice, floating in from behind a particularly enthusiastic fern. "To show them how not to. That's a teacher's job."

"I'm not-..." Callisto moved around the fern, but Ororo had already begun walking down the row away from her, forcing her to trot on after her like a particularly large, skinny puppy. "I'm not a teacher," she insisted, "that's what I've been trying to tell you - I don't know what to show them first, I don't know how they should... stand or hold themselves or whatever, my body just does stuff, I don't know how it does it."

"Then that's the first step. Learn how it does it, and then teach them. I know you're capable, Callisto. I've seen you with them. You want them to be safe, don't you?"

"That's-..." Callisto stopped short when Ororo turned suddenly, and they were face to face, and she felt herself shrink back slightly under the other woman's steady gaze. "That's all I want," she said. "That's why I'm here. But-"

"Then keep them safe. I know you can. I have faith in you."


Keep them safe.

Angelo had seen Callisto floored by a thunder god. He had seen her engulfed in flames and keep fighting. He had seen her back break.

What he saw as he looked back then, he knew there was no coming back from.