Chapter 3
It felt like hours before the X-Men had successfully herded the X-Force team out the door of the mansion (although Deadpool had put up a protest about leaving Cable behind before screaming ‘Hi Yukio!’ as the taxi had driven down the drive) before Jean finally managed excuse herself from the room, very aware of Logan and Ororo watching her and the ever present connection between herself and the Professor.
Making her way towards the wing of the building where the teachers lived and the series of rooms she shared with Scott, she found herself thinking about the child, their child.
And the disturbing visions they had been shown.
Although she had told Scott to take Nathan to see Hank, she already knew what the results would be. Nathan was theirs. There was no other option. All she needed to do was look to see that he was Scott’s child and his mind, his powers….they was all hers.
He was also exceptionally powerful. And yet, Jean could tell that there was something not right. Although Nathan’s telepathy was in full swing and enough to rival Jeans own, his telekinesis was muted. And more frighteningly, most of his powers were directed inwards on himself.
Jean had seen young mutants direct their powers in on themselves as a form of self-harm. She had done it once or twice, when the self-loathing had gotten too much and she had wanted to hurt herself. It was frightening to see it happening to someone so young, let alone a child who was, as all evidence suggested, her son.
Jean guessed it had to be a conscious thing that he was doing to himself. The sheer power of the child and his level of control was too much for the boy not to be aware of what he was doing.
Jean was terrified that he was doing it to hurt himself. But she found she was even more afraid if he was doing it to mute the pain.
Jean had seen the metal arm, the scars on Nathans face. She had seen the glimpse of something in the memories he had shared with them, of agonising metal racing though his veins, a horrifying familiar feeling after her few ventures into Logan’s memories. That a child knew that feeling…
It would take a lot of energy to mute such agony.
Arriving at the door to her rooms, Jean was surprised to be met by Hank, the blue Doctor closing the door.
“Jean.” He said, nodding to her in greeting.
“You’ve seen Nathan?” Jean asked, wanting to know what was going on.
But the look on Hanks face told her it was bad.
“Yes… Your child is remarkable. I…”Hank paused for a moment to think of how he was going to tell Jean the news. “Maybe you should talk to Scott. I have already explained it to him and I need to talk to the Professor.” He finished.
Jean could feel the colour drain from her face.
“Oh god, Hank! Please just tell me.” She begged. In their history, Hank had never lied to her and she refused to let him do so now, when her child was involved.
Hank paused for a moment before looking her in the eyes.
“Jean. The metal in his body. His arm and his eye. It’s not a prosthetic. It’s a virus. And Organic Technology virus.”
“What?” Jean asked, feeling shocked.
“It’s an active virus, forcing its way through his body and turning everything into metal as it goes.”
“…How?” Jean wanted to ask how it had happened. She wanted to ask how Hank was going to treat it. She wanted to ask….she didn’t know what she wanted to ask. She just wanted Hank to tell her that everything was ok.
“Jean, I am going to ask the Professor to have a look but I think Nathan is fighting it. Everything suggests that this virus should have killed him by now but he’s still alive and I would estimate less than 30% consumed by it. He’s fighting it.”
“His telekinesis.” Jean muttered to herself. She looked up at Hank. “Someone has taught him to direct his telekinesis internally, to hold off the virus. And his Telepathy is muting the pain he must be in.” It made sense now, why Nathan was directing his abilities inwards. He wasn’t hurting himself. He was saving himself.
“That would make sense. Maybe you could look into it Jean.”
“Of course Hank.” Jean gave him a small smile before stepping around the doctor and making her way into the room.
There was no one in the small living room so Jean kicked off her shoes and made her way to the bedroom. There she found Scott seated at a small desk in the corner of the room where he had a view of the whole room, several papers scattered across the wood, red pen in his hands. Scott's face was a picture of calm but Jean could see he was bottling his emotions, employing his skills as the leader of the X-Men to keep himself in check. On the bed, a small figure was covered in a blanket.
Gently, she reached out to his mind, letting him know that she was there.
“You spoke to Hank?” Scott asked, not looking up from the paper.
“Yes. How bad?” Jean asked.
Scott sighed and lowered the pen.
“I think you should have a look.” He said, raising from his seat.
Walking over to the bed, Scott carefully pulled the covers away. Nathan was asleep on his side, the adult sized military green t-shirt he had been wearing, gone into the hamper to be washed. Jean mentally reminded herself to go to town for some appropriate sized clothes for the boy as soon as she could. Until then, it looked like Hank or Scott had raided the student’s emergency wardrobe for some of the spare clothes they kept for any new students, as Jean could see a t-shirt and a pair of shorts folded neatly on the edge of the bed.
Once the blankets were removed, Jean could see what had horrified Scott and Hank. His left arm wasn’t the only part of Nathan covered in the smooth metal. All his left side was covered, from his hip up to his neck. It looked to Jean like the boy had been caught in some sort of explosion, his arm torn off by a great force and expert doctors had surgically grafted a metal prosthetic on after. And yet, with all Jean’s medical training, she could not see any evidence of surgery, the metal melting into the skin seamlessly, with no scarring.
“Oh god.” Jean muttered, reaching out to run her hand gently over Nathans arm. It was warm, like normal skin should be, suggesting some form of blood circulation and the way she had seen Nathan grip the knife suggested that he had full function over the metal, as if it were an organic limb. It was like Piotr’s metal skin and yet, it was so horribly different.
“How could this happen to a child?” She asked herself.
“It may not have happened to him as a child. It could have been when he was an adult and when he was de-aged, it didn’t manage to eject the metal from his body.” Scott suggested. Jean shook her head, remembering the feelings Nathan had projected into her mind.
“No. There is something more to this Scott. Something either Nathan doesn’t know about or he is hiding from us. Something happened to him as a child. ”
Jean felt the bed shift slightly as Scott sat on the edge next to her. He reached out and took her free hand in his.
“We will figure this out.” He promised.
------
“This is very concerning.” Xavier was saying to Hank as Jean and Scott arrived at his closed door, the older telepath looking at the information presented to him. “The way this virus works is like nothing I have seen before. If this were weaponised, it could cause mass casualties.”
He paused for a moment before turning to the door.
“Scott, Jean, please come in.”
The two teachers entered the room at the invitation.
“Nathan is currently asleep.” Scott stated as the two stood before the Professors desk.
“Good.” Xavier nodded. “I will admit, I am very unsure of this situation. It is clear that Mr Wilson did not want to disclose how this has happened to his teammate but Ororo was able to talk in private with Miss Domino. Apparently, last night they were attacked by three mutants calling itself The Marauders. These Marauders appear to be a team of Mutants with nefarious plans. One of their members is our old foe Sabretooth.”
“I thought he was dead.” Jean stated, remembering their last encounter with the feral mutant in New York. Beside her, Scott tensed at the mention of the mutant. He had a long and dark history with the other Mutant, going back much further then the New York Incident.
“It appears he has a healing factor similar to Logan’s.” Xavier replied. “Somehow, during this confrontation, Sabretooth managed to shoot some sort of weapon at Deadpool and Cable got in between them. That weapon was the cause of his de-aging while still keeping his mutation at its full ability.”
“So it was Deadpool who was the target?” Scott asked.
“It appears so.” Xavier replied.
“But why target him? What is the point of attacking X-Force with a weapon that doesn’t affect the victim’s mutation?” Jean chimed in.
“What I am more worried about is, how did Sabretooth get access to such a weapon?” Xavier stated. “This is incredibly advanced technology, very similar to the time travel technology our young friend Nathan used to travel back in time when he was an adult. I do not see someone like Sabretooth being able to gain access to this sort of technology on his own.”
“You think this group has a leader? Or some sort of sponsor providing them with such advanced weapons?”
“I do not know.” Xavier sighed.
There was a knock at the door before it opened, Ororo entering with a tall man in a black fitted suit. He was pale with slicked dark hair and a neat beard.
Scanning the door, Jean looked for Logan, surprised to find him missing. Logan may be gruff but he wasn’t the sort to ignore an order. Briefly, Jean wondered where he was before she turned her attention back to the man.
“Ah. Doctor Essex.” Professor Xavier said in greeting as the man walked towards his desk. “Welcome to the school.”
The man gave him a friendly nod.
“Professor Xavier. It is an honor to finally meet you. I apolgise, I did not mean to intrude on your meeting.”
“No apologies needed Doctor. Please, let me introduce you to my colleagues. This is Doctor Hank McCoy, Scott Summers and Jean Grey.” Xavier replied with a smile as the man released his hand and turned to look at the rest of the rooms occupants.
Doctor Essex turned to the three other people in the room, smiling at the three and held out his hand, shaking Hanks blue furred hand first, without any hesitation before pressing a kiss to the back of Jeans hand. Lastly, he gripped Scott’s hand, shaking vigorously as he stared straight at the red lenses of Scott’s glasses.
The handshake seemed to go on for just a few seconds longer then it needed before the Doctor finally released Scott’s hand and turned to the Professor. As he released Scott, Jean saw Scott winch, raising his now freed hand to his temple.
‘Scott?’ She asked mentally, not wanting to draw attention as the Professor and Dr Essex started talking.
‘Just a headache.’ Scott replied, shooting her a small smile but Jean could see the flash of pain on his face.
‘Maybe you should have a rest.’ Jean replied, turning her back to him to appear as if she was watching the Professors discussion with the Doctor. ‘Nathan should be out for a few more hours but I can go check on him if you want to take a nap on the couch’
‘No. I have that Calc test to finish marking and a class to teach. I can’t expect Bobby to pick up my Spanish class. You know he can never remember the verbs and he has already covered my morning classes today.’ Scott replied.
‘Well, if you are sure. It’s lunchtime so you have a few minutes to rest before class. Please take something to help.’ Jean concluded.
Scott nodded and soundlessly, strode over to the door and left the room, hopefully in search of a painkiller before he went to his class. Jean turned away to quietly ask Ororo where Logan was. As she turned, she missed seeing front of her, Dr Essex’ eyes flickered to the closing door, a brief smile crossing his face.