Slowly wheeling through the hallways of the mansion Charles listened to the silence of the night. He’d awakened in his room confused, cold, and alone. Now he had to deal with the startling consequences.
Hank, Ororo, and Piotr were withdrawn, seeming to need some distance between themselves and him. They worked hard to teach the students what they needed to learn but beyond that…the easy, familiar camaraderie that had been present in his team was gone. Instead there was only a professional tolerance.
“Good evening Charles.” Jean’s soft whisper drew his attention to the woman standing in the shadows.
He felt bad about what had happened to her. She wore the scars inflicted upon her by Frankenstein when she shouldn’t have to. In the weeks they’d been home he’d spent hours with her, helping her to build better blocks in her mind to help keep the memories from destroying her mind completely. Still he knew she would never be the same. The skills she’d employed on his team were gone, destroyed by the callousness of a young girl in her spite.
“Hello Jean. How are you this evening?”
Jean shrugged and moved through the shadows. She spent most of her time in the lab, away from the prying eyes of the children. She couldn’t handle their stares, their speculation about what had happened to her. She could feel the old, familiar sting of resentment toward Rogue and her friends for a moment before it was flooded by the wave of terror and shame that such thinking often brought her.
“I finished the files. I contact Dr. Bentson.”
“Yes? How did that go?”
“He said he’d see me as soon as possible. That in such a case it was best to get the wound early.” Jean explained. “I’ve made the appointment for tomorrow.”
“It’ll be nice to have you back with us in the classes Jean.”
“Yes, I do enjoy teaching.”
Rolling into his office Charles eased toward his desk. As was so often of late the darkness around him made him uneasy, fearful. Still he refused to bow to the whims of a bunch of spoilt brats. Granted what had happened to them was horrible but still to inflict that sorta of thing upon someone else who was a friend without a thought was beyond redemption in his mind.
“The students do miss you.”
“I wish to rejoin the school in a medical capacity if I may as well.”
“Jean…”
“I know I’ve got some limitations but I don’t mean surgery, just helping with diagnosis, treatments of minor wounds. I feel I’ve healed enough for that at least.”
“Of course. Perhaps next week?”
“That would be okay.”
The low, sarcastic snort from the corner had both turning sharply to stare at the dark haired woman sitting in the glare of a lamp. Her dark hair fell over black silk robes, cold, bitter hazel eyes stared at them, and her leather encased hands were folded in her lap.
“Who are you and how did you get in here?” Charles demanded angrily.
“I’m someone you don’t want to piss off Chuck. I see you haven’t really been holding your end of the deal up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Helping the enemy as it were.” The woman rose to her feet and began stalking them. Each step was carefully measured, relaxed, and smooth like a big cat’s stride. “You should know better. Do you think they won’t destroy you?”
“I think that they’d be wise to forget about us.” Charles replied stiffly.
“Yes I’m sure you do. After all if they don’t remember you then anything you do to clear your conscience is okay. You’ve given her strength, blocks to prevent her from feeling the full force of Jubilations memories and for what?” The woman hissed. “I’ll tell you. Because you don’t object to what she did! You sit there and say oh she deserves to be punished, deserves to pay a pittance for her sins but you’re not willing to let her pay it in full!”
“How dare you? What they did was ten times worse…”
“Really? Lets compare shall we? You sold three innocent, untrained girls out to the army. You allowed them to be brutally raped, tortured, and experimented upon without a thought. What have they done? They killed one for raping one of their own, sent the other to prison, and attempted to destroy a mind bent on destruction. Not to mention rescuing one of your precious team members and bringing her home. They could have killed all of you without a thought, without any remorse and yet they let you go. They let you return to your lives in the hopes that it would give them back what you stole away! I’d say you’re the greater evil.”
“It was necessary! The risks were important there was a child…” Charles snapped watching Jean fidget. “The bigger picture…”
“The bigger picture huh?” She nodded. “Let me tell you what the bigger picture is. The cause has become so important to you, so much more important than those around you that you’ve forgotten what you’re fighting for. I’ve seen what you’re trying so desperately to do. I’ve heard the screams, seen the scars, and I will do whatever I have to stop you. I’m not Frankenstein…I’m much more subtle and I’m willing to hit you where it hurts.”
“What are you saying?” Jean demanded softly.
“If you want to continue as you have been. If you want to keep teaching these children, keep your lives intact then you heed my warning. I will destroy you from the ground up. I will take away the school, your reputation, your very values and I’ll do it with such ruthless precision you’ll wish Frankenstein was here killing you.”
“How can you even…?”
“Because, you tried to destroy my family. My son is more important to me than your cause and now that he’s got a family of his own to protect I’m even more determined to maintain your status quo.”
“So we be good little mutants and you’ll leave us alone?” Jean demanded.
“Pretty much. If not I’d be more than happy to demonstrate my ability to destroy life.”
Charles stared at her for a moment then seemed to wilt in his chair. His dream was dying and there was nothing he could do to stop it. “I’m not going to sacrifice the innocent lives that I assist…”
“Until the next time huh? Just remember Chuck you’ve got two sets of eyes upon you and neither is very forgiving. You piss Logan off he’ll hack you to bits, you piss me off and you’ll spend the rest of your life trying to rebuild your soul!”
Both Charles and Jean jumped at the slam of the door before sharing a glance. Neither doubted for a moment that the threat was real…both however refused to acknowledge their place in the situation.
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