Sleep had deserted Professor Xavier. He had stayed up all night going through the data they were able to gather during the raid. One particularly made his gut churn and rekindled an unholy passionate hatred against the people at the lab. It seemed that this Amicus Humani Generis, friend of the human kind had another name: Doctor Steve Matheson.
The young doctor had managed to gather disturbing procedures operated manly on Logan, the main test subject. All the probing, all the cutting, all the times they'd killed him only to bring him back and torture him some more...Charles Xavier started to seriously doubt that Logan could fully recover one day, healing factor notwithstanding. Proof was the scars all over his body, his feral state and the fact that he didn't know friend from foe. He had tried to kill them...
The old man, feeling all the weight of his years in this moment closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. No he wouldn't cry, he couldn't! He didn't know how he could have left so much time pass without wondering what had happened to Logan. He should have known better, should have looked deeper into things. Even after that fist file he had received he hadn't moved. He'd been sitting calmly at his desk for almost a full month and more! Said he didn't have enough data to make a move. Data...
The word rang in his head with the force of a sonic boom, the crashing of a thunder bolt. He could never make amends for what he had let happen to Logan... To Rogue, now pregnant with Logan's children. And by the way, the result of the first scans had troubled him beyond words.
Professor X. took the picture from the brown folder once again. Two perfectly normal forms of two perfectly healthy embryos...and one shadow.
The outline of a miniature body it seemed, but something was wrong. Terribly so. his trained eye took in the posture, the tail-like rear-end of something not entirely human.
"What is this...?" said he, his tired voice barely above a whisper.
{Hank?}
{Yes, Professor?}
{Sleep has deserted you as well my friend...}
{So it seems.}
{There is something I would like to talk to you about. It's...I'm not exactly sure. The babies...there might be something wrong. I'm probably exaggerating, but...}
{My old friend, that would be the first time! But I can only share your concern. I have conducted the exams during Rogue's coma and I must admit that something is terribly amiss.}
{So it's not just me...}
{What do you mean, Charles?}
{The outline in the background, have you noticed it? Lord above, I hope I'm wrong.}
{I'm afraid you are right. I am viewing the video of the scan and yes, there is an outline; a moving outline.}
"Oh, God..."
That simple sentence had so much purpose behind it that the whole mansion was filled with it, every mind suddenly invaded by the worry and pain Professor X. was projecting.
*******************************
Jean Grey, or Doctor Grey as she was called around the mansion was wide awake. The sight of Logan's body riddled with bullet holes still engraved in her mind, kept her up at night.
God! The blood, so much of it. The holes and that tar-like liquid poisoning Wolverine's system, keeping it from repairing itself. She was a doctor, yet she had been powerless as Logan was bleeding to death. He had flat-lined...Only she had known at that moment that he'd been dead for several minutes for she could hear his heart, mentally monitor his heartbeats. And then it had stopped, the body going into shock as it emptied itself. The mere thought of it making her eyes sting with tears. Never had she experienced so strong a feeling. It wasn't just mere compassion or pity. No, it ran deeper than that. It tore at her very being to him like that and not be able to do anything. Still she was hiding the truth even to herself.
It had been hard for her to see Rogue cling to Logan. It stung in a devilish sort of way. She never dwelt on it, though...
What was wrong with her?
***********************************
Reese was on the roof. Smoking cigarette after cigarette, nicotine doing nothing for her nerves. She had told the Professor. All of it. How she had been created from mutant DNA and chemicals, how she'd been trained to kill, train to lie. How she'd been sent to trick and sedate him. Oh, but she was good. The best there was at what she did and what she did wasn't very nice at all.
Her real name was Tar-A or number 374 907 458 before that. Reese was just an undercover name.
How or why the Professor could still keep her here with the other students was beyond her! She could barely stand herself...self loathing running deep and robbing her from sleep. She barely ate, barely kept herself alive.
She had visited the danger room. Saw what had become of Wolverine or Logan as he was called here, and it was all her fault. Professor X. had told her different, said she'd been a victim in all this too. The man was just too good to be true, seriously!
She should go. Get lost in the world. Or just...no.
Despite everything she couldn't bring herself to do it.
So she sat on the roof of the mansion...smoking and hoping against hope that she could find absolution...one day...maybe?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Something goes wrong with the babies...
{...} indicates telepathic conversations
{...} indicates telepathic conversations