"This is it." Scott said with a frown as he turned into the alley way.
"This is horrible!" Jean exclaimed as she knelt down beside a body with a crushed skull. Three more lay nearby, looking as if they had been crushed to death. "Do you think our mutant did this?" She asked as she turned back to Scott.
"Not likely." He responded, shaking his head. "This looks more like Toad's work. Which means, as much as I hate to say it, that the Brotherhood may have gotten to the new mutant first." He sighed with frustration as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "Is there anything?" He asked Jean as he pulled a com link from his pocket.
"No, not a sign of anyone. Scott," Jean paused, biting her lip nervously. "These men died not too long ago. There still may be some residual imprints in their brains of what happened to them. I could see…"
"Jean, no. Don't you remember what happened when you sought to find what happened to that dog after it was killed? You nearly went insane with grief! I can't let that happen again." He shot her a stern look as he activated the com link. "Storm? This is Cyclops. We've found three dead men that seem to be crushed to death."
"Any idea who was responsible?"
"We believe it's Toad and we also think that he got to our mutant first." Scott dropped the communicator as Jean closed her eyes and reached out to one of the dead men. "Jean! Don't!" He dropped the com link as he lunged toward Jean, but he was too late to stop her from probing the memory residue of the man with the crushed skull.
"Scott? Scott what's happening?"
"They were looking for a mutant, a man with green skin and large brown eyes. He came down this alley but they lost him. There was a girl, a homeless girl. She was frightened, they liked that! They enjoyed that!" She shook her head and when she stopped she was facing a pile of garbage that seemed indented, as if a person had been sitting in it. "She wouldn't say where the green man went, so they were going to kill her instead. But… No! Stop! Please don't let me die!" She shot back from the body, falling into the indented pile of garbage. "I SWEAR I WON'T HURT ANOTHER FLY!"
"Jean!" Scott pulled her away from the man, holding her tightly as she screamed. "It's not you Jean! Those memories aren't you!" He ignored Storm's worried cries from the com link as he gently rocked Jean, running his fingers through her hair. "Shh, it's all right."
"Scott… He was being honest… If Toad had let him live this man would have never hurt anyone ever again." She brushed the tears off of her cheeks and looked up at Scott, trembling slightly.
"Toad wouldn't have cared. That man's a murderer plain and simple." He stood, gingerly helping Jean to her feet. "We need to let Storm know what to look for. Did you see our mutant? Do you think it's the girl?"
"Yes Scott, the girl is our mutant. She has strawberry blond hair and blue eyes so brilliant, I-I want to cry. There's such sadness in them, such pure and rare emotion!" She gasped, clutching onto Scott. "We have to save her."
Scott nodded, leaving Jean to stand on her own as he picked up his com link. "Storm? Send us the X-Jet. We're going after Toad."