Disclaimer: Marvel Entertainment owns everything, with the exception of Cat who is my own creation. This is a work of fanfic, no copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 4 "Murder, Accident or Suicide"
While the main body of staff at The Westchester Mutant Institute almost never varied, there was one post that changed about every 3 months, that of school nurse. Beside the difficulties of getting nurses to work in any semi private facility, the fact that almost all the staff and patients were mutants tended to put people off.
Maria Shamrock was the latest in a series of SHIELD appointed nurses and she was the worse. It wasn't that she was mildly incompetent, which she was; or her insistence of wearing a hospital nurses uniform, which she did, instead of the casual clothes that the rest of the staff wore; or her habit of treating everyone like they were five or six. No the main problem with Marie Shamrock was her unfailing, terrifying cheeriness.
This cheeriness was now directed at the winged, blonde haired, blue eyed young man who sat on the infirmary bed.
"Right now my love!" she said, stopping her humming and turning to face him "let's get you out of these filthy clothes shall we?" she continued, running her eyes over the young man.
Warren Worthington III had being wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, when he had been taken to the police station. The t-shirt hadn't been very clean when he arrived, and after a night in it, it was even worse. It had also ridden up when the wings emerged, meaning that it was now resting on top of the wings, just above the shoulder blades.
Maria reached out to help, but the young man backed violently away from her.
"Now don't be silly." She said, coming nearer to him. Warren backed even further away, till he hit the headboard and flung his arms up to shield his face.
"For Goodness sake!" Maria began as Dr Michael Twoyoungmen entered.
"Ah Doctor" Maria said, turning to face him ( another problem with Maria, she insisted upon calling Michael Doctor, while everyone else called him Michael or Shaman if they were pushing it). "He won't get undress, the silly boy!"
"That's quite alright nurse" Michael said, breathing in and making a mental note to ask Cat or Wolverine to get on to Fury about a replacement as soon as possible. "You go and get on with your duties. I'll deal with him."
This seemed to if possible scare Warren even more, as his wings came out and covered his face.
Just as it was a long standing joke that there was no one who Wolverine could not get to talk, there was also no one who Dr Michael Twoyoungmen couldn't put at their ease. Because of this he turned calmly to his patient.
"It's alright." He said, gently "you're not in any trouble, no one is going to hurt you. All we want to do is help you ok?"
The young man relaxed and allowed Michael to remove his t-shirt.
It took all of Michael training and courage not to wince. The chest, arms and neck appeared to be comprised entirely of bruises. He mentally shook his head. This would take a while.
Scott and Alex Summers were on the indoor basket ball court. Alex had always loved basket ball and even while his developing mutant powers made his hands hurt, he still loved to play. However opponents presented difficulties, as one on one between the two brothers became boring after a while. Kyle's and Feral's attempts at playing, almost always resulted in burst balls and cut arms; Wolverine had a habit of cutting the hoops down half way though the game; mystique shape shifting abilities made it impossible to tell who side she was on; Sabretooth flatly refused to play with them; Moria MacTarggert viewed it as a waste of time, as did Erik Magnus Lensherr; Michael and Professor Xavier tended to be too busy and Cat…Cat had to have the rules and point of the game explained to her every game, else she ended up playing it as netball. Because of this the brothers were alone on the court when Warren entered, walking nervously.
"Hey" Alex said, remembering Cat's instructions to "Be Nice", "you wanna play ball" he threw the ball towards Warren as he spoke. Warren easily caught the ball and seeing only friendship in Alex's eyes, stepped on to the court.
"He seems to be settling in" Cat said as she watched from the Observation both above the court.
"He's 16 and can play ball without destroying the ball or the court" wolverine replied "He'd be OK with Alex in any form."
"Suppose so" Cat shrugged, turning away from the observation room windows and sinking in to a chair. "Now," she continued. "I suppose we'd better get down to business" she turned, passing control over to Nick Fury who had arrived a few minutes before to receive the report in person. He nodded.
"What or more precisely who caused the injuries?" he asked.
"Accident, murder or suicide as it were," Cat observed.
"Accident is out" Michael said, calmly. "There are too many bruises. Unless the young man is a Haemophiliac; which he is not, I tested for it; there is no way that amount of injuries could occur by accident."
"Then what percentage is it possible, or probably were self inflicted?" Fury continued. Noticing the shocked look on the faces of the institute staff he explained.
"Early this morning I talked with Mr Worthington Jr. about the bruises on his son. He claimed that the kid had been depressed, moody, had even tried to commit suicide since discovering he was a mutant. He said he'd seen him a couple of times, throwing himself at the walls."
He lapsed into silence. There was no need to say anymore, they'd have heard all before. Some psychologist claimed that mutants were more naturally prone to depression. That in Fury's experience was a load of bull. They tended to develop depression because of the way society treated them.
He turned to Cat and Wolverine. "Your opinion on this?"
Cat shrugged. "Pass. Up to about a year ago reports from the school he was attending are fine. Good scholar, good athlete. Then suddenly the kid starts acting up, ends up been moved to a room by himself. Then after a fire, which nearly killed several of the students, he's expelled. No reason given. The headmaster was rather short when I spoke to him"
"Best guess mutant powers start developing and the kid's terrorised that he'll be found out" Wolverine continued. "Then is found out and expelled after the fire."
"But there's no indication of depression or self inflicted violence any where in the reports." Cat finished. Fury nodded. That didn't mean what they had been told wasn't true, it just meant that there was no previous evidence for it.
"I would say" Michael began cautiously "that, while in theory most of the injuries could have been self inflicted, the timescale makes it highly unlikely. Some of the injuries, including broken bones have only a few days maximum between them, the pain would have been too great!"
Fury nodded. Mr Worthington's story was losing credibility every second.
"He said anything?" he asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"What's his mental state like?" he asked turning his attention to Professor Charles Xavier who sat quietly in his wheelchair. He had missed breakfast that morning; due to another case he was involved in, treating an outpatient.
"The young man is extremely scared. That much is evident to anyone. However his terror is very intense and even when I probed his mind, he refused to release the source of his fears. I am however quite sure that it is not against his mutancy, although they appear to be linked."
"Is he depressed?" Fury asked.
The professor paused, before replying, "No I wouldn't say so. He is very scared, but not depressed."
"What about his inability to speak?" Cat asked. "Is that merely shock?"
There was a pause during which Michael and professor Xavier exchanged looks.
"Possibly" the professor began slowly "but-"
Michael interrupted. "There's evidence of a massive trauma to the head. There has been internal bleeding. It 's cleared up, but there's brain damage…including to the area that controls speech."
There was silence after this for a while.
Then Fury spoke slowly. "What about his mutation?" he asked "is it… natural?"
He finished, aware of how those words could be taken. Thankful everyone seemed to take it in the sense it was meant.
Moria MacTaggert nodded. "There's no evidence of genetic tampering or of chemical or nuclear interference. Yes I would have to say he's a natural mutant."
" Telephone for you Colonel Fury" Sage, professor Xavier's personal assistant, the ice queen as Fury privately called her, glided in. Fury got to his feet and Moria continued.
"His whole body, it's like it's been completely altered for flight. His bones are honey combed; He's got a system of extracting oxygen that's unlike anything I've ever seen. It incredibly efficient. He could survive in atmospheres that would knock you two unconscious." She glanced at Cat and Wolverine.
"He also has the potential for a healing factor, similar to Cat's" Sage observed with a slight smile, but Sage always looked like life was a joke and she was the only one who knew the punch line.
"That doesn't seem to have developed yet" Michael observed icily.
"Good thing too, else we'd have no evidence." Cat observed, automatically trying for peace, just like she did between Wolverine and Sabretooth.
"Doesn't matter now" Fury said re-entering the room. "That was HQ. We're to drop the case; Warren Kenneth Worthington Jr was just arrested for the murder of his wife and brother!"