Title: Babel Fish
Author/Artist: Blue Stem Cell
Universe: Marvel (Alternate Universe)
Rating: 16 +
Genre: Drama/Action/Romance Sub Plot
Summary: "No more Mutants." Three little words and more than 90% of the mutant population lost their powers. Nearly a year later, a British schoolboy, suffering from constant migraine destroys a part of his school and the first new mutation is registered. But just what is his power?
Disclaimer: I own nothing by Marvel or Douglas Adam's.
Note: I'm dyslexic. Not an excuse but just a note in case you come across anything spelled wrong or grammatically incorrect. Point them out to me, I do try and catch the ones I see.

Edited on 16/10/2011. Cleaned up a few spelling/grammar mistakes and did a general tidy up.

Chapter25: It Could Not Have Evolved By Chance

Leeland had never made a teacher cry before. He was pretty sure he had come close in the past, but that was probably through frustration in trying to teach him. In through one ear and out the other. If corporal punishment was still legal in school, he knew he would have been battered black and blue.

This, however, was completely different and he had not exactly been expecting it. He looked down at the file on the ground and his stomach tied itself in knots. Licking over his lip, he crouched down and picked up the file gently, putting the paper back in order. A warm hand settled over his and he peered up at Kitty who looked sadly at him.

"Sorry." He muttered though for the life of him he couldn't figure out what he was sorry for. Was it for making her cry, or was he merely reeling of a conditioned response that he had been assured would make everything better? After all, he was the kind of person to apologise if someone bumped into him.

Kitty, however, shook her head and moved her hand back as she straightened up. Pressing her fingers to her eyes she shook her head again and her ponytail swished past her shoulders. It curled around her neck like a little snake or a noose.

Pressing the file to his chest Leeland bit down on his lip and began to stagger backwards. Kitty was still crying, and she tried furiously to wipe them from her face. It made her look angry and the boy was not sure where that anger was going to be heading.

"I'll go." He said quickly, mind still racing as to what had upset her so much but a little notion was starting to form inside his mind. Doug had been at the school and he and Kitty seemed to be the same age. She probably knew him. This was probably why Doctor McCoy had told him to keep it to himself. But he couldn't help it. The whole idea and notion of discovering who and what he was, it was both fascinating and terrifying. He wanted to be able to share that fear. Perhaps he simply wasn't going about it the right way.

"No." She said finally, pushing her hands down and trying to smile through what was obviously not a happy or pleasant revelation. With rubbed red eyes she looked at him, as if seeing him in a brand new light and Leeland did not much care for it. It made his heart beat wildly inside his chest and anxiety pooled into his stomach.

"Ah really need to go." He muttered and turned quickly before leaving the room at such a speed that he almost tripped over. Kitty tried to call him back but he was already half way up the corridor and had disappeared around the corner by the time she had made it to the door.

xxx

There was a well at the Xavier institute. It was not a magnificent construction like the mansion itself, it was old and ugly and probably had been there for as long as the grounds had been an estate. It was secluded away inside the forest that ran around the school, which kept it out of the view of the public eye.

The dark moss that covered half of the well was damp and gave off the odor of the forest and of rotting leaves. Like a piece of mold it had spread over the years and covered most of the ground around it. The smell of stagnant water hovered around it but did not make it unpleasant, more familiar.

Leeland had missed the smell. It reminded him of home and everything he missed. The forest was terribly damp and when he closed his eyes it was like being in the old stone quarry that was so close to the cottage. The quarry itself had not been used for decades. Wild grass and tree's had sprung up quite impossibly like stray daffodils on the sidewalk. But they were there and he and Brian had spent their childhood climbing the trees and trying to start fires in old car tires.

He sniffled and pulled his coat tighter around his chest. The file had been carefully placed in side his rucksack that was now perched upon his trainer clad feet. It did nothing to suppress the cold of December and he was starting to sniffle and hoped he was not going to come down with a cold. Victor would kill him.

That thought made him smile and shake his head, peer down at his knee's and watch as his breath fogged and curled up and around his mouth. It was like whiskers on a cat and that thought alone made him think of Kitty and his smile faded into sad lines. When he lifted his head he almost squealed, as there was the teacher he had made cry. She was smiling at him and was holding out his scarf.

"Thought you might want this." She held the scarf out to him and he took it with a grateful nod just as a shiver of cold ran down his spine. He had been sat outside for so long that the scarf was probably going to be useless. Still, the fabric felt cozy against his neck and he even managed to form a smile.

"Mind if I sit down?" She asked and Leeland shrugged. Wanted to say it was a free country and that she could do what she liked. But he kept it too himself as it sounded a little bitter.

The warm body sat down next to him and stared out at the forest. It was quite eerie when it was almost silent, with only the occasional sound of passing invisible creatures. "Peter said that you never turned up to Art class?" She asked, turning to face the boy who was more interested in his coat sleeve. He gave a shrug. "Didn't feel like goin'." Of course out of all the classes he had been attending at the school, Art was still he favourite. Peter's artwork was phenomenal and he would paint with such a determined yet soft-featured face.

"Leeland. You know I'm not angry with you, don't you?" Kitty asked and Leeland tilted his head to the side and gave another roll of his shoulders. He didn't know what to think but Kitty's face made it quite clear that she was not angry at him or with him. Her smile was genuine and soft and there was playfulness in her eyes that Leeland assumed was to cover up the sadness. She was doing a very good job of it.

"Ah know that…it's. It's just that-." He pressed his lips together and frowned, trying to find the right words to express how he actually felt. It was difficult. He was terrible with words, better with pictures. "Ah just wanted summat to put to me. A face…. Ah miss mah Dad." He whispered as his hands went to the scarf around his neck, rubbed at it between his long fingers.

They sat in silence after that but it was not uncomfortable.

Finally, Leeland spoke again. "Dad's a terrible cook. Always was so 'e used to get me auntie Josie to make mah cake. It was t'one time ah could go over board with sugar and 'e would let me with this stupid grin on 'is face. Ah think 'cos 'e knew ah'd be pukin' up later." He laughed and sniffled at the same time, gaze still focused on his coat sleeve. "Even last year, ah still 'ad that cake. Jus' me and 'im 'cos Brian and me would always do stuff later. It's always just been me and 'im." He bent down and unzipped his bag, pulled out the file and held it between his cold hands.

"It's not jus' the two of us anymore, an' ah guess it never really was." He looked to his side to Kitty who was watching him with a curious expression. "E's sat in some jail somewhere 'cos he tried to protect me. That's all 'e's ever done. But Doug didn't 'ave that and neither did mah mother."

Something flickered in Kitty's eyes and Leeland frowned for a second. He was distracted by the sudden gust of wind that made him hold the folder close to his chest, lest he lose it. "Ah'm eighteen today." He said quietly but with determination. "Ah'm an adult, which means ah need to start actin' like one. That means takin' responsibility for what 'appened to Doug." He stood up and grabbed his bag, ignoring Kitty's look and her hand on his arm.

"What happened wasn't your fault Leeland. You're the most innocent person in all of this." She squeezed his arm reassuringly.

But Leeland shook his head, turned to look down at Kitty's fingers. "Ah'm not jus' gonna sit 'ere and let other people sort this all out for me. Ah'll find t'bastards who did this and Ah'll make 'em responsible for their actions."

"That's not what Doug would have wanted-"

"But it's what ah want." Leeland cut her off and drew his arm back to himself.

"Do you really think that's what being an adult is all about, hmm? You think once you hit eighteen that you'll know more than you did the day before?"

"Ah never said that-"

"But that's what you mean. It's just a number Leeland and you're still a child." She sighed and wanted to say that there were better people out there suited to uncovering what happened to Doug. Better people than a boy who couldn't pay attention in class and was currently swooning like a lovesick dog. However, that sounded mean.

"An' Miss Frost keepin' me 'ere till I'm twenty one is really gonna help me, isn't it? They won't care 'ow old ah ahm if they want me back!" He threw his hands up into the air in annoyance and proceeded to scowl. "They want me back and it ain't jus' them either. It's everyone pullin' me this way and that. Every little thing stacking up on top of me an' ah can't stand it anymore!" He spun around abruptly, almost toppled over when his legs became entangled but he managed to recover. Pressing the balls of his thumbs into his eye sockets, he took a deep breath that threatened to crack and waver.

Exhaling, he threw down his hands and blinked the spots away from his eyes. The angry scowl on his face slowly fell away into sad lines and when he looked over his shoulder it had completely disappeared. There was not a happy expression on his face, it was impassive-tired almost. "Sorry. Ah don't suppose yah came out 'ere to be moaned at."

Kitty tilted her head to the side and a smile worked its way into the corner of her mouth. There was a sense of understanding in her eyes and she gave a soft shrug it of her shoulders. It was not a dismissive gesture but more that she didn't mind. "It's sort of in my job description. " She paused for a second before looking to her side and she gave a small nod of her head, as if answering a question silently put to her.

"I have something to show you."

They walked in silence out of the winding forest and onto the grounds of the Xavier estate. Past the school and over the little hedge that separated the basketball court from the baseball field. The day was still bitterly cold and it seemed to be getting chillier. Leeland rubbed his hands together before pulling his jumper sleeve out of his coat and wrapping them around his numb fingers.

It took him a moment or two to realise they were heading towards the graveyard. He gave Kitty a questioning look, but she did not respond. Instead, he looked forward and chewed nervously on his lip. His heart began to beat like a drum inside his chest.

The notion that Doug was buried at the school had hardly dawned on him. He supposed he had assumed it to be true and then thought nothing else off it. It was not something positive that he wanted to concentrate on.

Walking down the little grassy spaces between the pearly white graves was both depressing and hauntingly beautiful. Leeland knew he could be at least grateful for one thing; he was not dead.

They stopped at the end of one of the rows, both quiet as door mice as they looked down at the grave before them. This one was slightly older than the ones around it. (The other graves where newer and it sent a chill down the boy's spine.) It looked as if someone had tried to break the headstone, or at least gripped it too tightly. One corner of it was slightly crumbling away. In a strange way it gave it character. The grave was Doug's:

Douglas Aaron Ramsey
1976 – 1997
Age 21
A Good Son
There Was No Other Friend Like Him

The boy stared at the name etched into the gravestone until the letters became meaningless and the words blurred into each other. It was like he wasn't really seeing it. And a strange thing occurred to Leeland as he stared at the tombstone of someone he did not know. It was that he couldn't feel anything.

He looked upwards and across at the other graves and spotted the one that belonged to Victor's Paras. It was if the ghost was perched on top and was waving at him. When he looked back, he saw that Kitty was staring hard at the grave. She was trying not to cry.

"Ah didn't know 'im." He finally managed to say, his attention still focused on Kitty. When she didn't look at him, he continued. "Ah don't suppose it would 'ave made much difference if ah did. Dead is dead." She looked at him with hurt in her eyes at first, but it softened again when he went on. "Ah grew up thinkin' my mam was dead. That was normal. So when Brian's dad died, that just added to the normality." Glancing back at Doug's grave he tilted his head to side. "Ah don't believe in heaven or hell…or god for that matter. Don't think there's anythin' really." He pulled his bag around and pulled out the file once again. "Don't know him, never met him and what ever it is we 'ave in common is a bit of DNA. It might not even be that so…" He frowned, trying to formulate his words. "Don't get me wrong, ah do feel sad for him and about death but…this ain't doin' it for me." He gave her the file, which she took curiously between her hands before giving him a questioning glance.

"Ah'm gonna find the people that involved Doug, find an explanation and set the record straight. Then ah'm gonna come and find you and Doctor McCoy an' tell you because then it might make you feel better about…me ah guess." If anything, Leeland felt personal grief at the idea of someone else's memories pulled though the mud. He understood Kitty's grief, he really did. He just couldn't be a part of it. Didn't want to be. Of course he had been upset to a degree when he found out about Doug and how he died but that was common courtesy. There was only so much grief he could give to a man he wouldn't have known if he passed him on the street.

"Better about you?" Kitty asked with a frown and Leeland nodded his head. "When yah saw that it was Doug, you looked at me like ah was a ghost." He gestured down at the grave. "His ghost…So did Forge and ah guess all the staff. But I ain't 'im. Ah'm not gonna get shot or…" He shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. With a deep breath, he pushed his hands through his hair and let it snarl around his fingers. For several moments he stood still with his face pointed upwards and let the cold air press down upon his skin. Then he exhaled and smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but it was a start.

"But I know you're not Doug, Lee. I never would hav-"

"It's ok." Leeland cut her of before she could finish, the smile still on his face. "Ah can't quite read body language." He said quietly and Kitty peered down at the file in her hands. She gave one last glance at Doug's grave and came closer to Leeland. "Come on, you're starting to shiver." She observed sadly.

They said nothing more on the matter other than Kitty was to keep the file, do whatever she wanted with it just not give it back to Leeland. Said he was done looking at a dead man's pictures and that he needed to move forward.

When Leeland peered over his shoulder, the smile on his face became genuine. Then, he tutted and began to walk forward. "He's gonna freeze to death."

Victor was stood at the other end of the graveyard in only a t-shirt and jacket. Rubbing his arms together, the green mutant grinned just as broadly which was a strange sight amongst the dead.

From afar, Kitty watched as the two boys' greeted each other. Leeland wrapped his arms around Victor's, rubbed them with his own cold hands and muttered something into his ear. Laughing, Victor playfully pushed Leeland away, shook his head before reaching up to ruffle at his hair. They turned to head back into the warmth of the school, fingers barely brushing against each other.

Closing her eyes tight, Kitty took a deep breath and clutched the file to her chest in the very same way Leeland had. It made her laugh and when she opened her eyes she remembered where she was stood and peered down at the grave before her.

"No, he's not you Doug. I'm not silly enough to think like that again." She let her mind flutter away to a dark memory, so stubborn and young. Determined that the man stood before her was her best friend returned from the grave and not just a confused Technarch. So big headed that she phased down into the grave only to be greeted by a scene that gave her nightmares for years to come. No, Leeland was right. Doug was well and truly dead.

"But… I think you would have liked him though." She added as she unwound her arms from around the file and expected to peer down at the photo attached. It wasn't there.

XXX

Leeland was not the most social of creatures. He never had been and probably never would be. This was made even worse by the tight knit community of x-children trying to incorporate him into their little group. It was not that he was ungrateful, the complete opposite in fact but with an hour to go before his own party, he was hiding in his cupboard.

Using the need for the bathroom as an excuse, Leeland had ran to his room, bypassed said bathroom entirely, and went straight for the built in wardrobe. There he sat with a note pad scribbling away with a bubble floating in his left hand as a rudimentary light source. It was not the greatest of power sources, as he needed to keep a constant flow on energy pooling into his hand. What was pleasant though was the changing colours the bubble gave off depending on his mood. It seemed to work as a calming effect for the boy and his nerves.

Taped to the back of his book was the little photo of Doug he had taken from the file and next to it he had started to jot down everything he knew so far. That he was somehow an alien being, or at least part of him was. That Doug was his father and that the generator had been in cahoots of sort with Warlock. Tiny notes on the facility, of the person with the guilty conscious who had approached his father to get him out of the facility. Next to that was a giant question mark with the word 'mother' quickly scribbled next to it. He kept on pressing his pen into the paper, a new dot every time he tried to think of writing down something new.

But Leeland was a terrible writer, he saw better in pictures and she was the one missing piece that he could not put a face too. The one little thing his imagination had always had problems with. When he was little, he would close his eyes and picture a lady with blonde hair like him that flowed down her back and he would think of her as a queen of sorts. He wanted to know what her face looked like, what she would smell like when she leaned down to kiss him good night.

The face was a smudged white blur and the smell was that of static electricity that he couldn't shift.

He groaned in frustration, pushed his head back against the wall as the bubble in his hand tinged yellow. Frustrated. There was so much to do and think about but Leeland did not have a clue where to begin. He wanted his father out of jail, his best friend home safe and Victor …

Shaking his head, Leeland pushed himself forward and balanced his notebook on his knee. The tapping pen started to scribble next to the big question mark and a smile curled its way around his mouth. Two little eyes began to peer back at him in profile. Two separate people began to take form as well as lips and tongues and two chests pressed together. They were bare, one skinny and quickly sketched, the other well formed and precise. Entwined together with the kind of passion Leeland had only ever poured into his paintings and occasionally his music. The one thing he could lose himself in.

The tinged light source in his hand flooded the closet in a rosy hue. Soft pinks and purples brought a strange colouration to the page. Before he knew what he was doing, he had taken up the opposite page to Doug's photo with the kind of illustration he had very rarely pursued. All his frustration, anger and annoyance was poured into the deep dark lines yet his fears and nerves became clear in the soft cross hatching of his shading. The two naked figures began to take shape in a pose that was neither dignified nor erotic. Some place in the middle that Leeland felt comfortable with yet he knew he would never have the guts to do in real life.

The pen began to slow and he returned to tapping the paper. Though this time there was a purpose as he began to add freckles to one of the entangled bodies on the page.

Lost in his train of thought, he jumped a sky mile when the soft sound of knocking erupted against the closet door.

"Shit." He hissed as the bubble shattered with shock and he was plummeted into darkness. Quickly he closed his notebook and rubbed a hand around his temporary hearing aids.

"Erm…who is it?" He asked stupidly and scowled when he realised just how silly that must have sounded.

"Open the door Leeland, we have a gift for you." Came the sure sound of the triplets speaking as one. At least, Leeland presumed it was the triplets. He was still getting used to the hearing aids.

The boy frowned, tucked his notebook in between his knees and leaned up to push the door open. It swung open slowly to reveal the three girls dressed in a pleated blue skirt and a matching pale blue shirt. It made them look younger than they were and a little too innocent for Leeland's liking. It looked as if they were up to something.

"Er…hello?" He said with an arch of an eyebrow. Sticking his head out of the closet, he peered around the frame and glanced at the closed bedroom door. He was pretty sure he had locked it behind him but the presence of the girls told him otherwise. When he pulled himself back around, the girls had knelt in front of him and the triplet in the middle held out a pretty little box.

It was blue, like their skirts, with a silver bow neatly knotted at the top. "You really didn't 'ave to get me anythin'" He told them with an unsure smile as his nose went pink from embarrassment.

"But we wanted to give you this." Said the girl in the middle as she handed over the box. Leeland took it between his hands and pressed his lips together.

"We sought out Forges help-"

"-And David's too."

"We think they will be to your liking."

"They?" Leeland frowned as he looked down at the box in his hands. The girls did not respond, simply stared at him in an expectant manner. Not wanting to seem rude, or terrified of the girls, Leeland pulled on the bow. Lifting the lid, he pushed aside a piece of blue tissue paper and a smile appeared on his face. It was perplexed, the same emotion showing across the entirety of his face.

Inside the box was a pair of goggles. A black chrome finish gleamed with the winter sun that was shining through the window. An intricate detail of yellow wiring and circuitry was embedded into the frame of the goggles and seeped into the tinted lenses. They would fit perfectly around his head, even snuggly over his ears.

"What are they for?" Was the first thing out of Leeland's mouth, rather than the thank you that was supposed to come first.

"They will eventually be synchronised with your implants to allow for perfect combat and precise training techniques."

Leeland turned his gaze up at the girls and a frown creased his eyebrows. "They're for trainin'? But what do they do?"

"Try them on." They said as one, a smile on their mirrored faces.

The goggles snapped perfectly around the boy's head and ears with only slight discomfort from the temporary hearing aids. The strap at the back was made of leather, and could be easily adjusted even with his wild hair hiding the buckle from view.

"Is summat supposed to 'appe-whoa!" Whoa described the situation perfectly. The goggles themselves sprung to life. The intricate circuitry started to seep out sideways and began to rest on top of Leeland's skin. It pulsed along like little feelers. The boy panicked, threw his hands up to snatch them away from his head but stopped at the last possible second. Something was not quite right with the situation but an oh so familiar feeling swept over him.

It was like he was eight years old again, with the tingling spine and the feeling of total isolation in a world full of people.

He shot his head upwards and opened his previously clamped eyes. The girls were tinted yellow from the lenses but behind them was a pulsing white glow. It was coming from one of the plug sockets. In fact, every piece of electrical equipment in the room began to give off the same light and Leeland staggered to his feet.

"They'll allow you to seek out electric and technological energy sources. The technology of the goggles is from Kvch." The girls spoke as one again as they rose to their feet along with Leeland.

"Kvch?" Leeland asked as he stumbled forward, arms out wide in case he tripped over his own feet. The goggles were a little disorientating and the circuitry upon his skin was starting to heat up from contact. It was not uncomfortable or painful, yet he doubted it looked appealing either.

"The home world of the Technarchy. Warlock's planet." They said and Leeland stopped stumbling around the room to turn and look at them. He almost looked like a Technarch himself, with his long spindly arms and wild hair. The goggles made him look as alien as he felt.

His heart began to pound wildly in his chest as he tried to test the word 'Kvch' out with his own mouth. The girls were not saying it right, that much he knew. It was not their fault; they simply did not have the vocal capabilities to say such a word. It was not pronounced "Ker-vich", it was something completely inhuman.

"'Ow did you know about Warlock?" He asked with a frown and the girls stared at him.

"We know quite a lot about you and Warlock, Leeland."

The girls stood beneath his window, unsmiling as they watched the boy. The winter sun made an almost halo like glow shine around them. The goggles amplified the sight and Leeland swayed unsteadily on his feet. He threw his hands up towards the goggles, laced his fingers around the strap in an attempt to pull them off his head. They were stuck. "H-hey!" He stammered as panic began to well up inside of him. "G-get them off!" The goggles were stuck fast to his head and the circuitry resting on top of skin began to heat up. He tried to pull at it, but to no avail and his last realisation of horror was that the circuitry was worming its way under his skin.

"AHH!" He shouted, fingers and legs trembling with fear of the unknown. The fear that something terrible was going to happen to him and that he could not stop it. He fell to the floor, knee's smacking the rug in the process and sending a shock of pain up towards his hips. The girls were still stood there, still watching him with passive expressions and with no indication that they were going to help him.

The girls linked hands, their attention solely focused upon the writhing boy on the ground who began to splutter and cough in panic. His fear had taken a hold of him and all rational thinking was pushed out for the instinctive and primitive need to be free of what was, ultimately, alien to him.

"Leeland." The girls said gently. "You must calm down."

But he could not calm himself, or his breathing. With wide terrified eyes, he tried to get to his feet but slipped on the rug and fell backwards, head smacking against the hard floor beneath him. Stars erupted in front of his eyes and he simply stopped struggling. He lay there, staring at the ceiling and immobilised as the circuitry buried under his skin and with a roll of his eyes, he promptly passed out.

xxx

When Warlock first came upon Earth, he did not know what to think. No, that wasn't quite true. He knew he was afraid, therefore all his actions were afraid. Scared of the ground, scared of the trees but even worse still he was afraid of what he had been running from. Therefore, logic dictated that what he was most afraid of was not Earth at all. Not it's inhabitants or it's strange terrain. That meant he was safe.

Friendship became a new and fascinating concept. One that he would cherish for always and it would dictate exactly how his life would plan out. It was this that Warlock regretted. How close he had become to Doug, the self-soul friend that he bonded too-made him his own.

Doug had had dreams-nightmares-of Warlock becoming his Siredam, his father. Forced him into an eons old Kvch tradition where the father would battle the son for the right of succession. He never told him how it ended, but Warlock could calculate the outcomes and neither one was palatable.

However, Warlock did not dream, did not have nightmares. When he closed his eyes to regenerate, his sub-conscious did not unwind because he did not have one. What he had was a string of code, warped together like thoughts that allowed his to make precise calculated outcomes in everyday life. These outcomes were not so useful to him now, nothing really was. However, he was certain about the not dreaming part. He did not know what it was and therefore when it actually happened, he was unaware of what it truly meant. Or if he was dreaming at all.

He was somewhere dark and it was all around him. Darkness under his feet, darkness above his head. It stretched for miles, possibly decades but he decided not to concern himself with such a matter and focus on what was directly in front of him.

There was a small naked body wrapped tightly around itself, seemingly floating in the vastness of space. Its soft sobs were the only sound that could be heard and it echoed off the non-existent walls.

Warlock came forward, head tilted to the side as his mind began to process the scene in front of him. The skin colour, the hair pigmentation and the DNA anomalies that took scientists years to work out but to him it was instinctual.

Theinfant. The first of his kind so cruelly made and warped into a body of flesh and a mind that could not comprehend. It sobbed into its naked knee's, arms wrapped so tightly around that its knuckles had become paler than its skin.

"Self-Kin." Warlock frowned and crouched down next to the body. He stretched out his hand and let it hover over the infant who immediately stopped sobbing and began to turn its head towards the Technarch.

Leeland's face was tear stricken. An intricate network of circuitry had begun to form under the freckled skin. It looked painful, out of place and Warlock felt a deep sympathy. "Malicious code has affected Self-Kin." He spoke with a gentle tone as he pulled Leeland into his arms and pushed his hair back from his face. The boy did not speak, only looked at Warlock with a tired, yet pain filled expression.

He brushed the boy's cheek with his skeletal like fingers and the circuitry reacted violently. It rushed backwards, as if afraid to be near the Technarch. Leeland hissed in pain, his back arching as his head snapped backwards. Warlock pushed on and settled his fingers across the boy's unfocused eyes. "Defragmenting Self-Kin code."

A tremendous yellow light erupted from Leeland's eyes and he gasped as robotic appendages seeped into his skin. Like spiders tendrils, they seeped out to confront the labyrinth that did not belong. "Self-Kin has been contaminated." Warlock spoke gently but was almost drowned out by the sound of Leeland's cries of anguish.

After several minutes, the shouts of pain began to trickle to simple whimpers and finally Warlock pulled back his hand. Sweat coated the boy's skin, his hair matting together in clumps as he stared up at the alien. The creature smiled at him and Leeland's eyes slowly began to focus.

"Warlock?" He asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"The infant was infected by malicious foreign code that was not of self's own stock."

Leeland blinked at him, pulled his hand up and rubbed furiously at his eyes. "…told yah, I ain't an infant."

"Infants are baby's." Warlock nodded with a sad smile as he lifted his head and turned his gaze towards the endless black that surrounded them both.

"Where are we?" He heard Leeland ask as he got to his feet, bringing the boy with him still cradled in his arms. The creature did not answer straight away as he began to process the information he had gathered in such a short amount of time. He now knew for certain that what he was experiencing was not a dream nor was he actually with the infant for is he was then no good would come of it.

His gaze returned to the boy in his arms who was still staring at him. There was a look of calm serenity on his face, with no hint of question about what he was doing there and his lack of garments.

"Self-Kin, you are unique. My species is unable to manifest such a dimension-yet here self is with Self-Kin in tow." He looked upwards just in time for several pin prick lights to shine down on them. More came after that, illuminating the 'sky' above like stars on a cold dark night. "The astral plane."

The boy in his arms shifted, turning his head to look up at the sky. "Ah remember the stars." He started quietly. "The girls…the girls took me to t'danger room. Made me sit in a circle an' then…then." Warlock looked down at the boy whose face was contorted with confusion and puzzlement. "This isn't right." He said quietly. "There was a path. A great big long shiny path, an' all these colours-" As soon as the words spilled from Leeland's mouth, a winding path appeared beneath them illuminating them both was a rainbow array of colours.

"Oh."

"A metaphorical level of existence with ties to the physical world, which only psychic entities can visit."

"But ah ain't psychic." Said Leeland quite matter of factly and Warlock nodded his head in agreement.

"True, however self believes this is not purely coincidental. Self is under the assumption we have arrived here by means of outside help. For what purpose, self is unsure."

"It's my birthday." The boy said, completely off topic. Frowning, Warlock peered down at the boy who did not seem concerned that he was naked or that he was in the astral plane in the arms of a creature he had not seen in over a decade.

"No it isn't." Warlock said kindly. "But happy birthday infant."

Leeland did not respond, instead he turned his head up towards the sky and licked out across the non-existent lip ring. He paused a moment, sucked his lip into his mouth before beginning his hand up towards his eyebrow. The piercing there was also missing, as well as earring and hearing aids. "Ah'm…incomplete." He said softly, even going as far as too look puzzled at the words he was using.

"Self-Kin is incorrect. Self-Kin is very much complete. Self fears have been realised." Carefully, he placed Leeland down on the colourful path and the boy was quite steady on his feet despite his previous burst of agony. However, a warm hand sought out his and clung to the metal appendages with a vice like grip. The rest of Leeland appeared to be quite relaxed, in a state of rest but his hands one action spoke a thousand words.

Beneath the exterior of calm was a wave of panic that could not surface inside the astral plane for one reason or another. Taking a hold of Leeland's shoulder, Warlock turned the boy towards him. This was not a little human anymore, or even a child in human terms. But on Kvch, he would be year's away form leaving the nursery. In Warlock's eyes, this was an infant and he had a duty to protect it.

"Self-Kin, listen to self. It is about to become dangerous for you. You must stay with the X-men at all times. Self-friends will take care of you."

Leeland could only look at him with a perplexed expression, his eyebrows knitting together so hard that they almost formed one jagged line. "Yah startin' to soun' more like me Dad. Yah know, the living one, not the dead one."

"Then the adult human is smarter than self gave him credit for. Self fears this meeting has done more harm than good."

"But…But ahm alright now, aren't ah?"

Warlock's face was unreadable and he watched as the boy's eyes slowly began to droop and he wobbled on his feet. Within a blink of a second, the boy had vanished and the pressure on his hand was released. He could still feel it though, that same energy bouncing around the boy. Dangerous energy that would only end in tragedy.

A large rapturous noise echoed across the astral plane and slowly the lights began to fade away and the path dissolved into nothing. A blinding red flashing light erupted above him and Warlock looked at it impassively. It seemed that it was time to wake up.

xxx

Through all the confusion and the chaos a woman smiled.

This was the pinnacle point, realised the assistant stood next to her. They could see their reflections through the reinforced glass. One smiling bright and wide, because she knew all of her dreams and ambitions were slotting into place. The assistant did not smile, but he felt pride never the less. This is what they had been waiting for. What they had been working years towards. It was almost time.

The noise of the alarm carried on around them. It tinged their skin red on account of the flashing warning lights, but to the two stood on the observation platform, it was silent.

"This is it." Said the assistant, looking across at his superior whose smile would have been almost charming if he could see her eyes. They were hidden behind glasses tinged red from the never-ending alarm.

"Yes." Said the women, turning her attention to the scene below them. Down towards the creature that was bound to a wall with a series of crisscrossing chains and a computer program. A program that kept it in place, rendered its abilities to grow to the size of a skyscraper obsolete as well as disallowing it from contacting anyone-anyone other than the boy and only when they were ready.

"The stock is complete." Her smile radiated her face and a surge of anticipation and excitement seeped into the assistant's stomach. The creature tried its best to wrench the chains from itself but to no avail. Heaving, it turned its great robot-esque head up towards them and glared.

It had not spoke a word since they found it, but the assistant knew it hated them. He was not sure why, as all they wanted to do was good. All they would do would be nothing but greatness. Surely the creature could see this?

At the last moment, he avoided its eyes. Could not bear to look at it anymore.

"Something troubling you Colin?" Asked his superior. Her hands were pressed neatly behind her back as not to crease the sleeves of her lab coat.

"No Ma'am. I just-" Colin swallowed the words forming in his mouth and shook his head. He took a deep breath and looked back down at the creature that had started to snarl in the direction of its handlers. They were the most efficient people in getting the alien to co-operate. A few jolts of electric straight into the beings spinal chord and it soon stopped its fuss.

"Beastlike isn't it." Said his superior. However, she did not look down her nose at the alien. She looked at it the same way a poacher looks at an elephant. A poacher does not hate the elephant for there is nothing to hate about it. Yet a poacher knows perfectly well that if it chooses to, if it has the chance, then the elephant will kill them.

She intended to keep this elephant chained.

"I didn't think it could be anything more?" Colin frowned. "I was under the assumption that all Technarch we're feral and vicious, going as far as to kill their own children?"

"Hmm." His superior nodded. "Quite. However, I've been studying Technarch samples since before you knew how to tie your shoelaces Colin. There's more to them than meets the eye, never forget that."

"N-no ma'am." Colin shook his head, he certainly wouldn't forget. "May I ask what our next move is in regards to 4.2?"

The superior turned to look up at the flashing light, still ongoing even though the situation was under hand. Colin watched as she stood quite still and quiet, simply surveying the light; lost in her own thoughts.

"Ma'am? Doctor Versenwald?"

"4.2 will reach maturity by the end of the year. If all goes to plan, we should be able to hold a demonstration to the benefactors by January at the latest." She turned abruptly just as the light shut off and it caused Colin to jump. However, he managed to straighten himself out and gave a sharp nod of his head. He could not help the smile that graced his thin lips when Doctor Versenwald beamed at him.

The whole operation was her life's work, and soon the great plan would come together and her name would go down in history as one of mankind's greatest assists. And her junior assistant, Doctor Andrew Colin, would be right there at her side.

"There is just one problem though Ma'am."

"And what problem would that be?" Asked Versenwald as she began to head towards the door of the observation deck and out into the wide corridor. Colin followed dutifully after her, his small round hands clutched around a clipboard that he had been carrying for quite some time.

"Well…I was wondering how we would propose in obtaining 4.2 from the mutants?"

"How we would get it and how we're going to it are two completely different questions Colin." Her shoes clicked against the clean white floor as they made their way past door after door, meeting after meeting. Turning towards him, she a put a thin hand on his shoulder and continued to smile down at him. "The mutants are no longer our problem. You'll find a file on your desk by tomorrow morning at the latest on how that's being handled. –Which I'll need you to run over to Mueller before lunch-As well as an update on that silly little task force Tony Stark has put together from S.H.I.E.L.D. Of all the preposterous thing's I've heard…"She tutted, gave a shake of her head and Colin nodded in sympathy.

"Not to worry, we'll have 4.2 back where it belongs before you'll even have time to blink."

Colin nodded, he for one could not believe how dangerous it had been for the high ups-higher than Versenwald- to approve the release of 4.2 into the population. Goodness he couldn't even comprehend what would have happened if it had bred. But he supposed cut backs were always going to hit the small sectors the hardest. Soon, that would no longer be a problem.

When one conquered the problem of energy, one tended to conquer the world.

xxx

When Leeland awoke, the goggles were still upon his head. His first immediate reaction was to try and pull them free but he stopped at the last second. They were no longer hurting him and he suspected that they no longer would.

"Leeland?" Asked a soft voice from the side of him. Turning his cheek, he saw that his head was resting in a skirt-clad lap. The triplets surrounded him and one of them had pulled his head and neck up into her lap. She stroked her long pale fingers through his hair and refused to let him sit up.

"Ah'm ok." He tried to brush away their concern but it was to no avail. He looked upwards into the girls face and she frowned at him. It was the first time he had ever seen only one of them perform such a vivid emotion. It made him silent.

"We thought you were going to have a fit." Said the girl at his right side.

"We didn't know this would happen." Said the one to the left and Leeland shook his head. "It ain't your fault. It-'old on." He carefully pulled the goggles up towards the top of his head where they rested in his wild mess of hair. He closed his eyes and tried to think of the best possible way to tell them what had just happened, and he hoped it had happened and that it just wasn't his over active imagination.

"Ah was in t'astral plane an'…an' Warlock was there." He frowned, his mind a little fuzzy. Apart of him felt as if it had been real, the other part was not so sure. It almost felt like a dream that he did not want to wake up from. "The goggles…" He pulled them off his head and held them out in his hands. Played with the straps and pressed his fingers across the lenses. "They're fine now. Warlock made them fine."

The girls looked at each other, each one thinking the same thing. "But only psychic entities can travel to astral plane." The said as one.

"Well 'e was there. Ah know what ah saw." His tone was confident, perhaps a little defensive. As if trying to urge the girls to disprove what he was saying. "But 'e looked sad. Said us meeting there weren't ah good thing." His stomach had tied itself in knots and he finally managed to sit up, his eyes still firmly fixed on the goggles.

"Ah've got a really bad feeling about all this."