Chapter 18 – Aftermath
Xavier's School for the Gifted Youngsters, Westchester, New York.
It was already late in the night when the cops left Xavier's School. Professor X's body was examined at the site by a legist doctor, who determined that the cause of death was 'cardiac arrest secondary to heart puncture inflicted by a sharp metal object'. It helped that the said object was found in the crime scene.
Magneto promptly confessed the murder; he claimed to have done it to defend a young woman from her abusive foster father and associate co-worker – meaning McCoy. Unfortunately, they couldn't prove that Essex was involved in the experiments and mistreats; the man completely vanished after Wolverine's attack, leaving no evidence of his crimes. It was as if he'd never been at the mansion in the first place.
Magnus and Beast were taken into custody, the latter being accused of drug dealing, physical abuse and stealing Government technology – a good forty years of imprisonment laid ahead of him. Jean and Anna Marie gave statements to the Police and were expected to testify in court against McCoy and in favor of Erik in the next weeks.
However, the Brotherhood had more urgent matters to focus on. For instance, the upcoming Senate voting on the Mutant Registration Act, scheduled to begin within the next twelve hours. Cyclops was busy seeing to it.
"Emma, do you think you can extract all the mental suggestions Xavier has implanted in Robert Kelly's mind?"
"Of course, darling. The thing is, I have to be near the Senator to be able to scan his mind," she explained. "You know, Scott, you could fly me over to Washington in that fancy X-Men jet. If we leave now, the two of us could arrive there in a couple of hours, finish the job, and then enjoy ourselves in one of D.C.'s luxurious five-star suites for the rest of the night."
"I, uh… Sorry, Emma. I have to stay here and help Jean and Rogue with the rest of the X-Men. They're still under Xavier's mental influence and I don't want to leave the girls alone with them."
"I thought Logan was staying behind to guarantee Jean's safety…"
"Yes, well… So am I. But hey, don't worry. Wyngarde and Dukes are feeling fine. I'll ask them to keep you company during the trip."
"Gee… Thanks, Scott."
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"Reyes' here," Raven addressed the small group of mutants gathered in the infirmary. Anna Marie, Lorna and Wanda turned to regard the strange doctor – a short, African-American woman wearing a wrinkled white coat with an all-business look on her face. Dr. Cecilia Reyes took a quick glance inside the room and rushed towards the main surgical bed, where Kitty Pryde laid unconscious with one I.V. line attached to each pale arm.
"What the hell happened to her?"
"Stab wound to the stomach about three hours ago," Mystique informed the doctor.
"Three hours? Good Lord!" Dr. Reyes was inspecting the girl's abdomen. "Knife wounds?"
"Bone claws."
The doctor gaped at Raven and raised her brows. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. How did you manage to keep her alive up to now?"
"We gave her some fluids and a blood transfusion; she's been telepathically sedated. It's up to ya' now, Doctah," Rogue shrugged.
"Great... So much for a nice, quiet night outside the hospital," Cecilia muttered.
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Meanwhile, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Archangel were in the laboratory, each one securely strapped to a metal table, wearing power dampers around their necks. Gambit, on the other hand, remained inside the cell.
"I think I better start with Remy," Jean considered, tucking her red curls behind her ears. "We could use his empathic skills to help the others."
"It's your call, Red," Logan said, glaring at the cunning French man behind bars, "as long as the kid doesn't try anythin' funny with ya…"
"Why, why, mon ami? Afraid of de Cajun charm?"
Wolverine growled threateningly at Gambit's cocky grin, but the redhead rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It'll be all right, Logan. I can handle him. In the meantime, you, Laura and Pietro can keep an eye on the others."
Jean sat on a chair placed in front of Remy's cell. She concentrated for a few seconds and entered his mind. The man had several blocks implanted inside of his head, obligating the telepath to use more psychic power than she had anticipated. But soon enough, Remy's mental walls started to crumble and she was able to access his most recent memories. After about thirty minutes, she had cleaned all traits of Xavier's influence of his mind.
"All right, Gambit, it's over. How're you feeling?" Jean asked while Quicksilver unlocked the metal device around the X-Man's neck.
"Dirty, chéri," he replied, massaging his neck. "I hope Remy didn't give you much of a hard time in de past months."
"Not your fault, LeBeau. Xavier messed with everyone's heads, even Jeannie's."
"Logan's right, Gambit. Don't worry about it now," the woman tried to comfort him. "Tell me, are you feeling strong enough? Do you think you can use your empathy to help me focus while I work on the remaining X-Men?"
"Oui, mon belle. It's de least I can do."
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After about two hours of surgery, Dr. Reyes gave the last stitch to Shadowcat's abdomen. "Done. I hope this girl has a good pain resistance; I'll give her some strong analgesics, but I bet she'll be aching tomorrow."
"Thanks for yoah help, Doctah," Anna Marie said, cautiously taking the latex gloves off of her hands. She had borrowed some of Dr. Reyes' medical abilities and acted as an assistant surgeon during the procedure.
"No problem, kid. I owned it to Raven. She's saved my butt more times than I can count. Now let's take a look at that short guy over there," Cecilia told her, walking towards Toad's bed. He'd recovered some of his consciousness after a couple of hours, only to slip right back into slumber. "Oh my God, he's green! Hurry, Rogue, bring me some fluids and antibiotics…"
"Easy, Doctah, easy…Green IS his actual colah."
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It was past three a.m. when Cyclops entered the lab. He saw Jean and Gambit sitting beside Warren's table, eyes closed, faces concentrated. Logan was watching them closely.
"How's it going, Logan?"
"Better than expected, one-eye. They already cleaned Ro, Kurt and Peter; for some reason, fly-boy over there is givin' Jeannie a harder time," Logan turned his head to the other side and hissed. "Laura, stop pacin'! Ya're gettin' on my nerves!"
Logan received a glare and a growl from the young girl in return. He chose to ignore her. "Did'ya hear anythin' from Frost?"
"Yes, I did. Emma said it's done; she was able to remove every mental suggestion Xavier has placed in Kelly's mind over the last years. I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how that turns out."
"Good," Wolverine eyed Laura again, and sighed. "Listen, Cyke, can ya watch Jeannie for a moment? I've gotta take her outside," he asked, motioning to the impatient girl.
"Sure. Uh, Logan… Who's she?"
"Later, bub. C'mon, kid, let's take a walk on the woods."
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After the work in the infirmary was over, Dr. Reyes chose to stay there to monitor Pryde and Tolanski during the night. Mystique and Polaris left to try to get some shut eye, while Rogue decided to check what was going on in the lab.
"Hey, swamp rat! Did ya' actually help Jean or ya' just watched her doing all the work?"
"Hello, mon chéri. Remy missed you," Gambit said, getting up from the chair to wrap his arms around the southern belle.
"Welcome back, Cajun," she greeted him with a smile, returning the embrace.
"If we're done here, mes ami, I t'ink Remy and de belle will call it a night," he told Scott and Jean, heading for the doorway with Rogue in his arms.
"Thanks, Gambit. Good night, you two," the redhead replied after giving a yawn.
"You should go to sleep too, Jean. You look tired."
She shook her head, unable to contain another yawn. "I can't, Scott. Warren might wake up any minute. I don't want to leave him alone," she explained, standing up to look around. "Where are Logan and Pietro? They were here when we started earlier."
"Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch left a couple of hours ago; they went to the city to try to bail Magneto out of jail. As for Wolverine… I'm not sure. I think he went for a stroll in the woods with that girl. Do you know anything abou…"
"Ugh…"
They heard a small moan and Jean rushed to Archangel's side. She started to gently stroke Warren's blonde locks, and after a few more seconds he was able to open his blue eyes and stare back at her.
"Hello, gorgeous. You're a sight for sore eyes," the winged mutant managed to voice hoarsely.
She smiled. "Hey, yourself. How's my favorite angel doing tonight?"
"Could've been better," he chuckled humorlessly. "What… what happened to me?"
"Xavier happened, Warr," a male voice explained, and only then did Worthington notice that Cyclops was standing beside Jean.
"Hey, Scottie! It's good to see you, pal," Warren said enthusiastically, sitting on the table to better shake Cyclops' hand. "Wait… Why the hell am I blue?"
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It took them another half an hour to explain to Angel how he'd been submitted to Sinister's and Beast's genetic enhancement procedure while being under Professor X's mental manipulation for years. To say that Warren Worthington didn't take it well was the understatement of the year. He used his organic metal wings to trash the whole lab down, cursing Henry McCoy for his lifetime.
Still, Jean patiently convinced her fellow X-Man that they were going to revert the process; she didn't know how, but she promised him she would find a way to bring the old Angel back.
Warren finally retreated to his bedroom, leaving Scott and Jean alone for the first time in that long, fateful night. The young telepath's head was hurting and her eyes were reddened with fatigue; she could barely stand on her own two feet anymore.
"You're going to bed now," Cyclops stated, leaving no room for argument. The redhead silently nodded, suddenly too tired to even think about answering him. They exited the lab together and climbed up the first flight of stairs to the mansion's main hall; Scott noticed how Jean had to support her weight on the banisters to prevent herself from collapsing.
"That's it," he declared, scooping her up in his strong arms and climbing the remaining steps to her bedroom.
"Scott… W-What're you doing?" She asked him groggily, eyelids almost close.
"Taking you to bed," he replied while opening her bedroom door and laying her on the mattress. A flash of his last memory of her on that same bed invaded his mind, and he had to fought to erase the image of Logan's hands over her naked body.
Jean didn't struggle when he took her boots and jacket off, nor did she tussle when he pulled her leather pants off. He was about to tuck the redhead under the covers, wearing only her underwear and white T-shirt, when he heard her saying, sleepily. "I need to shower first…"
"You can shower in the morning, Jean… Sleep now. It's past five a.m.," he informed her, standing up from the bed.
"W-where you going?" He could barely distinguish her drowsy, weak voice.
"To sleep."
"You don't... have a bedroom anymore…"
He contemplated her words and became silent. 'Good point.'
With her eyes closed, she patted on the big mattress just beside her. "Lay down here."
Scott hesitated for a moment. It didn't seem right, but he was way past tired too; and she did have a point, he had no bed to sleep on tonight. He glanced once again at the beautiful woman in her underwear, who was already deeply asleep. He threw the covers over her body and laid beside her on the big bed.
"Good night, Jean."