Of Mind and Magic
Chapter 6
Harry's eyes blinked open, slamming shut again as bright light filled them. He let out a low moan, his dry throat feeling like it was tearing itself apart. He flexed his wrists, only to find them restrained.
His head felt like it was packed with cotton. Letting out a shallow breath he laid there taking stock of himself. He flexed his legs, finding them bound around the ankles.
So, his legs and arms were bound, his throat was dry, and whatever they shot him with made it hard to think. His thoughts felt sluggish, which would make it hard to use his powers.
According to the ancient one, his Psionic and magical powers were intertwined with one another. To gain complete mastery over this combined energy, he needed to master Psionic which was the manipulation of the physical world, and magic which was pure possibility.
He'd been taught to be a master of magic by the ancient one himself, but mastering the psionics would require a different kind of teacher.
Relaxing his body, he allowed his power to flow through him, it was sluggish at first, the drugs in his system messing with his control, but eventually the drugs lost the fight in the world came into sharper focus.
A female voice filtered into his ears, "His mutation is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's changing right before our eyes. This could revolutionize the project."
Turning his head towards the voice, Harry slowly opened his eyes, giving his eyes a chance to adjust to the light. His vision didn't swim anymore, but it would be a few more minutes before the drugs were completely out of his system.
'Note to self, it is a very bad idea to let yourself be captured.'
A woman of Korean descent stood a few feet away, her dark hair pulled into a severe bun, the edges of her lab coat only revealing her dark heals.
A short round man stood beside her, eyeing another computer screen, light reflecting off his receding hairline, "his brain waves are changing," the man said, a heavy Scottish brogue in his voice, "I think he's waking up."
The woman turned light shining off her horned rimmed glasses. She strode forward, her sharp features coming into better focus with each step. She stopped before him, her dark eyes scanning him from head to toe, "What kind of mutant are you?"
Locking eyes with her, Harry was in her mind in a moment.
Her name was Sarah Matthews. She was adopted from North Korea at the age of three by Jim and Mary Matthews. Growing up in a family where she was different than her parents, made her curious about her history, which grew into curiosity about genetics.
After hearing about mutants, she became curious why mutants developed the powers they did. She never quite figured out the answer, but she was able to make certain powers manifests in lab rats grafted with the X gene, which drew the facility's attention.
Harry's face twisted into a frown, his forehead wrinkling as he processed the information. So, this was some kind of genetics lab? The person he was looking for dealt in magic. Usually, science and magic stayed away from each other.
Flexing his bound hands, Harry pushed deeper, searching for anything to do with a young girl.
The world around him faded away, and he found himself somewhere else.
–XX –
Harry found himself standing in a small room with smooth white walls. A metal chair was mounted to the tile floor. A tray of instruments sat to its right, while monitors with tubes running from them sat to the left.
In the chair with tubes running to her arm was a young girl, familiar dark hair ran past her shoulders. Blue eyes stared impassively at Sarah as she looked at the computer in the far corner of the room.
"Her DNA is not degrading."
Sending out another tendril, Harry connected to the Scottish man's mind, linking the two scientist's memories together.
Ethan McClellan pressed day finger to the girl's wrist, feeling her strong pulse drumming against his touch. "How are you feeling today X twenty-three?"
The girl in the chair cocked her head to the side, staring at him as if she had never heard the question before.
Ethan withdrew his hand, his loafers squeaking on the floor as he straightened and backed up. Thick fingers swiped across his brow, brown eyes stared into the young girl's blue, "Are you in any pain?"
Slowly, X twenty-three shook her head.
A feeling of regret caused Harry to focus on Ethan. The memory around him blurred as he dug for the man's history.
Ethan McClellan grew up on a farm in the Scottish Highlands. He was happy working the land tending to the animals. He could see himself doing that for the rest of his life, until age 15 when his father started showing signs of dementia.
Hating how the disease ravaged his father's mind turning the once strong wise man into an easily angered child. He threw himself into becoming a doctor and psychiatrist studying the disease not only from a clinical point of view but also emotional.
By age thirty, he had developed drugs that would stall dementia's progression, but it came with a cost. His marriage of five years ended. His wife left him taking their two-year-old son with him. After the divorce, he threw himself into his work. Eventually his knowledge of the human brain caught the attention of the facility.
The memory came back into focus. Harry folded his arms behind his back, X twenty-three reminded Ethan of his own son Henry, he felt guilty about what they were doing to the girl, while Sarah Matthews was only interested in how her mutation developed.
Harry took a step towards the girl in the memory, a little disconcerted as he moved across the room without a sound. Stopping before her, he let his eyes scanned down her body, taking in the pale green hospital gown she wore.
He raised a hand to massage his temple, trying to alleviate the minor pain building there, it was like another part of his brain was opening to him, but it wasn't pleasant. This was the first time he had ever stayed in a mind this long. Usually, he focused on just downloading the information he needed.
After a moment, the pain faded leaving him with what felt like a greater control over his mental faculties.
Shaking it off for now, he focused on the girl's face.
This girl was too young, she also lacked the muscle mass of the woman in leather, but then why did the tracking spell lead him here? What was going on in the facility? How did it tie into the woman in leather and the weakening in the barriers between dimensions?
Taking a deep breath, he exhaled, releasing his hold on the memories.
The memory blurred around him.
–XX –
Harry blinked, breaking eye contact with Sarah.
Sarah missed a step, stumbling forward.
Ethan walked forward, a clipboard clutched to his chest like a shield, "How are you awake?"
"What are you?" Sarah added straightening up.
Focusing Psionic energy into his restraints, Harry looked them over in his mind. According to the ancient one, psychic energy was bound in the laws of reality, while magic was pure possibility. His combined energies would allow him to do incredible things, or so the ancient one said.
Focusing Psionic magic on his restraints he pictured in his mind his wrist passing through them like they were made of water. Once he had the image firmly in his mind, he turned to Sarah, answering her question.
"Still trying to figure that out," With a twist of his wrists, Harry pulled his wrist through the now intangible shackles.
Sarah and Ethan tensed, both taking a step backwards.
Twisting his upper body, Harry locked glowing blue eyes onto them.
Both scientists froze, their eyes glazing over. Focusing his will on the shackles holding his feet, Harry lifted his leg upwards. His foot passed through the shackle like it wasn't even there. Repeating the process with the other leg, he twisted his body letting his legs dangle off the bed table combination.
Making sure the shackles were still intact, so there weren't any obvious signs of him breaking out he dropped to the floor, checking himself over.
His duster was gone, but his gauntlets and chest plate were still on. Looking around him, a hand drifted to his waist, his dagger and sheath were gone. He should've known they wouldn't let him keep such an obvious weapon.
Putting his missing dagger out of his mind for now, he took in his surroundings.
He was in a moderately sized room, dark blue tile floors were offset by sleek metal walls. Two computers set on two desks three feet away from the strange table like bed he had been lying on.
Screens on stands took up a spot halfway between the desks and his former accommodations. Those had been the things that his two captors had been working on.
The thing he had been lying on was seven feet long, adjustable manacles were attached to the table by tracks. A strange bundle of electrodes sat at the top of the table.
Stepping towards Sarah, Harry had to wonder why they didn't use the electrodes on him. Had he not been here long enough for them to set it up, or had they already taken scans of his brain?
Stopping before Sarah, he placed his thumb, pointer, and middle finger on her temple, her eyes drifted shut the orbs rolling behind her eyelids as Harry copied her knowledge. When he was done, he moved over to Ethan, repeating the process.
His head ached for a moment at the new knowledge, but he felt that it would be useful on understanding what he was dealing with here.
He stepped back from Ethan as the pain faded, letting his hand dropped to his side. He stared at the man, "You created the trigger scent that turns X twenty-three into a monster, as well as some type of super steroid for the soldiers here, he shook his head, I want to be angry with you, but I would do worse to protect my family."
Moving back to the center of the room, Harry closed his eyes. After taking a moment to synchronize his breathing, he reached out with his mind, touching everyone but X twenty-three.
A flash of pain swept through his brain as the number reached the triple digits, his hands shook and a trail of blood ran from his nose as he touched the last mind.
He released a breath as he felt his magic flayer, adjusting his body to the new strain. The pain faded, but the left over blood on his upper lip tickled. He ignored it for now, focusing on the task at hand.
Now connected with their minds, he placed a subliminal message to ignore him. Now, they wouldn't see, smell, or hear him. Releasing his connection, he stumbled backwards slightly while wiping his nose with the back of his hand.
Righting himself, the door to the far end of the room hissed open, he tensed as Sarah and Ethan came back to life, both of them turning towards the door.
A broad shouldered man walked through, the recessed lighting making him look like he had highlights in his brown hair. His brown eyes swept the room, his strong jaw twisting into a sneer as his gaze locked on to the two doctors.
"Matthews, McClellan, have you figured out a way to improve the X project?"
Sarah straightened, pushing her horned rimmed glasses up on her nose, "Not without degrading X twenty-three's current mutant abilities, Director Rice."
"It would help if we could take a look at the other subjects DNA."
Rice shook his head, "We can't risk it. The tank she's in is the only thing keeping her alive."
Cautiously, Harry took a step forward, when neither of the room's occupants reacted to him, he stopped beside Rice Reaching out with his mind. It would be easier with skin on skin contact, but the time for training wheels was over. Besides it seemed the more he used his Psionic abilities, the easier it became to do things.
The conversation of the other three in the room faded to the background as Harry absorbed information from the newcomers mind.
His name was Zander Rice. His father was the scientist in charge of the original weapon X program. After the original weapon X, James Howlett a.k.a. Logan killed Dale Rice, Dale's partner Martin Sutter gave Logan's dog-tags to a young Zander.
For the next couple of years, Zander studied everything he could about genetics. Eventually he was brought into the weapon X program, to create Logan successor, he used this chance to torture X twenty-three in order to get revenge for his father, but the memory that really drew his attention was the discussion on the creation of X twenty-three.
Focusing on that memory, the rest of the world faded away as he drifted into the past.
–XX –
Harry materialized in a room set up like a rectangle.
Zander Rice stood directly in front of him dressed as he did in present-day. A white lab coat draped over a black turtleneck and grey slacks. Dark shoes clicked on the linoleum floor as he moved closer to the woman in the room, computer monitors lining the table to his right casting his elongated shadow on the metal walls to his left.
She was 5'6" with short dark hair that stopped at her shoulders. Clear green eyes stared at Rice with determination. Her bright pink lips disappeared as her mouth formed into a thin line. She moved forward, a shapely leg swinging interview with each step, her black high heels clicking on the floor.
Slender hands balled into a fist, "I don't see what the problem is. I completed the project."
"The problem is, Miss Kenny," Zander snarled, a hint of madness in his brown eyes, "the facility did not want a female weapon."
Reaching out with his mind, Harry connected with Sarah Kinney, merging her memories of the events with Zander's.
Happiness flooded through him as he felt Sarah Kinney's joy at accomplishing something no one else could, for months they had failed to create a clone of weapon X, but where they had failed, she succeeded.
"Fine," Sarah shuddered at the tone in Zander's voice, "if you feel so strongly about this, you can carry the project to term."
Sarah's eyes widened, she never wanted to have children, not after her own childhood.
A cruel smile spread across Zander's face, "You wasted company resources on this project of yours, it's only right that you bear the responsibility of bringing it to fruition."
The world spun again in a barrage of color.
When it settled, Harry found himself in a hospital room, a heavily pregnant Sarah Kinney lay on the bed in the center of the room, gripping the plastic railing. Beads of sweat trailing down her pale face, her green eyes clenched in pain as a contraction hit.
Ethan McClellan moved to her side, anticipation and pain radiating off him. "One more push Sarah, and it's all over," he said his voice calm and reassuring, memories of his wife giving birth to their son pushing themselves to the forefront of his mind.
Sarah fell back onto the pillows, her eyes locking onto the florescent lights, "I can't. I'm too tired."
Ethan gripped her hand, "Yes you can, Sarah, now come on, bring your daughter into the world."
"She's not my," Sarah panted, only to scream as a contraction hit. Tightening her grip, she pushed her scream mingling with a baby's cry a few minutes later.
Harry's gaze focused on Sarah, despite what she said a strong desire to hold her daughter blossomed within her as a nurse wrapped the babe in a blanket.
Exhaling, he released his connection to the memories.
–XX –
Harry blinked. This X twenty-three obviously was not the girl that had attacked Victoria Montesi. She had no magic, but there was definitely something going on in this place. Striding towards the doors Zander had come through, Harry slipped his hands into his pockets, it's time he found out what it was.