Wolverine and Scott hurried down the long corridors of the basement of the
Xavier Institute, desperately racing to get to Cerebro's chamber before the
thief could get inside. As they passed the Danger Room, they heard a
clatter of metal as a grate fell from the ceiling. A moment later, Glen
dropped down from the vent shaft. "What's going on?" he asked the two
mutants.
"Somebody's trying to break into Cerebro," said Wolverine. "Why were you crawling down in the vent shafts?"
"Something's wrong with Sam. He shut down the Danger Room and then left the control booth," said Glen.
"Gotta be another one of Mystique's tricks," growled Logan. "She probably replaced your friend to get in here. Looks like you've been sleeping with the enemy, kid,"
"You can't be serious!" Glen said.
"We'll find out in a minute," said Scott. "Come on!" The three of them took off down the hallway. They rounded the corner and saw the doors to Cerebro's chamber at the far end. Glen put on speed, hoping to reach Sam first, before Wolverine could, but he was too late.
Wolverine grabbed Sam by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. "Sorry, kid. This ain't part of the tour!" he snarled, his claws gleaming.
Glen grabbed hold of Wolverine's arm. "Logan! Stop!" he said, hoping to be able to keep the mutant from skewering his friend alive. Sam closed his eyes in terror, waiting for the blow.
"I think you were wrong about this being Mystique," Scott said after a moment.
Wolverine turned on Glen. "Alright, so he's the real thing. How much did you tell him about what's going on here?" he asked furiously.
"Nothing!" Glen shouted back desperately. "There's no way he could know to come down here on his own,"
"Then why did he shut down the Danger Room, and why was he trying to break into Cerebro?" Scott asked.
"I don't know. Something's definitely not right here," Glen replied.
Magneto slowly traced his fingers along the black switch on his control panel. He had Glen right where he wanted him. It was time. He flipped the switch, and then watched the screen as the view began to distort and change to static. He caught a look of horror come over Glen before the image went dark. "Begin preparing for the next stage of operations," he said to Mystique, not looking at her. Had he done so, he would have seen a look of pure contempt in her eyes. He stood and walked out of the room, leaving her alone, staring at the blank screen. After a moment, she sighed heavily and left the room from the other side.
Glen had turned to ask Sam what was happening, but before he could open his mouth to speak, he saw a spasm of pain wrack Sam's features as blood began to trickle from his nostrils and from his ears. Wolverine dropped Sam in surprise, and the boy collapsed to the floor in a heap. "SAM!!!" shrieked Glen in horror as the boy's face began to turn blue.
Logan rushed over to the wall and hit the intercom. "Chuck, you'd better get down to the infirmary NOW!!!" he shouted into the 'com, then turned around and picked up Sam, threw the boy over his shoulder and sprinted down the hall.
In the infirmary, Logan placed Sam on one of the diagnostic beds and activated the scanners. By now, his whole face had gone purple. The bed began emitting a sporadic series of beeps, corresponding with Sam's rapidly dropping heart rate.
"What's happening to him?" Glen asked desperately.
"He's stopped breathing. Stand back!" Logan said, pulling off the boy's shirt and attaching a pair of electrodes to his chest. "Clear!" he shouted, and a pulse of electricity coursed through Sam's body. Sam's body nearly leapt off the table, but still showed signs of life. "Scott, turn up the voltage to 70," said Logan. Scott adjusted the controls on the diagnostic bed, and a second later, more voltage went through Sam's body. This time, the spasm was significantly less. "Again!" Logan said, with the same result. "Set it to 80. Hurry!"
Behind all this, the doors of the infirmary calmly slid open as Xavier and Jean Gray walked into the chaos. "What's happening?" they asked as one.
"He was trying to get into Cerebro's room," said Logan. "And then all of a sudden he just stopped breathing!"
"Is he dying? Can you save him?" Glen asked, frantic.
"Scott," Xavier said, nodding towards Glen. Scott walked over to Glen and took his arm. "I think we should wait outside," he said, forcing himself to be calm. He pulled Glen towards the door slightly, hoping he would come willingly.
"Wait! No!" Glen shouted as Scott pulled him away from the table. He tried to pull away from Scott, but Scott was stronger, and forcibly dragged him out of the infirmary.
"Let me go!" shouted Glen as he tried to break free from Scott. Scott held firm, and finally Glen stopped struggling. "I know they'll do everything they can for him," Scott said, trying to reassure the both of them. "We just need to wait," Glen said nothing, but leaned back against the wall, his head pressing down against his chest.
Back inside, Wolverine continued to struggle in his efforts to revive Sam. He was coming dangerously close to doing permanent damage to the boy with the level of voltage he was using. The indicator of Sam's heart rate had flat-lined, and the heart monitor was producing a steady whine. Logan administered one last dose of voltage, and then finally stepped back, his shoulders hunched in defeat. "That's it. He's gone,"
Xavier and Jean lowered their eyes. "I should go tell Glen," Jean said softly, and stepped out of the room.
Xavier related to Logan what he and Jean had been able to piece together; that somehow, Magneto had been sending mental commands to Sam's brain by some kind of implant. Logan did a quick diagnostic and confirmed what he had just heard. "Look at this," he said, pointing to the diagnostic screen. "There's some kinda metal objects lodged in his skull. One here, behind his eyes, and another in his brain. And then there's this one here. It looks like it just emitted some kinda electric shock and blew out the kid's entire nervous system. Paralyzed everything in his body, including his lungs. Poor kid," he muttered.
"Tell Scott, Jean, Storm, and Beast that I want to see them upstairs in the library in 15 minutes. I'll need you there too," Xavier said, and turned to go. "We have a VERY serious problem on our hands," he said, wheeling towards the exit.
Glen and Scott both looked up as Jean walked out of the infirmary. "Is he alright?" Glen asked, already guessing at the answer from the look on Jean's face.
Jean clasped Glen's hand. "I'm so sorry, Glen," she whispered sadly.
Glen felt all the air go out of him at hearing this. "No," he said, barely audible. He suddenly tore away from Jean and running into the infirmary, nearly colliding with Xavier on the way in. He ran up to the table and grasped Sam's limp, lifeless hand. He could already feel it beginning to go cold. He stared at the body on the table in numb disbelief, and then he collapsed to his knees in total defeat, clutching his head in his hands, his whole body shaking as he cried silent tears. He didn't notice Xavier's hand on his shoulder at first, and when he did, he brushed it off and walked out of the room in silence.
Xavier had gathered Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Scott, and Jean together in the library of the Institute for an emergency council. Together, they discussed how best to handle this situation
"What the hell are we going to do when the kid's parents show up and find out their son's dead?" Wolverine asked. Nobody knew how to answer that particular question.
"If they find out the truth, things could get pretty bad," said Scott. "This could wind up in court,"
"Or worse," said Storm. "The media could get word of this. If they did."
"We might as well pack up and go live on the moon," grumbled Wolverine, finishing her sentence.
Xavier furrowed his brow in frustration. They were all now in very real danger of being exposed. If Sam's parents took this to court, as they likely would, life at the Institute would be ripped horribly asunder, and none of the residents would be free to so much as walk outside without being thought of as a murderer. And this would ultimately fall squarely on his shoulders. If what he and Jean suspected was true, if this was truly Magneto's work, then he was very close to his goal of exposing the X-Men to the world.
Storm was apparently thinking along the same lines as Xavier. "What sort of man would murder an innocent child just to expose us?" she asked.
Wolverine pounded his fist on the table. "Isn't it obvious? Magneto wants us out of the picture so he can play King of the Mutants. He's out to expose us at any cost,"
"And doing it this way, he doesn't have to lift a finger. He can just sit back and laugh while the whole world crashes down on us. Absolutely brilliant," Scott said glumly.
"I had not thought Magneto would go to these lengths to expose us," said Xavier sadly. "I have underestimated again, this time critically so,"
"Look, the kid's parents are on their way over here right now," said Logan. "We need to think of something to say when they show up,"
"What can we possibly say?" asked Jean. "Hi, sorry, your son accidentally got killed while he was over here?"
Wolverine growled. "Well what do you want to tell them?"
"Maybe we don't have to tell them anything," Scott said softly.
All eyes looked at Scott. "What do you mean, Scott?" asked Beast.
"The last time we had something anywhere close to this happening was at that party, when Arcade broke into the Danger Room. Professor, you just wiped out everybody's minds who came over that night,"
Jean was taken aback somewhat. "Scott, I know you're worried about what's going to come out of all of this, but are you suggesting just giving them some kind of false memories about how their son died?"
"It's better than opening this all up for the world to see," said Logan.
Jean looked over at Xavier. "Professor, are you actually considering this?" she asked.
Xavier sighed deeply. This was a very difficult decision. "I don't like this, Jean. But I don't see any other choice. We CANNOT be exposed in this manner. If we were, it would completely ruin any chance mutants have of being accepted into society, which is exactly what Magneto wants,"
"We could alter the autopsy results to go along with whatever story you give them, Professor," said Scott.
Beast stood up. "I'm not a doctor, so I'm not technically bound by the Hippocratic oath. But I think what you're talking about is absolutely abominable. Deliberately lying to the boy's parents about how their son died? Manipulating their memories so that they'll actually believe it? I know the circumstances are grave, but I can't believe we're even talking about doing this! Must we place such a great value on our secrecy that we are willing to conceal murder?"
"I think Mr. McCoy's right," said Jean. "It may be time to face up to what's going to happen. We can't keep hiding forever,"
Wolverine was furious. He jumped up and got right in Jean's face. "Are you saying you actually WANT to be exposed?" he yelled at Jean. "Think about what's going to happen. Every day, people will look at you like a freak, and if they don't say it to your face, they'll be whispering it behind your back. Every time you turn on the TV, or read a newspaper, you're going to see somebody ranting about how mutants are monsters and need to be gotten rid of to protect society. Is that what you really want?'
"Enough! Everybody calm down!" shouted Xavier. "Hank, Jean, I understand your concerns, and under lesser circumstances, I might be willing to accept whatever consequences may come of this. But there is too much at stake right now. Besides, if we can't trace this back to Magneto, the entire burden for this situation will fall squarely on OUR shoulders. We'll keep looking for a way to prove Magneto's involvement in this, and one day we'll step out into the world, but it has to be on our terms. In the meantime, we have work to do," With that, he grimly wheeled out of the room, leaving the rest of the mutants behind him.
"Somebody's trying to break into Cerebro," said Wolverine. "Why were you crawling down in the vent shafts?"
"Something's wrong with Sam. He shut down the Danger Room and then left the control booth," said Glen.
"Gotta be another one of Mystique's tricks," growled Logan. "She probably replaced your friend to get in here. Looks like you've been sleeping with the enemy, kid,"
"You can't be serious!" Glen said.
"We'll find out in a minute," said Scott. "Come on!" The three of them took off down the hallway. They rounded the corner and saw the doors to Cerebro's chamber at the far end. Glen put on speed, hoping to reach Sam first, before Wolverine could, but he was too late.
Wolverine grabbed Sam by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. "Sorry, kid. This ain't part of the tour!" he snarled, his claws gleaming.
Glen grabbed hold of Wolverine's arm. "Logan! Stop!" he said, hoping to be able to keep the mutant from skewering his friend alive. Sam closed his eyes in terror, waiting for the blow.
"I think you were wrong about this being Mystique," Scott said after a moment.
Wolverine turned on Glen. "Alright, so he's the real thing. How much did you tell him about what's going on here?" he asked furiously.
"Nothing!" Glen shouted back desperately. "There's no way he could know to come down here on his own,"
"Then why did he shut down the Danger Room, and why was he trying to break into Cerebro?" Scott asked.
"I don't know. Something's definitely not right here," Glen replied.
Magneto slowly traced his fingers along the black switch on his control panel. He had Glen right where he wanted him. It was time. He flipped the switch, and then watched the screen as the view began to distort and change to static. He caught a look of horror come over Glen before the image went dark. "Begin preparing for the next stage of operations," he said to Mystique, not looking at her. Had he done so, he would have seen a look of pure contempt in her eyes. He stood and walked out of the room, leaving her alone, staring at the blank screen. After a moment, she sighed heavily and left the room from the other side.
Glen had turned to ask Sam what was happening, but before he could open his mouth to speak, he saw a spasm of pain wrack Sam's features as blood began to trickle from his nostrils and from his ears. Wolverine dropped Sam in surprise, and the boy collapsed to the floor in a heap. "SAM!!!" shrieked Glen in horror as the boy's face began to turn blue.
Logan rushed over to the wall and hit the intercom. "Chuck, you'd better get down to the infirmary NOW!!!" he shouted into the 'com, then turned around and picked up Sam, threw the boy over his shoulder and sprinted down the hall.
In the infirmary, Logan placed Sam on one of the diagnostic beds and activated the scanners. By now, his whole face had gone purple. The bed began emitting a sporadic series of beeps, corresponding with Sam's rapidly dropping heart rate.
"What's happening to him?" Glen asked desperately.
"He's stopped breathing. Stand back!" Logan said, pulling off the boy's shirt and attaching a pair of electrodes to his chest. "Clear!" he shouted, and a pulse of electricity coursed through Sam's body. Sam's body nearly leapt off the table, but still showed signs of life. "Scott, turn up the voltage to 70," said Logan. Scott adjusted the controls on the diagnostic bed, and a second later, more voltage went through Sam's body. This time, the spasm was significantly less. "Again!" Logan said, with the same result. "Set it to 80. Hurry!"
Behind all this, the doors of the infirmary calmly slid open as Xavier and Jean Gray walked into the chaos. "What's happening?" they asked as one.
"He was trying to get into Cerebro's room," said Logan. "And then all of a sudden he just stopped breathing!"
"Is he dying? Can you save him?" Glen asked, frantic.
"Scott," Xavier said, nodding towards Glen. Scott walked over to Glen and took his arm. "I think we should wait outside," he said, forcing himself to be calm. He pulled Glen towards the door slightly, hoping he would come willingly.
"Wait! No!" Glen shouted as Scott pulled him away from the table. He tried to pull away from Scott, but Scott was stronger, and forcibly dragged him out of the infirmary.
"Let me go!" shouted Glen as he tried to break free from Scott. Scott held firm, and finally Glen stopped struggling. "I know they'll do everything they can for him," Scott said, trying to reassure the both of them. "We just need to wait," Glen said nothing, but leaned back against the wall, his head pressing down against his chest.
Back inside, Wolverine continued to struggle in his efforts to revive Sam. He was coming dangerously close to doing permanent damage to the boy with the level of voltage he was using. The indicator of Sam's heart rate had flat-lined, and the heart monitor was producing a steady whine. Logan administered one last dose of voltage, and then finally stepped back, his shoulders hunched in defeat. "That's it. He's gone,"
Xavier and Jean lowered their eyes. "I should go tell Glen," Jean said softly, and stepped out of the room.
Xavier related to Logan what he and Jean had been able to piece together; that somehow, Magneto had been sending mental commands to Sam's brain by some kind of implant. Logan did a quick diagnostic and confirmed what he had just heard. "Look at this," he said, pointing to the diagnostic screen. "There's some kinda metal objects lodged in his skull. One here, behind his eyes, and another in his brain. And then there's this one here. It looks like it just emitted some kinda electric shock and blew out the kid's entire nervous system. Paralyzed everything in his body, including his lungs. Poor kid," he muttered.
"Tell Scott, Jean, Storm, and Beast that I want to see them upstairs in the library in 15 minutes. I'll need you there too," Xavier said, and turned to go. "We have a VERY serious problem on our hands," he said, wheeling towards the exit.
Glen and Scott both looked up as Jean walked out of the infirmary. "Is he alright?" Glen asked, already guessing at the answer from the look on Jean's face.
Jean clasped Glen's hand. "I'm so sorry, Glen," she whispered sadly.
Glen felt all the air go out of him at hearing this. "No," he said, barely audible. He suddenly tore away from Jean and running into the infirmary, nearly colliding with Xavier on the way in. He ran up to the table and grasped Sam's limp, lifeless hand. He could already feel it beginning to go cold. He stared at the body on the table in numb disbelief, and then he collapsed to his knees in total defeat, clutching his head in his hands, his whole body shaking as he cried silent tears. He didn't notice Xavier's hand on his shoulder at first, and when he did, he brushed it off and walked out of the room in silence.
Xavier had gathered Storm, Wolverine, Beast, Scott, and Jean together in the library of the Institute for an emergency council. Together, they discussed how best to handle this situation
"What the hell are we going to do when the kid's parents show up and find out their son's dead?" Wolverine asked. Nobody knew how to answer that particular question.
"If they find out the truth, things could get pretty bad," said Scott. "This could wind up in court,"
"Or worse," said Storm. "The media could get word of this. If they did."
"We might as well pack up and go live on the moon," grumbled Wolverine, finishing her sentence.
Xavier furrowed his brow in frustration. They were all now in very real danger of being exposed. If Sam's parents took this to court, as they likely would, life at the Institute would be ripped horribly asunder, and none of the residents would be free to so much as walk outside without being thought of as a murderer. And this would ultimately fall squarely on his shoulders. If what he and Jean suspected was true, if this was truly Magneto's work, then he was very close to his goal of exposing the X-Men to the world.
Storm was apparently thinking along the same lines as Xavier. "What sort of man would murder an innocent child just to expose us?" she asked.
Wolverine pounded his fist on the table. "Isn't it obvious? Magneto wants us out of the picture so he can play King of the Mutants. He's out to expose us at any cost,"
"And doing it this way, he doesn't have to lift a finger. He can just sit back and laugh while the whole world crashes down on us. Absolutely brilliant," Scott said glumly.
"I had not thought Magneto would go to these lengths to expose us," said Xavier sadly. "I have underestimated again, this time critically so,"
"Look, the kid's parents are on their way over here right now," said Logan. "We need to think of something to say when they show up,"
"What can we possibly say?" asked Jean. "Hi, sorry, your son accidentally got killed while he was over here?"
Wolverine growled. "Well what do you want to tell them?"
"Maybe we don't have to tell them anything," Scott said softly.
All eyes looked at Scott. "What do you mean, Scott?" asked Beast.
"The last time we had something anywhere close to this happening was at that party, when Arcade broke into the Danger Room. Professor, you just wiped out everybody's minds who came over that night,"
Jean was taken aback somewhat. "Scott, I know you're worried about what's going to come out of all of this, but are you suggesting just giving them some kind of false memories about how their son died?"
"It's better than opening this all up for the world to see," said Logan.
Jean looked over at Xavier. "Professor, are you actually considering this?" she asked.
Xavier sighed deeply. This was a very difficult decision. "I don't like this, Jean. But I don't see any other choice. We CANNOT be exposed in this manner. If we were, it would completely ruin any chance mutants have of being accepted into society, which is exactly what Magneto wants,"
"We could alter the autopsy results to go along with whatever story you give them, Professor," said Scott.
Beast stood up. "I'm not a doctor, so I'm not technically bound by the Hippocratic oath. But I think what you're talking about is absolutely abominable. Deliberately lying to the boy's parents about how their son died? Manipulating their memories so that they'll actually believe it? I know the circumstances are grave, but I can't believe we're even talking about doing this! Must we place such a great value on our secrecy that we are willing to conceal murder?"
"I think Mr. McCoy's right," said Jean. "It may be time to face up to what's going to happen. We can't keep hiding forever,"
Wolverine was furious. He jumped up and got right in Jean's face. "Are you saying you actually WANT to be exposed?" he yelled at Jean. "Think about what's going to happen. Every day, people will look at you like a freak, and if they don't say it to your face, they'll be whispering it behind your back. Every time you turn on the TV, or read a newspaper, you're going to see somebody ranting about how mutants are monsters and need to be gotten rid of to protect society. Is that what you really want?'
"Enough! Everybody calm down!" shouted Xavier. "Hank, Jean, I understand your concerns, and under lesser circumstances, I might be willing to accept whatever consequences may come of this. But there is too much at stake right now. Besides, if we can't trace this back to Magneto, the entire burden for this situation will fall squarely on OUR shoulders. We'll keep looking for a way to prove Magneto's involvement in this, and one day we'll step out into the world, but it has to be on our terms. In the meantime, we have work to do," With that, he grimly wheeled out of the room, leaving the rest of the mutants behind him.