Chapter 8: Gathering Shadows
Xavier was still sitting there in shock at what Andi had told them. It was sheer, unbridled cruelty, to put an empath who couldn't shield in the middle of an asylum full of people who couldn't control their basic bodily functions, much less their emotions. And the electrodes on Andi's body had been left so long, and the voltage was up so high, that they had burned her skin and left scars. He was horrified at the thought of the girl strapped down, gagged, and convulsing from the electric current racing through her body.
"Andi," he finally said, taking one of her hand in his, "I am so sorry. I don't know what to say. I've never heard of anything so cruel being done to anyone.
"I don't want to scare you, but there is something I want you to do. Will you go with Jean and Ororo downstairs to the med labs and allow Dr. McCoy to check you over? I want to make sure that the electroshock didn't hurt you internally. It won't take long; all you have to do is lie down and let him scan your body. It won't hurt. Will you do that for me?"
Andi nodded, and got up. Ororo hugged her, and they walked out of the room, followed by Jean. Xavier was left alone with his thoughts.
Had Andi's parents known what was going to happen to their daughter when Dr. Hebron took her away? Or were they so relieved that she was gone they didn't question where she was going or what was going to happen to her? What about when she came back? How did they explain the emaciation, the permanent scarring, the marks of restraints around her wrists and ankles? Did they just dismiss it as necessary to restrain a difficult child? What kind of research was so important that Hebron had to torture Andi to get his results? Were the results worth it?
A little inner voice answered most of those questions; he just didn't want to face them. No results were worth what the girl had suffered; nothing could be. Xavier was a firm believer in the adage that the ends did not justify the means. You couldn't sacrifice the few to save the many; if you did, what was the point of the sacrifice? The very fact that a sacrifice of lives had to be made meant that whoever was making them necessary had no regard for life. Andi's parents may not have known what was going to happen, but they hadn't cared enough to find out, either. They hadn't, from Andi's words, come to visit her. They had simply ignored her existence for a year. And when Andi came back they had ignored her, as they had all her life. And Andi, neglected, abused, used, and unloved, bottled up all the emotions and covered up all the scars that her parents didn't want to see so she could continue to be what they wanted her to be. It was a miracle that she hadn't gone insane.
She had been through so much, and he was about to put her through more, because she had to learn to shield. It probably wouldn't have been so hard if she hadn't had a year and a half of bad habits to unlearn and so much stress.
Shielding, for anyone with mental gifts, required the one trying to shield to find a center of calm, and then anchoring the shield firmly in it. Xavier was seriously worried that Andi's tumultuous life was going to make centering and grounding difficult. She didn't have any calm to draw from.
Lost in his musings, he only vaguely heard the sound of a car on his driveway. The chiming of the doorbell downstairs jerked him out of his musings, and he looked up as Scott opened the door of the living room.
Speak of the devil. Xavier's face remained still, although he badly wanted to gasp in surprise. Robert and Chelsea Sanderson walked in, followed by a middle-aged man, slightly overweight, and a tall, thin man that Xavier knew instantly to be a lawyer. "Good afternoon," he said, unsmiling. He was going to have a good long talk with Andi's parents; and he rather suspected that the mysterious third man was the dreaded Dr. Hebron. Good. He had a few…actually, a lot…of things he wanted to say to the pseudo-doctor too.
"Good afternoon. We hate to bother you, Headmaster, but my clients wished to get this piece of business over and done quickly." The lawyer spoke first. "I have here a document signed by Alexandra Sanderson's parents giving custody and guardianship of her to this man, David Hebron. Mr. Hebron has also signed the document, and it requires only that we show you the papers before Mr. Hebron collects his new ward and leaves."
Xavier stared in shock at the document. Andi's parents were giving their daughter away to this man? This man, who had tortured, starved, and used Andi, was now going to be her guardian? My god, what were her parents thinking?
"Mr. Sanderson," he said sharply, "What in the name of God are you thinking? You are giving…" something halfway down the page caught his attention, and he peered closely at the document. There, in small print, was the sentence, 'The new guardian hereby promises to tender unto the true parents a portion of the proceeds arising from his research.' "Correction; you're selling your own daughter to Dr. David Hebron? Mr. Sanderson, do you know what this man has done…and will do…to Andi?" He didn't give the man a chance to explain. "He locked your daughter for days on end in a tiny stone cell and fed her once a day on food she couldn't even eat. He strapped her down to a metal bed frame and electrocuted her. Deliberately. Why are you doing this to her? She is your daughter!"
"She is not our daughter!" Chelsea Sanderson retorted before Robert could say anything. "Robert had a one-night stand with a cheap two-bit whore. That bitch came to us when the child was born and told us Alexandra was his and if we didn't take the girl she would go to the press and publicly expose Robert's infidelity. So we agreed. We took her in, and raised her as our own."
Xavier had some things he wanted to say about that, too; but he didn't get the chance to say them. Robert broke in. "When we were here you informed us that mutations are passed through the male gene. I am not a mutant, therefore I could not be Alexandra's father. We took Alexandra's hairbrush to a DNA testing facility, and the report came back negative. I am not Alexandra's father. Chelsea and I both discussed it and we both agreed that we should not be held responsible for a child who is not ours.
"David Hebron has been responsible for Alexandra's case over the last year, and he has developed quite an attachment to the child. He requested that instead of dropping her off at an orphanage we allow him to adopt her, as he believes she is a special case, and he wishes to study her more closely. I decided it would be advantageous to us and to the good doctor for him to take over Alexandra's care. And hers, of course. She's been a completely different child since she came back from her stay with him. We're convinced that a longer stay will continue her good behavior."
"No!" came an anguished cry from the door. Andi's parents, the lawyer, and Dr. Hebron turned, and Xavier winced. Andi stood in the door, her face white with shock. "No. Mother, Father, you can't! You can't send me back!" Beside her, Ororo and Jean were similarly shocked.
"It's for your own good," Robert said.
Andi stepped into the room. "No it's not," she screamed at him. "It's never been for my own good. It's always been for your good. Ever since I was little. It was for your good I got left with nannies. I was spanked when I cried because you didn't want to hear me crying. I was sent off to boarding schools because you didn't want me in the way while you did whatever you wanted to do. I learned to play the piano because it was what you wanted, you wanted to have a little trained monkey to perform for your guests. It's never been for my good!"
Andi was almost shouting now; her parents sat frozen in their chairs, staring at her as if they'd never seen her before. Xavier wanted to smile; they were finally hearing their daughter's feelings on the matter, and it was coming as something of a shock.
She continued to talk, her voice rising on each word. "If it was for my own good you would have been there for me when I was young. If it was for my own good you would have sent me to a regular school instead of boarding schools all the time. If it was for my own good I would be able to wear regular clothes instead of these awful uniforms! If it was for my own good you'd have found real help for me! If it was for my own good I wouldn't have been sent off to that horrible place with this horrible man! If it was for my own good you would have visited me at the hospital and seen my cell and you would have taken me out! IF IT WAS FOR MY OWN GOOD I WOULDN"T HAVE THESE SCARS!" Her hands were flying up and down the buttons on her shirt, and she yanked it off, showing her horrified watchers her plain white bra and the terrible scars. Chelsea screamed and covered her eyes with her hand, but Andi stepped over to her mother and grabbed her hands away from her eyes. "LOOK AT ME, MOTHER! Look at the scars Dr. Hebron left on me! He strapped me down and electrocuted me! Was this for my own good, Mother!" Andi started to sob, and Ororo stepped forward quickly, to take the sobbing girl in her arms and pull the blouse closed over the thin body.
Dr. Hebron hurried to Mrs. Sanderson's side. 'See, it was like I told you it would be, Mrs. Sanderson," he said. "The change to a new school and all the stress with it has been too much for her. She has relapsed into her prior behavior. I assure you, once I have her firmly in hand she will once again become her normal self. Now will you give me permission to take her away?"
Robert Sanderson put an arm around Chelsea and nodded. "Yes, yes, Doctor, do what you have to do. Alexandra is yours."
Dr. Hebron reached into his bag, took out a syringe, and filled it from a bottle in his coat pocket. He tapped it a few times, cleared the air bubbles from the clear fluid in the needle, and advanced on Andi, who was sobbing in Ororo's arms. Jean flashed Xavier a look; he shook his head. She stepped forward and grabbed the man's hand. "Don't, Doctor."
Hebron yanked his wrist out of Jean's grasp. "I'll do what I want, woman. The child is mine now."
Jean stopped him with a telekinetic shield around Ororo and Andi. Ororo hugged the terrified girl closer and glared at him; he glared at her right back. Xavier thought fast. "Mr. Sanderson, Mrs. Sanderson," he said, "Please don't do this. Andi will no longer be a problem for you in a few months anyway; she turns eighteen in October. Once she comes of age, she will no longer be your responsibility. Please reconsider; I'll be glad to keep her here at the school. You won't need to make any other arrangements for her. If you wish, I'll refund the tuition; she can stay here at no cost to you. Please, Mr. Sanderson."
For a moment the man looked like he was going to waver, then he said, "No. The papers have been signed, she has a new guardian, and he has decided she is not to attend this school. The law is quite clear on this, Mr. Xavier. You cannot hinder her removal from your school without incurring a lawsuit."
"Go ahead and file the lawsuit," Xavier snapped, losing his temper. "Andi is not leaving my school grounds unless she chooses to. Any action that advocates her forcible removal will be met with a countermeasure from me. By the time you have the red tape sorted out, she will be of age to make her own decisions."
"She will not legally be free to make her own decisions even when she becomes eighteen," Hebron said smoothly, pushing a piece of paper across the table to Xavier. "I have here an affidavit stating that she is mentally unstable. By law she cannot make decisions for herself."
Xavier was horrified. "Is this what you do?" he snapped angrily at Andi's parents. "When your daughter decides she doesn't want to do what you want her to do you have her declared mentally ill and incapable of making her own decisions? What kind of parents are you?"
Robert took out his cell phone. "I am calling the police, Mr. Xavier," he said angrily. "I will not be spoken to in such a manner by a subordinate. I suggest you prepare yourself for a prison stay."
The police came, sooner than Xavier thought they would. The man in charge was one Xavier knew well. "What can I do for you, Mr. Xavier?" he said cordially.
Mr. Sanderson stepped forward. "I want you to arrest this man, officer."
"On what charge?" Sergeant Chester said mildly. "And it's 'sergeant', by the way."
"Whatever you are!" Robert waved a hand. "This man is preventing the removal of my daughter from his school, even though I have an order saying that she is to be handed over into the care of her doctor."
"Really?" Chester remained unruffled. "Let me see the document." Xavier handed it to him, and he read it. When he finally looked up, the lawyer was standing in front of him. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Howard Foster, the Sandersons' personal attorney," the lawyer said. "I drew up, notarized, and witnessed the signing of this document. I assure you, it is legal. The child has emotional problems, you see. She is mentally unstable. Her parents are concerned for the safety of the other students of the school and are therefore insisting that she be removed from here and placed in the care of Dr. David Hebron, who has attended to her care in the past and has had marked success in controlling the child's behavior."
Sergeant Chester turned to Xavier. "Mr. Xavier, everything seems to be in order," he said. "I'm afraid that you will have to allow the child to be taken. Her parents have signed over guardianship of the child to Dr, Hebron; and it is up to Dr. Hebron to decide if the child should stay or leave with him. If you refuse to allow the child to leave the premises I'll be forced to arrest you for violating an order of the court." He turned and looked at Andi, still hidden in Ororo's arms. "However, if you have valid evidence that the child may not indeed be better off with the doctor, then you may file a countermotion with the court tomorrow and the girl can be placed in government protective custody soon afterward."
"Evidence? Andi's body is permanently scarred from the doctor's brutal practices. Is there nothing that can be done now?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Xavier. Please step aside, ma'am," Sergeant Chester gently but firmly pushed Jean aside, and pried Andi's fists open where they were tightly clutching Ororo's shirt. "Come on, now, Alexandra. You have to leave with the doctor."
Andi screamed as he pulled her away from Ororo. "No! No, please don't make me go, please, he's going to hurt me again, Mother, Father, please don't do this, please don't make me go!" She was screaming and kicking, and it took the combined efforts of Sergeant Chester, his partner, and Robert Sanderson to wrestle her and Ororo apart. Jean threw her arms around Ororo tightly, preventing her from throwing herself after Andi. Tears down both their faces as Andi screamed and cried, begging her parents in broken, pitiful sobs not to do this to her. The three men held her still as Dr. Hebron readied his syringe again, and she wailed in anguish as he plunged the needle in her arm. It was a desperate, anguished sound of despair that Xavier would never forget, and he could barely see the girl slide limply to the floor, unconscious, through the tears that filled his own eyes.