Talons

Chapter 10

The doors to medlab opened. Kurt's entire body clenched, his tail thumping beside him on the bed. Isidro Delgado walked in, rather hesitant, followed by Logan and Hank. Isidro took one look at Kurt and froze, eyes wide. Kurt thought he could take that stare, that he was strong enough, but he found his strength and resolve fading fast. Perhaps he should just leave.

As if Ororo could see into his soul, she grabbed his shoulder and shook. "No!" she hissed. "Don't teleport! Remember what Hank told you."

And he had been about to do just that, to return to his room. Lord help him, it was so difficult to stay there, with this stranger staring at him, shock and horror on his face. Kurt looked down and away, unwilling to meet Isidro's gaze.

"You're the guy," Isidro muttered. "You look... just like the news pictures...."

Kurt closed his eyes. "Yes," was all he could say.

"And you too?"

Kurt glanced up. Isidro sounded like he turned his head when he asked that second question. He was right: Isidro was looking at Scott, now, that same shocked expression on his face.

"Me too, what?" Scott asked, perplexed.

"You guys were both...." He trailed off, Adams apple jumping as he gave a nervous gulp. He touched the back of his head. "You know. Like me?"

"Yeah... yeah, damn close to it," Scott answered softly.

"You just don't have some kind of permanent thing in your skull, right?"

"There is a mark," Kurt said. Silently, he added, The mark of Cain, if truth be told....

Isidro turned to him, and Kurt bent forward, exposing the back of his neck. Isidro walked closer, hesitant, but whether it was from fear of Kurt or fear of what he might see on Kurt's neck, it was difficult to tell.

"Jesús Cristo," he breathed.

The name was spoken with a distinct Spanish flair, the J pronounced as an H and the R rolled. Kurt could not see the Isidro's face, from this angle, but he clearly saw the man do the sign of the cross over his chest. To Kurt's surprise, Isidro did not jump away after that. He stayed there as Kurt slowly raised his head.

"Do you... remember everything you did... when you were under?" Isidro asked.

"By this time, yes," Kurt answered. "I am not so sure that is a blessing. It has taken almost six months."

As Kurt looked into that young man's eyes, he saw many things. He saw sparks of hope, he saw determination, he saw anger and horror and relief that all stemmed from the knowledge that he was not alone. The one thing he did not see was fear.

Isidro took a steadying breath and looked around the room. "All right. How do we find the fucks behind this?"

Most of the room just looked at Isidro, his words catching them by surprise. All but Logan, whose mouth tugged into a grin.

"Look, I'm serious," Isidro went on, maybe a little too rapidly. "I've got a good idea who you are. You're mutants, right? I saw Logan over there on a training film from the Boston police. I guess you got the other three here somewhere, right? 'S O.K. I figure nothing would've happened if that stupid shit didn't shoot first, y'know what I mean?" He gave a nervous laugh. "Our instructor liked to call clip that 'How Not to Approach Mutants'. But y'know something? I don't care. I'm serious. I don't fucking care, 'cause these fucks stuck me into a tin can and made me step on people--...."

His voice caught, as if someone had strangled him from behind. He swore again and quickly wiped his eyes.

"I want these people dead, all right?" he choked, his voice shaking. "I want this whole thing shut down before anyone else has to go through this. I don't care what you have to do to me, I don't care if it's dangerous." He looked at Xavier. "You're the guy that helped me out, right? I remember you."

Xavier nodded, watching Isidro carefully. "Yes. And I also advised you against pushing things too hard."

"O.K., fine. But if you need something that I've got all locked up, go in and get it, all right?"

Xavier nodded again. "If it comes down to that, and we have no choice, I know I have your permission. You're a strong man, Mr. Delgado, and the last thing I'd want to do is damage any part of that strength."

Isidro nodded quickly, wiping his eyes again. Xavier turned to Hank.

"Henry, would you mind putting the control room on-screen?" he requested. "I want to include the others in on this discussion."

"Time for another information dump," Henry said. He glanced at Isidro. "I don't suppose we want to involve Kotoko at some point?"

"Jeez, give the guy a break, Hank," Logan said, gesturing to Isidro. "He just got here, fer Christ's sake. Don't sic Kotoko on him yet."

"We will involve Kotoko a little later," Xavier pronounced, heading off any potential argument. "He needs his rest as much as any of us, and it will take little time for me to bring him 'up to speed'."

Hank made a bow of acquiescence and went to one of the monitors. In a second, the flatscreen activated. Rogue looked out at them.

"All ready?" she asked.

"Just as soon as we get the other two gentlemen, my dear," Hank replied.

"They're right behind me. Hold on, let me widen this thing...."

The angle went from close-up to wide view. Behind her stood Bobby and Peter, the latter of whom was unarmored. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "O.K., shoot."

Introductions were brief. Everyone already knew Isidro, and Isidro knew several of them from media exposure.

"Where's the other guy?" Isidro asked. "The one who made all the fire in Boston?"

There was a pause, which Xavier verbally stepped in to fill. "He is no longer with this institution."

Isidro looked like he was ready to ask other questions, but he bit them all back, mumbling, "O.K."

Xavier lifted Kitty's printout on his lap, just enough to draw attention to it. "Ms. Pryde has done an excellent job of analyzing this information. Two of the casualties from the night before last had police records. One had multiple listings for armed assault, armed robbery, theft, and other violent crimes. The other one was wanted for a string of gas station holdups that ended in murder. To make a long story short, it seems that this organization likes to recruit violent offenders. I have little doubt that the other four have records of their own, but didn't have their DNA on file.

"The chemical analysis of the 'input point' at the base of Mr. Delgado's skull holds something puzzling and disquieting." Isidro squirmed a bit Xavier continued, "As we expected, the gel is a neuralgia mimic, highly conductive. The small, hard fragment within the gel is a simple polymer chain, and is unquestionably a chip of the surrounding plastic used for the input housing. Although we have no reason to believe any of this is detrimental to its carrier--" he nodded to Isidro "--the chemical breakdown matches very closely that of Kotoko's kind."

"What?" Scott demanded, starting upright in bed.

Hank cleared his throat. "According to both the autopsies I have performed on the 'talons' anatomy, and the swab samples Kotoko has willingly donated, it would appear that this chemical structure duplicates a naturally-occurring material in their body. Each of the small orifices located on their limbs is coated internally with this same substance, though from the looks of the cell division rates, the gel was created relatively recently. Kotoko's division rate seems to put him in adulthood, while the gel we found in Scott's sample and in Mr. Carter had a rate closer to that of an infant's."

Isidro blanched until he was almost as pale as Scott. "What the hell did they put in my brain? What's a talon?"

Hank turned to Isidro. "You needn't worry about having something eat your brain away, Mr. Delgado. Regardless of the cell division rate, the substance is relatively inert. It has no way to multiply and divide past its own boundaries. On its own, it's completely compatible with our own biochemistry. And these 'talons' are... well... difficult to explain."

"They're aliens or something, right?"

"Effectively, yes. They are foreign to this world."

Isidro looked like he was going to hyperventilate. Kurt moved aside on his bed and thumped the open space with his tail.

"Isidro, maybe you should sit down," he offered. "The space behind you is clear."

Isidro stumbled back and hit his thighs against the raised bed. Kurt carefully guided him to a sitting position, as he didn't care to look where he was going.

"I've got an alien implant," Isidro mumbled. "I don't believe it. All that X-Files horseshit about aliens is real."

"Not in the way you think," Hank corrected. "I have the feeling this gel has an entirely terrestrial origin. It seems to be a duplicate, rather than a donation. What I find interesting is that Kotoko's biochemistry so closely matches our own that such a thing would be possible."

"It does make sense, though," Xavier mused, resting his hand in his chin. "Kotoko mentioned a faction of his kind trying to establish some sort of beachhead on Earth. They wouldn't do that unless they could live here comfortably off the land, and in that case, they would have to have some similarities with us, even if it would be no closer than humans and reptiles."

"Are you saying those aliens are behind the whole thing?" Bobby asked from the screen.

"They are certainly involved in it, but I'm not sure if they are behind it all," the professor replied. "According to Kotoko, the talons only sent small scouting parties here, deliberately avoiding human contact, and this all started two years ago. It has been just one month since they decided to come here in earnest, and the organization directly behind this has been employing this implantation technique for a bare minimum of four months, as that was when they recruited Mr. Carter. The speed and success of his implantation suggest this was a well-known and well-practiced procedure for them at that time. So unless Kotoko's information is wildly inaccurate, it would seem this started well before the talons took a particular interest."

Ororo and Scott looked at each other. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked her.

She nodded. "We've got to talk to Kotoko, and we've got to interrogate that other alien I forced off the road. This is starting to look like a three-way war."

"Four," Scott corrected. "Because now we're caught in the middle."

To be continued….