Drei
Part 3
By Mieren
Beast paced silently, his massive furry hands tightening on the pages he held. The test results explained so much about what had gone wrong with Forge's experiment and why Kurt was acting as strangely as he was. He was so deep in thought that he jumped when Xavier cleared his throat gently to get his attention.
"What did you find?" he asked, folding his hands in his lap. Beast sighed and began his report.
"Basically, when Forge tripled Kurt's power, he altered the phase shift frequency of his teleportation. Kurt wasn't prepared for his ability to be altered in such a fashion. With the frequency tripled as it had been, his mental signal was branched out mid teleport."
"I see," Xavier murmured thoughtfully. He glanced up to study the nervous blue mutant in front of him. "There's something more you're not telling me."
"Yes," Beast admitted. "Kurt's mind actually was successfully split three directions. So in actuality, there are three of him. Despite your earlier thoughts on the matter, their minds are not linked. But since they are the same person, their brainwaves are identical."
"Go on," Xavier encouraged, certain he was about to hear something that would cause trouble for the small teleporting mutant.
"Kurt's power is based partially on manipulation of various types of energy, including electromagnetic fields, and his brain picks up on sources of power," Beast sighed. "It's part of the reason that he's never accidentally teleported into a wall. He can subconsciously sense them." He paused again, unsure of how he was going to tell the professor that something was seriously wrong with one of his students. "All living beings have detectible brainwaves. Since his mind has been tripled, it's silently broadcasting his thoughts in triplicate. And as I said before, the three of them are the same person."
"That's why they can hear each other," Xavier mulled. Beast shook his head.
"There's more to it than that. The brainwave patterns are identical. It's causing a type of interference with his thoughts. Feedback that's distorting his mind and altering his personality. That's why he's been so moody and perverse since the accident. We're not sure, but it could become worse. He could quite conceivably become uncoordinated or even lose control of all motor functions. If we inform him of what's going on, he may be able to control his thoughts to some degree."
"They've shown no discernable difficulties with coordination so far," Xavier protested.
"That's because the three of them have been doing the same thing since the accident," Beast explained. "First, they were all in shock. Then they were all arguing with each other and then with Forge. After that, they proceeded to terrorize the lab. Speaking of which, repairs are now necessary. And a cleaning crew. A chocolate éclair is imbedded in the wall. Trust me, don't ask. As long as they're together engaging in similar activities, it shouldn't be a problem. However, if they engage in different activities, there may be difficulties in keeping their thoughts separated."
Xavier stared at his hands, frowning slightly. "Will this mental distortion be permanent?" he asked slowly.
"We don't believe so. Once we get him back down to a single person, theoretically his personality will return to normal when the feedback disappears."
"I see," Xavier said, relieved. He glanced at Beast one last time as he prepared to leave, pausing when he saw a hesitant expression still plaguing the other mutant's face. He sighed wearily. "What else?"
"You might want to stock the kitchen. We accidentally tripled his metabolism."
"Wonderful."
* * *
A group of X-Men were watching in something akin to horror as the three blue fuzzballs worked over the kitchen. Every restaurant in Bayville that delivered had been called several times. Empty takeout boxes from every conceivable restaurant littered the table and floor, and the three bottomless pits were only just starting on the pizza delivery. They had already put down seventeen of the sixty extra large pizzas they had ordered.
"Lucky for him that the bills are sent to the institute," Rogue muttered.
"Lucky for us that he couldn't fit the fridge in his mouth," Jean countered.
Even leaned over and nudged Scott in the ribs.
"They're going to explode," Evan snickered.
"It's only a wafer thin mint," Scott said with a heavy British accent. Kitty started laughing so hard she choked on her tongue. Kurt tried to flip her off, but since he only had three fingers, his attempt turned out to be unsuccessful.
"Twenty bucks says they don't make it through all of them," Even whispered.
"You're on," Scott chuckled. "Only another forty-three to go."
"Taking bets now?" Jean whispered, grinning. Cyclops arched one eyebrow at her and smirked. "Okay then. Twenty dollars says that Logan will have a coronary on the spot when he sees this."
"I'm not taking that one. I'll lose."
"I have fifteen for Storm blowing a gasket when she sees the mess," Kitty whispered, eying the knee-deep piles of containers filling the kitchen.
"Not taking that one either," Scott snorted.
"I will," Rogue said, folding her arms across her chest. "I say she'll make Forge clean it. She's kinda ticked at him, after all."
"Hey," Scott interrupted. "Isn't Logan due back today?"
"I'll get the camera," Jean offered.
To Be Continued…
Okay. I'm just having way too much fun here. Sorry it's short. I did this on a quick break in all the junk I have to do. Anything in particular anyone wants to see? Any suggestions? R&R!
And yes, I once again quoted Monty Python and the notorious wafer thin mint. ^_^