Chapter Seven

Ororo stood in the cavernous medbay just outside the doorway to Hank's narrow, adjoining laboratory. The large, furry mutant had been working steadily for the past four hours, drawing samples and running tests to discover, not only the reason his patient had lost consciousness on the lawn, but also the truth of his identity.

She leaned her back against the cool, metallic wall and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples in slow, calming circles. Outside, the sun had already risen, chasing the nighttime chill from the air and evaporating the dewdrops that had collected on the grass. Birds were singing in the trees, squirrels were chattering, insects were humming and buzzing.

But, Ororo couldn't hear them. Down there, in that subbasement cave, she heard only the mechanical hum of the ventilation system, Hank's distracted muttering and humming in the next room, the soft clack of Scott's shoes as he paced beside their prisoner's bed with slow, deliberate steps. And, cutting through it all, the steady, impersonal beeps and hisses from the machines monitoring the unconscious man she did not doubt was Kurt Wagner...even if everyone else seemed to.

Ororo clenched her fists by her sides, squeezing her eyes closed even tighter and just concentrating on controlling her breathing. In through her nose, out through her mouth... In through her nose...

She had to keep calm, to keep Scott from seeing her rising anxiety, giving him an excuse to send her away... But, she'd been stuck underground for some four hours now, hemmed in by metal walls and breathing sterile, recycled air; cold, artificial lighting flickering in her eyes, reflecting in the smooth, polished floor... The mechanical bleeps and whirs were so loud, so repetitive, so utterly maddening!

She opened her eyes wide and turned to the wall, trying to picture herself up on the roof of the mansion, the breeze lifting her snowy hair as she stared out toward the hazy horizon. But, her heart was being kneaded like clay in her chest, the space around her was shrinking, cutting off her air—

She needed to get out of there, if only for a moment. She needed to feel the sun on her face, the breeze... This place was too sterile, too cold. It was an airless box, a prison, a tomb—

"Storm?"

Ororo gave a violent start, turning quickly to face the man who had spoken.

"Oh, Scott!" she gasped with a rather shaky laugh, bringing a hand to her chest as she felt her heartbeat begin to slow. "I'm sorry, I was just... You startled me, that's all."

The slight, downward twist to Scott's lips said more than any words.

Ororo scowled, and strode to Kurt's bedside...or, as close as she could get with the security forcefield activated. It really galled her to see Kurt kept under armed guard by his own friends. The poor man was unconscious and he was in pain. He was strapped to the bed and hooked up to machines! Wasn't that enough?

"Hey, come on, 'Ro," Scott said, walking over to join her. "I know this is hard for you...being down here... If you want to go outside for a while, get some air..."

"I'm fine, Scott," Ororo stated firmly.

Scott's jaw tightened.

"Look, I'm not the bad guy here," he said. "And neither is Hank. You don't have to hang around watching us, especially if it's going to aggravate your claustrophobia."

"By the Goddess, Scott!" Ororo exclaimed. "I told you I'm fine, and I meant it!"

Scott looked a little hurt, but he covered it well, stepping back to give her some space.

Ororo sighed, and brushed some loose hair back behind her ear.

"I'm not leaving him," she insisted, her voice softer this time but no less firm. "I won't."

Scott regarded her for a long moment, his expression unreadable behind his visor. Then, slowly, he came up beside her and followed her gaze down to Belasco's russet face.

Even with the oxygen tube running over Belasco's upper lip and tucked under his chin, now that he could see the demon's features relaxed and calm, Scott had to admit there was a marked resemblance to Kurt. It wasn't exact, but that might have been because of the different skin color, or possibly the lack of fur...

"OK, 'Ro," he said, his throat feeling oddly tight. "You really are convinced it's him, aren't you."

"I am," she answered softly, a slight frown creasing her face as she noted how swollen and purple Kurt's fingers had become. Ororo longed to touch him, to try to bring him some comfort with her presence, but with that forcefield in the way...

"I know he's...unbalanced," she said, running a hand agitatedly through her snowy hair. "And, I know he's a danger to all of us as he is right now. But I also know he wants our help, Scott. You didn't hear him under that tree. He called out to me. The look in his eyes almost broke my heart..."

Scott turned to face her, his expression dark.

"Belasco is a master of emotional manipulation," he said. "I wouldn't put anything past him if he thought it would suit his purpose. Don't forget, Ororo...he's already attacked you once."

Ororo spun on him, her blue eyes cold in her mocha face.

"Why are you so eager to just write Kurt off like this?" she snapped. "You and Charles both! Good and evil aren't always as clear cut as dark and light, night and day!"

She gestured to the man in the bed.

"Belasco is our enemy, yes," she said. "So, we must take the proper precautions to protect ourselves. Granted! But Belasco isn't real, Scott. What is real is the fact that 'someone' has physically altered and emotionally manipulated our friend to the point where he 'believes' he is Belasco. That doesn't make him our enemy, Scott. That makes him a victim. And, it is our duty to help him."

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't!" Scott retorted, his visor beginning to glow. "And I'm not 'writing Kurt off' as you say. He was my friend too, Ororo. You're not the only one hurt by all this."

"No," Ororo acknowledged. "But I am the only one who speaks of Kurt in the present tense."

Scott straightened, taken aback.

Ororo just glared.

"Contrary to what we were led to believe, Kurt Wagner is not dead, Scott," she said. "He's right here, lying on this bed. You and Charles just choose not to see him."

Scott tightened his jaw.

"Look, 'Ro," he said, forcing himself to remain calm. "I believe you, OK? I'm on your side in this, whether you believe me or not. It's just that, I have to look at this situation from both sides of the equation. I can't afford to let my guard down. Even Charles believes—"

"Charles is a telepath," Ororo interrupted with a scowl. "He knows the truth. He's just unwilling to acknowledge his own mistakes. If he hadn't sent Kurt's team out to—"

"Where is Dr. McCoy?" a deep, commanding voice rang out from the hall, causing both Scott and Ororo to jump in surprise. "I demand to know why I was not notified of this new development! Where is Charles?!"

Scott winced, closing his eyes behind his visor and releasing a low groan. Ororo mirrored his pained expression as Erik Lehnsherr stormed into the medbay, his long cape billowing out behind him.

"So, this is the intruder that was spying on us?" the tall man sneered, leaning over the bed. He frowned when he caught sight of the prisoner's swollen, purple fingers.

"What happened to his hand?" he demanded, spinning on Scott and Ororo as though the unconscious man's injuries were somehow their fault.

"That's what Hank's busy trying to find out," Scott snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you want to know more, you're just going to have to wait here for his findings, like the rest of us."

"Nonsense," Erik snarled, striding across the room to Hank's lab. "I know my way around a laboratory. I'll just—"

"You'll just calm down before you wake the entire mansion," Charles Xavier's even, cultured voice spoke from behind them. The three mutants turned as the old man wheeled into the room, his expression grim.

"Yes, Erik, as I tried to tell you before you stormed off and broke the mental link, this is the intruder," Xavier explained, still in that calm, even tone.

Erik scowled.

Xavier ignored him, and went on.

"His name is Belasco and he has been an enemy of the X-Men for many years. The reason you were not told he was here immediately is because the situation was not urgent enough to wake you for. As you can see, the demon is unconscious and safely contained."

He frowned then, turning his sharp gaze to Scott.

"Except for one thing. Scott, did I or did I not expressly tell you to activate a forcefield around his bed?"

"What? But I—"

"Wait, that's me, I turned it off just now," Hank called from his lab, charging though the door with a needle and vial and leaning over the medicot's metal railing to put them to use. "I need to draw a few more samples before my analysis is complete, and I can't do that through a forcefield, you know. I have come up with several intriguing preliminary findings, however, if any of you care to hear them." Finished with the needle, he made a beckoning gesture with his long, bulky arm as he vanished back into his laboratory. A moment later, the forcefield flicked back to life. "Just in here, please."

"Scott," Xavier said, "you stand by the door and keep an eye on Belasco, just in case. I'll be monitoring him as well." He tapped his temple with a knowing look.

Scott nodded, suppressing a sigh.

"I understand, Professor," he said, taking up his position by the door. At least he could still hear Hank's explanation, even if he couldn't see his work. And, it helped that Ororo gave his arm a light, sisterly squeeze as she passed by.

"Here," Hank said, gesturing to his microscope. "Take a look in there and tell me what you see."

Erik cast a glare at his companions, then strode forward to take the first look. He blinked, then looked again, his hard expression softening to one of amazed bafflement.

"But, that's impossible," he stated, turning to Hank. "These cells are dividing at an alarming rate. It's as if they're showing...almost morphagenic properties! Where are they from?"

"Believe it or not," Hank said, "they were extracted from the patient's hand."

"What?"

Erik furrowed his brow, stepping back to allow Ororo a look.

"I'm sorry," Ororo said, looking up from the slide of dividing cells, "but I'm afraid I don't understand. What's wrong with him? What do you mean by 'morphagenic properties'?

"In basic terms," Hank explained, "it means his genetic structure is unstable, and in a state of flux. Essentially, these cells appear to be in the initial stages of 'morphing' from one form to another."

Ororo shook her head in disbelief.

"But that can't be right," she said. "I thought only shapeshifters like Mystique could alter their cells like that."

"That's true, for the most part," Hank said, taking up a lecturing position at the opposite side of his lab table. "But this patient has undergone extensive genetic manipulation, and I doubt very strongly the resulting physical changes were consciously made. He obviously has no conscious control over what is happening to his hand right now."

"What is happening to his hand, Hank?" Xavier prompted, his brow furrowed.

"Well, these alterations are in their earliest stages, but I would guess that the bone, muscle, and skin of his first and second fingers are beginning to merge into one digit. The third and fourth digits are likely to follow until his five fingers have become three."

Ororo let out a short, involuntary gasp.

Hank shot her a sympathetic look.

"Unfortunately for our patient," he told her, "the morphagenic process is extremely slow and, I'm afraid, excruciatingly painful. But this is mainly because it is not a natural process, as it would be for a true shapeshifter. You see," he went on, "somehow, someone has manipulated a dormant morphagenic X-gene in the patient's mitochondrial DNA. This particular gene can only be inherited from the individual's mother. Shapeshifters, particularly female shapeshifters, are quite rare in the mutant population and, as we all know, Mystique was Kurt Wagner's biological mother."

He shot both Charles and Ororo a pointed look.

"I'm still running the full DNA analysis to compare with Kurt's old medi-records, but if there was any doubt before that this man is indeed our Kurt, I believe these singular findings have certainly removed it."

Ororo looked down at Charles, but the old man seemed lost in his own thoughts, a deep frown creasing his face.

She turned away from him and said, "What I would like to know is 'why'. Why would anyone do something like this to Kurt? Kidnap him, manipulate his genes, brainwash him into thinking he's Belasco! What could possibly have been the motive?"

Hank shook his furry head and sighed.

"I don't know, Ororo. But I do know whoever did this to him possesses scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. Unfortunately, that means I have no idea how they did it and even less how to reverse it."

"What was it that triggered the manipulated gene to start working now?" Scott asked from the doorway, never taking his eyes from their unmoving prisoner.

"I would have to guess extreme emotional stress," Hank responded. "But, just in case you're wondering, none of this has anything to do with why he fainted on the lawn."

The others waited for a beat, then Erik rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to tell us why he fainted, or are we going to have to drag it out of you?" he asked.

Hank shot him a dark look.

"Kurt - and I use that name because that is who I believe my findings prove the man in the medbay to be," he elaborated with a significant glance at Xavier, "Kurt fainted because he hadn't eaten a thing in days. He was also severely dehydrated. I've started an IV drip, but once he regains consciousness I want to start him out on some soup, and then maybe some solid food in the evening if he's feeling any better. I don't dare imagine what he's been living on this past year in that slum of his."

Xavier nodded, his expression stern.

"He can have his soup in here," he said, "but if he does start to feel better, I want him moved out of the medbay and into a secure holding cell. No matter his true identity, as long as he poses a danger to the population of this school, he will be under armed guard at all times. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh," he continued with a pointed look at Ororo. "But I believe such measures are necessary. I'm not taking any chances with the students."

"I agree," Erik said with a short nod. "The safety of the students is our first priority. After all, if this man were to—"

A brief, strangled cry sounded from the other room, almost like the start of a scream. Hank brought down the forcefield and the four mutants rushed out of the lab to join Scott by Kurt's bedside.

"His eyes just shot open," Scott explained as the others came up beside him. "There wasn't any warning."

Hank put his thick, furry finger against the red man's neck, then shook his head with a frown.

"I was afraid of this," he said. "It seems to be a side effect of the merry havoc that mutagenic X-gene is playing with his system. His pulse is racing and his metabolism is rising exponentially. The tranquilizers I gave him should have lasted twice as long as this."

"What can you do for him?" Ororo asked, looking down at the thrashing, moaning Kurt with deep concern.

Kurt turned his head to look at her, his golden eyes wide and bright with fever and pain.

"Beatrice," he whispered hoarsely, reaching out to grab her wrist with his tail. Ororo gasped slightly as the red, spaded tip wrapped tightly around her arm. "Avete le mie più profonde scuse, Beatrice. Tu sei il mio cuore. Tu mi credi? Mie scuse!"

"What is he saying?" Ororo asked, a frantic note entering her voice as he started to sob, the hot tears trickling down his russet cheeks onto his pillow.

"I think it's Italian," Scott observed.

"Why would Wagner be speaking in Italian?" Erik asked, furrowing his brow. "I always thought he was German."

"He is," Xavier said. "But Belasco is not."

At the sound of Xavier's deep, cultured voice, Kurt tried to sit up, straining against his restraints, his tail lashing wildly.

"Padre?" he exclaimed, his golden eyes blazing with fury and streaming tears. "Perche, Padre? Perche Beatrice!"

"Should I raise the forcefield?" Scott asked, rushing over to the control station on the far wall.

"No," Xavier responded, catching and holding Kurt's fevered eyes with his own. There was something there, something behind the turmoil and the madness, beyond the confusion and the pain. He could almost see it, the memory of a sunny, spring day, crowds of people in colorful clothing walking up and down narrow, cobbled streets...

The images were lost as Kurt tore his eyes away from Xavier's, turning instead to Scott and Hank.

"Io non sono un demonio," he said, his voice weak and trembling. He seemed to be fading fast, his eyes already drooping with exhaustion as he fell back against his pillow. "Azazel! Io non sono un demonio!"

"Azazel?" Erik repeated, confused. "Who or what is that?"

Scott narrowed his eyes behind his visor.

"Isn't Azazel—?" he began.

"Kurt's biological father, yes," Xavier finished for him.

"Do you think he has anything to do with all this?" Ororo asked, keeping her eyes firmly on Kurt as he slowly drifted back into restless unconsciousness.

"If my suspicions are correct, Azazel has a great deal to do with this," Xavier said, wheeling up closer to Kurt's bedside and reaching out to place his hand against his horned forehead. "Unfortunately, the only answers are locked up inside Kurt's head. And with the chaotic state his mind is in, I don't think even he knows how to find them."

"What are you going to do?" Hank asked, watching Xavier smooth Kurt's wavy hair until the red-skinned man stopped his restless thrashing and his breathing began to slow.

"I'm going to scan his mind," the old man said, his voice soft and calm. "It should only take a moment. I won't go deep. But if this works..."

He trailed off, closing his eyes as he established a telepathic link with the unconscious Kurt Wagner.

To Be Continued...


Translations:
You have my most profound apologies, Beatrice. You are my heart. Do you believe me? I am so sorry!
Father? Why, Father? Why Beatrice?
I am not a demon. Azazel! I am not a demon!

Any errors with the Italian or German in this story are all mine. If anyone has a better translation, just let me know! :)