"Why can't I find her?" The Professor exclaimed, taking Cerebro off. He checked for Nanny among the humans, and even among the mutants, just to be sure. He had spent several hours searching, and each time, he became even more concerned for her safety. He came up stairs during the children's lunch to meet with the X-Men, again, in his office.
They entered silently and sat down, and waited for a while until Nigthcrawler finally broke the silence.
"Have you found her," Nightcrawler asked earnestly.
"No. I couldn't find her among the humans, or the mutants." He looked at them, choosing his next words delicately, even though there was no delicate way to phrase it.
"This can only mean one of two things: either, she is dead …" he took a pause, "or she is somewhere that I cannot penetrate, like Magneto's lair."
"Which do you … suspect, Professor?" Jean asked.
"Looking at the signs, quite frankly I wouldn't put suicide past her. She left her suit cases packed, here. She wouldn't mention where she was going, and she considered herself a problem. And I don't think there is anyone who wanted her dead, thus I don't think murder is an option to consider." He paused. "And I don't know what Magneto would want with her … or what anyone else would want with her for that matter."
"Is it possible that Magneto would want her for information?" Wolverine asked, keeping his head lowered as he starred at his boots, sitting on the arm of Jean's chair. Cyclops stood on the other side of Jean.
"He could easily found out things about us without having to kidnap our art teacher. Besides, he knows plenty about us as it is. We saw that in the Stryker incident." The Professor shook his head. He started to say something, paused, and continued.
"However, I have this innate feeling that she's not dead." He sighed heavily from frustration and worry. "I'll continue to try to locate her."
The X-Men tried desperately to keep any of this recent news away from the children. The children had already been through a lot, with the recent arrival of Nanny, the supposed death of Jean, and her return home. The last thing they needed was unclear news about Nanny, and the possibility of her suicide.
They went about their day, and the next day, and the next, and the next, with as much hope as they could. They trusted the Professor and his "feelings" but it didn't help much to comfort them, to ease their anxieties, compared to the fate that could well be true. And as much as they tried to keep the subject quiet, the children asked question after question. They wouldn't answer questions about where she was, however, those weren't the only questions they asked. Students asked about their art projects; when were they going to be able to get them finish, when would they get them back, and their pots needed to be fired. The X-Men did their best to answer their questions and tried to keep the children's minds off of the subject, but it was hard because it was constantly on their minds.
"Are you ok Nightmare?"
Nightmare rubbed her eyes and whimpered. A small tear fell to the ground. "I had a dream that Nanny was chased by an evil Centaur and chased into the mountains where a witch captured her and killed her. And it was all my fault!"
"Oh. Shhh, shhh. Hush now. Nanny is going to be all right. She's going to be all right."
"How come the Professor can't find her then?"
Storm stopped and looked at Nightmare solemnly. "We don't know." She said in a quiet voice. She put Nightmare back to bed and fell asleep sitting in the chair at Nightmare's desk, singing her an African lullaby.
A week later, the Professor finally had some news to report.
"I've found her. She's very weak and distraught. We need to get to her immediately. Cyclops, Jean, you're coming with me." Cyclops and Jean put aside what they were doing and headed for the jet. The others waited as patiently as they could, running over scenarios on their minds.
They found Nanny in a dark ally way in New York City. She was shivering and was continually coming and going in consciousness. She smelled of burnt hair and flesh, mold, and of the trash she had been laying in for who knows how many hours. Her hair was grimy, her face covered in soot, and she had cuts, bruises, and burns all over her body. She had a sweating fever and faint, dry cough. Her clothes were tattered and blackened. They carefully picked up her and were able to exit the ally unnoticed.
Back in the lab of the school, with all of the children in bed, the X-Men and Rogue gathered to hear more details about what happened.
Nanny lay on the sterol lab bed, limp. Jean had cleaned off as much soot as she could and had dressed her wounds. She was hooked up to IVs and various monitors. She was not in good condition at all, to state the obvious. Getting little sleep and little food while being in a damp, cold ally on top of garbage was enough to make anyone quite ill, without being half electrocuted as well, and emotionally shattered.
"She's not conscious yet." The Professor announced as the X-men poured into the room.
"What happened?" Rogue asked the question on everyone's mind.
"I'm not entirely sure. When she awakes, if she remembers, she can tell us." He looked up to Wolverine. "I'd rather not have to read her mind. However, what I do know is this: she has been put under tremendous amounts of stress and the cuts and burns would suggest massive electrocution."
They looked around at each, shocked speechless.
"Is she going to be ok?" Storm whispered.
"Yes, she will. But it could take a few days for her to come back to consciousness and be any where near a good enough condition to stay awake for more than a few hours at a time."
"Why was she … electrocuted?" Cyclops asked.
"I'm not entirely sure that she was electrocuted, but whatever it was had the same effect as electrocution. I have a few guesses about why, but I'd like to wait to hear what she has to say before I start making conjectures."
They all sat silent a few moments longer. Nanny's monitors beeped at a regular pace and the IV juices dropped slowly and steadily.
"Will you let us know when she starts comin' to?" Rogue asked.
"Of course." He nodded and the X-Men filed out slowly.
The X-Men took turns staying with Nanny at night. Nightcrawler offered first and Storm took the second watch. On the third day, as Jean was routinely cleaning the more severe of her wounds, Jean noticed Nanny's eyes flickering faster. The monitor reflected this. She had been in a minor coma, and now her brain activity was increasing.
'Professor, she's waking up,' Jean informed the Professor telepathically. The Professor quickly notified the others and together they rushed down. They encircled her bed. Nanny's upper lip twitched and her brows ruffled. As Nanny began to wake up, flashes of the bridge, the cavern, and other horrid images from the lair and her experiences there flooded back to her. The monitor began to beep faster as her heart rate increased.
"Professor?"
Tools lying on a metal tray began to vibrate slowly, but it quickened until you could hear it, and see it. Wolverine looked up at Jean, concerned, as his own body began to shake. Jean waited, readying herself to 'catch' any objects that might decide to take flight. A few levitated only a few inches above the tray. Nanny's eyes flung open and she gasped for air. The objects stopped shaking and fell to the tray again. All of the X-men looked at each other, and then to Jean. The Professor only nodded his headed, but didn't comment.
Nanny shielded her eyes from the bright lights with her arm. She noticed tubes hanging out of her arm and with her other arm, she struggled to sit. She coughed lightly and thoughts swirled through her head. How did she end up here, how had she gotten away from Magneto- and then she reflected what had happened her. Her left shoulder ached and she winced, grasping it lightly.
"Careful," Jean moved to help stabilize her. Nanny squinted some, blinking her eyes until she could clearly. She glanced around the room, her neck still sore.
"How did I end up here?" She scratched out.
"We found you curled up in a heap of trash in some ally way."
She yawned slightly and looked down at her lap, thinking. She looked up with a look of confusion.
"I don't remember that." She tried to laugh, but she only coughed. She tried to sit up some more. A pain shot up her back and she winced. She moved more slowly this time.
"What do you remember?"
Nanny stared at the Professor with knowing eyes and let them fall to her lap again. Wolverine looked up to Cyclops and across the room to Rogue. He was uneasy with the silence.
"I remember enough," Nanny finally said.
"We're glad to have you back Nanny!" Rogue exclaimed softly and moved to give her a hug. Nanny didn't reply. She wasn't sure that she wanted to be back. She hugged Rogue back, but Nanny's lack of a reply worried Rogue. Maybe she hadn't heard her? Rogue could only hope so.
"Mmmmm, my head hurts." Nanny groaned.
"I bet. You went through a lot."
Nanny scanned over her memories and nodded. "In fact, everything hurts," she added, and smiled. She didn't like their silence or their stern faces.
"Well, we'll let you get some more rest." They were ready to leave her in the shiny, sterol room to sleep, but she moved to the side of her bed slowly, legs hanging over. Cyclops moved to her side when he realized she was going to attempt to stand. Her legs almost gave out on her and blood rushed to her head. Her eyes went fuzzy and she grasped her head; she was dizzy.
"I'm not sleeping down here alone," She finally murmured.
"One of us would be glad to stay with you."
"No, I can't stand staying in this shiny room anymore. I want a nice hot bath to fall asleep in. I want my bed." She said the last part and sighed with relief. There is nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.
The Professor was slow to nod in approval. He wasn't sure she was ready enough, but Nanny wouldn't take a "no" for an answer. He asked Jean to keep mental tabs on her, every so often. She would still require a lot of sleep and new bandages twice a day.
Jean helped Nanny to the elevator. It would take Nanny a few minutes to get used to using her legs again; her legs that ached all over.
Nanny stepped carefully into her room and shut the room. She took one step, and then another, using her desk and walls to support her as went.
"Ow, ow, owwww," she had a hard time getting her clothes off without falling or stretching her bruised muscles too much. She lay in the tub and let it fill up with scorching hot water. And while she was taking a bath/nap, the Professor met with the X-Men again, to finish explaining a few more things.
"Professor, what was that?" Jean asked.
"Hmmm. When we found her, I had my suspicions that she had been kidnapped, and that was logical enough. It was the 'by whom' that I've been thinking about since. I believe Nanny was kidnapped by someone who was completely convinced that she was a mutant." He paused, allowing the X-Men to process it all. "The electrocution, or whatever it really was, was an attempt to create enough stress to release her powers within her."
"So, she is … then?"
The Professor nodded. "As you saw in the lab," answering Jean's question, "smaller surrounding objects shook, some even levitated. And even Wolverine began to shake slightly. Nanny has a power incredibly similar to Magneto's, but weaker, and slightly different. Her powers are directly related to her emotions. You all should be on guard for a few more days until she calms down and I have a chance to work her to meditate and help her control her emotions." The Professor laughed ironically at himself. "She's bipolar."
"How come you couldn't detect it Professor?"
"I had thought she might have been, but it was confusing trying to discern. If I had really wanted to know, I would have just used Cerebro. In some ways, now I wish I had. Maybe all of this could have been avoidable."
"Why don't you think her powers came out any earlier?"
"That will be something I will be trying to figure out over the next couple days. But whatever that reason is, I believe it's the same reason I wasn't able to positively identify her as a mutant."
……..
Ok, I have some explaining to do. I recently saw the X-Men movies, and only caught an episode or two of the cartoon years before that. I had, however, seen several episodes of Mutant X, a TV series. After a few episodes, I began to create a character in my mind for the Mutant X series and I gave her the powers of magnetism. So I know this really looks like I'm copying Magneto, or Polaris, but I swear, I didn't realize anyone had that power until I saw the movie. I ran over lots of alternative powers in my head, but this character was just perfect! It's really hard trying to create a totally different character for something when one character works out so well. And she is different from both Magneto and Polaris.