The X Corp Chronicles
Part 2: Return of the Not So Dead
Down below, Cecil and Emma were toiling over their discovery. Bobby had been summoned to meet them in the infirmary, though he was certain he had no idea what was going on. After all, he already had his check up with Dr. McCoy a couple of months back. His mind began to run through many grisly scenarios as to why he was being called to the infirmary. Could he be gravely ill? Is there some mutation cropping up that he was not aware of? Does it regard Rogue? Will something happen to her since she nearly killed him accidentally? 'No' he thought. 'It was an accident. She didn't know.' Still, he did spend a few days in a sickbed suffering from his drain, physically manifesting as dehydration, sight muscular atrophy and malnutrition. He hated feeling so helpless.
Rogue took it pretty hard as well. Not so much from hurting Bobby, but that she was blind to think that a 'cure' would fix her life. She was now more of a mess and an outcast then before. First, she denies her existence, her mutation and abandons her identity, and her family…only to have it come crashing back to her at the most inopportune time. No one was going to trust her anymore… least of all, Bobby, who told her it wasn't what he wanted in the first place.
Bobby snapped out of his stream of thought as he faced the closed medlab door. The doors slid open immediately as he was about to press the chime. "Come in, Bobby," called Cecil. "It's about time you got here. Marie arrived ten minutes ago." Storm supplemented. "Would someone tell me what's going on?" inquired Bobby, wary of all the people in the room. "And who's on the table?" he motioned to the body with a blanket draped over it. "I think we should let him tell you himself." Replied Emma, yanking the blanket halfway down uncovering the face of "Scott!" cried Storm.
Rogue and Bobby were stunned to say the least and Storm looked as if she was about to have a breakdown. She shook her head in terror and disbelief as her hands clasped over her quivering mouth. Scott Summers opened his eyes, fortunately, safely behind his visor, and surveyed his surroundings. Startled that he was back in the mansion, or rather under it, he bolted right up. Immediately, he realized he was shirtless…and scantily clad at that, and thusly clenched the blanket, keeping it secure around his lean torso. "Welcome back, Mr. Summers." Greeted Cecil. "What is this? Why am I here? Where's Jean? And the Professor?" Scott immediately asked in succession. "Calm down, Scott. You're home in the mansion. It's been a few months since you were last conscious. Much has happened, but I must stress that you remain calm. You nearly died with your severe injuries. It was a miracle Ms. Frost found you in time to stabilize you."
"Storm. Where. Is. JEAN?" stressed Cyclops. Sighing with the weight of the world upon his soul…and dual minds, Cecil decided it was best to show him all that happened. "Scott, this is going to be a lot to handle, but we will try to get you through it." Ororo was still in shock and Bobby and Rogue didn't know how to react to someone coming back to life. "Storm, Bobby, Rogue, I know it will be difficult, but I need you to snap out of it, calm down and help me. If you would, we're going to try a kind of mental joining for a while. Please relax your minds and think back." 'Think back to the battle of Alcatraz, to Jean, to the Professor,' added Cecil through his telepathy.
The three could only obey and Scott could only demand again, "Who are you? What happened to Jean?" "Patience, Mr. Summers. All will be revealed...to everyone. Please relax your mind to allow us to reconstruct everything that transpired since your encounter with Jean and the Phoenix. Emma, please aid me in connecting their minds." As the four X-Men and two telepaths closed their eyes, Scott felt the world fall away beneath him, and tumble into a expanse of void that was the time gap while he was unconscious… suddenly, trees, rocks and the sky bled in around him in vivid and vibrant color, painting out the landscape…the landscape of Alkali Lake…
Flashback timeScott held Jean in his arms, as they kissed. But he felt something was terribly wrong…an upwelling of emotions flared through him, and he was suddenly breathless. His eyes met Jean's as he was suddenly blasted back by fires that he could have sworn had come from the very depths of the final circle of hell. His body crashed against jagged rocks and tree branches and scraped against leaves and pointy sticks until his broken body lay on its side, slowly bleeding to death. Time and space were warped around Jean, as rocks and sticks began to float about as she departed.
Further along, Emma had just arrived on the scene and found Scott unconscious, after she and her computer interface had detected Jean's major psychic disturbances in the region. At the time, she wasn't sure who he was, but she decided to take him back to her medical facilities. There, he received the best of care as his vital signs stabilized, but he remained in a coma. Soon after the Alcatraz incident, she had learned that he was Scott Summers, a teacher at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. She had already completed her conglomerate's merger with Worthington Industries to form X-Corp, and so she decided to surreptitiously transport Cyclops home. X-Corp's arrangements with Professor Xavier had made that all the easier. And with the technology of the mansion and the resources of X-Corp, Cyclops finally revived.
But then, Cecil and Emma decided it was time to reconstruct the Professor's final encounter with Jean and Magneto, the battle and the aftermath. A flurry of images and pain flashed through Scott. He felt as if he was living the entire thing, watching as his beloved incinerated their treasured mentor, grieving with his fellow X-Men, fighting along side them, and finally watching in abject horror as Logan was forced to impale Jean upon his claws. His mind nearly snapped neatly in twain, but both Cecil and Emma were able to hold his psychic image together, giving him the fortitude to endure. By the end of the not so nice trip down new memory lane, he could have sworn he saw and heard the Professor, telling him that everything was going to be all right. That seemed to calm him long enough to allow Cecil and Emma to break the link without shattering Scott's already fragile mind.
As the link broke, Bobby, Storm and Rogue were left gasping for air, and tears silently welled in their eyes, as they helped ease Scott's burden with their own minds. "It's quite an effective way of breaking so much terrible news without chance for interruption. Thus, the mind, as well as the heart can heal afterward." Scott merely lost consciousness again, and fell into a deep and restful sleep. Emma had psychically jolted his brain to convince it into unconsciousness. "Well, that was uncalled for, Emma." Stated Cecil. "It was best to let him sleep to allow all of this to process properly, rather than the haphazard bombardment we subjected him to." Replied Emma. "It's for his own good that he grieve again through his dreams. Cerebro will keep an eye on his mental faculties, should any complications arise." "Very astute. At least that's one less problem to deal with."
"And the other?" demanded Bobby, heaving with pain, anger and confusion. "Why else did you bring us here?" Heaving another sigh, Cecil leaned his forehead against his closed fist, propped against his chair arm. "For ME." Called a defiant voice along with the familiar flip-swoosh-click of a very familiar Zippo. Storm, Rogue and Bobby spun about to their left, as their eyes fell upon the young man that had betrayed them. Storm maintained a look of stoic pain. Rogue held up a grimace of disgust. Bobby merely froze. His composure quickly cracked as his eyes traveled up and down his former best friend. "I guess I should never have left." Snorted John as he leaned against an archway. "You are so obviously lost without me." He smirked.
Click.
Yeah, I had to make John a smarty-ass. After all, snark is his forte.
Next: "I wanted that passion again. That intimacy. I figured this was the only way…"
