The X-Men made their first public appearance the next day. It was a small slot on a news announcement which involved Storm declaring their promise to protect the human and mutant societies as best they could, while everyone else stood in the background trying to look cool.
Magneto was among the millions who tuned in to watch it.
"This is a most unexpected move," he said with a low chuckle, "I didn't think you had it in you, Ororo."
"What of the plan?" Callisto asked, "Does this change anything?"
"No, not really – they have stood in our way before without the public backing them, their role in our plan will be no different," Magneto said, turning off the TV, "Have you got it?"
"Piece of cake," Callisto said, holding up a gun.
"Excellent," Magneto said, "Now we wait."
"For what?" Pyro demanded. He didn't like waiting.
"For an opportunity to damage further the already fragile bonds between Warren Worthington Senior and his son," Magneto said, "We will scare him into stopping the production of the 'cure' by using it to turn the one person he truly cares about against him."
"Why don't we just threaten to kill him?" Pyro asked.
"Because violence will only strengthen his resolve to destroy the mutant race," Magneto said, "if we want to get Mr. Worthington to do exactly what we want, we have to break his heart, not his body."
Magneto ejected the cartridge of the gun. It was loaded with cure bullets. An evil smile spread across his lips and he loaded the gun again, handing it back to Callisto.
"You know what to do."
Later that week, once the builders had been and gone and things were finally settling back to normal, Warren found the time between his lessons to talk to Storm. He made his way to her office where she was talking with Hank about something.
"Hello Warren, did you want something?" Storm asked.
"I want to talk to you about Jack," he said.
"What about her?" Storm asked, suddenly paying him complete attention, her conversation with Hank forgotten. Hank was also watching him with interest.
"She can't read," Warren said bluntly. When Storm and Hank didn't say anything he elaborated, "Think about it – she never takes any notes, she can't work computers, she never volunteers any information in class, simply claiming to have a good memory. Because whenever you quiz her about the lesson she can remember with incredible accuracy, you don't question it, but…"
"But she's so intelligent," Storm said, "How could a nineteen year old, capable of learning an entire language in a few days, not have taught herself to read and write?"
"I don't know," Warren said with a shrug, "But I'm absolutely certain that she can't. I've been watching her for a while because I suspected it, I had to trick her to confirm it, which I didn't like doing, but thought it was for the greater good."
"Have you spoken to her about it?" Storm asked.
Warren shook his head.
"No," he said, "I wasn't sure how best to approach the subject, and with all that's been going on lately, I haven't really had a chance."
"I'll talk to her," Hank said, "it's my job to talk about awkward subjects in awkward situations, making me perhaps the best qualified."
"Thanks," Warren said, "I would do it, but I must admit I wasn't looking forwards to the conversation."
"Miss Starbright is a spirited young lady, I'm sure she will bounce back from this," Hank said, "sometimes we have to suffer an embarrassment to improve ourselves. I'll go and find her now."
"I never even suspected," Storm said when the door clicked shut, "Just when I thought I was getting to know Jack Starbright she throws another surprise at us."
"Why do you call her that?" Warren asked.
"That's what Hank calls her, I assumed she had divulged her surname to him at some point."
Warren shook his head.
"It's the name of a character, in a book," he said.
"Oh," Storm said, then laughed, "Well, that's very like Hank, giving people clever nicknames…"
She fell silent for a moment then spoke again.
"Thank you, Warren," she said, "You must be far more observant than I am, I doubt I would have even noticed."
"I'm sure you would have eventually," Warren said.
"Probably to her great embarrassment," Storm said, "I'm glad you noticed in a discreet way – I can't be losing any more students and team mates."
Hank wandered through the corridors trying to locate Jack. She wasn't with the others in the lounge and nor was she in the kitchen or dining area. He was about to try her room when he heard the gentle melodic sound of the piano being played in the music room.
Curious, he wandered past. Last he remembered, none of the students except Kitty had any real musical training – and Kitty was watching TV with Rogue and Peter. Hank wasn't too surprised to find Jack sat in the music room at the grand piano, picking out the notes to the tune with confident fingers. Hank recognised the tune as one Kitty liked listening to.
When Jack came to the end of the piece he applauded.
"Andante, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, am I right?" he asked, crossing the room in a few large strides.
"You're showing off again," Jack pointed out. Hank laughed.
"Yes, I am," he said, looking at the music on the stand. It was the Titanic theme, another one of Kitty's favourites.
"Well, I'm impressed – not only do you play it very well, but you also play it from memory."
"I have…"
"…A good memory," Hank finished for her, grinning, "How long have you been learning piano for?"
"A while," Jack said with a vague shrug.
"Well, if you don't mind me interrupting your practising, I could use your help with something."
"Sure," Jack said, tucking the piano stool in and following him out of the room.
"I've been doing some work for my old college, translating ancient Latin documents into English," he said as they arrived at his classroom, "I don't have any trouble with the Latin, or the translating – it's just an incredibly time consuming process, and the deadline is fast catching up with me."
He ferreted around in his drawer for a document that would at least look appropriate, and hoped that Jack couldn't tell he was lying.
"It would be of great assistance to me if you could read out the document so that I can type it faster."
Jack fixed him with a look as he handed her the paper that let him know she knew he was tricking her, or attempting to anyway. She gave a small laugh and dropped the paper to the table.
"I can't," she said.
"I know," Hank said sympathetically, and apologetically, "I'm sorry for tricking you – I feared you would be defensive if I just asked you about it, and then I wouldn't be able to help you."
"No," Jack shook her head, "you don't understand – I can't read, you can't help me."
"It may seem like a difficult task now, but you are a bright girl – I'm sure with a bit of teaching you could learn."
Jack shook her head again.
"It's not that I haven't or I won't learn," she said, "I can't."
Hank just looked at her blankly, so she went on.
"I have a good memory," she said, "I play the piano and I can learn languages really easily. My mind works differently to yours. I work in sounds, not pictures."
Hank regarded her for a moment, aware that her eyes never left his as he studied her face. Like Mystique he was soon overwhelmed by the enormous depth to her eyes. She had seen suffering, this one. Pain, hurt and sorrow all swam at the surface of her eyes, hiding whatever lurked at their depths.
"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" Hank asked her gently.
Jack looked down at her feet, her brow furrowed. She took a deep breath then spoke.
"I've never had a piano lesson in my life, I've never been within a hundred miles of Britain and English is not my first language," she said, looking back up at him.
"I'd pretty much guessed all of that," Hank said with a sad smile.
Later that evening Kitty was sat on her bed reading, but put her book down as Rogue entered the room.
"Rogue, are you… ok?" Kitty asked.
Rogue, who had been smiling and almost dancing round the room stopped and looked across at Kitty, bemused.
"Yes?" she said, completely confused.
"Are you eating properly?" Kitty continued.
"What?" Rogue came and sat opposite Kitty, "What's this about Kit?"
"I'm worried about you, Rogue," Kitty said, "You're looking dead thin."
Rogue looked down at herself. She hadn't been watching her weight, or eating any less than usual, but Kitty was right, she had definitely got thinner.
"I'm not dieting or anything," she said, examining her arms.
"But you're starting to look almost as skinny as Jack, and that's not healthy Rogue," Kitty's voice was filled with concern.
Rogue wandered over to their mirror and looked at herself. Her collarbones were definitely more prominent and her arms and legs were looking distinctly bonier. She hadn't even noticed.
"My Mum got really depressed once and no matter how much she ate she kept losing weight," Kitty said, standing behind Rogue, "You don't sleep any more, Rogue, you're always tired and distracted. You know, ever since your powers came back you've been a different person. Different to how you were before you took the cure even."
"I feel different," Rogue said, "But I don't feel bad."
"You're wasting away," Kitty said, "There has to be a reason for that!"
"I promise you, Kit, I'm not not eating properly, and I'm certainly not depressed. You're right – I'm not sleeping very well, but I know why that is, and I'm trying to deal with it."
"Why aren't you sleeping then?" Kitty asked.
"Because I'm struggling to contain the memories that I acquire when I touch people, they've all resurfaced since my power came back, and I've been trying to sort them out, but it's just taking time."
"Well, you know we're all here for you, ok?"
"I know," Rogue said.
Warren stood on his balcony, stretching out his wings, watching the final stages of the sunset. The light breeze tugged at his blonde hair and rustled his feathers. He loved the feel of the wind, it was peaceful, but his peace was about to be disturbed.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Jack's voice said from next to him.
Warren turned round, forcing Jack to duck beneath his left wing. He thought she would snap at him, but as she sat back up again, one leg on either side of the railing around his balcony, her back against the wall, he saw she was grinning at him, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
"How did you get there?" he asked.
"Climbed," Jack said with an unconcerned shrug, "You told them about me not being able to read."
"I thought you would be a little more… embarrassed," he said, failing to think of a more delicate word. Jack just shrugged again.
"There's no shame in not being able to do something," she said, "you can't shoot fire out of your hands, are you ashamed of that?"
Warren didn't point out that it was hardly a similar thing. Jack's leaps of logic either meant she didn't have a clue what she was talking about, or he didn't know enough about her to understand. He hadn't worked that one out yet.
"And what makes you think it was me anyway?" he asked.
"Because you're the only person here who pays any attention," she said with a shrug.
Warren looked at her, but she was staring at the night sky as if transfixed. Warren followed her gaze.
Overhead the sky was just reaching dark enough for the stars to come out, and a few were starting to shine. The moon was a pale crescent in the sky, still overpowered by what remained of the sunlight. It was going to be a beautiful night. Jack breathed in the crisp night air deeply, a look of contentment on her face.
"Do you know the names of any stars?" Warren asked her.
"Nope," Jack said, "But I will do, in about thirty seconds."
"And how are you going to manage that?" Warren turned to her, a smile on his face.
"You're going to tell me some," Jack said plainly.
"How do you know that I know any?" Warren asked.
"Because you wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't."
Warren laughed a little.
"Well maybe I do," he said, "but I'm not going to tell you any right now, because my balcony is not a proper place to be for a student, and you can get down the way you came up, thank you very much, because it would not look good if anyone saw you coming out of my room – imagine what Kitty would have to say about that…"
Jack laughed and swung her leg over so she was stood on the other side of the railing.
"Point taken, sir," she said with a wide grin, and began climbing down.
Warren watched her go, then returned to his room, shutting the door to the balcony. He had spoken to Hank since his brief interview with Jack, and knew of what she had said about her problem. Hank was quite determined to help her, but didn't really know where to start. He said he would dedicate all his spare time and energy to the project, but with everything that was going on at work, he didn't have much to spare.
Warren thought about this for a moment, then resolved that he would do everything he could to help as well. He had the contacts, people with money an power just as much as Hank, and he had an idea for a starting point. Tomorrow morning, before his lessons, he would go shopping.
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