Chapter 1: Home

Summary: Scott returns back to the mansion, actually Chapter 1 of the story.

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As soon as the jet landed, Jean raced to the infirmary. She removed the rag that covered his eyes with an old pair of Scott's glasses. She tended to his wounds, which indicated several beatings. Luckily for him though, she found no major fractures. There was brain activity, but the professor nor Jean could reach his mind telepathically. Scott remained knocked out. She cleaned him up and took some blood samples to the lab. She ran every possible identification test she knew and the next day, they all came back positive. This person is Scott. Two more days passed and Scott was still unconscious.

The X-Men salvaged what little data they could from Alkali Lake. It seemed that Styker was somehow involved with the Friends of Humanity, which would explain how Scott ended up with him. Stryker experimented on mutants, like how he used Xavier and cerebro. Xavier and the other X-Men could only guess what horrors they inflicted onto Scott.

Jean remained constantly by his side. She still couldn't believe it. She looked down at him. He seemed a little skinnier than the last time she saw him, but not too skinny. She remembered how she used to call him "Slim" when they were younger. He was still very fit and was more cut now than before. Looking at him with scratches and bruises all over made her heart ache, but at the same time she couldn't help but be attracted to him. She knew it was wrong but she reached out and touched him. It was almost electric when her fingers touched his bare skin. She traced a small wound along his side. And she clearly saw the traces of the wound, where the bullets came in. She thanked God that she found him. Suddenly, Jean got startled when she felt someone grab her wrist. Scott had woken up.

He pulled her in towards her, almost knocking Jean off her feet.

"Kill me!" He commanded before letting her go and falling back onto the bed.

"Scott.. can you hear me .. it's Jean."

"…"

"Scott, I know you're awake.. pl.. please say something.."

"What.. what do you want now?" Scott said, this time more slowly.

"Scott.. it's me Jean."

"I don't know.. what more you want from me.. I've told you everything I know.. just kill me already and be done with it."

At that moment it became painfully clear to Jean what Stryker had done to Scott. Like how Stryker tricked the professor into using Cerebros against mutants, Stryker used Scott as well. With the excitement over the past few days, no one bothered to notice that Stryker's men entered the estate with out triggering any of the mansion's extensive security system. Everyone assumed Magneto helped Stryker out with the defenses, but Eric only knew of Cerebro, the security system was put into place more recently, and upgraded and modified thanks to a certain Scott Summers. Jean could only imagine the pain and torture Scott endured under Stryker's hand.

"Scott, this is no illusion.. no tricks.. you're back home.."

"Kill me.. kill me already.. I am of no use to you anymore.."

The ECG machine siren sounded and Jean saw Scott's heart rate jump. Jean was amazed; Scott was raising his own blood pressure. At this rate, Scott would induce a heart attack. She applied more drip to him and he slowly went back to sleep and his heart rate steadied. She turned around to look at the monitors.

Then Jean suddenly heard Scott get up. He quickly removed all the electrodes placed on him and removed his glasses to blast the door open. He was too fast for Jean and before she knew it, he was already gone. Jean sounded the emergency alarm and quickly ran after him.

Dinner had already been served and most of the students were already in their rooms. Due to the attack on the mansion, strict safety guidelines were enforced to ensure that there would not be a repeat of Stryker's attack. The students quickly reacted to the alarm, as the Professor chimed in their heads that this was no drill. They quickly left the hallways and common areas and headed for the nearest "safe zone."

Scott was running through the mansion. He noticed that some things were different from what he remembered. But Scott was hallucinating, believing that he was in a made up realty, but in fact he was not. He blasted the wall and headed outside by the garden. Scott gave his captors credit for trying to be more creative this time, with minor changes in detail with the mansion and garden. Scott continued to run, he believed it was all useless, but he would annoy and aggravate his captures as much as he can. Scott stopped though when he came to a memorial stone, a gravestone that had his name written on it.

"Scott Summers" with a small "X" on the bottom. "This is new." Scott thought to himself and then he laughed inside and thought how lazy Stryker had gotten, just his name, not even his birthday or anything about being leader of the X-Men.

Logan and Storm were already outside when the alarm was sounded. They saw Scott stop at the memorial and Storm created a mist of fog that surrounded him. Logan used the cover to go after Scott, but Scott quickly reacted and removed his glasses and blasted him with full force. Logan was sent flying off, halfway across the estate. Then he saw Storm hover over him and he blasted her too, not a direct blast like he did with Logan but enough to send her falling from the sky. Jean arrived in time to telekinetically lower Storm to safety. The fog surrounded Scott was slowly dissipating and he saw the figure of Jean walk slowly towards him.

"Scott.." Jean called out. "It's me."

"Nice try." Replied Scott as he removed his glasses again and fired at Jean.

Jean used her TK to hold back the blasts but it was too much for her to handle. It was relentless but she manages to hold it back and deflect it, causing the blasts to bounce off her and back at Scott. Jean fell on the floor but she quickly got up and ran towards Scott, who was also on the ground. The fog had all but cleared by now and she was afraid when she saw Scott lying on the ground.

The professor appeared from the side.

"Scott's powers can't hurt him. Something must be wrong!"

"It's ok Jean. I arrived just in time. You distracted him long enough for me to engage his mind.. I forced him to sleep."

"Can you wake him up?"

"Yes but…I scanned your thoughts and I am sorry to say that I did not come up with this sooner, that it was Scott that helped, or rather forced to help Stryker."

Jean placed his glasses back on Scott.

"I can telekinetically hold his body still. He'll know that this is not some sort of illusion."

Xavier took a moment but he agreed to it. He didn't want to overwhelm Scott with the presence of so many people. He sent Piotr and Kitty to fetch Logan. He called Bobby and Rouge to help him bring Ororo to the infirmary.

Jean stood by ready, while Scott slowly started to wake up. He moved slightly and then all of a sudden got up. Jean couldn't believe the reaction time Scott had. But she used her powers to hold Scott still and he was prevented from moving.

"What the f---?"

"Scott.. please.. this is no dream.. no illusion.. you're back home."

"Just kill me already .."

"Scott you know I won't do that… look at me." Jean stood in front of Scott. She prevented him from moving his face. He had no choice but to look at Jean.

"Scott.. it's me Jean." She said reaching out and touching his face. Scott felt her touch. It felt so real and then he gazed into her. Her hair was longer than he remembered but he looked at her eyes. Even though he saw things in shades of red, he was still able to differentiate colors, and he clearly saw green.

".. Jean.." Scott said slowly. "No.. It can't be..."

"Scott, yes it is me.. you're home.. you're safe.."

Scott looked around and took in the site. It was almost too much for him to handle, the thought of being free. He realized that this was no illusion and he was standing outside half naked with the whole student body looking at him from the windows. Jean sent them all a threatening message telepathically and they all shut the blinds.

"I'm at the mansion.. the garden.."

Jean became overwhelm with happiness and embraced Scott and at the same time releasing him of her hold. But as quickly as she put her arms around him, Scott pulled away.

"You.. you found me?"

"Yes, Scott we did. At Alkali Lake in Canada… we thought you were dead.. but we were there on a mission.. and we.. I found you."

Scott took a seat on a nearby bench. Jean kneeled over him and placed her hands on his.

"Everything's going to be ok Scott.. you're home now."

".. home.." Scott said softly.

To be continued…

Author's Note: I wrote this part of the story weeks ago and was actually going to change it around a lot but ended up using it the same story and tweaking little things here and there. But certain things in this story were clearly a hint of X3, despite my disdain for it, which is also slightly hinted in the story hehe.