October Halloween
Scott Summers sat down next to his wife Jean and started to say something, then stopped, she looked confused.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"That young mutant, he's connected with me again, but it's different this time. It's still him, but I'm getting the impression of an older, more confident him. There's a small amount of confusion, but no terror or pain. Some concern, that I believe is focused on others, it seems like general concern. Like we would have for bystanders in a conflict."
"Maybe he's manifesting another ability. Many mutants have multiple abilities after all."
"I don't think that's it. It's still him, just both with and without. With something new and without maybe emotional baggage? I'm getting a feeling of confidence in himself and his abilities. He knows what he's doing and he knows how to do it. And I don't think it's over confidence. Just secure in the knowledge that he can handle himself and the situation, which leaves him free to think up solutions."
"And still no sense of who he is or where he is?"
"No name, no nothing, just emotions. I still don't believe he knows a connection is forming, it's happening at an instinctive level."
"If he's strong enough to connect to you at an instinctive level, what will he be able to do once trained to use his abilities to their maximum?"
"I still believe he's strong, I just don't think it's strength that allows us to connect. I'm quite possibly the strongest telepath ever, at least on Earth. I don't get the feeling that he's stronger then me. Something else is allowing a connection. And I have no idea what that is."
"Is there anything artificial about it, like Cerebro? Maybe he's connected to some kind of machine and it's facilitating the connection, like Cerebro does for the Professor or augmenting it somehow."
"Charles has connected to me using Cerebro before, I know what Cerebro feels like. No, there's nothing artificial about this connection. He's doing it on his own."
"This has been going on for months now, off and on and the Professor still can't find him with Cerebro, which does suggest he's being blocked in someway."
"Charles or the young mutant?"
"Possibly both now that I think about it. Charles should be able to find him."
"Not necessarily, we've encountered other types of mutants. Cerebro scans for the most likely types of mutants, but we do know others are out there. This boy could be blocked, either voluntarily or involuntarily or he could be something different. And none of it explains how he can connect to me. Or why all I can get are impression."
"You could only be getting a piece from him. Like something dripping from a sieve."
"That could explain it. But that goes back to wondering if he's being blocked somehow and maybe the block is cracked and this is spillover. I'm worried about him, Scott. I can't help it. Not when I'm getting impressions that vacillate from terror to pain more then they do anything else. Something is very wrong wherever he is. No one, especially a child, should have to deal with so much pain and shear terror."
"You suspect it's on purpose. You think he's being abused."
"It would explain everything except his ability to connect to me. Which leads me to wonder who is abusing him, his family, or an anti mutant group? Or someone or something else. The terror and pain aren't constant, except for that one time and this is the first time I've felt confidence from him. But he also feels different this time, like I said. Older, more mature."
"Maybe he somehow connected to a future self, we've seen stuff like that too. And it's a bleed over from the future self that's giving him a boost of confidence."
"It's one possibility." Jean agreed. "So many mysteries with this young mutant and yet no closer to any answers. How long can he handle the terror and pain onslaughts before it breaks him?"
"Hopefully long enough for us to finally find him and help him." Scott reassured her. "We're not going to give up and you were able to connect to him once yourself, weren't you?"
"Yes, but he won't let me in. Every time I try, there's an automatic and most definitely instinctive response that keeps me out. Like he associates my attempt to connect to him with the pain and terror episodes."
"Or the unfortunate fact that you're first attempt to connect to him happened during the instance where the terror was a constant. He may associate it with that and just be determined not to be reminded of it or is afraid you're apart of whatever it was."
"I want to help him, but until he's able to understand that he's just going to keep blocking me." Jean agreed. "I just have to concentrate on the rest of it, the impressions and hope eventually I get something useful."
"Which is a catch 22 situation. With only two exception, tonight being one of them, it's usually in moments of terror or pain that he connects with you. Which means something has to scare or hurt him for you to get any impressions that might be able to help him."