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AN: Yes, it is I with yet another Fragments file!
Shades of Red
He clutched his head in pain while fumbling for his ruby sunglasses on the nightstand. The last thing he wanted to do was blow a hole through the mansion because he forgot to keep his eyes closed while he figured out what was going on.
He remembered being a… dimensional traveler?
He took a moment to center himself, using the techniques Professor Xavier had taught him.
A dimensional traveler was supposed to have replaced… absorbed him?
No, he was still himself, still Scott Summers. Whatever had been planned hadn't worked as expected, he was most assuredly still Scott Summers, X-Men team leader, mutant, orphan, bit of an uptight asshole?!
Scott found himself in the unenviable position of seeing himself through another's eyes and some of what he saw he didn't like.
"Wait! I haven't done ninety nine percent of that," Scott said, realizing that a lot of the actions were things his alternates did in other timelines. He had knowledge of other timelines!
He concentrated on what he knew about this reality and this timeline. "I'm not a simp!"
Scott winced as he took in how his relationship with Jean looked from the outside… and the inside for that matter. He sighed heavily and then groaned. "Okay, I'm a bit of a simp," he grudgingly admitted.
Memories bubbled up of a Mister Sinister who was secretly the one who funded the orphanage he'd run away from before the Professor had found him and may just be responsible for his simp-like behavior as he was a dirty shipper who's OTP was Cyclops/Marvel Girl.
He rubbed his temples. These thoughts were alien yet familiar and held a wealth of information on human behavior and a social subgroup of humanity that he was pretty sure he'd have been better off not knowing about.
"Why do I like Jean?" Scott asked himself, searching his memories for why he was so hung up on a girl that was dating an asshole, despite being a telepath and knowing Duncan was an asshole, while stringing him along.
"I'm her safety guy," Scott realized, feeling physically ill from the concept and the fact that he really was a simp!
"No more of that," Scott decided firmly before searching his memory for anything good about himself he could find.
"I'm the ultimate ride or die bro," he said with a smile. He wasn't sure if being able to face fates worse than death for his friends was exactly healthy, but at least it was something to be proud of.
'Bros…' Scott was glad he had his sunglasses on because his eyes shot open as he realized that his brother was still alive!
"He's a surfer in Hawaii and dating Magneto's abandoned daughter, but he's still alive… maybe."
Scott quickly jumped off of the bed and checked the time. It was just after four am and he usually didn't get up until six, but a little caffeine and he'd be fine for the day.
He rushed through his morning ablutions as he thought about what to do next. While he could ask Professor Xavier to scan for his brother, it'd be simpler and faster to simply look him up.
If his brother was trying to be a professionally sponsored surfer he'd be easy to find mention of online.
Of course this could all just be a fever dream, but if it wasn't… well, he'd soon find proof one way or another.
Scott finished getting ready for the day and went down to the Danger Room beneath the mansion. "Give me a holographic display of all publicly available information on one Alexander Summers, resident of Hawaii," he ordered.
Holographic screens popped up all around him displaying public records of a blond haired young man who looked a lot like Scott.
The doors to the Danger Room opened and Logan entered. "Up kinda early, ain't ya?"
"See that picture?" Scott asked. "That's my brother. I didn't even remember him… I thought he was dead."
Logan smiled. "Glad to hear you got some family left."
Scott nodded. "Can I borrow a pint of your blood? Well, can I have it really, I don't intend to give it back."
"What?" Logan asked, caught off guard.
"Part of the reason I forgot about him and have trouble controlling my power is because of a brain injury as a kid," Scott explained.
"My blood kills people more than half the time," Logan said, "It ain't a good risk to take."
"I don't plan on a transfusion," Scott said, "I was planning on just using the plasma in it."
"That's a weird thing to ask for this early in the morning," Logan said.
"Your full name is James Howlett, and you were born in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada in the late eighteen hundreds," Scott told him.
Logan froze for a moment. "How?" he finally asked.
"Same way I suddenly knew about my brother," Scott replied. "I don't have any logical reason to know, I just do."
"That…" Logan fell silent. "Considering all the different powers mutants can have, knowledge from nowhere really shouldn't be that surprising," he decided.
"The world is a very strange place," Scott said dryly, getting a chuckle from the much older man.
"So you think my blood will fix you?"
Scott shrugged. "Expect? No. Hope? Yes. It's easy enough to try and has no downsides."
"Let's go get Hank up, if he even bothered to go to bed and test that theory," Logan decided.
"Not going to check if I'm right first?" Scott asked, surprised.
"Nah," Logan waved it off, "if this helps you and you're wrong, you'll still be helped. You gave me what you knew free and clear so I'll do the same."
"End program," Scott said and followed the shorter mutant out of the Danger Room.
Twenty minutes and half a pot of coffee later
"Take a pint out, put a pint in," Hank said cheerfully as he placed a pint of Scott's blood into storage in case of medical emergencies before attaching an IV to Scott and letting the plasma donation slowly enter his veins.
"Good advice," Logan said, sipping a beer.
"In my medical opinion a pint of beer isn't exactly the best thing to have after donating blood," the furry blue mutant said with a trace of amusement in his tone.
"Says you," Logan replied. "It's about the only time I can get a buzz without drinking an entire case."
"Fair enough," Hank conceded, "just remember to drink some orange juice as well."
"A screwdriver wouldn't be a bad idea either," Logan said, tweaking his overly intellectual friend, who simply sighed and shook his head.
"How long should this take?" Scott asked.
"Not long at all," Hank assured him. "Though what effects the blood may have on you… is still untested."
"Not sure what I expect to happen myself," he admitted. "Best case scenario I temporarily gain Logan's healing factor and it cures the brain damage preventing me from controlling my power."
"And worse case?" Hank asked curiously.
"Super ass cancer," Scott said solemnly, giving into the brief impulse to make a joke.
Hank and Logan burst out laughing.
Scott found himself grinning. "It might do nothing," he readily admitted, "but it was easy enough to test and here we are."
"Indeed," Hank agreed. "I really wish you'd told me about this idea a few days ago, I'd have a plethora of medical devices ready to monitor for any changes rather than just the standard ones we have on hand."
"I only came up with the idea this morning," Scott told him.
Hank nodded. "And that still does not change my desire to have a few days to prepare for it."
"So get the gizmos prepped for the next time," Logan suggested.
"Next time? Yes, there's bound to be a next time, isn't there," Hank muttered to himself.
The three fell silent as they waited.
After a couple of minutes Scott said, "I think I'll start carrying around some super balls."
The two older men just turned to stare at him, wondering where this had come from.
"My X-gene provides a lot more than just concussive blasts," Scott explained.
"And how does a super ball factor into that?" Hank asked.
"I'm really good at spatial geometry," Scott replied.
"Oh," Hank said with a grin.
"Translation?" Logan asked.
"Never play pool against him," Hank replied, before opening a drawer with one of his feet and absently retrieving and tossing a small blue sphere to Scott.
Five minutes later
A blue rubber ball bounced past Logan's head and a single metal claw flicked out of his right hand to bisect it, the two hemispheres falling to the floor among dozens of others.
Hank absently pulled another super ball from the drawer with his foot and flicked it to Scott who then threw it at the wall, causing it to bounce wildly until it went by Logan who 'killed' it.
Professor X and Ororo just looked at one another, having arrived merely a minute ago without being noticed by the three.
"How many super balls do you have in that drawer?" Ororo finally asked as Logan added another dead ball to the pile on the floor.
"Morning Ororo, Professor," Hank said, looking up from his data pad while absently fishing out another ball with his foot and tossing it to Scott. "I'm not actually sure. You see, I always kept half a dozen in my desk but they always seem to have wandered off when I wanted one, so I mentioned it to Forge and he incorporated something into the drawer I keep them in so I wouldn't run out."
Logan swiped the air, neatly bisecting yet another ball straight down the center.
"Scott, are you okay?" Xavier asked, eyes flicking over to the IV in his arm.
"Just playing vampire for an hour to try and heal some brain damage, Professor," Scott replied.
"We're using Logan's plasma to try and stimulate neurological regeneration in a section of the brain Scott injured as a child," Hank explained, tossing another ball to the teen.
"Would that work?" Ororo asked.
"It might or it might do nothing," Scott said as he calculated the angles before lobbing the ball at the corner of the lab.
"And we're done," Hank said, unhooking the empty IV bag from the teen and pulling out the needle. He wiped the single drop of blood from the injection site and paused. "Already healed, that's promising."
Logan gave Scott an amused look as he flicked his hand behind his head without looking and the two pieces of the rubber ball split around him.
Scott just grinned.
"You suffered a head injury as a child?" Ororo asked.
"My dad pushed me and my brother out of our small airplane when it was attacked by aliens," Scott explained. "I hit my temple on a rock when we landed."
"Aliens?" Ororo asked doubtfully.
"Shi'ar," Scott replied.
"Are you sure?" Professor Xavier asked.
Scott shrugged. "I woke up with a headache this morning and a large chunk of confusing memories, but I already verified that my little brother is alive and living in Hawaii. If my memories are correct, he's also dating Lorna Dane, who is Magneto's daughter from an affair he had when he was married. I'm not sure if Magneto is even aware she exists and I'm pretty sure neither of them have activated their X-gene yet."
"How would a memory from your childhood tell you about the present?" Professor Xavier asked.
"No idea," Scott said bluntly, "that's why I looked up my brother online to see if it was correct. I have patchy knowledge about a number of timelines or alternate worlds. Fortunately, some things remain the same and at least we're not Universe 616."
"616?" Hank asked.
"A very, very, very busy universe crowded with time travelers and undergoing continual revisions," Scott said, shaking his head. "Nothing says drama like having several kids from several timelines and several mothers come back in time to try and fix things. Of course on the plus side two of the three were considered the mutant messiah in their timelines."
Everyone just stared at him speechless.
"Yeah I feel the same way," Scott told them. "And on a lighter note… is there a way to see if I've been mentally influenced to be attracted to Jean by an immortal telepath who really is into making sure I have a child with a telepath because apparently my DNA is extremely compatible?"
"I… I'll see what I can do," Professor Xavier said slowly.
Typing By: Kyrin Fireheart
Beta By: Abyssal Angel, Kyrin Fireheart, and Mist of Shadows
AN: I played with the idea of a Cyclops SI, but if you look into his background you'll find he has an insanely strong sense of self so if you gain his memories… well it's like the old Chuck Norris fact joke "When Chuck Norris falls in water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris."