The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

Chapter 73: Madelyne Pryor

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

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As her fellow Professor sits down with her, Madelyne tries her hardest not to fidget or squirm. Sitting across from the beautiful Ororo Munroe, her feeling of Impostor Syndrome has never been stronger… but that's okay, because she's stronger than it. She refuses to let it control her.

Forcing a smile onto her face, Madelyne looks at Ororo curiously.

"It's surprising that we both started this week. What a coincidence!"

Smiling right back, the gorgeous black woman inclines her head.

"Indeed it was. I suppose in a place as big as ESU, it shouldn't be too surprising… there will always be turnover and what not, especially with a faculty in the thousands. Still, it definitely sparked my interest. You teach Biology, yes?"

Madelyne beams and nods happily, pushing down her insecurities as they try to bubble up within her.

"Y-Yes! And you said you teach multicultural studies. That sounds fascinating to me! There's a bit of a connection, isn't there?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ororo chuckles.

"Oh? In what way?"

She mustn't squirm. She mustn't squirm. Keeping herself still, Madelyne takes a moment to formulate her answer. But not too long. She doesn't want Ororo to think she's stupid or something.

"Well… we're all technically the same species, but culture is where biology and geography meet in a way, isn't it? The biology of human beings adapting to the environments they find themselves in and developing society around their unique sets of circumstances is what has led to the beautiful and diverse arrays of cultures we have today!"

There! She'd articulated herself quite well there… or so she hoped. Why wasn't Ororo saying anything? Madelyne fights back the heat that threatens to rise to her cheeks in the silence that follows. She shifts in her seat… it's not a squirm though! Just a shift!

"Hm. You may have a point there, Professor Pryor. Though I should probably correct you on one point, since you'll probably find out later on either way. I'm not considered part of the human species. I'm what today's common parlance deems a 'mutant'."

Madelyne's eyes widen and her heart begins to race before she immediately clamps down on her building excitement.

"Oh! I… that's amazing. D-Don't worry, I'm not prejudiced or anything… in fact, I find the X-Gene to be truly fascinating."

Raising her eyebrow again, Ororo hums some more.

"Do you now? I suppose I shouldn't be very surprised given the subject you teach. Still… thank you for being understanding. I tend to get the reveal out of the way as early as possible, given bad experiences in my past."

Madelyne can only feel a welling of anger on Ororo's behalf at that.

"Tch! Then they're short-sighted and stupid! I wouldn't judge you for the color of your skin, why would I judge you for any other genetics you have no control over?!"

That gets another chuckle from the beautiful dark-skinned woman, who sits back in her chair and crosses one leg over the other while shaking her head.

"Ah, you'd be surprised Professor Pryor. I've had many a man even tell me that they're looking for an 'ebony goddess', only to falter when they find out just what I can do. I believe the difference is that my skin color doesn't intimidate them nearly so much as my power does."

Huffing, Madelyne shakes her head even as she seizes upon an opportunity.

"Well then, they're stupid. And… please, call me Madelyne."

Ororo's smile grows a bit more and she nods.

"Very well, Madelyne. But only if you call me Ororo."

Then, she tilts her head to the side in a curious fashion.

"Speaking of our past… what about you? What brought you here to Empire State University?"

Ah. She was hoping they could keep the conversation focused on Ororo for a while longer. The last thing Madelyne wanted to talk about was her past. But… Ororo had been honest with her, hadn't she? So in the end, Madelyne could only really return the favor.

"Well, the job is definitely what brought me to Empire State University. I love biology and getting to teach it to young adults who might go on to make amazing new discoveries or even teach it themselves… well, it's like a dream if I'm being honest."

Far from being satisfied with just that much, Ororo leans forward. However, the part she focuses on is… unexpected to say the least.

"A dream? Can you expand on that?"

A little taken aback by the question, Madelyne's brow furrows and she waves her hand through the air dismissively.

"You know… like a dream come true? I'm just happy being a Professor, I guess. Teaching fulfills me in a way that little else has since…"

She trails off, but of course Ororo isn't willing to let it go.

"Since? Since what?"

However, perhaps realizing she's being a little bit aggressive right now for whatever reason, the dark-skinned woman suddenly coughs and clears her throat, leaning back in her chair again.

"Sorry… I don't mean to press or anything. It's not important."

It clearly was to her, though Madelyne couldn't possibly guess why. Still, she offers a hesitant smile and a shake of her head.

"No, it's okay. I don't like talking about it… but it's like Dr. Essex always says… just because you don't talk about it doesn't mean it doesn't go away. I have a form of selective amnesia tied to my personal experiences. Essentially, I retained my education and general knowledge of the world and how to be an adult and all that… but I lost everything personal. I didn't even know my own name when I first woke up, it had to be told to me."

There. It's all out on the table now. Truthfully, Madelyne knows she probably can't compare her own experiences to someone like Ororo Munroe, who on top of being a black woman, is also apparently a powerful mutant. However, she's nevertheless had her fair share of rejection once people have found out about her memory loss. Its either rejection or infantilization usually, even after Madelyne explains that she's still an adult woman and knows how to chew her food and count to ten and tie her own shoelaces.

She braces herself in case Ororo turns out to be one of those… but if anything, the other woman just gets more intensely interested in her, weirdly enough.

"Selective amnesia, you say. That's… what happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

Honestly, Madelyne kind of did mind her asking. And yet, she wasn't running away screaming. Plus, she'd been fairly upfront with Madelyne hadn't she? Letting out a sigh, Madelyne shakes her head.

"I don't mind. It was a plane crash, I'm told. Me and my family were traveling via jet when something went wrong. I was the only survivor… my mother, father, and siblings all perished in the crash. Truthfully, sometimes I don't know how to feel about the fact that I can't remember their faces or names without the help of pictures and articles. In a way, I'm almost grateful… but at the same time, I'll never get the chance to properly grieve."

It was certainly something that kept Madelyne up at night sometimes. Thinking about everything she was missing. Unfortunately, the likelihood of ever regaining memories of her personal life was apparently next to nil. Her doctor, who had also taken on the role of her therapist, had recommended that she focus on the present and the future, since there was nothing to be done about her past.

In a way, it helped that she'd lost everyone alongside her memories. She dealt with enough disappointment from strangers when they found out about her memory loss. Having to deal with it from family members too would have been… rough.

"But there are pictures? Of you and them together?"

Pulled out of her thoughts, Madelyne gives Ororo a confused look. Alongside the confusion, she's starting to get rather irritated as well.

"Yes? Of course there are. I don't know what you're insinuating, but there are plenty of pictures of me and my family together. There are plenty of articles about the crash too, as I already mentioned. The Pryor Family might not have been the richest in the world, but we were still extremely well off… hence the private jet. I'm told I even hold a Ladyship back in England from before we migrated to America."

By the time she's done speaking, Madelyne's voice is more than a little defensive… and frankly, she probably didn't need to slip in that last part, nor explain how wealthy she was. It was the sort of money that would have allowed her to basically fuck off and never work a day in her life… but Dr. Essex had recommended against that and Madelyne had agreed with him. She definitely didn't need more time to be alone with her thoughts, nor did she find the idea of lounging around being waited on hand and foot all that appealing either.

The money just gave her the ability to do whatever she wanted… and since she still remembered everything involved with getting her degree in Biology before the crash, Madelyne had ultimately decided she wanted to teach.

Still, she isn't sure she likes Ororo's line of questioning or what the other woman seems to be implying. That was another thing Madelyne had to deal with. On top of those who either rejected her or infantilized her for having amnesia, there were also those who just straight up didn't believe her. How could she only forget her personal details and not everything else, right? Clearly she had to be faking.

Needless to say, Madelyne was tired of it. And as beautiful as Ororo was, Madelyne decides she isn't going to take this shit lying down.

"I'm neither faking it nor making it up Professor Munroe. My accident and loss of memory were very real, as was losing my entire family. Implying otherwise… is in poor taste."

There! She'd stood up for herself. Honestly, Madelyne feels a burst of pride well up in her chest at that. It feels even better when Ororo has the good grace to look chagrined, maybe because she could tell Madelyne was serious when she reverted to using her title and last name instead of her first name.

"I… I apologize. I shouldn't have… no, let me start over. I haven't been entirely truthful with you, I'm afraid."

Madelyne blinks as Ororo pulls out her phone and flicks through it for a second before turning the screen in her direction. Leaning in, Madelyne can only stare in shock at the photo. Its her… but not just her. Its her with some other people, all of whom are laughing or smiling. And among them… is the woman sitting across from her.

"You… knew me before my accident?"

Wincing, Ororo pulls back the phone and shakes her head.

"No, sorry. Let me explain. The woman in that photo was named Jean Grey… and she died. Truthfully, I suppose I already knew the two of you were different people because Jean… I saw the body. There was an open casket funeral. We buried her. But when I saw you for the first time it was like seeing a ghost. My sincerest apologies for the interrogation Professor Pryor. Even if I know in my head that Jean is fully gone, my heart wishes it were otherwise. Not to mention mutant powers are… well, strange to say the least."

It takes a moment for Madelyne to process all of this new information. To think she had a doppelganger named Jean Grey that resembled her so closely even she had thought it was her in the photo at first. It was just so weird. And from the sound of things she would never get to meet her because the other woman was already dead. Heh, it was the loss of her family all over again.

"Obviously you're not her. You aren't even a mutant, are you?"

Blinking, Madelyne slowly shakes her head, smiling ruefully.

"No, I'm afraid not. And from what I'm given to understand, while the mutant gene can awaken later in life, most of the time it shows up pretty early on in people's developments. And when it does awaken later, it's usually due to outside stress factors. I'm afraid if everything that happened to me wasn't enough to 'awaken' powers, I'm probably pretty normal."

Ororo slowly nods. Then, she seems to come to a decision.

"I'm telling you all of this because… well, there are others who might hear about your existence and think you ARE her still. People from her past life who might not be willing to accept that this is just a very strange coincidence."

Madelyne blinks as Ororo suddenly looks around for a moment before grabbing a notepad and pen from Madelyne's own desk.

"You need to be ready for that eventuality and… if it does happen, I want you to be able to call me for help."

She quickly jots down her phone number before pushing the pad and pen back across the desk and standing up.

"Again, I apologize for all of this… thank you for your time."

And just like that, the other woman leaves. Madelyne's mouth opens to call out to her, but by that time she's already gone. That was… rather abrupt wasn't it? Brow furrowing, Madelyne looks down at the phone number before slowly pulling the page off of the notepad and folding it up to tuck it away just in case she needs it later.

The whole interaction had been rather strange and more than a little off-putting, but Madelyne just does what Dr. Essex always tells her and puts it out of her mind. Focus on the present and the future, not the past. Letting out an explosive breath, Madelyne sits back in her chair… and finds her thoughts wandering to the future, specifically to Friday two days from now.

Her face begins to color a little bit. On Friday, she'll have Thaddeus Cummings back in her class again. Madelyne knew it was wrong to be thinking about one of her students like this, but ever since she'd first laid eyes on the young adult man, she'd been… taken with him. She didn't want to say it was 'love at first sight' or anything as cheesy as that, and yet…

Well, so far she'd done a pretty good job of hiding her interest, or so she believed. And yet, she wasn't sure how long she could resist. There was just this… magnetic-like attraction between the two of them. Or was it just on her end? Maybe she could… try and find out?

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[ ] Madelyne resists the temptation for now and doesn't make a move - 10%
[ ] Madelyne can't hold back anymore, she makes a move on Friday - 27%
[X] Madelyne can't wait for Friday, she seeks Thaddeus out on Thursday - 63%