The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

Chapter 78: Eruption

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!

Madelyne blows up, metaphorically speaking. Fortunately she has a bomb defusal squad on sight, metaphorically speaking.

-x-X-x-

A dormant X-Gene, aka the thing that marked someone as a potential mutant with powers, could activate under a variety of different circumstances from what Thaddeus knew. For some, they were born with it already active, especially if the mutation was physical in nature.

Others, it unlocked early on in their adolescence, leaving them as children with the ability to throw around cars or read minds. In his case, it had simply come to him late in his high school years.

But in some cases, the X-Gene would turn out to be more finicky than it was for him. In some cases, their mutation would only activate under extreme stress. This could still take place in their childhood… or if they simply didn't encounter a truly stressful situation for long enough, it might not happen until well into their adult years.

Madelyne Pryor was a unique case because apparently, by her own knowledge, she was a clone. She didn't have a childhood. And this situation… well, it was safe to say it was both extremely stressful and equally distressing for the poor red haired woman.

Even as Thaddeus is trying to think of something to do or say to comfort his Biology Professor, he feels it happening. Maybe if he wasn't who he was, he wouldn't be able to sense it… or maybe he'd simply be the first victim of Madelyne's uncontrolled initial psychic expression.

Fortunately, thanks to all those days and nights sharing a bed with Emma, along with the numerous times he'd fucked Sage, Thaddeus is something of a telepath himself by now. Strong enough to help Rogue with her mutation… and strong enough to recognize that Madelyne is about to explode just before the bomb can fully go off.

Acting purely on instinct, Thaddeus reaches out metaphysically, wrapping his own mental presence around Madelyne's rapidly expanding mind before her power can expand beyond the room they're in.

It's not easy even with how much psychic strength Thaddeus can call on today. It's like trying to contain an explosion in the palms of his hands. Sure, he might be able to do it… but fuck if it wasn't going to be difficult.

But then, the things worth doing rarely are simple or easy. Thaddeus grits his teeth and grimaces as he nevertheless contains Madelyne's mind to the lecture hall, preventing her uncontrolled and chaotic telepathy from reaching anyone else but him.

Of course, in doing so… well, he's sort of giving up the protection that Laura's mind naturally has. The 'porcupine defense' as Emma had once called it, only really worked as well as it did if Thaddeus kept himself behind said defenses in the safety of his own mind. If he went out looking for trouble, he couldn't really complain when it found him.

As such, there's not much he can do but accept the full brunt of Madelyne's first psychic expression. Calling it an 'attack' would be unfair to the poor woman since she's clearly not intending to hurt anyone… but it doesn't stop it from feeling like an attack all the same.

Nononononono

Pleasepleasepleaseplease

Cantbecantbecantbecantbecantbe

Thaddeus stumbles forward, resting his hands on Madelyne's desk as he feels something drip from his nose. Glancing down reveals it to be a droplet of blood, landing on her desk as she begins to shake and tremble, her hands coming up to grab the sides of her head while she rocks back and forth, whimpering.

Hell of a time for her to activate her mutation, but to be fair… Thaddeus probably should have seen this coming. His intelligence had gotten him far enough to recognize that something was wrong with Madelyne's DNA and she'd confirmed that for him when looking over his sketch. But he'd still been foolish enough to expose her origins to her in the middle of a crowded University, despite knowing full well who she might be a clone of.

… Yeah, he could still be quite the idiot sometimes. But this situation wasn't unsalvageable. If anything, Thaddeus was perhaps one of the handful of people to have on hand for this exact moment. The longer he wraps his mind around Madelyne's, the more he's able to get the initial explosion of her telepathy under control.

Slowly but surely, it stops being about containing her and more about holding her, hugging her, and comforting her. Thaddeus even manages to get his physical arms around her, even as he wraps her up mentally in as protective of an 'embrace' as he can. Speaking directly into her mind, Thaddeus does his best to help her calm down.

Shhhh, it's okay. I'm here Madelyne. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise, no matter what, I won't abandon you.

That seems to work wonders as she calms down more and more. Of course, then she stiffens all over again when she realizes he didn't say any of that out loud.

T-Thaddeus? Is that… you?

Smiling, he meets her eyes as he nods, his lips not moving even when he responds.

Its me. We're communicating via our minds.

Blinking rapidly, Madelyne seems to process this for a moment, taking in what's happening with her limited understanding of the situation. But even limited and new to this as she is, she's still a very smart woman.

You… you're a telepath. A-And so am I. Just like… her.

Bubbling up from the depths of her memories comes Madelyne's conversation with Ororo Munroe. Storm had outright shown Madelyne a picture of her dead comrade, Jean Grey. She'd also made it abundantly clear she didn't think Madelyne had anything to do with any of that and even warned her to be on the lookout for others who thought she was connected to Jean.

Small mercies there, because in the end… Storm was wrong. Madelyne was very much tied up in all of that mess. She was Jean's clone, almost guaranteed now.

That realization causes a small relapse on Madelyne's part as she begins shaking again in horror and confusion. But this time Thaddeus is prepared for it. While Madelyne seems to be quite the powerful telepath, Thaddeus has her beat in experience, while also edging her out just slightly in power. He would need to arrange more sessions with Emma and Sage to turn that slight edge into something greater…

Regardless, the fact is, Thaddeus is able to hold her tight and let her ride out the realization of what's been done to her. Of what she is. Physically, he brushes a hand through her hair, carding his fingers through her lock and giving her something of a scalp massage in the hopes of calming her down a bit more. All the while, he sends nothing but feelings of comfort and affection through their current mental connection.

Finally, Madelyne 'speaks' again.

What… what now? I can't… I'm dangerous, aren't I? I can feel you holding me back. I would hurt people if you stopped, wouldn't I? Do you need to… get rid of me?"

Disposal? That was where Madelyne's mind immediately jumped? That was rather macabre for what had been a bubbly, innocent woman unaware of her own circumstances before now. Thaddeus thins out his lips, even as he shakes his head.

Never, Madelyne. You don't need to worry. I'm not going to let you hurt anyone… and I don't have to hurt you to make sure of that. Just give me a second.

She stares up at him with big, soulful eyes but it's not much longer. Thaddeus had already been working on a solution, after all. It's not long term or anything like that. He remembers what he was told about Jean Grey's death and he has no intentions of repeating the mistakes of the past.

Rather than establishing mental blocks or anything like that, Thaddeus helps Madelyne make her first set of mental walls. A barrier around her mind that will keep her thoughts in and everyone else's thoughts out as long as she wants it to.

And then, once he's done doing so… he does the mental equivalent of handing over the keys and stepping back.

Pulling his mental presence away from Madelyne's mind carefully and slowly, Thaddeus doesn't fully draw back into his own mind. Instead, he creates a bubble of empty space around her, leaving his presence on the edges of the lecture hall just in case he needs to rush back in again.

Fortunately, that doesn't look like it will be necessary. Madelyne's shivering and trembling have subsided and while he can tell she's testing the strength of the walls he's put up; it's clearly more in an exploratory fashion. Her eyes are filled with wonder when she finally looks at him and speaks out loud for the first time in several minutes.

"This is…"

Smiling softly, Thaddeus nods from where he's currently on one knee so that he could hug her. Letting go; he pulls back even as he explains.

"With this much, you shouldn't have any issues for a while. You can look over what I built for you, play with and modify it to your heart's content, and eventually rebuild it entirely if you want to. You can-oof!"

Madelyne slams into him, squeezing him tightly as she reinitiates the hug. Thaddeus squeezes her in turn, though he's careful to modulate his strength as he does so.

"Thank you… thank you, thank you, thank you."

Humming, he rests his chin atop her head.

"No problem. It's the least I can do, seeing as this is all my fault in the first place."

That gets a reaction. Pulling back, Madelyne scowls as she glares at him.

"Don't be ridiculous! None of this is your fault, Thaddeus! You didn't… you weren't responsible for anything b-but opening my eyes to the truth. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know that my entire life is a lie! I'm nobody… I'm just a c-copy…"

The glare doesn't last long before it's replaced by whimpering and watery eyes. Its Thaddeus' turn to scowl now as he places a hand under Madelyne's chin, tilting her head back up from where it was steadily drooping downwards the more she spoke.

"Hey. None of that now. Just because you're a clone doesn't make you any less of a person. Hell, there are plenty of humans out there who think mutants aren't people either and that we belong in laboratories where our rights are stripped away and we're reduced to nothing but science experiments. Doesn't mean they're right."

Madelyne doesn't respond, but Thaddeus can tell she's hanging off of his every word all the same. Smiling at her, he holds her close.

"Where we come from doesn't matter nearly so much as who we are. You're still you. Still Madelyne Pryor."

Her breath hitches and she looks away at that.

"A-Am I? Maybe you have a point… but who am I really? I have to assume that everything I have from before the plane crash is… is false. No, even the plane crash is false. Just how long have I even been alive? What's real and what's been… downloaded into my mind? Dr. Essex… he probably doesn't even know the truth! I need to speak to him! I need to-!"

When Madelyne suddenly rises from her chair with an urgency that catches Thaddeus off guard, he reaches out and grabs her without thinking, stopping her in her tracks. Fortunately she seems to trust him at this point and just gives him a curious look rather than getting upset.

"Wait. Madelyne… your doctor has been with you since the crash, right?"

"Y-Yes?"

"He's the one who has told you… everything you thought you knew about your life before now, correct?"

Brow furrowing, Madelyne slowly nods.

"He was, yes."

Grimacing, Thaddeus stares at her meaningfully… but she still doesn't seem to get it. Or maybe she's not capable of getting it.

"Madelyne… it's entirely possible that this Dr. Essex is behind what has been done to you. It's possible he's behind your creation or at least working with whoever created you."

Staring at him blankly for a long moment, Madelyne slowly shakes her head.

"No… no, that's not possible. I… that couldn't be."

Its strange because she's been willing to believe everything else Thaddeus has been telling her so far. Dr. Essex though, it's almost like she's unable to even fathom the idea. To be fair, from what she's told him, the doctor has been like an anchor in her life ever since the accident that gave her amnesia. Except now they both know that 'accident' and her 'amnesia' are all a sham so why is she still clinging to her faith in this Dr. Essex fellow?

Before he can say anything else, Madelyne suddenly lets out a long sigh.

"… No. I'm being ridiculous aren't I? We can't do anything right now. I'll have students arriving in the next twenty to thirty minutes for my next lecture and you have a class of your own to get to, don't you Thaddeus? We'll just have to meet up at the end of the day and figure this out later, won't we?"

Thaddeus blinks as Madelyne does an emotional one-eighty, calming down almost unnaturally fast as she tosses him a wan smile. She's definitely not alright still, but she's hiding it far better all of the sudden.

To be fair, she's right. They do both have responsibilities. Thaddeus isn't late for his next lecture yet, but he will be if he lingers much longer. And yet, part of him doesn't care all that much.

"Fuck that. Let's get out of here and figure this out now, the two of us. One day isn't going to make or break anything on the University side of things and this is way more important, don't you think?"

But Madelyne shakes her head.

"Don't be ridiculous, Thaddeus. Up and running like that will only alert whoever is behind this that something is going on. Go on, get out of here and we'll see each other later."

She's adamant about that, where mere minutes ago she'd been a sobbing wreck. Maybe his walls have helped in that regard, giving her the confidence she needs to feel like she can go on. And maybe she has a point about how deviating from their usual schedules might give the game away.

And yet… Thaddeus still hesitates for a moment, not quite sure what the right move is now.

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[ ] She's right, they can reconvene at the end of the day - 24%
[X] She's wrong, they need to deal with this right now - 76%