The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

Chapter 80: Exploration

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!

The exploration of Madelyne Pryor's mind continues.

-x-X-x-

For the briefest of moments, Emma's blood runs cold as the chalk white man's red eyes seem to meet hers and his reaction almost seems to imply he can somehow sense her and Thaddeus' presence.

… But no, that's not what's happening here. Lifting a gloved hand, he places it on the tube as he hums consideringly.

"I would say your awakening is impossible my dear, but given the evidence right in front of me, I acknowledge that such a statement would be… incorrect."

He's not acknowledging them. He definitely doesn't see them. After all, how could he? They aren't time traveling right now or anything like that, they're probing Madelyne Pryor's suppressed memories. Of course, Emma is well aware of individuals that could leave behind an echo or connection in the minds of their victims which would in turn allow them to detect and even interact with any other psychic probes.

That, however, is not this. This is a memory, plain and simple. Moving away from the tube and over to a nearby console, Madelyne's creator continues speaking.

"Hm, I must admit I'd deemed you a failure. This was outside of my expectations, but given just who we're dealing with here, I suppose I should have anticipated such a possibility."

The tube begins to drain and Emma can feel Madelyne's mind starting to fully wake up. She'd been in a bit of a stupor before, vaguely aware of her surroundings but not completely conscious or cognizant of herself as a person.

Only now, as her feet hit the bottom of the tube and then her legs crumple and she falls to her knees, does Madelyne fully come alive. Emma feels her heartrate explode in fear, especially when she lays eyes on the uniquely strange man who created her.

"Calm yourself. I am not going to hurt you… after all, you are quite the investment at this point in time. I must know what has happened. And then we'll see just what use you can be of me. For now… sleep."

Emma stiffens as he raises his hand and she feels a psychic pulse wash over Madelyne's mind. She can tell that Thaddeus feels it as well… evidence that this man, whoever he is, is also a telepath of no small power.

From there, they follow the path through Madelyne's mind to more of these hidden, real memories. As they peruse them, they learn more about her creator, though never his real name. However, they do discover that he is in fact one in the same with a Doctor Nathaniel Essex, the very man that Madelyne believed to be her caretaker, confidante, and only friend since the accident-that-never-was.

It's not… quite as bad as Emma had feared, though she can nevertheless feel an undercurrent of anger from Thaddeus as Essex experiments on Madelyne. In the end though, the experiments are surprisingly unintrusive, at least from what Madelyne remembers. There's no torture, no great harm. Just the usual battery of tests plus some extras that seem to involve technology Emma neither recognizes nor understands.

And then comes the gambit. The reason they know Madelyne's creator to be the same as Nathaniel Essex is that Madelyne has a hidden memory of the first time he transformed into the good doctor. And that's… well, it's very interesting, because Nathaniel Essex happens to look a lot like Thaddeus Cummings.

Not identical or anything like that. But familiar enough to be noticeable if one is paying attention. He's older and doesn't quite act the same, but he could easily be mistaken for Thaddeus' grandfather, Emma notices. They aren't actually related though, she's pretty sure. Instead, Essex… is playing games.

Having followed this path through the memories that Madelyne hadn't been allowed to remember, they eventually reach the inflection point and could better compare her fake memories to the real ones that she WAS allowed to remember. From there, it becomes rather obvious what Essex had done, as strange and inexplicable as his plans were to Emma.

There was some fear, one that had only grown after finding out the man was a telepath, that he'd put compulsions in Madelyne's mind to seek Thaddeus out and seduce him. That, thankfully, was not what he'd done. He could have, but for some reason he hadn't.

Instead, the compulsions and triggers were kept to other things, like being prodded to go to him if she ever began to suspect her origins were a lie or realized that she was a clone. Thaddeus had definitely pushed Madelyne over the edge on that one and if he hadn't knocked her out and brought her to Emma, then it was likely Madelyne would have been gone by the end of the day.

On the Thaddeus side of things, Essex had used subtler means. Basically, he'd social engineered Madelyne Pryor into having a type. Making himself her primary caretaker while looking like an older version of Thaddeus, he made her associate someone of Thaddeus' appearance with protection and safety. He'd also put other examples of men with Thaddeus' general looks in Madelyne's path via the way of carefully cultivated magazines, pictures, and other things.

It was still a form of manipulation, but it was surprisingly gentle and light handed. All Essex had done was present an ideal to Madelyne Pryor… and of course, the impressionable red head had eaten it right up given her circumstances.

Her choice to crush on and then seduce Thaddeus was her own, just as much as anyone who had been bombarded with advertisements for a local fast food spot might eventually decide to head over and grab a burger one day.

It was strange. Essex had the demonstrated power to do more than that, and yet he hadn't. He'd set Madelyne up at Empire State University, clearly for the purposes of connecting with Thaddeus, but he'd ultimately left that connection and the form it took almost entirely up to chance. In the end, he'd nudged the needle but let most of it happen organically.

As she and Thaddeus pull back from Madelyne's memories but remain in the red head's mind to reconvene and discuss, Emma can't help but wish they had more information. Unfortunately, for all that this man seemed to embody the title 'mad scientist' in appearance, he wasn't the type to tell everything to his experiment in one long, extended monologue.

If they wanted answers, they would have to find him and get them from him directly. And Emma wasn't sure of whether that was a good idea.

"We need to remove the triggers from her mind and let her remember her true origins."

Thaddeus' certainty causes Emma to let out a mental shuddering breath.

"I certainly agree with destroying the compulsions, Thaddeus… but letting her remember everything she's been made to forget might do more harm than good."

"What do you mean?"

Emma hums.

"Such experiences will no doubt be quite traumatic for her. As well, the fake memories are by and large skill-based and general knowledge needed for functioning as an adult woman in our society. Instead, it might be better to simply tell her what truly happened to her after removing the triggers, that way she can remain somewhat removed from all of it. Instead of events she's suddenly forced to remember, it would merely be knowledge… hopefully with a dramatically lessened emotional impact."

The young man considers her words for a moment, turning them over in his head as they 'stand' there in Madelyne's mind. Finally though, he shakes his head.

"She may not trust us if we do that. I did have to knock her out to bring her here, after all. She has no reason to think that we'd tell her the truth after that."

Unfortunately, he raises a good point. Though, it turns out Thaddeus isn't done quite yet.

"… What if we could have the best of both worlds though?"

"Oh?"

"Like you said, remembering all those things at once would be pretty traumatic for anyone. What if we drained the emotion from them? Could we make the memories the mental equivalent of black and white, taking away the impact they might have on her psyche?"

She hadn't thought of that. It… wasn't the worst idea, she supposed.

"Potentially. If we did it right, then it would achieve the same thing as us telling her what happened, but with the added benefit of her 'knowing' what happened."

Nodding, Thaddeus begins to get excited.

"At the same time, we should find a way to mark every memory as either fake or real, that way she can tell which are which entirely on her own. A sorting system, basically."

Emma smirks in amusement.

"You realize that runs into the original problem right? For her to accept which are real and which are fake, she would have to trust us in the first place."

Thaddeus' excitement dims a bit at that reminder, but eventually he just sighs.

"Well, hopefully destroying all of her triggers and compulsions and giving her back a version of her suppressed memories will buy us some good will…"

Emma just hums again, even as they get to work. Truthfully, she thinks Thaddeus underestimates how much good will he already has stocked up with Madelyne Pryor. But to be fair, she could be wrong. In the end, there was only one way to find out.

-x-X-x-

Madelyne blinks her eyes open, feeling incredibly discombobulated for a second. And wasn't that a word and a half. Still, it fit rather well with her disorientation and general sense of 'wrongness'. After all, she didn't remember going to sleep. The last thing she recalled was being with Thaddeus and-

Eyes widening, she quickly sits up only to feel a familiar hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Madelyne, its okay… its okay. You're safe. You're okay."

She believes him and throws herself into his chest, burying her face there as she lets out a sob. Now that she was on the other side of it, Madelyne could recognize how she'd very nearly been whisked away by her own mind back at the University. At the time she hadn't understood that the voice in her head saying 'Get to Dr. Essex. Don't tell anyone. Dr. Essex can help. Dr. Essex will know what to do.' wasn't actually her own.

But now? Now it was horrifying to realize that if Thaddeus had bought her deception and left her, she would have been gone when he came back at the end of the day. Gone and back in… in that man's hands.

She remembers now. The tube. The experiments. The being who… who made her. Him and Dr. Essex being one in the same. Except it's almost like she's flipping through the mental equivalent of a photo album when she looks back on those memories. Each one comes with an almost clinical understanding of what had happened, of what had been done with her.

Somehow, she instinctively understands that this was Thaddeus' doing. His doing… and that of his companion. Pulling away from Thaddeus, Madelyne looks over to see the beautiful blonde standing off to the side looking almost imperious as she smiles icily with her arms crossed over her chest.

When Madelyne looks her way, the blonde inclines her head.

"Emma Frost. Pleasure."

Biting her lower lip, Madelyne slowly nods. Emma was… dangerous. That was the impression she got just from looking at her. Or rather, not just from looking at her. That was the impression she got from feeling her presence psychically as well.

Madelyne didn't feel like a particularly small fish by comparison or anything like that, but she nevertheless felt the shadow of Emma's power. If it had just been the two of them, she might have been trembling in terror at this point… but it wasn't.

Thaddeus was also there and while he felt as big and powerful as Emma, his was a more comforting presence. It was the difference between having a massive predator towering over you and being wrapped up in a thick, warm blanket.

"Thank you… t-thank you to both of you for helping me."

Emma just smirks some more, while Thaddeus smiles and rubs soothing circles into Madelyne's back.

"How are you feeling, Madelyne?"

And isn't that a tough question. Letting out an explosive breath, Madelyne nevertheless answers it.

"V-Violated. Used. Exploited. And… lost. I don't know what to do now. I don't really know who I am. I'm just Jean Grey's clone at the end of the day, I-!"

"Hey, no. Don't backslide on me. We talked about this right? No matter what, you're still your own person. Whether that's Madelyne Pryor or someone else you decide to be, you're free to make your own choices."

Madelyne shudders as Thaddeus' words of reassurance wash over her. Admittedly, a small part of her had feared he might have changed his mind about that after seeing everything that had been done to her and where she'd been created. Created, not born. And yet… he still believes in her. He still sees her as a person.

It's tough but… she thinks she'll be alright, so long as she still has Thaddeus at her side.

"You have a decision to make now."

Madelyne blinks, looking over to Emma Frost at the same time that Thaddeus does. The blonde only has eyes for Madelyne at the moment, however.

"If we want more answers to exactly what Essex wanted from you, we will need to move fast, before he realizes that the subterfuge has been discovered. We would need to go after him now, rather than later. But… that might not be the best option. You might not like what we uncover… and we might wind up risking everything we've gained so far."

That… well, the other woman had a point she supposed. Dr. Essex had always seemed so unassuming, good-natured, and grandfatherly. Now, Madelyne knew better. But she didn't know enough, not really. Whoever was behind the Essex mask, she didn't understand him or his motivations nearly as much as she might have wanted to.

Thaddeus grunts.

"But what other option do we have? Hunker down and go completely on the defensive? Surely he'll come for her eventually if we do nothing…"

Emma nods.

"Maybe, but we've cleaned up her mind. He has no way of controlling her anymore. If we don't go after him, then we force him to come to us… or to cut his losses and let her go. Given our combined power and resources, going defensive is surely the safest option. What it really comes down to is whether we care more about answers or safety."

There's a pause after that, before both of them turn to her and Madelyne squeaks as she realizes they want to hear HER opinion on the matter.

Safety or answers. Security or knowledge…

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[X] Go after Essex immediately for answers - 66%
[ ] Hunker down and go on the defensive - 34%