The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

Chapter 81: Dr. Essex

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! I also have an announcement about my Patreon but given its length I will be putting that at the bottom of the post!

Confrontation~

-x-X-x-

Thaddeus watches Madelyne hesitate for a long moment before determination spreads across her face.

"I can't… part of me is afraid. Afraid of him. Afraid of what we might find out. But I can't keep living like this. I can't go on without knowing why I exist. I need to understand my purpose, why I was created and sent here. Even… even if we think we already know, I need to hear it from him."

Frowning, Thaddeus reaches out and takes Madelyne's hand in his own.

"Your purpose is whatever you want it to be, Madelyne. Essex doesn't get to pick for you, not anymore. Only you can decide that sort of thing."

That gets a wan smile from the red headed clone. One that doesn't even begin to reach her eyes. Still, she nods nonetheless, seeming to take comfort in Thaddeus giving her hand a squeeze before looking to Emma.

"… The question becomes, who do we bring with us? Just the three of us or…"

Emma sighs but inclines her head in agreement.

"Getting anyone else on board would take time that might lead to tipping off Essex. And we know he's another psychic, taking anyone along without telepathic abilities of their own would just be handing them to him on a silver platter."

Right. That was a fair point. Except…

"We need to call Laura and Cessily. They can meet up with us on our way over."

A small frown appears on Emma's face as she thinks that over. Thaddeus can tell that she doesn't like it, but also the two are perfect reinforcements for this kind of thing. While neither Laura nor Cessily are telepaths in their own right, they both have natural defenses against psychic intrusions.

Thaddeus' own initial psychic defense came from fucking Laura as much as he did after all, while Cessily's mind was extremely hard to detect or influence thanks to her inhuman biology.

"… They're both X-Men. I'm sure you trust them, but this is sensitive. Are you sure?"

Smiling crookedly, Thaddeus just nods.

"I'm sure. They've been a great help so far and I know they won't tell anyone anything we don't want them to say. We can trust them with this."

That last part he directs at Madelyne, realizing at the last second that she deserves a say in all of this as well. Fortunately, the shellshocked red head takes one look at his eyes and nods, trusting him implicitly as she squeezes back on the hand she's currently holding. Emma, meanwhile, just huffs but raises no further issue with the idea.

-x-X-x-

Its thirty minutes later that they all arrive outside of Essex's clinic, which from Madelyne's memories they know also doubles as a hidden laboratory and secret lair. As anticipated, Laura and Cessily hadn't hesitated to hop on board… literally in the latter's case. The moment they'd met up, Cessily had slid under Thaddeus' clothing and covered him in herself, causing Madelyne to blink with wide eyes and Emma to purse her lips.

They'd explained the barebones to the two mutant women on the way here, and now… well, now it was time to get some answers.

By the time they got over there, it was late enough in the day that the clinic was closed for appointments but still staffed. As such, they all just walk right in, Emma leading the way. Someone like Essex seemed best tackled head on, given the amount of subterfuge they'd uncovered.

The assistant in the empty waiting room does try to stop them, but Emma cuts her off with a simple wave of her hand that sends her into a deep sleep. From there, they make their way to Essex's office without pause, walking in to find the man in question seated behind his desk, looking up to gaze at them curiously, but not with as much surprise as Thaddeus might have hoped.

… Nathaniel Essex's appearance is far more disturbing in person than it was in Madelyne's mind, truth be told. Not his true appearance with the chalk-white skin and red diamond in the forehead, he's not showing that right now. No… right now he's wearing the disguise he'd worn for Madelyne all this time, the appearance that makes him look like he could be Thaddeus' grandfather.

"Well now. This is certainly a surprise. Madelyne… who are your friends?"

Madelyne flinches back and Thaddeus growls as he takes a step forward in front of her. Emma, meanwhile, smiles an icy smile.

"I think you know who we are, Mr. Essex."

An eyebrow lifts.

"That's Dr. Essex to you, Ms. Frost."

The confirmation that he does in fact know them should feel like a win, but Thaddeus can't help the shiver that goes down his spine. They've stepped right into the Lion's Den and they did so with purpose and an understanding of the dangers… or so they believed. He would just have to have faith in their combined power to deal with whatever Essex truly turned out to be.

"Is it? Are you? I must confess to some confusion about your identity, considering that you're currently wearing the face of young Thaddeus here, albeit aged up a few decades."

Emma leans forward and Thaddeus feels her reaching out psychically as Essex stiffens in his seat.

"Who are you really?"

The disguised man freezes up under the effects of Emma's telepathy and in the end, the words are seemingly dragged out of him, inch by fucking inch.

"I have… been called many things. Visionary. Madman. Monster. None of which… matter."

Emma growls and lifts a hand, a physical representation of her getting serious in this battle of wills.

"I didn't ask what you'd been called. I asked who you ARE!"

The disguise begins to fail then, unraveling right before their eyes like a glitch in the matrix. The kindly, grandfatherly look that Nathaniel Essex had been affecting begins to fall to the wayside piece by piece. However, it does so in such a way that they don't realize the threat until it's too late.

Dr. Nathaniel Essex, the disguise that this entity has been hiding under… HE is being effected by Emma's telepathic attack. His wizened features were contorting in discomfort and pain, his voice broken up and distorted from the mental assault.

However, underneath the disguise, as more and more of the chalk-white, red-eyed madman they'd seen in Madelyne's mind is revealed in the flesh… Thaddeus sees something else entirely. He sees a smoothed expression… and a broad smile.

"Me, my dear? I… am Sinister."

As the disguise fails in it's entirety, revealing the strange entity underneath in all of his chalk-white and black-clad glory, he reaches out and flicks something on his desk before breaking it altogether. Immediately, the entire clinic goes silent, psychically speaking.

Thaddeus' eyes widen as he realizes that he's experienced this once before, down at The Facility where they'd used psychic dampeners to hide the presence of their secret laboratory hidden under the city. At the same time, he realizes that Emma's immense power, granted by their copious amounts of intimacy, has just been completely disabled.

The blonde takes a step back even as Sinister rises from the chair behind his desk. If he's bothered by the psychic dampeners, he doesn't show it, even as he clasps his hands behind his back and sweeps red eyes over all of them. The creepy, frankly sinister smile he's currently wearing grows a little bit on either side while he does so.

"Such an interesting bunch. Well… feel free to join me down in my lab whenever you're ready."

And then just like that, he's gone. In a swirl of what can only be described as teleportation, Sinister disappears from the office completely. The psychic dampeners remain online though, and the switch he'd used to turn them on in the first place has been broken.

Uncertain looks are exchanged between them all before Emma scowls and suddenly shifts into her diamond form. Immediately, the White Queen's back straightens and she squares her shoulders as she turns towards the door.

"Come. Let's go."

For a moment, Thaddeus wants to protest and question whether they should really keep going. Especially when Emma is using her diamond form, notorious for wiping her of her emotions, such as a healthy fear of the unknown.

… But no, they're in too deep to back out now. The time for going on the defensive and trying to hunker down to weather this storm was over. Now it was less a matter of getting information about why he sent Madelyne in Thaddeus' direction in the first place and more about figuring out just what Sinister was capable of.

Fortunately, Madelyne's suppressed memories give them a clear-cut path down to Sinister's lab. Unfortunately, they still have to move slowly in case of traps, especially with the psychic dampeners in play. Beyond simply demolishing the entire building around them and drawing unwanted attention while doing so, getting rid of the dampeners is impossible.

Luckily, they brought along non-psychic support like Laura and Cessily…

The worst part of it all is… there's no traps. Nothing obvious anyways. The trip down to Sinister's hidden lab is as boring as it is tedious and slow. They can't just throw caution to the wind, but it's irritating to find that in the end, nothing happens, at least that they know of.

Finally, they step into Sinister's laboratory. The man in question waits for them with his hands still clasped behind his back, his rather grandiose attire strangely fitting in spite of the ridiculous nature of it. Maybe it's the wicked smile on his chalk white face that completes the look.

"It took you less than a week to track me down, but a lifetime to go from my office to my laboratory. Tragic."

Thaddeus snarls and steps forward, a little fed up with being given the run around at this point.

"Enough games Sinister! Why did you send Madelyne to me?"

Red eyes flashing, Sinister just chuckles.

"Mister Sinister to you, young Cummings. As for why… well, I was paid to of course."

Thaddeus' eyes narrow. At long last they had a true identity to go off of. Mister Sinister. Sure, most might assume that Nathaniel Essex was the real name and Mister Sinister was just the nomenclature, but in a world as crazy as theirs… Thaddeus didn't think that was the case. Essex was the lie, the disguise, the cover. Mister Sinister… that felt real. That felt right.

Beside him, Emma still in her diamond form makes a curious noise in the back of her inhuman throat.

"You were paid to. By whom, exactly?"

Red eyes light up at her word choice.

"Ah, so few people get that right these days! Indeed, it would be 'whom' rather than 'who'!"

They all just give him unimpressed looks at that, causing the chalk-white man to grin all the more wickedly.

"As for whom I was paid by… well now, I really shouldn't tell you that, should I?"

There's a brief pause but before anyone else can speak, Mister Sinister shrugs.

"It was Selene Gallio. The Black Queen of your little club."

A ripple of shock runs through them all. Selene? Selene had Mister Sinister send Madelyne in Thaddeus' direction? Why? For what purpose? What did the Black Queen think she did or did not know about him and Emma and their plans?

"So then you're one of hers, are you?"

Emma's words seem to be taken with great offense by Sinister, however. He scoffs and lifts up his hand in dramatic fashion, pressing it against his chest.

"One of hers? Did you not hear me? I said YOUR little club. What I have with the Black Queen is a business relationship. Nothing more formal than that. And I wouldn't be caught dead as a member of the Hellfire Club. Frankly, I'd never be in a club that would have me as a member in the first place."

Insane. That was the vibe that Thaddeus was starting to get from Mister Sinister. He was insane, or at least incredibly unwell in the mind. Eccentric didn't really seem to cover it, not when taking into account his appearance and actions.

"W-Why me though? Why… why create me?"

Eyes turn towards Madelyne as the red head finally works up the courage to speak, her hands curled into fists and shaking at her sides as she stares at Sinister. In turn, he looks back at her almost… fondly, his expression softening considerably as he gazes in turn at his creation.

"Well my dear, that's a long story. You were an experiment at first… and ultimately a failure at that."

Madelyne flinches and Thaddeus bristles, but Sinister holds up a hand to keep them quiet as he continues. The tone change is abrupt. He's gone from dramatic, theatric, and over the top, to wistful and nostalgic out of nowhere.

"Truthfully, I broke my own rules for you, dear Madelyne. Experiments, when deemed to be failures, should always be discontinued and… recycled."

Mister Sinister smiles thinly.

"Alas. I let sentiment control me. You, Madelyne Pryor, were my pride and joy. And now… ah, now you're so much more than I thought you would ever be. Now that the truth is out in the open, now that we're laying our cards on the table and admitting what we are to each other… I would like it very much if you called me Father."

Yep, he was fucking crazy. Thaddeus isn't even the direct target of Sinister's insanity right now and he still feels a shiver go down his spine at the other man's words. He can only imagine how Madelyne is currently feeling, especially with the psychic dampeners keeping him from reaching out and supporting her mentally.

… At the same time though, Mister Sinister's affection for Madelyne actually seems to be genuine. Maybe they could use that. If Thaddeus could just signal to Madelyne to play along in some way, they could keep Sinister talking and get him to tell them more of what they needed to know about all of this…

-x-X-x-

The Vote:

[X] Try to communicate to Madelyne that she should play along - 55%
[ ] Don't bother, it's not worth it - 45%

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