Tell Me Where It Hurts

Chapter 17: Victim

“She has remarkable abilities.”

“You have no idea.”

“Charles, are you sure this is the right decision?”

“If the prophecy is indeed correct…we must stop it from happening.”

“And that condones murder? I thought I knew you better than that.”

“Perhaps you don’t know me at all Erik.”

“Maybe not, old friend, but Jean Grey is a member of your precious X-Men and is engaged to one of them, shall I remind you. If they ever found out…”

“They won’t! I won’t let anyone know the truth.”

“Confident, are we?”

“Just do your job, Erik.”

“Have no fear, Charles. I will keep up my end of the deal. I hope, for your sake, that you can’t hold up yours.”

Cold water splashed on her face and it was a welcoming way to refresh her. Lately, the dreams were becoming more vivid and began to make less sense to her. It went from simple dark places to hidden faces and now dialogue. Everything was so jumbled and mixed up that she didn’t know what to believe anymore. Reaching for a towel, she patted her face dry, and glanced at her tired form in the mirror. Her sleepless nights were beginning to take effect on her physical form now. She placed the towel down on the sink and walked back into the room to dig through the drawers and her makeup bag that was sitting on the dresser. She had a sudden need to leave the mansion. Being cooped up was beginning to drive her crazy.

Once she had gotten dressed and put on a reasonable amount of makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes, she left the room, and began to head downstairs. It was roughly around ten in the morning and the smell of pancakes and bacon filled her nose. Walking into the kitchen, she saw Ororo slaving over the stove, as the kids all talked amongst themselves, watching the cartoons that were on the television. Walking past them and towards Ororo, who smiled warmly at her, she watched as Scott and Emma came from the porch door. As they closed it, a cold gust of wind and snow blew in, and Emma yelped. Despite it being below thirty, Jean barely felt it as she reached for the orange juice that was sitting out and an empty clean glass.

“It’s April and still snowing,” Scott muttered as he took his jacket off. “I think global warming is starting to take effect.”

Ororo chuckled. “It’s been taking effect since the eighties, Scott.”

“Here’s your stupid syrup,” Emma said in an annoyed tone as she took off her gloves and scarf. “I don’t why you insist to have them with pancakes though.”

“You can’t have pancakes without syrup,” Ororo said as she gratefully took the container.

“Well, next time you can go out and get it yourself,” the blonde grumbled.

“I’ll remember that,” Ororo replied before she glanced at Jean for the first time. The red head was leaning against the counter, drinking the juice slowly, as her eyes remained forward, unfocused, as she was probably in deep thought at the moment. “You alright?”

Stirring from her daydream, she realized that Ororo had spoken to her, and that Scott and Emma were glancing at her as if she had three heads. “What?”

“What planet are you on?” Emma commented, noting how tired and worn out her opposite appeared. Normally, she didn’t care about Jean or her happenings, but ever since the weather witch dragged her into this investigation of the premeditated murder against Jean, she couldn’t help but be attentive and have a heart towards the situation. What Jean was possibly going through Emma would never wish against her worse enemies.

“I’m just tired,” Jean said softly. “Haven’t been sleeping too well lately.”

“Yeah, you look it,” Emma muttered, seeing the glares that Ororo and Scott shot her. “What?” she demanded on their glares as Ororo shook her head. “Someone had to say it.”

“You’re right,” Jean replied, putting the empty glass in the sink.

“Do you know what the dreams are about?” Scott asked, concerned.

Jean shrugged. “Kind of. It’s weird because I know most of it has to do with the accident but then I get these visions that…don’t make sense.”

“Maybe this Phoenix thing is just playing with you?” Ororo suggested.

Again, the red head shook her head. “I don’t think that’s the case. I would know if it was Phoenix.”

“Plus, it doesn’t sound like her,” Emma commented as she took a piece of bacon and bit into it. “If anything, from everything Jean’s been telling us, it sounds like Phoenix just wants to help.”

“Yeah, but it has to have another motive,” Scott guessed.

“And it probably does,” the blonde finished, as she glanced at Jean pitifully. “But at the moment, she’s on our side.”

“Well, I personally feel a little comforted by that,” Ororo told them.

“I do as well,” Jean joined in, nodding. “I just find it a little suspicious that all of this started right after the accident.”

“Which brings me to mention something,” Scott said, a little agitatedly, as he shifted his balance. “Logan and I went back to the hospital that you were brought it,” he told them. “We checked the time that you were brought in. You left the mansion around six and the accident happened a little before seven but you weren’t brought in before three in the morning.”

“What?” Ororo gasped.

Jean, confused, studied Scott’s face. “So, I was missing for over six hours before you found me?”

Scott gave a slight nod and looked at the three of them uneasily. “With what you and Logan told us about your dreams, you were probably abducted after the crash. After that…”

“We don’t know,” Jean finished, biting her lip.

“Maybe that’s where the dreams are coming from,” Emma guessed.

“Her dreams are trying to filling in the blanks?” Ororo asked.

Emma nodded. “It makes sense too,” she told them. “As telepaths, our minds are the strongest part of us. Even during times of unconsciousness or traumatic stress or situations, we’re always taking in information.”

“So I can very well remember what happened to me?” Jean asked. “It’s just…buried?”

“Suppressed,” Emma corrected. “All you need are the right pieces to puzzle to solve it.”

“Well, so far we’re on the right track,” Scott informed them. “We know there’s a missing time between when the accident happened and you brought to the hospital. We know that someone took you. Now we just need to know the where.”

“Do we have anything concrete on who we think took Jean?” Ororo asked the group.

“No,” Jean answered before Emma or Scott. Glancing at them, she repeated, “No. Not yet.”

Sighing, Scott said, “Well, I’m starving.” Picking up the plate of pancakes and bacon, he asked, “Shall we?”

Martinique paced the office floor of Charles Xavier back and forward. “She keeps fighting me!” she hissed as Charles rubbed his temples. “How can she do that?”

“I warned you how powerful she was becoming,” he answered calmly.

“No. You told me that in her condition it would be easy. Just like entering a regular human mind,” she protested. “This is why I don’t enter telepath’s minds! Eventually she’s going to know what I am doing and when she does…”

“She won’t.”

“If she does, Charles,” she replied, “I won’t hesitate to point the finger in the right direction of the man who nearly killed her.” Charles expression hardened as she smirked in his face. “I wonder how she’ll react when she realizes that the one man she thought she could trust, that she could call father, wanted her dead.”

“I never wanted her to be killed,” he told her harshly.

“No…you wanted her out of the way for a bit to experiment on her,” Martinique filled in. She laughed when Charles’s eyes widened. “Oh, yes. I know all about it. Nathaniel loves to run his mouth about his achievements. Apparently, awaking the Phoenix subconscious of Doctor Jean Grey was one of them.” Glaring at the older man, she whispered, “You have no idea what you’ve done Professor Xavier. The darkness that you’ve unleashed onto this world.”

“I am well aware,” Charles said testily. “Now you just do you what you’re being paid to do or I can promise that you’ll be the first person to experience Jean’s powers.”

“What’re you going to do?” she teased. “Tell on me?” Laughing, Martinique turned to walk out of the office, just as she opened the door she turned back to face him. “I’d be very careful if I were you, Charles. You have no idea how dangerous the people you were working with are.”

“I can handle myself,” he told her.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” she replied before turning on her heel and walking out.

As she walked down the hall, and the door gently closed to Charles’s office, Logan appeared from the corner, narrowing his eyes at the departing Martinique as his mind processed everything he heard.

Despite the beautiful snow that was falling, the sky was dark and gloomy, and it matched Jean’s mood perfectly for the moment. She was grateful that she had the friends she did that tried to give Jean a small piece of her life back. Simple things like sitting down and having breakfast together with them was enough. She was still torn between where her feelings were so, at the moment, Jean thought it was best to not think about them. She pulled the GMC SUV into a lot of what appeared to be metal making warehouse. She wasn’t quite positive on the location because she simply let her mind wonder as she snuck out of the mansion. It seemed strangely familiar to her.

As she stopped the SUV and turned off the engine, she stepped out, and looked around. Seeing a side door, she walked over to it, glancing around to make sure no on had followed her and she wasn’t being watched. She opened the door, and clicked easily, granting her access into the building. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the overcoming darkness and as it did, she followed the walk way path, and began to look around. As she did, she heard the humming of electricity and couldn’t help but gasp when the lights in the building flickered on. She obviously wasn’t alone like she had hoped. She scanned the area the best she could with her powers but didn’t detect any other presence.

As she walked, her eyes caught site of what appeared to be dried blood. She bent down and ran her finger across it. Glancing at it, she concluded that it was in fact blood, and a trail ran across the walk way. Standing back up, she looked around to see where the blood had started. Maybe a fight had happened here or maybe someone was dragged in here that had been injured. Maybe this was the place that she was taken too during her missing time. She descended down a flight of stairs to find a weird variety of strange medical equipment. It looked like an O.R. room but with a creepy feeling and atmosphere to it. There was also a good portion of blood found on the floor. The table that was set over a hovering light that kept flickering on and off had arm and leg restraints. There was something about this place that didn’t seem quite right.

She was going to turn and head back to her SUV when something caught her eye. On the table where many O.R. instruments were was a bracelet. As she reached for it and held it in her hand to look at it closely she realized that it was hers. Logan had given it to her for her birthday last year. Her eyes widened when Jean realized that she had been here. Just as she turned, eager to leave the building, she felt a sickening blow to her head and fell to the ground, unconscious.