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The Mutant Wars 5 Comfort and Communication
by Scorpio
The skin under Jean’s eyes was bruised from stress and lack of sleep. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and she seemed wane and thin. Ororo worried for her friend. She appeared as if a strong wind would knock her over.
That was so unlike the Jean she was used to seeing that she gasped softly and reached up to run her fingertips along the edge of the vid-phone. As kind and helpful as the Fantastic Four were, and as much as she appreciated their care of her, Ororo truly wished she was with the rest of her team. Even if she couldn’t help with the medical side of things, she would at least be there for Jean to lean on.
“Hello Jean, my friend.”
Ororo’s voice was the same calm serene as it always was and Jean offered up a trembling little smile.
“Ororo.” Those tired green eyes washed over her face through the vid-phone. “You seem much better than the last time we talked.”
Ororo nodded, even as she reached up and touched the healing scars of her surgery.
“I am much improved. Reed is an excellent surgeon for one who never truly studied medicine. And Sue is the perfect nurse.”
A spark of real happiness lit up Jean’s face in a grin as they shared a moment. Then Jean’s smile faded and she sighed sadly.
“Hank’s still not sure why Betsy won’t wake up. The swelling around her brain has gone down and the psychic damage done by that…machine is all healed.”
Ororo frowned and an electric charge began to build in the clouds outside as a brisk wind picked up.
That wasn’t good news. Betsy should have come out of her coma if the swelling was gone. That meant there was some other, unknown, cause to her problem.
“She’s been moved from the Intensive Care Unit into a private long-term care room. Warren’s been by her side constantly and simply working out of her room using a laptop and the phone.”
Jean gave a small helpless laugh and shook her head slightly.
“I think…it helps him to have something to focus on. But he’s gotten most of his U.S. holdings transferred to either Canada or Europe. His company employed a lot of mutants and all of them were offered immediate transfers overseas, so that’s good at least.”
Ororo sighed sadly and leaned back further into the comfortable furniture in the loft she was using here at Four Freedom Plaza. She felt so helpless…so cut off from everyone. The clouds outside began to boil and roll.
“I…am sorry to hear about Betsy. I had hoped that she would be better by now. It’s…troubling that she has yet to awaken.”
Jean nodded and reached up to rub at one temple. Both she and Charles had been suffering from migraines since the battle and Ororo recognized the signs that one was imminent.
“Hank says that if she doesn’t start to respond to treatment within a week that it might be best to transfer her to Muir Island. The hospital he’s working at is a good one, but they don’t specialize in mutant physiology and are relying on him for every little decision due to that inexperience.”
Ororo nodded thoughtfully, trying and failing to be hopeful.
“Well, Moira would certainly do an excellent job of caring for Betsy. She’s a brilliant doctor. And, perhaps being close to her brother will help as well?”
Jean’s eyes were tragic and she wrung her hands.
“I just feel so useless. I can’t help but think that she could be coaxed out of the coma with telepathy, but until either Charles or I heal up enough to attempt it…”
Both women sighed and stared silently at each other for a moment of shared pain. They were both normally such strong powerful people that being helpless to assist a friend in desperate need did not sit well. And somehow, it seemed that healing was a longer and more painful process when it wasn’t done at home surrounded by the loving support of one’s family.
“How…” Ororo feared the response to her question, but desperately needed to know, “How is Scott?”
Jean sucked in a jagged breath and her chin trembled for a moment. She looked as if she were going to cry.
“Not good. His arm…oh Ororo, his arm…”
Jean reached up and wiped a tear away from her cheek and Ororo hated the fact that she was so far away and couldn’t be there to support her best friend. Instead she reached out and simply touched the vid-phone as if her care could travel through the miles and miles of optics cables.
“We’re going to have to amputate it.”
Ororo gasped and outside of Four Freedom Plaza, the wind began to howl and rage as the temperature plummeted.
Jean’s head shook slightly in unconscious denial and her eyes unfocused as if she was seeing something that wasn’t there.
“The serum just corroded away his hand. There’s almost nothing left of it anymore. His forearm is nearly as bad by the wrist and it’s starting to travel up past his elbow. Nothing we do stops it or even slows it down. It’s…”
Jean sobbed softly, another tear spilling down her cheek.
“He’s in so much pain, Ororo. He’s in absolute agony and nothing will stop that damned serum. We can’t let it spread further. If it reaches his heart, he’ll die.”
Ororo’s heart clenched with the pain and horror she felt at hearing that and outside a crash of thunder rocked the sky and rain began to pour down on the world. She clasped her trembling hands together and bowed her head as she prayed fervently to the Goddess to help her friends heal and be well. Finally she looked up and tried to smile.
“He is strong, Jean. He will survive and overcome this. You must believe that.”
Jean nodded, her lips twisting up into a sad little smile.
“I do.”
They both knew she was lying.
Feeling helpless and isolated, Ororo sighed and glanced away for a moment before looking back.
“I recently spoke with my brother.”
Jean’s lips quirked up a little at that.
“Oh? Is he still with Logan?”
Ororo nodded and returned Jean’s shaky smile with an amused one of her own. While she desperately missed the companionship of Remy and Logan, she like everyone else, was both relieved and pleased at the thought of those two teamed up together. It amused her to think of the damage and headaches that the combined might of Gambit and Wolverine could cause for their enemy.
In many ways they were the two most dangerous X-Men and that was before you added in their mutant powers. A military trained covert-ops assassin working together with a Guild ranked Master Thief was a scary thought to anyone. When you added in Wolverine’s healing factor and berserker rages with Gambit’s ability to explode any inanimate object, the danger was increased exponentially.
However, as amusing as it might be to imagine their enemy facing such a pair, the sad and painful truth was that the X-Men and other X-Teams desperately needed all the data and information that the two could find. No matter how illegal or immoral the process to gather it was.
“Yes. They are still trying to track down any information of where Gen-X might be or where Robert disappeared to. Apparently, whoever is behind much of this has covered their tracks well.”
Jean frowned and tilted her head to the side in thought even as she folded her arms across her chest.
“They must have some incredibly competent security people to be able to hide from Logan and Remy. Those two can usually ferret out any secret.”
Ororo smirked briefly at that truth. Then her mirth faded and a chill swept up her arms.
“Normally, I would agree that no one could hide anything from the two of them if they wished to find it. However, you are correct in that this time appears to be different.”
Ororo paused to take a deep breath and brace herself for what she was about to say.
“They located the place where Emma had taken the children to hide. Unfortunately it seems that Gen-X was discovered before they could provide backup. They found a site that shows signs that Gen-X was captured in a terrible fight.”
Jean gasped and bowed her head. Ororo waited while her friend shuddered in horror at the thought of the children of Gen-X being forced to fight a losing battle. While neither she nor Jean had much affection for Emma, neither of them would wish such a fate on her. And they both adored Jubilee.
Logan, she knew, was practically frantic to discover the child’s whereabouts.
“Remy told me that he has asked several…friends of his to research Weapon X, particularly the construction company that built their facilities. They’ve unearthed a rumor that the same contractor has been building the concentration camps. They believe the records of that company is the easiest and fastest way to find out the camps’ locations.”
Jean’s face was drawn with grief and exhaustion. She lifted a trembling hand to push a strand of red hair out of her eyes.
“They think that Gen-X was taken to one of the camps?”
Ororo nodded quietly and the rain continued to pour outside.
Jean bit her bottom lip and then slumped slightly before reaching up to wipe away another tear.
“The next time you talk to them, ask Remy if his friends can research information about Tele-X Corporation and Oscorp as well.”
Ororo arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Jean gave a shuddery little laugh and shrugged helplessly.
“Cable decided to take out his bad temper on a military base and brought along the rest of X-Force to join in on the fun. I’m told that the destruction was nearly total.”
Ororo smirked slightly.
Cable’s team had gained a reputation for excessive violence and wanton property destruction. She had often censored him for that…but now she found it comforting to know that he and his team were still out there spreading havoc and chaos.
“They found evidence that the military has been contracting with those two companies in their anti-mutant campaigns. We think that Tele-X is who built that anti-psi machine.”
At the mention of the machine that nearly cost the lives of several friends and her mentor, a thundering crash of lightening splashed across the sky with blinding intensity. Inside Four Freedom Plaza, Ororo merely clenched her hands into fists before she nodded in solemn agreement.
“I’ll tell him as soon as possible.”
Ororo searched her mind for good news to share. Something light hearted to enjoy before the connection to her friend was broken.
She couldn’t find anything.
There was Magneto and his quest to sink every ship in the United States Navy while his Acolytes attacked power plants and raided weapons depots. She was torn over that because she still valued the lives of those humans, yet she understood his tactics. The Navy was chasing down ships of fleeing mutant refugees before they could reach the borders of other countries and beg political asylum. Many times, the ships that made it to other lands had only done so because Magneto had attacked their enemies for them.
That didn’t make the death and destruction easier to accept.
Then there were increasing instances of gangs of homeless untamed mutant teens waging mini wars against human gangs in city slums around the country. Here in New York the Subway Platforms had become battlegrounds as the mutants from the tunnels came up from below and the humans came down from above. Traveling by mass transit anymore meant to take your life into your own hands.
Worse of all, there were rumors about the first sanctioned auction of mutant slaves being prepared. It was said that the mutants were all those who had been captured by the government and studied thoroughly. For now, the sale was restricted to epsilon level mutants; those whose mutation involved minor physical oddities, but no real power.
No, none of the news she had was anything good. Nothing that would bring hope and happiness into her friend’s eyes.
Not even gossip about the Fantastic Four.
How could she tell about Sue’s terrified eyes and the tears she tried to hide as she watched her young son play with his toys? How could she tell about Ben’s growing despair and Johnny’s burning anger and rage? How could she tell about Reed’s increasing insomnia as he worked inhuman hours in his lab desperate to figure out some way to give mutants a greater chance at winning the war?
As lightening flashed across the sky and rain poured down on the city, she could merely murmur an unconvincing, “Do not fret. Everything will eventually work out and all will be well.”
Neither she nor Jean really believed that, no matter how much they both wished it were true.
end