---

"Charles?" Hank called. "Charles?" he repeated. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better," I croaked. "I can't– I don't know how to fix this. I should've never asked you to do what you did."

Hank gulped and adjusted his glasses. "She was erratic and lashing out. If I hadn't sedated her, she would've endangered herself and the rest of the children. It is regrettable that the chips fell where they did, but you had…good intentions."

"If only I hadn't forced the matter with Dante," I sighed. "But that boy drove me up the damn wall…"

Hank said nothing, giving me the moment I needed to gather myself. He helped me into my chair.

For a moment, I considered my options. I asked Hank to increase the anesthesia dose and the intensity of the psychic blocking headband. Logan, Ororo, Scott, and Piotr trooped in a moment later.

"Hell is going on, Prof?" Logan asked.

"Did you find a new mutant?" Ororo asked, but Scott put it together immediately.

"It was Jean, wasn't it?"

"She has grown more…willful."

"What's wrong with her?" Piotr asked.

"She's been overtaken by something truly vile," I said. "And I don't know if I can help her."

"It was him, wasn't it! Scott snapped. "Jean started acting strange the day he showed up. He infected her."

Hank and I shared a look.

He was about to open his mouth when I spoke into his mind. 'He's right, you know. I've watched that Seal for nearly two decades, and there was no sign of a break. And yet in the first month of him living with us…she starts to lose herself.'

'You and I know that's not the whole truth,' Hank thought at me with a frown. He'd been prudent enough to hear Jean out after she stormed out of the med bay. By the time I was lucid enough to connect to Hank's mind, he regarded me with heavy suspicion.

He knew that Dante's eyes saw her buried power, and the young Devil had planted the seed that she might've been brainwashed.

Given the boy's track record and my blunder, Jean had her mind already made up, as did Hank.

He had even begun to buy into the narrative that I'd brainwashed the children.

'If you could think that of me, Hank. Then, perhaps you never knew me," I said. "I would never harm the children or X-men, nor would I be able to control them for a prolonged period like she's claiming. All I did was make Jean forget some of her past and seal her boundless strength. Continuous mind control is another thing entirely. It is frankly beyond my abilities and likely the abilities of most mutants alive. Well, except for maybe, Jean.'

'Swear to me, Charles, that the boy's claims about you weren't true. Swear to me,' Hank demanded in a terse voice.

My first instinct was to play off the promise as some unfair breach of trust, but I saw the desperation in Hank's eyes.

I would lose him if he didn't like the next words out of my mouth, so I lied.

Hank had not agreed to my plan to sedate her until he had my promise.

I erected a mental shield the entire time we had our conversation, and Hank led her to his lab. He injected her after I sent a sharp mental spike through her mind, disorienting her.

He apologized several times as she collapsed to the floor after our second exchange with her.

'You are right,' I thought to Hank, 'the matter is not black and white, but we need the team focused and united, now more than ever. He will be coming for her, and we must be ready.'

As if the universe were mocking me, the phone rang. The room became pin-prick silent as the ringtone of my tossed cell phone filled the quiet. Scott slowly handed it to me, and I thanked him before tentatively putting it to my ear and answered.

"You left a lot out of our last conversation, Charles!"

"Fury," I began. "It's not what you think."

"It's exactly what I think. I thought you were a decent man, Charles, but mind-controlling children… I'm going to give you one chance and one chance only. We were coming for the girl. Let us retrieve and appropriately contain her."

I noticed Hank and Logan's faces when Fury mentioned mind control. Their mutations allowed them to listen in easily. I had to choose my words carefully.

"You mean kill her?" I said loud enough for everybody in the room to hear. Scott gasped, and Bobby, who just joined, looked more lost than ever. Kitty Pryde looked livid.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Of course not," Fury said. "Our consultant told us attempting that would be tantamount to suicide. He has a….sorcerer on the ground that can help her stabilize her mind."

"Sorcerer?" I scoffed. "This is Dante's doing. He's selling you on fairy dust and tall tales. I'm the foremost telepath on earth. If anyone can help Jean, it's me."

"After all that fine work you did pushing her over the edge?" Dante's voice cut in. "Nah, I think I'll take it from here. If you don't want our little conversation going viral online, you'll roll out the welcome mat when we get there."

I set my jaw as I considered my options for a hot moment. I needed to protect the family regardless of the consequences. I could bounce back from the tape leak. I didn't think I would survive losing them all.

Besides, Logan and Hank would lose all respect for me if I let the boy blackmail me.

"Do your worst. We won't be surrendering Jean like she's some prize."

I heard a surprised scoff at the other end. "I should've blackmailed you on that day," he said. "I won't make the same mistake twice."

The phone cut to Fury's voice.

"Dante threatened you with the internet. I'm threatening you with something that carries far more consequences," Fury said. "Let us have that ticking timebomb, or I'll approach the President and show him how you treat your students."

I felt dizzy in my chair. Decades of work gone overnight. All because of a single mistake. I set my jaw.

All my bluster about loyalty and bravado went out the window when I considered the ramifications.

The president could rescind the permit he gave me to house mutants without government supervision. The school could be disbanded because of this.

Who would stop more radical lobbyists like Trask from getting funding for his extreme machines?

Yet, that all paled compared to what else I stood to lose.

Jean.

She was like a daughter to me, and I'd be damned if I'd let some demon spawn or Firebird have her.

"Do what you have to do, Fury," I said. "And I'll do what I have to."

"I swear to god, if you turn this planet into an apocalyptic wasteland because of your fucking pride, death won't be able to keep me from you, Charles!" Dante yelled into the phone and cut it.

A nervous current ran up my spine as I set the phone away. Turning to the room, I saw them all looking at me with clear expectation.

"We need to talk about the Elephant in the room."

—

I was hungry for blood when the strike team's SUV rolled up to the mansion's gate.

Xavier's specifically.

Everybody else got a pass, but that didn't mean I planned to go easy on them.

But I was saving all of my good stuff for Xavier and the Phoenix.

Natasha had given me sonic grenades, flashbangs, and other practical weapons to deal with mutants whose primary mode of attack was their mind.

We'd also come prepared with a lot more, but I didn't want to spoil you.

We hoped to keep the fighting outside of the mansion because of the children, but when we laid eyes on the building, I realized it was never an option to begin with.

Our collective jaws dropped when we saw the state of the mansion.

Chunks of masonry hung in the air, and the mansion looked like it'd withstood several earthquakes.

"I take it the party started without us," Coulson said somewhat nervously into his earpiece from his SUV, one car behind me.

"This was not in the reports," May said.

"Oh, it was most definitely not," Clint said in the chair beside me. "The X-men might be the ones who need protection if she can do that."

"You all heard what I told Fury," I said, muscling down the nervous twist I felt in my gut. "Her powers are unprecedented and functionally limitless. Casually shattering a Mansion and levitating the broken pieces are small potatoes for her. This belabors my earlier point; we need to approach her carefully. If Jean feels threatened, it's a wrap."

Natasha, who was in the driver's seat, finally spoke. "Fury's instructions were clear. Warm up the RX-29."

I cringed at her persistence, but I didn't expect to talk Natasha out of following order in the first place.

My words were for everybody else. Coulson and Clint, especially. They seem the most flexible.

Despite my sweet talking and arranging the meeting with Drumm, the Director did not change his mind about the nuclear option. Drumm gave Fury nothing during their 'friendly' conversation and said in so many words that their interests aligned.

Fury had not been pleased, even after his assurances about the Artic.

"Strap in, everyone," Natasha announced as she rammed the wrought iron gates for the mansion, entering the property properly. She sped through the property with ease, rapidly approaching the mansion.

In front of the building stood the X-men and a few kids of the younger generation suited up for a fight. Scott, Colussus, Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, and even Pyro stood alongside the seasoned Wolverine and Storm.

Hank was oddly absent, and the entire situation caused me to raise my brow.

We stepped down from our cars in full tactical gear, with stun rifles set to medium.

It was enough to disable most mutants but mild enough not to cause lasting damage.

"Xavier is having children fight his battles now?" I mused. "I suppose that's no surprise. That has always been his MO, hasn't it? Manipulating people stronger and younger to do his dirty work."

"You're not welcome here," Ororo spoke with a commanding timber. "Take your associates and leave."

"And turn my back on Jean as you all have by supporting her abuser?" I asked. "I'm betting Xavier didn't tell you about the tape I recorded of our little chat. In case you were wondering, no, I didn't attack unprovoked. Xavier did."

"You messed with her head," Scott yelled from the side suddenly. "You're the reason why she's lashing out. We were perfectly fine and happy until you came along. All of this is your fault."

"My fault?" I scoffed. "I'm not the one who thought it was a great idea to shackle whatever was in Jean's mind. Why don't you listen instead of running your mouth," I said, irritated, hitting the remote to the speaker system in our SUV.

The speakers went on for about two seconds before Scott's laser cut through the engine and fried the car radio and speakers.

My mouth fell open, and the other members of my team rapidly shifted and trained their guns on him.

"Damn it, kid!" Wolverine unsheathed his claws, and the other X-men shifted stances, getting battle-ready.

"It's all lies anyway," Scott spat, eyes frantic.

"Touche, Xavier," I raised a hand to stay the firing order I knew was about to come from Natasha and let out an unhinged chuckle.

"Is this how you want to play this, Logan? You know I care about Jean. I can get her real help. More than anyone else, you should know I'm telling the truth. If I wanted Xavier dead, he'd be dead the second I entered his office. I can get her the help she needs."

"Doesn't matter if you want to help," Logan said. "Those G-men behind ya will cut her open and rip out everything that makes her human time and time again if it means making a soldier like her. They're not her friends and certainly not yours, either."

I blinked. Logan just schooled me again.

"The government of the United States does not run experiments on its citizens. We're not World War 2 Nazis," Coulson spoke up. "And we don't appreciate you calling us that."

---