Chapter 103 - Prodigal Son

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Jean sticks a telekinetic field around us, and flies us over to the Blackbird. We land softly as the jet opens up, and watch as Xavier, Orroro, Logan, Kurt, Bobby, Scott and Rogue stream out.

Oh. It seems Hank is here too..

" It seems the whole gang is here." I say.

Scott is the first one to notice us, and he immediately scowls.

Followed by Kurt who starts to enthusiastically wave at us, drawing the rest of the X-men's attention to our group.

Kurt teleports right in front of us. " Hey Guyz! It's so good to zee you! What are you doing here? "

" I suspect the professor is better suited to answer that question." I say.

The professor looks towards Jean. " I assume you felt it too?" She nods.

" I was using Cerebro at the time. I don't think I would've noticed otherwise. You've grown powerful." He acknowledges.

Orroro and Rogue go to greet the girls. And, I'm left standing with Logan, Kurt, Hank, Bobby and the Professor.

Scott stood over a little way to the side, eyeing me with distaste, whilst shooting Jean with the occasional look.

I snort." Prick. "

" Hey, zats not nice." Kurt admonishes.

I raise my hands in surrender. " Hey. I'm not the one checking out another man's girlfriend."

" Perhaps it is guilt. I suspect he wants to apologize." Charles says.

" I'll believe it when I see it. Hey Logan, how did the meeting with Steve go? Did you get your memories back?"

" Some. It's flashes mostly, the professor has been helping me sort through them. They're not exactly consistent. "

I nod." I'm glad you're seeing some progress. "

He snorts." We were also attacked by a guy with a metal arm. Apparently Steve knew him back in the day. "

" Yeah, I heard. They call him the Winter Soldier. I did a bit of digging and it turns out he was being deployed on missions by Hydra. "

" Wait Hydra still exists? Didn't they get disbanded in WW2? " Hank asks.

" You know what they say about Hydras cut off one head, and all that. " I say.

" Vat? " Kurt asks, clearly unfamiliar with the phrase.

" Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place. " Bobby says.

We all stare at him." What? I like reading history. "

I stick out my hand. " Oh sorry, about that. I'm Cypher. Nice to meet you. "

" I'm Bo.. Iceman. "

" So, let me guess your powers are somehow related to ice? " I ask slightly amused.

He shrugs. " I know it's a bit on the nose. But, if it ain't broke. "

The girls finish talking, and start to approach us.

" Jean tells me you guys found something. I think it would be better if we team up on this one. " Orroro says.

I nod." I sent a few scout drones before we came here. Something fishy is definitely going on."

" Why didn't you use your telepathy?" Scott asks.

Jean shakes her head." They're blocking me somehow. We think it's a Meta-human. "

We all look at the professor. " My telepathy is also being restricted. It's actually quite concerning."

" Any ideas?" Rogue asks.

" I can try phasing through the walls, but I'm guessing they also have cameras. An invisibility spell won't work on those." Kitty says.

" Don't worry about it. I'm working on getting us the Intel as we speak. They should be arriving by now. "

" They? " Illyana asks.

" The S-Drones. They're state of the art spy drones. "

" Really? Spy drones?" Orroro huffs out.

I roll my eyes." It's not like I'm using them for peeping. Ah! Here they are."

I hold my arm out, and a few seconds later. A dozen drones which are slightly bigger than the size of a dime slot into my gauntlets.

Jean shoots me a look. ' Are they Dr. Pym's? '

' They're mine. The shrinking technology is his though. ' I communicate back.

I connect the drones to my suit's hologram system and call up the footage of the facilities.

Two of them turned out to be normal research labs. The third? It was a whole different story.

" So, are we ready to start?" Everybody nods.

"I believe so. Please, show everyone what you have learned." Xavier says.

The hologram starts, and we watch as the footage shows the drones approaching the loading bay.

The building isn't huge; this isn't a particularly big base and wouldn't have much use for large spaces. Things change though as the drones follow a guard who's taking an elevator to an underground base.

Logically. The best place to stash people like this would be a dramatically expanded basement under an old property. Which I'm guessing they did.

It's only about twenty metres further down where the elevator takes the drones into… A room with… empty cells.

The drones spread out, each of them taking a different route. Leading them to different rooms and facilities. One of them reaches a bunkroom, but this time it's occupied.

Teenagers lie on the beds, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. They appear to be wearing… Whatever they had on them when they were taken. And, a neck clamp of some sort. Presumably power dampner collars.

It also seems they're drugged, since I can just about see them struggling to breathe.

Keeping them docile for whatever they're planning on doing with them?

The footage moves on. There are a lot of mutants inside, too many, and Charles has a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach even before he sees the crude copy of Cerebro.

He understands, suddenly, what is happening.

Two figures in armour are standing next to a Meta-human who is strapped to a mobile platform.

They seem to be moving him inside to a large spherical room, which looks like a knock off Cerebro.

They don't linger, pushing onwards and inwards, where some kind of reflective metallic panels line the walls.

The footage cuts off. And, I can see a that a few of the X-men look sick to their stomachs, mostly those who are relatively younger.

" How could someone do something so...awful." Illyana says in disgust.

I sigh. " Well, it seems we have our work cut out for us."

" They were so many. How did they even find so many mutants?" Kitty asked, still slightly numb.

Dr. Hank started to slightly tremble. "That.. that spherical room. It's the original Cerebro. Charles and I designed it while working for the CIA. I don't understand. How did they get their hands on it."

"Probably stolen. Or perhaps the CIA is involved. Makes no difference we're going to destroy it all the same." I said.

" You don't understand. That device should be impossible for anyone to operate. The input would simply overwhelm any nascent telepath. I can think of only two people powerful enough to operate it without having their brain fried. And, they're standing right in front of me." Dr. Hank says, as he looks at both Jean and the Professor.

I frown." Well, clearly that's not true. There must be another... "

I shoot Xavier an alarmed look, and I only now start to notice the expression drawn on his face.

He has a thousand mile stare on his face, as if remembering a long forgotten memory. And, with barely an audible voice I hear him whisper

" David..."

And, as soon as I hear that name my mind goes to the only person that could make Charles react this way.

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Legion

(Chapter End)

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For 11+ advanced chapters of ( Ultimate Cypher)"

" And 3+ advanced chapters of (Altered Mind)"

Check out my pat-reon/AnubisCreationz