A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also ans 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 announcent about my Patreon at the bottom of the post! Please read it!
Madelyne is a little bit done with all of this.
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"… Do we think he was telling the truth when he said he wouldn't alert the Black Queen to what happened today?"
"I don't know. His actions were not that of a particularly sane man, but at the sa ti I can't fathom a reason why he would lie to us about that. We're going to have to err on the side of caution anyways and assu he told her regardless. Besides, as he said, even if he doesn't tell her… she'll co for Madelyne Pryor sooner or later to find out what she wants to know."
Thaddeus' eyes drift over to Madelyne at those ominous words and he gives her a warm smile.
"Don't worry. We won't let her have you."
Madelyne blushes, feeling her heart thud in her chest at that. Even now, even knowing she was just a plant… he still cared for her. He wanted to protect her. It made her feel all warm inside, a shuddering breath leaving her lips as the others continue their conversation.
"We could tell the X-n about all of this."
Even as she suggests it, Emma doesn't sound too convinced of her own words. Thaddeus even raises an incredulous eyebrow at her, causing the blonde to shrug half-heartedly.
"Its an option if nothing else. I acknowledge that it's probably not a particularly good option, but still…"
One of the other won, Laura, speaks up then.
"Too much baggage. Even Storm is trying to keep her hidden from them. I don't think they would react very well to her existence. It would be… ssy."
Madelyne bites her lower lip, thinking back to the dark-skinned, white-haired woman and her warnings. Professor Munroe had been very clear that there were people from the original's life who wouldn't be willing to accept things, even when it had seed like a very strange coincidence. How would they react now if they were told the truth, that Madelyne was a clone of their dead colleague, friend… lover?
A shuddering breath leaves Madelyne's lips and she squeezes her eyes tightly shut.
"I don't want it."
Her words, the first spoken since they'd escaped from the secret lair's self-destruct, cut through the conversation like a knife. Silence falls for a long mont as Madelyne just stands there, eyes still closed. Until finally, she feels Thaddeus' hands on her shoulders and lets herself collapse forward into his embrace. The warmth of his chest and the feeling of safety from being held in his arms perate through her even as he runs a hand through her hair.
Nobody asks her to clarify, but Madelyne does so all the sa, mumbling at first and then pulling her head back from Thaddeus' chest so everyone can hear her words.
"-don't want any of this. The psychic powers. The attention. I don't want to be HER. And I don't want to be whatever HE wanted to be e-either. Can't you… just take it away for ?"
Looking up into Thaddeus' eyes imploringly, Madelyne bites her lower lip.
"My X-Gene activated because of you. So… c-couldn't you maybe deactivate it?"
The response doesn't co from Thaddeus, nor does it co from Emma or Laura. Instead, slipping out from under his clothes and forming up beside the two of them in an instant, the woman they'd introduced as Cessily crosses her arms over her chest and scowls.
"It doesn't really work like that, trust , I should know. And you shouldn't be blaming Thaddeus for anything. All he's done is try to help you. You-!"
"Cessily."
Thaddeus' quiet tone stops the other mutant in her tracks, causing Cessily to fall quiet with a faint pout as she glares at Madelyne. anwhile, Madelyne has gone white and is quick to correct herself.
"I-I wasn't trying to bla you, I-!"
"I know, Madelyne."
He gives her a reassuring smile and another squeeze of his arms. Madelyne whimpers and buries her face in his chest again. She never should have asked. She was fine, she could handle it. She just needed so training or sothing. She's just about to say that, to take back her request, when Emma suddenly speaks up again.
"Actually, we might be able to do sothing because of the nature of her mutation."
All eyes turn towards Emma, with Thaddeus letting out a growl.
"I'm not going to risk using Rogue's mutation on her if that's what you're suggesting."
Madelyne doesn't know what that ans, but in the end it doesn't matter because Emma shakes her head.
"No, that's not what I was talking about. Madelyne is a psychic… and if we called in Tessa, we would have three very capable psychics to 'help' her out. To be clear, I'm not advising that we take away her telepathic abilities or apply ntal blocks like Charles Xavier did to Jean Grey. We all know how that turned out. Instead, we might be able to… warp Madelyne's psychic abilities in a specific direction. Sothing that you would be quite familiar with."
Emma's eyes move over to Laura at that, the other woman raising an eyebrow in response. But Thaddeus seems to get it all the sa.
"Total defense. You want to shift her psychic abilities towards defense and nothing else."
Smiling now, Emma nods.
"That's right. With the three of us working together and Madelyne's complete inford consent, I imagine we can do this much for her. No training, no being able to read minds intentionally or unintentionally, no offensive capabilities at all. Her entire mutation would beco focused solely on passive defense… and her psychic defenses would be all the more powerful for it."
After letting this explanation sit in the air for a mont, Emma lets out a sigh.
"The only imdiate downside to this plan that I can think of is that when Selene cos for her, she'll know sothing is up imdiately. But to be fair, the likelihood of us managing to trick the Black Queen into believing that Madelyne was still her agent was always going to be minimal after all this. I would argue that we're on a shortened tiline before everything hits the fan anyways, so we might as well do what we can."
Nodding, Thaddeus looks down into Madelyne's eyes.
"What do you think, Madelyne? Does that sound like sothing you might want?"
She spends a mont thinking about it. It wasn't the perfect escape from this ss she finds herself in, but at the sa ti Madelyne recognized that a true 'perfect escape' would also involve escaping Thaddeus as well. And even through all of this… she doesn't necessarily want to leave him.
"Yes. Yes, I want it."
Thaddeus gives her another warm smile, while Emma clears her throat.
"Then allow to place a call."
-x-X-x-
It takes barely any ti at all for the one they'd called 'Tessa' to arrive. She pauses at the sight of Laura and Cessily at first, before ultimately focusing on Thaddeus and Emma.
"Ma'am. Sir. You called for ?"
Thaddeus and Emma share a glance at that, before Thaddeus steps forward and nods.
"Yes. Co join us please. We're going to be doing sothing rather unorthodox. Using yours and Emma's skill combined with mine and Emma's raw power, we're going to turn Madelyne's telepathy into a purely defensive ability. Every ounce of her psychic powers, shifted towards defense and nothing else."
Tessa's brow raises at that, but she walks over all the sa. Madelyne bites her lower lip as she's directed to lay down on the office's couch. From there, she can only watch on as the other three psychics get into position. Thaddeus kneels beside the couch and takes one of her hands in his own while placing the other on her cheek.
anwhile, Emma is right above her head, her own hands moving across her scalp as her fingers splay over her skull. Finally, Tessa reaches down and gently places the tips of her fingertips along the side of Madelyne's brow from over the back of the couch.
All of the sudden, they're inside Madelyne's mind… literally. Emma Frost's office falls away, and the four of them are standing… elsewhere. Tessa looks around, humming to herself.
"Interesting defenses…"
Grunting, Thaddeus shrugs.
"They're mine. I've been helping Madelyne to contain her power ever since her X-Gene awakened earlier today."
Tessa's eyes light up with understanding as she looks upon the taphysical 'walls' again.
"That should make things easier on us. We already have a blueprint."
But Emma steps in then, shaking her head.
"They aren't a half-bad attempt for soone like Thaddeus, but we can do much better than this. Walls do not make for a perfect defense and if we're going to turn every ounce of Madelyne's psychic potential towards protecting her mind, then we're going to do this right."
Far from being upset, Tessa looks intrigued at the challenge.
"Show what you have in mind."
Madelyne can only watch from the sidelines as the other three far more experienced psychics get to work. No, that's not quite true… because while Thaddeus' services are needed from ti to ti, he's not really an active participant in Emma and Tessa's planning.
If this were a construction project, it would be more accurate to say that Thaddeus was the crew while Emma was the architect and Tessa was the foreman. The end result is that there's a lot of tis where Thaddeus is right beside Madelyne, holding her hand taphysically just as he is out in the real world.
Eventually, their plans begin to take shape though and Madelyne finds herself marveling at what they're capable of. She begins to understand what Emma was talking about before. Walls seed so daunting, but in a mind they were… well, easily dealt with. The form of protection Emma had Madelyne's psychic powers take instead was a perfect, enclosed sphere.
After all, since Madelyne did not need to be able to reach out telepathically, she didn't need any openings whatsoever in her defenses. There was no need for a 'give and take' so in the end her defenses could be absolute and 'complete' as had already been ntioned.
Of course, as today had proven so far… nothing could ever go fully to plan.
"What about this?"
Tessa's question draws the attention of both Emma and Thaddeus. The blonde looks confused while Thaddeus looks intrigued.
"What are you talking about?"
But Tessa shakes her head at Emma.
"Sorry, that question was for Thaddeus. This… is only sothing that he and I can see."
Emma looks like she's bitten into sothing sour at that, making Madelyne feel sowhat bad for the other woman. Especially with how much she's helped her out so far. Still, she can't deny her curiosity has been piqued. Fortunately, Thaddeus doesn't let go of her hand even as he cos over to look at whatever Tessa has found.
There's a pause as the two of them study a seemingly innocuous spot of Madelyne's mindscape for several long monts… and then Thaddeus' face breaks out into one of the biggest grins he's ever seen.
"Oh now that's sothing special. How did I miss that?"
Tessa snorts derisively.
"I would say that the work we've been doing so far might have cleared up the space and revealed it. But it's also probably because you haven't fucked enough just yet, I would imagine. I suppose for now, my… perception is still greater than yours."
Letting out a huff, Emma crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot impatiently.
"Care to share, you two?"
Looking to Emma and then over to her, Thaddeus is still grinning as he gives Madelyne's hand an affectionate squeeze.
"It's good news… though it does an you'll have another decision to make, Madelyne. All of this… renovating that we've been doing has shown us another aspect of your true potential. And with your telepathy turned entirely towards defense, we could draw up that potential for you."
Madelyne's eyes widen. As she's processing that, Thaddeus half-turns to Emma and explains further for both their sake.
"It's the ability to heal. I don't think that's sothing Jean Grey was ever capable of…"
When Emma, her brow furrowed in thought, slowly shakes her head, Thaddeus smiles and turns fully back to Madelyne.
"If anything, this is proof that you truly are your own person, Madelyne. It doesn't matter where you ca from… and I bet Sinister didn't know about this hidden aspect either."
He sounds so confident and sure of himself for a mont, before growing a bit pensive.
"… That said, it's still your choice at the end of the day. If you want us to ignore it, say the word. But it shouldn't be too much trouble to bring it out while we're finishing up your defenses."
He tosses a glance over at Tessa to make sure of that, which the female mutant nods at. Then, he looks back at Madelyne with that damn smile of his. Her heart fluttering in her chest, she nevertheless takes at least a mont to think it over.
But really, who is she kidding? The ability to heal others? To help people? Sothing that the original never had, sothing that Sinister hopefully hadn't predicted. Madelyne lets out a shuddering sigh and nods.
"D-Do it. Please…"
Thaddeus squeezes her hand and Madelyne blushes and ducks her head. From there, things happen rather quickly. They'd almost been done with the psychic side of things anyways, so Emma is left to finish up that bit while Thaddeus and Tessa work together to pull up what the latter had found.
Its bright and shining, like a beautiful golden jewel sitting upon a pedestal, but Madelyne doesn't get a chance to admire it for long before she's pulled back out of her mind along with the three psychics.
There's a pause as all four of them get their bearings for a mont. Its easiest for Madelyne and Thaddeus, seeing as they were laying down and kneeling already respectively. Emma and Tessa both stumble away to recover, with the blonde even having to put a hand to her head.
Realizing that all of that work must have given them headaches, Madelyne feels sothing pulse inside of her as she sympathizes with them. Without really thinking about it, she reaches out… and her hands glow a gold that then proceeds to wash over the entire room, but more specifically Emma, Tessa, and Thaddeus.
All three of them go still for a mont before Emma and Tessa slowly straighten up, looking surprised but also much better than they did before. Thaddeus, anwhile, gives Madelyne's hand another squeeze as he helps her off the couch.
"Thank you, Madelyne. That felt… amazing."
Madelyne beams, her heart soaring in her chest. She wasn't what Sinister had made her to be after all. She wasn't just Jean Grey's clone, nor was she the other woman's replacent. She was her own person, her own woman… and a verified healer to boot!
Looking into Thaddeus' eyes, Madelyne places her free hand on his chest.
"Please… call Maddie."
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The Vote:
[X] Inform Storm at least of all of this so she can run interference for the rest of the X-n - 79%
[ ] Keep everything from everyone in the X-n who aren't part of their inner circle already - 8%
[ ] Inform the X-n as a whole about Madelyne's existence and circumstances so they know she's not Jean - 13%
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Also I started two new stories in the past week if you haven't heard yet! Please check them out for !
My new daily updating story:
My new weekly story poll replacing LST:
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