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The War of Titans-14
🕑 Added 2022-01-15 14:48:02 +0000 UTC“Hmm, to be honest, I expected you to last the longest Kitty,” Harry commented as he ducked underneath her punch and learning back on his hands, kicked her in the abdomen with both of his legs. “Wha-Huh?”
He trailed off as the world in front of him flickered for a moment, Kitty being replaced by a tree and the danger room around him turning into a lush green forest. Like a particularly bad LCD display, it wasn’t a smooth picture, but grainy and torn apart in places, the constant flickering easily giving it away as an illusion. “What is this, now?” He murmured as he looked around at the half-baked visuals. ‘Hmm, better than my first try certainly, bu-urk!’
He felt a punch slam into his nuts, and then a second one landed on his jaw, followed by what was undoubtedly Scott’s optic beams on his face. Gasping at the sudden onslaught and the burning pain of Scott’s attack, Harry stumbled backward and it was only his heel touching the invisible rope behind him that prevented him from stepping out.
Barely a second later he heard the pattering of feet in front of him, and going by the intensity of the sound, it was Kitty who was running towards him. He heard her take a breath and internally laughing at the most amateurish mistake Jean could have made, he sidestepped the lunge perfectly even without seeing the girl. When he felt she was just behind him, Harry turned around with his right leg extended and kicked her in the ribs, a pained gasp and the sound of a body hitting metal coming right after.
“You may have tried creating this illusion Jean” He called out as looked around himself, his ears strained for even the smallest of sounds. “But when you create an illusion to stop someone from attacking your team, you first blind their senses!” Harry suddenly ducked at teh last word and extended his leg a little siderwads, making someone trip and fall to the floor right at his feet. However, before he could capitalize on it, a barrage of optic beams slammed into him, quickly burning holes into shirt and then searing his skin into blisters and burns.
Using his occlumency to shove the pain into the depths of his mind, he grabbed at Kurt’s tail now that he knew it was the furred mutant at his feet and fisting his other hand in his shirt, Harry threw the struggling teleporter towards Scott. Not hearing the sound of two bodies colliding, Harry instead tightened his mental barriers, closing off the limited gaps in his Occlumency which pushed Jean’s illusion out of his mind. The telepath staggered slightly from the sudden snapping of the connection between them, but he paid her no mind.
His healing factor went to work during that time, and while not as powerful as when he was consciously increasing it, it was enough to deal with the blisters and the slight blackening on his skin, leaving red, inflamed tissues behind, which too were soon being healed right before Scott’s and Kurt’s eyes. Now that the mirage was down from around him, Harry looked at Kitty properly, her body a few feet away from him as she laid there unconscious.
Paying the mutans no heed, Harry turned around and walked out from the ring, silently conjuring a shirt back in place over himself. “Where are you going?” came the shout from Jean and even without looking Harry could see the bemused scowl on her face.
“I have no need of further standing in that ring,” he responded as he stopped at the threshold and looked back at them, “You all fail, miserably, utterly and completely. Take them to Leon, and tomorrow I want you back here without fail. Same time, Same objective and this will continue until you can push me out of that ring without any single one of you falling unconscious.”
When they finally exited the danger room a few seconds later with Jean levitating her fallen teammates, their eyes snapped towards the stone-faced Weather mutant and Wolverine standing in front of them by the console. They didn’t say a single word to them as Ororo pushed down a button beside her, and a hologram was projected between them. It was a replay of their fight—more like a one-sided beatdown, Kurt thought—or specifically, the replay of the part where Evan had fallen for no apparent reason with cracked ribs.
“Watch this closely, punks,” Logan grunted, jerking his thumb towards the three-dimensional figure of Harry standing between them, his front facing towards their right. “This is the kind of speed you can expect out there with some mutants and their powers. And the less said about those who go insane, the better.”
As Rogue appeared in front of Harry, Ororo slowed down the replay to 0.25 times its original speed and they watched as Evan slowly approached Harry, his lips twisting into a satisfied smirk. Bone spikes started to form over his fingers while Harry raised his arms over his head towards Rogue. The next moment, Harry raised his left leg, and even at the slowed rate of replay his leg moved astonishingly fast towards Evan, kicking him twice in quick succession over his ribs.
That afternoon, not a single one of their team was able to eat, the image of Harry’s lightning quick strikes and his ability to fight despite being unable to see them seared into their brains. Scott and Jean in particular were both angry over themselves, seeing as they were the two members with the highest training and combat experience out of the six. And that was not counting the fact that both of them had gotten a drop on him, Jean with her mental abilities and Scott with his optic beams, but Harry had still managed to render both of them useless.
Kitty and Kurt on the other hand were more morose over the fact they hadn’t even thought of a way to use their powers in a way that didn’t breach the conditions set by him. Moreover, both of them had tasted defeat at Harry’s hands despite Jean masking their bodies from his sight, Kitty in particular earning a nice case of swelling and a minor concussion when her head had bounced off the metallic flooring. Leon had healed it up within seconds, but the sensation of getting kicked and the pain that followed kept on getting rewinded and played over and over again in her mind.
“Jean,” Professor Charles suddenly broke the silence on the table, making all eyes turn towards him. Not that he gave any of tem his focus, his expressionless face and equally blank eyes staring at the redhead. “After lunch…I want you to come to my office. I need to have a talk with you.”
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“Take a seat,” he nodded at the comfortable recliner in front of him as she crossed the threshold of his office. “I…” he shook his head and leaned back on his chair, before a heavy sigh escaped his mouth and he looked at her with eyes full of regret and shame. “I hav-I have something to tell you Jean, but it will be better if I show you. Do I have the permission to enter your mind?”
Confused and curious at the same time at the naked shame and the odd words of the Professor, Jean nodded her head as she sat down on the recliner. She lowered her mental shields, the granite walls collapsing into nothingness as she met Charles’ astral avatar right at the boundary of her mind. Once again, she was stuck speechless for a moment by the differences between Charles' physical features and his mental avatar. While their face was the same to every last detail. In this state, Charles had slightly wavy dark brown hair falling to his shoulders, and he was able to walk perfectly fine, his astral version not at all hampered by his paralysis.
“What did you want to show me, Professor?” she asked, a small frown on her face, her empathic ability able to detect the shame and regret and a dozen other emotions from Charles now that she was connected to him mentally. It wasn’t as if she was strong and skilled enough to bypass his mental shields, Jean was well aware of that tfact. But that worried her even more, because even while asleep, Charles’ mind was fortified and closed off to the level that she didn’t even have words for it. For him to be so lax and distracted…she wasn’t really sure anymore she wanted to hear what he wanted to tell her.
“Do you remember the day I found you Jean?” he suddenly asked as he kept on walking deeper into her mind, Jean silently following all along. “You had just witnessed Ms. Richardson’s death and the trauma had awakened your empathic powers. Months later, you and your parents came to me and after that I erected mental shielding over your mind.”
“I know that Professor,” Jean slowly nodded, “It is kind of hard to forget that your best friend died in your arms and you are a superpowered being.”
Charles stilled for a moment, and even the little read she had on his emotions disappeared , and he seemed to take a deep breath, trepidation and regret both practically dripping through his form as he turned towards her. “That day…when I temporarily stopped your abilities by shielding your mind from accessing the astral plane, I did something else too while I was in here.”
“What are you talking about Professor?” she asked cautiously, well aware of the fact that at the age when this had happened, any change down to her mind may have very well changed her mental growth and how she should have been instead of what she was today.
“Take us to the deepest parts of your mind Jean, as close to your subconscious as you can.”
Nodding hesitatingly, Jean turned towards the modest house in front of her, the walls of her childhood home parting at a single command from her as she controlled her mind. The representation of her memories and thoughts split up in the middle and the two halves went away from each other at a wave of her hand, revealing the cellar beneath the foundations.
Wordlessly, they walked down the steps once she opened the locks upon it, and a moment later they were standing at the most secretive, deepest recesses of her mind. She turned towards him to ask his motive only to find him looking sorrowfully at the emotional sector of her thoughts. She had just opened her mouth when Charles waved his hands once and her eyes grew wide as she felt something appea-no, appear was the wrong word. Something got exposed inside her mind, something which had been hidden from her all her life if the traces of Charles’ psionic signature over it were any indication. She turned towards the newly revealed area of her mind behind her, and mentally gaped at the chained, shackled and covered expanse of her mind. And if that wasn’t enough, then the fact a substantial amount of her emotional responses and other small thoughts and impulses were chained down with it was something that literally made her mind go blank for a moment.
Why would Charles know about a mental block on her? Why would he know it when she knew her mind better than anyone? And why the fuck was his psionic signature present on those bonds when he hasn’t eve-...
“You had just witnessed Ms. Richardson’s death and the trauma had awakened your empathic powers. Months later, you and your parents came to me and after that I erected mental shielding over your mind.”
Strunned didn’t even begin to cover wha she felt at that moment as her mind connected the dots. A heavy miasma of red started to form around them, and RAGERAGEANGER clouded her thoughts, her physical eyes burning a fierce yellow behind the closed lids as the shackles behind her wobbled and shook with the bursts of yellow flames that escaped them.
“Jean, I am sor-”
“Get out!” she hissed, and with a strength she didn’t even know she had, she pushed Charles out of her mind and slammed the doors shut, leaving her alone inside the depths of her suddenly not-so-safe mind.
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Anger burned through her veins as she flew away from the mansion, the fact that she just destroyed Charles’ office in a fit of rage, and may have even harmed the professor himself not even registering in her mind. A large, furious part of her wanted to go back and demand answers from the man who had broken her trust in the most…disgusting ways he could have done but on some level, she realised that it was better if she was away from Charles for some time. For both of their interests.
And wasn’t that amazing? Jean raged in the privacy of her mind as she flew upwards to the clouds. The man she had looked up to, they all had looked upto was someone who had hidden a part of what made her Jean Grey for so many years! Hell, she was probably the opposite of how she should have been if he had not put that stupid block on her. Taking care of the thinning air with a telekinetically erected bubble around her, Jean stopped for a second and looked down behind her, her eyes zeroing on the small structure that was the Xavier Mansion. Before her feelings finally overflowed and broke down her control as she turned towards the clouds above and screamed till her throat turned raw, the air around her getting pushed back with the telekinetic waves of energy getting released from her.
“I see Charles had his talk with you.”
“Harry?” she turned around with a bemused frown on her face. Her eyes flicked up and down around her, but she found no trace of the man in her surroundings. However, sure that she had heard his voice, Jean reached out with her mind and gasped as she found him floating just a foot to her right. She gasped and turned towards the spot where he was supposed to be and a shrill shriek came out of her throat as she suddenly found him beside her, not a hint or sound made by his sudden reveal.
“Harry!” she said furiously, her cheeks pinking as the fact that she shrieked like a little girl registered with her a moment later, the slight upturn of his lips not helping matters at all. “What have I said about suddenly appearing out of thin air, literally at that. You will give me a damn heart attack someday!”
“Good thing I know how to perform CPR then,” Harry replied back easily, “and it is not my fault that you cannot keep the passive scanning up at all times. You nee-”
“To be alert and aware, I know it,” Jean snapped back, her mood instantly tuning irritated and biting as she crossed her arms and turned away from him. “You don’t have to remind me every damn day!”
He said nothing in response, knowing that within a few seconds the young woman would calm down and apologise by herself, the fluctuating emotions certainly not helping her already frayed and drained mental state. A small part of him, which had doubted whether Charles would have the balls to actually talk with Jean or not, was impressed by the man. Especially when he met the telekinetic without any other mutant to protect him or prevent Jean from exploding.
“How did you know I was up here?” she asked after a few moments, her fec still turned away from him.
“It is hard to miss when you break the walls of the mansion and then fly out in broad daylight.” he said and floated in front of her, her eyes glittering with amusement. Jean huffed at that looked below at the mansion, her eyes staring at the hole in the walls where Charles’ office was.
“Now, what did you find in your brain? A mental block or a personality makeover?”
“You knew something was wrong?!” she asked, shocked out of her mind at the revelation, but then anger quickly took its place. Her hand automatically shot forwards towards his face for a slap, and her mind did the same instinctively as she lashed out at him. “You…You knew that something was not right in my head and you didn’t tell me?! I trusted you, you ba-mmph!”
Her angered accusations were cut off as Harry grabbed her incoming wrist with one hand and his other hand rose up to her lips, silencing her physically while he mentally stopped her attack. Even though she was indignant and slightly flustered by the palm over her lips, Jean felt some measure of satisfaction in the wince Harry gave off as the veritable tsunami of psychic energy slammed against his mental shields.
“Damn, you are certainly well past angry aren’t you?” Harry murmured as he shook his head and then looked into her eyes, “Yes I knew about the block Jean, I have seen and used our variants of mental blocks too much to not recognise the effects of a loosening one, even if it is of a different type and method. But despite what I came to know, Charles was the one who handled your instruction ever since you awakened your powers and he is the one who would have known most about the situation.” He shrugged and backed for a moment, removing his hand from her wrist and mouth both. “So I gave him an ultimatum, if he wouldn’t have talked with you within 2 days, I would have done so.”
She took a deep breath at his reasoning, the fire inside her cooling down somewhat at his exp[lanation. However, as she went through his words once again, she scrunched up her nose and asked, “How did you realise that there was a mental block on me? It is quite deep in my mind, and we never went that far in our sessions.”
“Personality changes, fluctuations in mood, overnight changes in thought processes are the best indicators of a failing memory block or a coercion and enslavement mental technique,” he answered. “In fact, if it weren’t for you trying to seduce me that time and then the sudden urge of yours to dance with me, I don’t think I would really put the pieces together.”
The last sentence was said with a grin aimed at the redhead, Harry’s eyes flickering down to her chest for a moment. Jean blushed at that, remembering the absolutely horrendous lapse of her self-control and emotions when she had…fuck, she was never going to live it down. She cleared her throat, forcing down her embarrassment, and said, “Well, thanks for saying that to the Professor. If it weren’t for that, I don’t think when he would have come clean with this, if he would have even thought of doing it.”
“You are thinking of removing the block.” he commented, his eyebrow arching a little.
“Of course I am,” she replied hotly. “Now that I know that a part of me is chained down, you think I will leave it be and let it rest in there? I have felt more alive in the last few months than I have felt in my entire life, Harry. Even I can realise that I am more open and not as standoffish as before. I can finally understand the emotions around me without feeling like a clueless simpleton! I will not rest until I destroy every single bit of that block upon whatever he chained down in my mind!”
“Okay,” Harry shrugged, “I understand and completely, enthusiastically agree with you Jean. But I think you should know every fact before you rush into this.”
Jean blinked at him for a moment, her mind racing to think of any piece of information and or any interaction with the Professor which could help her realise ‘every fact’. “What do you mean?”
“When Charles entered your mind for the first time all those years ago, he found a foreign entity in your mind,” Harry explained, his words making Jean's eyes grow wide and her hand to automatically shoot up to her head. Not giving her the time to say anything, he continued, “According to him, it was so powerful that even though only a microscopic part of it was connected to you, it was enough to make Charles worry for all the students in that building and for you too.”
“Whu-What?! There is a fucking foreign thing in my head?” Jean cried, alarm and horror practically dripping from her. “Why the fuck hasn’t he ever fucking told this to me?”
“I guess he was just ashamed and afraid of what you will do.”
“Fuck!” she cursed once again, her hands rising up to her forehead and as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Harry patiently floated there in front of her, his own thoughts going back to the severed connection between his body and his elemental powers. Maybe meditation might help instead of regular old Occlumency? Good thin-
“I want to remove the block,” Jean suddenly declared, her green eyes blazing with determination. “You said it yourself, it is weakening day by day, so at least this way I can control the situation somewhat and try for a dialogue if it is possible instead of getting blindsided when the thing is here” she pointed at her head and continued, “finally comes out.”
“It will be dangerous,” Harry pointed out, feeling a lot concerned about the endeavour Jean was about to undertake and at the same time, anger at himself for worrying so much. “Your powers fluctuate and flare out in states of emotional upheaval, and I don't think that you would be calm as a cucumber when you get to removing that block.”
“I can’t really do that in the mansion can I?” Jean asked, knowing that answer herself.
“Lucky for you, I happen to have a place where you can do that” Harry said, his hand rising to grip Jean's hand. Before she could say or do anything, they disappeared from the air, the beginnings of Jean’s shocked cry fading away in the wind.
