ABSOLUTION

Part II: A Place to Call Home

By James Jordan

His eyes open. The area is foreign, not new—but foreign. Sitting up, he looks to his shirtless body to see wires and needles protruding from his body. His head is throbbing and he’s in more pain than he would have ever anticipated. He can barely remember how he got these injuries, or from who. In a panic he looks around the room to realize he’s in some kind of lab. He hears a noise. A woman. He can sense her coming closer, a ‘click’ ‘click’ sound coming from her high heeled shoes.

Training with the X-Men has prepared Scott Summers to anticipate the worst at any given moment. The clicking continues only to stop abruptly when the figure of Cecilia Reyes appears behind a corner. She grins and begins to walk again.

Click.

Click.

Scott rubs his forehead and exhales in both relief and embarrassment. Cecilia looks down at him on the bed and throws down a clipboard onto a nearby table. “I knew you’d wake up sooner or later,” she says before walking toward the computer that monitors Scott’s vitals. “Everything seems good. You are a complete and totally healthy man.”

The X-Man known as Cyclops sits up in his bed and glares around the room once again. He feels as though he’s been here before but he can’t seem to grasp the right memories from his mind to put the pieces together. “Where are we?” He finally asks.

“The Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital in Katonah. You’re crazy, didn’t you get the memo?” Cecilia says with sarcastic nonchalance, a form of expression she has mastered over the years.

Scott shakes his head. At this point, with everything that has occurred in his life, he could almost believe her. “No really, where are we?” His voice is groggy and his body seems to resist relieving the drunken feeling that is guaranteed in the morning after a good night’s sleep.

“I can’t believe you can’t recognize this place,” she pauses and takes out a file with Scott’s name on it. She begins writing and questions, “Signs of a concussion, perhaps?”

“What happened?”

“Memory loss, interesting,” Cecilia jokes placing a hand on her hip.

“I know what happened, but what happened?” Scott asks in frustration.

Cecilia’s smirk leaves her face; the sarcasm and the nonchalance gradually begin to leave her presence. She walks toward Scott grimly and begins to remove the needles and wires attached to his body. She does so slowly and carefully, all the while never removing her eyes from her hands and the equipment she removes from Scott. “Well you were fighting Sinister,” she pauses to remove the anesthetic needle from Scott’s arm, an act that grants a grimace of meager pain from Scott. “He threw you, and, well, I guess your head must have hit something. I really don’t know what. We didn’t stay there for long—at least not long enough to find out anything.” Cecilia finishes detaching the leader of the X-Men from the confines of machinery and grabs a t-shirt. She holds it in her hands, and fiddles around with it, playing with the granular wording on the grey shirt. “You’ve been in a minor coma for about eight hours.”

Scott contemplates the pragmatism of a phrase like “minor coma”, but in the world of the X-Men comas come in all shapes, sizes, and adjectives. It isn’t a normal life, and therefore the rules of normality don’t apply to him or any of his friends. “And Sinister… he’s—”

“Dead? Yes,” Cecilia answers. The two look to the ground, separated only by five feet and complete silence. Cecilia breathes in and changes the subject, “To answer you from before, we’re at Xavier’s.” Cecilia throws the grey shirt she’s been fidgeting with to Scott. It reads “The Xavier Institute” in bold yellow letters, etched into the center of the shirt. “You might want to put that on, it’s kinda chilly in here.”

Scott doesn’t even care that he’s in the mansion of a man whom he has sworn hatred for in recent months as he slips the grey shirt over his head and torso. All he cares about is recollecting what has happened to him and his X-Men. It begins to come back to Scott: fighting the Marauders, being thrown by Sinister, hitting his head… and waking to the visage of his wife single handedly decimating one of their most deadly enemies. He remembers the feeling of what he saw, and the grandeur of the entire incident. The fight wasn’t just any ordinary battle against Sinister; it was the final battle with Sinister. A war ended bloodily by the hands of Jean Grey-Summers.

And he saw it all without the protection of his ruby quartz glasses.

Scott grasps nervously around his face for his glasses, and feels nothing. He sees no shades of red. He can see the entirety of the room in color, colors that he hasn’t seen since he was a young boy. He smiles amidst the tragic events that have fallen. Scott holds his hands before him and stares into them, looking at every little dot, every fine line in his palm; examining the color of peach etched across his skin. He lifts his hands to the light, his mouth is agape and the edges of his lips form a smile as he glares into his hands. It’s a simplicity in Scott’s life that he has never been able to experience or appreciate.

“How does it feel to see the world in color?” Scott puts his hands down and turns his head toward the elevator door which has just opened to reveal his wife. She has been crying. Her mascara has flooded down her cheeks, and her hand is still gently rubbing the streaming black off.

“Jean?” Scott stands and looks at his wife. He lends a hand out to her, and she takes it with a begrudging smile; she knows she has nothing to smile for, but extends one for the comfort of her husband.

Jean tilts her head up to look into the eyes of her husband. Her eyes never leave his. “Cecilia, I need to speak to my husband.” She says these words placidly; there is no warmth in Jean’s normally soothing, mellifluous voice. “Would you mind giving us some privacy?”

Cecilia looks to Jean, confused. Hushed, she replies, “Of course.” Cecilia takes off her lab coat and places it on the rack beside a computer and exits through the elevator.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Her bottom lip begins to tremble, and tears begin to formulate at the edges of her green eyes. She collapses into his arms and the tears leave her eyes, flowing onto her smooth complexion like rivers. Scott goes down onto his knees as his wife continues to collapse. He squeezes her in his arms and kisses the side of her head. “Jean, if this is about Sinister… I don’t care that you killed him.” He grabs Jean by the arm and holds her in front of him so that she can see his eyes. “I love you, and I don’t care. I just don’t care. I love you!” He looks at his wife’s damaged composure and can’t help but shed a tear. “Remember, through the good and the bad? You can always find a home in me. Always.”

“Scott,” Jean silently pleads.

“Don’t be upset about it. He had it coming. You did it for us,” He lets out a hopeful smile, “You did it for our children!”

“Scott!” Jean screams between cries. She sits up straight and removes herself from Scott’s arms. She stands slowly and waveringly, taking a few steps away from her husband. She clutches her arms.

Scott looks at his wife and grows more and more worried. He stands and wipes his damp face with his hand. “Jean” he pauses and begins to reach for her shoulder with his hand but decides against it. “Jean, baby, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“I have,” she begins, “bad news.”

The X-Men wait in the living room for the news on Charles Xavier’s fate. They’ve been sitting there in silence for well over an hour. The anticipation has drowned out any semblance of speech. They stand readily to accept what may be bad news: the death of Charles Xavier. The moment plagues the mind of every X-Man in the room. While they look forward to a good report, they understand that life isn’t always too fair.

The attentions of the X-Men turn toward the door as the knob begins its revolution. What steps out of that door, they have no idea. But they all anticipate with the highest of hopes. The door finally opens to reveal the stature of a blue man, whom the X-Men have grown to call Beast. Hank McCoy holds in his hands a file that has Xavier’s name on it, a file that undoubtedly will reveal the question that everyone has been waiting for. Will Xavier die, or will he live?

Beast looks around the room, at first grimly. But the dark exterior soon shines brighter with his smile. He announces, “I have good news.”

The X-Men breathe in a collective sigh of relief. The anxiety they all felt but five seconds ago has left knowing that the prospects of Xavier’s health have been confirmed positive.

“So, he’s going to be okay?” Alex Summers, otherwise known as Havok, asks.

Beast nods, “It seems likely. His body is destroying the virus. However, similar to Mr. Bradley’s predicament, his body will be fighting this disease for the next few days. Because he was so far along in the virus’s state, it may take even longer. Maybe weeks.”

“But he is going to be okay?” Ororo asks.

Beast smiles and chuckles, “Yes, he’s going to be fine. I wouldn’t worry about it at all. In fact, I’m not.”

The room immediately erupts into conversations, voices filled with happiness and relief. And while Ororo Munroe is indeed happy and relieved that Charles will be fine, she cannot keep her mind of off Jean. She knows something is wrong with her friend and confidante. She looks up to Beast, who is eyeing Xavier’s reports.

Without taking his face away from the reports he inquires of Storm, “Is everything alright, Ororo? You don’t seem terribly happy.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m happy,” she pauses and folds her legs. “I don’t know. It’s Jean. Something’s wrong. I know it, I just know it.”

Hank places his reports onto the coffee table beside the couch and takes a seat next to his fellow X-Man. Adjusting his glasses he says, “Ororo… Jean just killed one of her worst enemies. She’s bound to be different after a situation like that.”

“I know,” Ororo replies, placing her head on her hand. “It just took me by surprise. She seemed so different. Just so unhappy and… void.”

“She’ll be fine,” Hank comforts. “Jean’s a big girl, and she understands what she did. She also understands the consequences of her actions. I think that spending some time with her kids and Scott will do her some good. I think its safe to say that she has been through worse.”

“I suppose,” Ororo says before standing. “I think I’m going to go make some coffee. It’s been a long night. Do you want a cup?”

“Oh, no, dear,” Hank answers, “You know what coffee does to my teeth.”

“Alright,” Ororo says with a half-hearted grin. She can’t seem to shake off the feeling that Jean isn’t telling her everything… and that everything isn’t alright.

“Scott,” Jean utters as she turns around and walks toward him. She strokes her hand through his thick brown hair. She feels each strand of brown. His hair is soft and silky, despite her trembling hand making it difficult to truly feel. Her soft hand continues to stroke his hair, as though she’s looking for something-something to give her an answer, as though an answer lays waiting between the strands of hair. Maybe it’s not an answer she’s looking for, maybe it’s an emotion, a feeling… just, anything.

You can always find a home in me. Always.

She recalls Scott’s words from earlier. And that is what she is searching for: a home. A place to leave her troubles like coats and shoes; a place to cuddle up with like the sheets in her bed; a place to feel warmth like a fireplace. She’s looking for the home that she has always found in Scott Summers, the love of her life and the father of her children. All she wants to do is cuddle up in his arms and feel comfort… feel at home and at peace.

But she can’t find it. She can’t help but feel like home is forever lost, lost with the life of her baby boy, John. She would do anything to not have to destroy Scott’s home with the news that his son is dead.

But Jean has to. It’s inevitable and it’s painful, it’s life.

Jean relieves her hand from Scott’s hair, and looks to the ground. “Scott,” she says once again.

“Jean, you can tell me anything,” He pauses and puts his hand on her forearm, “I love you.”

She can’t bring herself to looking into her husband’s eyes as she tells him that his son is dead. “Scott,” she cries, “John…”

Scott’s heart jumps at the mention of his son. “What… what, what about John?” She says nothing. “Jean, what’s wrong with our son?” His hand leaves Jean’s body and he grows frantic. “Jean… did Sinister hurt our baby? Oh God, did that bastard touch our son?”

“No, Scott, please,” Jean begs. “John, he… oh, Scott… John, he—”

“Jean, what did he do to our son?” Scott asks vehemently.

Jean looks up and finally stares into her husband’s naked eyes. “John’s dead.”

Scott looks at his wife in disbelief. He puts his hand on his forehead and lets out a yelp. “What?” Scott shakes his head, “Jean, no… Jean, is he really gone?” Jean nods. “No, no… he can’t be gone. He can’t. It just…”

“Scott, there’s more,” Jean says quivering. She holds back tears in an effort to be strong for her husband. “Sinister didn’t kill our son.”

Scott rushes to his wife, “Who… who did this? Who killed my baby?”

“John’s been dead for months, Scott. It wasn’t-”

“Just answer the question, Jean!” Jean looks at her husband and begins to cry. Scott looks at himself in the proverbial mirror and hugs her, “Oh god, Jean… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m so sorry. I just want to understand.” He begins to cry. Jean can feel the tears hit her shoulder and soak her blouse. “He’s really gone?”

“Yes,” Jean replies still within the embrace of her husband.

Scott lets go Jean and turns around and collapses onto a table. He rest his elbows on the cool, steel table and rubs his hands through his hair. His body trembles as he cries.

Jean approaches her wounded husband and places a hand on his back. She continues to cry, “Honey, Xavier, he-”

“What did Xavier do? Did he kill our baby?” Scott violently questions.

“No,” Jean begins, “He did something else.” Scott turns around to look at his wife. Jean looks into his unshielded eyes and sees all the pain of the world. The man has lived his life protecting his family, trying to make the world a better place for those he loves. The people in Scott’s life have changed, but he hasn’t. She knows what he’ll do when she tells him. “Omega Red… the infection… it… it was too much for John. He was strong, but he wasn’t strong enough.”

“But I held him in my arms… he was alive, Jean! He was alive!” Scott screams.

“Xavier made a psionic version of John to… ease the pain.”

Scott begins to feel sick and rushes to the sink, where he throws up. Jean hears the sounds of her husband and covers her mouth with her hand to prevent from screaming. She wants to scream and punch things, but she wants nothing more but for Scott to be whole again. She wants to be whole again.

Scott lifts himself from the sink and looks into the mirror above it. He wipes his mouth. His eyes are bloodshot, and his face has grown from the bottomless pit of sadness into a raging anger. He stands up straight and stomps off toward the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Jean shouts to Scott.

“I’m going to kill Xavier.”

His name is X-Treme, or Adam Summers. He is the half brother of Scott and Alex Summers. He is the product of Anne Summers’ rape by the alien D’Ken. In many ways, Adam represents the pain and suffering their mother went through. Alex Summers is trying to get along with his newly discovered brother, but finds it difficult considering the history of his life. Alex can’t help but feel slightly suspicious of the man called X-Treme and his motivations. He was after all in Sinister’s lair for god knows how long.

As a bit of an ice-breaker Alex has decided to show his brother, and the mysterious Chyna around the mansion, a place the two of them plan on staying in.

“Oh, and here,” Alex stops in a bedroom. He smiles, “This used to be my room.”

“Whose is it now?” Adam questions.

Alex looks around, “I’m not sure.” Feelings of nostalgia flood Havok’s brain and heart as he remembers all the times he spent in his bedroom. It was his solitude in a place full of mutants.

Chyna steps inside the room, and begins stroking the bed sheets. It’s soft to the touch, and it smells like downy detergent. She takes a deep breath in. She hasn’t slept on a comfortable bed in weeks, and the discovery of such comfort provokes her to lie down. “Just as comfortable as it looks,” she says, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to smell the clean sheets.

She quickly stands, and walks out of the bedroom.

“I guess that means we’re continuing the tour elsewhere,” Havok says surprised by Chyna. “Come on, Adam. I’ll bring you guys to the danger room. You’ll love it there.”

“Danger room? What’s a danger room?” Adam inquires.

Alex laughs, “You’ll see.” Alex puts his arm around Adam and ushers him out of the room, following Chyna.

Alison Blaire stares at the stars in amazement. How there can be so much, she doesn’t understand. There was a time in her life when she wanted to be a star, but she sacrificed all of that for this life. The life of an X-Man. It’s never an easy life, but it has fulfilled her in ways she would have never thought. Because of the X-Men she met Longshot, the father of her child. Rebecca Blaire, or Becca as she is called, has given Alison a reason to live. Becca came at a time when she felt lost and confused. While Alison still holds hope that Longshot is still alive she has chosen to move on with her life.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” comes the voice of Archangel.

Dazzler smiles and looks up at Archangel, “Sure are.”

Warren sits beside Alison on the grass. “So which one’s the big dipper?”

Alison lies on her back and begins searching with her pointer finger. “That one!” she exclaims after finding the constellation.

“Really?” Warren asks as he falls to the ground on his back next to her.

“Nah, I was just seeing if you’d buy into it,” Alison admits. The two laugh, and turn to face each other. “So, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check up on you.” Alison cocks an eyebrow and smirks at him. Warren laughs at her reaction and explains, “Everyone’s in a big fuss about the professor right now, and I think that they’re forgetting that you just went through something pretty traumatic too,” Warren explains.

Dazzler relieves the smirk, “That was really sweet of you.” She turns onto her back yet again, looking at the stars. “For the record, I’m fine. But thanks.”

Warren follows suit and rolls back onto his back. “So, how’s Becca?”

“She seems fine. I mean, I doubt she understood what was going on. You know she has a baby mindset of ‘flower pretty’, ‘loud noises scary’.” Alison giggles and Warren does the same.

“Well good,” he says. Warren points up to the stars, “I found the big dipper.”

“Are you just pulling my leg?” Alison discerningly questions.

Warren shakes his head, and continues to point. “It’s right there.”

Alison sits up. “I don’t see it.”

Warren sits up as well, and places his arm behind Alison. He takes her hand in his. “Here I’ll show you.”

Alison is initially shocked by Warren’s advances but she smiles as he moves her pointer finger to the big dipper. She laughs when she sees it and sarcastically notes, “Oh, yeah, that looks like a big dipper.”

Warren smiles, “Well it looks more like a dipper than a bear. You know they call the big dipper-”

“Ursa Major,” Alison finishes Warren’s statement. “I’m not stupid,” she says after noticing Warren’s eyes widen.

“You know, if you ever need anything,” Warren begins, “I’m always here.”

Alison smiles, “Thanks.”

“Do you wan to do someth—” Warren’s question is interrupted by an explosion of some sort in the mansion.

The two lift themselves up from the grass. Alison stands first and looks toward the mansion. “What the hell was that?”

“I’m going to kill you, Xavier!” Scott screams as he blasts open the door leading into the quartering wing. He walks down the vast hallway looking for the man he has just learned is the reason for months and months of bonding with a ball of energy. The baby he grew to love was nothing more than an incredibly convincing part of his mentor’s imagination. His pain has overcome him, and not even the cries of his pleading wife, Jean, can stop him. At this very second he has nothing on his mind but finishing the job the Legacy Virus couldn’t.

Jean storms up the stairs toward Scott and reaches out to him, “No! Scott you can’t do this!” Scott is unfathomed by Jean’s attempts to stop him. Her words fail to even get his attention. She races to Scott, and places a hand on his shoulder, turning him around. “Stop this, Scott,” she orders.

Scott looks at his wife. His face is stern and stoic, unmoving and solid. “Jean this is something that I have to do. You can’t understand.” He continues down the hallway.

{How can you even say that?} Jean telepathically questions her husband without moving from her spot. {I lost my son, too. Please, just stop and think about this. Killing Xavier isn’t going to change anything. John will still be gone.}

Scott turns around and looks at Jean, his statuesque face has broken as his lips begin to quiver. “Jean, he was my mentor… my teacher… he was my fa—he was like a father to me!”

Jean stares at the figure of her husband, but still she orates nothing. {I know, but I can’t let you do this. I won’t let this destroy you.}

“I’ve already been destroyed, Jean,” he replies. He turns away from his wife and storms down the hallway. He stands at Xavier’s door, and blasts it open.

{Kitty, go.} A single tear rolls down Jean’s white cheek as she betrays her husband’s intuition.

With these words the young X-Man known as Shadowcat phases through the floor beneath Cyclops. She grabs his leg and begins to phase with him through the floor. “Sorry, Cyke,” she apologizes. Cyclops screams and attempts to blast Kitty, but it is useless as he falls to the floor beneath Charles Xavier’s room. He stands slowly to face Kitty.

Cyclops grunts, “Don’t get in my way, Kitty. You’re not going to prevent me from doing this.”

Kitty grins knowingly, “Yup. That’s the plan. I’m not.” With these words Cyclops hears the sound he has grown to believe synonymous with the name Kurt. The hallway smells of sulfur as Scott turns around to face the Nightcrawler. “We are,” Kitty rhetorts.

Kurt Wagner grabs Cyclops just as he’s about to blast Kitty, and “bamfs” out of the room. Kitty folds her arms and grins. {Kurt’s got him, Jean. I think they’re heading to the danger room.}

{Thanks Kitty, I’ll notify someone to get down there.}

BAMF!

Cyclops falls nearly 25 feet to the ground in the middle of a dark, circular room. He attempts to lift himself, but is too weak to do so. He grimaces with pain as he bites his lip and attempts to lift himself once more. The second time proves more successful as he wobbles to stand. He grabs his back and lets out a scream, before blasting his force beams wherever he can. It’s dark and he can’t see a thing. “Where the hell are you, Kurt?”

“Danger Room Sequence Activated. Prepare for battle,” a robotic voice orates. “Danger Room Sequence 512 will commence in 5 seconds.”

The lights of the danger room shine on. Cyclops squints his eyes and attempts to shield his face from the light. As his eyes adjust to the light, he realizes that the area he’s in has changed to that of a forest. Cyclops grins and realizes what sequence he’s in. As a sentinel suddenly appears from the left, Scott runs between its legs. The artificial sentinel echoes, “Mission: Destroy!”

“I find that hard to believe,” Scott quips as he escapes the sentinel. Cyclops designed this sequence.

“Do you think this is going to work?” Piotr Rasputin, better known as Colossus, questions of the blue furry man standing to his right. The two stand in the danger room observatory, watching their friend fend for his life against the sentinels they intend to slow him down with.

“I think so. I mean it should keep him busy for some time,” Nightcrawler says to his friend as the two watch their former leader run away from sentinels.

Colossus immediately has a look of pondering on his face. “The only thing I don’t understand is why he’s running away from them. He’s not fighting them. It’s as though he—”

“Knows the sequence,” Kurt says finishing him friend’s sentence.

“I’ll contact Jean,” Colossus says with a sigh.

“And I’ll go have myself a little rendezvous with Scott,” Kurt says grinning. And before Colossus can comment back, Kurt bamfs out of the room and is gone. As this occurs, Piotr witnesses Scott find the door amidst the sequence and exit the danger room.

“He’s good.”

Scott races up the stairs but he stops abruptly as he smells something… something different-sulfur. He turns around to see Nightcrawler. “My friend, Scott, you are surrounded by many X-Men. We are not going to let you pass. Please, make it easier on all of us.” Nightcrawler’s dark eyes look sympathetic, but Cyclops doesn’t care.

With a single blast Nightcrawler is sent flying across the hallway. Scott charges past his ailing friend only to be stopped by his brother who is accompanied by Dazzler and Archangel. Before anything can be said Scott, anticipating more X-Men, shoots a force beam in Archangel’s direction. He, like Nightcrawler, is struck down unconscious. Dazzler rushes to his aid.

“Scott! You can’t do this. Just listen to your wife. Listen to your head. Listen to anything but whatever the hell is telling you to kill Xavier!” Havok puts an arm on Scott, “You’re stronger than this, fight the pain.”

Scott brushes his brother’s hand off his shoulder, “I don’t want to hurt you because you’re my brother. But I will if you try and stop me again.” Scott begins to run away from Havok when he is struck down by his brother’s powerful force. Roughly, Scott falls to the ground. He grunts as he turns his head, and blasts his brother through a wall. He stands and begins his trek once again before he is blinded by lights that Dazzler has undoubtedly produced. “Ah!” Scott screams as he recklessly blasts everything around him. Eventually his force beams meet the body of Alison Blaire. Dazzler falls to the ground and the lights stop. Scott stumbles through the hallway but eventually reaches his destination. The door is already gone, and Scott runs through the frame to do what he came to do.

“Xavier!”

He looks around the vast room. It’s empty of any person. The bed is perfectly made, the room is neat, and everything is spotless. Scott glances around the room for any ideas as to where Xavier is. His lip trembles as he comes to the realization.

Xavier’s gone.

He rushes to his bed, and unmakes it, he tips it over: Xavier’s not there. He rushes to the closet: Xavier’s not there. He tips over every piece of furniture in the room, and still comes to the same conclusion.

Xavier’s gone.

Jean stands in the doorway, clutching her mouth and crying as she watches her husband fall to his knees. Beast stands behind her, accompanied by Kitty, Colossus, Storm and Moonstar.

“Jean what’s going on?” Beast inquires. “Why does he want Xavier dead?” Jean walks into the room, ignoring Hank’s questions. “Jean?”

Jean stands behind her crying husband and sits beside him. He falls into her chest, crying. She looks down at her husband as though she is looking through new eyes. She must be strong, for him. Fighting back tears Jean comforts her husband, “Shhh… its okay, baby. It’s okay.” She gulps, “Everything is going to be alright.”

Scott lifts his head to see Jean. He cries, but between cries he makes out the words, “I just want to go home.”

Jean smiles and wipes her tears away, “You’re already there.”

NEXT: The aftermath of “Absolution”!