57 CHAPTER 57 - REALIZING HIS FLAWS

While Vision happily educated the Maximoff twins on the need and importance for subterfuge and psychological warfare when dealing with certain people, the atmosphere in Charles Xavier's office was on the other end of the spectrum.

"So let me get this straight: Basically, you lost your telepathy in its entirety for over thirty minutes before it gradually came back?" Logan asked in narration before turning to Charles. "Is that normal?"

Charles had a pensive frown on his face as he wheeled his chair towards Jean who looked just as confused as Logan was. "No, at least to my knowledge. Jean dear, please try and remember how you felt when it happened. You said you didn't lose your powers right?" She nodded.

"It felt more like they were there but far away at the same time. It was as if all my telepathic abilities were pushed back, out of my reach." Jean said, trying to explain exactly what had happened from her point of view.

"What are the odds, Charles?" Hank asked.

Charles turned around to face the other people in the room. "It could be either one of a very few things. Either she actually lost control of her abilities, which is highly unlikely since I'm seeing nothing wrong with her on the mental side."

"Or what?" Ororo asked, concern clearly visible on her face.

"Something likely happened in the school. Either something or someone suppressed her telepathy."

"Is something like that even possible?" Lance asked.

"Yes. It's not easy but it usually only happens when the victim has a vastly lower level of psychic mastery."

"In other words, it shouldn't have worked on Jean."

"Yes, Scott. At least she would have felt the attack coming." The situation was confusing the hell out of Charles but he didn't know what else to make of it. He's already checked her mental barriers and even the event that happened so he could say with certainty that whatever it was didn't originate from Jean but from someone else in the school.

"Did you see anyone new or suspicious around the school today?" Charles asked but all of them shook their heads.

Unfortunately for them, Rogue wasn't here as the gothic girl was busy in her room listening to soft songs as she focused on her assignments.

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"So am I supposed to be not curious after you went to 'take care of it'?" Natasha walked into Vision's room where the person in question was just staring into space with little dilations in his eyes. 'Probably something internal.'

"Well the target this time is the Hellfire Club and as much as I'd like to just storm in there and put those bastards behind bars, we unfortunately can't." Vision said.

Natasha leaned against the door and squinted her eyes trying to get a read on him but in the end she just sighed and gave up. "Mind telling me why?" She said as she grabbed a chair and sat in front of Vision.

"Firstly, it isn't just a club for the rich and snobbish. Believe it or not, they are strongly tied to the world government and hardly anything ever happens without them knowing or directly or indirectly having a hand in it. It's a coalition of influence."

Hearing all this made Natasha groan as she massaged her head. "Don't you think you're moving too fast, Vision?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, it's awesome that you know all this but you don't have to spearhead it all, you know?"

"I'm really not, though."

She only gave him a look that said 'really?' which made Vision wonder if he really was doing what she said.

"Well, I guess I can't actually understand since I don't have an 'Infinity Stone, or whatever it is, stuck in my head but the least you can do is let us help out." She didn't know why nobody ever bothered to tell Vision to slow down but she knew one day, despite his intelligence, with the speed he was going, it won't be long before he made a fatal error.

"I know you're strong to handle any situation you come across but do exercise restraint. Ross, Davis, Laura, Scott, the Goblin, even now with this case, you're trying to solve it all yourself. You didn't even bother when I dumped it all on you."

Irrespective of the lesser amount of time she's known some of the newest additions to the team, Natasha cared for all of them. They gave her something she will forever cherish and she wasn't about to let one of her teammates shoulder everything just because he could. It was what got them into this mess in the first place.

Vision on the other hand looked at Natasha stunned as he was speechless to even give a rebuttal.

"You told Tony that we'd do it together but that's not what you're doing is it? Just because you're strong enough to do it with ease doesn't mean you always should, not when there are people willing to help."

"That's…." Vision tried to speak but nothing escaped his mouth as the only thing that was surprisingly left in his head was confusion.

"You know, for such a smart guy you're awfully quiet. Suddenly lost your voice?" She said with a teasing smirk.

"I-I guess you're right." Vision finally said. "In my lame defense, I did it subconsciously because-"

"Because you probably thought we wouldn't be able to do it as 'efficiently' as you right?" With the way Vision visibly flinched, Natasha was sure that she hit the nail directly on the head. "Yeah, I've noticed how you love throwing that word around and while I can perfectly understand the need for efficiency in any mission, sometimes you just have to go in guns blazing. Not everything deserves to be cleanly executed."

Vision remained silent as he listened to each of Natasha's words. He knew he was in the wrong and whether it was due to him subconsciously seeing them as comic characters, hence knew their flaws and strengths, or whether it was his logical reasoning which probably judged them as… less that competently required, it was still a fault of his and he was going to start rectifying it from now.

"You're terrifying, Natasha. Anyone ever told you that?" He said with a small smile which she reciprocated and shrugged her shoulders coyly. "If you think I'm that good, then you've probably never heard it from Clint. I have a feeling you two would have hit it off if he was still active."

"I see." He nodded and ran a hand through his hair. "Thank you, Natasha. For looking out for me and making sure I heard that because I really needed to."

She just laughed and waved it off. "Think nothing of it. We older ones have to look out for the younger ones, don't we?"

Vision groaned as there was no way he could rebut that as she was technically older than him. Heck, everybody was.

The both of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"So let's hear it: what ridiculousness did you do now that concerns the Hellfire Club?" Natasha asked after getting her composure back.

After hearing all she had to say, Vision no longer thought of hiding what he was doing and just came clean with Natasha. "You know Mystique?"

"I've heard of her. A shape-shifting mutant who is also a trusted subordinate of Magneto. What of her?"

"I gave her a way to get a sitting inside the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club…"

"…"

'Now that I'm saying it out loud for someone knowledgeable to hear, it does sound extremely stupid.'

"Vision, tell me you did not just give one of the most wanted people on the planet access to greater influence and increased their social standing?" If it wasn't for her training and experience with weird things happening in today's world, she would have likely thrown a fit after hearing that.

Unlike what Natasha was feeling, this time Vision appeared really calm. "Don't worry about that. She's already under surveillance and she just spoke to Emma Frost, CEO of Frost Pharmaceuticals, who is also the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, a few minutes after I left her office."

"Wait hold on for a moment, did you go to her office? Like you know who and where she is?"

"Yeah, she's a principal at Bayville High School. And on the off chance that she does contact Magneto, I'll then be able to track Magneto and know where he's hiding. It's a bet I have very little chance of losing."

Seeing Vision's confidence and also the competent nature he was known for, Natasha was tempted to believe him based on those alone but in the end her spy instincts won out.

"Fill me in, and don't miss out a single detail." She said as she adjusted her position to become more comfortable while Vision just rolled his eyes as she looked exactly like a normal girl ready for prime gossip material.

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