Chapter 106: Fantastic Telepaths

"So what exactly is it you need Telepaths for? You've been rather cryptic since we left Krakoa." Professor X said as he sat in his wheelchair on the Wakandan boat.

"Perhaps he's been cryptic for a reason." Emma Frost smirked as she stood beside Cyclops— who silently held Professor X's wheelchair in place atop the boat.

"Don't." Bronte looked firm at her.

She waved him off, "Please. I know you don't trust me even without looking into your mind. My question is, why?"

"I think that's obvious, Frost." Cyclops replied.

"Quiet. Everyone has their reasons. Same way you can think of me the way you do and still not trust me as far as you can throw me."

"OOP—" Spider-Man turned away from everyone and began looking at the seas.

Cyclops was unfazed in spite of the exposure. What a stalwart soldier for Mutant-Kind he was.

"So…. Why?" Emma eyed Bronte.

They all hesitated as a wave ahead rose the ship up a few feet before slowly rocking them back level. The setting Sun made the waters feel a little less forgiving as they crashed and sunk.

Brontë shifted as he stood with his back to the flag post sticking out of the surface.

"You were the only one that didn't want anything to do with Krakoa. Like at all. You serve yourself before anyone else. I don't need that around me right now, to be honest."

"You don't know what you need. You're young. You got scooped up by the good guys the moment you knew you were a Mutant. You never had to survive alone."

Brontë raised his head to her, "Oh word?"

Emma raised an eyebrow like she was testing him.

"Then why are you here?" Bronte questioned.

Cyclops couldn't hide his grin.

Spider-Man and Gentle awkwardly looked from each-other to Bronte and the others.

"You're strong. Our kind can say they've been fighting for equality since the beginning but it's always been a rat race towards absolute dominance when it matters. Sebastian Shaw led it once…. Then it was Magneto after he killed him. That was a very different Magneto. I watch trends, I think you're next. Actually…. I think it's between you two." Emma looked from Cyclops to Bronte. "Men and their need to be Kings….."

"Aye— don't they literally call you the White Queen?" Bronte made a confused expression behind his StormWolf mask.

Emma nodded, causing her well kept platinum blonde hair to shift on her shoulder, "The why is important. As well as who named me…. Guess."

"…..Fair enough. You got it." Bronte relented. Too busy considering other things. "I have enough enemies. Just stay out of the way if you don't want to help."

"Or what?" Emma's nails turned Diamond.

"Or I'm getting through that Diamond skin before you can fix your tube top." Bronte said as he tied up his dreads.

Emma blushed on command— if that was even possible, and smiled, "You promise?"

What a time to remember her dress was very nearly see through.

"Have you had your fun, Ms Frost?" Professor X yawned.

"Maybe."

"Then if you don't mind, I'd like to get us back on the tracks towards safety for Mutant Kind."

"In the form of eliminating Daken." Cyclops clarified. "What's the deal, StormWolf?"

"Y'all remember the Red Nation Incident…. And how we now have a bunch of regular people in ICU's suffering from Vampirism. Daken's still connected to them through some kind of Vampiric link. I can speak to predatory species. One of the people changed into a Vampire is a friend of a friend. Tigra. I can speak to her. She sees things when she's not in a coma…. Daken speaks to her…. Takes her places."

"Places you're hoping we can help visualize…" Professor X concluded.

Brontë nodded.

Cyclops did as well, "Not bad. That could work."

For some reason that made Bronte want to punch him.

Professor X and Emma smiled briefly.

***

They spent the rest of the boat ride to Kenya's docs in silence.

From there they met they met the X-Men in their Quinjet lookalike and flew to New York.

If MoonKnights jet ever felt packed, the X Men's was downright overfilled.

And dark as midnight.

Cyclops drove with Jean at the front, manning controls that probably required their own degree to understand. Nightcrawler sat behind them praying with a necklace in his hands and Storm hugging him tightly.

The rest filled in at the back.

"Kurt is a religious man. Much like DareDevil." Beast said from beside Bronte.

"He needs to berate himself and beg for forgiveness because killing an abusive and tyrannical father of demons is wrong." Emma further explained.

"Can't be easy. It wasn't for me." Bronte thought aloud.

"Romulus wasn't your father." Emma replied.

"That's my point."

Emma looked up from her phone once and shrugged before going back to texting. Or scrolling social media. Whatever she was doing to feign uncaring.

Beast shook his head as he looked away from her, "Can you believe she used to be worse?"

"Oh for sure." Bronte replied in a matching whisper.

Beast dug in his pocket suddenly and pulled out a bag with a seed in it. The Gateway Flower seed, "I wonder what she'll do with hers."

"Sell it." Bronte thought aloud.

Beast leaned forward in his seat to look at her as if seeing her play on her phone a while longer would help him guess. He leaned back in his seat and shook his head, "That wouldn't bode well for any of us. And if anyone cares for their fellow Mutant, it's her. That's why she likes Cyclops so much…. And you, I'd guess."

That didn't sound like her at all in Bronte's mind.

Beast laughed as if his expression spoke to his thoughts.

"You'll see past her flashy exterior one day…. For a moment, then it'll be back to normal. And you'll know all that… is just that. An exterior."

Brontë thought on that a while.

"Speaking of exteriors, who's your new friend from the stars?" Beast poked Bronte's arm.

"Mend."

"…..in opposition to Raze, I presume?"

"Thanks to Raze." Bronte corrected.

Beast nodded, "Of course. You know, I have samples of Dr Connors Lizard Serum thanks to Spider-Man..."

Brontë could've caught whiplash from the sudden steer on conversational direction, "Where the hell did that come from, man?!"

Beast adjusted his glasses, "Well— I'm of the particular belief that a scientists work shouldn't be written off just because they lost their way or came from a place of evil. At base level, Dr Connors just wanted his arm back. He wanted people to be physically whole— strong. As they were intended."

"Uhhuh…." Bronte nodded along as the jet soared above the clouds.

"I've reverse engineered the serum in small doses years ago. Been selling samples to private hospitals since…. Under a fake company ip of course. It does wonders for burn victims. I could amp up the variant and work to regrow your arm. Entirely most likely." Beast explained, "What do you think?"

"WE THINK YES! GIVE US THE ARM! WE NEED BOTH ARMS!!" A mouth full of serrated teeth opened in Bronte's shoulder and yelled.

Bronte placed his hand over it, "Shhhhh man, damn!"

Mend stuck a bladed tongue through Bronte's fingers and formed a thumbs up once before returning to form.

Hank smiled as he eyed Bronte.

"I'm good on that."

Mend cringed, "Unc, this is madness."

"I can't risk being the next Lizard. Not with my powers. Id fuck the city up in the worst way. That would be like if Hulk came back."

Hank brushed his sideburns in thought, "I suppose. Even so, I'll work on it. I love a good side project. And if you change your mind, come see me."

"Heard you." Bronte and Beast shook up and sat through the rest of the ride in silence.

All the while, Bronte kept thinking back to Emma and Nightcrawler. More specifically her comments on how he needed to berate himself out of guilt for sinning.

He wondered if he was doing something similar with his arm…..

***

They reached New York in good time. It was barely night. Brontë had been texting on and off with the Midnight Suns. They were awaiting Bronte and the X-Men's arrival, casually standing on the rooftop as Cyclops landed them atop the Baxter Building.

As soon as the doors opened, everyone spilled out.

"Hey." Ilyana said as she approached Bronte. She changed out of her … work uniform, and opted for a pair of black skinny jeans and a grey hoodie. She smelled like clean laundry and vanilla perfume.

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm good. Ready to get some answers."

"Word. Let's get to it. Hold up, though."

Brontë stood in front of the door, catching everyone's eyes.

"What is it?" Storm questioned.

"If Daken already attempted take Professor X out, he'll know he failed— if he doesn't already. And if that's the case his next option is to attack the Vampires. To cut off the possible leads, you feel me? So we need to play defense."

"Nightcrawler, Beast." Cyclops said their names and they were off, finding their own rooftops to watch the building from.

"I got connects watching the other hospitals already." Blade replied.

"Ok. The rest of you join up. I only need the Professor." Bronte said.

"And me." Emma added.

"If she's coming so am I." Cyclops added.

"Of course you are. Don't forget you're married…" Emma teased.

Jean flipped her off and flew off to join the others.

In seconds Bronte stood alone on the rooftop with Professor X, Emma Frost and Cyclops.

"Ready when you are." Professor X commented.

Brontë looked at Emma and Cyclops once, sighing as he stepped aside and opened the door. Emma and Cyclops headed inside.

Brontë lifted Professor X up in his wheelchair and followed them down.

In the silence of the dark stairway a phone buzzed.

Emma dug through her purse at the front and pulled her phone out. "What is it? Are you three ok? Where are you?"

"We're fine, mum." Bronte recognized the Stepford Sisters voices. He didn't know Emma was their mom.

"Now answer my other questions." Emma pressed on.

"We're also safe. And at home…. With the rest of the Hellions. Everyone's fine. We just wanted to know when you're coming home. It's movie night…"

Emma looked back at everyone as she slowly stepped down the stairs.

They all looked away— as if the dust on the walls was far more interesting.

"I'll be home as soon as I can. Now…. Make yourselves useful and design a new dress for me." Emma hung up quickly and exhaled.

They reached the bottom of the stairs.

"You're their mom now?" Cyclops questioned.

Emma shrugged, "Someone had to step up."

As she opened the door and they stepped into the Baxter Building, Bronte started to understand what Beast meant on the jet.

"Thank you, young man." Professor X said as Brontë set him down and rolled him out onto the main floor.

Reed Richards and Sue Storm waited for them in their typical lab coat and blue spandex get up.

"SPIDEY?!" Johnny Storm yelled somewhere from downstairs.

"TORCH!" Spider-Man replied.

Reed rolled his eyes, "Professor, Ms Frost, Cyclops, it's great to see you."

"Likewise, old friends. It seems we have work to do." Professor X said to them both.

"We do." Reed replied. "She's right this way."

They led the group to Tigra's room. She lay in a bed covered in restraints and holy water soaked bindings. Burns and bruises lined her limbs, visible through the bald spots in her fur.

"She's had a few wild moments since you were last here." Sue explained, "Whoever's in her head is trying to make her do things. See things, she doesn't want to. She's got heart. She fights every time."

"I hear it." Bronte replied.

"So what's the plan? I've derived a neuro-stimulant from a few rare plant breeds in South America to wake her voluntarily."

"From there I can do what I can in her mind." Professor X explained.

"I'm back-up." Emma added as their eyes eventually fell onto her.

Reed was on the move immediately, digging a syringe out of his pocket full of glowing green liquid—

"Wait!" Bronte said.

"What now?" Emma questioned.

"Daken's connected to her mind. If we wake her up he'll know…. He could do something to you and her."

"So what do you suppose we do instead?"

"Wait till she wakes up again."

Reed sighed and looked at Bronte like he was attempting to talk down a child. "You do understand that when she's awake she's having psychotic episodes, right? She's being mentally tortured and experiencing delirium of varying levels…. All of which being unfortunately real… most likely."

"And you want old wheels here to enter that?" Emma questioned.

Brontë straightened, "Yea, I do. I didn't say this was a walk in the park. We're at war….. last time I checked it gets ugly before it gets done. Same way we got to it on Krakoa I need him to do that here. If we find Daken, we save the world. Or do y'all have better things to do?"

Professor X smiled and shook his head, "Oh no. I was just looking into the disappearances of a handful of A.I.M, S.H.I.E.L.D, S.W.O.R.D and HAMMER operatives. But it's relatively old news. They're not going anywhere they haven't gone. Let's tackle the now….."

"….By waiting till later." Cyclops added.

Emma sat down beside Tigra and looked at Bronte, patting the seat next to her.

"You guys aren't my usual drinking buddies, but oh well. When in rome, right?"