She couldn’t help but grin and sigh in relief… all at the same time.

“Well done, Kat.”

Jean let Hank tend to the professor.  Only when he was satisfied did she intend to wake Charles.

the next day…Hank reviews the X-rays.

”He’s stable…but his spine is completely severed. I fear he may never walk again.”

He begins removing the IVs keeping him unconscious. He nods to Jean.

”Give me a sign of some sort if you need me to put him under again.”

Jean hadn't realised that she would be spending the night over, but she called Heaven to let the staff know of her absence.  She slept fitfully, worried for the Professor but also kept up by the guilt of not having been here to protect him.

---

In the morning, after a quick breakfast and a big cup of coffee, Jean went to see Hank and hear the prognosis.  Jean also greeted Kat, if she was still around.  She frowned when told of the damage to the Professor's spine.  Newly disabled people tended not to take such a news well.

"I'll waggle my little finger, if I need your assistance Hank.  I doubt Charles would want to hurt anybody else, but I'd move along any nearby students just to be safe.  If he broadcasts any anguish, it could be frightening.  Could you fetch some of his favorite tea?"

Sitting down on the Professor's bed, Jean took one of his hands in hers... and closed her eyes in concentration.  She had seen the mindscape of Charles many times, but would it be altered or different?

[Telepathy]  Professor... its Jean.  Can we talk?

Jean doesn’t hear a direct response, but he does Charles’ voice, conversing with someone…and a car engine?

Cleary, she had to go deeper.  But Jean didn’t want to barge in and cause unease… quite the opposite.  She wanted to be welcomed in.

“Hello?  Special delivery!”

Jean ‘wandered’ towards the car sound, while keeping half an eye on passing memories.  Charles had taught her not to get off track when sifting through a mind… but also to be perceptive to those thoughts that could help achieve her goal.  Sometimes things were not as linear as one might think.

As Jean steps through the mist and approach an older car (with rim wheels, probably from the 1920’s) she suddenly finds herself in the back seat (typical mindscape happening).

It’s a bumpy ride, wherever they’re driving to doesn’t have paved roads.

Xavier is in the drivers seat. He looks to be half his current physical age, only a few years older than Jean herself. A man with silver hair is bantering with him while he loads clips into a pair of .45 pistols. Jean also notices she’s sitting next to a guitar case.

”So you’re going to call yourself Magneto, Erik? I suppose it’s appropriate. And what’s with that helmet?”

”The last time you were wounded everyone felt it, including me. I need to block those telepathic waves of yours.”

”Fair enough. I finally picked a name myself. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Cerebro knows!”

Erik burst out laughing. ”Like these goons even know what a cerebrum is! They’ll mishear it and call you the Cereal or something. How about the Shadow? The Shadow Knows…nice ring to it, Ja?”

”Hmm. I suppose you’re right…”

Taking the vessel with the bullet, she didn’t have any clue what was happening mentally but did know how to start an analysis. ”This seems the type of place that would have a lab, I wouldn’t mind starting on the tests on the bullet. Find out at least what the caliber is and hopefully more information if possible.” A lot depended on the condition, thankfully this didn’t have any extra marks from metal scraping against it for removal. It might narrow the gun type and hopefullly it’s something exotic or rare.

The bullet came from a Mosin. You also find a trace of blood on it that isn’t Xavier’s.

If the tools are available Kat will continue to test for blood type and sex if there’s enough blood.

The first thing Kat notices under a microscope is there are cancer cells. Those cells, along with the red blood cells, are still alive, which should be impossible.

This was definitely weird. Kat called for Hank, ”Um…I think I need some more assistance while Jean’s doing whatever she is doing. This blood seems strange. No, not seems, is odd. Cancerous and still alive. We might be able to grow it on a protein substrate to do more testing with a larger sample. But cells and people are usually dead when I’ve been dealing with them so this is out of my bailiwick.” She almost forgot to add, ”it also appears the gun was a Mosin. Russian rifle shouldn’t be terribly common in the area except among immigrants. But this strange occurrence was taking up most of her attention. Was this someone like her? Like them? It seemed that she wasn’t alone after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Thu 07 Sept 2023.

Hank leans in and peers through the microscope.

”Amazing. They’re regenerating. Even faster than…”

He steps over to the intercom system.

”Logan to Biology Lab A, please! Logan to Biology Lab A!”

For now, Jean listened to the conversation.  It seemed Charles was reliving some of his past... perhaps retreating to happier memories given the drugs and his injuries.  She knew some of the basics of Magneto, perhaps more given her telepathy lessons with Charles.

"What about Professor X?  I'm sorry to interrupt gentleman... I was hoping that Charles might return to the mansion.  There's some important matters awaiting him there."

For this mindscape, Jean wore a school uniform and adopted a younger eighteen year old self.

Kat had clearly gotten involved with a number of people with powers. At least that’s what it sounded like. ”So, I’m guessing that you know someone who regenerates? It seems as though that combined with the cancer would be extremely painful, likely constantly as a body would be constantly at war with itself.” The thought alone made her shiver. She felt she was getting into something that was going to be good for her or make her dead.

Hank nodded as a short grizzled man entered the room. He smelled of booze and cigars.

”What do ya want, Bub? I was just sittin’ down to listen to the game.”

Erik squinted at Jean in the rear view mirror.

”Who is that, Charles?”

”We rescued her from the other base where we found the map to this laboratory.”

”Excellent. There’s going to be some gunfire, young lady. I suggest you stay low.”

Kat looked between the two men and wondered why he’d been called in. It certainly didn’t seem he was interested in the science. Although, she knew that appearances could be wrong she also know they rarely were. ”I’m guessing you have some ability to regenerate? We have a sample of blood that’s doing something maybe similar.” She remembered the few times of drinks and cigars trying to fit in at the college. It usually didn’t work, she was still kept out of many circles as a woman. But, things seemed as though they might be a little different here. Not in the United States, but specifically here

“Since when have bullets worried the Master of Magnetism?  But thanks for the warning, I’ll be careful.”

Jean wasn’t sure that she wanted to spend hours playing pretend in the professor’s mind.  She’d try one more attempt to bring him back to reality…

[Telepathy to Charle]. Professor, you are having a dream.  It’s safe to wake up.  Follow my voice as I count down from ten.

Adjusting his pillow, Jean patted the Professor’s hand…

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. 

Logan grunted in the affirmative to Kat. Logan peered at the microscope like he'd never seen one before. He pulled out the slide and sniffed it like a dog, then tossed it on the table as he coughed.

"BLECH! I know that stench anywhere! It's WADE! WADE FUCKIN' WILSON!"

”No! not yet! I…

The images swirl and fade as Charles Xavier blinks and opens his eyes. He recognizes Jean immediately.

”Jean…? I…I can’t feel my legs…”

“Welcome back, Professor.”

Jean gave him an encouraging hug and then helped him sit up in bed, adjusting pillows.  She also reached out to Hank with her mind…

[Telepathy to Hank]. The professor is awake, can you come and see him?

“You’ve been badly hurt, Charles… we had to remove a bullet from you.   It may take time to regain your strength.  If you feel up to it, perhaps you’d like to meet the young woman who removed the bullet… she saved your life.”

She tried to manage expectations and not cause undue stress.

Kat was uncertain who this person was…well really who either of these people were but the one in front of her seemed to have regenerative abilities and so did this Wade. ”Sorry to be clueless, but who is Wade Wilson and why might he have been the one to try to kill Xavier?”

Logan huffs.

”I can answer both questions with three words: he’s a merc.”

Xavier nodded weakly.

”A young woman? How curious. Yes, I’d be happy to meet her.”

“I’ll fetch her, here is a bell… ring it and we’ll rush right back.  I won’t be more than a few minutes.”

Preparing some tea for Charles, Jean then rushed downstairs to see if she could find Kat.  Pretty soon she arrived at Biology Lab A.

“Kat… the Professor is awake and would like to see you.”

Noting that Logan was also present, Jean gave him an awkward nod.  There was some past history there and he was part of the reason she’d been limiting her school visits…