Cambrian
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The XXX-Gene Ch. 59 (Marvel)
🕑 Added 2024-12-01 16:24:40 +0000 UTCA/N: Sage's powers are kind of bullshit lmao.
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FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. It was an excellent descriptor for the situation that ‘Tessa’ found herself in right now. To say this wasn’t how she thought tonight would go would be… an understatement. Things had gone so awry that it was taking everything she had to process what was happening. And considering one of her mutation’s side effects was a mind like a supercomputer, a photographic memory, and superhuman multitasking, that was saying something.
Shaw was dead. Sebastian Shaw, the entire reason she was here in the Hellfire Club in the first place, was dead. It felt surreal to think that even now. It felt like the world had stopped making sense, the ground pulled up out from under her feet. Of course, while he WAS dead… it wasn’t entirely accurate to say he was gone, now was it?
She tries not to look too much at the man who caused all of this. Chad Thaddeus Thundercock Cummings. Admittedly, before tonight ‘Tessa’ hadn’t thought the young man was anything but what he appeared. Tall, large, and freakishly strong. That was all he was supposed to be. Along with getting stronger through sex, of course.
Of course, she knew better now. He didn’t just get stronger through sex. He got more powerful. One of her abilities allowed her to see him for what he truly was, now that she’d had enough time in close enough proximity to him. Not soon enough to warn Shaw, unfortunately. But she now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt just how dangerous Frost’s new White Knight truly was. He had at least a dozen different abilities in him, and his potential was… more than she’d ever seen in anyone else. He could become anything. He’d already become something beyond her reckoning.
And that was to say nothing of what he’d apparently done to Emma Frost. Because… the White Queen had NOT been this powerful before. They had always been rather equal in their telepathic abilities, though ‘Tessa’ believed herself to be just a bit more equal if she was being honest. She’d been trained by Charles Xavier himself, after all. Emma Frost was powerful, but she was self-taught and it showed.
… It didn’t matter anymore though. The White Queen’s psychic abilities had ballooned since the last time they’d crossed paths and she’d been taken completely off guard when Frost had decided to take control of the situation. It was one thing for Frost to be able to still the minds of everyone else in the ballroom at the same time. ‘Tessa’ might not have been able to do so, but someone like Xavier could have, definitely.
However, it was another thing entirely for Frost to be able to still the minds of everyone else in the ballroom AS WELL as ‘Tessa’, just like that. The White Queen had blown through her psionic ‘firewall’, an invention of her own making, like it wasn’t even there. One of the main reasons that Shaw kept her around, as she had the perfect defense against fellow psychics, and Emma Frost had ignored it entirely and taken control of her mind regardless.
To say ‘Tessa’ was terrified would be an understatement. But she had one saving grace amidst this chaos. There was just one thing that might get her out of this shitshow with her mind intact. Her true allegiances.
… Truth be told, she’d been ‘Tessa’ for so long now that sometimes it was hard to remember being someone else. But before she was Tessa… she was Sage. Her early life didn’t bear thinking about, truthfully. Her original name was lost to time and deserved to remain that way. The little girl she’d once been was too weak to survive everything she’d survived.
By the time she’d become Sage, she was stronger. Strong enough to survive the wars she constantly found herself trapped in. Strong enough to hear Charles Xavier when he called out to her mind from that cave. One thing had led to another and she’d gotten Xavier out of the sticky situation he’d found himself in.
Funny… that was right around the time that the paraplegic telepath had begun forming his first iteration of his precious ‘X-Men’. And yet, even though she saved his life, Sage hadn’t received an invitation to the team. Instead… he’d seen another use for her. He’d kept her a secret and trained her to become his own personal spy.
At the time, Sage hadn’t really thought too much about all of that. It was only all these years later, all this time spent as ‘Tessa’, that she could look back and feel resentment over the manipulation. Back at the start, she’d felt gratitude towards Xavier. Even though it had been she who rescued him, it was his resources that got them out of the war-torn country they’d been in, and back to more peaceful parts of the world.
For that, Sage had been willing to follow his lead. He was her mentor, after all. And if he saw greater use in her remaining in the shadows rather than standing out in the light with his precious X-Men, then surely his vision for her was the right one… right?
Sage wasn’t so sure anymore. Especially after the events of tonight. After years of training, Xavier had sent her to infiltrate the Hellfire Club. And when Sebastian Shaw had proven himself to be a singularly dangerous and ambitious member of said club, her mission had become ingratiating herself to him, attaching herself to his rising star as his trusted secretary and advisor.
But what did any of it matter anymore? All that time… wasted in an instant as Shaw bit off more than he could chew and got eaten for his troubles. Sage knows what Xavier would say if he was here, or if she had the chance to break away and get in contact with him. The mission wasn’t over. Shaw was just one piece of the greater whole. The Hellfire Club was still a threat.
… Except Xavier wasn’t here. And if she didn’t give them all something, Sage wasn’t sure she would have ever gotten the chance to break away and get in touch with her mentor. More than all of that though, in the end she just didn’t want to do this anymore. She didn’t see much of a point.
All of this passes through her mind in but a moment as her confession hangs in the air. Sage watches as Cummings and Frost exchange a glance. She watches as the Black Widow at Cummings’ side narrows her eyes at Sage’s words.
That bit was her fault. Not that Shaw had been at all obvious about where he got his information. Still, it had actually been Sage who recognized Natasha Romanoff for who she was and contacted Shaw to let him know, presumably with Frost being none the wiser. It was Shaw’s decision to ham-fistedly try to lay claim to her though. A decision that he’d stood by even after dealing with Donald Pierce.
Even if Sage had been the one to point Shaw in Natasha’s direction, it was the Black King’s personality that had ultimately led to his demise. Though to be fair, he clearly never expected someone so green behind the ears and untested to be able to deal with him so decisively.
“… Alright, we’re listening.”
Sage decides she won’t make the same mistake. It’s especially telling that its Cummings who finally responds to her confession. Not the White Queen, but her brand new Knight. He crosses his arms over his chest and frowns as he stares her down. Turning to face him properly, Sage holds her head high.
“You may call me Sage. As I said, I was trained and inserted as a spy by Charles Xavier, to keep an eye on things in the Hellfire Club and report specifically on the plans and actions of the Black King. We do not need to be enemies… now that Shaw is dead, my role within the Hellfire Club can be terminated. You can just let me disappear.”
Frost scoffs at that, making Sage tense up a bit.
“While it would certainly make sense for ‘Tessa’ to go down with her boss, considering her perceived loyalty to him, I’m not exactly hearing good reasons for why we should let you live. Xavier is no ally of ours.”
Sage frowns at that. Should she not say it? But truthfully, she can’t think of a good enough reason why she should continue holding her knowledge close to the chest. She might as well lay her cards on the table.
“… Considering Cummings is literally wearing one of his X-Men as a suit right now, I would think you at least have ties to the man.”
There’s a pregnant pause at that, before Cummings sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose.
“I would prefer if you called me Thaddeus, please.”
Before Sage can respond, the white suit he’s wearing suddenly shivers and morphs, and a head made of living, silvery metal forms on one of his shoulders to peer at Sage curiously.
“You know who I am?”
Sage inclines her head.
“Cessily Kincaid, aka Mercury. I am up to date on all of the Xavier Institute’s current mutants, yes. That alone should give you some idea of where my true loyalties lie. I recognized Ms. Kincaid the moment that she transformed in order to armor you for your fight with Pierce’s mercenaries. However, I did not tell Shaw about her. I kept her identity close to the chest at great risk to myself if he found out some other way.”
Another pause before Cummings, or rather Thaddeus, clears his throat.
“Yes… and in doing so, you set things up so that Shaw would be vulnerable when Cessily was forced to kill him in self-defense.”
His tone is leading and his eyes piercing as he stares her down. It takes Sage half a nanosecond to process what he’s just said and pick up what he’s putting down. Obviously, she wasn’t an idiot. She knew for a fact that it had been a combination of Thaddeus Cummings and Cessily Kincaid who had filled Shaw’s lungs while slaying him.
Hell, she wouldn’t have even had to overhear them all but talking about this coverup out in the ballroom to know how everything had gone down.
Obviously, the new White Knight was expecting her to go along with the coverup. The bare minimum that would be expected of her if she wanted to survive tonight with her mind intact. It wasn’t like it was that much of a concession either.
“Of course. Ms. Kincaid did what she had to do. Shaw was a poorly restrained wild dog that had to be put down.”
There’s perhaps a bit more emotion in that last sentence then Sage was originally hoping to give, but admittedly… you try spending years and years serving a brute like Shaw and not develop a disdain for him. Sage had many regrets in her life. Enabling Shaw’s excesses and need for gratuitous violence would always be one of them. And perhaps that was why it was so easy for her to accept the second half of their plan as well. Their goal of focusing the Black Queen’s attention on Charles Xavier through Cessily Kincaid.
It wasn’t a half bad idea, all things considered. Selene was a mercurial creature at the best of times. She didn’t actually care about Shaw one bit on a personal level… but she would definitely be aggrieved that someone had taken one of her ‘toys’ all the same. Xavier would take the fall if everyone kept their stories straight. The Black Queen would assume this was an assassination by Charles and respond accordingly.
“Is she telling the truth? Moreso, is she really willing to play ball?”
Sage stiffens up as Thaddeus directs that question to Frost. She’d not truly forgotten that the White Queen was still in her head. But for a moment… well, she’d been able to trick herself into not worrying so much about it. Meanwhile, Frost looks at her with an icy gaze for a split second before shrugging almost carelessly.
“She’s willing to prop up the lie for us, yes. Even to Xavier. She doesn’t actually like him that much, despite professing loyalty to him. However, that doesn’t make her any less dangerous. She knows about you, Thaddeus. She can literally perceive the DNA of others at close enough range. That means she knows everything. Everything we’ve been trying to keep hidden.”
Sage twitches at that. Both at Emma’s cavalier reveal of her abilities, and her even more cavalier reveal of how big of a secret Thaddeus’ true potential is. The young man in question suddenly looks all the more conflicted, prompting Sage to offer alternatives to her untimely demise.
“If you don’t wish to let me go, then keep me as spoils of war. I couldn’t stop you from killing Shaw tonight. Nobody will be surprised if I suddenly show up working for the White Queen as her secretary. They will assume my mind has been crushed and turned towards the task of serving my new Mistress. Or, if you wish to truly spit on Shaw’s memories, you can simply assign me to your new White Knight instead. A true downgrade that will have everyone tittering.”
She delivers that last part drily, hoping it might appeal to them… especially to Cummings. She hasn’t been able to glean much of Thaddeus Cumming’s personality yet so far, but she understands that he has layers to him. There are multitudes hidden behind that façade of a big dumb brute. Still, she can deduce that he almost certainly has a weakness for beautiful women…
With that in mind, Sage goes for the throat.
“Alternatively, there is one final option.”
All eyes on her, Sage takes a single step back to show she means no harm and intends no threat. Than… she shifts. Self-Cellular Manipulation. It took some time, but she’s trained herself to have complete control over her own personal physiology. It’s not shapeshifting, alas… but she CAN change the color of her eyes and hair, as well as adjusting certain aspects of her… anatomy.
In a moment, she’s blonde with blue eyes and a bigger bust. Flashing a knowing smirk, Sage places her hands on her hips.
“You don’t have to let me go to kill ‘Tessa’ off. Keep me in whatever form you desire, if that is your wish. I will serve just as I did with Shaw until such a time as you deem the situation to have changed enough for my release.”
She wouldn’t give up their secrets. Sage makes sure Frost can see that in her mind. But… power like Thaddeus’ doesn’t get to remain hidden forever. And making him a White Knight has only put him on a path with more and more eyeballs. There’s no doubt in Sage’s mind that one day, everyone who cares about that sort of thing will know everything Thaddeus is capable of. On that day, Sage’s knowledge will have lost its value and letting her go will no longer be such a danger.
There’s a brief pause as the White Queen and her Knight exchange a long look. Having played all of her cards, Sage waits patiently to find out her fate.
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A/N: Me, reading the power section of the wikia article for Sage as I'm writing this chapter: "She can do WHAT?!"
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Comments
Alun Lewis
I pick option #1...Sage being made to be subordinate to Emma can be swung to the Club as a whole and is a "logical" step for Emma to make now that her Knight's "secret" weapon of Cessily just took out Shaw. But it will allow Emma to both keep a close eye on Sage and train her to withstand any of Xavier's mind probing that will happen when he gets wind of what has just occurred. Plus, it does stymie any efforts to recruit or detain Sage that SHIELD would try (if she was Thad's so-called servant) once Natasha reports on what went down. The only issue would be Selene's reaction to Shaw's death and Thad's elevation in station, along with Emma gaining extra psychic support. Cessily's involvement in Shaw's death is getting framed as some big move from Professor X, but would Selene consider Emma gaining access to Sage's skills a lesser threat than Xavier seemingly making semi-public power moves to destabilize a threat to his plans for the future?
Nanaya7Nights
I second that. This could be shown as Emma being pissed about Thaddeus recruiting Cesily and bringing her along without telling Emma. So this can be treated as her curtailing his freedom while at the same time keeping another Telepath far from her main operations.
Nanaya7Nights
Assigning her to Thaddeus makes sense if she changes her identity. Then she can join his hero team and he can hide his Telepathy by crediting all the psychic abilities to her.
Nanaya7Nights
That would raise the "fun" question of: Why does Emma Frost trust another psychic with Thaddeus' safety? Sage could solve part of the problem by reaching out to Xavier herself and telling him that she has been assigned to Thaddeus AND that Emma had mind wiped her to be loyal to Thaddeus BUT she managed to reset her mind and is playing along for now. That doesn't snt solve the problem of Selene amping up her anti-Telepathy measures now that she knows that Emma's side has two Telepaths in it AND that Emma is strong enough to subvert Tessa.
Nanaya7Nights
The problem is that even with a wrong choice, people know that Cam will have to spin into into a positive outcome for the story to continue. The only way to stop that is to start making "Bad Ends" a thing and have the story revert to the critical choice with the bad option removed. Kind off how Cam did in Endless Legacy. Only in this version, the MC won't remember the reset.
DualEquinox
If we do end up rolling with two I wonder whether it can be spun as Emma assigning her to serve under Thaddeus? If done in the right way you give the implication that Emma doesn't trust him, that they only worked together out of mutual self-interest, so she is inserting a spy by his side to keep an eye on him. This would be useful as it means those who wish to move against Emma might approach him as a potential ally in the future, especially if Thad makes a show of slipping at the "leash" that is Sage every now and then.
Dan W
Of course votes were cast with their dicks rather than heads.
Robert Brown
But hey; that's just how I interpreted the dynamics of 'authority' in the pyramid scheme that is the hellfire club.
Robert Brown
I mean while true, if she subordinates herself to Thaddeus she is by default also subordinating herself to Emma since She is the white queen and Thaddeus is the white knight. It's just Tessa would be in a lower position of 'authority and influence' if she announced as working under Thaddeus.
Josh
Making her join Thad as sage is a blatant sign that their story is bs. As least have her change persona.
JO LP
Doesn't make sense to me to assign her to Thaddeus. Selene already had her eyes on him from the get go. But now with his association with Cessily being know after this event she will probably pay closer attention to the going ons around him. If you add Tessa to that mix she might actually feel compelled to actually do something. She taking on a new identity will probably not work for Selene.
Godzilla511
Damn. Sage is wild. A supercomputer brain with telepathy and mutant ability jumpstart. Could probably go toe-to-toe with Taskmaster and hold her own. But is also everything anyone could ask for in a supporting role.
SpokenSoftly
Boy howdy do I not want to find out what happens if you're wrong. If she's able to feed on their power when they try to contact her mind? That's two taken out of the running instantly. Cecily doesn't really have non-contact offensive options and we're pretty low on those ourselves if psychic assault isn't an option. At the moment we are a fabulously powerful beatstick, but against someone with rogue's power on steroids? We need to be more than that.
Undead
Two immensely powerful psychics, and Chad's abilities are enough to subvert the black queen at this point, imo.
IEU097
I think option four is the best. We have access to her to get her abilities and strengthen them, but have her appearance changed to reduce the limelight on him so Selene isn't looking as hard.
redhawktiger
Honestly, keeping her as Tessa and assigning her to Thad makes the most sense from a spy and trust perspective. It keeps her cover for Xavier intact in a believable way but also keeps her close enough to keep an eye on until she's earned trust...not to mention it gives Thad the opportunity to seduce her to add her powers to his own.
Upset B
Honestly a mix of the 3 options sounds better to me. He doesn't need her all the time when he's at college, she could help Emma when we're not doing anything and help him when he needs it. Someone like her could probably help emma with training tricks(if that's even necessary) Not sure if staying as her original look is better or not.
The3rd
I think with Sage's powers we might be able to hold off Selene. I don't think we should be facing Selene so soon, but people seem to be going for option 2 when option 4 is just as good and less risky.
Y. B. A.
It's smarter to keep Sage with Emma. Not only does it reduce the limelight on Thaddeus, but it also ensures he won't fall prey to her manipulations. As seen before, even a somewhat baseline human spy like Natasha can run circles around him. With Sage's numerous abilities, he would pretty much be at her mercy.
thevolunteer
It bums me out sometimes. I know what we’re here for, but I really want the story to make sense more than another chick to have sex with.
SylverIron
Keeping her as Frost's secretary is the better option of hiding Thad for now. Just a thought.
SylverIron
Yeeeeah, Sage's got a reset button for her own brain. Wiping her mind would've done nothing but slow her down. Hell she was trained as a spy in a world of telepaths round every corner, wouldn't surprise me if she can wipe her own mind and keep memories stored up like a hard drive.
Nanaya7Nights
They should kill Tessa off to ward off the threat of Selene. Because Selene would NOT be OK with Emma's faction gaining more psychic power. So, Sage should create a second identity with a new name. Additionally they should have Sage's power boosted enough that she can hide herself from Cerebro AND boost Emma's power more. So, Emma-Thaddeus-Sage threesome!!! The best way to play this would be for the new form to join Emma's firm (Frost Enterprise?) after some time. In an ideal world, Sage woukd also be given the mission to create a third identity that should join the school and become a part of Thaddeus' circle. It would allow her to telepathicaly scope out the people approaching him and give him onsite information instead of him always relying on calling Emma. If she joins his hero team, it would also help her feel like a good guy and might ACTUALLY make her be emotionally invested in Thaddeus. That way, if they ever need to manipulate Xavier in the future, they can have Sage reach out to him saying that she faked her death and infiltrated Emma's faction by becoming close to Thaddeus. If Xavier asks why she didn't contact him before, she can say that she was keeping her head down due to Emma & Shield constantly checking up on Thaddeus.
Rotaugur
Her plan forher release has the big flaw,that if she were to remain in the possession of eather had or emmatill her knowledge his true potential is worthles, she will have gained even more , wich will be even more dangerouse. She will have to spend even more timewith them, wich will lead to even more knowledgge. Having her serve chad in her own form, will also be problematic, as she is a lot older than him, and he can not be certain , that she is truly loyal to them. Her serving Emma, in eather her original form or a new one, would be the safest bet, tomonitore her , and to insure her goodn behavior.
Cambrian
You're not wrong, think everyone is thinking with their dicks here :P
SpokenSoftly
Having her subordinate to us directly as Tessa would put possibly too much attention on us, though Emma might be able to spin it to the wider club. Having her under Emma as herself would be easier to spin I feel like, especially to Selene.
