Cambrian
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The XXX-Gene Ch. 12 (Marvel)
🕑 Added 2023-06-04 14:37:29 +0000 UTCA/N: In which revelations are had.
-x-X-x-
For a brief moment, Natalie looks so bewildered by his words that Thaddeus actually wonders if he got it wrong. Worse, what if she didn’t even know she was… special? Not every mutant was aware that they were a mutant, after all. And what he’d gotten from Natalie… it felt more lowkey than what he’d picked up from Mystique. It was like he’d suddenly gotten more… vital, for lack of a better word?
Stronger? Yes. But not just stronger. He could tell that he was slightly better pretty much all around. Like if this were a video game, his physical attributes just got a ‘+1’ boost across the board. And that… well, that might not be something that a young pretty RA for a College Dorm would even realize she had lurking inside of her, right?
Except, just as he’s starting to second guess himself and feel ashamed of his reaction, it’s like a light switch has been flicked. Natalie goes from baffled and confused to… something else entirely in an instant. Sitting up on the bed, the red head suddenly looks at him in a way that makes Thaddeus feel like a bug. Like he’s being stared down by an Apex Predator. He can’t believe he didn’t see it before…
“Who I am isn’t important, Thaddeus. Who I represent is. My agency sent me here to interface with you directly, seeing as events in the last several months have led to… questions.”
Agency. She was with the government. Thaddeus’ entire body goes tense, his spine going ramrod straight and his jaw clenching as he considers making a break for it right then and there. It was exactly as he’d feared. The government had come for him after all. Which begged the question, just how strong was ‘Natalie the RA’ really? Based on the boost he’d gotten from her; he could easily believe she was some sort of super spy. She likely had way more experience fighting than he did as well…
“Thaddeus. Calm down. I’m not here to kidnap you or lock you up in some CIA Black Site.”
Natalie’s voice cuts through his mounting anxiety like a plastic butter knife. That is to say, it doesn’t manage to cut through at all really, but the attempt certainly draws his attention back to her, making his brow furrow as she explains.
“We don’t want you, Thaddeus. We’re not in the business of kidnapping young people just because they’re a little special. You haven’t done anything wrong, nor have you committed any crimes. But the organization that’s decided to back you might have.”
That brings Thaddeus up short and he goes over the last few things Natalie has said so far. Finally, a crystal clear thought DOES break through the miasma of fear that’s fallen over his mind.
“… You’re not here about me. You’re here about the Hellfire Club.”
Natalie offers him a small sincere smile as she nods her head in agreement… a smile that Thaddeus has to remind himself probably isn’t all that sincere. Seriously, to know now that she’s a fucking super spy… she’d played him like a fiddle from start to finish, hadn’t she? Had ANY of it been real? Even… even the sex? That’s a minor blow to Thaddeus’ pride, though he thinks he managed to make her cum at least once. The rest could have been faked, but he’d definitely gotten her to orgasm one time, right?
… Okay, so that really wasn’t what he should be focusing on right now, was it? Damn it all, Emma had set him up in an all-female dormitory, but hadn’t managed to suss out that the government had installed one of their agents as the dorm’s RA?
“That’s correct, Thaddeus. I’m telling you this because my interactions with you so far have shown that you’re not in too deep with them just yet. Whatever Hellfire is up to… we think it’s bad. And we believe they’re manipulating you into helping them.”
Thaddeus opens his mouth to deny it automatically, only to snap it shut a moment later. Okay, so yeah, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew full well that Emma Frost had manipulated him into joining up with her group over Charles Xavier or Mystique. And yet, even now he felt like she was his best option. Not just because Emma was beautiful, thank you very much. But he much preferred the freedom of being able to go to ESU, over being potentially branded as a terrorist the moment he stepped foot out of his town or finding himself locked up in the Xavier Institute save for X-Men missions.
He had very good reasons for picking Emma, thank you very much. Reasons that definitely had nothing to do with her chest or her smile or anything else!
Even still… yes, the Hellfire Club seemed suspicious to him. He wasn’t sure they were necessarily criminal though… not to mention, the hypocrisy of ‘Natalie’ trying to tell him that Emma had manipulated him was… palpable. Seriously, he thought he’d been putting the moves on the RA, but now he knew she’d been the one wrapping him up in her web all along, hadn’t she?
“Every relationship is built on manipulation, Natalie. If that even is your real name.”
‘Natalie’ doesn’t rise to that provocation, simply giving him a deadpan look instead that makes Thaddeus feel younger than he actually is.
“You can call me Natalie Rushman, Thaddeus. And you’re not wrong. Manipulation is a key element of the human experience. We can’t help but want to manipulate our surroundings, each other… even ourselves.”
Her eyes dart down to his cock and Thaddeus blushes as he realizes that not only is he still naked, but just the hint of sexual attention from the red head is enough to make his member begin twitching back o life. But then to be fair, Natalie IS still naked on the bed before him… and looking positively ravishing, even with what he knows now. Though, on the subject of what he knows now…
“So you’re a mutant who works for the government then? And they’re just… okay with that? Do they know?”
For the first time, there’s a flicker of confusion on Natalie’s face that Thaddeus THINKS might be genuine. He might have actually caught her off guard with that inquiry, somehow. Of course, it’s gone as quickly as it comes… but she still pauses briefly, as if trying to decide something. Finally, she shakes her head.
“I’m not a mutant, Thaddeus. Were you under the misconception that your mutation only worked on other mutants?”
Thaddeus’ eyes widen at that. Both at the knowledge that she’s already figured out his mutation from their one encounter… and also at the bombshell that she’s just dropped in his lap. Suddenly, Natalie is off the bed and approaching him with languid, swaying steps.
“Your powers are interesting, aren’t they? We didn’t know what exactly had the Hellfire Club so interested in you, or I would never have let you seduce me in the first place. But… if you didn’t know it extends beyond mutants, then your benefactors don’t either, do they?”
He hesitates for a moment, before deciding to answer truth with truth.
“… It’s worked on normal humans too… but only temporarily for them. And never like what I felt with you. Reaching completion with you… I only felt that way with another mutant before now. And I imagine what you felt was magnitudes more than what most normal humans experience, seeing as none of them caught on that I was anything but a good luck charm for their test taking…”
Natalie nods at that, smiling softly now. Thaddeus has to remind himself that it’s probably all a ruse. Though it definitely doesn’t help when she reaches up and runs her fingertips lightly across his exposed chest, humming and eyeing his pecs for a moment. He’s in excellent shape of course. Not only from his football training, but also from his mutation. He’s reaching the point of no return when it comes to Peak Human Physicality. The more he fucks, the closer he gets to becoming truly superhuman.
Honestly, he might have already passed that point. It’s not like he’s comparing himself to Olympic Athletes on the daily to find out.
“I see. Well, now you’ve learned something new, Thaddeus. I’m not a mutant… but I am Enhanced. And I’ll even give you a little something extra. I wasn’t born this way. I was made this way by a serum, one that irrevocably altered my biology. So, it would seem that your mutation has more reach than you might have initially expected.”
She’s not wrong, that is huge news. Continuing to trail her fingers down his chest, now lightly applying her nails to his flesh, Natalie raises a brow.
“Perhaps that buys me and my agency a little leeway? The fact that I’m not subduing you and carting you in right now should hopefully be enough proof that we’re not here for you. But your benefactors aren’t as clean as you might think they are. And until we find out what they’re really up to… well, my cover needs to remain intact.”
… The thing is, he likely would have figured out that bit about his mutation having a broader umbrella than any of them thought sooner rather than later, even without Natalie’s influence. More than that, it wasn’t like she or her agency had set out to reveal that aspect of his powers to him. They’d stumbled into it, and Natalie herself had admitted that she would never have fucked him in the first place if they’d known what he was truly capable of.
But then, their focus was on the Hellfire Club, not on him. Otherwise, they probably could have figured out what his mutation was ages ago. They wanted to know more about Emma Frost and her organization. And Thaddeus wasn’t entirely sure if he should get in the way of that. At the same time, he couldn’t help but be a little torn. Emma and the Hellfire Club had been nothing but good to him… so far.
He wasn’t stupid enough to think that the other shoe was never going to drop, mind you. But at the same time, it felt a little like biting the hand that was feeding him, to betray their trust in any way.
Natalie’s hand, which HAD been inching closer and closer to his crotch, suddenly stops as she tilts her head to the side.
“I can see you need a little bit more encouragement, Thaddeus.”
For a moment, he stiffens. Was she going to attack him? Threaten him? Or engage in further sexual acts with him? As it turned out, it was none of those three things. No… instead Natalie Rushman, Dorm RA and Super Spy, leans forward, placing her lips right next to his ear.
“It might interest you to know one of the key tidbits of information that we found out while we’ve been investigating the Hellfire Club these last few months. Namely about one Emma Frost… and her mutant ability. You see Thaddeus, from everything we’ve managed to piece together, Ms. Frost is an incredibly powerful Psychic.”
Pulling back, Natalie looks at him for a long moment with hooded eyes.
“… So what you have to ask yourself is this… how much of your decision to sign on with her and her organization WAS your decision? And how many of your choices going forward will be YOUR choices?”
With that, the red head gathers up her clothes… and brazenly steps out of his dorm room, leaving him all by himself. A distant part of him is a little surprised she didn’t get dressed first, but then she was a super spy. She’d probably make it somewhere private without being spotted with relative ease.
The far larger part of Thaddeus is frozen in place as he finally puts two and two together and gets ‘YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT’. Natalie’s revelation makes… perfect sense.
Emma hadn’t told him what she was capable of, but she HAD shown him a hint of it. Making an entire Ice Cream Parlor ignore them… he’s not sure what he thought that meant her mutation was at the time. Maybe just some sort of Perception Filter Field? Or… or something like that. Maybe Emma had prodded his thoughts away from even considering the idea that she might be Psychic.
Or maybe she hadn’t had to. She was a beautiful woman and he was an overly sexed young man who had gotten addicted to fucking. Growing his power was all too enticing, and she’d promised him everything he could possibly want, along with freedom and independence to do whatever he wanted to do with his life.
So far, she and Hellfire hadn’t failed to deliver on their end of the bargain. But when the devil’s due came, would Thaddeus be able to stomach it? What kind of man was he, really? Was he the kind of man who only cared about what he could get out of a situation? Or did he care if a criminal organization had co-opted him for their own ends?
Somehow, Thaddeus didn’t think Emma had directly influenced his mind in their meeting at the Ice Cream Parlor. Read his mind? Oh, now that he knew she was Psychic, he didn’t doubt that for a second. She’d read the FUCK out of his mind. That was why he didn’t think she’d forced him to make this decision. Because the truth was, she hadn’t needed to. She’d had everything she needed to manipulate him into his choice just from his own inner thoughts, his own doubts and insecurities.
Thaddeus had known Emma Frost was manipulating him from the get-go. But then, he’d figured they all were. Charles Xavier with his overly friendly attitude, Mystique with her eagerness to jump straight to using her powers for sex in order to get him on board. Only in hindsight do those other two options feel a bit more genuine now though. Xavier hadn’t tried to hide his psychic abilities from Thaddeus after all. And Mystique was… certainly very upfront, right up until she’d pulled a runner on him.
He still didn’t fully understand what had happened there, but then Thaddeus was beginning to realize he didn’t understand much of anything going on in his life at this point. He wasn’t the Star Quarterback in a small town anymore. He was a small fish in a massive ocean, finding himself swimming in the shadows of giant monstrosities. Get too much bigger, and one of them might decide to take a bite.
But did that mean hew as just going to… stop? That he was going to remain celibate for the rest of his life, and never get powerful enough that someone like ‘Natalie Rushman’ would decide he was a legitimate threat?
… No. Of course not. He would-
Thaddeus startles as his phone suddenly begins to vibrate from where he left his pants. The buzzing fills the otherwise silent room and he turns towards it, quickly pulling his phone out. He blanches when he sees who’s calling. One Emma Frost… for a moment, he fears that she somehow knows… but no, it’s more likely she’s calling to check up on him, now that she figures he’s realized what she’s done regarding his dorm.
Staring at the ‘Accept Call’ button, Thaddeus finds himself torn between ignoring it or not. He could definitely get away with a missed call or two. She'd probably assume that he was just 'busy' with his new dormmates after all. But that was a temporary solution that would quickly become suspicious after the first few missed calls. At the same time, if he does pick up, what is he supposed to do? Keep Natalie’s secret, tell Emma nothing? Or tell Emma everything and try to leverage her lying to get himself a better position?
Did he care if the Hellfire Club was actually a front for illegal enterprises or not? Did he want to get in bed with the government as they tried to investigate them? Or was he only in it for himself? Thaddeus had been raised to be plenty patriotic. But… he’d been growing out of that ever since he’d developed his mutation. The smarter he got, the more he saw the cracks in the world around him. Blind faith in the government might have been his parents’ preference, but Thaddeus couldn’t follow suit. Not at this point.
And yet… and yet…
Staring down at the phone in his hand, the buzzing continuing against his palm, Thaddeus makes his decision and brings his finger stabbing down.
Comments
Devon
patriotism doesn't mean blind faith in the government. At least not in America. We are classically a country of rebels, exiles and explorers. American Patriotism is loyalty to an ideal, and the willingness to spill the blood of tyrants regardless of their affiliation. And if chad's int boost isn't telling him that, he needs more boosts and to take his history and philosophy classes more seriously.
Rival
We could liberally interpret option 2 as " telling Emma he needs a face-to-face as soon as convenient for her, and insinuate its importance" but ole Thundercock is 18... and stupidity is still rampant at that age. His intelligence has improved, but he still lacks wisdom, so there is room for him to fuck everything up, though I will support any options that allow for expected amounts of 'simping' for Emma.
Rival
Pointing SHIELD at Sebastian Shaw would definitely at the very least, cause him to be more cautious and slow down any plans he may have.
Rival
We will never NOT simp for Emma.
cipher43
I chose option three. It gives us some control over when we have our confrontation with Emma, as opposed to being hustled into the back of a limo. It allows us to show some trust by setting up a face-to-face meeting to give her a way to feed information, valid or faulty, to SHIELD. It also lets us show some discretion by not blurting out every secret immediately after we learn it.
Voivode
Emma's going to learn everything the next time they meet, since his mind is still an open book, so telling is wiser than trying to keep it form her.
Nanaya7Nights
The greatest risk of telling Emma right NOW is that we know that Selene is very likely to find out. This is something better told in person and probably later when he develops some resistances. Right now I don't think even Emma realises the full potential of his power. At a later time Thaddeus will probably figure out that his power boost to meta humans is permanent (and maybe stacking), this making it something she would cover for herself outside of her current plans with Selene this incentivising her to protect him from Selene and maybe keep the SHIELD agent around to later use against Selene.
ComicForBrains
Think Nat could have been more convincing if she masterbated while explaining this stuff, just saying. Otherwise, either 2 or 3 would be a perfect opening for Thad to request help by SHIELD and Hellfire for chance to seduce women with powers all over gaining more abilities in exchange he passes info to them about each other.
Readm
I think it also helps that we as reader know that Emma and Selene dont have any negative plans for him before he manages to defeat Shaw
Hrathen
She's a telepath.... But besides that, it's literally a "don't bite the hand that feeds it" situation. I didn't take him to be ungrateful the moment someone introduces doubts in his mind. A person's worth is solely based on if they pay back what they owe
Phraxius
An interesting thought, but fooling Natasha would be pretty damn hard. It might be more feasible to point them towards rivals within Hellfire and hope for the best if push comes to shove.
Josh Snider
Would we be able to make being a triple-agent work? Tell Emma everything, but pretend to be a double agent for SHIELD?
Collar Spider
Since we voted on Hellfire I say we stay loyal to them, option 2. Also if he tells her the truth and politely explains the whole "now I'm worried about being controlled by psychics" she could help him get some resistance. I don't think Frost psychically manipulated him but she should still help to put his mind at ease.
Phraxius
I, for one, also think 'Hellfire Club power struggle' sounds like a great time. *Then again*, involving SHIELD in that power struggle could be spicy.
Cambrian
That's why I gave Option 1, but I think my patrons are people of action lmao. The very idea of holding still for a moment and giving Thaddeus room to breathe is anathema to them. Either that or they're just simping for Emma, which is also fair :P
Cambrian
Good catch, fixt!
Phraxius
"... putting the movies on the RA ..." should be 'moves'. Interesting choice, by the way; I wonder whether the vote will stick with 'tell Emma the truth' or not. Could be a bit of a crossroads depending on what he does next.
Cambrian
I'll peel back the curtain a little bit here: If Options 1 or 3 were chosen, Thaddeus' next step would be to go and try and get some psychic resistance, because after Xavier and Emma, he's now learned that it's a place where he's woefully weak and unprepared to defend against. Honestly, even if Option 2 is chosen, I think Thaddeus would want some psychic resistance going forward, to put him and Emma on a more even playing field. Its just a matter of who he goes to for help. Options 1 or 3, he would probably ask Natalie for help in how to protect his mind. Options 2, he would try to renegotiate his deal with Emma and have her help him protect his mind as a side thing.
SylverIron
You know what? Since 2 and 3 are terrible ideas right now, why don't we decide later?
SylverIron
I think it's less, "Hey, know you're a telepath now" and more like "Hey the GOVERNMENT was here as a plant." ....both keeping it secret and not are terrible ideas.
Jonathan Dubreuil
She can read his mind and will probably do it next time they met, so it sound pretty stupid to me to try to hide that you know she is a telepath.
