AutumnXd
patreon
CHAPTER 6
🕑 Added 2025-04-11 10:22:12 +0000 UTCThe room was quiet, tension filling the space between words unspoken.
Xavier sat in his wheelchair, studying Alex with eyes that had seen too much suffering. His expression held both understanding and a deep, personal sorrow.
Jean, Cyclops, Rogue, and Wolverine stood nearby, bodies tense as they sensed the weight of what was about to unfold.
Alex stood in the center of the room, isolated in his pain. Seconds stretched into minutes of deafening silence.
When he finally spoke, his voice—usually confident and steady—came out low, almost fragile.
"Is there a chance..." He faltered, something raw catching in his throat. "A chance that my mother is—"
The words died there, too painful to force past his lips.
Xavier sighed softly, the sound of a man who'd delivered too many devastating truths. He closed his eyes briefly, gathering his thoughts.
Then he shook his head.
"They never leave evidence alive."
Silence crashed down like shattered glass.
A long, suffocating silence that seemed to steal the oxygen from the room.
Alex's crystal-blue eyes flickered—a brief warning before transformation. The blue bled away, replaced by a deep, unnatural crimson glow that burned from within, betraying the raw fury bubbling beneath his carefully controlled surface.
His fingers curled into a tight fist, nails digging crescents into his palm.
A mechanical beep cut through the tension—low at first, but impossible to ignore.
Alex's Omnitrix, typically illuminated with a soft blue light, now flashed an ominous, pulsing red.
The beeping intensified. Grew sharper. More urgent.
Like a warning. Like a heartbeat racing toward danger.
Rogue noticed first, her eyes widening slightly.
"Alex...?" Her voice was careful, gentle—afraid to startle him further.
Alex didn't respond. Didn't even seem to hear her.
His jaw tightened, muscles coiling beneath his skin like springs compressed to their breaking point.
His breathing remained slow. Controlled. Too controlled.
When he finally looked up, his glowing red eyes swept across the room, meeting each gaze in turn.
He saw Jean, watching him with cautious concern. He saw Cyclops, subtly shifting his stance, preparing for whatever might come. He saw Wolverine, reading him with the intensity of one predator recognizing another. He saw Rogue, her face open with genuine worry.
His Omnitrix continued its relentless warning.
Something dark stirred inside him, responding to the grief, the rage, the bottomless emptiness.
For a terrible moment, it felt like he was back there.
Back in the sterile lab.
Trapped. A prisoner. A weapon.
His fingers twitched. His shoulders tensed.
"I want to be alone."
The words came out sharp and cold as broken ice.
Jean opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself, recognizing the futility.
Cyclops exchanged a meaningful glance with Xavier, silently asking what they should do.
Xavier simply nodded once—permission granted.
Alex turned on his heel.
Without another word, he walked out.
The sound of his footsteps echoed down the hall, gradually fading into distance.
The beeping from his Omnitrix diminished until it vanished completely.
The room remained suspended in heavy silence.
The oppressive quiet lingered long after Alex had disappeared.
Rogue stood by the doorway where he'd vanished, sighing softly as she turned back to the others, giving voice to the question weighing on all their minds.
"Will he be fine?"
Wolverine released a slow breath, rubbing the back of his neck with a calloused hand.
"Don't worry, kid. He will be." His voice was gruff but steady. "For now."
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, settling into his characteristic stance. "Just leave him be. He's not angry at us—he's just tired of all the crap life's thrown at him."
Rogue hesitated, then gave a small nod, accepting his assessment. "Ah hope so."
She turned and quietly left the room, leaving the others to their troubled thoughts.
Jean stood with arms crossed tightly against her chest, brows drawn together in concentration.
She glanced at Professor Xavier. "I don't think he agrees with everything we've told him."
Beast, who had maintained a thoughtful silence until now, adjusted his glasses with a large, dexterous finger.
"He certainly seems like someone who doesn't respond well to authority," he observed. "And perhaps prone to... agitation over small matters."
Cyclops exhaled sharply. "So what? Logan does that all the time."
Wolverine scoffed immediately. "Hey, that's not true."
He glanced around—only to find Jean, Beast, and Cyclops all fixing him with identical looks of skepticism.
Their expressions clearly communicated: Really?
Wolverine huffed and muttered, "Whatever," looking away.
Xavier's lips curled into a small, knowing smile before he spoke, his voice calm yet carrying unmistakable authority.
"Alex is still just a child."
That simple statement made everyone pause, forcing them to reconsider.
Because despite his power, his brutality, his cold detachment—
Xavier was right.
Alex wasn't a hardened warrior.
He was a kid who had been forced to become something monstrous.
Xavier continued, "And it is our responsibility to show him the right direction."
The room fell into thoughtful silence.
For now—they would honor Alex's request for solitude.
The tension in the room gradually began to dissipate, but the conversation about their newest arrival was far from concluded.
Storm, who had been quietly observing from the sidelines, finally spoke up. Her tone was measured but edged with concern.
"But what about his eyes? And the way he looks..."
Cyclops smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh, you mean handsome? What's this, Storm? Developing feelings for the new kid?"
Storm immediately shot him a withering glare. "Stop it, Cyclops."
Jean chuckled softly at the exchange, while Wolverine's mouth quirked upward. "Heh, Scott finally said somethin' funny for once."
Storm huffed in irritation but quickly refocused the conversation. "I'm serious. His eyes—especially when they turn red—aren't normal. That's not just a mutation; it feels... unnatural."
Beast, ever the analytical mind, adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "Actually, I think it's a positive attribute."
Everyone turned to him, waiting for elaboration.
Beast continued, "He possesses an incredibly potent mutation, yet his base form allows him to appear human. Unlike some of us—" he gestured to himself, "—he doesn't have to look like a 'beast' to wield such power."
Jean nodded in agreement. "But what intrigues me more is that watch on his wrist."
She turned to Beast. "Didn't you say you attempted to remove it?"
Beast nodded, his expression turning serious. "Yes. I was unable to detach it. It's not like any conventional device—it's fused with his biological structure, almost functioning as a living organism."
Jean frowned, processing this. "It's like it's become part of him."
Xavier finally spoke, his voice thoughtful yet measured.
"It is not merely a device. It functions as a restraint."
He paused, ensuring his next words would be understood.
"It exists to prevent him from losing complete control."
The room fell into uneasy silence at this revelation.
Cyclops, arms still crossed, raised an eyebrow. "So, what? It's some kind of power limiter?"
Xavier nodded solemnly. "Yes. His powers must have generated it as a mechanism for self-containment."
But what Xavier didn't articulate—what none of them yet comprehended—was that the device wasn't simply preserving Alex's sanity.
It was shielding the entire world from something unspeakable.
For now.
