The XXX-Gene Ch. 65 (Marvel) (Patreon)

A/N: Heh, I don't think anyone saw this coming...

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Well, that was not his Biology Professor.

That’s the first thought that runs through Thaddeus’ mind as he enters the lecture hall on Monday morning and takes a seat near the back like usual. Admittedly, the year has just started and Thaddeus has missed a few classes, but he’s been to enough to know that his Biology Professor was an old man named Professor Gray.

Professor Gray is nowhere to be seen this morning though. Instead, standing behind the large mahogany desk at the front of the lecture hall is a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes, dressed in professional attire that only bordered on inappropriate because of just how gorgeous she was.

Thaddeus isn’t the only one surprised by her appearance, he notes. Many of the others stop and take a long look at her before eventually making their way to their seats. Finally though, the red head seems to decide some arbitrary amount of time has passed and enough are here for her to make her introductions.

“Good morning, students. My name is Madelyne Pryor and I will be your Professor in Biology for the rest of the semester. Unfortunately, Professor Gray is no longer with us, but in the interest of expediency and prudency, the University saw fit to fill his vacancy sooner rather than later.”

“I’d much rather have you teaching me biology than that stuffy old coot anyways, gorgeous! If you know what I mean, hah!”

Thaddeus’ palm meets his face as one of the men down in the front row fails to keep his mouth shut. They’re all adults here. College students one and all. One would THINK that would mean they’d leave the jockish, idiotic behavior behind. Thaddeus certainly had.

Only… if it wasn’t for his mutation, the old him, ‘Chad’, might very well have made a comment just like that. Or at least laughed and high-fived the man who made it. As it is, silence falls over the lecture hall in the wake of the sexist, insensitive words that just spilled from that idiot’s mouth. And worst of all, he’s on the damn football team too.

Thaddeus is just glad he’s sitting in the back and very much out of view of the guy down in the front row, otherwise he might have received an imploring look to ‘back him up’. As is, in the face of the dead silence and Professor Pryor’s withering stare, the jock shrinks back, ultimately hunkering down in his seat and going quiet. Thankfully.

In the end, their new Biology Professor doesn’t deem his words worthy of a response, something the idiot should probably be grateful for. The first line was bad enough, but tacking ‘if you know what I mean’ onto the end of it? EVERYONE knew what he meant, for fuck’s sake…

Either way, Biology continues apace from there. Altogether, even if the lecturer is far more beautiful than their previous Professor, it’s still a little boring to Thaddeus. This was a General Education course after all, and he was a bit beyond this stuff at this point.

It doesn’t really get interesting until near the end of class, when Professor Pryor wraps up her lecture and then pins them all with a surprisingly intense stare.

“Before you all leave, there is one other thing I wish to announce. While I am still formatting and structuring my syllabus in the wake of this short notice, I have decided at the very least that there will be a semester project. This project will be centered around a relatively unexplored aspect of Biology, something that we’ve known about for quite some time, but only truly begun researching more recently. I speak, of course, of the X-Gene.”

That gets everyone’s attention, not just Thaddeus’. The Professor continues on though, undaunted.

“I will have more information regarding the form your projects will take in later classes, but for now, you may begin doing your own research into the X-Gene and the new information surrounding it in order to prepare yourselves. It is not inaccurate to say that the discovery of the X-Gene and how it interacts with our biology has been the greatest discovery in biological sciences since the discovery of DNA itself.”

She sweeps her eyes back and forth across all of them, but Thaddeus would swear that her gaze lingers on him specifically for the briefest of moments before she delivers a crisp, clear…

“Dismissed.”

He almost wants to stick around and maybe strike up a conversation with the Professor after that… and maybe he would have if not for the events at the Gala on Friday Night. No, right now Thaddeus needs something a bit more… normal. That’s why, ultimately, he gets up and walks out, heading for his next class.

Up next on the docket is Math… where again, the old Professor isn’t around. Instead, there’s a severe looking but also beautiful Chinese American woman standing behind the desk who introduces herself as “Professor Shu Wong”. At this point, Thaddeus starts to get suspicious. Perhaps he should have done so with Pryor, but better late than never… as the beautiful Asian Woman starts her own lecture, Thaddeus reaches out telepathically to see what he can glean from her mind.

The first impression he gets is ‘not much’. Her mind is like a steel trap, clearly trained to resist and possibly even detect psychic intrusion. Luckily, Thaddeus is being subtle about things. He doesn’t think he gets caught, even as he barely comes away with any information whatsoever. However, no information is in and of itself some information.

That level of training isn’t the kind of thing a University Professor should be able to boast. Not without a seriously checkered past. No, more than likely… this was enemy action. Had to be. The only question was what sort of enemy Thaddeus was dealing with here. Was Pryor the same? He couldn’t be sure, but there did seem to be minute differences between the two women, specifically in their lecturing.

Madelyne Pryor had actually seemed quite invested in Biology. By comparison, Shu Wong hides it extremely well, but someone with Thaddeus’ senses can tell that she’s not all that interested in Math. So maybe Pryor was the real deal after all. But whoever Shu Wong really is, whoever sent her to ESU… they don’t have good intentions. Thaddeus knows that for a fact.

He's half-expecting the Asian woman to ask him to stay after class or something, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, the lecture ends without incident… and indeed, Professor Wong doesn’t so much as glance in his direction a single time either. But frankly, that just leaves Thaddeus feeling more paranoid than ever.

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And he’s right to be too! Damn it all!

“Greetings, everyone. My name is Ororo Munroe. In case you did not hear yet, your previous Professor won the lottery and decided to take a sabbatical for the rest of the year. I shall be taking their place as your Professor of Multicultural Studies for the rest of the semester.”

Thaddeus almost wants to turn around and walk right back out of the lecture hall when he enters to find a very familiar white-haired, dark-skinned mutant standing behind the desk this time around. This wasn’t his first time meeting ‘Professor Munroe’… but it had been quite a while since he’d last seen her.

 She’d actually come with Charles Xavier back in the day to try and convince him to go to the paraplegic psychic’s institute for mutants back before Thaddeus had graduated from High School. Ultimately, Ororo, otherwise known as ‘Storm’, and Xavier had failed to convince him. Through no fault of their own, admittedly… Emma had just given Thaddeus a better offer at the end of the day.

That had been the last he’d seen of either Storm or Professor Xavier so far, but it definitely hadn’t been the last he’d seen of their ‘agents’. Not that he could really complain… Laura was one of his closest lovers and while Kitty was a bit of a treacherous rat for reporting on him to Xavier, it was kind of what was expected of her. Not to mention Cessily and him were as close as he and Laura in some ways.

That said… he probably should have expected this. The only question was whether Storm’s presence was meant to be an indication of Charles not fully trusting Sage, or whether it was something else entirely.

One way or another, Thaddeus is bound to found out sooner rather than later because even as she launches into her first lecture, Storm meets his eyes after a certain point and all but projects her thoughts at him.

Thaddeus, please stick around after class so we can chat for a little bit.

He’s tempted to blow her off… really tempted. But at least they’re being upfront about it. Hell, he can probably even say with some certainty that ‘Shu Wong’, whoever she really is, is NOT from the Xavier camp given Storm’s presence. Unless it’s a double bluff, but it seems unlikely… especially when there are plenty of other groups it could be instead.

Regardless, feeling the sense of normalcy he’d been seeking through attending his college classes rapidly slipping through his fingers, Thaddeus waits for most of the others to leave before heading up to the front of the lecture hall after class is done. As he stops in front of Storm’s desk, she looks at him from the other side with a quirked lip.

“… Been a while for us, hasn’t it Thaddeus?”

Really? That’s how she wanted to play it? Thaddeus snorts dryly.

“I’m sure we’re both very busy people, Professor Munroe.”

The small smile drops and Storm gets serious, even as she nods.

“You’re not wrong. But I think one of us has been even busier. Congratulations are in order.”

Thaddeus blinks, confused for a moment. Was she… congratulating him on Shaw’s death? At seeing his look of incredulity, Storm clarifies.

“You’re quite young to be made a Knight of the Hellfire Club. One might even say you should be proud of such an achievement.”

Ah, now he understands. Though also…

“One might say that. But not you.”

Storm’s lips curl up again and she hums for a moment.

“The deeper you let yourself get pulled into that sort of life, the harder things are going to get, Thaddeus. Most everything I’ve heard about you so far tells me that you’re a good man who’s in over his head. That is why I’m here right now… to make sure you keep your head above water.”

Oh? At his look, Storm elaborates.

“We’re not looking to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, Thaddeus. We don’t work like that. But we’ve always known that your potential is limitless. You would know best how powerful you already are… and how powerful you might become.”

Thaddeus frowns as Storm gets a distant look in her eyes, almost like she’s reminiscing about something.

“Power… is not always a blessing, Thaddeus. Sometimes it can be quite the curse, in fact. Everything Charles has built has been engineered towards giving our kind sanctuary… and helping those of our kind with too much power master and control it so that it does not master and control them.”

Looking back to him, Storm smirks.

“Consider me one of your contingency plans. If you need my help, I’m here. Even if you just need a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to about everything. I know you have others who you almost certainly trust more than me… but I’m here all the same, just in case.”

This was… the strangest thing Thaddeus could imagine happening. Except no… while it takes him a depressingly long time, he finally sees the blatant manipulation for what it is. This IS a double bluff. Not utilizing the mysterious Mathematics Professor ‘Shu Wong’, but rather… utilizing Sage as Tessa.

Storm’s presence here isn’t an indication that Charles no longer trusts Sage or thinks her to be compromised. Rather, Storm’s presence here is an indication that he DOES trust Sage. Sage is the undercover agent. Storm is the bright neon sign that is meant to completely overshadow and wash out Sage working in the shadows against him.

That… actually takes a lot of weight off of his shoulders. Weight that Thaddeus hadn’t even known was there. Knowing at least one of the schemes against him… and the fact that they didn’t know the key component of their scheme was on HIS side… well, that made this all rather humorous, didn’t it?

Unable to help himself, Thaddeus grins as he leans in a little suggestively.

“Are you sure a beautiful woman like you knows what you’re getting into offering help to a man like me, Professor Munroe?”

Far from getting offended, Storm’s eyes glitter in amusement.

“I’m sure you have more than enough women to ‘help’ with that particular side of things, Mister Cummings.”

Ouch, breaking out the last name. Low blow. But then, he supposed he’d started it. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound.

“Mm. I certainly do. And I have just as many women I’m ‘helping’ in turn. You could be one of them, if you’re interested.”

For a long, pregnant moment, Storm just stares at him. But then, much to his surprise, she shakes her head, a rueful smile playing across her lips.

“Like I said before, Thaddeus… power can be as much a curse as it can be a blessing. And contrary to what you might believe, there is such thing as having enough power.”

… Had he just been rejected? Had that ever happened before? Thaddeus certainly couldn’t remember a time. To be fair, Storm was letting him down rather gently. Still, damn. He… didn’t know what to say. In the end, she seems to register that and takes a seat behind her desk before giving him a nod.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Thaddeus.”

Slowly nodding, he walks out of the lecture hall in a bit of a daze. Him? Turned down for sex? Was that even legal?

Funnily enough, given that silly thought, his very next class was Criminal Justice. And thankfully, when he enters the room, the normal professor is sat behind his desk. A mousy sort of man named Neville Norbert; their Criminal Justice Professor was the sort of guy who would probably get eaten alive nine times out of ten in any court room he ever stepped foot in. And the tenth would be because they felt sorry for him.

Still, those who do… do. Those who can’t, teach. Professor Norbert may not have had the constitution to be a lawyer, but he was a half-decent Professor so far, even if it was still early in the semester.

Thaddeus was just glad that the man hadn’t been replaced… yet. Shit, should he say something to someone? Warn them that all of his Professors were in danger of being disappeared? That some already had been… ‘taken care of’?

Sitting down with that worry running through his head, Thaddeus is barely paying attention at first as Professor Norbert rises from his chair and clears his throat.

“A-Ahem! I have a special surprise for you all today, everyone! I know you probably love the sound of my reedy little voice…”

Some titters of laughter at the self-deprecation.

“… but I had an old friend and colleague reach out and express an interest in delivering a series of guest lectures to my classes this semester! Needless to say, I jumped at the chance! Therefore, I want everyone to give a big warm welcome to Jennifer Susan Walters, an incomparable and talented lawyer, good friend of mine… and oh yes, also She-Hulk of the Avengers!”

The class erupts as Jennifer strides out in full form, though also wearing professional clothing over her tall, robust, green body. Thaddeus, meanwhile, feels his jaw drop open in disbelief and…

“Oh COME ON!”

It’s a moment before he realizes the exclamation came from his own lips as all eyes in the lecture hall turn towards him. To be fair, it’s a very, very rare lapse of self-control for the young man…

Still, he can feel himself flushing, even as Jen crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow at him, smirking all the while.

For fuck’s sake… you kill one shadowy criminal mutant kingpin on a Friday and by Monday suddenly it’s like the entire world wants a piece of you…