Powers 2/2

The professor moved closer to the machine as Hank made space for him.

"This is his?" Charles didn't look away from the screens as he asked Hank.

"Yes."

"And it was taken just now, it isn't something you picked up last night?"

"Correct."

"This explains that thing's strength." The professor seemed contemplative.

Both men seemed lost in their own world, mesmerized by whatever was displayed on the screens.

"What is it?" Harry asked slightly concerned.

The professor turned and made his way towards him. Charles looked at him for a solid moment, staring at his head before speaking.

"Hank, you should take notes again, as this is something that I found out regarding Harry's mutation last night."

At the professor's words, Harry's eyes gained a sharpness to them. Any information regarding his situation would mean that he stood a chance against his mutation.

"We were wrong in our earlier assumptions. We thought that your X-gene awakened last night, but that is not the case." Charles was speaking calmly and tried to appear relaxed, but even Harry could notice the hints of restlessness in his tone and posture.

"Your mutation has been present for far longer than just a day. We can't tell for how long it has been around already, but it has been awake for long enough that the mutated aspect within your mind has gained enough strength to try and wrestle control. With, what we assume, was a little situational help." The professor sighed.

"It explains why I couldn't help you as much as I would have preferred to."

Harry's eyes were filled with surprise at the fact that his mutation had been present far longer than he had previously thought, but there was also confusion. "What do you mean by 'mutated aspect'?"

Behind the professor, Hank was also surprised by the sudden information and began writing even faster in his notepad.

"Your mind holds within itself two different aspects, one that represent everything you are and one that is a product of your mutation." The professor answered. "But they're ultimately both you, as the mutation is inherently a part of you."

"What does that mean?" The confusion was being slowly lifted as he recalled certain memories and slowly made connections. "You mean to say that it's been this thing that's been whispering in my mind all this time!?" Harry suddenly shouted.

"It is highly plausible." The professor seemed taken aback at his sudden outburst.

"I thought I was schizophrenic or just batshit crazy. I even went to multiple psychologists, and nothing helped!" Harry forgot about his situation and surroundings for a moment as he basked in the relief that he wasn't crazy.

Both of the men in the room let Harry have his moment without interrupting him, and after a while Harry brought his focus back into reality.

"Come to think of it, I haven't heard any whispers since last night." Harry wondered out loud.

"That's because I have helped you restrain it within your mind." The professor said to him.

"That means that It's dealt with? I don't have to worry about any more whispers ever again?" Hope, something that had not been present in years, it finally shone through again.

"From what we've found out regarding your mutation, the answer is negative." The professor seemed sad to burst the happy bubble Harry had created.

"Ah, shit. Why?" The hope from before had dwindled, but Harry held on to the last dregs with a death grip. For as long as he could remember, he had heard these whispers. Sixteen long years with no hope of ever purging them from his mind, and now he had something.

"Your mutation is extraordinary. It's potential, from what we can deduce, is limitless." The professor seemed very excited as he spoke about a topic Harry currently wasn't interested in. "It is constantly transforming your body; your body is getting stronger as we speak."

"Your cells are in a constant state of evolution. They are adapting to your surroundings, molding themselves into the most optimal current form." Hank didn't raise his gaze from his notepad as he continued writing and speaking at the same time. "While this process is in reality, a natural occurrence, it would usually take millions of years to change significantly."

"Yours can change in a matter of years, months or even weeks with the correct stimulation and situation." The doctor raised his eyes from his notepad to look straight into his eyes, where Harry could see the barely contained excitement. "This type of X-gene has not been seen before."

"While you are growing in strength thanks to your mutation, so is the mutated aspect within you. It will grow stronger and stronger in time, until eventually it can bypass the help I provided and take control of you and transform you into what it thinks is the most optimal form."

'Ah,' with that revelation of information, the whispers didn't seem all that bad. At least they didn't actually steal his body from him.

"How do you know it wants to do all that?" The hope he had held on to for such a little while was being crushed by a sudden sensation of impending doom, but there was still a tiny little sliver that hoped that the professor was wrong.

"Last night I… talked with it." The professor brought a hand to rub his temples. "It called itself Dragon, and it was utterly, how to say this… dissatisfied with the direction you were taking your body."

"… what." Harry's eyes widened. "What the fuck?! It can observe the world even while not in control?!"

"Apparently. It holds no love for all that is you, even though you are both technically one entity and will do everything in its power to eradicate your mind."

"Your power has to do with minds, right? Can't you just blast it out of me?" The sliver of hope was slipping further and further from his grip.

"I do not hold the power to do that. I don't think anyone has." The professor leaned forward and looked him straight in the eyes. "The only one who can do something about it is yourself, what I've done so far is already at the limits of my powers."

"So, I'm fucked." Harry brought a hand to his face as the last sliver of hope disappeared from his grasp and all that was left was the impending doom looming over him.

"Not necessarily." The fingers parted slightly and revealed a single hazy eye that was almost vacantly staring at the professor.

"Your mutation strengthens your mind as a whole, the mutated aspect utilizes this better and faster than you do. Your aspect of the mind doesn't have the direction and stimulation that the mutated aspect has." The professor revealed a smile. "And that can be changed."

Harry's eyes regained focus as the hand fell from his face and he stared at both of the men in the room.

"So, I'm not completely fucked?"

"You stand a chance at victory." The professor nodded.

"Yay…" Harry cheered despondently.

The professor leaned back into his wheelchair. "It won't be easy, in fact, it will be extremely difficult. The dragon has a whole sixteen-year head start on you after all."

"Fuck." Harry cursed.

"When you manage to gain control of the dragon, you will gain access to that powerful transformation it presented yesterday. Something to look forward to." The professor smiled at him.

"I do remember some bits of it. Did I have wings?" Harry asked.

"Yes." The doctor answered.

"Nice." It wasn't all bad, it seemed.

Who the fuck was he kidding, it was fucking bad times ten but there was nothing that would change it aside from himself. With that in mind, Harry steeled his resolve.

So what if it was going to be hard? He wouldn't succumb to an arrogant lizard in his mind. Not to mention that he would actually have a chance at revenge with the bitch who had been whispering in his mind and making him think that he was crazy for years.

With a sharpness in his eyes, he looked straight into the eyes of the professor in front of him. "Can we start now?"

"Haha, there isn't such a rush. The dragon won't get past the defenses I set up in a day or two." The professor released a laugh as he saw the fire that was ignited within Harry.

"Oh, that's good." Some of the excess readiness faded out after the moment faded, but there was still a definitive goal in Harry's mind.

"Just stay away from excess flames, the dragon gets stronger around those and might even be able to break down the walls." A serious expression permeated the professor's face as he gave Harry a warning.

"Uh-uh, new fear acquired, I guess." Harry nodded while listing flames as a number one priority to get away. "How much flames does the dragon need? Is a candle enough for it?"

"Think more along the lines of flames like last night, any that can cover you completely I suppose." Charles helped clarify the warning.

"Got it. So, campfires would be okay?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"So, the smaller flames don't do anything to it?"

"They do something, you might hear the whispers again, but it won't be enough for it to break past the defenses." The professor turned towards Hank. "We won't tell any of the other students about this part of your mutation, but we will inform the faculty here so that they can be ready in case anything does happen."

Harry nodded as the professor began to make his way out towards the door of the lab.

"Wait, other students?" Harry asked as the first part of the professor's sentence registered.

"Yes, they should be back so it's time for introductions." The professor turned his head towards Harry. "We do have students; this is a school after all."

That did make sense, but if they were students here why were they not present when he woke up? It was a Thursday, so it was a school day.

Hank saw the confusion on his face as the professor made his way out of the lab. "They were out training with Logan. You can follow after him, I'll give you your test results after I've processed them."

Harry nodded and stood up from the bed as Hank started fiddling with the machine adorned with the monitors again.

As he made his way across the laboratory, he walked past a mirror that was on the wall and saw a flash of his reflection to which he paid no mind at first and walked to the door before almost sprinting back to the mirror.

The reflection staring back at him was different from how he remembered it being. The previously black hair was still black but was now adorned with streaks of bluish-white hair. His previously brown eyes had hints of orange and red in them. His muscles seemed to be more pronounced than they had been previously.

"What the fu…"

"Hm?" Hank heard him talking and turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Why has my appearance changed?" Harry turned to look at Hank.

"I assumed it was a side effect of the mutated aspect, or dragon, taking momentary control." Hank replied.

Harry turned back to look at his reflection. At least it didn't look all that bad, if it had been something like yellow streaks of hair. Just thinking about it had him shivering in disgust.

He turned away from the mirror and continued to make his way towards the door, but before he got out of the laboratory Hank shouted at him. "They'll probably ask what your powers are, you can just say regeneration and superstrength!"

Rather than yell back an affirmation, Harry just raised his hand as a mark that he had heard him and made his way out of the laboratory back into the basement hallway and then into the elevator that led up to the base floor.

The elevator doors opened up and revealed the professor sitting there, waiting for him.

"Let's go meet your fellow students." The professor smiled at him.

Harry nodded. "Lead the way."