Energy Growth and the Welcome Party (Revised)

Alkali Laboratory.

The cold metal operating table pressed against his back, the glaring shadowless lights burned his field of vision into a stark white, and the air still lingered with a painfully familiar sweet scent mixed with disinfectant and a hint of blood.

Miles found that he was lying here once again. Hemiplegic, unable to move, like a piece of meat waiting to be carved.

Before him, Dr. Zander Rice was smiling, that refined yet emaciated face exactly the same as in his memory. He held a brand-new Cerebrospinal Fluid Extractor, walking slowly toward Miles.

"Long time no see, Dr. Zander." Seeing this scene, Miles actually raised a hand and gave him a cheerful wave. "I've really missed you to death!"

Then, the hand Miles had just raised came to rest against his temple, and without a shred of hesitation, he activated his power, intending to make this man use the scalpel in his hand to drill a hole right through his own head!

However, nothing happened.

Miles found that his power had failed.

Dr. Zander arrived at Miles's side, drawing a scalpel to prepare to cut open the back of Miles's head.

"Don't be nervous, Miles," the doctor's voice was gentle enough to chill the bone. "This is just a very small surgery..."

Before Dr. Zander could finish his words, Miles abruptly moved.

The instant the blade fell, the paralyzed Miles suddenly exploded into action! He lunged like a beast breaking free from its cage, snatched the scalpel from Zander's grip, and ruthlessly drove it back into his throat!

"Slash!"

The sound of the blade sinking into flesh was clearly audible.

Dr. Zander's smile froze. He clutched his continuously bleeding neck, his eyes filled with disbelief, and as his throat emitted a wet, leaking gurgle, he toppled straight down.

Miles lay sprawled on the operating table, a venomous and ecstatic smile blooming across his blood-spattered face.

"As expected... stabbing you to death with my own hands feels so much more satisfying!"

The moment his voice fell, the sound of rustling footsteps gradually echoed from the surrounding shadows.

Countless identical Dr. Zanders walked slowly from all directions, each face bearing the exact same smile, and in each hand, they held a brand-new scalpel and a Cerebrospinal Fluid Extractor.

Seeing this, Miles first froze for a moment, and then the corners of his mouth slowly split open into a wild, euphoric grin.

"There are still this many Zanders left to kill? I love you to death, Dr. Zander!!"

"Hah... hah..."

Miles jerked upright from the bed, his chest heaving violently as cold sweat slid down his temples and soaked the pillow. He instinctively wiped his face, though his fingertips met only dry skin, yet viscerally, the warm, viscous stench of blood from the dream refused to dissipate.

Had he had a nightmare?

Jossen's hypnotic influence hadn't worn off yet?

Miles leaned back against the headboard of his bedroom, an inexplicable sense of hollow disappointment welling up in his heart. He slowly clenched his right hand, seemingly still able to recall the tactile feel of the scalpel handle and the intoxicating resistance of flesh and blood as the blade pierced the windpipe.

What a terrible pity.

If he hadn't woken up so fast, he could have at least stabbed the remaining Dr. Zanders one by one and built a gruesome victory monument out of their skulls just for fun.

Too bad the dream was over.

"Aurora, how long have I been asleep?" Miles called out.

"Twenty-seven hours and fifteen minutes," Aurora's steady, ripple-free voice replied from the bedside communicator. "Your heart rate spiked to one hundred and eighty beats per minute during the final stage of sleep, accompanied by intense neural activity. Based on physiological indicators, you experienced an extremely vivid nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Miles shook his head, rolling his somewhat stiff neck. "No, that was a wonderful dream."

Upon returning from the mission, Miles had been utterly exhausted mentally, walking straight back to his room, burying himself in the bed, and sleeping until he had just woken up now.

After all, his mental energy loss during the previous mission had been far too severe.

Emerging from the grogginess of just waking up, Miles instinctively touched his stomach again.

"Ugh, I'm so starving..."

Having gone without food for over a day, Miles put on his clothes, stepped out of his room, and headed for the kitchen to scavenge something to eat.

Yet he had only taken two steps before he stopped, feeling that something was amiss.

The brushed texture on the metal panels of the corridor walls every single line looked sharper and clearer than before. He could even hear the faint sound of liquid flowing through the distant pipes, and smell the faint trace of accumulated dust on the filters of the air-circulation system.

As his perception continued to spread, Miles's psychic power gradually and vastly exceeded the boundaries of the institute, extending to the town several miles away. The thoughts of pedestrians, the honking of cars, the music from shops... countless noisy fragments of consciousness assailed him like a blizzard.

Shortly afterward, Miles reined in his perception, rubbed his slightly dizzy head, and couldn't help but smile happily.

Miles found that the range of his psychic perception seemed to have grown, expanding from the original three kilometers or so to a distance approaching ten kilometers!

Though he didn't know the reason, an improvement in his abilities was always a good thing.

Thinking this, Miles hummed a little tune as he continued toward the kitchen, planning to eat an extra sandwich to celebrate.

Suddenly, a girl walked toward him from the opposite direction.

"Miles?"

"Madeleine?"

Miles and Madeleine stared at each other, both freezing in unison.

At this moment, Madeleine had changed into daily casual wear suited to her teenage years, her vibrant red hair tied back behind her head, and she even wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, making her look much more scholarly.

Facing Miles's gaze, Madeleine looked back with equal seriousness into his eyes, holding it for a full three seconds before the girl finally seemed to have confirmed something.

"Er, hello, Miles," Madeleine spoke up first in explanation. "Yesterday... thank you!"

"Don't mention it," Miles nodded. "Jossen's hypnotic influence is completely gone now. How is your power state?"

"There might still be a risk of losing control, but it's already much better than before," Madeleine replied, then added, "Oh, and Miles, I accepted Professor Charles Xavier's invitation to join the institute. From now on, we're classmates!"

"Great," Miles nodded with a soft laugh. "Welcome to the Xavier Institute, classmate Madeleine."

"Yeah." Madeleine nodded in return.

Then she just looked like that into Miles's face, gradually becoming somewhat lost in thought.

One second.

Two seconds.

"Uh..." Miles said somewhat unnaturally, "Is there something on my face?"

"Sorry, no." Madeleine only then recovered from her trance, hurriedly shaking her head forcefully.

"Oh." Miles was somewhat puzzled, but didn't dwell on it, switching topics instead. "I'm heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Care to come along?"

Madeleine instinctively wanted to accept, but after thinking it over, she shook her head instead.

"...No thanks, I just had breakfast."

"Oh." Miles didn't mind in the least, and prepared to bypass Madeleine to head to the kitchen by himself.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Madeleine called out to him again.

"What is it?" Miles turned back in confusion.

"..."

Madeleine took a deep breath, appearing as though she wanted to say something, but still failing to open her mouth.

A few seconds later, the girl sighed. "Sorry... next time."

With that, Madeleine walked away with a heavy, preoccupied expression.

"...Bye."

Miles waved in puzzlement, watching Madeleine leave without overthinking it, and continued on his own way toward the kitchen.

Fished a sandwich out of the kitchen refrigerator, Miles glanced at the dry slices of bread and the thin slice of ham sandwiched between them, sighed, and casually tossed it into the microwave.

The metal housing began to hum monotonously as the food rotated. Leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, Miles closed his eyes and called out to Charles in his mind.

"Charles, did you really just keep Madeleine at the institute like that?"

A gentle voice immediately sounded in his mind, as if waiting on standby the whole time. "Miles, I thought you would ask about the changes in your own body first."

"That can wait," Miles kept his eyes closed. "Let's talk about Madeleine first. The military took such a huge loss because of her; knowing them, there's no reason they'd swallow their pride... and most importantly, we still know far too little about Madeleine."

"Madeleine Pryor, a mutant genetic clone created by the geneticist Dr. Stasis, fourteen years old, raised in a laboratory since childhood. Normally we should find a way to contact her family, but the problem is her only 'father', Dr. Stasis, is currently missing," Charles said slowly. "She's just like the rest of you, Miles—a child trapped by her own power, needing guidance and help."

"I'm already well aware of all that, so tell me something I don't know, Charles," Miles continued. "For instance, if the federal government learns about Madeleine, will they allow her to join us? And Madeleine's Phoenix Force also carries the risk of spinning out of control at any moment. We've already got several 'time bombs' sheltered here as we speak."

"I will take responsibility for keeping her steady, Miles," Charles stated calmly. "I've reached an agreement with the Agency for Threat Evaluation and Normality Enforcement (ATHENA). I promised that the Xavier Institute will engage in deeper cooperation with her 'Athena' office. In exchange, I secured custody of Madeleine."

"A deal with government agencies?" Miles joked. "You aren't going to send us to a lab as white mice, are you?"

"Of course not," Charles denied, his tone gradually turning serious. "Miles, do you know how many newly awakened mutants have been discovered across the United States over the past three months?"

Miles paused, hazarding a guess. "...Dozens?"

"Five hundred and forty-two."

"Well, that's not too bad," Miles thought for a moment and said. "Given a national population base of hundreds of millions, that hardly counts for much."

"But you must realize that prior to this, the world hadn't seen a single new mutant born in years," Charles continued. "The speculation you made a year ago has begun to come true, Miles. Our era has arrived ahead of schedule, in a way none of us anticipated."

"Now, no matter how unwilling the federal government is to admit it, they are forced to face this reality. The era of 'The New Mutants' is about to begin, and the hastily formed 'Agency for Threat Evaluation and Normality Enforcement (ATHENA)' was established under this exact premise. They need our experience and strength, while we also need an opportunity to reintegrate into a new era. Because of the Westchester New Mutant Agreement, we cannot easily take action externally, so there's no reason to pass up such an opportunity."

Silently opening the microwave, Miles pulled out the steaming-hot sandwich with its slightly hardened edges. He took a large bite, chewing vigorously. The food tasted quite ordinary, but the emptiness in his stomach eased considerably.

"Fine," he replied mentally while swallowing his food. "Cooperation is fine, but let me remind you, Charles, they aren't trustworthy. We need to maintain vigilance against them at all times."

"I understand, Miles," Charles answered.

"No, you don't," Miles took another bite of the sandwich. "Charles, if one day I find out that someone in a lab coat holding a Cerebrospinal Fluid Extractor suddenly shows up in this place again... regardless of whether they're from the 'Athena' office or the 'Apollo' project, I will snap their neck with my own hands, just like I did to Zander Rice."

Charles fell silent for a moment.

"...Just now, Logan said the exact same thing to me," his voice sounded somewhat helpless. "Though, his phrasing was much cruder."

"Alright," Miles reluctantly accepted this explanation. "Then back to the first topic—can you sense what changes happened to my body?"

"It's a very obvious situation," Charles replied. "Your power has grown."

"Is it related to Madeleine?" Miles swallowed the last bite of the sandwich and continued speaking in his mind. "For a full year, my psychic power showed no signs of growth at all, but right now, just after I woke up from that mission and slept it off, I found that my mental energy has increased immensely, and... it's still growing slowly."

"That is precisely what I wanted to tell you before, Miles," Charles explained. "Prior to this, your psychic power was only at Delta... meaning Level Two. Frankly speaking, that didn't make much sense. Your mutant genes originated from me, and you even directly inherited my mind control; logically speaking, you should have at least possessed Tier Four (Beta) potential. I used to think it was because you were too young, yet over the past year, even after your body recovered, your abilities still remained unchanged..."

"Then there is only one reason left," Charles sighed. "You suffered too much trauma at the Alkali Laboratory, most of it directed at your brain, to the extent that your mental potential was severely damaged. That constitutes a severe case of 'congenital deficiency'."

"..." Miles remained silent, listening very intently.

"However, during the mission the day before yesterday, you managed to successfully wake her up within Madeleine's psychic world. Do you know what that means?" Charles's tone gradually shifted. "Madeleine is a clone of Jean, and her psyche harbors the embryonic form of the Phoenix Force. To all physical forms, that symbolizes indiscriminate destruction; it is the most terrifying power in this world. Yet you managed to persevere through the strength of your own will..."

"I didn't..." Miles sighed. "I remember that while my will held out a bit longer than yours back then, that was all it was. It was completely impossible to contend with the Phoenix Force. The reason I succeeded... was because the Phoenix Force's burning of me weakened..."

"Weakened?" Now it was Charles's turn to be surprised.

"Yeah," Miles answered. "I feel like the Phoenix Force must have its own consciousness... It seemed to express 'approval' of me."

"I'd actually caught a glimpse of this matter before, but even so, if you truly could win the approval of the Phoenix Force... that really is a remarkable thing," Charles muttered to himself. "This at least explains why Delia's abilities didn't change..."

"That must be the reason," Miles murmured to himself. "The Phoenix Force represents the fire that destroys everything, but at the same time, it also represents—"

"Rebirth."

That evening, the hall of the Xavier Institute was decorated with ribbons and balloons, and the long tables were laden with food and drinks.

Because three new students had arrived in the span of just a few days, Richter proposed that the youngsters host a small welcome party for Dani, Sam, and Madeleine.

"Hello, I'm Madeleine Pryor."

As she spoke, Madeleine flicked her hand, and an invisible mental telekinesis swept out, pouring a glass of juice for everyone.

Clearly, even without the influence of the Phoenix Force, Madeleine herself was a powerful telekinetic user. The sheer telekinetic control technique displayed right then was unquestionably far stronger than Delia's.

"I grew up in a lab, never went to school, and don't know much. Anyway... I hope I can become friends with everyone from now on!"

It was evident that this girl wasn't very skilled at interacting with others, but her personality was very honest and proactive.

Most people present extended a warm welcome to Madeleine, this dazzling, fiery fourteen-year-old girl.

"Welcome, Miss Madeleine," Sam, who was also a new student, offered an enthusiastic expression.

"Welcome!" Gideon, whose appearance differed from ordinary people, forced out a smile.

Jonah likewise wanted to voice a welcome, but he acutely sensed that something was amiss—the reactions of the few people who had participated in the previous mission all seemed a bit strange.

Miles kept a silent expression, Richter and Charlotte were covered in cold sweat, and Delia wore a nervous look.

Thus, Jonah wisely chose to remain silent.

"No problem, Miss Madeleine!" Bobby hurried to speak up in welcome, then nudged Miles with his elbow and whispered, "Miles, Miss Madeleine seemed to keep looking at you while she was talking just now. Aren't you going to say something?"

"Quiet, I'm thinking," Miles said with dull, lazy eyes.

He was feeling somewhat conflicted.

Regarding the problem of his own abilities' "congenital deficiency," even Charles was stumped. Yet now, he had seen a glimmer of dawn in Madeleine.

The troublesome part was that Miles didn't know how to ask Madeleine for help. Was he supposed to just walk up and say, "I want to go back inside your psychic world and take a look again"...?

Very quickly, Miles found that he didn't need to struggle with it.

As soon as Madeleine finished speaking, she walked straight toward him and sat down beside him.

The girl gave Miles a serious look, fell silent for a moment, and then spoke up with absolute directness:

"Miles, I've thought about it for a long time..."

"I still want to tell you... I like you."

"Huh... W-What?!"

Miles, who was in the middle of drinking his cola, froze completely.

At the same time, the conversations of everyone else gradually quieted down, and the ordinary boy Sam, who had just stood up to demonstrate his powers for the crowd, involuntarily slumped back down.

The atmosphere turned slightly awkward.

Generally speaking, very few people expressed romantic feelings toward a friend of the opposite sex directly at a party, especially right in front of everyone.

However, Madeleine didn't know about social norms; she had grown up almost entirely in a laboratory.

After a brief silence, the others turned their gazes toward Miles one after another.

Everyone was curious about how Miles would react.

At this very moment, Miles's brain was spinning at unprecedented speed.

Play dumb? Reject her? Or run away directly?

As for accepting her? Get real, he had a mountain of things to do; where would he have the time to play house with a little girl?

The problem was... if he didn't accept, would he still be able to get her to help treat his power issues in the future?

"Hey, Miles, long time no see."

Just as Miles fell into a dilemma, a familiar figure walked in through the door.

It was Caliban, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Caliban!" Without a second thought, Miles hurried over. "It really has been a long time. I heard you've been running a bar outside the institute lately?"

"Yeah, that's right. Logan and I opened it in partnership. It's called 'The Sun-Chasing Ship'..."

Watching Miles and Caliban conversing with high spirits, Madeleine, who sat by herself in place, could only stare at his back with a displeased look.

But right at that moment, the young girl's face suddenly turned pale and she covered her mouth.

Then, carefully making sure no one around was paying attention to her, she quietly took out a tissue and wiped the blood stains clean off her hands.

"You might not know this, but Logan is currently the most popular man in our bar." Caliban caught up with Miles, saying, "When he drinks, that look on his face full of stories always manages to attract the attention of those girls unconsciously..."

"So, does he have any new developments?"

"Not really, you know, he's been through a lot of crappy things." Caliban let out an emotional sigh and continued, "You know what, I've been hearing news about new mutants from my side quite frequently over the past few months. It seems a new era is truly coming..."

"The New Mutants? What are their abilities?"

"As far as I know..." Caliban was about to continue when his gaze suddenly shifted, noticing Madeleine's gradually unkind expression not far away, and his eyes stalled.

His ability was to sense other mutants... and right now in his perception, the threat Madeleine posed to him in front of him was... almost above Professor Charles Xavier!

"...Ah, I suddenly remembered I have something to do. I came here to find Logan this time and can't keep him waiting..."

Realizing something was wrong, Caliban casually found an excuse and hurriedly ran away.

"...Walk slowly." Miles helplessly watched Caliban leave, sighed, and sat back down again.

Faced with Madeleine's eager gaze beside him, Miles thought it over and finally said helplessly, "Alright... I got it..."

"Phew..."

Richter and a few others subconsciously let out sighs of relief one after another.

They were genuinely afraid that Madeleine would erupt on the spot and tear the whole school apart!

Thus, soon, the party atmosphere returned to normal.

"Oh right, Richter." Jonah asked Richter in a low voice, "Your mission before was to bring Madeleine back, right? Is she really that terrifying?"

"She is truly terrifying!" Richter said in a low voice, "Come to think of it, you might not dare believe it, but I even feel that... she might be scarier than Professor Charles Xavier..."

"...No way!"

"It's true. When she goes berserk, even Logan can't get close to her. Miles and Delia combined couldn't break through her telekinetic defense, and Charlotte was even half-killed just as she activated her power..." Richter said with lingering fear, "That was truly the scariest sight I've ever seen... I was even having nightmares all night long yesterday..."

"Huh? Nightmares?" Jonah was stunned, thought about it, and said, "I think I did too..."

"You too?" Richter was taken aback, then subconsciously asked Gideon on the other side, "How about you, Gideon?"

"What is it?"

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"...I did." Gideon said with lingering fear, "Not just a nightmare... I think I seemed to see Dr. Richard in my room..."

Dr. Richard was also one of the former researchers at the Alkali Laboratory and Dr. Zander's assistant.

Thus, as everyone discussed it, most of them gradually discovered that they seemed to have all had nightmares last night.

"Could it be that Jossen's hypnosis hasn't worn off yet?" Delia said thoughtfully, "Do nightmares are contagious too?"

"How about you, Miles?" Richter asked Miles, "Did you dream of anything?"

"Oh, a good dream." Remembering last night's dream, Miles said somewhat happily, "I killed Dr. Zander over and over again..."

"Is that so?" Richter fell into confusion, "Then that's really strange, why did we all have nightmares, but only you didn't?"

"Do you think it could be like this." Jonah suddenly spoke up, "Actually Miles had a nightmare too, but... you know, a lot of his thoughts are not quite normal..."

"---It's possible."

Hearing everyone gradually begin to discuss the matter of nightmares, Dani, who had all along remained silent on the side, gradually turned pale, seeming to realize some bad thing.

Just then, Sam walked over and said to Dani with some lingering fear: "Damn it... Dani, you absolutely won't believe what I discovered..."

"Wh, what?" Dani asked, feigning calmness.

"These classmates of ours... seem to have all killed people!"

"---Huh?" Dani was genuinely stunned.

Right at that moment, Jonah sneaked over from behind like a phantom and asked in a low voice: "Are you guys talking about me?"

On the other side, watching Miles's helpless look and Madeleine's passion with all her thoughts written on her face, Rebecca nudged Laura beside her with her elbow: "Hey, Laura, aren't you planning to do something?"

"Not planning to." Chewing on a beef patty, Laura said indistinctly, "I think this is very good."

"But clearly you are the person with the best relationship with Miles." Rebecca asked again.

"Rebecca, I am only eleven years old." Laura looked over with a blank expression, "Besides, a build like Miles's is too skinny. I like men who are sturdier and more reliable."

"So Miles doesn't quite fit?"

"He's too crazy."

"That's true too."

Outside the room, Professor Charles Xavier looked from afar at the group of noisy young people in the hall, a gratified smile appearing on his face.

Puberty hormones, undisguised emotions, and that exuberant and chaotic vitality belonging uniquely to the young. All of this made him feel genuinely at ease.

Not long after, Caliban sought him out.

"Charles, I need to discuss some matters with you."

"What is it?" Professor Charles Xavier looked over.

Caliban's expression turned serious, and he said earnestly,

"Remember my proposal from half a year ago, Charles? Regarding the 'Mutant Enhancement Serum' created by Miles." Caliban said, "I asked you back then whether we could carry out larger-scale production and supply?"

Not long ago, Caliban had previously discussed with Professor Charles Xavier the issue of large-scale production of the "Mutant Enhancement Serum". After all, besides the few of them, there were many native mutants in this world who were having a hard time due to genetically modified food, and they all desperately needed this thing.

"I actually also hope to do something for our compatriots, but like we said before, the technology is not yet mature." Professor Charles Xavier said helplessly, "The principle of the 'Mutant Enhancement Serum' is to perform targeted genetic improvement through reverse genetic engineering on individuals with optimized genes. The key to how Logan and I were able to recover our powers lies in the existence of Miles and Aurora, but this situation clearly does not apply to everyone. Miles and Aurora are researching a second-generation serum, which theoretically should be able to work universally for all native mutants, but it still takes time..."

"No, that's not what I want to talk about." Caliban shook his head, then said seriously, "Charles, what I want to tell you is that the serum you mentioned 'capable of taking effect on all native mutants' has already appeared."

"Hmm?" Professor Charles Xavier's expression sank.

"Three months ago, the mega gene corporation Essex Corporation broadcasted a message to all mutant groups that they had successfully developed the 'Rebirth Serum', which could help those mutants who lost their powers to reactivate them, but the price was needing to voluntarily participate in their gene experiments."

"Essex Corporation..." Professor Charles Xavier muttered to himself. Both Miles and Aurora had mentioned this enterprise to him, and even the basic data for the "Mutant Enhancement Serum" came from this enterprise's database.

"After they released the message, many mutants were skeptical, but just as many desperate mutants agreed to their demands and voluntarily participated in their gene experiments." Caliban slowly said, "I was also tracking this matter before, but the problem was that that batch of mutants vanished without a trace shortly after joining Essex Corporation, and the outside world couldn't get the slightest bit of news. Until a few days ago, they finally reappeared."

"And then?" Professor Charles Xavier asked, "Have their abilities recovered?"

"Mm, yes." Caliban nodded, "Not only have they recovered all their former abilities, but many testers even stated that they have become stronger than before."

"..." Professor Charles Xavier fell into deep thought.

"Although I don't know the inside story, I believe something is about to happen." Caliban said to Professor Charles Xavier in a low voice, "This matter should soon blow up in various mutant circles. I can even foresee how many people will desperately crowd into the Essex Corporation building... But I also know that the federal government will not just sit back and watch this happen..."

"Charles, the storm is coming."