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Roger shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic thoughts in his mind. He cleared his throat to ease the awkward atmosphere, then pointed at Clarice, who had already fallen asleep.
"Ahem, let's not talk about for now. Look at her, I spoke with her earlier. She ntioned being locked up in a room once but can't rember where it was, so..."
"You want to read her mory to find the place where she was held?" Jean quickly understood Roger's intentions and asked.
Roger nodded and inquired, "Yeah, can you do that?"
"I should be able to. But... you also ntioned her ability is teleportation, right? She might only rember the layout of the room and not the route back to it..."
Jean understood that Roger wanted to find other mutants who might be held captive through Clarice’s mories. However, since Clarice's escape was due to teleportation, it was likely that she had accidentally opened a portal and escaped without rembering the exact location.
If that was the case, then reading Clarice's mory might not be of much help.
"No worries, let’s give it a try first."
Roger decided to let Jean try, thinking, “It doesn’t hurt to try.”
Jean Grey didn’t hesitate and followed Roger’s suggestion to access Clarice’s mory. Since it was rely reading and not altering mories, Jean didn't feel much resistance.
As she placed her hand on Clarice’s forehead, she suddenly thought of Charles. In a way, what she was doing was similar to what Charles might do. Sotis, reading or sealing mories might not necessarily be a bad thing. Jean began to understand Charles a little more.
Putting these thoughts aside, Jean focused on reviewing Clarice’s recent mories as she placed her hand on her forehead.
anwhile, Roger waited nearby, observing the room where Clarice was staying. It was well-decorated, with a style that clearly belonged to a young girl.
More specifically... this room used to be Jean’s, from when she was a child.
Jean's father, John, had preserved her room, and judging by how clean it was, he likely cleaned it daily. This suggested that, on the surface, John seed to resent his daughter and wanted her gone, but deep down, he didn't completely despise her. He just couldn't co to terms with the fact that his daughter was involved in her mother's death.
Caught between his wife and his daughter, John must have been in a tough spot.
After a while, Jean Grey finished reading Clarice's mories and gained so understanding of the situation. She removed her hand from Clarice’s forehead, stood up, and turned to Roger, shaking her head.
Roger frowned and asked, "Couldn't find anything?"
"Just as I suspected. She escaped accidentally using her ability while panicking, so she doesn’t know where she was being held."
"Were there others in that place besides her?"
"No, her mory only shows her being the sole mutant there. But it's possible that those who captured her intentionally separated the mutants."
Jean didn’t glean any information about who was behind the scenes, nor did she uncover other useful details. It seed that this attempt to read Clarice’s mories was unsuccessful.
Roger thought for a mont, then said to Jean, "It's alright. If we didn’t find anything, it’s fine. Since they seem to value Clarice so much, they’ll likely co after her again. When that happens, we can follow the trail back to their main base."
"I guess that's our best option," Jean replied.
She hesitated, as if wanting to share sothing with Roger. While going through Clarice's mories, Jean had seen her parents and witnessed the mont they handed Clarice over to the military. Because Jean could sense Clarice's emotions while reading her mories, she felt a certain empathy for her and wanted to speak with Clarice's parents.
However, Jean chose not to ntion this to Roger. Even if she were to find Clarice’s parents, what good would it do? It would only cause Clarice more heartache.
Moreover, Jean hadn’t even resolved her own issues with her father, so she felt in no position to interfere with soone else’s family matters.
In the end, she simply said to Roger, "It's late. Go get so rest."
"Alright. Where am I staying tonight?"
"John ntioned there’s a guest room available. You can stay there."
"And you?"
"I’ll stay here to look after Clarice. She’s been through a lot," Jean said softly, looking at Clarice, who was lying in bed.
With Jean staying behind to care for Clarice, Roger headed to the guest room that John had prepared for him. The night passed without any further incidents, and Roger slept soundly until morning.
The next morning, Roger woke up to the sll of breakfast. Leaving the guest room, he found Clarice sitting at the dining table, waiting, while Jean was busy in the kitchen, using her telekinesis to prepare breakfast.
Under her telekinetic control, various ingredients floated through the air in an orderly manner, dropping into a pot in front of her.
Nearby, the oven emitted the rich aroma of freshly baked pancakes.
Roger was surprised to see Jean Grey cooking in the kitchen. He hadn't expected the Phoenix to have such a skill.
"You're up?" Jean greeted him with a smile when she saw him co out of the guest room.
Roger nodded, looking astonished as he took a seat at the dining table. "You can cook? That’s surprising."
"What's so surprising about it? These things are easy to make. You could do it too," Jean replied casually, pulling the freshly baked pancakes from the oven.
Hearing that, Roger didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he turned to Clarice, who was sitting at the dining table, and asked, "How did you sleep last night?"
"Very well, thank you," Clarice responded politely.
Roger continued, "Can you rember where your ho is?"
"..."
Hearing Roger ntion her ho, Clarice fell silent, and after a long pause, she whispered, "Are... are you going to send back?"
Since Clarice's parents had handed her over to the military, she felt so resentnt toward them and had no desire to return. In her mind, her parents had never treated her well. Ever since she accidentally damaged their lawn mower when her powers first manifested, her parents, and others, had looked at her like she was so kind of monster.
Nobody would want to return to such a ho, and neither did Clarice.
Seeing her reluctance, Roger reassured her softly, "Don't worry, we're not sending you back. I just want to use them to find other mutants who might be held captive. You managed to escape, but there are still many others like you being held and experinted on. We need to save them."
"So... you’re heroes, right?" Clarice’s eyes lit up.
"Yes, heroes just like Mystique," Jean replied, following up on Clarice’s question.
Roger stayed quiet, simply smiling at the two of them. After all, he wasn’t from this world and didn’t feel it was his place to claim to be a hero for mutants.
But Clarice clearly saw Roger and Jean as heroes, just like Mystique, who was constantly portrayed as a savior by the authorities.
Neither Jean nor Roger shattered Clarice’s perception. After calming her down, Jean turned to Roger and asked, "Are you planning to take her to her parents later?"
"No, just give their address. I’ll go on my own."
Clarice didn’t want to see her parents, and Roger had no intention of forcing her. Besides, he planned to head to Stryker’s base after eting Clarice’s parents, and it would be much easier to go alone rather than with her.
"I’ll go with you," Jean suggested after thinking for a mont.
Roger looked at her in surprise. "You don’t have to co with . This isn’t your fight..."
"No, you’ve got it wrong," Jean said seriously. "This is precisely our fight as mutants. You’re the outsider here. I can’t stand by and watch while soone else fights for us, doing nothing myself."
"...I’m just in this for the fun of it."
"Then that’s perfect. Don’t you think it’ll be more fun with around?" Jean replied, blinking playfully.
Roger was at a loss for words.
Normally, having a beautiful companion was a good thing. As they say, ‘teamwork makes the dream work.’
But Roger had only known Jean for a few days, and she was still a teenager. He couldn’t shake the feeling that taking her along to Stryker’s base felt like leading a young, naive girl into danger.
Plus, he’d promised Charles to look after her. How could he justify dragging her into a risky situation?
Roger instinctively didn’t want Jean to join him on this mission.
But if Jean insisted on coming, he couldn’t stop her. In the end, he relented with a sigh, saying, "It might not be as fun as you think."
"It’s fine. As long as we can help people, I’m in."
Jean seed unfazed.
With their plan settled, Roger and Jean left Clarice at the Grey residence. Together, they set off toward the address Jean had seen in Clarice’s mory.
...
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