X-Men: The Gifted Ones

30. CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

Hank McCoy dreaded the secret meetings in Virginia. He knew why the Professor sent him. It was easier physically for Hank to travel because he didn't need to use a wheelchair. Charles seemed to forget that Hank's appearance made it more mentally challenging for Hank to travel. After a nasty incident when Hank decided to fly, Charles had managed to convince the CIA to send a helicopter to retrieve him. Even that came with its own problems. Not every pilot could accustom himself to Hank's appearance. Why did he have to be blue, he always wondered. He wished he could have at least had a normal skin color. The blue was a bit too much for people to handle. Was it so much to ask for a human shade of skin and hair? He supposed his appearance was no more than what he had deserved for being self-conscious about his feet. All he had wanted was to have feet like a human, not a damned orangutan! Instead, the serum he had devised had amplified his mutation. He felt as if he looked a cross between the Wolf Man and a lion, with only a slight resemblance of anything human.

He remembered that Mystique didn't mind. Magneto had actually considered it an improvement. Polaris seemed to like it.

It still didn't help him feel like a man.

It didn't affect his mind, either. That was still as sharp as ever.

Hank dreaded his meetings in Virginia. They were always cloaked with secrecy. The majority of the CIA wished for him to have been killed on that Cuban beach, out of the way for good. Agents Moira McTaggart and William Stryker had other plans for Hank and the other X-Men. Plans that were so secret, the CIA denied the mere existence of anyone like Hank.

Hank found himself in a large room with only McTaggart and Stryker present. They exchanged greetings and sat down at the end of a long table. He knew McTaggart would have hardly any memory of what had happened in Cuba, thanks to Charles erasing her memory. Hank was surprised Charles would do such a thing, but he knew that the Professor did it to protect both Moira and the X-Men. The less people knew, the better.

Hank didn't forget. He never forgot it was Moira's bullet that cost the Professor the use of his legs. He never reminded her, either. Charles insisted on that.

Hank had a feeling few agents knew of this meeting. He groaned inwardly. He was sure he would be asked to convince Charles to get the X-Men involved in another crisis, another one in which he would be lucky to leave it alive.

"Thank you for coming, Dr. McCoy," William Stryker said, starting the meeting. "We have a problem on our hands and we need your help to get Charles Xavier back on board with us."

He was right. He hated being right.

"You are welcome," Hank said, shaking his head, "but I don't think I am able to persuade him."

Moira looked in his eyes, her face devoid of any mirth. "Hank, you don't understand. We're having more and more problems in Vietnam! Soon all hell will break loose!"

Hank returned her stare. "You need to let your own people try to solve it first. Charles won't wish to get any mutants involved. He and his wife have opened a school, that seems to be where his heart is."

"Wife? Charles has a wife?" Moira sputtered, taken aback. "He always seemed more devoted to his X-Men training and research than to any woman."

Hank had to suppress a smile. The beautiful auburn-haired agent remembered a little about Charles. He remembered the two seemed attracted to one another, but the two seemed more married to their work than they had ever been to any humans, and Charles wasn't keen to get drawn into any more of Moira's human affairs. He had said her meddling in his life cost him his privacy and his plans for a quiet, boring life at Oxford. It was unspoken what else Moira had cost Charles. "Yes, he was married a few months ago. The Xaviers have opened up a school to train mutant children to live among humans, to use their mutations safely. He will not want to divert his energies into this war that your people are engaged in."

William glowered, "Then I suggest you change his mind. Like it or not, he will be involved in this war; he better start training his people for it now."

Hank folded his hands in front of him and felt as if these agents would force him to act. He knew he was Charles' representative here, he hoped he was acting and deciding as Charles would have. "Charles will only get involved if Magneto chooses to cause trouble. He trains his people around fighting Magneto, not fighting for humans. Charles prefers to live quietly now, away from your troubles, and concentrating on helping mutants live peacefully among everyone. He'll have none of your war. This meeting is over. Good day, McTaggart, and good day, Stryker."

Moira stood up. "Good day, Hank. And, pass on my congratulations to Charles on his marriage." She exited the room. Hank noticed she seemed annoyed. He supposed she remembered Charles' early eagerness to help her find the Mutant Brotherhood. Her altered memories did not include Charles' disenchantment with the CIA or how she herself was nearly left for dead, a mere piece of collateral damage. Had Charles included those, she would have understood.

Hank gathered up his papers and prepared to leave, but it seemed as if William lingered to talk to him alone.

"Dr. McCoy, if you don't mind staying for a few moments, I have a question about this... school you mentioned."

"Yes, Mr. Stryker?"

"You said it was a school for training mutant children to use their powers?"

Interesting, Hank thought. Did I reveal too much? Will he try to use my students? Will he want me to convince Charles to get the CIA involved in his school? "Yes. He has already started their first school year and so far the children seem to be doing well. The idea is to help train them to use their powers appropriately."

"I suspect my grandson, Jason, may have some... powers. Would you mind meeting me later so I can introduce you to him?"

Stryker with a mutant grandson? He knew Charles would be interested to know this. "Why, yes, I can do that."

William smiled appreciatively, "Thank you. He and his mother have been staying with me here. My son, Bill, is off in Vietnam right now. He's in the same company with several of your X-Men that have joined the Army."

"Yes, yes," Hank nodded. "With Thunderbird, Forge, and Warpath, right?"

"Yes. I have to admit, Bill was hesitant about working alongside mutants. He had initially expressed a great deal of anger at being shipped out with three known mutants in his company. But hopefully working with them will show him how we can work with mutants, together."

"Your son seems to have a strange aversion to mutants, considering that his own son may be one," Hank observed.

"You may understand more when you meet Jason," William smiled weakly.

Hank was intrigued indeed. He decided he had to meet this boy for himself.