"Alright..."

  Jean replied softly, slowly undoing the handkerchief aly pg it oable beside her.

  "I'll apply the medie."

  Scott immediately sat o her, taking her hand in his and skillfully applying the oi. His movements were quid effit, and soon, the medie was thhly spread on her wound.

  "I ba myself."

  Not wanting to trouble Scott any further, Jean took the bandages from the table and started ing her hand herself.

  Scott didn't stop her. He stood up and casually began looking around the room. Everything was just as he remembered.

  It wasn't the first time he had been inside Jean's room. Their retionship had already gone beyond friendship, though they hadn't quite crossed the lio being a couple. It was more of an unspoken bond, oep away from something more.

  In his mind, Jean had already bee his girlfriend. He was sure she felt the same way.

  But there were still some ges in the room.

  For instahe handkerchief Jean had used to bind her wound was the only item that didn't carry any trace of their retionship.

  On his way here, Scott had heard about why Jean was ihat damn human had dared to send her a rose to express his feelings. The nerve of him.

  As Scott looked at the handkerchief, it reminded him of that human, and his anger fred. He felt an overwhelming urge to erase all signs of that man.

  "This handkerchief looks awful. It's probably from that human. Jea me take care of it. Humans shouldn't be allowed to leave anything behind."

  As he said this, Scott reached for the handkerchief, ready to use his ser vision to turn it to ash. He wao destroy any st trace of that human and cut off any e Jean might still have with him.

  "Don't!"

  Just as Scott's hand was about to touch the handkerchief, Jean's sharp scream echoed through the room. A powerful shockwave spread outward from her, sending Scott, who was closest to her, flying across the room and crashing to the ground.

  "Ah! Jean, what are you doing?!"

  Scott y on the ground, writhing in pain.

  Unlike Erik, he didn't have special battle gear, nor could he trol magic fields to absorb the shock. After taking the full force of the impact, he felt his blood surge painfully within him, leaving him in agony.

  Meanwhile, Jean, who had once been so close to him and almost became his lover, showed no for Scott's dition. She immediately stood up and clutched the handkerchief tightly to her chest.

  "I... I don't want to lose it."

  It was as if she could feel Reid's warmth through the cold fabric of the handkerchief. Slowly, Jean began to calm down, realizing she had just lost trol and hurt Scott in the process.

  "I'm sorry, Scott."

  However, Jean didn't reach out to help him. Instead, she used her telekiic powers to lift Scott up and steady him.

  "Could you please leave for now? I'm feeling a bit tired today."

  Though she said the words kindly, Scott still felt an invisible force pushing him out of the room, as if he had no choice but to leave.

  "Wait! Jean, I still have something to say, wait..."

  Before Scott could finish, the door smmed shut with a bang, and it was locked from the inside.

  "Jean...."

  Realizing that Jean had kicked him out, Scott first felt a wave of disappoi. But soon, his thoughts turo that damn human.

  "It's all that bastard's fault! I'll kill him!"

  Looking at the darkening sky outside the window, Scott could only fort himself, thinking it wasn't the right time yet. He would wait for an opportunity with the professor and the others.

  Ihe room, Jean was back to being alone. Her emotions slowly stabilized as she y on the bed.

  'Reid.'

  Clutg the bloodstained handkerchief, she slowly drifted into sleep.

  ......

  Elsewhere, in a hotel.

  Reid had decided not to go to New York today. Sitting on the bed, he pulled up the system again.

  'System, did you do something to my appearance? Jean fell for me at first sight. How I believe this?'

  It wasn't like he hadn't looked at himself in a mirror. He thought he looked quite handsome, but it shouldn't have been that exaggerated.

  Sure, Marvel's female heroes liked to fall for ahey met, but this was a bit much.

  Even when Logan and Jean kissed, it was because Phoenix was behind it.

  [Host, didn't yinally pn to make Jean tract the Joker Iion? Have you pletely ighe effects of the Joker Iion?]

  'The Joker Iion?' Reid frowned slightly.

  'Even if it's the effect of the Joker Iion, shouldn't Jean just be seeing halluations of the Joker? She tracted the Joker Iion, but what does that have to do with me, Reid?'

  [Host, this virus flows through your blood. Do you really think the Joker Iion alone expin it? You've ied the Joker's abilities, but they aren't a replica. Due to the differences between you and the Joker, the virus in your body is also different.] the system expined patiently.

  Reid began to grasp the meaning behind its words. 'So, the virus in my body is influenced by my personality, but it has simir effects to the Joker Iion. Is that correct?'

  [Precisely, Host.]

  Now that he uood, Reid quickly began to analyze the situation.

  The Joker Iion rewires the ied person's braiime, gradually making them like the Joker.

  For example, when Batman tracted the Joker Iioransformed into the Batman Who Laughs. However, iing someone as strong-willed as Batman required the purest form of the Joker Iion from the Joker's heart.

  But Batman's mental fortitude was leagues above Jean Grey's. If it was difficult to i someone like him, Jean would be far easier to influence.

  Even with the diluted form of the virus from his blood, Reid was fident Jean wouldn't be able to resist it. Sooner or ter, her brain would be altered by the virus.

  "If the Joker Iion makes the ied as insane as the Joker, then what does the virus in my body do?" Reid wondered aloud. "System, stop hiding and expin!"

  If the system had eyes, it would've rolled them by now. But it answered obediently.

  [Host, your virus also has the power to alter an ied person's thinking. However, it doesn't pletely turn them into you. Instead, it subsciously makes the ied regard you as someone special. The specific effects vary from person to person, but the results always be you.]

  "Regard me as someone special?" Reid grinned. Knowing this made everything so much clearer. The virus gave him an undeniable advantage, making future iions and pns signifitly easier.

  From the looks of it, Jean's respoo the virus was a growing affe for him.

  'If it were Tony Stark…'

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