Isaac was still in his shop, which was a given since he never really went anywhere, when a small entourage of people stepped inside.
His specters were buzzing around with excitement as they hovered around the unsuspecting group. For a moment he thought he was about to correct an unfortunate mistake, but fortunately for him, he was wrong.
It was a rather stylishly coordinated group. The type that spoke Money, Power and Influence, and of those three, Isaac was only interested in the first one.
The familiar face among the crowd told him that they were going the amiable route, of which he found nothing wrong with. Most would be surprised how little most first impressions amounted to.
"Now, when you said you would be coming back, I thought it would be in a couple days. Not that I am complaining, far be it from me to disparage my potential customers."
"Is that how you usually greet guests?" Ororo asked, taking point at setting a landing zone since she was familiar with the person of interest.
"One of few. One of few." Isaac chuckled. "Pleasantries heeded, how may I be of help to these friends of yours? My name is Isaac. Merchant."
Behind Ororo was Scott who was pushing along Professor Xavier. Both of them were flanked by Logan and Jean — all remaining silent as Ororo did the introductions.
"The pleasure is all mine to your wonderful acquaintances." Isaac replied like an ever gracious host, which he was. "Just out of curiosity, and feel free to tell me off, but is this about the inquiry made on your last visit?" He asked Ororo.
Said inquiry was the purchase of the marble-fied special agents, something which they all understood but their expressions remained the same, except for Logan whose brow quirked up.
"In adjacent." She answered neutrally, despite feeling anything but.
"Oh? Well I'm all ears."
Professor Xavier wheeled forward, this time without Scott's help, in the surprisingly spacious shop and came to park beside Ororo and in front of Isaac's station.
"If I may," he started, "Ororo here has told us about her most recent dialogue with you and while that is a major part of what we came here for, how about we start with the smaller things, my friend. I say this from no position of authority, we just want to know who, or what, we're dealing with."
Isaac sighed mentally. It was the same song and dance with these people. This was a pawnshop for crying out loud. Why must there always be a long conversation before any purchase?
It wasn't that he was complaining, as he also loved the occasional conversation – wholeheartedly preferring it to any instance of boredom – but sometimes he just found himself in a mood to sell any and everything to the highest bidder.
"Fair," Isaac said, failing to hide the twinge of disappointment that flashed across his face. "I don't know what you want to know but all I am is a Merchant, along with everything it entails."
"Right," Charles said, clearing his throat, "But I want to know what the buying and selling entails. Let's call it academic curiosity."
"No need to fancy up the words with me; it means what it means. You have anything to sell, I buy. You want anything to buy, I sell."
"Anything?" Charles asked and leaned forward with a genuine curious gleam in his eyes.
"It can be anything, as long as I'm interested." Isaac affirmed.
"Like a spinal cure?"
"Easy."
"A gene unlocker. Magical defense. Mental defense."
"All are part of the general catalog."
"Immunity." Charles posed.
Isaac waved his hands lackadaisically, "You have to be more specific. Or you don't, doesn't matter. I've got it."
The professor nodded and leaned back into his chair. "And the price to pay?"
"You can either pay in your local currency or pay gold or whatever you have of value, doesn't matter."
"And say, how much will this wheelchair cost in respect to the spinal cure?" It was a harmless trick question aimed at Isaac's potential ability to analyze things, after all no one knew the exact worth of that chair more than him.
No one reacted when there was a bluish-white glowing ring in Isaac's eyes as he looked over the Professor. "Mhm, scabbed nerve damage and a neurological disconnection. Low level remedies like Estus and Phoenix Down won't cut it, not even close. We'll probably have to go with a Senzu Bean and an Athelas combination for the neuro-disconnect."
"Hmm, given the fact that it's your wheelchair and it also functions as a foci for psychic energy… I'll say it covers it. We'll have to throw in some anesthesia to numb the pain, but yeah, it's in your price tab. So how about it, wanna trade?"
"Haha," Charles gave a wry laugh, "I won't say I'm not tempted." The others with him gave him severe looks but otherwise kept quiet.
"What did you mean when you said 'numb the pain'?" Ororo asked.
"Well, Senzu beans heal a lot of things but the damage to his spine is too old, decades old if I'm not mistaken, so you'll need to–"
"Injure the spine again." Charles finished unperturbed. "To be honest I thought your recommended process would be less painful."
"I have those but they cost more. If you had just recently snapped your back, it would have been infinitely cheaper to fix. 200 bucks for an Estus and you'd have been good to go. And you being a psychic made it worse."
Now that seemed to have gotten their attention because none of them mentioned anything about him being a psychic.
The look on Charles' face was one that said he was right and one of his hypotheses was being confirmed.
"How so?" Props to him, he paid it no mind and rolled on forward with his inquiry.
"You don't know?" Isaac deadpanned at him. 'Really?' his eyes seemed to say.
"I guess that's fair." Charles conceded faithfully. Mind over matter – for psychics, this saying was even more true. His mind had long convinced his body that his legs were gone and he wouldn't be able to walk again ever. The mental conclusion was nigh-absolute that no amount of healing – technological, magical, or even arbitrary – worked, not unless they took care of the neurological damage his psychic ability had done to his body.
Which was where the Athelas came into play.
"So what, this guy cool or sumtin?" Logan asked, finally breaking the quiet audience spell.
"Impatient as ever, Logan." The way he shook his head looking fed up suggested that this was a usual occurrence between them.
"Whatever, I'm checking out the joint. Got a problem with that?" Logan looked pointedly at Isaac who simply waved him off, the Merchant more focused on Xavier and the impending trade he could almost smell.
"So what's it going to be?" Isaac asked. There was this tingle in the back of his neck that quietly told him that dealing with these guys would yield a much more profitable avenue.
"Professor?" Ororo called out softly.
"I find myself at an impasse–"
"Fuckin' hell, just get it over with, Chuck." Logan shouted over from in between rows of shelves which made Charles chuckle.
"Now let's not be hasty—"
"That's how you know it's about to be a life changing decision." Isaac came in with a masterful assist. "And besides, if it works you won't need it anymore when you walk out."
"And if it doesn't?" Scott asked inquisitively, eyes structurally hidden behind a visor.
"I give you my most sincere apology, and you get to walk away with any single thing you want for free." Isaac replied carefreely as if it was never a point of worry.
"And you'll just let us do so?" Scott asked, looking a bit surprised at the easy admittance, as well as Jean and Ororo, given their shallow impression of Isaac from whatever Ororo had told them.
"Shop Policy." Isaac gave an eye shrug. "Got no choice unless I want a strike on my license." As he said so, a transparent pouch of what looked like green peas appeared in his hands while a flower pot of Athelas and a pill bottle appeared on the counter.
The smile on his face stretched when he saw that they had little to no reaction to the updated scene.
They were being extra trusting of his words, not just because of Ororo's words, but also because of the confirmation Xavier had gotten from his source, as well as the identification of the mutant 'cure'.
"I feel like we're all glossing over the pain part. Shouldn't we call Hank?" Jean couldn't help but feel a bit concerned, especially in a place like this that was so eerily silent and alive.
At Jean's concern, they all turned to look at Isaac who easily assuaged the young woman's rising fears.
"As long as they know what they are doing, it shouldn't be hard at all. You just need to damage the spine, preferably after taking your anesthesia or going under, minutes later after chugging down the Athelas, before taking the bean. It's instantaneous."
"You know what? I think it's time I take a leap of faith." The decision was spontaneous, not alike the ever prodding man that Charles Xavier was. He said it in the heat of the moment because of a feeling he got.
"Eh it's more of a walk the plank situation, but since we're going for it, who cares, right?" Isaac said as he walked round the counter to come in front of Charles Xavier.
Jean and Scott stood behind the man semi-protectively as Isaac took out a single bean and the entire stalk of flowers.
"I'll be taking a service charge percentage for the procedure." His eyes started glowing as Xavier gave the nod. First he gave him the pill.
"What is that?" Ororo leaned closer and asked.
"Soma Vapor. It's a narcotic." Isaac paused and gave an even stare to her questioning looks. "All drugs are narcotics, technically."
They watched as Charles leaned back into his chair with clouded eyes, tension in their posture but a look from Ororo made them bear it in silence.
The Athelas leaves and flowers plucked themselves out of the stem and swirled above Isaac's palm, turning into hazy fine dust in front of the watching audience of four, Logan having silently returned somewhere between the first act and the second.
The misty herbs flowed into Charles' nostrils and an expression of serene peace overcame the old man.
Isaac took the Senzu bean but this time he was interrupted by a tight-faced Scott who was trying to keep his frown neutral.
"This is the part where you break his spine… again."
"It's already broken." Isaac simply replied and squeezed the Professor's mouth off to chug the healing pea down his throat.
"There." He dusted his hands with a satisfied smile. He turned to Scott and Logan whose shoulders were hunched and looked as if they were contemplating making a decision but didn't because they were told to stay put.
"Why isn't he waking up yet?" Logan asked, keeping his voice to a normal questioning volume but failing to hide the threat underneath it.
"How would I know? Probably fixing up some mental issues somewhere deep in his brain. He'll be out of his head anytime he wants to." Isaac answered dismissively. "Now that that is out of the way, anything I can get you two fine gentlemen?"
"Save it. Whatever you're selling, I ain't buying." Logan huffed with crossed arms, eyes not leaving the dull-eyed Professor and not interested in anything else.
Isaac did not let that deter him one but as he simply pivoted to the man beside the gruff. "And you, good sir, might I interest you in something fabulous?"
Scott, like Logan, did not look interested, at least not until he directed a look from Xavier to Ororo, and then back to a smiling Isaac, before starting to feel a little academic curiosity.
"Like what?" He was someone that was hardly surprised by anything so him asking was synonymous with saying 'surprise me'.
Isaac dug his hands into his pocket and brought out a little box which he extended to Scott. Inside of the box were three pairs of contact lenses.
"Now I don't mean to pry, but I believe wearing sunglasses indoors is a poor fashion choice. Also I couldn't help but notice that there's an unhealthy amount of energy building up behind those glasses. If the ruby-quartz helps with the containment then you don't have to fear, with a small fee, which the cost of your visor will cover, I can integrate the components of your glasses into those contacts. And trust me, they are a better upgrade."
—Ocular HUD Control Lenses (Cyberpunk 2077): Smart lenses with built-in scanning, targeting, trajectory prediction and output governors.
Sleek, minimal and as normal as any piece of fashion ought to be(when fashion also doubles as micro militia arms).
Gives a sniper-like precision and range. Turns raw power into tactical precision.
Price: $470,000 (Custom made)
"I believe you should take it, Scott. You won't have to hide your eyes anymore with those."
Scott's attention which had been on the lenses snapped to his side where Charles Xavier was awake, smiling at him. Standing just beside him.
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