Chapter 017: The School of Mutants (6).
They sat facing each other in the stillness of the office; light from the window cast shadows across their faces as if quietly watching what would be said. Charles was calm, yet the worry lines at the corners of his eyes had not entirely faded. Daniel inhaled, trying to steady his voice as much as he could before he began — because, in truth, these were things he should not have had to reveal.
Daniel started to speak quietly, item by item, like someone unloading a box of evidence before a judge:
"First — you can block parts of your own memory or alter them yourself. It's not some incidental safeguard... these are deliberate measures you put in place when the truth itself became unbearable to you.
Charles looked down for a moment, then slowly raised his eyes. He said nothing, but a pale shadow that crossed his face showed that what had been said was not far from the truth.
"Second — you ran secret experiments on mutations before the school," Daniel continued, his tone firm but devoid of accusation. "You tested the limits of your work on mutational subjects, and one of those experiments harmed other people's brains. You hid it — not because you weren't at fault, but because you feared losing the trust of those who relied on you."
Charles swallowed the words; his hand tapped the desk twice as if trying to hold on to a reality that felt fragile. "Those… are painful memories," he whispered at last, neither confirming nor denying directly.
"Third — there are acts in your past that could be called sins: you erased people's memories at times, sometimes for the 'greater good,'" Daniel said in a low voice. "I know you did that. Not because you're authoritarian, but because you tried to protect others. The outcomes — their traces — remain in you and carve you silently."
Daniel did not pause. "Fourth — you have seen, or been connected to, temporal dangers: through Cerebro or its extensions, visions of parallel universes or possible timelines concerning some of the students have come to you. You hid many of them from the students for fear of altering events themselves; that's why you weren't overly surprised by my story or quick to dismiss it as Scott's fantasy."
Charles spoke, his voice barely strangled: "Those visions… they bore a heavy burden. I share them only rarely."
"Fifth — your relationship with Moira MacTaggert is not merely professional. There are secrets about her, or deeper knowledge of her, that you almost alone possess. Plans were laid based on something only the two of you knew."
Charles's brows knit for a moment, then his eyes opened wide as if Moira's name had resurrected a scene tucked beneath a line of memory. He gave no reply, but his face spoke more than his lips could.
"And finally — a practical secret: you have contingency plans stored in your mind to stop any mutant who becomes a threat — tools, procedures, incentives that aren't recorded anywhere physically," Daniel finished.
A heavy silence fell. Charles seemed to measure his words before they choked in his throat. Then, in a tender, trembling voice, he said, "I don't know what to say frankly. You are right in much of what you've said, and I'm even surprised by other things."
"That must be from parallel worlds." A short pause followed, but Charles's eyes said more than his mouth allowed.
Charles shot Daniel a quick look, then slowly shook his head. "You are telling the truth," he answered finally, his voice steady. "What you've said… makes me believe you now. — And with you knowing all this information that no one else should know, that you came to me and told me—kept it to us only without doing anything with it, that increases my trust in you, more and more." Charles knew inwardly these were words not easily said.
Daniel offered a small smile and then said, "I want a few simple things in return for this information," he said. "Simple measures that can lessen the coming danger — and I won't ask you to put any of your students at risk."
Charles raised an eyebrow and paused as if weighing every word before speaking. "Fine. I'll do what I can, provided it harms no one here."
A faint relief showed on Daniel's face. "First: you and the three outside must not tell anyone about me out there. I want everything to remain as it is."
Charles fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "I will not let them tell anyone. There are things that must remain protected, sometimes even from those we love."
Daniel took another step forward. "Second — I want you to use Cerebro. Just a search, nothing more. I want to look for certain people."
Here Daniel added that he would search for everything Charles knew about heroes and villains to see how they might move later on, even though that would take a long time and great effort, and couldn't be done in one go. Still, Daniel decided he would begin by searching for those close to him who would likely be in New York, like Spider-Man.
Charles said, "That's a reasonable request. I'll do what I can."
Daniel took a bolder step and asked Charles, "Will you help me counter Wilson Fisk and the Purple Man? Not by making your students fight openly — I know you wouldn't do that — but by using Cerebro: I want you to cancel his effect on us during the confrontation, and to reduce his ability to infiltrate minds. I want a temporary wall, nothing more."
Charles furrowed his brow and spoke with blunt honesty. "Using Cerebro to protect your team or non-mutants from the Purple Man's influence — that is an ethical domain. But affecting those allied with Fisk and controlling them — I won't use it much, because it would endanger their minds and that conflicts with my principles, especially since I have already done harm to them, in truth."
"Agreed," Daniel said quickly. "Limits and oversight are necessary. I don't want you to do anything that conflicts with your values. Just a temporary barrier, measures to disrupt the Purple Man's sway over our minds during the confrontation."
They were silent for a moment. Sunlight etched golden lines across the room as Daniel looked toward the window and then back at Charles.
He breathed, and his tone softened as though he were plucking an old desire from his chest that had been there since childhood. "One more thing..." Daniel whispered, and this time his words carried a dream he dared to voice. "I want to be one of the X-Men."
Charles sank into a long silence. Frankly, the idea was new to him — strange — but before him was a man who knew a little of the future and had knowledge of some people's secrets. If Charles refused, who deserved to be an X-Man? Also, the idea struck Charles as excellent: having a human among the X-Men was not a bad notion either. The idea, he thought, offered a bridge to humanity. Having a human among us — someone who understands both worlds — might help build that bridge."
A small smile, one Charles had not shown in a long time, touched his face. "All right," he said, then added, "Let us begin the search through Cerebro now. As we agreed."
Daniel did not hear Charles's last sentence, because as soon as Charles said "all right" a screen from his system suddenly appeared before him. On the screen:
[You have completed a hidden primary mission.]
[Congratulations — you have earned 300 gems.]
Daniel stood utterly stunned, leaving Charles to step out of the room alone.