Scott and Manuel, Friday evening

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

After this exchange of comments, Manuel shows up at Scott's office and has a request - concerning Cerebro. Scott turns him down, then pushes a request of his own, involving discretion concerning the situation with Lorna.


Manuel knocked on Scott's door, then didn't wait to receive any sort of acknowledgement before he walked in. Besides, Scott was alone - he could tell. And he could also sense the kindly well of sheer power held in perfect check that was Charles psionically lurking somewhere nearby. "You asked to see me?" he said, dropping into Scott's guest chair casually.

Scott looked up from his computer. "I have something to ask you," he said simply. Surprisingly, he wasn't angry. Tense, yes, but that was just the accumulated tension of today... and yesterday, and the day before, and wasn't going to go away anytime soon. But his emotions felt oddly flat, and while that should have disturbed him more than it did, it would probably make this conversation easier all around.

Manuel nodded. "Ask, then. Then I have something I want to ask you."

Oh joy. "Could you refrain from making it clear that you know more about why we were warning people about Lorna than we were telling?" Scott asked. "Simply put, it's not feasible to share all the details of what we suspect with a large number of underage students."

Manuel thought about it for a second. "Nope." he said cheerfully. "My turn. Do you have any suspicion that Lorna might be within, say, the closest hundred miles or so?"

Okay. Maybe he was capable of a little anger after all. "As of today," he answered instead, for now, "no. Of course, we don't have any conclusive proof that she isn't, either. That would be part of the problem with not being able to find her."

Manuel smiled at that. "Good." he said. "Because I can solve that problem for you - if I can get a little bit of help. I've heard it told from some of the older students about a machine somewhere here in campus that can amplify psi a thousandfold. Now, if I could get Charles to ask as my spotter and my safety guide, I want to use it to find Lorna. I know how her mind feels, and conventional psi-defenses don't even slow me down." he said, leaning forward in eagerness. "Solves your problem quickly, quietly, and without violence."

Scott had made the mistake of picking up his coffee and taking a sip while Manuel was speaking. A mouthful wound up all over his computer screen. "Manuel," Scott finally wheezed when he stopped coughing. "There's only one issue with that."

"And what might that be?" he said, trying to keep a handle on his irritation at being mentally howled at in laughter. He hated being mocked.

"Even if Cerebro - that's the name of the machine, by the way - was set up to be used by anyone other than a telepath, it would kill you. Or at the very least leave your mind severely damaged." Scott was not actually laughing. It had just been that moment of shock, really. "The only one who can use Cerebro is Charles. Jean, Nathan, Betsy, Emma... none of them were capable of using it safely."

"I'm stronger than all of them." he said simply. Worst of all, he wasn't even boasting, just stating fact. "And I'm aware that I've never used the device before. Charles will act as my buffer and my spotter. I have the power, he has the will. Perfect."

"Even if you were able to stand the stress - and it's skill, Manuel, not just strength, that makes a telepath able to use Cerebro, the simple fact is that it is not built for empaths."

"You're looking for excuses." he said dismissively. "And Charles is empathic. One of his many gifts."

"Oh, for the love of..." Scott cut off the surge of irritation. "Read me, then, Manuel. Do I feel like I'm making excuses? These are not excuses. This is fact. You are not capable of using Cerebro. It is not designed for your mutation, and you do not have the skill to make use of it even if it was. If you need to hear it from Charles," he said, somewhat more moderately, "I'm sure that can be arranged, but I guarantee you that he will say exactly the same thing I just did."

Manuel double-checked, and then sighed. "So what do I have to do gain the necessary skills? And how many more children need to be mindraped before it happens? You weren't there, you didn't look into their heads. Their lives were snuffed out like you'd put out a candle. It would be a kindness to just kill them. They will never function as normal human beings again. Their neural pathways are so scrambled that you could spend a lifetime untangling them. They will grow old, but they'll never experience the things you take for granted. They will never feel joy, or love, or happiness. They will spend the _rest of their lives_ in an asylum for the incurably insane. I am offering you an opportunity for _justice_."

"Manuel... what do you think Charles is doing?"

"Waxing his head? I don't seem to feel Lorna here to answer for her crimes." he said sarcastically. "Psi-shielding tech is out there. She could be hiding, concealing herself. I cut through psi-wards - look at my file, for fuck's sake! It's all right there. Conventional psionic blockers don't slow empaths down."

"You know, I actually do believe that you want to help," Scott said after a moment. "I do. But the problem is, Cerebro is not a way to help you do that. Even if we could totally rebuild it so that you could use it, it takes years upon years of training. It's dangerous. Even for Charles, it's draining."

Manuel looked skeptical, but he could feel that Scott believed what he was saying, and a quick empathic question towards Charles just confirmed it. "I'm willing to take that risk. I am young and strong, and I appreciate fully what I'm saying here. But if we could do it, and do it quickly, we could bring her in quietly, peacefully, before any more children get condemned to a Psych ward for the rest of their lives."

Scott looked ceiling-ward for a moment. "Developing Cerebro took years," he said. "It's a highly specialized device. Redesigning it is not something that could be done quickly. Even if Charles was liable to allow you to take such an insane risk at your current level of training."

"That's why I proposed the two of us using it in tandem. My power, his skill, his knowledge, his will. I cut through the barriers, he directs the search. I am willing to do my part."

"Cerebro is also not designed to be used by more than one person at a time," Scott said steadily. "Manuel, the desire to help is admirable, but the fact that you don't seem to think that I know anything about a device that I've had a lot more to do with than you is beginning to come across as insulting." He stared hard at the young empath. "It's not even that you think I'm lying, it's that you don't think I know what I'm talking about. Which makes me wonder why you're knocking on my door and not Charles'."

"You asked to see me, not the other way around." he pointed out. "Besides, Charles is right over there." he said, pointing to an empty corner of Scott's office. "To keep an eye on me, likely, and make sure that there were no unfortunate incidents or accidents. Irritating, but an understandable precaution. And you're not a psi, Scott. You don't know what it's like."

"You're missing my point. If you honestly think I've got it all wrong, talk to the invisible Professor in the corner. Stop talking through me." It came out in something very close to 'command voice'. "And I know a lot more about psis than most non-psis, Manuel. I'm not completely ignorant. I can't be, after being raised by one and linked to two others."

Manuel stared at Professor Xavier's psi-representation, and then sighed. "All right. I still think it would be worth trying, but I know when I've been bested." he said. "I still want to bring Lorna in, if it was truly her like we believe it was, and to see her pay for her crimes."

"Back to that..." Scott trailed off, then shook his head. "Manuel, you have to keep what you know to yourself. That's not a request. There's a list of reasons we didn't give the students all the details, and the fact that we're not positive what they are is just the first item on that list."

"But why lie to us, then? Why do you _continue_ to withhold information from us?" he said with frustration. "You can't lie to me, so your insistance on doing so is _extremely_ insulting."

Scott blinked. "Manuel," he said after a moment, "there's a reason that the team is here. There's a reason that we keep some things partially or entirely from the students at large, because it's not their place to be involved in some of the situations that the team deals with."

"When one of your own goes rogue and starts leaving mindraped _children_ on our back doorstep, I'd say that moves beyond a matter of team protocol and into something that affects all of us." he said with feeling.

"We don't know that it was Lorna," Scott said, as patiently as he could. "We simply can't take the chance that it was. You're taking the law course this term, aren't you? Ask Nathan to explain the concept of circumstantial evidence to you."

"You have three possibilities - it was this Magneto person that everyone gets all bent out of shape about, it was Lorna, or it was some other magnetokinetic." he said logically. "#3 is a remote possibility, which leaves #1 or #2. And we have eyewitness testimony that places a woman at the scene. Leaving aside the hair color, I'm reasonably sure Magneto is not a woman."

"Hence the precautions. But we don't. Know. For sure."

Manuel sighed in disgust. "This is going nowhere." he said, and then stood up. "We're done here. Out of respect for Charles, I'll lie to the others for you. But I am logging an _official_ protest at being used in this manner."

"Used," Scott said, and something close to tired contempt slipped into his voice. "When you have the faintest idea of the job we do, Manuel, of all the things that you and the other students don't know, then you can log an official protest. Until then, spare me."

Manuel glared at Scott for a moment. "I'm not blind, deaf, or dumb, despite what you think. I look, I listen, I hear, and I feel. You might be surprised." he said, heading for the door. "Don't treat me like I'm an idiot. I take that from the students, I don't need it from the staff as well."

"I think you perceive plenty," Scott said curtly. "I just don't think you absorb it. Good night, Manuel."