Oh dear lord… sorry it took so long… I love writing this fic, but find inspiration hard. But, here is the basis of the story. It's my idea, and the storyline that I based this fic on. I hope you enjoy, and understand it. If you can't get it please email me. I can reword it. I read it and I understand it. But I'm not sure if you will. I guess this means I need a beta, so if you're willing, please email me also. So I'm officially looking for a beta,. The more minds the better. Right?
Enjoy: and hopefully understand
Shailmar concentrated on her breathing. It was the one thing she could hold on to. The one thing that proved beyond a doubt that she was no longer dreaming.
Do she dare move or unfocus her eyes?
Blinking had never before seemed such a dramatic step….
To blink.
That in itself was to risk reality. To give reality an escape. A way for her hopes to once again seem unattainable. For the dreams to recede back in to the darkness that they had originated.
Emma.
To blink… was a way to allow it all… to not be true.
Adam stood less than a foot away from the doorway. He could feel the cold metal of the workstation behind him, pressing harshly into his lower back. He carefully relaxed and took all the weight possible off his now weary feet. He had been awake for nearly forty-three hours now. Sleep had not only pervaded him. It now seemed like a close friend who had been kidnapped for reasons unknown.
He questioned his sanity. And if he questioned the one thing his consciousness could trust… how in the hell could he trust anything else?
All his worries. All his considerations. They were all visible in Shalimar's face.
He watched the young blonde closely… for both his own sake and Emma's. She hadn't really moved. Not since they returned from their trip to Manhattan. Brennan had left, and even Jesse had regretfully followed him after a long duration of silence had passed. Lexa had never felt quite as comfortable around Emma as the other team members. She had been the first to leave. Her presence in the lab hadn't lasted much past Shalimar's statement of "What the fuck is going on?" Adam had watched his newest team member leave, and as he glanced once more at her back as she retreated out of firing range, he realized that she probably knew as much as he did.
He had been able to delay. To pass Shalimar's question off until he had "run a few tests." In truth, he was surprised that she let that pass as an excuse. He knew, that she knew, that there was always at least a few tests to be run. An excuse was what it was. And he would try to make it last until he gathered the strength to face his mutants, and tell them the truth.
His eyes moved from the people lined up before him to quickly scan through the array of papers that were laid out in front him. He juxtaposed the two together. The items he was currently using to procrastinate the situation were the only items that could possibly make him more nervous that the overdue appointment at hand. How could he look them all in the eyes?
So… he picked one.
"Brennan?" Brennan looked up at Adam and then glanced at his team members who's attention he had suddenly and unintentionally earned.
"Hmmnn?"
"How would you describe Emma?" Suddenly, Brennan really, really didn't want this attention.
With a slight pause, and consideration, he answered, "I don't know. Tall. I guess." He let his last word trail up, to allow for interpretation of a question, if one were so inclined.
Adam recognized his resistance and reluctancy to play the quarterback in this game. "No, I mean how would you describe her mutancy?"
"Oh…" Brennan seemed relieved at such an easy out to such a complicated question. Adam had to suppress a laugh at Brennan's naivety.
"Telempathy. Emma's a Telempath." Finally a statement. Adam was momentarily pleased.
"How about you?" He glanced from Jesse, then to Shalimar, and then finally to Lexa, and was slightly surprised when she agreed with the other two and simply nodded along with Brennan's statement.
"Okay, now that's where this story begins."
"We've all heard these myths, that we only use a certain percentage of our brain when it comes to activity."
"Well in certain ways these myths are true and these myths are false." Adam glanced around at the confused quartet standing in front of him. He knew Shalimar's impatience was going to make her act before the though of saying something even occurred to her.
"What does this have to do with anything?" She finally asked.
"Hold on… I'm not wasting your time. Just please give me a chance to relate this to Emma."
Just the simple mention of the girl's name seemed to have a calming effect on the feral.
After a slight pause, he continued. "Now this myth is true, every second." He waited as he always did, to find a slight glimmer of understanding on his teams faces. He didn't find any. The only person he had ever found any such glimmer on, was the now unconscious girl lying on the slab.
After a few seconds, he finished his statement, "Right now, as we speak, as we stand here; I mean of this second, It is true. The percentage that you use is, of course, varied from person to person. Now… brain activity is used to facilitate motor functions and do such… unconscious things. As an example: you all are using brain cells to stand here, not fall over, and breathe at the same time. You are not aware of it, but you are doing it just the same" He paused and looked for questions. "You are also using brain cells to do conscious things such as actually assimilate what I am saying. I.E. you are focusing enough to hear and decipher what it is I am saying. These are both basic functions when it comes down to the assault that your senses are put through every day."
"Now here is what your brains might look like now." Adam walked over to the nearest wall and slipped what looked like a CAT scan sheet under the clips at the top of the board. With a quick flip of a switch the team watched as a sheet of velum showing the cross section of brain was eliminated before them. "As you can see, when it comes to all the grey matter shown in these scans, only a small section of the area is actually being used. In such a small time your're only using a small proportion of your minds. So the myth is true… given the measurement is taken within a small period of time. Of course many many more and different… and various… parts of your brain are used over the period of a day. Think of it like this: the more time given the more sections of the brain you will use. So in that way the myth is untrue.
With a pause, and a quick prayer, Adam continued.
"And now this is Emma."
As quick as he could, Adam added another scan next the one he had just placed.
If he had had the gumption to turn and actually watch the faces of his team when they saw Emma's cranial scan. He would have saw one overwhelmed with grief, one overwhelmed with awe, one who seemed pleased with themselves for knowing the truth all along, and one who seemed to be trying a little too hard to be unperturbed and unattached.
"Okay… I see the difference. What does it mean?" Lexa spoke up for the first time since they had all regathered to hear Adams long coming explanation.
All four mutants once again focused all attention on their mentor.
Adam made a quick glance at the evidence behind him and made a quick comparison. In truth there was no reason to even try to compare the two scans. The first showed a miniscule section of the brain being activated compared to the second. When it came to Emma's scan the unused area of her brain was miniscule compared to the section of the used brain of the normal human, or inactive mutant. In other words, about 10 percent of the brain was being used for the first scan, and about 95 percent is being used in the second scan.
"What this is saying… overall… is that Brennan is wrong."
Brennan quickly became uneasy again facing the gazes of his peers. And was just as quickly relieved when their gazed once again focused on Adam.
"Well, he's only proportionately wrong. Emma is a telempath." He paused and waited for everyone to catch up.
"But, it is not her first mutation."
"There is a theory. And this theory states that all mutancy is, is an ability to use more percentage of the brain the average person can at a given time." Adam glanced around and watched as Jesse seemed to pick up on what he was saying.
"K, what your saying is that if the average person uses only… say… 10 of their brain at a given time, that a mutant is someone who can, when willing, use…. Oh… say… 25 of their brain at the same given time. Right?"
"Yes, you're getting the basic concept… at least when their mutancy is activated."
"So, what mutancy is… is extra sections of the brain being used at the time?" Lexa asked.
"Well……. That's the theory. And it's the only way that I can come up with to explain what is happening to Emma." Adam explained.
"What does this have to do with her mutancy?" Shalimar asked, apparently missing a link in their conversation.
"That is her mutancy." Adam stated. "If the average person uses 10 of their brain, you with your mutancy active would use…say… 20, now if your were to mutate again. Have a second mutation. You might use something like 30 to 35. It's all give and take, particularly when relating it to Emma."
Continuing… "Now… When it comes to Emma… Telempathy is not her mutation. The simple ability for her brain to allow for such extreme and severe expansion is." Adam glanced at his teammates who were all lost in the contemplation of his meaning.
"Her mutancy is her brain. PERIOD…. Her brain allows for expansion. It allows for more grey matter to be used at any given time… and this allows for other powers to manifest. In truth all these powers have a given a cause and a reason to manifest, but Emma Delauro is simply a mutant who is given the ability to mutate into anything her mind can come up with."
