The fact was that while large holes did not get blown in the roof of Xavier's every day, it happened often enough that they knew how to deal with it, which they did.
Later that afternoon, while Grace (with the help of various students, including Rogue, Callisto, Bobby, and the Toad) got her attic ready to move into, Erik sought out his daughter. He found her in the rec room, watching a cooking show.
"Wanda? Do you have a moment?" He stood in the doorway, waiting for her reply.
"What is it?" She barely spared him a glance.
"Never mind. It's nothing that can't wait. I can tell you aren't in the mood to talk." Oh, well. I tried.
"No. Wait. I'm sorry. Let me turn this off—." She turned off the television. "I—I'd like for us to talk, Father."
This is a change. He entered the room and said, "I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated the way in which you kept your word to me yesterday. Grace told me how you and she sat down over coffee and talked. To my mind, that showed a great deal of friendliness and as open a mind as I could hope for. That's all."
Wanda looked down. "She painted over some of the picture for you. Let's just say my mind was shut until she pried it open for me. I—Won't you sit down, Father? I wanted to ask you a question or two. If you have time, that is."
"There is nothing pressing that I need to attend to—and few things I should like better." He took a seat at an angle to the sofa she occupied.
"Ms. Engstrom is so different than Mystique that I—I was wondering—is she anything like Mother? You never talk about her, and—you're the only person alive who can."
I don't want to do this. This will hurt.
Like lancing an infected wound…
"You see that maple tree out there, dressed in its autumn glory? If you were to take two seeds from it, and plant one in the most miserable, exhausted patch of earth you could find, where it would get no more water and sun than the bare minimum needed to keep it alive, and plant the other in the rich, dark soil of a garden, in full sun, where it would not only get rain, but there were caring gardeners to tend it, both of them would grow into maple trees. One would be smaller and weaker, more prone to diseases and parasites, while the other would be stronger and fuller, but they would be the same kind of tree.
"Chance set your mother down in a time and place as inhospitable to her as that parched earth would be to the first seed…"
While Erik was painstakingly repairing his relationship with his daughter, Hank McCoy was just entering the infirmary, where the Professor and Jean were poring over the results of the multiple brain-scans.
"Have we learned anything as yet?" he asked.
"The short version is: She makes people feel better." Jean told him. "The professor can give you the longer one."
"Professor?"
"Ms. Engstrom's brain is sending out a signal to the minds of those around her. That signal stimulates the production of certain brain chemicals, namely serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Serotonin regulates mood, and the lack of it induces depression. Norepinephrine and dopamine affect the attention span and ability to focus. When there are higher concentrations of these neurotransmitters in the brain, an individual is happier and able to think more clearly."
"Being around her is like a dose of Prozac, Ritalin, and Adderall, all in one—only without the unpleasant side effects. The longer someone is around her, and the more attention she focuses on that person—the greater the effect. It isn't like something harmful, such as cocaine or Ecstacy—this is more like, oh—petting a friendly dog or a cat, watching a funny movie, or going for a walk in the park. It's a natural mood elevator." Jean explained.
"Does she know what she's doing?" Hank asked.
"No. This was very difficult to pinpoint. The signal is coming from the autonomous nervous system."
"That part of the brain which takes care of the most basic life functions, which tells the heart to beat, the lungs to breathe, waking or sleeping." Doctor McCoy murmured.
"Yes. This is hardwired into her system, even deeper than the display of anti-gravity power we saw earlier. It's no more under her control than Rogue's powers are under hers—and in fact, Rogue's powers center in the same portion of the brain." Xavier rubbed his forehead. "This is the second connection made between them. Although the voices seem to think Rogue might be able to control her powers, if they assist her."
"Both of them have mutations that center in a part of their brain that's primal. Something that's existed long before we were human. Life functions. Survival. Motherhood. Instinct. And these voices…There's something here I don't understand, some part of the picture I'm not seeing." Hank thought out loud.
"You and me and the professor, too." agreed Jean. "We've been disagreeing about whether to tell her—and whether to try and contain that signal. I believe she is stressed out enough as it is. Adding this to all her other concerns will only drive up her blood pressure. She's a forty-seven year old expectant mother, even if she does have a healing factor. Women as young as she is physically still lose their babies."
"But she is altering the emotions of others without their knowledge or consent." Charles Xavier was deeply troubled. "Ethically, I cannot—."
"Professor, " Jean interrupted. "I respect you beyond any other person alive, but when I consider how much psychiatric medication I hand out every morning to students here in this school, the side effects and the costs, and weigh that against your ethical dilemma—I'm sorry. This signal is non-intrusive. It isn't making them think thoughts that are not their own, or feel emotions that aren't theirs—all it's doing is correcting imbalances. And restoring normal brain function. Leave this be for now. You can always start containing the signal later."
"I must say I agree." Hank said. "Study this further. If nothing else, imagine how it will be if everyone suddenly stops getting along!"
"Very well." the Professor concluded. "For now, at least."
