Chapter Fourteen: The School of the Mutants (3)
Daniel saw the chair move — the chair Matt had been sitting on, still unconscious after the mental shock he had received. He noticed that Professor Charles had pulled the chair a little farther away, a clear sign that trust between them had not yet been born, and that caution now ruled the room.
Daniel swallowed and, in a steady voice in which he tried to plant a measure of sincerity, said:
"First, let us put suspicions to rest: I am not a mutant sent by Magneto, nor am I part of any conspiracy or faction. No one sent me. I did not come here with harmful intent toward any of you."
Faces exchanged tense glances.
Scott bit his lower lip, trying to restrain his agitation.
Beast raised an eyebrow in surprise tinged with caution.
Jean looked at Daniel with puzzled eyes — a mixture of doubt, fear, and curiosity all at once.
Professor Charles watched in silence, not only with his eyes but with his mind as well, trying to read beyond the words, to catch faint vibrations in Daniel's thoughts — yet, for the second time, he encountered an impenetrable barrier.
(If he can stop us from entering his mind, can he also manipulate what Matt hears of his heartbeats?)
Daniel raised his gaze to Charles and, with greater firmness, said:
"Second, I am not a mutant by origin. I am a completely ordinary human — but... I am not from this world."
The last words rang in the room like the echo of a thunderbolt.
He continued, "I came to your world against my will. I did not choose to come, and I know nothing of how it happened. When I crossed over... I acquired a superhuman power, nothing more."
Then he quietly took out his gloves and placed them on the table in front of him. He lifted his hands slightly, and a glowing blue mana energy began to rise from the tips of the gloves, as if it were pulsing with life.
It was Rontira mana — a pure energy unlike any they had known.
Jean was the first to react.
Her eyes widened; her body shivered as that faint wave touched her consciousness. The mana resembled a calm mental tone — she wanted to step forward and touch it, but she recoiled at the last moment, afraid of the unknown and of Daniel.
Charles's expression changed. That look combined scientific curiosity with latent danger. He spoke in a low but sharp voice:
"First, you know of my ability to control minds — a knowledge possessed by very few. And second, you are the only person whose mind I could not enter. Tell me, how am I to believe you?"
Daniel gave a slight smile and answered calmly, more confident than defiant:
"Don't you know what Matt is thinking now? He hears my heartbeats; he knows I am telling the truth."
Charles raised an eyebrow and replied in a cold, rational tone:
"And what proof do we have that you're not controlling your own heartbeats? Or that you're not manipulating the sound Matt hears?"
Daniel was silent for a few seconds, weighing his words.
(Inside him: he did not mind revealing his secrets to these four — given their personalities he knew them, and besides, his secret was a small thing in this world.)
He had come to this school seeking to build trust, hoping it might one day help him if he faced difficulties in this world; the X-Men were powerful, after all, a force one could rely upon.
For that very reason he had insisted on bringing Matt with him — he knew that having someone like Daredevil, who could not be fooled by words, would create a bridge of honesty between them.
But things had not gone as planned.
The table had turned against him, and now the bridge he had brought was no longer usable.
Moments of tense silence passed before Scott burst out:
"How can we believe you? Many have come to us from outside, and not all of them were innocent."
Daniel replied coolly.
"I understand that. But suspicion alone proves nothing. If you want proof, give me a chance to show it. I'm not asking you to trust me immediately — just allow me to demonstrate my truth."
Jean stepped forward and spoke in a cautious voice that nonetheless contained a hint of curiosity:
"Your talk of another world is very strange... If you truly are from a different place, how does your power work? What is its nature?"
Daniel smiled — a faint smile tinged with sorrow.
"I can't reveal everything now — not because I'm hiding something, but because my power is complicated. I can use it only a little... and I cannot use it fully yet, much like you can, Jean."
Everyone's features froze; the room seemed suddenly emptied of air.
Scott moved swiftly, Jean took a step back, while Beast adopted a defensive stance.
Even Charles, despite his composure, did not hide his astonishment.
Charles said slowly, staring at him:
"How do you know about our abilities? Where did you get this knowledge?"
Daniel answered with calm certainty, as if revealing his last card:
"I cannot fully prove my honesty to you, but I assure you I am not controlling my heartbeats nor manipulating what Matt hears. As for your inability to enter my mind, it is indeed related to my power... Yet consider this for a moment: if I wanted to harm you, and I know who you are and what your powers can do, would I have come into this school willingly?"
He paused, then continued in a low but clear voice:
"The easiest way to hurt you is to expose to the world what you possess. It would be enough for armies to learn there are those who can control minds — they would see you as a threat that must be eliminated."
Silence fell again, but this time it was not charged with anger so much as with thought.
Daniel's words were logical, realistic, frightening in their truth.
The four exchanged looks, and finally Charles said:
"So then, how did you discover our abilities?"
Daniel answered with notable composure:
"The truth is, I did not discover them... I already knew them."
Jean leaned forward slightly and asked:
"What do you mean? How did you know us before we met you?"
Daniel smiled and replied:
"Have you heard of the concept of multiple universes?"
The word echoed in the room, as if it had opened a hidden door in their minds.
The four almost spoke in unison, slowly and in astonishment:
"Multiple universes?"
Daniel nodded and said:
"Yes... Let's suppose the total cosmos is not a single world but thousands of universes, each one a different version to some degree. Some are nearly identical in everything, and some are completely opposite. To simplify... imagine there are many planets called Earth, inhabited by people who look exactly like you — but their decisions, their destinies, even their hearts... follow other paths."
He looked at them deeply and added in a low voice as if making a confession:
"I came from one of those universes... but the universe I came from was completely different from this one. Everyone there was entirely ordinary, but—let's say—the planet I came from had a great deal of knowledge about other worlds. The moment I moved into this universe and this world I gained my power and my memory improved, and that is why I knew your abilities — those of Professor Charles and Jean — not from this world but from my knowledge of other similar universes, as I told you."
Daniel continued, to dispel many of the thoughts forming within them:
"This world I know almost nothing about, and there is no information in my records about it. I only recognize many people in this world by what I know of them from other, similar worlds, as I said."
And before Charles spoke, he glanced at the computer screen in front of him — the one connected to the camera at the school's entrance — and saw Wilson Fisk standing at the door with another man.