When they heard this answer, both Magneto and Polaris found it absurd.
The events that had just transpired might have been imperceptible to humans and even to Scott, a fellow mutant, but the father and daughter knew the extent of their duel in their specialized fields.
Imprisoning Polaris wasn't difficult, but doing it without holding her in place or hurting her was a challenge that Magneto encountered for the first time. Previously, he had always resorted to brute force to subdue Polaris.
It was also a first for Polaris who had been stripped of all her powers before she could tap into them, forcing her to calm down without the chance to vent her emotions in a fight.
Magneto was pouring cold water over Polaris this way for the first time, and she was experiencing such a chill from head to foot for the first time as well.
Yet, Magneto found it more refreshing than usual.
In fact, Magneto did not want to fight with Polaris at all. As proud as he was, how could he take pleasure in bullying someone weaker? The power differential between him and Polaris was too great – where was the satisfaction in absolute dominance?
This was not a case of honing combat skills. It did not even count as a fight. This was just plain bullying. For Magneto, overpowering Polaris meant nothing, it was not considered a victory.
Although Magneto was stern, stubborn, and spoke little, he was not a sadist who enjoyed tormenting his own daughter. After countless occurrences of Polaris provoking him and him subduing her, he just felt irritated.
But if he did not act this way, he couldn't just let Polaris keep provoking him either. He didn't have that much patience, and he had to uphold his stature.
So, after several such conflicts, Magneto had lost all patience. The moment Polaris showed any intention of provoking him, he resolved the matter with force.
In Magneto's view, sooner or later, a beating was inevitable. It was better to suppress Polaris early and stop her from ridiculous chatter.
However, there was no sense of accomplishment in this, like repetitively screwing bolts on the production line. A few successes might have brought pleasure from the manifestation of one's power, but after dozens or hundreds of times, it was nothing but routine dull work.
Yet this time, Magneto felt a hint of Schadenfreude.
Without a doubt, his foolish and rebellious daughter had just been humbled. And all this was due to a trivial matter - not knocking on the door.
Polaris was even more distraught. She looked at Shiller seriously and asked, "…Are you mad?!"
Without saying anything, Shiller stood up, stepped back twice and leaned against the door. He pressed his index and middle fingers together, exerted a slight force in his muscles, flicked the door with his fingertips, and made a clear "tick" sound.
"Don't sit on the floor, it's cool. Miss Lorna, if there's anything, we can talk on the couch… Please stand up."
Polaris sat in place, took a deep breath, propped herself up, and looked at Shiller stubbornly. Just as she was about to do something, Shiller turned to Magneto and said:
"Erik, have you told anyone in advance that you don't want to be disturbed during this time? Is this your guest reception time?"
"I don't have a guest reception time." Magneto responded.
"Alright, Miss Lorna,. It looks like you need to call this office in advance and ask if we have time for your visit." Shiller looked back into Polaris' eyes and said.
"You should know, your father has a bad temper. If you don't call ahead, you may disturb his rest, which may agitate him, and you may get scolded."
"But it's not entirely his fault. If someone entered my office during non-reception hours, I would feel agitated too, wouldn't you?"
Polaris stared, about to answer "No", when Shiller smiled and said, "If you don't mind, I'll call you at midnight tonight to discuss Hegel's philosophy…"
Polaris, who was about to speak, silently closed her mouth, swallowing back the words of rebuttal. Judging by the situation today, Shiller would definitely act on his words. Polaris did not want to be awakened at 3 a.m. for a lecture.
"Actually, it's quite irregular that Erik doesn't have a reception time. I think, you might not have been able to guess it."
"How about this? According to my reception time, I can receive visitors now. So, you don't have to call, but you should knock on the door. That's basic courtesy."
Polaris' first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief. But then she made a weird face, puzzled as to why she was so easily satisfied. She was actually happy that she could step into the room by just knocking on the door without having to make a call.
However, she shook her head, cleared her throat, and reached out to lightly knock on the door.
"Please come in, miss." Shiller stepped aside, and Polaris entered with her head held high. Sitting down on the sofa, crossing her legs, folding her arms, she started glaring at Magneto.
Scott, following Polaris, rubbed his eyes. Very unusually, he did not sit next to Polaris but sat opposite her instead.
Magneto stood behind the desk, reflecting on the interaction between Shiller and Polaris over the past few minutes.
The sensation gave him a peculiar feeling, one he had never before encountered, or even contemplated- such events, such methods.
Was Shiller as gentle as Professor X?
Not really. Throughout the entire process, he acted firm and unyielding. If Polaris did not give him the answer, he would first throw a bucket of cold water at her, putting her in an embarrassing situation, then continuously exert psychological pressure, forcing her to answer, gradually strengthening his control and leading Polaris to react as he needed.
Magneto was perfectly aware that resorting to violence would never make Polaris perform this succession of actions because he had already tried it.
Forcefully subduing Polaris with violence would only make her more and more aggressive, and she would start resisting continuously, even ignoring her physical condition, plunging into extreme madness.
However, was Shiller brutal?
Not at all. During these sequences of confrontations, he behaved courteously, always referring to Polaris as "Miss Lorna," never using any insulting words, never mocking her, never teaching her condescendingly, and never even preaching.
But, Polaris ended up doing exactly as he said, and afterwards, she did not feel humiliation or sadness. Instead, she felt somewhat triumphant, completely forgetting her initial rage and breakdown.
What on earth was going on? Thought Magneto.
"My anxiety disorder has just been cured, and the symptoms of my nervous breakdown have not all disappeared. The noise you made when you burst in startled me, and my heart rate has not yet completely slowed down."
Shiller also sat down opposite Polaris. Hearing him say this, Polaris was taken aback. Just as she was about to speak, Shiller interrupted her in a surprised tone: "Scott didn't tell you? My god, I seem to have misunderstood you!"
"I just wondered, how a well-mannered and empathetic young woman could be so insensitive toward an unwell mental patient? So, you didn't know."
After saying this, Shiller stood up, brought a cup of hot tea, and gently placed it in front of Polaris, who suddenly looked at a loss.
As he smiled at her, Shiller said: "Miss Lorna, Professor X tells me you're quite thoughtful. In that case, when you first met Scott, you must have been concerned about Professor X's and my health?"
Feeling awkward, Polaris coughed lightly and mumbled, "Well, I... actually..."
She turned pleading eyes towards Scott. But Scott, who was not very good with pretexts, replied awkwardly, "Ah, yes, Lorna did ask me. Perhaps I failed to explain clearly…"
By this time, however, Polaris had regained her composure. If Scott were to take the blame, wouldn't that make him look like a person with low emotional intelligence, dismissing her concerns about elders and friends?
If Scott were really to make such a confession, it may leave a bad impression on Shiller, and Professor X might also come to know about it, possibly tarnishing Scott's reputation.
Like many other second-generation mutants, Polaris had one BIG plus: her strong sense of loyalty to friends. She quickly said, "No, this has nothing to do with Scott. It's just… it's just that I forgot. I was in a rush to get here and didn't have time to ask…"
"Oh, I see. That's all right." Shiller nodded, showing no intention of further pursuing the issue. Polaris was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Shiller posed another damning question:
"Then why were you in such a hurry to get here?"
Polaris put one hand on her face, covering half of it. Given the situation, how could she disclose that she was worried Magneto and Shiller might start a fight?
Polaris knew she came here to prevent Magneto from making a bad impression on Shiller.
But if she said now that Magneto was an annoying violent maniac and she was worried he would clash with Shiller, Magneto's image in Shiller's mind would, on one hand, certainly decline, completely counter to her goal.
On the other hand, Shiller might not even know about their father and daughter disagreement. By the common understanding, it would ruin her reputation to be heard speaking ill of her own father, wouldn't it?
Polaris just stood there, her mouth half-open, finding herself unable to utter a word, while Magneto, standing behind the table, was gloating.
One person's mishap is called a mishap; two people's mishaps become a joke.
If you fall into a ditch first, you might feel upset. But if you watch the second person fall into the ditch with your own eyes, then that's rather amusing - and this is exactly where Magneto's mindset was at.
The problem that had Shiller stumped and choked in two different ways did not matter. What mattered more was that Polaris, who would leap and screech and stage rebellions every day of the year, also found herself stumped and choked by Shiller's double-sided predicament. Now, that was interesting.
In order to get a close look at Polaris' amusing expressions, Magneto even sat down behind Shiller, across from Polaris, acting high and mighty, and watched with interest to see how his silly daughter would answer Shiller's question.
Polaris was not stupid. She first looked at Shiller's smiling face, then glanced up at Magneto's smile-filled gaze.
With a breath, Polaris, who was always competitive, gritted her teeth, put on an insincere smile, and, looking straight into Magneto's eyes, said:
"I came to see Erik because... I missed him."