Charles, sitting in the chair, squinted his eyes. He could sense that the brainwaves of the doctor in front of him were constantly fluctuating, and the variations were significant. It was evident the doctor was pondering over some decisions that needed to be made, though they seemed to be of an unpleasant nature, as the slight smile at the corner of his mouth reminded Charles of a sly fox.
But sometimes Charles wondered, the difference between a hunter and a fox wasn't that vast. Perhaps he didn't realize that seated before him was a hunter, one with an astonishing talent, a hunter of superior and extraordinary birth.
Before coming here, Charles had investigated Shiller's background. He didn't just take Nick Fury's word for it; in fact, among the complex thoughts swirling in the hospital, he had heard many rumors about this doctor.
The rumors were varied, but they mostly shared one thing: no matter how the medical staff viewed Schiller Rodriguez, they unanimously respected his professionalism and regarded him as an excellent psychologist.
But that wasn't what Charles wanted. Such general praise couldn't give him any advantage in the upcoming conversation. He was looking for more personal information; in other words, he was after the gossip.
Contrary to the doctor's outwardly gentle appearance, there was never a shortage of rumors about him within the hospital. And what intrigued Charles most were certain rumors regarding Schiller's personal conduct.
Was Schiller a good doctor? Undoubtedly, yes. But was he genuinely a good person? That, the majority of the thoughts reflected, was far from certain.
After gathering all the thoughts, Charles found that people's opinions of Dr. Schiller were mixed. Among the criticisms was his history of missing several important consultations while working at the Elders Council Hospital and often arriving late, causing delays in many matters, both significant and trivial.
As for the rumors about his being late, the speculations were somewhat unkind. More than one nurse claimed to have smelled alcohol on the doctor, and some more professional physicians had noticed signs of pupil dilation, suggesting he might have a history of drug addiction.
However, on the East Coast, as long as your professional skills were sound, no one really paid attention to your private life. Instead, the most criticized aspect was that Dr. Schiller appeared to lack a psychologist of his own, which was completely against professional norms.
Though the idea of psychologists having their own psychologists may seem like a nesting doll situation, it's actually quite essential because one of the critical markers in psychotherapy is self-perception. You need to ground yourself before you can treat others.
If you lack a comprehensive and focused understanding of your own feelings, you can't use yourself as an anchor to determine if someone else's condition is normal. A psychologist with issues could cause more harm than letting a patient's condition deteriorate.
In the doctor-patient relationship within psychology, the two parties are entirely unequal. A psychologist in an unstable mental state could develop tendencies to manipulate, solving none of the patient's current problems and potentially creating new and worse ones.
Several psychiatric colleagues who had worked with Schiller had reported this concern to their superiors. Schiller was uncontrollable, unpredictable, and even though he might seem stable and normal now, it didn't mean it would last.
Nevertheless, people's opinions of Schiller had improved recently because he finally found a psychologist of his own, none other than Professor X of this cosmos.
Because Charles understood himself so well, he believed he also understood the elder Professor X. Ever since he discovered his mutant ability, he realized that it seemed to grow with age. He could hardly imagine how powerful an older Charles Xavier might have become.
Upon discovering that the elder Professor X of this universe had become Schiller's psychologist, the younger Charles had to reconsider his strategy against Schiller.
Indeed, he had his plan to deal with Dr. Schiller Rodriguez, which was not simply invasive mind-reading or crude brain manipulation.
From the few words Nick Fury had given him, it seemed this doctor played an extremely important role in the Solar System development project in this universe. The younger Charles believed that his own cosmos would eventually follow a similar path, so influencing a pivotal figure could definitely elevate the status of his own family as well as the mutant community.
This influence couldn't be overt manipulation. Since the other party was also a psychologist, if he sensed something was amiss, it would backfire. The influence needed to be subtle and unnoticeable.
Even just earning a favorable impression wasn't entirely fruitless. Any positive impression score he could add would be worthwhile, and of course, if there was a chance to go further, Charles wouldn't give it up.
Many say that, based on the scenarios displayed by Marvel, it seems as if mutants suddenly emerged out of nowhere, with society having neither plans to deal with them nor attempts to solve related issues, making many storylines seem too idealistic.
But in reality, in the 1930s where the younger Xavier lived, countless attempts had been made. Even after discovering his son was a mutant, Charles's parents had used their wealth and influence to sway the formation of certain policies.
Unfortunately, mutants were indeed an utterly uncontrollable bomb. Too weak, and they were bullied; too strong, and they were feared. This had always been a social rule that no one could change. Xavier wanted to carve out his own path, but he was still exploring.
So he asked, "How do you view mutants?"
Shiller stopped writing in the medical record and looked up at Charles, gazing into his deep blue eyes full of genuine curiosity. Consequently, he spoke with great caution, "I can't say that the issue with mutants in our cosmos is completely resolved, but I believe we are doing relatively well compared to the average situation across all cosmoses."
"What have they done?" Charles was referencing the leaders of the mutants. He thought that person might be himself, but perhaps there were others. For now, he hadn't had the time to investigate further.
"They've gone out," Shiller emphasized to him. "As Earth advances into the cosmos, mutants inevitably have to change. They have their advantages, so they move ahead of their predecessors."
"Are they satisfied with this situation?"
"There are still disagreements, but the direction most are thinking and striving for is fundamentally the same," Shiller sighed lightly, stood up from his chair, walked over to the bookshelf behind him and began looking through the books.
"At least the majority of mutants are not satisfied with what they have now. In the past, they didn't know what they wanted, nor how to change, but now at least they have a common path to choose—if not Earth, then the Andromeda Galaxy."
Charles nodded. He could understand what Shiller was saying; in his era, many mutants were sorrowful and indignant, even taking to protest, but they actually had no choice.
Either endure or rebel, live or die, fight to the end, or not at all—because they had nowhere to go. They were strangers in their homeland, the odd ones out among their own kind.
Perhaps separating ordinary humans and mutants would be a good path, Charles thought, but it would depend on whether the new home for mutants was better than Earth.
Just as he had this thought, he heard Shiller say, "This is not about division and racial segregation. All mutants who can leave Earth must first identify with the identity of the pan-human civilization, recognizing themselves as part of the human race, not some new race living in the Solar System."
Charles furrowed his brow, shaking his head, "But I think we are very different, too different. There's hardly any basis for finding a sense of identity."
"Really?" Shiller turned around, smiling at him. Charles felt puzzled because he didn't know what Shiller was laughing at.
Was he laughing at his youth? Yet, the vast majority of young mutants held the completely opposite view; they believed there was still potential for finding common ground between mutants and humans, rather than pessimistically feeling they were not the same race at all.
Such thoughts of Charles would only be found in some of the older, weathered mutants, the more they understood, the more pessimistic they became. Shiller should understand this principle too.
"Let's talk about your internship issue first," Shiller changed the subject and said, "I think blindly reducing supervisory hours is not advisable, but dragging it out too much isn't good either. We can, however, make the criteria for judging whether supervisory hours are sufficient more flexible."
"You mean…"
"If you think you've learned enough, then apply for a test. You know it won't be the licensing exam; a certificate of qualification is meaningless to you."
"So what do you plan to test?"
"Perhaps many things," Shiller said. "Or we can be optimistic, and you'll feel that you never learn enough."
"That's impossible," Charles stood up from his chair and said, "I am fully confident that I can cure every patient in this world."
"I hope you can always maintain that confidence."
"Then let's go," Charles was eager, he said, "What should I do now? Make rounds? Or do you have any difficult patients? Give them to me, I'll take care of them for you."
"I'm about to visit a patient." Shiller lowered his head, his tone becoming grave, he said, "I just performed an emergency psychological intervention on her, but she still lost her child."
Charles's expression froze, he pursed his lips and said, "I am very sorry, but what happened to her?"
Shiller handed over the medical record he had just written for Charles to see. The more Charles read, the more he frowned. After a while, he put down the record and said, "The interventions you took were too few, Doctor. You should have taken more aggressive actions to ensure the safety of both mother and child."
"You think you could do more?"
"At least I would try more actively," Charles said earnestly, looking at Shiller. "Not just recommend and be hindered by those medical system rules and the views of others."
Shiller shook his head, said nothing, and turned to walk towards the door, while Charles watched him leave.
Perhaps some of the rumors were true, especially about the personal aspects, but the professional part still needed consideration, and Charles did not fully believe it yet.