(( OOC: Much thanks to Slate and Mirror for an excellent background in evil hat rooms most foul: For further reading. Completely unrelated to this thread, but credit where credit is due. I tip my evil hat to you for an awesome thread.))

It was one of the mansion's best-kept secrets, locked up deep beneath the mansion, beyond the war room and the danger room and the hangar for the jet. It was locked up tighter than any of them, behind multiple layers of security, and it was rarely used or even mentioned. There weren't many who could use it. Cerebra was a powerful device that only an incredibly strong psychic was capable of utilizing to its fullest.

Shin wasn't sure if the mansion had ever really used Cerebra all that much. He'd found out about it by being a trusted member of the X-men, and because the machine had been used to track down Sam when Cold Steel had gone rogue, kidnapping kids for an evil military or paramilitary organization named T.A.T. That topic wasn't something they really talked about all that much, either. To summarize, Cerebra was a scary evil hat room only powerful psychics could use to track down mutants, and he wasn't even sure he could use the damn thing himself. Which is exactly why he'd suggested it to Sam, to help him find the mutant who'd tried to kill him (and nearly succeeded).

It took a while to take down the security to the place, but they managed. Managed to put it back up after they'd passed it, too. It wouldn't do to have people wandering in on them while they were hard at work doing stuff.

The evil hat in question was the control module for Cerebra. It was like a dumb helmet. And it looked evil in the big ominous room, surrounded by myriad buttons and a chair.

Shin looked to Sam. "So, what? Do I put the evil hat on and scream? Or do I just squint and look like I'm about to explode?"

Shifting his eye from the controls to Shin he nodded his head, ”After we turn it on. I read about it and heard how it should be used.” Sam didn’t mention that with an intense thought of the wearer the person that was being searched for could possibly drop Leo. Dead, to put it simple. He didn’t know how it did it he just knew it was capable of killing a person. He decided to not tell Shin about that. This was a man who attacked him, and sorta even killed him. No if Leo, was found and possibly killed by Shin then it would be for the best.

Sam’s stomach lurched slightly, either due to the adrenaline and lack of fluids in his body or he was feeling bad for what could possibly happen. ”Put it on and look for the description….” Sam turned the machine on the lights flashing was the indicator of it being turned on, ”Sit and wear the helmet.” Sam said shrugging and biting his lip still not sure if it was right to let his friend use the machine. ”I’m not even sure it’ll work for you. You aren’t really a telepath.” Sam said taking a step back, ”Slate said it took him some time to get used to it, that and he said he had a splitting headache after the use.”

Stepping back and lifting his hand into the air Sam materialized an ice cube into his hand and he placed it in his mouth and he bit down till the ice melted giving him some more water to continue to combat the dehydration he was still suffering from. ”If you can’t do it… don’t force yourself. We will find him eventually.” he decided Shin shouldn’t kill for him. Sam could do it himself and should.

The Asian listened, carefully, as Sam explained things. He wanted to make sure he got things right on try one. Screwing up wouldn't help them, and neither would dying. If he'd known the thoughts going through Sam's head when he was talking to him, he might've raised an eyebrow, maybe even rethought using the device. If he'd known CS wouldn't mind making him a murderer, maybe he wouldn't have been so happy to help him out. It was a good thing he had no mind-reading powers like Slate, then. Yup. His goofy rainbow triangle shards and math eyes definitely saved Sam from that.

His footsteps echoed quietly as he stepped on up to the chair and sat down. Hands fumbled with the helmet, pulling it on. Eyes roamed for the description, whatever that was. He didn't find it. He looked to Sam, and nodded at what the ice man had said.

Shin didn't think something like this would kill him. Even so, he had to say it for the sake of saying it. "If steam starts coming out of my ears, pull me off, okay." He stated wryly. "I probably won't be able to extract myself." His mouth suddenly felt dry, and he smacked his lips once to get rid of the taste.

"Turn it on." Shin said. The evil hat was heavy on his head.

Nodding his head once again Sam tried to smile but couldn’t. He was sure he wasn’t comfortable with Shin possibly killing someone. Sam wouldn’t have an issue pulling the trigger now but he knew Shin wasn’t a killer. ”Just be careful, I’d hate to explain anything like this to your wife.” Sam said not wanting to incur the wrath of Kealey.

Leaning over to the controls Sam flipped the switch and the room started to become darker for a moment before a series of lights turned on. This was the part where the earth would appear in a series of lights. So far it was just like he read and heard. Standing up straight Sam did his best not to move anymore than he had to. Movement could distract Shin and cause him to lose focus. If that happened there was no telling what was going to happen.

Shin was no telepath. He was a psychic whose powers involved rapid calculations and complex geometric designs, as well as being able to know the measurements of basically any physical object he could see. That last part was what he'd thought might help him pinpoint a killer on a map.

The earth appeared in a series of lights, and Shin squinted. His forehead wrinkled slightly at the effort of using his power in a different way.

If he'd been the kind of psychic who read minds, it would have ran through the thoughts of people in the city, maybe on the planet, and helped him target someone based on some mental or energy signature, or something like that. It might have worked differently for each individual. He didn't know. There had not been a plethora of people to talk about it with during his time at the Mansion. He was operating in the unknown.

In the unknown, there was darkness. A thrumming pain pulsed in his head, but he focused on closing it off. He imagined a triangle in his mind, and shut the pain into that. It was a psychological technique he'd picked up somewhere. It didn't help in any physical way... but it helped him focus on things other than the pain. Hey, if he'd wanted to, he could have done the reverse and focused on the pain! That would be great and ow! That distracting thought made him slip for a moment, and he physically winced. But he recovered.

He got nothing.

He got a whole lot of nothing.

There might have been something if he'd known more about the bad guy.

Maybe an image flashed through his head of lights and colors and sounds, but that could have been his imagination grasping at straws. He was unable to place them. They were hardly worth mentioning. They were definitely him hoping for something that wasn't going to happen.

It didn't happen. His face and hopes sunk. "Sam, power it down." Shin frowned. "I got nada."

Nothing. He hadn't yet realized the degree of nothingness he'd got.

When Sam had seen Slate use Cerebra he had noticed practically nothing in the ways of facial expressions. But that was slate he hadn’t really gotten the facial expressions down. Shin on the other hand. It was clear there was a lot of pain running through his head. Something Sam felt bad about but he had to know if it was possible to find the loud mouth and sniper who had left him for dead. Sam frowned when Shin said he got nothing.

The ice manipulator knew Shin wasn’t like slate but his hopes were elevated when Shin said he thought it was possible. ‘Damnit, where is Slate?’ thought Sam as he looked to from Shin back to the main power switch and nodded his head, Sam’s expression of disappointment clear on his face. It wasn’t Shin’s fault but that didn’t mean Sam was happy about the outcome.

Still, he was a team leader and Shin had been a good friend to him over the years so the only words of an encouragement could be muttered, ”Not your fault.” Sam said whishing Shin was indeed a telepath; or rather there was a telepath in the school that he knew he could trust with Cerebra. Sam screamed in his head for a minute pushing back his frustration and rage, it wasn’t directed at Shin but Sam’s facial expressions might have revealed more than he would have cared.

”You’re not a telepath, heck you did more than I could have done on this stupid piece of junk.” Sam smacked the side of the control box and he felt the pain in his hand. ”Just means I stay dead till we can find them.” Sam said with a shrug and a sigh as some of the anger subsided.