Hunter watched Molly as she saw herself with new clarity. As she did flickers of something crossed her face. He couldn’t tell what it was but they seemed somehow out of place. Molly had secrets she wasn’t telling him. That was fine, everyone was entitled to their secrets and he didn’t need to know them to teach her.

Moreover he had a feeling he didn’t want to know. He couldn’t tell you why but for some reason he had the feeling that Molly had a dark secret. Something that had been done to her or that she’d done herself. Something outside the human norm. There was nothing he’d seen to suggest that, just little things that he couldn’t quite place. His intuition was usually pretty accurate in these areas and in days gone by he would have looked into it. But he was a new man now. Whatever it was Molly wasn’t telling him he wouldn’t go looking for. If she wanted him to know she would tell him.

An eye crept open. Lenna looked at Hunter. They'd been sitting and meditating for an awful long while, now, and he hadn't given her much more to go on than his own directing requests. She'd done that. Was there something else?

There she went, being slightly impatient again. But that was okay. Inquiring minds wanted to know, what next?

"Hmm..." She made a sound.

And at last Molly’s concentration broke and she was back in the room. Hunter offered her a smile. “Learn anything interesting?” he asked. She’d done remarkably well. While he didn’t know if she’d managed to gain any real insight into herself he was fairly certain that she’d managed to acquire the state of mind that allowed one to do so.

The current question at hand was would it help them control her power in any way? No longer able to simply replicate her power he couldn’t just experiment himself and make use of his own mental discipline. Instead he would have to teach Molly the same discipline and self control and see if they could get a result that way.

>>“Learn anything interesting?”

"Mhm," Lenna replied silently, with a slight bob of her head. She'd gotten something out of it. Realization. "I'm not sure how to explain it, though. It might not mean the same to you as it does to me..." She feigned uncertainty.

The meditation had been inconclusive. She wasn't certain she could describe what she'd realized to Hunter, but she was certain she didn't want to. "It was worthwhile, though. I think, maybe... we could test something?" Her tone rose in question. She looked at Hunter hopefully.

Hunter was glad Molly felt she had gotten something worthwhile out of it. “We can see if you can pull back your field using my powers as a test,” he offered, “I can’t actually make active use of my powers, it would be dangerous for you if I did. But I can feel the difference of them pressing against my mental restraints. At the moment there is much less pressure due to your field.”

“Try and pull back your power,” he suggested, “And I’ll tell you if I can feel an increase in mental pressure as you stop restricting my abilities.” He wasn’t the best mutant to test as there was nothing active he could do, just measure the mental pressure in his head. Maybe he could try and organise another mutant with a more visible power to assist next session.

When she'd asked for a test, Lenna had had a specific plan in mind. Hunter suggested his own method. Basically, they accomplished the same effect. Lenna nodded at the suggestion.

"Alright." She stood, three feet away from him. "Pulling back... Let's see..."

She took a step away.

Another step. She looked at him expectantly. Nothing? Then a few more. She created a space of seven feet, between him and her. "Can you still feel it?" Lenna asked.

Usually, her range was 5 feet. Anything beyond that wouldn't likely be affected by her powers. She expected a 'no'.

Still, some mutants had ranges that cut into her aura. Their ranges would be weakned by simply touching it. He might have been one of those 'dangerous few'.

She waited for an answer. Yes, or no.

He hadn’t meant literally pull back but it would be good to find out Molly’s normal range. As she stepped back he turned his awareness inwards while watching her. At first nothing his powers were still being suppressed by her. Then, as she stepped further than five feet away, they came rushing back. While there were no outward signs of anything untoward there was a sudden moment of fierce mental struggle as he fought to keep them in check.

“There,” Hunter said, “that’s about your limit. More than five feet away and I can feel my powers normally. Closer than that and they are subdued. It also appears to be an all or nothing effect. My powers don’t gradually return as you get further away but rather come rushing back all at once.” It wasn’t pleasant and if it ever caught him off guard their might be problems.

He stepped forward and stood at the edge of her range. Once again his powers became suppressed by something other than himself. He couldn’t feel anything suppressing them so whatever Molly was doing it was unlikely to be psychic. “First we’ll see if you can reduce your range,” he said, “Imagine a circle around you. I’m standing on the edge of it. Try and pull the circle towards you so that I am outside it.” He mentally braced himself for his powers to suddenly return. Last thing she needed was him losing control. That was the last thing anyone needed.

For a moment, Lenna wondered if Hunter had some strange measuring power. To figure her range in such a short amount of time took a certain skill many lacked. He had an eye for detail, this Hunter. It didn't faze her, how much he knew. He still thought she was a mutant, after all. She knew more than he did. Still... him figuring her range certainly took some cards from her hand.

"Reduce it... okay." Lenna said.

As far as she knew, it was a worthless endeavor. Lenna put up the act of concentration, all the same. She focused on the mental image, and imagined herself in a wheel of light. As she focused, the wheel spun, each bulb becoming a blur. In her mind, the wheel spun smaller and smaller, until it surrounded her, a hair's breadth from touching her and breaking against her sides.

Beyond the walls of her mind, however, nothing happened. Lenna focused. Nothing changed. Lenna would attempt mastery for as long as Hunter would have her. Whether it worked or not... seemed already set in stone. The range was fixed. It did not shrink. As far as Lenna knew, it did not grow.

Not unless her aura's strength did. It hadn't, yet.

This didn’t appear to be working. Molly was concentrating but it wasn’t having any effect. Hunter still felt the absence of his powers straining against his mental restraints. While Molly was concentrating he searched his mind for any felling of his powers being suppressed. Nothing. It was simply as if his powers were... less somehow.

This was most perplexing. He had expected that her powers were some sort of psychic effect and simply walled up a mutant’s abilities, at least in part. Hunter was well aware of what a psychic effect on his mind felt like. Even a subtle and skilled psychic left some sort of trace of their evidence if you knew where to look. With his own psychic abilities now turned inward it would take someone with the skill of Charles Xavier to get into his mind without his notice and even then he wasn’t certain about that.

Whatever this was it wasn’t psychic. That left few other possibilities. Pheromonal was possible, though you wouldn’t expect the all or nothing effect but rather a more gradual reduction as you got closer. Without his enhanced sense of smell he couldn’t be sure. Direct neural manipulation at brainstem level or lower was also possible. Katrina’s illusions worked on that level as far as he could tell. It wasn’t a direct psychic attack on your mind but rather a manipulation of your sensory input. There was a subtle but distinct difference that meant no matter how formidable your psychic defences were they were of little use against a power such as Katrina’s. He only got around it by recognising small flaws in the illusion that he could only spot with enhanced senses. His senses could pick up things Katrina could not and thus show imperfections in her illusions.

If Molly’s power worked on a similar level he wasn’t sure how you could test it. A psychic’s abilities might work as they don’t need feedback from the body. There were also some mutants, like Zephyr possibly, who might be able to use their powers in a similar fashion. The only one Hunter knew who might fall into that category was Shana and she had problems enough with her abilities without testing to see if Molly could dampen them. It was a test he could try at a later date.

“Sorry,” he said with a smile, “But my powers are still being restrained. I’m not entirely sure how either. I have a few ideas but I’m afraid we’ll have to hold off on testing them for another day.” He’d run it by Shana and see if she’d be willing to try and find out just how Molly’s power worked.

>>“Sorry,"

Hunter apologized.

>>“But my powers are still being restrained. I’m not entirely sure how either. I have a few ideas but I’m afraid we’ll have to hold off on testing them for another day.”

Lenna nodded understandingly. It figured. She couldn't gain control over it at the drop of a hat. At least, not yet. "Too bad," She replied. "... But I suppose it's not the sort of thing that happens instantly." It sounded like he was done for the day. "Can we schedule another appointment? I could give you my number, and you could call me when you were ready?"

“You’re quite correct,” he told Molly with a smile, “Rome wasn’t built in a day after all. We will keep trying. And for now at least you’ve learned a few meditation techniques.” This first session hadn’t been as productive as some of the others but then again he couldn’t expect every session to yield a breakthrough straight away. These things take time.

“Just talk to Ellie on the way out,” Hunter informed Molly, “She’ll organise an appointment for next week at your convenience.” Hunter offered a respectful nod as Molly left. No longer in range of her suppressing aura he felt the weight of his power pressing against his mental barriers again. While the session might not have yielded much progress with Molly’s control it had been a nice change for him to not have to keep a constant mental vigil against his own abilities.

"Alright," Lenna agreed. She let herself out.

At the front desk, Lenna supplied the secretary with her contact information. She supplied the number for a recently purchased cell, bought in Molly's name.

Coming out of the building, Lenna assessed the situation. Mr. Antonescu was correct. Rome wasn't built in a day. There'd be far more work in gaining control of her abilities than that. The day had been valuable, though. She'd learned some things about herself. She'd learned some things about Hunter, as well. Whether or not those things were things Slate didn't already knew, was yet to be determined.

She made a mental note. It was about time to contact Slate...