The Mask Is Made - WIP Power Testing Scene

Author's Note: This is the initial draft for a power testing scene. The protagonist is a shapeshifter who is attempting to take the place of a newly emerged mutant who died. My main concerns are mostly just about if what occurs here is reasonable for the power testing required to get their MID, or any other issues that might break canon before I finalize this scene or move too far past it. Other thoughts or advice is also appreciated if you want to give it!

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The hiss of the bus’s breaks pulled my attention back to the outside world. I stepped on, paid the driver with a smile, and took a window seat towards the back of the vehicle. The journey was an unremarkable one, and only took the better part of an hour between the bus and the extra walking to get me the rest of the way to the MCO office where I was once again blessed by cool, artificial air.

It wasn’t a particularly busy place, but it was active enough that they had permanent staffing and didn’t need to fly someone in to do my testing at least. I approached the front desk and quickly found that its false stone printed surface reached about chest height on me. I was getting used to my shorter stature quickly, but certain, quiet moments like this still took me by surprise. The receptionist watched me and smiled that pleasant customer service smile. She was pretty, but with the slightest imperfections in her skin and the straightness of her teeth that showed it to be natural. Enhanced by makeup and plenty of products in her drawn brown hair of course, but natural in the sense that she definitely wasn’t someone with super powers that gave her these looks.

“Can I help you?” She asked while the movement of her eyes shifted from scouring over my well made appearance to the front doors. The movements were fast and small, but enough. She was probably looking for an adult to come striding through the door to claim me.

“Yes. I have an appointment for some power testing and an MID. It should be under Salve.” I responded cool, but sweetly. At least I wouldn’t need to give my legal name over to her since it wouldn’t be on the ID. How much would that actually protect my identity from someone who wanted to find me?

The receptionist, Kimberly according to the tag on her chest, clicked around on her computer. “Ah yeah, I see you here. Half an hour early.”

“Yup! It pays to be punctual… at least according to my dad. I would’ve liked to sleep in a little more,” I gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug.

Kimberly laughed and nodded in agreement. “Wouldn’t we all? Go ahead and take a seat, Salve. I’ll let them know that you’re here, but you’ll probably be waiting for more than a half hour. Nobody around here takes your father’s advice.”

I stepped away from the front desk and found a cozy plastic chair to sit on. And then waited. I’m not sure what Kimberly was busy with after her brief call to the back that their next victim had arrived. She actually called me that, though she said it with an impish grin and a wink to put me at ease. At least I assumed she had some work to do on her computer with how much focus she put on the screen. All I had to occupy myself with were some magazines and my cellphone. I was not pulling that pink thing out in public if I could avoid it.

My hand reached out to snatch up an issue of National Geographic before I noticed another of the magazines, something titled J-14. The cover looked like it would be aimed at someone my age, and there could be some useful information on normal teens in there.

Ah well. Men and women work from sun to sun, but a spy’s job is never done. I picked up the tween magazine and started to thumb past the advertisements to get to the actual content inside.

“What the hell is a frenemy? Sounds bad. I guess learning to recognize one of them could come in handy.”

—

---

“Salve?”

Hmm so it’s not just a me thing. Going bra shopping with your mom for the first time is a little awkward for every teenage girl. That’s a little reassuring, though I had more reasons to feel awkward about it than a real teen shopping with her mother.

“Salve?”

I flipped the page. The hottest guys in Hollywood share how guys really think? Sure. Let’s see, number 1. Don’t be afraid to have a heart-to-heart. Ha! Oh yeah, I’m sure guys love to-

“Salve! Miss!”

My head snapped up to see Kimberly looking my way with a grin hidden behind her hand. The door by her desk was open and a stern looking man in a white lab coat stood there, giving me a sour expression. His facial hair was trimmed into a close buzz. Salt and pepper colored bristles poked up along his chin and sides of his face. The top of his head was completely bald and shined a little in the artificial lighting. “We’re ready for you now. Unless you’re busy?” He raised a bushy brow.

“No. Sorry. I was just a little distracted.” Enough that I forgot my code name. Crap, that’s such a rookie mistake.

The middle aged man finally smiled. “Well it beats being nervous, doesn’t it?” He held out his hand as I approached, engulfing mine in a gentle shake. “I’m Dr. Richmond,” he said before stepping aside to reveal a small group of people. One I recognized immediately as an MCO agent. Tall, broad shouldered, dark skin. He had a small scar on his cheek. All in all he looked like someone better suited to busting heads than paperwork. I guess that’s probably why he joined the MCO. In front of him was a slightly younger woman in a matching coat. She looked central American, with skin a little darker than mine and her black hair tired up into a severe bun. A rosary hung around her neck. Alongside of her was a grey haired man of a similar ethnic background. He looked very old, with veins visible through his thin skin. He had a severe slump to his back and seemed to be using a dark wooden cane to keep himself upright. Dr. Richmond continued, “And this is Dr. Rhys. We’ll be the ones running you through your paces today. The gentleman here is Dr. Adams, and lastly this is Agent Grady. He’s here to ensure everyone’s safety. We understand that you believe yourself to have some healing abilities, which is why we invited Dr. Adams to monitor things during that part of your testing.”

“So medical doctor, while you and Dr. Rhys are…. Some kind of science type doctors?”

Dr. Rhys smiled. Hers was much better than anyone else’s. Well it wasn’t much of a contest since the MCO agent wasn’t smiling, and the medical doctor was showing some off-color dentures. “Medicine is a type of science, but yes,” she said.

“If you’ll just follow us,” Dr. Richmond took over once again, “We’ll show you to the testing room. Although healing seems to be the primary ability that you’re aware of, we’ll be working with you to diagnose any other powers you may have. I hope you know that this may take some time?”

Did they think I was stupid or something? Good. Let’s keep it that way. “Oh! Umm, how long? I was kind of hoping to head home in an hour, or maybe two?”

His smile tensed. “It might take a little longer than that.”

I walked with the group of them into the complex, moving down a flight of stairs to the basement level. Hopefully the other mutant children I’d be meeting at Whateley weren’t quite so tall. Lifting my head up just to see other people’s faces was getting on my nerves a little bit already and it was sinking in that it wouldn’t just be that way with my parents, or strangers at the mall. I’d have to get used to interacting with people from this perspective.

Dr. Richmond opened a door that let us pour out of the tiled, sterile hallways into an equally sterile, but slightly more comfortable, control room. Spinning office chairs gave a place to take a load off while those in command twisted knobs and watched readouts. The desk set up also gave a clear view through transparent glass into an open room beyond it. I spotted a coffee machine and a stack of paper cups in one corner of the room. No wonder he gave me that look when I asked if this could be kept to an hour-long process when this place was set up for marathons of testing that could last an entire afternoon.

“If you’ll come with me,” Dr. Rhys shook me from my musings by stepping forward to another, much thicker, metal door. “I’ll show you where you’ll be working for the next few hours.”

I followed her lead, leaving the men behind, and walked into the space. It was large enough for my footsteps to echo, dampened by the equipment and machinery that took up a lot of the floor area. Some of it was easily recognizable exercise equipment or just tables covered in seemingly random junk, but most was a little less obvious. I didn’t have to fake too much of my confusion with what the actual process would be. I had very good reasons to avoid putting my real identity into anyone’s systems. The only MIDs I’ve ever used have been someone else’s.

“What’s up with all those boxes of… legos, electronics and metal?” I asked. The doctor shook her head and said, “Later. We’ll take care of the physical testing first.”

“Physical tests? Wouldn’t I have noticed if I’d gotten super strength, or could suddenly fly?”

“Something obvious like that, maybe,” she nodded. “But low level powers aren’t often obvious at first. You might not be able to lift a car, but you could possibly have olympic level endurance, or be able to lift a hundred pounds more than you could before you manifested. Unless you’ve pushed yourself to your limits then those are things you might not notice.”

She kept walking, turning a corner to get out of sight of the main window that allowed people in the command center to watch what happened inside the testing area. There was a normal wooden door that opened into a small storage space packed with a few shelves and lots of boxes. Dr. Rhys pulled one of the boxes of a shelf and opened it. “That’s why we’ll be putting you through your paces today. It won’t be easy, but we’ll be pretty confident one way or another whether or not healing really is all that you’re capable of.”

Out of the box came some sort of black bodysuit? It was covered in little dots of electronic doodads that made it look like something an actor would wear when performing motion capture footage. “You’ll need to put this on for the testing process. It will give us information on your biometrics among other things so we can see how your body responds to these exercises.”

I stared at the one piece, rubber suit and calmly replied, “I think that one might be too small.”

“It’s meant to be tight,” she assured me. “But I’ll let you find one that fits if this one doesn’t. I’m just guessing your size. Don’t pick something too loose though, or you’ll have to get changed again.” Dr. Rhys placed the suit she picked up back into the cardboard box, then pushed the whole thing into my arms.

“Uh,” I mumbled and looked down at the pile of black clothing and wires, then up to- and she was already gone.

“I told mom that I didn’t need to dress up for this,” I grumbled for the audience before stripping down. At least the dress I was wearing was pretty easy to slip off.

“Underwear?” I called out, only for Dr. Rhys respond in the negative as I expected. The first of the suits was too tight to even slip up my legs, and I tried on another three before I found the tightest one I could fit into that didn’t scrunch up painfully at my joints when I flexed. Then I looked down at my body, my crotch to be specific, and took a deep breath. As scrawny of a kid as I now appeared, there was no way to completely hide that appendage in something this time

“Alright, ready,” I said before stepping out from around the corner to greet my soon-to-be tormentors.

Dr. Rhys was checking some things on a clipboard, but looked up on my approach. “Great, let’s see if’mmmm,” her voice trailed off as she quickly focused on my totally flat chest and the an area of interest a little lower down.

“It’s the magic unicorn horn that lets me heal people. Does this suit work, or what?”

She cleared her throat and stepped up to give the probes a quick inspection. I had to give her some points for professionalism. She confirmed that nothing was broken and then pronounced me good to go. That could have gone worse.

“It all looks good to me. She- er- Salve is ready to begin testing.” Okay. Getting slightly worse. I gave a wave to those inside the control room before slipping a scrunchie off my wrist and pulling my hair into a ponytail. Get a good look assholes. If you couldn't recognize me from the news reports then that's on you. Let’s get this show on the road.

*****
Thwack! Another tennis ball nailed me in the back of the head. “How many times are you guys going to test that!” I demanded after barely keeping my balance on the treadmill.

“Agent Grady, do not touch any of the controls please.”

I risked a quick look over my shoulder, huffing and puffing, and glared at the MCO officer who was being lightly chewed out by Dr. Richmond. The stone faced thug was smiling. Prick.

An hour in by my estimate and we were only just starting to wrap up the physical tests. Surprise surprise, I’d given myself a perfect set of anatomy to fit my physical appearance. I was as strong as any scrawny, pre-pubescent teen and had the amount of stamina you’d expect for a kid who spent all their time sitting in a classroom or watching TV. Stopping my reflexes from kicking in was my only real concern when it came to overperformance on this part of the examination. I didn’t have danger sense, but the pop of pressurized air would normally have me jumping for cover. Same for cars backfiring or anything else I might reasonably assume to be a weapon firing before my logical thoughts could catch up to my instincts.

The treadmill finally started slowing at a rate that let me gently cool down and come to a stop, huffing and puffing on trembling legs.

“Please…. Tell me…. The rest…. Can do…. Sitting down?” I asked between breaths while holding onto the side rails of the running machine for support.

Dr. Rhys ignore me at first and instead looked for confirmation from the other technician inside the control room before giving me a smile. “For the most part. That should be the last physical test, or at least the last one that should be physically taxing you. Here.”

She handed me a bottle of water which I gratefully chugged down at least half of before getting back to panting for air like a dog.

“Hmm why don’t we try this next?” the doctor gestured toward one of the tables covered in a series of puzzles and fidget toys. I managed to get my shaking legs to get me just far enough to flop down into the closest seat, then picked up part of a wooden cube. “Try solving these puzzles first, then we can move on to the less structured tasks. Have you ever built an engine before?”

I blinked at her. “No?”

“Great. This should be a good test then.”

If this was supposed to be a break, I hate to imagine what these sadists would consider pushing my limits. My sore muscles eventually calmed into weak and trembling puddles while my brain slowly tried to melt its way out of my ears.

“I’m really not getting this. I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do here,” I sighed and shoved the pile of parts away from myself. I’d figured out a few of the puzzles and managed to piece together a blinking LED from an electronics kit, but the rest of this was completely beyon-

Thwack!

“Ach! COME ON!!! STOP THAT!!”

I whipped around in my seat and cast a powerful glare back. At least it was actually “I think we can safely confirm the lack of a danger sense.”

“I could have told you that!” This look was much more effective when I was a giant, or a supervillain, or at least had the face of an adult. I’d need to look into ways of working around the negative intimidation factor that came from being in the body of a child. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to use too much force to create a reputation for myself at Whateley as someone not to mess with.

“We’ll examine any potential magical talents next.”

Another hour of fruitless testing revealing nothing. Or at least nothing that I didn’t want them to see. I couldn’t make a crystal ball glow, predict the future, or create any hobgoblins. Whatever the hell those were supposed to be.

Dr. Richmond spoke through a speaker. “I don’t see any reason to suspect you might be an avatar.” The old doctor finally spoke up next, not cutting off the technician, but flowing in right after him. “You’re also unlikely to have any kind of regeneration or PK shielding given the injuries you have,” he said with that kind of shaking and rough voice many elderly smokers have.

The elderly man stood up and went straight for the door. I felt tension in the air. Excitement. Something about the way they skipped over those other possibility of other powers in their eagerness to get to this part. Dr. Adams was barely using his cane to support himself in his hurry to get closer to me once he entered the testing area.

“It’s time we looked into your healing. I think that’s the last thing, and then you can be on your way. How does that sound, young… lady?” He hedged, and gave me a smile. This time he kept his lips closed at least to avoid showing his gumline and the seam of his dentures

“That sounds nice? Thanks. I’d like to get home soon.”

The MCO officer handed off some cages to Dr. Rhys which she carried in and placed on one of the empty tables. I quickly scooted over and got a look at them. There was a pair of rabbits, some rats, and a lizard of some kind. In separate cages of course. None of them looked like they were in great condition. The rabbits were missing some of their fur, the lizard had a raw stump where its tail should be, and the rats were vocal but not moving much. I’ve never owned one before, but weren’t they supposed to be doing a lot of running around and sniffing things?

I peered into the cages at the less than stellar specimens. “Umm where did you even find these? Did you…”

“Ah! Did we harm them? No no, of course not. These are from a local veterinarian clinic. I’d like to see how you go about healing. You said you’re not sure how your powers work?” He slowly lowered himself down into a seat alongside me and rested his tanned and withered hands on the table.

“Yeah? It’s sort of a feeling I guess. I can touch a cut and just sense that something is wrong, then somehow….. It’s warm? And it starts to feel right again.” It was as good a woowoo explanation as I could come up with. Vague and ignorant, but it should sound right from a very high level. I’d met a handful of healers myself and just had to hope their descriptions of how they felt injuries wasn’t a rarity.

He nodded and reached over with a shaking arm to open the cage on the far right of the line where he rummaged about to pull out a nearly limp, sickly looking rat. “I see. Maybe we can help you find a deeper understanding of your abilities while we also find your limits. Have you tried healing non-wound related injuries and illnesses before?”






I shook my head and stared at the weakly breathing animal that he presented to me. “No I haven’t. Um, hey, can I ask something? Is there a reason you want me to do this to poor, defenseless animals? Why can’t one of you just give yourself a papercut and get these animals treated properly?”

“Side effects. For all we know, your powers might cause someone to go into a rage or a state of psychosis. It could very well be why that man you healed attacked you afterwards. It would be better if we only had to contain a small animal that we can easily put back into a cage than someone like agent Brady.”

Oooh this guy was pretty good, or someone had fed him some prepared lines in advance. Either way, I was a little impressed with the manipulation. He made no mention that those side effects could give these critters a face worse than the one they already faced to stop me from feeling more empathetic. Turning the kid’s worry into fear based on a recent traumatic experience? Very effective work.

“Go ahead now. Let’s see what you can do. I can promise that you’re safe. I won’t let it harm you,” the doctor said while pushing the rat towards me the way I’d seen people trying to get a vending machine to accept crumpled dollar bills. Yeah, there was definitely something suspicious here. Either that or he was just a bit of a freak, which was actually pretty likely. Most people involved in the handling of mutants and mages were a little off.

I took a shaky breath and held a hand out towards the animal. My hand shook almost as much as his, and I hesitated for just a few seconds before finally placing it over the body of the rat. It was soft and warm. I could feel its tiny chest moving in and out, pushing back on my fingers with the tiniest amount of force. I felt some amount of physical power for the first time since I’d transformed into Olivia. It would be easy to harm this little creature if I wanted to.

My touch was light and gentle even as I mimed a growing frustration that clashed with my concerned expression. “Is anything happening? I don’t feel like my powers are working.”

The doctor frowned at first before smoothly covering it back up into something more neutral, tending towards a comforting smile. “Nothing to worry about,” he assured me while pulling the rat back and returning it to its cage. “We’re learning about your abilities then. They’re sick, but not injured. Learning this limit is important. Or maybe there will be an effect later on. We’ll monitor them for the next twenty four hours for any possible improvements” Twenty four hours? I’d be surprised if they lasted the rest of the day without intervention.

The lizard was withdrawn from the cage next.

“Shouldn’t we be keeping an eye on the rat? What if they become aggressive and hurt the other ones in their cage?” I asked, a picture of total innocence.

“What? Oh yes, yes of course. Dr. Rhys? Take the rats away and have someone keep a close eye on them for side effects. Now try healing the tail of this gecko.”

I was unable to do much of anything for the lizard, a gecko apparently, either. The stump was fresh, but not raw. Any tissue I tried to apply to the injury would have no way to soak into it and take hold. It wasn’t until we tested my so-called healing powers on the rabbits that I was able to demonstrate something. Some of the patches of missing fur revealed skin that was slightly bloody and scratched. This time, when I placed my fingers over a wound, I melted the pads of my fingers. My flesh softened and turned sticky like taffy as I coaxed it into place to fill the tiny scrapes and bloody pinpricks beneath. I could feel it, like hundreds of little hairs extending from my fingers into the open wound and taking root. Something twinged inside of me, a small burst of panic and nausea. I didn’t let it show, but it was enough for me to stop the trick. When I solidified my touch and pulled away, it revealed a patch of fresh skin that was smeared with blood but no longer actively bleeding.

“Ah, so you can heal recent injuries. That matches what you told us” Dr. Adam’s mouth twitched, barely resisting licking his lips at the sight. He wouldn’t get an award for the worst poker face I’d ever seen. That definitely went to the MCO agent. He’d been getting more and more annoyed every time I’d failed previously, but now he looked as smug as a fat cat with a bundle of mice dropped at his feet.

“No bleeding in this one particular spot that you made contact with, though the other injuries remain. No hair regrowth. You didn’t just encourage clotting. It looks as though the skin itself has regrown, albeit slightly discolored.” The doctor continued to ramble on while diagnosing the animal’s new condition, much to its discomfort. I didn’t even realize rabbits could make noises

Oh that’s right. I should say something about that. “Hey,” I spoke up firmly, “stop that. You’re being too rough! It’s still hurt.”

He paused his examination only briefly enough to speak to me. “It’s perfectly fine. I’m not harming it. Now go ahead and try to heal the other one, all of its injuries this time.”

And so while he got back to poking and prodding at the first rabbit, I moved onto the second that looked to be in similar condition. I was much more aware of how gentle I should be with it this time after trying to chastise Dr. Adams. My fingers gently poked and prodded as I picked out the injuries I could heal. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was reducing the pain, or if maybe it was starting to trust me, but it struggled less as time went on. I was sure I felt something now. Something that was wrong. More than just the feelings I got from being around these people, or the exhaustion from testing. Pain? No, not exactly. The strange sensation dissipated once I stopped healing the rabbit, and started back up every time I sent some of my tissue into a wound.

My fingers were sticky and grimy. Not just with blood but dirt too. Is that how rabbits naturally are? It certainly doesn’t look to be in great condition to be cleaning itself with how lethargic it is. The fluffball was in need of a nice, good bath.

Its little nose twitched and it chirped, or made some kind of noise I’ve never heard before. I felt something inside me stir. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable the way healing the rabbit was, but looking into those little eyes and feeling how soft and warm it was in my hands was making me feel…. something warm?

“I’ll never forgive you.”

I drew in a breath just a little more deeply than I’d intended, then carefully placed the animal back in its cage. “I think this one is all better? Or I don’t think I can do anything else with it, Dr. Adams.”

“Ah, wonderful. Let me see.” And just like that, the rabbit was pulled right back out of its cage. The doctor’s full attention was on the animal now which left me sitting there a little awkwardly, trying not to touch anything with my fingers. Dr. Rhys brought over a package of wet wipes which I thanked her and used to clean myself up a little. I could smell alcohol so they were also disinfecting me too which I appreciated.

My fingers tapped a mindless rhythm against the table as I waited for one minute, two, before I finally spoke out again. “So we’re done now, right?”

Dr. Rhys shook her head. “Not yet. You’re finished with Dr. Adams, but I’ll be checking for any psychic abilities next.”

“Oh,” I grumbled. “And I guess telling you that I haven’t been able to read minds since I got my powers wouldn’t let me skip that?” At the shaking of her head I sighed and asked another question. “You’re not going to test if I can predict the future by shooting more tennis balls at me, are you?

She smiled at me and chuckled at that. It carried a lot more warmth to it than Dr. Adam’s excited laughter had. “No, no more tennis balls.” Her eyes turned to stare meaningfully at the men still inside the control booth. That was obviously aimed more at them than it was at me. “We can skip the gun ranges though. No sign of laser blasts, shooting fire, or anything more noticeably destructive?”

“No ma’am,” I confirmed while getting back up to my feet and briefly stretching my sore legs. It was probably a good sign that I’d started regaining some feeling over the course of the last hour and a half.

“Then we can skip over that. You’d definitely have noticed if you’d developed those sorts of abilities. After this we can get you all checked out and on your way,” She told me while leading us over to another set of stations. This one had playing things like cards, a blind fold, and other much less intimidating gear spread across it than I’d seen at the table meant to test me for devisor or gadgeteer traits.

She started off by asking me to predict the cards before she picked them, then asking me to guess the card after she had already looked at them in secret. I’m guessing it was a basic way to test for precognition and mind reading respectively?

In some ways this was even more exhausting than the tech tests. Dr. Rhys had a very keen eye for when I tried to throw out random answers to move us along and was insistent that I focused on trying to summon up any dredge of ESP that I might possess. I couldn't help but wonder if they were purposefully trying to turn my mind into jello, but if that was the case then they probably would have waited to jam all of these mentally taxing tests on me at once. We slowly got through them all and verified that I couldn’t see the future, read minds, move things with my thoughts.

She placed down her hands on the table, fingers interlaced, and gave me a gentle ’d seen her laugh earlier, and the annoyed expression she’d given the men in the control booth, and the way she looked at those injured animals too. Her pupils were aimed at me a little too directly, and her breathing was even for the most part. “You’re thinking of something stressful? It doesn’t seem like you’re upset or anxious, but just a little annoyed, I think?”

Dr. Rhys’ smile twisted into something a little more genuine before she returned to jotting down notes on her tablet. The genuine smile of hers made me more nervous than any of the looks I’d gotten from the other doctors or the MCO agent.

“I believe you might have some low level empathetic abilities,” she began while placing down her note-taking device. “Not mind reading exactly, but some sort of receptive ESP that allows you to detect the emotional state of those around you very easily. Have you noticed that recently?”

That took me by surprise, but I didn’t have the time to figure out why she thought something that insane. Deny, deny, deny. “No, but I've been a lot more focused on myself since the uh kidnapping. I haven't really been hanging out with anyone besides my parents, and I know them so they're easy to read.” I answered her with ease, the twisted half truth flowing from my lips as easily as a breath of air.

She gave me a sympathetic nod. “I understand you've got a lot on your plate right now. It's something you might want to pay attention to though. Did you feel anything in particular while healing those animals? Some kind of mental or emotional link?”

“Nope. Nothing like that.” I brushed her other inquiry off just as easily, but this time she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “You wouldn't be the only one here with ESP if you did.”

My heart skipped a beat in preparation for a jump to a faster rhythm. I yanked the controls away from my autonomic nervous system within that same beat. If this rubber suit let them monitor me while I was exercising then I had no doubt that they were still actively using it to watch my vitals.

I began to beat my heart with the same amount of ease anyone could manually breathe. Uncomfortably, but without much effort. It's possible that they might notice some oddities in the rhythm, or in the variations in my blood pressure. I couldn't hold my body to the same precision that my brain stem could, but it would be hard to pin those differences down without knowing that I was an incredibly talented shapeshifted. And if they already knew that then I was already fucked anyway.

Dr. Rhys continued, “I'm not very strong myself, but I'm able to detect lies accurately enough for it to come in handy. You wouldn't be the first patient to hide something because of how strange and intimidating this can be, or because you think what you've noticed is just plain silly and unimportant,” she finished with a smile and then patiently waited.

Was it possible she was lying? Absolutely. Was it worth the risk? Likely not. So what if they thought I had a little extra bonus to my abilities? This was something small enough that it was plausible Olivia might not have noticed it until now, so all I had to do was play ignorant. I was also a little curious if this could lead them down a rabbit hole that let them diagnose what I felt happening when I'd healed those animals. I hadn't practiced this trick very much, and the few times I had didn't give me that sort of feeling. It would be nice to know what was going on.

“Well I guess I did feel something while I was taking care of that bunny. I felt some kind of pain maybe? Or sick.” My thoughts immediately turned to making this revelation consistent with past events, so I quickly continued, “but that’s how my powers always feel when I use them. That’s just how they work.”

The doctor nodded her head. “All powers have a way they “just work”, Salve. All we’re trying to do here is diagnose and document what those are. I’ll be suggesting that we mark you down as a level one receptive empath for the time being until this can be tested more thoroughly. I know this has already gone on far longer than you were hoping. I promise this time we’re actually finished. I just need to discuss some things with Dr. Richmond and then we can have your MID printed out,” the doctor said with a sweet but tired smile. I’m not sure what she could have to complain about when I’ve been the one doing all the work so far.

“Now before you run off, I’d just like to confirm that the name you used for your appointment is the name you’d like to use permanently? Salve doesn’t come up in our database so it is available,” she said after taking a moment to scroll through her tablet.

“Yeah, I’m sticking with that. I think it’s a pretty good fit.” I shrugged my shoulders, stretching the black fabric that covered me. “I can heal people but I can’t really do anything crazy like regrow limbs, right? That feels more like a salve to me than some kind of magic super power.”

She tapped a few buttons after I nodded in agreement, then finally looked up at me again. “Alright, I’ll have all of that data sent up to the front desk and they should have your MID printed by the time you get back up there. Do you have any questions or concerns you’d like to talk to me about before you go?”

“No, Dr. Rhys.” I stood up slowly and gave her my own warm and inviting smile to match hers. “Thank you for making this whole thing less awful for me. I saw how you tried to keep everyone else from torturing me too much, and made sure these tests kept moving forward. I really appreciate it.”

“Of course. Feel free to give this facility another call if anything does come up that you need help with, or if you’d like to make any modifications to your MID. It was a pleasure working with you. You’re very mature for someone your age,” she said while standing up with me and leading the way back towards the secluded corner where I could change back into my street clothes. Good. That was the type of personality I wanted to exude. Someone who lost their innocence due to trauma could act more mature, but should still be viewed as a child, and that tone she used was definitely one reserved for children. I almost expected her to try to give me a lollipop and a pat on the head.

Half way through changing, I spoke back up. “Oh! Actually there is something. I’m going to be starting school soon, a new one. It’s a boarding school called Whateley Academy. This ID will still work there, right? It doesn’t need to have my current address or anything?”

It was a stupid question, but I wanted to get the information across. There was a momentary pause before she responded just a little tightly. “No, nothing like that. Your MID won’t have any identifying information on it, and is valid anywhere in the states at least. You should be fine.”

I stepped back out of the closet, now changed back into my street clothes, and started fluffing out my hair after I removed the band that had been holding it up into a ponytail. “Awesome! Okay, thank you again. I’m going to head out and maybe get something to eat. I am super hungry,” I told her as she led me back into the control room.

“That’s understandable. We put you through a lot today,” Dr. Richmond finally spoke up. “Get home safe. We’ll contact you if we notice anything with the animals you’ve healed today that might need to change what you have listed on your MID. Have a nice day, Salve.”

It didn’t look like any of them were eager to walk with me back upstairs to the front entrance. Fair enough. I’m sure they had a lot to discuss. I gave them a little wave and took my leave, half tempted to actually get something to eat.

I had a feeling I’d be better off going home before they finished whatever discussion they intended to have and sent someone after me. Just in case.