6

You descend to MetaHuman's labs once more, in search of Claudette Byron, but as you enter the research department you run into Hargraves, the head of Enhancement implementation.

"Your boss around?" you ask Hargraves. "I'm after a little information."

"The mark on your arm?" he asks.

"You know about that?"

"Claudette wanted my opinion," he says. "The mark is a magical Enhancement, of sorts, so I'm the perfect person to tell you about it." He leads you into a testing area. "As far as I can determine, the mark on your arm allows for passage through a barrier—maybe a specific barrier, maybe a group of barriers. Here, try to walk between these screens."

The testing area is bare except for two upright panels. With an electronic hum, a field of energy materializes between them, rapidly becoming near solid.

"Don't worry," says Hargraves. "It won't hurt." You step between the panels. For a few moments, you feel the energy field giving way before you, and it seems like you'll be able to walk right between the screens. But then the field reasserts itself, and you're thrown from between the screens. Quite brutally.

It hurts.

"Uh, yes, sorry about that," says Hargraves, with a sheepish grin. "Our research is still a work in progress. I'll let you know when we have more information."