Chapter 10: The Consequences of Power

~ Power recently acquired can be exhilarating but be careful. Power is intoxicating, and one is not careful, this intoxication will be your downfall as quickly as it helped you climb. ~

"Dr. Hawkins, I'm sorry, but I'm confused, can you please explain what exactly is happening one more time."

The girl already in the testing room looked concerned. I smiled, hoping that it would help comfort her as I repeated myself.

"Of course. So, since you all seem so set on starting the limit test, we will do so. What is going to happen is that we are going to allow you to use your Heirloom to its full ability. This is also a chance to see what is and isn't possible with it. During that time, you will have a blood oximeter attached to you. In addition to this, you will be asked a set of questions to gauge your mental health every 5 minutes. If any of these notice any large changes, Qamar here will suppress your Heirloom. Afterwards you will come out of the test room, where I will take you each one by one and do a full mental health check to make sure that there aren't any lasting effects. Once you are done, you can either stay here and wait for everyone else, or you can ask Qamar to take you to your room. I would recommend staying to watch, as it is important to understand everyone's ability to their fullest since you all are on the same team. Any other questions?"

"No, I think I understand." The girl in the testing room seemed nervous but seemed prepared.

"Alright, now what was your name again? I want to make sure I know before we continue."

"It's Beatriz."

"Alright Beatriz. All you need to know is that you are going to be perfectly safe. I am going to ask a few questions, just to get a baseline. After that I am going to come in and attach the oximeter as well. Once that is done, I will give you the go ahead and you can begin using your Heirloom to your heart's content."

"Okay."

Once she was ready, I began. I followed the protocol of a sliding scale questionnaire common among therapists. Once this was completed, I went in, attaching the blood oximeter to her index finger, making sure it was her non-dominant hand, so she wouldn't have any issues drawing. After a few minutes to set a baseline, we started the test.

"Alright Beatriz, you are all good to begin. If at any moment you start feeling like you are in danger, please let us know right away, do not wait until the question intervals. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Alright, let's begin."

As her pen touched the papers that were laid out before her, the timer began. As she began, I couldn't help but watch in awe. No matter how many times I do this, I never get tired of seeing an Heirloom's abilities in action. From the oximeter, you could see Beatriz became more relaxed as she began drawing. As she drew, all the things she drew began shifting from a flat image on paper to a monochrome form of what we would see normally. Benches, walls, fences, a bike; as she continued drawing, all with immense detail, the only difference between the drawing and the real version being a lack of color. While the drawings took time, their definition paid off. After about 30-40 minutes, I saw a significant increase in the pulse of Beatriz. I asked Beatriz if she was okay, and she didn't reply. She didn't stop drawing and the pulse went back down soon after. I noted it regardless, and waited to see what happened, looking over to Qamar to make sure he was ready.

A few minutes after noticing the spike, I realized there was an issue after the drawing she was working on began taking form. It had very little detail, but the detail it did have was obscured by heavy scratching over the entire drawing. The only way to describe it was unsettling, different from anything else we had seen so far. I looked over to Qamar and gave the word. He looked back to Beatriz, and as quickly as the drawings began to take shape, they disappeared, leaving Beatriz surrounded by paper. As I entered the room, I could see that she was shaking. I got closer to reach out, causing Beatriz to jump.

"Beatriz, come with me for a little bit, let's talk."

She nodded wordlessly, and while she was holding it together now, I could tell that it wouldn't be much longer before she broke down. I asked anyone to bring me a blanket, making sure she was covered and walked to my office. Once inside I let her lie down, getting her a glass of water.

"Alright Beatriz, you don't have to tell me what happened, but I just want to make sure you are okay. This is a safe place, so feel free to tell me as little or as much as you want, it's up to you. I'll let you know now; at this moment I am just here to listen. No notes, no recordings, just a person to vent to and give advice if you need it."

Beatriz nodded again, sitting up. She tried smiling as she reached for the water, but as she did, something snapped. She started sobbing, slowly at first but having it build up until her entire body was heaving in response to her cries. I waited until she was ready to talk and began my questions.

"So, can you tell me what happened, Beatriz?"

Beatriz took a breath, wiping away the remnants of tears on her face. "When you asked me if I was okay, I couldn't answer. I wanted to; I wanted to say I was scared, that I didn't want to draw anymore but I couldn't." She was holding back tears as she continued, "The voice that told me to draw, that helped me figure out what I could do…it became twisted. My drawings started becoming darker, and as they did, I kept hearing the voice in my head. It was telling me all types of horrible things, about how I didn't matter, about what it was going to do to me if I kept going, about what was going to happen to everyone else. But it didn't want me to stop drawing, it wanted me to keep going, almost yelling at me not to stop. I was too scared to go against it, I was scared what it would…" At that moment she broke down.

I got close to her, seeing if she wanted a hug, and she squeezed back, shaking still from recounting what happened. I tried my best to calm her.

"You're okay Beatriz, I won't let anything happen to you. That's what I'm here for."

She looked up to me, sniffling; "Promise?"

"Scout's honor. I will do everything in my power to make sure that you are okay. That is my entire job. Even if I have to fight Q, you guys are going to be okay."

Beatriz smiled, looking like she was starting to calm down. "Okay. Thank you, Dr. Hawkins."

"Please, call me Natasha, okay?"

"Okay… Natasha."

Once Beatriz had fully calmed down, I went back out, asking to see who wanted to go next. A tall boy stepped forward.

"I'll go."

"Great, and may I ask what your name is?"

"Thomas."

"Ah, that's right! You are the one who's Heirloom is already in our database. Alright so I know what to look for. So when you go in, listen to the direction that Qamar gives to activate your Heirloom, and once you do, see what you can do. I want you to tell me though as soon as you notice any changes in your vision, specifically any blurriness or anything okay?"

"Okay. What happens once I hit my limit?"

"Well as soon as you begin having blurred vision, you have hit your limit. If you try to continue, you will experience temporary paralysis of ocular nerves. Basically, you'll be temporarily blind. So again, as soon as you experience blurriness, let me know so we can stop the test. Other than that, let me know anytime you are switching the form of vision you are using, and while you can try to combine some, don't push it too hard. From what we know, it doesn't look like we have ever seen a combination of any of the possible vision modifiers. Got it?"

"Got it. Alright, I think I'm ready."

Once Thomas was inside the room, I set him up as usual, and the test began. After about an hour, Thomas stopped the test.

"Alright so you were able to go for an hour with constant vision modifiers, usually focusing on thermal, but able to switch between all the known modifiers at least three times. Like I thought, no combinations were possible. But still, it's good to know. Here, have Beatriz take you to my office, there are some snacks there if you want anything or water."

"Can I get some eye drops?"

"I'm sure I can look around for something, but right now, let your body recoup on its own. It's not like a dry eye or anything so eyedrops are unlikely to help. After this is all done though, if you still want some, I'll bring it to you."

"Thank you."

"Of course, Thomas."

As Thomas walked away, with Beatriz in tow to make sure he didn't miss anything or fall over, I looked at who was next. I had seen Beatriz, Thomas, and while I didn't see Liam, it seemed like Qamar was certain of what Liam's limit was, so I wasn't going to question him. We had two left.

"Okay, so we have two of you left. Evelynn, you're next."

"Okay."

"Now from what I'm seeing, it looks like you have some type of influence aspect Heirloom. What I am going to do is place you in a room with Dr. Whitlook."

"But I don't want to hurt her or do anything."

"Trust me, Dr. Whitlook asked to help, and this way you don't have to potentially hurt any of your teammates. Dr. Whitlook will be fine though I can assure you. Qamar is on standby and while your Heirloom is new to us, this aspect is nothing I am not prepared for."

After setting Evelynn up and going through the normal protocol, the test itself went smoothly. After about 25-30 minutes, Qamar stepped in at my request. I took Evelynn back to my office and began making sure everything was alright. I explained everything to her as well.

"Evelynn, how are you feeling?"

"Okay now. What happened though?"

"So, your limit is around 30 minutes of constant or heavy usage. From your test we know that you cannot influence anyone to harm others or themselves, so the fear you had earlier about that is resolved. One thing to watch out for though is after your limit is reached you have a personality change and become narcissistic. So just be aware of that, as it will be hard to stop you once you hit that point due to how narcissism projects itself."

"Okay, I'll be careful."

"Why don't you join the rest of the group? We are almost done, and then I will show you all your rooms."

As we walked out, I checked who was left to test.

"Alright and lastly, we have Jesse – "

"It's Akira."

"I apologize. Akira, I'll make sure to make a note, so we don't make that mistake again."

I looked at the person named Akira. From what I was told, they were the new user for the hat Heirloom. Judging from first impressions alone, I was a little bit worried.

"Akira, do you mind if we do you next?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"I mean always, but even if you don't want to do the test, do you mind if you come with me for just a little bit? I want to ask some questions."

Akira seemed to tense up but got up regardless. "Okay, lead the way Doc."

After getting to my office, I could tell Akira was on edge, so before I asked any of the more intense questions, I began small.

"Is there anything I can get you? Water, a snack, a blanket or anything?"

"I'm okay. Can we just move on to the questions? The sooner this is done, the sooner I can try and leave."

"Alright. If there is anything I ask that is too personal, just tap the table, and you don't have to tell me, okay?

Akira nodded.

"Alright, first I am going to tell you what we know about your limit. From what we know, your limit can be passed, but as you pass it, you begin to have feelings of melancholy. This combined with the fact that you cannot see yourself, can cause you to feel nonexistent or useless. This limit is one that I want you to be extremely cautious about, as it is one that also has the most long-lasting effects on its user mentally. Do you understand?"

Akira stood up, listening more intently than I thought they would.

"I understand."

"Now as with most psychiatrists, everything you tell me is confidential, there are no notes, no cameras, no recordings, everything you tell me is to me and nobody else, unless I deem it an emergency where you are a danger to yourself or others. Do you understand this as well?"

"I do."

"Okay. Now this isn't a question, but an assumption, and again, you don't have to tell me unless you want to, but just listen for a moment, okay?"

Akira nodded; jaw set in preparation for what I was going to say.

"I believe you have already activated your Heirloom and know what your limit is. I also think that the reason that you know your limit is you have gone past it multiple times."

Akira didn't say anything, but their eyes began looking towards the floor.

"Akira, I think we can skip your test. One, this limit is one that I am the most cautious of, considering its longstanding effects; and two, you are already aware of your limits, so the test would be a moot point, considering its mostly for your benefit, not ours. Are you okay skipping the test?"

"If I don't have to take it, that's even better."

Akira tried to put on a tough act, but I could tell that they were relieved considering how relaxed they got once they heard they didn't have to take the test.

"Alright, perfect. You can go outside and wait with everybody else. I'll be outside soon, then I'll take you all to your rooms and explain what the next steps are."