Atlas could still feel the hospital drugs pumping through his system and dulling his mind as the car pulled up to the imposing, wrought-iron gates of the Esper Foundation, a facility he had only heard of within the last two weeks. In fact, before that, espers had been closer to real-life superheroes, something heard about on the news and admired but far out of the reach of any ordinary person. At least it had been until…

Atlas was wrenched from his spiraling memories as the door he leaned against was wrenched open. Someone reached in and grabbed Atlas by the collar around his neck before pulling him out of the car. Atlas stumbled as he regained his balance and let his eyes adjust to the sun before looking around. The imposing building before him would have made some Universities shrink in shame with the massive marble steps leading to an entryway surrounded by Roman columns. He could even see other impressive-looking buildings in the distance off each side of the main complex.

“Welcome to your new home, kid,” the police officer who had pulled him out of the car said. Atlas turned to her and opened his mouth to respond when he heard footsteps coming down the steps behind him.

“I’ll take it from here, officer.” Atlas and the officer both turned to see a woman walking down the steps towards the pair. Despite the conservative pantsuit she was wearing, her beauty was undeniable. However, despite the soft contours of her face, her voluptuous body that no amount of clothing could hide, and her sweeping blond hair, Atlas was astounded by something else entirely.

She’s… strong, he thought, noticing even through the drug-induced cloud in his mind. He didn’t know how he knew, but Atlas could feel the power radiating off her as she stopped in front of him and the police officer.

“Alright, ma’am. But both you and the kid will have to sign that I’ve released him into the custody of the Esper Foundation,” the officer said, holding out a clipboard. Atlas reached out to grab the pen she offered but his hand just couldn’t seem to hold the pen correctly no matter how hard he tried.

The woman in the pantsuit watched for a moment before she turned to the officer, the look on her face so stern it sent the uniformed woman stumbling back. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Meaning of what, ma’am?” The officer responded, sweat trailing down her forehead as an overwhelming pressure seemed to bear down on her.

“Not only do you have a future student of the school wearing one of those vile collars, you’ve even pumped him full of mind-numbing drugs!” By the end, the woman was practically spitting with rage causing the poor policewoman to shrink even further.

“My… choice… for drugs. Collar… not work… Made pain… hurt worse.” Atlas interjected, barely coherent enough to string the words together in a desperate attempt to defuse what even his addled mind could tell was a tense situation.

The esper looked at him before letting out a sigh. “Very well. I will accept your explanation… for now. However, that doesn’t mean you can stay like this. You’re an esper now; Time to accept it.” She reached out and touched him on the shoulder for a moment. Atlas felt energy flow into his body, disperse the fog in his mind, and completely remove the drugs from his system.

Atlas gasped in a deep breath as his head cleared for the first time in days. He hadn’t fully appreciated the ability to complete a thought and comprehend everything around him. At the same time, he could now feel an uncomfortable pressure in his whole body like a hose with the opening blocked in an old Tom and Jerry cartoon. He tried to ignore the feeling as he took the clipboard and pen from the policewoman. He scratched out his signature and held the items to the woman next to him.

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Taking a hint, the esper took the pen and signed her own name before handing both the pen and the form back to the officer. While giving the esper a wary side-eye, the policewoman looked the form over before saying, “Everything looks to be in order. Come here, kid.” She pulled a key from her belt as Atlas moved in front of her.

She reached out and took off his handcuffs and gave Atlas a chance to rub his wrists and work some of the stiffness out of them. When he had, Atlas gave her a nod and lifted his chin to give her easy access to the collar. He felt as the key slid into the keyhole, followed by the tumblers turning, until finally, a click sounded out, loosening some of the tension around his neck. The officer’s hands started shaking as she undid the clasp. Atlas looked the woman in the eyes as she finally pulled the collar off his neck and took a step back, almost as if she were afraid of him. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay, only to get cut off as he felt something in his body click into place, like he had been a puzzle with a piece stuck between two different spots and that piece had now been put in the right spot.

Power that he had only faintly felt when it had happened rushed through his body, sweeping through his mind, muscles, nerve centers, organs, and veins before exploding out of him with terrifying ferocity. At first, it felt painfully euphoric, like he was stretching out a stiff limb and popping it back into place. Yet, the pain quickly began to grow and outpace everything else he felt, and a rush of sensations seemed to be sucked in and forced back out in an agonizing cycle. As Atlas opened his mouth in a silent scream, he lost control of all sensation and felt his mind being pulled back to the situation a few weeks before when all the madness had started.

~~~

As she felt the boy’s power about to erupt from him, Sharon unleashed her own aura and focused it into a shield that surrounded her and the policewoman. Sharon had to admit that she had not been expecting the sheer density and strength of Atlas’s aura as his power was finally free to move through his body as it was intended to. For a newly awakened esper like him to already have an aura this strong was certainly promising. Sharon now understood why he had been restrained with both the collar and drugs. The collar had only been a Rank G collar, and the boy easily landed in mid-Rank F. It still made her shake with rage at the thought, though.

Forcing her anger, she turned to the policewoman, whose skin had lost all luster and was covered in sweat from the stress of facing Atlas’s aura and the brief flash from Sharon’s anger earlier. Granted, that only made reaching into the woman’s mind and pulling out her name easier. She could have gone deeper, but Sharon didn’t want to tax Officer Renee Montoya’s mind. It hadn’t been her who had drugged the boy, after all.

She snapped her fingers, drawing Montoya’s attention before she spoke. “Seeing as how it will take a moment for his body to acclimate, why don’t you tell me more about how we reached this point, Officer Montoya?” She worked up that she had read the woman’s mind to scare her enough to cooperate, even if finding someone’s name was child’s play for a Mind-based esper like her.

“I-I don’t know what to tell you,” Montoya replied with a stammer. “E-everything is in the report the Esper Foundation received from the Department.”

“Yes, but a police report is so impersonal. And I distinctly remember reading your name on the report, Renee,” Sharon smirked as she finished and both saw and felt the woman give in.

“How did you…” Stopping herself, Montoya let out a deep sigh as her shoulders slumped. “Fine…”