The beautiful Professor Aldrin and the straight-laced Major Dorman led Mark to a huge office building although he shouldn’t think of the guy like that since he truly didn’t know the soldier. Just because the man had not seen one of the best TV shows ever existed did not mean that the man was stuck in the mud.
The building surprised Mark since it was located in the center of the city. The area was bustling with office workers and people which was different from what he had been expecting. He thought that the two would bring him somewhere remote.
The building was mid-sized compared to the other skyscrapers in the area but the security was what Mark had expected for a government-led location that probably conducts secret meetings or even secret experiments.
The entrance of the building was guarded by what looked like elite guards checking every identification of the people who entered at an almost ridiculous level. It seemed unreal to Mark, almost like a parody of a spy movie.
The guards didn’t only compare the Identification Cards of the people who were entering the building in some database but they also had to talk to someone using their communication devices.
“That is such a ridiculous security measure,” Mark whispered to Professor Aldrin.
“I know, but the army likes to do things that way especially if the projects pertain to technologies that could have great implications for our future,” Professor Aldrin said.
“Did they think I’m using some sort of technology to wield my powers?” Mark asked curiously.
“They didn’t know what to think about where your abilities came from. Some of them thought that you might be using super advanced devices, some thought that you sold your soul to the devil and some thought that you’re a mutant just like the ones from the comic books,” Sophia answered.
“That’s the reason why we want to conduct a thorough investigation about you, Mr. Baker. We don’t want to come to an incorrect conclusion. What the government wanted was to learn how you do what you do and possibly copy it since your ability to heal any sickness would truly bring a miracle to our country,” Major Dorman added.
Soon they were inside the building and Professor Aldrin and Major Dorman led him to an elevator. Major Dorman, perhaps as a gesture of goodwill, informed him that they would go to the topmost floor of the building and there he would meet with Lieutenant Governor Sarah Coulson, Dr. Edwin Rodeo, a professor of Neuro Science from Caltech, Dr. Roberta Dentor, also a scientist from Caltech, Dr. Luis Escalante, one of the top neurologist in the country, Major Dennis Pullman from the army and Major Donna Ebignon from the army as well.
Mark didn’t know what to think. He would meet with the important people and knew that the country truly treated him as someone important. When they arrived at the top floor, they entered a conference room. Everyone introduced themselves to him and Mark also did the same then they all sat behind the conference table.
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As expected, it was the scientist who started asking him questions. Mark knew from the beginning that he would mostly spout lies since he truly didn’t know how to explain where his abilities came from.
“Mr. Baker, we wanted to confirm if you know where your abilities came from,” Dr. Escalante began.
“As far as I know, they’re spells that take hold of unknown energy and use those energies for incredible things. My mother who passed taught me basic spells at first but when I turned twenty-five, their power exploded.”
“When you say spells, are you talking about something like wizards and witches from fantasy stories?” Dr. Edwin asked.
“Yes. My mother taught me some unknown words and gestures. At first, they did let me do some very small things, for example, my healing spells could at most heal a very minute cut, and doing that would exhaust me severely but again when I turned twenty-five, the power exploded. As you know I’m a nerd and I’m steeped in fantasy lore so for experimentation I taught some of my friends those spells and gestures that my mother taught me but they couldn’t do anything with them. I did remember that my mother once mentioned that one key ingredient for the spells to work was bloodline and I was informed that she was the last one in our family who had the blood of old sorcerers from the country where she came from,” Mark said, impressed at himself for all the lies that he was concocting.
“Did you know that we went to your mother’s country and checked everyone that was related to you?” One of the majors said.
“I would think so. I did the same thing you know but it resulted in nothing.”
“Can you give us a list of the things that you can do?” Professor Aldrin asked.
“Well revealing something like that could be dangerous for me since they’re the core of my secrets but what I can say is I’m truly very powerful. Think of a wizard or a sorcerer in books or video games. What they can do, I can do as well,” Mark answered.
“You mean spells from something like Dungeons and Dragons like Lightning Bolt, Ice Storm, Meteor Shower, Invisibility, Teleportation, things like that?” Dr. Roberta asked and Mark simply answered, “Yes and more”.
“I will show you a video clip that I prepared. It’s a list of spells from an old-school video game. Please tell us if can do the spells in the video,” Professor Aldrin said and this action confirmed Mark’s suspicion that Professor Sophia Aldrin was a nerd.
The video was shown on the huge screen at the end of the conference table. It’s from an old Japanese game called Dungeons and Dragon: Shadow Over Mystara and the character on the screen was the wizard casting all of his spells like Ice Storm, Meteor, Poison Cloud, Lightning, Mass Hold Person, Mirror Image, basically all the spells and when Mark said that he could do all that he could see the reaction of the people in the room.
The people from the army looked at him like he was dangerous, like some sort of humanoid mass weapon. The scientists, including the medical doctor, were looking at him with sparkling eyes like he was some sort of valuable treasure that would grant them their innermost desire.
“As you know I grew up here and I love my country so I intend to fully cooperate. One day every month, I will heal whoever you want me to heal and I assure you, I haven’t found any sickness that I couldn’t heal. During that scheduled day, I would also let myself be subject to your experiments doing a demonstration and letting you take any bodily fluids or even flesh that you want but please make sure that the experiments you will do will be within the subject of the law. No illegal experiments please like cloning me or creating children based on my DNA. If my bottom line is violated, believe me, I have the power to disappear and you will never see me again. I’m willing to demonstrate what I’ve said during the experimentation schedule.”
Mark was thinking that subjecting himself to something so humiliating once a month would allow him to continue visiting Earth without any problem.