Max was in a terrible mood the following morning. She had only managed a few hours of sleep and had woken up to her womanly cramps. She had known this particular problem would happen sooner or later. Infact, she had found it odd that she hadn't experienced it sooner. She just hadn't expected for her breasts to be that damn tender. She understood entirely why some girls tended to be irratable when they were on their period. Max took a deep calming breath in an attempt to calm down and tried ignore her mother, whom was complaining about a terrible headache, as she got ready for the day. In between complaints, her mother told her that the school board called and said that Max would be going back to school in another district come monday. That was three days away.
It wasn't until after her mother left that her cellphone rang. Max looked at the caller ID, but the number was set to private. Max cautiously answered the phone, "Hello?"
"Good morning, Ms. Levings.," General McKenzy's said.
"What do you want?" Max said in an cold tone. Max could hear a sigh on the other end of the phone before she got a reply.
"Amanda didn't tell you? No matter. Be ready to go in ten minutes," General McKenzy said.
"Why?" Max responded.
"You need to take a trip to a facility to partake in a mandatory study of enhanced ability users," General McKenzy said, "Any other questions?" Max was a bit angry that Amanda hadn't told her, but it wouldn't be that big of an issue.
There is one question Max wanted to ask though. "How's Emily doing?" She was wondering how Emily had been holding up. Afterall it had been her first encounter with essence beasts. Max had known grown men that had gone insane after their first encounter with one.
"She is doing better than anyone could expect," his voice had softened before returning back to it's serious tone, "You now have nine minutes, Ms. Levings. Goodbye." Max did not like the idea of being poked and prodded while she felt this bad, but it was still better than having a exploding collar around her neck.
She went outside at the correct time and was taken out of the city. Several dirt roads later, they finally arrived to their destination. It was an old warehouse. Or at least that is what it looked like. As soon as she was led into it, she saw that it was filled with medical examination equipment, a set of weights and an assortment of other tech. The waiting researchers swarmed at her as soon as they saw her.
They began her examination with a chest x-ray followed by a full body MRI and CT scan. They drew her blood and started waving all sorts of sensors around her while she tried her best to stand still. One even unwrapped her wounded right arm to examine her injury and took some notes on how quickly it was healing. It was only after they were done with the tests that they asked her to show them her essence darts. She formed one for them to look at. They brought their collection of sensors back and she had to wait for them to finish before being asked to throw it at a ballistic gelatin block. They asked questions about what she felt and thought when she formed it. Max gave a shrug and just told them she thinks about it and it appears. They made her to throw two more essence darts, but stopped when she said she felt dizzy. She could throw one more with essence to spare, but didn't want to tell them that. The weaker she appeared the better it was for her. Afterwards, they had her lift various weights while jotting down notes. Finally, they were satisfied after nearly four hours of tests and questions. She was tired and wanted something to eat.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
As Max was being led out of the warehouse, she got a glance at the lead researcher's notes. She saw the words enhanced regeneration, dart manifestation powers and energy level 12. She got curious about what else was written and used her spiritual sense to scan the man's notes. She didn't get to see much before one of the sensors in the room started going nuts. Max reflexively retracted her spiritual sense, but it was too late.
Almost as one all of the researchers turn towards her with a twinkle in their eyes as if they found some rare toy to play with. "Fuuuuck," Max said in exasperation as she realized what was coming. She was dragged back in for another round of tests. It had taken another hour before she was allowed to leave. She had a splitting headache and wanted to hit something. She was hunched over as she walked to the car to be taken home.
When they were driving her back, she noticed they were not heading to her house. She asked the driver where they were going but didn't get a response. She was getting anxious until they pulled into a restraunt parking lot. She perked up immediately at the prospect of food. As Max walked inside, she saw Amanda waving her from an isolated corner of the restraunt. Max's escort returned to the car as Amanda greeted her, "Hey, sis. How did it go?"
"It sucked," Max said in a tired tone.
"Yeah. I know that feeling. I had to go through it too y'know," Amanda agreed.
Max grunted in understanding before ordering her food. "You would think that they had plenty of time to study people with special abilities to figure out how we work," Max complained.
"Trust me, it's way better than it was in the past," Amanda said.
"How could it possibly be worse?" Max inquired with mild curiosity. She didn't believe that civilized person would do much more than what she had gone through. Max regretted asking as soon as she saw the look of discomfort on Amanda's face.
"They removed the jewels from several people's chests," Amanda said. Max gave her a look of disbelief. Once an essence core was formed, it was a integral part of your life. Removing it was the same as the same as your heart or lungs being removed. Even if someone survived it, their body would wither away and would be bedridden for the rest of their life. "They were only trying to take away the abilities of the bad ones. No one could have known it would kill them."
Max couldn't bring herself to talk about that anymore and changed the subject. Max and Amanda talked while they waited for their meal. When they finished eating, Amanda told Max that she found Max's poetry notebook and had it placed on her bed. Max was confused since she didn't have a poetry notebook, but thanked her anyways. The ride home was uneventful as the driver wouldn't say a word.
Max checked her room after getting home. Her blood ran cold at what she saw and finally realized what Amanda had meant by poetry book. On her bed was her tattered, blood-stained notebook that she had written her cultivation method in. It had a note inside it which read, 'I don't know how you wrote this and I don't care. You are really lucky I found this and was able to cast a convincing illusion on it before the general could get a good look at it. You have to be way more careful from now on. I can't always cover your tracks.'
Max felt as if she dodged a bullet. Max swiflty picked up the notebook. She couldn't take the risk that someone would find it if she hid it. It was safer for her at least for the time being to destroy it or render it unreadable. She would just have teach Emily how to cultivate in person.