A epped out through the doors, “Miss ovna?”
Sonya got to her feet and followed the Nurse, “How is Marta doing? She was my caretaker.”
“Miss Daphne? She’s still unscious but she seems to be fiherwise. Her husband is with her,” The Nurse said, “We’re more ed about you, Miss ovna.”
Sonya frowned but gave a curt nod, “I figured,” She said, reag up to touch her eyelid self sciously. In this early time many people would be fused about the circumstances of Pandora’s Light and the ges it would have on the world. A woman suddenly growing prosthetic eyes was certainly cause for .
The woman gave her an uneasy look, “Do they… hurt?”
Sonya shrugged, “They feel a little heavy,” She offered, brushing her hair out of her eye. She paused and grabbed a strand of it, “What the?”
“Miss ovna?” The nurse paused, looking at her in .
“My hair,” Sonya gasped, it had turned white! Stark white, starlight white, every inch of it. She scrambled for her phone and pulled it out. She hadn’t checked her oearance since she knew what the eyes from her Pandiven powers looked like, it didn't matter. What the hell! Sonya trembled as she hit the camera button and tur to selfie mode, looking at her fa the s. Her skin had gohly pale and her hair was indeed as white as fresh snowfall, her meical eyes twirled and spun, clig with that eerie sound they made. A faint blue-green glow bzed inside of them. “It’s ged…”
The nurse regarded Sonya for a moment, “I’ll… make a note for the doctor,” She said uneasily, hurrying to scribble something down on a notepad as Sonya recovered and they tinued walking.
They stepped into an examination room and a trio of doctors were waiting, the three of them turned as one, all of them wide eyed.
“I’d heard what was going around,” One said.
“But to see it in person,” Another murmured.
The third strode forward, a broad shouldered man with jet bck hair and gsses, he looked asiaended a hand to Sonya. “Choi Da-Som, I’m the head of neurery here,” He said. Her eyes lingered on his face for a moment and she could see the same name hanging over his head.
She took his hand a a momentary e with him, that same untapped sense of potential. She made a split sed decisioaken her hand willingly and it wouldn’t hurt to test and see more detail about this strange new power of hers. This time she wao see what a single feature would do; Appraise.
Nothing happened for a heartbeat and she forced herself to smile and shake his hand, “o meet you sir,” She said, trying to look weary. It must have worked because he leaned in a bit and examined her face.
“You look anemic, Miss ovna, why don’t you have a seat,” He said, gesturing to the examination table. “Would you like something to drink?”
“I’m just tired,” Sonya admitted, she’d been up for almost a day, it wasn’t easy to nap with all the g and wailing in the waiting room. He seemed to take her retort in stride as she stepped past him and onto the examination table. “So what now?”
“Well, holy we o know more about your dition from you,” One of the doctors said, moving up to stao Da-Som. He had a tablet in his hand and was reading it, “It says here you were ically blind, your eyes damaged by an i at a b you worked at?”
“I worked for Sto Chemical, yes, there was an i with acid that took my sight,” Sonya said ftly, “Theerday happened and now I see.”
“How would you pare it to your inal sight?” The other doctor asked, taking a few notes down.
“Well, like I told the hey feel a little heavy in my head and make a tig sound like there’s a clock up in there,” She tapped her temple, “Whatever happened didn’t heal my tear ducts, and I still don’t o blink, also I see holy better than I had before. Peripheral detail is really good, your shoe’s untied, Doanse,” She said, staring straight into Doctor Choi’s eyes, unblinking.
Manse, one of the other two doctors, looked down at his shoes and coughed, “Remarkable.”
“I’d like to run some tests,” Doctor Choi said, “But after that, I’m pretty sure you’ll be good to go, you don’t seem hurt at all.”
“Just some bruises,” Sonya said.
“But what’s happening is extraordinary, it could take days to get all the information!” Manse protested. Sonya stiffened, she didn’t like the sound of that. She had no memories of what happe the hospital after Pandora’s Light the first time. She'd awakened and was given a bill of health before bei home after some questions about her dition.
“We don’t have a right to hold her here,” Doctor Choi cut in firmly, “More importantly, there are plenty of other people experieng these odd symptoms and ges. We o catalog first before we start examining for more detail. You’re putting the cart before the horse.”
Manse frowned but nodded his sent to the point. Sonya let out a breath and graced Doctor Choi with a smile, “Thank you, Doctor.”
“Would you be willing to follow up once we better uand what’s going on?” The doctor asked, returning the smile.
“I’ll think about it favorably,” Sonya said, she wasn’t willing to say no and after experimenting with some of the people in the waiting room she realized she couldn’t lie and say yes either. If she’d lied in front of observant people like this, they’d notice her choke and start asking more questions.
Does my inability to lie have a e with this new power? It sounds like it involves making deals, is that a sequence of that? I ’t deceive people directly?
Fortunately, Doctor Choi seemed satisfied with that response and immediately set to work through a few tests to get an idea of what was going on with Sonya’s new eyes. They tried to examihem internally but the inner ws were too plicated for their equipment. They rahrough an MRI with little success either though it did paint a picture of how the eyes were ected to her brain, that alone had been moal acc to Doctor Choi, who had enthused about it and urged Sonya to return before they parted ways.
“Your eyes could be the solution to blindness in a lot of people,” Choi said, “I do hope you’ll e back.”
Sonya simply shook his hand again with a smile, she hat the option to appraise him was gone. Instead only the sample and broker deal options remained.
So I only appraise once? Iing. But what does it mean by product?
Before she left, she mao get the room number where Marta was staying a in for a visit, finding her husband looking tired but relieved that his wife was alive. He thanked Sonya despite his obvious misgivings about her new eyes, shaking her hand and giving her a new person to appraise.
She left the hospital after urging him to tact her when Marta’s dition ged. That woman had died for her ond now had saved her life. It was strahough, st time around someone else had destroyed the beast, obviously. Where had that person gone off to? Had they simply been too slow to respond before Marta had settled the problem? It was anyone’s guess.
“Mommy it hurts!” A small voice whined as she stepped into the small hall betweeomatic doors that lead outside. She gnced over at a little boy sitting on the ground, clutg helplessly at his arm in a cloth sling. His mother was h, fretting over his dition. She looked about as beat up as everyone else, cuts and scrapes but no serious injuries. She looked at the boy’s arm a a surge of instine over her, it was like she could see a warehouse in her mind, inside were hundreds of empty shelves. One, however, had three vases on it. Product? If it's a product, it belongs to me, she reasoned, so ’t I use it?
She turned and walked towards the pair, “Excuse me, I might be able to help,” She ently, kneeling dowo the boy.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” The woman demanded as Sonya reached out and touched the boy’s arm. She mentally drew oem on her warehouse shelf a it rush into her. Instind uanding, just like the acquisition of her eyes. She knew how to use it. A faint green light erupted from her fiips and the boy let out a startled gasp. “What are you doing!” The woman screamed only to go silent as the boy stretched his arm out in awe.
“It doesn’t hurt!” The boy gasped as Sonya got to her feet, it was a good test but she o leave, fast.
“Wait!” The woman called, but Sonya had already pushed into the crowd as more and more people streamed towards the hospital.
–
Sonya let out a weary breath as she sat down at the only coffee shop that had dared to be open after everything had transpired. She held the warm coffee in her hand, more for the soothing feeling it gave her than her desire to drink it. Oh boy would she drink it though. It was fortuhat only the woman seemed to have seen her and the boy was too eted with his arm being meo have noticed.
I mehat kid's arm… She thought, still awestruck by what happened. She reached bato her mind to check through her warehouse. Lo and behold, the shelf still had all three products present. The only expnation she could e up with was somehow she had taken a copy of the potential power in the people she had touched and internalized it. Her power referred to it as a product, though. Did that mean she could just as easily give it to someone else?
Is that what it means by Broker Deal?
She snorted, “A power broker.”
“What’s that ma’am?” A man asked, stoppio her with a tray in his hand. He set down a small cake in front of her and she looked up at him. He tried and failed not to wi her eyes. She really o get some sungsses, she’d worn them all the time after getting her powers the first time around.
“Mm? Nothing, sorry,” Sonya shook her head and looked down at the cake, “I didn’t order this.”
“The mahere did,” The waiter said, pointing across the room, “We aren’t a bar though…” He grumbled.
Sonya raised an eyebrow and followed the waiter’s gesture. There was indeed a brown-haired man sitting there, he was young, probably in his early twenties and had an ear look on his boyish face. Sonya frowned, she wasly thrilled about being hit ht now and he certainly wasn’t her type. Even so, she couldn’t help but feel she reized the guy from somewhere. She examihe bar over his head.
Not Unawakened. Did he already have a power? Why is his name so familiar?
Sonya graced the waiter with an easy smile, “Sorry, I’ll go talk to him.”
“Sure sure,” The waiter groused and walked away. Sonya picked up the cake and her coffee before walking over to Nick. A few people gnced her way unfortably before looking away. It had been just over a day since Pandora’s Light and word was already getting around about people with unusual powers showing up.
Sonya stopped at Nick’s table a her pte down, “May I join you?”
“Please!” Nithused.
Sonya swept into the chair and sighed, taking a sip of her coffee, she really o get some sleep soon. “ I help you, Mister Adders?” She asked, keepione light.
He winced, “That one of your eye’s abilities?” He asked.
“You could say that,” Sonya said with an easy smile.
He took a deep breath and lowered his voice, “I’m like you,” He whispered, “I got hit by that light and… whoom!”
She gave him a deadpan look, “Whoom?”
“Yeah! Whoom!” He excimed, drawing a few looks, he winced and lowered his head, “Uh… I like… make fire, and light stuff up.”
She narrowed her eyes, Adders, fire, her eyes widened momentarily before she trolled herself. V N Adders was the internally known name of the hero Firestorm, a horrendously powerful hero from her memory and one of the bigger pyers in the Ameri Heroes Guild. He was a big name! Or would be a big name, eventually. What oh was he doing in a smaller city in North Carolina? More importantly, how do I get him to shake my hand? she thought, a small pang of hunger was already building io have Firestorm’s ability as one of her ‘products’ would be incredibly useful iure.
“Impressive,” Sonya said with a smile, “I’m afraid my eyes aren’t nearly that special.”
“It’s not your eyes I’m ied in!” He corrected her, earness on his face. “Please, I need your help!” She frowned, Sonya knew for a fact that Firestorm only had one power, so he couldn’t have identified her abilities. So what was he so ied in? He seemed to notice her guarded expression so he lowered his voice even more, “I saw you heal that kid at the hospital. you do it again?”
Her eyebrows shot up, “...you saw that?”
“A few people did, but it was so crowded I’m pretty sure only I saw your face. I kinda… followed… you here,” He started to turn red as Sonya scrutinized him. “...sorry.”
She sighed, “Whatever, let’s say I , what do you want, and what’s in it for me?”
He spped his hands to his knees and bowed his head, “I need you to help my dad, please! We work something out I’m sure!”
It took every ounce of strength for her not to grin, she extended her hand to him, “I at the very least have a look,” She said, her eyes tig ominously in her head.
Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick