Hues of Purple

Chapter 17

Thursday, July 30th

I'm back to testing again, I have my returning appointment today. I've been dreading it, but it's for a good cause so it's good that I'm doing this. "Mom, I'm kinda nervous." She smiles empathetically, "I don't blame you honey, if I were you I would've stopped. You're strong Stephanie, you're gonna help people." I sigh, "that's true, I wonder when the tests will be done though. Alexander said that we're almost done and he's finalizing the prototype. I'm excited to see what we've been working on." We sat in silence for a bit, while she drove my Mom just hummed. "Thanks for driving me Mom, are you gonna wait for me or pick me up later?" "I can't wait for you today, I have errands, but just message me when you're done, I love you." "Love you too Mom," we pulled up to the front of the building, and I went in.

Surprisingly, there were a lot of people, and they were very busy. I made my way through the sea of people and reached the front desk. "Hi, I'm here for my appointment with Mr. Oswold." The lady smiled at me, "welcome back Stephanie, Mr. Oswold missed you. He's going to be so happy to see you." I smile and nod, "yeah, it's been a bit." I sit in one of the chairs and wait for someone to get me. Soon enough, one of his assistants calls for me and we head up to Alexander's office.
I walk in and he looks troubled. It looks like he hasn't slept in days, his hair is a mess, and his tie is not tied properly. This is so not like him. When I walk in he quickly turns around, "Stephanie! How're you?" He smiles at me, I don't know if I should be scared or not. "Hi, I'm good, you?" He laughs, "oh I'm alright, there's just a lot going on. Have a seat," he gestures to the chair in front of his desk. I sit and look around, there's papers everywhere. "I've noticed, what's going on?" He sits across from me, "the project we've been working on is so close to being complete! I estimate we just need to do two more tests, and then we're all done! A lot of my employees are preparing for the production of the devices, that's why everyone is everywhere right now." He smiles again, I ask, "so what are we gonna test today? The same as usual?" He shakes his head, "not exactly, very similar."

He smiles again and gets up, "follow me, I'll show you." He brushed past me and walked away, I followed. He leads me to a big room, and on a table are two containers of energy. Both purple, but one was darker (the darker the color, the stronger), I assumed that those were ours. He led me to the table and let me look at the containers. They were labeled, the darker one wasn't his, it was mine. Am I stronger than Alexander? He sighed, "I wanted to compare our energies to see if they were similar. Obviously they are but I wanted to see the color difference, and it turns out yours is actually darker than mine. It's probably because you're younger and your power is more concentrated, or it's something else. Unfortunately, you can't produce enough energy to match mine, so it actually ends up leveling out." That's interesting, I wonder if he's scared I'm growing stronger than he is. "Oh that's interesting, what is this for exactly?" The way the energy moves in and out of itself, it's like an ocean in a box. "This is a sample of all the energy we've extracted during the tests, it's going to power those devices I told you about. People are going to be able to see their powers from a young age, and make it so we can get them training and teach them about it sooner."

That's really cool. "So what exactly are we testing today?" He chuckles, "the device itself, you're going to be the first to try it." I'm shocked, "but we know what color I am, how does that help at all?" He grabs an armband, it's the prototype. "We're going to see if it identifies you correctly, and since we know what you are, it'll be easy to troubleshoot." This armband is made of this lightweight metallic substance. There's straps and adjusters, and it fits pretty much perfectly. As Alexander is putting it on me, I can't help but notice how shaky he is, he isn't doing well. "Alexander, are you okay?" He laughs, "yeah, just overwhelmed and probably a bit overworked. I should probably sleep soon." We both laugh, and he finishes putting the armband on.
He steps away, "are you ready?" I nod yes, and the armband turns on, it heats up a little but it doesn't hurt. "Now use your power," I concentrated and summoned my energy, and the armband glowed purple. It works! All of that work paid off, people are going to benefit from this and get the resources they need sooner. I turn to Alexander, he is smiling very wide, his idea worked. It powers off and he walks towards me, "how did that feel?" He takes it off, "it got a little warm, but it didn't hurt whatsoever. Why's that?" He puts the prototype - now an invention - onto a table and turns back towards me. "That's actually a very small amount of our combined power going into your arm and giving you a little boost to activate your power. But since you're already a purple, you didn't need it." I laugh, that makes sense. "Well, now what?"

"We're going to continue testing, but I'm sure it'll continue to perform well. You're free to go if you'd like, but if not I can show you the process of making this device." He smiles, I think he wants me to stay. "I think my Mom is still running errands, so I'll stay. I really wanna see how this works." He smiles, "sounds great, follow me." He tries to adjust his hair and tie, he doesn't look too disheveled now.

A/N: Sorry for the abrupt stop of chapters. I lost motivation but now I'm back! Hope you enjoyed!