James stepped out of the car and looked up at the concrete behemoth that sat before him. He recognised it instantly as a relic of a short past when the Unified States architecture changed to be as boring and minimal as possible to hide the growing wealth gap between the highest and lowest levels of society. Shaking his head, he smirked at how bad it failed. All it did was make people even angrier at their country, leaving only a few remaining buildings of its type, deemed too important to knock down and rebuild.
Stepping in, a man in a suit lowered his head toward them, "Madam Parker, Miss Grey is waiting for you in her office."
"Thank you." Waving him off, Parker led James to an elevator and clicked the third floor. Taking out a contract from her breifcase she handed it over to him. "Read this. We won't do anything unless you agree." James carefully read the single page and nodded, finding it fair; it asked only whether he consented to a psychological examination. He didn't miss the fine print that said it would be invasive and potentially dangerous, but knowing that, once again, he had no choice in the matter, he stamped his thumb, let his aura flow through, and handed it back.
Parker pocketed it and opened the door, leading James down the barren corridor, arriving at an office. Letting them in, she smiled and nodded towards a lady sitting at her desk, casually scrolling through her phone. Seeing new arrivals, she looked up and brushed her blue hair to the side, revealing her dark brown eyes.
"Is he the one?" Parker nodded and turned to James.
"I will be back once this is finished." Looking to miss Grey, she smiled, "Take your time." Grey stood up and offered the sofa to James, sitting next to him.
"It's better if you lie down." James did as told and got himself comfortable. "My name is Skylar Grey. I'm sure you read the contract. That was something from my end. I am not fond of doing this without the consent of my patients."
"Paitent. I'm not..."
"Forgive me," Skylar sweetly smiled, showing her dimples, "I work as a psychiatrist as well. Force of habit." Grabbing his hand, Skyalr took a deep breath, "Now I am sure you know of abilities that allow people to tamper with the mind." James nodded, feeling slightly nervous. "Relax, I know abilities in regard to the mind are scary, but that is in the wrong hands. I have taken an oath, Mr Graham, and I shall never purposely break it."
"I'm sorry." James realised he had been rude and took a few breaths to calm down.
"Don't be, everyone is always like that. Anyway, my ability allows me and those I am in contact with to enter either my mind or theirs. It is impossible for me to explain it, and it is better to show." Skyalrs tightened her grip on James, "Once again, will you let me do this?" James nodded and let himself relax. Although curious, he didn't use his ability, unsure if it might affect the procedure in any way. "I'll take you to my mind first to show you."
James felt soemthing be sucked away from his body. The world turned black for a moment as he fell asleep. Awakening, he found himself floating in an endless void with Skylar next to him. With a wave of her hand, the void changed into a massive mind map connecting to five major points. "This is how I see my own mind. A large map that must be navigated."
She pointed out towards the map, following the bright white lines that spread from the five major points that brightly glowed. As they drifted off, they endlessly expanded into thousands of different points, but the further away they got, the duller they went. "As you can probably tell, those are memories I am forgetting. Once I forget them, they will vanish unless something happens that drags them back out."
Reaching out, she grabbed one of the points that seemed an endless distance away and expanded her hand. The mind map vanished, replaced by an endless nebula. "Another example is one of my patients, the most beautiful mind I have ever seen. Unfortunatly she has dementia." Skylar pointed to one of the stars in the nebula that was cracking before exploding, "Just there, a memory was permanently lost. Do you understand a little more what I will do now?"
James looked, seeing something he could have never imagined and weakly nodded. Skylar smiled and waved her hand. The sucking force happened again, and the scene changed. Before him, an endless row of filing cabinets sat. Some glowed with a white light, and others were so dark they nearly blended into the void around them.
"The mind always reflects a person's personality. From this alone, I can tell you have lived quite an organised life. Things you see you like to understand, sort and put away." Skyalr waved her hand. The rows of filing cabinets flew past them before stopping. Looking through them, she found what she wanted and pulled one of the drawers, taking out a stack of white documents from it.
Skylar carefully read, and James could feel someone accessing his mind, pulling out his thoughts and feelings about the ISD and the Unified States. The moment felt agonisingly long but also instant as Skylar put everything back how she found it afterwards.
"I see no problems personally, but I will leave it up to Secretary Parker." Skylar turned and smiled, "You have a great love for your city. It really is the only thing you love about our country."
"I haven't seen much else, unfortunately." Skylar waved her hand, telling him he didn't need to explain.
"It's good that your only feelings towards the ISD are suspicion and fear. If they are overly positive or antagonistic, then I would be worried. But most recruits with similar circumstances to you are like this." Skylar said without worry. "We have some time. Do you want to look through your mind?"
James thought about it for a second and shrugged, not seeing a problem. Skylar smiled and waved her hand, dragging out one of the filing cabinets that glowed with a white light. Taking the white paper from it, she read through and smiled, throwing it into the air.
The paper was shredded into millions of pieces and flew about, forming a white screen. On it, James saw a moment he would never forget as he ran around a baseball field, looking to the stands and seeing his parents eagerly cheering him on. "Your first home run."
James reached out, trying to grasp it, but was stopped as Skylar grabbed his hand. "It is only a memory as sweet as it is. Always remember, you should never get lost in them." Waving her hand again, the screen reformed into paper in her hands. Putting it away, she moved on and grabbed another.
Throwing it up, the same thing happened as it formed a screen. James saw himself nervously fiddling with his watch, waiting in a restaurant. Seconds passed, and he looked, seeing Vanessa strolling in wearing a casual outfit. Grabbing his eyes, he couldn't help but be embarrassed by his first date with the woman, remembering how overdressed he was compared to her.
Skylar chuckled, seeing James reaction, and waved her hand again, putting it away. Over and over she showed some of James best memories, from his first time meeting Peter, his promotions in the NPSD, the feeling when he cracked his first case. All of them brought about different emotions in him, ending in a soft smile.
Waving her hand a final time, Skyalr made all the filing cabinets vanish, leaving the two in an endless void. Her eyes looked at the distant at it. James couldn't understand why, but he felt like she was looking at something even if he couldn't see it.
"Mr Graham." Her voice was weirdly serious. "Do you have some unresolved trauma or suppressed beliefs. Anything you can think of." Looking at James, her eyes hardened, "Forgive me, if you were a patient, I wouldn't be so forward, but this is Secretary Parker's orders. I can't leave without being sure."
James tilted his head in confusion. "Beliefs, no. As for trauma." James lowered his head. Nothing from his childhood came to mind. He had loving parents that endulged his dreams. He had bullies, of course, but after growing up, he knew that it was children being children. His mind went to one place. "Unit 13. Is it that?"
Skylar waved her hand and brought forward a single filing cabinet. Like his core memories, it glowed, but instead of a white light, it was incredibly dark. "This will affect you. Brace yourself." Skylar moved slowly, opening the drawer. An overwhelming feeling of pain, fear, helplessness and anger washed over James as he collapsed to the floor. Seeing how badly James was feeling, Skylar moved quickly, reading it and putting it away, closing the drawer and waving it away.
Staring into the distance, she shook her head. "It wasn't that." With a deep breath, she let James collect himself before speaking again, "I will have to brute force this a little. Be understanding." Lifting both her hands towards the distance in the void, she closed her eyes and shook.
James felt soemthing in his mind forcefully crack, hurting him. Looking at Skylar, he saw her shaking uncontrollably, her face warping in horror. As she opened her mouth to scream, the endless void shattered, and James was sucked out and thrown back into the real world. Skylar followed, screaming in pain as she clutched her head, throwing up through her arms. The door swung open as an ISD agent stepped in with a weapon raised towards James.