Terrifying Sights And Discoveries

Issue 16. After disappearing from the infirmary, Charlene questions her new abilities.

After disappearing from the infirmary, Charlene appears in the destroyed city of Kyoto. She wakes up with a mild pain still in her chest and slowly gets to her feet. She then gets a look of confusion on her face. "Where am i?" she says out loud. She then starts to walk about the rubble of Kyoto to search for signs of life. During her search, she finds a small puppy wandering around. She calls to the puppy and it comes running over to her instantly. When the puppy reaches her, it licks her hand and instantly forms a bond with Charlene. Charlene then notices its a corgi and the rather quick bond the puppy has formed with her. She shrugs it off and picks up the puppy. She then goes to finds its family if they're still around. While searching, Charlene stumbles upon hundreds of dead bodies and skeletons from when Epsilon took over Kyoto. The sight makes Charlene unsettled and she continues to search for the puppy's family. She then looks on the side of a skyscraper to see the body of the woman Epsilon had restrained against it. The sight sends chills through her body and she continues through Kyoto. Charlene then thinks to herself that she wishes that she was back home. Right after she thinks it, she starts to turn into cherry blossom pedals along with the puppy and disappear.

Back at Charlene's home in Tokyo, the cherry blossom pedals start to appear and then after about ten seconds Charlene and the puppy appear. Charlene in shock wonders if what just happened mind altering side effect from the serum she made. To be sure, she tells the puppy to stay at her house and heads back to Crimson Advancements. She goes to the lab her and her co-worker use. Her co-worker is in the lab and sees Charlene. She then runs over to Charlene and asks if shes ok. Charlene tells her shes fine and Naomi asks what happened to her. Charlene tells her she took some of the serum she made and she got some kind of abilities from it. She then tells Naomi that she appeared in Kyoto and befriended a puppy while she was there. Naomi asks if Kyoto was really destroyed like in the reports and Charlene confirms it to her. Charlene talks about the sights she saw while she was there and all the damage Epsilon caused. Charlene ends her report on the events she has experienced to Naomi minutes later. Suddenly after she finishes, Charlene's hair turns black and her iris's turn a dark red color. Naomi points out the changes and gives Charlene a mirror. Charlene takes the mirror from Naomi and finds the changes pretty cool. Charlene then tells Naomi to go get a video camera and set it up in the lab. Naomi gets a video camera and sets it up on a lab table. Naomi then asks Charlene whats the purpose of it and Charlene tells her that its to document anything new that her body can do. She then takes position in from of the camera and starts to improvise anything that could activate a power. About twenty minutes pass and Charlene isn't able to activate anything. She then starts to improvise and make improvised hand motions. The hand motions don't work, but then she tries thinking about her powers and doing the hand motions at the same time. She tries a specific hand motion while thinking about making a fire ball in her right hand. To Charlene's shock it actually happens but she panics at the sight of fire in her hand. She attempts to get rid of it by waving her hand around wildly but nothing happens. Naomi then runs to a corner of the lab to grab a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Naomi uses the fire extinguisher on Charlene's hand but even that doesn't work. After Naomi tries the fire extinguisher, Charlene starts to notice that the fire does not hurt her in any manor. Charlene with her mind then attempts to put out the fire and does so. Naomi and Charlene stare at each other and wonder what just happened. Charlene tells Naomi that she believes her powers are activated by her mind rather than just being fully given then. While Charlene is talking about her abilities, Naomi points out that Charlene's eyes are glowing very brightly. She then asks Charlene if she feels slightly hyper or more 'powerful'. Charlene then responds that she does feel very hyper and that her thoughts and heart rate are racing a mile a minute. Charlene then uses a hand motion to calm herself and it works. After about thirty minutes, Charlene tells Naomi shes going home. Naomi says her goodbyes and Charlene starts making a hand motion whiling thinking about her house. She turns disappears into cherry blossom pedals and arrives at her house. When she arrives at her house the puppy instantly runs up to her and licks her hand. Charlene pets the puppy and notices the cherry blossom pedals everywhere and says to herself "The only drawback."