I was in the cafeteria again while payback and spyglass did the dinner, as today was their time on that duty. I had copied LED's powers this morning and it led to a bunch of interesting tests I could make.

In between those was testing to see how it interacted with people that had no powers, my running theory was that everyone had in them an inactive core and I then could connect to it, and connect their minds or something to their core, hoping that it will actively start spewing energy and create a matrix form there.

LED's powers sometimes made people awakening, and I imagined it was because the pseudo-power it gave people for a while might induce people who were maybe close to awakening or were more predisposed to being able to sense that part of themselves to make the final jump in connection the two pieces together.

We would put all of that to the test though, and in the table with me and led was VIctor, the head research and director kinda of the base here, he'd be working with the dawnbreakers for a long time. Most of it making new guns out of smuggled tinker tech.

“is this really safe?” he asked

"Of course it is, since when did my buffs hurt anyone?"

"Well, that's true enough," Victor exhaled quickly, blowing the air out of his lungs.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said after taking another deep breath in to refill the air he just lost.

“I'll try connecting with you first to see what goes on while you're buffed.” I did just that, touching his arm and concentration on the matrix. I frowned as I encountered nothing.

Waving my tentacles around where he should be but not finding anything, I frowned even harder, looking better at the two. I can't find it.”

What do you mean you can't find it

It's like there's nothing there I said, shrugging

Of course there's nothing there. I don’t have powers, right? Victor said, confused.

Well, that’s true, but then how can led buff you

Yeah, were running on the assumption that there is something there.

Hmm, I see. Isn't led buff working though because it goes on the body and not on whatever power thing you see

That might be, but the way LED's power works it uses the body to latches, oh that’s it. We use leds power to fint your core and then I can try and coneect with it.

Sounds good, led said creating a buff on his hand and sedingi it to victor

The buff took effect and I didn’t waster any time colsing my heyes to focus completeyl, feeling arounf and quilky finign it this time.

Leds power was like an insect of light curled around an obissidan orb, glassy and completely lifeless. The power was ther but there and this confirmed that people without powers had inactive cores, whatver they were.

The question then was, are they like this because they didn’t awken a power or like this because the cant awaken a power.

There was nothnig here that oculd tell me ehich was the case I though, detting to nalyze the core itself, the active ones were like spweking furnaces of energy or like starts, the only thing abuot this one was that it was balck and shiny, not emiting any sort of energy.

Before I could figure out anyring else the buf time ended and the tether I had made to victors inactive core was broken with it, so I need a matrix to coneect to, no wonder I cant find it while its inactive.

I opened my eyes to see the two curuous men waitnig for my reptry,

There is a core there, definitely. They smiled at that victor getting more hopefull, I coukdnt tell thou if its inactive just because you don’t have a power or if it cant and theres a distintc difference bettwen the two.

This is the only incative core I have ever seen and tis the only one I have to go on off, we could get old man dan to make a test but then again two people woulnt tell me much of antthing.

They deflated abit especially victor of course, hey, no need to give up yert there are lots of tessts we can run still.

Like waht?

Well, we can try another buff frist and go from there, you udes the streght one right led

Yeah

Try the mind one this time then.

Led makde the buff and I prepared myself to make the oncetion finding it easily with the buff there to guide me. The other time the only thing I culd notice that was in the core of every power but didn’t exist here was the ocncetion between the users mind and this place.

With the buff before there simply wasn’t one, and I asked led to use the midn buff now exalty to test that, maybe what wasmissing here was a concetion betwwen the person and their power.

I searched around the core and this time I did dfidn a conection, it was going straing into cvictor mind it seemed, there was sometihng missing though, there was no feedback, ad the core continue as inactive as ever.

The buff enede once again and I returned to the,. Thee was aconcetion this time but that dindt seem to awaken the core.

What conncetion

To your mind, you didn’t feel anything

Anuthing what exacly, I felt tha my mind was sharped and seemed to work faster.

Yeah ,that’s the effect of the buff but didn’t you feel anything extra, like a presence, it might sometins feel like youre imaginn it but youre sure in a strange way, completeyl sure, that that ting is your power.

Yeah, I feeel that too, therese something else in your mind, a new sense, like oyut mind expanded and now youre abbleto control this new part of youself.

Yeah, exaclty.

No, no sihc a thing, the other buff too, just fel stronger.

I foewned, that’s weird, dithere was a conceetic it should be ffedn information to his mind, and the concetion was there, why would it not activate then, but his right, I remember now.

When I was trtygin to aken pwoers with my college sleepwalker frends I did something similar, getting buffed with powers that werent mine, that time I never felt any kind of conncetion to the power, it never felt mine and neither did I feel any sort of presence in my head.

Maybe that’s the key then, there nees to be more of a conncetion, if the flow flowing in wasn’t enogh then ceratign a flow that goes both ways might do it, yeah I think that may be more likely.

Okay, we’ll do another test then.

Sure, im just sittign around like a lab rat.

Sorry, my inten-

Relax man it wa sa joke

I laughed awkwarldy, okay then. Letd go led, I need you to buff him again with something, ill buff him too and I need to find his matrix first.

Why don’t you just make the power and buff me here.

Id need to rearrange my matrix to do that and then manifest the power and send it to you, thre I can use my matrix to directly create the power and cut the manifestation part, directly puttin it-

Hey, its fine I was just curous, come on led elts get this going

Led bbuffed victor once again and I deved in, this time I wanted to ous sometin g in the mix, a buff of my own, I didn’t have any other power that created a concnetion beack and forth like whati wanted but I had a great one right here, my own. I had never used my own matri in copies but if there was oen that made you feel power that would be it.

I copied the concetion tranofrming it into a buff that would do the same to anotehr power, I intrcutedin such a way that it would bind the buff led created and then create the body mind two way conncetion from there,

As with the tehters these might need a matrix to concet to and wasintg it would be sad, even if it taks les energy if I don’t manifest the buff it still takes quite a bit.

I send the buff towards victor core, and open my eyes to see his reactio nin the real world.

Victor was exbugalhando his eyes in slwo motion, and it was still going.

“whhhaa-”

Victor are you okay.?

“yeah of cour, I just, I never tohught it might actually work

Lot of trut you have in us huh

Its not about hta tman, its just something that we take as impossible, like I know that there are people in the armt that can do this but, for our rogues, never dreamed of this.

Well, its cgraet you all got me then.

Indeed

But quick, tell me what youfeel exatly

Its just like you said, I can feel the power not just that I can use it like before, but actually feel it there somewhere from insede my mind.

Yes, that’s great its exaclty what we wanted.

Great

Now what?

How now what, don’t you have pwoers now ?

Do i? Permanently, are they the same powers as before, justr a quiker mind? Kinda lame.

Actually, I don’t know, but I though thre should be sometihng more, when people awaken from leds powers normally they have a normal awakeninh

Oh, its going away.

Waht?

The buff shoulf be expriign about now led said

Ooh, then it didn’t stick

Does that mean its actually impossibel then? Vctor said now more defalted than ever

No, we hsouldnt just give up, there was sometihng missing.

We stayed brroding for a while eventually decinding to have dinenr while we thought about it and takled to the other too to have their umput

Arent people normalyy in very dangeous istuatiion when they awken spotlight asked

Yeah, but I wanst, in the army. Payabck answered

Yea, trhats true, how they did iit there.

They don’t let you see, say its to preptect the means and the aawkeeners adentity,

Ah, what a bummer, you didn’t feel lanything though?

Ah, I felt a bunch of things, he frowned thingking, it feels almost like I had a dream, like, I remember making something during some time there but it and everythinh garoudn that memory is a comple blur.

Oh, that does remind me, I had a crazy werid dream when I awekened,thoguth it was becaseu my awakener was the trippy tea guy.

That’s part of the reason, the machanisn of it, but don’t you all see, glassmetal said, everyone as doing something.

When people awaken naturally they are eitehr having a sipitual moment or a deeply srtessfull one, and when awakeners are involverd hteir poweers eem to push whos being awakendd into something, maybe what payback almost remebers was a dream as well where he influeced what powers he got,

Hmm, it might make sense, it would explain why leds power alone never awaken anyone, there are no imputs from out parts when were creating the concetion and victor also didn’t try do to anything, its worh a try then.

after fisihing dinner we set straight to it,spotlight suggested everyione attaking victor while he tried so that he had some thriill but victor steely refused.

“theres no need for that, I said, we’ll try with him alone forcing something,

Everyone got ready and I was going to etner and form the conncetion again, remember citor try and push and pull,

Pull power into the wors and push your ideals there, I think what you need is some primal need, something for the power to build around.

I entered his inactive core and created again my buff matrix, I didn’t need to give any signal because victor would once again feel the presence in his mind, and I had a great seat to witnees I our tries would bear fruit.