Magnetic Personality- Part Three by: Moongoddess Sarah opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Heather from the doorway, “Well good for you two but I can see we are going to need a pr team on you,” she sounded annoyed, “Ms. Hallowell, I think you and the government will have to work closely together on Ms. Dane’s file from now on... you should get a team together.”

Author's Note: A Retroactive Continuity, or Retcon if you will, is the altering of previously known facts in order for the universe to conform to new story lines. This Retcon universe belongs to Lilith Langtree, and I thank her for allowing us to play in her sandbox. Thanks also to Dustin and Maggie for beta reading / editing this. This is a retcon of Polaris in the Marvel Comics Universe. Marvel Comics owns the character and all rights associated with him/her/it. Leonard Hofstader and Sheldon Cooper are copyright Chuck Lorre and CBS. All other characters that appear are copyright their creators / re-creators and only used with permission. Image copyright VOC.

Chapter Seven

“‘There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first... when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.’ Paramahansa Yogananda”

The trip to Ottawa was fairly uneventful and within 5 and a half hours they were pulling up in front of a nondescript federal building. Lorna and Lucy got out of the black SUV that seemed to be Government Issue, like the driver and the security officer. Lorna looked at the sign on the building, Department H, Ministry of Natural Resources, and laughed out loud, “Natural Resources Heather?” she gasped, pointing at the sign, “that is effing brilliant!”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that would appeal to you Lorna,” smiled Heather, “follow me please; the gentlemen can handle the luggage.” The three women walked into the lobby of the granite and glass building and stopped by the security desk. Heather flipped open an ID wallet and presented it to the guard. “Major Hudson, reporting back,” she spoke in clipped tones, “Security processing will be required for these two guests.”

“Yes Ma’am,” the guard almost saluted her, “Photo ID and signature please,” he requested of Lucy and Lorna. Lorna hid her smile well, but Lucy could see the twinkle in her eyes. She could also tell that Lorna was about to say something smartass and pinched her butt…hard. Lorna signed and glared at Lucy who just smiled pleasantly and signed the guard’s book.

Once the three women were in the elevator and the car had begun its decent Heather turned to Lucy, “You mind telling me what that was all about?” she asked softly.

“You might say I forestalled an incident between your guard and an untested, smart mouthed Meta, Heather,” Lucy replied seriously, “I can tell when our girl is going to wise off by now, and I guessed that it wasn’t the time or place.” she looked at Lorna who had the grace to blush slightly and look away.

“I can see that you are going to be an asset to our team Lucy,” Heather nodded, “On to business, as you may have guessed by the long elevator ride, most of H is built underground using techniques similar to those used building the ‘Diefenbunker.” The elevator continued downward, “Unlike the bomb shelter, H continued to grow downwards as well as horizontally, and is continually being upgraded.” The elevator ground to a halt. Heather slipped in a keycard and punched an unmarked button. The elevator continued downward. Lorna raised her eyebrows and was about to speak when Heather continued, “A kilometer Ms. Dane. You might be surprised by what can be done with classified technology and research.” There was a faint smile on Heather’s lips.

The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened into another open concept lobby. Lorna gave a low whistle, “A kilometer down…welcome to Department H indeed.” Heather led them to a series of rooms where they were photographed, fingerprinted, scanned retinally, and weighed before they were presented with identification cards with both magstripes and q codes on the reverse, “Is this in case I wipe the magstrip Heather?” Lorna chuckled.

“Actually yes Lorna,” Heather smiled, “There has been a lot of discussion about you here lately, and someone finally realized that the Q code could be easily be read by any camera on base even if a mag reader didn’t work. There’s been a lot of heavy brainstorming going on, but we have the team for it.” she swiped her card and opened a door, “Now, I’ll show you your quarters, the mess hall and then you can meet the team you’ll be working with.”

The floors of the complex were marked with different coloured stripes like in a hospital with a colour code every twenty meters or so. Green was Quarters and Rec facilities, according to the chart map, but even with the stripes, Lorna felt she would very easily get lost in there. She suddenly felt dizzy for a moment then steadied herself by leaning on the wall. Lucy looked alarmed, but Lorna held up a hand. The dizziness passed and Lorna suddenly had her bearings, like a compass spinning to magnetic north.

“O.K. That’s another new one,” she said as she opened her eyes and stood up straight, “I seem to have become a compass. I don’t think I’ll ever look at a map quite the same way again.” She saw Heather’s puzzled look and demonstrated, pointing at a wall, “Magnetic North pole, thataway.” Lorna gestured for Heather to continue taking them to their quarters as if nothing had occurred.

“Don’t think I’m not going to test you on that.” Heather said with a crooked grin. She stopped at a door set into the corridor which lacked any sort of a handle or locking mechanism, “Look into the lens of the camera Lorna.” she pointed upwards to a camera in the ceiling. Lorna glanced upwards and the door slid aside, Lorna gawked, speechless, “That is also keyed to Ms. Caplin.” Heather continued as she waved Lucy into the room. Lucy grabbed Lorna’s hand and pulled her inside.

“So…Freaking…Cool…” Lorna breathed, watching the door snap closed behind them. She looked around, finally taking in the room around them. It was about the size of a largish apartment living room with a kitchen and breakfast bar to one side. A hallway to the left of the door led to the bedroom and bath area and there was a large wall that had curtains pulled across it. A comfortable sofa and two love seats defined the space and faced a large entertainment center on the wall. Lorna looked at the screen and the sound system, and then did a double take, “Where did you…” she trailed off and pointed at the collection of DVDs.

“I got them for you love,” Lucy smiled, “after you decided to come here… after you told me about your past,” she blushed slightly, “I went to your old apartment to see if there was anything that you might want from your old life. I found some photo albums and then your collections.”

“You rescued my collections?” Lorna suddenly grinned brightly and gathered Lucy into a bear hug, “Ohhh you sweetheart! I thought all of that was gone forever. I guess nothing electronic survived though.”

“Probably not, but we’re working on a collection of flash drives that may be recoverable,” Heather said, “and we’re working on ways to keep you from frying all the electronics around you too.” Lucy was exploring the apartment and pulled open the curtains, only to be greeted with a view of the Ottawa valley and river glinting in the late afternoon sunlight. It was her turn to gawk. “Pretty good hologram, wouldn’t you agree Ms. Caplin,” She looked at the river, “live camera feed from the peace tower, best view in the Capital. Now, let’s go to the mess hall and get something to eat.”

Heather led them along the corridors, past the rec rooms and entertainment facilities, pointing them out as she strode along the halls. Squash and racquet sports here, movie room there, bar and club over to the left, finally arriving at a large room that was a cross between a cafeteria and a family restaurant, “The self service area is open 24-7 and can also be used like a convenience store for your kitchenette.” Heather remarked as they sat down at a well set table near the holo window, “The mess itself is open from 8 am to 9pm.” She picked up a menu and started to study it. Lucy did the same and Lorna stopped looking for the window’s projection system and looked at hers.

After the initial shock of seeing a 3 star menu, Lorna decided on pasta carbenera with a side salad and a glass of red wine. A waitress took their orders and returned shortly with the drinks. “So this is my tax dollars at work?” she asked Heather, “top secret facilities with Best Western hotels built in?” Heather nodded.

“Aren’t you glad though?” she grinned, “sure as hell beats the mess at Petawawa.”

“Or Borden,” Lorna laughed in reply while Lucy looked puzzled; “Sorry Hun, Heather and I were reminiscing about Army bases we know and hate. I spent five years in the Forces when I was younger,” a thought crossed her mind,” Heather, please tell me that the MREs have improved in the last twenty years?” Heather shook her head sadly. Their meals arrived before they could continue the conversation.

Dinner wound down and they were lingering over coffee. Heather broke the pleasant silence, “Ok, we will meet the team this evening at 20:00 hours,” Heather looked at her watch, “that gives you two 4 hours to get settled and clean up. It will only be a meet and greet, so casual dress is fine.” she handed them both a single sheet itinerary for the evening; “I hope you can get a handle on your allergy to electronics soon Lorna, this would be much easier with a smart phone or tablet.” Lorna grinned as they stood up. Heather took them back to their quarters and left them alone.

Chapter Eight

“‘The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits’ Albert Einstein”

Shortly before 8 pm, Lucy and Lorna entered the conference room where the meet and greet was supposed to take place. Lucy had picked out a light yellow blouse and jeans for Lorna and wore a violet blouse herself. Getting Lorna to agree to makeup however, had been a different story.

“But why Lucy?” Lorna had whined, “Heather said it was casual…” Lucy took her by the hand and led her to the washroom.

“Casual has a much different meaning than it did for you two months ago dear,” Lucy sat Lorna down on the toilet and looked at her face carefully, “there is guy casual, and girl casual, you are about to learn girl casual.” Lucy set to work with an assortment of different cosmetics and twenty minutes later, let Lorna look in the mirror. It was subtle and you could barely see any cosmetics at all, but Lorna’s face was beautiful. “Close your mouth darling, you look like a pretty carp.” Lucy smiled, “I’ll teach you how to do all of this and more, but this will do for tonight.”

As the women entered, the conversational drone faded to nothing. All eyes were on Lorna and she felt like she wanted to run from the room. She tightened her grip on Lucy’s arm and stopped still in the doorway as the room lights flickered. Heather saw the fear on Lorna’s face and hurried over to greet the two. “Hello Lucy, Lorna,” she smiled, “you both look lovely. Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea?” she led then to their seats as Lorna loosened her grip on Lucy’s arm. Lorna looked up at Heather with thanks in her eyes as the conversations started up again.

“Tea would be…” Lorna cleared her throat, “Tea would be lovely Heather, Thank you.”

“Coffee for me Heather,” Lucy chimed in, “and thanks for…” she nodded towards the door. Heather smiled and walked to the refreshment table as Lorna started to breath normally again. “It’s ok Lorna,” Lucy smiled reassuringly; “they were all looking at the beautiful girl that walked into the room on my arm.” Heather returned with the beverages and took her seat beside them as the rest of the attendees made their way to the conference table. A dapper looking bearded man stood up at the head of the table.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,” he began, “My name is Gary Cody and I am the Minister’s liaison with Department H. On behalf of The Government of Canada, The Prime Minister and the Minister, the Honorable Joseph Oliver, I take great pleasure in welcoming Ms. Lorna Dane and Ms. Lucy Caplin to our home away from home.” There was polite applause from around the table, “now working up the table on the right we have,” Cody pointed to each person in turn, “Doctors Cooper, Hofstadter and Langkowski of the sciences team, Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, physical training, Eugene Judd, martial arts and weapons, Dr. Mike Twoyoungmen, medical, James Macdonald Hudson, team lead and Roger Bochs, mechanical engineering. You are already acquainted with Heather Hudson who is our security chief.” Cody pointed to the empty chair beside himself, “Unfortunately, Dr. Magnus, our computer genius, was called back to the States a few days ago. We’re looking for a replacement. But in a nutshell, this is team alpha.”

“Thought you were gonna come up with a better name, eh?” the man named Judd piped up, causing a ripple of chuckles to move around the table, “Seriously though Ms. Dane, Ms. Caplin, Welcome.” There was a murmur of agreement around the room and Lorna relaxed. James Hudson stood as Cody sat down.

“Yes welcome indeed, thanks Gene,” James cleared his throat, “we’ll have an orientation day tomorrow so that you can both meet the teams in depth and Ms. Caplin can get acquainted with Mike. We’ll begin assessments of your physical abilities as well as your Metahuman abilities over the following days in order to build a training schedule to meet your needs Ms. Dane.” He sat down. Cody spoke again.

“Ok, so as we don’t run late, there is a schedule being sent to your computers, although I would suggest you all get in the habit of hard copies around Ms. Dane for the foreseeable future.“ he looked around the room, “That will be all for tonight people. Its 2030 hours Ms. Dane and you see Mike at 0830. I’d suggest a good night’s rest.” Cody nodded and left the room. The handsome tanned man that had been introduced as Dr. Twoyoungmen approached Lorna and Lucy, as Heather walked over to James and embraced him.

“Well, there goes Mr. Warmth,” Mike smiled, “Hello Lorna, Lucy, I’m Mike and I look forward to working with you both.” He looked at Lucy as if assessing her, “And this is the very impressive Lucy Caplin R.N.” he smiled his white smile again; “Your files are very impressive, welcome to the medical team.” He held out his hand which enveloped Lucy’s completely.

“Thank you Dr…” she paused, “Twoyoungmen?” Mike smiled again.

“Yes, it’s a first nations name, Sacree,” he said, “My grandpa wanted me to be a shaman, like him. He never forgave me for studying what he called the ‘white eyes medicine’. But it saved my wife’s life when she developed breast cancer; early detection and treatment were the key.” Lucy smiled back, and Mike continued, “So 0830 for you Lorna, If you could be in at 0800 Nurse? I’d like to go over Lorna’s files before she comes in, ok?”

“Absolutely Doctor, 0800 it is,” Lucy responded crisply. Mike smiled again, shook Lorna’s hand and left the room.

“Goodness, what a polite man,” Lorna commented, “and what a smile!” Lucy squeezed Lorna’s hand.

“Simmer down my love,” Lucy chuckled, “he’s married, and happily at that. I saw his eyes light up when he talked about his wife. Now deep breath, Here come the scientists.”

It was 10:30 pm when they got back to their quarters. The technical novelties were still exciting to Lorna, but Lucy was starting to get used to them. She led her love by the hand to their bedroom and smiled at her when they saw the queen sized bed. The bedroom door snapped shut behind them.

…

At 8:25 am, Lorna entered the medical center and saw Lucy in her crisp white scrubs. She had to smile as Lucy always managed to exude an air of professionalism while looking incredibly cute. Today was no exception; Lucy’s long blond hair was braided carefully and fell down her back. Lucy saw Lorna staring and smiled brightly, Lorna blushed beet red as she was sure she looked horrible in the yoga pants and tee shirt she was wearing. “How do you do it Lucy?” she asked, “You look fantastic and I look like a schlub.”

“You don’t look like a schlub Lorna,” Lucy countered, “but I didn’t just roll out of bed at 0730 to get here for 0800 either. I was up at 0600 to get myself pulled together. Lesson one in a long series for you I’m afraid love.” she smiled again and led Lorna to the biggest examination room she had ever seen, “Here she is Doctor Twoyoungmen.” Mike looked up from the file he was reading.

“Good Morning Lorna,” he said professionally, “come in, strip down and put on the gown.” He went back to his reading. ‘Typical doctor’ Lorna thought as she went behind the screen and disrobed. She had a little trouble with the gown, but Lucy helped her with the ties. She came back out and cleared her throat. Michael looked up from the file, “Did you really crush a hospital bed Lorna?” he looked fascinated. Lorna just blushed and looked uncomfortable. Lucy rescued her.

“She did Doctor,” she answered efficiently, “the psychologists think it was a fight or flight reflex that manifested her early abilities. Lorna has gained a bit more control since then, but she still affects electrical and electronic devices when in a stress situation sir.” Mike made some notes on a pad he was holding. Lorna smiled and relaxed, he was using paper. Mike gave her a standard physical and had Lucy draw about twenty vials of blood.

“Has she has an OB Gyn Nurse?” he asked, “There’s nothing in the files.”

“She hasn’t yet Doctor,” Lucy replied, “the psych team at Sunnybrook didn’t think it wise to rush things.” The doctor made some more notes.

“No time like the present then,” he smiled reassuringly at Lorna, “We have to do what is called a pelvic exam to make sure you are a healthy girl. I won’t promise you it’s going to be sunshine and puppy dogs, but it has to be done. Don’t worry; Lucy is here to hold your hand.”

“Lay down on the exam table and scooch your bum down,” Lucy instructed, then positioned Lorna’s feet in the stirrups, “ This is going to feel really weird Hun, but I’m here, just relax.”

…

Lorna got off the exam table and walked behind the changing screen with a dazed look on her face. Ten minutes later, she reemerged, still looking confused, “That… that …was,” she grasped for the right word and couldn’t find it, “I don’t know.” She flopped down in a chair by the doctor’s desk. Michael looked at her with sympathy.

“Yes, I can only imagine Lorna,” he said, “not too many men out there have gone through what you have. From our estimates, maybe 150 to 200 gender reversals have occurred worldwide and they aren’t always male to female. The New England Journal of Medicine puts their estimate at a sixty forty split in the reversals. Now the good news, weirdness aside, you are a healthy female human being. Your file says you have had at least one menstrual cycle so far, so I assume that Lucy has given you basic instructions on health and hygiene,” he paused, “Lucy and I spoke earlier, so we’ll hold off on the Sex Ed 101.” Lorna blushed crimson, as Michael continued, “We will hold off on the MRI until we can figure out how not to toast a piece of multimillion dollar equipment and we have to wait for the rest of the lab results to get your preliminary baseline readings. That’s about it for me today Lorna… I’ll want to see her in 3 days Nurse.” He turned his attention back to the file folder and began writing.

“Come on Lorna,” Lucy pulled her gently from the room, “he’s done with you and I think the scientists want to see you in about 45 minutes. Go have some breakfast and a cup of coffee, I’ll meet you there.”

“You’re coming with me?” Lorna was happily surprised, “I thought you had to…” she pointed to the door of the exam room. Lucy just shook her head.

“Apparently both Doctor Twoyoungmen and Mr. Hudson think its better that I’m by your side this week,” Lucy grinned, “to keep you calm and ‘protect equipment’.” She giggled, “Now go eat.”

“Yes Mother,” Lorna stuck out her tongue and jogged off in the direction of the mess hall.

Chapter Nine

“‘It all started with a Big Bang’ Ed Robertson”

The physics lab looked nothing like what Lorna expected. It was a fairly large open space the outer wall completely covered with white boards filled with equations. The center of the room held a cage like construct and was surrounded by lab benches and expensive looking equipment. Lucy was already sitting at one of the benches sipping her coffee, so Lorna made a beeline to join her. “What’s going on?” she whispered. Lucy smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

“Mmm, Hello to you too,” she replied in conversational tones, “no need to whisper. I’ve been here 15 minutes and they haven’t even noticed me or ceased their argument about strong and weak nuclear forces or something.” She giggled, which caused the biggest of the three men to look over at them and approach.

“I’m so sorry Ladies,” he said as he got to where they were sitting, “I got caught up in a theoretical discussion and lost track of the time. I’m Walt Langkowski.” He held out his hand to Lorna.

“You don’t look like a physicist Walt,” she replied with a grin, “You look like a football player, Stampeders, wasn’t it?” Walt had the good grace to look embarrassed.

“Yeah, you caught me,” he answered, “you a Calgary fan Lorna?” it was her turn to blush.

“No, Argos to my eternal shame,” she was interrupted by the taller of the two remaining scientists.

“Excuse me Dr. Langkowski,” he spoke in a tone that put Lorna’s teeth on edge, “while this chit chat is pleasant I’m sure, we have work to do.” Lorna looked at him closely, the way he held his hands and his posture reminded her of a praying mantis. The last of the three scientists just looked up at his companion with a sour look on his face. Walter looked over at the two and then back to Lorna and Lucy.

“My apologies Ladies,” he gestured towards the center of the room, “if you’ll follow me, Lucy, you can sit here and Lorna, we need you by the faraday cage.” The shorter of the other two scientists approached Lorna.

“I apologize for Dr. Cooper, Ms. Dane,” He sighed, “I’m Leonard Hofstadter and his name is Sheldon Cooper…” the tall man looked up from the device he was fiddling with.

“Excuse me Leonard,” he interrupted again, “Dr. Sheldon Cooper, thank you very much.” Somehow managing to look more insect like if that was possible, Dr Cooper returned to his work. Leonard just shook his head and sighed.

“Um… anyways,” he looked at the floor, “weneedtoattachtheseelectrodestoyourskin.” He continued to look anywhere but at Lorna, which she found oddly endearing.

Ok Leonard, you tell Lucy where you need them, and she and I will go into the washroom and put them on.” she looked towards Walt who was shaking with laughter as he handed the diagram and supplies to Lucy, “Something funny Bigfoot?,” she quirked an eyebrow at Walt.

He quickly put on a straight face, “Oh no Ma’am, Nothing funny at all. We’ll see you when you’re ready.” He quickly turned away but Lorna could see his broad shoulders shaking.

“C’mon Lucy,” she headed towards the washroom door, “we’ll let the three amigos get ready while you wire me for sight and sound.” Dr. Cooper looked up from his notepad.

“What do you suppose she meant by that?” he looked genuinely puzzled. Leonard shook his head again while Walter dissolved into loud guffaws.

…

Ten minutes later, Lucy led Lorna to the center of the room and sat down again. Walter had composed himself except for a merry twinkle in his eyes. Leonard handed Lorna into the cage, fed the wires through a conduit and closed the door. As he connected the leads to various pieces of equipment, he started to explain, “Um, Lorna, you’re in a sort of reverse faraday cage right now which should contain your electromagnetic field so as not to damage any of the equipment.” Lorna looked around curiously.

“Reverse Faraday cage?” she asked Leonard, but Sheldon interrupted, as usual.

“Yes a reverse faraday cage of my design actually.” he began lecturing, “As you may know, a faraday cage dispels static and electromagnetic energy, protecting equipment inside,” he spoke as one would to a four year old, “What I have created here is the reverse of that, it will keep your energy inside and allow us to get accurate readings, without you damaging equipment.”

Lorna rolled her eyes, “Ok Walter, you give the word and I’ll summon my chi.” she paused and closed her eyes, feeling around her mind for the mental trigger. She tasted copper again and opened her eyes, squinting; she saw the yellow green glow around Lucy, “Ok Docs, ready when you are.”

“Power up slowly please Lorna,” Leonard said from behind a bank of equipment. She concentrated on letting the feeling flow out of her, feeling the metal of the cage ‘tungsten steel alloy’ she thought, but surprisingly, nothing beyond the cage, she glanced over at Sheldon who was hunched over his laptop.

“Congratulations Dr. Cooper,” she smiled, “Your cage works. I can’t sense any metal beyond its perimeter. I can still see your auras though.” He looked up at her with surprise and condescension.

“Well of course it worked Ms. Dane,” he answered with disdain in his west Texas nasal twang, “I had no doubt it would.” He turned his attention back to his laptop dismissively. Lorna got angry.

“Um Lorna?” Leonard sounded alarmed, “Your levels just spiked, uh, try to remain calm please?” he sounded a little frightened now.

Lucy looked up from the EKG and EEC monitors and spoke up, “Lorna hunny, ignore Dr. Cooper and calm down, your eyes are glowing again.” she said soothingly, “Bring it down a notch or two.” Lorna glared at Sheldon, but took several deep breaths. Leonard spoke again.

“Uh can you bring the level back there without being emotional Lorna?” he asked, “Like picturing a rheostat in your mind or something?” Lorna closed her eyes again, still slightly disturbed by the fact her ‘sight’ was limited to the cage. She pictured a dial in her mind and slowly made the needle move. 20%...30%...40%...

“How’s that?” she kept her eyes closed. Leonard looked at his equipment with great interest.

“Where would you say you feel your power level is at Lorna?” he asked. Lorna looked at her ‘gauge’ and replied.

“About 40%, I think.” she heard Walter in the background.

“40%? I have you at about 1000 Megahertz and climbing…” Cooper’s voice cut through the air like a rusty saw.

“What basis are you using for your scale Ms. Dane?” he demanded, “We need accurate measurements, you know.” The gauge in Lorna’s mind buried the needle in the red as static charges began to arc between the cage and her skin and her feet left the ground.

“We’re off the dials here,” yelled Walter, “I lost tracking at a petahertz!” Lorna opened her eyes and glared at Dr. Cooper.

“Why is she staring at me Leonard?” He asked with confusion and trepidation in his voice.

“Oh, I don’t know Sheldon, maybe she likes you.” he answered sarcastically. Lorna looked at the other three people in the lab and saw Lucy and Walter start to laugh, she thought about it and started to laugh as well and slowly began to power down. Her feet touched the bottom of the cage and she pulled the energy back into herself, her mental gauge reaching zero. Sheldon looked up from his computer.

“That was fascinating Ms. Dane,” he attempted a smile which failed miserably, “Do you think you could do that whenever you wanted?” Lorna chuckled as Leonard disconnected the leads from the equipment and fed them back through the conduit.

“I’m certain that I could now.” she smiled at Lucy, “All I have to do is think of you Doctor Cooper.” Walter couldn’t keep his humour suppressed any longer and burst out laughing loudly again. Leonard spoke up.

“Seriously though Ms. Dane,” he looked at her in awe, “these readings are incredible, we honestly can only guess at your upper limits.”

Sheldon looked at Leonard with annoyance, “Well if we guess than it’s not science,” he looked back at his laptop, “it’s hocus pocus.”

Walter shook his head and looked at Lorna in the cage, “Ok. This time we want to see you manipulate different metals and identify them. The samples are all the same size and shape and have been painted white.” He placed the wooden table into the cage with her and closed the door. “… Cameras and recorders all rolling, Go ahead Lorna.”

Lorna focused her attention at the cubes on the table, she felt them with her mind and ‘tasted’ them, “In order then, from the upper right.” she said, “Copper, Iron, Gold, Tin, Lead, Platinum,” she paused, “Mercury, Lithium, Beryllium, Sodium, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, Zinc, Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese, Uranium, Chromium and Vanadium.” she reopened her eyes and saw the three doctors slack jawed, “I guess I did ok?” she smiled.

Leonard blinked, “How did you…” he trailed off. Lorna rescued him.

“I have a periodic table of the elements shower curtain,” she told him, “or I used to…”

Walter opened the cage and took the table out and replaced it with another with a single cube of unpainted copper on it, “Uh yeah,” he coughed, “Yes, though I thought calcium would have stumped you. Now… can you move that cube?” Lorna grinned and picked it up in her hand.

“How’s that?” Walter made a rude noise.

“To be clear Ms. Dane,” he spoke again, “Can you move the cube without touching it?”

Lorna looked at the cube in her hand, and then moved her hand away from it. The cube remained in the air, stubbornly refusing to fall. Cooper looked on, amazement and disbelief warring across his face. “That is completely impossible, I refuse to believe it!” he pointed at the hovering cube, “Copper can conduct electromagnetic energy, but cannot be manipulated by it!”

Lorna glared at the thin man again and her anger rose, Leonard and Walter looked at the cube with fascinated expressions on their faces. Lucy looked concerned, “What are you doing Lorna?” she asked. Lorna returned her attention to the cube which was glowing red and giving off heat. It wasn’t even a proper cube anymore.

“Can somebody get a container of water or something?” she asked, “I don’t think I should set this down on a wooden table.” Leonard filled a bucket and brought it over to the cage. He opened the door and Lorna gently lowered the misshapen mass into the bucket, where it hit the water with a hiss. “What did I just do there?” She asked quietly, as she stepped from the cage. Walter fished out the lump of copper and set it on a scale.

“Well, Lorna, it looks like you somehow reduced its mass.” he frowned for the first time that morning, “And unless you vaporized it, then I think you affected the metal on a molecular level. Lucy, you and Lorna go take off those electrodes and go to lunch,” he looked bemusedly at the lump on the scale with Leonard and Sheldon looking over his shoulders, “Gentlemen, we are down the rabbit hole.” Sheldon kept his mouth closed for once.

End of part Three
Magnetic Personality

Coming up in part Four: The Beaubier twins test Lorna’s endurance and Judd tests her patience.