Madeline Beaufort and the Moon Thief

“No really -WHAT JUST HAPPENED! I think I’ve been through enough stuff now that if I'm going to take on this mission you need to be straight with me.”

Rex looked serious, “After all those unexplainable things just happened, you are still skeptical? You met aliens today, Your whole conception of reality expanded, but you draw the cut off for how amazing the universe is at magic?”

“Yes well aliens were a probable occurrence given the size of the universe... Magic is just absurd.”

Thompson pressed a button from the platform and the staircase descended out of the wall. “Come up here, see the footage for yourself.”

Madeline and Rex complied. Major Hernandez continued to stand there frozen in place. Rex raised his hand to what must of been his ear-hole, “Can we get someone to take the major to holding please. Yes, your superior officer.. Technically I outrank her! So get over here asap! She’s not going to give you any trouble in her current state anyway...” They made it up the stairs, Rex engaged with Dr. Thompson, “Jesus, you think by the way they reacted I was asking them to take her to Red-Wing.”

Thompson looked at Rex, then glanced at Madeline and back at Rex without saying a word. He switched the conversation to Madeline, “Come look at this. See here?” It was the moment the major had bounded over the wall. He played the footage in slow motion. Madeline watched as she took the picture and the flash filled up the room, revealing a completely motionless Major Hernandez. Thompson sped the footage up now. What Madeline noticed was the Major had stopped off balance, if this were an improve everywhere prank, a person who did that might expect to sway back and forth slightly. However, the major in the fast forwarded footage, didn’t move in the slightest. Madeline felt that if they zoomed in on her, they probably wouldn’t even see the Major breathing.

All the events in Madeline’s life that never quite added up began to make sense to her. The time at the beach, other minute memories scattered throughout her 11 years of experience, the recent incident with the saucer... They were all times that Madeline used these abilities! She didn't know about any magic, but she could feel deep inside that the cause of these things were her.

“I did that.” Now that she was seeing it removed from the hectic energy of her personal experience, Madeline was amazed.

“Yes. Incredible, isn’t it.”

“When will she go back to normal?”

“I’m not sure. All magic manifests itself differently in the user. I can't say I have ever observed a spell like this one before, so there's really no frame of reference... I might posit that it seemed to be a survival response so maybe if you try to relax the inverse effect might happen? You’re body is probably still hyped up on adrenaline from the whole ordeal.”

Madeline took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Now, finally assessing her physical condition, the sudden realization of hurt and exhaustion washed all over her, and she couldn’t keep functioning if she wanted to. She didn’t much want to, the appeal of rest was too alluring. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, everything darkening around her.

A few moments later, down on the floor of the combat room, a gun went off. It didn't seem to be fired in their direction.

Thompson “Oh sh-”

Rex roared. “Damn it! Call medical! I’ll deal with Hernandez”

- - -

Major Hernandez found herself unarmed in a white cell, facing a large reinforced glass wall. Rex stood on the other side. He was not pleased.