"Never better," Ellen said. She raised one hand and studied her palm as it glowed slightly. Her view of it shimmered as heat rose from it like a desert road on a hot day. She closed her fist, snuffing it out just as easily.
She carefully didn't look at Tony, uncertain how he'd react to the sight. Letting him process it without her watching. She picked up a couple of fries, dragged them through some ketchup and ate them.
"We got lots of warnings about what to look out for, before and after the trials. Hot flashes, or spontaneous combustion of clothing or effects, mostly. Instructions on how to handle it, try to damp it down."
She watched a police car cruise slowly past. The rooftops remained clear. No assassins lurked nearby, present company excepted.
"We all were given autoinjectors. You've seen them, I think. If we couldn't regulate on our own, we were to use them. Usually they worked, but not always. And the sooner you used it the better, probably because it interrupted the cascade earlier."
"I never needed the injector. Never even came close. Same for Eric and some others. We were stable without the injections. Most of the others needed fairly regular injections, but as long as they got them they were fine. A handful, though, were always on the ragged edge of control. They were never more than one missed dose from catastrophe."