Mike requests that Psyclist “check him over” telepathically, to see if he can spot whatever the mad scientists did to him. Psyclist scans him, starting shallow and going deeper, looking for anything … odd. While scanning at the “deep, hidden thoughts” level he sees something odd, that looks like it is being perturbed by something deeper. Digging deeper, he finds something akin to a post-hypnotic suggestion, tied into the aural processing area. They move to the Danger Room, with Alphonse and Stick assisting. After some more deep digging, he figures out how to trigger it. Hammer immediately falls deeply unconscious. Psyclist helps him wake up, and then digs some more. Eventually determining that the trigger is some kind of audible signal, but not a spoken word or phrase — it is something he doesn’t understand or can’t interpret, but if it is sent to Mike it will drop him in his tracks, instantly.

Psyclist continues scanning for other surprises, and Stick uses his Chi sense to look for differences in Mike’s Chi. He sees something he can’t put his finger on, but something is definitely different with his Chi (it kind of looks like it might be “bluer” in one particular area than before, or maybe its a new blue swirl). Psyclist finds another oddity, that looks like it is wired to the motor control centre. It either triggers a physical motor reaction, or is triggered by one. With some more digging, Psyclist figures out how to trigger it directly. Alphonse and Stick restrain Hammer (holding his arms, and zip-tying his legs), while Psyclist trips the circuit. An energy blast erupts from Hammers right index finger, directly into Stick. Stick is stunned, but not knocked out.

After a little discussion with Psyclist, Hammer tries pointing his index finger at the wall, using a gesture strongly reminiscent of a fencing lunge. The energy blast erupts again. Stick reports that, when the energy blast fires, Hammer’s Chi flares with that new “blue swirl” he noted earlier. Hammer repeats with various variations, again and again. Suddenly, he drops unconscious. A deep scan by Psyclist shows that the two anomalies are looking a little frayed, and seem to have cross-channeled.

When Hammer regains consciousness (again, with help), and seems fine to a deep scan, he starts working through his powers, both singly and in combination, to see if anything else has been done to him. As deep scanning is difficult for Psyclist, it often takes a few attempts to reach the necessary power level. The END drain is stressing Hammer, and suddenly everything cross-channels, triggering the KO circuit, and Hammer drops unconscious once more. Psyclist scans him deeply again, and becomes quite alarmed. Hammer’s entire subconscious has become “frayed”, and is in danger of collapsing completely. With a bit of time things stabilize, and his subconscious returns to its normal state. Psyclist shares what he saw.

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