“Give it a rest Jen, I’m exhausted!” The Seer leaned against a nearby contraption with a sigh. It was a fortnight since he’d first begun working with Frank and Jen. Today he had been working in the Institute’s gymnasium on Jen’s tests all afternoon, and he was worn out.
“That’s the whole idea! We need to find out how you stand up to constant stimulus. Last week we proved that you can spot individual dangers before they even exist, but so far we’ve stuck to one-off incidents.” Jen’s assistant passed some makeshift control panels to her as she spoke. “I want to see how you handle sustained multiple threats, particularly when you’re not fresh and ready.” She placed one hand over a button out of the Seer’s line of sight and continued talking. “First of all we’ll need...” The Seer was already ducking down and to one side, leaving sparks in his wake as she pressed the button. A stream of tennis balls travelling at a bruisingly high velocity flashed through where he had been standing a moment before. Jen’s fingers moved over the jury-rigged controls as the Seer rolled, jumped and ducked from the onslaught of homemade threats. Sandbags hurtled down, bars lashed out at various heights, trapdoors dropped open in the floor, and pictures of Oprah Winfrey were unveiled without warning.

The Seer was having trouble keeping things straight in his mind. His view of the present was partially submerged in a stream of images of danger as he twisted about, but he always managed to stay one step ahead of everything. It didn’t seem to be based on concious control as much as a self-preservation instinct pushed into overdrive by the flashes of imminent danger. Time after time he made moves he never knew he could do, filling the air with bursts of sparks as he weaved about. Sometimes he came excruciatingly close to being tagged by something, but he always managed to pick the right direction to dodge.
After two long, arduous minutes Jen stepped back and announced that her arsenal was used up. The Seer staggered over to a wall and slumped to the ground, panting and sweating but still untouched, and with a triumphant grin on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, then looked up wildly just in time to see a sandbag which had caught on it’s release mechanism tear loose and land on his head. Jen nearly collapsed with laughter at the dazed expression on his sand-covered face, then rushed over with her assistant to help him to his feet.
“Ow, ow, owww,” was all the Seer managed to say as he was led out of the gym, trailing sand behind him. Jen was still giggling as she and her assistant brushed him down, then she managed to gather her composure.

“You know, this actually bears out a theory I’ve been developing. Your ability to automatically pre-recognise danger is strongest when there’s some human element involved. You still spot things when they are completely accidental or don’t have some positive guidance by someone, but you’re more likely to be caught out. Not often, but...” She glanced at the Seer again and broke into another fit of giggles for a moment. “You could probably do with a boost after all that.” She stepped back and motioned to a power socket mounted just above a nearby lab bench. The Seer reached out and put his hand a few inches away from the socket.
“I still prefer a decent curry, but I really need this,” he said, then concentrated. After a second an inch-thick bolt of electricity leaped from the socket to his hand, filling the lab with light and dancing shadow. There was a continuous crackling sound as the power poured into him, and he began to visibly perk up. Jen took a clipboard from the lab bench and jotted down some notes, keeping an eye on him as she did so. A couple of minutes later the Seer pulled his hand away, breaking the contact. He took the thermometer offered by the assistant and stuck it in his mouth while Jen took a reading from a nearby electricity meter.
“That’s... virtually the same drain as last time. And,” she took the thermometer and examined it, “you’re one degree up.” She looked over at him. “A bit like charging a battery, huh?” He looked at his hand, flexing his fingers uncertainly. This method of recuperation was bizarre to say the least, but it seemed to do the trick.
Another assistant looked around the door at the Seer.
“Professor Dawes says could you come to his office right away? He seems to be getting somewhere with that computer of yours.” The Seer stood up quickly. If he could only get into that laptop maybe he could find out who he was, but so far he hadn’t been able to remember the method of access, and Frank’s best efforts at cracking through the security had gone nowhere.

HOW EVIL CAN A PIGEON GET?

WILL THE SEER EVER FIND OUT WHO HE IS?

DOES HE GET FULL NOURISHMENT FROM AC POWER, OR DOES HE TAKE VITAMINS?

I may or may not tell, here on... Superguy!