Andy patted down her pockets and tried not to panic again. She knew her things would have been taken away, but she didn't have to like it. Sitting on the cot, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. may as well wait and see what happened...

A few hours later the scientist opened the door and looked in at Andy. "Hello again. You and your companion were quite naughty, getting away like that." He clucked. "Don't worry, though. No more medicine for you. You're just here for testing."

"Testing?" Andy asked warily. "What do you mean? What kind of testing? How the hell did you even find us again?" Not that a pair of thirty-ton dragons were all that hard to spot, but still. And she had a sinking suspicion that she knew what kind of testing he wanted to do.

"Well it was a simple matter of tracking you," the scientist said with a smile. "I knew you were in town, I knew when you left, I knew when you found that young man. I knew about how far you'd get. I just had to pick a spot and wait."

He stepped closer. "As for the testing... Well, we're seeing what different dosages do to different people. So, for you, we'll be testing how far you can stretch your link with one of your bishis."

"Two miles," Andy replied instantly. She didn't want to have her bond tested again. She cared about her bishies too much to do that to them. "We already ran into that little wrinkle."

"You may know approximately how far, but not exactly," he said relentlessly. "I am going to measure that exact distance. Same with Belle. It won't take long, I assure you."

"Belle got the same distance as I did," Andy said. "She was with my Temeraire at the time. It was more or less two miles, isn't that enough?" She didn't want to put one of her bishies through that again, not when it bothered Temmy so much.

"Not good enough for me. Every trainer is different, although most not by much. But we still have to test." He stared at her, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Now, we can do this one of two ways: we can move you, in which case you and all your bishis will feel it, or we can move one of your bishis, in which case only you and that bishi will feel it. Which will it be?"

Andy bit her lip. She didn't like either option, but at least the second option would spare the rest of her group.

"...Would you let me talk to them?" she asked. "I don't want to do that to any of them, but maybe if I ask them which of them can handle it the best..."

"I have an intercom system," the scientist said after a few moments. "You may speak to them through that." He motioned for her to turn around, holding a zip tie. "With some precautions, of course. I'd hate for you to run off or do something stupid."

"Alright," Andy said. Wonderful. A zip-tie. "Just don't zip that thing too tight. I bruise easily, and I kind of like circulation to my fingers."

The scientist pressed her wrists together so she wouldn't be able to squirm out and zipped it, but not too tightly, as she'd requested. He took her elbow and let her from her room, heading to a different room with a door propped open, which he pushed the rest of the way open.

Different monitors focused on different rooms, most of them with bishis in them, but two rooms held Seth and Belle. Seth was pacing his room, while Belle was sitting with her head down on her knees, her arms wrapped around herself.

Andy looked over the monitors. She could see the rooms that had her bishies in them, although she couldn't tell which Hiei was hers and which was Belle's just from the screen.

"Is there a way to open a comm link to a specific set of rooms, or will it just work one at a time?" she asked.

"Tell me which rooms." The scientist glanced at her and kept one hand on her elbow, looking back at the screens and the panel of switches and controls under them.

Andy noticed that he kept hold of her elbow, but didn't say anything. It wasn't as if she was going to try a solo escape attempt, at least not yet, and it wasn't like she knew how the controls in the room worked.

"Sesshoumaru," she said finally, "Lucivar, Lawrence, Kaelas, and my Hiei. I don't see Temeraire or Lien, so I think Lawrence might have them."

He nodded and flicked switches according to the bishis she'd told him. Then he pushed a button and aimed a microphone towards her, nodding to show her it was ready.

Andy hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Hey... Guys, it's Andy." She watched as they all jumped, especially Sess. "Guys, easy, I'm alright. Listen... This guy says he's going to test the distance limit, whether we like it or not." She paused as she watched her guys start getting angry, especially Sess. "Easy, guys... It's not doing us any good to get mad. Listen... I really, really hate having to ask this, and you know I would never ask normally, but... it's either one of you volunteers, or we're all going to feel it, and I don't want to put you all through that. I can't do it."

Almost before she finished speaking, Sess looked up at the camera and made a very clear 'I'll do it' gesture. Andy bit her lip.

"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded. She hesitated for a moment, and then looked down. "...Alright."

The scientist switched off the microphone. "Excellent. Now, if you'll come with me." He kept a light hold on her elbow, leading her along to a simple room with a chair bolted down to the middle of the floor.

"This might take a few minutes. May as well get comfortable."

Andy went into the room apprehensively. She was trying hard not to panic, and she focused on keeping her breathing even. She wasn't looking forward to being put through breaching the distance limit, and she was looking forward to Sess suffering even less.

"You're not going to undo my wrists, are you?" she asked, a bit shakily.

"Once you're back in your room," he said quietly, shutting the door. "Sit. You won't have to endure long. Simply tell me when you start to feel uncomfortable, and then I think I'll be able to guess when the limit is passed."

Andy hesitantly sat down on the chair. She sat there for a few minutes, getting more anxious by the moment. She was trembling slightly, although she tried not to. Just when she was starting to wonder whether or not anything was going to happen, she felt the painful twist in her heart, and she knew that Sess had hit the distance limit. She hunched over as the pain continued.

"S-stop!" she shouted as tears started to fall. "Bring him back! Please!"

The scientist hit a button and murmured something to someone. He scribbled down several things before he turned the comm. link off.

"He'll be back soon," he said, giving her a few minutes to calm down again. "You'll both be fine."

Andy felt the pain start to fade and calmed down a little, but not by much.

"Please..." she said softly. "Don't make us do that again... It hurts too much..." She wanted to ask to be taken to Sess, but she got the feeling that she wouldn't be allowed to.

"Once your body has absorbed the drug, it only effects the limit once," he said, walking over to her. "One effect per one dosage. A dosage registers slightly differently with every trainer, which is why I check all subjects. There is also a minimum that the limit will go to. No matter how much you take, the limit will be no shorter than six yards."

"What is wrong with you?" Andy demanded, still trembling from the 'test'. "Why are you doing this? Isn't it bad enough that trainers and bishies suffer when they're too far apart? Why are you trying to shorten it?"