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[code]Strongriver Plaza, Hedgemount_[/code]
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Aaron’s mind was so engulfed in panic that he hardly realized Andrea approach him. He felt her touch his cold, hardening skin and move him into her lap. In his mind, he wanted to say that there was a severe danger nearby, but he was so overwhelmed that he couldn’t even put together words to speak. He breathed in rapid gulps, inhaling three or four times in a stuttering manner and then quickly exhaling before he started again. His face was an utter mess, but his arms had grown so stiff that he couldn’t move to wipe the tears and snot away. In his pocket, Aaron felt his phone vibrate. Remembering Lily made his mind only overload worse, and his state of panic severed and his shaking worsened. Cracks formed on the joints of his hands as he clenched them into tight fists. Andrea, after going to the 218 Academy and working with DOVE, could identify his status as a metahuman. Knowing what the hell it is supposed to be was an entirely different story, and to be honest, it was beginning to freak her out a little.

What she did know was that he wasn't getting any better. It seemed that with each passing moment, his mind got more and more chaotic and wild, patterns were out the window and, God, paranoid. She had an idea - whether or not it would work was up to question, since she hasn't tried it in this kind of context before - but if she could just… connect their minds, almost like the forums she practiced in 218, but maybe this way she could implant her own thoughts and emotions into his mind so that he could at least take a breather. That also meant that she'll still be feeling part of what he was. She watched his condition only become gradually worse and figured - what the hell - there wasn't much time to debate the pros and cons. Her eyes darted around, looking toward the apparitions and with apparently a single look, relayed this idea of her’s… and crossed her fingers that it would work.

The next second felt like a punch in the chest, and one of her hands immediately clasped over her mouth as she felt bile just seconds away from spilling out. A little bit of vomit in her mouth, okay, that sucked - but she'll live. She was more concerned with the man in the panic attack and looked down at him expectantly, trying to shake away the inexplicable (albeit familiar) sensation of dread that overcame her and caused her skin to buzz from head to toe.

“Hey, it's okay. Everything’s okay. Say it back to me.” Andrea encouraged.

Aaron felt strange as Andrea entered his mind. It felt as if something foreign, something not of his own, had wrapped tentacles or fingers around his brain. Though it felt strange and invasive, he felt some of the panic engulfing his body dissipate, as if someone else had taken up part of the load. He tried to control his breathing and found it difficult, but manageable. He coughed hard. Then he tried moving his hands. They moved without hindrance, and color returned to his skin. Quickly he wiped the melted wax from his nose with his sleeve and forced himself to take a deep breath. His breath was still heaving in short bursts and he was clutching his chest, and to someone on the outside looking in it probably appeared as if he were having a heart attack. He let the breath out slowly. Then he rolled to his hands and knees. He looked around the alley, then up at Andrea. 

“Everything’s...okay,” he said. “Everything’s okay. Down the street is… some kind of monster.”

At the mention of the monster, images flickered into Andrea’s mind as Aaron recalled the creature - the Golden Throne being trashed by something unnatural. Her thoughts immediately went to alerting RAVEN, but then… looking at Aaron, she realized that she should probably move him to safety first. “Can you stand?” She asked. “I'm going to get you someplace safe. Where do you live?”

“I… I live in Roseview,” Aaron replied. He attempted to move to his feet, but fell down and caught himself against the wall of the restaurant. His feet were still stiff due to the cold wax skin. He closed his eyes and tried to redirect blood into his feet. Slowly, they loosened up and he was able to stand. The panic attack had mostly passed by now, and Aaron could feel the buzz of adrenaline flowing through his system. He had stopped crying mostly, though his hands still shook. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked down. He had three missed calls from Lily. 


“Come with me then, I'll drive you home.” Andrea promised. She took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, which posed some difficulty given their vastly differing size and weight classes, and her knees wobbled a bit due to the load of stress she had taken off of Aaron, but she was able to at least help stabilize his balance. The two slowly started moving toward the direction of her rather old Mazda Miata, which looked as though it had seen better days. Aaron used the opportunity to steal a glance at his phone before they made it there.

[code]“Are you ok?”[/code] a text from Lily read. He touched the screen and tried to send the text, but his fingers were still cold and stiff. He finally managed to text back, [code]“I’m okay. Just worry about getting yourself home.”[/code]


[code]”Are you sure?”[/code] Lily responded. 

[code]“Yeah, I’m okay.”[/code]

Andrea fiddled with the lock on the passenger side door, and helped Aaron down. Right about now, he felt his wits returning to him. He found the small space inside to be a tight fit, but given the circumstances, he wasn't going to complain. The fact that this stranger found him and was willing to help him at all was a gift horse he wasn't about to look in the mouth. She went around the other side and sat in her own seat, and placed her thick binder on her lap. [i]My name is Andrea, by the way. You?[/i]

She looked at him and said, “My name is Andrea, by the way. You?”

Aaron considered the question for a second, as he watched her pull out her own phone and begin dialing a number and turn a key in the car’s ignition a couple times in vain, since it was stalling every time. Then he looked confused. “How the..?”

“Right…” Andrea muttered softly before Aaron could finish his question. It seemed she was reprimanding herself. “Our minds are loosely connected right now… Aaron, right?” [i]It was to help you calm down.[/i] “It was to help you calm down. I can't take credit for the best coping methods…”

Suddenly unfamiliar images flashed in his mind, never-before-seen scenes of wet and miserable alleyways and corners of city blocks beneath the canopy of a cloudy night sky, next to dimly lit street lights - peculiar baggies exchanged, a girl in a coat down to her thighs and a purse at her side - the scene stopped there. Aaron felt like he had fallen somber. The images were foreign in a way that scared him. He felt as if he was watching a horror film in a different language, the true nature of its terrors veiled to him between languages. He couldn’t bring himself to speak. The panic inside of him felt distant, as if it had been spread across several people. Andrea continued, “...but I get by. I thought I could use some of my thoughts and emotions to distract you from yours.”

She turned the ignition again, and this time the engine roared to life. He thought he heard her say [i]Finally,[/i] but she was non-vocal. She was was waiting patiently for someone to pick up on the other end of the phone. Aaron looked down at his feet. The detachment made him feel like he was high. It was something he hadn’t felt since high school, the comfortable but terrifying feeling of one’s mind floating away should they move their head too far up or down. This was a mix of Andrea’s own thought sharing, he figured, mixed with the feeling of all-consuming calm he felt after a panic attack ended. 

“So, you’re like me, then?” he said very slowly. “You’re a metahuman?”

“Yeah.” She answered back. “I mean, the whole term is kinda gaudy. Being born with some power… cool… I guess.” Images of ghostly apparitions flashed in front of Aaron’s eyes, almost as if they briefly flickered in and out of existence. If he weren’t so calm, he would have screamed. “...But that shouldn't make me inherently more valuable than any other-- hold on a moment.”

A RAVEN dispatcher was on the other side of the line. It would appear that this strange woman knew a few people. Andrea continued, “There's a situation at the Golden Throne at Strongriver Plaza, Hedgemount - there's some, I don't know, abomination? God, it's gone ballistic… yes, I'm certain. Understood. I'm down the street, I'm safe... thank you. Thank you, thank you! Bye.”

Andrea took in a deep sigh and set her phone down, taking in the mental images of the monster she got from Aaron. Looking back him, she finally asked, “So then, show me where to take you.”