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Episode #1: Magnetic Monster
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Mentions: [@Lord Wraith][@Hillan]
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The early morning air was chilly as Liam filled his lungs with it. Deep breath in…deep breath out. He stood hunched over with his hands on his knees as he tried to control his breathing. He had already sprinted a mile and hoped to jog a few more before the day truly started. The cold morning  air was a constant reminder that he should be using the state of the art performance center provided to him by the program, but Liam hadn’t worked his way up to that just yet. Of course he’d used it during the organized training exercises that had happened thus far, but on his own he needed a little more acclimation before integrating himself with the others so comfortably. 

It had only been a couple of weeks since he arrived and though he had met…or at least been in the general vicinity of most of the others in the program, he still felt like a stranger. It was as though someone was going to actually notice him and realize that he wasn’t supposed to be here, call security, and have him arrested for trespassing. It didn’t matter that his name was on the official roster. It didn’t matter that he had met both the Flash and Cyborg in the last few weeks. He still felt like none of this was real and that he was in a restricted area without the proper credentials. 

It was that feeling of not belonging that also motivated him to wake up so early. Of course, there was the fact that he hadn’t slept a full night since arriving here that helped in its own way, but he definitely felt an obligation to train as much as he could to catch up to the others. Not that it was possible, at least in his own mind, to catch up with the other people in this program. They could do incredible things that were far beyond his own capabilities. It didn’t matter though. He had to try. It was the only way to earn his keep here. It was the only way to make his father proud. So all he could do was make the attempt.

A voice rang out over the speaker system. 

“If you’re here at the academy suit up and get ready to go into the field. There’s been an accident at STAR Labs and the local authorities aren’t able to get through. Meet me out back at the helipad in three minutes to teleport there. Cyborg out.”

Liam’s breath stopped all together for a moment as though he forgot how to breathe at all. There was an emergency. Everyone was supposed to suit up and head to the helipad. For a moment he simply hoped those in route got there on time to help, but seconds later realized that [i]HE[/i] was among those expected to be in route. His heart dropped and finally he gasped for air. The panic within him was rising, but he couldn’t let it win this time. He had to make his father proud. So, he just ran…as fast as he could towards the helipad. It was the only thing he could do to thwart the panic. Run and breathe. Run and breathe. 

Once Liam arrived at the helipad he once again felt out of place. This time, though, might have taken the cake for the most out of place he had ever felt. Seeing everyone in their own versions of superhero suits and tactical gear made him realize that he hadn’t “suited up” at all. Not that he had a cool suit of his own to begin with, but it was only now that he realized all he was wearing was a pair of gray joggers and his favorite faded-red D&D hoodie. Well, at least he was wearing running shoes. 

Everything happened so fast. As soon as he arrived they gathered together, the teleporter did its thing, and boom they were there in the thick of chaos within a blink of an eye.This was only his second time teleporting. It was just as unpleasant and disorienting as the first. Seconds later Cyborg was down and Blitz was yelling out orders to the team, but Liam didn’t hear a fucking thing. As soon as Cyborg hit the ground his panic set back in. There was a storm raging in his mind louder than any of the chaos around him. In that moment he froze, stuck in slow motion as everyone around him moved at the speed of light. It was almost as though he had the opposite of Accelerate’s power…instead of super speed it was debilitating slo-mo. Except this wasn’t a meta-human ability. It was a panic attack.