We'd All Go Down Together (IC)

[Electra]

"I... I'm not sure," Erin admitted, stepping forward a few steps with Drummer, out of Singularity's easy hearing. "She's, ah, pretty easily stimulated. She's spent the past three years literally in a box, maybe ten by ten by ten, with nothing to look at or do except when she was being conditioned. And before that, she spent months running around alone." She thought back to her own arrival, and those lonely weeks in quarantine. "She'll probably like TV," she suggested, "nothing violent, nothing too loud or fast, definitely nothing with zombies or telepaths. Like maybe travel documentaries, or shows for little kids. Maybe books along the same lines."

Wander rubbed her face with one hand. "Um, she's probably going to be jumpy. Anybody who comes to physically visit her should probably announce themselves first, so she doesn't see them before she hears them." She vividly remembered nearly taking an orderly's head off during her own introduction to Prime, and figured it was probably a rule that would hold true." She looked back to Sage. I dunno, any ideas?

[April]

--Tell her what you're going to do before you do it and make sure she acknowledges it in some way. I know you already intend to stick to a rigid schedule, that's the nature of this place after all, but it is imperative that things happen when she expects them to happen. Meals are at the same time, visits, etcetera.-- Sage paused for a moment, expression turned inward. --I could tell you more if I performed a more invasive,-- the telepath's expression twisted a little at the word, --scan but I can't do that and keep her instinctual impulse to run and fight suppressed. Even with the power nullifier she has extensive combat experience.--

Sage sighed, --Just be gentle with her, she's not a monster.--

[Avenger Assembled]

"Reading material and television will have to wait until we're sure she'll be safe where she'll be," replied Drummer quietly. "Patients who were formerly invulnerable can be dangerous to themselves before they realize that they can be hurt. If they're unstable enough, realizing that they can hurt themselves _is_ a serious source of problems." Eventually they reached their destination, a wide-open door in the wall that was more like a garage. There was a bed and a sink, and all in all it looked like any standard cell except for the hexagonal grid pattern on the walls. There was a meal tray on a table on one side of the wall, all bolted together. "Erin?" Drummer asked as he walked to the half-open transparent door, obviously talking to Singularity. "I'm sorry your space is so empty right now. We'll get more in for you in the next couple of days. Before we do that: would you rather live in a house in the forest, or in the jungle?"

[Electra]

Despite Sage's psychic control, Singularity dug in her heels when they arrived at the cell. The setting was much too familiar, even if it was even more bare than the box she was used to. She didn't want to go back in the box. Her thoughts were consumed enough with that single fact that she didn't even register the question, straining as she was with what limited strength was available to her to back away from the cell. Wander had no problem holding onto her at this point, but it looked like the disturbed young woman was cheerfully willing to dislocate her own arm in her continuing efforts.

"The jungle," Wander answered for her, a little too distracted herself to know or care about the meaning of the question. If this didn't work, they were screwed. There wasn't a lot of time to mess around. Turning her counterpart to face her, Wander grabbed her by the upper arms and held her still, looked into her eyes. "Listen to me, Singularity," she said, deliberately using the code name. "I know you understand some of what's going on here. I know you know how dangerous you are to the people around you. When you get going, you don't even know who you're hurting, do you."

There was silence for a moment, then Singularity nodded fractionally, which was enough for Wander. "We're going to help you get better, so you don't have to be like that anymore, but you have to stay here until then. But it's good," she insisted. "Look at this place. Look at all these walls, all these guards. The Young Imperials are never going to find you here. Pathos will never find you here. They're going to feed you and take care of you, and nobody's going to hurt you. It'll be okay."

Singularity stared hard at the stranger for a minute, picking through the flood of words.Wherever they were, it was someplace with very thick walls and big locking doors. Big locking doors could keep people out, as well as in. The strangers had gotten her out of the box in the first place, they had stopped Pathos and made her be quiet. And she knew, down in her heart of hearts, that the stranger was right. Outside was no place for her. In her heart of hearts, she knew there wasn't really a choice anyway. When the stranger loosened her grip, Singularity turned and walked into the box under her own power.

[April]

Sage gave a small sigh of relief when Singularity entered the cell under her own influence, though she was still somewhat bothered with replacing one box with another. Still, she had to admit that it was significantly better than her previous accommodations, and at least she'll get the help she needs. Hopefully.

--I am removing my influence,-- Sage announced after Singularity entered the cell. --It shouldn't fade immediately but the transition will still be somewhat rapid.-- Then turning her focus to Singularity alone, she added allowing a sense of remorse flow across the mental link, --I am sorry I did this to you. I hope one day you can forgive me.-- And with that, the telepath staged back her enforced calm.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Erin," called Drummer as he stepped out of the cell. "I'm going to press a button on this machine," he said, holding up a little remote control. "And it's going to give you a room to live in. It's going to look strange, so I wanted to make sure you knew first and weren't surprised." At his words he pressed a button, and a modest change came over the room: the walls shifted to a neutral stucco and 'windows' appeared, visible outside was what looked like a lush, exotic rainforest. "What you're seeing is an illusion," he told Erin, "it's not real. But it's nicer to look at than bare walls." As he spoke, he nodded to his guards, and one moved closer to the emergency drop for the big front door: there was a faint electrostatic tingle in the air as the force field came on. "I'm sorry there's so little in your room. I'll try and get more tomorrow."

[Electra]

Wander breathed a sigh of relief as her counterpart retreated into the cell and the forcefield came up. She was even more relieved when Singularity didn't charge the field or start smashing against the walls or anything really problematic like that. The room looked nicer with its disguise, even if it only had three walls, and maybe the windows would give her something to look at, anyway.

For now, Singularity seemed content to examine her new home, rubbing the rough cotton blanket on the bed between her fingers, flushing the small toilet, playing with the light switch. That actually seemed to amuse her, being able to raise or lower the lights at will, for all it never became truly dark. When she was done playing with that, she went over to the sink and turned on the faucet... then paused,staring at herself in the small unbreakable mirror over the sink. Her expression changed abruptly to one of shock as she stared at herself, then over at Wander, then at herself again. She touched her own face, then pressed her fingertips against the mirror, her face and mind equally full of surprise, consternation, and distress.

"I don't think she knew how long it's been," Wander murmured aloud, even as her heart twisted. "She's older than she thought."

[April]

--Well, that explains why she thought you were... not you.-- Sage observed, keeping the mental link open with Wander to the exclusion of all others. --At least that was the impression I had when I was sifting through her thoughts and looking through her eyes, before I was interrupted, anyway.-- Sage wisely said nothing to Singularity for fear that a sudden telepath intrusion might upset the girl; and she had no idea what to say to the guards. She wasn't even sure if she should be talking to Wander, she had the impression that she was intruding upon an intensely private moment and her posture unconsciously mimicked the thought, turning away slightly from both Erin's.

[Avenger Assembled]

Drummer and the blackguards seemed satisfied at Singularity's condition; Drummer peering through the forcefield to say, "Erin, I'm going to let you get some sleep and have a meal if you want it," he said, pointing to the tray of food left out on the counter. "If you need anything during the night, just call out and one of us will come to help you. Tomorrow morning, I'll bring my friend Dr. Wallace and we'll talk to you about what we can give you in your room, okay?" When he had some sign of acknowledgement, however small, he nodded, and signaled to the guards to deploy the transparent lowering screen as well. When it was done, he sighed and rubbed his eyes, "That went better than I'd feared. I'm glad we were able to keep her conscious."

[Electra]

"Yeah, me too," Wander murmured, her eyes still on her counterpart in the cell, who was still absorbed with the mirror. "Thank you for your help, Warden Drummer. If there's ever anything I can do for you, please just let me know." Drummer and the majority of the guards left, leaving only the two who were actually assigned to this hallway. The high security floor meant that there were only three cells in this hallway, one of which seemed to be empty, the other of which was covered with a thick impervium shield. So despite the clear door, Singularity would have a small modicum of privacy.

After a few more minutes, Singularity turned her attention away from the mirror and back to the counterpart who looked so much like her. She walked to the edge of the forcefield and stared through it solemnly at Wander, trying to suss her out. She raised an arm experimentally, as though wondering whether Wander would do the same thing in mirror image. When Wander didn't move, she lowered her arm again, looking over at Sage now. Singularity reached out to touch the diamondium barrier, then hissed with surprise and jerked her hand away as the forcefield shocked her. She started to put her fingers in her mouth, then apparently noticed they were quite dirty from the escape, so just cradled her hand instead, watching her new captors.

[April]

Sage reached a gloved hand out toward the barrier, stopping inches from contact, nearly mirroring Singularity's gesture moments before. The telepath's hand remained in that position for several heartbeats, as the expression of sorrow on her face gave way to resolve. The gloved hand turned slightly splayed fingers coming together, and the reaching motion became a small wave, a gesture of goodbye, though green eyes held promise of return.

Tearing herself away from looking at the cell and its occupant, the telepath shot a quick look at Wander before she started to move away. --We better get moving or I might end up doing something else I'll regret.--

[Electra]

Wander nodded assent. "We're leaving now," she told her counterpart, "but we'll come back to make sure things are going all right for you. "You can wash your hands in the sink," she suggested, "then eat and try to get some rest. It's going to be okay," she said again, trying to put as much certainty as possible into her words. "We'll see you later." With that, she turned and walked away without looking back to see whether Singularity complied, or whether she watched them silently until they reached the end of the hall and were gone.