Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 13:26:24 GMT -5
Aidan calms significantly when Esprit ducks out of view, though he can't understand why he's terrified of the thoughts that have him weak with panic. The rain is just rain, he tells himself; but the rain burns and sticks, searing flesh, dissolving his troops from the inside out and he can't stop it. He tried, he thinks; he tried until his hands were worn to the gleaming bone, until his arm fell off at the elbow.
Out of the quiet come broken, muffled sobs, and Aidan wraps his arms around himself, shuddering. These memories aren't his, can't be his. They're just bits of his nightmares, those dreams that wake him crying and sick with his head splitting open and his heart twisting in his chest. He isn't a robot as Esprit says. He isn't. He can't be. He's just a florist; he tends his plants and minds his shop like he commands his unit. He hates Gideon and loves Leanne and he has torn barely-living souls from their bodies so he might save them. He remembers giving Leanne a morphcore for their six-month anniversary.
"Make it stop," he pleads, hands knotting in his hair.
//Understood, Detective Hunt,// says the dispatcher. //Units are en route. Please stay on the line.//
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 13:33:17 GMT -5
Mr. Flynn does not want the kind of stop that Esprit could give. Not really. He will never get back at Gideon if he is dead.
"Sure thing," Esprit replies to the dispatcher, cupping a hand to muffle the sound so perhaps Mr. Flynn won't hear.
She eyes the windows, watching.
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 13:56:11 GMT -5
It isn't even five minutes before Det. Hunt can likely hear the approaching sirens, and a couple minutes more sees MCU vehicles arriving, followed by a fire engine and an ambulance. The MCU members are dressed out in gear appropriate for dealing with a potentially hostile pyrokinetic; really, they don't look much different than the firefighters. The paramedics remain on standby.
//Detective Hunt, can you see the responders?// It's a bit of an obvious question, but the dispatcher has regulations to follow.
All the while, Aidan doesn't budge from his shelter or make much noise beyond low whines, begging his world to stop unravelling.
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 14:08:49 GMT -5
Esprit feels faintly embarrassed. If this was Cybertron, she could have handled it on her own. Here, off-duty officers can be liable for a lot of things to the point where if they are off duty, it really is better to call it in and let someone else handle it. Humans are ridiculous creatures, but they are dangerous in their own way.
She confirms, "I see them. He's still under the counter."
Esprit sees in infrared, beyond the 'visual' spectrum. She sees colours that only have names in Cybertronian. Even if he wasn't whining, she would know he is there.
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 15:02:44 GMT -5
Suited MCU officers precede another detective into the shop, ready with glorified fire extinguishers and other suppression tools. The detective, a dark-haired woman with caramel complexion, quirks up one eyebrow at Hunt sitting on the floor, then cautiously holsters her gun inside her red jacket.
"Mister Flynn," she begins, "I need you to come out." Aidan startles at being addressed and, trembling, peers from his hiding place.
"I can't," he says, wheezing faintly. Drawing breath in that tight curl is difficult. "I can't… i-it might rain. I need to call Leanne. I need my umbrella." The detective pulls a confused face and looks to Hunt for clarification before she says anything else.
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 15:24:17 GMT -5
"I sat down because he told me to get cover and because looking at me seems to bother him, and I didn't want to rile hm up," Esprit explains very quietly. She stands up slowly and carefully. "I stopped by yesterday to buy some flowers for my husband." Given that Mr. Flynn seemed to find her comments on her husband odd, she says instead, "He's so sweet, you know." She heard that on a commercial. "The rain yesterday seemed to bother Mr. Flynn, maybe he's afraid of the rain, but he said he'd have the order done today. He seemed even more... perturbed today, until he... lost it."
She points at the fire damage and where he threw up.
"He's mentioned Leanne before. Girlfriend, maybe?"
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 15:42:28 GMT -5
"Got it," says the detective, and she gestures for the suited officers to back up a bit. Louder, she carries on, "We've got an umbrella for you, Mister Flynn. And if you come out of there, you can use my phone."
"I don't know you," Aidan says frantically and stays put. "I need my umbrella." He wants to be safe at home and away from all this.
"My name's Elisa, and if you'll let me come over there, I'll bring you an umbrella," she tells him and looks again to Det. Hunt. "He just snapped, you said? Over the rain?" It's an overcast day, certainly, but there's no rain projected.
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 15:51:49 GMT -5
"Yesterday, he seemed upset about the rain. If you look around, none of his watering cans or sprayers are the kind that would make a rainy noise," and she points around at the various tools, continuing in her low tone of voice. She shrugs. "Fine, whatever, he doesn't like rain. Today, though, he seemed on-edge just to see me. I asked him why. He said, 'I'm not – it isn't you. No, no, it's the screams.'"
She gives Elisa a hard look. That's just not the kind of thing a detective can hear and not ask questions.
"I said, 'The screams?' That's when the paperwork on the counter and that rack of flowers," she points them out, "caught on fire, and he just broke down. That other damage was later," she points it out, too. "What he said didn't make a whole lot of sense."
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 16:11:59 GMT -5
Just what Elisa wanted: a firestarter having a psychotic break. She presses her lips in a thin, grim line at Hunt's explanation and sighs.
"Can I bring an umbrella for you, Mister Flynn?" she tries again.
"P… please," Aidan says very quietly. Elisa is prepared if he starts slinging sparks, but she'd rather he didn't, and puts on a calm, reassuring air as she slowly rounds the counter, taking an umbrella from a junior who ran it up from one of the cruisers.
Aidan watches her without moving, half afraid she'll turn into someone else. He's overjoyed at the sight of the umbrella, however, and reaches one thin, shaking hand for it, smiling anxiously. He stops mid-reach and looks around, shivering.
"…Is he still here?" he rasps, afraid even to say the name Spinister though he doesn't understand what it means or why he's so certain Spinister would make him pay for slipping up. Elisa just blinks at Aidan in confusion. She'd ask Hunt outright if she has any idea what he's talking about, but if the other detective makes him antsy, she wants to call as little of his attention to Hunt as she can.
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 16:26:24 GMT -5
At least it is not Lord Slaughter?
Esprit supplies quietly, "At one point, he said, 'No, no, no, I can't go back. I won't go back to them. You can't make me! Xaaron sent you? He wants me locked away, wants me rewired? I won't go! I won't! I won't let you take me to them!' You know, Xaaron, that space robot at the UN? Maybe he's afraid Xaaron's out here somewhere."
Is it not convenient that Xaaron happens to be a 'he'?
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 17:00:00 GMT -5
The alien robot mess is way beyond Elisa's sphere of giving a flip. She has enough crazy weirdness in her day-to-day already, thanks. She very slightly nods to acknowledge Hunt's advice and keeps her smile on for Aidan.
"No," she murmurs, "he isn't. He ran when we showed up." She bobs the umbrella encouragingly and stands up straighter. "C'mon, let's go call Leanne."
Slowly, stiffly, body protesting every move and head throbbing, Aidan inches from his hollow, taking the umbrella with great care, as though it might evaporate in his hand. He clutches it tightly, knuckles showing stark white under his paler than usual skin. Much like yesterday, he looks drained by his attack, wasted rail-thin with the toll it takes on his body. A stiff breeze could knock him over. Elisa, for one, is dismayed at the sight and reminds herself to make sure somebody gets him on a good diet.
Aidan freezes, grabbing Elisa's arm with one of those thin, thin hands, when he sees Detective Hunt. Only she's wearing a mask and staring him down from the dark with cold, accusing, judging eyes.
"Leanne," he says urgently while staring at Esprit like he's seeing a ghost. "I need to call her."
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 17:08:59 GMT -5
Esprit is very amused by the thought of Xaaron running when some cops and firefighters and EMTs show up. Maybe she can get Ned to make some artwork of that for her. She doesn't let her amusement show, though. That would be inappropriate.
She steps back and out of the way, behind one of the uniformed officers and into his shadow. See? There's Mr. Flynn freaking out over seeing her.
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 17:35:11 GMT -5
Before he can go into a full panic again, Aidan is ushered out the door, the suited officers following closely with weapons ready in case he blows up. Elisa gently pats his arm and pauses long enough to let him open the umbrella even though it isn't raining; if it keeps him calm, she'll allow it. Better that than flames shooting everywhere.
"Let's get you sat down," she tells him, pointing out the ambulance crew, "and we'll call Leanne."
"All right," Aidan mumbles, though he baulks a bit at the ambulance. "Is… it safe?" No place is safe, a part of him insists.
Nevertheless, with an immense exercise in patience, Elisa gets him settled with the paramedics; he's more than happy to shelter inside the truck and she calls it good, leaving him to them and hopping out.
Then she searches out Detective Hunt.
"Why do you spook him so much?" she demands. The guy looks and sounds Grade-A wacky, but there has to be a method of some kind to the madness.
Inside the ambulance, Aidan starts screaming protest when the restraints come out.
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Post by Spinister on Feb 26, 2012 18:13:57 GMT -5
Esprit is not defensive in the face of Elisa's demands. She's mostly calm in a detached sort of way, and she allows herself to seem mildly confused. Esprit says, "I don't know. All I wanted was buy a bouquet for my husband."
Instead, she's out here explaining herself to another detective and smelling the stink of burned flowers. She could have just left Mr. Flynn to his mess and not reported anything. It's not like he would have been in any shape to report what was going on. Then again, given the anti-psychotics they're liable to dope him up on now, is he going to remember any of this?
Being the only reputable witness is a wonderful thing.
"I feel so bad for him, the poor dear." She has to borrow the words from Singe. Esprit looks over at the fire extinguisher. "He knew right where that was, though."
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Flame
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Post by Flame on Feb 26, 2012 19:03:13 GMT -5
Aidan is going to spend the ambulance ride well sedated, certainly, and if he wasn't already feeling groggy, he'd be flying into another panic at his four-point restraints. He pulls weakly at the soft cuffs, expression fitful and increasingly dazed as the sedatives take effect. He can barely lift his head and hus limbs feel as though they're filled with wet sand.
"Don't… don't let him find me," he slurs at the paramedics, head lolling against the gurney.
"Detective Maza!" one calls, leaning out the back. "We need to roll!" Elisa makes an impatient noise and shakes her head.
"Wrong place, wrong time, I guess," she mutters. She has no opinion on the extinguisher, at least at the moment. "These guys will secure the scene. Head home, Detective," she says as she hooks her thumb at the cops setting up barriers and tape.
The bouquet still sits right where it was when Esprit arrived, finished and untouched through the chaos. It's a modest display, a sunflower standing tall amid a curved fan of rye grass and braced by two yellow roses. Slipper orchids and bramble ring the yellow flowers and a single honeysuckle vine frames the whole affair, woven with motherwort on the outermost front layer of the arrangement. Not a single leaf is out of place.
Aidan tried to make it perfect.
OOC: Timeskip? Fade? Segue to another thread?
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