Absolute Zero (IC)

Erin turned to Addie, blinking slowly as she realised the woman was awake. She was wet now, but Erin didn't really mind. The woman herself was bedraggled, she had a nasty cut on her forehead from where she had fallen that was trickling blood, but only slowly. Slow was good, Erin thought, nodding to herself to confirm it. Now that the woman was awake, however, Erin wasn't quite sure what to do. Most human contact Erin had had in recent months had been brief, and ended badly, to say the least.

'You should have left her Erin, she'll cause nothing but trouble.'

The concerned and compassionate voice once again brought Erin back into the real world, aware of her surroundings in time to hear the tail end of the woman's sentence.

"...thank you for taking me out of the rain. What's your name?" she asked quietly, hard to hear over the drumming of the rain.

"My... name..." Erin repeated slowly, as if she didn't quite understand the question. Slowly, she tilted her head to one side and opened her mouth to speak again "My name is... Erin." she responded, closing her eyes and holding them shut for a few seconds longer than a standard blink. "What... what's your name?" she then asked, clearly unused to extended verbal communication.

It was then, and only then that she registered the meaning of the woman's white coat. They had all worn white coats, every day, all the time they were around her. She could picture it clearly...


The lights of the bare and characterless chamber burst into life, their glow blinding the young girl that huddled in the corner of the room for a few moments as the steel reinforced door opened. Looking up, her eyes wide with fear, she could see several men standing there. There were three men in white coats, two of which she recognised as those who visited her frequently to ask her questions, and sometimes take her out to more blank rooms with needles and wires and chairs in, needles that poked her skin and made her bleed, chairs that made her spasm and cry out. The third was unknown to her, with dark hair and a serious face, clearly holding authority over the other two. The fourth man wasn't dressed that way though, his suit was black in comparison, and he seemed distant from the three white-coats, gazing at her as if judging her.

The girl curled up further, holding her knees to her chest and quivering in fear. The authoritative white-coat walked towards her then, his eyes angry. She whimpered, angry eyes meant that she had done something wrong, that she would be punished. The white coat reflected the light of the room, making the men glow like angels. Like angels of suffering, angels of pain and death and sorrow and needles and chairs and...

Erin snapped back to reality, having stood there staring blankly at Addie's coat for the better part of half a minute. Raising her eyes to the woman's face, she began to back away "D..d..don't take me back to the place with the needles, and the chairs, and the blank rooms with no way out. I... I won't go back there! You can't make me!" she stammered, her voice rising and eyes flashing as she drew on her ESP, the spike of raw energy filling her sure to alert any ESP users within a mile, and send alarm bells ringing on EPC monitors. The girl didn't strike out, however, merely filled herself with the energy she would need to do so, and stared at Addie with wide, fearful eyes.

"I won't go back..." she whispered above the rain, shaking with a mixture of fear and defensive anger.

"My name is...Erin," the child said.

Erin seemed spaced out. Maybe she was as nerdy and as introverted as Addie had once been. Addie started to take off the soaked lab coat and caught herself smiling and giggling softly. As nerdy as she had once been? Addie was still the biggest nerd she knew. She stripped the coat off and brought it to her face. The coolness felt good on her hot, stinging skin. The white cloth came away dark red with blood, and she groaned slightly. Once again, she had done a number on herself.

"...needles...chairs...I won't go back there! You can't make me!" The girl shouted. Addie's head snapped up in surprise and she stared in confusion at the little girl who had been spaced out and quiet a moment before. She was looking at Addie like the little red head was going to hurt her. The girl looked torn between fight or flight, ready to run for her life or do her best to kill Addie. The look in the child's eyes was entirely disturbing, and Addie couldn't believe that such fear and anger could be directed at her person. Weren't kids supposed to love scientists?

She looked back and forth quickly, looking for anyone witnessing the little scene. Someone would probably think she was beating random children in bus stations by the look on the girl's face and the fear in her raised voice. Where was this kid's mom, anyway? Who let their easily-frightened child roam the streets of London unattended? Still dabbing at her forehead gingerly, wincing, she reached out to the girl's mind, too tired to bother with verbal communication, "Listen, Erin, I've had a long morning already. Relax, okay? Can you back up for a minute? I'm afraid I missed what you said. Where won't you go back to? I swear I'm not going to try to take you anywhere, but I can't help you unless you explain yourself a bit better. Did someone hurt you? Where's your mommy?"

Addie sat down on the bench when she swayed on her feet. If she passed out now the girl would probably finish bashing her head in. It had already been one hell of a day.