It was a sad time in Aaron Hartely's life. This fact was not helped by the trip that he was on, because every second of the trip reminded him of what had happened just nights before. He'd said things he'd regretted. He'd done things that couldn't be undone. But the worst part was how the situation had ended: A shower of keys and a smoking pile of blackened remains.

That was all that was left of his faithful, loyal keyboard that had seen him through so many nights of coding. That was also why he'd found himself in a busy electronics store south of Central Park, trying to find a keyboard with an ergonomic layout and keys spaced similarly to his last keyboard, but that task was seeming more and more impossible. He hated the commercial atmosphere of these types of stores, but he'd really had no choice in the matter. A software designer without a keyboard was like a swimmer without goggles or a Jedi without a lightsaber... It was nearly preposterous to think of a situation in which a person could feel more cut off! Plus, even though Aaron could practically run his company, he did have a boss breathing down his neck to complete projects.

But those issues were trivial compared to the grave reality of the situation which had brought Aaron to this point. Had he really blown up his keyboard? With his bare hands? Aaron had known he was.... different... for quite some time now, but explosions? That was a whole new ball game. It had freaked him out a little bit when he'd discovered that he could stick a ball point pen in a wall at thirty feet just by releasing the object after focusing on it, but explosions generated from a similar process were a bit more serious than having to repair a wall at work.

After warding off the fifteenth employee asking him if he'd "Been able to find everything okay" Aaron located the section with keyboards more suited to his task. He needed a keyboard upon which he could work some real digital magic. Just like his lucky keyboard that had ended up as fodder had been when he landed the solo project for the Department of Defense. That security program had made him wealthy enough that he didn't really need to work for his company, but he didn't exactly want it out there that he'd done work for the government. In certain circles in which Aaron ran, that could mean grave consequences- Aaron could almost hear the torrent files dying in agony because no one trusted his word anymore.

Maybe I'll just spend a couple grand on a computer... Aaron thought, as his gaze drifted over toward the computers department. Upon his gaze, another green-clad employee began wandering in his direction, a determined look on his face. Aaron immediately veered off into the appliances section, determined to evade the harrying questions of these underpaid but unfaltering people. As he rounded the corner, he found himself face-to-face with the keyboard aisle, at last. As he began pouring over the racks and racks of keyboards (they had a good selection) he realized it could be hours or even days before he'd find a suitable replacement for his faithful friend.

They were finally feeling more settled into their apartment, even though it still seemed rather empty. And, Lee thought, the walls in particular were rather empty. They had never really had a whole lot of stuff up on their walls in the old apartment.

Pictures, Lee had decided, would be a great way to fill that space. And, while she figured some of their pictures would be nice in larger prints and frames, Lee had also realized just the previous night just how many pictures Tarin had taken in the last six months.

It really was incredible, that number of pictures. Lee knew that even if they plastered their walls with pictures, they wouldn't be able to show all the ones they really liked.

Which had given Lee an idea. Telling Tarin she was going for a walk, Lee had instead searched out an electronics store near the apartment.

And it was then that Lee realized that she was slightly in over her head. Yes, she knew how to use her iPod and cell phone, at least for the most part, and could fumble her way through what little she actually needed to do on the computer, but that was about it; the store was almost a little overwhelming.

But she had time, Tarin thought she was on one of her walks, which normally lasted at least an hour, so she had time to wander through the store on her own before actually asking for help.

Wandering which ended up taking her to the computer section before she had found the electronic frames she was searching for. Hmm, she thought as she started to slowly wander through the aisles of computers. Maybe we should think about getting a new one soon. That was something Lee would wait and talk to Tarin about. Their current computer, though older, was more than enough for what she would probably ever need, but between both of their music, and all the pictures Tarin kept taking, they were bound to run out of space on the computer before long.

Rounding a corner, Lee was about to bypass the next aisle because of how much energy, and thus how many people she felt down there, when she saw that there was actually only two people in the whole aisle.

Stopping, Lee frowned slightly as she looked down between the shelves, only two people, yet Lee felt like there should be a lot more people there. Maybe it's just people in the next aisle... Lee thought to herself as she slowly walked in between the shelves displaying keyboards. Some of them rather strange looking, to be honest. Why people would want something that looked like that, how they could use a keyboard that looked like those, she really wasn't sure.

As she made her way further down the aisle, toward a man who was examining a number of the keyboards, Lee started to feel off balance; frowning, stopping as if she were looking at one of the keyboards as well, Lee focused on the energy she was feeling. It felt like there were a lot more people there, yet it was only the one man. At least only the one man that she could see. Which only made Lee frown more. How could there be that much energy if there was only one person? Even when Tarin had been merged, and she had felt the extra energy there from the spirit, she hadn't felt this much extra.

Aaron was quickly growing tired of this electronics store. His efforts to avoid the always persistent employees were slowly starting to wear on his nerves. Just because someone was looking at a display for more than two minutes didn't meant that they were too stupid to know how a keyboard works, but from the variety of the questions these people were asking, the managers of the store seemed to think that stupidity was implied.

He was just about to leave the store when he saw it: a keyboard that might finally be comparable to his old one. In fact, this keyboard looked just like his old one, but it had programmable buttons! Immediately, Aaron walked over to the display and rested his hands on it. It was just like his old one. He had to have it. Finding it, however, was the next big challenge.

Below the display sat a bunch of keyboards that looked absolutely nothing like the one that he was looking for. Aaron looked around the aisle to no avail. The second he wasn't "finding everything okay" was the second that all of the employees in this god-forsaken store decided to disappear into thin air. Aaron would have to take matters into his own hands.

His search began as a bend-at-the-waist matter. He looked at all of the models of keyboard on the middle shelf directly under and directly adjacent to the keyboard that he desired. This search was to no avail, however, because the keyboard he wanted could not be found in the middle-shelf location.

So, Aaron proceeded to squat down and look to see if he could find the keyboard. This situation was not a good one because Aaron began to tilt back and forth. Steadying himself with a hand to the floor, he looked down the aisle. This time he noticed a woman oddly resembling Amidala from Star Wars standing at the end of the aisle pretending to be interested in keyboards. That was likely. Keyboards and computers were not necessarily things that you brought up immediately when trying to impress a girl. In his current position, Aaron wasn't too worried about that anyhow. Besides, he thought that he caught a glimpse of a ring on that left finger, signaling a definite no-fly zone. Aaron wasn't a home wrecker, he didn't like the confrontation. Besides, there were probably plenty of girls out there interested in l33t haxorz like Aaron that were single.

Aaron finally decided that, in order to save face, he needed to go to all fours. This frustrated him greatly. Why would a store put a shelf so low? What if an elderly person needed a keyboard from the ground level? What would they do? He'd have to write a strongly-worded letter to the management about this. Or maybe he'd just hack their system and make undesirable pictures show up on all of their monitors. That might be fun.

By this point, Aaron lost his cool. As he began shoving boxes to the side, he felt a peculiar tingle run down his arm. He realized a second too late just what was happening and as the keyboard box left his fingertips, he barely had time to utter "Oh shit" as the box, then turned projectile, flung itself from the shelf at a great velocity in the general direction of the woman he had just seen standing near by.

Lee really had no idea what to think as she stood there blankly looking at the keyboards. Energy-wise, it felt like there was a crowd of people standing somewhere around half way down the aisle, yet, when she glanced over out of the corner of her eye, she still only saw that one man. A man who was first bending over to look at what was on a shelf under the keyboard display, and then actually squatting down to take a look.

Lee was still trying to puzzle out this mystery, and was still coming up blank, when her next glance revealed that the man was now down on all fours, shoving boxes around on the bottom shelf. Apparently, he really wanted to find what he was looking for there.

Lee was just turning her eyes back to the keyboards in front of her - really, what was the difference between them, anyway? - when out of her peripheral vision she saw something moving much faster than the man had been.

Lee's whole head moved this time, turning toward the man to see a box flying through the air toward her. Her eyes widening in surprise and shock, Lee wasn't sure what to do. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of the way without it hitting her, she didn't have that kind of energy today. Still, out of instinct and reflex, Lee moved, trying to step out of the way of the projectile box, only to have it hit her right arm, and then bounce and slide around because of its momentum, cutting her arm slightly in the process, to hit the shelf beside her.

It stung and hurt as the box clattered to the floor. Lee didn't even realize that she was cut and bleeding slightly, thinking that the pain was simply from the impact as she advanced a couple of slow steps toward the man.

"What the hell was that?" Lee hissed, keeping her voice down to try and avoid drawing any more attention to the aisle they were in than the flying and falling box would have drawn. At least in Columbia, when she had had to deal with bullets and knifes, she had been able to because she could expect to have to deal with them. But really, a box being flung at her in an electronics store? What the hell, indeed.

As the keyboard flew through the air, in those few split seconds, Aaron began to panic. Of course something like this would happen. Things like this always happened to nerds. Rather than impressing a girl, they fling a keyboard at her head, make it obvious that something is wrong with them and then, to top it all off, cause a bleeding wound as an ice breaker. Perfect.

"What the hell was that?" the woman hissed after the keyboard hit her. By that time, with a bleeding wound on his arm, Aaron would have done a little more than query what had happened! "Um.. Uh... It's something that happens from time to time.." Aaron stammered awkwardly. Knowing his luck, some strapping young lad the size of an adult Wookie would come from around the corner and strangle him to death. Looking left and right, Aaron didn't notice anyone coming, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't someone close. He had two choices... Stay around or run away.

Indecision grasped Aaron in it's cold grasp. This could be bad. He could be ousted. It was a really good thing that whole Mutant Registration thing had blown over when it did or else he might have had a huge heap of trouble falling into his lap right then. As he began to panic, Aaron could feel his energy building up. This wasn't good. But something was different... His increase in energy didn't feel as... Sharp as it usually did. In fact, there wasn't as much energy present at all, which he would likely have not noticed. He only noticed it because, like the true nerd he was, he had spent a lot of time right after discovering his power playing with situations that caused it to spike. Aaron took a second glance at the woman and faltered a moment.

Is it possible that I've just discovered another mutant? Aaron wondered momentarily. He hadn't ever sought out mutants before because trouble seemed to follow mutants wherever they went, but this woman seemed to be having some effect on his power. "Look, I'm sorry about the keyboard box... It's a gift I have" he said. A gift! Next you're going to be running around Manhattan wearing red and blue spandex! Aaron thought, criticizing himself. The last thing he needed to do right now was make the person he'd just assaulted with a piece of office equipment think he was even more of a tool than she already did. "My name is Aaron. Who are you?" he said, curious of her answer.

Something that happens from time to time. That was a crappy explanation for why a box had just hit her, why it had flown across the aisle, as hard as it had, and hit her.

Something that happens from time to time. Yeah, definitely not a good enough answer after what had just happened. "Uh huh," Lee said, clearly unimpressed by the man's answer. "And what was it, and why did you throw it at me?"

The man did not look comfortable, Lee did not feel comfortable, and still, she couldn't explain why she was feeling as much energy as she was. Much more energy than she would have expected from the one person in front of her. Though her eyes were focused on the man in front of her, every couple of seconds, Lee's eyes would flick around the area surrounding the man. Were there more people there, just invisible, that she couldn't see? Or, was her siphoning just off, and she was feeling people from the aisles beside them?

"Look, I'm sorry about the keyboard box... It's a gift I have"

"Uh huh," Lee repeated. That was kind of obvious with how the box had flown, how fast it had shot at her, wasn't it? But, even though he hadn't exactly explained what or why he'd done what he'd done just now, the man had apologized, and then introduced himself.

Maybe this had just been an accident, and a case of her standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. This definitely would not be the first time for that.

"Lee," She said simply, not stepping toward the man, not extending her hand to him. Not until she got some more information. "So, how'd you throw that at me so fast? Got a couple invisible friends there with you helping you out?"

Anger definitely seemed to be this woman's forte. She obviously hadn't accepted his vague and unenlightening explanation because it was obviously... vague and unenlightening. Aaron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This day was going to be one of those days.
“It was a keyboard…” Aaron said, reaching down to the shelf he’d just been digging through. He grabbed the keyboard he’d wanted and held it up to the girl. “To answer your second question, it was an accident. Like I said, it’s a gift I have. I’ve always been able to… propel things through touch. I was frustrated, which doesn’t help, and it left contact with my hand.”

Truth to be told, Aaron was just glad he hadn’t blown the poor woman up. Those thoughts were making him very uncomfortable. Could he have done that? The woman would’ve been seriously hurt. Aaron was not exactly the type that could deal with potential bodily harm without feeling badly.

Aaron then discovered that the girl’s name was Lee. That was a start and it was much better than Angry-girl-who-was-going-to-call-the-cops. The woman then went on to ask something about invisible friends. At this, Aaron cocked an eyebrow.”Invisible friends?” he said, skeptically. “No… It’s just me. Does it seem like there is more than one of me in this aisle?” Aaron asked, looking around himself, genuinely curious. Could she see something he couldn’t? Was there, in fact, someone who was following him around but out of sight? Maybe that was who blew up his keyboard… But then again, Aaron had actually felt himself blow up the keyboard.

Aaron took a step closer and lowered his voice. “Can you see someone following me?” he asked, a bit afraid now. If there was someone following him, it wouldn’t be for benevolent reasons. It never was in the movies. Maybe he was right about this woman, that she was a mutant and that her power was that she could see invisible people. “Do you think I’m in danger?” he asked, a tone of apprehension creeping into his voice. Today was going to suck.

He propelled things through the air? Well, however that worked, if that's what his power was, that explained how that Keyboard had flown at her so quickly despite the fact that it didn't look like he had really thrown it in any way. And how could she really fault him for losing control of his ability slightly when he was frustrated? She herself still couldn't seem to stop from siphoning more when she got angry.

By how he reacted to her question about having invisible friends with him, it told Lee that Aaron obviously didn't know anything about it. He didn't seem like the kind of person who would be able to lie too easily in a situation like this.

"See them?" Lee asked when Aaron asked if she saw people following him, her brow furrowing slightly. "But it feels like there's more than just us here."

The man's voice was really starting to sound worried now, though. Lee didn't really understand it; if he was this worried about being followed by someone, why had he been casually looking for a computer keyboard? Though, Lee remembered, she had been much more worried when the Registration Act had been in force, yet had still had to try and go out and be 'normal'.

Then Lee got an idea. Though she didn't knowhow many people there were there, which would make things more difficult, maybe she could at least try and pinpoint where they were. Something she hadn't been able to do yet because she hadn't even made it to the area of the aisle Aaron was standing in, hadn't passed him yet, so all the energy felt like it was coming from him.

Finally stepping forward, Lee slowly walked first toward Aaron, then started moving past him in the aisle as she spoke once more. "How should I know if you're in danger? I just met you, so how -"

Lee cut herself off suddenly. She had made it about two feet past Aaron in the aisle by this point, the energy hadn't moved.

"It's you," she said, spinning to properly face Aaron once more. But that didn't make sense, how could it just be him? "Either it's just you, or they're right on top of you."

“Well, yes, I am me. Oh! You mean the people…” Aaron said feeling a bit relieved. Ever since that government job, any time anything suspicious happened, Aaron’s mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion. He’d known when he took the job that there could possibly be some danger in his future. Designing security software for the government was, after all, a rather dangerous feat. If someone found out, it would put him on the top of quite a few lists that he would not want to be on. Only then was it that he noticed the close proximity of the woman. He took a nervous step back.

“It feels like there are more people here?” Aaron asked, whilst giving the woman, Lee, a rather odd look. “Let’s be honest… I have powers. I’m fairly sure you do too. I can send things hurtling through the air, as you have seen. What can you do?” Aaron said, confused about the woman’s powers. Could it be detecting the invisible? Or was it just that she could detect mutants? And what was this business about more than one person? Was Aaron largely more powerful than he’d thought?

“Well, I can promise you that there are no people on top of me. I’m sure on that one, unless they are weightless.” Aaron said, laughing a bit towards the end. That would be foolish. Of course, a computer nerd blowing up his keyboard wasn’t the most sensible thing ever. That story wouldn’t be retold. At least not to people in certain circles anyhow. They’d never let him live it down.

Aaron sighed and shook his head. There never could be a normal or easy trip to an electronics store.

Lee simply nodded as she stared at Aaron when he questioned her saying it felt like there were more people there. It really did, but she couldn't see anyone other than her and Aaron. It just didn't make sense.

Then he was asking about her powers, since, based on what she had been saying, he was sure that she had some. Well, she was being rather obvious about that, wasn't she? But then again, this was such a strange situation that Lee just hadn't been able to keep her mouth closed. Plus, she did know that Aaron was a mutant too; she had seen him fling a keyboard at her without moving.

"I can feel energy," Lee replied softly so hopefully they wouldn't be overheard. "I almost didn't come down this aisle because it felt like there was a whole crowd of people down here. But it was only you here, and I've never felt anyone with as much energy as you seem to have."