Agatha was quickly losing this fight. She reached out, connecting with her sisters, and opening the illusionary gap high above that the Old Ones were finally invading the world. It should have meant the end of any and all resistance because who could look upon such horrors and still maintain your sanity? In none of the holy texts could humans, save for academics who struggled to make logic from the illogical. These were not scientists, though, these were people, bystanders, wheat ready to be harvested and ground up to be used as the foundations for the new universe. And they they stood, they resisted, and proved to be more than Agatha could stand against.

Lying upon the scorched ground, cringing and holding her wounded leg, she tried to implore her sisters for more aid, to pulling her denizens from around the park to defend and die for her. But the interlopers would prove to be faster than she could comprehend.

Agatha struggled to her feet, ready to pour every last bit of her energy into making these people pay for trying to stop the Old Ones. However, just as her eyes flared, she heard a pained scream rip through the parking structure. Echoing from all sides, it sounded like an army of one person screaming over and over again. While normally she would have enjoyed that, the wind that swept around her suddenly became an ill one. Agatha didn’t know what made it wrong at first, but as the seconds passed and confusion set in, suddenly she felt so very sick to her stomach. Her stomach cramped and twisted as she turned, spilling out the contents onto the floor. A weakness swept over her, causing her knees to buckle and bringing her down. On all fours, Agatha threw up again, falling onto her side as the sickness just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Finally, running her hand up through her hair, pulled it back to reveal several large chunks of off-white hair now twined around her fingers and free from her head. This was it...the end.

Consciousness quickly began to evaporate from Agatha’s mind. Lying, prone and unmoving, she took several ragged breaths, feeling the connection to her sisters fading fast. There was nothing left in any of them, barely enough to hold onto life itself which caused the thick clouds of black mist to dissipate and slowly crumble. Down it fell, like cotton pulled by gravity into the earth. The cosmic horrors from above vanished, fading away into nothing and leaving only a dark, pristine sky where there had once been a mind-altering rip in reality. Now there only stood a full, silver moon and a twinkling of tiny stars.

The horrors were gone. As Agatha lay there, in pain, the edges of blackness slowly creeping over her field a vision, she gave a breath of consciousness before she muttered one last thing along with her sisters: ”Fahf ah uh'eor uaaah…” And, with that, Agatha’s head weakly slumped, the last control she had over her minions completely vanishing, and freeing them from the nightmares they once beheld.

FEAR GAUGE

Ahagl's soth l' ah'lloigshogg mgng nilgh'ri!

FINAL RESULTS

X Tempest 5/5
X Celestina De Ward 5/5
X Mirror Grey-Morris 5/5
Raine 3/5
OOC: The witches are defeated. My involvement is done so continue and end these threads however you like. And congrats to everyone with 5/5 fear points, your character is now scarred for life! Just kidding...or am I? Thank you everyone for an amazing time and Happy Halloween!

✿

Not yet knowing the exact nature of the emergency, dispatch had called in a police, fire, and medical unit to each of the three anomalous event locations on this eery, raining Halloween night.

For the Upper East Side, N-2 idled just outside the bubble of darkness and they heckled the police unit from inside the safety of their truck. Mostly they teased for the police not having the guts to go inside, but if they were being honest, it was probably smart to wait for the mutants to finish duking it out before any of the measly humans to dare venture in. Thunder cracked, almost like the nexus of the storm was right above them. Everyone was on edge, but waiting. It was hard to stay alert and relaxed.

Absolutely no one was surprised when mutantkind went whacky on holidays, full moons, Friday the 13ths, or a Tuesday. Not. A. One.

"Maybe you should go out and pop the bubble."

"I can't pop the bubble, Donnie." AJ threw a caramel corn at Donnie who caught it in his mouth so perfectly that it went in the back of his throat and made him start coughing.

"I know you tested negative on the X gene, but I'm telling you. Magic fingers or whatever."

Something loud thudded above. The paramedics both strained for a better view of the vast void of nat a damn thing that they could see. It still looked like a bubble. The wind howled past their truck rocking them on their wheels.

"The waiting is driving me up the wall." AJ grabbed his bag and slipped out of the cab and into the pelting rain. The sound of a ghostly, wind-distorted million screams made him jog full tilt to the edge of the bubble. Whatever was happening, people were suffering. He had to try.

AJ raised his hand, fingers just barely outside the film of shadow.

Magic touch. He thought. Now would be a good time to work.

He stuck his hand in when the screams reached a crescendo, his clothes and hair, plastered to his skin from the relentless rain. He didn't have time to parse what happened and in what order. His hand went in the darkness and it was like the darkness didn't want anything to do with him. And just as suddenly the bubble was gone. AJ turned back to survey the waiting crew. They saw it?

Headlights, spotlights, and car engines all turned on.

Oh yeah. They saw it.

AJ ran toward the entrance and Donnie turned in front of him with the side door flapping open.

"Magic tooooouch!"

AJ slid inside, like a hand in its perfectly sized medical glove and they tore around the curves of the parking unit right on the tails of the police car. They had to slam on the brakes when they got to the right place. There was no question that a mutant showdown had happened.

"It's ghosts. I'm telling you ghosts are real. It's Halloween and ghosts totally are on the loose. Look!" Donnie was flapping his yap while he grabbed his own kit, but AJ did stop to try to see what his partner had while they waited for the police to call the scene clear enough for them.

Something white and... sparkling?

As soon as they got the OK, they ran that way, but the closer they got, the less the sparkles showed. One of the cops slipped in a pool of puke and fell on his butt.

"There's people on the ceiling!"

Well. That was new.

The firemen would have to handle that one.

"We got a bleeder! Female, late teens, there's blood everywhere." Had her ghost really been trying to escape? He and Donnie pulled on gloves and got to work.

Celeste finally had reached, at least in guessing, the point where she couldn't really feel the pain that had dominated her body. The huge bruise covering her back from slamming into a car, the scrapes and cuts from glass and the asphalt that littered her body, not to mention the massive overload of her powers that had wrecked her body. Releasing all of her radiation probably wasn't the best thing to happen, but when your body is about to give up anyways, why not go out with a bang? 

She could hear footsteps and the panic that set in her throat didn't seem as bad... Maybe something had happened to whoever was causing this? She coughed, her body fading in and out of consciousness. Was Gawain alive? Devon? What about the girl? She tried to pull herself up but she felt the jolting pain from the knife wound in her side. She promptly fell back down and let out a loud groan. Had she killed her father? She shouldn't have. But he stabbed her, right? What else would someone expect? 

She coughed, blood coming up as she rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. She heard a voice... Who was that? She tried to focus her eyes towards the man who was near her... In and out of consciousness, she tried to mutter "rr-r-ra," deep breath, "tion.. air..." Her eyes rolled back into her head one more time as she had a small seizure and passed out again. 

It was pretty bad, but they'd seen worse. Police called Donnie away to go look at the people on the ceiling and see if they were safe to move while AJ continued triage.

"Hey, sorry we had to meet like this." He isolated the bleeding down to the lower abdominal area. Glass was all around. Maybe something broke on her. He'd have to remember to warn the hospital of possible detritus. "It's going to be okay. I'm AJ and I'm your ride out of here. Okay?" He hadn't actually expected a response. On first check she was unresponsive, but stable, assuming she didn't lose too much blood. He was applying pressure and talking her unresponsive self through, but that all changed when she opened her mouth and a dry rasp came out.

She... wanted to ration the air? Blood loss was a crazy trip, as it turned out.

"What's your name? Can you, whoah—" Nope. She could not. She started seizing. AJ checked his watch and grabbed a pen from his shoulder without letting up on the pressure. He scribbled the time as best as he could on the trunk of his glove.

"Donnie! Grab the gurney! Priority 2." He left one hand on the bleeder to check along her scalp as best as he could and to try to keep her from bouncing into any glass. Her own blood transferring from his gloves to her hair, a fact made most obvious by the pallor of the strands. Head trauma? They'd get her fully stabilized in the truck, no doubt.

It was about 25-30 seconds later when the seizure seemed to subside. Her body didn't move for a few seconds before she slowly regained some semblance of consciousness. She tried to focus her eyes onto the random guy who hadn't seemed to lost his mind. She realized she was stabbed. And something else happened. She felt... Empty. She couldn't focus it, though. She knew she was badly hurt but her body felt... Numb. Kind of. It was like half of it was numb but the wrong movement would cause sharp pains throughout her body. She could feel her muscles cramping but couldn't really feel the pain. She wasn't even sure what she felt.

She quickly and very shakily grabbed the man's arm tightly (although... Maybe tight to her?) and with a dry, tired voice, "I-I-m a m-m-mutant. Rad... Rads." She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She tried her best to get it out but it was so tiring to talk, "Reel-l-leased radi-radi-tion." Her brief eye movement towards him showed concern. They shouldn't be in here if she was still radioactive and everyone else was.  She knew she went supernova but was surprised to see he wasn't sick. Maybe it vanished already? How long had it been? Oh well... She took a few deep breaths as she tried to focus on surviving and tried to remember what had happened. 

At least she didn't have that sickening fear in her gut, at least not as much. She tried to listen to his words, but she couldn't really follow along... Don? Guity 2? Everything seemed to run into each other. She knew she was falling in and out of consciousness but she still tried. She nearly shook her head to try to gain some sense, even though it would be pointless, but she realized there was a hand holding her head. 

Good. It was a short seizure and the girl's breathing evened out before she opened her eyes again. He didn't have enough spare gloves to be sticking his hands in her mouth to be checking her airway. She looked a bit glassy, but that was to be expected considering the blood and the stabbing and the seizure. He pulled the cap off his pen with his teeth and noted the time again.

"Do you know who you are?" He talked around the pen cap and caught sight of his partner grabbing a fireman to help lift the gurney over the barrier of crumpled cars. Not too long now and they could get her bundled up and carted away.

> "I-I-m a m-m-mutant. Rad... Rads."

"Totally rad. That's good." He got his pen back in place on his shoulder, and abandoned checking her head in favor of keeping pressure on the wound. "We know there were mutants fighting here. Can you tell me your name? Anyone else injured we have to look out for?"

> "Reel-l-leased radi-radi-tion."

Oh.

AJ's stomach sank. Radiation was no joke. He'd been here how long? How bad was it? He was almost certain the meat wagon didn't come equipped with a geiger counter.

"Hey. Wait. Don't you pass out on me. I-I need some answers, here. Your power is... nuclear fission? Are you going to explode?" He could feel the sweat beading beneath his beard already. Maybe they shouldn't take her to the hospital? He cast about for Donnie and tried to signal that he should wait.

"We're planning to move you to a gurney and drive you to the closest hospital. With children and old people and sick people. I need to know, are you a danger to others?"

She groaned as she tried to move but her body and the cramps nearly made it impossible. Some tears formed in her eyes as she realized how terrible of a situation they were all in. Them.. Gawain?! Devon?! Where are they? Are they okay? What about the blonde girl?

Thinking was so tiring.

>>"Do you know who you are? We know there were mutants fighting here. Can you tell me your name? Anyone else injured we have to look out for?"

She thought she did. But could she speak? Of course, she wasn't entirely sure what was happening. Was she still in a dream? Was this real? She wasn't really sure, "Cel...estina." She squinted towards the man. He had a nice beard, though, "I li-ike your be-eard." 

Totally rad, though, really? She wanted to roll her eyes but she realized she had her eyes already closed. Ugh. 

>> "Hey. Wait. Don't you pass out on me. I-I need some answers, here. Your power is... nuclear fission? Are you going to explode? We're planning to move you to a gurney and drive you to the closest hospital. With children and old people and sick people. I need to know, are you a danger to others?"

She tried to regain consciousness long enough. Nuclear fission? Exploding? She could feel the tension from him and it pushed a small dose of adrenaline. It even made her realize - Gawain, Devon, blonde girl! She tried to shake her head, but unsure if she moved or not, "No... Just release. In t-the garage. Gaw-ain, De-von... Are they o-okay?" 

Another brief moment of consciousness, she tried to think. Was she a danger? She didn't think so. She felt... empty. Like there was nothing left inside her. She tried to look for her purse... It had her medical instructions in it. She thought she had kept it under her arm tightly but maybe not.

"Purse... has all the instructions..." She took a deep breath and looked towards the man, "If there are sparkles out of my blood, need rad suit, taking blood samples... I-I think I'm empty, will regen though... Garage is irradiated... Only... will go away quickly if you move me.." A sharp, deep breath in, she was so tired, she looked him straight in the eyes: "no sparkles out of me, no radiation is leaking." 

They say in movies one minute there's chaos and then the next moment there's nothing. Or there was peace. Or there was silence. But that’s not true. For many the violence, the chaos, the feeling of it all lingers. Men and women in war can go on to experience those moments for years. It’s always there. That’s PTSD.

Devon’s experiences had been only over the course of minutes, but they’d been extreme. They’d also been punctuated with the overwhelming fear that Agatha had projected through the garage and into his mind. Hormones flooded his body, his emotions flailed out of control. The storm had bubbled and broiled up in unusual ways, giving Tempest power and creating a loop of impact that had pushed him beyond anything he was accustomed to tempering. Up in the clouds he’d given everything and anything: winds, ice, lightning. He wanted to stop anything at the gate he could, fill it with their incomprehensible corpses and horrific sounds. Tempest kept his silent struggle even as the visions vanished, while Devon pleaded exasperatedly at the back of his mind for it to stop.

It was a nightmare, but it was gone. Over the course of minutes his breathing slowed and he struggled to calm the storm, though knowing whether or not it was truly gone was impossible. As much as he tried to rationalize the mutant had likely summoned a psychic attack in those swathing shadows, the fear in him now warred over the possibility she’d given them the ability to see and experience another dimension. Doubt had been planted, a dark dream of things that never were. It was hard to deny the possibility considering a rip to another time and space existed downtown.

Finally tears and a whimpered, choked cry left his mouth. Silent, destructive Tempest and Devon were one once more. He cleared his throat and quickly studied his predicament in the shifting moisture of the clouds. Thunder had quieted but rain was likely later. He’d gathered too much potential, too much possibility into the area. His head was pounding and he knew when his eyes returned to normal they’d be bloodshot or worse. God knew where the tares of his clothing and the deep cut on his right arm had come from. Were they really monsters or people?

Devon’s eyes widened as he stared into the swirling gray. Damn, the people. All people? And Celeste, and Mirror, and… the woman? Was that Agatha girl real?

A gust of wind roared and swirled around him, raising slightly higher than normal protective breezes as Tempest shot down from the clouds and toward the ground. He saw first the lights of the emergency services below and then thankfully recognized the darkness around the garage was gone. But oh, there was damage to support pillars and clear marks of lightning strikes. Devon frowned as his speed decreased and he floated quickly down to the third floor. The police may not have spotted his dark shape against the night, but he wasn’t going to ask them before checking on those he knew inside.

He flew in and forward, spotting the chaos of the event. Turned over cars, burning cars, people cut and crying. Blood. Bile. More lightning damage. Unmoving bodies… Police and more. Someone was with Celeste. She was covered in blood.

Devon’s eyes – pools of pitch and certainly not inspiring of hope – widened once again as he quickly stopped flying and got to his feet. He held up his hands and then knelt down. “Please don’t fire!” he shouted. “We- we- were attacked by a girl,” he was shaking, speaking too quickly. “A mentally ill girl I think. She made us see monsters, attack each other. A psychic of some sort,” and then he saw her, laying against the concrete.

“Over there, her,” he said in earnest. “Celeste! What happened? Are you okay?”

Celestina. Celestina. Celestina. Like a pretty little star ballerina. AJ ran through a rhyme-y mnemonic to help him remember his patient's name. It didn't really mean anything, though the girl was pretty in a tragic puppy-got-kicked kind of way, it was just his favored memorization technique when out on the field.

"Heh. Yeah. The beard's pretty rad too." He just hadn't been able to bring himself to shave it so he went for the next best thing: shaping. It was less of a hazard to walk around New York with good grooming than it was to walk around with a Dastar turban. He left himself little concessions like the beard, but mostly he'd walked away from being a devout sikh when he walked away from home.

AJ leaned in close to hear Celestina, star ballerina, and constantly monitored for change as he did.

> "No... Just release. In t-the garage. Gaw-ain, De-von... Are they o-okay?"

"Don't worry about anyone else, so far everyone we've found has been stable. Unconscious, but stable. Although, there's some people stuck to the roof. Got any ideas?" It was best to keep her engaged and talking if possible, even if it was nonsense. Gawain and Devon were names he filed away in case they needed them later. Gawain, the pain. Devon, second heaven. Because he'd been the second name mentioned after her own. And still, the threat of radiation poisoning and cancer and explosions sat heavy in his mind. Was he holding together a living time bomb? It wouldn't change his care routine. Not unless she told him otherwise.

A shout alerted AJ to a new threat. The police were on high alert and took aim, though no one really wanted to pull the trigger in such close quarters. Taking these mutant calls were always so dicy. Was the conflict over just because the bubble had collapsed? Or did someone still have some fight left in them?

> “Please don’t fire!”

"Tch." AJ had been tempted to put his hands up and show he was no threat in case the mutant took issue with his treatment, but he had to keep the pressure up until they could get Celestina out of here. Mutants were all the same, though. Zoom around and make the winds all crazy and the man expected the officers not to be spooked? Like they hadn't all walked into this bizarro poltergeist scene or endured the same creepy Halloween weather. AJ shivered in his soaked uniform. He really shouldn't have gotten out of the truck.

> “We- we- were attacked by a girl...”

He directed them to a small body they had yet to find, buried behind some fallen bits of scorched ceiling. Donnie edged around the police and ran that way. AJ huffed. If the attacker was higher priority, he would have to see if the fire paramedics could take Celestina, star ballerina.

"Hey! Are you Gawain or Devon?" Or was he a threat? Normally AJ wouldn't have draw attention his way or engaged, that was what the police were for, but he had names from Celestina that the police didn't. It might just speed things along.

> “Celeste!”

The man glazed right over AJ and recognized his patient. The guy was probably okay then.

"Friend! Friend. He's a friend, guys." Still jumpy, the police mostly put their weapons away.

> "Purse... has all the instructions..."

Huh? Oh. Right.

"Hey. She says she's got a purse with medical info somewhere." But AJ didn't see it from where he was and also Celestina didn't seem to be done talking. He leaned in close, again. He was asking their new tall, dark friend for help. He looked spooked down on his knees and needed something else to focus on for a bit.

> "If there are sparkles..."

Sparkles. Hadn't they seen something like a poof of white glitter earlier?

"I saw your sparkles earlier, Celestina. My partner Donnie said it was a ghost. It's how we found you so fast. They're all gone right now. I guess you're empty, then, huh?" That sounded like a good thing. AJ dared to let up the pressure and see how that stab injury was treating her. If he could handle it here, maybe she could get a ride as a lower priority.

And, now that he was looking none of the newcomers seemed to be affected by what he would have guessed was a large leak of rads.

"Oh. Rads. I've been trying to sound all cool, talking the hip lingo saying rad like a moron." He grumbled to himself as he worked.

>> "Heh. Yeah. The beard's pretty rad too."

A very weak, small smile showed up on her lips. She couldn't stand the word rad ever since she was a kid and kids kept calling her rad girl or Raddy Ratty. It was just a flashback memory that she wished she didn't have. Either way, she loved the beard so she could make an exception to the rules for him. Not to mention the whole he was probably going to save her life kinda thing... 

He moved in closer to hear her, thank goodness. She didn't have to speak nearly as loud, which made her visibly relax a little bit. The small amount of adrenaline left in her system seemed to be keeping her relatively lucid, for now, at least.

>> "Don't worry about anyone else, so far everyone we've found has been stable. Unconscious, but stable. Although, there are some people stuck to the roof. Got any ideas?"

She tried to nod, but like usual, unsure if her head actually moved, "Blonde... girl. she'd..." She really wasn't sure what she did. She tried to remember, but couldn't. It was like she could jump around, "She could... Jump... Around? I-I don't know how... Tried to stop it..." 

>>“Please don’t fire!"

She knew that voice. That was Devon. He sounded okay, at least not like what Celeste sounded like. She tried to sit up instinctively upon hearing his voice but was quickly grounded by the rampaging cramps and intense pain from, well, everything. "Devon, you're-re okay!" she tried to muster out. She could hear something about him being a friend and she tried to nod again. He was a friend. He was okay. She sighed with relief. Her purse... It had what they needed to know, "Near car... I was slammed into?" 

>> "I saw your sparkles earlier, Celestina. My partner Donnie said it was a ghost. It's how we found you so fast. They're all gone right now. I guess you're empty, then, huh?" 

She perked a brow. Maybe she was a ghost. That would explain the pretty bearded guy next to her. Granted, she didn't expect to be a ghost to be this terrible. But she wasn't a ghost. This was either... Real or a dream. It was real... Everything that had happened was real. The radiation usually didn't go away that quickly - it usually lingered for hours if she was there. Why would it just disappear? No one else was sick? 

With a confused look, she kind of nodded, "I... Think so-so, I fe-el empty. It..." A few seconds pause, "usually lingers u-until I'm a-a-way from it." Her voice was raspier. Either way, "No sparkles in l-light, no r-r-ads." 

She felt him let up on her wound and she groaned with pain. The blood was still coming out, but not nearly as fast. How much blood had she lost? Who knew... 

She let out a very weak, pained chuckle, "I-it makes sense w-why. " She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Devon was okay. She was probably okay. Maybe. 

The police turned their attention and firearms on him but that was expected. Devon blinked a couple times, trying to clear the nerves from his body and voice, but that was impossible. Instead he focused on the details and ensuring the police didn’t think him a problem. He stopped his flying, got his hands up, and then knelt down while directing them to the source of the issue.

But Celeste drew his attention in earnest. They’d met only a couple months ago, but her interest in recent events and sharp wit had more than gotten Devon’s attention. This was a young woman with a future that would benefit many. Funny how she’d turned up here…

>> "Hey! Are you Gawain or Devon?"

“Devon,” he replied quickly to the paramedic. Well the man and Celeste might have convinced the police, Devon remained where he was with his hands in the air. He knew it was symbolic like any other mutant who might be a threat with their eyes clothes on the ground, but hopefully it was clear he wanted to cooperate.

His attention remained on Celeste, trying to explain something about sparkling light to the man helping her. She was still in pain, bloodied and beaten. Who’d done that to her? Devon tried to remember but everything was a blur, his memories vivid with a hundred-thousand monsters and those red eyes of the girl in the darkness. He swallowed hard and banished the thoughts away for now.

“Celeste, what’s your ability?” Devon asked. He knew if she was losing a lot of blood she might pass out and like any other traumatic scene, it was important to keep people calm. In fact, talking might help keep himself calm. His training was in helping others in dangerous situations – and surviving their impact – not quite being in one that had gone so upside down. He glanced at the girl on the ceiling. How long would that last?

His tone was slower, measured, and he was counting his breaths as he focused on the words, “Glad I knew someone but sorry it got you caught in this. Shouldn’t you be at a Halloween party?”

Alright, alright. They were actually getting some good information here.

"The blonde girl is a jumping kind of mutant. Got it. What about Gawain? He must be the other guy on the ceiling." He was just about the only one left.

> "Tried to stop it..."

"It's okay. You did good, Celestina. Hold on just like you are. You don't have to do anything."

Of course, she didn't listen when she heard her friend's voice. And it was clear they were friends or at least relieved to see each other. He didn't mind the guy now that he was being calm and controlled, but he must not have heard his request for help with finding the purse. Bother. And the wound was deep in Celestina's abdomen. It was weeping now so he could probably step away for a moment, but he didn't trust it not to start gushing again.

He would go fast while they talked.

She said she'd been hit by a car. Or she hit the car. That was good to know.

"Don't move, Celestina. I'll be as fast as I can." He popped up to his feet and dashed over to where he thought she was talking about. Not on top, not beside. He ducked and checked beneath. Bingo. He was back in time to see a trickle of sparkle when Celestina try to move to see Devon better.

He gently insisted she not and went back for some pressure on the wound while he dug around. There were some of the normal things, chapstick and a phone, but the laminated paper with information was certainly unique.

> “Celeste, what’s your ability?”

"Says here her power is releasing radiation. And sparkles from her are bad." So he was probably getting everything cancer now. He'd walked right toward the ghostly freckled light without a second thought. And put his hands right back over the wound that had been oozing a few sparklies moments before. It never occurred to him that he was wading into radiation. Ugh. He would have to go get checked.

At least there were no sparkles now. Maybe he was holding them in?

At long last, Donnie showed up with the gurney.

"Other girl is passed out like most everybody else. Slapped a bandaid on her and passed her over to the firefighter EMTs. You ready to go?" Donnie eyed the kneeling man Devon, but decided he wasn't their priority considering he wasn't all that banged up. He lowered the gurney and after a bit of warning, together he and AJ loaded Celestina onto the wheeled bed. Donnie did the strapping and AJ kept his hands in place. He wasn't about to let another sparkle escape.

"Devon, I don't suppose you're listed as an emergency contact?" The guy seemed... lost. AJ figured he'd been here and they could get away with bringing him along since he had the whole story. If he wanted to, that was.

She looked towards the ceiling, trying to see if she could make out Gawain. She shrugged a little, her eyes unable to focus that far, "M-maybe? Gender shifter... Jumps through mirrors. C-can you tell if h-he's okay?" Deep, rough breath and a small coughing spell. 

>> "It's okay. You did good, Celestina. Hold on just like you are. You don't have to do anything."

The cute beard guy thought she did good. That was a plus, considering how terrible this Halloween had been. Was it even still Halloween, actually? She wasn't sure and she wasn't sure she even cared. Her eyes panicked for a moment as he got up and left her. She didn't want to be alone, not now. She whimpered a little, closing her eyes tight as she tried not to remember the horrible things that had happened just a few minutes ago.

But, he was back before she even realized it. With a sigh of relief, she nodded a confirmation to him and Devon, "Y-yes..." He was probably worried about getting cancer in a couple years or worried about her leaking radiation all over his hand. Everyone always did. It wouldn't be enough to hurt anyone, not at this point. In either case, he needed to know a big caveat of her power, "N-no cancer r-r-risk. T-t-emporary cell damage only, will h-heal... Hasn't effected you if you're.. Not nausous... Main sign." She held her eyes closed, tightly for a moment as a few streaks of pain shot through her body. 

She heard Donnie speak and she sighed in relief. The other girl was okay. Gawain was okay. Devon was talking, walking - he was okay. She was on a gurney. It had been a surprisingly not very painful move, actually. 

He definitely wasn't her emergency contact because she didn't really have one here. Her eyes looked pleading towards AJ and, Devon probably couldn't see, "H-he can come?" She really didn't want to be alone, not at this time. The med guy was here, but he'd probably be leaving her to do paramedicy stuff once they were back at the hospital. Granted, she might be alone either way. Who knows if she'd need surgery or something. She took a breath, "J-just don't want to be alone..." It was embarrassing to admit and in ordinary circumstances, her cheeks would have been flaring red. She was just... Still terrified. 

There were two people on the ceiling? Devon glanced upwards, studying the forms plastered to the lightning-riddled concrete. That wasn’t good.

>> "It's okay. You did good, Celestina. Hold on just like you are. You don't have to do anything."

Who was Celestina? Was he hearing the paramedic correctly? Looking now to the cops, Devon realized how nervous they were. Riding in on the winds, shaking and disoriented probably hadn’t been the best direction. But he had to check on them. He had to know if the monsters were gone, if they were real. No, they weren’t. It was an illusion. Psychic attack. The girl was sick.

Or so he kept trying to convince himself.

By the time Devon looked back at those maneuvering around the scene, he spotted the man climbing back up from a turned over car. He’d grabbed a purse. Devon was trying to talk to Celeste, draw her attention but it was this man that answered.

>> "Says here her power is releasing radiation. And sparkles from her are bad."

Devon’s eyes widened once more. She was radioactive? Well that was a dangerous ability. Devon was impressed once more the girl moved readily through groups, attended his welcome at NYU, and seemingly lived a normal life. She must have had an amazing will to conquer such or lots of practice, perhaps a teacher. But also, how much had they been exposed too? He couldn’t remember if she attacked anyone with sparkles…

>> "N-no cancer r-r-risk. T-t-emporary cell damage only, will h-heal... Hasn't effected you if you're.. Not nausous... Main sign."

Well that was a relief. For now. Powers grew, especially under stressful situations. He’d have to talk to her about her training. Devon didn’t feel sick, though he was a little dizzy. The idea of something more to be realized later was lodged in his mind too. Considering all she’d expressed before, her involvement here, and this kind of ability…

He was lost in thought as the other paramedic showed up. He snapped out of it when he was addressed by the first. “Me? No, I’m not an emergency contact,” Devon shook his head, frowning slightly. He blinked his eyes wearily as he rubbed the back of his head wincing. Had he hit it at some point? No, maybe not. That migraine was his fault.

As Celeste pleaded for him to come the dark clouds parted from his eyes and blue swam clearly and normally through them once again. It was hurting too much concentrating, but the storm was mostly dissipated and there weren’t any more monsters to fight. It would rain later on when it hadn’t been supposed to, but he didn’t have the strength to sit here all night and stop that. Sometimes a little rain had to fall.

“I… I can get to the hospital and visit or something,” Devon muttered, rising dizzily to his feet. He let out a few slow breaths as he held out his hands as if to stabilize him or clearly catch him if he fell. “I shouldn’t drive though. No. I can’t remember if I hit my head.”

> "H-he can come?"

”He’d be stupid not to.” He muttered for Celeste’s ears only. And besides, the more he observed Devon and the way the guy was acting, the more he was sure.

That was clearly some kind of shock.

"I'm glad we found Celestina's emergency contact. So convenient to have someone to look out for her and not leave her on her own in this sort of situation."

He was fluent in sarcasm and over-emphasis, but Donnie was a champ. Despite the fact that the other man, Devon, had clearly said the opposite, AJ’s partner caught on right away. It probably helped that they were both medical professionals and that they spent an inordinate amount of time together. Also, that was clearly some kind of shock. Whatever mutant whammy that unconscious chick had cooked up had been a doozy to wreck this many people.

“Right this way Mr. --” He cast about for help, but AJ wasn’t giving any. It was funnier to see him flounder in a non-serious situation. “Mister Emergency Contact. Let me just check your pupillary response at the back of the truck, okay?”

AJ wrenched the gurney up quietly while he watched the other guys. He could roll it on his own, no big deal. The barrier of cars might prove a bit difficult, but maybe by then Donnie would have convinced Devon and he’d be back.

"Don’t worry. We won’t leave you alone.” Not if he’d already been so thoroughly exposed to her radiation. It made the most sense to contain him along with her as far as quarantine went. At least until she could get her sparkles under control, there was no sense in irradiating others.

"Anybody ever tell you that you’d make a decent vampire?” All those sparkles would have made a more convincing Halloween costume.