Some Light Dusting
The very morning after the mission in the underwater facility, M’gann made certain that Dick was in good hands and set off to visit Aaron.
He’d texted her during the mission, but of course she hadn’t seen his messages until they’d all gone home. M’gann had left her phone charging by the couch. It seemed dangerous to bring it on the mission when such technology could so easily be traced. She felt guilty for not being able to respond right away, but that was the nature of hero work. Once she got back to her phone, she’d messaged Aaron that she would be there first thing in the morning.
So it was that M’gann arrived on his doorstep at 9:30 sharp carrying a homemade lasagna and several sides. She hadn’t slept a wink. Too much to think about. Too many wild and terrible emotions out in the city. Cooking was something productive for her hands to do while her mind whirled. The building door was propped open with a stone. She very nearly opened it the rest of the way with telekinesis but thought better of it and wrestled her arm through the gap to pull wide enough. Then it was just a matter of tromping up the stairs.
M’gann balanced everything delicately on one side, about to knock, but she was surprised to find that Aaron’s door was unlocked. It was suspicious, especially the night after the riots. She reached out for signals. The cat was closest to the door. Then the parrot. Then the dog. And then, thankfully still alive, Aaron. His mind was racing, though. Spinning madly like she’d never felt it before. M’gann pushed the door open and stepped into the room. “Aaron?” His apartment was usually a tangle of organized chaos. Today it leaned further into the realm of pure chaos than she’d ever seen it. She shut the door with her foot and went right towards him. “Aaron, have you been like this all night? What’s happened to you?” It was a question she hadn’t really needed to ask. She knew. “You poor man. Have you had anything to eat? Have you had any water?”
M’gann put her things on the coffee table and brought a hand to her temple. Another telepath might have heard a quiet hiss as the thoughts of the neighborhood were whisked away. Blocked from further entry into the room around M’gann and, by extension, Aaron. She couldn’t silence emotions. Probably never would be capable of that, given her particular form of telepathy. But it was a start. She hoped it would ease some of the burden from Aaron’s mind. “How does that feel?”