“Of course, but I will need to debrief you on his condition and handling requirements on the way.”

Handling requirements? 

Not wanting to argue, Kyrian kept his lips tightly pursed as he listened and walked after the woman.

Her short heels clacked on the black tiled floor, echoing strangely through the hall.

“Esper Unit-S1, Eiden, has been heavily sedated to keep his levels under control,” her sharp green eyes darted across the screen.

Without missing a beat, she approached an elevator and pressed the ‘down’ button.

“He’s still very much a threat at this point in time, as being aware means he can overexert his powers and rampage at any time, so the sedation is being administered continuously.”

The elevator creaked weakly. Kyrian blamed it for the wobbly sensation he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Being at Cerberus, willingly approaching a dangerous Esper, it all seemed like too much. That, or a horrible dream.

Ding.

The elevator discarded them at floor-0.

Stepping into the new hall, Kyrian could immediately tell a difference between the air here and from above on the ground floor.

Silence clung to everything, heavy, and overwhelming. Even the woman’s black heels made no more sound above a gentle ‘plud’.

“I assume that your supervisor already mentioned that this will simply be an emergency soft-sync?”

She came to a halt in front of a huge steel door, and turned expectantly to Kyrian behind her.

Her thin lips were painted a bright red, pursed into a hard line as she waited for him to respond.

Head nodding in silence, Kyrian gripped his hands into fists.

“Good. Please try to avoid being in there for too long, just get him to accept some Guiding until his levels are within range.”

She swiped a card on an electronic lock, and pressed her thumb to the center of the screen.

Such thorough security…

The heavy door threw itself open with a loud hiss, and she stepped back to allow him access. “Please do not engage with Esper Unit-S1 outside of whatever means necessary to administer Guiding.”

Kyrian glanced at her briefly, bemused by her words, and took a step through the doorway.

Once he had passed through the door, it slammed shut behind him.

Frozen for a moment, he stared at the door and slowly took in the surrounding room.

It was incredibly sterile, devoid of any signs of human life aside from a hospital cot and a large beeping machine measuring Esper wavelengths and heart rate.

He took a few more steps further into the room, adjusting to the horrible white lights that nearly made his eyes sting.

It was then that he realized a body was curled on the hospital cot, back turned to the door.

Eiden’s slim frame lay on the cot like a broken toy. Wires threaded his limbs, connecting him to the monitor and an IV drip of what Kyrian assumed to be sedatives, a palm-sized brainwaves reader humming quietly against the base of his neck.

The hospital gown he wore was slipping off, exposing a shoulder blade that jutted out like a broken wing.

For the first time in his life, Kyrian thought an Esper to be fragile.

 Fragile, and pitiful.

Despite the stillness, Kyrian could see a faint rise and fall of breath. The heart rate monitor beeped steadily.

The air was charged like static electricity, and thick. His Guide senses prickled along his spine, responding to some unseen dissonance in the air. Psychic pressure alone, he felt like he’d been washed away in a sea of unstable waves.

“Mr. Averin, please begin administering Guiding.” A voice crackled from across a speaker in the corner of the room.

Shaking himself from his stupor, he approached the bed with a hand outstretched.

His goal was to merely assess the condition of the Esper, and attempt a connection.

When his hand made contact with the exposed skin of Eiden’s shoulder, the heart rate monitor spiked, and the Esper showed his first signs of life.

His movements were slow, sluggish from the intense sedatives, but he tried to roll over nonetheless and slap Kyrian’s hand away.

“Geht t’fuck offa meee…” 

What the hell did he just say?

Kyrian blinked in utter disbelief, unmoving even as his hand was briefly swatted away.

Unable to get the hand to leave, and limbs too heavy to swing anymore, Eiden bared his teeth and snapped at the fingers brushing his exposed shoulder.

Fully conscious now, Kyrian snatched his hand away and gaped at the Esper he had just considered fragile laying on the bed before him.

Eiden’s blonde streaked hair was a tangled mess, and his green grey eyes unfocused but glinting with anger.

The heart rate monitor roared in Kyrian’s ears as Eiden’s heartbeat increased.

Calm down. Diffuse the situation.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he murmured, trying his utmost to soften his tone. 

Rampaging Espers could be flighty, irrational, and highly paranoid. Guiding them at this point, though not impossible, was incredibly difficult, and having them panic increased the risk of fatality.

“You need Guiding, I’m here to help.”

“I don’t… need…you-”

Eiden’s eyes glared up at him with such fury and hatred, Kyrian was certain he would have used his elemental powers to crush him had he been in proper control of his body.

He snapped at Kyrian’s outreached hand once more, continuing the stalemate.

This can’t keep going– he’ll kill us all at this rate.

Kyrian made up his mind that getting bitten by a rabid Esper was a far lesser injury to deal with than if there was a rampage.

Steeling himself, he reached his hand once more to try and make a connection with the raging waves.

Before he could lash out again, a sharp cry of pain escaped Eiden’s cracked lips. His fingers weakly tore at the metal collar around his neck as he convulsed.

In a moment, green eyes rolled back as his head fell limply to the side, and he collapsed in an unresponsive crumpled pile.

Kyrian’s fingers curled inward, retreating, and a pit growing in his stomach as he simply watched the Esper be subdued through aversive punishment. A shock collar?

Aversive training was not an uncommon method of discipline for Espers, since they responded best to pain.

Seeing it used first-hand though, left Kyrian feeling nauseous.

“Mr. Averin, please initiate Guiding now.”

The voice echoed through the room from a speaker. It was angled to amplify the sound across the entire space, and made Kyrian’s head ache.