The cool, night air of Future City hit Trinity's face like a bucket of ice water as she stepped outside. She hadn't realized quite how stuffy and stifling the air had become inside the warehouse. The heady aroma of mind-warping pheromones had completely filled the building, made all the more intoxicating by the added scents of sweat and sex. The fresh air was something Trinity hadn't realized she'd needed. She had to pause for a moment and drink it in, slowly filling up her lungs before exhaling as she listened to the sounds of the distant, passing cars. Immediately, she felt so much better. It was like she'd had her head stuck in an oven without even realizing it.
The clean air was refreshing, but the clarity it brought was accompanied by a torrent of mixed feelings. Now that Trinity could look back on her own actions with eyes unclouded by lust, she was shocked. Shocked at how mean and domineering she'd been, and shocked at how much she'd enjoyed it. Whatever excuses she could make, she didn't feel right about it at all. The question she'd so easily discarded in the midst of passion started to nag and gnaw at her again: had that really been her? Or had it been Radiance? How much of it had been Radiance's mind control forcing her to humiliate Pheramona, and how much of it had been her simply using that as an excuse to unchain her own sadism and sex drive?
She didn't know. It was impossible to know.
Trinity didn't have time to dwell on the question, either. That wasn't what she'd come out here for.
She'd come out here for Radiance.
A mere heartbeat after she'd seen Radiance slip out the fire exit with a strange look on her face, Trinity had followed. Despite her own urgency, she wasn't exactly sure why. It wasn't like Radiance was going far. The two of them were still bound together by Radiance's golden chain, ensuring that Trinity had no choice but to obey each and every one of her commands. It was, apparently, able to keep extending itself to keep them connected, if that was what Radiance wished. Since she hadn't dragged Trinity outside along with her, clearly she did. Trinity was willing to believe her chain could stretch a thousand miles, until proven otherwise. Radiance's power seemed to have no limit.
That shouldn't have mattered to Trinity, though. What should have mattered was that Radiance had left her unattended. It was the perfect opportunity to try to make an escape. She could have tried to get the chain off her wrist, or set a trap, or attempted to rouse Pheramona. Perhaps she could have found a loophole in Radiance's instructions that would have allowed her to clue the other supervillain in. Trinity hadn't done any of that. She'd just rushed after her captor without so much as a second thought.
Damn it.
Radiance was only a few paces away, and one look at her was all Trinity needed to know that something was deeply wrong. After days spent together, the superhero's body language was an open book. Normally, she was upright and proud, looking every bit as obnoxiously heroic as she did in the press photos. Now, she looked alarmingly sagged, like an old, ruined castle on the verge of crumbling. There was something desperately unquiet about the hero, too; she was breathing hard and she couldn't seem to stand still. She was pacing back and forth aimlessly, just a few steps this way and that, turning and shaking her head.
She didn't seem to have noticed that Trinity had followed her, which was a miraculous gift, and the perfect excuse for Trinity to turn around and go back inside. But she just couldn't stand to see her that way.
"Radiance," Trinity began, reaching out. "What's..."
Radiance recoiled, almost like she was scared. Trinity blinked.
"Fuck," Radiance whispered miserably. "Fuck. I... fuck."
"Hey," Trinity ventured. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Radiance replied slowly. She was hunched over like a wounded animal. "I just... God. Fuck."
Trinity sighed. So it was like that, huh? Well, she'd seen more than one girl through a panic attack before.
"Hey," she repeated. "Vi. Listen. You need to calm down, OK? Let me help."
Radiance just shook her head, although she seemed barely to have heard Trinity's words.
"Violet!" Trinity tried, a little louder. "Listen to me."
Radiance shivered and went still, and cocked her head. Good enough.
"Good," Trinity said softly. "Now breathe. One-two-three. I'm sure you've given that advice out a few times, am I right? Take it from me: I know it's hard, but it works."
Radiance was still shaking her head, but Trinity could tell she was doing her best. Her breathing was easing a little.
"Good, that's good," Trinity repeated. "Now, um..."
She looked around. On the ground, near her feet, was exactly what she'd been looking for. A rock - really just a small chunk of concrete, worn away from the ground. Trinity scooped it up, stepped forward, and pressed it into Radiance's palm.
Finally, Radiance actually looked at her. Her sheer surprise seemed to have snapped her out of her panic, a little. "What-"
"Shhh," Trinity insisted. She clasped her hands around Radiance's, closing the superhero's fingers around the rock. "Just go with it."
A dubious look came over Radiance's face, but she didn't pull away.
"Good," Trinity said again. "Now just... feel it. Turn it over in your hand. Rub your thumb against it. Get to know the rock. Get the feel of all of its edges - how sharp they are, how they curve, how they feel on your skin. Let the surfaces press into your palm. You can close your eyes, if that helps. Look, I know it sounds dumb, but just... try it."
Radiance nodded stiffly, and Trinity could tell she was doing it. Even so, Trinity kept her hand clasped in her own. Radiance looked so fragile, somehow. It was hard to shake the feeling that she was going to go limp if Trinity let her go, and Trinity couldn't bear to see that. So, she just watched and waited, and listened to the sounds of the city as the cold air beat over her face.
Eventually, Radiance let out a long and ragged sigh. "OK," she said quietly. "I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure." Radiance nodded. She opened her hand and looked at the rock. "That worked a lot better than I thought."
"Told you," Trinity said lightly. "It's a psychology thing. Sometimes you just need to focus on something physical. Something real. Something you can get your bearings with."
