Self Destructing Messenger

#27.5 Intervention

Azalea was chatting away with the Man in Black as they returned to Pyro's apartment, but upon opening the front door, she stopped.

Everyone was present, sitting on the edge of their respective seats. The blonde didn't think there was supposed to be a V3 meeting today. Besides those were usually held at Gia's family home. No. Everyone was gathered for some other reason. A chill ran up her spine as she drew the obvious conclusion. They were waiting for her.

"What the hell is this?" Azalea asked but she was already putting the final pieces in place.

"Why don't you have a seat by me and Cayce here?" Pyro said in a patronizing tone.

Azalea started to retreat, in no mood for confrontation but the Man in Black was solid behind her. She spun on him, eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'm not doing this. Move."

He carefully guided her further into the room. "Now now Princess, we only wish to have a word with you."

"Really?" She said, eying the others in the room, incredulous. "You got him in on this too? How? He doesn't even listen to any of you!"

Gia shuffled some papers in her lap nervously. "Doesn't that tell you something?"

Azalea glared. "Yeah. That at some point the rest of you lost your minds and became kindred spirits."

Now in front of the couch, the Man in Black gave her a little shove. Her calves hit the low furniture and she fell back hard between Cayce and Pyro. While she didn't move to stand, her arms folded across her chest in defiance.

"Fine! If only because I have no clue what the f@#$ this is about. Go on!"

Gia stood up, clearing her throat as she did so. "We believe you are becoming too dependent on your idol powers."

Azalea stared at her. "Really," she said dryly.

The teen continued. "You rarely open doors of any kind. Cabinets, the refrigerator and microwave are all part of the abuse of your powers." She took a deep breath. "Your addiction has affected me in the following ways, I typically suffer at least one bruise on my face at all times from following behind you and subsequently running into closed doors. I'm pretty sure last week I almost broke my nose. It's one thing to atrophy your own wrists but quite another to disfigure me."

"This is a joke, right?" Azalea stammered, unbelieving. Her response was a room full of solemn faces. She couldn't fathom what had possessed everyone, especially Cayce. She jumped up from her seat, unwilling to entertain another word. "This is bulls@#$! I'm not listening to this!"

Cayce took hold of her wrist and pulled her back down. "Just hear me out, Az." His expression of seriousness never wavered as he met her skeptical gaze. After a few agonizing seconds, she eased her back into the soft cushions of the couch.

Satisfied she wasn't going to bolt, Cayce began his prepared speech. "Azalea, your addiction has affected me in the following ways, back when we first moved here, Messenger attacked us. It made us the close friends that we are but even then your dependence on phasing or ghosting or whatever the kids are calling it these days, hurt me."

He paused as if even recalling the memory was traumatic then continued. "Messenger... she- she tossed Pyro like a ragdoll and that's when you did it. You became intangible. All six freakish feet of that dickwad passed through you and landed on me. I was not expecting this. It hurt."

"And I should have taken the hit?"

He shook his head. "It's not that you should or shouldn't have but that's what I expected to happen. I didn't brace myself and it's been shown in studies that bracing for impact can reduce injury."

"So can getting out of the f@#$ing way," she sneered.

"Maybe I would have if I thought I was going to get hit! God you can't even see past the need, can you?"

The blonde stood again. "Really now. I'm leaving."

Pyro rose from his seat, cutting off her escape route. "Azalea you just don't realize the harm you're doing."

"I'm about to show you what real harm is."

"Do you even know what the effects of this phasing are?" He asked, not backing down. "'Cause I'm pretty sure it changes things at the molecular level or something. Like the jelly. You pull the strawberry jelly out of the fridge all the time, like it's so hard to just open the door and by the end of month? It's more like syrup, Az. I bought jelly, not some runny pinkish ooze. What do you think causes this, hmm?"

"Hell if I know?" Azalea replied, throwing up her hands. "Maybe you buy cheap s@#$. Maybe the fridge temp is too high. Maybe it's all that pesticide I put in it hoping you finally have some f@#$ing toast."

The Man in Black stepped forward. "It isn't only them, Dearest."

Azalea looked the idol up and down, chewing on her lip as she considered her options. Finally curiosity won over mental health preservation. "Alright, why not? Go ahead." She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one hip. "After what I've heard from allegedly sane people, I'm curious as to what a psycho might have to say."

"Dearest, your addiction has affected me in the following way," he began, extending a thin hand as if grasping for the memory. "Once we were walking together downtown. Ahead of us was a moving van and several men carrying things to and fro. Three of the men were doing something I had never before witnessed in real life. They were hoisting a piano up the side of the building. I let you go on ahead, saying I had something to tend to and as you stepped in it's shadow I caused the straps to break free. The instrument fell and would have surely crushed you had you not phased."

He looked down solemnly. "It would have been in every paper, perhaps even made international headlines. I mean, a piano falling and killing a person?! It doesn't actually happen outside of cinema and animation! I would have been an unknown legend!"

Everyone sat there quietly after he finished his story.

"So glad I stayed for that," Azalea said sarcastically. She then became intangible, walked through Pyro and out the door. A few seconds later she stuck her head back through, "Sorry bout that," she said to Pyro. "Hope your insides don't liquify."

He gasp, clutching at his chest as she disappeared again.

"That went better than I expected," Cayce said.

They all nodded.