A Storm Rising

Chapter 22

I turned to see a man standing there who asked me who I was and why I was there.

"Uh, my name is Orion," I lied. I knew I had to make sure I never revealed my name anymore going out my own like this.

"I heard this was a fear support group...I thought it might help." I added quietly.

I was led into the room and asked to join

I sat down in one of the chairs and crossed my ankles nervously glancing around to people walking about the room. Any of these people could be Crane, and I wouldn't even know it. 

Just relax.

I took in a deep breath and clasped my hands in my lap. Once everyone had taken their seats I scanned the room taking in each individual so I would be able to recognize them later if I needed to. 

We all went around the circle and stated our names. 

I listened to each person talk about their phobias, it actually was interesting to see what scared these people. I could see why Crane was so obsessed with this kind of stuff. 

"Orion, what are you scared of?" asked the support leader. 

That's you idiot!

Oh.

I snapped to attention looking to the support leader. I swallowed and looked to my hands in my lap. 

"I'm scared of the voice inside of my head." I explained quietly. "Afraid of what he might do..."

"We're here for you," spoke the rest of the group in unison. 

"I'm also afraid of losing the person I'm with." I added glancing up and looking to everyone. "He's changing and part of it is my fault and I'm scared he's going to completely disappear." 

I looked back down to my hands which were now cold and trembling. 

"That's about it." 

Crane

The meeting had just began. I scanned around the circle trying to find the best candidates for my next serum experiment. So far I had not been getting the results I was looking for. Fish Mooney had been right about Oswald. He was the best subject I had gotten to date. Too bad that the police had to show up before I was able to harvest his adrenal glands.

I wondered how the police had found my place and why they would even care about a 'family man' Curious, Curious indeed... Who was this Oswald Cobblepot?

A new member caught my attention. /A voice in his head?/ Ooo this is too good to pass up. I think this man many have surpassed Oswald on my list. I must have him, but I needed a way of obtaining him.

When it came to my turn to share, I acted the most pathetic person I could muster, while I was smiling internally.

"My name is Todd...and...I...am afraid of failure. I think it came from my father always pushing me to be my best and I am now afraid that I am passing this fear on to my son. I now drill him like my father drilled me. I..I..I'm sorry I need to leave." I got up to leave grabbing my jacket and pretending that I was going to collapse into sobs very soon.

Here, outside the meeting hall, I would lie in wait for that new member. Orion, was it?

Nygma

I looked after the man named Todd as he rushed from the room. He looked extremely upset, no one followed after him. I felt I should, after all, I knew what it was like to deal with failure, and then having a parent who pushed and pushed.