Chapter 1.2.24 — Psychic Defense

Emmett walked to the Gray Room by himself and found Clara meditating in the center of a clearing. The arrangement reminded Emmett of one of Belport’s scattered parks, albeit tiled and white instead of grass and wood. Faux park benches lined one side of the room and a basketball court flanked the other side, complete with almost polygonal looking hoops.

Despite the scenery, Clara looked completely serene sitting in the middle of it. She was wearing her usual tights and tank top. Her hoodie lay on the floor next to her.

“You look like you’re ready for yoga,” Emmett said, a little more sarcastically than he meant it.

Clara rolled her eyes. “Sit. You know, yoga can be just as good as meditation. Did Dad explain what we’re doing for training today?”

Emmett sat across from her, assuming the same cross-legged position. “He told me that I’m going to learn how to defend against psychic attacks. That was all he said.”

“He didn’t tell you anything?”

“No… Why?”

Clara smirked. “Because we’re starting with yoga.”

~

Clara led Emmett through several yoga routines. They went through seated and standing meditations, warrior poses, and so many animal poses that Emmett lost track.

It was Emmett’s first experience with yoga, but he could see the appeal. He imagined it could’ve been relaxing out in nature or with the right music, or that it could be a decent workout.

Yoga wasn’t hard for him, not with Mutagen-A and his prosthetic arm. Emmett felt like he could’ve held any of the poses for hours.

Clara assured him that wasn’t the point of what they were doing.

“Focus on your breathing. Focus on your muscles and how everything connects together.”

Emmett sighed. She’d repeated those words several times throughout their routine, but he still didn’t get it.

Emmett stood in a lunge with his arms stretched overhead—in one of the warrior poses, maybe. “Clara, what’s the point of this?”

“Shhh… Just relax.”

Emmett relaxed and stood straight, trying to maintain his patience. “Please, just give me something. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be feeling. How does any of this help defend against psychics?”

Clara sat down and motioned for him to follow. She was half-smirking.

“Are you just messing with me?” Emmett asked.

“No, I’m not just messing with you. This is part of your psychic training.” Clara’s face was set, and all trace of her smile was gone.

“Alright. So, how does it work?”

Clara explained, “Psychics and illusionists attack the mind. You wanted to get better at fighting, so we practiced sparring and grappling. To get more agile and aware of your body, we practiced running and parkour.”

“This strengthens my mind?”

Clara snorted. “No! This increases your awareness of your mental state, your body, and your surroundings… Okay. So, how did you beat that Serenity chick the other day?”

Emmett thought back to the warehouse district. “She used her psychic power to freeze me, so I couldn’t move, but she couldn’t freeze my cybernetic arm.”

Clara added, “And once you realized that, you were able to move it and shoot her.”

Emmett tried to remember the specifics of the fight and how it felt when he couldn’t move.

“I realized I could move my fingers first. Then I realized I could move my entire arm.” Emmett flexed his hand to help remember the sensation.

Clara nodded. “That’s awareness. When you first started training in the Gray Room, you made a lot of progress pretty quickly. Some of that was due to Mutagen-A, but normal people see the most gains in those same first few weeks of working out or strength training. It’s actually because your body’s nervous system is learning the moves, becoming more coordinated, and becoming more efficient. Once again, that’s awareness.”

Emmett’s curiosity was piqued, but he was more eager to get started. “Okay. I’m following. I’m going to workout my mind… What do I do?”

Clara adjusted herself so that she was sitting cross-legged and ready to meditate again. “We’re going to start with grounding exercises.”

Emmett mirrored her. “So, like meditation.”

“Yes, like meditation. Try to keep up.” Clara closed her eyes. “Now, who are you?”

Emmett closed his eyes and answered. “I am Emmett Laraway.”

Clara snorted again. “Sorry, you don’t have to actually say anything. Just think your answers to yourself.”

Emmett tried to reset. After a second, they were both ready to start again.

“Who are you?”

I am Emmett Laraway.

“Now think about what you look like. Don’t just imagine your body, imagine what you’re wearing.”

Emmett did. He imagined staring into a mirror, and his reflection staring back. Tan skin, dark hair, black bodysuit. His brow was wrinkled and his lips were pursed in concentration.

“Think about your day. What did you do this morning that led up to this moment? This afternoon?”

He’d gone to class and then come to the lab to talk with Dr. Venture and to train with Clara.

She continued, her cadence slowing. “Now think about who you are. You are all of these things. You are Emmett. You are Mod. You are a super, a student, a roommate, a friend, a son… When you repeat these words to yourself, know that you are all of these things.”

As Clara spoke, Emmett imagined all the pieces of himself…

For a moment, something clicked for Emmett. His chest swelled and his concentration reached a zenith. It felt like the first time he leapt across the rooftops with Athena or the first time he fought back against Clara’s robot. It was exhilarating.

And the feeling was gone a moment later.

“Shit,” Emmett muttered, and realized he’d been holding his breath.

“What?”

“I had it—I think. Then I lost it.”

Clara smiled. “It’s not easy to hold on to. It takes concentration and willpower. And practice. Honestly, practice is the most important, because it doesn’t get any easier when you’re in the middle of a fight.”

Emmett nodded. “Alright, I’ll be sure to practice it.”

Clara’s face turned serious. “Good, but know that quality and intention are important. This isn’t the kind of training you can half-ass. Don’t watch TV and tell me you’re meditating.”

“Got it.” He’d been about to make a half-hearted joke, but thought better of it. Instead, Emmett said, “You’re way better at this than I expected… How did you get into yoga, anyway?”

Clara looked down for a moment and drew in a breath. “Dad insisted. I started with grounding exercises. He…” She trailed off and shook her head.

It was clear she wanted to say more, but it was probably another secret that Emmett wasn’t allowed to hear yet. He tried to ignore it as he waited for her to continue.

“Anyway, I got a lot out of meditation and tried yoga. I’ve been doing both ever since I was little.”

Emmett tried to imagine what else there was to Clara’s story and reassured himself that one day both she and Dr. Venture would confide in him.

Clara looked as torn up about it as he did.

Emmett focused on his friend instead of himself. “Well, you’re a good teacher.”

She smiled and replied, “Thanks.”

~

There were two different versions of Clara’s grounding meditation:

The first was grounding the self. The second was grounding the self in the current place and current time.

Clara explained that psychics often attacked the mind from within. This might mean interrupting connections from the brain to the nerves, like causing a gunman’s aim to jerk or a brawler’s punch to miss—it could even freeze someone completely, like Emmett had experienced.

Most psychic attacks were like this—like grappling for control of someone's mind and body. It was crude, but effective.

This was combated by grounding the self. By concentrating on the body and the muscles, by focusing on the self like they were looking in a mirror, it was possible—with practice—to wrestle control back from a psychic. With enough practice, it was even possible to guard against an attack or completely negate one from a lesser psychic completely.

Lesser was relative, of course. Emmett might one day shrug off a psychic attack from a Class 1 super, and maybe even prevent a Class 2 from freezing him. Beyond that, though, he would need external aid. Some psychotropic drugs were effective, but also affected cognition. Physical shielding, like a helmet or engaging outside a psychic’s range, were the only foolproof solutions against powerful psychics.

That and the Code. Just like there were rules against killing, there were also unwritten rules against psychic enslavement—punishable by death. …But that didn’t stop some villains from doing truly heinous things.

The other type was an attack on the senses. It was one that all illusionists used and only talented psychics could manage. An illusionist might veil their true identity, obscure their movements, or even turn the floor into lava.

“The more powerful the illusionist—the more powerful the illusion,” Clara explained. “But no illusion is perfect because it requires that the caster account for every sensory detail required to fool you. A master might account for every sense, but lower-level supers won’t. All it takes is one detail to be off.”

Emmett added, “But you have to notice that detail.”

“Exactly.”

Emmett put the rest together. It was both fascinating and simple. “And you’re telling me all I need to do is meditate?”

Clara raised an eyebrow. “That’s oversimplifying it, but yes, for the most part. Practice and experience. The more psychics and illusionists you fight, the better you get at defense, just like sparring—to a point.”

Emmett resolved to make Clara’s meditations part of his daily routine. He had no desire to be caught unprepared like that night they fought and escaped from the Summit. But according to her, no matter what Emmett did, he’d never be able to prepare for a psychic more powerful than Class 3.

That brought up even more morbid thoughts…

Emmett asked, “I know you said the Code stops most psychics from doing evil stuff… but that doesn’t seem very reassuring.”

Clara shrugged. “Yeah, when you start thinking about the scope of Class five supers, the implications get pretty horrifying. But to hear Dad talk about it, most powersets of supers have their own governing organizations and their own versions of the Code. They police their own kind.

“Did you know that there’s been less than three large-scale cases of psychics trying to influence elections in First World countries? That’s because psychics that are caught participating in things like that are destroyed—that’s their rule. Not all the rules are that harsh, but I guess a long time ago, psychics realized that they couldn’t be lenient on their own.

“So, that’s how it is… The psychics keep each other from overstepping. The sorcerer cabals keep each other in line. And so on, and so on.”

Emmett chuckled somberly. “So it’s just secret societies all the way down?”

She shrugged then stood up. “Yeah, something like that. Now come on. Let’s train. You can practice all that meditation stuff later.”

~ ~ ~