Chapter 3: Fever Dreams

'It's fine. Everything is fine.' Once the drone of class lectures were over, Megan kept that mantra of a thought running through her head. It helped drown out any leftover anxiety trying to coat her tongue and make her throat go tight, and fill gaps in her head that she didn't want to focus on.

'Things are fine.' She'd written out more notes then usual, had kept her thoughts bent on keeping her pen moving over anything else. As such, Megan found herself with more information then she thought was possible on Mars and its relation to Earth…And she found herself trying not to think on any of that, either. Just that things were and would be fine, once she got back to the dorm and gave her mind a chance to rest. Afterwards, once she had her feet back under her, she could maybe focus on the variable distance between the two planets or the amount of iron oxide in soil without feeling something scratching at the back of her thoughts.

'Focus on that later. Right now, sleep.' Megan wrenched her thoughts back towards getting to her room, and the bed waiting for her. Overhead, the sky was only just beginning to change as the sun dipped towards the horizon, and Megan allowed herself time to admire the colors in the sky. She wasn't planning on staying awake to appreciate them for long, though; an early rest sounded more appealing then staying awake for anything, at that point.

She shivered as she moved through the campus and towards her dorm, running her hands along her arms. It felt like there was a chill settling over the entire area, pushing out that warm front they'd been enjoying for the last week. By the time she stepped into the hall leading to her room, that shiver had embedded itself in her back and her arms, and she ducked her head as she hurried along the passages. Her eyes were half closed, worried on what she'd see if she did open them-

'Don't think like that. Things are FINE.' She punctuated that thought by pushing open the door and stepping inside. Wendy glanced up when she stumbled in, which Megan figured out more from how a chair squeaked against the carpet then from what she saw.

"Megan?" Wendy's voice was clouded over with…It sounded a lot like worry, although Megan couldn't tell why; as she kept repeating to herself, things were fine. "What's wrong?"

'Nothing,' she wanted to say, but instead replied with "Just tired…Again." While she still wasn't looking at Wendy, Megan could practically hear the disbelief in the other girl's expression.

"Even after last night? Are you SURE you're sleeping well?" Wendy stood up as she spoke, while Megan let the door swing closed behind her. Stepping inside, she thought she could breathe a little easier, although it apparently didn't do much to convince Wendy. "Or that you're okay? You're shaking all over."

It felt like she'd stepped into the middle of winter, or something worse. She could never remember any snowfall on campus being this bad, or having such a chilling bite to it. "It's a little cold," Megan admitted, and when she convinced her eyes to fully open, found herself blinking up at a pair of confused eyes. "Actually, it feels really cold."

"Megan…What are you talking about? It's in the seventies inside and outside; it's been the same for the last few days." She could feel a hand against her forehead, as Wendy frowned at her. "You don't feel like you have a fever…"

"I just need to sleep," Megan repeated, both for Wendy and for herself. "I should be better once I get that…Although if I could borrow an extra blanket from you, I'd be really grateful."

-o-o-o-

"Looking more grim then usual, Conner." Karen noted as he trudged down the sidewalk, eyes fixed straight ahead. Superboy's answer was to roll his shoulders and never break his gaze from where the path was leading them.

"I'm allowed to look grim; this is supposed to be a stressful situation with changing colleges, anyway."

"…Point," she admitted with another low laugh hiding behind her words. And which had the effect of making his scowl deepen, as he gave the mixture of concrete and stones that made up the campus sidewalk a strong glare. Although where that path was leading them, he still couldn't exactly tell…Although he had a few guesses.

"We're getting close to the waterfront," Conner noted out loud, letting the taste from the precipitation in the air linger on his tongue. The smell from water saturating the air was also thick when he breathed in, and he had the feeling that in a few more hours it would change to fog. Gar was already puffing up his feathers as his head kept darting around. Conner was glad that he at least was keeping his mouth shut...Which was naturally right when Beast Boy decided it was time to fill in the silence with some conversation.

"So, Superboy...You think sis is enjoying it here?" He just huffed out in response, hoping that would be a sign that he wasn't interested in continuing the dialogue. Gar didn't take the hint. "I mean, it's nice, but I'd think she'd enjoy being with us more-"

"It's none of my business." They weren't together anymore; SHE'D made that clear once she ran off. "I'm here to do a job and get her back in the team. That's all." Definitely not moon over her or wish things were different.

'I didn't have any choice. She was too-' His thoughts caught up on that, and for a heartbeat they tried to slip 'uncomfortable' into place, until he fought the entire idea down and covered it up with other words. 'Reckless to be around.' Even that left a knot trying to form between his shoulders, leaving them twitching as Gar fanned his wings for balance.

"Okay, noted...But I figured you might know something? Doesn't it just seem weird that she'd abandon-"

"Karen, you know where we're going?" Conner plowed over the words in a near snap. Gar's last word still stung at his ears as he fixed his eyes ahead, not even glancing at the kid. 'It's nothing like that.' He felt the red from the S-shield hidden inside his shirt brush against his skin as a breeze ruffled through the fabric, doing little to help his temper.

"...Fine, fine. Sheesh, you act like you don't care about her at all." Conner simply grumbled, hoping that Gar couldn't pick out 'I'm not supposed to' underneath that. Instead, he kept his attention on Karen as she nodded and replied "We should be there soon..."

"And you're sure this is where she's supposed to be?"

"Yeah...Mal's sources said that she's at the Steven's dorm, and when I asked for directions, everyone pointed me this way. So it's got to be here somewhere." Karen frowned down at her own papers, giving them a look that said they had better be accurate, for their own sake. "Although I'm trying to imagine where they'd fit a building on this waterline-"

She trailed off as they approached the harbor, and Conner found himself looking forward as well. Not a lot in the way of buildings out here, just like Karen said…But they were left with staring at a large, dormitory sized boat. It was moored next to the docks with gangplanks leading up onto it, and nearly every window was lit up. In the fading light he could just make out the words "SS Stevens" painted on the hull. Karen let her breath out slow, shaking her head.

"Wow, she just doesn't have it in her to pick out someplace normal to live."

"I think it looks cool." Gar provided as he fluttered onto Conner's shoulder. And while a few spare bits of data filtered into Superboy's thoughts and onto his words.

"S.S Stevens…Used to be a cruise ship, which had in turn been refitted from a warship. It was purchased in 1968, and has since been remodeled several times, and was almost retired in 1975…Although advancements in technology and a generous contribution from something called the Sirianni Foundation…What?" He trailed off when he saw the sideways glance Karen was giving him. Gar was also somehow managing, with the way he canted his head to the side and stared at Conner over his beak.

"So. You're still the human encyclopedia like you were in high school. Good to know." Karen finally said, filling in the gap and earning a snort from Conner as he glanced back over the boat-dormitory. He did have to admit…It did somehow seem like a match for M'gann. That might have just been the cheery whitewash it had, which had a faint pink glow from the setting sun. Karen moved closer to him, her eyes scanning the windows and the outlines that moved behind them.

"By the by…Can you pick out anyone that looks like her?"

"Wouldn't that be…" He trailed off, uncertain how to phrase it, while Gar helpfully offered "Peeping?" and earning a flick from Karen's fingers along the feathers of his head.

"No, because I'm not asking you to look too closely…And if you do, trust me, I'll KNOW." 'And my vengeance will be swift and terrible' her voice told him. The best response seemed to be avoid any spoken words, and just follow her suggestion…And doing a sudden double taking as he picked out a flash of red hair, moving through one of the windows.

"Yeah…I think I saw her, there." He pointed towards the room, right as someone that looked more and more like Megan moved towards the window…And dropped the shades. He thought he could pick out her outline dropping out of sight (and hopefully into a bed) in exhaustion, while Karen gave a quick nod.

"Alright, so that's a double confirmation. Nice." The sun dropped down past the horizon completely as she spoke, taking most of the color and light with it.

"So, we know where she is…What now?" His feet felt like they wanted to move up the stairs and towards the entrance, or just throw himself straight up into the air and forget using the stairs entirely; the deck of the boat was easily in 'single bound' distance, as Wally used to put it. But before his legs had time to do more then twitch, Karen's hand fell on his shoulder and rested next to where Gar was perched.

"Now, we should probably give Malcolm a call. Or talk to him in person; it's enough that we've confirmed there's a location that matches the intelligence…And chances are we'll get a chance to talk to Meg soon enough, either here or in class."

"I could talk to her now…" Conner found himself offering, even as Karen shook her head.

"Conner, I get being concerned for her, but…Well for one, we need to keep from being too obvious about this. And second, you've already seen her a couple of times. How about if I give it a try, next time? She hasn't had the best reaction to you, but maybe I'll have better luck." He wanted to shrug her hand off, to argue the point…Before quickly realizing how attached he was getting to this mission. It shouldn't have been a big deal who helped her remember, he reminded himself-

'But you still want to help her.' The thought slid into place, and a part of him was secretly glad that M'gann apparently didn't have it in her to read thoughts. He tried to bury all of that by giving a short, terse nod and grumbled, "Fine."

His voice was low as he muttered that…Which may have been why he picked something out at the edges of his hearing; like a scrape of boots and a whirr of something getting thrown, followed by a muffled metallic clang. For a moment, he thought 'Robin?' before remembering that both Tim and the previous name holder were operating well outside of where they were.

"Something's wrong. Look at the sides of the boat," he snapped out, already feeling his shoulders tense up as he turned his head to fully focus on those sounds; there were a few more of them, and all centered on where Stevens was moored.

He narrowed his eyes, letting the color seep out of his vision and focus on those shadows running up and down the sides of the ship…And as he watched, they lost their blackness. Instead, he could pick out bright dots of heat scaling the walls.

"Hey…Those don't look like a normal part of college life…" Gar trailed off, and Conner felt the weight on his shoulder increase as the words trailed off into a low growl. His eyes flickered over long enough to see that there was something that looked like a green serval digging its claws into his shoulder, eyes flared wide open and showing teeth at what was climbing up the sides of the boat. Conner was pretty certain the kid was right; what he could pick out said that there were easily seven, and all carrying something that looked uncomfortably like a heavy class gun…And moving towards what looked a lot like M'gann's room. Beast Boy gave an angry hiss, backing up what Conner saw.

"Bumblebee-" He started to say, but she was already dashing ahead of him as she spoke.

"Okay…Cancel that. I'm going to see if I have better luck NOW. Watch my back; I'm getting her out." Bumblebee didn't give him a chance to respond, already running for the door. Superboy felt adrenaline already starting to snap through his veins…But his feet, somehow, stayed rooted to the ground as he watched.

-o-o-o-

A part of her knew she was dreaming, and dreaming in a way that made her twist and tangle up in those bed sheets Megan was faintly aware of, all while she coated her skin with sweat. But that part of her thoughts, and even the feel of the real world were drowned out as she ran through her dreamscape; as she sprinted, the pounding of her heart and stitch in her side muffled those other sensations. And left her consumed by the murky, blurred out landscape she was charging through. Red again, rust colored, and Megan shut her eyes as she stumbled along. Though if she'd kept them open, she might have seen whatever caught her foot and sent her tumbling forward. When Megan hit the ground, it jolted her eyes back open.

She found herself staring up at what looked like a red egg, curled up out of sight on a campus roof; she could see a mirror of the sky from that afternoon stretching overhead, and pick out the campus sounds drifting up from below. As she watched, Megan got the impression that the device was looking at her as well...And somehow, from the low thrum in the air coming off of the object, she also got an impression of loneliness. It was like there were tendrils curling off the egg and trying to thread and weave back into her head, like puzzle pieces trying to fit back together-

The connection cut off as something scoured across the device's surface, opening long rents and turning that gentle touch into panicked, desperate clutch at her thoughts. Trying not to drown and screaming for Megan to HELP it from whatever was doing that to her-

'How do I know it's a her?' Megan wondered in the back of her mind as she scrambled to her feet and flinched away from the thing. She only had a split second to realize her foot had slipped off the edge of the roof, before the rest of her body followed with a shriek as she plummeted off the building. The egg dropped out of sight, but she could still hear it trying to curl away from whatever was attacking it, begging her to come back and help.

The vision stopped with a jolt that slammed the breath out of her, leaving Megan staring up into blackness. The campus was gone, without even a hint of the brick buildings. Her eyes strained, searching for something to latch onto...But a small part of her felt relieved when she found nothing, just staring into a dark void.

"We've found traces," a voice echoed around her, muffled and sounding like she was hearing it from the bottom of a well. That small and formerly relieved part of her sent her heart back into hammering, and her hands straining against the ground as she listened. "The ship has been spotted-"

The darkness was leeched out overhead, and Megan could just pick out faint outlines towering over her, looming and imposing. She couldn't see any faces...But something about their voices, hard and pitiless, made her hope that meant they couldn't see her either.

"I can take care of the problem." A new voice moved in...And something about it left her throat dry. Maybe it was that skin crawling smugness in the tone, or how it never fluctuated above something that sounded like a sneer put into words. "Let me search. I'll find her eventually...And return some of her treatment." The echoes faded out, before a red flare of pain tore through her head. She could hear that almost-scream from before, as the red egg tried to latch onto her for help before suddenly closing itself off and leaving Megan scrambling to her feet.

She didn't want to touch any of this; hallucinations, nightmares...Whatever they were, the contact left her with an oily feeling that made her skin crawl. Drowning out everything that tried to tell her she was still dreaming as she bolted through the dreamscape, which had red and orange slowly seeping and staining back into it.

Something dark was following her, outline large and athletic whenever she caught a glimpse when she turned her head. Megan could just catch a glimpse of black hair matching a black shirt, but she didn't let her eyes stay on whoever it was for long. Somehow she knew that if the figure caught up to her, or if she looked for too long, she'd break; shatter into a thousand pieces that she couldn't possibly recover from. As it was, she felt fragile and weak.

So instead she ran. Refused to let whoever it was catch up with her...Or catch her and hold her long enough for that hurt to blossom out from her chest; whether they wanted that or not, she KNEW that would be the end result. And that somehow made the outline worse then that voice from before. She ducked into a passage that yawned open, barreling down the hallway as the passage got more and more narrow. With how bulky her pursuer was, she was certain he wouldn't be able to follow through a space like this.

The walls were closing in around her with each step. Becoming harsh, hard, stained a sandstone red that was different from the bricks of the campus, and she couldn't find a way through them. The stone bit at her shoulders as she tried to squeeze through...But instead she found herself stuck and struggling between two slabs of harsh, rust colored stone, so tight that she couldn't even get a full breath.

"M-" a voice started to say, and her head yanked back around to stare at a pair of blue eyes, so bright they seemed to cut into her. 'No,' she wanted to say and pull away, but the rock kept her stuck fast. 'No, you can't follow me, you COULDN'T have followed me-'

The words all died in her throat as she saw those eyes go soft, which did nothing for the pain radiating out through her chest. Her hands went up to cover her eyes and try to block out what she saw and felt. Instead, she found herself staring at white, colorless skin. Her heart screamed confusion in her ears as she looked at her fingers. There was a twitch trying to work through them, sending her skin to squirming. Megan struggled, her feet scrabbling at the ground as she tried to push herself free. She only stopped when something rose about the roar of her pulse... And that pitiless voice cut at her ears. And this time she wasn't overhearing; it was speaking to HER.

"It took effort to find you, with how you muffled your presence. But haven't you learned that if you look into MY head I can find you? Even if it's just in your dreams? That distress call your ship sent you only helped the search. You've grown careless, Martian-"

Megan jolted awake, breathing hard as something boomed through her ears again. It took her a second to realize that whatever it was, was also way too loud to just be her heartbeat.

"Hang on already," over the pounding as her pulse kept trying to deafen her, Megan could pick out Wendy speaking as she moved towards the door-

'Oh.' Something about the realization helped her heart slow down by a few beats, and free up her hand to wipe off some of the sweat sticking to her bangs and forehead. It was just someone knocking on the door; although what business brought anyone to their door that late at night, she didn't know. Her eyes darted over to the clock on her nightstand, picking out the glowing numbers of 10 followed by 30, and rolled over enough to push herself up and look out through the bedroom doorway. Through her sleep fogged eyes, Megan could just pick out her roommate opening the door up…And her eyes widening in surprise at someone on the other side.

"Karen!?" That got Megan to bolt upright completely, staring and blinking to clear her vision. The girl Wendy led in through the door certainly looked like she could be a match for-

'High school?' Something about that made her head hurt as she watched the new girl returning the hug Wendy gave her, smiling. There did feel like there was something familiar about her, too; much like when she'd first met up with Wendy and had that spark kick start a few of her memories. But for some reason, her thoughts were more sluggish as she tried to focus on them…Although Megan reminded herself that could have just been due to exhaustion. That reasoning didn't ease up the nervous knot in her stomach, though.

"What are you even doing here!? It's been ages!" Wendy chattered over Megan's worry, face bright and grinning as she pulled apart long enough to give Karen a good once over. "New look for you; got to say, I like it."

"Thanks, hon. You're not looking too bad yourself, either; college life looks like it's treating you okay." Looking at her, Megan could vaguely remember someone giving her kind words and advice on cheerleading. Her head continued to pound when she tried to press that, though, while her forehead tried to put on a new coat of perspiration. "And, I've been thinking of transferring here for my studies. Sorry for the late call, but it took me forever to get through the tour, find out where you were…And figuring out that you're apparently living on a boat." That laugh in her voice was familiar, though.

"Anyways, I figured I should at least try to see you! And…Megan is a roommate of yours too, right? Where is she?" Her feet were already swinging out from under the covers as she listened, the day clothing she'd fallen asleep in feeling wrinkled against her body, and Megan drifted towards the doorway. By the time she heard her name, she was already resting a hand on the frame to steady herself. Something about her feet felt curiously light, and her fingers pressed against the wood grain and plaster in an attempt to pull all her thoughts and balance back down to earth as she cleared her throat.

"H-here, too. Was just trying to get some sleep." Karen's face softened when she saw Megan, although there was a moment where Megan was sure she saw something flash across the other girl's face. Something that put her uncomfortably in mind of the Conner boy; it was that same searching, focused look…But it vanished quick enough as she continued.

"Oh! Well, sorry to wake you up, Megan. But if you're up for it, how about some fresh air?"

"This late?" Wendy saved her the effort of staring at Karen, who had an awkward grin in place.

"Yeah, I guess it is kind of late. But I was just thinking it would be nice to catch up with you two while I look around." Wendy didn't look all that convinced, and Megan didn't feel all that different. Even Karen looked like she was nervous with asking that question, although Megan couldn't grasp why.

-o-o-o-

"Come on, come on..." Conner's hands tensed and relaxed in time to the words. With how fast he was muttering, his fingers were constantly as fists. They mainly varied between being bunched up completely, or just a few joint twitches away from being ready to punch. With his eyes narrowed he could just pick out Karen speaking, and he wanted to scream at her to forget small talk and just pull M'gann and Wendy both out of harm's way.

The figures in black weren't hesitating the same way...Although their progress HAD slowed. They'd gone from swarming up the side of the boat to hanging off the cords. He had to fight against the urge to leap forward and sever those strings and send the figures plummeting, as well as screaming for someone to look outside a window and notice what was going on.

Conner had been certain that he'd learned something about patience in the last five years. But standing outside with a green cat on his shoulder was testing the limits of his discipline. It didn't help that there were still those figures climbing up, and he found himself repeating "come on" under his breath until it turned into a mantra. Gar didn't seem much more relaxed, digging his claws into his shoulder as his paws tensed. But hopefully Karen would be out with Megan and her friend soon-

There was motion darting up the ship's side, while Karen, M'gann and Wendy all stubbornly stayed in place. He could see Karen motioning towards somewhere other then the window, but even that didn't seem like enough. Not when the figures were moving again, twisting towards the window with the three, and-

"Dammit-!" Conner snapped out, realizing just what the pause had been for. Time for the figures to start aiming.

-o-o-o-

"Look, girls," Karen swallowed as she spoke, eyes darting towards the window. "Could we just-"

That was when the windows decided, all on their own it seemed, to turn into a hail of shards with a shriek and an explosion that knocked Megan onto her side. Wendy was screaming, while Karen was shouting at them to do something…Megan couldn't pick out what, from where she lay prone on the floor and felt adrenaline starting to buzz into her bloodstream. The smell of burning gunpowder cut into her nose, while her ears rang and throbbed hard enough that Megan was surprised they weren't bleeding. Her nails dug into her palms when she realized that was gunfire. Splashed over all of that, the sound the bullets made as they shrieked through the air was hard and sharp against her ears.

And somehow, it all felt familiar; like she'd been through this and worse, before. A different part of her thought that she should be joining Wendy in crying out and letting panic lance through her, but her head had other plans. Instead something felt like it was crackling, scratching at the edges of her thoughts and pushing any panic out. That weightless feeling was back in her limbs as well, although they also felt clumsy and numb, not listening to her as she tried to pull herself back to her feet.

It felt like someone was running an electric current from the base of her neck and straight through her brain, from how her thoughts crackled. Her skin was burning right in time to those pulses of energy, feeling too tight, not containing anything right; not her bones, not even her thoughts as they strained and tried to push outward.

Looking up, she could see Karen pushing Wendy aside and flipping over their study table as something black and menacing climbed through the shattered remains of the window. Papers joined those glass shards in scuttling across the floor from the draft whipping through the room. Wendy was already diving behind the table, eyes still wide and staring, while Karen tried to reach for Megan and get her behind that scant bit of cover. Karen's lips were moving, but the words were drowned out as a hum settled in Megan's ears; from how her mouth was moving it could have been something like 'hurry' or 'duck,' but Megan's feet moved so slowly and felt almost stuck to the ground. Her head couldn't convince them to move faster, couldn't seem to even work right as that fog and lightheaded feeling soaked into her thoughts...And all while the black figure leveled a gun on them, and the drone in her ears rose until everything else was buried under that high pitched buzz of white noise.

She wouldn't be fast enough, Megan realized. And she wasn't sure if even that table, thick as it was, would provide much protection when she saw just how big the barrel on that assault rifle was. And it was leveling on them, as the attacker began to square his shoulders and squeezed at the trigger.

'No!' She stretched a hand towards the table, eyes wanting to close before those bullets found her body-

But they never did. Not when the table flew across the room with a strange buzz, and smashed into the gunman. He went down as the wood splintered and crackled, body going slack and the gun dropping from suddenly nerveless hands. Megan blinked over at Karen, staring and wondering how she'd managed to throw the table…Only to see that Karen was crouched over Wendy, trying to shield her with her body. And in no position to have pushed or thrown anything.

'What-?' Megan had time to think through the haze, before she heard something else making its way over the window and into the room.