Disclaimer: own nothing
His world was a hazy swirl of colours for days or was it weeks? He couldn't remember exactly. Voices wove in and out of them; male, female, gruff, friendly. All different kinds. What he was most aware of was the cold, chilling him to his bone and the pain, fading and in out at various points of his body. It was familiar, like a coating on his skin that had been stripped off suddenly before and put back on again. He'd felt this pain before, this cold numb confusion.
A light pierced its way as well, breaking the cold and filling him with warmth for a while before fading. He could feel a pressure constantly covering his head, keeping his eyes closed. Slowly he forced the pressure away and opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and unfocused until he blinked causing shapes to shift from blurry into sharp focus in front of him.
The walls were cream; plain and non-descript with dark red curtains drawn over the windows. Bags scattered the floor and it was as he looked down, he realised he was lying on a bed he didn't recognise. It wasn't his house; in fact it wasn't anyone's house he knew.
"You finally awake bro?" a teasing male voice piped up
Jeff slowly turned his head and spotted Matt sat on a chair at the other side of the room. He looked exhausted, dark circles ringing his eyes and was dressed in a simple black tee with baggy black jeans, his hair pulled back with a baseball cap on. It was then that Jeff realised that he was lying in a hotel room, in a hotel bed judging from the decor and he had no idea how he'd got there. He tried sitting up but immediately a spasm of pain shot through him. That was a familiar feeling too. Then a fragment of memory slotted into place. He'd been frozen, again. He groaned, his mouth feeling sludgy and dry.
Matt grinned and stood up. It was then that Jeff noticed that Lita had been sleeping against Matt's shoulder and Matt was now depositing her gently down so that she didn't wake up after he moved. Matt picked up a glass of water from the table beside him where a super-size bag of Skittles also sat and handed it to Jeff, helping him sit up to drink it. The cool water felt heavenly down his throat and he glugged the rest of it down greedily. With a laugh, Matt firmly took the empty glass from his brother and having deposited it on the beside ledge, sat down the edge of the bed.
"Guess you wanna know what's happened huh?" Matt asked
"Would be nice since I don't remember," Jeff said, his voice not sounding like his own
"Ok, you've been out for a week, well not out, just drifting in and out, they zapped you pretty damn good, the worst yet"
"Gee thanks, I don't feel wiped out"
Matt laughed then shifted about on the bed before starting again
"Well we got ya outta there and Sara's been pumping you with her light stuff to break the cold and its worked coz you're awake"
Jeff frowned, blowing out his breath. He felt like there were huge gaps in his memory from where things had happened without his knowledge. He jerked his head gently towards Lita's peacefully sleeping form
"How's Red doing?"
"Not so good, she's being effected by those power-sucking powers of Stacy's; she's getting weaker and weaker"
Jeff looked at Lita, she was paler it seemed but her sleep seemed peaceful. Matt followed Jeff's gaze and then smiled wearily at his brother.
"We're all pretty tired ourselves, we've been trying to stop her from feeling so drained and keep out of the way of Jenny as well getting you to wake up"
"Where are the others?"
"Mark went out for a ride with Sara and Trish is just ordering some take- out for us all" Matt replied, getting up
He walked back to his chair and sat down, stroking Amy's hair. Her eyelids fluttered and slowly she woke up. She looked around blearily and then noticed Jeff staring at her. She smiled widely in response as she stretched
"You're awake" she stated
"So are you" replied Jeff with a laugh
"Yeah, I guess I am" she agreed with a sleepy sigh "How long was I out for baby?"
"A couple of hours" answered Matt
"God I feel like death" she moaned "like parts of me are being sucked away and not put back, you guys both know what I mean don't you?"
"Hell yeah if its like being frozen" replied Matt, grimacing at his own memory of being frozen and dumped "we've been frozen but not attacked like you're being"
Just then, a door opened and Trish walked in, her cell-phone in her hand.
"Just ordered Chinese...Jeff you're awake!" she exclaimed
"Looks like it" laughed Jeff at her wide-eyed expression
"Chinese good for you?" she asked
"Anything resembling food sounds good to me right now"
"Chinese it is then"
Trish put her phone into her pocket and sat down on Jeff's bed, smiling at him. She gently took his hand in her's, stroking it softly with her thumb.
"We thought we lost you for a while when we got you out" she said quietly
"Yeah? How come?"
"Well when we went in there and tried to face down Jezebel, Eternal and Reckless, you were just lying there, your wrists taped together and your ankles, thanks to Sara's powers we got out alive and made our way to this hotel, you didn't move that night at all"
"How do you know that?" Jeff asked teasingly
"One of us stayed with you each night to make sure they didn't come back for you, I was there the first night" Trish replied "after that, you acted like you were sleeping, turning over, mumbling, do you know you sing in your sleep?"
"I didn't say anything did I?" Jeff asked suddenly, worry coursing through him at what he might have revealed to Trish that first forgotten night
"Nothing that I'll share with the others" Trish replied with a wink
She leaned down and kissed his forehead. He squeezed her hand in response. Maybe she did know. Matt was always telling him to stop wasting time and tell her before she found someone else. Maybe this was the time to do it since they were all in this together.
He didn't get a chance to think much more as the door banged open and Mark and Sara walked in. Mark looked more than a little pissed off, a look of thundery fire in his eyes. It looked like he and his wife had had an argument. Sara looked serious; her hands shoved deep into her jeans pockets. Mark was about to yell something; his arm thrust forward in a pointing angry gesture when he noticed Jeff was awake. He lowered his arm
"Good to see you alive boy" he said finally
"Thanks. I think" muttered Jeff
Trish grinned at him, squeezing his hand in reassurance. It evidently hadn't been an easy week for the group while he'd been in a fitful sleep. Sara smiled warmly at him, giving him a little wave of her hand in greeting, her other hand resting against her stomach.
"Now that the kid's awake" Mar began "lets look at our pathetic amount of options"
"Which are what exactly?" asked Matt, all business with Lita sat up straight beside him, a serious expression on her face and her right hand intertwined with Matt's
"Not much" sighed Sara
"We can continue the way we are, getting jumped, kidnapped and beaten everywhere we look, we can report this whole adventure of ours to the police or if necessary higher authorities or we can go after them ourselves again" Mark stated
"Well that didn't get us very far last time" pointed our Trish, twisting so that she faced Mark, her hand still in Jeff's "we got Matt back but we all got injured and Matt got taken again"
"But we discovered my powers" spoke up Sara "and that's really helped, it's kept them away from Mark for the past week and stopped Jeff's condition from getting worse" she stopped and took a long look around the room before speaking again, with hesitance in her voice "there is another option; that I go face Jezebel"
"Sara, I've told you that ain't an option" Mark said "she'd tear you apart"
"Not with these powers she won't" Sara retorted, holding her arms out to her sides with her white heat patches growing in each palm before disappearing just as quickly "she knows I can hurt her, that's why she's stayed away"
"If anyone goes, it should be me" Mark cut in with a fierce glare at his wife "I'm her twin, I'm the reason she's here so I should finish it all off"
"Mark, you saw how much she hurt you last time, you're not ready to face her, your powers aren't up to her's" Sara said
"You think you can take her on?"
"As a matter of fact...."
"Hold it there guys" Trish got up quickly from the bed and stepped in between them "this is not gonna solve anything, take a deep breath both of you"
Mark glared at his wife for a couple of seconds and then shook his head, turning away. Sara rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed at Jeff's feet. She stroked her stomach absently with one hand, a self-satisfied smile on her face.
"So what are we going to do?" Amy spoke up softly
"I don't know" sighed Trish sitting down on the bed again and catching hold of Jeff's hand as she did "but we don't think of something then we're gonna have a problem"
"You mean we haven't for the past few weeks?" snorted Matt gesturing to himself and Amy who raised her eyebrows to emphasise
"What I mean its gonna get worse, if that's possible, Jezebel's gonna get worse and worse" Trish answered
"I get so damn nervous training with her" Amy sighed "I mean she's fine then, acting like she's Jenny but I still feel uneasy, like she's gonna say her name or start hurting me"
"I get the same feeling" Jeff agreed "we can't stop working with her though, Vince thinks it's a great story which it would be if she wasn't an crazy psycho in real life"
There was a moment of silence, Jeff's words soaking in. It was broken by a sharp knocking at the door, which made Trish jump a little. Sara stood up, a smile on her face.
"Let's eat guys, we can solve this later"
"Sounds good to me, Skittles here needs some nourishment" said Trish with an affectionate smile as she reluctantly let go of Jeff's hand and got up to answer the door
"I think we all could," added Amy ruefully
Only Mark watched his wife. There was something beneath the easy breeziness of her demeanour. She was up to something and he had the uncomfortable feeling that it had something to do with her going after Jezebel. He'd have to watch her, who knew where her impulsive nature would take her, with or without his permission?
*
There was an atmosphere of stiff hot anger in the air as Jezebel paced the length of the room. Reckless sat on a chair, carefully bandaging his arm. He didn't need the bandage but to humans, he had to logically look hurt. Eternal sat beside him, a hand on his knee and a sulky expression on her face. Her other hand she kept opening and closing, frowning at it. They hadn't spoken since the attack and the blinding light from Lightning had momentarily halted them for long enough for Mark to get Jeff out of there.
There was nothing to say; they'd had a setback
A million thoughts blazed through Jezebel's mind. Each one she analysed in a fraction of second and discarded it immediately. She enjoyed torturing her twin, his pretty petty wife and their shambling group of followers. But it was all coming to a head. They were getting dangerous; they were working as a team, which meant trouble. It meant they could harness what power they had and maybe, just maybe do some damage.
This was not good. Jezebel smiled; it meant only one thing. Mark, Sara, all the little group. They'd have to be extinguished. Tonight
*
The door creaked as Sara opened it. She winced, waiting for Mark to wake up and demand to know where she was going. It never happened. Breathing a sigh of relief, she inched out and ran down the corridor down to reception. She was the only one who could stop Jezebel. It wasn't an arrogant statement; it was the truth. She had the oppositional powers to do it. Hell last time they clashed, they ripped a building apart when their powers met. She knew it was the only way, Mark knew. He was just too stubborn to let her go. Her hand reached down to her stomach, she stroked it gently. She loved him completely and honestly and if this saved him from years of torture and pain then so be it. She had to do this. Tonight
His world was a hazy swirl of colours for days or was it weeks? He couldn't remember exactly. Voices wove in and out of them; male, female, gruff, friendly. All different kinds. What he was most aware of was the cold, chilling him to his bone and the pain, fading and in out at various points of his body. It was familiar, like a coating on his skin that had been stripped off suddenly before and put back on again. He'd felt this pain before, this cold numb confusion.
A light pierced its way as well, breaking the cold and filling him with warmth for a while before fading. He could feel a pressure constantly covering his head, keeping his eyes closed. Slowly he forced the pressure away and opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and unfocused until he blinked causing shapes to shift from blurry into sharp focus in front of him.
The walls were cream; plain and non-descript with dark red curtains drawn over the windows. Bags scattered the floor and it was as he looked down, he realised he was lying on a bed he didn't recognise. It wasn't his house; in fact it wasn't anyone's house he knew.
"You finally awake bro?" a teasing male voice piped up
Jeff slowly turned his head and spotted Matt sat on a chair at the other side of the room. He looked exhausted, dark circles ringing his eyes and was dressed in a simple black tee with baggy black jeans, his hair pulled back with a baseball cap on. It was then that Jeff realised that he was lying in a hotel room, in a hotel bed judging from the decor and he had no idea how he'd got there. He tried sitting up but immediately a spasm of pain shot through him. That was a familiar feeling too. Then a fragment of memory slotted into place. He'd been frozen, again. He groaned, his mouth feeling sludgy and dry.
Matt grinned and stood up. It was then that Jeff noticed that Lita had been sleeping against Matt's shoulder and Matt was now depositing her gently down so that she didn't wake up after he moved. Matt picked up a glass of water from the table beside him where a super-size bag of Skittles also sat and handed it to Jeff, helping him sit up to drink it. The cool water felt heavenly down his throat and he glugged the rest of it down greedily. With a laugh, Matt firmly took the empty glass from his brother and having deposited it on the beside ledge, sat down the edge of the bed.
"Guess you wanna know what's happened huh?" Matt asked
"Would be nice since I don't remember," Jeff said, his voice not sounding like his own
"Ok, you've been out for a week, well not out, just drifting in and out, they zapped you pretty damn good, the worst yet"
"Gee thanks, I don't feel wiped out"
Matt laughed then shifted about on the bed before starting again
"Well we got ya outta there and Sara's been pumping you with her light stuff to break the cold and its worked coz you're awake"
Jeff frowned, blowing out his breath. He felt like there were huge gaps in his memory from where things had happened without his knowledge. He jerked his head gently towards Lita's peacefully sleeping form
"How's Red doing?"
"Not so good, she's being effected by those power-sucking powers of Stacy's; she's getting weaker and weaker"
Jeff looked at Lita, she was paler it seemed but her sleep seemed peaceful. Matt followed Jeff's gaze and then smiled wearily at his brother.
"We're all pretty tired ourselves, we've been trying to stop her from feeling so drained and keep out of the way of Jenny as well getting you to wake up"
"Where are the others?"
"Mark went out for a ride with Sara and Trish is just ordering some take- out for us all" Matt replied, getting up
He walked back to his chair and sat down, stroking Amy's hair. Her eyelids fluttered and slowly she woke up. She looked around blearily and then noticed Jeff staring at her. She smiled widely in response as she stretched
"You're awake" she stated
"So are you" replied Jeff with a laugh
"Yeah, I guess I am" she agreed with a sleepy sigh "How long was I out for baby?"
"A couple of hours" answered Matt
"God I feel like death" she moaned "like parts of me are being sucked away and not put back, you guys both know what I mean don't you?"
"Hell yeah if its like being frozen" replied Matt, grimacing at his own memory of being frozen and dumped "we've been frozen but not attacked like you're being"
Just then, a door opened and Trish walked in, her cell-phone in her hand.
"Just ordered Chinese...Jeff you're awake!" she exclaimed
"Looks like it" laughed Jeff at her wide-eyed expression
"Chinese good for you?" she asked
"Anything resembling food sounds good to me right now"
"Chinese it is then"
Trish put her phone into her pocket and sat down on Jeff's bed, smiling at him. She gently took his hand in her's, stroking it softly with her thumb.
"We thought we lost you for a while when we got you out" she said quietly
"Yeah? How come?"
"Well when we went in there and tried to face down Jezebel, Eternal and Reckless, you were just lying there, your wrists taped together and your ankles, thanks to Sara's powers we got out alive and made our way to this hotel, you didn't move that night at all"
"How do you know that?" Jeff asked teasingly
"One of us stayed with you each night to make sure they didn't come back for you, I was there the first night" Trish replied "after that, you acted like you were sleeping, turning over, mumbling, do you know you sing in your sleep?"
"I didn't say anything did I?" Jeff asked suddenly, worry coursing through him at what he might have revealed to Trish that first forgotten night
"Nothing that I'll share with the others" Trish replied with a wink
She leaned down and kissed his forehead. He squeezed her hand in response. Maybe she did know. Matt was always telling him to stop wasting time and tell her before she found someone else. Maybe this was the time to do it since they were all in this together.
He didn't get a chance to think much more as the door banged open and Mark and Sara walked in. Mark looked more than a little pissed off, a look of thundery fire in his eyes. It looked like he and his wife had had an argument. Sara looked serious; her hands shoved deep into her jeans pockets. Mark was about to yell something; his arm thrust forward in a pointing angry gesture when he noticed Jeff was awake. He lowered his arm
"Good to see you alive boy" he said finally
"Thanks. I think" muttered Jeff
Trish grinned at him, squeezing his hand in reassurance. It evidently hadn't been an easy week for the group while he'd been in a fitful sleep. Sara smiled warmly at him, giving him a little wave of her hand in greeting, her other hand resting against her stomach.
"Now that the kid's awake" Mar began "lets look at our pathetic amount of options"
"Which are what exactly?" asked Matt, all business with Lita sat up straight beside him, a serious expression on her face and her right hand intertwined with Matt's
"Not much" sighed Sara
"We can continue the way we are, getting jumped, kidnapped and beaten everywhere we look, we can report this whole adventure of ours to the police or if necessary higher authorities or we can go after them ourselves again" Mark stated
"Well that didn't get us very far last time" pointed our Trish, twisting so that she faced Mark, her hand still in Jeff's "we got Matt back but we all got injured and Matt got taken again"
"But we discovered my powers" spoke up Sara "and that's really helped, it's kept them away from Mark for the past week and stopped Jeff's condition from getting worse" she stopped and took a long look around the room before speaking again, with hesitance in her voice "there is another option; that I go face Jezebel"
"Sara, I've told you that ain't an option" Mark said "she'd tear you apart"
"Not with these powers she won't" Sara retorted, holding her arms out to her sides with her white heat patches growing in each palm before disappearing just as quickly "she knows I can hurt her, that's why she's stayed away"
"If anyone goes, it should be me" Mark cut in with a fierce glare at his wife "I'm her twin, I'm the reason she's here so I should finish it all off"
"Mark, you saw how much she hurt you last time, you're not ready to face her, your powers aren't up to her's" Sara said
"You think you can take her on?"
"As a matter of fact...."
"Hold it there guys" Trish got up quickly from the bed and stepped in between them "this is not gonna solve anything, take a deep breath both of you"
Mark glared at his wife for a couple of seconds and then shook his head, turning away. Sara rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed at Jeff's feet. She stroked her stomach absently with one hand, a self-satisfied smile on her face.
"So what are we going to do?" Amy spoke up softly
"I don't know" sighed Trish sitting down on the bed again and catching hold of Jeff's hand as she did "but we don't think of something then we're gonna have a problem"
"You mean we haven't for the past few weeks?" snorted Matt gesturing to himself and Amy who raised her eyebrows to emphasise
"What I mean its gonna get worse, if that's possible, Jezebel's gonna get worse and worse" Trish answered
"I get so damn nervous training with her" Amy sighed "I mean she's fine then, acting like she's Jenny but I still feel uneasy, like she's gonna say her name or start hurting me"
"I get the same feeling" Jeff agreed "we can't stop working with her though, Vince thinks it's a great story which it would be if she wasn't an crazy psycho in real life"
There was a moment of silence, Jeff's words soaking in. It was broken by a sharp knocking at the door, which made Trish jump a little. Sara stood up, a smile on her face.
"Let's eat guys, we can solve this later"
"Sounds good to me, Skittles here needs some nourishment" said Trish with an affectionate smile as she reluctantly let go of Jeff's hand and got up to answer the door
"I think we all could," added Amy ruefully
Only Mark watched his wife. There was something beneath the easy breeziness of her demeanour. She was up to something and he had the uncomfortable feeling that it had something to do with her going after Jezebel. He'd have to watch her, who knew where her impulsive nature would take her, with or without his permission?
*
There was an atmosphere of stiff hot anger in the air as Jezebel paced the length of the room. Reckless sat on a chair, carefully bandaging his arm. He didn't need the bandage but to humans, he had to logically look hurt. Eternal sat beside him, a hand on his knee and a sulky expression on her face. Her other hand she kept opening and closing, frowning at it. They hadn't spoken since the attack and the blinding light from Lightning had momentarily halted them for long enough for Mark to get Jeff out of there.
There was nothing to say; they'd had a setback
A million thoughts blazed through Jezebel's mind. Each one she analysed in a fraction of second and discarded it immediately. She enjoyed torturing her twin, his pretty petty wife and their shambling group of followers. But it was all coming to a head. They were getting dangerous; they were working as a team, which meant trouble. It meant they could harness what power they had and maybe, just maybe do some damage.
This was not good. Jezebel smiled; it meant only one thing. Mark, Sara, all the little group. They'd have to be extinguished. Tonight
*
The door creaked as Sara opened it. She winced, waiting for Mark to wake up and demand to know where she was going. It never happened. Breathing a sigh of relief, she inched out and ran down the corridor down to reception. She was the only one who could stop Jezebel. It wasn't an arrogant statement; it was the truth. She had the oppositional powers to do it. Hell last time they clashed, they ripped a building apart when their powers met. She knew it was the only way, Mark knew. He was just too stubborn to let her go. Her hand reached down to her stomach, she stroked it gently. She loved him completely and honestly and if this saved him from years of torture and pain then so be it. She had to do this. Tonight
