* * *Jesse's Computer* * *
Emma was sitting in a chair looking intently on the screen. Jesse walked inside carrying a plate with a bologna sandwich on it. "What are you doing? . . . Did Adam ask you do something? . . . Did something happen?" he panicked.
Emma grinned at his panicking. "No . . . me and Shalimar are gonna take Carli to a movie, I'm checking for times," she explained. Jesse sighed in relief. "So . . . I guess someone told you about what happened between Shalimar and Brennan, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jesse answered. "A little strange isn't it, how those things can happen impulsively."
Emma nodded, her eyes still on the screen. "Yes . . ." she responded, not really paying attention.
Jesse's heart fell that Emma couldn't even pay attention in their conversation.
"I wonder what they are gonna do . . . I was sensing Shalimar's awkwardness," Emma replied. "That and she told me how awkward she was feeling."
Jesse's spirit lightened. "So . . . what movie are you gonna see?"
"I dunno . . . so many movies playing, haven't seen a movie in a theater since I came here," Emma said. "Been so busy with saving the world and all."
"Yeah . . . and all," Jesse responded. "Well, if you don't see a movie later, I'll take you to one sometime."
Emma raised her eyebrow and made eye contact with Jesse. "Jesse, are you asking me out?"
"Uh---maybe--well," he stammered.
Emma grinned at his stuttering. "Well, when you do decide, I'll be in my room," she got out of the chair and started to walk away.
"Hey, wait," Jesse grabbed her hand, making her stop. Suddenly, Emma saw into his mind, the emotions swarming around her, the love, the passion . . . the want. Emma then shot the same thoughts to Jesse, feeling the exact same thing at the exact same moment, suddenly, they moved together and their lips found each other. Jesse's arms went around Emma's waist, and hers around Jesse's neck. The seconds flew by, until Emma pulled away.
"Wait, what is it? What's wrong?" Jesse asked.
"Jesse . . . I can't," Emma didn't want to explain that she wasn't feeling the same herself, that she was just reflecting Jesse's emotion, but she sensed that he was so happy, and that the truth the could hurt him dearly. "I have to go." Emma walked away, wiping off her mouth. "I'm sorry."
"What'd I do?" Jesse asked.
Emma opened the door to her bedroom, she dropped onto her bed and screamed in her pillow. Shalimar heard it and walked in. "What? What happened?"
Emma rolled over and looked at her. "I kissed him."
"Brennan?" Shalimar asked.
"No! Jesse . . ." Emma explained. Then she explained the power reflection.
"Oh . . . that can't be good, Jesse will be crushed!" Shalimar replied.
"I know . . ."
"But what about you?" Shalimar asked.
"What about me?"
"Well, I'd hate to sound like a psychiatrist but "how does that make you feel?"
Emma made a face. "I don't know."
* * *Later* * *
Carli walked near the door to the garage where they kept the Helix. "Are we going to a movie yet?" she shouted. Jesse, Emma, Brennan, and Shalimar walked up. Emma stopped when she saw Jesse, Jesse stopped when he saw Emma. Shalimar stopped when she Brennan, and Brennan stopped when he saw Shalimar.
Carli's eyebrows furrowed, then an electric shock of pain hit her temple. "Ah---why do have to think so loudly . . ."
"Excuse me?" Emma asked.
"Man! Why are you thinking so much, you're acting like---" Then she stumbled, another shock of pain hit her head.
"Carli?" Brennan asked.
"What's wrong?" Shalimar asked, they all stepped toward her.
Carli held up her hands. "Wait, don't come any closer . . . you're so loud!" Her hands clutched her head. "Just stop!" The pain was too much, then their worried voices and thoughts got more quiet, then it all went black.
Carli collapsed. They rushed to her side.
"What happened?" Jesse asked.
* * *Lab* * *
Carli came to consciousness on a big chair in the lab. Yellow beams spread over her body. She tried to concentrate but she was too weak. Right after the scan ended, Adam and Emma came running in.
"Carli . . . I don't know to tell you this . . . you have brain cancer, that's why you've lost control of your telepathy," Adam tried to break the news.
"I know . . . I've known since I was eleven . . ." Carli said as she got on her feet.
"How come it didn't come on the scan last time?" Emma asked Adam.
"It did, I cloaked it from your vision, making you see that nothing came up," Carli said as if were nothing.
Brennan, Jesse, and Shalimar walked in after overhearing.
"You can do that?" Shalimar asked.
Carli inhaled deeply to explain. "See, when I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when I was eleven, my powers started to grow really fast. So three years later, I've learned to control it. But now, my actual DNA is mutating now making my powers grow again but this time I haven't controlled them."
"So you're brain cancer AND your DNA are making your powers grow?" Adam asked.
"That's how I figure it, you're the "pioneer" why don't you tell me?" Carli asked.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Jesse asked. "They could've helped you."
"I'll let you use your imagination on that one," Carli looked down, then she shot a telepathic signal, making them all think she was still there, then Carli walked out. As soon as she was out the door, the visual cloaking wore off because she was weak.
"Brennan, stop her!" Adam yelled. "Use your powers anything!"
Brennan shot out the door, Carli was making it towards the garage. Carli stopped when she sensed him coming. She turned around. "Come on, Adam can help you."
"I don't want Adam's help, Brennan. That's why I didn't want anyone finding out, because I didn't want to spend the rest of my days in a hospital bed."
"You won't . . ."
"You don't know that," Carli stated.
"Fine, if you wanna be that way," Brennan held out his hands, blue sparks came between his fingers, he held his palms together and the sparks became harnessed energy.
Carli's left hand went to her temple and her right hand was outstretched towards Brennan's hands. Brennan closed his eyes. "I can't . . . make myself shoot my powers . . ."
"That's because she's using her powers against your mind not want to," Adam explained.
"That's right . . . I'll stay, but I don't want you to help me, I want to live my life out."
"Do you want to die?"
"No, but I surely don't want to die attached to a life support machine," Carli replied.
* * *Lab* * *
"I'm sorry, I tried to save you from it, but instead I just slowed it down," Adam apologized.
"Nothing to be sorry for, Adam. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far," Carli responded. "I would've died when I was little."
"But you still are little, you're only fourteen."
"Only fourteen? Trust me, Adam, I'm ready to die when I'm ready to die. Doesn't matter if I'm old enough," Carli answered. "I'm not afraid. But I do ask something."
"What?"
"You take me to Mr. Eckhart. I want to speak with him."
"You can't, he'll keep you in one of those pods."
"If he can get a hand on me, I can protect myself."
* * *In the Double Helix* * *
Carli was sitting in a chair. Shalimar turned around from her seat. "If anything happens down there, Carli, we'll be up here. Just whistle, I can hear it, we'll be down there in a flash."
"OK, but I don't think he'll get that far."
Carli walked into Eckhart's office in a breeze. Cloaking agents' visions. The door automatically opened. Mason turned around. "Ms. Connors. How did you get in here?"
"I won't tell you, you don't think too brightly about us Children of Genomex, huh?"
"Telepathy's making you a bright child, Ms. Connors. But I wouldn't flash your knowledge around like that."
"We're alike, you and I, Mr. Eckhart."
"How is that?" he asked, deciding to play along with her game.
"We have a new lease on life, now that we're both losing ours."
"What?"
"I got terminal brain cancer, and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Don't be so sure . . . I can do something." He pressed the button on the speaker phone. "All units to my office."
"Oh come on, you don't think I'd come here unprepared, now do you?" Carli asked, just as the doors revealed eight armed agents.
"Get her," Mason commanded.
Carli's hands outstretched towards them. "No, get him," she commanded solemnly.
"What?" Mason asked astonished.
"It turns out that this little cancer thing has gave me more power that can ever be thought of, Mason." She turned towards the agents. "Leave." They filed out.
"You will be more of an asset than I could've ever imagined, Ms. Connors," Mason replied.
"Mason, Mason, Mason. Still acting like you're in control, when you're not. Pretty naive to think that you, a helpless little genetic science-man could control such powerful beings, someday, sooner than you think. Someone is gonna give you what you deserve."
"How do you know that?"
"I see it, in my head," Carli responded. "Tell me, Mason. What happens to a system of computers when it's crossed with a powerful telepath?"
"What?"
Her hands came together than separate quickly. "Kaboom." She stepped back, her hands touched her head. Mason stands up while she's concentrating, he pulled out a gun from his drawer and aims it at her head. Suddenly, his computer explodes sending him flying into a wall, he shoots it, but instead of hitting her in the head, it hits her abdomen.
Carli falls to her knees, blood starts to stain her shirt. "Oh no." She whistled as loud as she could.
"You're gonna get it now, science-man . . ." Carli said weakly.
Shalimar ran inside the office, she took one look at Mason and smelled Carli's blood. "You bastard."
Mason stood up. "She'll be in a better place." Shalimar came down to her knees and held Carli close to her. Mason disappeared when she looked back.
Carli looked up to Shalimar. "This is what I want, to die like a hero."
"Like JLA," Shalimar replied.
Carli nodded weakly and smiled. "Yeah, or Mutant X . . ." then her eyes got a little cloudy. "We'll meet again, all of you." she swallowed, and her voice became a whisper. "Don't get any help, please. Just stay with me, wait until I go."
"OK," she said, tears began to slip down her cheeks.
Carli's eyes became cloudier by the second then the light disappeared.
::Shalimar, what happened? Is Carli OK?:: Adam asked from the comm set ring.
Shalimar swallowed the tears down and lifted the ring closer to her mouth. "Uh--Carli's dead, Eckhart shot her."
::Oh no::
"It's OK . . . she died like a hero."
* * * The End* * *
Emma was sitting in a chair looking intently on the screen. Jesse walked inside carrying a plate with a bologna sandwich on it. "What are you doing? . . . Did Adam ask you do something? . . . Did something happen?" he panicked.
Emma grinned at his panicking. "No . . . me and Shalimar are gonna take Carli to a movie, I'm checking for times," she explained. Jesse sighed in relief. "So . . . I guess someone told you about what happened between Shalimar and Brennan, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah," Jesse answered. "A little strange isn't it, how those things can happen impulsively."
Emma nodded, her eyes still on the screen. "Yes . . ." she responded, not really paying attention.
Jesse's heart fell that Emma couldn't even pay attention in their conversation.
"I wonder what they are gonna do . . . I was sensing Shalimar's awkwardness," Emma replied. "That and she told me how awkward she was feeling."
Jesse's spirit lightened. "So . . . what movie are you gonna see?"
"I dunno . . . so many movies playing, haven't seen a movie in a theater since I came here," Emma said. "Been so busy with saving the world and all."
"Yeah . . . and all," Jesse responded. "Well, if you don't see a movie later, I'll take you to one sometime."
Emma raised her eyebrow and made eye contact with Jesse. "Jesse, are you asking me out?"
"Uh---maybe--well," he stammered.
Emma grinned at his stuttering. "Well, when you do decide, I'll be in my room," she got out of the chair and started to walk away.
"Hey, wait," Jesse grabbed her hand, making her stop. Suddenly, Emma saw into his mind, the emotions swarming around her, the love, the passion . . . the want. Emma then shot the same thoughts to Jesse, feeling the exact same thing at the exact same moment, suddenly, they moved together and their lips found each other. Jesse's arms went around Emma's waist, and hers around Jesse's neck. The seconds flew by, until Emma pulled away.
"Wait, what is it? What's wrong?" Jesse asked.
"Jesse . . . I can't," Emma didn't want to explain that she wasn't feeling the same herself, that she was just reflecting Jesse's emotion, but she sensed that he was so happy, and that the truth the could hurt him dearly. "I have to go." Emma walked away, wiping off her mouth. "I'm sorry."
"What'd I do?" Jesse asked.
Emma opened the door to her bedroom, she dropped onto her bed and screamed in her pillow. Shalimar heard it and walked in. "What? What happened?"
Emma rolled over and looked at her. "I kissed him."
"Brennan?" Shalimar asked.
"No! Jesse . . ." Emma explained. Then she explained the power reflection.
"Oh . . . that can't be good, Jesse will be crushed!" Shalimar replied.
"I know . . ."
"But what about you?" Shalimar asked.
"What about me?"
"Well, I'd hate to sound like a psychiatrist but "how does that make you feel?"
Emma made a face. "I don't know."
* * *Later* * *
Carli walked near the door to the garage where they kept the Helix. "Are we going to a movie yet?" she shouted. Jesse, Emma, Brennan, and Shalimar walked up. Emma stopped when she saw Jesse, Jesse stopped when he saw Emma. Shalimar stopped when she Brennan, and Brennan stopped when he saw Shalimar.
Carli's eyebrows furrowed, then an electric shock of pain hit her temple. "Ah---why do have to think so loudly . . ."
"Excuse me?" Emma asked.
"Man! Why are you thinking so much, you're acting like---" Then she stumbled, another shock of pain hit her head.
"Carli?" Brennan asked.
"What's wrong?" Shalimar asked, they all stepped toward her.
Carli held up her hands. "Wait, don't come any closer . . . you're so loud!" Her hands clutched her head. "Just stop!" The pain was too much, then their worried voices and thoughts got more quiet, then it all went black.
Carli collapsed. They rushed to her side.
"What happened?" Jesse asked.
* * *Lab* * *
Carli came to consciousness on a big chair in the lab. Yellow beams spread over her body. She tried to concentrate but she was too weak. Right after the scan ended, Adam and Emma came running in.
"Carli . . . I don't know to tell you this . . . you have brain cancer, that's why you've lost control of your telepathy," Adam tried to break the news.
"I know . . . I've known since I was eleven . . ." Carli said as she got on her feet.
"How come it didn't come on the scan last time?" Emma asked Adam.
"It did, I cloaked it from your vision, making you see that nothing came up," Carli said as if were nothing.
Brennan, Jesse, and Shalimar walked in after overhearing.
"You can do that?" Shalimar asked.
Carli inhaled deeply to explain. "See, when I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when I was eleven, my powers started to grow really fast. So three years later, I've learned to control it. But now, my actual DNA is mutating now making my powers grow again but this time I haven't controlled them."
"So you're brain cancer AND your DNA are making your powers grow?" Adam asked.
"That's how I figure it, you're the "pioneer" why don't you tell me?" Carli asked.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Jesse asked. "They could've helped you."
"I'll let you use your imagination on that one," Carli looked down, then she shot a telepathic signal, making them all think she was still there, then Carli walked out. As soon as she was out the door, the visual cloaking wore off because she was weak.
"Brennan, stop her!" Adam yelled. "Use your powers anything!"
Brennan shot out the door, Carli was making it towards the garage. Carli stopped when she sensed him coming. She turned around. "Come on, Adam can help you."
"I don't want Adam's help, Brennan. That's why I didn't want anyone finding out, because I didn't want to spend the rest of my days in a hospital bed."
"You won't . . ."
"You don't know that," Carli stated.
"Fine, if you wanna be that way," Brennan held out his hands, blue sparks came between his fingers, he held his palms together and the sparks became harnessed energy.
Carli's left hand went to her temple and her right hand was outstretched towards Brennan's hands. Brennan closed his eyes. "I can't . . . make myself shoot my powers . . ."
"That's because she's using her powers against your mind not want to," Adam explained.
"That's right . . . I'll stay, but I don't want you to help me, I want to live my life out."
"Do you want to die?"
"No, but I surely don't want to die attached to a life support machine," Carli replied.
* * *Lab* * *
"I'm sorry, I tried to save you from it, but instead I just slowed it down," Adam apologized.
"Nothing to be sorry for, Adam. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far," Carli responded. "I would've died when I was little."
"But you still are little, you're only fourteen."
"Only fourteen? Trust me, Adam, I'm ready to die when I'm ready to die. Doesn't matter if I'm old enough," Carli answered. "I'm not afraid. But I do ask something."
"What?"
"You take me to Mr. Eckhart. I want to speak with him."
"You can't, he'll keep you in one of those pods."
"If he can get a hand on me, I can protect myself."
* * *In the Double Helix* * *
Carli was sitting in a chair. Shalimar turned around from her seat. "If anything happens down there, Carli, we'll be up here. Just whistle, I can hear it, we'll be down there in a flash."
"OK, but I don't think he'll get that far."
Carli walked into Eckhart's office in a breeze. Cloaking agents' visions. The door automatically opened. Mason turned around. "Ms. Connors. How did you get in here?"
"I won't tell you, you don't think too brightly about us Children of Genomex, huh?"
"Telepathy's making you a bright child, Ms. Connors. But I wouldn't flash your knowledge around like that."
"We're alike, you and I, Mr. Eckhart."
"How is that?" he asked, deciding to play along with her game.
"We have a new lease on life, now that we're both losing ours."
"What?"
"I got terminal brain cancer, and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Don't be so sure . . . I can do something." He pressed the button on the speaker phone. "All units to my office."
"Oh come on, you don't think I'd come here unprepared, now do you?" Carli asked, just as the doors revealed eight armed agents.
"Get her," Mason commanded.
Carli's hands outstretched towards them. "No, get him," she commanded solemnly.
"What?" Mason asked astonished.
"It turns out that this little cancer thing has gave me more power that can ever be thought of, Mason." She turned towards the agents. "Leave." They filed out.
"You will be more of an asset than I could've ever imagined, Ms. Connors," Mason replied.
"Mason, Mason, Mason. Still acting like you're in control, when you're not. Pretty naive to think that you, a helpless little genetic science-man could control such powerful beings, someday, sooner than you think. Someone is gonna give you what you deserve."
"How do you know that?"
"I see it, in my head," Carli responded. "Tell me, Mason. What happens to a system of computers when it's crossed with a powerful telepath?"
"What?"
Her hands came together than separate quickly. "Kaboom." She stepped back, her hands touched her head. Mason stands up while she's concentrating, he pulled out a gun from his drawer and aims it at her head. Suddenly, his computer explodes sending him flying into a wall, he shoots it, but instead of hitting her in the head, it hits her abdomen.
Carli falls to her knees, blood starts to stain her shirt. "Oh no." She whistled as loud as she could.
"You're gonna get it now, science-man . . ." Carli said weakly.
Shalimar ran inside the office, she took one look at Mason and smelled Carli's blood. "You bastard."
Mason stood up. "She'll be in a better place." Shalimar came down to her knees and held Carli close to her. Mason disappeared when she looked back.
Carli looked up to Shalimar. "This is what I want, to die like a hero."
"Like JLA," Shalimar replied.
Carli nodded weakly and smiled. "Yeah, or Mutant X . . ." then her eyes got a little cloudy. "We'll meet again, all of you." she swallowed, and her voice became a whisper. "Don't get any help, please. Just stay with me, wait until I go."
"OK," she said, tears began to slip down her cheeks.
Carli's eyes became cloudier by the second then the light disappeared.
::Shalimar, what happened? Is Carli OK?:: Adam asked from the comm set ring.
Shalimar swallowed the tears down and lifted the ring closer to her mouth. "Uh--Carli's dead, Eckhart shot her."
::Oh no::
"It's OK . . . she died like a hero."
* * * The End* * *