Thanks to all those who have reviewed! I'm sorry it took longer than usual to update, but I was taking it easy with New Year and all! So I hope this chapter is worth the wait!
Power Struggle
The team decided that they needed a break; Jesse had discovered a new Jazz club in town. It was pretty quiet, which was why he had chosen it, ever since he had confirmed Phoebe's pregnancy, he had made sure that she was doing everything right, he made sure that she ate right, had the right amount of rest. He had even been to a doctor for some medication that would help her morning sickness, or as Phoebe liked to call it 'all day' sickness. There had been one thing that Phoebe had been annoyed about though, the fact that he wouldn't let her go on any missions. She had been complaining about cabin fever for so long, that he finally decided to let her leave Sanctuary. This is why all of them were sitting at a table in 'The Jazz Shack' but wasn't only for Phoebe's benefit, the rest of the team enjoyed the relaxing mood of the place.
'This place is great, Jess, it's real easy on the eyes,' Brennan was right; the place was dimly lit by small candles on each table and a medium sized spotlight on the stage.
'That's why I picked it, I didn't any of us were in the mood for raves tonight, so this is just what we needed,' he glanced at Phoebe.
The waitress came round and asked if they wanted anything to drink, this was what Phoebe had been dreading.
'Hey Pheebs, you wanting a beer?' Brennan asked.
'Uh…' she looked at the waitress 'Can I just have a glass of orange juice please?'
'Sure,' the waitress smiled and wrote the order down on her pad 'I'll be back with your drinks in a minute,' she walked away to the bar.
'You okay?' Brennan asked her, Phoebe had been acting slightly off ever since they had returned from the country.
Phoebe sighed, was she that obvious? If she had a dollar for every time she'd heard that question in the past two weeks, she'd have enough money to buy those sling backs she had had her eye on for a while.
'I'm fine,' she replied quite snappily. The lights centred on the stage as the band came on.
The group sipped their drinks as the band on the stage was playing a series of chill out songs.
'C'mon, you,' Phoebe tapped Brennan's arm 'Let's dance,' the two walked on to the dance floor to join other couples. Lexa moved closer to Jesse, in order to strike up a conversation.
'So, do you think something happened between them in the country?' Lexa asked. Jesse didn't know how to answer this, so he answered it as best as he could 'Yes,'
Lexa raised her eyebrows 'You sound sure, did Brennan tell you anything?'
No, Phoebe did he thought, but Lexa was giving him a funny look as he had been staring into space 'Oh, it's just a feeling,' he rose his glass to his lips on indicate their conversation was over.
'Phoebe, I'm really tired, can't we go to bed now?' Jesse whined. Phoebe and Jesse where training in the Dojo, it was around 3 in the morning. Unfortunately, this was the only time they could do it without raising suspicions. According to Jesse's research, the only way to stop the baby from channelling its powers through Phoebe was if she had daily regular use of her powers.
'Jess, just a couple more blasts and we'll call it a day… or night,' an empathic burst glowed in front of her forehead as she spoke 'Besides, you were the one who said I had to do this if I wanted to keep the baby from using its electrical powers that it got from its Daddy,'
'Yeah, about that, you won't be able to hide it for much longer. It'll probably be in a month when you start showing a gut,' Jesse laughed.
'Despite, that insensitive joke,' she glared at him 'You're right, I have to tell Brennan about the baby soon,' she looked up 'But until then, I need to use my powers in the dead of the night,'
'Can't you use your other powers to train by yourself? Constantly massing like this can't be good for me,'
'Are you kidding? It'll just make you stronger. Now come on, just a couple more times and you can get your beauty sleep, God knows you need it,' she smirked.
'Very funny, alright, show me what you got,'
'Gladly,' Phoebe turned away from Jesse, then turned back and fired the blast in the process. Jesse massed out and absorbed the blast, without taking any injuries. A second blast was dancing in front of her as soon as the first hit its target 'Okay, one more time and we're done,' Phoebe turned her head again, but as she fired, the little glowing bulb erupted into large, concentrated beam. The beam broke through Jesse's massed armour and sent him flying, and the force from firing something so strong sent Phoebe in the other direction.
Jesse got up off the floor and groaned; landing on the hard surface had left a bruise that was already coming through on his back. He quickly went to check on Phoebe who had landed on the ground just as hard.
'Are you okay?' he pulled her up to her feet
'Uh… yeah,' she blinked a few times before realising what happened
'So, much for keeping the baby's powers under control!'
Phoebe touched her stomach 'It wasn't the baby,' she looked up 'it was me,'
Phoebe looked back up at the computer screen as she took another bite from her cereal bowl filled with Granola. She had been up since 6:30, ever since she had got pregnant; she always woke up earlier than normal. This wasn't a bad thing; it just meant that she had no one to talk to for 3 hours, as everyone else got up later.
Thank God I used a soundproofing spell on Lexa's and Brennan's rooms she thought. She had taken a precaution to make sure that the others didn't catch her late night training sessions with Jesse. Phoebe looked at her watch, it was now 8:25, she had been up for the past 2 hours going through the entire mutant database to see if any other psionic witches had went through the same power advancement she had.
Brennan walked in behind her and kissed the top of her head as he rested his hands on her shoulders.
'Morning,' he whispered into her ear
She smiled 'Morning,' he kissed her cheek and move over the kitchen to sort out his breakfast. Phoebe looked around, Lexa and Jesse weren't up yet, now would be the best time to tell him. She walked over to the countertop and refilled her coffee mug
'Brennan I need to tell you something,' she rushed the sentence out, there was no going back now.
'What is it,' he sounded concerned when he saw her serious face and moved closer to her.
'Um… this is hard for me to say, and it's probably gonna be even harder for you to hear, but I'm-,'
'Morning,' Lexa stretched and entered the kitchen area, Phoebe and Brennan broke apart.
'Oh, morning,' Phoebe replied as Lexa made herself a peanut butter sandwich, Phoebe had to fight back the nausea that was being caused by the smell.
Brennan moved the conversation along by looking at his watch 'Wow! 8:30! Jess doesn't usually lie in for that long,'
Lexa looked at Jesse's room with a shocked look on her face 'Maybe he can't get out,'
'What makes you say that?' Phoebe asked, trying to block out the peanut butter smell by raising her coffee mug to her mouth and smelling its aroma.
'Well, maybe it's the fact that there's ice freezing over his door!' her voice was raised. Phoebe and Brennan spun around to look, it was true! And the ice was spreading from the door and into the walls of Sanctuary.
'We've got to stop it! If it goes any further it could bring the mountain down on us!' Brennan said.
The three ran over the door, the ice was now spreading to the floor and threatened to engulf their feet.
'Stand back!' Lexa shouted, the others did as they were told as she fired a roasting beam at the door, but for some reason, instead of going towards the door, the laser completely rebounded and sent Lexa flying back.
'Brennan! Do something!' Phoebe shouted as she went to check on Lexa, this also had a hidden perk, because she knew that if she had stayed close to the ice for much longer, her pregnancy would be exposed by the baby wanting to shield its Mommy from the ice.
Brennan nodded and fired a tesla coil at the door. This sent the door into a million pieces and the disturbance to the ice caused it to shrink back and go back to its source.
Brennan watched the ice revert, and was surprised it shrunk back into Jesse.
The entire Mutant X team were in the lab, they realised that something was going on. With Lexa's powers rebounding on her, she ended up with serious burns on her arm and Jesse was also dangerous, as it seemed that he could create ice at will. Although the rest of the team didn't know, except Jesse, Phoebe's psionic 'beam' could also be connected to all this.
'Are you okay?' Phoebe asked Lexa as she was sitting in the lab chair getting her burns tended to by Andy.
'Yeah… this is a really non-painful way of healing,' Lexa said, obviously impressed by the warm glow of Andy's healing power.
'Okay, that's you,' Andy retreated his hands and Lexa looked at her arm
'Wow, you're good,'
'I still don't understand this whole white lighter thing,' Jesse said
'You will in time,' Phoebe replied 'But as we do have one, we might as well use him,' she smirked in Andy's direction 'Why don't you see if the Elders have any info on our powers? Although I doubt it, they hardly ever have any good information,' Andy nodded and orbed away.
'Elders?' Lexa questioned
Brennan and Phoebe laughed 'You may be able to cast spells now, but you still have no idea about being a witch,'
Brennan looked at her 'Wait a minute, you said 'our powers' have yours spiralled out of control?'
Phoebe's heart skipped a beat, she slipped up! She would tell him when it happened, and then she would have to tell him why she was training.
'Uh… I was training in the Dojo was Jesse early this morning and my psionic blast turned into a large beam of energy, it even broke through his massing,' she replied
'Why were you training so early?' Brennan asked.
Phoebe took a deep breath 'Actually… it has something to do with what I wanted to talk to you about,' she glanced at Jesse, signalling that she wanted to be alone with him.
'Uh… C'mon Lex, I'll… give you a game a pool in the rec room,' Jesse began to walk out of the lab.
Lexa looked back and forth between Brennan and Phoebe then stood up 'Okay,' she suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.
'Lexa, why did you turn invisible?' Phoebe asked, she got no response 'Lexa?'
'In here!' Lexa voice came from the rec room. The group gave each other confused looks and went to the rec room.
They found Lexa sitting down on one of the sofas, her face was pale and she looked as if she was about to throw up.
'How did you get here so fast?' Jesse asked her as he down to comfort her.
'Uh… I dunno, I was thinking about going to the rec room, and suddenly, I was here,'
'Try and do it again,' Jesse said
'What?'
'I have a theory, just think of another room,'
She sighed 'Alright,' she closed her eyes, and disappeared in a flash of light.
'Marco!' Phoebe shouted
'Polo!' Lexa shouted back
'Bedroom,' said Brennan and they followed him to Lexa's bedroom.
They walked in and once again she looked queasy
'Jess, just tell me your damn theory! I don't want to do that again,' Lexa snapped.
'Um… okay, well… your powers, all have light as a source, right? So I think that maybe you travelling at the speed of light or something like that,'
'So that's why I feel like my stomach is in my throat?' she smirked
He laughed and put his arms around her 'Yes, although that's not how I would put it,'
Brennan was sitting at the computers; he was sifting through the security camera footage to investigate Phoebe's advancement. In his years in Mutant X, he had seen a lot of psionic mutants and he might be able to identify it.
Lexa 'flashed' in, Jesse had named so that Lexa would stop calling it 'The Hurl Express,' she had been practising it for a while, or, she was not trying to use it. If she was going to appear in a room she was thinking of, she'd need to get under control or she'd end up exposing them.
'What are you doing?' Lexa asked
'Hmm? Oh, I just looking at Phoebe's advancement, to see if I can ID it,'
'Had any luck?'
'I'm still trying to find it through all this footage,' he took his eye off the screen for one second
'Oh! Hit play! Hit play!' Lexa pointed at the screen
Brennan stopped the rewind and started to watch the tape, it was just at the start of Phoebe and Jesse's conversation.
'Phoebe, I'm really tired, can't we go to bed now?' Jesse whined.
'Jess, just a couple more blasts and we'll call it a day… or night… besides, you were the one who said I had to do this if I wanted to keep the baby from using its electrical powers that it got from its Daddy,' Phoebe replied.
Brennan felt as if that last sentence had punched him in the gut and left him winded, Lexa just stood with a dropped jaw.
'Yeah, about that, you won't be able to hide it for much longer. It'll probably be in a month when you start showing a gut,' Jesse laughed.
'Can't you use your other powers to train by yourself? Constantly massing like this can't be good for me,'
'Are you kidding? It'll just make you stronger. Now come on, just a couple more times and you can get your beauty sleep, God knows you need it,' she smirked.
'Very funny, alright, show me what you got,'
She blasted him once, and on the second time, Brennan saw what he had originally intended to see, although he got a lot more.
'Oh my God…' Lexa breathed, Brennan just sat in the chair, completely stunned 'You okay?' she asked him.
'I… uh… I… need to go talk to Phoebe…' he walked off her room.
Phoebe had her blouse lifted up slightly; she was looking at her stomach in a full- length mirror. She was probably being paranoid, but she was convinced that there was a bump.
'What are you doing?' Brennan was standing at the door.
She wheeled around on the spot and dropped her blouse 'Brennan! Um… I was just… checking the waistline on my pants, you know making sure they still fit!' she laughed nervously.
'I think it's too early for maternity clothes, and I also think it's too early for stretch marks,'
Phoebe's fake smile vanished from her face; it was replaced with a look of shock and fear.
'I… How did you-,'
'I was looking through the security footage to see your new power and I saw your conversation with Jess,'
She sighed and looked down at the floor 'I didn't want you to find out that way, I was going to tell you,'
'When? When I had to rush you to the hospital?'
'Of course not!'
'Then why did you tell Jesse before me?'
'Because I needed him to run the test, and if I'd asked you, you would have reacted the same way you're reacting now!' her eyes began to well up, she laughed 'Damn hormones…' she wiped her eyes.
Brennan pulled her into a tight hug 'I'm not angry, not at all… it's just a surprise, you know?'
Phoebe laughed 'Yeah, according to Jesse, I went 3 shades of white, green and purple when he told me,' she pulled away slightly so she could make eye contact 'So, now that you know, how do you feel about it?'
'Honestly?' Brennan took a deep breath 'I come from a big family, not to mention a lot of other kids were around when I was growing up, and being the second oldest of 5, I have a lot of experience with babies, so that doesn't scare me, and…' he leaned in and kissed her 'Having it with you isn't all that bad!' he smirked, but then took a more serious tone 'But… although I'm not scared of looking after a baby, it'll it me a while to get used to the fact that I'm gonna be a Daddy,'
She smiled 'I know the feeling,' then her smile went neutral 'So, I guess Lexa knows then?' she rested her forehead on his heart, she could feel it beating.
'Uh… yeah, she was with me when I was looking at the footage,' he answered
'So much for staying a secret!' Phoebe sighed
'Yeah, but it means I can do this anytime I want…' Brennan lips met hers in a passionate kiss, but it was interrupted by Lexa knocking on the door.
'Sorry to interrupt,' she smirked at Phoebe 'But we've got trouble,'
'Hmm… alright, I am invincible after all,' Phoebe replied
'What?' Brennan looked at her
'Let's just say that our child doesn't like Mommy to be in danger,' she smirked.
'Alright Jess, what you got for us?' Brennan walked in holding Phoebe's hand
Jesse looked between the two and smiled, but then went back to the problem.
'We got a distress call from one of the safe houses in the city. We didn't respond to it immediately because we were dealing with our powers,' he pressed something on the keyboard and the screen showed the safehouses current condition. Phoebe gasped in horror, it was a collection of blood, fire and even though she wasn't there, she could even sense the residual pain coming from the scene.
'I… think we should go see if they're any survivors,' Jesse said quietly
Brennan nodded and began to walk to the hanger with Jesse, Phoebe quickly ran to her room and picked up her brown suede jacket, she was going too.
'Brennan, hold on! I wanna come along,' she walked up to him before he got into the Helix
'No, I saw how that footage effected you because of your powers, how do think you're gonna feel if you're actually there?'
'I know, but… it's because of my powers that I'll be able to help trapped souls moved on,' she argued
'Phoebe, you're carrying a child. My child. Everything you do effects… it, and-,'
'It's a boy,'
'What?'
Oh crap she thought, she didn't want to tell him about her premonition, so she lied
'Well, it just that the baby has been showing all of your powers, not mine, so I'm just making an educated guess…' she changed the subject 'Look, you know I'm not going to give up, so the sooner you say yes, the sooner we can get going,'
He sighed and looked down, although her stubbornness was part of what he loved about her, it could be a real pain sometimes. Brennan gave in and let aboard the Helix, although he didn't get away without getting some smirks from Jesse.
'What?'
'Oh… nothing,' Jesse smiled as they took off.
They arrived at the safehouse, the place looked even worse in person; the door had been blasted off the hinges and was lying on the floor. The smell of death and destruction filled the air as they walked down the staircase and into the main area.
Phoebe was using all her strength to stop the stray lingering emotions from affecting her, but it was hard considering the reek of death that filled the air.
'What happened here?' Jesse breathed
Phoebe ran her hand over a tabletop, inspecting the dried blood on it, whoever had been here, must have taken all the corpses with them. She reached the end of the table and touched an empty glass, and was taken by a premonition.
screaming… blood… evil…pain…slaughter
She got came out of the premonition, screaming from the pain in her heart and her stomach; Brennan was immediately at her side.
'Oh my God! What the hell happened?!' he exclaimed.
Phoebe was still bawling 'I saw it… I saw it all! It was a massacre, Brennan…' she whispered as she began to weep into his shoulder.
Brennan comforted her, as Jesse tried to salvage the remains of the computer, hoping it would provide some answers.
'Well, I knew Mutant X would come to visit eventually,' a voice came from the doorway. The three turned around to address the person, Phoebe instantly recognised him from Sanctuary's database and her premonition. This was Gabriel Ashlocke.
'Like what I've done with the place?' he smirked and held out his arms, as if he was trying to be some sort of god.
'You heartless son of a bitch,' Phoebe snarled, but Brennan stood in front of her protectively, this gesture was ignored though as Phoebe stepped round him to face Ashlocke.
He wasn't alone; he was with two other people, probably mutants, as it would have been stupid for him to take all three on with just himself.
Brennan ignited electricity his hands 'Get out of here. Now.'
'Oh c'mon Brennan, you don't need to protect your whore, she thinks she can handle herself,'
'Wanna see what this 'whore' can do?' she said darkly before releasing a psionic beam, it didn't blast her back like last time; Phoebe figured that had just been a first time thing.
Ashlocke quickly raised his shield the deflected the blast to the wall 'Oh, big mistake,' he fired an energy blast at Phoebe, which was met by an electrical shield emitting from her stomach, the blast only made her stumble slightly.
'Pretty good, let's try again, shall we?' he fired another blast, which Phoebe was again protected from by her unborn child.
Ashlocke's goons took this as a signal to attack Jesse and Brennan, who prepared for a fight, but not for the guns that they pulled from their coats.
The first one opened fire on Brennan, who instinctively put up his hand, and was shocked when an electrical shield came from it, it looked similar to Phoebe's, but it wasn't the same.
Brennan looked down at his hand in shock at what he had just done, and then he remembered the way powers in his family grew, his mother's words echoed in his mind.
First, you shall project your element, then you shall propel yourself with your element, and then you shall shield yourself with your element.
The goon looked as stunned as Brennan, but he recovered by quickly reloading his gun. Brennan came out of his shocked state and fired a lightning bolt, which sent his attacker flying and knocked him out.
Jesse staring down his opponent, he knew he was a better fighter when he was mad, so he focused all his anger into the battle ahead of him. He was confused when the goon looked at him with a frightful look and wondered what he had done to scare him. Jesse suddenly saw steam rise from his body and he looked at his hands, he was glowing red-hot! The gunner regained his composure and began to shoot, but the aura of heat that Jesse was emitting melted the bullets before they reached him! Jesse used this time to run at the man and punch him with roasting fist, it sent the man into the air and left a horrible burn on his cheek.
Phoebe and Ashlocke were still fighting it out, neither was winning as Ashlocke would shield and attack and Phoebe would do the same. She fired a psionic beam as he fired an energy blast; both attacks cancelled each other out and caused a shockwave, sending both of them to the ground.
Ashlocke surveyed the scene, both of his Links were down and the other Mutant X members were advancing on him, he decided to make an escape.
He smirked 'This isn't over yet!' he created a blinding flash much like Lexa's, and when the light had vanished, so had he.
Mutant X were now in the computer area, discussing their new powers, apparently this had happened before, when the entire teams powers advanced at the same time, Jesse could only come to the conclusion that it was because they all lived together.
'Okay, Lexa can transport herself in light, Phoebe's mental attack had boosted, and I can create an impenetrable electrical field, but that still doesn't explain where your powers came from Jess,' Brennan said with his arms folded.
Jesse's answer was simple 'Well… I can already alter my body density… why not my body temperature?'
'Any idea why Ashlocke slaughtered everyone in the safe house?' Phoebe asked coldly.
'Well, my theory is that he was trying to recruit people for the Strand, and when they refused, he killed them,' Jesse answered.
'Yeah, well, it's been a long day, so I, am going to bed,' Lexa disappeared in a blaze of light, they all knew that she had used her new power.
'I think I will too,' Jesse began to walk away.
'Alright, just don't freeze anything, of set anything on fire by accident, okay man?' Brennan smirked.
Jesse smiled 'I'll remember that, night,' he called as he disappeared from view.
Phoebe began to walk away, but Brennan caught her hand
'Hey, I was thinking that since we're not a secret anymore, maybe we could stay in the same room?'
Phoebe sighed 'Sure, I could use the company tonight,' her eyes began to fill up again.
'Hormones?'
Phoebe chuckled hollowly 'No, it's just the pile of dead bodies that we could have prevented from being if we had noticed,' she began to cry.
Brennan wrapped his arms around her 'Jesse said that the distress call was sent 2 minutes before everyone died, we couldn't have done anything even if we had caught the plea immediately,'
'How do you guys get over stuff like this?'
'Well, you're a Charmed One, I'm sure you've lost an innocent at least once, right?' he said.
'Yeah, but that was only one person, I've never lost a crowd before,' she replied.
'Look, all we can do is avenge them by vanquishing Ashlocke once and for all. In this line of work, you have to move on from the past pretty quickly, even if you don't want to,'
Phoebe nodded and led him over to her bedroom, and she also vowed to herself that she wouldn't put her baby through a premonition like that ever again, and the only way for that to happen was to rid the world of Gabriel Ashlocke.
Okay! Did you like? I'm planning on doing 22 chapters for the Piper and Paige story, and the Mutant X story, it might be 23 if I make both finales two parters. So that makes this story 45 or 47 chapters long (I'm not including the first as anything beacause Phoebe was still with her sisters)
Chapter 18 'Mind, Dead Body, and Soul' will be up soon!
