Chapter 10: Absolution
"Peter?!"
"Jesse?"
"But… they said you were dead."
"No, no. I don't understand. Harrison took you away. I heard you scream and then the link was gone. You died. You're dead"
"No, I'm not dead now. But I was then. I remember that day. That was the first time my heart and brain activity stopped during a test. I was technically dead. Harrison thought it was amusing that I survived. I was out of it for a while and when I came to you weren't there. The link was gone, then I heard Jacobs tell Harrison that you'd gone crazy and they had to kill you."
"Well, obviously I'm not dead either. They came for me right after I lost the link. I thought they had killed you, and I thought they were going to kill me too. I panicked."
"What happened?"
"I don't remember doing it, but I killed them. Three lab techs."
"But how? The governor…"
"I don't know. Maybe it broke or maybe they disabled it too early. I was scared and it just happened."
"It's okay, now. We can teach you to control your powers."
"Control them? Jesse, I influence people to kill themselves! Those three lab techs killed themselves because my brain went haywire. Then after I escaped, there were two more people! Why would I want to control something like that!? I don't want to kill people."
"No, Peter. We can teach you to control your powers so things like that will never happen again. Or, if you want, we can insert a permanent governor. But it would probably stop your telepathy too."
Peter felt himself calming, recognizing the familiar, if long absent, presence of his friend. "Are you sure? Who's we?"
"I'm sure. We have our own governors, but we only use them when mutants are a danger to others. The 'we' is my team. We're called Mutant X. It's our job to help people like us."
"Us?"
Jesse nodded. "Us. We're both something called new mutants, Peter. About 25, 30 years ago scientists altered our genetic structure for medical reasons. But the genes mutated, and we developed powers. There are all different kinds of mutants. One of the lead scientists on the project, Adam Kane, is the one who helped me get out of Genomex. He's the one who can teach you all kinds of things about controlling your powers."
Peter paused. "How long were you there?"
Jesse's 'voice' was soft. "After you left? Another 11 months."
"God, Jesse. I thought you were dead. If I'd've known you were alive, I never would have left without you."
"It's okay. If I had escaped then, I never would have met Adam, or Shalimar or Brennan…"
"Shalimar? Brennan? Katie's friends? Oh, God, Katie! Is she okay?"
Jesse reassured Peter. "She's fine. She's worried about you. We're going to have to have a talk about my sister later, though."
"You're sister? Jeez, that's right."
Over the link, Jesse raised an eyebrow.
Peter laughed as he recognized the gesture. "I knew they were more than a private investigations agency. Are they members of your team too?"
Jesse nodded. "They're mutants too. Shalimar has heightened senses and agility. Brennan can manipulate electricity and Lexa can manipulate light. They're good people, and they want to help you. They brought you to me for medical treatment at our headquarters when Katie called to say that you had been shot."
Peter's own 'voice' was solemn. "You know, when I first met Katie, I thought fate was playing with me. She had your last name and told me that her older brother had died. It didn't take too long to realize that she was talking about you. Then I started working at K.E. and we found Noah Kilmartin's copy of your death certificate. It seemed like fate was playing with me, confirming everything and reminding me that you were dead and that there was nothing I could do about it." Peter 'slapped' his forehead. "Jeezo. Katie asked me about reversing a death certificate, but then said she didn't need it done. That was you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. I have my reasons for keeping everything secret, and keeping myself dead. I'll tell you about them when you're better."
Suddenly, Peter felt Jesse weaken, and, in his mind, Jesse fell to his knees. The world they were in together shuddered. "Jesse? What's happening?"
"I'm healing you. It's taking more energy than I thought."
"How? That's not one of your powers."
Jesse picked himself up and put his hands on Peter's shoulders. "A test Adam did enhanced my powers. Now I can heal people."
Peter took a step back. "Adam does tests?"
Jesse shook his head. "Not the kind they did at Genomex. See, the same thing that gives a mutant their powers also makes their genetic structure unstable. The test Adam was doing was trying to stabilize my structure. If the structure isn't stabilized, a mutant's powers will cause them to self-destruct. Every mutant has an exact date when that will happen. Your date must be close, because your genetic structure is a mess. I'm fixing that as well as the damage from the bullet."
"How can you tell where the damage is?"
"Two ways. First, it's part of how I heal. Second, I did a body scan before I started healing you. I knew you were a new mutant when I started the process, but I didn't know you were, well, you."
Peter opened his mouth to ask another question – there were so many questions – but stopped when he felt the link to Jesse fade again. "Jesse! Don't leave!"
"I'm not. It's just…It's just that this is taking so long. There's so much damage. I'm going to need all my energy for this. We'll talk more later. Right now, just relax, and lend me any energy you can spare…it'll be over soon."
Peter both saw and felt the
flash. But this time it wasn't white. It was different. It was white.
The white of clouds, and the blue of the sky and the yellow of a bright
sun. And it wasn't frightening. It was soothing. But then it, and
everything else, faded to black.
In Sanctuary, Lexa and the others watched as Jesse's body underwent the process of healing someone else. They had all seen it at least once, but that didn't make it any less awesome.
"This is taking too long," Shalimar said, red light flashing across her features as Jesse did his work.
"There's a lot of damage. The scans indicate that David's close to his expiry date. Plus the bullet ricocheted around in there and did a lot of damage." Lexa purposefully kept her voice calm, though inside she was screaming at Jesse for taking such a risk. She didn't need to panic, not with Katie still in the room.
"How long has it been," Katie asked quietly.
Shalimar checked the biorhythms monitor. "Almost five minutes. Brennan?"
"I'm ready."
Seconds later, the red flashing stopped, and Brennan lunged out to catch Jesse as the younger man fell to the floor. He quickly lifted the molecular's body onto the second biobed as the biomonitor began screeching. An electric charge appeared in his palm and he looked over at Shalimar who was still at the console.
"He's in v-tach, Bren. Give him a jolt, but keep it below 200 joules."
"Easy for you to say," Brennan muttered as he sent the charge into Jesse's chest, hoping it was the right amount.
Jesse's body jerked, and the screeching noise emitted by the monitor stopped. It was replaced by a steady beeping, which was almost identical to the similarly pitched beeping emanating from David's monitor. His chest began to rise and fall in a slightly irregular rhythm.
Lexa moved to Jesse's side, checking his vitals as well as reassuring herself that he was still alive. "Damn it Jesse. You shouldn't have done that. You could have killed yourself, you idiot."
To her surprise, his eyes fluttered open. "Lexa. Take care of Peter." Sluggishly, his right hand moved. Then his body went limp and his breathing gradually became slow and even, the hallmark of a restorative sleep.
The others looked up at Lexa. "Who the hell is Peter?" Brennan asked.
Lexa was looking at David, following Jesse's indication. "Oh, my God."
AN: Okay, I know many of you had already figured it out. But you had fun waiting for it, right? Yes? Maybe? Ah, well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
