Flint was awakened some time in the night when Lady Jaye began tossing and mumbling under her breath. He tensed, trying to keep her still while not making her feel confined.

He could hear only a few words of her low tirade; from the sounds of it, she was reliving the attack of the Dreadnoks. He sighed and pulled away from her, sensing that his presence might make matters worse. Moving to the chair at her bedside, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to shake her awake.

"Alison, honey, wake up. It's just a nightmare," he told her, knowing that it was more than that, it was just as real a memory for her as if it had actually happened.

Her eyes sprang open, and she jerked back from his touch. He knew she didn't see him, that her mind wasn't fully awake. But it still hurt.

"Alison, it's Dash. Can you hear me?"

She turned her head slowly and regarded him, eyes wide. Flint kept speaking to her in calm tones, wondering if he should leave her long enough to get Lifeline. He decided against it for now.

She didn't respond to his questions, but seemed to relax as she became more aware of her surroundings. Flint carefully reached out and put his hand back on her arm. She flinched, but didn't pull away.

Flint gritted his teeth, wishing Mindbender were near enough to beat senseless. It might not help her, but it would make him feel a Hell of a lot better.

He continued to sit with her through the rest of the night. She didn't sleep, merely lay with her eyes open, responding neither to his touch nor his voice. He felt she was lost, trying to find her way through the maze of pain and images Mindbender had constructed in her head. He hoped the sound of his voice might lead her out.

Dusty awoke with the dawn, conscious of the form next to him in the bed. He turned slightly, taking in her tousled hair and peaceful expression. He felt a deep gratitude toward her-- that she cared enough about him to do this, to be there when he needed her.

He kissed her gently on the forehead, and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled and stretched, snuggling against him under the warm bedclothes. "Sleep well?" she murmured.

"Like I was being held in the arms of an angel," he replied, pulling her closer. He sighed, feeling content and at ease for the first since he had been rescued.

"Courtney, I—I want to tell you how much I appreciate this. I think this is the first time in days I've actually felt alive." He heard her giggle against his chest.

"I mean that in a literal sense," he laughed. "I think my body understood that it was still functioning, but my brain was having a hard time getting wrapped around the idea. Somewhere in the back of my head I thought that all of this wasn't quite real, that it was… I don't know, some kind of purgatory-- that I was only dreaming everything that happened since I woke up."

He shifted a little, putting his arms around her. "You anchored me back to reality. I don't know how long I would have remained adrift, just floating out there, being carried along…" He felt her giggle again. "What?"

"All that boat imagery," she replied. "You sure you don't want to bare your soul to Shipwreck?" She punched him playfully. "I think he likes you…"

He laughed. "You know he wrote that poem for La—" Dusty stopped. Thinking about his friend made his stomach swirl. He hadn't been back to the infirmary since Lifeline had released him.

Courtney sensed his unease. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him. "What is it?"

Dusty just shook his head.

"Something's bothering you. Tell me." She prodded him with a finger. "It's too late to stop confiding in me. Tell."

Dusty couldn't meet her eyes. "Lady Jaye… let herself be captured by Mindbender because of me," he told her. "I tried to make her go, but… she wouldn't leave me behind." He looked at her, trying to make her understand. "She could have escaped! Instead she's lying in the infirmary, and God knows what's going to happen to her!"

Cover Girl put her head on his shoulder. "If she was the type of person to leave a friend behind, she wouldn't be on the team. You've come out of this. She will, too."

Dusty put his knees up and rested his chin on top, arms around his shins. "You don't understand." He felt tears start in the corner of his eyes. "I saw the men Mindbender put in the dungeons." Cover Girl nodded, remembering Lifeline's account of his conversation with Zartan.

"The man in the last cell was beating his head against the wall, pleading for the memories to go away…" Dusty's voice sounded desperate. "I heard her, Courtney…" He put his head down. "I heard her screaming, sobbing, begging for it to stop. …I couldn't do anything…" The last sentence was said in an agonized whisper.

Cover Girl put her arms around her friend's shoulders. "Then we'll help her," she told him. "We'll both be there for her." She climbed out of bed. "Let's go to the infirmary," she suggested.

They found Lady Jaye's room empty. Concerned, they headed to Lifeline's office, where they found him sitting at his desk, staring at his computer screen.

"Lifeline." He looked up at the sound of Cover Girl's voice. "Where's Lady Jaye? Is everything okay?"

He stood and came around the desk. "She woke up last night, and I decided she could leave the infirmary this morning. She's physically fine, and I think lying in bed was doing more harm than good," he told them. Cover Girl got the sense that he wasn't telling them everything.

"How are you, Ron?" Lifeline asked.

He smiled at the doctor. "Actually pretty good," he replied, looking down at his companion. "Thanks to a little help from my friends. Do you know where Jaye is? We wanted to check up on her."

The medic shrugged. "I told Flint to get her some real food, then to take her around the base and let everyone see that she's back on her feet. Everyone's been worried, and maybe if she's around her teammates…" he let the sentence hang.

Cover Girl faced him squarely. "That's not the whole story you're telling us, is it?"

Lifeline leaned back against his desk. "Well…no. Jaye was pretty upset about having to stay in the infirmary. She-- she remembered most of what happened in the lab, and I'm pretty sure there are some unpleasant associations with hospitals buried in her mind. I think one of her memories involved me—uh, doctors working on her." He grimaced. "I thought the continued stress of the environment might keep her from getting better."

He gestured to her unoccupied room. "If you're going to her quarters, why don't you take some of the flowers and things along? Flint already took some over to her room, but there were too many to carry."

They nodded in assent and went to gather the well-wishes.

Dusty was amazed at the sheer volume. He began gathering flowers, glancing at the cards as he did so.

"Wow… Flint, Hawk, Roadblock, Alpine, Bazooka… they all wrote some pretty mushy stuff." He showed one of the cards to Cover Girl. "Just remember I'm here for you no matter the spaces between us," he read. "And there's a quote: 'And all my days are trances, And all my nightly dreams, are where thy dark eye glances, And where thy footstep gleams.'" Dusty looked up, shaking his head. "That's pretty heavy stuff for Flint."

Cover Girl smiled knowingly. "Oh, I think he's a closet romantic. If you think that's something, check this out: 'What is your substance, whereof are you made, That millions of strange shadows on you tend? Since every one hath, every one, one shade, And you but one, can every shadow lend.'" She laughed at his puzzled expression. "Shakespeare. One of the sonnets."

"Who quoted THAT?" he asked her.

"Beach Head," she laughed.

Dusty looked amazed. "You're kidding!"

"Nope. And if college served me well, the rest of that particular poem pondered the ideal form of beauty."

"BEACH HEAD?" He laughed incredulously.

"Yeah, that is a little weird," she admitted. "I always wondered why he screams at her so much…"

They gathered as many gifts as they could carry and headed toward Lady Jaye's quarters.

She wasn't there, but the door was unlocked, so they carried their burdens into the room.

"Uh, do you think she'll mind that we're in here?" Dusty asked his friend.

"No, I've been in here often enough. And I sneak in to borrow clothes when she's gone," she replied with a smirk.

Dusty was placing the various cards, flowers, and trinkets on the table to the side of the room. The set-up was the same as all the Joes', but Lady Jaye had added an extra armoire and several bookshelves. He stooped to examine some of the titles.

"Terry Pratchett, Dylan Thomas, Shakespeare, Something in Japanese, something in German, Robert Jordan, Charles DeLint, Diana Gabaldon…does she read all of these?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. And she organizes them by difficulty. That's the 'I've just had a shitty day and need something light' shelf."

He snorted and looked one shelf higher. "Nietzsche, Swami Krishnananda, Chomsky, Kierkegaard, Sarte… What the heck does she call this one?"

"Uh, I think she calls that the 'Why Me?' shelf." She saw his look and simply said, "Don't ask. I 'm not sure I understand, either." Cover Girl finished arranging the last of the flowers.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his hand, "Let's go find her."

Lady Jaye felt like she was in a dream. Nothing made sense. Everything around her seemed real enough, but she felt like a ghost walking through the land of the living. Breakfast had tasted like ashes, and she had only been able to swallow a few mouthfuls. The lights in the hallways seemed overly bright and washed out at the edges. Even her footsteps seemed to echo hollowly in the corridors.

Flint kept a firm grip on her hand. At times it felt solid, but more often it felt slicked with blood.

They were walking into the rec room, and suddenly everyone was around her, touching her shoulder, talking in overly cheerful voices. They sounded like they were speaking through a bad connection, or underwater.

She tried not to look at the faces, but couldn't help herself. She saw Stalker first; he had a bullet wound along one side of his head, tearing a jagged gash along his hairline. She jumped back, startled. Her eyes flew around the room.

Footloose was talking to Alpine. Both of them looked charred and raw.

Roadblock was trying to smile through what was left of his mouth.

Shipwreck was standing, and yet… his legs were missing from the knees down.

Everywhere she turned, her teammates were bloody, disfigured… dead.

She turned and fled from the room.