AN: "Poor Jesse," why is everybody saying poor Jesse? i mean, Brennan and Shalimar have been hurt more then he has. I haven't really done anything to him...not much...not yet... ;P
Enjoy.
Jesse shivered as the Harrison cleansed the back of his neck with an alcohol swab. All around him was a sort of organized chaos of equipment, being moved and hooked up. It reminded him of the time Adam had upgraded Sanctuary; the two of them spent days working on all the circuits.
His thoughts of home were quickly chased away by Harrison's voice. "Well now, Mr. Kilmartin, let me explain what is going to happen," he said as he reached for a strange collar. The object was thin and completely metallic, except for a small box like clasp attached to the side. From the glimpse that Jesse got, it looked like a remote transmitter. He couldn't be sure, but he knew it was bad.
"Since you barely have control of your body at the moment, I thought I'd help you. The gas you inhaled should work its way out of your system, but I make no promises that your paralysis will end. Until we know if movement will return, I will be using this. What I have here is a new device that I have designed. I have programmed it to your specific neural system. This gives me control of your powers, so I may run tests on you more conveniently."
With a slight click the device was secured around Jesse's neck, and he gasped as he felt a needle insert itself into his brain stem. He was lowered back down into a lying position on the table. Then it was Laura's turn to prep Jesse.
Harrison exited the lab, but before he left said, "When you have finished setting up Ms. Kilmont, send word for me so we may begin."
Jesse's mind flinched at the name, 'That's familiar, that name. Where did I hear it?' But his concentration was again interrupted by a cool sensation, this time on his stomach. A gelatin like goo was rubbed onto his stomach, chest, and neck. Jesse knew what would come next, and felt Laura pressing the small sensor pads; first on his neck, then his chest, and then his stomach. But her hands didn't stop there; he felt them trace a path down to his waist. Jesse drew in a sharp breath as he felt her hand slip under the waistband of his pants.
"Why don't you go and get Dr. Harrison. I'm almost finished here, and by the time you get back I'll be ready to start," interrupted a soft, country voice.
"Ah well, maybe later, my little Freak," Laura said as she patted Jesse's leg and, turned to leave. When she was gone Jesse felt a small hand clasp over his, and another turn his head.
At first Jesse started to panic; his breathing increased, his body started to tense, but one look at the friendly face in front of him, and he felt himself relax slightly. The woman in front of him was a brunette in a wheelchair. To him she looked like she fell out of heaven to Jesse.
"Hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you," the woman said gently, and Jesse relaxed even more. "My name's Jessica, and I'm going to monitoring your vitals. Can you move at all?"
Jesse blinked, and she gave a knowing nod. "Alright, then here's what I'm going to do: there is a camera above your head so i can keep an eye on you, and if things get to bad for you, if you can, I want you to blink three times in a row and I'll try to stop it. Think you can do that?"
Jesse blinked three times, and Jessica gave him a soft smile and squeezed his hand, before she let go and went back to work.
'God, what are they going to do to me?' Jesse thought to himself.
Brennan was up and around, anxiously waiting in the dojo for news. Adam had been keeping him out of the loop, saying that he needed to rest and that Shal and Emma could take care of things. But Brennan was feeling guilty.
"Damn it! How could this have happened!" he exclaimed, frustrated. "Shal and I were right there! The fucking agents were nowhere near Jess! How the hell did they get him?" Then a thought hit Brennan, and he sat on the dojo steps. "What the hell was Jesse thinking, going back there, in the first place?"
"He wanted to see if he could face it," Shal said from the entranceway. Brennan jumped at the ferule's sudden appearance, and he turned sheepishly to look at her. She walked over to him, not looking like a furious mother bear like she had been earlier, but now a gentle, worried mother. "He wanted to see if he would freeze up again, and then see if he could handle it." She sat next to him and took his hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "No one is blaming you Bren, this wasn't your fault."
"The hell it wasn't!" Brennan said as he jumped up and began pacing, angrily. "I shut the door to that damn room! He had to phase to get me out and ended up being trapped inside! And I couldn't even defend him when the agents got there!" Brennan stopped pacing and slumped his shoulders, defeated.
"Brennan, you had no idea that the tank was leaking. You had no idea that the GSA were on their way. You were just as much affected by the gas as Jesse and yet you still went back to save him. Not to mention that you took on ten agents, by yourself, while you were drugged, and literally one handed!"
"But Shal, who called you? Huh? I tried my comm. and didn't get through! It had to be Jesse! Even trapped in the gas he still pushed himself to get help for us! And I couldn't do that for him!"
"You were thrown into a wall! I was there, remember? I watched a guy that looked like he could break down the gates of hell grab your bad arm and throw you into a wall! I watched as another agent, a runt of a guy, Hulk out and then take my best friend to the open arms of Eckhart!"
"And I was right there as the Hulk man was escaping," came a voice from behind. "I sent him a blast, the most powerful I could come up with, but something deflected it right back at me. And I locked up, I let my own fear get to me and because of that he got away with Jesse. You want to feel guilty Bren, Shal? Fine! But you're not the only ones at fault here. So why don't you both stop mopping and Think about how we're going to get Jesse back and make Eckhart pay."
The pair turned to see a very angry psionic standing just a few feet away. It took a moment for Shal to really sense the other emotions from her friend, but as soon as she realized what they were her heart stopped.
Emma," she said, her throat suddenly dry, "what did you see?"