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"I survived but I paid for it" - The World was Wide Enough, Hamilton
Despite his attempts, Hal didn't sleep, and he was sure that Maggie didn't either. Even though questions and mixed emotions were running through him, just being with Maggie brought him a sense of peace. The moment however, was interrupted by a knock on the door.
The two of them sat up, both wondering who it was as they doubted Tom would come to check on them again already. Neither of them had a chance to respond when the door opened, and Matt appeared on the other side.
"Hey buddy." Hal greeted.
"Is it okay if we come in?" Matt inquired. Hal was about to ask who 'we' was, when he saw Lexi standing behind him. Hal smiled and nodded. Matt grinned and the two youngest Masons entered the room. Lexi immediately ran over and jumped on the bed beside Hal and the couple on the bed laughed at the little girl.
"Hey Lexi. What have you been up too?" Hal asked, ruffling the child's hair with his hand as Matt also came over to the bed, but at a walk instead of a run, and sat down near Maggie.
"Jeanne took me to see the horses, and I got to feed them treats!" Lexi exclaimed, a bright smile filled her face.
"Oh yeah? Well, I hope you didn't wreck their supper." Hal joked as Lexi shook her head.
"I didn't. Are you okay? Mommy said that you were in the hospital, that something bad happened?" Lexi asked. Hal looked into his little sister's big, brown eyes. Her eyes showed the light and innocence only a child could have, and Hal didn't know how to respond, how to explain what was happening, so he didn't.
"I'm fine, it's nothing to worry about." Hal responded with a smile. Lexi bought this, and started telling him everything that she did that day, and Hal couldn't help but laugh along with her, remembering how Matt was the same when he was this age. He was completely oblivious to the looks that Maggie and Matt exchanged behind his back.
Matt watched his oldest brother and little sister with a slight smile, but the worry that he'd been feeling since yesterday remained balled up in his stomach. He always knew that his brother was an expert at hiding what was truly going on, but as he got older, he started seeing through the lies, and wondered how he missed it in the first place.
Lexi seemed completely okay with Hal's answer, but he wasn't. And he knew from the look Maggie gave him, that she wasn't either, yet they let it slide. Only because they knew Lexi wouldn't understand.
It was only about an hour after Matt and Lexi came in before there was another knock on the door.
"Well, aren't we popular." Hal commented as Maggie went to answer it. She opened the door to find Tom standing on the other side.
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Hal lifted his hand and rubbed his temples, trying to soothe the pounding headache he was getting as he listened to his father.
"You're saying, that the reasons I keep getting random images, and blacking out, is because I am connecting to the skitters mind?" Hal questioned, looking up at his father. Tom was sitting beside Anne at the table, while Maggie sat beside him. Ben, Weaver, and Dr. Kadar had taken their spots on the other side of the table.
"That's what he said." Tom confirmed.
"And it makes sense. If you were connecting with them, then you knew exactly where they were and where to shoot at." Ben chimed in.
"I think I would notice if I was connecting with an alien's mind." Hal stated.
"Hal, Maggie said that you told her that one of the images you saw was a valley filled with skitters and Mechs right?" Tom questioned. When Hal nodded, Ben lifted what looked to be some photographs and slid them across the table to his older brother.
Hal picked up the pictures to look at them, and couldn't hide his shock. The pictures showed the exact image he had seen, right down to the Overlord in the background.
"I take it this is what you saw? This is the place the rebel skitters were telling us about. It's the place we attacked a few days ago. You saw this through the rebel leader's mind. You have been connecting to his mind since the day after we found you." Tom revealed.
"Lexi." The name slipped out of Hal's mouth before he could stop it, as he remembered the day he heard her voice in his head.
"What about Lexi?" Anne wondered, barely catching what Hal said.
"That night, after I saw you guys for the first time, after the drug wore off, Lexi came into the room by herself. It was the first time I saw since, since you two walked off the ship. I said hi, she smiled and, and I heard her voice, in my head. She didn't open her mouth, but I could hear it as clearly as if she actually said it. I didn't say anything because I thought I was still feeling effects of the drug, or if it was something she could because she's part Espheni. It hasn't happened since, so I figured that was the case." Hal told them.
"She does have Espheni DNA. It is very possible that it gives her the ability to enter their minds the same as Ben and Hal." Kadar concluded.
"But you said the rebel leader also told you that Karen cutting into my brain alone wouldn't have made me capable of this." Hal remembered.
"Your right, but those brain operations she did on you weren't the only thing that she did Hal." Anne responded, then looked over at Kadar.
"I used some of the Volm technology and mixed it with a microscope to get a better look at your blood sample, and found there's a chemical running through your bloodstream that shouldn't be there. At first, I thought it was the same type of fluid that Ben has due to his spikes, but when I looked closer, it's not. It has many of the same components, but it's not the exact same." Kadar explained.
"But I still don't have spikes. And I'm pretty sure I would've realized if I had super strength by now too." Hal pointed out.
"No, you don't. This leads me to believe that it's not the spikes that enable your brother to connect with the skitters, but the fluid in both of your systems. And like I said before, the fluid is not the same. You don't appear to have the added strength or stamina as Ben does, and that could be because of the differences. Not to mention that it's the spikes that keep pumping the fluid into Ben, while yours is just in your system and isn't leaving." Kadar reported.
"So, why? Why would Karen do that? If she wanted to control me, why wouldn't she just harness me, or put another eyebug in me?" Hal asked, hoping someone at least had a theory. Judging from the looks on everyone's faces, they did not.
"We'll figure it out. The important thing right now though, is that you learn to control this, and you stay out of any fights and missions." Tom decided.
"Wait, what?" Hal asked, his voice full of disbelief.
"Hal, if Karen, or the Overlords learns you're here, they'll target you. The only way to keep you safe, is if you stay hidden." Tom explained.
"Not to mention this is a security risk Hal. If you can enter a skitter's, or an Overlord's mind, they're likely able to do the same to you." Weaver added. That stopped Hal from arguing. He may want to help fight, but not at the cost of risking peoples lives.
"So, what now?" Hal asked no one in particular.
"Now, we go on as if there's nothing wrong, at least in public. We don't need the city panicking. But I think you should meet with Ben and the rebel skitters, see if they can teach you how to control this new ability. And this time, if something feels wrong or if something happens, tell me, or Anne." Tom ordered. Hal nodded, agreeing to his father's decision.
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The next two weeks passed by faster than Hal would've thought. Slowly, he settled into a new routine, one where instead of getting back into the fight, he would meet up with Ben in a secluded spot in either the mall, or another spot in the city where no one could watch them. Maggie started taking up more shifts, now that everything had settled down somewhat, while Anne and Kadar continued working on figuring what Hal could theoretically do.
"Come on Hal. It's like you're not even trying." Ben commented as Hal failed to get into his head, for the fifth try that day.
"Well, it's not as if you're actually teaching me how to do it either." Hal shot back, sitting down on one of the chairs in the empty room.
"I can't actually tell you how to do it, because I use my spikes, which you don't have. So, the way you would go about it will be different than the way I do it." Ben explained, though he had said it many times before.
"Maybe I can only do it with people who have Espheni DNA, like the skitters or Lexi." Hal suggested.
"I doubt it's that specific. If anything, I think the only thing holding you back is you. You don't want people looking at you and seeing you as a threat or a freak." Ben stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm already a threat and a freak, even if I can't do it. And no, that's not it." Hal replied, his frustration with his younger brother mounting.
"Alright, then, maybe I should try getting into your head." Ben thought out loud.
"My little brother entering my mind, seeing who knows what? Yeah, not liking that thought either." Hal said, his voice filled with sarcasm.
"Well, I'm out of ideas, so you come up with something. You know that neither Dad or Weaver are going to let you fight again until you learn how to control whose mind you enter and who can enter yours." Ben pointed out.
"I've been back for over a month. I think that if aliens were entering my mind to steal secrets, we would've noticed by now." Hal reasoned.
"One, as far as we know, they have no idea that you're here. Two, it's not like you've been given a lot of access to what we've been doing since you came back." Ben stated.
"Alright, fine. Just, walk me through it again." Hal said.
"Okay. First, you need to lower your guard, you have to open up your mind, see if there's anything or anyone around you." Ben started.
"Yeah, how do I do that? How do I open up my mind?" Hal questioned.
"Just relax. Don't try to keep everything you're feeling or thinking locked inside. Just let your mind relax." Ben instructed.
Hal took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He tried to force himself to relax, but found it harder than he thought it would be. He hated closing his eyes, hated not knowing who was around him and what they were doing even though he knew the only person in the room was Ben, and that he wasn't a threat.
Suddenly, Hal felt something. He couldn't really describe it, it was something like a tingle, that was brushing up against the back of his head. His brows furrowed in concentration, trying to find out what it was. The minute he focused on it, the world faded away.
He was running through the woods, skitters all around him. He came to a small clearing, and there stood a woman, with straight blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. Karen. She smiled, and looked forward. The skitter, whose eyes Hal assumed he was seeing through, turned his head to look at what Karen was staring at. Charleston.
With a gasp, Hal came back to the present. Ben had moved to stand in front of him, his hands on his shoulders.
"Hal? Hal, what happened?" Ben asked worriedly. Everything had been going fine, as far as he knew, then it was like his brother wasn't there anymore. He tried to snap him out of it, but he couldn't. Then Hal gasped and opened his eyes in a panic.
"They're, they're coming. Skitters, lots of them. Karen too."