Jason woke and found Wave to be back in her spot in bed. Wave started to wake up, too.
"Hey." Jason said. "Mornin'."
"Hey." Wave said, yawning. "Hey, listen. About last night..."
"You don't have to say anything."
"No, I do." Wave said. "You see... I was having a really bad night and I may have acted out of character."
"Out of character?" Jason asked. "Your voice had completely changed."
"That... was..."
"Look, Wave. You don't have to tell me everything. Just don't lie to me."
Wave saw how serious he was and nodded. "Okay."
"Okay?" Jason said. "Okay. Let's go."
They flew back to the garage and Wave continued working on the van. Jason sat down next to her. She was underneath the van doing some high-tech fix-it thing.
"Whatcha doin'?" he asked.
"I am making it so if the van tips over it'll be able to flip back up on four wheels."
"Sounds both useful and difficult."
"Maybe for you humans, Jason. But not for me."
"You humans? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that the Babylon Rogues are more sophisticated."
"You developin' some sort of attitude?"
"What do you mean?" Wave asked.
"Well, it seems that you're implying things about humans."
"I'm not implying anything."
"You just seem different ever since you..."
"Ever since what?"
"Ever since you had that encounter in the sewers."
Wave slid out from under the van and Jason almost screamed. He quickly stood up. "Wave?"
"How do I look, Jason? Do I look different to you?"
Her eyes were red again and there were patches of skin that, instead of her usual purple, was gray. Especially around her eyes. She was also starting to grow sharp teeth.
"Different? You look..."
"Go ahead." she said, standing up."Say it." She threw the wrench she was holding aside. "I look like a monster."
"I wouldn't say a monster."
"THEN WHAT?" she yelled, with a little bit of that hiss-y voice again.
"I don't know, I..."
"You don't know." she said sitting back down. "Well, don't worry about it. It comes and goes once in a while." She grabbed another wrench and slid back under the van.
"You should've told me about this, Wave. This is serious."
"Just forget about it."
"Forget about it? I can't just forget about it? You're my... best friend in the whole wide world. I'm gonna find a way to fix this."
He turned to leave when Wave started to laugh. She slid out from under the van again and stood up. "You're not gonna be able to fix every problem, Jason."
"I know. But I can try."
Wave grinned and picked up a cloth to wipe her hands clean. "You'll try." she said softly, dropping the cloth and pulling on her gloves. "In moments like this, Jason," she said, walking passed him. "there's no time for trying." She left the room leaving Jason thinking.
Jason wandered through the garage and found Wave sitting on a box. It looked like she was crying. As he approached her, he noticed that she really was crying. He sat down on the box next to her.
"Wave?" Jason asked. "You wanna talk?"
She turned to look at him and he saw that she looked normal, aside from two dark patches on her skin.
"What's happening to me?" she cried. "I can't control myself. I say and do things that I normally won't do."
"It's not your fault, Wave. I'm gonna fix this. I promise."
"How can you fix this?" she asked, pulling off her glove and holding up her hand. It had gray patches and her fingernails were twice as long as normal.
"I don't know, Wave." Jason said. "But I'm not gonna give up on you. I am going to find a way to fix this. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Wave said, dropping her hand.
"I don't make those kind of promises." Jason said.
Wave smiled and hugged him.
"Well, well, well. I better tell Mephiles about this."