I had hoped that I would at least have had a peaceful rest. No such luck as for the next couple of hours I had the same reoccurring nightmare. One that ended with me screaming. As my terrified scream echoed throughout the hall, green light emerged from my hands and eyes and blew up the computer opposite. Completely oblivious to the explosion, I sat there shaking until I was joined by Berto, Forge and Shock.
"What's going on?" Forge asked. When he saw the computer sparking, he looked at me. "Did you cause that?"
Still in shock I didn't answer and it wasn't until Berto put his hand on my arm that I jumped. When I saw who it was, I was a little calmer but not by much.
"How did you do that?" Berto asked and I shook my head. "You were screaming."
"I had a nightmare and I couldn't control my powers. Sorry about the computer." I answered, still shaking.
"It must have been pretty bad to cause your powers to flare out of control like that. What was it about?" Shock asked me and everyone was confused when I wouldn't say. After a while they realized that it was impossible to get me to talk. Before they left, Berto tried again but I just shook my head. As I sat there, now alone, I couldn't stop shaking. Several hours went by and I couldn't sleep. Giving up I stood and went in search of my friends, eventually finding them in the Com Room. The second I wandered in, Forge asked me how I was.
"Okay I guess." I replied and I could tell my friends didn't believe me.
"You don't look so good." Berto said and I shrugged, though he was right. Since my earlier nightmare I refused to sleep, afraid of having that same dream.
"No I'm fine." I told them, rubbing at my eyes. "Alright fine. If you want to know the truth...I can't sleep."
"You can't or you won't?" Shock asked me and I frowned at him. "I am Ultralinked to you so I can tell when you're not well."
"Is this because of your nightmare? Seriously you look dead on your feet." Berto commented and I cringed.
"Please don't say dead. That's not helping." I muttered and he raised an eyebrow at me in surprise.
"Wait a second did you dream about the explosion at THI?" He asked me and I shuddered the moment he said 'explosion'. "Oh Jessie."
"Stop bringing that up." I grumbled as I turned to leave, only to be stopped by Shock who flew in my path.
"I'm not letting you walk away this time. You need to rest and since you won't, we're helping whether you want our help or not." He told me and I stared at him.
"When did you get to be so stubborn?" I asked and Shock laughed.
"Hanging around you for so long, I picked it up." Shock answered and I gave him a weak smile. With a shrug I asked what they could do to help. Soon I found myself back in the Medical Bay.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked Berto, who was standing in front of me scratching his chin.
"I was actually thinking that you could probably use something to eat." He answered and I couldn't help but nod. "I'll be right back." After he left Shock flew over to me.
"I hope you're going to be okay." Shock said as I rubbed at my eyes, feeling exhausted and trying not to show it.
"You and me both. I want to be fighting some bad guys soon." I replied and he smiled back at me. "I wonder what happened to Toxzon. I thought that he was sighted around the warehouse where we fought Extroyer."
"I really don't know. Maybe Forge sent Jefferson and Kat after him." Shock suggested while we waited for Berto to return. "I've been more worried about you."
"If they catch him before I do, I guess there's still Miles Dredd and Jason Naught to fight." I replied just as Berto returned carrying a small bowl in his hands.
"Here you go." He said as he handed the bowl to me. "I wasn't sure what you liked and since you have a cold, I thought chicken soup would be a good idea."
"It's a great idea, thank you." I said as I took the bowl and a spoon from him. Truth be told I was starving and within minutes the bowl was empty. Taking the bowl and spoon from me, Berto placed both on the table opposite.
"Once again, where do you put it?" He asked me and I grinned. "Anyway I meant to tell you that Kat and Jefferson went looking for Toxzon. So far we haven't had any luck finding him but...are you alright?" He said suddenly.
"Now that you mention it, I do…feel kinda…sleepy..." I muttered as I struggled to keep my eyes open. "Whoa…what's...going...on." Before I could stop myself I fell forward and would have hit the floor had someone caught me just in time.
"Is she alright?" Shock asked as Berto moved Jessie back the couch.
"She'll be fine." Berto answered and the Ultralink looked back at him, unconvinced. "I put something into her soup." He told Shock.
"What did you do to her?!" Shock yelled and Berto held his hand up.
"Calm down would you? Look I knew she wouldn't sleep because of her ongoing nightmare so I did the only thing I could think of to help her; I mixed a sedative into her food." Berto explained and Shock calmed down. "She'll wake up in a few hours."
" Next time warn me when you're going to do something like that." Shock said and Berto gave him a grin.
"No problem. Let's leave her in peace for a while." Berto replied and they left the room. For the next few hours everything was peaceful. Unfortunately that didn't last long when Max and Steel returned from school.
"Hey Berto, where's Jessie?" Max asked after finding the scientist working in his lab. Looking up from his keyboard he smiled.
"Probably still in the Medical Bay. Like she was a couple of hours ago." Berto replied. "I was headed there myself anyway." As he led the way he asked Max how school went.
"As boring as ever. Oh Sydney and Kirby asked how Jessie was. I told them she had a cold and that she'd be back in a couple of days." Max answered as they stepped through the door.
"How is our patient anyway?" Steel asked.
"Pretty good. Well she was having this nightmare at one point. Something to do with the explosion that almost happened at THI." Berto explained as he moved towards Jessie. "Still she's better now."
"Then why isn't she waking up?" Shock asked, flying from beside his friend right into Berto's face.
"What are you talking about?" Berto asked as he knelt. "Come on, sleepyhead. Time to wake up." He said, brushing Jessie's hair. When she didn't respond he shook her shoulder, getting increasingly worried.
"I thought you said she'd wake up after a couple of hours." Shock said, looking on and trying not to panic.
"Why do I get the feeling this is your fault?" Steel said to Berto who was now checking the computer display behind him, apparently trying to fix something.
"It wasn't supposed to do this." He said and Shock flew over to his partner, bringing up a visual scan of his friend's vitals.
"Hmm her heart rate's a bit fast. Wait a second…her mind's racing." Shock said and everyone stopped for a moment to stare at him.
"What's this 'it'?" Max asked; now a little worried himself.
"When Jessie wouldn't sleep because of that same nightmare waking her again, I mixed an experimental sedative into her food. It was only supposed to put her to sleep for four hours at most." Berto explained just as they heard her cried out.
"Can you hear us?" Berto said but his friend didn't answer, instead crying out again. "Hey! Answer me!" He shouted and that's when Jessie went quiet.
"Her heart rate's slowed down a bit. I think she's…"Shock started to say when Jessie stirred.
"Are you okay?" Berto asked as I opened my eyes.
"What's…going on?" I asked, attempting to sit up, only to almost topple off the couch. It took a hand on my shoulder to keep me there.
"Berto gave you some sort of sedative that knocked you out for a few hours. Apparently it worked a little too well." Shock explained and it took a moment for my fuzzy mind to figure out what he just told me.
"How could you!" I yelled and Berto winced. "I thought I could trust you." Looking on for a moment Steel suggested that he and Max leave.
"I'm with you. See you. Oh and good luck." Max said to Berto before they made themselves scarce.
"Look I'm sorry but you wouldn't rest. I was only trying to help you." Berto explained as Jessie glared at him. Rolling his eye Shock left them to their argument.
"So you think what you did was the right thing?" I replied and when Berto looked at me, I began to feel a little sorry. "Look I know you meant well and everything, I just wish you'd asked me first."
"I was really worried about you and I didn't think. I'm sorry." Berto answered, his back to me, and I climbed off the couch. Not sure what to say to him, I hugged him instead.
"I'm sorry too." I said and eventually he placed both his hands over mine, wincing a little when he bumped his bandaged hand. Standing there in silence I wasn't really sure what else to say though I was pretty content. I think we would have stayed there had Max and Steel not rushed in to tell us something.
"Hey guys we've found Toxzon and...um should we come back?" Max asked and we hurriedly let go of each other. Though I couldn't help a grin.
"Then let's go catch us a bad guy." I said and ran past Max and Steel who looked at each other than Berto, puzzled.
"Don't look at me. Just because I'm dating her, doesn't mean I fully understand her." Berto said with a shrug before he rushed after her.
"Okay then. Let's go, Steel." Max said and they both hurried after their friends.