Chapter 8

Vincent was the first to act. Shoving Jason out of the way, he scrambled across the floor and began to check Janet for heartbeat and breathing. He tilted Janet's head back, opened her mouth, and her checked mouth to make sure that her throat wasn't blocked. Bending at the waist, he blew one quick breath. He quickly felt for a pulse, and found none. He had a sudden, odd thought that was different from his CPR classes. Ripping her blouse open and clearing her skin off, he placed one hand over the center of her chest and the other on her left side and focused his powers. "CLEAR!" he shouted and placed a quick surge to her heart muscles. Pulling his hands back, he waited a few seconds and rechecked for a pulse. It was there! Hurrying on, he checked her airway again, to make sure that her airway was clear. He turned briefly when he heard a deep moan come from the bed. Vincent began to silently pray that Janet would be ok, as he began mouth to mouth resuscitation.

Kelly was reeling from the shock of the blast. Somehow, something very bad had happened to her mom. She wasn't sure what exactly it was, but when the house got quiet, she became more afraid. The hair on the back of her neck had been standing, as if she were standing in an electric generator. Suddenly, her mother had expelled some type of force and had flown backwards, while the force had washed over Jessica and her. She smelled the burnt hair and saw everything around her mom had been forced away, like a bomb had detonated. Strangely enough, there were no scorch marks. Shaking her head had elicited an unknown moan from her throat.

Jason stood in the doorway watching Vincent perform mouth to mouth on his mother. He was probably the only one who knew what had really happened, and he was in shock. When he released the power into that conduit, he hadn't realized that it was connected to his mother. Being unprepared for such a blast, Janet had taken the full brunt of it to her mind and heart. When he had come into the room, he had felt that connection and knew what he had done. As Vincent began mouth to mouth, Jason was shaken from his introspection by the moans escaping from Kelly. As he reached out with his abilities, he felt a fear of hurting his family clutch his heart. Quietly, he moved next to the bed and took Kelly's hand.

"Kelly? Are you alright? What happened to you?" He asked in a hushed tone.

Kelly looked at him dazed for a second more, until recognition of her brother and lover snuck through the fog in her head. "JASON!! Oh my God! MOM!!" she shouted at him. She looked past him to the floor where their mother was sprawled. Seeing Vincent performing CPR on Janet caused her to ask, "Jason, can't you heal her?"

At this point, Jason lost all control he had re-established since his problems earlier. Tears formed in his eyes, and began tumbling down his cheeks as he bawled. Kelly stared at him, baffled by her lover's tears. He started babbling to her about why their mom was unconscious on the floor.

"It's all my fault Kel. I did it. Oh my god, I killed her." He blubbered as the tears flowed, unchecked. "I killed her" he repeated over and over as if a mantra.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO JASON?" Kelly screamed at her brother. As he spoke, her heart was seized by fear. Did he really kill their mom? What had happened?

Jason began to tell Kelly about the fight and the aftermath. As he told her of the conduit and sending the energy through it, she began to understand and infuriated with her brother. Meanwhile, in the corner, Vincent's C.P.R. technique had paid off. Janet was still unconscious, but was breathing on her own. While he was checking her pulse and her respiration, he had heard the conversation taking place on the bed. Putting together what he knew of what happened downstairs and what Jason said he did, he began to get a whole picture. Once Jason had finished speaking, and before Kelly could speak, he spoke up.

"Jesus. So that's what happened. Whew, I thought this was something serious. Well, more serious than what we actually have. Thank goodness you told Kelly, Jason. Could you come over here please? I need you to heal your mom." Vincent said as matter-of-factly as possible.

Both kids stared at him in shock. Jason was the first to find his voice, "I can't Vincent. I can't risk hurting her again." Followed immediately by Kelly with, "Yeah, why would you let him hurt her again?"

Kelly's words cut Jason to the core. He looked into her eyes and saw anger and pain. Thinking that she was right, he started to retreat back into catatonia again. 'She is right. I hurt my mom. I am a worthless human being. I don't deserve to live. I wish I could... ' but cut that thought off when Vincent barked "ENOUGH of that shit, you two. Jason get your ass over here. Kelly, wait there. I want to talk to you about something."

Jason stumbled over to Vincent, dragging his feet. He slumped onto the floor in a boneless fashion that could only be duplicated by someone in deep despair. Vincent placed a hand on his shoulder and mentally said 'Jason. This is what happened.' Sending visual imagery to the younger man's broken mind. 'You got caught in something I didn't warn you about because I had no idea you were capable of it.' Once he was sure that Jason was grasping the idea and saw the disbelief replace the defeat on Jason's face, he went into lecture mode.

'Step by step here is the situation. You are an energy leech. What that means is that when you get into situations that require a great deal of energy, you can reach out and take power from anyone that you are connected to.' Vincent started with 'That was what happened to me. You leeched me and I suspect that you leeched Kelly and your Mom too. However, we'll talk more about that later. Next, when you took the power from that last attack and absorbed it, you made a mistake. An energy attack is not your bio-energy. When you absorbed it, all you did is store a packet of energy inside you. There needed to be containment on that energy, and you didn't have any. How could you know? I never thought you could do that. Finally, the conduit to your mother was the only one you found when you needed to release the energy. Probably because she is your mother and all children have some connection with their mothers. That made it the largest conduit, and the most visible to you. You certainly didn't know about the conduit, or purposefully send the energy to try and hurt her. Right now, your mother needs your help. You made the problem, and now you need to heal her. Accidents happen, but do not let your fear and anger get in the way of your common sense. Your powers need to fix the physical problems you created within your mom. Now, will you please heal your mother? I love her and I am hurting for her very much.'

As he communicated with Jason mentally, Vincent watched Jason's face. With each point there was a bit more understanding. With understanding, Jason began to think more clearly. With Vincent's conclusion, came a searching look from Jason. As Jason looked into his eyes, Vincent tried to wipe away the few tears that were dribbling from the corner of them. In a quiet voice Vincent repeated aloud, "Please, heal her! I love her." After saying that, he rocked from his knees to the balls of his feet and stood. Jason turned to focus on his mother. Opening his powers up he linked to Vincent, then he entered Janet as he searched for damage in Janet's body. Vincent's presence was something that he needed for stability. His abilities immediately began to suppress the pain, searching for and repairing as many damaged areas as it could.

While Jason was engrossed with healing his mother, Vincent had moved over to Kelly. Sitting next to her was uncomfortable, but there was one more thing that needed to be purged and cleaned. She barely noticed his presence as she glared hatefully at her brother. When his hand came to rest on her shoulder, she spun and unleashed her emotions at the closest target.

"You bastard! How can you let him use his fucking powers on Mom? You say you love her, but how can you let him hurt her again?" she wailed into his arm.

Vincent sat with her and let her vent, while keeping track of Jason's progress in his mind. He listened to her rail and rant, letting the words wash over him. When she finally wound down, he cuddled her in his arms and began talking to her.

"You know, Kelly. Jason wasn't really at fault here. There is a lot that is unknown about what happened, but I need to ask you a few questions. When the attack came, did you feel slightly weak, like you hadn't eaten in a day?" he began.

"Yeah, how did you know? I think Mom was too, she kinda slumped up against the wall, like she was tired when Jason raced out of here." She looked up at Vincent, puzzled at the question. 'How does this relate to Mom laying there with Jason working on her?' she thought to herself.

"Well, then here is what happened to the best of my knowledge. Jason is an energy leech, for lack of a better word. He can draw bio-energy, the energy that allows us to use our powers, from the people close to him. Your mother, you, Jessica and I, are his closest people. So today when the attack came, he sucked up all the available energy around him, including mine, and created physical duplicates of himself." Vincent explained. "He made these doppelgangers and gave them independent thought, somehow. I don't know how he did it. It's definitely something I have never seen or heard of before. Then, when the attackers came, he defeated them: By Himself! He also did something that I can't do, but have read about. He absorbed an energy attack from the last attacker. He just sucked it up, like he was a sponge. The side affect is, that you can't take other peoples energy if it is a focused power, all you can do is store and release it. He tried to absorb it. It rattled around in him for a little bit, then shot out the only place it could go. Along the strongest connection that Jason has. Straight to your mom. That's what happened to her. An energy blast, like an electrical charge, shot into her and stopped her heart and lungs. It also did some other things; my own medical healing powers are minimal and I am not able to heal her. At least, not like Jason can." He concluded.

Kelly listened in shock. Jason saved them, all by himself? He absorbed energy from a blast and then held it inside himself? The energy was an accident, because no one knew that Jason was able to absorb energy? Her mind worked furiously to wrap itself around the concepts that were being presented so logically, and smoothly. As she sat thinking, Vincent double checked on Jason's progress. Seeing that all of the major and minor damage was healed, he asked "How long until she comes around?"

Jason's deep attention to the task at hand was not as necessary at this point. He maintained contact, but was able to turn and look at Vincent. He sighed, and began "She won't recover, at least not under current conditions."

"Why not? All of her damage has been healed, hasn't it?" the older man asked.

"Well. Yes and no. Everything is healed... except for one thing, the one thing I can't fix. Her neurons have stopped firing in the upper consciousness portions of her mind. Basically, I fried her circuit board. She will remain alive, but without higher brain functions. Without those functions, there is no way to tell her body how to fix the damage. The only way to repair *that*, is to let her subconscious mind repair the damage..." Jason explained.

"And without abilities, she can't do that." Vincent completed the sentence left hanging.

Each of the guys was lost in their own thoughts for a moment, when a quiet voice spoke up. "Why can't you give her powers like yours Jason?"

Jason and Vincent's heads swung around to the voice. Kelly looked at each expectantly. "Well? Why can't you give Mom powers to heal the damage herself?" Vincent was the first to speak up.

"It doesn't work that way, we can't just give her powers..."

"Actually, I think I can." Jason interrupted.

"WHAT?" Kelly and Vincent exclaimed in unison.

"Well, I think I can is different than actually doing it. I think that if I pinch off the blood to the same section of the brain like mine was I should be able to activate her abilities. Also, if it is something else in her mind that is the activator, we can watch and find out where it is. If the decreased blood flow activates a certain section, we can watch to see which it is." Jason explained to the amazement of his sister and Vincent.

"But, how will you check her? If her..." Kelly paused to think. "What did you call them? Higher Brain Functions? If those are damaged, won't that hurt her more?" She finished looking like she was going to break out into tears.

Jason finally rose from his mother's side, and moved over to Kelly on the bed. As he reached his arms out to her, she hesitated for a brief moment, and then rushed headlong into his embrace. He caressed her hair and cuddled her in close to his body. He knew, instinctively, that her fear was the same as his: Losing their last family member, their mother. He softly whispered how much he loved her, and how sorry he was for accidentally hurting Kelly and his mother. Once she was calming down, he said "If I don't try, I am sure that she will remain a vegetable for the rest of her life."

She nodded at my statement, giving her mute assent. Remaining entwined, they turned towards Vincent, as of one mind. Vincent sat watching the two. He thought about what Jason said. If there were a way, would the risk be worth not taking the chance? He slowly nodded his head in agreement, and then asked "How are we going to do this?"