Jack stiffened upon hearing his name, spotting a shorter figure, who was standing just behind him, in the mirror. He could see her eyes looking at him with utter disbelief, but he refused to meet her gaze, even though he knew she was aware he could see her.
"Hi, Signe." He finally managed to stammer, not wanting to turn away from the mirror out of fear that she would run away.
She said nothing, too shocked to reply. Jack couldn't really blame her, because if the situation were reversed, he would have the exact same reaction to her bolting into the house with a glowing face.
The sound of the front door being shut in a rather rushed manner echoed from the other room, followed by footsteps that seemed to be quickly approaching where Jack and Signe were locked in a standstill.
"Jack!" PJ called from just around the corner. "Just listen to me for two-"
He fell silent once he laid eyes on the situation Jack and Signe had found themselves in.
"Oh," was his only reply. Jack managed to laugh nervously at that, trying desperately to fill the silence that he knew would follow. It didn't end up doing much good.
The conversation fell flat, and all Jack could do was face the two pairs of eyes staring at him in the mirror. Signe's blueish-green ones, and his own freaky glowing pupils. Anytime the gaze of one made him uncomfortable he tried to divert his eyes to the other, only to be met with that same awkward feeling moments later.
"Well," PJ mustered with a clap of his hands, as if to purposefully try to break the silence as quickly as possible. "This is awkward."
Jack saw Signe's reflection nod, her body language still stiff and uncertain. Jack was honestly just thankful she hadn't bolted away from him yet.
"Wait a minute," PJ said, moving over to Jack and grabbing his shoulders. He turned his friend's body away from the mirror to face him. "How the hell did it get worse? It's only been a minute."
"I'm sorry, what?" Jack and Signe said in unison. The latter looked at Jack as if expecting him to have some kind of answer, but all Jack could do was shake his head. He hadn't the faintest idea why his skin and eyes were suddenly luminescent.
But PJ seemed to, and that was why the two of them then directed their attention to the taller man, Jack knowing for certain that he'd have an explanation based on his reaction, and Signe just hoping that somebody in the room could provide some clarification.
"Right, you have no idea what's happening here," PJ said, as if that fact hadn't occurred to him until that moment. "In the midst of you almost passing out in the car," PJ gestured to Jack, causing Signe's expression to change to one of consternation. "And then taking off down the street, I didn't exactly get any chance to tell you."
"PJ," Signe spoke. "Sean."
She looked at the people whom she was addressing with both determination and slight nervousness. The two of them stood there expectantly, knowing full-well what she was going to say.
"It's the middle of the night and Sean's face is glowing. You better have an explanation for this."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So let me get this straight," Signe said with her head in her hands, attempting to process what PJ and Jack had just told her. "Neither of you are human, people are disappearing randomly, some guy named Alex is a creep, and there's a secret organization that saves people from house fires and things?"
"Basically, yeah," PJ said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "There's some more stuff, which even I haven't figured out yet, but that's the long and the short of it."
Signe groaned and let her head rest on the wooden table that the three of them were sat around, staring at the floor and most likely contemplating just how big of a mess the three of them were in.
"So... you're not freaked out?" Jack asked tentatively, hating to push his luck but wanting to make sure Signe was okay.
Signe lifted her head from the table slightly to look Jack in the eyes.
"Oh no, I am absolutely freaking out right now. But it's like..." she glanced over at the clock. "Four in the morning, and my brain is too tired to actually go into freak-out mode."
She placed her head back down on the table once she finished speaking. To be perfectly honest, Jack felt like doing the same thing. Some kind of fuckery had been happening in his brain all day, and even with the whole 'enhanced abilities' package, all of those back-to-back dilemmas of painful origin had really drained him. It didn't help that those weird blue marks from earlier had been slowly fading ever since the three of them had decided to sit down for a chat, because along with them faded the temporary heightened senses that Jack had gained. Everything felt so much duller and flatter now that he was experiencing everything normally again, and the adrenaline rush that had been pumping through his veins had almost completely vanished, leaving him to deal with a greying and tiring world.
But there were still two things on Jack's mind that he wanted to get out while he had the chance, the first of those being a question.
"PJ," Jack started, pausing to allow his friend a moment to turn to face him. "What was with the glowing blue marks?"
"Ah," PJ exclaimed softly, looking a bit dismayed that Jack had brought the subject up, as if he'd been wanting to avoid it. "Those."
Signe lifted her head up from the table, looking just as curious as Jack to know the explanation behind what had happened.
"Those are side effects of the superhuman abilities you get when you're an immortanimus. A by-product of someone tapping into their abilities. It has to do with both our blood and all of the chemicals your brain releases when you're using the abilities. Nobody's really been able to find a way to stop it from happening, so for now it's just a weird-looking side effect."
"So that whole thing was me 'activating my abilities' or something?"
PJ nodded, thinking something over in a concerned manner before speaking again. "What did you feel when it happened?"
"Well, I could see a lot better," Jack stated simply. "And the rest of my senses seemed to be enhanced as well. I didn't really notice anything else though."
PJ nodded again, considering Jack's statement. "Okay, this isn't as bad as I thought it was."
"Wait, bad?" Signe interjected, re-joining the conversation and taking the words right out of Jack's mouth. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way you explained the..." she paused, trying to remember something. "The IH, made it sound like having those abilities is a good thing."
"Yeah, I thought the same thing," Jack agreed, looking at PJ with confusion as he felt an anxious knot form in his stomach.
"They are, under normal circumstances."
Jack saw Signe manage a small smirk at the word 'normal,' seeing as nothing about anything that had happened was normal.
"Jack, you only just found out that you're an immortanimus today. From there, it should've taken weeks to tap into your abilities, but you managed to do it within hours."
Jack grabbed his wrist under the table, remembering the odd pain that had emanated from it and his strange encounter with Alex. He already knew that his early-access of these powers was yet another thing that was somehow linked to the mysterious man.
"I've never seen anyone do that before."
"So, what do you think caused it?" Signe asked. She seemed more than ready to join in on the conversation now, which surprised Jack, as he thought she'd be out of commission for awhile. Hell, most people would be, but she seemed to be taking it better than he thought. Although, like she said, it was four in the morning, and that time of night your brain is so dead that you'd be willing to accept that the moon is made of green cheese in a heartbeat.
"Normally, the first time someone manages to do it, it's because it was triggered by some strong emotion. Kind of like narcolepsy, if you've ever heard of that, where sudden strong emotions can bring about random states of unconsciousness. Only instead of falling asleep, you can see an apple from a hundred metres away."
PJ turned to Jack. "Does any of that ring a bell?"
Jack almost immediately answered no, but decided against it when he remembered the kinds of thoughts that had been circling through his brain during the car ride back while the whole superpower thing was happening. The whole time, the only thing that consumed all of his mental energy wasn't concern for himself, but for his loved ones. More specifically, Signe. He'd been so intent on getting home and making sure she was alright that he hadn't even given PJ a chance to understand what was happening to him.
"Actually, yeah," he answered, looking over at Signe. "I was worried about Signe. After the thing with the fried computer and the creepy driver talking about people disappearing, I started getting paranoid that people I loved were going to be next, and I guess that was what brought that on."
Signe placed her hand on Jack's giving him a sad but reassuring smile.
"Sean, I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me. You're the one who apparently died earlier today."
Jack laughed nervously. He really wanted to believer her, wanted to believe that he didn't have a reason to be concerned about what could happen to her, but there was a part of him that refused to let him be content with that.
"I'm fine, don't worry. It wasn't that bad," he lied. Both PJ and Signe immediately realized that was bullshit and gave Jack matching dubious looks.
"So, now what?" Jack said after clearing his throat, trying to change the subject.
"Not sure," PJ replied. "We've got no leads on those cases, Alex is flat-out gone, and you're going to want to rest after all of this. Both of you."
"I'm fine, I can keep going. What do we need to-"
"Jack, I'm serious." PJ said, looking him dead in the eyes with a humourless expression. "If you try to run on empty, it's not going to end well. Trust me, I've seen people try to push themselves, especially after their first time trying out those abilities, and it never ends well."
Jack wanted to object and lie by saying he wasn't tired, but he knew there'd be no point. He could feel any energy he had leaving him as the marks faded, and if he didn't get some sleep soon, he had a feeling he would end up passing out right in the middle of trying to do something important. Honestly, he wasn't even sure he could stand up straight, and the haggard man wasn't exactly eager to test the theory.
"Okay, fine, but I'm not sitting this out forever," Jack compromised. "Tomorr-...er, later today, when it's not fucking four in the morning, I want to help."
"Same goes for me," Signe announced. Jack and PJ both turned their heads in surprise, both of them immediately concerned for her safety if she followed through with that statement.
"Signe, I don't think that's a good idea, Jack said, attempting to persuade her to re-think her words.
"This whole situation was caused by not-so-good ideas," she countered (and she wasn't wrong). "And so at this point, I think you've both run out of any idea the resembles 'good.' I don't think either of you can fairly judge whether this one is or isn't. I'm just trying to help clean up this mess."
"But you're-"
"Human, I know, but that doesn't mean I'm useless. I've just got to be a bit more careful with avoiding deadly objects than you two."
Jack didn't even attempt to continue the argument. From the look in her eyes, he knew Signe wasn't giving up on this. She'd fight tooth and nail to help them out, and so he might as well surrender now, because she'd win in the end no matter what.
"So, I guess we call it a night now?" Signe asked, sitting back in her chair and looking ready to fall asleep at any second.
"I guess so," PJ said. He and Signe began to stand up, but Jack didn't move.
He'd addressed the first thing on his mind. The question. But there was still one more thing he had yet to mention.
The confession.
"I...uh, there's something I should mention right now, while I have the chance."
Signe and PJ stopped and looked down at him, neither of them continuing to walk away from the table but neither of them moving to sit down again.
"Something weird is happening to me. And not just the thing in the car. There's something else."
There was silence from his friend and girlfriend. Not because they were disinterested, but because they were scared of the possibilities of what Jack could say next.
"Back in that room with Alex, I felt something weird. It started with this weird pain in my wrist," Jack unconsciously gripped at said wrist as he explained. "And then I felt this... static, in my head."
"Static?" PJ questioned.
"Yeah, like white noise inside of my brain. Like there was supposed to be something there that somehow got deleted. When it happened, I think I kind of just sat there, because you couldn't see me react on the security tapes, and I didn't want to mention it afterwards because I thought I was going nuts. But after what happened in the car, I can't help but feel that it's connected to Alex and what he's been doing."
Signe looked at him with concern for what had to be the millionth time that day. PJ had a similar expression, mixed with the thoughtful expression he got whenever he was considering a not-so-pleasant idea.
"I wonder... that must also be somehow related to you using you abilities way earlier than expected. Maybe it's doing something to speed up the process?"
"But why would someone, or something, want to speed that up?" Signe asked. "What does that accomplish?"
The thoughtful expression vanished, and PJ looked defeated.
"I don't know."
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