WHERE: The Gym WHEN: June 1st, 11:45am WHAT: Jett's been feeling exceptionally restless. It's finally revealed why. STATUS: Complete VIEW WARNINGS: Explosions, mild nudity, allusions to past injury/pain from explosions.
The restless energy was really starting to get to Jett.
He wasnât sure what it was, what was causing the restlessness now of all times, rather than last week, or the week before? There was nothing different now from then, and that was why it was weird that he couldnât get himself to calm down, to stop fidgeting, to just sit still for a few minutes.
It was unusual. Sure, he had more to do before, plenty of things to keep him occupied for the most part. Except now he was in the one place, with relative freedom, and he was feeling restless. He hadnât even felt this restless in the testing facility in Texas. And that had just been a back and forth parade of tests and questions with the occasional down time.
He was working his way through everything he could think of doing to burn off the restless energy, and then repeating. He knew Holly would kick his ass if she knew he was basically attempting to run himself exhausted, but heâd already duplicated more than he shouldâve and that hadnât helped at all.
Gravitating back to the gym, Jett had set up at one of the treadmills, bottle of water handy while he forced himself to just run, even when his legs started to burn. He just had to keep running.
Ben had always been a pretty active person so when he wasnât try to drown himself in alcohol or smoking himself to death he was in the gym, trying to work out whatever excess energy he had and as he trailed into he noticed he wasnât alone. There was another guy, on the treadmill, looking very much like he was trying to run something out of his system.
Not that he was going to judge, he sure as shit had no place to speak.
He decided to leave him to it on the treadmills as he wandered over to start getting set up on the weights, pausing to tug his hooded sweatshirt off over his head and toss it aside.
The awareness of another person crept at Jettâs senses; he knew he wasnât alone now, but it wasnât enough to draw his attention to whoever was there. As he pushed past another mile of his run, sweat damp around his neck and arms, hair starting to curl in the dampness, he just narrowed his focus.
It was like an itch he couldnât reach, one that wasnât solved by getting some clones out, one that a rather vigorous romp didnât fix, nothing that usually worked was working and that was frustrating him more.
He could feel his body getting warmer, which he assumed was just because he was pushing himself further, muscles burning from overuse, getting dangerously close to burn out, and Jett just kept going despite the heat in his extremities, the nagging sensation in his mind that his wasnât normal, something was wrong.
With hooded sweatshirt now discarded to one side Ben moved around the weights and began to set them up blissfully unaware at this time that the other occupant of the gym was trying to desperately run off or away from some sort of nagging feeling of impending doom. He raked his fingers through his blonde hair before he set about lifting the first set of weights, repeating the movements a couple times before pausing to add more weight on as nothing was really making him work.
He needed to work and work hard because there was no point lifting weight if you couldnât feel the burn.
Ben respected that not everybody wanted to talk during a workout so he left the other man to his own devices figuring heâd wait for the other to speak first before he went interrupting his focus because he seemed very much into his run. Of course he did stop for a moment to appreciate the other manâs form or rather him in general because Ben had eyes and he definitely wasnât blind though he did not want to be that guy and so he went right back to his weights.
It was getting worse. The build of restless energy, the heat, the tingling in his hands and feet. Not just from running, not just the muscles starting to burn and ache from the abuse. It was like someone stuck a stick of dynamite in his gut and lit the fuse.
And then it hit him like a freight train. The heat, the restlessness, the constant feeling of needing to do something not knowing what.
It was a fumble to get the treadmill to slow down, having being going faster than heâd originally realised, his quest to get the feeling gone only amping it up further. With the pace slowed enough that Jett could half stumble off and to the side, trying to catch his breath, his palms feeling like pin pricks just constantly stabbing into them. âYou have--â the awkward thing about speaking while out of breath was that it was decidedly difficult to get a full sentence out. âYou have to,â waving his hand towards the door, even moving further away from where the other man was working on the weights, Jett still couldnât get the sentence all the way out.
âExplosion. Impending. Leave.â Okay, words, that might work. Even as he could feel that pinch and prick of the build up coming, and if he did little explosions, it might help, but right now, anyone in the room was likely to get caught in it, and that meant keeping it stamped down for a little while longer. Despite the fact that, now that Jett knew what it was heâd been running from, it was catching up all the more quickly.
Ben looked up as the dark haired man on the treadmill seemed to stumble off and didn't look okay. In fact he looked very not okay. "You alright, mate?" He asked, obviously a dumb question but one worth asking considering the other man looked like he was struggling with something.
Explosion? Impending? Leave? What the hell?
Ben was confused, really confused, especially as he'd never encountered Jett before or knew of his power set so the warning was unfortunately as confusing as the sudden change in the other man's demeanour. Of course he didn't really like the looks of the situation and he knew a bad shift in the wind when he saw one so Ben began to back up towards the door though he never took his eyes off the other man.
He was really trying to keep it down, but it was rising faster with the knowledge that this was the restlessness, the energy that was building up. He could understand it, fundamentally. It hadnât crossed his mind, but since his first explosion during his arrest, heâd had controlled explosions near constantly for five years. Itâd been months since heâd let himself explode.
Clearly that was a mistake.
Jett wished he couldâve kept it back long enough to let Ben get out of the gym entirely, but his chest started to burn enough that he could feel it, and all he could hope was that the explosion didnât kill the other man on the spot -he expected it would be unfortunate for that to be a repeat.
It was a hot and sharp detonation, the flare of energy exploding outwards like Jett himself was a bomb. The equipment around him was a total write off, the surrounding area caught in the blast with debris that took up almost the whole room with a varied degree of damage.
There was a blast pattern from where Jett was standing, but in the smoldering remains of machines, mats and a charred wall, no sign of Jett.
Even though the other man had warned about the explosion there was literally nothing that could prepare you in any shape or form for the destructive nature of it. And as dumb as it was (because it was pretty dumb) Ben's arms lifted in an attempt to shield himself from the blast though thankfully for him he was practically indestructible though not above being lifted off the ground and forced rather violently through the air.
His back collided with a wall but rather than stopping there in his invulnerable state he went straight through it, the wall coming away under the force of which he impacted and eventually Ben hit the ground. Or rather he hit, rolled, hit again, rolled a bit more and then eventually came to a stop after having left quite the considerable dent in the ground he'd covered.
Ben was still for a moment until he emitted a low groan as whilst he didn't necessarily feel the pain of the explosion he most definitely felt the aftermath of having been in the same room as a guy who just exploded. He knew without a shadow that he'd been feeling this later but for now he forced himself over onto his front where he planted his hands and breathed.
"Jesus fucking christ," he drawled, Geordie accent thick.
He blinked to clear the slight daze before he turned his head, noting the damage not only to the wall but also to the floor and after a further moment of gathering his breath he dragged himself to his feet. He stumbled and then staggered back toward the epicentre of the blast where he clung to the hole he'd left and searched the gym for the other man but he was gone, just the remains of smoldering equipment and mats, but no actual person.
Well, fuck.
Ben pushed away and moved from the gym in the search of somebody or anybody.
Reconstitution wasnât usually a trouble. Jett was aware, somewhere, of what had happened, what needed to happen now, and then his body reformed. There wasnât any trouble in actually pulling himself together, it just happened. The explosion hadnât been as extreme as it couldâve been, although it did a fair amount of damage, and it was by no means the most explosive heâd been worked up to. But his delaying of it had meant he still had the energy building up.
Jettâs body pulled itself back into form on the same spot heâd been on, and while he knew it was a terrible idea, heâd barely let the last piece of himself settle into existence before Jett forced another explosion.
Ben had either left (hopefully that had been one of the many teleporters on base), or been blasted out of the gym. And Jett was holding out hope the man was fine. But the sooner he got rid of the rest of this energy the better.
The damage was already done, so a series of small, mostly superficial explosions later and Jett felt the exhaustion begin to take hold and his attempt to trigger another explosion not resulting in anything other than Jettâs body telling him everything hurt for now.
Which left him sinking to his knees in the destroyed gym, naked, sooty and exhausted.
Ben had been making pretty good progress in spite of having been blown up but as he rounded the next corner he collided with a dark haired woman who had for lack of a better word marching in the same direction as heâd been coming from.
âShit, sorry,â he mumbled as he righted himself and reached out to catch himself on a nearby wall because he still wasnât completely balanced.
Said dark-haired woman was one Holly Page who stumbled backwards when someone barrelled into her. She caught herself, too, ready to give him a piece of her mind for not looking where he was going - even though she had been distracted by thoughts of Jett exploding (and from the sound sheâd heard, it was quite clearly too late to stop him) and wasnât really paying attention - when she saw that he was covered in dust, plasterboard and what looked like soot.
âShit,â she responded eloquently, racking her brain as to who he was. âMonarch, right? Uh- Ben, I mean, Ben Walker?â She reached out, catching his upper arm. âAre you okay?â She looked past him, her desire to go and find her team member warring with her need to make sure that this other agent was okay.
She pressed her lips together, âJett?â
âAye, fine,â Ben said quickly though he knew he was most definitely going to feel all of this when the adrenaline was out of his system and he was back to being normal Ben not hyper-alert and reacting to danger Ben. âIs that the blokeâs name?â Okay, good to know. âHe blew up, literally. Exploded right in front of us.â
He gestured. âIn the gym like.â
âCâmon,â he urged as it was clear that the woman knew who Jett was and the sooner he got her to the epicentre of the blast the better.
Holly nodded, eyes catching on a fire suppression blanket hanging on the nearby wall and followed behind Ben, ripping it down as she did and bundling it up in her hands. As they approached, she could smell the aftermath of an explosion, warm burning in the air and she ran into the open gym, hopping through the damaged wall to see Jett in the middle of it all on his knees, completely naked and covered in soot.
âJett?â she started, the blanket probably not the most comforting thing that she could have grabbed but it was all she had to hand. She moved forward, stepping over smoking bits of debris and plasterboard thinking about just how much this was going to cost to fix, and how long itâd take before the whole area was open to the residents again. But it was a worry for later; Jett looked like his whole body was trembling.
She crouched in front of him, glancing over her shoulder at Ben before she placed the blanket gently around his shoulders. âLook at me?â
Exploding wasnât the most fun thing in the world.
It wasnât as simple as the duplication, just as simple as breathing now to make a clone. There was no pain, no discomfort, no unease, it was just an extension of who he was at this point. The clones getting hurt, that hurt. But it wasnât like when his body detonated like a barrel of gunpowder. Everything ached, although the heat had completely left him and he was shivering from the cold and trembling from the residual adrenaline running out.
âHolly.â He was sure that there wouldnât be another detonation, or he wouldâve been adamant that she not get close. âThe-- I had a--â Words were still difficult it seemed, but he did manage to raise glassy eyes to meet Holly at the insistence that he look at her. He wasnât in the least bit bothered about nudity, the cold was a little bit of a problem, and he wanted to curl up and sleep for a week.
âI left it too long between explosions.â
As Holly stepped into the gym Ben paused at the hole that he knew had been made by his body going through the wall and he just sort of sagged there for a moment. Jett looked rough, he really did, and Ben felt for him. He looked strangely small which for a man of his stature was impressive to say the least.
It was clear that Jett and Holly had a connection and he felt a bit weird just sort of standing there gawking at them like an absolute weirdo so he figured heâd leave them to it. And maybe go and pass out somewhere for a while.
He gripped the wall with the intent of leaving but frowned as he left marks behind, clearly his body was delivering enough adrenaline to do damage he didnât intend on doing.
Hollyâs hand rested against the back of Jettâs neck and she drew him a little closer, resting her forehead against his for a moment, squeezing the back of his neck gently. âWeâll talk about this later, okay? For now- can you stand?â
She looked around; strong as she was Holly couldnât support Jett properly, certainly not to the clinic. The cracking of plaster caught her attention and she saw that Ben had left a hand-print behind.
âYou think you could help me get him to medical?â
Ben stilled in his movements before giving a nod of his head. âAye, sure. No problem.â He stepped through the hole and made his way over to Jett where he crouched down, slipping an arm around his waist and encouraging the other man to wrap his around his neck. âCâmon, mate. Letâs get you sorted.â
His bones creaked as he went from a crouched heap to standing, the previously overworked muscles having clenched angrily in the time heâd been stationary. It was more exhaustion than hurt that had him groaning though, and while medical was something he wasnât about to argue with Holly about right then, he didnât really think they could do something unless theyâd let him sleep off the tiredness for a while.
Draping an arm over Benâs neck, trying not to just sag weightlessly, âSârry, âbout the eâsplosion.â Although, thankfully, it didnât look like heâd killed someone else in an accidental blast. That was a bonus. Even if he did kill the gym, which likely wouldnât go over well with anyone.
Holly slipped in under Jettâs other arm, wrapping the blanket around him as best she could, one arm around his waist near Benâs and the other holding the blanket closed to try and at least protect some of his dignity.
âNo one was hurt, Jett,â she said, because if there was anyone else, Ben would have said something, she hoped. âAnd stuff can be replaced.â But her agents couldnât be. So whatever happened, she was relieved that Jett was physically okay and whatever else happened, she would deal with it.
She looked at the impressive hole in the wall that Ben had left and then at the door. âYou need sleep, Jett, and then weâll talk. And you, Ben, when we get to medical I want you checked out too. That was one hell of a trip.â
Benâs powers were unique in that he could be blown up and still be walking to tell the tale, it was why heâd survived that accident when nobody else had. Of course that didnât mean everything else fared as well, the wall being a case in point.
âIf youse insist,â he said in reply to Hollyâs insistence that he get checked out. Now he was certain that he and Holly had a firm grip on Jett he began them moving, in the direction of the infirmary.
He could feel himself relax a little more, tension leaving his shoulders as Holly affirmed no one was hurt, even if Ben apparently went through a wall, but was still upright and helping Jett walk. Handy skill to have, that was.
Dignity was not high on Jettâs list of worries, he rarely actually worried about that, but he would later appreciate the attempts while hanging mostly limp over a stranger and his handler. At the very least, he wasnât feeling terribly restless anymore.