#scramble

It was a sad day.

Droplets of rain drizzled onto the back yard, the sky was a miserable shade of grey, and the cold wind blew through their paper thin jackets with ease.

This was the day that Lionel Jefferies powers first emerged.

As gloomy as it was the weather was perfect in a sense. In movies, tv serials, and books it was always raining at a funeral.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, were are gathered here today to remember the life of our beloved hamster, Cain.” Lionel presided over the shoe box casket, desperately trying to think of things to say.

He remembered, vaguely, the words spoken at their Great-Aunt Alice’s funeral last summer. The solemn look of the Reverend's face, as he stood over the closed casket. How the reverend waved his Bible telling the mourners that they shouldn’t mourn Great-Aunt Alice’s passing. That she had gone home to the Kingdom of God, to live out the rest of eternity alongside Jesus and God.

Lionel bit his tongue. He didn’t think those words were things Madison wanted to hear at that moment.

Despite the fact that he was trying desperately to hide, it Lionel could tell that his typically calm, strong, and stoic, older brother, was crying.

Not that he was doing a very good job at it, even with his face scrunched up, hidden behind the bright orange shade of his windbreaker, Lionel could see the tears dripping down Madison’s face.

Cain had been Madison’s pet. Ma and Dad had gotten it for him when he was ten, after Madison had asked for a dog. They claimed that if he could keep a hamster alive for six months they’d consider it.

Madison had been up to the task. He took great care into feeding, cleaning, and watering the hamster. He had been hesitant to even let Lionel hold him at first.

“You have to be gentle.” Madison instructed then then seven year old Lionel. “You can’t squeeze him.”

Lionel nodded as Madison set the hamster, which he had named Cain, gently onto his palm.

“You pet him like this.” Madison took his pointer and his middle finger and rubbed them smoothly against Cain’s back.

“He’s purring, Madi.” Lionel giggled as the hamster shook in his hand.

“Technically he’s bruxing.” Madison corrected. “And don’t call me Madi.”

Lionel shrugged and followed his brother’s instructions, only for Madison to snatch Cain up after three strokes.

“That’s enough.” He declared and gently set the hamster back in his cage.

Lionel pressed his face against the cool metallic bars of Cain’s home, trying to get a better look at his brother’s new pet.

To the Jefferies parents surprise (and great relief), but the time Madison had turned eleven he had changed his mind on getting a dog. He didn’t want Cain to get jealous.

Even without the reward of a puppy, Madison still took good care of Cain. His cage was cleaned regularly, he was fed each and every day, his water was changed regularly. He loved him dearly.

Which was what made it all the more heartbreaking when Cain passed away.

“He was almost three years old, baby.” Ma stroke Madison’s hair. He had come down stairs crying after waking up to find Cain dead in his cage. “That’s really old for a hamster.”

“Quit whining.” Dad barked. “I don’t want the neighbors to think I’m raising sissies.”

Lionel was the one that suggested they hold a funeral. He thought the chance to say goodbye would make Madison feel better. However, based on the tears that ran down his brother’s face, it wasn’t doing much good.

It was strange watching Madison cry. Madison could grab things off of top shelves, he was in middle school and had a sort of girlfriend, Ma let him stay up until nine thirty. In Lionel’s nine year old eyes he was the epitome of cool.

However, watching Madison mourn the death of his hamster. His face bright pink, eyes red from dark tears, his nose runny from sniffling, Lionel could only find his brother to be sad.

He wished Madison didn’t feel that way. He wished Cain hadn’t died. That instead when Madison woke up he found his hamster running on the wheel like the day before.

When Lionel Jefferies attended the funeral of the great-aunt he had never met, he didn’t really understand death. Sure, it was sad that Great-Aunt Alice had died, but that sadness was only an abstract concept.

As Lionel Jefferies presided over the funeral of his brother’s beloved hamster, the true cost of death struck him like a slap to the face.

Death wasn’t sad because of the people who died.

Death was sad because of the people who had been left behind.

Lionel’s body froze in horror as he felt the sickly strange realization crawl over him.

Everyone he loved would die.

One day his parents would die.

One day his brother would die.

His aunts, his uncles, his cousins, The mailman, his teachers, Mrs. O’Leary across the street. All of those people were going to die one day.

Leaving Lionel behind.

He carefully lifted the lid of the shoebox. He placed his fingers over Cain’s sad, cold, corpse. He took his pointer and middle fingers and pressed them together, then he began to stroke Cain’s fur. It wasn’t the same. It could never be the same.

Lionel’s voice stuttered as he tried to continue Cain’s funeral, trying to distract himself from this twisted thought, trying to outrun the promise of the inevitable.

“Cain…. Cain, Cain was…he…he was…ugh!”

Lionel bent forward as he felt a sharp pain emerge from his stomach. The electric feeling ran up his nerves into his arms, hands, and shoulders. Electrifying his brain and running back around his body in an endless loop.

“Lionel!” Madison jumped up and wrapped his arms around his brother. “What’s going on!”

“I…I uh…I ah!” He was crying now. Sharp tears of pain dribbled out of his dark eyes, as Lionel struggled to stand up right.

“Ma!” Madison cried out.

Their mother couldn’t hear them. The boys were in the front yard, and she was likely in the kitchen, which was situated in the back of the house.

“I’m fine, Madi.” Lionel huffed. As quickly as the pain appeared it vanished.

“What happened?” Madison asked as he released his brother.

 “Probably just a stomach ache.” Lionel shrugged. “Shall we get on with the funeral?”

“Yeah, let’s-HOLYSHIT!”

Madison’s eyes had dropped down to the shoebox casket, which had been knocked over in all the fuss. Positioned on his hind legs, staring up at them, was Cain.

Except unlike he had been when Lionel had placed him in the shoebox an hour ago, Cain wasn’t dead.

Cain was alive.

The hamster stared up at its owners, it’s dark eyes unblinking as it stared at them. It was undoubtedly Cain, but not as he was before.

Yes Cain was moving, but anyone could tell there was something off about him. As Lionel pressed his hands against the rodent, he was cold and weirdly still.

“Don’t touch it!” Madison barked, as he jerked Lionel back.

As soon as Lionel removed his hands from Cain’s body, the hamster fell down again. Slamming against the dirty ground, undeniably dead once again.

Madison took a step back. “What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know.” Lionel stared down at his hands which were shaking heavily.

He could still feel Cain’s cold still body pressed against his hand. Except Lionel had felt more than just Cain’s figure. He couldn’t explain it, but it was almost like he could feel every detail of Cain’s body. His heart, his lungs, his blood. Lionel could feel every detail of the dead hamster’s body as it were his own.

“Hey, hey, look at me.” Madison leaned down and grabbed Lionel’s shoulders. “We can never tell anyone about this.”

Lionel nodded. “It’s not like anyone would believe us if we did.”

“Exactly, they’d think were crazy.” Madison quickly scooped Cain and gently placed him in the shoebox. “C’mon let’s burry this sucker.”

It was a rough day.

Large piles of slushy snow had fallen to the ground the previous night, the sky was a dark stony grey, and the sharp wind tore through their thick jacket with ease.

This was the day Madison Jefferies powers first emerged.

Despite the amount of snow that had fallen the night before, school had not been cancelled, and Dad had been unable to give them a ride.

“Quit being a bitch.” He snapped as he huddled into the warmth of his truck. “When I was your age, I didn’t have to walk to school. I had to walk to work. Ten miles back and forth, in conditions much worse than this.”

Madison also had to walk Lionel to school. The elementary school was four blocks away from his junior high, but the snow made the streets difficult to navigate. Madison slipped on an ice patch, the frozen concreted broke his skin as he landed.

He was twelve minutes late and was scolded by his homeroom teacher who gave little care to blood seeping out of Madison’s palms nor the hole in his jeans.

It started to snow when he picked Lionel up from school that afternoon. The boys raced home, entering the house covered in thick sheets of snow, which seeped onto the kitchen floor.

“Careful I just moped that floor.” Ma crossed her arms. “Madison, I got a call from the school saying you were late for class this morning.”

“Ma, I’m sorry, there was a lot of snow and I-”

“You can save it for your father.” Ma told him.

Madison sighed.

It seemed like a small miracle when Mr. Jefferies returned home and was informed of his son’s misdemeanor, that he just shrugged and grumbled. “I’m too tired for this shit, just don’t do it again.” Then plopped down in front of the tv.

Madison gave a breath of relief as Ma tossed him and Lionel their meals and took a seat next to her husband’s chair.

This was a regular affair in the Jefferies household. Dad would come home, Ma would take four cheap tv dinner trays out of the oven and place them in front of her sons. Ma would adjust the channel, typically she would put on a game show. She and Dad grumbled at the players for being stupid, as the boys tried to finish their meals as quickly as possible.

Lionel had found a work around for this specific kind of torture their parents put them through. He’d place a book on his lap and carefully pluck the food off of his tray so it wouldn’t fall onto the pages.

Lionel, to be frank, was a complete and total nerd. Sorry, it was just the truth. What kind of elementary schooler checked out medical text books from the adult section of the library?

Ma and Dad didn’t see too much wrong with Lionel’s reading. In Ma’s mind that meant he might become a doctor someday and make some money for the family. Dad seemed to think that too, but he did voice displeasure that his soon spent too much time in doors.

At the sound of the crinkling pages Dad glanced over at Lionel, who was absorbed in a page about lungs. He gave sharp sigh before loudly pushing away his tv tray, nearly knocking it over, if it weren’t for Ma who grabbed it before it could fall over.

Dad marched over to the chair Lionel was sitting in and yanked it out of his hands.

“Hey!” Lionel cried.

Ma and Madison jerked their heads over to the scene.

Dad stared over at Lionel, eyes boring down at him in anger. “Are you in this family?”

Lionel didn’t answer, instead he stared up at his father eyes wide with confusion.

“Hello?” Dad asked. “I asked you a question. Are you in this family?”

Lionel still didn’t answer.

“When I ask you a question you answer it!” He snatched up Lionel’s book, a yelp came from the small child underneath it. “I asked you a question, are you in this family? Yes or no?”

“Yes?” Lionel squeaked.

Dad growled bringing down the heavy medical text book, it’s sharp cover whacking Lionel right in the face.

“Dad!” Madison cried out.

“You stay out of this!” Dad roared and turned his attention back on Lionel. “Dinner time is family time! I’m fed up with all this reading.” He tossed Lionel’s book across the room, it hit the side of the wall with a thump, causing Ma, Madison, and Lionel to startle. “Sit up and watch the tv!”

Lionel gave a shaky breath, as Dad took his seat.

Madison’s ears burned as he listened to his brother’s stifled sobs, as he turned his attention back to the black and white figures on the tv.

Dad pushed Madison around all the time. Shouting at him to stop crying, slapping the back of his head when he made a mistake, punishing him by giving him harder chores. Madison always figured the reason for this was because he was the oldest. He was supposed to be the responsible one. The example for Lionel so that he knew what a man was and to form himself into that image.

Now that Dad had taken out his anger on Lionel, he wasn’t so sure about that anymore. He watched as the older man heckled the contestants on tv, Ma whispering for him to keep it down. “Shut up!” He snapped.

That old man didn’t give a damn about anyone. Not his sons, not his wife, not even the characters on his beloved tv.

And it was all so unfair.

As he stared at the tv, his vision blurred, tears prickled Madison’s eyes, dripped down his face.

These weren’t the tears of sadness that his father regularly scolded out of him.

These were tears of rage.

It came on suddenly the electric pain that stabbed his stomach that Madison couldn’t do anything but cry out before he doubled over. The pain traveled up his stomach, shooting up his arms, his shoulders, electrocuting his head, as it doubled around him.

His hears fuzzed as his parents glared over at him.

“Madison is everything okay?”

“Don’t you start too?”

“Madi!”

“AH!” Madison screamed.

His brain felt like it was on fire, a magnetic pulse connecting Madison to the tv. He could feel every inch of it as if it were his own body. Each wire burning hot in his veins, his memories the channels playing on the screen, his ears filled with the noise from the speakers.

He wanted it to stop.

The tv burned brightly, sparks shooting out, as the screen blasted off. Glass covering the whole living room. Shards dazzling against the carpet, landing into the chairs, nailing themselves into Ma’s legs.

Ma let out a scream, jumping upwards as blood pooled down her stockings.

Mr. Jefferies pushed past his wife and grabbed Madison by the shirt, hoisting the boy up, so he was face to face with his father’s snarl. “What did you do?”

Madison huffed. “I don’t-I don’t-”

“What the fuck did you just do!”

“Dad…Ma…please…I have no idea!”

Madison soon found himself tossed on the other side of the room. His elbow knocking against Lionel’s book.

“Get in the car!” He shouted, snatching Lionel’s elbow and shoving him towards the door. “Get in the car both of you. Now!”

“Lionel can you tell me something?”

Dr. Addison was a clean woman with dark hair, who wore a pair of dark glasses over her blue eyes. Her warm smile, which hadn’t faltered since Lionel entered her office, made him feel safe.

He nodded.

“Have you ever felt strange?”

Lionel bit his lip not understanding the question. “Strange how?”

“You know like there some kind of force in your body, trying to crawl its way out.”

“When I was sick last summer I threw up everywhere.” Lionel shrugged.

Dr. Addison laughed. “Not like that, no.” She shook her head. “Has anything ever happened around you that you couldn’t explain? Do you hear others thoughts? Have you cut yourself and suddenly it was healed? Have you ever moved so fast that you were at home and next you were in another city?”

“Are you asking if I’m like Madi?” Lionel asked.

He knew what had happened at dinner a few hours ago wasn’t normal. No one could blow up a tv just by looking at it. That’s why while Ma was getting the glass pulled out of her legs, Madison and Lionel had been taken by the doctors to separate rooms. After hearing Dad’s story, the doctors had “taken an interest” in them.

“Yes.” Dr. Addison sighed. “I’m not supposed to tell you this Lionel, but my colleague, Dr. Blake, found something interesting about your brother.”

“Does it have to do with the tv blowing up?”

Dr. Addison nodded. “We have reason to believe that your brother has a mutation in his genes.”

Lionel’s eyes widened. “Like cystic fibrosis?”

Dr. Addison let out a small gasp. “Yes, that’s very bright of you.”

“Is Madi going to be okay?” Lionel squeaked.

If Madison’s mutation was anything like cystic fibrosis, it meant he wouldn’t have long to live. It meant by the time Lionel was thirty, Madison would be dead.

“Madison’s going to be just fine.” Dr. Addison assured him.

“But you said he had a mutation.”

“Not all mutations are bad.” Dr. Addison explained. “For example, I have a mutation in my genes which affects my eyes.” She gestured to her glasses. “Madison has a mutation which means he can control inorganic materials.”

“And you want to know if I can do that?” Lionel said.

Dr. Addison nodded. “In recent studies, we found that biological family members with Madison’s kind of mutation tend to have similar powers. I want to know if that’s the case with you.” She leaned back in her chair. “Now, Lionel, can you tell me if anything strange has happened to you?”

Lionel nodded. “Well, a few months ago…”

He told Dr. Addison about Cain. How all Lionel had to do was touch him and the rodent was alive.

“Madi pulled me off of him.” Lionel said. “He was scared Cain would hurt me.”

“And after your released Cain?”

“He died.” Lionel whispered sadly. “Again.”

Dr. Addison wrote something down on a piece of paper. “Lionel?” She asked. “Do you think you could try something for me?”

Lionel nodded. “Okay.”

Dr. Addison reached out her hand towards him. “I want you to take my hand and tell me if you can feel anything, okay?”

Lionel nodded and took Dr. Addison’s pale hand in his own.

It was like a bolt of lightning. Lionel could feel every nerve of Dr. Addison’s body, the way she tried to still the heavy beats of her heart, her pulse felt like his own.

“Does this hurt?” Dr. Addison asked.

“No.” Lionel shook his head. “Not like last time. It just feels strange.”

Lionel could feel every part of Dr. Addison. Not just her organs but the molecules that made up the very pulse of her existence. It was like plunging his hand into water, ripples spreading across her very being.

Dr. Addison let out a sharp gaps and released Lionel.

“My eyes…” She blinked as she removed her glasses. “I can…I can see…perfectly.”

Dr. Adison sat in shock for a moment before picking up her pen and recording her findings. “Lionel,” She stated. “I think we might have to keep you overnight.”

Technokinesis.

That’s what they told him he had.

Technokinesis.

The word itself sounded like a disease.

The hospital kept Madison and Lionel for three days. Even after Ma’s legs were stitched up they weren’t allowed to leave.

“We want to run some more tests.” The doctor stated. “Just to be sure.”

Madison spent the next three days in a white, overly air conditioned room, with nothing to do but act as the doctors told him to.

They brought him toys.

Remote controlled helicopters, walkie talkies, dolls with voice boxes tucked inside their tummies.

They told him to take them apart.

Madison would sit on one side of the room, about five feet away from the toys which sat on the table. His arms crossed as he stared angrily at the objects in front of him.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Dr. Blake would state from his place by the door.

A good place to run out, in case Madison’s powers went haywire or he decided to kill him.

Dr. Blake had a low opinion of mutants telling Madison when he diagnosed him:

“I believe you possess technokinesis. Telepathy isn’t uncommon for those with your disorder.”

“Is there a cure?” Madison asked.

Dr. Blake shook his head. “No, unfortunately there isn’t. Our findings one the X-Gene are too new for us to start developing a cure.”

Mutation, all it took was one slight error in their genes to ruin him and Lionel for life.

Madison stared at the toys angrily. It felt as if they were mocking him, urging him to use his powers. Break me, unmake me, destroy me.

It wasn’t fair. He and Lionel hadn’t done anything to deserve this. They had been reasonably good kids, decent grades, reasonably polite to their parents (not that Dad made it easy).

What had Madison done to deserve this mutation?

This disorder?

This curse?

 This fate?

As it had happened with the television set, Madison could feel his mind merging with the toys. Their electrical fragments setting his mind and body aflame. He screamed as he tore them apart, reducing them to shards which flew over the room.

The helicopter’s propellor spun straight towards Dr. Blake. The psychiatrist used his clipboard to shield himself. The blade knocked into the wood with a loud thwack.

“I think we’re done for today.” He squeaked before rushing out the door.

Madison and Lionel were discharged the next day. Dad came to pick them up, his grunts sounding as loud as the roar of his truck.

“Not a word about this too anyone, understand?” He ordered as the door closed.

“Yes, sir.” Lionel and Madison answered.

“I mean it,” He continued. “If I catch a single hint of either of you twos using your powers, your dead. Got it?”

Madison nodded, while Lionel let out a whine.

“But Dad…”

“Not another word!”

When the boys returned home, they found their mother in the kitchen making dinner, a new tv had been set up in the living room, the glass from Monday’s incident cleaned up.

They never spoke of that day again.

Despite their father’s warning to never speak or make use of their powers again, Lionel couldn’t help himself.

He abstained from it for weeks after the initial diagnosis. He tried hard to ignore the loud sound of his family’s beating hearts. The electric spark of his math teacher’s neurons as he struggled to teach a room of bored fifth grades fractions. Lionel’s body fizzled with power whenever his father lit a cigarette. It was as if his Dad’s lungs were begging him to relieve them from their misery.

He tried to be good.

He tried so hard to be like Madison, who didn’t seem bothered by the rev of the car’s engine, the blinking of their bedroom lights, nor the static of the radio.

It all came to ahead when Lionel’s mother burned her hand.

It was a rainy Spring afternoon, Dad was at work, Madison was at school, and Lionel was home with a cold. 

He knew that the ache in his stomach, the pounding cough in his throat, and the snot snuffed up in his nose could easily be fixed, but Lionel didn’t dare think what his father would do if he came home to find his sickly son healthy as a horse.

Lionel came downstairs to get a glass of water, as Ma boiled soup on the stove.

“This’ll make you feel better honey.” She promised, as she picked the pan off the stove. “Just give me a moment-ah!”

Ma tripped as she carried the pot over to the table, the soup washed over her hand in a magnificent warm wave. She cried out as she rushed it over to the sink.

“Ma!” Lionel raced over to her, his eyes bulging at the scene before him.

Ma’s hand was swollen large, her pale skin blistering red, Lionel could swear he could see her veins.

“Ma, are you alright?” Lionel asked.

Ma let out a whimper as she stared at her shaking hand. She adverted them quickly once she realized the severity of the damage.

Lionel knew what his father would want him to do. Grab the phone, call a hospital, then call him so he could meet them there.

Lionel also knew that even if the doctors could help Ma, it still take several months for a burn that severe to heal completely. She’d struggled to hold things, cook, clean, drive. Things that came so easily before would be a struggle.

So, Lionel did what he knew he should do, he grabbed Ma’s hand, and focused hard.

He could feel every inch of his mother’s body. The scabs on her legs that were still healing, the scar she gained during his birth, and the burning flame that was her hand.

Lionel could feel the tissue, burned and scared, as if it were his own. He gripped onto it tightly.

Ma let out a gasp as her hand’s swelling went down, returning to its pale color, skin growing back quickly, as it reshaped itself into its healthier form.

Lionel released her as the final nail settled into place. Ma stared at her hand in wonder, gently flexing her fingers, and turning her wrist.

She gave Lionel a quick glance. “Don’t ever tell your father about this.”

Lionel smiled.

Madison tried very hard not to think about his powers.

It wasn’t working out as well as he had hoped.

He hated taking car rides, every time Dad started the ignition all Madison could think about was the spark of the engine, the clanking of the gears, and the fumes that roared through his body. He started walking everywhere just to avoid it.

After his diagnosis life’s simple pleasures faded away fast. He couldn’t listen to the radio anymore without his body being overcome by static. He ate dinner in his room, unable to look at the tv after what he’d done.

This went on for years.

Madison’s friends complained about how he wouldn’t go to the movies anymore. How he lost his almost girlfriend because he couldn’t use the phone anymore. In a fit of anger, he tossed Lionel’s portable radio into the wall because he couldn’t stand the static.

This continued until Madison moved out and got an apartment of his own. The crummy, moldy, roach infested, room was entirely technology free. He kept the lights off, never used the ac/or the heater, and ate food straight out of the can without heating it up.

This wasn’t a life.

This wasn’t a life it was a prison.

Eating cold beans for breakfast, refusing to get his driver’s license, living in the dark.

This was hell.

Madison didn’t know how long he could stand it.

Everything changed when he was walking to his job as a janitor for a nearby hospital.

Lionel had gotten him the job. He was on his third year of surgical residency and had pulled strings for Madison to work night shifts.

Madison stuck to the lower levels, trying to avoid the upper areas of the hospitals. Especially radiology, where the x-ray machines hummed and hawed at him.

Lionel didn’t need that kind of trouble.

Especially considering he wasn’t bothering to hide his mutant powers at all.

Lionel had graduated med-school, top of his class, full honors. Madison had cheered loudly for him as he walked down the stage.

Lionel had always been a smart kid, everyone always said he would go places.

However, once Madison had started working along Lionel he realized it wasn’t Lionel’s brains that had gotten him through med school.

A woman had come in large cut on her arm, spewing blood everywhere. Naturally Madison had been called to clean it up.

As he tried to scrub the red stains off the white tile, Lionel, and a bunch of other doctors were trying to calm their patient.

Lionel touched her wounded arm.

And just liked that the bleeding stopped.

Later that day Madison confronted him about it.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He hissed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Lionel told him. “You can’t be using your powers in public.” Madison groaned. 

Lionel rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on Madi, you can’t tell me you don’t use your powers when the occasion arises?”

Madison’s cast his eyes down on the floor and Lionel’s mouth opened slightly.

“Oh.” He said. “Really, you never…”

“Not since we left the hospital.” Madison said. “Apparently the common sense gene only passed down to one of us.”

Madison had tried several times to explain to Madison that what he was doing was dangerous. With the rise of people getting diagnosed with x-gene, came a rise in concerned humans wondering what this would mean for them.

Some people took these concerns to violent lengths.

Lionel didn’t seem to care about that. He claimed he was helping people, when all he was really doing was causing trouble.

Madison groaned as he trekked through the snow. He wished he could take a bus.

“Hey, hey, hey, kid, you there!”

Madison jerked his head.

On the other side of the road was an older man wrapped, standing outside of a car was waving him down.

Madison glanced for any upcoming cars, before dashing towards the other side of the road.

“Hey, pal, what’s going on?” He asked.

“My car broke down.” The man shivered underneath his dark coat. “I’ve been stranded her for the past twenty minutes and no one, but you has come by.”

“Makes sense.” Madison typically took this road due to its lack of cars. “Look, pal, I don’t know what you want me to do, when I get to my job I can call somebody and send them out here.”

“Not much use to me if your going to walk down there.” The man sighed. “I’m already late of my meeting and my boss is going to have my head if I’m not there on time.”

Madison glanced at the man and then back at his car. He gave an internal groan.

This was such a bad idea.

“Let me see what I can do.” He made his way over to the car and popped open the hood.

Madison had spent many afternoons as a boy in the company of his father watching as his dad explained to him the many wonders of the automobile. How to change a tire, replace a spark plug, and all that good stuff.

With his powers though, there was no need for any prior knowledge.

Madison set his hand on the car’s cold engine, slowly but surely he could feel the machine, as if were his own body, Madison concentrated his energy, and he could hear it hum.

“Try starting it again.” Madison instructed.

The stranded man, leaned into the drivers side and twisted the keys.

The car roared to life.

“Yes!” He cried and turned to Madison. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much.” Madison shrugged.

“Well, c’mon, we’ve got to get going.” He jumped inside. “We?” Madison asked.

“What you think I’m going to let the man who just saved my ass walk to work.” The man shook his head. “C’mon…”

“That’s really not necessary.” Madison started.

“I won’t take no for an answer.”

Madison got in, relieved at the warm air that blasted his face as he took a seat. He gave the man instructions to the hospital and off they went.

As the drove the man introduced himself as Lieutenant Joshua Strand, US Army.

“I just got back from ‘Nam last week.” Strand sighed. “I spend two years in that dammed jungle and next they tell me to haul ass up north.”

“I imagine you don’t get too much snow down there.”

“No, one nice thing about it.” Strand glanced at Madison. “You know we could use some men like you on the front.”

Madison scoffed. “Really?”

“Hey if you could fix my rental in less than thirteen seconds, I’d love to see what you could do with a hummer.” Strand said. “Seriously, you should join.”

“You want me to join the United States Army?” Madison said. “Lieutenant Strand, I don’t know if you noticed by I’m Canadian.”

“It’s fine.” Strand explained. “The US Army accepts men from all over the world.”

Strand pulled up to the hospital and Madison opened the door. “Seriously, you should think about it.”

“Okay.” Madison told him thinking that be the end of it.

Except Strand’s offer rattled around Madison’s head for the rest of the night.

Vietnam, the jungle, a chance to get away from the city and all the noisy machines that plagued Madison day and night.

How could he pass up an opportunity?

He pitched his idea to Lionel later that night.

“Vietnam, are you insane?” Lionel stared at him. “Do you have any idea how many people are dying over there?”

“It be good for me.” Madison answered. “Give me a chance to see the world.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” Lionel spat. “Jesus, Madi…”

“Don’t call me Madi.”

“You really hate being a mutant that much don’t you?”

“Don’t say.” That Madison glanced around the hospital cafeteria looking to see if anyone heard Lionel.

“Ugh, when do you start?”

“I haven’t signed up yet.” Madison explained. “Figured I’d run the idea by you first.”

“Great,” Lionel said. “Tomorrow we’ll call the US recruitment office.”

“We’ll?”

“What you think I’m letting you go alone?” Lionel shook his head. “Someone’s gotta stich you back up when you get shot.”

“You’re coming with me?” Madison asked.

“Of course.” Lionel shrugged. “You’re always looking out for me, about time I returned the favor.”

“Thanks.” Madison wrapped his arm around Lionel’s shoulder.

“Anything for you Madi.”

“Please stop calling me that.”

Vietnam wasn’t as bad as Lionel thought it was going to be.

Sure, it was hotter than hell, humidity would’ve fried his hair had it not been shaved clean off, and the mosquitoes were digging into him like a five course meal.

Really it could’ve been worse.

He could be there all alone.

Everyone said he was nuts when he joined Madison on the front.

His teachers, his bosses, his parents.

“Madison’s going because he can’t make a living here.” Dad explained. “You’ve got no reason to.”

That’s what Dad didn’t’ get. Madison was his reason.

When Madison first pitched the idea of joining the US Army, Lionel was ready to lock him in the hospital broom closet and not let him out until the war was over.

If Madison brought up the idea to Lionel, that typically meant he already made up his mind, and there was nothing anyone could do to change it.

Not even Lionel.

The army was happy to have a surgeon enlist.

“We could use more trained hands out there.” Lieutenant Strand slapped Lionel on the back.

“Well, I’ve got the best hands in the business.” Lionel told him.

Lionel didn’t think he’d ever seen so many bloodied, broken, bruised, patients than he had in Vietnam.

Teenage boys with their legs blown off, fingers missing, faces distorted.

There was only so much Lionel’s powers could do. He had promised Madison he would try to keep it on the down low, but he couldn’t just let this people go through their lives like this.

When he thought he’d seen the worse, the medics would bring in a civilian caught in the crossfires.

Old men with mangled feet, mothers dying of exhaustion, small skinny children begging for a scrap of food.

Lionel tried to fix them up the best he could.

But even with his biokinetic abilities, there were just some things his powers couldn’t fix.

Even when he restored a little girl’s broken arm, a father’s eyes miraculously healed, a mother’s breast squirting milk to feed to a baby, Lionel knew that there were some things his awesome power couldn’t fix.

Such as the dead.

People died all the time in Vietnam.

Surgeries didn’t go as planned, they didn’t have the right equipment, patients died enroute.

Some many sick and dying and only one Lionel.

It wasn’t fair.

Lionel didn’t spend all his time in the hospital, often he was sent on routine missions with the rest of the boys.

Sometimes he was paired with Madison.

Madison was doing well for himself, having recently been promoted to private first class. His mechanical skills were the envy of his team. Unlike Lionel he this wasn’t just raw natural talent.

“I don’t see why you don’t use your powers.” Lionel told him.

“Tell me Lionel,” Madison huffed. “Do you actually know how to use a scalpel?”

“What?” Lionel asked.

“I know how to change a tire, rewire an engine, and change the oil?” Madison told him. “Can you use a scalpel Lionel, can you make an incision? Can you do anything your job requires of you without your powers?”

“Yes, I can.” Lionel hissed. “And even if I did use my powers during surgery, so what? At least I use my powers to help people, unlike you, you hoard them to yourself.”

“I don’t hoard them, Lionel.” Madison snapped. “I elect not to use them.”

“Why?” Lionel asked.

“What?”

“Why won’t you use your powers?” Lionel asked. “Why can’t you see that dad was wrong about us our gifts…”

“These aren’t gifts, Lionel, their disorders.” Madison argued. “As a medical professional I think you’d ought to be aware of that.”

“They aren’t disorders.” Lionel huffed. “That’s just something humanity…”

“You know I think humanity would like our kind a lot better if we weren’t shoving this in their faces all the time.”

“Are you seriously siding with them?”

“I don’t know Lionel, I think if I were them I’d also wouldn’t be able to stand us.”

Lionel wanted to say something.

He wanted to tell Madison that he was wrong.

He wanted to tell him that there was nothing wrong with them.

That humanity made up the myth of the mutant menace to silence them, to keep them from using their powers to their full potential.

That their powers were gifts, powers that could be used to help and better humanity.

That his powers could better humanity.

And so could Madison’s if he ever bothered to use them.

He couldn’t because before Lionel could even get the words out their was a

WABOOM!

And the world was on fire.

Lionel fell on to his stomach onto the wet grass. He pulled himself up and glanced around in horror.

Surrounding him where the dead bodies of the entire troop.

Except they didn’t look like corpses.

They looked like mush.

Red, bloodied, chunk of meat stashed everywhere.

As Lionel moved forward all he could see were bits of toes, legs, and what might have been somebody’s nose.

“Madi?” He gasped aloud.

No one answered.

Lionel let out a loud whimper as he glanced around the field of fire and flesh.

No, no, no, not Madi.

Not his brother.

They couldn’t take him away from him.

They couldn’t.

Lionel could feel his insides heat up as if they were on fire. Bile rushed in the back of his throat. His heart beating fast with each and every sloppy step. The same set of words wobbled in his head.

It…wasn’t…fair.

It

                wasn’t

                                            fair.

ITWASN’TFAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lionel let out a primal scream as energy coursed through his viens.

The men, their wives, their girlfriends, their mothers, their sisters, their brothers, their fathers, their friends, were all going to feel like he did when the telegrams came in the mail informing them that the person they loved was dead.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t right.

No one deserved that.

Lionel glanced around. Watching as the small flakes of skin, bone, and blood, squirmed around the field as he flicked his fingers.

He stoop up slowly.

No one was going to feel this way again.

Not if he could help it.

Madison let out a low moan as the world slowly came into focus around him.

Everything smelled like gasoline.

Sniff.

Gasoline and burning flesh. 

Madison groaned as he struggled to move, his head knocked against something hard and metal.

As he attempted to pull his arms free he realized what had happened.

He was pinned underneath one of the trucks.

Although it didn’t resemble much of truck now, just a smoldering hunk of burnt metal.

Madison glanced around, the only witnesses he could see were the eyes of dead soldiers. Their bodies cut with hunks of metal, set ablaze, and bloodied.

Madison tried to ignore them as he wriggled his fingers.

He didn’t have much practice at this. As intuitive as it could feel he struggled to lift the Jeep off of himself.

Slowly but surly the large clank of metal moved. Creeping off of him with a loud clank.

Madison groaned and struggled to get to his feet.

He was as much of a wreck as the Jeep. His uniform reeked of gasoline, his arms and face covered in red scratches, his shoulder ached as if he had just been carrying a boulder.

As he stumbled forward, Madison glanced at the dead piled around him.

No one looked like a person. Their bodies weren’t bodies, just random bits of smashed hands, blown off noses, charred torsos. The blast had chiseled their humanity away from them, they were nothing more than meat.

A single thought raced through Madison’s brain as he struggled to identify his fallen comrades.

Lionel where was Lionel.

“Lionel!” Madison screamed. “Lionel!”

Madison raced forward, tripping over his boots as he did so. He glanced around the fiery wilderness, trying to spot even a hint of his brother.

“Lionel!” Madison coughed as he continued to shout, jerking his head wildly. “For fuck’s sake say something!”

No one called back, all Madison could hear was the roaring of the flames as they munched on the greenery chasing away the jungle’s natural predators.

Madison let out a choked sob.

Lionel was dead.

And it was all his fault.

If he didn’t bring up his decision to join the army, Lionel would’ve never come with him. He should’ve just gone down to the states and called his family moments before he had to get on the plane.

Lionel would’ve been angry with him but at least he’d be alive.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

Madison spun around.

It was too dark to see anything, but he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching him. Madison’s heart soared. He wasn’t the only survivor.

He peered into the darkness. “Lionel?”

A figured emerged.

It wasn’t Lionel.

“AHHHH!”

Madison screamed stumbling backwards at the side of it. The creature rocked forward, it was skinny and tall. It’s skin looked like flecks of paint, several different shades stuck together like a patchwork quilt. The only thing covering it’s nakedness were scraps of green cloth that were stitched into its skin as if whatever had reformed it couldn’t tell the difference between flesh and fabric.

Whatever it was it was human.

Or at least it had been.

The sound of more footsteps approached Madison, he spun around, similar deformed monsters charged at him on either side.

Madison let out another scream, he reached for his gun only to realize it had been lost in the chaos.

He panted as the creatures closed in on him.

He was going crazy. He had to be. There was no way this was real.

The beasts soon surrounded him but came to a stop when the got within a yard of him. Madison gasped as he stared at their dead eyes.

He was definitely going in sane.

“Madi!”

Out of the darkness emerged Lionel. To Madison’s great relief he was in one piece. The only thing out of place about him was the dirt on his uniform.

“Lionel!” Madison gasped. “What’s going on?”

“Madi, we were in an explosion.” Lionel’s voice uncomfortably calm. “But don’t worry, everything’s okay now.”

Madison stared at the creatures that surrounded him. “You call this okay?”

“Can’t you see?” Lionel gestured to the men that lined the forest. “They were dead, but I fixed them. It’s okay now.”

Madison glanced at the corpses and back at Lionel.

Maybe he wasn’t the one that was going insane.

“Lionel…” Madison started. “This…isn’t…this isn’t right.”

Lionel frowned. “Are you seriously upset that I used my powers?”

“Lionel…”

“If you’re worried about what the army will say, I wouldn’t.” Lionel cried out. “I saved them. How could anyone be angry about that?”

“Lionel, they’re dead.” Madison said. “They’re dead, they’re gone, look at their eyes, they’re not coming back.”

Lionel barred his teeth.

“They’re fine!” He growled. “I brought them back, they’re safe now!”

“No, Lionel.” Madison shook his head. “No, they’re not.”

Lionel let out a primal shriek, he charged to his brother fists raised.

Madison raised his hand.  

The metal from the wrecked Jeeps and guns moved through the air at light speed, they wrapped around Lionel, gripping his arms to his sides, as he struggled to break free.

“Let me go!” Lionel screamed. “Madi, put me down!”

 “I can’t!” Madison cried, he gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the makeshift restraints from unraveling.

The helicopters and ambulances came it quick succession. A soldier pointed his gun at Madison.

“Release him!” He shouted.

Madison startled at the sound of the gun’s clock, slowly he set Lionel down.

Lionel was loaded in an ambulance, Madison handcuffed and quickly escorted to a cell on base.

He spent three days in a cell before being sent to court. The prosecutors made swift work of his case.

Within an hour Madison was dishonorably discharged from the army.

Reasoning: Failure to Maintain Physical Standards.

What a load of bull.

The worst part of Lionel's imprisonment had to be the nonstop boredom. 

At least for those incarcerated in actual prison, as monotonous as it could be, there were some things to do. 

They could use the gym, walk around outside feeling the spray of sunshine against their faces (or the rain Lionel would take either at this point), or they could read from their tiny libraries.

Lionel wasn’t even allowed the simple pleasure of meals to break the repetitive structure of his day. All of his food and water was delivered to him from the machine that hooked to the back of his uniform. A forest green monstrosity that kept his hands tied together, and weighed him down, keeping him chained to the floor. 

Montreal General Hospital was hell on Earth. 

The patients, the tortured souls, the doctors, their demons, and Lionel’s own brother acting in the role of God by banishing him there. 

If he ever saw Madison again Lionel was going to kill him. 

Madison’s eternal torment would be more pleasant than his. 

Madison liked to think he made good decisions. 

He knew that wasn’t true. 

As he watched as Department H hustled and bustled, dragging Alpha Flight’s belongings into their new home, Madison wondered why he agreed to this in the first place. 

He wasn’t even technically a member of the team. He had been part of Beta Flight before Jerome Jaxon stuck his claws into them. He offered Madison a spot on Omega Flight, but he had been quick to turn it down, Lil on the other hand had not. Rushing towards anything that would make her a superhero again. 

Madison never cared much for the idea of being a superhero. Sure, Hudson had made a good pitch when he first recruited him, but the novelty quickly wore off. With the low pay, endless hours of training, and erratic work schedules Madison had only stuck around for Lil. 

Getting involved with her was also not the brightest decision. 

“Isn’t this exciting?” 

Madison glanced down at the man next to him.

Rodger Bochs, A.K.A. Box rolled his wheelchair down Mansion Alpha’s luxurious halls. 

Madison was going to answer, when there was a loud crash. He and Box turned their heads to see two Department H goons standing around a box of spilled machine parts. 

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Madison marched over to the men, fist balled. 

Christ, he was already starting to regret this. 

“Can either of you idiots read, that box was marked fragile!" He outstretched his hand. 

The silvery parts spun up from the floor, as Madison did the careful work of putting them back together. Intuitive as it always was, soon the machine was reassembled. 

From behind him Rodger smiled. “Glad now that I asked Mr. Jefferies to stay as our resident machine smith, Miss Hudson?” 

Madison jerked around to see Heather McNeil Hudson standing next to Rodger. 

“I’m more than impressed each time he uses his powers, Rodger.” Heather beamed. 

Madison scoffed. Heather’s comment reminded him how new she was to the world of superheroes and their extraordinary abilities. 

“Impressed? You should’ve seen what my kid brother could do.” Madison shook his head. 

“You have a brother?” Heather asked. 

Rodger also looked at Madison quizzically. Despite the two’s burgeoning friendship, they rarely talked about their families.

“Had.” Madison told them, hoping they’d drop it. “I had a brother.” 

That statement was mostly true. The Lionel that Madison had grown up with was much different than who he was now. 

Madison shook his head, trying to ignore Heather’s curious stares. 

He didn’t want to think about Lionel right now. It had been almost a decade since Madison had him committed. Two since he visited. He had considered going more often but he kept being reminded of Lionel’s mad rambling the last time he visited. Doctors trying to poison him, claiming the nurses responsible for his self-harming scars, he hadn’t gotten a call from the hospital in a while, so he figured things were going well. 

Lionel, as mad as he was, was an adult after all. 

He didn’t need his big brother looking out for him all the time. 

The sound of the door opening woke Lionel from his daze. 

He didn’t really sleep anymore. Being trapped in the hospital’s dingy hovel the hours blurred together. The best way he could describe the intervals of darkness that overtook him were respites of sanity. 

The door opened, Lionel half expected it to be a doctor, ready to jam another needle into his arm. Or a nurse ready to kick his ribs. However, the red headed woman standing before him did not resemble a nurse. 

“H-Hello.” She stammered. “My name’s Heather Hudson.” 

She must have been startled by the metal mask that wrapped around Lionel’s head, designed to keep him from biting anyone. Honestly, it wasn’t the worst part of his get up. If anything, it felt rather nice. 

“I’m a friend of your brother’s, how do you do?” 

Those were the words that pulled Lionel out of his post daze haze. A friend of Madison’s?

This was his chance. 

Using all of his strength Lionel pulled himself off the floor and darted towards Heather Hudson. Moving with such force it yanked his tubes out of the wall. 

Heather’s delicate fingers brushed the small exposure of his mask. 

As her body morphed, Heather’s arm growing longer, jetting out her back with painful furry, she let out a harrowing scream.

All Lionel could do was smile. 

He could complete his mission now. He could accomplish the task he was put on earth to do. 

Then when that was all over, he would destroy Madison once and for all. 

“Thank you, friend of my brother.” Lionel pushed past Heather as she fell to the floor. “Thank you for setting me free.” 

Heather had to be one of if not the nosiest people Madison had ever met.

She went digging around his past, found out about Lionel tried to recruit him, and now Montreal General Hospital was in chaos. Staff and patients trying to outrun the abominations that his brother had created.

If Heather wasn’t in so much trouble already he would’ve lost it on her.

What the hell did she think would come of this?

In his anger Madison nearly missed the staircase and had to double back towards it.

He couldn’t focus on Heather now, he had to find Lionel. If he was doing what Madison thought he was, they were about to be in more trouble than they already were.

As Madison raced down the stairs a creature jumped out of the shadows.

Madison’s insides reeled at the sight of the man. His white skin had turned pale grey, his blonde hair had resembled patches of choppy fur, his nails had grown long and curved like fish hooks, Lionel’s powers had swelled his legs to the size of hams that in order to get around he had to crawl.

As the beastly patient clawed towards him, Madison kicked him sending the monstrous mutate scrambling back down the steps like a frightened dog.

This was what Lionel’s powers did to people. He screwed around with their bodies, twisting their insides, mangling up their minds in the process.

This was why Madison sent him away, why he had to be locked up, why Lionel couldn’t go near another human being ever again.

He was just too powerful.

Madison raced down the steps, reaching a steel door. He curled his fingers the metal crumpling from his might.

The familiar fuzzy feeling hummed in the back of Madison’s head. The further he walked the better he could feel Lionel. His muscles ached at the movements his brother made, as he shuffled the dead out of their refrigerated crypts, lining up on the table, ready to be brought back to life.

Madison flexed his fingers, bits of metal shifted off of phones, tables, and surgical tools, forming into a makeshift riffle. Scalpels and forceps morphed into bullets and slid into the crude chamber.

He really didn’t want to do this.

But he would if he had to.

Madison slowly made his way down the staircase, careful as he did in the jungles of Vietnam. Lionel was currently more dangerous than guerilla solider.

Once Madison reached the final step Lionel came into full view.

His brother wrapped in a green jumpsuit, that held great resemblance to their army uniforms, was on his knees. The bodies surrounding him withering and gripping as he channeled his energy toward them.

Madison cocked his gun.

“Hello Madison,” Lionel jerked his head. The only feature visible were his glowing red eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Madison didn’t say anything, he only aimed his weapon towards Lionel’s head.

“What no hug?” Lionel asked. “It’s been two years, Madison.”

He hadn’t changed that much since Lionel had last saw him. His brother was still the bulky, dark haired, brute Lionel had grown up with.

“I keep telling you to get a new barber.” Lionel giggled. “The bull cuts not doing you any favors.”

Madison narrowed his eyes at Lionel. He pressed his finger on the trigger, the improvised gun let out a click.

“Really Madison?” Lionel sneered. “You’re going to shoot your own brother?”

“We both knew I had to come Lionel.” Madison stated plainly.

“Yes…” Lionel’s voice wavered. “To lock me away again, to shut me up and prevent me from using my power to heal?”

Madison stared at him incredulously. “Heal? You made a mess out of everyone you touched, including a friend of mine.” Madison took a deep breath and aimed the gun’s barrel down towards the floor.

Lionel’s eyes drifted away from the gun and back to his brother. Madison wasn’t going to shoot him. Madison would never hurt him. He always had Lionel’s back. Sure, he left him at the hospital to rot, but maybe when he saw Lionel’s cell, the cell where he left Heather Hudson, he realized how bad it truly was. Maybe now Madison would take Lionel away to this place. Take him back home. They’d talk, Madison would apologize for how he had ignored and belittled Lionel. Once the dust settled everything would go back to normal.

They could be a family again.

 “Now, why don’t you put your gloves on and let me take you back.”

Evey inch of sadness that Lionel had felt faded away, replaced by boiling hot anger.

Was Madison being serious?

After everything Lionel had told him, the bruises and scars he had shown Madison, he even saw the cell! He was going to take him back. Abandon him again, leave him to wither into nothingness.

“Take me back? To my cell?” Red hot tears brimmed Lionel’s eyes, he tried to blink them away. “Never!”

PWOOM!

In mere seconds Madison had his gun pointed at Lionel and fired. A blast of yellow light shuttered out of the gun, the bullet spiraled forward.

Lionel jerked his fingers one of the corpses popped up like a Jack-in-the-Box, the bullet pierced through its insides. In a splatter of blood and intestines it collapsed back onto the floor.

Lionel groaned, that one was going to take forever to put back together.

“You gotta be caged Lionel!” Madison repositioned the weapon. “I put you away once, and I guess I’ll have to do it again.”

“No!” Lionel gripped onto the autopsy table and gave it a forceful shove in Madison’s direction.

The table rammed into Madison’s stomach, knocking him into a bookshelf, sending files raining down on his head. The makeshift gun hit the floor with a clatter, sending it’s pieces scattering everywhere.

“You always resented your power Madison!” Lionel cried. “Always complaining about how it made us freaks, ruined our chance at normal lives. Claimed it was a curse!”

“Ugh!” Madison groaned as he pulled himself off the cold floor. Blood and bruises began to form on his face.

“I never saw it that way. I didn’t hid my powers, I used them to help people!” Lionel stormed over to him, the bodies of the dead stumbling upwards. The corpses taking uneasy steps as they followed him around. “You had me locked away. You couldn’t stand your crazy mutie brother embarrassing you like that!”

Madison’s eyes narrowed, his teeth gritted together furiously as he charged towards Lionel arms raised.

Lionel’s brother slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. Lionel let out a groan as his head bashed against the helmet.

“Lionel, your my brother,” Madison grabbed Lionel’s wrists, as his brother scratched and kicked at him. “And I hate these powers that have kept us a part.”

“You’re the one that’s kept us a part!” Lionel screeched he kicked Madison in the stomach causing the stronger brother to release his grasp on his wrist.

“I love you, I really do.” Madison grunted as Lionel knocked him onto his side.

“You hate me!” Lionel tried stand up but Madison grabbed onto his right foot pulling back on to the floor. “And I hate you!”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that your deadly dangerous,” Madison panted. Lionel clawed at the floor as Madison dragged him backwards. “And crazy as a loon.”

“Get off of me!” Lionel turned onto his back and tried to kick Madison’s face, only for his brother to dodge his attack. “I don’t like it but it’s my duty to put you away.”

Lionel wrapped his hands around his leg and gave it a sharp yank. His boot came off, and Lionel quickly jumped back onto his feet.

He ran towards the door. His mission had waited this long, it could wait a little longer. He had to get away.

Before he could reach the stairs, Lionel fell forward his stomach hitting ground with a painful crack, as Madison jumped onto his back.

“Ugh!”

“Can’t you see that I’m trying to help you?”

“You call this helping?”

Lionel tried to kick and squirm, but it was no use. Madison had a good couple pounds on Lionel, and considering how long it had been since Lionel had the chance to move around his weakened left him at an even greater disadvantage.

Lionel managed to free his right hand as, Madison pinned his left to his back. He curled his fingers around, out of the corner of his eye he could see the dead start to rise.

“Oh no you don’t.” Madison grabbed Lionel’s free hand.

Lionel tried to fight back. He tried to scratch at Madison’s face, knock his hand against his nose, melt his eyes out of their sockets, anything. It was no use. Madison grabbed Lionel’s hand and shoved it up against his temple.

“Ya…gotta…stop…yourself…Lionel.” Madison huffed as he curled his brother’s fingers around. “Screwing…around…with…the...living…ain’t…gonna…teach…ya…how…to…bring..back…the…dead.”

“Lionel groaned as he tried to fight against his brother’s strength. He could hear the sounds of the dead as the slumped down to the grown. He could feel his brain strain under his own power.

“You’re wrong!” Madison croaked out. “I’ve been given these powers for a purpose Madison. I’ve been put on this earth to heal the ultimate disorder death.”

“There’s no reason for our powers, Lionel.” Madison grunted. “We weren’t put on this earth to do anything.”

Lionel could feel his neurons clashing against each other. Memories of Cain, Dr. Addison, his parents, the war raced around in his mind. Clashing into each other in a terrible mirage.

Madison wasn’t going to let him go until Lionel either fixed himself or agreed to head back to his cell.

If Lionel didn’t do something he was going to kill him.

Lionel took a deep breath. He tried to ignore the screams that filled his ear, the stench of burning flesh that stung his nostrils, the feeling of blood pooling down his head.

He wasn’t in Vietnam. He wasn’t in the jungle. The only people in this room were Lionel, Madison, and the hospital corpses. If he calmed down he could keep himself safe.

This mission could wait. He could complete his destiny another day.

He wouldn’t be able to do that if he was dead.

Lionel let out a hiss of air and sucked in another. He focused on the cold ground beneath him, so different from the moist heat of the jungle.

Lionel relaxed his body. He let his hand go limp in Madison’s grasp. He gave a shudder of a sigh, as he sunk into the ground.

Everything was going to be alright.

He was going to be alright.

He just needed his brother to believe that.

“Lionel?” Madison lifted himself off of Lionel, not letting go of his hand as he positioned himself onto his knees.

He grabbed Lionel up by the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position.

“Are you okay?”

Lionel stared up at him, his red eyes had turned back to their deep blue. He glanced around the room in dazed confusion.

“Madi?” He whimpered. “What’s going on?”

Madison gave out a cry. “Welcome back little brother.”

He wrapped his arms around Lionel, holding him close and never felt so good.

Lionel tried to position his chin on Madison’s shoulder, but the metal plate of his helmet quickly slipped off the fabric of Madison’s jacket.

“Let’s get this thing off of you.”

With a wave of his hand, the metal mask cracked open, sliding onto the floor with a clatter.

Lionel groaned. “Ugh.” He muttered, gripping the sides of his face. He tried to rise to his feet but stumbled. Madison grabbed onto him before he hit the floor.

“Who watch out.” Madison helped him stand. “Take it easy.”

“Oh, Madi.” Lionel’s eyes trailed around the room, realizing what he’d done he let out a soft gasp. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…I just…I was out of my mind wasn’t I?”

“It’s fine.” Madison had Lionel lean against him and directed him to the door.

“No, no,” Lionel shook his head. “None of its fine. The things I did, the things I’ve done...I’m a monster.”

“Hey,” Madison gave him a light jab on the shoulder. “Don’t talk about my little brother like that or we’re going to have a problem.”

Lionel let out a laugh. Not a mean spirited laugh like the ones he gave out before, this laugh reminded Madison of their youth. The days they’d spend at the park, racing their bikes around the neighborhood, or guzzling down sodas.

“How could you ever forgive me?” Lionel asked as he stepped onto the stairs leading back to the first floor. “How could your friend ever forgive me?”

“You weren’t in your right mind.” Madison shrugged. “I think she’ll understand.”

“Still.” Lionel said.

“Hey, look at me.” Madison turned to face Lionel. “It’s going to be okay.”

He pulled Lionel into a second hug. His younger brother wrapped his arms around him and Madison smiled with joy.