A Tale from the Dark Dimension

Chapter 9: Justin

 The rush he felt was great. He had no idea why people raced cars until he got a taste of this power. The lightning coursing through him felt amazing, the wind on his face, hell even the feeling of his feet hitting the ground was a shock for him. There was a small part of him, however, that felt bad. He felt bad because Xavier wouldn't be able to use her powers anytime soon. Hell he may not even be able to show her while she's recovering.

After testing his new found abilities, he went back to his room on the base. Alpha had housing for anyone who wanted it, and while Cade didn't choose to stay on base, the rest of them did. He knew it was because he had a family, but he still missed him being around. That's why he got so close to Xavier, because Cade wasn't around that often anymore. She made him feel like he was worth something more than just being a hired gun, and he wanted to make her feel like she was worth something too. He wouldn't necessarily say he had feelings for her, but whatever they were, they started to get on his nerves.

For instance, anytime she was present in the room with him it always made him feel happier. The visits to his room where she'd just ramble on about anything and everything for hours on end made him feel special. But he couldn't say anything. He chose not to. He was too afraid of ruining things that he'd rather stay friends forever than mention how he felt. And that's how it was up until two days ago when he found out she went missing. The question that lingered on his mind the entire time was, "Will I ever be able to tell her?" Now that she's back, however, he feels himself freezing up again. Just the thought of saying anything gave him anxiety, but he knew that it couldn't stay a secret forever. Maybe he could ask Cade for advice. Or Elizabeth. Or Kara. Or anyone other than Gale.

Justin decided he was going to go and see if she was awake. He threw in his jacket and exited his room. The medbay wasn't too far from their rooms so it wasn't long before he came to her door. He knocked lightly on the door and opened it, peeking in to see if she was awake.

"You can come in," her voice called out to him.

"Hey," he said as he closed the door behind him.

All things considered, she looked healthy. Not like before when he found her. The wounds on her stomach were properly stitched and wrapped up, the cut on her face was stitched up better.

"You're looking better," Justin said after a moment of silence.

"I feel like shit. It hurts to even breathe," Xavier responded.

"Yeah it's probably gonna feel like that for a bit. Do you know if you're gonna stay this way?" he was talking about the way she looked. It may have been a sensitive subject for her, but he wanted to know if it was permanent or not.

"Well, the doctors said that they think the physical mutations caused by my time there won't go away, so I'm most likely gonna stay looking this way," she said sadly.

"I think you look good. It's just...different, but different isn't bad necessarily," he tried to cheer her up, but no smile came to her face. Her expression was sad, almost hollow. He tried to think of something to say that would make her feel better, but he knew nothing he could say would make too much of a difference. It would just take time for her to adjust.

"You know, if you need anyone to talk to about... anything, you know where my room is at," he said.

"Thank you," was all she could say before the door swung open, revealing a doctor, Sam, and one other man Justin recognized as Lieutenant Colonel John Macintosh. He only ranked underneath four people. Taylor Johnson, who everyone called Ace, was one of them. He was in control of the R&D division of Alpha. He created most of the designs of everything of Alpha, nothing being mass produced without his say so. The second was Rucker Storm, who was a section commander of Alpha. He only answered to the Director of Alpha, being Sam. He was basically the second in command of the entire organization, and he was able to govern over certain areas in accordance to what the Director ordered. Third was Grand Admiral Briggs, who commanded the Alpha Navy. Finally, was the Director of the entire organization.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Sam said, "Are you ready to share what you found?"

Justin wanted to object, to tell Sam that she may need more time to rest and heal, but before he could say anything, Xavier answered.

"Yeah. I'm about as ready as I'll ever be."

"Good," John told her, "I'll get everyone ready."

After they left, Xavier moved her legs from under the covers and tried to put weight on both feet, but immediately shifted her weight over to her left leg.

"You need help standing?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. Could you just help me over to the bathroom so I can change?" she asked.

"Sure, yeah," Justin replied. He moved to her right side and let her put her weight on him, helping her walk to the bathroom.

"Don't they have, like, handles in there to help you?" he asked.

"Yeah. Could you get the crutches over there and place them by the door?" she replied.

He let her hobble into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. He moved the crutches over to the door and waited outside her room for her to get ready.