Left with a Memory

Chapter 11- Heavy nights

Chase couldn't sleep. It was almost 3 am and he couldn't sleep. The last few nights had been like this. He'd wake up, work with Jamie or Jackie, or go out on his own, and find out what he could about Marvin's disappearance. They weren't getting very far. His mind would be racing and he couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Marvin was somewhere, alone, maybe even hurt. It had been weeks.

He sat up. There was no point in just lying awake all night. He stood and decided to looked over his little wall of investigation. He swore the whole thing looked like a mad person made it. Chase had to rearrange the entire half of his room to make space on his wall. Now his bed, lamp, nightstand and dress were all crammed into one corner of the room. He didn't really care about that stuff anyways.

Jamie had helped him connect all the little "pieces of evidence," as he would say. apparently Jameson was also a big Sherlock Holmes fan as well. Again and again the mute ego never ceased to amaze. Chase was grateful for the help. There would be times when all Chase found himself doing was staring blankly at this wall of clues, nothing coming from it. Those were the ties when Jamie would pull him from that stump. For now though, he needed to let the other sleep. At least one of them should have a good night's rest.

He stared into the board, his gaze following the thin red string connecting the dot. In some spots it fell flat. The trail going cold. Nothing to pick up from there. Chase thought of a million ways it could work, most of them impossible or at least illogical. Chase couldn't stand it any more, the whole thing looming over him, reminding him of his guilt. It was too much to handle. He had to leave.

As quietly as he could, Chase wandered into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Can't sleep either?" Chase jumped, nearly dropping the bottle when Jackie suddenly made his presence known.

Once he re established a regular heartbeat, Chase sighed, opening his beer. "Scare me outta my wits, why don't ya," he teased.

Jackie snickered. "Not much to scare then," Chase rolled his eyes taking a drink and leaning against the counter. "Kidding, but seriously," He took a step closer to Chase, a concerned look on his face. "You good man?"

Chase turned around so his back was leaning against the counter, looking up at the ceiling. "Not really, if I'm honest," He took another long swig of his beer. "I thought that we would have at least gotten somewhere with all this. The worst part is I can't even feel him anymore," Chase admitted.

That was something that the egos felt made them all special. They all had a mental link that connected them. Whenever one of them were feeling something especially powerful, the rest of them could sense it. Chase remembered once a long time ago, Henrik was overworking himself, they all had migraines that day until they forced the doctor to take a break.

Jackie snickered. "That's not really new though," He mentioned.

"What do you mean?" Chase pondered.

The hero looked at him shocked and slightly confused. "Did you not realize it?" Chase didn't respond. What was Jackie talking about? "Chase, our link broke when Henrik died," Chase thought back for a moment. Then he realized, the whole time he was gone, he never sensed anything from them. Was it like that for them all?

"You... can't be serious," Chase stuttered out.

The hero smirked. "What did you think, that we were all just hunky dory when you left? Never feeling a random wave of sadness, or anger. Yeah, of all the times I wished for that link to have been broken, it had to be when we all needed to be closest," Chase nodded in agreement. Word choice could have been a bit better. They didn't mention anything about it though.

Jackie suddenly chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "Ya know, if we still had the link we would be able to feel him, and at least know if,"

"Don't you dare finish that thought!" Chase interrupted, finally turning to Jackie. "He's alive. He has to be."

Jackie looked away nodding. He wanted to believe Chase but still, he had his doubts. "You should get some sleep Chase."

He snickered. "You know I'm not going to, you know that."

"Just smile and nod Chase," He jokingly responded, being left alone. Jackie stared into space, trying to forget their conversation, or at least think of one thing different. Jackie's attention was suddenly brought to the living room. The TV flickered on. He ran in trying to shut it off before Jamie woke up, but the remote wasn't working. He bashed on the power button, but nothing happened. The screen just stayed on static.

Jackie froze, staring at it. There was something there, layered in with the black and white. It was a person. The person became clearer, their smug expression clear now. Jackie scowled. "Anti," He mumbled.

The glitch snickered. His image glitched and suddenly he was standing inches in front of the hero. "In the flesh," Before Jackie could react, Anti surrounded the entire living room in his green, static soaked aura. Once in his little realm, Jackie felt like pure electricity had been injected into his body. He couldn't move.

The hero grunted, struggling to even move his toes. Anti laughed at his struggle. "No point in trying to fight it. I'm in my prime while I'm here," Anti lessened up on the static, giving Jackie at least the ability to speak.

His jaw relaxed and he let out an exasperated sigh. "What's the matter Anti? Scared I'm going to kick your ass again?" He teased. Jackie could feel the anger flowing through him. He need to free himself.

"Heheh, no, I just want you to cooperate. I know you won't listen if I didn't do this," He lean forward and grabbed Jackie's chin. "So open your ears little hero."

Jackie didn't calm down though. This was just ticking him off more. "What do you want?"

Anti's playful nature changed. The normally sporadic, crazed lunatic looked angered now, almost sad in a way. The kind of sad that someone had when they didn't get their way and there was nothing they could do about it. "I have a message to deliver," He said gravely, taking a step back, looking away from the hero. He gripped the knife in his hand tightly, taking a deep breath through his gritted teeth. Then he turned to Jackie, now looking much angrier. "Marvin is dead."