Garrett was doing crunches on the floor of his room when he heard a knock at the door. He rose and grabbed a towel, wiping the sweat off as best he could. Without any body hair, he appeared to sweat alot. He opened the door, hoping to find Maya on the other side. Instead, he found another good friend. The DocProf.

"[white] Hello, my friend. I was wondering if you could come by the infirmary again when you are finished doing whatever you were doing. Neena had wanted to talk to you concerning your abilities and I believed I could be of assistance, having seen what was going on first hand.[/white]"

"[yellow] Absolutely![/yellow]" Garrett exclaimed, a smile spreading wide on his face. He had been waiting for just an opportunity to find more out about his abilities and having the DocProf there put him at ease somewhat. He respected Neena and the last thing he wanted to do was cause her any serious, lasting injury. Unfortunately, using his powers meant that she would definitely have some short term malaise.

"[yellow] Just let me get showered and dressed and I'll be right over.[/yellow]" The DocProf nodded and replied, "[white] Of course, Garrett.. We'll be waiting.[/white]" He then smiled and walked away. Garrett was excited and nervous at the same time. He hurriedly jumped in the shower and changed, still a little damp. He headed out and down to the Infirmary.

Neena sat cross-legged on one of the Infirmary beds, reading one of her computer instruction books, a slight frown fixed on her dark features. She was determined not to be bested by a lifeless machine. Plus her irritation at the machinery distracted her mind from her current locale.

"Garrett will be here shortly."

She didn't hear the Doc's footsteps approach the door, nor did she hear the door open. The man seemed able to sneak around with the best of thieves, a talent she could appreciate very much. She nodded to his announcement.

"Good. How'd he react?"

"He appears very eager, if a bit hesitant."

"Not surprising, considering what he's been through, and what he's capable of." She glanced over the top of her book, and glasses, at the older man. "You put the drugs away, right?"

The DocProf sighed, and pegged her with a look remarkably remeniscient of her grandfather. She shrugged and looked back down. "Just asking."

---------------------------------------

She hadn't moved from her position by the time Garrett arrived, though her frown had deepened a bit. How in the world did anyone come up with such a contraption as a computer in the first place???

Garrett had come down the hall so fast that when he reached the Infirmary, it was only then that he had realized that he had no shoes on. As he stood near the entry, he pondered going to put them back on, smiling at his feet. His toes wiggled up at him in response. Maya had definitely left an impression on him. He knocked as he opened the door. "[yellow]Anyone home?[/yellow]" It was corny, but he had to say something to break the ice, if not for them, then for himself.

Neena was sitting on one of the beds, looking at a computer. She had a concerned look on her face. Garrett hoped there were no secret files of his past on the screen to set her off. He tried to let it go, preferring to focus on the Doc, who was examining some paperwork. "[white] My, that was certainly fast. So fast you forgot your shoes.Did you run out of them?[/white]"The DocProf must have thought this was particularly funny, flashing a glance down at Garrett's bare feet and looking over his glasses with a slight waggle of his eyebrows.

"[yellow]It's a habit I seemed to have picked up from M...Ghost.[/yellow]" Of course they knew what her name was, but he felt like he should only call her by that name in person, when they were alone. It made it more special to him.

He came in and gave his neck a roll, trying to relax. The anxiety to get started was becoming a bit obvious. "[yellow] So, where do we begin?[/yellow]"

By contrast to the Doc, Neena picked up Garrett's hurried footsteps from a fair distance.

"Anyone home?"

Inwardly she chuckled. 'Eagar' was definitely the right word.

"My, that was certainly fast. So fast you forgot your shoes.Did you run out of them?"

"It's a habit I seemed to have picked up from M...Ghost."

Neena glanced up, then down; indeed Garrett had shown up barefoot. A smile wiped away her frustrated expression.

"Ghost is a smart one." She hadn't missed his slight slip of the tongue. And she noticed that, many times, when she saw either of them around the house, the other wasn't far away. "Someone told me once if you go barefoot to the beach once a day, you'll never need a pedicure."

" So, where do we begin?"

Neena pushed away her equipment gratefully. "Well, the Doc told me he'd, hopefully, helped you a bit with your seizures. I thought we might just continue on with exploring those, if its okay with you."

She stood up from the bed, stretched and yawned, her ease vastly different from Garrett's growing unease. The DocProf motioned for both of them to follow him into another room. This one had been cleared of most of its furnishings, and mattresses laid across the floor. She bounced a bit as they walked in, a childish grin playing across her lips.

"Maybe I'm wrong," she remarked as they entered, "but it occurred to me that you may be holding yourself back, quite a bit. You sure seem like a nice guy to me. I suppose I'm not a great judge of character, but you just don't strike me as the kind of guy to hurt someone out of spite."

Leaving the door open, the DocProf moved around behind Neena, and reached for the base of the back of her neck. She stopped bouncing around and stood still, eyes closed and head leaning forward calmly. After a moment the DocProf's hand began to glow softly.

"That's a good thing, of course," she continued on. "And I think time and practice will allow you a greater range of management, both of your own pain and the pain you could possibly cause others. But ya know, worry and tension tend to inhibit control, making it harder. Anyway, I thought maybe, if you had something to gauge you're own pain against, a way to know how much your pain actually manifests in others, it might help you to loosen you up a bit, let you relax and focus better. So...."

The DocProf moved away and took a seat in the corner. Neena yawned again, and took a deep, slow breath. Then she crossed her legs and plopped onto the floor, bouncing a bit. She smiled up at him, blinking a bit in the light.

".... I volunteered to be your guinea pig."

She waited for what she expected to be a reluctant, if not totally unwilling resposne. Garrett didn't know her very well yet, so likely such an offer would baffle him.

Neena had such grace and an ease about her. It was noticeable to Garrett, mostly because he envied it. Her comment about Maya made him smile. She was indeed a smart one, one of the first things he had found special about her.

The three of them entered a room full of mattresses. Sweat beaded from his brow as the room seemed to shrink a bit..

"Maybe I'm wrong," she remarked as they entered, "but it occurred to me that you may be holding yourself back, quite a bit. You sure seem like a nice guy to me. I suppose I'm not a great judge of character, but you just don't strike me as the kind of guy to hurt someone out of spite."

Although this was a pointed compliment, it brought a frown to Garrett's features. He decided that he should clear up a bit of his past with Neena. It would help her understand not only his self inhibition, but also his anxiety a bit. "[yellow] Yes, well, the DocProf here is already aware of it, I'm sure, but when I was in the camps, I was in Medical the whole time. Or at least, what I can remember. They used me to torture other mutants. I suppose that's why I get skittish in medical situations and why I also hold back so much. I think my mind closed a good bit of that off for me, but what I can remember is shockingly graphic.[/yellow]" It wasn't so bad the second time through. Having purged it once for Maya had helped a bit. He did notice he spoke in a bit of a monotone as he had recalled it though.

Her next string of comments made Garrett think. Perhaps he did have a larger range then he had given himself credit for. He would truly never know without trying. He had just never had anyone offer to feel the negative aspects of his abilities before. He nodded solemnly. "[yellow] Actually, Ghost let me try something out the other evening. She had hurt her elbow and I managed to make the pain stop, though it took a second try to do it correctly.[/yellow]"

It seemed now was the time. No more waiting, no more worrisome fretting over it. She asked for it, so he gave it. He dropped his head and closed his eyes. He imagined nothingness. Only the exquisite road map of nerves before him. It took him a moment to willingly do it, but it seemed that his ability had been anxious to be released as well. He felt a current run up his spine and out through his mind's eye, in the center of his brow. He saw it in his mind as a staccato of signals hitting Neena's body like an old fighter plane strafing the side of a battleship. Multiple flashes bounced around inside of her. He then let it end on his part and raised his head and opened his eyes to survey the damage.

"Yes, well, the DocProf here is already aware of it, I'm sure, but when I was in the camps, I was in Medical the whole time. Or at least, what I can remember. They used me to torture other mutants. I suppose that's why I get skittish in medical situations and why I also hold back so much. I think my mind closed a good bit of that off for me, but what I can remember is shockingly graphic."

Neena nodded after Garrett explained the reasons behind his discomfort. "I understand. That's why the Doc is here as well, to be sure things don't get way out of hand." Inwardly, she fully expected something unexpected to happened, ironically speaking. But her smile radiated confidence that the experiment would proceed without a hitch.

"Actually, Ghost let me try something out the other evening. She had hurt her elbow and I managed to make the pain stop, though it took a second try to do it correctly."

Another nod. "Good. See? There's already an upside, and that's just a start. We can explore that avenue as well, whenever you're comfortable."

Despite his seeming nervousness, Garrett appeared willing and ready to begin. So when his eyes closed, she closed hers as well.

In her mind's eye, she pictured her homeland, the vast plains of the Serengeti, home to the Masaai. Stretches of green and yellow, dotted here and there by the occasional acacia, or umbrella tree. Wildebeest lounging beside a herd of grazing zebra, protected from their predators by the heat of the midday sun. Dark wings circled above and strange laughter floated in on the breeze, signaling a hyena kill in the distance. Baboons yelped and screeched at each other, their annoyed cries actually a sign of contentment. Heat hung in the air like a smothering blanket. Neena watched all of this from under the shade of a sprawling acacia, drinking in the peace like water; soothing, refreshing, calm.

A wave of sensation penetrated the serene scene. To Neena, it felt as if someone had pelted her with a handful of small rocks. Reflexively her hand moved to her ribs. She lifted the arm on the affected side, slowly and deliberately twisting her body to assess the damage. The sites of impacted twinged, but nothing serious. In fact, other than the tingling, all other feeling faded very quickly.

Aloud she announced softly, "Point five."

Sensing something nearby, she turned her head. A leopard sat on the ground nearby, half hidden by the tree's trunk. One yellow eye stared unwavering at her. She returned the gaze fully, and without flinching.

In the corner of the room, the DocProf made a notation on his chart, which consisted of a line graph numbered from one to ten. One, of course, represented the lowest level of pain, while ten, in all likelihood, would mean unconsciousness. He had discovered, as had numerous others, that Neena's level of pain tolerance was a bit higher than normal. This was mainly due to the fact that, since she was incapable of experiencing fear or an adrenaline boost, she hurt herself on a regular basis. Over time, as with any other repetitive action, she became mildly desensitized. Still, her pain levels could be used to gauge other, more normal reactions.

He nodded to Garrett. "You can increase the intensity. Slowly but surely."

Aloud she announced softly, "Point five."

Garrett stopped concentrating. He looked up, first at Neena, who was quiet, her head bowed, her eyes closed. She looked like he hadn't even started. Then he looked at the DocProf, who was making notes. Point five. Half of one on a one to ten scale. He remembered that bum in the alley way. That was no point five. He had dropped like a sack of potatoes. Garrett couldn't understand.

"[white]You can increase the intensity. Slowly but surely.[/white]"

He thought he had tried. Had he? Was he holding back? He thought back to the times when he had used it before. Initially, it was a reaction. An impulse. An instinct. His body , racked with convulsions and mixed signals, had sought immediate relief through contact with another. The bum, he had been a matter of survival. He was taking his shoes and had a rusty straight razor. Was it the lack of fear in him? Had the relief of his seizures also made him impotent?Yes. You are impotent. Forget your fear. She is your enemy.

He looked at the DocProf and then to Neena. She was waiting for more. He dropped his head again. This time, he took a slow inhalation through his nostrils. He felt a slow throb in the base of his skull. There was more. Much more. He had squeezed a drop of water from a glacier. He had to wake his system up. Point five.

Garrett had been holding his breath. His heart rate was increasing. He could feel the tension in his lungs. The throb in his skull began to oscillate faster, from a throb to a steady rhythm, to a hum. He let the breath out slow and measured. A whisper came out of the side of his mouth. "Point five?" He imagined the hum as if it were the powering of a giant plasma cannon. It was warmed up and ready to fire. His head rose and his eyes opened. His pupils shrank to a point that they seemed to disappear. Fire.[/color]

A steady stream of raw energy came from his eyes. Invisible, but quite real. Even with his eyes opened, he could see it strike her. The intensity of it smoldered in his vision until he could see nothing. Nothing but red.

Neena used her mental visualizations to detach her mind from her body. Whatever she felt translated into the picture in her head. It was a trick she'd learned in school to keep from being overly distracted in a fast-paced situation.

In this case, the leopard represented her pain. After the first attack, she'd become aware of it's lurking presence. It stalked her, just like any other meal. For now it just watched, and she watched it back. Would it give a hint before the first attack? That depended on Garrett.

As it turned out, no hint came. Just the hit, pure, raw, and powerful. Neena twisted and took the attack from the front, rolling backwards as the cat pounced and sunk its teeth into her shoulder, near her neck. The pair rolled several yards before pulling apart. The spotted feline crouched in front of her, yellow eyes narrowed to slits. She could see the muscles bunching and rippling beneath the black and yellow hide. She reached up to touch her shoulder, then spared a quick glance at the sticky red streaks on her hand. Her eyes narrowed, and a hunting dagger materialized in her hand.

Outside, the neural attack knocked her onto her back, eyes still closed. A snake-like hiss left her throat, followed by a small groan.

"Ow." She blew outward dramatically, and she lifted one hand, pointing in Garrett's general direction.

"That was not slowly. Six."

Had she had needed to, she could still function and fight, though her should felt like it was on fire. It reminded her of landing on her arm, when she, Raina, Sara and Ted had taken superhero lessons in that burning apartment building. Come to think of it, was this what Ted had to go through everytime he transformed?

Yikes....

She remained on her back, waiting for the next hit. If that was his version of 'Slowly but surely', he had the feeling the next one was going to have her seeing stars.

Red. Just as quickly as it had fired, it was a one shotter. The cannon was cooling, his breath was slowing. His vision returning. Neena was on the ground, her eyes still closed. She was truly out of his league. No wonder she was in charge around here. Not to mention her athletic prowess and the senses that surely lay behind those glasses. " I'm sorry, Neena. I don't know where that came from."

He looked at the DocProf. The man was looking back at him, his gentle eyes gone a bit stern. "Do try to control yourself, friend. This is a controlled experiment. There is no time limit." He nodded to Garrett to continue and looked down at his clipboard again. What was that? Garrett didn't know what was going on, even inside his own body. He looked over at the other mattress. It gave him an idea.

He sat down on the other mattress nd lied back. If he didn't need to look at her to affect her, he could use meditation to aid him in tempering the fire within. He closed his eyes. From the floor, he said." Let me try again. I am pushing too hard." He let his breathing become paced and even. He did a diagnostic sweep of himself, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. This was indeed a fight,but a staged one. A spar, not a battle to the death. Keeping this in mind, he visualized himself on an open plain. Neena was on her feet again. As was Garrett.

In his mind's eye, the energy that had been released in a beam was still present on her, like she was covered with a fine red dust. She had shaken it off but it had affected her. Now he had to consciously control himself. He looked into his hand and saw a swirling vortex of red in his palm. He let his other hand's fingers trace it as he looked at her. She looked prepared. He opened his palm and spread his five fingers wide. A slow steady stream emanated from him, creating a horizontal cyclone. Its size and movement made him think of a red Slinky toy, moving purposely but in a measured pace to her.

He began brushing her with the filament, so that her body was the contact point for the cyclone. As if he were looking down from the heavens. It moved over her generally, but with a higher intensity than his first attempt. As he waited for the numerical result, he opened his left hand, feeling the warm, spinning sensation of another filament.

" I'm sorry, Neena. I don't know where that came from."

She waved him in a 'No worries' gesture rather than say anything. That hit had all but knocked the wind out of her. One corner of her mind mulled and gnawed on the actual process Garrett used to affect her. She was tempted to open her eyes, to see if his attacks had some sort of manifestation she could see. But no, a neural manipulation wouldn't.

She heard the slight scolding the DocProf gave him, and while she disagreed, she remained quiet, saving her energy for the next assault.

"Let me try again. I am pushing too hard."

In her mind, the leopard began pacing. Neena watched the creature warily. She fought the urge to go on the offensive; her job was to provide input, not build endurance. So she simply stared down the bundle of yellow eyes and spotted hide. It seemed to shrink a bit in size as it paced, as her physical pain naturally attempted to balance out.

The third attack she had no trouble seeing, since she already stood on the defensive. Unlike the previous one, this one came in a series. The lithe feline charged her with its claws, reaching out to swipe at her, leaving deep gashes across her forearm. A second slash followed the first, then a third, a fourth, on so on. The attack became a steady stream of fire. She curled up in a ball, allowing each blow to land. Though the force of the blows didn't match the previous all out hit, the back-to-back blows steadily built up. Around her the heat of sun seemed to intensify. On the final impact, she yelled, and slashed outward with the dagger in her hand. The leopard backed off for the time being.

She uncurled, breathing deeply. Her clothes were shredded, leaving bloody slashes all over. She took a moment to analyze the attack.

Outwardly, her body had begun twitching and flinching, as her muscles reacted to the steadily building assault. Unlike her mental vision, she didn't have the control over her muscles to simply curl up and take the hits. Instead, they reacted on their own. By the time it ceased, the speed of her breathing had increased noticeably.

After a few moments, she reported, "Attack, five. General, seven." In other words, the attack was not as ferocious as the previous one, and on its own, it would have left her hurting less. Combined with what she was already feeling, however, the steady stream of concentrated sensation made a more lasting impact.

A wave of nausea hit her, and she rolled onto her side to let it pass.

"Neena."

She waved away the concern in the DocProf's voice. "Keep going. I'm not unconscious yet. Headache the size of Long Island. But not out." She took a deep breath, then added in compliment, "Much better focus, Garrett. More effective."

He smiled inwardly at the compliment. She wanted to continue so he decided to push forward. In the open plain, he now realized that she was not moving. It was his creation, after all. He looked at her body closely. He watched as her clothes dissolved from view, leaving a statuesque goddess of the hunt. This wasn't for pleasure, quite the opposite. The next layer was the skin, leaving a similarly beautiful shape, muscles primed and toned. The muscles, the organs and the bones followed suit. All that was left standing before him was Neena's unique map of neural pathways, shining brightly, but mostly in her eyes. They shone like twin moons.

Once the illusion of flesh was gone, the filament expanded and flattened, hooking into various ganglia and then expanding. No, unwinding. The strands of energy unwound like a rope being unraveled, each smaller filament linking with a bundle of nerve fibers. Once he felt connected in this manner, he now let the second filament come from his hand , speeding the process by unraveling it as it traveled, so it matched its sister filament in connecting action the moment it made contact.

He felt as if they were connected in a way he had not known before. He began pumping pain energy into the fibers, watching the long fibers glow and pulsate with the focused energy. He could hear his own breathing speed and he made an effort to return it to its original pace, but he couldn't. He was linked with her, so he must have been feeling biofeedback.

Though it wasn't in the rules, as there were none, he began to try to remember her neural pathways. Remember wasn't the word, as this was not linked to his physical memory. He noticed a lack of shine when he started to question, so he simply allowed the pain to continue, building in a natural manner, filling her until she stopped him.

The DocProf shook his head, as Neena requested a continuation of the experiment. He had not known the woman very long. She was likeable, and her quirky personality tended to grow on you. The students certainly seemed to like her, and related to her. While he did respect her, and possibly even enjoy her company at times, in his opinion, the teacher had a distinct lack of common sense.

He waited for the next report, watching the proceedings very closely. He did not fully trust Neena's judgement.

Neena, meanwhile, was lost in her head. As the pain built up in her body, the imaginary battle in her mind intensified. The leopard began circling her, and pressed its attack from every direction possible. At first she allowed the blows to land uncontested, willing herself to feel them unhindered, so as to give an accurate report. While the feline batted her around like a rag doll, her pain level quickly rose from that seven to an eight, then began pushing nine.

Although her mind still registered this as an attack, her body simply felt a constant, and increasing throbbing. In control of her muscles this time, she brought her knees into her stomach and covered her head with her arms. Her skin began to shine, then very quickly took solid form as sweat. Her breath steadily increased in speed, as did her heart rate. Every few moments she would groan or let out a sharp cry. Though neither her or Garrett had actually moved, the impact on her body was no less potent than a drag-down-knock-out fight.

Finally it reached the point that her body began fighting back. She could no longer convince herself to ignore the pain. The dagger in her hand lengthened and sharpened into a seven-foot hunting spear, her weapon of choice. She began to match the leopard's stalking circle. Each time it charged, she would slash back, then try to backpedal.

But the constant assault wore at her; she was growing tired, and fast. With each successive attack and counterattack, the leopard sped up while she slowed. Her body bore graphic testament to the predator's accuracy and fierceness. The sun's heat began weighing heavily in her lungs. It felt like she was trying to breath in water.

The leopard paused for a brief second, it's yellow orbs fully slitted. Neena tried to wipe away the sweat stinging her eyes. In that instant, the lithe cat attacked once more, in the form of a very un-feline-like, full body slam. The force of the blow threw her backwards, straight into the acacia's trunk.

Outwardly, Neena screamed and jerked sideways violently. The DocProf jumped.

"Enough! Garrett stop!!" He hurried to the teacher's side and placed his hands on her temples. A soft glow sputtered into existence, quickly intensifying.

In her mind, the edges of Neena's vision blackened. She lay still at the base of the tree. The leopard stalked silently forward into her shrinking line of sight. It stopped right above her, one set of glinting claws aimed at her throat, and she couldn't tell if it was purring or growling. A small smile tugged at her mouth.

Then all went dark.

The link between them was increasing by the second, as filaments began latching on to her naturally. The cord between them pulled taut and the energy flowed freely. Garrett was still paying attention to the various flashing areas, watching the success of the neural attack via the growing number of filaments. It was a beautiful symphony for the mind.

"Enough! Garrett stop!![/i]"

He had heard a distant scream, it sounded similar to Neena's voice, but he had never heard her scream. Red flashes rebounded around the imaginary plain. It was the DocProf's voice demanding the arrest of the process that had caught his attention. At once, he stopped the energy transfer and commanded the filaments to release and return. In an instant, it was over.

He opened his eyes on the mattress, smiling. It was soaked in his sweat. He sat up and looked over at Neena and the DocProf. The scene made his smile disappear immediately. Neena was in the DocProf's arms as he was using his healing power on her. She was also saturated with sweat and had a ticking frown on her face. Garrett rose and came to her side, kneeling to check on her. He looked at the DocProf, who was concentrating on relieving her distress.

Her glasses had come off and he reached down to pick them up. He slid them back over her eyes as she began to come around. He wanted to feel sorry, but he couldn't. She had asked for it. He knew that something like this would be the end result and he found himself studying her response rather than apologizing over himself.

When she started to appear to come around, he was there at her side. "Are you alright, Neena? I got a little lost in the process, I suppose." He smiled softly and waited to see if he could help her up.

Considering pain was what knocked her out, it didn't take Neena long to start coming around, once her levels receded below tolerable levels. For a while she hovered between conscious and unconscious; she could still feel her body throbbing, but was oddly detached from it. She began sending mental pokes to her muscles, to see if they still worked properly. Outwardly she twitched every now and then. Everything seemed in place and in order, so she began concentrating on reconnecting and waking up.

Finally she groaned, and one hand shakily moved to her head.

"Whoa.... talk about a wild ride...."

"Are you alright, Neena? I got a little lost in the process, I suppose."

A smile returned to her face. She likely would have laughed as well, but she deemed that unwise at the moment; her head felt like a bowling ball after a strike. She felt her glasses in front of her eyes, for which she was thankful.

"No worries, m'friend, I'm just fine." To prove her words, she sat up. She wobbled a bit at first, but kept herself upright. She waved the DocProf away as well, but he ignored her, keeping one hand firmly clamped on her neck at the shoulder.

Neena took a deep breath, then turned to look at the young man.

"That was pretty impressive, Garrett, especially that continuous assault. I have a sudden sympathy for lobsters now. What are you feeling after all of that?"

Garrett was relieved that she was alright, but also was not surprised at her quick recovery. He respected her strength and stepped back and rose as she waved them away. He was truly taken with her. It wasn't a romantic ideal. It was just sheer respect, perhaps with a bit of idolization thrown in. Could anything stop her?

"That was pretty impressive, Garrett, especially that continuous assault. I have a sudden sympathy for lobsters now. What are you feeling after all of that?"

That was an interesting question. Rather than analyze it, he decided to vocalize how he felt, as that was probably what she was going for."I feel pleased. I really lost myself in the exquisite intricacies of it. I haven't actually slowed down enough to observe the process. It was beautiful. Physically, I feel invigorated. I believe the main thing on my mind at the moment is that in any type of combat situation, I am not going to have the luxury of lying down and meditating."

He shrugged, the satisfactory smile still on his face. He then added, "I have alot of work to do, but I think I am headed in the right direction. What do you think?"