Chapter 59: The Morning After

Jay's eyes opened to the smell of fresh pizza and the sound of people moving around with a rush in their steps.

He blinked, trying to process where the hell he was. This wasn't Bobby's truck. This wasn't his bed. This was... the Queen's safehouse? The inner circle was bustling around like it was any other morning—Maria setting plates on the table, Linda arranging napkins, Tom pouring coffee. And Max was pulling a fresh pizza out of the oven.

The last thing Jay remembered was sobbing like a broken twelve-year-old in Bobby's truck, clutching Domino's quarter while the old vet drove through the night. Then... nothing. Just exhaustion hitting him like a freight train.

"Well, well," Maria said, noticing he was awake. "Look who decided to rejoin the land of the living."

Jay tried to sit up, and every muscle in his body screamed in protest. The enhancement, the emotional breakdown, the cosmic ray exposure—it had all finally caught up with him after the adrenaline and heartbreak wore off.

"How long was I out?"

"Well, it’s the morning after," Bobby called from the kitchen, not looking up from whatever he was doing. "You passed out harder than a rookie on his first patrol."

Maria approached with that maternal look that made Jay feel simultaneously comforted and guilty. "Why don't you freshen up and come eat with us? You look like you came from the set of a zombie movie."

Jay moved like a zombie through his morning routine—shower, teeth, throwing on clean clothes that someone had thoughtfully laid out. Domino’s absence pressed at the edges of his mind, the ghost of her hug still lingering on his shoulders, but he shoved it down. When he shuffled back to the main room, he dropped into a chair between Max and Linda without a word. Tom sat directly across from him, and nobody said anything as they passed around pizza slices and toast like this was totally normal.

It took Jay three bites before his brain finally processed what he was eating.

"We're having pizza for breakfast," he said, and then he started laughing.

It wasn't happy laughter. It was the kind of brittle, slightly unhinged laughter. The laughter turned into something else pretty quickly, tears mixing with the giggles in a way that probably looked terrifying.

Everything hit at once. Domino walking away. Rogue's hatred. Ben's betrayed look even as he flexed human fingers. Sue calling him family in past tense.

"Hey, hey," Linda said softly, rubbing his back. "It's okay. Just let it out."

Max patted his head like he was a traumatized golden retriever. "We got you, Doc. You're safe here."

Jay finished his food through the sniffling, mumbled something about needing air, and stepped out of the warehouse.

The morning was crisp and clear, New York sprawling out like it always did, indifferent to personal crisis. Jay breathed it in, trying to reset his system.

When he came back inside, Bobby was leaning against the Table with a cup of coffee, watching him with those knowing eyes.

"Why'd you bring me here?" Jay asked.

Bobby's mouth quirked up in that sardonic way. "Well, kid, seeing as you're now the infamous Power Broker and half the govt. probably wants to have words with you, figured we needed somewhere safe to crash."

Jay winced. Right. That was going to be a problem.

But then Bobby's expression softened just a fraction. "Also figured you needed to be around people who give a damn about you, instead of wallowing alone like some emo teen."

The reference to their earlier conversation about found family hit Jay right in the chest. He managed a weak smirk. "What is it with this lazy writing? Every time I have an emotional crisis, someone shows up with exactly the right words."

"Life's weird like that," Bobby shrugged.

When they settled back around the table, Tom leaned forward with that direct way of his. "So, what's the plan, Doc?"

Jay stared at his half-eaten pizza slice. "I... don't have one. For now, anyway. I can't seem to focus on anything past getting through the next five minutes."

Concerned looks passed around the table. Max frowned. "That's not like you, Jay. You always have three backup plans and a contingency."

"Relax, kid," Bobby said, settling into a chair with his coffee. "Do what you always do. Step by step. One thing at a time."

Jay nodded slowly. Right. Baby steps. He could handle baby steps.

"Okay," he said, taking a breath. "First step: figure out what I actually got from that three-way enhancement nightmare. I mean, mutant growth hormone, super soldier serum, and cosmic radiation ought to give me something good, right?"

He closed his eyes and sank into his mental landscape—the place where his powers existed and interacted.

The change took his breath away.

What used to be a sterile white void was now the most spectacular starry sky he'd ever seen. Like someone had taken the Hubble telescope's greatest hits and made them into wallpaper. Stars wheeled overhead in impossible colors, nebulae painted the darkness in shades of blue and gold, and everything pulsed with quiet life.

At the centre of it all stood his powers—but they looked different now.

His theft ability was still there, grey-foggy and imposing, but more regal somehow. More refined. The sea-blue eyes that had been a part of Sage’s power now looked actively intelligent, like they were seeing something deeper than surface.

Tommy's healing power was still pure green, still radiant, but there was a vitality to it now that made it seem more like a well of life force.

And Claire's danger sense—originally a bland mix of yellow and blue—had evolved. Sage's analytical mind had merged with it completely, the colors blending into something that looked like liquid gold.

Jay reached out with his enhanced awareness, testing the limits of what he could do now.

‘Holy shit.’

He could hold ten powers simultaneously now, including his base modifications. His body was enhanced across the board—muscles, bones, senses all operating at peak efficiency. His mind, boosted by Sage's analytical capabilities, was processing information like a supercomputer with perfect memory recall.

But the really impressive upgrades were in his active abilities. His theft power could now make small tweaks to other people's abilities, but can’t fundamentally change their nature, just like what he did to Ben and Hank.

His null field had an upgraded range of up to 50 feet.

And his healing aura... Jay grinned as he sensed its limits. He could heal everything from nerve damage to missing limbs now, and the range was dramatically increased. He was basically a walking medical miracle.

When he opened his eyes back in the real world, he was smiling for the first time since last night’s debacle.

"Well?" Linda asked, sitting across from him now, chin propped on her hands. "What's the verdict, Doc?"

The others leaned in, waiting for his answer.

"The benefits of the enhancement were more than I would have guessed," he said, flexing his fingers experimentally. "Way more."

"That's the first real smile we've seen from you all morning, Doc," Maria observed.

Tom nodded. "So, what now?"

Jay looked around the table at these people and made a heavy decision.