She recognized her name. So she knew she was being talked about, but the other words were gibberish to her. Jesseca sat on the bed watching three strangers talking about her, she felt afraid because she had no idea who the people were or where she was.

“She woke up like this. It’s like she’s a baby again.” Sue said to Knight and Severe as they all looked on at the mentally regressed Jesseca.

“Did she say anything?” Severe asked, putting her hand on Jesseca’s head and using her powers to read the girl’s mind.

“She asked where her mommy was.” Sue told her, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine Sue.” Knight said, placing a reassuring hand on Sue’s shoulder. “Anything Severe?”

The shorter albino woman remained silent for a moment, “It seems that her mind is fractured. She’s fine, she’s just regressed mentally, probably to cope with the loss of Hannah and the weight of this whole situation.” Severe said, removing her hand from Jesseca’s head and smoothing out the girl’s mussed hair.

“So much for rising to the challenge.” Knight said. His watch began to beep and he looked down at it and shut it off. “Ok, we have to get to the meeting, Severe can you set the equipment up in here to take care of Jessica?” he asked.

“I’m not leaving her like this!” Sue shouted and sat on the bed and scooped Jesseca into her arms.

“Sue you heard what Azuria said, we need you in this fight.” he said.

“I don’t care, Jesseca is the only family I have, and she needs me right now. I’m staying and that’s final.” she said.

Knight sighed. “Fine, but I want you to have your communicator on so you can at least hear what’s happening at the meeting.” he said and left the room.

Severe turned to Sue and Jesseca the albino woman started to say something and then turned and left the room.

“It’ll be ok Jessy, mommy’s here.” Sue cooed as she began to cry while holding Jesseca and stroking the girl’s hair.

At the Terra Volta reactor in Independence Port the mass of heroes was breathtaking as Knight and his team approached the meeting place.

“There must be a thousand heroes here!” Arson said as they flew over the group of fighters.

“A little over twelve hundred.” Knight said as they landed in front of the group. “Severe, you ready?” he asked the small albino woman. Severe nodded and began to channel her powers.

“Fellow heroes, I thank you for being here today.” Knight thought, and using Severe as a broadcast beacon to everyone’s minds made his thoughts heard. “We face a very dire situation. The Circle of Thorns has captured the body of one of our own, Half-Life Hannah, and is using her as a vessel for a ritual to unleash a demon lord onto our beloved Paragon City.” he thought. “I come to you requesting aid in rising up against this threat and destroying the demon before it’s too late.” he said.

Severe used her powers to pull questioning thoughts from the other heroes and broadcast them to Knight and the others.

“Knight, I’m Tamran, leader of The Future of Paragon team. A man thought as he hovered above the crowd so he could be seen. “Do we know where the Thorns are performing this ritual?” he asked.

“Our intel has suggested that their base of operations is somewhere near the center of Boomtown, mystic activity has been on a steady incline for a few weeks now, and just yesterday the output spiked dramatically and has been growing since. We believe that this is where they are.” Knight answered. “I suggest we head to Boomtown and bring the fight to them.” he added.

A deafening cheer rose up from the crowd as Knight’s words were heard and thoughts of agreement overlapped in the minds of the heroes.

“Hannah is a powerful foe, the truth is that many of us will not survive this fight. I implore you to weigh your deciscion carefully. Those of you that wish to aid in the fight, come prepared and meet us at the entrance to Boomtown tomorrow morning at 0500. Thank you.” Knight said and motioned his team to head out.

As they flew back to the base all were wearing somber faces. “You think they’ll show?” Arson asked.

Knight shrugged. “Earlier I would have had no doubt, but now we have a member of our own team that chose to hide instead of fight, so I’m just not sure.” He said.

“You’re pathetic!” Jesseca said to herself. In her mind her hero self stood over her regressed self, a look of disgust on her face.

The regressed Jesseca started to cry, the harshness of the voice the other Jesseca had used scaring her.

“Shut up! This isn’t the time for crying, we need to get ready for the fight.” she shouted at the wailing baby woman.

“I dun wanna fight mommy.” the baby woman said,

“You don’t have a choice! The city needs you to fight. This isn’t about you and Hannah anymore, it’s about good versus evil. Hannah has to be stopped, end of story.” adult Jesseca explained.

“But I’m scawed.” the baby woman said, popping a thumb into her mouth.

Adult Jesseca sighed and crouched down to meet the infantile her face to face. “I’m scared too, but it’s time to fight your fear and grow up. If you run from your fears, you’ll always be a scared little baby, and you’ll never truly live.” she said.