Chương 48: Awakening

Mason immediately dove after Audrey, gently picking her up from the ground, Elena following him a beat slower as she screamed, "Audrey! Audrey, can you hear me!" As he carefully sensed the situation inside his sister's body, Mason finally sighed in relief as he reassured his older sister, "She's fine; she's only spent. She's okay." Elena took a moment to recover from her shock before asking, bewildered, "What was that?"

"I don't know. I… She didn't get bit by anything radioactive recently?" Elena looked at Mason like he had suddenly grown crazy.

"What kind of fucking question is that? Of course not." Mason effortlessly lifted Audrey's body, and as he gently moved her to the living room to lay her down on the sofa, he said, "It's a common source for superpowers, which this clearly was. Since she did not get exposed to radioactive material, did not undertake any magical rituals, or get exposed to any strange materials, the most obvious reason-""You think she is a mutant?"

Mason closely monitored her for any changes, although he was mostly limited to checking her Three Treasures. They were drained, so he could infer what had happened, but he could not know for sure. Still, he said, "Seems like the most logical explanation. Mutants usually awaken their power in their teens, most often when they are experiencing intense emotions." Elena paced back and forth, unsure of what to say, when they heard someone knocking urgently at the door.

Extending his Divine Sense, Mason warned, "It's the security watching the house. Give me a sec." He did not wait for her answer as he got to the door in two swift leaps and opened the door with a stony face. The two men at the door were dressed as civilians, but Mason could see the outlines of holsters at their belts.

"What do you want?" The one in front sent a look at the hole in the wall, saying, "Is everyone okay inside? There was this-" Mason immediately shut him down.

"There was nothing. Get back to your car." The man wanted to argue, but his colleague grabbed him by the shoulder, watching Mason tensely. That woke up the other, who realized who he was speaking to, and the two quickly apologized for the 'mistake'. When Mason returned to the living room, Elena was pacing next to Audrey, and when she saw him, she said, "When Dad and Uncle Tony get here, we need to move her to Stark Tower. There, we'll get all the appropriate tools to examine her and make sure she's okay."

Mason's mind immediately went to Reed and the Fantastic Four, but he dismissed the notion as soon as it appeared. It was not that he did not trust Reed, but this was something best kept close if it could be helped. As Mason went back to check on Audrey's condition, however, Elena asked uneasily, "So… you're planning on leaving?" Mason closed his eyes, the conversation he had intended to keep for the very end forced out. After a second, he replied, "I am.

And it's not just me feeling heroic; I have a personal stake in it too. The ninja cult trying to summon that demon put a bounty on me, and were the reason behind my warrant. I managed to… purge them from the city, but if I don't take down their headquarters, they'll just revive endlessly and come attack again." He looked at his older sister, confident she would not react like Audrey. She did not, even nodding along, "I get it, it's something that must be done. But… shit, you could have been more tactful.

What were you thinking, laying it all out on Audrey like that? All you did was make her feel guilty for people you did not even kill for real." Mason instinctively looked for an excuse before realizing what he was doing, and sighed, "Yeah, I didn't expect her to react like that, then I got carried away. I guess I've been so stuck on justifying what I'm doing to myself that I wanted to make her understand. I can be quite stupid sometimes, can't I?" Elena placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, you can. But, I got to say, I'm glad this happened with you."

"What?" She gestured to Audrey.

"I read a bunch of stuff on mutants, and their awakenings are often volatile. And seeing the damage she did, I'm glad it was with someone capable of controlling it." Mason sent a glance at the hole in the wall connecting with the outside, snorting, "I don't know if I really controlled that, but I get what you mean. And yes, I suppose it was a good thing. Hardly makes me feel any better about arguing with this little gremlin, but it's something."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Elena gave his shoulder a squeeze, adding, "Don't worry, she doesn't hate you. Things will be awkward, sure. Especially now that she almost killed you by accident." Mason immediately scoffed, "Almost killed me? You're underestimating me; I ate two punches from the Hulk! My little sister's tiny wussy shots don't scare me."

"Okay, tough guy, you're the strongest caveman of them all." The two siblings smiled as they bantered and watched as their little sister slept peacefully. It did not take long for their parents to return; they all returned together, which was not surprising considering they worked in the same building. They did not even knock, bursting in as Camille, their mother, exclaimed with urgency, "Audrey! Elena! Mason!"

As she got into the living room, her eyes instantly locked on the sofa, where Audrey was lying down, and she crouched next to her with impressive speed, considering she was wearing heels, and asked, "What happened? Why is there a hole in the wall?" Eric and Tony lagged a few steps behind, and Elena quickly explained, "Mason and Audrey got into an argument, and we think that Audrey awakened a mutation. She punched out a light beam through the wall, into the sky." Camille looked at Mason in horror.

"Are you alright?" Mason knew this was a serious moment, but seeing the state his mother was in, he puffed his chest, flexing his biceps as he replied, "Of course I am; didn't even scrape me. I'll have you know your son is a master of evasion, untouched and winner of arguments. I could even dodge Tony's beams if I wanted to."

"Cute, kid, but you ain't dodging my beams. I've been reading up on your Neidan thing, and that won't work on me-" Eric raised a hand, stopping them both.

"Not the time, children." They both rolled their eyes at Eric, who ignored them, joining Camille by Audrey's side. He asked, "Why isn't she waking up?" Mason did his best to sound as reassuring as he could.

"My reading is not as in-depth as I would have liked it to be, but I am fairly certain that she is just tired. It was an accidental burst of energy, so while I don't understand exactly what her mutation is, it appears to allow her to transform some form of energy or matter into that golden beam. What I can tell you for certain is that her life force, her mind, and her connection to the universe are intact. It might sound cryptic, but that means she is fine."

Tony repeated with a snarky voice, "Her connection to the universe?" Mason nodded.

"More important than you think; it just hasn't really been explored by science yet. But again, she's fine; it's like… she exhausted her nutrients and just needs to recharge. I don't know if it's really nutrients that she's spent per se, but I'm sure Tony will make himself useful and scan her." Tony was about to say something pretentious, but seeing the worried glances from the rest of the family, he nodded more seriously.

"Of course. I got a lab in the tower; it's more than good enough for a thorough medical scan. And look at her; she's obviously fine. I'm pretty sure she's fake sleeping so someone will carry her." He got eye-rolls around the room, but it did lighten everyone's spirits as Eric carried Audrey to their car. Mason would have offered to do it, but he knew better than to say anything. It was not a matter of being stronger.

Mason's family only managed to finally feel relief when they confirmed that Audrey's situation was under control, and she really was fine. The more puzzling thing was that no matter how many scans he put her through, Tony failed to find the source of her power. The drain had been across all her 'stats', meaning her body was in a condition as if she had performed a herculean effort, but it was not outside of common sense. She was in a somewhat similar state to an athlete after an event.

The problem was that what her body had consumed was nowhere near enough to release energy on the level she had, so there had to be something they were missing, something that could not be measured by conventional means. At least, Mason could confirm that she had not overdrawn either her Spirit or Breath. He even made a rather strange discovery: that all three of her Treasures had been drawn equally, which hinted at a controlled output.

Since her outburst had clearly been accidental, it meant she had an innate fail-safe that stopped her from harming herself while using her power, which was a relief for everyone. Unfortunately, once they made sure she was safe and they left her to rest, Mason had to once more have that uncomfortable conversation. It started with Tony asking, "So, what's the plan now that you've got your freedom back? Put a few more ninjas six feet under?" Camille and Eric glared at him, so he held up his hands.

"Hey, I'm not judging! I took down my fair share of terrorists myself. And they weren't nearly as cool as ninjas; they kept shooting me with AKs." Mason sighed, understanding there was no pushing back the difficult conversation, so he said, "Well, thank you for the segue, Tony."

"I live to serve, kid."

"Well, obviously, I will take care of the immediate problem and take down Fisk the moment we get a warrant for his arrest," Eric immediately asked.

"Need any help with that warrant?" Mason shook his head, although he appreciated the intention.

"Thanks, but it's fine; we already got lawyers working with us, plus SHIELD, so it shouldn't be long before they're done." he directly used SHIELD's name in this case, as he figured his parents knew about them. They were a secretive organization, but his parents were powerful people. And they were connected to Tony.

"And once that's done, I'll be leaving for Japan to finish that ninja cult and stop them from freeing the demon controlling them. It… might take me a few months." Mason had dreaded the conversation because he expected his family to be firmly against it, that he would have to convince all of them that he needed to go, but he started realizing he might have been projecting when his mother simply said, "You be safe out there, alright? And bring us some souvenirs from Japan; our trip there was so wonderful."

His parents held each other's hands, Eric smiling as he asked, "It was for our honeymoon, a bit after Elena's birth." Elena tilted her head, asking, "I went to Japan?"

"No, you stayed with your grandma; you were too young to come with us… and we needed the break." Tony grinned, "So I'm not the only one getting tired of her? I swear, always asking questions, this one." Elena rolled her eyes at him.

"Not my fault if you keep making dubious choices with your armor; how could you not think of adding receptors and transformers to your armor?"

"One good idea and I can't hear the end of it…" Mason watched as his family got lost in their own conversations, his huge, dreaded announcement already forgotten. He blinked and felt his Spirit Awaken. Just like that.