Act Your Age, Not Your Shoe Size! (AKA, Kid!Plot is Go!!)

[time_schizo]

Martini threw himself at the door once again, nails scratching along the metal as he scraped his fingers over them. No one would hear him. It was the middle of the night. Stryker had decided to punish him for destroying the camp in Africa, putting him in one beyond all other for him. Solitary confinement. His fingernails had been mostly ripped off

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[hunteroffreaks]

Jack had opened his eyes that morning and immediately known something was off. For one, he could see through his left eye again. That wasn't supposed to be possible. He hadn't been able to see anything out of it in five years. Immediately, he was put on edge. Getting up, he noticed there were definitely less aches, pains, and scar tissue then he was used to. His fingers weren't locking up, as they were prone to do in the Russian cold.

When he finally looked in the mirror, Jack was in shock. He looked like he couldn't have been more than thirty five, and that was a generous estimate. One of the telepaths had decided to fuck with his head again. But this wasn't the first time he had been affected by some mutant's powers. He had once spent a week as a squirrel, and had on more than one occasion had his memories wiped out. But this? He had just hit the jackpot.

A slow grin spread over his face as he got dressed. His clothes still mostly fit, thank god. His general body structure hadn't changed, since he had always tried to stay at the peak of his human condition. He hurried over the main compound, wondering if anyone else had been affected. In contrast to his usual dour expression, there was a small smile at the corners of his lips he just couldn't seem to get rid of.

[cover_your_ears]

She was awakened by a high-pitched scream. Something was wrong with Talia. Jessie heard the door open and close, but she couldn't hardly move, she was drowning in the covers!

After struggling a few minutes, her toes hit cold air. She worked her way to the floor but only after a sudden drop. The floor was a lot farther away than usual. She looked down at them and let out a little scream of surprise herself. Her clothes swamped around her, obviously too large. She stepped out of her loose bottoms and went to look in the full-length mirror on the back of the door.

"Oh, shit!" She said in a voice that she hadn't heard for over twenty-three years. At least the t-shirt she was sleeping in was long enough to cover everything but her feet.

She hurried out of her room toward the mess hall and spotted a much younger (but thankfully not as young as her) Jack coming in from outside. No one was in the hallway and she ran towards him at full speed. She barrelled into his legs, nearly knocking him off his feet. "Uncle Jack!"

[hunteroffreaks]

Jack saw a small blur just before it collided with him, hearing a high-pitched squeaky voice that brought back memories. "Jesse!" He backed up against the wall to keep from being completely knocked down.

Far too happy at being de-aged to keep up his normal grumpy demeanor, he knelt down and wrapped his arms around Jesse, hugging her as he once had, many years ago. Looking her over, he saw Jesse looked about six or seven. Clearly, he wasn't alone in having time turned back.

[cover_your_ears]

When he knelt down, she slipped her small arms around his neck. For a few moments at least, time stopped, and really reversed completely. Siberia melted away and they were safe in Frankfurt. In her father's house. Where nothing bad would happen. And he was smiling at her, not in his usual guarded-cynical way, but really smiling.

"It looks like you got the better end of this deal." Jessie released her grip on his neck, and ran a hand through his gray-less hair. They were firmly back in Siberia, her bare feet freezing on the cold floor.

[hunteroffreaks]

Jack stood back up, fixing his hair where Jesse had run her fingers through it. He nodded at her comment, which sounded slightly disturbing, the words sounding strange coming out of a six-year-old mouth.

"I have no idea what the hell is going on. But it appears it has some perks."

He noticed Jesse shifting from foot to foot on the cold, bare, concrete floor. "Get something on your feet, or you'll freeze to death."

[cover_your_ears]

Jessie put her hands on her hips. "And where do you suppose I'll find socks that'll fit? All my stuff is too big and I don't think they make army issue clothing in kid sizes."

[hunteroffreaks]

Jack hid a grin at Jesse's posture. It looked very out of place on a kid. "Think of something. You can't run around in an oversized T-shirt all day."

He turned to walk down the hall. "Meantime, I need to see if anyone knows what is going on around here."

[cover_your_ears]

"Have you seen Stryker?" she asked as he headed down the hall. "Maybe he knows what's going on." She sighed. "Not that he would tell anyone anyway."

She headed for the mess hall. It sounded like that was where most of the team had gathered. Jessie hoped that she might find Talia there. Her roommate had sounded pretty upset.