Chapter 6
"Okay, so why did you call this family meeting?" Anissa asked as she and Jen took seats in the living room of Jefferson's house where their parents were waiting.
"Your dad and I are going to Central City this weekend, since he has an old friend there he needs to catch up with and I am going to meet up with a new colleague there to help with a new version of the metahuman stabilization cure." Lynn said.
"Okay, so who's staying here with me, since I'm assuming that considering how badly Anissa blew last time you trusted her to watch me while you two were gone, she won't be the one to do it and you don't trust me not to throw a party while you're gone?" Jen asked, though that last part was more as a joke.
"You're right about that on both counts. Gambit is going to be staying here with both of you so that he can keep tabs on you in case Anissa's powers resurface." Jefferson said.
"I still find it unfair that while you two got to keep your powers, I lost mine." Anissa said.
"That's actually one of the reasons why we're going to Central City. I want to see if your metagene has just been rendered dormant or if you lost it all together, since that will determine if you'll get your powers back." Lynn said.
"Not that she'll be able to use her powers when she gets them if what I heard is right." Jen said, since she'd overheard a bit of her parents' conversation earlier.
"What is she talking about?" Anissa asked as her parents looked at each other.
"Did you really think that we'd trust you with powers after what happened? An apology doesn't undo your careless actions. You need to prove to us that we can trust you again, since you lost our trust." Lynn reminded her older daughter.
"Barry offered us power dampening tech if we need it if your powers do surface." Jefferson added.
"I don't get it. Jen acted reckless too when she was on the run with Khalil and yet she isn't getting this kind of treatment? And don't say that it hasn't happened yet, because by that logic, you shouldn't be punishing me like that either." Anissa complained.
"Hey, I was trying to help Khalil escape from Tobias, but I'll admit things got a bit out of hand, but I was doing it for the right reasons and if it weren't for me, while things didn't go according to plan, we still got some good intel out of it." Jen pointed out.
"She has a point, Anissa. Besides, I think that losing Khalil like she did was punishment enough." Jefferson reminded Anissa.
"And who knows, maybe if you'd been more concerned with taking care of me instead of trying to be Freeland's new hero, it would've been harder for Odell to sink his hooks into me." Jen said.
"You mean the same Odell who turned Khalil into an assassin and nearly killed me?" Anissa asked, causing Jen to look at her.
"What?" Jen asked.
"Dad didn't tell you?" Anissa asked, causing Jen to look at her father.
"Jen, before you get too mad at me, I didn't find out about Khalil until literally right before Crisis and I didn't tell you about him in this one because since it hasn't happened yet, I didn't see any point in rehashing that particular part of the past." Jefferson defended himself and Jen calmed down.
"I guess that makes sense. But what the hell is Anissa talking about?" Jen asked, needing to know what Odell did to Khalil.
"He implanted Khalil with new cybernetics and some kind of operating system that turned him into a living weapon, including poison touch. Gambi and I both knew too, since we found him in the Pit and I asked him not to tell you, because I didn't want you to know until I found a way to save him, since we found proof that the real Khalil was in there underneath the ASA's programming and I didn't want to get your hopes up until I found a way to bring him back." Lynn said, hoping Jen would understand.
"Honestly mom, if you had told me, I probably would've gone on some kind of suicide mission against the entire ASA to get him out, so you did the right thing, keeping it from me. But I'm guessing you weren't planning on telling me this now?" Jen asked and her parents shook their heads.
"No and I thought that Anissa agreed not to tell you and this clearly wasn't the right time or place to do it. You only brought this up to hurt Jen." Jefferson said, turning to his older daughter.
"I know and I'm sorry, but I just got so angry that you were all ganging up on me that it just slipped out." Anissa said, since she regretted saying what she did the minute she said it and she also knew that she'd crossed a line. One she'd probably never be able to uncross.
"It doesn't matter Anissa. I can understand you keeping this from me since it happened in another reality that no longer applies, but telling me like this just because you were mad I wasn't taking your side? You're lucky you don't have your powers right now, because if you did, I'd be blasting you at full strength and I'm still considering doing that anyways. You had no right to cross that line." Jen said, electricity coursing through her eyes.
"Jen, go to the Sanctum and blow off some steam. I'll meet you there later." Jefferson said and Jen nodded as she walked out of the house and they heard her take off.
"Anissa, you had no right to go at your sister like that. It was uncalled for." Lynn said.
"Mom, I didn't mean to." Anissa tried to defend herself, but her parents wouldn't hear it.
"Anissa, it's clear that you let all the so-called freedom you had during the occupation go to your head, because the old you never would've crossed that line." Jefferson said.
"Dad, I made a mistake. Why are you holding it against me?" Anissa asked.
"Anissa, you lost our trust and that's not something we can just let go of. You need to earn it back. But in the meantime, you make more than enough money from my lab to be able to afford your own place. I suggest you start looking for one, since I don't think Jen will be in any mood to live under the same roof as you right now." Lynn said.
"Wait, are you kicking me out?" Anissa asked, shocked.
"You didn't seem to have problems getting your own place in the old reality, so why not do that again." Jefferson said and Anissa knew that her parents were right and she also knew that she'd need to earn back her family's trust and she also knew that her mom was also looking out for her health, since Jen was likely not going to be forgiving her for what she said for a while.
"Okay, I'll start looking for my own place." Anissa said.
"I know you probably think we're being hard on you Anissa, but we're doing this out of concern for you, since honestly, you lost your way. We're hoping this will help you find it again." Lynn said.
"No, you're right, I did lose my way and while this may seem harsh, it is the kick in the ass I needed to find it again. I hope that I can earn back your trust and Jen's forgiveness." Anissa said, right as Jefferson got a text from Gambi.
"I need to go. Gambi needs me at the Sanctum." Jefferson said.
"Is something wrong with Jen?" Lynn asked.
"No, it's something else. I'll be back soon." Jefferson said as he headed out.
When Jefferson arrived in the Sanctum, he found Jen's attention captured by her practicing her powers when Gambi approached him.
"What's going on?" Jefferson asked before he noticed what Gambi was holding.
"Is that?" Jefferson asked.
"Your old JSA communicator, yeah. It started going off randomly right before I texted you." Gambi said.
"That's impossible. The JSA was wiped out, that thing shouldn't be receiving any kind of signal." Jefferson said.
"I know, but this thing is going off, but only you can access it." Gambi reminded him as Jefferson took the communicator into his hand for the first time in years and entered his verification code 30648 to unlock it.
"What's the message?" Gambi asked.
"It's some kind of location signal. I think it's the location of where this message is coming from." Jefferson said he showed it to Gambi, who went over to the computer and entered the coordinates.
"It looks like those coordinates lead to a residence in Blue Valley Nebraska, but why would it be sending you coordinates there?" Gambi asked.
"I don't know, but I need to figure this out. Which means going to Nebraska now." Jefferson said.
"Good thing I just finished upgrading your suit for flight." Gambi said.
"And it's a good thing I don't need a suit to fly, since you realize there's a good chance this could be a trap." Jen said.
"Jen." Jefferson said.
"I've already finished a prototype of Jen's suit that should work." Gambi said.
"There's no talking you out of this is there?" Jefferson asked and Jen shook her head.
"Fine, I'll text your mom and let her know what's going on." Jefferson said as they went to suit up.
I know this chapter might feel like I'm being too harsh with Anissa, but honestly, it annoyed me that Anissa was never really held accountable for some of her annoying behavior in season three. I promise things will get better for her, but she needs to go through this to get better.
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