Chapter 14: Ch 13 – The Doctor Is In

"You have Janus Syndrome"

 

 

Jack had spent the next two hours talking with Shirley and hammering out the details. Shirley was impressed by how effective using a collection agency to launder money was, saving them a full three cents on the dollar. Which might not sound like much, but when you are dealing with millions of dollars, it starts to add up. However, as soon as he had the basics covered, he excused himself saying he needed to get home.

He did not go home.

Instead he called up Doctor Brown and begged for an emergency appointment. She was willing to see him at the end of the day, so he went there to wait in her lobby until she was free. After a quick conversation and explaining how his powers were acting strange, she had him change between forms several times and try to use his powers in different ways. Eventually she pronounced her verdict.

Jack narrowed his eyes, "Janus? As in the two faced greek god?"

She nodded, "It is a psychological condition that effects people who are meta active. It usually manifests in shapeshifters, but can affect anyone who adopts a secret persona. However, it's very rare these days." She tilted her head to the side, "I've never heard of such a rapid onset before. It was always assumed that it was purely psychological in nature, but the speed in which this has affected you indicates-"

Jack held out his hands to Brown and hunched forward, "FOCUS!" She looked annoyed at the interruption. He rolled his eyes, "I have no desire to be your next case study. What is it? What causes it? How do I reverse it?"

Doctor Brown pushed her glasses up on her nose with a sigh, "Fine. What is it? It is when a metactive has more than one persona and form. Normally you would expect some forms to be inherently more powerful, but you wouldn't expect it to affect, say... mental powers. Janus syndrome is when the meta compartmentalizes his powers into certain 'power sets'. One form can do one thing, the other form might not be able to use any powers, or, in your case, it has a different power set entirely."

"Doctor, I have a cosmic power set. You said I could technically do anything."

"True, but there are limits. There are mental limits of what you can conceptualize. Furthermore, placing limits on yourself can actually help you focus. Think of it as... muscle memory. If you practice juggling, you can get very good at it, but the really good jugglers don't even think about what they are doing. If you ask an expert juggler to think about what he is doing, he might actually screw up." She shrugged, "If you have to form a new framework every time you do something, it will take time. But if you practice the exact same framework over and over, you can have it happen reflexively, thus it becomes more efficient."

Jack nodded, "Okay..."

"As for what causes it, I'm not sure in your case, but typically it's psychological. Your angel form seems to be able to affect the living, but when you are Jack, your powers only work on objects." She tapped her chin and looked thoughtful, "You should practice manipulating objects, then see if you can do the same thing to people. Maybe you can do more than heal." She shrugged, "Regardless, you seem to have some sort of internal division and your powers are reflecting that."

"Wait wait wait... let's take this from the top." Jack raised a finger, "Let me get this straight." He pointed at himself, "A cosmic frame work can do anything, but the more broad your powers, the less efficient your monad usage is."

Brown nodded, "Correct."

"Right-right. But you can focus your cosmic powers into... rote memory?"

Brown bobbed her head from side to side, "More or less. Think of it as muscle memory for your mind. You come up with a set configuration. You practice it. It starts to work without thinking about it. Like catching a ball thrown at you. Do you think about how to catch it, or do you just catch it?" She rolled her hand in the air, "You get better at it, at the cost of not being as flexible. These self imposed limitations make it easier and your powers become more effective, at the cost of limiting the conditions under which they work."

"So I can only heal people as Angel, and I can only repair objects as Jack."

She pointed at Jack, "Can you turn back into Angel?"

Jack sighed, stood up, took a step back, and switched to Angel in a flash of blue-white light.

Brown nodded, "I thought so." She held out her hand, "Don't heal me, but think about making me stronger."

Jack looked a little puzzled, reached out and touched her. She started glowing with a soft blue light. She flexed her hand and held it up, "You used to glow white. Now your powers are taking on a blue-ish tinge." She rolled her hand in the air, "Switch back to Jack."

Jack did and the blue glow faded immediately. He quirked an eyebrow, "What the Hell is going on?"

Brown picked up a pen and tossed it to him, "Think about making it stronger." Jack did and it took on a red glow. Before he could speak she reached out her hand again, "Now make me stronger." Jack touched her hand.

Nothing happened.

Brown nodded, "Interesting. This certainly reflects upon not just your mental state, but how you view your two selves."

Jack tossed the pen on the table and the glow faded. He sat down, "Wait. You are telling me that because of my self image... I'm... what? Turing into Doctor Jeckel and Mister Hyde?"

Brown raised an eyebrow, "I think you mean Doctor Jane and Miss Hyde, but, yes, basically. You view the Angel persona as good, and... conversely Jack as... well..." She let the sentence hang in the air unfinished.

Jack snorted, "Evil? The problem with that theory of yours is there is no such thing as good and evil." He spread his arms out wide, "I don't believe in absolute morality! How could I view myself in such a fashion if I don't believe it?"

She quirked an eyebrow and steepled her fingers, "I don't make this up. I just tell you what I see."

Jack let his arms fall down, "Fuck." He rubbed his forehead, "Look, I don't like this. I'd prefer to have what little power I have available all the time." He looked up, "Is there any way to reverse this?"

She bobbed her head from side to side again which seemed to be body language for when she weighed her options, "Well... maybe? It's a long shot."

Jack leaned forward, "Don't hold me in suspense."

Brown took a deep breath, "You need to destroy one persona."

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Jack blinked, "Say what now?"

She gestured, "Either go around and tell everyone that Jack is Angel and never shift into him again, or, shift into Angel and never shift back for as long as you can. If you pick the first option, sooner or later Angel will no longer be your alternate form. If you pick the later, eventually your body should accept Angel as your base form and Jack will... fade away."

Jack's jaw dropped open. He stared for several seconds before shaking his head for vigorously to clear it. He rubbed his mouth before speaking, "You're serious."

Brown nodded, "Dead Serious."

Jack leaned back in his chair, "But I like being Jack AND Angel."

Brown shrugged, "Then the problem will continue. Expect your dichotomy to get worse. Yes, the problem is in your head, but until you accept that there is  problem to begin with, you cannot hope to control this. Well, until you come to some sort of resolution to whatever fundamental mental issue you have causing this split. That's the text book definition of how Janus Syndrome works." She held up a hand and turned it over slowly, "However... this isn't entirely a bad thing."

Jack squinted, "How so?"

She continued to slowly roll her hand, flipping it back and forth, "With your mind compartmentalizing your powers into different frameworks and limiting what can be used in which form, you are actually making your monad usage more efficient." She flipped her hand, "You will be limited in what you can do as Angel or Jack." She flipped it back, "BUT... what you CAN do, you will do better." She pointed at Jack, "If you think about it, the only real limitation is that you have to change forms to choose between what power set you want to use."

Jack sighed, "Which I can't do without people figuring out we're the same person."

Brown nodded, "True, but you aren't the first." She reached into her desk and started looking for through her hanging folders, "If you want, I will officially register you as a gestalt and you can get a different set of identity papers for Angel."

Jack frowned, "Won't that just make my condition worse?"

She nodded, "Yes, but you seem unwilling to try and nip this in the bud. If you are going to continue down this path, I'd like to make it as easy as possible. Plus it will be easier for me to persuade you to register Angel as a cape." She smiled softly, "I will admit, I have an ulterior motive. If you have two sets of identity, I can get the one I want to be a cape." She paused, "Honestly, I couldn't care less what you do as Jack."

"Well that's rude." He rubbed his mouth as he contemplated his options, "So... you said both versions will get stronger, but each is on a different path?"

She shrugged, "Nominally stronger, but yes. It won't be a huge difference, but noticeable. It is very interesting to witness, from a professional viewpoint. I'm quite interested in what will happen." She tilted her head to the side, "I suspect eventually you'll come to some sort of conclusion as to which version of yourself you actually wish to be, then this whole thing will come crashing to an end. Eventually one version will win out in the end."

Jack raised his eyebrows, "With... both sets of powers at improved performance?"

Brown looked up to the ceiling for a few moments in thought, "Well, yes. I imagine so. No promises, but yes. I would say so." She tapped her chin with one finger and stared off into the distance, "At some point I wouldn't mind writing a paper about you... after this runs its course."

Jack Rolled his eyes and spoke with a sarcastic tone, "More then happy to be your guinea pig." He sighed and looked somewhat defeated, "Alright-alright. You convinced me. Let's... register as a... gestalt, is it?"

Doctor Brown smiled, "Yes. Gestalt." She pulled out the forms she had been looking for, "I've got the paperwork right here."

 

---

 

After seeing Jack out of her office, Doctor Brown returned to her desk and turned on her computer. She walked over to pull the shade down on her window. Returning to er desk she pulled out a small cube from pocket and dropped it down next to her pencil cup. The cube started to flicker and give off a dull static sound. As she returned to her chair, she reached forward and dragged a finger across her monitor. It flickered as multiple encryption programs activated while and magical formulas flashed across the screen. Abruptly, a shadowy outline appeared.

Brown bowed her head, "As I feared, he isn't suitable for our purposes, at least in his current state." She sighed in a disappointed fashion, "He's still... cooking."

The computer's speakers spoke in a highly distorted voice, "He's our best bet. If at all possible, you need to... correct him."

Brown nodded, "I know, but he isn't going to do us any good like this. He's fractured. Split down the middle. Most rapid onset I've ever seen. There is some sort of deep seated trauma that he's not aware of.  However, I think this is salvageable."

"Explain."

"He is developing two different persona by compartmentalizing his life along moral lines. In the end, this will make his stronger, which we definitely need him to be." She picked up a pen off her desk to hold up level for the shadowy figure, "The original personality is quite scarred by something. He's got a bleak attitude. I've met his type before. He thinks he's smarter than everyone else. He believes he knows how the world works. He doesn't see himself as a bad man, doing bad things. He's just ahead of the curve."

She wobbled the pen in the air, "People like him are very predictable."

"So what is your plan?"

Doctor Brown smiled softly, "Simple. I'll work hard to widen the gap between the two versions of himself. Then, when he has developed enough to the point he's useful."

Doctor Brown slowly tilted the pen to point downward.

 

"I'll make sure the right persona wins."

 

 

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