Picks up right after Season 3 finale.

Disclaimer – I own nothing, except this plot and any original characters not shown in the show. Mutant X is owned by people and companies who left us hanging off a cliff. So, I am continuing this story and making absolutely no money from it. Do Not Sue, for I have nothing of value.

Chapter One – Retreat

The soon-to-be-fugitive members of Mutant X removed their com rings immediately after escaping from the rubble of Dominion HQ. The group didn't utter a sound as they followed Shalimar, who took out the two guards they did run into. Motioning them out through the fence and off the property, she slowed the group to a walk. With the burning Dominion building still visible in the distance, Jesse broke the silence. 'What the hell are we going to do now?' He demanded angrily.

'We have to find Adam. Jesse is the only one here not living under a death sentence.' Lexa replied.

'But how? The Helix is gone, Sanctuary is gone, the Dominion….' Shalimar's eyes flickered quickly over to Brennan, then to Jesse and Lexa.

'Look, we have to get moving, come on.' Brennan said. Grabbing Shalimar's arm, Brennan gently motioned her forward.

As they ran into a nearby forest, it was Brennan who continued. 'We need to make sure we're not being followed. We can change directions randomly, at least until we get an idea of where we are going to go. Shal, I trust you'll be keeping an ear out for anyone coming near us?'

'Of course. The ones who survived are all at the HQ, and they haven't exactly figured out what happened yet.' Shalimar replied, as the group came to a stop a few yards into the trees. 'Our first priority should be to get medical supplies, we're all pretty worse for wear here.'

'Once the Dominion gets re-organized, they will send retrieval teams after us.' Brennan said. 'We need to get far and fast, now.'

'No,' Shalimar stated, her tone matter of fact, and locked her eyes onto his. 'You were shot, the bullet is still in your shoulder and you're still bleeding, Bren, Don't deny it, I can smell it. Jesse is hurt too, and Lexa just spent the better part of the day in a cell under Dominion hospitality, and I've been blown up. We are getting medical supplies first. Period. Then we can steal a car, or hop a train, or we could even hijack a plane. Whatever you guys want. I really don't care, as long as we get a medical kit first.' Her voice never changed from that same flat tone, but her eyes flashed to gold.

'Let me see your shoulder, Brennan. Since when do you let yourself get shot?' Jesse said, walking over to him.

'Since the Dominion decided to make those suits that protect them from just about everything that we could hit them with.' Brennan replied, wincing as Jesse gave the wound a quick look-over.

Shalimar moved over to where Lexa was leaning against a tree, head down. 'How did you fare in there? I can only smell Jesse's blood on you, so I know you're cut-free.'

'They knocked me around a bit. I've got a headache and a ton of bruises, got dosed twice, but, I think I'll live. You?' She asked, throwing her head back and looking at the blond woman.

'Pretty much the same. A shower and some clean clothes and I'll be good.'

'So what happened to you guys in there, Shal? And whose bright idea was it exactly to get the Helix blown up?'

The girls began to catch the others up to speed on what had been happening after Jesse got kidnapped, with Jesse and Brennan each adding to the story. Soon Jesse finished his exam of Brennan's shoulder. 'Okay, we need to take that out before we can stitch you. It's not really bleeding that bad now, but it will when it comes out, and, it will hurt like hell. I don't think there is any permanent damage though. I'll need a good first aid kit, but we can get one just about anywhere. And you'll definitely want painkillers for this.'

'What about you, Jess?' Shalimar asked from her seat next to Lexa. 'There is a lot of blood on you too.'

'Ah, the Dominion agents were so kind as to try torture in an attempt to get the codes to Sanctuary. Thanks to this damned governer, I couldn't exactly stop them.' Jesse replied with a cocky grin. 'It didn't work though. I'm not too bad off; it'll keep.'

'Here, let me short those. Then they can't trace them. Since when do you let yourself get beaten up, Jesse?' Brennan asked, throwing Jesse's own question back at him as he zapped his neck.

'Hey watch it, I'm your surgeon, buddy.' Jesse said in mock-seriousness. 'Be nice, or I just might forget about an anesthetic for you.'

'Okay then guys, time for more walking.' Lexa said, standing up. Moving over to Brennan, she let him zap her governor and continued. 'There's a fairly active railway crossing about two miles north of the HQ. We'll hop a train, get off at the first stop with a drugstore in town. Once we change ourselves a bit and patch up, we'll…. Well, we'll figure that out later.' At the groups shocked expressions, she exclaimed, 'Hey, I never got around to thinking of an escape plan. Actually surviving my little betrayal was a stretch, and losing the Helix and Sanctuary too…well, I didn't think of a Plan F.'

'Plan F?' Brennan asked, repositioning his hand in his jacket so it wouldn't move and hurt his shoulder.

'Sure. The Plan for when we are Fucked Over. I'm winging it. You guys coming?'

The walk to the crossing was uneventful; Shalimar stayed in the treetops, going from tree to tree while keeping an eye out for any pursuers and blazing a trail for the others who followed below. Once they arrived at the edge of the forest by the crossing, Shalimar came down from the treetops and landed near Lexa. 'There hasn't been any sign of a tail.' She reported. 'I didn't see, hear or smell anyone other than us and some rabbits.'

'Good.' Brennan said, leaning against a tree. Sweat had started to form on his brow, and he was looking pale. 'I don't think I could handle a fight right now.'

'Hey, you okay?' Shalimar asked, walking over.

'I'll survive until we get this bullet out, don't worry.' He replied.

The group hopped the first passenger train that came by, and the next couple of hours were spent hiding in the baggage car. Thanks to Lexa's powers, the security guards simply never saw them. After transferring at a few different crossings, and stealing some clothes, bandages, and other necessary items (like cash), from a Wal-mart (courtesy of a ghost, since the night staff saw no one, and the cameras also saw nothing before a mysterious power surge knocked them out), the group decided that west would be a good direction to head in temporarily. Hopping the first west-bound train to pass by after their heist, the group set up shop, once again, in the baggage car. Shalimar and Lexa had re-arranged suitcases trying to create some privacy, and were now changing behind The Wall. Jesse was getting the supplies organized and ready from their shopping trip, while Brennan, who was sitting against the car's wall, had removed his jacket and shirt and was poking and prodding his gunshot wound.

'Are you hoping the bullet will just pop out if you keep doing that?' Shalimar asked as she threw her old shirt at his head.

He caught it in midair and tossed it back towards her as he replied – the shirt hit the Wall instead and landed harmlessly on the floor. 'No, it's itching like hell. I'm trying not to scratch it.'

Jesse had a shot of a numbing agent and some bandages ready and walked over to Brennan. 'This'll numb it at least until we can get to a motel and I can get the bullet out.' He said as he injected it into Brennan's shoulder. 'Shal, you want to bandage him up when you're done? I'm going to get started on our packs.'

'Sure. He can be my man slave – sit down and stay put, mister.' She added, when Brennan made to get up.

Laughing, Jesse sat down with their supplies. 'So, who wants to start off the discussions for Plan F?'

'I will,' Shalimar emerged from behind the wall, now attired in her new outfit. She had changed into a pair of black jeans, green tank top and a white hooded zip up sweater. Tossing her old clothes into an empty plastic bag, she sat down next to Brennan and began to bandage before continuing. 'We can't assume that the Dominion is going to take us destroying their HQ lying down. They will come after us guns blazing. Without access to Sanctuary or any of the safe houses, which we can't assume ARE safe, we're screwed.'

'Definitely,' Lexa agreed, coming out from behind the Wall. She'd chosen light blue jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt. Going over to where Jesse was, she sat down and began to help sorting their supplies into three piles – Medical, clothing and edibles. 'The Creator will be looking for us. And he's got Adam. We have to assume that he'll get the location and codes of the safehouses, either through Dominion records… or even from Adam himself.'

Shalimar made a frusturated sound as she taped up Brennan's chest. 'I wish that wasn't a possibility. But you guys saw how Adam hesitated, once he saw the Creator and that map. This Creator, essentially, IS Adam. Adam got us out, but the mutants hiding in the safehouses aren't safe.' To Brennan, she declared, 'You may dress now, slave.'

'Thank you so much, Mistress,' he replied sarcastically, getting up and grabbing the clean shirt Lexa held up out of the sorted pile. Being very careful as he put his bad arm in first, he continued. 'Okay, so, worst case scenario. Adam joins forces with the Creator, gives us up to the Creator to perfect their map of the genetic code, using Jesse as the template to fix our mutations. And if he can't get Jesse, he starts testing the cure on the ones in the safehouses.' Getting his other arm in the shirt, he went to button it up, and realized that it was impossible one-handed.

'I'll do it. Come here, Bren.' As Shalimar buttoned, she went on. 'We have to warn the mutants to leave the safe houses as soon as possible. They came to us to be safe, and I am NOT letting anyone, even Adam, test anything on them.' she said, her eyes flashing gold. The button she was working on snapped and went flying, hitting Lexa fairly hard in the back of the head.

'Easy there, girlie. That actually hurt. I think I may have a way for us to warn them without accessing any safe houses, but it'll involve some more legwork and planning. We can't worry about it now, though.' Lexa said, rubbing the back of her head and then going back to sorting. 'First priority is getting as far away as possible. And we need to change ourselves – we can't be us. New identities, everything.'

'I can probably hack into some government databases, get us new ID's with the right equipment. We can just live off the grid for awhile. Go somewhere warm.' Jesse said, picking up a black backpack. 'This one'll hold the med supplies. The green one will be for the ladies things, and the red one for the guys stuff. We'll divide the cash up so we each have some in case we have to separate.'

'Good idea. So, where do we want to go? West is good, but where should we head to afterwards?' Brennan asked, easing himself back down next to Shalimar.

'Let's discuss that after we get to a hotel. We all need showers.' Shalimar stated as she made a face.

'So, we stink, huh?' Brennan asked, trying to suppress a grin and snuggling closer.

'You have no idea.'

The group got off the train at the next stop, and decided to forgo the grand hotel in favour of a motel in the wrong end of town. While the boys waited with the bags, the girls went to the office to get them a room with a kitchen and bathroom. The hotel manager didn't seem surprised that they didn't want to pay with a credit card, and accepted Lexa's story about backpacking across the country. Once they'd paid for the day and upcoming night and he'd given them the keys, the group made their way to the room. Keeping the curtains closed, they began to clean up. While Lexa was showering, Jesse ordered a very large quantity of pizza, pop and water. It arrived just as everyone was showered and re-dressed. After they ate, Jesse washed his arms and hands, and began to get the things needed to remove Brennan's bullet. Brennan was already lying down topless on one of the beds, which they had covered in plastic sheeting to catch any blood. Jesse had Shalimar give Brennan another shot to numb his shoulder, and made sure to have a shot to knock Brennan out on standby, if the numbing wasn't good enough.

While Brennan watched and provided commentation on his surgery, Jesse removed the bullet. Once it was out, Jesse stitched the wound closed and padded it up. While he started to clean up the bloody cloths and other utensils, Brennan pulled on a dark blue shirt. Being very careful of his shoulder, he then sat down next to Shalimar on the left hand bed.

'So, do we change our looks now or tomorrow?' Jesse asked, reaching out and twirling a strand of Lexa's hair around his fingers.

'What are you doing?' Lexa snapped, swatting at his hand.

'Just wondering whether you'd look better as a blonde or redhead. And you should cut it, too.'

'We're dying our hair?' Shalimar asked, looking shocked.

'Maybe I'll start going scruffy, let it grow.' Brennan said. 'I don't think I want to dye my hair. The roots would be terrible.'

'Scruffy'll work, but they are looking for a blonde man and woman, and a black-haired man and woman. We need to not be those people.' Jesse replied. 'So, I'll go auburn. Shal, how would red highlights suit you? With a cut, it'd alter your appearance enough, and it's easily fixable if you hate it.'

'I can handle that. I'll do any cutting for you guys too. I'm not a bad hairdresser.'

'I think I'll go a dark red.' Lexa said. 'I've never been a redhead before. I grabbed some makeup too – not just for ladies uses either. Bren, you should use it to hide your tattoos.'

'Well, I guess that means we are doing it tonight. Let's save our new life stories for tomorrow though.' Jesse suggested, 'it'll be easier to decide after we've gotten some sleep anyway.'

As Shalimar cut, Lexa assisted the dying, and soon they barely recognized themselves. Jesse now had very short, auburn hair; Lexa's was deep red, and Shalimar had cut it into a pageboy style. Shalimar cut hers off as well, opting for a shoulder-length, face-framing style. With her new red highlights, she was a completely different woman. Brennan was talked into putting some multi-coloured highlights in his, and he looked different enough to avoid detection. He would change the colour again once it grew out a bit. It was also decided he would wear long sleeves to avoid his tattoos being seen instead of using makeup.

Once the group cleaned up from the dying, Jesse and Lexa took over the right hand bed, Jesse lying against the headboard with his legs crossed in front of him, Lexa perched on the edge, arms wrapped around one leg. Brennan was lying down on the other bed after taking a pill for the pain in his shoulder, and Shalimar was up putting away the remains of dinner in the room's mini-fridge.

'Well, we've been up for over 24 hours. Today we know what we look like, tomorrow who we'll be is decided. Shove over, Bren.' Shalimar said as she stood up from the fridge. 'I am exhausted, and going to sleep.'

'What, the wounded guy can't sleep alone?' Brennan asked, but moved to accommodate Shalimar.

Shalimar snorted as she got into the bed beside him. 'Please. Like you're the only one injured. Two king-size beds means two to a bed.' Pausing as she got comfortable, she let out a yawn, and added to Jesse and Lexa, 'And since you two have already gotten comfortable, you're sharing too. We need all the rest we can get. Someone get the lights before you fall asleep.' Curling up into Brennan's side, she was asleep in seconds.

'Well, I'm not going to argue with the feral. Good night, guys.' Brennan closed his eyes and was soon asleep as well.

'Well, I'm going to go make sure no one can get in here, but then I'm going to go to sleep too. You want the right or left side?' Lexa asked, getting up. She turned around and saw Jesse, who was now lying on his side on the left side of the bed sound asleep. It looked like he hadn't heard anything that Brennan had said. 'Guess that answers that question,' she sighed. After insuring the door was braced, locked, the windows fully covered, and that the do not disturb sign was on the door, she shut off the lights and made her way back to the bed. Thankfully, as she lay down next to Jesse, sleep claimed her well before she could dwell on the events of the day.