Cerulean Eyes
A new mutant injures Shalimar. The secrets she keeps may kill Mutant X, or be the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. Pairings: Brennan and Shalimar
Disclaimer: the characters of Mutant X do not belong to me, unfortunately.
A young brunette stopped at the corner and tossed her curled ponytail over her shoulder in a practiced movement to reveal startlingly blue eyes. As she rounded the corner into the alleyway, she pressed her hand against the brick wall. For a moment, after she removed her hand, a palm print glowed blue. It pulsed for a moment before being absorbed into the red of the brick. Only a moment after, three men followed her around the corner, sunlight glinted off their identical dark glasses. The hot air from the summer breeze swept down the alley, swinging their trench coats away from their legs. Matching dark suits became visible underneath. Two men gripped long, black, electric batons. The third was empty-handed, but a sinister lump at his back confirmed the existence of another, more sinister weapon.
At the end of the alleyway, the brunette leaned nonchalantly against a chain link fence, her arms crossed under her breasts. Her hair was pulled away from her heart-shaped face drawing attention to her pupil-less blue eyes. The eyes were even more striking because of the surrounding makeup, a combination of dark blue eyeliner and shadow. Her cerulean peasant blouse had fallen off one shoulder to reveal an eagle tattoo. The men stalked into the alley, menacing â hunters stalking their prey.
"Hi, boys," came a voice from above them. The brunette started and looked above her stalker's heads. The men looked up to see a beautiful, leather clad woman perched on the rail of the second story fire escape. She grinned down at them.
"Do you guys all have the same tailor or do you really have no sense of style?" another voice asked. The men spun around to find a tall, dark haired man sauntered toward the men, his ribbed shirt showing off toned arms and chest. "Don't you have something better to do?" One of the men threw a punch at him and he blocked it easily. Brennan Mulray shook his head. "You guys need a hobby."
Shalimar Fox watched from above as Brennan effortlessly took out the first attacker with a roundhouse kick to the man's head. "Need any help?" she teased. Brennan blocked the second man's arm, rolled across the man's back to kick the leader across the face.
Landing on his feet to face the last attacker, he glanced up at her, "No, I think I can handle it." She laughed and dropped down next to him to take down the leader of the posse, who had recovered with surprising swiftness. Brennan dispatched the third member of their adversaries and turned to the brunette. She stared at them with her head cocked her startling eyes fixed on Brennan.
"It's going to be okay," Shalimar advanced on her. "We're here to help you." She took brunette's arm in her pretty fist and the woman's eyes shifted to her. With lightening speed, she brought her arm up under Shalimar. Her fist connected with Shalimar's ribcage with and audible crunch and Shalimar flew backwards, crashed into the brick wall at the entrance to the alley. She hit the ground with a sickening thud and lay still.
Brennan, open-mouthed with astonishment, recovered quickly and conjured a ball of electricity. As he threw the electricity toward the woman, an explosion roared behind him, where Shalimar was. The distraction caused his aim to be just enough off that the brunette dodged, scaling the chain link fence and landing on the other side. She looked back over her shoulder, flipping her hair out of her face and smiled at Brennan. Blowing him a kiss, she fairly flew down the street and disappeared.
Chest heaving, Brennan rushed back to the entrance to the alleyway where he had last seen Shalimar. Rubble littered the ground; a large pile covered the spot where Shalimar lay. Her hand was just visible above some of the rubble, as though she had tried to protect herself from it. At least two of her fingers were broken. Brennan dislodged some of the bricks from her arm, sucking in his breath at the damage that he saw on her arm alone. Carefully, he placed his fingers over her wrist, praying for signs of life. A slow, erratic beat answered his prayers.
Activating his COM-ring, Brennan began to heave rubble off the feral. "Adam! Jesse! Somebody tell me you're listening."
"We're here, Brennan. What's happening?" Adam's welcome voice came over the COM-ring.
"Shalimar's hurt. It's pretty bad, I think. Part of a building caved in on her." Brennan finally found some of the debris around Shalimar's face, clearing it away to check her vitals. "Who the hell was that woman and why did she attack us?" Shalimar's head was turned away from him, and the amount of damage made him afraid to move her. "Answer that later. Just get the hell down here now. I can't tell if she's breathing or not."
"We're on our way, Brennan," Jesse's voice came accompanied by the roar of the engine of the Helix.
"How much of the debris fell on Shal?" Adam asked through the link.
"A lot," Brennan replied. He had started clearing off her torso. A piece of the building had lodged into the right part of her chest and he could see that some of her ribs were broken. He stood up, turning away from the beautiful, broken body. "Adam," he said into his COM, "I don't know that she's going to make it. We may have to call the hospital. She has several broken bones and a broken brick has lodged into her collarbone. I have only gotten her upper body out of the rubble. Adam, I can't even tell if she's breathing. I don't know what to do."
"Yes, you do, Brennan. Don't let your emotions make you foolish. I'll talk you through it." Adam's presence was welcome, even if it was only on the com.
"Hold on, Shal," he whispered to the still form. "Please, Shal, keep breathing."
"How touching," a low laugh drew his attention from the feral. The leader of the men who had attacked them held a sub-machinegun, trained nice and steady at Brennan's head. His sunglasses made it hard to see his eyes, but his expression was fairly readable. He seemed to be really enjoying the scene. Without much of a thought, Brennan lifted his arm and sent a blast of electricity toward the man, sending with it all his anger and frustration. The blast hit him full in the chest and the gun went off. The bullets whizzed over Brennan's head, dislodging more debris from the building. Brennan threw his form over Shalimar's to protect her from the falling bits of bricks and mortar. Looking back at the man he had fried, Brennan saw that his blast had been much stronger than nearly any other he had ever shot off. The front of the man was charred as if he had been cooked.
"Brennan?" Adam's voice was worried. "What happened, Brennan? What just happened?"
Brennan's breath came faster at the implications of the pile of burned meat that used to be an agent. He felt drained. The anger had subsided, and he was aghast and horrified. The remains of the man were blackened as though he had spontaneously combusted. Brennan turned back to the task at hand, too afraid to deal with the dead man and his part in it.
"Nothing," he said to Adam. "One of the agents was still a problem. He's been dealt with." Brennan was amazed at how calm his voice sounded even to him.
"Okay," Brennan wasn't sure if Adam believed him, but left it to another time when the situation wasn't as serious. "Here's what you need to do." Slowly and gently, Adam began to talk and Brennan followed his instructions. Before cleaning her off anymore, he checked to see that her airways were open and that she was breathing. Her mouth had dust and small bits of rubble in it, but her throat was clear. He was relieved to hear her breathing, shallow but steady. Under direction, he lifted both of her eyelids, one at a time to check the pupils and assess any brain damage that may have been caused by the crash into the wall or any of the building falling on her head. Carefully, after relaying that both pupils looked relatively even and there was no bleeding from the eye sockets, Brennan carefully, with as little movement as possible, felt around Shalimar's head to ascertain if there were any bumps, indents, or cuts in her skull. There was a rather large bump on the back that indicated that she had hit the back of her head as she hit the wall. The blood coming from it was minimal, but Adam directed Brennan to remove his shirt and put it under her head without moving her at all. He then finished clearing the rest of her body of the debris.
The finished product made Brennan's heart ache. After having worked with her for more than two years, he had never seen Shalimar look so crushed and broken. There was blood on her face and in her hair. Gravel and dust coated everything, giving her normally tan skin a greyish hue. Quietly, he spoke to Adam about the injuries that he could see, praying that Jesse and Emma were close so that Emma could assess any internal injuries. He was afraid to move her anymore and there were several wounds that he feared were very serious. Adam had directed him through checking all of the vital areas, but Adam wasn't there and Brennan's medical knowledge was negligible. There had been some definite concern in Adams voice during some of the procedure.
By the time the Helix had arrived, Brennan had done as much as he could and Adam was prepping the medical room for Shalimar's arrival. Brennan knelt close to her, elevating her legs with his arms because he had nothing else, encouraging her to hold on. Jesse and Emma brought out a stretcher. Brennan gently raised Shalimar's arms over her head to cradle her neck and spine and he and Jesse lifted her limp body onto the stretcher. Emma oversaw the whole transfer and allowed Brennan to remain as close to Shalimar as possible during the flight.
Emma bustled back and forth from Shalimar and the Emergency First Aid Kit. She used quite a lot of the supplies just trying to stem the bleeding. Emma and Brennan worked together to remove some of the larger pieces of rubble that were embedded in Shalimar. Brennan had been hesitant to remove them before for fear that the bleeding wouldn't be able to be stopped. His fear was justified. One of the largest pieces had embedded in her arm and as they removed it, Emma saw, to her distress, that it had severed an artery and damaged the muscle tissue. She tied a rubber hose around the upper part of Shalimar's arm and directed Brennan to keep constant pressure on the wound for the remaining time.
As some point during the hour and a half flight, Brennan panicked, noticing that Shalimar wasn't breathing. With a shove that sent Emma careening into a chair, Brennan bent over the blond feral, checking for a pulse. It was there â steady, but faint. He knew he had to work fast or it would disappear entirely. Tilting her head back, he checked her airway to see if he had missed anything. Satisfied, he closed her nose with one hand and pressed his mouth to hers, breathing air into her lungs. With his hand on her broken ribs, he could feel her chest rise with his breath. Barely noticed, Emma came up next to him to apply pressure to the most serious wounds.
He pulled back from Shalimar and gulped in another breath before pressing his mouth to hers again. After the fifth breath, he checked her pulse again. Still steady. He breathed for her again, willing the feral to breathe on her own. Once. Twice. Three times. On the fourth breath, he thought he heard something. Shalimar's body convulsed. He pulled his mouth free just as she coughed up blood from her lungs. It sprayed a little around her mouth. He tenderly turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke. Shalimar spasmed again, her body trying to follow her head. Between Emma and Brennan, Shalimar was able to vomit without choaking and without any further injury. The sight of the blood mixed in with the vomit, more than any of the rest of her injuries, frightened Brennan.
Suddenly Shalimar's eyes opened and she screamed. Emma and Brennan gently laid her on her back. Shalimar whimpered with ever touch and every movement. Her eyes sought Brennan's, confusion and pain writ openly on her face.
"Hey," he said wiping her mouth with a clean, wet towel. "You're going to be fine, Shal. Okay? You just have to hold on until we get back to Sanctuary. I know you can do this, Shalimar. You're going to be okay. Don'tâĤ" he bit back the words before they could form. The thought was too painful even to consider. Shalimar's injured, but unbroken hand gripped his with bruising force. Her eyes closed and she lay so still Brennan's heart jumped into his mouth. The force with which she held his hand gave him hope. He looked up at Emma.
She nodded. "She's unconscious," she reassured him. She checked the feral's major wounds. Most had clotted, but she instructed him to continue pressure on Shalimar's arm. Moving away from her wounded friends, she went to report to Jesse. He glanced away from the landscape as she approached but didn't say anything â the tension in the Helix was palpable.
"How is she?" Jesse asked, concentrating on the controls.
"She's hurt," Emma's eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away. "There's internal bleeding. I think one of her ribs punctured a lung. I've done all I can to make sure she makes it to Sanctuary." She finally looked at him. "Anything you can do to get us there any quicker may save her life. Jesse," she choked back a sob, "I don't know if she's going to make it." Taking a steadying breath, she gripped the seat.
"I'll get us there. Hold on," he called back to Brennan.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the Helix sped into the hanger. Adam and Brennan double-timed it up to the medical station. Shalimar's hand still clasped Brennan's, but the grip was becoming tenuous. Brennan's breath came in gasps with fear for the feral. Adam got her set up on the table and began working on Shalimar. Brennan refused to leave. It took all Jesse and Emma had to get him out of the room when Adam finally yelled at them all.
For nearly two hours Brennan stood outside the room staring through the glass. Finally, Adam came out to give the team a report. Brennan nearly sprinted up to Adam and the rest of the team hurried after him.
"She's stable. She's going to live," Adam's first words took most of the spirit out of Brennan. His head dropped and his erratic breathing was astonishingly close to sobs. He was still naked to the waist and his torso glistened with sweat. "Shalimar is going to need a lot of time, though," Adam went on. "She has suffered major internal injuries and lost a lot of blood. It could be quite a while before she is back to her old self."
"What exactly are her injuries?" Brennan demanded.
"She has a major concussion, three broken ribs, two broken fingers, and a hairline fracture on one arm. Her lungs are still bleeding and I have to pump it out so she can breathe. She has multiple bruises and cuts. That gash in her chest may leave a mark. Her arm will heal, but she may never regain use of it. She has damage to her back. She's paralized from the waist down." Brennan caught his breath and Jesse put a comforting arm around Emma who had started crying. "It's too early to tell if the damage is permanent, but everyone will know as soon as I do." Adam's head drooped for a moment. "It doesn't look good, but I've done everything I can for her right now."
"Tell me everything that happened to you both. Then I want Emma to do a psych evaluation of you, Brennan, and," he wrinkled his nose, "you need a shower." He patted the younger man's arm. "We'll do everything we can."
---
Three hours later, after Brennan had showered, been examined by Emma and given as detailed a synopsis as he could about the incident, he sat next to Shalimar's bed. Adam had just stepped out for a moment, leaving strict instructions to call him if she woke or moved. Emma entered, bringing a tray of food. She set it down next to him and knelt next to his chair.
"Brennan, you need to eat something and get some rest." Her hand rested on his arm and he felt her giving weight to her words to entice him to take care of himself. He shook off her hold on him and met her eyes.
"I can't," he said. "I have to be here when she wakes up."
She dropped her eyes from his, ashamed that she had tried to use even a small amount of her power on him. "I understand. Just, don't push yourself too hard. It wasn't your fault." She stood, looking down on him. "Is this going to be a problem for you, Brennan?" she asked, trying to be as gentle as possible.
He looked up at her. "I don't know what you mean," he lied. She just looked at him until he dropped her gaze. "I'll be fine."
"You know, Brennan, I know you care about Shalimar, but blaming and torturing yourself isn't going to help her at all. We all care about Shalimar, and Adam's doing everything he can to help her."
Not a muscle in Brennan's face moved as she spoke to him. "Thank you," was all he said before turning his attention back to the bed. Emma sighed and left. Jesse was waiting outside the door for her.
"No luck?" he asked, sliding a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Emma leaned her head against him for a moment, grateful for his support. "No," she said, stepping away from him and leading him down the hall. "He feels guilty about what happened and there is something much deeper. Something that he is repressing with all his might. If he allowed me to read him, I could tell you for certain, but just on a surface level I would say he cares about Shalimar much more than he is letting himself believe. I think it would kill a big part of him if he had lost her today." Jesse nodded.
"We've all known for a while now that their feelings run deeper for each other than for anyone else here," he agreed.
"It's more than that," Emma said, looking back over her shoulder at the door that separated them. "I don't know, maybe I'm looking for something that isn't there." She summoned a small smile, taking a breath. "Anyway, thanks. Get some rest. I want to find this mutant and give her a piece of my mind."
Jesse tried to grin at her pun but it was a wan failure. There was a steely look in her eyes that made him grateful he wasn't the mutant in question. With a sigh, he led her to the couch in the common room, sitting in the middle and taking her into his arms. For a moment, Emma stiffened, then relaxed into his arms and allowed the tears to rush from her. Jesse gently rocked the redhead, feeling tears prick his own eyes until they ran down his cheeks and into her hair. A long time later, they fell asleep, wrapped in one another's arms and in their misery.
Thank you to everyone who has written a review. I've made some changes and I hope that these improve the believability of the story. I have fixed the second and third chapters, so they can be read, too. I will get cracking on continuing the story as soon as possible. I love reviews! Thank you so much for your support!