Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Mutant X. They are the property of Marvel Studios.
Questions
In a safe house.
"Now, what do we do?" Lexa asked her team mates.
"I know. Things are not looking very good right now." Jesse translated.
"Luckily for us, Adam had all his data stored in off-site servers in case Sanctuary was ever compromised, the only problem is we have to find where they are." Brennan added.
"What I still don't get is who the hell the creator is and how come Adam is his clone. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but the whole idea sounds very far fetched" Shalimar commented.
"But you saw it yourself, Shal, the guy looked identical to Adam, except perhaps the hair but they were the same. You know cloning is not impossible. And the Creator himself mentioned how Adam's parents have been his employees."
"I refuse to believe Adam is a clone, Jesse"
"Guys, lets focus on more pressing matters; we need to find Adam. Everybody here except Jesse is living under the instability of their genes" Lexa said to them.
"Sanctuary is destroyed, the Helix is gone and the Dominion's got Adam." Shalimar said.
"They think they've won but it's not over yet" Brennan added.
"It will if we don't move" Jesse said. "you know they are bound to look for us in here sooner or later. We can't stay here."
"True. We should take all we can from here and go back to that alley where I left the car before they took me to the Dominion's headquarters." Lexa proposed.
" OK. I need all the portable computers, we should probably take all the food and medical supplies, too. Until we know for sure what is going on, we should probably go into the underground. We can work from there and we'd be safer."
"Ladies, you heard the man. Gather everything we can carry and lets move out" Brennan said to Lexa and Shalimar. "Wait a minute Jess, Shouldn't we go back to Sanctuary and see if there is anything we can salvage from there?"
"No, Brennan. It's too risky. The Dominion won't rest until they've caught us"
"But if we are on the run, wouldn't Sanctuary be the last place we would go?" Brennan argued with the molecular "It certainly is not a sanctuary anymore."
"It's not a bad idea, Sparky" Lexa said trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm not sure, Lexa."
"People, if we are going to do it, we better get going, come on, Jesse, they wouldn't think of looking for us there" Shalimar admitted.
"Fine, but we just go in take a look around and then disappear for good until we figure out what we do next" Jesse had no choice. He was being overruled.
Sanctuary
There was not much left. Sparks still flew from electrical cords. The core had been destroyed and the computers were down.
"This is really bad" Jesse said as he looked around for a port in which to plug in the computer he had brought from the safe house. He also had to find a way to reroute what little power was still left so he could turn on the computers.
"Come on, Jess, see what you can get from the mainframe, while Shalimar, Brennan and I go to the lab and though Adam's office"
"You've been through Adam's stuff, Lexa, when he first disappeared, remember. And you still have to see if you can get the power in that section of Sanctuary up and running."
"Maybe there is something I missed. I'll try to use what little power there is still left."
"OK. Go ahead and try" Jess said to her. He did hope she could find something that would help them. He had never felt so helpless and exposed. Everything they had stood for and everything they've fought for seemed to be dissolving before his very eyes and there was nothing he could do about it. Adam was not there to give him the answers he needed. True, he was cured but what about Shalimar, Brennan and Lexa. He couldn't loose them now when he needed them the most. As all these thoughts came into his head, Jesse was trying to interface Sanctuary's main computer with his own to see what info could still be saved and carried with them.
Lab
Shalimar was trying to power up the computers in there, while Brennan was revising the medical shelves for anything that could be of use.
"Bren, how long do you think we have?" Shalimar asked the question she really didn't want an answer to but needed one.
"I don't know Shal. I don't even know what factors Adam used to estimate Jesse's expiration date" The elemental answered to his beautiful feral. He, like her, didn't want to loose her now that they had finally come clean with each other about their feelings. Brennan wanted, more that anything else in the world right now, to offer her a comforting answer, to assure her that everything would be fine, but he knew he couldn't. He left what he was doing and went and hugged Shalimar. She felt a wave of calmness come to her from Brennan's arms. She didn't want to let him go but they still had a lot to do. When shalimar broke the tender embrace Brennan kissed her softly on the lips and they both continued with their tasks.
Adam's Study
Lexa was turning on Adam's computer, which had miraculously survived the assault on Sanctuary. She was using a USB drive to save everything that was on the computer so she could take it with them. She found a file on all the properties and safe houses that Adam possessed. She needed to find where he had sent all his research to. It wasn't going to be easy knowing how secretive Adam always had been. She also found some files on Brennan's, Emma's and Shalimar's instability. " I wonder if he ever try to cure me, too" She said out loud in a sarcastic tone. The she found a file on her, as well. "Well, at least I know he was trying". An idea had suddenly occurred to her.
Main computer area in Sanctuary
"Hey, Jess, you said Adam was working on something when you went looking for him to that airfield. Perhaps we should check that out, too and see if we can gather the data he had there." Lexa told her idea to Jesse. It was all they had.
" That's not a bad idea. Did you find anything on Adam's computer?" The molecular asked.
" I don't know exactly what I found but I saved it all in the USB drive. I did find files on Emma's, Shalimar's and Brennan's gene instability, though" The chromatic said. "Have you been able to retrieve anything from Sanctuary's mainframe?"
"Yes, I'm almost done, actually, then I just have to upload a virus into the system to make sure nobody gets the data. You, know, just taking precautions"
"OK. I'm gonna go check on Shalimar and Brennan"
"OK" Jesse said.
Lab
Brennan had managed to put together two camping-sized backpacks of stuff he thought might come in handy. Shalimar was finishing up copying everything from the computers into a USB drive. As Lexa walked in she saw how their tense movements and lost eyes reflected her own preoccupations.
"Hi, guys. How's it going here?"
"I've cleaned this room of everything we could use" Brennan answered her.
"I'm done here, too" Shalimar added in a resigned tone.
"Good. Jesse is almost done, too. Then he is going to load a virus into the mainframe to make sure nobody else has access to all the information we have in here. So, go to your rooms and collect the necessities and meet up with Jesse and me by the computers" Lexa told her team mates and she left the room.
Shalimar and Brennan followed Lexa out of the lab in silence and each headed for their respective dormitories without a word.
Shalimar's room
When the feral entered her room, she saw a total mess. She focused on finding her personal laptop and some clothes along with some personal effects. She found a picture of the team when Emma was alive and another of when Lexa joined the team. She took both pictures in her hands and felt a wave of sadness as she realized she was leaving her home, maybe for the last time. She couldn't believe it had ended this way. She didn't notice when the tears sprung from her eyes. All she could think about was 'what is going to happen to us now?'. Brennan had collected what he needed from his room and when he saw Shalimar crying, he put his bags down and went to hug his precious feral. She held to him tightly as if he was her last hold to a life that was suddenly in pieces. He was her safe harbor. Brennan held her against him trying to comfort her. He was rubbing her back gently and silently wishing that this was all a bad dream.
Main computer area in Sanctuary
Jesse was ready, now. Every one had retrieved what they needed from their rooms and it was time to take the final step.
"Jess, we're ready to go" Lexa informed him.
"Very well, then. I'm going to upload kanemutiny into the mainframe. We saw how effective that was. "
Everyone just stood there watching Jesse type commands into the computer. As he was about to hit "Enter" he looked at his team mates and they nodded. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion. As seconds went by, Jesse's finger hit the key. The effect was instantaneous. Random pictures and comments flashed across the screen of all the computers that were on in Sanctuary. They all turned around and went to the garage where they had parked Brennan's 2004 Cobra Mustang black convertible. They had also noticed that Jesse's BMW SUV X3 had survived and were taking it with them even though they would have to change cars as soon as they were a safe distance from the city. Lexa would be riding with Jesse in the SUV and Shalimar would be riding with Brennan in his convertible. As they all finished loading their several bags, they took one last look at what was left of their once safe Sanctuary.
Brennan started driving into the night with Jesse close behind him. Their last stop was the airfield.
Airfield
"It looks safe to enter" Lexa said as she scanned the area for the Dominion's agents. Jesse and the rest entered the warehouse which was a total disaster. Jesse went immediately for the computer and set to work. Lexa, Brennan and Shalimar were just waiting for Jesse.
Fifteen minutes later, Jesse was done. "Same procedure" he told them.
"OK, time to go" Brennan said.
As they got into the cars, they knew they had a long path ahead of them and it wouldn't be easy an easy one. They started driving toward Chicago where the core of the mutant underground resided thanks to Adam. Brennan lead the way into the dark, uncertain road.