THE GAME

Rated: R for language and violence

Disclaimer - I do not own any of the Mutant X characters in this story, they belong to Tribune Entertainment Company. No copyright infringement is intended. All other characters in the story are mine.

Author's note: I have nothing against Shalimar, in fact she's one of my favorite characters. So please don't think I'm always picking on her because I dislike her. I'm a Brennan/Shalimar fan all the way. :-)

Brennan and Shalimar climbed into Brennan's Jeep and headed back to Sanctuary.

Shalimar looked at Brennan who didn't look too happy. "Oh come on, stop being such a baby," she laughed. "What is it with the male ego? So a woman beats you at a dumb game, what's the big deal?"

"I have no problem with it," he answered, expressionless.

Shalimar continued to laugh at him, "Yeah, right. You've got 'pissed off' written all over you."

Brennan glanced over at her and then turned back to focus on the road. "Honest. I have no problem with you beating me. Pool isn't one of my best games. Darts, now that's a different story. I would have reigned supreme had we played a few games of darts."

Shalimar shook her head and smirked at him.

Suddenly, a car came out of nowhere and stopped right in front of them. Brennan stomped on the brake but wasn't quick enough, they slammed right into the car in front of them. Glass and pieces of automobile flew all over the street in a loud crash.

Brennan and Shalimar were dazed from the impact but didn't have time to clear their heads. Each of their doors flew open and they were roughly dragged out and pinned to the street. Their Comlink rings were removed and tossed into a sewer drain. Then they were shot with a tranquilizer that knocked them out, instantly.

Shalimar awoke with a start and found herself sitting in a wooden chair with her hands handcuffed behind her back. Looking up, she saw a large man standing in front of her with stun gun. She winced in pain as she felt a burning sensation on her side from where he'd shocked her.

She looked over and saw the man do the same thing to Brennan.

"Argh! What the hell, man?" Brennan yelled.

"Good job, MacKenzie," a man said as he walked into the dark room. MacKenzie nodded and stepped away from Brennan and Shalimar as the man walked over and stood in front of them. "Welcome," the man said to them.

"Welcome to where?" Brennan asked as he looked around.

"To my game," the man replied. "You two have been chosen to take part in a little game that I've designed." The man looked at Shalimar and frowned as he took out his handkerchief and wiped away some blood on the side of her head, a result of the accident. "I'm sorry we were a little rough with you. Not a very good first impression."

Shalimar tried to move away from him but he grabbed her by the chin tightly, "Now, now, we don't want to make things difficult. As long as you cooperate we'll all have a great time," he said as he smiled at her, letting go of her chin.

The man looked up and saw another man walk into the room. "Ah, George. Good to see you my friend." They shook hands and gave each other a quick hug. "Come over here and meet our players." The man led him over to where they were sitting. "I'm sorry, unfortunately I don't know your names." The man looked at Shalimar, "What's your..."

"You don't even know who we are and yet you've picked us for this...for this 'game'?!?" Brennan interrupted him.

The man looked at Brennan, "I've seen you two in action and knew right away you'd be perfect for this game. I know that you work for someone, because I've seen you talking into those rings of yours."

Both Brennan and Shalimar felt for their Comlink rings, finding them gone.

"Oh, they're gone. We don't want any distractions while playing this game." The man smiled at them calmly. "I don't care who you work for. It's not about them."

Brennan looked at Shalimar and couldn't hide the concern on his face. "What is this 'game'?" he asked as he looked back at the man.

The man crossed his arms over his chest. "A hunting game with a twist. How it will work is, we'll drop both of you off somewhere, separately, and it's up to you to make it back here, at the pier. You BOTH have to make it back here in order to win the game." The man started laughing as he looked at them. "The BEST part is that George and I will be hunting you as you make your way back here."

George pulled back his jacket and displayed two guns holstered by his sides.

"Oh, and before you think about using a phone to call the police or someone else, think again. MacKenzie here will be monitoring your every move to make sure you're playing by the rules. If you stay in one place for too long, you better run. He'll know where you are every minute but George and I won't. He's just going to ensure that we have that information in case we need it. In case of a problem. But we won't have any problems, right?"

Brennan and Shalimar didn't answer.

The man nodded towards MacKenzie who came back over to Brennan and Shalimar. He pulled out a large black gun, placed it above Shalimar's knee and pulled the trigger.

She gasped in pain and struggled against her handcuffs.

"These are your monitoring devices," the man explained.

MacKenzie did the same to Brennan who was bracing himself for the pain. He shot in the device and Brennan grunted, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Well, now that that's out of the way. Let's get started, shall we?"

"So if you hunt us down and kill us, how much do you get?" Shalimar asked.

"How much?"

"Money, you asshole."

The man laughed and turned to George who started laughing as well. "That's good. You're funny," he said as he leaned in close to Shalimar's face. "I hope I get to be the one that hunts you down because you'll put up a good chase, I can tell. But to answer your question...I don't get anything. I have plenty of money and don't need anymore." He stood up and backed away from her. "We're just doing it for sport."

Brennan felt sick to his stomach and swallowed hard.

"Before we begin I need you to do one thing for me." The man pulled out a small cell phone and brought it over to Brennan. "I want you to call your boss and tell him or her that you and your friend here won't be in for a few days. I don't care what you tell them, just make it believable."

MacKenzie uncuffed one of Brennan's hands and the man handed him the phone. Brennan dialed Adam's number and Adam soon answered.

"Hey Adam, it's Brennan. Listen, me and Shalimar won't be in for a few days. Shalimar got word that her grandmother was killed in a car accident earlier tonight. I'm going to drive with Shalimar to Illinois. We should be back by the end of the week."

"Geez. Tell Shalimar I'm sorry about her loss. Thanks for taking care of her, I appreciate it."

"Well, I better get going if we want to head out in the morning."

"Okay, thanks for calling," Adam said as he hung up the phone.

The man grabbed the phone away from Brennan and tucked it into his pocket. "Nicely played." The man looked over at MacKenzie who was standing in the corner of the room. "MacKenzie, put our friends in the van and bring them to their locations."

MacKenzie knocked them out again and dragged them out into the van where he threw them into the back.