Genomex, Next Day………

At Genomex the next morning Mitchell stood in front of a desk where on the other side a man with white hair stood looking through a window at the lab below and the stasis pods. Eckhart the leader of the GSA, the genetics company that had mistakenly created the hundreds of mutants and was now hell bent on tracking down and wiping out their mistake.

  'Good morning agent Mitchell. I'm glad too see that you have recovered from last nights escapade.' Eckhart said without any trace of emotion. He turned around to stare coldly at Mitchell until the man looked down at the floor.

  'I don't like failure Mr. Mitchell. You'll be wise too remember that for your next assignment' Eckhart continued. The man looked up with surprise. 'Yes, well this Mutant X contingency was not foreseen. Otherwise I would have sent along more men. You are excused from repercussions based solely on that ground and let me warn you that one more mishap and there will be very serious and painful consequences for you.'

  Mitchell breathed a sigh of relief although the look of fear did not leave his face. He started to apologies, but was cut short by Eckharts raised hand.

  'I don't believe in apologies. Just like I don't believe in forgiveness they're just empty words. But remember Mr. Mitchell this is your last chance. You bring me that mutant otherwise…' He let the words hang in the air a cruel smile on his face. With a nod and a wave of his hand, signaling the end of this meeting, he turned around and continued once more to view the lab below and the pods.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sanctuary…………

  At the Mutant X headquarters a few days later the team sat round a table in the briefing room. Brennan and Shalimar were sitting too one side of the table while opposite them sat Jesse and Emma the other members of the Mutant X team. With Shalimar a feral who possessed cat-like characteristics, Brennan an elemental who could send of electrical energy, Jesse a Molecular who can could change the density of his body to become intangible and could also become as solid as a wall, and Emma a Telempathic who could read and adjust peoples emotions they were a very formidable team.

  They sat around talking casually until the door to the room opened and Adam walked in.

  The founder and leader of Mutant X, who was not a new Mutant but who had helped create them by accident and then had vowed too protect them and take down the GSA, sat at the head of the table.

  'Good morning guys.' Adam said distractedly. 'Too business. As you know a few days ago Brennan and Shalimar were sent too retrieve a new mutant who the GSA seems interested in capturing. Now although they prevented the new mutant from getting captured he disappeared.' Adam looked around at the team and then continued. 'This is top priority. From our hacks of the GSA system we know that Eckhart is very interested in getting this new mutant. Now although there was no mention of the mutant name or his mutant power Shalimar was able to get me a blood sample which I checked and then ran it through the new Mutant database. However..' And now Adam looked at the team a troubled look on his face. 'I was unable too find a match.' The Mutant X team looked around at each other with looks a mix of un-ease and shock registering on their faces. 'It took a while but after hacking into several different government branches I was able too find a match.'

  Adam then stood up and walking to the computer screen that covered the wall at the other end of the table he pressed a few buttons until the picture of a young handsome man with short blond hair and green eyes appeared on the screen.

  'His name is Sage Cappern. He's 16 years old and up until a few years ago he was a model student living in Arizona and then all of a sudden he disappeared completely after the death of his mother at the age of 13. He showed up in town about a month ago and from what I can tell from his recent credit activity he has started working at a bar called 'The Jackal' under the name Steven Duffel. Obviously he must be using a fake ID. Now we're lucky because the only thing Eckhart seems to know about our friend is that he's a mutant and his current alias.'

  As Adam stopped to allow the team too absorb that information he pressed another button on the computer and the picture disappeared too be replaced by a list of the subject's recent electronic activity.

  'After doing some digging around I found the address of an apartment complex where he has been staying under another a fake name. I want Shalimar and Brennan' he looked from one too the other 'too go there and see if you can get him too come here before the GSA is able to find out where he has been staying. Hopefully he will recognize you two from the other night and will agree to come with you.' He then looked at the other members of the team. 'Jesse and Emma I want you to keep an eye on the GSA activity and give us a heads up if they get any new information. Any questions?' He looked at those around the table questionably.

  'Do we know what this guy's new Mutant power is?' Shalimar asked eyes dancing.

  'Not exactly. As we have no information on this kid in the New Mutant Database I had to examine the sample that you had brought me.' He paused for a minute looking troubled. 'However I was unable to determine that from the blood sample provided.'

  'Why not?' Emma asked worriedly. She had helped out in the lab often enough to know that their equipment was state of the art and that by using the blood sample Adam should have been able to determine the Kids new mutancy.

  'The sample was corrupted in some way. That's why it took so long to identify the kids DNA and blood type and match it up to the government files.' Adam replied and then looking to see if there were any more questions he signaled that the meeting was over and left the room.

  The room was silent for a moment as the team absorbed the information they had been given. Emma was the first too voice her opinion of what they had learned.

  'I don't like this.' She said as she looked at the others. 'It doesn't make sense. Adam should have been able to find out the kids mutant power just by examining the DNA. There's no reason for why he would only be able to work out the kids blood type. And what about the kid not being on the New Mutant Database?' she asked looking at Jesse who used the computer more then the rest of them.

  'You're over reacting Em. There is a very logical explanation for why the kid is not on the New Mutant Database.' Jesse said confidently trying to reassure Emma in what he felt was nothing to worry about. 'Adam says he's 16 right?' Emma nodded. 'Well the GSA experiments were about 20 years ago. The kid is obviously the child of one of the New Mutants from the original experiments. And as for the blood thing you know from all your time in the lab that blood samples can become easily contaminated. Seriously Emma you worry too much. It's not healthy.'

  Jesse looked at Emma until she smiled and then left the room followed closely by Shalimar and Brennan who were both glad to get out the room and get started on their assignment. Emma sat there for a few minutes thinking things over. She knew that Jesse had made good points but she still couldn't help feeling like something was wrong.

  After a few more moments she stood up and left the room trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.