Author's Notes: Sorry the last chapter was short. This one is a bit longer and hopefully I should have the next chapter up in a couple of days. Thanks for all the reviews; I really enjoy hearing what you think about the story. Oh and incase you were confused last chapter, when paragraphs are written in Italic it means that they're dreaming.
Building 24, Same Time………
Brennan struggled against the binds that held his down on the surgical table. They had taken him here after they had grown bored of the injections and the face punching. Brennan wished they hadn't. He knew what they were planning on doing next and he knew it would be worse then what they had done so far.
He heard someone enter the room and turned his head sideways to see Mr. Lyle walking towards him whistling a faltering tune. He came to stand at the head of the table and forced Brennan head down, strapping it to the table so he couldn't move it.
"You've done well so far Mr. Mulwray. Much better then I expected." Mr. Lyle said moving out of Brennan's limited range of vision and away from the table. "To be honest I expected you to give in after the second injection. Most do. But you didn't. If we had more time I would have spent longer with the injections to see what you're pain threshold was. But we're on a tight schedule."
Brennan could hear Mr. Lyle setting up the equipment on one of those trolleys they always have at hospitals to move equipment around. He knew that Mr. Lyle was going slowly on purpose, some psychological thing; he also knew that it was working.
At that moment Brennan hated all those people who seemed to think that just because he could throw of electricity that he was immune to it himself. How wrong they were. He heard the squeak of the trolley wheels as Mr. Lyle moved it over to the table.
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Med-Lab At Sanctuary………
Shalimar ran to Emma's side helping her stand as she repeated herself.
"Adam. His hearts stopped." Emma said breathlessly. She could see the monitor beeping out the beat of Sage's heart, but knew that any second now it would flatten out. She looked at Adam desperately.
Adam looked at the computer screen which showed Sage's heart rate. A second later he saw the line flatten out, and the machine started to beep. Rushing over to the table Adam quickly typed some commands into the computer. He then picked up a hand sized rectangular device that lay next to the computer, and placed it on Sage's chest. He pressed a key on the computer and they all watched as an electric charge was sent into Sage's body, making his body shake. When his heart gave no response Adam upped the charge and then shocked his again, his body shaking more visibly this time.
Shalimar, Emma and Jesse looked on as Adam continued to shock Sage several more times in the next few minutes. Each shock causing his body to shake for a second and for the Mutant X teams hopes to fade. Even thou none of them knew Sage they hated the thought of loosing him, but felt helpless to stop it.
After a few minutes of getting no response Adam stopped shocking Sage and removed the device from his chest. He looked at his watch as Shalimar and Emma clung to each other, both on the verge of tears, while Jesse stood silently in the corner a look of shock on his face.
"Time of death 12:46." Adam said reluctantly. He hated to loose a New Mutant and knew that it would take time for the team to recover from the death. He walked over to Emma and Shalimar hugging each of them. Jesse still hadn't moved from his position in the corner of the room. As Adam went over to talk to him he heard Emma scream out in pain and turned around in time to see Emma fall to her knees.
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Sage knew the moment his body stopped fighting.
He felt himself slipping away and knew he was dying and that in the real world they could do nothing to help him.
As the darkness took over and the mist disappeared Sage could hear a jumble of voices calling out to him, welcoming him. And then another voice, a familiar voice telling him it wasn't time yet that he had to go back.
He fought the voice; he didn't want to go back. He wanted to stay, but he knew it was useless, he was going back and he couldn't prevent it. He had been given a glimpse of this place and now he had to return to the real world.
Sage felt his connection to his body strengthening. He could feel it fixing itself, and he felt the pull of his body and felt himself being torn away from the voices. They faded away one by one until there was only one left, the voice that had told him he had to go back. He clung to it knowing that he wouldn't remember it but not wanting to loose it.
There was a light up ahead now, and new, different voices could be heard there. He felt it pulling him faster and faster towards the light. He felt the last familiar voice from that strange place drift away, out of his reach. Defeated he stopped fighting the pull and focused on the light and the voices coming from there.
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Med-Lab At Sanctuary………
Adam and Jesse rushed to Emma's side as she stared at Sage's body breathlessly.
"What's wrong Emma?" Shalimar asked nervously fearing that something had happened to Brennan.
Emma looked at her with a look of confusion and fear on her face. "Sage." She said as she stood up.
The other members of Mutant X looked at each other in confusion. Suddenly the machine that was monitoring Sage's vital stats started beeping. The team looked up in time to see Sage's sit up gasping for breath.
"What the.." Adam started to say, as Sage lay back down and stopped moving. The machines continued to beep but needing some more reassurance Adam stood up and checked Sage for a heartbeat. "He's alive." Adam said as he quickly checked the computer. "His temperature's gone down and all his stats have returned to normal. As far as I can tell he's going to be okay."
"What just happened?" Jesse asked looking to Adam for answers.
"I don't know maybe it was some type of delayed reaction to the shocks, I'm not sure. Whatever it was Sage seems to have returned to perfect health. I can't find anything wrong with him." Adam turned from the computer and looked at Sage before turning to look at the members of Mutant X. Shalimar and Emma were smiling in relief as they went to check Sage and Jesse was standing nervously to the side, unsure of what to do.
Shalimar suddenly looked at Adam nervously. "Is he in a coma because he's not moving?" She asked, afraid of what the answer might be.
Adam was about to check the computers when Emma shook her head, giving Shalimar a reassuring smile. "He's just resting. He's had a rough week."
"Good." Adam said as he rubbed the back of his neck. He turned to face Emma, concerned for her. He was about to ask her if she was okay when she looked up at him.
"I'm fine Adam. It was just a shock that's all." Emma then looked at Sage thoughtfully. "I think he has some Psionic powers though. Both times when I connected with his mind it was like he was calling out to me."
"We can check that out later." Adam said still concerned for her well being. "Are you going to be okay? Maybe it would be a good idea for you to sit this mission out."
"No Adam I'll be fine. Right now we should be figuring out how we're going to get Brennan back." Emma looked over at Shalimar who was talking softly to Jesse over in the corner. After a few more moments they broke apart, Jesse heading out of the lab and Shalimar heading over to stand next to Emma.
"Jesse's gone to check the computer to see when the guards change at the building where they're holding Brennan. We figure that's the best time to hit them." Shalimar said looking to Adam as if for approval. He nodded to Shalimar who then left the room.
Adam watched her go. He was worried for her. He knew how she felt towards Brennan; you'd have to be blind not to have noticed the attraction between the two of them. He wondered if they had admitted to each other how they felt, or even if they'd admitted their feelings to themselves. He doubted it. Adam sighed slowly. He wondered what would happen to Shalimar if they were unable to save Brennan.
A hand on his arm distracted him from the destructive train of thoughts his mind had taken.
"You worry too much." Emma said coming to stand in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes. "We're going to rescue Brennan and Shalimar will be just fine. It's like I told you earlier, she just needs time to deal with her emotions. Stop worrying." She gave him one last small smile and then left the room to prepare herself for the mission ahead.
