~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N- Thanks to everyone who Reviewed. We REALLY appreciate it and we hope to live up to your expectations. Here's Chapter five!
Disclaimer (b/c we forgot on the first chapter)- We DONOT own any of the Mutant X characters or any plot lines. We DO on the other hand own our characters ( i. e. Sarah, Tawny, Lee, Russell, Orion M etc.) We would be happy to lend them out though if you ask politely. Thanks Bunches!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 5: The Inferno
"Tawny!" Sarah yelled through the window of the black Audi as Russell threw the car into park. "Tawny!"
"Tawny! Lee!" The driver cried jumping out of the vehicle. "Eve!" He glanced over at his friend. Her eyes were wild with fear. He knew how much she loved her little sister. Silently, he prayed that the sixteen-year-old wasn't in harm's way.
"Oh my god! Russ!" She gasped grabbing at his arm in horror. "Look!"
The familiar warehouse building, that had house the man and woman for so long, was engulfed in flames. The old wood spread the fire quickly, destroying anything in its path. A slow dreaded feeling of hopelessness crept over Russell's body as he watched the tragic scene in front of him.
"Eve! Tawny!" Sarah screamed in terror lunging forward toward the flaming inferno.
"NO!" Russell cried reaching out to hold her back. "It's too dangerous!" He wrapped his arms around her stomach as she began to sob in fear. The both of them slid to the dirty, ashy ground as she cried into his chest. His heart leap at being so close to her, but it broke at her sorrow. He'd always kept his affection for her to himself. Squeezing her tighter, he shook his feeling from his thoughts and focused on her pain.
"It's gonna be okay, Sarah." He told her reassuringly. "Tawny can take care of herself and Lee was with her."
"I should have been here!" She sobbed loudly. "God! I'm such an idiot! How could this have happen?! Why did this happen?!?"
Russell shushed her, gently rocking her back and forth. "Maybe they got out…"
"It's a freakin' blaze!" She began to shout again. She could feel the young man holding her cringe with ever shout. Wiping her nose, she closed her eyes and tried to halt her crying.
"Sarah?" The 21-year-old stated with a hint of intrigue in his voice, "Did you see that?"
"What?" She sighed, still choked up.
"The flames…"
"What about them?"
"They were all leaning…to the right."
"Russ, I'm not in the--"
A violent wind picked up in the middle of the women's sentence. It whipped by them so fast, they instinctively clung tighter to each other, for fear of blowing away. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a large sleek off-white plane appeared a hundred feet away from the huddling couple.
"What the f--" Russell began in shock.
"Dear god," Sarah whispered inaudibly over the landing plane.
A large ramp lowered down from the back. Two dark figures stood atop the platform and quickly hurried down towards them.
"Is she hurt?" One of them shouted as they neared them. He was a man in his late 40's, dressed in black pants, a black jacket, and a brown shirt underneath. Promptly yet gentle, he took Sarah's arm and hand and helped her to her feet. She was passed off to the young blonde women with him, as he did the same for Russell.
"Who are you?" She asked as she was led up the platform.
"Don't worry, honey." The woman replied with a smile. "We're not gonna hurt 'cha."
All her fears and doubts were shattered like glass when she saw the face of her sister huddled near her tall Japanese/American friend. With a loud cry, she sprinted to Tawny and hugged her tight.
"Tawny! Oh my god! Are you alright?" She sobbed again into the 16 year olds shoulder.
Russell's relief completely evident in his face. "Thank the Lord." He sighed as he walked over to his friends. "Lee, man. Thank god." Lee and the blonde man gave each other a short hug of reunion. "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine," Lee replied patting the smothered Tawny's head. "Transported us out before the GSA reached the panic room."
"Sarah," Tawny squeaked. "I can't breathe."
"What about the fire?" Russell asked.
"Oh my god!" Sarah cried noticing her sister's bandaged hands. "What happened?"
"Elementals, man." The Asian stated running his fingers through his hair.
"I couldn't teleport Eve and Lee out at the same time, so I took Eve first and then came back for Lee. When I got back the fire had started and I teleport too close to it with out knowing it." Tawny explained.
"Where is Eve?" Sarah asked looking up at her two male friends.
"When Tawny and I teleported out, she was gone." Lee replied as the hatch closed beside them.
"She's not out there." The woman replied as the two reappeared aboard. They immediately went to the two seats farthest front. "We have to get out of here before the fire traps us." The man nodded solemly and began pushing buttons on the consol in front of him.
"Who are they?" Sarah asked again settling in the seat above her sister with Tawny's hand still in her lap.
"Adam…" Tawny replied, point to the man on the right. "And Shalimar. They're part of Mutant X."
"Adam?" Sarah began inquisitively. "As in The Adam."
"I don't know about 'The Adam'." He replied with an amused smile as they all felt the plane take off. "But Adam, none the less."
"So," Russell coughed. "Where are we going?"
"Home," Shalimar replied with a smile.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
This is starting to get frustrating.
'Correction,' Brennan thought with a sigh. 'This is frustrating.' Just when he thought he made a break through in his search, he hit a dead end. After hours of research, all he'd found out was that she'd lived with her mother and her step-father and went missing almost a year ago. He'd also gathered that it was about a year and a half after her sister did. Tawny's case was deemed a runaway since their was no evidence of foul-play. There was no fuss over her sister, since she wasn't a minor. That was the extent of his knowledge.
If only he knew more maybe he could find her. Brennan sat back, ran his fingers through his hair and sighed again.
Maybe he was going at this from the wrong angle.
Maybe he needed to take a break.
Maybe he was going crazy with a delusional notion that this girl needed to be found.
"Brennan?"
"I'm here, Adam." He replied closing down his search.
"Are Jesse and Emma back yet?"
"They got back like 10 minutes ago." Brennan answered standing from his seat and leaning over the computer. He knew Adam well enough to know that orders were about to be given.
"Good," Adam began. "Tell Emma to get the lab ready. I got a group of New Mutants here that I need to check for injuries."
Brennan made a face. "Is it serious?"
"No," His calm voice replied. "Just some smoke inhalation and 2nd degree burns."
"Was there a fire?"
"I'll explain when I get back. Off."