Disclaimer: As always I don't own them. Any similarities with other stories are accidental.
Author's note: Thanks to all who reviewed.
Shalimar paced around the interior of the Helix for about the third time, if you can count four steps across and back pacing. Her feral instincts were screaming at her to confront the man who had placed her team mate in danger.
"Shalimar, if you don't sit down, Jesse and I will strap you into your seat," Brennan warned as her impatience got to him too. Shalimar looked at Jesse. He just nodded with a little smile.
"Pacing around is not going to get him off Genomex property any faster," Jesse defended himself.
She sighed and flopped back in her seat. If she couldn't pace out her frustration, she would use the time to think out fitting punishments for Derrick Johansen.
* * *
Emma's heart began to race as the keys finally turned and the lock snapped open. She watched as the door slowly opened towards her. Inwardly she cursed the governor in her neck. If it wasn't for that she would undoubtedly be able to overpower whichever lab geek Eckhart had sent to fetch her.
She almost laughed when she saw that her lab geek was accompanied by two very well built Genomex agents who were armed. Apparently, Eckhart wasn't taking any chances with her this time.
"Ms. DeLauro," the geek squeaked. "Mr. Eckhart is requesting your presence now."
Emma thought about commenting on that request, but quibbling over his word choice would not keep her out of the lab. She could only hope that her friends would be able to help her before the fun really started.
* * *
Four pairs of eyes watched carefully, unblinking, as Derrick entered his apartment building. "Now," Adam whispered. That one breath sent the others off for an interview with Mr. Johansen.
"I still have first dibs," Shalimar muttered to the guys as she entered the building first. Brennan and Jesse nodded and shared a wordless look. They'd have to make sure Shalimar left enough of Derrick to help them get Emma out of Genomex hands.
Derrick was fumbling with his keys at his door when the three of them caught up with him. He heard their shoes on the waxed floor and turned with terror in his eyes, expecting to see some of Eckhart's men. Shalimar could smell the relief when he saw them. "Un, hi guys," he stammered nervously. "What's up?"
"Evidently," Shalimar purred dangerously to her team, "he takes us for idiots. What'd you do with Emma?" Her eyes followed his every nervous movement.
"I didn't do anything with her," he tried. "Eckhart promised to help us if I took her to him. But he lied," Derrick's voice rose in his distress.
Brennan snorted. "Big surprise," Jesse commented under his breath. "So what are you going to do about it?" he asked the other man. His tone practically dared Derrick to deny any responsibility for Emma's situation.
"Me? What can I do against those military types Eckhart has guarding that place?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Shalimar grinned. It wasn't a friendly smile, but it did show a lot of teeth. "You're going to help us get Emma out of there and you'd better pray that Eckhart hasn't harmed her, or we'll be making you pay."
Derrick nodded. "How can I help?"
"For starters, tell us everything you can about the layout of the place," Jesse stepped in. They didn't want Derrick so cowed that he was too afraid to tell them everything they might help. So it was Jesse's turn to question the man. Brennan could feel the disappointment in Shalimar, she had so been hoping for an opportunity to deck the guy.
It didn't take long to find that Derrick was a very observant individual. Evidently even though he'd only been to Genomex twice, he had an excellent grasp of where guards were stationed, and he knew where the labs were located. With his information and the blueprints for the building, they were all back on the Double Helix and flying back to Genomex in a matter of minutes. To Shalimar's mind the best part was that Derrick was going to provide the key into the building.
* * *
Emma walked down the long hallway as slowly as she could get away with. There were only two of them, but they had guns. She really didn't want to antagonize them. Even if she could manage to overpower one of them before they triggered the control on her governor, where would she go? She couldn't use her psionic powers to get her out of the complex. She sighed and slowed even more which earned her a shove from one of the muscle boys. She glared at him and continued walking. It seemed like the hall went on forever, but at the same time, when the three men lead her into what looked like an everyday exam room, time couldn't have passed faster.
The lab geek, whose name badge read William Haverman, pushed her ungently into an examination chair. "Hey, Bill. You don't have to be so rough!" she protested. The man looked up at her in surprise.
"I thought the subdermal governor was supposed to suppress your abilities?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I stop knowing how to read," she retorted.
He flushed with embarrassment and proceeded to strap her hands and ankles to the chair. Emma really didn't like the feel of that. She wondered what was in store for her next.
* * *
Two Genomex soldiers marched down the hallway toward Eckhart's office, guarding Derrick Johansen between them. At least that was what it would have looked like to a casual observer. The three of them passed Eckhart's office and hurried down the hallway just past it.
"You'd better hope we can get her out before they start anything!" Shalimar hissed at her 'captive'. Her wavy blonde hair was pulled back from her face in a severe bun. Her partner on this mission, Jesse, used his comlink to alert Brennan who was waiting at the power grid for the building.
"Brennan, give us three minutes then blow the alarms."
"Roger."
Shalimar, Jesse, and Derrick entered the long hallway their teammate had recently been lead down. Shalimar's eyes flashed as she prepared to fight their way out if necessary.
* * *
Bill, as Emma liked to think of him, made some notations in a chart she assumed was hers. "Do you have any allergies?" he asked as if he were taking a normal medical history. Emma stayed silent. She refused to make it easy for them to turn her into a guinea pig. Bill glanced up at her, took note of the stubborn set of her jaw, and continued. "I guess it really doesn't matter in this case." He jotted a few more sentences in her file then turned to a glass cabinet set into the wall. Emma watched nervously as he fiddled with a few vials before finding what he wanted. Her heart sped up even more as she watched him expertly fill a syringe with some orange tinted liquid.
"I think I should tell you that I have a kind of phobia about needles," she commented a little breathlessly as she edged as far away from him in the chair as was possible with the restraints. He smiled humorlessly at her. His cold fingers efficiently prepared her right arm for the needle.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice said coolly from the doorway. Three head turned to stare at the intruders.
"Shalimar! Jesse!" Emma gasped in relief. She ignored Bill who was muttering something panicked under his breath as he backed into the farthest corner of the room.
The two soldiers each faced off with one of the Mutant X team. Ordinarily speaking, Shalimar would have wiped the floor with a typical soldier type. However, Eckhart had picked his goons well. Her soldier was a fire elemental. Jesse found himself facing an electrical elemental and took a brief moment to thank goodness that Adam had been pitting him against Brennan so much lately.
Shalimar threw some punches at the fire elemental, hoping to land a lucky hit, but the man just moved too fast. He'd dodge then send a flame at her. It didn't take him too long to figure out that he could keep her at bay if he just held it steady.
Jesse, meanwhile let his opponent show off a bit. He was very much aware of Shalimar's distress, but could see no way to help yet. Slowly and carefully he angled their fight toward his teammate.
Emma watched the fight closely. She pulled at the straps binding her wrists and ankles, but couldn't manage to slip out of them. She glared at Derrick who was hovering in the doorway. "Get over here and make yourself useful!" she hissed at him. In seconds, he had managed to get around the fighting and was working on the restraints.
Finally, Jesse managed to put himself back to back with Shalimar. She was just managing to hold her own against the elemental. She couldn't fight back, but he wasn't getting any closer to her either. Jesse watched his opponent very carefully. "Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath. Finally! "Shalimar, drop!" Even as the words left his mouth, Jesse phased out, hoping that his teammate's quick instincts would save her from the blast of electricity that was heading her way.
Success! The bolt of electricity flew without interruption to the fire elemental. Jesse quickly phased back in. He heard the thump as the man fell to the ground, but he had still had the electric to deal with. "One down, one to go," he muttered under his breath. However, he hadn't counted on Shalimar. With one unbelievable aerial flip, she delivered a kick to the man's jaw that probably would have taken out a bear. He went down without a further peep.
Jesse and Shalimar then turned to their teammate. She looked at them and grinned as Derrick helped her to undo the last strap. "I was starting to think you guys were gonna let me rot in here this time!" she joked. The she stood up and shook the blood back into her hands. Her eyes scanned the room until she found Bill.
"Oh, Bill, as much as I've enjoyed playing with you, it's time for me to go. But we can't just leave you here like this, now can we? Why don't you hop up onto this little chair?"
Moments later the four of them left Bill strapped to the chair as they hurried down the hall. They weren't more than a couple paces when the lights flickered and died. Emergency lights came on, casting an eerie red glow on the walls and floor and a fire siren blasted through the halls.
Jesse turned toward the girls and grinned. "Looks like Brennan found the right wires." People started to pour through the halls in near panic, civilians and soldiers alike. The four of them fit right in and no one questioned them as they made there way towards the fire exit. Along the way, Brennan joined them.
'Hey guys. Emma you alright?" Emma nodded. "Adam says the Helix is down about 100 yards out the side entrance. It was the only place with enough space for him to land."
The other nodded. Slowly but surely, the five of them made it to the side entrance. In a matter of minutes they were outside, running. A large black shape shimmered, and then became visible and they were onboard and away before Eckhart and his lackeys even realized what had happened.
* * *
Sanctuary
Emma sat in front of the meditation pool, idly dragging her fingers through the crystal clear water. She sighed and closed her eyes for just a moment. She let her breathing drift into her meditation pattern and sat like that for a few moments. Then it became clear to her that meditation wasn't going to help her this time. She sighed again and stood up. Purposefully she walked towards her bedroom.
"Has anyone seen Emma lately?" Shalimar asked curiously as she walked into the kitchen.
"Last time I saw her, she was in the pool room," Jesse commented. "But that was two hours ago, and she didn't come in for lunch, either."
Shalimar frowned. Emma had been quiet lately, ever since her rescue. She had forestalled any lectures by calmly apologizing and retiring to her room. That had been almost a week ago. Emma was still withdrawn. She wouldn't even go clubbing with them. This wasn't like her friend at all. Patience wasn't her strong suit; Shalimar decided to get to the bottom of Emma's strange behavior.
She walked down the hallway towards the bedrooms. A faint, chemical odor filled the air. Shalimar wrinkled her nose. What had Emma been up to? She knocked on Emma's door.
"Come in!" Emma called. Shalimar's eyebrows rose in surprise as she took in the room. Emma was dressed in old sweats with her dark hair pulled up into a ponytail. Multicolor paint decorated the clothing, her hair, her face and her long fingers which were grasping a paintbrush. But that wasn't what astonished Shalimar most of all.
"What is going on in here?" she asked.
Emma grinned, her old familiar grin. Shalimar could see a little sadness, a little regret in those very blue eyes, but the smile was genuine. "I got sick of moping around."
"I can see that," Shalimar commented dryly, gesturing at the wall. "But why did you do this?"
Emma sobered. "Remember I once told you I wanted a window here? Well, for a while, I thought that Derrick was my window. He was my chance at a normal life." Shalimar couldn't control her snort. Emma ignored it. "Anyway, I realized that if he was a window, it was a very cloudy window, one that distorted everything I saw through it, including myself. Especially myself.
"He asked me back you know. Said he'd learned his lesson. Said he loved me. I thought about it for just a moment. Then I realized that if he really loved me, he wouldn't have tried changing me." Shalimar nodded but stayed silent.
"That was when I decided that I really didn't need a window after all," she turned to her friend with a smile. "If I want to see what a normal life is like, all I have to do is look at our life here. This is a normal as it gets, for a New Mutant that is."
Shalimar grinned back. "But couldn't you have a faux fur rug or something?"
"This is more my style," Emma responded as she looked at her leopard spotted wall. Shalimar laughed and gave her best friend a tight hug.