A/N- Bold words are the gray dreamscape thing that happens when Emma goes
into someone's head.
Disclaimer- I own only Aisha Mulwray and Jacob Evans. I own no one else and am making no money off this fic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Dammit!" Brennan swore. He hated this. He absolutely hated this. Lorna had ditched the Audi. She had stolen a car parked in the parking lot of the mall. There were two cops there, filing a report for the distraught woman whose car Lorna had taken. He didn't dare show his face, lest one of them recognize him. He hadn't been brought in, in years, but when he had, it had been mostly for auto theft. He wasn't going to push his luck showing his face around the spot where a car had just been stolen. Shalimar had gone to get the license plate number and the description of the stolen car. She was then going to drive the car back to Sanctuary.
What in Hell was taking her so long? He was sorely tempted to leave the Helix and go get that stupid description himself, even if it meant exposing himself to the cops. Anything to get his daughter back.
But if he did Shalimar would probably read him the riot act for pulling a stunt like that. She had left him with stern instructions not to leave the Helix, like he was some little kid. She had popped out with muttered comments about how the last thing that they needed right now was to have to go and bail him out of jail.
He paused then, and in a defeated gesture he contacted Adam on his comm. link. "Adam, she got rid of the Audi. She stole a car. Shal is getting the Audi and a description of the stolen car and then she's coming back to Sanctuary." Brennan sighed, lifting his hand and letting it hover about an inch away from his eyes. He had a terrible migraine. He rubbed his hand through his hair for what must have been the billionth time that day. "I'm going to keep looking in the Helix. We know that she was here at some point. I'll just go from there."
"OK, Brennan. We're still trying here, but Emma hasn't gotten anything off Lorna yet.
"Maybe that's because Lorna's a psycho," Brennan muttered with a dry, humorless laugh. Suddenly he blurted out the question that had been settling in his stomach ever since Lorna had taken off. "Adam, what if she gets tired of Aisha? You know, like she got tired of me?"
Back at Sanctuary, Adam paled a bit at Brennan's question. "You can't even THINK that now Brennan. Just focus on finding them."
Adam looked over at Emma, who was meditating by the reflecting pool. She looked up worriedly. "Adam, I'm just not getting a lock on her. I can't find her anywhere." She bit her lip.
"Emma, have you tried to get a lock on Aisha? Or just Lorna?" he asked her after a moments thought.
"Well, just Lorna. Do you think I should try Aisha? I mean, she's only a few hours old Adam, I've never tried it with anyone that young before." Emma looked at their leader, a little doubtful.
"Just try, Emma. It's a long shot, but we have to try everything, any chance of getting her back." Adam encouraged.
"Well, okay, I'll try." Emma said, still looking doubtful. However, she simply resumed her position and started meditating again.
Lorna was struggling against the guards. Aisha was in another guards arms, crying. Emma reached for her with her mind, but all she got was fear and confusion. Emma sent soothing thoughts to her, and her crying became quieter and less hysterical. Emma knew where she was. She had been here before.
Aisha was at Genomex.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"So, Mr. Evans, all the time and energy we put into training you, hasn't ALL been for nothing. You managed to capture the feral and the child."
"Yes, sir, and with your permission, I would like to be put in charge of guarding them. Mutant X is a force to be reckoned with, and there is no doubt that the elemental will come for the child."
"Of course he will." Eckhart sharply replied. "They always come. That is not the question, Agent Evans. The question is, will you be able to stop them, where so many before you have failed?"
Evans plastered a smile on his face, no more real than the one Eckhart had on his. "I will NOT fail, sir."
Eckhart looked the man up and down, and then gave a curt nod. "Fine. You are in charge of the feral and the child."
Evans nodded to show acknowledgement and turned to leave.
"And Evans?"
The man froze, not turning.
"Remember what will happen if you DO fail." Eckhart was now looking over the stasis pods.
"Understood." He knew perfectly well what happened to agents who had failed Eckhart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Adam, I got a hit off Aisha. She and Lorna were captured. They're at Genomex."
"Good job, Emma! Contact both Brennan and Shalimar. Tell them what's going on and tell Brennan to get back here. We're going after them."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Brennan," Shalimar started.
"No. We go in NOW. I could care less about Lorna; let her rot in stasis for the rest of her life for what she's done for all I care. Aisha's an innocent, and we need to get her out of that Hell hole!" Brennan exploded.
'Great.' Thought Emma. 'Brennan's snapping at Shalimar now too.' Emma couldn't really blame him. He had only had his precious daughter for a few short hours before losing her, first to Lorna, then to the GSA. And now that he knew where she was, there was nothing that was going to stop him from getting her back.
"The longer we wait, the harder it is going to be to get her out of there! We can't wait anymore!" Brennan yelled at Shalimar.
Emma frowned. A hot-headed Brennan was not going to be helpful right now. She concentrated and implanted feelings of calm and reason in Brennan. It had the desired effect, and now he no longer looked as if he were going to put a hole through the wall. She hated to see him like this, she really did. Brennan was kind of like a surrogate big brother to her, always ready to talk if she needed it, or mess around just because. She had known him long enough and spent enough time in his head to know that Brennan had more layers than an onion.
The top layer was his cocky, Devil-may-care street smart attitude. But under that layer, and not very far under at that, she knew that there was a very vulnerable guy. She didn't know how much more pressure he would be able to take before he simply broke down. She kept sending him calming emotions.
Brennan frowned. Strange, a second ago he had been ready to take the head off the next person to tell him they had to WAIT to go and rescue Aisha, but he seemed to be so much calmer now. The anger and worry was still there of course, and whoever had taken his daughter was still going to die a fried-crispy death, and he still wanted to go and rescue his daughter, but the feelings were calm and manageable. They most certainly weren't the uncontrollable frustration and anxiety of a minute ago. Suddenly he looked at Emma and it clicked.
"Stop meddling in my head Emma." Brennan said, his voice was calm, but it had a steely, don't-push-me-right-now glint to it.
Emma jumped guiltily and blushed. "Brennan, you need to calm down. We're not going to help Aisha if we go into Genomex half-cocked."
"She's right Brennan, and you know it. It's not going to be any help to anyone if we go in blind and get ourselves captured!" Jesse piped up from his position leaning against the dojo wall. "You need to calm down and see reason!"
Brennan didn't want to see reason. He wanted his daughter back and to punish Lorna and those bastards at the GSA for taking her in the first place. "We can't just leave her there!" he snapped at Jesse.
"Of course we can't," Adam's voice came as he climbed the stairs of the dojo, where the four members of his team stood around arguing. "We just can't go in without a plan. So it's a good thing that I just so happen to have one."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
'This is too easy.' That was the first thing that popped into his mind when he glanced around the corner and saw no guards. But the thought didn't make him confident, but cautious. It was just his lifestyle and upbringing. When something appeared to be too good to be true, it usually was because it was. And when things are too easy, start looking for the catch.
If it was a usual situation, he should have run into more guards than the two that he had knocked out, and this wasn't a usual situation. They had a family member of Mutant X, they knew that they'd be coming for her, which means they would increase their security.
So, where the Hell were all the guards?
He was getting a bad feeling about this.
Quickly he contacted Shalimar. "Shal, how many agents have you come across so far?"
"Only three... Why?" Shalimar replied.
"I'm not trying our good fortune or anything... But... Shouldn't there be more than that?"
Adam had anticipated the upped security too. He had had Jesse hack into the GSA's data base and had figured out where Aisha and Lorna were being kept. He had figured the place would be swarming with guards. There was a high possibility of capture, but all the members had insisted on going. They were to split up, enter at different places and take different routes to the place where they were holding Aisha and Lorna. That way, if one of them were discovered, most of the security would swarm to that area, leaving a relatively clear path for the other three.
Or that was the plan, anyway.
But so far, Brennan had only had to deal with a non-mutant guard and one that could phase, like Jesse. He had almost reached his destination. This close to the room he should be up to his eyeteeth in guards. This was making him uneasy.
"Well... Maybe they don't know that WE know that they have them yet. I mean, for all Eckhart knows, we're still out there chasing false leads on Lorna." Shalimar told him through her comm. ring.
That made sense, but it wasn't like Eckhart to make a mistake like that. He would have put the extra security anyway, just in case. Before he could reach the room holding his daughter he ran into another guard. Startled, he used his rocket launchers to fly right over the guy's head. The agent whipped around to face him, pulling his weapon. Too little, too late. Brennan already had his electricity charged and shot it at the agent. The crackling blue electricity hit the agent in the chest and he slammed into the wall behind him before crumpling to the ground, unconscious.
It seemed to Brennan that that should have been harder than it had been. He paused for a moment, looking at the agent in disgust, when the sound of a baby crying reached his ears. His head snapped up. "Aisha..." He ran in the direction of the cries.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rockergurl; Sorry, not a lot of action in this chapter. It's kind of a 'filler' chapter leading up to all the action. And, I would like to thank my new Beta reader for making this chapter as mistake free as humanly possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH, SHANNON!! You will never know how much help you are. And for being the wonderful Beta reader that you are, I hereby dedicate this chapter to you.
Disclaimer- I own only Aisha Mulwray and Jacob Evans. I own no one else and am making no money off this fic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Dammit!" Brennan swore. He hated this. He absolutely hated this. Lorna had ditched the Audi. She had stolen a car parked in the parking lot of the mall. There were two cops there, filing a report for the distraught woman whose car Lorna had taken. He didn't dare show his face, lest one of them recognize him. He hadn't been brought in, in years, but when he had, it had been mostly for auto theft. He wasn't going to push his luck showing his face around the spot where a car had just been stolen. Shalimar had gone to get the license plate number and the description of the stolen car. She was then going to drive the car back to Sanctuary.
What in Hell was taking her so long? He was sorely tempted to leave the Helix and go get that stupid description himself, even if it meant exposing himself to the cops. Anything to get his daughter back.
But if he did Shalimar would probably read him the riot act for pulling a stunt like that. She had left him with stern instructions not to leave the Helix, like he was some little kid. She had popped out with muttered comments about how the last thing that they needed right now was to have to go and bail him out of jail.
He paused then, and in a defeated gesture he contacted Adam on his comm. link. "Adam, she got rid of the Audi. She stole a car. Shal is getting the Audi and a description of the stolen car and then she's coming back to Sanctuary." Brennan sighed, lifting his hand and letting it hover about an inch away from his eyes. He had a terrible migraine. He rubbed his hand through his hair for what must have been the billionth time that day. "I'm going to keep looking in the Helix. We know that she was here at some point. I'll just go from there."
"OK, Brennan. We're still trying here, but Emma hasn't gotten anything off Lorna yet.
"Maybe that's because Lorna's a psycho," Brennan muttered with a dry, humorless laugh. Suddenly he blurted out the question that had been settling in his stomach ever since Lorna had taken off. "Adam, what if she gets tired of Aisha? You know, like she got tired of me?"
Back at Sanctuary, Adam paled a bit at Brennan's question. "You can't even THINK that now Brennan. Just focus on finding them."
Adam looked over at Emma, who was meditating by the reflecting pool. She looked up worriedly. "Adam, I'm just not getting a lock on her. I can't find her anywhere." She bit her lip.
"Emma, have you tried to get a lock on Aisha? Or just Lorna?" he asked her after a moments thought.
"Well, just Lorna. Do you think I should try Aisha? I mean, she's only a few hours old Adam, I've never tried it with anyone that young before." Emma looked at their leader, a little doubtful.
"Just try, Emma. It's a long shot, but we have to try everything, any chance of getting her back." Adam encouraged.
"Well, okay, I'll try." Emma said, still looking doubtful. However, she simply resumed her position and started meditating again.
Lorna was struggling against the guards. Aisha was in another guards arms, crying. Emma reached for her with her mind, but all she got was fear and confusion. Emma sent soothing thoughts to her, and her crying became quieter and less hysterical. Emma knew where she was. She had been here before.
Aisha was at Genomex.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"So, Mr. Evans, all the time and energy we put into training you, hasn't ALL been for nothing. You managed to capture the feral and the child."
"Yes, sir, and with your permission, I would like to be put in charge of guarding them. Mutant X is a force to be reckoned with, and there is no doubt that the elemental will come for the child."
"Of course he will." Eckhart sharply replied. "They always come. That is not the question, Agent Evans. The question is, will you be able to stop them, where so many before you have failed?"
Evans plastered a smile on his face, no more real than the one Eckhart had on his. "I will NOT fail, sir."
Eckhart looked the man up and down, and then gave a curt nod. "Fine. You are in charge of the feral and the child."
Evans nodded to show acknowledgement and turned to leave.
"And Evans?"
The man froze, not turning.
"Remember what will happen if you DO fail." Eckhart was now looking over the stasis pods.
"Understood." He knew perfectly well what happened to agents who had failed Eckhart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Adam, I got a hit off Aisha. She and Lorna were captured. They're at Genomex."
"Good job, Emma! Contact both Brennan and Shalimar. Tell them what's going on and tell Brennan to get back here. We're going after them."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Brennan," Shalimar started.
"No. We go in NOW. I could care less about Lorna; let her rot in stasis for the rest of her life for what she's done for all I care. Aisha's an innocent, and we need to get her out of that Hell hole!" Brennan exploded.
'Great.' Thought Emma. 'Brennan's snapping at Shalimar now too.' Emma couldn't really blame him. He had only had his precious daughter for a few short hours before losing her, first to Lorna, then to the GSA. And now that he knew where she was, there was nothing that was going to stop him from getting her back.
"The longer we wait, the harder it is going to be to get her out of there! We can't wait anymore!" Brennan yelled at Shalimar.
Emma frowned. A hot-headed Brennan was not going to be helpful right now. She concentrated and implanted feelings of calm and reason in Brennan. It had the desired effect, and now he no longer looked as if he were going to put a hole through the wall. She hated to see him like this, she really did. Brennan was kind of like a surrogate big brother to her, always ready to talk if she needed it, or mess around just because. She had known him long enough and spent enough time in his head to know that Brennan had more layers than an onion.
The top layer was his cocky, Devil-may-care street smart attitude. But under that layer, and not very far under at that, she knew that there was a very vulnerable guy. She didn't know how much more pressure he would be able to take before he simply broke down. She kept sending him calming emotions.
Brennan frowned. Strange, a second ago he had been ready to take the head off the next person to tell him they had to WAIT to go and rescue Aisha, but he seemed to be so much calmer now. The anger and worry was still there of course, and whoever had taken his daughter was still going to die a fried-crispy death, and he still wanted to go and rescue his daughter, but the feelings were calm and manageable. They most certainly weren't the uncontrollable frustration and anxiety of a minute ago. Suddenly he looked at Emma and it clicked.
"Stop meddling in my head Emma." Brennan said, his voice was calm, but it had a steely, don't-push-me-right-now glint to it.
Emma jumped guiltily and blushed. "Brennan, you need to calm down. We're not going to help Aisha if we go into Genomex half-cocked."
"She's right Brennan, and you know it. It's not going to be any help to anyone if we go in blind and get ourselves captured!" Jesse piped up from his position leaning against the dojo wall. "You need to calm down and see reason!"
Brennan didn't want to see reason. He wanted his daughter back and to punish Lorna and those bastards at the GSA for taking her in the first place. "We can't just leave her there!" he snapped at Jesse.
"Of course we can't," Adam's voice came as he climbed the stairs of the dojo, where the four members of his team stood around arguing. "We just can't go in without a plan. So it's a good thing that I just so happen to have one."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
'This is too easy.' That was the first thing that popped into his mind when he glanced around the corner and saw no guards. But the thought didn't make him confident, but cautious. It was just his lifestyle and upbringing. When something appeared to be too good to be true, it usually was because it was. And when things are too easy, start looking for the catch.
If it was a usual situation, he should have run into more guards than the two that he had knocked out, and this wasn't a usual situation. They had a family member of Mutant X, they knew that they'd be coming for her, which means they would increase their security.
So, where the Hell were all the guards?
He was getting a bad feeling about this.
Quickly he contacted Shalimar. "Shal, how many agents have you come across so far?"
"Only three... Why?" Shalimar replied.
"I'm not trying our good fortune or anything... But... Shouldn't there be more than that?"
Adam had anticipated the upped security too. He had had Jesse hack into the GSA's data base and had figured out where Aisha and Lorna were being kept. He had figured the place would be swarming with guards. There was a high possibility of capture, but all the members had insisted on going. They were to split up, enter at different places and take different routes to the place where they were holding Aisha and Lorna. That way, if one of them were discovered, most of the security would swarm to that area, leaving a relatively clear path for the other three.
Or that was the plan, anyway.
But so far, Brennan had only had to deal with a non-mutant guard and one that could phase, like Jesse. He had almost reached his destination. This close to the room he should be up to his eyeteeth in guards. This was making him uneasy.
"Well... Maybe they don't know that WE know that they have them yet. I mean, for all Eckhart knows, we're still out there chasing false leads on Lorna." Shalimar told him through her comm. ring.
That made sense, but it wasn't like Eckhart to make a mistake like that. He would have put the extra security anyway, just in case. Before he could reach the room holding his daughter he ran into another guard. Startled, he used his rocket launchers to fly right over the guy's head. The agent whipped around to face him, pulling his weapon. Too little, too late. Brennan already had his electricity charged and shot it at the agent. The crackling blue electricity hit the agent in the chest and he slammed into the wall behind him before crumpling to the ground, unconscious.
It seemed to Brennan that that should have been harder than it had been. He paused for a moment, looking at the agent in disgust, when the sound of a baby crying reached his ears. His head snapped up. "Aisha..." He ran in the direction of the cries.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rockergurl; Sorry, not a lot of action in this chapter. It's kind of a 'filler' chapter leading up to all the action. And, I would like to thank my new Beta reader for making this chapter as mistake free as humanly possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH, SHANNON!! You will never know how much help you are. And for being the wonderful Beta reader that you are, I hereby dedicate this chapter to you.