Content Warning: Violence, torture. Mild language. Read with caution.
This chapter is dedicated to all those that I annoy with cliffhangers.
=========
Shalimar didn't notice herself falling asleep, but all of the sudden she realized she wasn't awake. And that she was very alone on Brennan's bed.
"Adam, he's gone!" She said without hesitation into her com-ring. She was surprised by the detachment in her voice, but by now, she was used to things going wrong when Brennan was involved. No falling apart. Not now.
"I shouldn't be to astonished." came Adam's wry response. "Get Emma. Have her get a hit. You check to see where the Double Helix is heading." Adam already knew. Brennan had gone, taken the Double Helix, to try and stop the killer that had attacked him. They all knew he would try. So why didn't they hear him, see him, or even detect him leave?
"I'm on it." Shalimar replied, wondering why she didn't feel worse about Brennan being gone.
=========
Adam turned around after Shalimar gave him the bad news. Jesse was already at a console, trying to activate the Double Helix's homing beacon. If they couldn't override it and bring Brennan back, they could at least find out where he was taking it.
Adam went to Jesse's side. "I can't find it. Somehow he must have disabled the device."
Adam was shocked at that piece of news. "How could he know how to do that? I hadn't told either Emma or Brennan."
Jesse looked up at Adam, confusion written across his features. "Why not?" He asked.
"I wanted to safeguard against he or Emma trying to leave. They had only just joined, and I didn't know their loyalty yet. I hadn't gotten around to telling them yet. It just wasn't that important."
Just then Emma and Shalimar came walking into the lab. Neither seemed in that much of a hurry. Which was odd. Wasn't it? Adam thought.
"I can't get a hit. It's as if Brennan disappeared off my radar or something." Emma said when they reached Jesse and Adam.
"And we can't find the Double Helix either." Jesse said, turning around.
"Somehow I didn't realize that he'd left. I fell asleep, but even so. Being a feral, I don't sleep that hard, and my heightened sense should have heard him." Shalimar put in.
"The Double Helix should have alerted us that it was leaving. There isn't a way to turn that alert off. And somehow Brennan knew how to hotwire it so we couldn't track him." Adam folded his arms and looked at the floor. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
The four of them stood there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the walls, their feet, the floor, anything but each other. Emma finally broke the ice.
"None of us really cares, do we?" The psionic said, looking up to stare each of them in the eye.
"What do you mean?" Shalimar said.
"None of us really care. Brennan managed to fool all of us, escape unnoticed, and leave so that he couldn't be traced. And none of us really seem to care. We are all acting like the situation isn't as urgent as it really is." During Emma's speech, Adam's brain finally snapped into place.
"That's right! Emma's right! Brennan left undetected, and I can't seem to make myself care too much. I know I should. I know I should be horribly worried and searching harder than I am, but I just can't make myself do it." Adam exclaimed, and he saw knowing looks on the rest of the teams' faces.
"I feel the same way. When I saw he was gone, I should have been frantic, but I wasn't." Shalimar still didn't meet anyone's eyes, and Adam could tell she was ashamed.
"Let me try to look in your minds. I'm going to check if something is really wrong with all of us." Emma said. Shalimar nodded that Emma should look into her first, and Emma focused into Shalimar's mind at once.
Long seconds ticked by, and suddenly Shalimar looked away, and met Adam's gaze. The intensity that Adam saw there was almost frightening. "Oh, god, Brennan!" She sighed, and sank down to the floor, her head buried in her arms. Emma turned to Adam a few moments later.
"There was a mental block in her mind, and also the residue of a sleep imprint. Let me take down yours and Jesse's and then we can talk." Emma said, and made short order of Jesse and Adam. In a few seconds, they had all sat down, as if overcome by the sudden onset of fear and worry that had been starkly absent before.
After regaining his composure, Adam turned to Emma, who was sitting on a bed on the side of the lab. "Emma, what were you saying about a residual sleep imprint in Shal's mind?"
"It was as if a psionic had been in there and told her to sleep. Sometimes I can sense that, if the psionic was powerful enough, or it happened recently."
"So this could be the same psionic that attacked Brennan and is killing the elementals?"
"Yes!" Emma said, her head snapping up. "If this psionic made Shalimar sleep, and the rest of us not care about Brennan for a short while-"
"Then told Brennan how to escape, and used my knowledge to tell him how to hotwire the Double Helix!" Adam finished for her. And then saw a grave dawning on Emma's face.
"Then Brennan's is being drawn right into the killer's arms, and we can't stop it." The silence following that revelation could not be broken.
=========
He had only one goal. It was simple, really. Kill the bastard that was killing his brothers and sisters in power. He had to go there. He wasn't sure how he knew where to go, but he did, and that was where he was heading.
=========
Geris looked up. Everything was very silent, but he could sense that something was near. He couldn't see it or hear it, but it was there.
Very disturbing, he thought. It had been awhile since he could not pinpoint an attacker's position before they attacked. Ever since his new mutant psionic abilities had manifested and grown, he could feel any person from twenty yards. If he wanted to.
This person couldn't stay hidden forever. And even if I don't know where they are, nothing is a match for my abilities. Geris was always cocky. No one had beaten him yet. Of course, he hadn't gone up against Mutant X before. One of his last….guests… had told him that Mutant X would be his downfall. Those were, of course, his last words.
Geris propped his feet up on the table in front of him, and tilted back in his chair. Soon, soon, soon, he reassured himself. That----thing. That elemental, of Mutant X, would not be able to resist his call. No one could.
Suddenly a presence became apparent to Geris mind cum psionic radar. Another thing had found its way to him, just like he had planned. Ah, the boredom after the death of his last visitor would finally be over.
Swaggering over to his window, Geris glanced down to the sidewalk below his apartment complex. A man stood right in front of the building, staring up at the many floors. The man was tall, with darker hair and hard-set features. And he looked extremely determined.
Oh good, the ones with strong wills are always more enjoyable---- to break…Geris thought to himself with a smile, and sent out another subliminal call to the man--the thing-- below him.
Come to the fourth floor. I'll buzz you in. You'll find me here. He called.
The elemental stood there, staring up for a few more seconds, and Geris almost whooped when the man started towards the glass double doors that were the entrance to the complex. Yes. He called. You'll find me right here.
=========
"Adam!" Jesse called, jumping up as he noticed the numbers on his computer screen. "I've got a trace on the Double Helix!"
"Jesse." Adam replied as he bounded up the stares to look at the screen over Jesse's shoulder. "When did you see this?"
"Just now, why?" Jesse replied, puzzled. "Shouldn't we go after him?"
"No, Brennan's not in the Double Helix anymore." Adam said, bowing his head.
"How do you-"
"Because the Double Helix is on it's way back, on autopilot. Brennan sent it back. The homing beacon automatically resets when the autopilot is engaged." Adam said, frustration clear in his speech.
"Wait." Jesse said, half-turning so he could look Adam in the face. "If the homing beacon reset when Brennan engaged the autopilot to send the Helix back, then the homing beacon should have sent back Brennan's last location. Where he stopped. Right?"
"Yes." Adam said, straightening up. "Yes, it would! Jesse, as soon as the Helix gets back, search the logs and find the location that the beacon first started transmitting from. Then we can find out the residents of that area, and which ones-"
"Are new mutants." Jesse finished, a renewed hope warming his chest. "I'll go let Emma and Shal know!" With that he hopped out of the computer seat and almost phased through the stairs to tell them the news.
=========
Brennan found himself, all at once, walking down a hallway. A hallway? How the- He stopped and looked around. He had no idea where he was, and even less of an idea of how he got there. Staring up and down the hallway, Brennan saw smooth carpeting and clean white walls. It was all brightly lit, and gave the impression of middle class, well-off residents. And there was no reason at all that Brennan could think of that he should be here. From his last coherent thought, he should be in his room back at Sanctuary still.
Com ring. He remembered, and lifted his hand to call Adam and ask for a pickup. A millisecond before he activated it, a door opened down the hallway to his left. Quickly he dropped his hand, reminding himself that he already looked suspicious standing without a purpose in a apartment building that wasn't his. He didn't have to make matters worse by appearing to talk to no one.
A small, middle-aged man stuck his head out of the doorway, and looked up and down the hallway. He appeared to be in his early thirties, and though his clothes looked impeccable, his hair was disheveled. His eyes swept over to Brennan, and Brennan found that he couldn't break the gaze. The longer the man stared at Brennan, the colder Brennan felt, inside and out. The stare seemed to seep under his skin and see through him, past him, and yet still right at him. Brennan had the sudden urge to run, or scream, or something, but he could do nothing.
Stubborn thing. Brennan heard a whisper. It was exactly like Emma's whisper, when she was inside his mind, but unlike Emma, this voice paralyzed him further. And the words. 'Stubborn thing'. Him. That man, for he had no doubt that is was that man speaking to him, had called him a 'thing.'
This realization seemed to break the hold that the man had on Brennan. Fear outweighed whatever was keeping his feet rooted to the spot. Brennan stumbled backwards.
"It's you. The elementa-" Brennan breathed, his voice released with his body.
The man cut him off, speaking in an almost jovial voice. "Actually, it's Geris. Not an, uhm, elemental killer, I believe you were about to say. I prefer to think of it as saving the world. But why don't you come here, and we can talk about it?"
Brennan once again found himself moving, unwilling prey to Geris silent appeal to his subconscious. He tried to fight, but he found that he couldn't find anything to fight. His body was simply walking towards 'Geris'.
As soon as he reached the door, Geris stepped back and pulled the door wide so that Brennan could enter.
Brennan's fear was so overwhelming that every muscle in his body was trembling. It was even more scary to him that he was so scared. He hadn't been this frightened since he was, at most, eight years old. From then on he stifled all of his emotions, always playing things down as less important than they really were, often coming off as arrogant or uncaring. But other than his powers, which before didn't always work consistently, that had been his only defense. Now it was simply habit.
Geris clicked the door shut behind him and locked it. He then crossed the room and took a seat in a folding chair, crossing his legs and studying Brennan intently. Brennan took a step backwards towards the door as he surveyed the room. It was very bare. Hardwood floors and the same blank white walls that were in the hallways. The room had no furniture in it with the exception of folding table and chair pushed up against the far wall, under two small windows with plain white shades over them. The shades were closed, Geris sat in the chair, and there were…..things on the table that Brennan simply refused to think about. He still had his com ring, and Geris wouldn't stand a chance against Mutant X in a fury. He hoped.
"So you are a member of the infamous Mutant X? Can I see the ring that you're thinking about?" Geris broke the silence, stood up and walked over to Brennan, and once again Brennan found himself doing exactly as he was asked. Lifting his hand, removing the silver band that he never, ever took off, and handing it over to this madman.
"Hmm, quite an interesting piece of technology. I think I'll keep it." Geris said lightly, and placed it on the table. Brennan tried to protest and found he couldn't.
Geris looked up at him. "Don't worry, I'll let you protest all you when soon enough. But first, let's take a little look inside.."
The psionic raised his hand and pressed a finger against Brennan's temple. Suddenly Brennan found himself no longer staring at the sadistic bastard in front of him, but seeing his life flash through his mind in fast forward as Geris did a quick run through of his memories. It was not unlike being cut open and laid out on a table for everyone to look at and size up.
All at once Geris dropped his hand. Brennan blinked rapidly, trying to get a bearing on himself again. It had all happened too fast. Geris himself turned and went back to his chair to sit down.
"Well, you've had a pretty exciting life. Not as exciting as mine, of course, but yours had its moments." Geris said, as if he was trying to engaged Brennan in a brotherly conversation about past memories.
Brennan tried out his voice. "Oh, yeah, my life was a ball. Now, if you don't mind, I've got place to go and things to-"
"SHUT UP!" Geris screamed, and surged to his feet. Brennan almost fell over, and the fear he had felt before came rushing back. Geris was trying to psyche Brennan out, and he was doing a damn good job.
"You are a little better than an animal, and everything you have you do NOT deserve. You are cursed, and I will cleanse the world of filth like you!" Geris screamed.
"Not too loud, Geris, old buddy, what about the neighbors?" Brennan found it so funny that Geris had gone from acting like an old friend to a sadistic bastard in a matter of seconds that he couldn't help but make a joke.
Geris strode up to Brennan, stopping an inch from him and breathing right into his face. "The neighbors won't hear one word out of my mouth unless I let them. And they won't here anything else." He smiled crazily. "Like screams?"
Brennan heard the warning to late. Geris grabbed Brennan's head in a vise-like grip between his hands.
Both of them stood facing each other, separated by a few feet, in the muted gray dreamscape of the mind. Brennan began trembling again at the glint in Geris' eyes. It was menacing, it was crazed, and it certainly wasn't human.
Before Brennan could move, Geris sprung at him. In his fist, a serrated knife appeared. Grapping Brennan's should, Geris grabbed Brennan's shoulder in his other hand, and drove the knife in to his gut three times in succession. Hard, relentless, without mercy.
Brennan opened his eyes and let out a gurgling scream, echoing the screams that his nerve endings were sending his brain, thinking that he had been stabbed. His screams were abruptly cut off, however, when Geris opened his eyes and landed a firm punch into Brennan's solar plexus. Suddenly Brennan couldn't inhale. He backed into a corner, clutching his sides, frantically trying to breathe and scream. He couldn't see, he couldn't think, his brain was overwhelmed with the pain of the pseudo-stab wounds and the pain of not being able to breath….
Geris walked over to the table and grabbed a pair off handcuffs. He turned Brennan, who had shoved himself into a corner and was groaning in his attempts to breathe. With relative ease Geris hauled him to his feet and handcuffed his hands behind him and let him slide back down into the corner.
Slowly Brennan managed to take in a shallow breath. He could feel tears streaking his cheeks, and his hands clenched his stomach where there should have been three deep wounds. His eyes were opened, but he was catatonic with the pain that he could no longer voice.
Geris crouched so he could look into Brennan's glazed eyes. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he said, again in the brotherly voice.
"Don't worry. Your sacrifice will save the world."
=========
Back at Sanctuary, Emma woke with a scream.