I am so glad we get to take a break thought Brennan. Fighting Gabriel had been Mutant X's biggest challenge to date. They had all really struggled with it but at last it was over. Gabriel was gone and they had always handled Eckhart's employees without too much trouble.

Brennan picked up the worn book lying on his bedside table. It was bound in dark red leather and the pages inside were yellow they had been turned so many times.

Brennan had loved reading since like forever. When he was a kid and hadn't been able to handle his powers he had always turned to literature. It helped him escape from the crap that was his life. And now that he was happy and working hard he read books to relax.

And today that is exactly what I intend to do.

Jesse was at a loss. Everybody had something to do – Shalimar and Brennan would be chilling out all afternoon, Emma would probably end up helping Adam in the lab and all Jesse wanted to do was practice with his new powers. They weren't stable or atleast not as much as everybody else's. Shalimar had gotten a handle on hers from the word go and even Brennan and Emma who had been struggling for a while had sorted out their blasting deals. Jesse was the only one, the guy who was being left behind.

And all their powers were impressive. He got the team into buildings and then they got to kick ass.

Jesse decided to head out to one of the safe houses so he could train without any distractions, and without the looks of the others.

'So Adam, what are you gonna do while we're on a break?' questioned Emma.

'I thought I might work on some stuff,' replied Adam.

'Like…'

Adam looked at Emma. He didn't quite know how to put it. If he said what he was going to say wrong then she might get scared, but if it came out too casually then she'd misunderstand and think he didn't care. Oh well, it was a chance he was going to have to take.

'You know what happened to Gabriel could happen to anyone of you? I know its scary but its still a possibility and I can't ignore it. So I'm going to start planning ahead. If and when it does start I figure I can be prepared.'

Emma looked at him. She didn't like that he felt so bad. She knew he blamed himself and put on a brave face to cover it up but come on, she was telempathic, his real feelings were gonna be seen whether he liked it or not.

'Adam…its not your fault.'

He looked at her and smiled. He knew it really was but the fact that these people, the ones he had hurt most believed in him and didn't want to kill him made him feel a little bit better.

'So,' Emma said after a pause 'what do you want me to do?'

'Emma, I said take a break,' he reminded her.

'Yeah, and what I wanna do with my break is my business. And I wanna help you.'

After a short pause she carried on 'Plus, I'm a new mutant and there's no way you can stop me, so there,' she finished, hands on hips and a determined look on her face.

Adam relented with a smile and they both got down to their work.

Shalimar laced up her boots. She had found them, at last on the dojo. She must have left them there when she had come back the last time.

She was so looking forward to getting out for a couple of hours. She intended to do some rock climbing for the rest of the day, following her old trails to all the best rock faces and then when night came she would give herself up entirely to her nocturnal instincts. They had become stronger since her powers had evolved but as yet she hadn't had the chance to use them to their full capabilities.

Tonight was gonna be one hell of a cool time.