Brennan dug around in the fridge for anything to eat, anything to take his mind off the motionless figure in the next room. Finding nothing he slammed the door shut nearly smashing it through the wall behind.
He wanted to know what was going on, he knew Emma would be in Shals mind by now but he couldn't will his legs into life, he couldn't make himself walk into the lab to see Shal just lying there.
He leant up against the wall knowing that if he didn't he would probably fall right over. The tears started to form but he blinked them away. This was no time for crying.
He heard footsteps coming in his direction. Jesse ran in. He could see that Brennan was finding it tough even looking at Shalimar in her present state but right now, Brennan was going to have to put that behind him. Shalimar needed his help.
They were once again all gathered around Shalimar. Adam had explained what was going to happen and they had all agreed to go along with it without hesitation. Emma was going to transport them all into Shalimar's mind. It would be difficult for her, tiring, but at that point Emma didn't really care.
Adam had prepared them all for what it would be like inside Shals mind but each of them just wanted to get there, get the whole thing over.
Adam was worried. It would be hard on Emma, she had already gone in once that day and to take them all in would be exhausting work. Brennan was still completely unstable. Adam wasn't sure what he would do. Brennan had always had a short temper but seeing Gabriel again after all the pain he had caused might just push Brennan over the edge. Jesse was the only person in the group who seemed even remotely calm. Out of the three new mutants Jesse had known Shalimar the longest. He had seen her in every mood, every situation imaginable. He knew how strong she was, he knew that if there were some way through all this she would find it. But Adam could tell he was still worried. He loved her like a sister; it had to be hard seeing her lying there. Adam loved her like a daughter; he knew just how hard it was.
'Shal, would you please hurry up, I'm getting seriously bored waiting for your body.'
Gabriel was pissed off. He had underestimated how tough it would be to break Shalimar. And plus, all the stupid rain was making him wet. And it just seemed to keep on coming. When was she going to throw in the towel?
He wandered around, wondering when Adam and the rest of Mutant X would turn up. A frown came to his face. Presumably Adam had worked out that Gabriel had no actual power. He was a friggin genius for crying out loud. So Gabriel knew he had a limited amount of time. He needed to break her now, or lose his chance for good.
'Come on Shalimar, you and I both know they're not coming back, they don't care enough. So why are you holding on to this tiny amount of hope,' Gabriel said in his most persuasive tone.
She didn't move. Surely this was a good sign for him. The less she moved, the less she gave a damn about anything. He would win; he could feel it inside.
Gabriel spun round as Mutant X came walking through the door of the skyscraper. Brennan broke into a run when he saw Shalimar, not even registering that Gabriel was there. Brennan knelt down in front of her. Looking into Shalimar's eyes he could see the complete lack of emotion. There was no life there where there had always been such an abundance. He wanted her to say something, anything but knew that in her present state where blinking seemed to be a trial, that was too much to ask for.
Adam joined Brennan in front of Shalimar. He had already been told what she looked like by Emma, so wasn't quite as shocked as Brennan but still, it didn't look good. He called Emma over, seeing as how she was the expert at this kind of thing she would probably know what was going on better than him.
Emma had been trying to hold Jesse back from attacking Gabriel. Shalimar was the only one who could get Gabriel out of her head; it would do no good having Jesse beat the crap out of him. But she knew that if Brennan took his eyes off Shalimar for a second there was nothing Emma could do. She steered Jesse over to Shalimar knowing that Adam needed her help before he even called her name, and that leaving Jesse alone was not such a good idea.
Gabriel was trying to keep a good face on it, attempting to look like he had all the confidence in the world. But he didn't, he was worried. He may have had a huge smirk on his face but he knew that once Adam revived Shalimar and told her what was really going on he was for it. He couldn't even leave, where would he go? He had no other body to go to, so it looked like he was waiting for the sentence to be passed.