Chapter 3

Shalimar pushed Adam out of the way as he tried to scan her. "I'm fine Adam, honest. Nothing that an aspirin won't help. Is Emma OK?" She watched as his frown deepened. "Adam, Emma's going to be OK, isn't she?"

"Shalimar, I honestly don't know. I She"He sighed and bowed his head. "Her genetic structure is decaying at an alarming rate. She's dying, Shal, and I don't know why."

"What? ButNo! This can't happen. Not like this! There has to be something. Anything"

"Shalimar, hush. I'm working on it. But we don't know what happened to her out there. And unless she can tell us, or there's some way of finding out"

"So we go back and see what we can find." Shalimar interrupted. "There has to be some kind of clue in that warehouse. Maybe we can find"

"Shalimar. Whatever Emma experienced, you got some feedback from it. You look tired, you're acting tired. You're vulnerable like this. Let Jesse and Brennan do the research. Get some rest."

"No, Adam, I'm fine. I'll be able to" The blow to her shoulder impacted before she had even registered that Adam had turned. It wasn't a powerful blow, not meant to hurt her, only to prove a point. And that point came through loud and clear. Under normal circumstances she would have blocked the swing before he'd even thought about making it.

"Sleep Shalimar. Or join Emma in the medilab. I need you fit."

She was walking towards a warehouse. It was the warehouse from earlier, she realised as she approached. She was running now, hoping to reach Emma in time. Hoping that maybe, just maybe this time she could save her. She sunlight faded even as she ran and when she reached the oversized doors and swung them open she was greeted by a strange tableau. Emma was stood in the doorway, facing off the young new mutant they had been searching for that day. She was confronting Emma; her stance showing her willingness to fight but her face showed her weariness. Dark pools lay beneath her eyes and her pale skin looked sallow in the half-light. Her hair lay dank and tangled on her shoulders, holding none of the energy shown in the database photos. Suddenly she was no longer watching Emma, but stood in her place. The Mutant's mouth moved but no sound reached her, like a silent movie of olden times. The mutant took another step forward and reached out, brushing her cheek. She smiled and there was an explosion, throwing Shalimar back into one of the corners of the warehouse, buried beneath boxes that lay there. When the haze cleared she sobbed at the sight that she was confronted with. She had failed again. Emma was once again laid out on the hard cold floor, just as she had been when she had found her the first time. Still she was no closer to finding the truth.

A hand on her shoulder caused her to jump, spinning on her heel to catch hold of a wrist. When her eyes cleared she found herself in the medilab at Emma's side, holding Adam's wrist tightly as he looked on, concerned.

"Shalimar?" He asked softly. Pulling her hand away she held his gaze for a moment and fled.

She was sat quietly beside the meditating pool; not sure what had drawn her there. She knelt beside the gently rippling water, trying to find absolution in its pure movement. It was only as she heard Adam approach that she knew why she was here. This place was Emma's. Where she would come to find peace or to calm herself. And Emma would never sit in this place again.

Tears streaked her face as Adam held her, hushed her, told her they would work this out - they always had. She knew differently. Things would never be right again. The guys would find nothing in the warehouse, she had been there, seen what had happened. There was nothing to find. Emma was dying and there was nothing anyone could do to save her. There was only one question. Could she survive without her?

The grief was clear on Shalimar's face, it was as though she had already accepted Emma's death, and it worried Jesse terribly. Shalimar had never been one to take loss easily, even if it was someone she wasn't that close to. And this was Emma. Emma who no one could not like, who they had all looked after like a little sister ever since she had joined the team. Emma who would always mother them all, no matter how she was feeling. JustEmma.

Adam had called a meeting in the main hall. He was looking tired and old. The news he had could not be good. He and Brennan hadn't found anything in the warehouse, just a few scattered boxes and a lot of junk. He hated the feeling of defeat that was circling them all. There had to be something else. There just had to be. Emma couldn't die.

"Shalimar has given me some information that I think explains what has happened to Emma. Unfortunately it doesn't help us find anything to stop this. In fact it makes it less likely that we will find something. It all goes back to the research done at Genomex. Genetic engineering on the scale of New Mutancy destabilises the basic genetic structure. We found a certain level beyond which the structure was unable to cope with the destabilisation and it broke down, killing the patient. This would normally happen before the age of five. It rarely happens later than that. We tried for a long time, but there was nothing we could do for these children, nothing but make sure that they were comfortable in their last days and thatwhen they finally passed away there was no one around to get hurt."

"Get hurt in what way?" Brennan pushed.

"The end usually involves a release of power, related to the new mutancy of the individual. But this specific type of release includes an emission of something, we never did work out what was released that can pass on this instability. This is what we think happened to Emma. I don't know how the mutant lasted as long as she did, but Emma has picked up this instability from her when she died. Emma's cellular structure is already starting to show signs of the characteristic damage. There really is nothing I can do."

"Surely you've found something after all this time?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I've opened up all my notes; maybe there's something there that I missed then. But it's unlikely. I'm so sorry. This is one of the worst things I can imagine happening, but"

"We survive." Shalimar finished for him, looking away. "We always survive."

PS. Having some problems getting my head around the next bit. Might take a couple of days to get back to you. Tell me what you're thinking so far.