Proxy Blue looked at her viewers in silence for a moment. "I'm not gonna bore you with the same ole same ole. But I will just say this. Keep your ears to the ground, people, cuz big things are happening. And don't forget to tell me what you hear."
*****
It was Brennan that fired the first shot.
And Jesse that blocked it.
Six of them standing on top of the Weisengard building, a structure famous for never having been completed, with the top two stories made up of iron girders and half a flat roof, squaring off against each other. Jeff, Paulo and his men protected Charlotte, Lena and Dale in one corner, but they seemed to sense that this was not their battle.
This was a battle between long time friends and enemies.
From Eckhart's side, it was all about getting Adam either killed or captured so Charlotte could do her magic, and Genomex would be open for the taking. From Adam's it was all about getting Genomex. Neither man cared that much for their pawns; they liked them maybe, but in the end they were just pawns.
Yet, none of the four wanted to hurt any of the others. Each wanted to get their friends and make them safe. But they each had a job to do.
And unseen in a dark corner Cyber, having stowed away in the transport, stood quiet.
Eckhart and Adam talked about Genomex for the longest time, until Adam told Emma to just knock Eckhart out.
And Brennan fired at Adam in response.
But Jesse blocked it.
Emma retaliated, stunning Brennan.
Shalimar leapt for Emma.
And they were squared off.
Neither wanting to hurt the other, Shalimar held back and Emma refused to use her powers, both opting for the cat-fight option. Shalimar had the natural advantage but Emma fought dirty, each trying to put the other woman out of action long enough to take down their General. Persuasive words were lost in howls and screams of pain as Paulo's men took bets.
Brennan and Jesse were involved in a stalemate, Brennan unable to get past Jesse's massed self. The molecular was fast, always moving to block him and timing his breaths to coincide with Brennan's recharges. It was almost like being back at Sanctuary, trying to take each other down. Jesse didn't have a second to waste to keep up with Brennan, no opening ever coming up to knock Brennan out of the game. The only way to do it would be to phase him through the floor, but as he didn't want to kill the elemental all he could do was dodge and block.
But Brennan was winning the verbal war.
Throwing at him the ideas that he'd been used and abused over the last twelve months, saying things that he didn't know if they were true or not, but would explain at least some of why he felt so dirty. And splinters of memory flashed, confirming a fragment here and there.
But that didn't mean he missed a beat, let it distract him. Not even when Brennan accused Adam of using him too, because Adam wouldn't ever do that. It was Eckhart that had brainwashed Brennan and Shalimar.
Shalimar pinned Emma to the ground. "I don't want to hurt you, Em!"
"Don't ever call me that again!" Emma's eyes flashed as anger overtook her, and even though Shalimar knew it wasn't real she couldn't help clawing at her throat as the noose tightened, suffocating her.
Suffocating, drowning in blood, not again, never again.
Instead of fighting her fear, she reached beyond that to find her strength and lashed out, catching Emma behind the knees, and the illusion vanished, Emma was stunned, and before the telempath could recover, Shalimar had her in a back breaking neck-lock.
"You don't wanna hit me with anything right now, kiddo, 'cause if I get startled, your spine is so much jello."
Emma's cry almost distracted Jesse for a second, but his temper was riding as high as Brennan's own. With everything the elemental was feeling, he just wanted give it everything he had, but Jesse didn't deserve that, no matter how deluded he was. And besides, he'd didn't really know how much the molecular's massed form could take.
But he knew that Jesse was holding back too, knew that he could be lying a hundred feet below, or out of it with a crushed skull from a massed fist. They were both playing for stalemate and that was what they were getting. That had to end, but he'd tried the verbal assault as soon as he'd picked up on the surprised look that passed so fast across Jesse's face when he'd mentioned being Langley's lapdog, like he didn't know. But when he wanted, Jesse's walls could be as solid as his massed form, and after the initial surprise that was exactly what the molecular had done.
So Brennan prepared to take the biggest chance he'd ever done, take the risk that this time he'd get it right, built the energy up and timed it to Jesse's breath. Waited until the other man massed, then hit him long and hard, not with everything, but making his flow of electricity grow bigger and harder, pushing Jesse back, moving them off the battlefield, opening the door to get to Adam. Yet, he had to work hard to retain some kind of tenuous control on so much power, he needed to shut off before Jesse had to take breath, yet after they'd moved far enough away.
Then Jesse changed, switched from mass to phase. But perhaps he miscalculated how quickly he could do it, or maybe Brennan had thought Jesse could hold it longer - it wasn't like he actually had a stopwatch on him.
Whatever the problem, Jesse flew backwards in a shower of sparks and was left groaning on his hands and knees. And with Emma down, the way was open to take Adam down.
"Now," said Adam reasonably, "you wouldn't want to hurt a kid, would you?"
Brennan backed off, wondering where the girl had come from. "Shit, Adam, I actually believe Eckhart's crap now," he said, somewhat taken aback.
"I take it you had some doubts, Mr Mulwray," said Eckhart. "And you didn't deign to share them? For shame."
"I always have doubts," Brennan replied, "so don't let it go to your head. What happens now?"
"Now, Adam gives me Genomex and I leave you children to sort your own squabbles out."
"Not on your life," Adam replied. "You can do what you like, but I'm not giving you squat. I'll stop these freaks if it's the last thing I do!"
"Charlotte!" Eckhart called, but Adam shook his head.
"Oh no, you're not having her touch me!" He backed away towards the works lift, the girl in front of him, and hit the down button.
"After him!" They started after him, but suddenly Emma and Jesse were between them and the car that was just disappearing.
"Like hell!" spat Jesse, and Brennan waved him aside, striding towards them.
"Come off it, Jess, I –"
He fell, pole-axed, and Emma's triumphant smile was full of malice.
"Don't follow us," said Jesse calmly. "He's ours to deal with."
"We all need to fix this," Shalimar said, trying to draw nearer. "It's not just you guys."
"Yes, it is," said Jesse. "This is for me and Emma to fix."
Shalimar started forward, but Jesse phased the floor. Below there was a mishmash of iron girders, flooring and steel support spikes sticking up, and the gap was too big. So she waited till Jesse had to let the floor go, let it spring back.
Jesse backed off from the phased area, and it stayed. He grinned at her complete shock then grabbed Emma's hand, phased them both and jumped.
There was a few seconds of stunned silence before the floor suddenly snapped back.
Looking over the edge, Shalimar was just in time to see Emma and Jesse climb from the top of the car to two floors below.
Running across to the diagonally opposite corner, she dived down the stairwell there, hearing Lena ask, "Where did Dale go?"
Emma and Jesse made their way over the abandoned works, catching glimpses of Adam as he headed towards the stairwell at the opposite side. Surely the man must realise that Eckhart's crew would be there before him, so surely he had a plan.
Giggling, Emma saw any plan Adam may have had vanish when Cyber, pissed at being separated from Jesse, bit him hard enough that Adam roared in pain. Hard enough that Adam lashed out and sent her flying into the base of a column.
She heard Jesse curse and felt her own anger flare, along with all the other things she'd deliberately repressed. This was the man who had betrayed her, put her through all that pain, and the one who she blamed, perhaps not directly, but certainly indirectly, for taking her away from the Circle. What seemed like a long time ago, she'd promised the Circle that Adam would die once his use was over, and now was the time. He would not use or destroy her or her kind again. She simply would not permit it.
They stopped briefly to check on Cyber, the sight of so much blood horrific under any circumstance, let alone pouring from the skull of one so young. Emma couldn't feel her anymore, and Jesse couldn't find a pulse. And their rage grew out of all rational proportion.
They cornered Adam near the stairwell. He looked frightened but they didn't care. Concentrating, Emma made him feel caged, locked in. Shackles as effectively real as iron. There was something not quite right about it, but her anger and hatred outshone any second thought. She left the final decision to Jesse, though, the one who'd been used most.
Jesse could feel the rage in Emma. She wasn't pushing it at him or making him feel it, it was just there for anyone to feel, and he chose to let it take him along too, because everything had come crashing back. It wasn't just the drugs, Adam had been there at the interrogation. Adam had seen him when Vic- Langley'd had him. Adam had even been to some of her functions and humiliated him, boasted how he'd used Jesse's trust in him to bring down Cyberteam. They were all there in his head - Langley and Morrisen, both using and abusing in their own ways, and finally Adam, abusing his trust, using the fact that he didn't remember. Emma hadn't enlightened him either, but she'd her own problems, he'd seen that for himself.
And they had the man now in front of them, once friend, father and mentor, now betrayer and violator and the man who wanted to destroy his creations. The man, who seemed unmoved that he'd just left a little girl lying unconscious, yet was clearly frightened for his own life. Well, he should be - the creations were fighting back.
Burning rage stoked higher. He already counted himself a killer, had done so since he'd first stood by and watched two other manipulators die right in front of him. Burning, surging, pulling at the bit, he'd known it was the right thing to do, and he'd done it since in the line of duty.
"Please, you don't want to kill him, trust me, you don't." Adam's voice was uncharacteristically pleading.
"Should have thought about that before you destroyed us," he said, and phased the floor, watching detachedly side by side with Emma, the pair of them emotionless as Adam fell screaming to his death.
Shalimar was the first to approach them, her face white with shock. Brennan, still shaky but mobile, had gone with Lena downstairs to see what was left.
And Adam - the real Adam - was behind Emma and Jesse, cradling the moaning girl with Charlotte on his arm. She'd touched him less than a moment after he'd sent the girl flying, when he realised what he'd done. With Brennan's help they'd resuscitated the child, but that small relief amidst so much shock to his system became insignificant as they followed the impassioned appeal from near the stairwell. Picking the girl up gently, they'd hurried over and Adam felt a gut-wrenching shell shock as they all stared at the empty spot where Dale had begged them not to do it.
*****
