Sorry to string this out, but I couldn't resist. As always, let me know if
you approve.
Disclaimer: The members of Mutant X aren't mine, but I promise not to bruise them up too much before I'm done.
********
NATURE OR NURTURE: Fragmented
Back at Sanctuary, Brennan found himself mesmerized by the printout Jesse brought back from the police station. That face ... In his many "interactions" with the boys in blue, he'd never run into anything that disturbed him quite so much. The familiar dark eyes and scruffy five- o'clock shadow made skin crawl.
"This is a joke, right?"
Next to him, Emma was poring over the letters. She shot him an exasperated look. "I know I've got a sick sense of humor, Bren, but I don't think that any of us are that twisted."
"Then where the hell did the cops get this?"
Jesse shook his head. "From a bag lady named Marion Sturges. She said that he had blood on his hands. And no, before you ask, I couldn't find any link between her and Genomex or any of our other 'friends'."
Shalimar sat across the room, paging through Jesse's notes. "Well, we might not have any idea where our mystery man came from, but, I think it's safe to say that the Tyler in Lily's letters and Tyler Verlaine are one and the same. Do we have anything at all on McKay? Or Seth?"
"McKay is General Arthur McKay, head of Icarus. Not a shock. But we don't have anything on a Seth." Jesse looked up from the computer where he was working. "McKay worked in Vietnam on Project Phoenix, running covert operations in Laos and Cambodia. He was a spook. Heavily decorated, quickly promoted. Whatever he was doing, it must have been something extraordinary. Usually the government does everything in its power to distance itself from these guys. When Icarus started up in 1990, he was at the helm." Jesse turned back to the screen. "And he was one of Genomex's biggest proponents in the government."
Brennan tore his eyes from the picture. "Do you think Adam knows him? It would explain a lot."
"Where is our fearless leader, by the way? The man's vanished." Shalimar's voice echoed the worry each of them felt.
Adam disappeared all the time. He was probably pumping someone for information about the murder. Brennan was staring into the familiar face of the composite when Emma sat bolt upright next to him. The motion caused her right thigh to slide along his, sending shivers through his lower body. He glanced at Emma out of the corner of his eye. She appeared totally unaffected. Her red hair was bundled into a twist at the nape of her neck, and wispy tendrils framed her oval face. Her blue eyes scanned the contents of one of the letters furiously.
"Listen to this: 'I just got back last night. I went to see the old place. McKay has quite the new crop this year. One of the kids almost gutted me before I noticed him.' Icarus is still actively recruiting." She shuffled through the stack of papers. "There's another one here somewhere ... Got it. 'Do you ever get homesick, Lily? Sometimes, when I'm out on a job, all I can think about is sunset over the Brookfields.' Any idea where that is?"
"No, but I can find out." Jesse pounded away at the keyboard.
Brennan leaned over Emma's shoulder to peek at the letters. The angular black scrawl was distinctive, striking. He watched her slender fingers trace over the words, as though she could touch the writer through them. Frowning, he asked, "Are you picking something up, Em?"
She shook her head as though trying to clear it, and a small wisp of silky hair fluttered against his cheek. "I don't know. I've never been able to before, but these letters almost seem to radiate pain." Paper crackled under her hands. "It feels ... different."
Shalimar heaved a sigh behind them. "I'm going bonkers just sitting here, doing nothing. We should be out looking for Verlaine or McKay." She shoved away from the desk and began to stalk around the room. "What do we have? A pregnant mutant, murdered. Genomex selling kids to top-secret projects. A government-run assassin farm. And a witness who puts that man- " She threw a glance at the composite "-at the scene of the crime."
An exclamation from Jesse brought the tirade to a halt. "I've got a location for the Brookfields. It's a small ridge of mountains in central Vermont."
Brennan gave a disbelieving snort. "What, was the government training operatives to snowboard and make maple syrup?"
"Who cares?" muttered Shal. "Is there any government property in that area?"
Jesse ran a quick search. "There's a small farm outside of a place called Randolph."
Shalimar smiled impishly. "Anyone feel like a field trip?"
Before Brennan could open his mouth, Jesse said, "Vermont? Hell, yeah. They've got great skiing this time of year." He shot out of his seat and headed toward his room.
"It's not a vacation, Jess!" called Brennan to his friend's retreating back. He turned to find Emma watching him closely. "Looks like that leaves you and me to check out Icarus. It's not skiing down a gorgeous mountainside, but it's got to be done."
Emma's full lips curled up at the corners. "No loss." She leaned into Brennan, as though preparing to let him in on a secret. "Between you and me, I was never very good at hurling myself down a snow-encrusted slope. I always made it to the bottom but rarely upright."
Brennan forced a smile. Being alone with Emma always made him ... uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the knowledge that there was no one else around for her to read. She would sense all of his feelings without any distractions. Even now, with Shal and Jesse on their way out, Emma probably sensed his discomfort.
Confirming his thoughts, Emma grasped him by the shoulders; her small hands were surprisingly strong. He couldn't look away from her fierce blue stare. "Bren, don't worry about it. If you worry about it, you're going to make me crazy. Believe me, you don't want to see me when I'm crazy." She cocked her head and gave him a flirtatious wink. "After all Mr. Mulwray, you're hardly the first man I've been alone with." She released his shoulders with a playful shove.
Brennan felt something in his chest relax. If Emma didn't care, he didn't care. His gaze fell to the printout. There were more important things to think about.
********
Adam watched on the screen in his private apartment as the team shared information and plotted a course for the investigation. Damn it, he should be there, helping them. Guiding them.
Every time he thought of Lily's mutilated body, Adam wanted to smash something to bits. At Genomex, Lily had been the sweetest and most trusting of all the children. All of the others rallied around her protectively. Now she was dead.
And it was his fault.
Adam buried his head in his hands and willed himself to stop shaking. He was useless, helpless. God, he hated feeling that way. Faces flitted through his mind, faces he thought he'd long-since forgotten.
Ian. Elizabeth. Jacob. Nadine. Tyler. Seth.
Seth. Even the thought of him was enough to paralyze Adam. He'd known about Seth's involvement ever since analyzing the blood samples from Lily's apartment, but he had no idea that Seth's mental state had deteriorated so rapidly. Once Brennan and Shalimar mentioned contents of the letters, not a single trace of doubt remained in Adam's mind. Seth had murdered Lily and left her body in the alley.
And, after that, Seth was going to fulfill the only promise he'd ever made to Adam. Seth was going to kill him, too. Even if he had to murder his way through Mutant X to keep his promise.
Disclaimer: The members of Mutant X aren't mine, but I promise not to bruise them up too much before I'm done.
********
NATURE OR NURTURE: Fragmented
Back at Sanctuary, Brennan found himself mesmerized by the printout Jesse brought back from the police station. That face ... In his many "interactions" with the boys in blue, he'd never run into anything that disturbed him quite so much. The familiar dark eyes and scruffy five- o'clock shadow made skin crawl.
"This is a joke, right?"
Next to him, Emma was poring over the letters. She shot him an exasperated look. "I know I've got a sick sense of humor, Bren, but I don't think that any of us are that twisted."
"Then where the hell did the cops get this?"
Jesse shook his head. "From a bag lady named Marion Sturges. She said that he had blood on his hands. And no, before you ask, I couldn't find any link between her and Genomex or any of our other 'friends'."
Shalimar sat across the room, paging through Jesse's notes. "Well, we might not have any idea where our mystery man came from, but, I think it's safe to say that the Tyler in Lily's letters and Tyler Verlaine are one and the same. Do we have anything at all on McKay? Or Seth?"
"McKay is General Arthur McKay, head of Icarus. Not a shock. But we don't have anything on a Seth." Jesse looked up from the computer where he was working. "McKay worked in Vietnam on Project Phoenix, running covert operations in Laos and Cambodia. He was a spook. Heavily decorated, quickly promoted. Whatever he was doing, it must have been something extraordinary. Usually the government does everything in its power to distance itself from these guys. When Icarus started up in 1990, he was at the helm." Jesse turned back to the screen. "And he was one of Genomex's biggest proponents in the government."
Brennan tore his eyes from the picture. "Do you think Adam knows him? It would explain a lot."
"Where is our fearless leader, by the way? The man's vanished." Shalimar's voice echoed the worry each of them felt.
Adam disappeared all the time. He was probably pumping someone for information about the murder. Brennan was staring into the familiar face of the composite when Emma sat bolt upright next to him. The motion caused her right thigh to slide along his, sending shivers through his lower body. He glanced at Emma out of the corner of his eye. She appeared totally unaffected. Her red hair was bundled into a twist at the nape of her neck, and wispy tendrils framed her oval face. Her blue eyes scanned the contents of one of the letters furiously.
"Listen to this: 'I just got back last night. I went to see the old place. McKay has quite the new crop this year. One of the kids almost gutted me before I noticed him.' Icarus is still actively recruiting." She shuffled through the stack of papers. "There's another one here somewhere ... Got it. 'Do you ever get homesick, Lily? Sometimes, when I'm out on a job, all I can think about is sunset over the Brookfields.' Any idea where that is?"
"No, but I can find out." Jesse pounded away at the keyboard.
Brennan leaned over Emma's shoulder to peek at the letters. The angular black scrawl was distinctive, striking. He watched her slender fingers trace over the words, as though she could touch the writer through them. Frowning, he asked, "Are you picking something up, Em?"
She shook her head as though trying to clear it, and a small wisp of silky hair fluttered against his cheek. "I don't know. I've never been able to before, but these letters almost seem to radiate pain." Paper crackled under her hands. "It feels ... different."
Shalimar heaved a sigh behind them. "I'm going bonkers just sitting here, doing nothing. We should be out looking for Verlaine or McKay." She shoved away from the desk and began to stalk around the room. "What do we have? A pregnant mutant, murdered. Genomex selling kids to top-secret projects. A government-run assassin farm. And a witness who puts that man- " She threw a glance at the composite "-at the scene of the crime."
An exclamation from Jesse brought the tirade to a halt. "I've got a location for the Brookfields. It's a small ridge of mountains in central Vermont."
Brennan gave a disbelieving snort. "What, was the government training operatives to snowboard and make maple syrup?"
"Who cares?" muttered Shal. "Is there any government property in that area?"
Jesse ran a quick search. "There's a small farm outside of a place called Randolph."
Shalimar smiled impishly. "Anyone feel like a field trip?"
Before Brennan could open his mouth, Jesse said, "Vermont? Hell, yeah. They've got great skiing this time of year." He shot out of his seat and headed toward his room.
"It's not a vacation, Jess!" called Brennan to his friend's retreating back. He turned to find Emma watching him closely. "Looks like that leaves you and me to check out Icarus. It's not skiing down a gorgeous mountainside, but it's got to be done."
Emma's full lips curled up at the corners. "No loss." She leaned into Brennan, as though preparing to let him in on a secret. "Between you and me, I was never very good at hurling myself down a snow-encrusted slope. I always made it to the bottom but rarely upright."
Brennan forced a smile. Being alone with Emma always made him ... uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the knowledge that there was no one else around for her to read. She would sense all of his feelings without any distractions. Even now, with Shal and Jesse on their way out, Emma probably sensed his discomfort.
Confirming his thoughts, Emma grasped him by the shoulders; her small hands were surprisingly strong. He couldn't look away from her fierce blue stare. "Bren, don't worry about it. If you worry about it, you're going to make me crazy. Believe me, you don't want to see me when I'm crazy." She cocked her head and gave him a flirtatious wink. "After all Mr. Mulwray, you're hardly the first man I've been alone with." She released his shoulders with a playful shove.
Brennan felt something in his chest relax. If Emma didn't care, he didn't care. His gaze fell to the printout. There were more important things to think about.
********
Adam watched on the screen in his private apartment as the team shared information and plotted a course for the investigation. Damn it, he should be there, helping them. Guiding them.
Every time he thought of Lily's mutilated body, Adam wanted to smash something to bits. At Genomex, Lily had been the sweetest and most trusting of all the children. All of the others rallied around her protectively. Now she was dead.
And it was his fault.
Adam buried his head in his hands and willed himself to stop shaking. He was useless, helpless. God, he hated feeling that way. Faces flitted through his mind, faces he thought he'd long-since forgotten.
Ian. Elizabeth. Jacob. Nadine. Tyler. Seth.
Seth. Even the thought of him was enough to paralyze Adam. He'd known about Seth's involvement ever since analyzing the blood samples from Lily's apartment, but he had no idea that Seth's mental state had deteriorated so rapidly. Once Brennan and Shalimar mentioned contents of the letters, not a single trace of doubt remained in Adam's mind. Seth had murdered Lily and left her body in the alley.
And, after that, Seth was going to fulfill the only promise he'd ever made to Adam. Seth was going to kill him, too. Even if he had to murder his way through Mutant X to keep his promise.
