Well here's chapter 2, I hope you like it. Emma/Jesse shippers I promise there's a lot more Emma Jesse. It'll just take a little longer. Don't worry Brennan/Shalimar fans there's stuff for you too cause I really like those two pairings. A future story I'm planning will focus on Brennan/Shalimar. This story although with Brennan/Shalimar is more of an Emma/Jesse story. After all I had to start somewhere. A big thanks to Quest and innocent choir girl for helping me and a huge thanks to those who reviewed. I didn't think that many people would review.
"Emma will make the perfect weapon, and somehow Adam missed this." Gabriel smiled sadistically at the very idea. "With Adam's psionic on my side there'll be nothing to keep me from Shalimar. Emma is merely an obstacle and the only reason Shal can get away from me."
"Gabriel! You're mad, please…" Sharon pleaded for him to leave it be. "It's not worth it with the short time you have left." Her face was wet with tears and sweat. Desperate, Sharon searched her mind for something that would stop him. Quickly thinking of an idea, "The psionic is strong anyway Gabriel, it'll be impossible to grip her mind through a link. She's just too powerful."
Immediately Sharon knew she had said the wrong thing. Gabriel's eyes flashed feral as he grabbed her at the back of her head pushing her closer to him causing Sharon to tremble. "You know Sharon you shouldn't start there with me. I'm beginning to think you're a loose thread because it seems that you care more about Mutant X than me, plus here's something you should never ever forget. I am the most powerful mutant, not only do I have Emma's ability but I have everyone else's as well." He still held onto her and stared as if through her.
Stuttering Sharon found her voice and replied, "I…I'll…I'll remember that."
"Make sure that you do… Now, time to create a strategy for Emma's capture."
~Sanctuary~
Crouched in the garden, Shalimar rubbed her head glad that at least for now she was the only one in there. Still a bit unsteady she pondered about what had just happened. First, she had a lot of fun practicing with Brennan. She remembered thinking how handsome and strong he was, then Gabriel invaded her mind. Shalimar wondered. "Why," she whispered aloud, "why won't he leave me alone? What does he want with me?" Her stomach lurched just thinking of the possibilities. Echoing footsteps caused Shalimar to jump; turning around she came face to face with Jesse.
"Hey Shal, you okay?" he asked already being informed on what had happened.
"I've been better" she replied in a shaky voice. "It's just whenever he gets in my head I feel overwhelmed and helpless like I'm totally defenseless."
"You know that's not true Shalimar, like Emma has said you can fight him out of your mind. You know all of us are here if you need us, so don't think you're doing this alone."
Not knowing what else to say she replied "Thanks Jess."
Meanwhile in the lab Adam was going over information on the Strand's activity, Brennan was helping. "Look at this they've been all over the place in the last 6 hours what the hell are they doing?" Brennan asked not expecting any answer.
"That's what we're trying to figure out Brennan, now in that area I want you to get any security footage you can, so maybe we can see what they're up to," Adam said doing the same for another section. Jesse walked in and logged onto a console.
"So Jesse, how's Shalimar doing?" Brennan questioned as he worked.
"I think she'll be fine, but she's pretty shaken up from the whole ordeal." Jesse answered as he joined Adam and Brennan in their work.
They worked searching for clues of the Strand's next move for what seemed like hours. Just as Shalimar and Emma came into the lab, "hey, I think I found something," Jesse said. As he brought it up onto the screen the others crowded around him.
"Looks like Ashlocke is having a little get together in an abandoned hotel north of Main Street" Emma commented.
"Well what are we waiting for lets go kick his ass." Shalimar said as she walked towards the door.
"A very good idea Shalimar," said Adam, "but you're not going."
"WHAT?!? Why not? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!" she retaliated angrily.
"Shal, have you forgotten you already have given him a piece of your mind, literally?" Jesse reminded Shalimar. "Adam, I think Emma and Brennan should go." He glanced a bit nervously at Shalimar. "I can say here and alert them of any odd commotion in the area and its surroundings."
"Good idea, Shalimar you need to rest otherwise it'll get easier for Gabriel to catch you off guard in your mind." At Adam's comment Shalimar stomped off to her room to blow off some steam. Everyone flinched as her door slammed. "Okay, Jesse how's the security?"
"Its semi secure but they'll still need to be on the look out. In the building it seems they're holding two new mutant hostages one is a water elemental the other is a… telekinetic psionic."
"What would Ashlocke want with hostages?" Brennan asked.
"Well, maybe he's trying to blackmail someone or force them to divulge information." Emma stated knowingly as she undertook odd glances from her teammates. "HEY! If you can think of something better let's hear it." she said defensively.
"Well whatever it is we need to get going." Brennan continued knowing that Ashlocke needed to be stopped. Brennan grabbed his coat hurrying to the Double Helix. Emma followed reluctantly but not until after she glanced back at Jesse who nodded as if allowing her to go on. Boarding the Double Helix Brennan quickly took the controls and fired up the engines as Emma brought the Helix online. Then without another word the Helix took flight in the direction according to the coordinates sent from Sanctuary.
~Hotel Main~
The Double Helix landed atop a neighboring building to the vacant hotel and Brennan and Emma got out cautiously in order to avoid causing any disturbances. Both leapt off the two-story building and lying low they crept towards the hotel. They hid behind some large trashcans in the alley. Brennan peeked around the corner looking for guards. "There's only two of them, we can easily take them out" he whispered.
Emma nodded in agreement as he leaned out and shot a stream of electricity from one hand knocking out one of the guards. Then not too soon Emma came out from behind the trashcans and hit the other guard with a psionic blast knocking him out as well. With a satisfactory smile Emma said, "well, let's get going." The two of them headed in the once guarded side door and into the complex.
Inside the lights were either out or dim and blinking, while everything was smothered in dust. "Why would Ashlocke choose such a dump as a hideout? Seems to me with his power he could have his pick of places," Brennan stated as they edged along the very creaky hallway.
Suddenly Emma held out her arm in front of Brennan to keep him from walking forward and held one finger to her lips shushing him. "There's definitely someone close by" she said softly "I can sense them… and they're not alone." Then a distant look came over her and out of the blue she whispered hurriedly "run!"
Both of them ran to the right running as quietly as possible but not succeeding. They continued onward blindly going left, right or up. Going on until they both heard frightened muffled voices coming from a few doors down form where they were. Glancing at each other they rushed down the hallway until they were sure they were at the correct room. Hastily Brennan kicked the door down not wasting time to see whether it was locked or not. Dust flew everywhere and inside was a window lit room with two people tied back to back and gagged. Surrounding them were five guards of Gabriel's all different types of mutants. "Well it looks like we've got company," a man said who appeared to be the lead guard.
"That's right but we're not staying for the party." Brennan responded defiantly.
Immediately a fight broke out. Brennan ignited electricity on his palms and created an arch shooting down the commanding guard and another one. Mean while the other three surrounded Emma, but she wasn't worried because she sent out a worst nightmare to each of them causing them to collapse to the floor in fear. The fight went quite well for the both of them. To finish it off Brennan gave a powerful blow to all of them with high voltage electric bolts and Emma knocked them out harshly with a vigorous psionic blast. "Not to worry we're going to get you guys out of here safe and sound" said Emma calming the hostages just as Brennan took out an army knife and sliced through the ropes freeing them.
"Jesse," said Brennan speaking into his comlink, "we've freed the prisoners and getting ready to exit the hotel, anyone coming our way?"
"Not so far, it looks clear for quite a ways, now would be a good time for you two to get out of there" Jesse's voice came back through the comlink.
"He's right Brennan if we don't hurry we may not be able to get out." Then turning to the two new mutants, "Come on we need to get out of here, the Strand will be coming for you soon."
The four new mutants set off quickly towards the closest exit. They turned this way and that coming closer to the alleyway they had entered from. Brennan kept whispering for the other two mutants to hurry up because they seemed to slow down from panic. "Great we're almost there, Emma, you can see right there are only our footprints in the dust there." Brennan spoke relieved they were almost back to the safety of the Double Helix. He contacted Sanctuary then to inform of their soon departure, "hey Jess we're heading back and we've got the new mutants with us."
Coming to the familiar door they had come through Emma pushed through followed by the two mutants and Brennan bringing up the rear. Suddenly the relief on both of their faces vanished as they saw the alley was swarming with Strand members including Gabriel. "This is not good," Emma said breaking the silence.
"Not for you any ways" stated Gabriel with his usual smile spread over his face.
To a greater surprise Emma and Brennan watched as the two mutants they had rescued strolled over to Gabriel and stood by his side, both had matching smug smiles. "A setup," Brennan said through clenched teeth.
"How right you are Brennan, although you weren't always the one prone to figuring things out now, were you," Gabriel added his smile never fading.
"Well too bad for you cause Shalimar isn't here although she wanted so much to kick your ass," Emma said hoping to wipe the grin off of Gabriel's face, but it didn't.
"No, no, no Emma you misunderstand. I didn't set all of this up to get Shalimar here. This was only a… minor step into bringing her to me."
"What, so you're going to hold us for ransom?" Brennan asked a bit edgy as he noticed a new mutant threatening to shoot a stream of water at him.
"Of course not Brennan, you aren't important. You see all of this was to bring you here… Emma." Gabriel's smile widened as silence fell among Brennan and Emma.
Then, finally deciding that she better say something, "in your dreams Ashlocke, you'll never bend my mind or play any of your little games with me."
"That's where you're wrong Emma," and at that Gabriel strode forward.
Immediately Brennan blocked Emma from Ashlocke and shot electricity from both his hands at him which he blocked of course. Brennan was about to shoot another stream out when then he was hit by several gallons of water from the aqua-based mutant. Then Gabriel powered up his energy blast and hit Brennan with it sending him flying. "Emma, Emma, Emma… there's nothing you can do to stop me so you might as well cooperate and make it easier on the both of us. You're going to be the key in getting what I want; with you there'll be nothing to stop me this time," Brennan only barely heard what Gabriel had said before he passed out on the pavement.
Then Gabriel flashed Emma another smile before he hit her with quite a high voltage of electricity knocking her out. The Strand gathered together into vehicles and headed off towards their hideout. Gabriel slid into his car with Emma slung over his shoulder. Putting her into the back seat, he looked over at Sharon in the passenger seat who looked a bit shaken. "Well Sharon, soon you'll play an important part in the execution of my plan. If it wasn't for you I probably won't be able to put Emma under my complete control." Sharon didn't seem too thrilled about the news. Gabriel just gave her as he stepped on the gas and pulled away violently.
~Meanwhile~
Brennan shook his head as he forced himself up to his feet. A bit dizzy he frantically looked around for Emma only to find he was alone. What Gabriel had done wasn't a dream, it had actually happened. Starting to panic at the fact that this whole thing was in fact a set-up and it was partially his fault that his teammate was taken hostage Brennan strode towards the Double Helix on the roof. Along the way he spotted Emma's comlink on the ground. Still unaware of how long he had been out he decided the best thing to do was contact Sanctuary. "Jesse…" came Brennan's shaky voice over the comlink.
"What is it Brennan?" Jesse asked noting the instability in his voice.
"Emma's gone. She's been taken by the Strand…"
TBC
Ok whether you liked this chapter or not review any ways because if there's something that can better it I'm open to suggestions and will consider them all. I'll try to get chapter 3 up in a week or less as I did this chapter. Of course I'd prefer to get it up sooner. I Look forward to reading your feedback.