Thank you, to all of you who reviewed. I read all of them carefully and took your suggestions, although I wasn't able to make everyone happy. I hope you all like this chapter (personally I like it better than my other 3). Thanks to Quest for editing yet another chapter. Here's chapter 4…

~Sanctuary~

Early, Early Morning

It was way before sunrise; no sound yet existed in Sanctuary. The only thing present was silence. Suddenly, a moving shadow could be seen projected by the light from the equipment, a solitary soul moving about without a noise. Arriving at the computer console she stopped, leaning down she brought it online as the sound of beeps and the tapping of keys filled the room. On the screen several windows were brought into view. A small sound filled the room of an instant message being sent. The person opened a file from the message with a floor plan of a building. Suddenly, quick footsteps echoing nearby caused an abrupt end to this exchange. A few quick taps and the screensaver was all that could be seen. The footsteps came to a stop near the computer console.

"I could've sworn someone was here," Shalimar said aloud to herself. Her eyes going feral she searched the darkness of Sanctuary. "Brennan?!? Jesse?!? Adam?!? Emma?!?" Shalimar raised her voice to the darkness but no answer came, implying that anyone had been there at all. After pacing the area she shrugged it off and went to bed.

Later that Morning

Jesse had just gotten up and walking by he saw movement in the dojo. Making sure to stay out of sight he backed up behind a corner and just peered out. There fighting a couple of very difficult holograms was … Emma. She rarely ever fought, let alone practiced, and here she was fighting like there was no tomorrow. "It was as if she were a different person," thought Jesse. Very slowly he walked past pretending not to see her.

"Hey Jesse!" Emma shouted as she kicked a hologram in the stomach causing them all to vanish. She hurried down the steps to him wiping the sweat off her forehead with a towel as she went. "So, you wanna work out with me?"

"Ah… no thanks, maybe later," said Jesse a little offhanded.

"Come ON! Why not?!?" Emma asked with anger rising in her voice.

"Em, you okay?" Jesse asked cautiously. She had just had a major mood change. One minute she was pleasant and exhausted, the next minute angry and frustrated.

"Oh I'm fine, just fine." She answered in a seductive sort of tone. She then leaned towards him as if she were going to kiss him. As she got closer Jesse began leaning in, but she faked him out, quickly shifted to the right and walked away giving a satisfied hair toss. She only glanced back once with a slightly sadistic smile on her face, in her mind she couldn't help but laugh. She left Jesse standing there a bit dumbfounded and entranced.

"That's my girl" Gabriel's voice echoed in Emma's head. "Let go, be reckless… have fun. But, don't forget your assignment."

"Don't worry, I'm just getting started," answered Emma "they won't know what hit them."

Just after lunch Shalimar and Adam were discussing a new mutant they were trying to track down. Apparently the Strand was also pursuing this mutant, and they were saying how they needed to get to him before the Strand. "He's obviously afraid Adam, we can't just go in there again and assume he'll trust us!" Shalimar said with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm aware of that Shalimar--"

"Then don't send Brennan in, you know him he'll just make it worse, especially since he didn't do too great last time." Shalimar interrupted.

"I don't see what the problem is…" Emma butted in as she entered the lab. "We go in there get the kid and get out, it's as simple as that." She continued casually as if they were determining what movie to see instead of how to possibly save someone's life from a sociopath. Both Adam and Shalimar looked at Emma like she was crazy, but she wasn't joking around from the look on her face and she definitely wasn't acting serious.

"Is anything wrong Emma?" Shalimar asked shooting Adam a confounded look.

"Nope, everything is just perfect" she replied.

"Maybe you should go lie down and get some rest," suggested Adam. Immediately Emma's blithe face turned a bit horrid.

"I SAID, there's nothing WRONG with me." Emma forced out as if she were a 2-year-old on the verge of a tantrum. Shooting them both a look of disgust she shoved some test tubes of the counter top and stormed out leaving her teammates with appalled looks upon their faces.

Early that evening Jesse was going to go ask Emma if she'd like to go to a club that night, when coming to her doorway he sees her wearing a very skimpy outfit with a lot of cleavage showing. She was looking at herself in a mirror, in her reflection Emma saw Jesse standing at her door and she spun around to face him. She walked up to him and touched his arm in a flirtatious manner. "What do you think?" she asked spinning around allowing him to see her wardrobe. Jesse was speechless but he couldn't resist looking her over. In order to keep his emotions from escaping he had to take a deep breath.

"You—look really…" Jesse's voice faded as he kept staring until he realized what he was doing he snapped back to attention and finishing his answer. "Great, fantastic, really-- ahem… sensational." His last word rested on his tongue, as he didn't say it as loud. Emma smiled, she was very aware of what just happened, but this wasn't the kind of innocent smile she usually wore, it was more like the type of smile you'd see on Shal's face.

"Well, that's good to know…" she said lightly and then she decided to influence the situation. In her mind she pictured her dreamscape and in there she and Jesse were kissing. Then she transferred that reality over to Jesse's mind, which in turn caused him to lean in and kiss her. "Perfect, just perfect. Soon the whole team will be within my grasp," she thought to herself.

~The Strand~

Sitting in a comfortable chair in one of his many lounging rooms Gabriel blinked himself out of a concentrated trance. "So?" a voice asked from behind him causing him to turn around, it was Sharon.

"Just as I planned. With this new Emma her cautious nature won't get in the way of the plan and it's simpler than plain mind control since all I have to do is force out her sub-conscience. And I wouldn't have been able to do that without you Sharon." He reached from his seat and pulled her into a kiss. "Soon I will have Shalimar, and as for the rest of Mutant X…" he made a motion with his finger as if slitting his throat. At that both he and Sharon laughed a low malicious laugh.

TBC…

Tell me what you think of this chapter, as always every review is appreciated. Tell me what you think of Emma's "new" personality, I'm working very hard in developing it. Here's a question for you guys and I want your opinion. What do you think will happen next in the story? I want to hear everyone's opinion and if I like your idea I may just add a little of that into my story. Next post I'll let you know whose I liked the best.