Chapter 2 Visitation
SUMMARY: Two different types of visitations to and from ghosts of Mutant X- Past. Sorry. I had to tweak the ending of this Chapter in order for Chapter 3 to come clean. Please review. I need to know if my writing has improved since "In His Image".
Adam and Brennan walked into Eckhart's room. Before she left, the doctor quietly warned Adam that Eckhart was not likely to revive and if he did, it would not be pretty. In the past couple weeks the man had remained mostly in a coma state. In the few moments that he would inexplicably return to consciousness, his cognitive functions had gone downhill to where he seemed mostly confused and unable to communicate. Adam grimaced. He never expected Mason to deteriorate like this. He thought his white-haired adversary, like himself, would have preferred to go out fighting.
Adam had expected Michelle to be here. Mason was much less hostile to her. After the doctor left the room, Adam closed the door and pulled up a chair close to Eckhart's hospital bed. He nodded grimly at Brennan. The tall dark-haired man held out his hand and a small Kesla arc danced on his fingers. Brennan stood over Eckhart's unconscious body and looked again at Adam.
"Now." Adam said, watching Eckhart's face intently.
Brennan placed his hand on Eckhart's forehead. Eckhart's body trembled from the electric charge. Suddenly his eyes opened with a vacant gaze. He sat bolt upright in his bed and stared wildly. The chair Adam was sitting on suddenly became fluid and warm and Adam jumped up in alarm. Michelle Eckhart suddenly materialized behind him. The lithe blond woman looked at him somberly.
"You WOULD have to choose the worn out chair over the new one," she berated him mildly. Adam shook his head.
Turning her attention to her father, Michelle placed her hand on his and gently kissed him. He was still trembling as if cold. She was unable to pick up any emotion from him save a feeling of confusion and lostness.
"Father?" she said softly. Eckhart blinked and looked at her. His lips moved slightly as he tried to speak. "Can you tell me where you are now?" She asked the thin pale man, pulling a blanket around his shoulders. A low groan escaped Eckhart's lips and he tried to push Michelle away. The blond woman looked pleadingly at Adam. Adam approached Mason Eckhart.
"Mason. It's me, Adam. We're here to help you," he said.
Eckhart stared at him blankly then looked at Michelle, then at Brennan. He pointed a skeletal finger at Brennan.
"Like," he said with a grin, "Sparky." Eckhart stared again at Adam and Michelle but registered no sign of recognition.
"I'm afraid we're losing him," Michelle said with a pained expression.
Adam replied determinedly, "There's always hope. We have to try. Now if we can keep him from slipping back…" he located the headset on the night stand and started to place it on Eckhart's head.
A look of sheer hatred shone in Eckhart's eyes as he fought the headset. A loud guttural cry came out of his mouth. "NOOOO," Eckhart moaned.
"It's for your own good," Adam told him.
Michelle suddenly raised her head in alarm and abruptly blended in with the room furnishings. There was a blanket on the floor that hadn't been there before. The door opened and Dr. Kyle walked back in. She assessed the scene in a glance. Adam dodged Eckhart's fist that was sightlessly aimed at his face.
"Well Dr. Kane, it seems we're making progress here." The woman commented. "He needs to rest. I'm sure waking up has been a traumatic experience for him."
Eckhart howled miserably. Dr. Kyle picked up the blanket from the floor, refolded it and placed it at the foot of Eckhart's bed. She looked inquiringly at Adam. "Why do you bother, Adam? He is a high risk liability, criminal, no friends, one family member. Certainly, you could channel your resources into more deserving causes."
Adam shot her a level, determined gaze. "He is still part of the chase," he replied cryptically.
Dr. Kyle raised an eyebrow. Adam Kane was certainly eccentric. "Pack or prey?" she asked. Adam allowed himself a hint of a smile but didn't answer her. He and Brennan filed out of the room as Eckhart continued to sob and howl as strong arms gently restrained him from removing the head set.
"Can she give him something to calm down?" Brennan asked soberly.
Adam shook his head. "He's too unstable as it is, one moment comatose, another moment, that..…" he indicated the closed door behind them with a pained expression. They continued back to Sanctuary in silence, each lost in his own thoughts.
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Shalimar tossed in her bed. She was unable to sleep, she could feel the feral urges within her to hunt, to kill. She leaped out of bed and headed for the Dojo as Adam had trained her to do. When she got there, she could see that it was already in use. Adam was wearing a sleeveless tank top, fighting 3 holographic GSA agents, whirling and kicking with amazing speed. Shalimar's eyes glowed and she licked her lips as she watched. She absently wondered if Adam had borrowed Brennan's clothes, then dismissed the thought. Brennan was a big man. Naw.
A bleary-eyed Emma groggily shuffled in to the area and plopped herself down a distance away from her friend. She hadn't been able to sleep again, and thought that a peaceful session in the Dojo would help.
A fourth agent materialized and pinned Adam down while the others began to converge on him. Unable to contain herself any longer, Shalimar leaped into the fray. For a moment she thought that Adam had bared his teeth at her, but she dismissed the thought, knowing that she was heavily under Feral influence and was interpreting everything in that context. The two worked as a team, disarming whatever agents the computer could generate- Adam leap-frogged over Shalimar to disable the agent behind her and to gain a vantage point against the other two; Shalimar rolled over Adam's back to tear into the remaining two. Their bodies glistened with sweat. With the final agent dispatched, Shalimar high-fived Adam. Adam was panting heavily, but looked delighted with himself. Shalimar eyed him curiously.
"I didn't know you actually did this type of training exercise. I thought you just developed this program for me."
Adam grinned. "Now you know how I test it."
"But your moves were so…." Shalimar stopped and followed Adam's tense gaze to the other side of the Dojo.
Gabriel Ashlocke was leaning casually against the wall, leering at Shalimar's Amazonian form. "Miss me?" He asked.
He turned his head and shook a finger admonishingly at Adam. "Adam," Ashlocke said conversationally, "Didn't I tell you that we weren't finished yet?" He broke into a huge grin as Shalimar tried to strike him down only to find that her fist had passed through him.
"You and me need to talk, honey." He told the beautiful blonde woman. She snarled at him. "I know, I bring out the beast in you, my dear," Ashlocke prattled on amicably.
Adam spotted Emma staring at them in apparent fear and disbelief. He sprang down the stairs to her while Ashlocke told him, "Old man, it's great to be back…."
Adam ignored him. Reaching Emma's side, he could see that she was terrified. He put his arm around her to comfort her. "Emma, do you see him?"
Gabriel Ashlocke frowned as he started to fade away. "Pay attention to me!" he thundered as he wafted into nothingness. Emma's eyelids fluttered at the sound of Adam's voice. She stared at him blankly for a moment.
"I saw him in the Dojo, Gabriel was alive and I couldn't do anything to stop him," Emma said plaintively.
"We all saw him, Emma." Adam said and held her protectively.
Adam, Shalimar and Emma huddled together in front of the Dojo. Did they all share the same hallucination? Gabriel Ashlocke was dead, yet there he was a few minutes ago plain as day and quite alive. The three discussed what each one had seen and heard, trying to put the pieces together. The powerful mutant was obviously intangible, so he was either in their minds or computer generated. Emma's version deviated from what Shalimar and Adam had experienced so that indicated a telepathic link. Emma said that Ashlocke addressed her only in that confrontation, urging her to join him, threatening her with the total destruction of Mutant X if she didn't.
"It makes no sense." Emma said. Shal and Adam agreed. Adam notified Brennan and Jesse via com-link. Who knew when or where circumstances would conjure up this dangerous ghost of the past and what kind of control Gabriel Ashlocke may still wield over each of them?
