8- Shadows and illusions

A/N: Evil Emma has returned. Hope this doesn't gross you out too much.

"This is so perfect," Emma said spinning around in the snow covered woodland and flying into his arms. The man caught her and embraced her gently. She stood in the woods with him, watching the powdery snow drift about in the air. A ray of sunlight broke through the branches of a hemlock tree. Emma gazed around at the ethereal scene.

"Michael I, I can't believe how beautiful this is. This is so heavenly!"

The man smiled and kissed Emma gently on the forehead. "I want to share everything with you, Emma," he said. His gray eyes seemed sad, somehow. Emma, concerned touched his face and met his eyes. She wanted to comfort him. She formed a mind-link.

Suddenly she was in the city streets that she had grown up in, yet not her, but her companion, looking upon her memories through her own eyes. A child played at the edge of the street placing bits of different colored glass in patterns on the blacktop. The sun picked up the colors and turned their brilliance into a marvelous sight. The child clapped her hands at the pretty colors.

"Beautiful, Emma." The man drew Emma to himself for a hug. Emma clung to him.

"You are my heart, Michael." She said. Emma closed her eyes, totally content in the presence of her soul-mate. As Gabriel Ashlocke held her tightly in her fantasy, his powerful mind gazed upon the real world through Emma's identity and easily interacted with it through her body. "With our Psionic powers locked together, we are invincible," Ashlocke/Emma sneered.

NIGHT OUT FROM SANCTUARY

A few nights later, Shal, Brennan and Jesse decided to head out to the local club to unwind and have fun.

"Hey, let's stop by and see if Michelle wants to come along." Shalimar suggested. She felt a kindred connection to the younger Feral. Jesse nodded enthusiastically. He had also taken a liking to the blond woman.

Michelle answered the door. Behind her, Mr. Eckhart peered at them through his red-lens glasses and shuffled toward her in crutches. Along with his denims, he wore a comfortable blue sweatshirt that had a paint-screened picture of a wolf against the moon. Shalimar, Brennan and Jesse stared at him in slack-jawed astonishment.

Shalimar gave Mr. Eckhart an uncertain look then addressed Michelle. "Hey, we're headed to the club. Want to make it a foursome?" She asked.

Michelle looked questioningly at the group. "Emma?"

"She's been helping Adam with some project that he's been working on in the lab." Shalimar replied. Mason Eckhart raised an eyebrow behind Michelle.

Jesse added, "C'mon, it would be lots of fun." He beamed at her. Michelle smiled back and looked over at her father.

Eckhart dismissed her with a nod of his head then attempted a reassuring smile. "Go. I'll be all right. I don't need a babysitter."

"I'll only be a moment," Michelle said, flying into her room to change.

"Come in," Mr. Eckhart said to Brennan, Shalimar and Jesse. "I won't bite." Inside the small, Spartan living-room, Brennan, Jesse and Shalimar stood around uncomfortably. Mason Eckhart hobbled toward the kitchenette on his crutches.

"Can I interest you in something to drink?" he asked.

"Oh, no, please. You don't have to go through all the trouble, Mr. Eckhart," Brennan stumbled over his words.

Eckhart stopped and slowly turned around to stare at the group of Adam's people, now standing around uncomfortably in his daughter's living room. A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "MR Eckhart," he said softly, amused. "Did I detect a little respect, Mr. Mulray, or pity?" Brennan's face reddened.

Michelle reappeared, wearing a stunning black dress that showed off her agile form and Jesse smiled in approval.

"You'll be all right, Father?" Michelle asked him.

"I need my time alone too," Mason Eckhart told her. She gazed earnestly at the white-haired man and nodded.

Relieved, the group of young adults piled into the car and headed to the club.

Alone, Eckhart placed the crutches aside and strode easily to the computer. His eyes turned silver as he interfaced with it. "Pseuver-admin, genomex" he sent his thoughts into the network like a key. "Natalia, lend me your strength." He whispered.
IN ADAM'S LAB

Emma watched Adam finish a set of experiments. He looked flushed and irritated as he kept rubbing his neck. Emma watched him, amused. She had planted in Adam's mind the absolute necessity of having to finish the experiment that had failed to save Gabriel Ashlocke.

"Why am I so obsessed with the man?" Adam asked himself.

"Adam, may I go now?" Emma asked. It was about nine o'clock.

Adam looked up. "Oh, of course. I'm sorry. I think the others may have already headed out to the club.

Emma grinned. "Let me check." She focused on Shalimar. "Yup. They're at the club. Wanna come?"

Adam shook his head. "No thanks, Emma. I need to keep working on that experiment. I feel as if I'm close to a breakthrough."

Emma grinned again. "Like a hamster on a treadmill," she thought. "This will keep him where I need him."

AT THE CLUB- Jesse/Shalimar/Michelle/Brennan

Jesse sat at a table with Michelle, watching people dance and mingle. The music was upbeat and invigorating. "If I might ask, what do you do now that you no longer work for the GSA?"

Michelle broke into an amused smile. "I teach Phys Ed and Computer part time at a local elementary school." She replied.

"Like it?" he asked.

"It's not bad. The small humans are refreshing."

Jesse fidgeted. "Do you miss the GSA?"

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked.

Jesse looked away for a moment then looked thoughtfully at Michelle. "I took the liberty of checking your personnel files. You were a model GSA agent under the name, Jennifer Collins, ambitiously working your way up from clerical to field agent in a matter of several months. I don't believe your father was ever aware of your true identity although your performance reports and promotions undoubtedly came across his desk. Did you ever meet him in person before Ashlocke's takeover?"

Michelle studied Jesse's intense blue eyes. Why was he so interested in her personal life and past? "As a matter of fact, I did meet him once as a newly promoted field agent. I was in a group of newly promoted agents and Mr. Eckhart came down to officially congratulate and inspect us. I blended in with the group, not wanting to be singled out, but he walked down our lineup and scrutinized each of us. The fear and awe in the room was incredible. He has such charisma that he could evoke fear or loyalty in anyone."

Jesse shrugged imperceptibly. The man certainly inspired fear and hatred.

Michelle's gaze was far away. "He stopped in front of me. I stood at attention waiting for him to move on, but he lowered his glasses and gazed directly into my eyes. I didn't expect that. My mouth must have dropped open. I couldn't look away and I didn't want to. My empathic senses were telling me that he was desperately curious about me. He was searching for something as he made eye-contact with me. I met his gaze. I knew he was my father and I wondered if he knew it too. And..well, I wanted to touch him. A short moment later his gaze seemed to shift inward. Before he moved on to the next agent I heard him say softly, 'Nicely done. Jennifer'- just like that and he waited, staring into my eyes again."

Michelle gave a shaky sigh at the memory. "I said, 'Thank you sir,' and his lips made a funny little twitch as if he was trying to smile. The expression in his eyes was incredible-a fleeting joy immediately masked with suspicion and cynicism. I sensed feelings of discovery, triumph and excitement, all immediately censored by his incredible self-control. As he walked away I could have sworn he said 'Michelle' under his breath." Michelle sighed. "He knew me. We didn't speak to each other again until the day Adam brought him out of stasis, but I had determined on the day I met him in person that I would do everything in my power to support him and I did." There was a fierce note of pride Michelle's voice.

Jesse raised an eyebrow. Something about Michelle Eckhart's unswerving devotion to her father both disturbed and intrigued him. "Um, Michelle." Jesse hesitated but had to ask the question. He shook his head and hesitated again. "This is going to sound bad.." the blond man reddened.

Michelle laughed incredulously. "Jesse, what's bothering you? You're blushing!"

Jesse cleared his throat. "Well, it's a personal question that I have to ask because your behavior makes it look like..." He blushed again and squirmed uncomfortably.

The blonde empath's eyes suddenly mirrored Jesse's. "I can only read emotions, Jesse. What is so incredibly embarrassing that you want to ask me? TELL ME! Now I'm curious."

Jesse looked down at the table. "You'll hate me for even thinking such a thing. I'd never mean to insult you.."

"Jesse," Michelle's voice was warning him to get to the point.

"Are you in love with Eckhart?"

Michelle stared at him in total silent shock for a full minute. "In love with my father," she restated flatly. "What on earth would make you think that?"

Jesse compressed his lips then exhaled, not meeting her eyes, his face beet red. "Your obsessive singlemindedness in all things concerning him. From the description of his stay in the stasis pods, to his stay in the hospital, and now in your home you've been close, very attached to him. You behave more like his mate, than his daughter. Does anything else matter in life besides him?

As Michelle stared at him thoughtfully, almost scowling, a myriad of thoughts and feelings flew through her mind. Jesse looked uncomfortable, he was worried that he had irreparably offended her.

She heaved a great sigh. "Jesse, how could you even think of asking such a question? That is so perverted. He may have been your arch-enemy, but yes, I love my father. He is my role model, my sire, my pack. He had been lost to me for years until I joined the GSA. Perhaps I am a bit overprotective since I nearly lost him again," her eyes crinkled at the corners at the next thought. "but I have no desire to mate with him as you feared." The woman studied his expression and noticed that he looked relieved. "Obsessiveness and unconventionality are Eckhart traits. Put that together with the excess of New Mutant abilities that I've been gifted with, perhaps my behavior can be a bit bizarre. I perceive things differently. As an empath and as a shape shifter I tend to lose myself in the identity of others, my uninhibited feral side sometimes flaunts what I am. I think my molecular side balances out the other qualities and gives me some stability." Michelle smiled. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it Jesse?"

Jesse smiled back, tentatively placing his hand out on the table. Michelle playfully swatted at his head then placed her hand on the table, her fingers touching his.

"Adam wasn't the one who 'gifted' you with New Mutant abilities, Michelle. Do you know who did?"

"Mother told me that it was Dr. Jensen and her team. Believe me, I tried to locate her when I was at Genomex, but she seems to have vanished without a trail along with all my files."

Jesse squeezed her hand. "I'll see if we can initiate a search from Sanctuary. Perhaps Adam will know something."

"I should ask my father if he knows her."

"You mean you never discussed it?"

"It never came up."

Shalimar approached with a gin and tonic in hand, Brennan following.

"Hey," Shalimar smiled, her dark eyes momentarily glowing gold. "Mind if we join you?"

Michelle smiled back, in response, her eyes momentarily glowed like coals as only Ferals could do. She liked Shalimar. There was a sense of kinship from her that she had not been able to achieve from her own family. Her twin, Diedre wanted to have nothing to do with her after her childhood illness. She had once told her in a fit of rage that she got all the attention and that she hated her. Her older brother, Gray was sweet tempered but non-commital toward her. She pretty much endured her teen years by being the exemplary student that her Mother and step-father wanted her to be while Diedre acted out her rebellion with motorcycle gangs, wild parties and who knows what else. No one ever knew at that time that the tiger, chameleon and the storm lived within her calm exterior. Now she was in the company of people just like herself.

"Please." She answered the shorter woman.

"How's the Dad?" Shalimar asked warmly, her brown eyes studying the slim blond woman.

Michelle shrugged. "He keeps busy, mostly computer stuff, but at least he's not going comatose any more.

"Adam seems to think that he still needs some sort of cerebral lobotomy protocol to be performed. Some sort of stabilization he said. I don't exactly understand it"

"Adam is wrong." Michelle answered. Shalimar could have sworn she was gazing into Mason Eckhart's eyes. The family resemblance was frightening. Then Michelle's expressive eyes changed and had a lost expression. For a crazy moment, Shalimar thought she was looking at a reflection of her own eyes. Michelle looked away and frowned, hugging herself.

Jesse took her hand. "You ok?" he asked.

"Just one of my 'senses' kicking in." Michelle replied. She looked at Shalimar. "I'm fine. Just need to talk some girl talk if you guys don't mind." Brennan and Jesse shrugged and started to move into the crowd in search for dance partners.

"We'll join you in a few," Shalimar said.

Michelle scowled and kept her arms folded around herself, her skin pale and clammy. Shalimar sat closer to her. "You're not well, Michelle. What's wrong?"

"As you know, I'm empathic. I got a hit off of you that unlocked a blocked memory, a horrible event that was covered over. The slim blond woman looked up earnestly at Shalimar. "I feel horrible, Shalimar. Dirty. Violated." She shook her head and folded her arms tightly about herself. "I feel so angry. Did you have such an experience? I'm sorry it's an awfully personal question to ask."

Shalimar regarded her seriously. "Yeah. I was taken by Gabriel Ashlocke against my will." She shuddered. "Thank God he's dead though. I hope. You described my feelings about the experience exactly. I'm sorry you had to pick that up."

"I'm glad I did. My blocked memory was identical to yours, one that I remained aware of in my nightmares, but could never remember in my waking hours."

Shalimar put a protective arm around Michelle. "What happened, little sister?"

Michelle shivered amid the blare of music in the club. "Ashlocke. He's still alive. Not too long ago he invaded my mind and in doing so, invaded my body as well. He wouldn't stop." Michelle closed her eyes and the tears that she couldn't cry before streamed from her eyes. "He's not dead, Shalimar. There's more, I'm trying to remember, but it's not coming. I don't remember where or how." Michelle struggled to remember that something else, something of key importance but the memory wouldn't come. "I remember asking my father for forgiveness, it doesn't make any sense because I don't think he has any knowledge of it.it's all like a dream." Michelle voice broke. Shalimar hugged the quietly sobbing woman and stared hollowly at the dancing crowd. Her worst nightmare had come back to life. So that apparition in the Dojo was no coincidence, apparently. She would hunt that bastard down and kill him herself- where ever he was.

"Perhaps Emma can help you retrieve that memory fully. We've got to find out how Ashlocke got to you. Don't blame yourself. I hated myself for succumbing to him, but I realize that he deceived me and overpowered me. Hate him, not yourself." Shalimar said. Michelle nodded, comforted by her friend. She stood up and sighed. "I'll definitely want to tell Father."

"You two are very close," Shalimar observed.

"Not unlike you and Adam." Michelle replied, hugging Shalimar affectionately. "Thank you for letting me cry on your shoulder."

"No problem." Shalimar replied. Michelle went to the ladies room to freshen up. Shalimar waited for Brennan and Jesse to finish dancing with the girls that they had picked up in the meantime.

"What's up?" Brennan asked.

Shalimar stared moodily ahead. "I think we're going to see more of Ashlocke," she said with a deadly stare. She filled in the guys on the essentials. Her partying mood had gone out the door. Now she wanted to hunt down and kill.

AT THE CLUB- Emma

"Yeah." Emma gazed around, filling her eyes with the sight of the dancers at the club. She strode forward into the milling, gyrating crowd, dressed in her black leather outfit.

"Can I buy you a drink?" A tall, sandy haired man blocked her way. Emma looked up inquiring. "I'm meeting a friend, no thanks," She demurred. The fellow was persistent. "Your friend could wait a few minutes couldn't he, pretty lady?" He took her by the arm. "C'mon. Dance with me."

Emma beginning to feign alarm said, "NO! I'm not interested. Go dance with someone else." The fellow held her arm.

"I can tell you're crazy about me." He pulled Emma close to himself and wrapped his arms around her. "You've got that look about you and I can fulfil all your dreams," he murmured in her ear.

Emma struggled free and backed away in mock alarm. "Are you trying to tell me that I look like a slut?"

She bumped into a dark haired man who was watching the conversation with great interest. "No," he told her. "You just look like you like a lot of action, babe. How about taking on two of us at once?"

Emma/Ashlocke looked at the two men with distaste and sighed. As Ashlocke, he had that effect on women and liked taking two of them from time to time. Now in Emma's body, it seemed like men couldn't keep their hands off him, not that it was surprising, he just preferred the babes. Disgusted, he projected a thought at the two men that left them in an incapacitated stupor and pushed them away.

"Men are such animals, don't you agree?" a lovely brunette with blue eyes commented. Emma looked her over in obvious appreciation. The dark-haired woman, interested, maintained eye contact. "Aren't we all?" Emma replied evasively. Ashlocke wanted to make some moves on this one, but baffled at his new anatomy, hesitated.

"Can I buy you a drink?" she asked Emma. Emma stretched against the counter and casually looked the woman over again. "Yeah. Daiquiry. Virgin." The brunette raised an eyebrow. Deep inside Emma's mind, Ashlocke mentally berated himself for the slip.

"You must be new at this," the woman commented.

"You could say that." Emma replied lightly, resting her ankle against that of her companion. "What's your name?"

"Tasha," she answered. "Yours?" "Emma."

Ashlocke was unable to contain his impatience. The simple contact with the woman was driving him mad with lust. "Let's go somewhere," he said in a half-choked voice.

"You ok, Emma? How about we dance?" Tasha took Emma's hand and started leading her to the dance floor. Emma gasped at the touch. Her eyes darkened and she mind-linked with the woman. Tasha's blue eyes widened with arousal, then with terror as Ashlocke did the unthinkable to her within the sanctuary of her mind. Her eyes were locked on Emma's. After a long moment, Emma/Ashlocke kissed her gently. "Uhmmm." She said throatily, savoring the telepathic experience. "I really need Adam's body. Now forget it, babe," she said aiming a Psionic blast at Tasha's head. Then Emma turned and strode away.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM,

Shalimar had joined Michelle in the ladies' room after contacting Brennan. Michelle suddenly raised her head and gazed around alertly. Her entire demeanor changed from fear to battle-alertness. Her eyes flashed with Feral ferocity. Shalimar looked about as well but couldn't sense anything amiss.

"What's wrong, Michelle?" she asked again.

"Terror, horrible violation. A silent scream in the crowd." Michelle said, her eyes dark as night.

"If looks could kill," Shalimar thought. The tall, blond feral-empath suddenly headed out into the crowd, following her senses.

Shalimar touched her arm. "Do you know who you're looking for?"

Michelle shook her head, her eyes glinting dangerously. "I'll know when I find her."

Shalimar lifted her head and sniffed delicately. "Hm. Smells like someone wears the same perfume as Emma, only much stronger." She raised an eyebrow and followed her companion.

Moments later, Michelle was at the side of an attractive dark-haired woman who seemed lost. Michelle nodded at Shalimar.

"Hi. You here with anyone?" Shalimar asked kindly.

"No, just looking around," Tasha replied mechanically, her beautiful blue eyes looking blank. Michelle sat next to her and gently probed her mind for residual memories.

AROUND THE CORNER, NOT TOO FAR AWAY,

Emma was having more problems with men. A hand groped her familiarly. "HEY, get your hands off me!" she said, whirling to face a grinning man.

"Now you can't get much hotter than that," he drawled.

"In your dreams." Ashlocke/Emma snarled, her gray eyes darkening. Then she stared harder. "Manuel?"

Manuel smirked at her. "You're pretty good to have guessed my name." He cornered her in a booth and sat intimately close to her, placing a hand on her lap. "You're a New Mutant aren't you? Hm. Lemme guess. Emma." He grinned again. "I learned from a great guy about the proper use of babes like you." Manuel held Emma's head still and projected a red Psionic field into her eyes. Emma stared defiantly at the dark-haired man even as he covered her mouth with his and began to kiss her deeply. Deep inside Emma's psyche, Ashlocke shook his head in disgust. Manuel was overriding Emma's body with pleasure signals, blocking out her judgment centers, just as Ashlocke had once done to his victims.

"NO!" Ashlocke roared jealously. "MINE!"

Manuel stopped in his tracks and stared at Emma. His eyes filled with sudden fear. "It can't be." He murmured.

Emma stared daggers at him. She sent a powerful Psionic blast at Manuel's head. "We can't let you in on our little secret now, can we?" she said with an evil smile.

BACK AROUND THE CORNER, SAME ROOM,

"Blank." Michelle commented. She probed more deeply.

"Honey, have you been having a good time here?" Shalimar asked, offering her a drink. As she drew close to Tasha, her delicate sense of smell detected Emma's scent. At the same time, Michelle got a clear mental image of Emma, looking at her seductively. Shalimar exchanged alarmed glances with Michelle.

"Do you think.." Shalimar began,

"Oh no, " Tasha started trembling as the probing unlocked some memory of the event. "I think I was raped by a transvestite. She was really hot, but I never dreamed she was really a man."

Shalimar put a protective arm around her. "This kid really needs to have this memory erased." She thought.

"Do you remember who it was? Maybe me and my friends can find him and take him out for you." Shalimar dreaded hearing what the short brunette was going to say next.

"All of my favorite women in the same place," a familiar voice addressed them.

"Emma?" Tasha hung back and stared at Emma with some confusion. Emma glanced at the brunette and then looked at Michelle. "Problem?" she asked.

"So you made it here after all." Shalimar commented with a questioning expression. Emma smiled back with a deliberate look in her eyes.

"This poor kid had a bad experience." Shalimar said, filling in the brooding silence.

Emma licked her lips and combed her right hand through her hair as she stared at Tasha. Without a word, she sent a Psionic blast at her head. Tasha closed her eyes and slumped over. Michelle probed her empathically again but found no memory traces this time.

"Emma, I know you raped her. You've gone too far." Michelle told her in a low voice, filled with anger.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Emma replied staring at the blond feral-empath with steely eyes. "Shalimar, listen to this." Emma smirked. "Eckhart's daughter is now trying to turn you against me. Can you believe this?" Without further warning, she aimed a Psionic blast at Michelle. Michelle ducked with incredible feral speed and landed neatly in an attack position.

Shalimar looked uncertainly from Emma to Michelle, her eyes wide with pained indecision.

"You're not Emma," Michelle hissed. "You're the one who invaded my mind at the hospital. You can't block my memories forever, Gabriel Ashlocke."

Shalimar's eyes flashed at the name but she couldn't bring herself to believe that a dead man was controlling Emma. Emma sent another blast at the taller Feral. Michelle dodged again. "Listen to me, Shalimar. Why would Emma's scent be on Tasha?"

"Why would Emma say something as unlikely as 'all of my favorite women in the same place'?" Jesse literally materialized out of the woodwork and glared at Emma suspiciously. "I've wondered at your sudden change in behavior over the past couple months."

Emma looked surprised and hurt. "How could you doubt me Jesse, after all we've been through together?" Her eyes darkened. "I know. You've got the hots for Michelle and will believe and do anything she says."

"Tasha recognized Emma and spoke her name." Michelle countered.

"I met Tasha at the bar. That doesn't mean a thing," Emma declared.

Shalimar shuddered. They both had good arguments. Now for the tiebreaker.

"I want to believe you, Emma," she said softly, approaching her friend until she was an arms length away. She stood there and gazed deeply into Emma's eyes. A cold feeling swept through her as she became certain that the person staring back at her was not Emma. Shalimar trembled with both fear and rage as she faced Gabriel Ashlocke and found herself unable to break away. Ashlocke grinned evilly at her, confident in his absolute control over her. Suddenly the nightmare vision broke. Emma suddenly convulsed in pain and passed out as Brennan delivered a shock sufficient to knock her out.

"You OK, Shalimar?" Brennan asked.

"I am now." Shalimar replied. "Thanks for saving my ass."

Jesse stared at their fallen teammate. "How long will she be out?"

"Long enough to get her home and have a subdermal governor installed," Brennan replied gravely. Shalimar swallowed. For Brennan to recommend a subdermal governor after what he had been through was saying something.

"I'll stay with Tasha." Michelle told them. The group silently helped Emma out of the Club, into the car, and back to Sanctuary.