"…A man out of sync with his own program,
trying to find some kind of inner link…"
-KoRn
"Shalimar, you're pretty close with Brennan, aren't you?" Emma asks, suddenly, startling the blonde from her concerned staring.
"I guess. He doesn't really open up to anybody, but…we're pretty close. Why?" Shalimar asks.
"I can't find him. He's lost in there, and I don't know where to look. It's so dark…" Emma replies. She turns to Shalimar. "I can take you inside if you think you can find him."
"You can take me inside? Em, what are you talking about?" Shalimar asks, confused.
"I don't know, exactly. I think it happened when Brennan gave me his memories…I can connect your minds. Come here, I'll show you." Emma reaches out her hand. Shalimar takes it in her hand.
"Close your eyes," Emma instructs.
Shalimar finds herself in a black place. Her feral eyes adjust so she can see in the lack of light. Cold water drips on her from above and she can hear screaming. She starts to run toward the noise and it gets louder, the sound echoing painfully. She sees a figure and stops near it, the sound too much.
"Brennan?" She yells, cautiously approaching him.
He is crouched with his arms wrapped around his knees and his head leaned over.
"Brennan?" Shalimar sits down beside him.
He doesn't react, the deafening screams waning. Shalimar starts to shake him, trying to get his attention.
"Brennan, look at me…Brennan, come on, snap out of it!" She yells, shaking him.
Finally he looks up, the screams getting louder. "I can't make it stop…it only gets worse…it's better when I'm still…I have to sit still and be quiet…" Brennan says, his eyes glazed.
"Brennan, it's Shalimar…Brennan?" Shalimar takes his face in her hands and makes him meet her gaze.
"Shalimar…Shalimar…" Brennan repeats, the screams growing even louder.
"Brennan, you can make the noise stop. Make the noise stop and talk to me. Brennan." Shalimar says, sternly.
Brennan shakes his head. "I can't make it stop…"
Shalimar squeezes his hands and nods, reassuringly. "Yes you can, you are stronger than this. Come on, make it stop."
Brennan closes his eyes. His body is shaking violently. Shalimar tries to give him strength by squeezing his hands, but the screams only get louder. Brennan pulls away and covers his ears as the noise reaches a crescendo before everything goes quiet.
"Bren? Brennan," Shalimar tries to get him to face her. She has to pull his arms away from his cowering face.
"Leave me alone, Shalimar…I can't handle this right now…" Brennan says, pulling away from her.
"But listen. It's quiet. You made it quiet, Brennan." Shalimar says, not wanting to lose his lucidity.
Brennan looks up, his eyes disbelieving. "Yeah…quiet…"
"You can do this. You can break out of this," Shalimar reassures.
Brennan nods to her, his face blank. "It's clinging to me like glue, Shal…every time I think I'm strong enough to come out of here, it starts to crawl on me…infecting me with its poison…this hurts so bad…"
"What can I do? What do you need, Brennan?" Shalimar asks, sensing the pain in his voice.
Brennan's eyes darken as he focuses on reality. "Get Britt out of Sanctuary. Get him the hell away from me, Shal, cause I don't know…I don't know what I might do to him if I see him…"
Shalimar stops him from going further, seeing him getting upset. "Shh…we'll make sure he's gone, Brennan, I promise."
Brennan looks at his hands, trembling. "It's been a long time since I've lost control like this…I swore that if I ever got this unstable again that I'd let go…give up…" He looks up at her, solemn. "But I know that it's wrong…that I have to fight it out…right?"
"Right, Brennan, we need you…are you hearing me? You cannot give up, okay, 'cause we need you…Brennan…I need you…" Shalimar says, feeling the connection drifting.
. "Okay, Shal…I'll try…" Brennan whispers as she fades away.
Shalimar blinks and finds herself back in the lab.
"Did you see him?" Emma asks, expectantly.
"Yeah, he's still pretty messed up, but I think I got him to snap out of it a little," Shalimar replies.
"What are we going to do about Chelsea?" Adam asks, walking in with Jesse.
"What are we going to do about Britt?" Shalimar counters, quietly.
The room is silent.
"Adam?" Emma calls, after the silence is too long.
"Jesse. I want you and Shalimar to go check out Chelsea's place. If she's there, take her to one of the safehouses until I can meet you there. Emma, you will stay here with Brennan. I'll take Britt back to where he came from," Adam replies, after a pause.
"Are you sure you can handle Britt…" Shalimar protests.
"I'm going to sedate him. How does Brennan's readings look?" Adam asks.
"He's stable. His readings are down a little, but I think we drained him…" Emma says.
"You contacted him again?" Adam asks.
Emma nods. "I let Shalimar talk to him, I know it drains some of his strength, but I think he really needs us right now."
Adam nods in agreement. "Okay. Let's get this over. I want to get back here so I can get Brennan's mutations under control."
Emma squeezes Brennan's hand as their teammates leave the lab.
