Chapter 15

The helix was not in the 20 minutes when it was hit with its first storm. Adam was beginning to think that nature was as ticked at him as his "kids" seemed to be, lately. They had no problem flying above the turbulence out side the craft but it was raking havoc on communications. They had barely cleared the hanger when the communication with the lab was cut off. This did nothing for the already thick source of dread that emanated from the cockpit. Shalimar has barely spoken two words since take off and Emma, she just continue to research the history of Doctor Allison Connor.

They made landing in an open field less than a mile from the town in which Dr. Connor worked. Their entry unnoticed by the natives of the land because of the ships elaborate cloak. Both Adam and Emma, noticed a disquieting unrest in Shalimar as they waited for the helix bay door to open.

Shal, what is the matter? Adam whispered.

"I don't like not having any contact with Jesse," she growled. "Something is wrong I just feel it. " Both Emma and Adam looked at each other. Emma felt nothing and as the Psionic in the group it was usually she that announced the foreboding feelings.

Adam just walked past them both "Then lets get this over with." He whispered,

They trekked about a quarter of a mile before they passed anything they were cloaked in one of Emma's Psionic disguises, to the common folk they looked like three members of one of the local tribes. It got them in to town with out question and to a worn-down wooden shack the small town used for a doctors clinic.

As they walked in they recognized Doctor Connors escorting a young woman and her under-fed child. From the building Dr. Connors looked up at the trio in almost a panic the smiled at the woman and repeated something in a language that the three did not know. After she closed the door behind them she quickly her attention to the three visitors almost as quickly as she turned the Closed sign.  " Lower your disguise, Adam I know you are not what I see."

"How did you know it was me" he said as the illusion faded.

"There are many nightmares, I prayed every night, to never have to confront again. You are the biggest. I take it your two puppets are mutants as well." Pointing at the two girl on either side of Adam

"We don't have time for this!" Shalimar hissed.  her eyes flashed, fear and anger burned deep in her, the only thing keeping her from punching that good doctor out was Emma's calming voice in her head and Adams reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"We need your help Allison." Adam announced.

"No," she said calmly and return to the paperwork.

Emma tried to see inside the doctor since they walked into the office there was a wall higher and stronger that anything she had felt before keeping her out, so she tried the next best thing. "Please Allison, a friends life is as stake."

"Your friend not mine."

"You're a doctor, please…." she begged all though she was beginning to believe she talked to the wall. "He will die with out your help"

"

"Listen Alison; He is having unexplainable swelling in the brain, complication from a skull facture. His is an elemental and this maybe creating a problem, but I cannot figure out how or why. I have checked for everything I can think of, the only thing left is going in.  you are the best. And that is what he needs.

"If there is one thing you learn in this place" she whispered as she looked around at the dark dreary shack she used as an office. "People die everyday no matter what you do. If this person is so bad off that the good doctor the kid genius could not fix it then maybe they are better off dead."

 "NOOOOOOOOOOOO." Shalimar screamed. She broke free of Adams hand and lunged at the woman on the other side of the desk but before she could clear the desk her body suddenly became like led and she fell hard to the floor. Both Emma and Adam attempted to step forward to help Shalimar but found them selves unable to move.

The doctor stepped around her makeshift desk to where they stood; "I will never be caught unaware again" she growled at Adam… then slowly moved over where Shalimar lay. She will be fine once she wakes up. She gently stroked the hair from around her face then stood up "she loves him, you know. Past all her feral instincts she has found she cares deeply for this young man… Brennan?  Yes, he is quite handsome,  but maybe it is best if it ends now. Because neither one of them will give up the life you have chosen for them. Except by death. Better he die now than before children become a factor and the likes of Eckart, find them."

"Adam tried to warn you, it not his fault and it is most certainly not Brennan's". Emma pleaded. "Please"

"Please you act as if there were no doctor who could help him. There are many doctors who's skills are much more honed than mine are."

"None who understand the complexity of the mutant." Adam explained still unable to move "Don't you think I would have gotten someone else if I could? You re his only hope Allison."

She walked up to Adam and placed her had gently on his face, Her mind filled with a continual picture of sorrow, and guilt. Then she flashed on to a picture of the girl feral Shalimar and Jesse, quite handsome young man with skills not unlike her Howard, but more, there was a lot of pride in him, over those two, his first. Then there was the Psionic, Emma and Brennan, they too brought him pride anguish and fear and so much more. These kids were more than his team they were his children. She watched as they laughed and cried together, she saw and felt things that cause her to shed tears, Adam and his kids had taken up the gauntlet to protect the children of Genomex. A war that had become costly to Adams soul.

When she first lay her hand on Emma she found nothing, Emma had strong walls even for one this emotional. Dr. Connor noticed Adam nod at Emma just as the walls were brought down.

"Tell me of this friend," Allison whispered "and tell me the truth like you I would know the difference. She felt the frighten young girl running through a crowd. She saw a tall dark figure looking down into her eyes she felt the warmth of her blush as he smiled at her. She sat at a bar looking down at a book of poetry he read and again blushed when he smiled. She felt her fear when men dressed in black chased them through the mall and then felt his strength as he fought off her attackers in hopes to help her get away. She felt his pain the many times he placed himself in harms way for those whom he cared about as well as those he didn't know. She felt her pride when he took control in a situation of chaos.  If all the visions Emma was showing her was true this Brennan was a noble man. one who did not deserve to suffer.

Emma, she said in a whisper. Where you there when Brennan was hurt?

Yes, Emma announced

"Show me."

She watched as the world seem to become black with men and women dressed in that vile color she watched as Jesse and Brennan fought off these people both men looking tired and they fought that was when she heard a scream and everything seem to fall into slow motion Jesse had phased as one of the men swung his weapon and it surfed right through him but Brennan had been caught unaware, and the blow was so fierce it sent him hurling over the wall and he vanished from sight. Then as if everything crashed back into fast forward then real time she watched as Emma looked over the wall. Below lay a broken bleeding Brennan, the car that he fell on was a mass of shattered glass and bent metal. That conformed to his body. The sight was so frightening that she broke her connection from all of them and fell to the ground.

"Dear God, you say he's alive?"

Adam moved quickly to shal, who had awoke just moments ago and then he lowered himself on the floor beside the young doctor.

 "As far as we know he is a still alive. At first it was touch and go, many of his wounds healed before he regain consciousness but he eventually did. He suffered a massive skull fracture as well as a three hairline fractures of the spine. Most of his injuries seem to heal well enough. At one point he was walking around sanctuary with only the aid of his crutches."

"Crutches? How long ago did you say this happen."

"A month"

"Look I understand the advance capabilities of Mutants to heal but from what I saw he should not have even left bed." she growled suspiciously "Unless your Psionic managed to implant a thought in my head."

"If you saw a man lying on a crushed vehicle then you saw Brennan, I was the first to reach his body, and blood flowed everywhere. His arm was twisted in an impossible angle, his head lay against a shattered rear window glass and blood everywhere. If that is what you saw then that is the truth…" shal struggled a moment trying to get her breath and composure. "Brennan is strong, stronger than most people, mentally, and physically. He is also dangerously independent; Adam couldn't keep him confined without restraint if Brennan did not want to stay confined. If he had not been so sick so often he would have left us. So he would not be a burden to us…"

"Sick? Sick how?"

Adam hoped that  her curiosity meant she would help so he tolder her everything he knew "He continued to suffer from swelling around the t-12/L-1 area that when flairs up will paralyze him mostly on the left side and continual swelling of the brain, that has taken his sight, he also tended to suffer fevers and an occasional seizure. Shal is telling you the truth, we all are. If we don't get him help soon he will die, if not physically, then he will give up, If that happens then there will be nothing, and no one who will be able to save him.  So I need to know now Allison will you help us."