I haven't posted anything in a while due to the enormous amount of coursework I've had over the past couple of weeks. Sorry about that. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I wrote it while I was supposed to be doing said coursework.
Thank you as always to all the people who have reviewed my fiction. I do appreciate it…please continue to do so. To those who haven't reviewed I hope its not cos you hate the story…just cos you're lazy (I know that feeling well)
Have a nice day.
Gabriel watched from the rooftop. The sky was dark above him, the occasional star glinting in the heavens. The night air was crisp and he could hear the faint murmur of the city from behind him.
Across the street, in the third floor apartment building sat a family of four. They were eating at a square table. The room was well lit and they looked happy. Gabriel almost envied them…almost. What was about to happen was gonna change all their lives.
He smiled at the thought of what their faces would look like; what their emotions, their thoughts would look like. He could almost hear the screams of anguish, the never-ending sobs. He smiled and nodded at a shadowy figure on the rooftop opposite him. So far the plan was working perfectly. Mutant X involvement was at an all time low, presumably they hadn't found out what he had taken from the school computers.
And if they had, by now they were too late to stop what was about to happen.
Brennan turned the yellowed page of the leather bound book. He was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall, long legs stretched out in front of him. He looked up as he heard the laughter and groans of the three teenagers sparring on the dojo. They had been at it for atleast an hour and showed no signs of giving up yet.
He smiled remembering the fun he had had when he had joined Mutant X. He had loved fighting especially when he got to use his abilities. It wasn't that he didn't have fun now, especially not when he fought with Shalimar. It was just that things over the past couple of weeks had gotten a whole lot more serious what with Gabriel running around all over the place causing trouble. Brennan let out a small laugh. He made it sound like Gabriel was some sort of rebellious child making mischief. When in reality he was far from it. Brennan remembered how he had hurt Shalimar. The smile left his face.
He looked to his left as someone rounded a corner in the hallway. His entire face lit up as he recognized who it was. He knew he probably looked like a goofy teenager but he didn't really care.
'What you reading?' she asked dropping down next to him, crossing her legs in front of her.
'Walt Whitman.'
'The one we gave you?'
'Yeah.'
She nodded and leant her head back against the smooth wall behind her. She closed her eyes, relaxing almost immediately. She had been sparring with Mac, Alex and Maia for a while and needed a rest. They were energetic, and though she could take all of them if she really wanted to, teaching and going slower than she was used to was hard. They may have been quick learners but patience was definitely not a virtue that she had.
Brennan looked over at Shalimar's face. She was glowing with perspiration and her lips curved upwards at the corners as she became lost in her own thoughts. She was so damn sexy that suddenly his book lost all interest for him. He sat there staring, not caring that he was and unable to stop.
Her eyes slowly opened and she turned her head to look at him. She leant into his face and their second kiss was just as sweet as the first. It became more passionate as her hand drew up his back and up to the back of his head. His book fell to floor, long forgotten as he was completely drawn in. His arm wrapped around her waist.
And then they heard them. Emma and Jesse had just gotten back from their mission and they were walking straight towards Shalimar and Brennan. Not wanting to stop the couple drew apart and, with a sly smile at each other stood quickly and ran straight towards Brennan's room. Shalimar slid the door open quickly and Brennan silently closed it behind them.
'Hey Adam,' Emma said as her and Jesse walked into the lab. Their mission had been a complete bust and it was an understatement to say that all three were frustrated. And worried. Gabriel probably knew more about the safe house system than most new mutants and now he was hitting them hard by burning them to the ground. Even the GSA had been a little more subtle.
'So, what's our next move?' asked Jesse.
'I honestly don't know. Gabriel's unpredictable, he has no scruples, who knows what he'll do next.'
'So I guess we just keep an eye out for any more activity, huh?'
'Yeah,' Adam said with a sigh.
Emma looked at him. She didn't even need to read him right now. She could tell how guilty he felt and she wished she could make him feel better but sending him happier feelings would be crossing boundaries that she had worked long and hard to set for herself.
When she hadn't had a real good handle on her powers it had been easier for her to probe around in anyone's mind at any time. But now that she knew exactly what she was doing with them (until they evolved atleast) searching through people's private emotions was immoral and wrong. She understood that and she most definitely wouldn't want to abuse the team's trust like that.
But that didn't mean she wasn't tempted sometimes.
Jesse didn't know what to do. One part of him wanted to kill Ashlocke for everything he had done to Mutant X, especially Shalimar. He had hurt her and Jesse would never allow him to do that again. He knew Shal could handle herself but that didn't mean that he didn't want to protect her. She was his sister…one of his best friends and he just wanted to help her. Even now Gabriel was getting to her. He was still in her head and he needed to know that she had the strength to fight him.
Her eyes fluttered open and she murmured slightly as she rolled over on the bed. She felt the skin of her fingers make contact with somebody else and her eyes opened a whole lot wider. In her sleepy state she couldn't really remember where she was or how she had gotten there or, more importantly what she had done when she had first got there. And then her memory seemed to start functioning properly and the flashbacks hit in full blast.
The passionate kisses…the hands groping at clothes…the whispered words…the breath on each other's skin. And they hadn't even been drunk.
Shal lifted her head off the pillow and slowly rolled over onto her back. She stared at the ceiling feeling completely awkward. Why had they not been able to control themselves? What the hell was wrong with her? Kissing Brennan had been bad enough…not that he was a bad kisser, far from it but that wasn't the point. And now it was pretty damn certain that they could never go back to being just friends.
What if they had just selfishly split up Mutant X? What would the others think when they found out that her and Brennan had…
And they would so find out. Mac knew about the kiss due to her lack of control over her abilities. She was bound to find out about this. And Shal knew that Emma would never intentionally read her feelings but what if they broadcast it so loudly that she had no choice.
Shalimar closed her eyes. She needed time to think about this whole situation.
She slid out from beneath the covers and, pulling one of Brennan's shirts on began the search for her own clothes. Silence was one of her gifts and right now she was particularly glad of it.
Having found everything she could (she was missing a sock) she sneaked into Brennans en suite bathroom.
Brennan stirred in the bed. His brain clouded in the haze of sleepiness. He reached his hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes so he would be able to see a little clearer. A lazy smile spread itself across his face as he remembered the night before.
It had been amazing, completely mind-blowing. And at that exact point in time he didn't care who knew. He wanted to tell the rest of Mutant X…hell, he wanted to tell the rest of the world.
He heard the buzz of the air-conditioning in the bathroom gradually get louder as the door opened. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and watched as Shalimar walked through the doorway. She looked stunning, her blonde hair creating a halo around her head, her skin glowing, her eyes sparkling.
He looked at her, the same lazy smile on his face. She looked back at him all of her previous reservations flying right out of the window. She walked over to the bed and leant down. She kissed him gently on the lips and then, just as she made a move as if to pull away he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him.
'Hi,' he said huskily.
'Hi,' she replied before kissing him again.
'Shalimar, Brennan. Where the hell are you guys?'
They stared at each other wryly. Why did they always have to get interrupted at the worst moments…or possibly the best depending on the point of view.
'Coming.'
'Gabriel struck another of our safehouses. Except this time it was the Trents apartment.'
'What the hell happened Adam?' asked Jesse. He was frustrated that Gabriel knew exactly where the Mutant X safehouses were and that he felt no scruples in hitting them all. He knew he shouldn't have expected anything less from a sociopath.
'He abducted, after beating her up for a bit the girl we placed in the Trents care a couple of months ago.'
'Sara Bagent, the elemental psionic mix?' asked Emma.
'Yes. She has the ability to create electrical fields and being a telekinetic can move them and objects, even people into them.'
'Pretty unique then,' said Shalimar.
'Yeah, and we have to get her back soon. God only knows what Gabriel is going to do with her.'
