I know this is not a very long chapter but I am literally drained of all energy. Exams starting soon so I may not be able to post anything for a little while (though as usually happens I'll probably end up putting aside revision for a couple of hours/days/weeks, delete as applicable).

Thanks for the reviews. Please try and review after this chapter. I promise the story will be over soon.

Have a nice day.

***

Shalimar watched in horror as Gabriel twisted Annie's neck till it cracked. She winced as she heard the snap and closed her eyes, praying for the first time in her life. She knew that Gabriel wouldn't kill her yet but he could do so much worse than that to her.

'You know, I really thought she was special. I really thought she would be good for the Strand.'

Shalimar looked across at Gabriel with disgust on her face. He was sick, totally sick. She looked down at Annie's body and inwardly shuddered. She was broken, had been before she had had her neck cracked. That was the worst thing about Gabriel. He knew exactly how to wear people down until they were emotionally atleast completely wrecked, entirely empty.

'What do you want her for?' Shalimar asked, looking over at Sara. She was still tied to a chair and looked like she was losing consciousness.

'Oh come on Shalimar. I expected better from you. You think I'm gonna just tell you my evil plans so you can stop them? I don't think so.'

Shalimar laughed.

'What?' Gabriel asked.

'I have not missed you at all. And I was wondering, why choose world domination? You could write or do stand-up. The options are endless for a guy with your talents.' She breathed deeply after speaking. She must have broken a couple of ribs cos she wasn't breathing too well. And the lack of oxygen was making her lightheaded. She had to keep Gabriel talking though. If he lost interest in her he was more likely to kill her than if she kept up the lively banter. And maybe she would find something out.

Sara smiled slightly and let out a tiny laugh. Both Gabriel and Shalimar looked across at her.

'Well, atleast she thinks I'm funny,' muttered Shalimar.

Gabriel walked over to Sara and grabbed her by the throat. Banter with Shalimar was fine, Shalimar was...Shalimar. This girl was most definitely not. She didn't have any right to laugh at him. She was his goddam hostage.

Shalimar rushed towards the two of them and grabbing Gabriel by the shoulder, swung him round so that he was facing her. She brought her fist slamming into Gabriel's cheek and followed it up with a knee to his gut. He doubled over as did Shalimar. She was in no fit state to be fighting but she had to buy herself and Sara time. Gabriel drew his fist upwards. It smashed into Shalimar's jaw and she fell backwards, landing on the ground on her back. In a minute Gabriel was pinning her down and she closed her eyes, knowing that she didn't have the strength to carry on and that he would take advantage and finish it.

But she felt the weight of Gabriels body become lighter, so light that it felt like he wasn't even there. She opened her eyes and found herself looking into Brennan's concerned brown ones. He reached out his hand to her and helped her up. She let out a whimper as the pain in her leg increased.

Brennan looked at her face. She was hurting and he figured they had to get her home soon. At the very least back to the Double Helix. She had already fought enough for one day. He slipped his arm around her waist and let her lean on him.

Meanwhile Jesse had phased the chains keeping Sara in contact with the chair. She had finally given up on trying to stay awake through all the concussion and he was carrying her in his arms. She seemed so light and small. Clearly they hadn't been feeding her brilliantly. And she was probably dehydrated. Jesse couldn't imagine how scared she must have been the whole time she was there. He didn't want to.

Mac, Maia, Alex and Emma hadn't been taking a break while all this was going on. Maia had been the one who had pulled Gabriel off of Shalimar. The group had run into the main room of the warehouse and seeing what was about to happen Maia had been the first one to reach Shalimar. She had pushed Gabriel along with her until she had reached one of the walls and she had then shoved him into it hard. She had only winded him but it gave them the advantage.

Mac looked at the man standing in front of her. He stared straight back and it was like neither of them could have broken the gaze even if they had wanted to.

'Get out of here,' Mac said in a voice which carried over all the other noise in the room. Everybody looked across at them but nobody moved. It was like the entire room had frozen, no one wanted to break the silence or stillness.

'Go,' she urged.

'We're not leaving you here with him,' Emma said as she walked over to Mac.

Why did nobody ever listen to her? She was sorry to have to resort to this. Mac's eyelids closed and then she started to glow. All she knew was that she had to get them out of there so she could finish this. Gabriel may have caused them all a load of crap but there was no way anybody else was gonna get the opportunity to kick his ass when she was this close. The glow became brighter and stronger and it started growing, engulfing Macs entire body. Her head was pounding. After all of her telempathic activities that day she was exhausted. But she knew it was the only way to stop them from getting hurt. She focused on the minds of Mutant X and her friends.

Emma felt a sudden sleepiness come over her. She turned around and watched as her fellow teammates dropped to the floor. She tried to hold off the buckling of her legs for as long as possible and it worked for a while. But it appeared that Mac's inexperience with her psionic abilities allowed her to simply let go more than Emma. Emma reached out her arms in front of her and managed to break her fall.

The glow started to draw itself back into Mac's body and she opened her eyes slowly to look straight into Gabriels. The time had come.