The Serum
Part 3
One Year Later...
The gun was a cold presence in her hand, a reassuring weight. She breathed shallowly, making sure the steady rhythm didn't shake her aim. Her grip was comfortable, but she couldn't hold it forever. Her aim might waver, and then who knows what might happen. She tightened her grip enough to be sure of the control she had over the weapon in her hands.
"Put the gun down." The call came in a deep steady voice, much calmer than the stance of the speaker suggested. A good cop's voice. Unfortunately this criminal wasn't being as receptive to the voice as most. In fact he wasn't paying a blind bit of notice to the large-built man stood in front of him. She watched as his eyes flickered to each of the exits in turn, the one she was covering was the last on his visual circuit. They were well arranged around the shop, the four of them, so that if any one of them felt the need to shoot at the man they surrounded they wouldn't be shooting at each other. He took a moment to look her up and down before he focused on the weapon in her hands and turned back to Lieutenant Granger, the officer leading the operation.
Something occurred to Eliza, as they stood there facing off. She was treating this too much like a human - the thought almost made her laugh out loud which would not have been appropriate under the circumstances. She was forgetting all of the things she had known as Shalimar. The man wasn't reacting to their voices, but their body language. She had pushed her body forward as he had looked her up and down, forcing him to meet her eyes. A forcefully aggressive posture which had made him look away. The others, although perhaps unconsciously, were already aggressively stood and he had turned away from all of those options. The only option they had left him with was the one in his own hands.
Praying she was right she forced herself to fall into a very submissive 'friends with everyone' feral stance. That she had to take a moment to remember the stance told her how long it had been since she'd thought of her old life.
"Hey." She called softly. He looked over at her call. Her gun didn't waver, still aimed directly at him, and she was no less likely to pull the trigger if she thought he was likely to act rashly, but she could see the effect the change in her body language had had in him. She hoped the gun would be enough to dissuade him from thinking she would be an easy target for an exit.
"Ella, what you doing?" She ignored Granger's question and hoped it wouldn't get her fired or shot.
"Put the gun down, please. No one's hurt yet today, stop now while things are still OK for you, right?"
"Eliza Marks, I don't know what you just did, but it was shit impressive." Eliza knew what a complement that was. Not just in its own right, but that Granger hadn't blamed the man's behaviour on her being female as he might do normally. That he could see that she had done something to earn the man's co-operation, even if he couldn't tell what it was. "Not only did no one get shot, or even touched, we have a known armed robber in custody. One that's killed three cops already. And he all but walked into the van." He shook his head as if unbelieving. "Shit." He murmured as he headed back over to the lead car, parked skew outside the shop as it had been when they had hared up here on the call. Eliza chuckled and followed him.
Sanctuary, A Little While later...
"Adam, what is this?" Jesse asked as Adam pulled him from the computer - where he had spent much of the last year moping over the loss of Shalimar, refusing to train and only coming out on missions when it was demanded of him to keep the others safe - and down the stairs to where the others waited.
"Another prospective feral."
"Not another one!" Emma exclaimed, "This is the fourth one."
"If you could have accepted one of the other three rather than chasing them away we wouldn't have needed to go to four!" Adam retorted a little gruffly.
"Tara was nuts. She was completely out of control." Brennan put in.
"OK, yes, Tara is an exception, she had to go. But the others would have been OK if you could have dealt with them. Galan was a very powerful feral, he could have made a good addition to the team."
"We didn't make Galan leave, he left because he couldn't deal with the secrecy. He boasted to loud." Emma said.
"None of them were anything compared to Shalimar." Jesse added sullenly.
"Well, Shalimar's dead," Adam retorted. Jesse flinched, did he have to put it like that? "And we have to move on. If you can just help me a little we might find someone who fits. Just come and meet this one, I think you'll like her. She and Shalimar used to be good friends, but she left Sanctuary before you arrived, Jesse." He led them all out to the helix hanger and let Brennan take the controls of the craft.
"Why did she leave Sanctuary, Adam?" Emma asked as they began their journey into the city to pick up the feral.
"Partly because I decided that it would be better if Mutant X was made up of one of each type of new mutant and partly because I could see a rivalry appearing between them and I didn't want to risk them getting into a situation where they might hurt each other. They were both amazingly strong and it was hard to choose between them, but in the end it was Shalimar that showed better restraint and that was something I value highly. Nikki went on to a good family. She's had a very different upbringing to Shalimar, I haven't seen her since she left."
"Nikki? Is that her name?"
"Yes. I haven't told her about Shalimar yet, I want your opinions as to what we should tell her."
"You say they were good friends? I think we should tell her she died, like we tell everyone else. We find it hard with her gone, but it's harder knowing she's out there and we can't go and see her when we want. It'll be easier for her to think she's dead." Adam regarded Jesse quietly for a minute, mourning the loss of the energetic young smile. His monotone voice spoke volumes of what he had lost when Shalimar had left. Died, he reminded himself. It was the only way to think about it.
"OK, then that's what we'll do."
AN: It wasn't originally going to be Nikki (and yes, it is Understudy Nikki, I wasn't sure of the spelling). I had my own feral all lined up, but as I was describing her I realised that she was very similar to Nikki in character. Only missing the history with Shalimar that can only make this fic more interesting. I'll try to make sure I include as much information as I can for those who haven't seen the season two ep. 'Understudy' but this might make some spoilers so it's up to you whether or not you live with it.
