The Serum
Part 8
AN: I should have thought about this before I chose to use Nikki I'm trying REALLY hard to make this as different to Understudy as I can, soz for all the similarities.
Jesse knocked lightly on the door to the apartment. He had only seen it once before, when they had been scouting for potential safe houses. The door opened slowly, almost reluctantly as Eliza peered around it. She looked different, it struck Jesse. It was suddenly easier to think of this woman as Eliza, not Shalimar. Her hair was cut short, barely brushing her ears and her eyes were red-ringed from where she'd been crying. She struggled to hide the tears as she realised who it was, she brushed at her eyes with the sleeves of the robe she wore.
"Jesse. What are you doing here?"
"I decided you needed some company." He said, taking hold of her hand to stop her rubbing at her eyes. "Are you OK?" She looked at him for a minute, considering lying. She shook her head. "Lets get some coffee shall we?" He smiled, leading her back inside. "We've got some catching up to do."
"Jesse." Brennan's voice came over the comm.. "Richard gave us the slip. He left the jacket with the tracker in it in a dumpster. There's no sign of him." Jesse swore lightly, turning back to Eliza who was sat curled up on the sofa.
"I should never have let him go." She said, shaking her head.
"You did what you thought was right at the time, he doesn't have access to the code for the serum or the tools to make it with so we're OK for a while. Brennan." He said, turning back to the comm. ring. "Head back to Sanctuary, we'll meet you there."
"We?" Brennan questioned.
"Yeah, I'm brining Eliza back with me."
"You are?" Brennan asked.
"You are?" Eliza repeated.
"Yes." He said firmly. "You're not well. This isn't going to help you get better. I don't want to leave you alone here."
"Are you sure that's a good idea Jes?" Emma questioned. "Adam's gone to great lengths to keep her away from Sanctuary."
"I'm not leaving her alone, Emma. Sanctuary's the best place for the moment, in case he comes back. We'll bring all of his work with us, so there's nothing here for him to find if he does come back."
"What are you going to do about Nikki?" Brennan asked.
"I assume she's not with you at the moment?"
"She's trying to track Richard, we're in the double helix." Jesse sighed.
"I guess we'll have to tell her. I'm sure she'll understand, she'll probably be glad to see that Shalimar's alive." He shook his head at the confusing names. They would have to sort that out later.
Eliza hesitated before walking though the doorway into Sanctuary. It was strange the memories the smallest thing could bring back. Standing there she could think of hundreds of things that had happened to her in this place. She grinned as Brennan appeared in the hall, Emma right behind.
"Hey Eliza." Emma greeted, hesitating at the name.
"Call me Ella." She replied, grimacing slightly. "I like it better."
"Ella?" Brennan asked, teasing.
"My boss, his wife is called Eliza, he had to call me something else to avoid confusion. Is Nikki around?"
"She's still out there. She's got the bike so she'll come home when she's ready."
"She's staying out?" Eliza asked, concerned.
"Don't worry. She'll be back home by tomorrow morning and sleep in until twelve. It's just her way." Brennan explained.
Eliza woke with a start, finding herself curled up on the sofa in Sanctuary's rec. room. She hadn't been able to sleep, she remembered, and had come out hereto soak up some of Sanctuary's relaxing atmosphere.
Adam's reaction to her return had been unexpected. She had expected annoyed noises and scowls. Instead she had received a tight hug, a welcome home and a sad look as he brushed his hand through her shortened hair. He had treated her headwound — not convinced that the hospital would have done a good enough job — and scanned her DNA when she explained her theory. What he found merely confirmed it, she was becoming feral again, slowly. He had no explanation as to why her mutation would be returning when none of the other's was, but he had offered her a place in the underground if anything got too hot.
She hadn't expected to a fall asleep down here. She hadn't expected to fall asleep at all with the day she had had. She wondered absently what had woken her. She was on her feet immediately as someone walked into the rec. room and froze in the doorway. She saw feral eyes flash in the darkness and smiled.
"Nikki." She grinned, reaching over to flick the lamp on beside her. The feral simply stood and stared for a moment.
"Shalimar You're dead." She said it as if she was stating a fact, the person before her would not convince her otherwise. "Who are you?"
"I used to be Shalimar, Nikki. But I lost my mutancy. Now I'm Ella." She thought of explaining about the returning powers that Adam had identified, but something in Nikki's face stopped her.
"They lied to me." She hissed.
"They had to." Eliza replied, a little put out at how unhappy Nikki seemed to be to see her. "Otherwise you might come out looking for me and put other things at risk."
"I don't believe this!" Nikki yelled. "You can't do this, they're mine now. You can't do this to me again!" Now Eliza was completely baffled.
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Nikki didn't reply, but began pacing up and down the room, feral grace in every step. Walking became an art form, pacing was a silent threat. At every turn as she reached the end of the room she was growl quietly to herself. Eliza simply watched silently.
"You know, when Adam came to me with the rest of Mutant X and told me that you had died and they needed a feral on Mutant X, that they wanted me the only regret that I had was that I didn't get to kill you myself." Eliza looked up at her wide-eyed, taking a step back. "And now I find out that you're not only alive, you're human" She spat the word as if it were dirty. "But I can't kill you now. No. That wouldn't be right. That might jeopardise my place on Mutant X. So what you're going to do if you're going to run back to your human life as fast as you're human legs can carry you. And you're going to stay there and never get in my way again." Eliza backed away, headed for the door. She didn't know what had changed in her friend, but she found herself nodding quietly. She was no match for this woman, even with a gun she knew she would be helpless. They had been closely matched when they had both been feral, now she had no chance. "Hurry up and go, before I decide it would be worth the risk to kill you now, right here."
