The Serum

Part 14

AN: Perhaps not the action you guys were rooting for, but I was trying to keep it real. (not that the show has any such foibles. HOW CAN ADAM REMEMBER SOMETHING HE NEVER SAW!!! Grr soz, final judgement related miff.)

She dragged herself from the floor, twisting away so that Nikki's next blow missed her by a hair's breadth. She was tiring quickly and struggling to keep away from the vicious blows for the other feral. Blood trickling from the cut on her face attested to that. She scrubbed the sharp sting of the blood from her eyes and turned back to Nikki, only to find her attention on something else.

Jaylynn jumped around the doorframe, gun in hand, scanning the room quickly to come to rest aiming at Nikki.

"You OK Sarge?" She called across, not taking her eyes off Nikki.

"Forget about me, shoot her!" Eliza called back. Before she could move on that order Nikki was beside her and kicking the gun from her hands. She ducked and rolled as Nikki went to kick out at her head. A quick blow, too fast to be avoided, threw her up against the wall, holding her head in her hands as she struggled to find the coordination to move from where she had landed, a trickle of blood running down the side of her face. Nikki advanced on her like the cat she was, smooth fluid steps and a feral smile. She looked up and flinched as Nikki drew back for a final blow. She opened her eyes as flesh contacted flesh in front of her, wondering what was going on as Nikki and Eliza rolled across the floor together. Eliza knocked Nikki away once more and backed off, moving into a corner and searching desperately for a solution to this.

'You're thinking too much like a feral.' She repremanded herself. 'You're not back up to full strength and you're never going to beat her in a fair fight until you are. Think like a cop.' She grinned as the thought came to her, looking over at Jaylynn.

"Jaylynn, you remember that time you and I had to pull down that six foot something power lifting ape?" Jaylynn grinned back.

"Good times." She agreed.

"Think you could do it again?"

"I could have a go, but I don't have any cuffs on me."

"Not a problem." Eliza laughed, showing Jaylynn Granger's cuffs in the back of her belt.

"Let's do it then."

Granger and Davies reached the top of the stairs together, the backup team right behind them. They pulled the door open and came face to face with another man and woman, coming out of the door of the stairwell from the roof. They looked as out of breath as Granger felt and he wondered where they were going in such a hurry.

"I'm sorry sir, ma'am. This floor is being closed off, there's some kind of problem a little way down this hall."

"Yeah, we know." The man offered. "Some of our friends are part of it, we just want to go in and make sure they're safe." Granger narrowed his eyes at the two.

"You're taller than I expected." He said eventually. "And younger." He watched as the man shared a glance with the woman. "Ella's told us all about your organisation. You have as much right to be here as we do, and probably a hell of a lot more experience." He turned to the other team. "Arrange yourself around this floor, make sure everyone stays in their homes and no one else comes through these corridors. We're going in."

Leading the police towards the room, Emma turned to Brennan.

"That was very political of you."

"I surprised myself. But who does he think I am?"

"Well, if Ella's told them everything, maybe he knows you're you."

"But 'my' organisation? And Mutant X is an organisation now?"

"Let's get Jesse and Eliza home safe, we can worry about your identity crisis later." Emma enforced. "We still have to decide what to do with Nikki. She knows all about Sanctuary, we're going to have to take her back with us."

"I have the tranquillisers that Adam gave me, hopefully that will be enough." Brennan rested his hand on the door of Eliza's apartment.

"Sir, wait a minute. If you don't mind, breaking and entering is our department." Granger gave a grin and called Davies over. They arranged themselves around the door as Eliza and Jaylynn had done earlier and Granger eased the unlocked door open. A quick scan of the room revealed it empty and they started to move through the building. Granger stopped short as he came to the living room.

"We were wondering when you guys might get here." Eliza said laughingly.

They held Nikki to the floor with her hands cuffed and behind her head. Eliza sat across her back, knees resting on her upper arms and holding her elbows painfully high so that she could get no leverage out of them. Jaylynn sat behind her, knees rested on Nikki's thighs and holding her ankles under her arms so she could get no leverage there either. The whole picture was quite comical and Granger, Davies and Brennan fell about while Emma moved quickly to their side. Nikki wriggled roughly in the women's grasp, growling at Emma as she was restrained.

"Emma, would you mind? Anything to keep her calm?" Emma smiled and, with a flick of her head she offered Nikki a vision of gentle waves, calm vistas and soft clouds. She stilled almost immediately and Brennan, his laughter under control, came over with an injection of sedative to go with Emma's assistance.

Eliza released Nikki's elbows cautiously and, when she made no move to attack further, she stood up and passed out.