Author's Note: Thank you to the kind folks who have left reviews, they have been VERY much appreciated. Because of my career choice, I have very limited time to write in the first three and a half months of the year. That is my sorry excuse for the short chapter that has been so long in coming. If I can survive past April 15 things should move along a lot quicker. Maybe. Kinda…I hope. **grin**
An Eye For An Eye
Part Two
By MeleAdam was slowly but surely figuring out what all the various controls and devices near the cage did. And what he was discovering made him sick. It appeared the fine mesh covering the bars was not padding, but an electrical grid that had been used to torture Jesse. Along with delivering jolts of electricity, they could be either heated or chilled to excruciating levels. The speakers located on either side of the enclosure could produce a level of sound that was physically painful, and coiled to the side was a thick industrial hose with a high-pressure nozzle. A roll-top toolbox contained various tools, as well as an assortment of leather straps, paddles, a cattle prod, and, in the bottom compartment, a couple of dildos along with a jar of mentholated ointment. A stark metal examination table with strategically placed restraints stood like a cold idol along the near wall.
"Oh, God," he sighed, cradling is face in his hands, then slowly pulling them downward. In the cage, Shalimar was still working to soothe her friend, cleaning the 'safe' areas first, treating the small wounds until she gained enough of Jesse's trust to go on to the more serious injuries. As if sensing Adam's feelings, the feral turned her gaze to the older man, questions clear in the dark brown eyes.
"It's okay, Shal, you're doing great," he called out gently, grateful when she turned her attention back on her injured friend. There were times he wondered if Emma's powers hadn't rubbed off on her feral teammate.
Turning back to his explorations, his mind turned over the possibilities already presented by what he'd uncovered. Unconsciously switching off his emotions, forgetting for a the time being that the victim in this case was a young man he considered a son in all but birth, his science-trained mind listed the atrocities Jesse had endured.
Sleep deprivation. Starvation. Painful levels of noise. Electrical shocks. Nearly continuous verbal abuse. Physical abuse by blows, burns, and high pressure water. Probable sexual abuse. He had been taken against his will; stripped of his dignity, his power, his identity. Isolated, taunted and tortured.
How in the hell was he supposed to put Jesse back together again after all that?
Adam loved his younger charges, each one individually. It was a paternal love, combined with a scientist's odd detachment. The father in him loved them for their spirits, their generosity, their courage. The special, unique persons they each were, mutant powers aside. And the scientist recognized and categorized their individual weaknesses. Shalimar's impetuousness, Brennan's temper, Emma's emotional withdrawal. And Jesse's insecurities.
Much as his mind balked at the idea, Adam had to agree with one comment Dwayne had made; Shalimar or Brennan would have more likely been able to endure Thorton's abuse with less damage than Jess had. Not that he'd wish what Kilmartin had endured on anyone, friend or enemy.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, it took him a moment to understand the significance of the items he found himself staring at. A stack of flat rectangular boxes. A dozen or so.
Video tapes.
The son-of-a-bitch had taped his abuse of the defenseless young man. Feeling sick inside, Adam's first gut reaction was to consider asking Brennan to flash fry the whole collection. Wipe this abomination from the face of the earth. But that impulse was rejected with the bleak realization that he might end up needing to know what exactly was done to Jesse, in order to counter it. And that brought him to the insight that that was exactly what Thorton had intended.
It wasn't enough to know what had been done to Jesse. No, Thorton wouldn't be satisfied unless Adam was forced to actually witness the abuse in all its detail. And Adam knew that those tapes would not only provide pictures, but sound as well. Nothing but the best for Dwayne Thorton's revenge.
Guilt, anguish and sorrow ripped through Kane's body like a wave, and the normally calm and collected man ended up rushing to the bathroom he'd discovered earlier, where he lost his last meal violently in the mucky toilet.
Emerging a few minutes later, he met Brennan and Emma, who eyed the still pale man with more than a little concern.
"What happened, Adam?" the psionic asked anxiously, laying a comforting hand on the older man's arm.
"Probably just something I ate," Adam lied, patting Emma's hand absent-mindedly. "Where have you two been?"
"Securing the perimeter," Brennan reported, settling himself on the edge of a nearby table and turning his moody gaze to the pair inside the cage. "How's she doing with him?"
"Okay. Slow going, though. We may be here a while, did you happen to notice if there was someplace suitable for us to set up as a temporary living area?"
"Yeah, through that door there would work. Central location, we can use supplies from the Helix to make it more livable. Obviously there's a water hookup somewhere, and we brought enough survival gear to get us by for a few days if needed. Guess Emma and I could get started on that," Brennan mused, not sounding particularly enthralled with the idea but willing to do whatever was necessary.
Adam huffed out a weary sigh before turning his attention more fully on the two young people. "Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea. Jesse's been through enough, I don't want to rush it. Though you two could go back to Sanctuary, if you'd prefer," he suggested.
"No way, man. We're here, right Emma?"
"That's right. We aren't leaving until we all leave," the redhead added emphatically.
"Emma, could you…you know…HELP Jess? Make him feel better, somehow?" Brennan asked diffidently. The elemental had seen the powerful potential in Emma's powers, how she could use them with surprising accuracy as a weapon, yet he still felt uncomfortable with the 'softer' side of her powers.
"I wish I could, Brennan. I really wish I could. But…I think he'd see anything I did right now as an attack, no matter if it made him feel better. He's so close to the edge, if not already over it, I just couldn't risk it," Emma said sadly, her mournful gaze returning to their injured friend.
"I agree," Adam added solemnly. "And, at the risk of sounding cruel, if Jesse's going to come back, he's going to have to do it the hard way. I'm afraid taking any 'shortcuts' would cause more damage in the long run, and that's a risk I'm not willing to take. We're going to have to trust that with time, patience and love Jesse will recover; that he has enough strength to fight his way back to us. We have to ALL believe he can do that, and I trust he really can."
"Okay, I guess I see your point. Maybe. But you're right - it does sound cruel. If we could ease his mental pain while he physically recovers, what's the harm in that?" Mulwray wanted to know.
"The harm in that is that there is a very real danger that putting off forcing him to deal with the emotional fallout of his ordeal could result in his never dealing with it. It's rather like…say…an alcoholic, who has to hit bottom before he can admit there's a problem. In a very real way, emotionally, Jesse's at rock bottom right now. If we lend him false strength, then he may have to 'fall' again to get to the point where he can really be helped. I'd rather not see that happen. And based on conversations I've had with him over the years, he wouldn't want that either. Jess is a pretty straight-forward sort of young man, and I honestly believe if he was in any condition to make his own choices, he'd choose to fight his way back without Emma shielding him emotionally," Adam explained in an unusually diffident manner; so unlike his normally assertive, self assured manner of speech.
"I wouldn't do anything to hurt him," the psionic argued, looking wounded at the idea she'd harm her friend.
"No, I know that Emma. I do. That's not what I meant. It's just that I'm worried that if his emotional state is as fragile as I suspect it is, he won't be able to stand any tampering at all. Do you understand?"
Emma sighed deeply, her mournful gaze wandering the Shalimar and Jesse. "I get it Adam. And I do agree, though I know where Brennan's question is coming from. It's so hard to be so close, to see him hurting so much, and not be able to help. What about if I projected a 'broad band' feeling of…reassurance? Maybe it would help. Maybe even help all of us," she suggested.
"What did you have in mind?" their mentor asked.
"Just something to soothe us all. Like the feeling you get from listening to your favorite comfort music, or wrapping up in your softest old sweater. Nothing to alter, just something to calm us all," she suggested.
"You can do that?" Brennan asked with frank amazement in his tone. "How can you do that?"
"What I have in mind would be like…projective meditation. I'll meditate first, gather up all the calm I can, then release it to us all. Kind of like a mental 'fragrance', with me as the 'candle', if that makes sense. I've never exactly tried this, but I think it can work. I can't see why not, anyway. Should I give it a try?"
"Sure. It's a sound theory, and based on the recent developments with your mutant abilities, I agree…it should work," Adam approved, smiling warmly at the young woman. "And God knows we could all use some soothing."
"I'll get on it," she replied briskly, looking around for a comfortable spot to work from. Settling in a warm patch of sunlight provided by one of the high, dusty windows, Emma soon dropped into a meditative state.
"I'll tell you, Adam. Every day it seems we find a new reason to be glad Emma is on our side, you know?" Brennan commented with a sly smile. "I definitely wouldn't want her as an enemy."
"I know what you mean. It's amazing how much her abilities and confidence have grown," Kane smiled back, before sobering again. "Would you mind setting up a living area for us in the next room. I need to keep an eye on them," he requested, indicating the pair in the cage.
"No problem. Whatever it takes, man," the elemental agreed, clapping Adam on the back before heading back to the other room to determine what he needed to do.
~*~
Shalimar had been peripherally aware of the conversation between Adam, Brennan and Emma, but had ignored them as she concentrated on her troubled best friend. She'd successfully cleaned a dozen or more of his smaller injuries, mostly on his back and shoulders, all the while keeping up a soothing litany of reassurance.
Jesse was still muttering something, though she was barely able to hear him at all; his voice had a breathless, surreal quality she'd never heard before. Still, the cadence of the words sounded oddly familiar, and she turned her attention more intently on him, trying desperately to understand what was so important to him that he'd keep saying it over and over. At last she was able to decipher the words enough to recognize the phrase, and a fist tightened over her heart yet again.
"I am not a freak; I am special, and wanted, and
loved. I am not a freak; I am special
and wanted and loved…"
It was a mantra she'd taught him years ago, when his sensitive spirit had been
wounded over and over by the cruelty of those who didn't understand the special
abilities he possessed. She doubted
that anyone else knew it, but Jesse had told her that even his own mother had
called him a freak a time or two. The
young man's eyes had filled with tears when he confessed that, even though he
tried valiantly to hide them from Shalimar.
When Shal's reaction to that confession was a tirade against Jesse's mom, Jess had jumped in to defend his parent, an act that had at first confused the feral. How could he defend someone who had hurt him so much, even if it was his mother? Still young herself, she eventually came to understand his position, and puzzled over how to help her new friend. Finally turning to Adam for advice, it was he who suggested teaching Jesse a self-fortifying mantra to counter the verbal abuse he'd experienced over the years. The idea was Adam's, but the words were Shalimar's, and apparently they had been taken very much to heart.
It sounded like Jesse had used those words as a lifeline as he endured all that Dwayne Thorton had inflicted on him. Shalimar found it distressingly easy to imagine her gentle friend clutching those words to him like a mental teddy bear, holding them close to his heart, giving him some meager comfort in the hell he had endured.
Unconsciously humming along with the CD still playing in the background, the blonde feral resumed her ministrations to her injured teammate. It was several minutes before she realized she'd relaxed far more than was likely given the circumstances, and she stole a quick glance around, spying Emma sitting with her eyes closed in a patch of sunlight. It dawned on her that this sense of calm she'd developed had little to do with the situation and a lot to do with her psionic teammate's ability. Daring to hope, she turned her attention back to Jesse.
While Shalimar's wish that her oldest friend was coming back to himself under Emma's influence was not to be, she did note that he seemed less stressed than he had been. The lines surrounding the tightly closed eyes had softened a little, and the trembling had eased to an occasional faint shudder. She glanced up to find Adam just outside the bars of the cage, studying Jesse intently. Their mentor caught Shal's gaze with an encouraging look, then hastily scratched out a question on the small pad of paper he had in his hand.
"He is calmer?" The note asked.
At Shalimar's nod of agreement, a considering look passed over Adam's face before he jotted down another message.
"Let's tranq him and get him home. What do you think?"
The feral pondered the suggestion for a moment, then gave a quick thumbs up in agreement. She worried that Jesse would be aware enough to understand that she'd 'betrayed' him, but the potential benefits of getting him to a safe environment outweighed that risk in her opinion. When Adam returned with an injection for her to administer, she didn't hesitate to take it from him.
Never altering her words or activities, she cleaned a spot on his upper arm and deftly injected the contents of the syringe. Even with her words of comfort and Emma's soothing influence, Jesse stiffened at the moment of injection, letting out a keening wail of misery that sent shivers down Shalimar's spine. It was a lost, inhuman sound of misery that lasted only a moment but imbedded itself in the other four team member's hearts. Shalimar held her beloved friend tight even as he slipped into peaceful unconsciousness.
Brennan stood oddly irresolute at the doorway where he'd been when Shalimar gave Jesse the shot. Unsure of what had happened, he turned to Adam for clarification as Emma stepped up beside their mentor with her own questions plain in her blue eyes.
"Change of plans, guys. We're going home. Brennan, give Shalimar a hand with Jesse then come on back and we'll gather up what we need to take with us. Shal, you stay in the Helix with Jesse. That shot should knock him out for several hours, but we don't want to take any chances. Besides, he'll need to be monitored continuously for any complications since we don't know for sure what all was done to him. Emma, why don't you give me a hand here, we'll get this stuff packed up." The three new mutants moved to obey without question or comment, a sure sign that all of them were off balance by what had happened.
Brennan moved to Shalimar's side, motioning her to get out of the cage as he took Jesse from her protective embrace. Deftly maneuvering the smaller man out of the close confines of the cage, the elemental then lifted his unconscious colleague into his arms, shocked at how much weight Jesse had lost.
Mulwray's long legged stride carried him swiftly up to the Helix, followed closely by the ever protective Shalimar, who assisted the taller man in securing Jesse in one of the back seats of the craft. After assuring himself his teammate was not only secure, but also as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, Brennan left the unconscious man in Shal's care and returned to assist Emma and Adam.
Less than fifteen minutes later they were airborne again, hurrying back to Sanctuary, the team once again reunited, if only physically.