Aren't you all impressed that I'm managing to update so quickly? Quite the achievement for someone who thinks deadlines are there to tell me when to start working.
I'm glad to hear that you are all enjoying this story. And I'm loving the really long reviews...always a good thing. Any criticisms are appreciated as well. I do, like any writer worth their salt (I've never understood that expression) I am always wanting to improve. So please review this chapter too (Victoria: I'm sorry if you think Upside Down wasn't finished. It is, atleast until I can be bothered to write a sequel...I just kind of felt like I had to stop doing that one for a bit to get some perspective on it and try and come up with a new angle. Glad to hear that you want a sequel...I will try and write one soon).
Have a nice day.
***
Jesse saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up, through the windscreen of the Helix. He saw Shalimar jogging towards the ship but his attention was more taken up by the guy she was with. He rolled his eyes and opened the door as the pair got to it.
Brennan looked at the inside of the plane. He had never seen anything like it. And he had never imagined his life could get any stranger, but it successfully had. He looked around him, at the screens and the flashing lights. It looked like a set from Star Trek.
'You wanna take a seat?' Shalimar said from behind him. She smiled at him trying to reassure him that he hadn't just entered a science fiction film. Though that wouldn't be so far from the truth she thought to herself wryly.
'Adam's gonna go nuts,' Jesse said as Shalimar sat down in the seat next to his.
'Thank you for pointing that out Jesse. You're a real help,' she bit back.
'Why did you bring him along anyway?' Jesse said in little over a whisper.
'The two agents chasing me saw me talking to him. They would have assumed that he was a new mutant too. I couldn't risk leaving him behind.'
'How do we know he isn't a new mutant?'
'We don't.'
'How do we know he isn't an agent, one that we're about to take back to Sanctuary?'
'We don't. That's why Adam invented the visual cloaks.' She stood up and walked into the belly of the ship. She reached over to a drawer that was set into the wall and pulled it out revealing a tray of small circles. She pulled one out and walked over to Brennan.
'How you doing?' she asked, knowing it had to be a shock finding himself in a futuristic vehicle on the way to her house, which just happened to be in a big rock.
'I'm okay.' Brennan was taking it all in his stride. He knew he didn't come from a normal background and he was no longer going through that uncertain stage with his powers. He had been using them for some time and it no longer seemed bizarre that he was able to conjure electricity in his hands. It had helped him out of quite a few situations. He was happy that he was a little different from most people and he guessed that this was all just a part of that.
'I'm gonna have to put this on you, security reasons.'
'Okay.'
Shalimar brushed his hair away from the his temple and gently placed the cloak on to the skin. She looked at his face and saw a frown appear as he opened his eyes and saw nothing. She had been freaked out when Adam had placed the cloak on her when he had brought her to Sanctuary for the first time. Not being able to see had been a weird experience but she had remembered not being scared. Her other senses were heightened, it was like being forced into the kind of situation had made her react, and she had pretty good instincts as far as people were concerned, she trusted Adam even though she had only known him for a couple of minutes. She felt completely safe with him, totally at ease. She saw Brennan's hand tighten around the arm of his chair.
'You alright?' she asked quietly, placing her hand on his arm and squeezing to try and reassure him that everything was going to be okay.
'I'm good, its just a little weird,' he replied.
'And you thought things couldn't get any stranger.'
***
Emma shut the door behind her and walked out into the street. She felt the cold air hit her cheeks and enclosed her jacket tighter around her body. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled her gloves on and walked down the road. She looked up and saw the almost orange clouds overhead, tinted by the lights of the city. She remembered going to visit her grandparents every Christmas. They lived in the country and every Christmas eve she would sit out in their garden looking up at the stars, just waiting for Santa Clause to come by on his sleigh and land on her roof. She would wait there for hours, wrapped up in a big blanket that smelt of mothballs. Her grandmother would bring her big mugs of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream on top and marshmallows floating in the liquid.
Life had been so simple back then. Not that she didn't love her current existence. She had friends, a job that although not fulfilling any dreams gave her the ability to live a comfortable life. But living with the knowledge that she was so different from everyone else was difficult. Knowing that at any moment someone could find out how much of a freak she really was. That thought terrified her.
She walked round the corner at the end of the street and straight into the bar she had agreed to meet her friends at. She hadn't been out in a while and was fully looking forward to it. After surveying the room for her friends she sat down on one of the red plush bar stools and ordered a screwdriver. She watched as the barman got her drink together. He was hot and Emma smiled when he handed her the glass, moisture sliding down the outside.
She looked around her. The bar was a regular haunt of hers, mostly because she loved the atmosphere. The lights were soft and warm and the seats were comfortable, and it was a little old fashioned, with some old school soul music playing on a stereo behind the counter.
She sat back in the chair to wait for her friends to turn up. A couple of seconds later though she was bent almost double, her elbow resting heavily on the bar, the respective hand holding her head as she was assaulted with images and emotions. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip till her teeth left a red mark as she waited for the moment to pass.
Eventually it did and she looked up to see the bartender looking at her like she was a freak who had just managed to escape from a mental institution. She rolled her eyes as if to say 'hard day' and turned back to her drink. That kind of thing happened occasionally. She would just be carrying on with her normal life, doing normal everyday things and then suddenly she would be attacked by thoughts and images and emotions that weren't her own. It had freaked her out but now it was just annoying. And the occasional trips through other peoples minds were becoming more frequent. She understood that it was her ability and that she should see it as a gift but it was hard, especially when she was trying to look all hot and mysterious in front of a cute stranger.
***
Shalimar poured the boiling water into a mug and stirred till she couldn't see anymore coffee granules. She walked to the fridge and pulled it open feeling the cool air against her skin. She quickly drew out the milk and closed the door with her hip as she walked back to the table. Brennan was currently having everything explained to him by Adam and Jesse, Adam doing what he did best and baffling everyone with science and Jesse trying to fill in the blanks in a way that wouldn't seem too patronizing. Shalimar had decided that Brennan probably needed a hot drink and she needed some food. She was also mentally preparing herself for Adam's inevitable lecture on why she couldn't bring people back to Sanctuary with her just because she was feeling protective.
She pulled the pizza out of the oven and slid it onto a plate and cut it up for easy eating. Leaning back against the table she closed her eyes, allowing herself a few moments to savour the peace and quiet of the end of the day. She didn't mind working, and atleast it was work that she wanted to do as opposed to working in a bar for next to nothing. She had gained nothing from education, especially considering that her father had placed her in a mental institution when she was twelve. Everything she knew, about computers, maths, science, all of that was knowledge that she had gleaned from Adam. If she hadn't have met him who knows where she would have ended up.
'We need to talk.'
The pizza in Shalimar's hand stopped inches from her mouth and she rolled her eyes.
'What about?' She said brightly. She decided to try the butter wouldn't melt tack. He looked at her and in that instant she knew for sure that it was not going to work.
'I know Adam, okay. I know I shouldn't have brought Brennan back to Sanctuary. It was a bad idea, but I couldn't just leave him behind to get his ass kicked by the GSA because they were under the impression that I only talk to new mutants. And before you say anything I did not do it because of the 'protective feral thing', I did it because it is just good manners to save someone from getting the crap beaten out of them.'
Adam looked at the blonde. He knew there were so many problems with her argument but he couldn't fault her for trying. And right at that moment there was really only one thing to say.
'He's a new mutant.'
I'm glad to hear that you are all enjoying this story. And I'm loving the really long reviews...always a good thing. Any criticisms are appreciated as well. I do, like any writer worth their salt (I've never understood that expression) I am always wanting to improve. So please review this chapter too (Victoria: I'm sorry if you think Upside Down wasn't finished. It is, atleast until I can be bothered to write a sequel...I just kind of felt like I had to stop doing that one for a bit to get some perspective on it and try and come up with a new angle. Glad to hear that you want a sequel...I will try and write one soon).
Have a nice day.
***
Jesse saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up, through the windscreen of the Helix. He saw Shalimar jogging towards the ship but his attention was more taken up by the guy she was with. He rolled his eyes and opened the door as the pair got to it.
Brennan looked at the inside of the plane. He had never seen anything like it. And he had never imagined his life could get any stranger, but it successfully had. He looked around him, at the screens and the flashing lights. It looked like a set from Star Trek.
'You wanna take a seat?' Shalimar said from behind him. She smiled at him trying to reassure him that he hadn't just entered a science fiction film. Though that wouldn't be so far from the truth she thought to herself wryly.
'Adam's gonna go nuts,' Jesse said as Shalimar sat down in the seat next to his.
'Thank you for pointing that out Jesse. You're a real help,' she bit back.
'Why did you bring him along anyway?' Jesse said in little over a whisper.
'The two agents chasing me saw me talking to him. They would have assumed that he was a new mutant too. I couldn't risk leaving him behind.'
'How do we know he isn't a new mutant?'
'We don't.'
'How do we know he isn't an agent, one that we're about to take back to Sanctuary?'
'We don't. That's why Adam invented the visual cloaks.' She stood up and walked into the belly of the ship. She reached over to a drawer that was set into the wall and pulled it out revealing a tray of small circles. She pulled one out and walked over to Brennan.
'How you doing?' she asked, knowing it had to be a shock finding himself in a futuristic vehicle on the way to her house, which just happened to be in a big rock.
'I'm okay.' Brennan was taking it all in his stride. He knew he didn't come from a normal background and he was no longer going through that uncertain stage with his powers. He had been using them for some time and it no longer seemed bizarre that he was able to conjure electricity in his hands. It had helped him out of quite a few situations. He was happy that he was a little different from most people and he guessed that this was all just a part of that.
'I'm gonna have to put this on you, security reasons.'
'Okay.'
Shalimar brushed his hair away from the his temple and gently placed the cloak on to the skin. She looked at his face and saw a frown appear as he opened his eyes and saw nothing. She had been freaked out when Adam had placed the cloak on her when he had brought her to Sanctuary for the first time. Not being able to see had been a weird experience but she had remembered not being scared. Her other senses were heightened, it was like being forced into the kind of situation had made her react, and she had pretty good instincts as far as people were concerned, she trusted Adam even though she had only known him for a couple of minutes. She felt completely safe with him, totally at ease. She saw Brennan's hand tighten around the arm of his chair.
'You alright?' she asked quietly, placing her hand on his arm and squeezing to try and reassure him that everything was going to be okay.
'I'm good, its just a little weird,' he replied.
'And you thought things couldn't get any stranger.'
***
Emma shut the door behind her and walked out into the street. She felt the cold air hit her cheeks and enclosed her jacket tighter around her body. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled her gloves on and walked down the road. She looked up and saw the almost orange clouds overhead, tinted by the lights of the city. She remembered going to visit her grandparents every Christmas. They lived in the country and every Christmas eve she would sit out in their garden looking up at the stars, just waiting for Santa Clause to come by on his sleigh and land on her roof. She would wait there for hours, wrapped up in a big blanket that smelt of mothballs. Her grandmother would bring her big mugs of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream on top and marshmallows floating in the liquid.
Life had been so simple back then. Not that she didn't love her current existence. She had friends, a job that although not fulfilling any dreams gave her the ability to live a comfortable life. But living with the knowledge that she was so different from everyone else was difficult. Knowing that at any moment someone could find out how much of a freak she really was. That thought terrified her.
She walked round the corner at the end of the street and straight into the bar she had agreed to meet her friends at. She hadn't been out in a while and was fully looking forward to it. After surveying the room for her friends she sat down on one of the red plush bar stools and ordered a screwdriver. She watched as the barman got her drink together. He was hot and Emma smiled when he handed her the glass, moisture sliding down the outside.
She looked around her. The bar was a regular haunt of hers, mostly because she loved the atmosphere. The lights were soft and warm and the seats were comfortable, and it was a little old fashioned, with some old school soul music playing on a stereo behind the counter.
She sat back in the chair to wait for her friends to turn up. A couple of seconds later though she was bent almost double, her elbow resting heavily on the bar, the respective hand holding her head as she was assaulted with images and emotions. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip till her teeth left a red mark as she waited for the moment to pass.
Eventually it did and she looked up to see the bartender looking at her like she was a freak who had just managed to escape from a mental institution. She rolled her eyes as if to say 'hard day' and turned back to her drink. That kind of thing happened occasionally. She would just be carrying on with her normal life, doing normal everyday things and then suddenly she would be attacked by thoughts and images and emotions that weren't her own. It had freaked her out but now it was just annoying. And the occasional trips through other peoples minds were becoming more frequent. She understood that it was her ability and that she should see it as a gift but it was hard, especially when she was trying to look all hot and mysterious in front of a cute stranger.
***
Shalimar poured the boiling water into a mug and stirred till she couldn't see anymore coffee granules. She walked to the fridge and pulled it open feeling the cool air against her skin. She quickly drew out the milk and closed the door with her hip as she walked back to the table. Brennan was currently having everything explained to him by Adam and Jesse, Adam doing what he did best and baffling everyone with science and Jesse trying to fill in the blanks in a way that wouldn't seem too patronizing. Shalimar had decided that Brennan probably needed a hot drink and she needed some food. She was also mentally preparing herself for Adam's inevitable lecture on why she couldn't bring people back to Sanctuary with her just because she was feeling protective.
She pulled the pizza out of the oven and slid it onto a plate and cut it up for easy eating. Leaning back against the table she closed her eyes, allowing herself a few moments to savour the peace and quiet of the end of the day. She didn't mind working, and atleast it was work that she wanted to do as opposed to working in a bar for next to nothing. She had gained nothing from education, especially considering that her father had placed her in a mental institution when she was twelve. Everything she knew, about computers, maths, science, all of that was knowledge that she had gleaned from Adam. If she hadn't have met him who knows where she would have ended up.
'We need to talk.'
The pizza in Shalimar's hand stopped inches from her mouth and she rolled her eyes.
'What about?' She said brightly. She decided to try the butter wouldn't melt tack. He looked at her and in that instant she knew for sure that it was not going to work.
'I know Adam, okay. I know I shouldn't have brought Brennan back to Sanctuary. It was a bad idea, but I couldn't just leave him behind to get his ass kicked by the GSA because they were under the impression that I only talk to new mutants. And before you say anything I did not do it because of the 'protective feral thing', I did it because it is just good manners to save someone from getting the crap beaten out of them.'
Adam looked at the blonde. He knew there were so many problems with her argument but he couldn't fault her for trying. And right at that moment there was really only one thing to say.
'He's a new mutant.'