Disclaimer: Although a girl can wish, I in no way shape or form own Mutant X or any of the characters.

Part Two: Cuts and Bruises

As soon as Shalimar took over the controls she contacted Adam. "Adam, the plane is losing power and Brennan is hurt. Is there anyway you can control to plane to the ground?"

"Shalimar there's no way I can do it from here. You're going to have to put down an emergency landing. You know how to do that and I'll be here. . ." Adam's voice cut out as yet another bolt of lightening struck the Helix.

"Adam, we lost her COM signal and the Helix. She's on her own." Jesse said gravely looking towards Adam.

"Well, trace their last coordinates and you and Emma get ready. As soon as you trace them, we're leaving."

Meanwhile, Shalimar was having a hard time controlling the Helix as it went down. All power was gone and she was just trying to steer it towards an open patch of land and slow down its rate of approach to smooth the landing. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her system as she prayed that this would land without hurting anyone further.

"Oh shit." Shalimar screamed as the ground came rushing towards her. She had completely lost control of the Helix and she couldn't slow their rate of approach. They were going down, and they were going down hard.

Shalimar was the first to wake up from the crash as she looked to find Brennan. "Ah, that hurts." Shalimar did a quick self examination and while all she saw was a small cut on her forehead, she had some serious bruising on her abdomen. Hearing Brennan groan, Shalimar moved to find him.

Finding him a few feet away, Shalimar could see he was in bad shape, "Hey Brennan, don't move. You were seriously electrocuted and from what I can see, you've got a really bad broken arm and some deep cuts."

Shalimar saw more on Brennan but didn't see the need in worrying him more. She was concerned about the broken arm, but the burns and the half glazed over eyes worried her more.

"Now I know how the GSA Agents feel when I fry them." Brennan said trying to lighten the mood.

Shalimar looked at him and smiled, not wanting him to be worried.

Brennan saw the look in her eyes when she smiled and he knew she wasn't telling him everything, "What's wrong Shalimar? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but we can't stay here. If Eckhart is still trying to catch us, he could spot the Helix from a mile away. I'm going to leave a coded message for Jesse and Adam, but other than that, we've got to find another place to stay. Brennan nodded and Shalimar went to work gathering the emergency packs and anything else she could salvage.

Ten minutes later Shalimar was ready to go and stopped to look at Brennan, "I'm going to try and support you the best I can, and we're going to walk into the forest over there."

With that, Shalimar leaned over to grasp Brennan and help him to his feet. He very light headed and swayed on his feet but they managed to keep him standing, "This is going to be a fun trek."

Twenty minutes of walking and stumbling later Shalimar came across a cave in the forest. "Well, this is as good as any place. Brennan what do you think?"

Shalimar could see that he was exhausted and when he didn't respond Shalimar said, "Come on Brennan, stay awake. Will this place work for you?"

"Yeah, whatever Shal." All Brennan wanted to do was sit down and sleep for a long time. He hurt all over and he didn't think he could walk another step.

After setting Brennan down Shalimar quickly got some dry wood and started a fire in the cave to keep them warm. Winter in Canada was not going to be fun, especially if they had to spend the night.

"Hey Brennan, Brennan!" Shalimar frantically tried to wake him up. If he fell asleep, he might never wake up and Shalimar knew that.

"What Shal, I want to sleep."

"You need to stay awake. I'm going to patch up some of those cuts; it's going to sting a little. But talk to me while I do it. I want you to stay awake."

Twenty minutes, six bandages, and a useless conversation later, Brennan was patched up the best Shalimar could do in her situation. Brennan was still talking, although his eyes were closed as Shalimar moved to the other side of the cave. She retrieved two blankets and sat down next to Brennan. Unfortunately, they were going to be stuck in this cave all night.