It came sooner than I expected but here's the last chapter. I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages, I couldn't get this one to work but I finally sorted it all out and hopefully you will all enjoy and review. Thank you to all the reviewers who have given me feedback for the whole thing. I am eternally grateful. I am planning on writing a sequel but you all have to let me know if you'll read it if I do.
***
The sun beat down onto Shalimar's bare shoulders but inside her there was a chill. The team had left Sanctuary immediately after receiving the call and they had reached Beverly Hills ten minutes after that. But Shalimar was scared that even that short amount of time had been too much. Lucy had the ability to protect herself, all new mutants did, but she had not been trained like the members of Mutant X had, she didn't have the kind of stamina they had gained over the years. She wouldn't be able to protect herself for long, if at all.
Brennan had filled Shalimar in on what she had missed while in New York during the flight. Him leaving Lucy, abandoning the mission had had more consequences than any of them could have known about. Lucy was wanted by the Dominion and they weren't going to let a repentant Mutant X member stop that. Shalimar had already put two and two together and although she knew she may have ended up with fifteen she was pretty sure that she was right. The Dominion had sent their own people to finish the job. They had wanted Mutant X to deal with it but when that plan had failed they had moved onto plan B. And unlike Mutant X they weren't gonna let a conscience get in their way; they were gonna take Lucy out no matter what it took.
When they had landed they had each taken a different route, each trying to get to Lucy first. Brennan and Jesse had, like Shalimar already figured out the truth, they had already worked out what the Dominion was going to do with Lucy but Lexa still seemed to want to believe that they wouldn't do anything to harm a new mutant. Shalimar couldn't work out whether Lexa was stupid, naïve or optimistic but which ever it turned out to be she was going to get hurt.
She sniffed the air again and the metallic smell of blood hit her nostrils.
'Hey guys, I think I've found her,' she said into her comlink.
'Where are you?' came the voice of Brennan, clearly anxious for any news.
Shalimar looked up and down the road to find a sign. 'Bradbury Road, but I think she's in an alley off of it.'
'We'll be there soon,' Brennan replied before Shalimar cut the link. She walked forward faster than before and eventually reached a doorway. The wooden door was swinging lightly on its hinges and the smell became almost unbearably strong for Shalimar. She pushed it open with one hand and stepped into the darkness of the room. Her eyes glowed like beacons and she looked around her.
A gasp slipped from her throat and her eyes widened as she saw Lucy in all the glorious technicolour that her feral abilities afforded her. Shalimar felt the bile well up in her throat and everything seemed to overwhelm her. She turned and ran from the room, straight past Brennan who had, moments before appeared in the doorway. He heard the sound of Shalimar choking in the alley as he walked forward into a room he really didn't want to go in to. The smell was overpowering and he had to turn away as he saw Lucy's brutalised body in front of him, faintly through the shadow of the gloom. He couldn't even imagine the things the Dominion had done to make her look like that and he didn't want to. He had seen a lot of pain in his life, a lot of it caused by him but he had never done something so completely heartless. And the thing that really made him sick was that the Dominion had enjoyed taking her out of the bigger picture, the one only they could see. They hid behind this facade of doing the right thing for the good of many but what they neglected to notice was how much pain they caused in the process. Lucy hadn't been part of their plan so they had gotten rid of her and they weren't going to think about her ever again unless one of them happened to come across a file with her name on it. Even if that happened they wouldn't remember her face. He turned and walked out of the building to comfort Shalimar and to warn Jesse and Lexa that going into the room could seriously damage their view of the world.
***
Everything looked different. The world had suddenly come into focus with sharper, bolder colours. The Mutant X team had had their rose tinted glasses forcibly removed by the people who had placed them there in the first place.
Shalimar's eyes were red in deep contrast with her face which was the palest it had ever been and she walked as though she were in a daze with Brennan's arm around her waist so she wouldn't collapse. She had been through a lot in the past few days and seeing Lucy had been the final straw. She was ready to have a full on mental breakdown.
Brennan led her towards a chair. The ride home had been conducted in complete silence except for the sound of Lexa calling the Beverly Hills police station and telling them about Lucy. He had thought back to his last conversation with Lucy. She had seemed so relieved to finally be able to tell the truth and he had been happy to let her. She had been given a chance by him and it had actually made her glad to be alive. She must have been so scared before they had killed her. It made him furious and he could feel the electricity buzzing inside of him, dying to be let out so he could avenge her and all the others the Dominion had taken care of.
Lexa didn't know what to think. Brennan had stopped both her and Jesse from going into the building and she didn't regret his decision. She knew from Shalimar's and Brennan's reactions that it must have been horrifying. Shalimar hadn't said a single word since the event. And Lexa felt completely lost at sea, unable to find her own way to shore, unable to ask the others for help. She had spent so long obeying the Dominion's every wish and yet she had been helping the very people she pledged to protect the world from. They had pulled the wool over her eyes for so long and she had been stupid enough to let them. She hadn't asked any questions of them and now Lucy had paid the price. She blinked back the tears which threatened to spill over the edge of her eyelids as she looked across at Jesse. He looked like he was dealing the best out of any of them. Jesse who always seemed so dependent on others was the one everyone eventually turned to for comfort.
Jesse looked at Shalimar's weak figure. He had never seen her so shell shocked, except of course when Emma and Adam had died. It didn't seem right that she should be so vulnerable. She always worked so hard to cover up her inner emotions, the ones she didn't want anyone else to see, just like they all did. And now none of them could hide anything from each other, it was almost like they didn't want to. In order to get through the ordeal they had just been through they needed to be able to reach out to each other, no walls in the way.
'So what do we do now?' said Lexa, the first one to break the silence, her voice wavering she was so unsure of what it sounded like.
'I don't know,' Jesse said.
'I do.' Her voice sounded clear and strong, something unexpected from her feeble body. She looked up, her eyes containing a look of determination so strong it shocked the other members of the team.
'And what's that?' Lexa asked after a long pause.
'We start doing what we do best,' Shalimar replied. Brennan's eyebrows rose. She made it all sound so simple but at that moment he didn't even know what it was that Mutant X did anymore.
'We start protecting the people we pledged to protect.' Even Shalimar was suprised at the strength held in her voice. She hadn't realised that she had it in her.
'Unless you hadn't noticed we have been doing just that for the past few months, with the Dominion's help,' Lexa said, frustration and disbelief evident.
'You're right, we have been helping people,' Shalimar replied. 'But we have only been helping those individuals who matter to the Dominion. When was the last time any of us went to one of the safehouses to check on the new mutants staying there?' She looked around her at the ashamed faces. 'We used to do that kind of thing without even thinking about it, we used to make sure that not only were they safe but that they felt safe. Ever since the Dominion showed up in our lives we've neglected the ordinary new mutants, the ones who aren't out to save or destroy the world.'
'You cannot tell me that Adam never asked you to do things which didn't help the 'ordinary new mutants'?' Lexa bit back. She knew they blamed her for everything that had happened. When Shalimar talked about the Dominion she was placing them in the same box as Lexa. She didn't even know why she was standing up for them anymore. They hadn't helped her over the years. If she looked back and truly thought about it they had always made their big, lavish promises but they always failed to follow through. But she was so desperate to hold onto something, anything that was normal to her. The Dominion had always been a part of her life and she felt that if that was taken away she would fall with it.
'No, I can't,' Shalimar replied, her voice sounding stronger by the second. 'But I trusted that Adam was doing the right thing no matter what the mission was. Maybe I shouldn't have, maybe I should have asked more questions but I didn't and now its too late. I'll probably never know what Adam's real reasons were for setting up Mutant X,' her voice lost some of its force as her thoughts were lost in thinking about Adam. Everything had been so simple when he was there. She could rely on him to make her feel secure. But since he had gone she had been left with no one to guide her. She had been lost without a compass. She snapped herself out of the flunk she had gotten into and continued. 'But that's not what bothers me right now. What bothers me is that I don't know anything about the Dominion.'
'I have told you everything I know,' Lexa said, pleading with Shalimar to believe her. Lexa had, without realising it come to rely on the opinions of Mutant X and she wanted Shalimar to think well of her, to believe that she was trustworthy.
'I'm sorry if it seems like I am being harsh on you Lexa. I don't mean to be. It is not your fault that the Dominion have been given so many opportunities to screw us over. You came along at a difficult time for all of us and we needed someone to guide us, to lead us and I am grateful that you took the job on so readily. But after seeing what I saw back there I have no doubts about the reality of the Dominion. I don't trust that they're doing the right thing and I know that's hard for you to accept and I'm not gonna try and force that view on any of you, I don't have that right.'
Shalimar looked at the three people in front of her. Everything she had said was true. The team had been desperate for leadership, it was how the Dominion had been given the opportunity to ingratiate themselves. She was embarrassed that she had been so gullible as to believe that the Dominion wanted to do the right thing and she, not for the first time wished that Adam and Emma had never died, that nothing had ever changed.
'The Dominion's going to have to do without me,' she concluded, smiling at the idea that she was going to be free once more. She knew it wouldn't be that easy to get away from the Dominion, she wasn't that naïve but it felt like a massive burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
'I second that motion,' Brennan said. He walked over to where Shalimar was and put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing lightly. She leaned into him, relishing the feeling of warmth.
'Me too,' Jesse said. Shalimar smiled at him, knowing he would never have disagreed with his older sister but loving that he was prepared to follow her anyway.
Her eye flitted across to where Lexa stood. She could tell the brunette was caught between a rock and a hard place. She didn't abandon the Dominion and she was going to have failed her mission of becoming involved with Mutant X but she left the Dominion without an agent and they were definitely not going to be happy.
Their eyes met, both knowing and understanding what was at stake.
'Motion passed,' Lexa said. Her heart immediately felt lighter and it was like she could breathe properly for once. 'So where do we start?'
Everyone turned to Shalimar.
'I gave the rousing pep talk. I'm leaving the rest of the work up to you guys,' she protested.
Brennan smiled as he stood up. 'Shalimar and I will start checking the safehouses. We'll stock them up, see who's in there, see who needs some help.'
'And you,' Jesse said, turning to Lexa, 'can tell me absolutely everything about the Dominion. We'll document all of it, including all the missions we've been on since they took over and put it all in a file.'
Lexa nodded as they both walked off in the direction of the lab.
Brennan took Shalimar's hand and helped her up from where she was sitting.
'I love when you get all enthusiastic and righteous,' he said as he pulled her closer, his hands moving across her back.
'And I love when you take charge,' she replied, a smirk on her lips. They may not have talked about their relationship but they were both prepared to leave that conversation till later. Right at that moment, none of that seemed to matter.
It was the end of yet another era. Without Adam they had been lost completely, the Dominion had helped them out, but now they were all that little bit more grown up. They would fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves and if that meant kicking some Dominion ass they would do that too. They were Mutant X and nothing could stop them.
***
The sun beat down onto Shalimar's bare shoulders but inside her there was a chill. The team had left Sanctuary immediately after receiving the call and they had reached Beverly Hills ten minutes after that. But Shalimar was scared that even that short amount of time had been too much. Lucy had the ability to protect herself, all new mutants did, but she had not been trained like the members of Mutant X had, she didn't have the kind of stamina they had gained over the years. She wouldn't be able to protect herself for long, if at all.
Brennan had filled Shalimar in on what she had missed while in New York during the flight. Him leaving Lucy, abandoning the mission had had more consequences than any of them could have known about. Lucy was wanted by the Dominion and they weren't going to let a repentant Mutant X member stop that. Shalimar had already put two and two together and although she knew she may have ended up with fifteen she was pretty sure that she was right. The Dominion had sent their own people to finish the job. They had wanted Mutant X to deal with it but when that plan had failed they had moved onto plan B. And unlike Mutant X they weren't gonna let a conscience get in their way; they were gonna take Lucy out no matter what it took.
When they had landed they had each taken a different route, each trying to get to Lucy first. Brennan and Jesse had, like Shalimar already figured out the truth, they had already worked out what the Dominion was going to do with Lucy but Lexa still seemed to want to believe that they wouldn't do anything to harm a new mutant. Shalimar couldn't work out whether Lexa was stupid, naïve or optimistic but which ever it turned out to be she was going to get hurt.
She sniffed the air again and the metallic smell of blood hit her nostrils.
'Hey guys, I think I've found her,' she said into her comlink.
'Where are you?' came the voice of Brennan, clearly anxious for any news.
Shalimar looked up and down the road to find a sign. 'Bradbury Road, but I think she's in an alley off of it.'
'We'll be there soon,' Brennan replied before Shalimar cut the link. She walked forward faster than before and eventually reached a doorway. The wooden door was swinging lightly on its hinges and the smell became almost unbearably strong for Shalimar. She pushed it open with one hand and stepped into the darkness of the room. Her eyes glowed like beacons and she looked around her.
A gasp slipped from her throat and her eyes widened as she saw Lucy in all the glorious technicolour that her feral abilities afforded her. Shalimar felt the bile well up in her throat and everything seemed to overwhelm her. She turned and ran from the room, straight past Brennan who had, moments before appeared in the doorway. He heard the sound of Shalimar choking in the alley as he walked forward into a room he really didn't want to go in to. The smell was overpowering and he had to turn away as he saw Lucy's brutalised body in front of him, faintly through the shadow of the gloom. He couldn't even imagine the things the Dominion had done to make her look like that and he didn't want to. He had seen a lot of pain in his life, a lot of it caused by him but he had never done something so completely heartless. And the thing that really made him sick was that the Dominion had enjoyed taking her out of the bigger picture, the one only they could see. They hid behind this facade of doing the right thing for the good of many but what they neglected to notice was how much pain they caused in the process. Lucy hadn't been part of their plan so they had gotten rid of her and they weren't going to think about her ever again unless one of them happened to come across a file with her name on it. Even if that happened they wouldn't remember her face. He turned and walked out of the building to comfort Shalimar and to warn Jesse and Lexa that going into the room could seriously damage their view of the world.
***
Everything looked different. The world had suddenly come into focus with sharper, bolder colours. The Mutant X team had had their rose tinted glasses forcibly removed by the people who had placed them there in the first place.
Shalimar's eyes were red in deep contrast with her face which was the palest it had ever been and she walked as though she were in a daze with Brennan's arm around her waist so she wouldn't collapse. She had been through a lot in the past few days and seeing Lucy had been the final straw. She was ready to have a full on mental breakdown.
Brennan led her towards a chair. The ride home had been conducted in complete silence except for the sound of Lexa calling the Beverly Hills police station and telling them about Lucy. He had thought back to his last conversation with Lucy. She had seemed so relieved to finally be able to tell the truth and he had been happy to let her. She had been given a chance by him and it had actually made her glad to be alive. She must have been so scared before they had killed her. It made him furious and he could feel the electricity buzzing inside of him, dying to be let out so he could avenge her and all the others the Dominion had taken care of.
Lexa didn't know what to think. Brennan had stopped both her and Jesse from going into the building and she didn't regret his decision. She knew from Shalimar's and Brennan's reactions that it must have been horrifying. Shalimar hadn't said a single word since the event. And Lexa felt completely lost at sea, unable to find her own way to shore, unable to ask the others for help. She had spent so long obeying the Dominion's every wish and yet she had been helping the very people she pledged to protect the world from. They had pulled the wool over her eyes for so long and she had been stupid enough to let them. She hadn't asked any questions of them and now Lucy had paid the price. She blinked back the tears which threatened to spill over the edge of her eyelids as she looked across at Jesse. He looked like he was dealing the best out of any of them. Jesse who always seemed so dependent on others was the one everyone eventually turned to for comfort.
Jesse looked at Shalimar's weak figure. He had never seen her so shell shocked, except of course when Emma and Adam had died. It didn't seem right that she should be so vulnerable. She always worked so hard to cover up her inner emotions, the ones she didn't want anyone else to see, just like they all did. And now none of them could hide anything from each other, it was almost like they didn't want to. In order to get through the ordeal they had just been through they needed to be able to reach out to each other, no walls in the way.
'So what do we do now?' said Lexa, the first one to break the silence, her voice wavering she was so unsure of what it sounded like.
'I don't know,' Jesse said.
'I do.' Her voice sounded clear and strong, something unexpected from her feeble body. She looked up, her eyes containing a look of determination so strong it shocked the other members of the team.
'And what's that?' Lexa asked after a long pause.
'We start doing what we do best,' Shalimar replied. Brennan's eyebrows rose. She made it all sound so simple but at that moment he didn't even know what it was that Mutant X did anymore.
'We start protecting the people we pledged to protect.' Even Shalimar was suprised at the strength held in her voice. She hadn't realised that she had it in her.
'Unless you hadn't noticed we have been doing just that for the past few months, with the Dominion's help,' Lexa said, frustration and disbelief evident.
'You're right, we have been helping people,' Shalimar replied. 'But we have only been helping those individuals who matter to the Dominion. When was the last time any of us went to one of the safehouses to check on the new mutants staying there?' She looked around her at the ashamed faces. 'We used to do that kind of thing without even thinking about it, we used to make sure that not only were they safe but that they felt safe. Ever since the Dominion showed up in our lives we've neglected the ordinary new mutants, the ones who aren't out to save or destroy the world.'
'You cannot tell me that Adam never asked you to do things which didn't help the 'ordinary new mutants'?' Lexa bit back. She knew they blamed her for everything that had happened. When Shalimar talked about the Dominion she was placing them in the same box as Lexa. She didn't even know why she was standing up for them anymore. They hadn't helped her over the years. If she looked back and truly thought about it they had always made their big, lavish promises but they always failed to follow through. But she was so desperate to hold onto something, anything that was normal to her. The Dominion had always been a part of her life and she felt that if that was taken away she would fall with it.
'No, I can't,' Shalimar replied, her voice sounding stronger by the second. 'But I trusted that Adam was doing the right thing no matter what the mission was. Maybe I shouldn't have, maybe I should have asked more questions but I didn't and now its too late. I'll probably never know what Adam's real reasons were for setting up Mutant X,' her voice lost some of its force as her thoughts were lost in thinking about Adam. Everything had been so simple when he was there. She could rely on him to make her feel secure. But since he had gone she had been left with no one to guide her. She had been lost without a compass. She snapped herself out of the flunk she had gotten into and continued. 'But that's not what bothers me right now. What bothers me is that I don't know anything about the Dominion.'
'I have told you everything I know,' Lexa said, pleading with Shalimar to believe her. Lexa had, without realising it come to rely on the opinions of Mutant X and she wanted Shalimar to think well of her, to believe that she was trustworthy.
'I'm sorry if it seems like I am being harsh on you Lexa. I don't mean to be. It is not your fault that the Dominion have been given so many opportunities to screw us over. You came along at a difficult time for all of us and we needed someone to guide us, to lead us and I am grateful that you took the job on so readily. But after seeing what I saw back there I have no doubts about the reality of the Dominion. I don't trust that they're doing the right thing and I know that's hard for you to accept and I'm not gonna try and force that view on any of you, I don't have that right.'
Shalimar looked at the three people in front of her. Everything she had said was true. The team had been desperate for leadership, it was how the Dominion had been given the opportunity to ingratiate themselves. She was embarrassed that she had been so gullible as to believe that the Dominion wanted to do the right thing and she, not for the first time wished that Adam and Emma had never died, that nothing had ever changed.
'The Dominion's going to have to do without me,' she concluded, smiling at the idea that she was going to be free once more. She knew it wouldn't be that easy to get away from the Dominion, she wasn't that naïve but it felt like a massive burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
'I second that motion,' Brennan said. He walked over to where Shalimar was and put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing lightly. She leaned into him, relishing the feeling of warmth.
'Me too,' Jesse said. Shalimar smiled at him, knowing he would never have disagreed with his older sister but loving that he was prepared to follow her anyway.
Her eye flitted across to where Lexa stood. She could tell the brunette was caught between a rock and a hard place. She didn't abandon the Dominion and she was going to have failed her mission of becoming involved with Mutant X but she left the Dominion without an agent and they were definitely not going to be happy.
Their eyes met, both knowing and understanding what was at stake.
'Motion passed,' Lexa said. Her heart immediately felt lighter and it was like she could breathe properly for once. 'So where do we start?'
Everyone turned to Shalimar.
'I gave the rousing pep talk. I'm leaving the rest of the work up to you guys,' she protested.
Brennan smiled as he stood up. 'Shalimar and I will start checking the safehouses. We'll stock them up, see who's in there, see who needs some help.'
'And you,' Jesse said, turning to Lexa, 'can tell me absolutely everything about the Dominion. We'll document all of it, including all the missions we've been on since they took over and put it all in a file.'
Lexa nodded as they both walked off in the direction of the lab.
Brennan took Shalimar's hand and helped her up from where she was sitting.
'I love when you get all enthusiastic and righteous,' he said as he pulled her closer, his hands moving across her back.
'And I love when you take charge,' she replied, a smirk on her lips. They may not have talked about their relationship but they were both prepared to leave that conversation till later. Right at that moment, none of that seemed to matter.
It was the end of yet another era. Without Adam they had been lost completely, the Dominion had helped them out, but now they were all that little bit more grown up. They would fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves and if that meant kicking some Dominion ass they would do that too. They were Mutant X and nothing could stop them.
