"Shalimar? Brennan? Emma?"
"Shalimar here, Adam. Are you all right?"
"We're alive, for now." Adam avoided answering the question directly. "Listen, Shalimar, I need the computer from the Helix. Can you bring it here?"
"What do you need it for?" Shalimar did her own share of avoidance, watching the blue-haired winged wonders dancing around the sky, occasionally loosing off an arrow at nothing in particular. Most bounced off the bungalow. Shalimar herself hid between several large green fronds, wondering how she'd ever cross the clearing to the bungalow without getting skewered.
Things did not look good, and Shalimar couldn't tell exactly what was going on inside either, and that did not make for a happy feral. Brennan and Emma came up beside her in the brush, the two pairs of islanders behind them. Shalimar held up a hand to keep them silent.
"Never mind that now. Can you get it?"
"Getting it is not going to be the problem, Adam. Getting it inside to you might be. There's a flock of people out here with bows and arrows, and I use the word 'flock' deliberately."
Pause for thought. Then Adam came on again. "That might not be so good, Shalimar. I also need the portable medical lab in the back of the Helix. Please tell me that Jesse didn't crunch it when he crashed the Helix."
"Brennan here, Adam. We've made a few new friends here. I think we can solve a couple of problems with their help. Just give us a few minutes."
"Don't take too long, Brennan. Time is of the essence. Adam out."
Emma looked up in alarm. "There's something he's not telling us."
"Can't worry about that now." Brennan turned to the quartet. "How 'bout it, guys? If we get the computer and the medical lab, can you get it past the two factions? Both airborne and holed-up in the house?"
The four, two winged and two webbed, looked doubtfully at each other.
"We can try," Quick-Fin said.
"Good enough for now," Brennan told her. "Let's get the stuff."
* * *
"I thought we left this behind," Shalimar grumbled. She hoisted the crate that contained part of the portable medical lab, wishing that it weren't so heavy. "I thought Adam wasn't supposed to be doing any work. Recuperating, instead."
"I think he somehow managed to sneak it in," Emma replied. "I know the computer was Jesse's doing. I don't think Jesse can stand to go a day without logging on. He was probably worried about internet withdrawal." She handed the laptop to Feather. "Don't drop that. Especially don't drop it into the sand. If that thing crashes, we are all sunk." She spoke to her comm. ring. "Brennan? How are you and Sharp-Coral and Talon coming with the rest of the medical lab?"
"Slow going," Brennan reported. "You ready?"
"We're about to walk in," Emma told him. "I'll keep the link open." She turned back to Quick-Fin and Feather. "All set?"
Feather took a deep breath. "Let's go."
The other three picked up parts of the medical lab, and joined her in stepping out onto the sandy beach for the short trek to the bungalow.
The winged people immediately saw them. Arrows nocked into the bows, yet with Feather in the lead not one was loosed.
The largest blue-maned man landed in front of them. "Feather, what are you doing?"
"I am solving our problem, Quill," she said, determination edging out the fear in her voice. "Get out of my way."
"It's a water person's problem, Feather," Quill snarled. "Why do you concern yourself with them?"
"It's our problem, too, Quill," Feather insisted. "How many of our clan are old men and women?"
"Dewclaw is almost forty."
"Dewclaw is thirty-five, and feeble. These land-dwellers live to their seventies, Quill. I want to do that, too." Feather indicated her belly. "I want my child to live to be one hundred."
"Your child! Who has mated with you, Feather?"
"Let us past, Quill." Shalimar wasn't willing to wait for the winged leader to get over his outrage. "This equipment is needed inside."
"Make me, land-dweller."
"Singing my tune, bird-brain." Shalimar carefully put her share of equipment on top of Emma's. The redhead sagged a bit, then struggled up under the load. "I'll keep the winged wonder busy. You get that stuff in to Adam."
"Be careful, Shalimar," Quick-Fin warned. "He is a mighty fighter."
"Hm. Cat. Bird. You decide who has the advantage."
"Keep going, Feather," Emma ordered, hoping she was making the right decision in leaving Shalimar behind to distract the leader of the winged people. "Let's get this stuff inside." The trio—land-dweller, sea-dweller, and air-dweller—trooped on, approaching the veranda. Emma's last look of Shalimar was of the feral rolling up her sleeves with a look of pure enjoyment on her face. If Shalimar had had whiskers, she would have been licking them.
The group on the patio looked equally as enthusiastic as the mob outside, and equally as deadly. Spears were pointed at the trio as they approached. Quick-Fin pushed her way forward, shoving the spears out of her path.
"This is on Tidal-Wave's orders," she scolded the men. "Out of the way! Let us through." Reluctantly they did as they were told.
"Emma." Adam tried to go to them, but was firmly pushed down by his captors. "Did you get everything?"
"Almost. Brennan is getting the rest." Emma caught sight of her teammate. "Jesse? Jesse!"
"No." Tidal-Wave grabbed the psionic. "No care for him, until we get what we need."
Emma glared. "I am going to give you three seconds to let me go. One. Two—"
"Emma, wait." Adam turned to Tidal-Wave. "She means it, Tidal-Wave. For your own sake, let her go."
"This is a small woman, and a land-dweller at that."
Adam leaned back in his chair. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He folded his arms.
Tidal-Wave looked from Adam to Emma and back to Adam. He looked at Jesse, lying helpless on the sofa, blood oozing through his fingers which were loosely wrapped around the arrow still sticking out just above his belt and remembered how difficult it had been to take just this one mutant down. And he remembered how fiercely Adam Kane, a mere land-dweller, had fought. Tidal-Wave looked at Adam one last time. Adam clearly thought that this Emma woman would be as fierce, or more so, than the previous two. Was the land-dweller bluffing? Adam shrugged: your choice.
Tidal-Wave scowled. "Go." He stepped out of her way.
Emma didn't hesitate. "Jesse!" She turned back. "Adam?"
"I don't know, Emma. I haven't been allowed to examine him." Adam hesitated. "Do what you can for him, Emma. Keep him comfortable, and try not to let him move. I don't know where the arrow is lodged. If it's anywhere near the aorta, it could slice open and Jesse will bleed to death in a matter of seconds."
"Enough." Tidal-Wave stepped in, but without much of his usual gruffness. "Begin your work, scientist."
"All right." Not happy, but not seeing a better option, Adam went to the portable medical lab that Feather and Quick-Fin had toted inside. There wasn't much to it. It was designed for on-site work, with the real jobs being sent back to Sanctuary for heavy duty analysis under proper working conditions. "I'll need samples from several of you, to contrast and compare."
Emma smoothed the hair away that had fallen onto Jesse's face. He looked pale, she thought; frighteningly pale. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and he was shivering. But his eyes opened at her touch, and he managed a feeble smile. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself. Why didn't you phase? Let the arrow through?"
Jesse allowed his eyelids to droop. "Didn't see it coming." He coughed, a drop of blood appearing at the corner of his mouth. "What is it they say, that you never hear the bullet with your name on it?" He coughed again.
"Shh. Don't talk like that. We're going to get you out of here."
Jesse smiled again, without any real hope. "Sure."
* * *
Adam pipetted another drop of blood onto the slide, pushing the glass under the microscope, getting interested in the project despite his fear for Jesse, for himself and the rest of his team. He couldn't remember being in a tighter fix: even if the New Mutants could fight their way out of the bungalow, there was nowhere to go. The Helix would need several days of work before being air-worthy again, and swimming the several hundred miles to civilization was out of the question.
Tidal-Wave had all the New Mutants here inside the bungalow now, as well as the quartet of teen-agers that, Adam gathered, had started this whole mess. Quick-Fin, according to Brennan's hastily whispered introduction, had discovered Adam's arrival on the island and instigated the attack in order to persuade Adam to provide a cure for her people and those of her beloved's clan. The original plan that Quick-Fin had thought up didn't include the levels of destruction that lay bleeding inside and out of the bungalow, but she had been the mind behind it all. He couldn't blame her; anyone facing death in a few short years would be eager to search for any possible way out. Adam quashed a budding admiration; if Tidal-Wave hadn't been so quick to try to kidnap Adam, her plan might have worked.
Adam covered the drop of blood with a slip of glass and slid it under the microscope, his mind working on two levels. He thought up and discarded several escape plans as unworkable. No matter how they left this bungalow, the fact was that the Helix was going nowhere without several days of repair. Adam himself could do it, and Brennan's help would speed up the process, but Jesse himself was the one who usually tinkered with the craft. Without his expertise, the repairs would go that much slower. A fast escape was out of the question.
No, the solution lay here in this test tube, pun not intended. Adam and the New Mutants' best plan was to go along with Tidal-Wave's demands.
Contrary to what he had originally believed, these sea people were not a natural mutation. Their genes clearly showed evidence of human intervention, and their lineage not more than a few generations. Any precise gene manipulation couldn't be attempted with the crude equipment that he had on hand, but perhaps, if he gathered enough data for an answer, he could persuade Tidal-Wave to allow him and his team to return to Sanctuary to develop a permanent cure.
Something struck him, something odd about the structure of the red blood cells. Adam turned up the magnification, looking at the cell nucleus. Yes, that was it. Definitely odd. The twisted twists and turns took an extra twist and turn, as though the DNA had gotten lost in the maze. What could have caused that, and, more importantly, how did it impact the current problem? He looked around, and his gaze landed on Talon, sitting huddled miserably in the corner of the room with his sister with the glares of all of the sea people upon him. He kept his wings tightly closed, and both Sharp-Coral and Quick-Fin stood by as if daring any of their brothers to attack their winged friends.
"Talon. I need a sample of your blood."
"Why?" Tidal-Wave demanded to know. "The air people do not care about living long lives. They live, they die, they are done. Work on a cure for the sea people."
Adam sighed. "Tidal-Wave, you asked me to develop a cure. To get it, I need a sample of Talon's blood. Do you want me to fail before I've even half begun?"
"If you fail, the man dies," Tidal-Wave threatened.
"And that will be on your head," Adam returned, fighting to maintain his composure. "I'm not the one getting in the way. I need that sample."
"I care about living," Talon put in. "I have much to live for."
"As do I," Quick-Fin said challengingly. "Tidal-Wave, I claim Talon as my mate. Here, before witnesses."
"What!" The room erupted. Tidal-Wave grabbed the green-haired girl by the air, dragging her to her feet. Talon jumped up, ready to intervene.
"I don't care what you do to me, Tidal-Wave!" Quick-Fin shouted. "Talon is my mate! I love him! I will leave the clan, but I will be with him!"
"This is your doing, Birdman!" Tidal-Wave snarled. "You have twisted her mind. You have toyed with her feelings until she cannot think!"
Quick-Fin hauled off and punched Tidal-Wave in the nose. Tidal-Wave went down on his backside. He stared at her, jaw dropping in astonishment. "You hit me."
"Tidal-Wave, you have the brains of a sea urchin," Quick-Fin growled. "Don't you dare think for one moment that I'm the stupid one here. There is no man in this room who can tell me who and when to love, and that includes you! Now get off your ass and get out of the way." With a mercurial change of pace, she held out her hand to her mate. "Talon, I believe Dr. Kane needs your assistance."
"My blood is more accurate," Talon mumbled under his breath, but allowed himself to be conducted to Adam's make-shift workstation, himself a bit stunned by what had happened. Tidal-Wave stared at the pair, the jealousy plain in his eyes.
Jesse's life at stake, and I'm caught in the middle of a love triangle. All of our lives. But Adam Kane could only play by the rules he had been given, and hope not to lose. He took his sample and stuck it under the microscope.
Yes, just as he'd thought. Adam's gaze took in Feather, sitting next to her brother with Sharp-Coral hovering protectively over her. He requested and received a sample of her blood as well, and it confirmed his suspicion.
"Well?" Tidal-Wave demanded. "What have you found?"
"The cure." Adam straightened up from the microscope. He indicated the cells that were dancing about on the laptop computer screen. The picture didn't truly demonstrate anything in particular, but Adam wasn't above using a bit of scientific trickery to get his point across. Not with time in short supply. Impressing his audience was of paramount importance.
"Give it to me." Tidal-Wave advanced on Adam. Brennan himself got up, concerned about violence from the merman.
"Not possible."
"What do you mean, not possible?" Tidal-Wave roared. "Give it to me! Now!"
"Sit down and listen for a change!" Adam shouted back. "You're doing this to yourselves. You're killing yourselves off!"
Tidal-Wave stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Your history." Adam calmed himself, went back to the lecturer mode. He coughed, and the coughing fit went on too long, reminding him that the sea people were not the only ones to be engaged in self-destructive behavior. He caught Shalimar eyeing him balefully; there was another eight days of antibiotics still to be gotten through. Assuming we're all alive in eight days, Shalimar. He hurried on. "Your clan was created over one hundred years ago. You are not a natural mutation, as I originally thought. Some brilliant scientist, working far ahead of his time, altered your gene sequencing so as to produce your gills and webbed feet. This scientist also created a fellow species with wings."
The sea people looked suspiciously at the sole representatives of the air people. Feather colored.
Adam hurried on. "He did not create you in isolation. You're right, you're all dying before the age of thirty—because your inherent DNA is incomplete. You need an infusion of another type of DNA." He lost them. Even the New Mutants' eyes were glazing over. "Don't you see? The reason you don't live longer is because you're having children only within your clan. You sea people need to mate with air people, and vice versa. Only then will your children live as long as we land-dwellers do."
"We can't mate with them," Tidal-Wave protested. "They're a different species."
"No, they're not," Adam contradicted. "Yes, they look different than you. You have green hair, they have blue, not to mention wings and gills. But look at us: I have brown hair, and Shalimar's is blonde. Brennan is taller than all of us. And each one of the New Mutants has a gift that few other people have. Those are all differences among people of the same specie. And each one of them is quite capable of producing offspring."
"Not really interested in doing it right at the moment," Brennan muttered under his breath.
"But," Tidal-Wave said, bewildered, "if we do that, our children will be born with wings."
"Only half of them," Adam countered. "The other half will have webbed feet, as you do. You need diversity within the clan, and that is how to do it. You aren't two clans; you are one clan with different types of people in it. Only by coming together and living in harmony can you both prosper."
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," Emma murmured, stroking Jesse's forehead. The molecular sighed, and seemed to shift into a deeper sleep.
"And there is your proof." Adam pointed at Feather. The girl colored.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that there, inside Feather, is growing the first child in several generations to be a complete person, as he or she was intended to be. That child will outlive you all; and your children, and your grandchildren unless you follow Feather's and Sharp-Coral's example."
Sharp-Coral drew Feather closer to him, unconsciously protecting his mate and unborn child from the growling murmur that arose from this revelation.
"But what about us?" Tidal-Wave pressed. "Is there no hope for us?" He held up his trembling and wrinkled hands. "Will I not live to see this air person's child be born? The child of Sharp-Coral?"
Now is the time for extreme caution. "I believe there is a possibility of a cure, yes. But you may have already destroyed it."
"I have destroyed nothing!" Tidal-Wave flared. "If anyone has destroyed anything, it is those damned air people!"
"Be quiet and listen for a change," Quick-Fin yelled at him. "You have already shouted too much. You captured this man to produce a cure; now listen to what cure he brings us." She turned around, quickly changing her demeanor. "You were saying, Dr. Kane?"
Adam had to hide a smile. He couldn't have asked for a better straight woman to feed him lines. He suspected that Quick-Fin knew it, and wondered just who would end up as leader of the sea people once this was all over. Of course, the real question was who would be the leader of the combined sea and air people afterward. He wouldn't put it past Quick-Fin. She might use her mate Talon for political reasons, but the power would be Quick-Fin's.
"I think I can synthesize a temporary cure for the rest of you," he said, hoping that he could pull it off, "but there are two problems. Number one: I simply don't have the equipment here. This portable lab," and he waved his hand at the machine beeping forlornly for care and feeding, "can't cut it. It can give me basic information, but it can't do the delicate work that would be required. I need equipment that I can only get back home. In fact, some of the tools I need I'll be MacGyvering together from spare parts just to get them to work."
"And problem number two?"
Again he silently blessed Quick-Fin, grateful that she was on his side. Her participation made this a lot easier. "Problem number two: I need a certain kind of blood as a base for this cure. Without it, I can't even start. And the blood that I need is currently leaking out of Jesse." He stood back, folding his arms, looking sternly at Tidal-Wave. Emma looked up in alarm. "That's right, Tidal-Wave. The feud between your two peoples may have destroyed the only hope of a cure for both of you. No one else on this god-forsaken rock has the right blood type. If he dies, so do all of you. Now will you let me see to him?"
* * *
"I just ripped his feathers to shreds," Shalimar complained, "and you want me to trust that Quill will ever so carefully carry me over several hundred miles of deep ocean filled with sharks and killer whales without dropping me?"
"Don't worry, Shal. If he drops you, I'm sure he'll swoop down and pick you up," Brennan reassured her. The levity in his voice didn't quite mask the concern. "He'll probably even do it before the sharks and killer whales get you. You've got the easy part. I get to fix the Helix with nothing but sand and cocoanut shells."
"Want to trade?"
"Not a chance."
"Coward."
"Damn right. Mrs. Mulray didn't raise a fool."
They both looked up as Emma walked over to wish them well. Her eyes were still haunted with worry, and Shalimar put it into words. "He's not doing well, is he?"
Emma shook her head. "Adam's going to try to remove the arrow in just a few minutes, as soon I return to help him. Make sure that you get back as soon as you can, Shalimar. Jesse's going to need those antibiotics. Brennan, Adam said that he'll come out to help you with the Helix as soon as he finishes with Jesse and makes certain that he's stable."
Brennan frowned. "There's something you're not telling us, Emma."
"Yes. There's another reason that we have to get Jesse out of here as soon as possible. Adam lied to Tidal-Wave."
"He lied? How?"
"It's not Jesse's blood that's necessary to the serum to cure these people. Any of us New Mutants could supply it."
"Then why…" Shalimar's voice trailed off.
Emma nodded. "Yes. As long as they believe that the only way to make the serum is to let Adam take Jesse back to Sanctuary, they'll let him live. If they ever find out, they use Jesse as a hostage once more. They'll send Adam back, and imprison us all. Or kill three and save one for leverage. Either way, some of us will end up dead."
* * *
"Comfortable?" Adam asked, searching Jesse's face worriedly. He pulled a chair over to sit by Jesse's side. The molecular hadn't moved from his position on the sofa, and his hands still encircled the arrow, protecting the spot from accidental movement. His face was white, and his eyes slowly opened to Adam's words. Then narrowed as he saw Tidal-Wave looming behind.
Jesse managed a small smile. "Sure," he lied. "Hand me the baseball glove. I'll play catcher."
Adam's own return smile didn't make it to his eyes. "Good. If you're ready, I'm going to try to take out this arrow. I need you to try to not change position; the arrow's sitting entirely too close to the aorta for me to feel good about this."
"I hear you," Jesse said tiredly, trying to hide his fear. "I don't feel good, either. What do you want me to do?"
"Jesse, I need you to phase," Adam instructed. "Once you do that, I can pull the arrow out and hopefully you won't feel a thing. I can slide it out, with no further tissue damage."
"Good idea, Adam, but I don't think I'm up to phasing," Jesse admitted. "I'll try if you want me to."
"You'll be able to do it," Adam reassured. "We have our own power booster. Goes by the name of Emma DeLauro."
Emma arrived in his line of sight. She covered her own nervousness with a false note of gaiety. "Hey, Jess. Ready to do a little phasing?"
"Adam, you've got to be kidding. Emma doesn't know the first thing about phasing. What if she throws me off?"
"Then nothing happens, and we haven't lost anything by trying," Adam replied blithely.
"Oh, ye of little faith," Emma murmured. "Jesse, I'm not going to throw you off. I'm just going to make it easier for you to phase. Here, I want you to look at me."
Jesse complied. "The light's bright," he complained.
"I'll get it out of your eyes." Adam adjusted the spot light, pointing at his own work area. "Emma, whenever you're ready."
"C'mon, Jess, look at me," Emma cajoled. "Let yourself relax. You're going to feel better very soon."
"'mm."
If he hadn't known that it was impossible, Adam Kane would've sworn that he could see a visible psychic bond form between the two, Emma subtly guiding and strengthening the tie. Jesse's face relaxed, the lines of pain easing away. His breathing became even and regular as if he were asleep, but Adam knew better.
"Emma?"
"Not yet," she murmured. Her hands played over her teammate's face, light contact only, the physical enhancing the psychic. "Soon."
Jesse's form started to waver, started to become insubstantial. Adam could see the pattern of the fabric of the gaily colored sofa through him. He waited until the last moment, until Emma gave him a barely perceptible head nod, and Jesse completely ghosted into a gaseous state. He seized the arrow, gently moving it free of the area that Jesse's torso also occupied, stopping as the flesh around it become more solid.
"Losing it, Emma," he said quietly. "I need another moment."
"On it."
The psychic bond tightened its hold. Jesse moaned in response, only semi-conscious, but, trembling, he phased out more thoroughly, almost disappearing. Adam swiftly pulled the arrow away. Behind him, he could hear Tidal-Wave gasp in astonishment.
"Now, Emma! Bring him back!"
Emma furrowed her brow in concentration, her lips moving soundlessly with her effort to assist her teammate. Jesse's molecules seemed to drift apart, seeking to disassociate altogether. Adam clenched his fists—had the molecular completely lost control?
Then his form wavered, and re-established its right to solidity. Emma gently detached her psychic bond, smoothing the hair way from Jesse's face. Jesse sighed, and seemed to sink into the sofa, relaxed.
But Adam knew better. "He's hemorrhaging," he snapped out, swiftly assessing the situation. He snatched up bandages. "Emma, quick. Apply pressure here, right on this spot. I'm going to try to suture whatever vessel is bleeding."
"Don't let that blood escape," Tidal-Wave warned anxiously, seeing his only hope at a cure dribble out to stain the fabric of the sofa. The dark red warred with the light green and white pattern. Emma put her hand over the dressing as Adam directed, pressing as hard as she could to staunch the flow of blood.
Adam didn't spare him a glance. "Get out of my light, Tidal-Wave. I'm a little busy here."
"Adam?"
"I don't know, Emma. It's going to be close."
* * *
"I can walk," Jesse grumbled, stumbling along the palm frond-lined path to the hastily patched together Helix, arms draped across the shoulders of both Shalimar and Emma. He coughed, wincing. "It's not far."
"Hah." Adam himself paused to rest, coughing as well. "As I recall, that's what I said when we landed. And got properly squashed for my trouble."
"Next time we plan a vacation, Jesse, you're not going to be the one making the arrangements," Shalimar told him. "Lovely place, but a little too much excitement for what we had in mind."
Jesse complained even more when he came into view of the Helix. The craft had been pulled away from the rock wall that it had crunched up against, and the hole that Shalimar had created pulling Jesse out was patched over with Frankenstein-looking bolts sticking out of it. The sleek lines of the craft were marred by jerry-rigged repairs. "Brennan! What have you done to the Helix?"
"I fixed it, bro. After a certain molecular I know crashed it into the mountainside."
"It didn't look that bad!"
"Right. It looked worse. At least it'll fly. And get you home."
Jesse sobered. "We're coming back, Brennan. Count on it."
"I am." Brennan helped the molecular into the Helix, seeing him seated and properly webbed into his seat. Adam took the pilot's seat, Emma the co-pilot. Quick-Fin, Sharp-Coral, Talon and Feather trooped in after them and were directed to their own seats, fastening the belts gingerly.
Tidal-Wave and Quill stuck their heads inside to survey the group disapprovingly. Tidal-Wave motioned to Brennan. "You. Out. You're staying."
"Yeah. I know." Brennan turned back to Emma. "Take care of them both, Emma. Can't trust either of 'em to stay out of trouble."
"We'll be back." Emma's face looked haunted; the psionic hated splitting the team. But there was no other option: to get Jesse out, to prepare the cure, Adam needed to be at Sanctuary. Which meant leaving Brennan and Shalimar behind as good faith.
* * *
"You lied to us!"
Two days later, two days of frantic work to prepare a cure. Adam had Jesse back safe and recuperating; the molecular would be as good as new in time. Right now what he needed was rest.
As did Adam, but that wasn't happening. He coughed savagely, wishing the antibiotics would work a little faster. He drafted the quartet that had come back with them as lab assistants, but of the four only Quick-Fin caught on to what he was doing. None had had any formal education. They couldn't even read the simplest of instructions, and had to be watched every moment to prevent an explosion. He finally dismissed them to another part of Sanctuary. He could work faster alone.
Almost alone. Emma spent as much time with him in the lab as she did with Jesse. It helped. Emma's pair of hands Adam could count on. And, just as importantly, he needed her blood, the blood of a New Mutant that he could alter into a cure for the island people. He carefully made trips to see Jesse, carrying phlebotomy equipment for show, but the only thing that he did to the molecular was to examine him to be certain that he was healing.
"You lied to us!"
How much could he salvage? Stall for time, gather information. What did she know? "What do you mean, Quick-Fin?"
Quick-Fin pointed to the screen. Red blood cells were dancing across the images, bumping up against each other, their circles round and whole. "That is not Jesse's blood."
"Very good. Next?"
"That blood is healthy."
"You're ace-ing this exam. Keep going."
Quick-Fin didn't understand the reference, but the meaning was clear. "Whose blood is it?"
"Haven't figured it out yet?"
"That's Emma's blood," she accused. "You lied to us! You didn't need Jesse's blood. Any of the New Mutants' blood would have served. There was no need to leave the island!" She looked at him in disgust. "You sacrificed the lives of the other two in order to save your own."
"Well, two out of three ain't bad," Adam murmured loudly enough that Quick-Fin had no trouble hearing him.
"We will return to our island now," Quick-Fin announced. "There is no longer any need to remain here. Gather what you need. We are taking you back to face Tidal-Wave."
"Hey, hold on just a minute—"
"Talon?" Quick-Fin beckoned to the doorway. Talon shoved Jesse in before him, arm locked behind in a half-Nelson. Sharp-Coral stood behind, ready to help. Jesse himself looked ready to fall over, face still white and drawn. "Talon, if Adam does not cooperate, break Jesse's neck!" Talon took a firmer grasp, sliding his arm under Jesse's jaw. Jesse swallowed hard.
"Stop it!" This had gone too far. "Quick-Fin, you don't understand!"
"I understand too well, Adam Kane," she replied. "You are just like all of the land-dwellers. You must be forced into giving us what we are entitled to. Move now, or Talon will do as I tell him to."
Talon gave a little jerk, forcing a gasp out of Jesse. The molecular gulped, and firmed. "It's all right, Adam. Don't give in." He stared hard at Adam, hoping the scientist would get the message: I'll phase rock solid. Talon won't be able to touch me.
Good idea, except for one thing: Jesse was still too weak to be able to count on his powers. And Adam knew that Quick-Fin knew it.
"Begin, or he dies," Quick-Fin snarled.
"Wait."
The voice belonged to Feather, Emma beside her. "Quick-Fin, wait. For the sake of the child that I carry, your brother's child, wait. Listen to what he has to say."
"I am through waiting, Feather," Quick-Fin said. "I have watched what Adam does, and the cure he says he is preparing. He has lied to us!"
"Yes, I lied to you," Adam admitted. The time for deception was over. "I lied because if I didn't get Jesse back to some serious medical equipment, he would have died. And the fastest way I knew to make a serum for your people was to come back to Sanctuary where I had the facilities that I needed. But I knew that you and Tidal-Wave would never believe me, so I lied. Was it wrong? Yes. But for a greater good, as you yourself know."
"What do you mean?" Quick-Fin asked suspiciously.
Adam gestured to the red blood cells meandering about on the screen. "You're right, that is not Jesse's blood. He has a much better use for his blood than this. But nor is it Emma's."
"It's healthy blood," Talon said wonderingly. "It looks clean and healthy. Not like my blood that you showed me."
"That's right, Talon. It's healthy blood. It's also Quick-Fin's. And here," and Adam punched up another picture of red and round blood cells, "is Feather's."
"They look identical," Quick-Fin said wonderingly.
"Good observation. They are identical, at least in all the ways that matter."
"How can this be?" Sharp-Coral asked. "What are you showing us?"
Adam lapsed back into lecture mode, noting that Talon's grip on Jesse's neck had loosened. "We've established that intermingling between the two sub-species is essential for long lives among both your peoples. In other words, co-mingling of the blood is good for both of you. Each of you has a piece of the DNA strands that help both to live healthy lives well into your seventies and possibly beyond. By using Emma's blood, I've devised a way to inoculate each of you with the other's genetic inheritance, and can remediate the effects that the last generations of inbreeding have caused. I can produce enough of this serum to cure all of the sea people and the air people on the island."
"Then you have devised a cure," Quick-Fin jumped in.
"Yes, but there's more." Adam gestured to the screen. "As you can see, Feather doesn't need it. She's managed to come up with her own cure."
"You mean, Feather will live to see her grandchildren?"
"My child." Feather touched her belly, as if to caress the life growing inside. "You mean my child has caused me to change?"
"Pretty remarkable, isn't it?" Adam grinned. "Looks like the miracle of life is even more miraculous than we'd ever thought. Gives credence to the concept that the placenta isn't just a one-way conduit of nutrients. Of course, this whole thing is a gift between mother and baby. Sharp-Coral and all the potential daddies are still going to need my potion."
Talon was still suspicious. "But what about the other blood sample you have on the screen? It's healthy. If it's not Feather's, then whose is it?"
Adam just looked at him. Quick-Fin caught on faster.
"Oh."
"That's right," Adam grinned. "Congratulations, Talon. I should ask if you're hoping for a boy or a girl, but maybe I'll settle for asking whether you're hoping for wings or gills."
* * *
"It took about a day," Shalimar reported. "Everyone kept glaring at each other, throwing insults back and forth. Then the insults kind of died down, and next thing you know there's billing and cooing. The only fights I've seen have been over where to build the nest. Most of the couples are settling for somewhere inland, although a few have been aiming for the bungalow. I think Tidal-Wave has staked out the master bedroom."
Jesse groaned. Though still not fully recovered, the molecular had insisted on accompanying everyone on the Helix to bring the serum to those not yet involved in producing their own cure. Adam eyed him in sudden alarm, but Jesse waved him off; his distress was emotional, not physical. "Adam, I was supposed to fix this place up for Jack Prescott. What is he going to say when he finds out this place has been turned into eyrie for New Mutants?"
"Don't tell him," Shalimar advised.
Brennan added, "There's a reason home is called Sanctuary. Better hope he can't find you there. We outta here, guys?"