A/N- Wow, I actually churned this one out pretty fast. I'm pretty happy with it too. Big ol' thanks to my brand new beta Vega! Big thanks to those who reviewed! Enjoy! Review, Review, Review!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning," Adam walked into the lab, hands behind his back with an amused smile playing on his lips.

Jesse shot the older man a look of disgust, pulling at the tough straps that held his arms to the armrests of the slightly reclined observation chair. "You better have a damn good explanation for this, Adam."

"I do," pulling the seat next to the examination chair, he paused. "I assure you, I do. But first things first," pulling the seat next to the examination chair, he paused. "How are you, Jesse?"

"I'll be a lot better when you unstrap me." He yanked at the leather strips again. "Is this really necessary?"

He sat down and shrugged. "Can you honestly tell me your first thought when you realized where you were wasn't to get out?"

He rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't yours be?"

"No," Adam replied with a smile. "It would be to phase the restraints…and then get out."

The straps suddenly wilted down against the armrest, still buckled tightly. Jesse rubbed his wrists bitterly. "So what's with the kidnapping, Adam? It's not exactly your style."

"Well, I can't take all the credit for it." the scientist replied, leaning back in his chair. "You still haven't told me how you are."

"You still haven't told me your explanation," Jesse spat, eyeing the man. Adam could see the anger in his eyes. It was more intense than he could ever remember seeing there. "I assume it's about the email."

"You got the email," the older man echoed with a nod, internally resolving not to show his annoyance at the brisk answers and attitude. "Good. I thought it might have just winded up in your inbox here."

"Yeah, well, you're lucky I forgot to disable the forwarding rule after the first week."

"Not really. I changed your password right after you set it up." He smiled. "It's one of the perks of designing and controlling the system."

The grin grated his nerves. Adam was just sitting there, looking so pleased with himself, like he caught a prize animal, like he was enjoying Jesse's anger. "Can you stop being amused at this for one second and tell me what you want me to do? Because the sooner you tell me, the sooner I can say no."

Adam slowly leaned forward, the entertained look vanishing from his face. "Just hear me out, Jesse."

Jesse crossed his arms over his chest, broiling in his own spiteful feelings. "I'm waiting."

"Over the past month, New Mutants have been sporadically disappearing. And not just one kind of mutant either: Moleculars to Elementals; Ferals to Psionics; weak to strong; male and female. A few days ago we learned about a group of bounty hunters."

 "Come on, Adam. Even I know the answer to that one." Jesse smirked sarcastically. "You send Brennan in as a prisoner slash mole and infiltrate the group, or maybe Shalimar. Isn't that what you normally do?"

Adam shook his head. "It's not that simple. This group has never made a mistake. Their communications are untraceable. Their operations are flawless. Tracking them has been a long tedious process that even I can do alone."

"I don't do this anymore, Adam." The molecular looked to the ceiling and gave a brisk, disbelieving sigh. "I'm not an honorary member that you can bring in when you feel like it. I was done then. I'm done now."

Adam sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Then there's something you need to see."

* -Break- *

"Knock, knock."

Emma looked up from her bed, her head pounding each inch it moved. Brennan was leaning against the doorframe, a thin metal cylinder in his hand. His face showing obvious sympathy. "I thought you might be in here. How you feeling?"

"A little dizzy," the redhead replied laying her head back down on her pillow. "Did Adam send you?"

"Yeah. He's a little busy right now." He began to walk towards her, showing her the object in his possession. "I hope you don't mind."

"As long as you can make this headache go away." She sat up, moving to the head of her bed. Curling her feet beneath her, she cleared a space for Brennan to sit. As he did, Emma extended her right arm, palm up, and began to roll up her sleeve.

He pulled the top half off the slender tube to reveal a smooth rounded end with a tiny pin extending from it. At the opposite end was a small circular button. He gripped the canister with the button towards the ceiling, lightly touching it with his thumb. Emma grimaced as he put it just above the slightly scarred crook of her arm.

 "Ready?" He asked.

She nodded looking away from it, eyes closed. He took in a slow breath before pricking her skin as quickly as he could, to make the pain as minimal as possible. In his head, he counted to two, as instructed, before releasing the medicine.

Her face contorted into an immediate wince. "God," she moaned to herself.

Brennan pulled the cylinder out and quickly blotted the small dot of red with a tissue from his pocket. She continued to cringe in pain as he placed a ready-made bandage over her wound.

"You just rest until the pain reliever kicks in," he said, swiftly capping the mechanism. He took her good arm and helping her stretch out on the mattress.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she settled into her blanket. "After six months, you'd think I'd be used to it by now."

Brennan smiled. "Just keep thinking about how good you'll feel later." She nodded and grew silent. He stood beside her bed, watching her try to ignore what had to be a burning pain. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No," She croaked reaching for him with her hand. "Stay here and talk with me."

"Alright," he answered, taking her hand and kneeling beside the bed. "What do you want to talk about?"

She was quiet for a moment. "Have you seen Jesse yet?"

"No, I'm still debating whether I want to."

"Is he still in the lab?"

"As far as I know, Adam's still monitoring him."

"I didn't hurt him, did I?"

"No," he answered, reaching up to stroke her forehead with his free hand. "Of course not. Adam said your control is getting better."

 Emma smiled. "That's good."

Her grin made his lips curl into a smile. "Yeah. Soon, you'll be back to your old self again."

A sudden cringe crossed her face. "Brennan," she whimpered griping his hand tightly.

"Shhhh, it's okay." He hushed her, leaning in closer, touching her face again. "Focus on me. It's alright."

It was hard to see her like this, the young woman whom he cared deeply for. She didn't deserve this torment, for all she'd been through. At least once a week, she'd have to have her agonizing drugs, just to survive, more if she over-worked. Each time, she would writhe in burning pain, until the slow anesthetic starts to run its course. Far too slow, in his opinion. It wasn't fair in any respect. She was far too kind, far too caring, to be put through this kind of hell. 

Suddenly, her face and hand relaxed. Her eyes opened and blinked a few times. "I think the painkiller's working now."

"Good. How's your head?"

"Perfect," she replied squeezing his hand. "Thanks, Brennan."

"No problem." The ex-con smiled. "What are friends for?"

* -Break- *

The low blue light made her skin a pasty white color. She lay practically motionless, lacking any aura of energy around her. Only her chest rose and dived slightly. Her eyes were closed. Her wavy brown hair rested on the chair's headrest, except for the ends, which dangled above the body of the chair. Her body was thin, an unhealthy thin. There were healing wounds up and down her face and arms.

"Her name is Lila Evans, a propulsion molecular from up-state. Two nights ago, she contacted us after escaping the hunters' holding facility. When we got to her, she was being restrained by their men." Adam explained. "Shalimar and Brennan fought them off, but before she could tell us anything, they activated the electrical shock capabilities of her subdermal governor, sending her into a comatose state."

Jesse barely heard the details in his strange daze. "How old is she?"

"Late teens, maybe early twenties. Her profile in the database has some holes. She'd been missing for a few years now."

"She looks young enough still be in school, to still have a family somewhere," Jesse muttered.

The sight was heartbreaking on its own. He could remember being that age, the fear, the hatred that walked hand in hand with it, but being locked up because of the source of all those negative emotions….it had to have a multiplier effect.

The deciding fact, however, was the scene in his head. His mind's eye saw an older woman, 23 or 24, comatose on the very same chair. No bruises, no scars, just a small burn mark above her ear. She wore a dirt smudged blue floral print shirt and torn black pants. He saw long red hair.

"What's your answer, Jesse? We're wasting time."

He turned away from the window. Part of him wanted to help. Part of him wanted revenge and damages for this horrendous crime against his kind. Part of him wanted to jump back in, do what he'd spent a year avoiding.

The other part wanted him to back away, refuse. This wasn't his life. It wasn't his place to exact vengeance on anyone.

 He wasn't a hero anymore. He was never a hero.

         He looked back to the woman. The same crystal clear images floated in his head.

         And he knew his answer.

"I'm in," he replied quietly. "But I'll need a few things."