Part Six
Deceptive Appearances
Charlotte was pacing in front of the cell door. "This whole situation is stupid." She
grumbled, turning on her heels to face everyone. "Seriously, are your lives always like this? I
mean, one minute mine was just fine, thank you. Then, out of nowhere, come two psychos who
kill all my friends and want to take me prisoner for some reason. God only knows why."
"I'll bet your winning personality wasn't it." The grumble came from Shalimar, who sat in
a corner with Brennan, cleaning his blooded face as best she could. Her eyes would have flashed
with fire if not for the governor, but the repressed Feral predator lashed out regardless. "Instead
of complaining, why don't you do something useful?"
Angrily, Charlotte stamped her foot. "Why don't you? Like cleaning your boyfriend up is
a major priority!"
"Oh and whining is?" Shalimar retorted.
Coming immediately to the side of the dark-haired outsider, Jesse placed a hand upon her
arm and stared down at his blonde teammate. He surprised her by saying "back off. She's got a
right to be upset. She didn't ask for this. We signed up, we wanted to play hero and make things
better for the world. No one bothered to ask Charlotte what she thought of having her life made
into a living hell."
His expression softened slightly. "I know you're worried. Brennan's hurt, we're caught
and Emma's out there with the husband of a traitorous psycho. Getting in Charlotte's face won't
change any of that." Jesse sighed. "How is Brennan?"
A groan was his answer. "I'll be fine if everyone will stop hissing at each other like a
bunch of alley cats."
Shalimar stared down at her friend with an air of indignance. "What exactly is that
supposed to mean?" She asked in that dangerous, quiet tone which only a woman can truly excel
at producing.
"You see, even her squeaky mouse thinks she's wasting time." Charlotte said with a
snort. She leaned into Jesse, laying her head against his shoulder for a moment. "Seriously, is it
always like this for you guys? Guns blazing, people dying, people betraying you left and right, the
team broken up like a shattered piece of sculpture."
Jesse sighed. "It's usually a bit more pulled together. Normally, we have one mission.
This feels like five or six. First Gabriel, then rescuing you while Adam, Emma, and Brennan were
nearly assassinated. Then searching for Shalimar and finding Katherine."
"Who's the wife of our buddy Devon. Great taste in women he's got." Brennan muttered
as Shalimar swiped at the dry blood on his face. She pressed down slightly, sending fire through
his afflicted flesh. "Ow! Hey, watch it. I'm bruised like a rotten grape." He turned toward Jesse
and Charlotte, narrowed eyes fixed. "What happened next anyway? You guys were caught off
guard by the blonde bombshell?"
Charlotte ran a hand through her black hair. Fatigue was evident on her face. Dark
circles had formed under each eye and she spoke with a methodical tone, as if she had to think
carefully about every word. "Actually, yeah. But before that, Jesse here revealed that you guys
travel through time now. Or at least Adam and Emma do."
"Now that was definitely not normal." Shalimar said as she finished cleaning Brennan's
face. "As good as it gets for now. I'll do a more thorough job later."
"If there is a later." He said quietly.
A silence descended like a spider to a quivering fly.
Jesse rolled his eyes and tried to put an upbeat tone to his voice. "Gee, Brennan,
whatever happened to the optimistic guy I used to know?"
"Uh, he got a rifle butt smashed into his skull." Brennan replied, throwing a gesture at his
beaten face. "That has a tendency to knock sense into a man. We're trapped here. The woman
we were coming to help is one of the bad guys. We're being held by professionals who know to
use subdermal governors and heavy metal doors. They're too good to just let us get away. Face
it, we are screwed." He raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I think that is the optimistic response to
a situation this dismal."
"That's exactly how I see it." Charlotte said as she started pacing again. "This whole day
has been one insane turn after another. It's like we're living in someone's twisted fantasy world
where everyone's out to kill us or use us for some twisted plan. And no one can be trusted
because they could be an enemy in disguise." As she spoke, she tapped her foot nervously and
folded her arms across her chest. "Everything's twisted and crazy."
Standing up, Shalimar regarded her with a cold face. She was tired of listening to
complaints. "Could you possibly use the word 'twisted' a few more times? Please, I never tire
of it." The anger was born of fatigue, as was Charlotte's. That did not, however, diminish it.
"Oh go to hell Rambo Barbie."
Both Brennan and Jesse took steps to keep the two women from killing each other. The
darker haired man grabbed the blonde's arm and drew her close, whispering quickly in her ear.
Jesse reached out and gently touched Charlotte's shoulder, recapturing the lady's attention. She
looked into his eyes, then sighed.
"Sorry. I'm being a bitch." Charlotte mumbled under her breath. "This mess is just
making me loony. I've got no right to take it out on you."
"Yeah. I'm sorry too." Speaking softly, Shalimar smiled. "Truce?"
A smile formed on the brunette's face. "Absolutely. I don't want to fight with you. You'll
totally kick my butt."
"I think you'd give as good as you'd get."
"Everyone be quiet, please, I'm trying to think."
They turned to Adam, who was lying on the floor, his eyes closed, looking like some sort
of meditating monk. He sat up briefly, regarding them with annoyance. Of all them, he seemed
the calmest and most hopeful. "Emma's here. And that Devon character. They're looking for us."
He frowned. "Our best chance of getting out of here comes from working together. Not acting
like children."
The all looked sheepish, especially Charlotte. "This is all my fault." She whispered.
"None of this would have happened if I hadn't called you, Jesse."
"That's not true and you know it. Sheckt has an agenda. It includes you. And us." Jesse
walked over to a wall. He leaned against the hard smooth stones, feeling like a train had run over
him several times. The day was catching up with all of them. Too much had happened in too few
hours. Charlotte, Katherine, Sheckt, Duncan, Gabriel and more. It wasn't over yet either, he
could feel it. "I'm so tired."
"You're not the only one brother." Those words from Brennan as he lay back against the
one of the walls, wincing as his bruised head touched rock. "When this is over, I'm sleeping for
a long time. One way or the other."
Adam lay back down. He closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. "Shut up. All
of you. I'm trying to contact Emma, to let her know where we are." The exhaustion in his voice
was greater than all the others combined. Being the leader, he'd been drained by the other's tales
of tribulation. He'd been beaten worse than Brennan, but no one had offered to clean his
wounds. Stoic and caring, Adam rarely got angry with his team. His patience did have limits
though.
Far worse than the wounds of flesh were those of mind. He'd felt something sharp and
disturbing moments before. It had come a few minutes earlier, when Sheckt's guards came to
deposit Jesse and Charlotte. The sensation had left him chilled to the core. He knew something
had happened to Emma, something bad.
The psychic bond they'd formed was very limited, little more than informed instinct. Yet,
it was something he treasured deeply. It's fragile power could only be severed by subdermal
governor or death. Adam was terrified that the feeling he'd had before was one of those things
occurring. He put on a brave face, but it was only a facade to protect his team.
Jesse turned to Brennan, a curious look on his face. "How can he contact Emma? I didn't
think she had a really good handle of that aspect of her powers. I know she found you once, but
wasn't that more fluke than focus?"
Pulling himself to a standing position was difficult, Shalimar had to help him, but Brennan
did it so that he could be face to face with his friend. He took a deep breath, gathering his
strength, then stopped himself from answering.
His eyes went to Adam, who was sitting up again. There was a strangely morose quality
to the older man's expression. He seemed weighted down, hesitant, as if his genius brain were
rendered completely unable to process the thought of Jesse and Shalimar learning the truth.
Perhaps, though he'd told Emma differently, he too harbored a certainty that they would not
understand nor accept.
An unspoken agreement passed between he and Brennan. The younger man nodded and
braced himself to remain standing but did not speak.
This wasn't his news to deliver.
Adam quietly rose. He reached a hand to his forehead and gravely traced the worry lines
and age creases. Absurdly, thinking of how many years he'd lived emboldened him, gave him an
odd measure of peaceful courage. Still, it was all he could do not to let the nervousness inside
him show. Emma had revealed the secret to Brennan, now it was his turn.
"The past two weeks. . . ." His voice trailed off. He sighed deeply. "The past two
weeks, Emma and I have grown. . . close. For a long time, we've been drawn to each other.
Somehow, we found something in that nightmare future. Something that brought us together."
He paused, searching his friend's eyes for any trace of a bad reaction. He wasn't sure what to
expect or why he might expect it. Fear was it's own meaning.
"I love her. We're in love."
Perhaps because she was an outsider, Charlotte Cooke needed only a few moments to
assimilate Adam's declaration. Her smile was as warm as she could manage under the
circumstances, surprisingly heartfelt and more than a little contagious. "Hey, that's great!" She
said, her expression kind. "You deserve to be happy."
The upbeat reaction reminded Adam just how far this woman had come. Her bitterness,
her anger, no longer ruled her heart, though he doubted they were erased. He was relieved by
Charlotte's response to his news.
"What did you say?" Shalimar asked in a voice filled with nothing less than utter
confusion.
Opened mouthed, Jesse turned to Brennan. He pointed a finger at the man. "Did you
know about this? How could you not tell me if you knew about this?" Facing Adam again, he
seemed truly irritated. "How did this happen?"
"Um, isn't this good news?" Charlotte asked, her head cocked, as she ran fingers through
her midnight locks. The stance she took was reminiscent of a fashion shoot. "Jesse, isn't this a
good thing no matter how it happened? Don't Adam and Emma deserve something? Even if,
maybe especially if, it's with each other?"
No words properly describe the glare Shalimar sent her.
At least, none known to humans. Certain large felines might have the vocabulary, though
not the means, to define.
Jesse's face was a mixture of uncertainty as he rubbed his chin. There had been ten
thousand signs that something was going on between them, yet he'd disregarded them all. Now,
memories of private conversations, distant expressions, and uncontrollable bright smiles when the
other was around filled his mind. Charlotte's words echoed within, a mantra focusing his soul.
'Don't Adam and Emma deserve something? Even if, maybe especially if, it's with each
other?' Those words drifted with Jesse's thoughts until he faced his leader and friend.
"When we first met, I remember thinking, you seemed sad. After working with you for so
long, I think I've learned a lot about you Adam." He took a breath before the plunge. "Emma's
a friend. So are you. If being together is what both of you want, then all I have to say is
congratulations. That, and I'm annoyed no one let me in on this one."
"Thank you Jesse." The words blew from Adam's lips as he let out a breath he hadn't
known he was holding. He turned to Shalimar, who seemed inscrutably Sphinx-like. Her
expression held nothing readable. Shifting emotions. An ocean of ambiguity. Not even at their
best could the most intricate cipher texts invented by the CIA be harder to decode than her
expression. Without wanting to know the answer, Adam reached out to her and asked "are you
alright with this Shalimar?"
At the question, she jerked, as if shocked by his words. Her stare was blank, all shell
shock without the shell.
"You and Emma?" Her voice was low, barely a whisper.
Shaking her head, as if the very idea horrified her, Shalimar just stared at him.
He withdrew his offered hand, worry clouding his face.
"Shalimar, I don't know how I expected you to react, but you're taking this hard."
Her laughter turned his fright to outright concerned fear. It sounded crazy.
"Hard? Hard?" A step back and she bumped into Brennan, who wrapped his arms around
her, though he was still unsteady on his feet. That touch calmed her. Her eyes closed so tightly
tears were forced out. Ever since he'd entered her life, she'd thought of Adam as a surrogate
father. Mutant X was like her family. Emma was her best friend. She stared at him, unable to
comprehend it all. "Adam, tell me we're being crazy here. Tell me we've just gone through too
much insanity today and this is all in our heads."
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough for both of them.
*************************************************************************
Duncan Ladd twitched at his desk, unable to fully keep a deep-rooted paranoia from
ensnaring his mind. The computer had locked down the base. It wasn't the first time that had
been done, but something felt different now. "Call me, Sheckt. Come on, just tell me what this
review is all about." He muttered to himself. The quiet fear needed some alleviation, even if it
amounted to no more than a whistled tune in a darkened graveyard.
The door opened. He looked up and Katherine was there. Her face was a mask of
emotionlessness, poorly cloaking sorrow.
"You look tired."
She sighed. "I am. Today hasn't exactly been as much fun as I expected."
"Tomorrow will be better. A victory always tastes bittersweet in the beginning, what with
the thrill of planning and execution out of the way. Like waking Christmas morning and opening
presents. At first, you're vaguely disappointed in what's in front of you, just because you could
anticipate anything in those boxes. Later, you realize how great it all is."
Katherine nodded, acknowledging the sage wisdom. "Sheckt locked us in, didn't he?"
She sat down in a small, grey cushioned chair, sighed and glanced around the room, her gaze
taking snapshots of everything. An old calendar with smiling children, a bit of trash in one corner,
file cabinets and hundreds of ghosts haunting the lair of a monster. She settled on Duncan's face,
finding his strange smile slightly disturbing. "Why do you think he did this?"
"I don't know. Perhaps he was worried." A laugh. "Imagine that, Aaron Sheckt worried.
No, forget that. He's a brilliant tactician. Likely, he's preparing for the next phase of his plan.
Once Mutant X is dead, I'm sure he'll inform us as to what exactly that is. Locking down the
base was just an easy way to get everyone together and make sure they're ready for action."
"You sound nervous."
Once, when she was very small, Katherine had come across a sick puppy. The animal had
been bitten by something rabid and, not understanding the danger, she'd tried to help it. She
remembered very vividly the way that dog's eyes shifted from sweet and terribly confused to
manically homicidal. She was reminded of it when Duncan glared at her. That was how he'd
always seemed to her: a mad dog.
His breathing was shallow but very deep at the same time. Nostrils flared with each
exhalation, lifelessly cruel eyes watched with inhuman patience. She'd never been exactly certain
how Sheckt came to control Duncan so completely, but Katherine always knew that control was
paper thin.
"Sometimes, I find myself very close to tearing you apart. I tolerate your bluntness
because you're the only one on this base, other than Mr. Sheckt, who dares talk to me like that.
It's refreshing in small doses." He sat back in his chair and set his hands down on the desk.
Quietly, he asked, "you have dealt with Emma DeLauro, correct?"
Katherine, unwilling to put her actions to words, didn't answer. She did, however, lower
her eyes ever so slightly.
Duncan nodded. "Good. It is as Sheckt wanted. The lady first."
"Strange. I thought I'd enjoy it more."
"Not to appear cliched, but practice makes perfect. You need to expand your repertoire
from simple gunshots to a more varied palette of torture." He smirked slightly. "Perhaps you're
feeling some remnant of conscience. Believe me, it passes with time." Duncan lowered his voice
to whisper conspiratorially. "What about your husband?"
Wrapping her arms around her shoulders, Katherine closed her eyes and let her head loll
back against her shoulders, plotting the words that came carefully. "He saw. It will take a while
to make him understand. He always was a bit too softhearted for his own good." She spoke in a
dull voice, not quite emotionless but touched by apathy. "I'm having him moved to better
quarters, or at least more enlightening ones, since he's to witness everything. The men escorting
Ms. DeLauro will take him."
A dark smirk formed on Duncan's lips. "You decided to economize and have the guards
bringing Emma's body back to her team drag your poor fool of a husband to Mutant X's cell with
them. That's sick."
"Coming from you, I'll take that as a complement."
"What does that mean?"
"You didn't really expect me not to notice those cameras you'd set up, did you?"
The most unusual expression came over Duncan's face, a mix of surprise and pride with a
gleeful undertone. "Strange how they stopped working after you fired that first shot. Audio
indicated a struggle." He raised an eyebrow, the glittering madness in his eyes more pronounced
than before as his voice grew chilled and deep. "Perhaps there's something of importance for you
to tell me?"
"No, not really." She said casually, as if discussing the event of opening a mundane bag of
groceries. "My husband tried to play hero, deflected my first round into your camera. Devon
failed to prevent my next shot. He hoped to protect Ms. DeLauro but wasn't very successful in
the end. I did not fail to accomplish my mission if that is what you're implying."
"Oh, no. I'd never imply any such thing."
She stared at Duncan with cold eyes. "I got the distinct feeling, upon noticing that
surveillance system, that you don't trust me."
He chuckled. "My dear lady, you worry too much."
The office seemed to grow momentarily icy, with Duncan leaning back, his eyes growing
less maniacal and more lethally intense. His movements were very nonchalant, as were his words,
but they did not ring with truth. Gifted as he was with torture, his skill with prevarication, the art
of crafting falsehoods, seemed lacking. When he looked at her and said "your paranoia was
merely my precaution," she knew that Duncan wasn't being honest.
He smiled oilily. "You have my complete confidence."
'Liar,' she thought coldly while saying. "I'm fortunate to have it."
Katherine was about to say something more, when a phone rang. At first, she could not
identify the source. Then Duncan stood up and set his palm against the wall behind him. A
hidden panel slid into the wall and revealed a small but lavish room, decorated in antiquities and
trophies from past victims, grisly things mixed with bits of torn cloth and jewelry. He stepped
back, blocking as much of it from sight as he could.
"Mr. Sheckt is calling. This conversation is still classified. Though, if we are to receive our
just reward for serving, perhaps soon you will be privy to such calls and I will be at his right hand.
Privy to everything else."
He closed the panel behind him, leaving Katherine in relative peace. Quietly, she
withdrew a tiny device from her pocket. Pressing a button left it blinking, a pulsing blue light that
seemed to smile and say "don't worry, be happy."
*************************************************************************
All five were standing in the cell, Brennan a tad shakily, as they talked and argued.
Adam's admission of a relationship with Emma had thrown Shalimar. In some strange way, she
felt betrayed. The others wanted to help her accept, but she didn't want to be helped. "I have a
right to be angry," she said quietly as she stared out the cell door window, watching the blank
walls beyond.
"Why? Shalimar, I don't understand why you're reacting this way."
She turned back, staring hard at Adam. "What? Did you think I'd throw you a party or
something? You knew we'd be upset or you would have said something long ago."
"That's true." Adam sighed and shook his head. "Emma believed all of you would turn
against us. Personally, I wanted to believe differently, although I have to admit feeling some
uncertainty. Jesse and Brennan seem fine though." He glanced over at the two were standing in a
group with Charlotte, not quite part of the conversation. "You're having a worse reaction than
either of them."
"I feel betrayed."
"And I don't understand that." Adam said, shaking his head. "I don't understand at all.
We've been friends for a long time. I took care of you, helped you, when your family rejected
you. Ever since she joined the team, Emma's been your best friend. We've both been there,
through the tears and the laughter, Shalimar."
"I know." She whispered.
"Then explain to me why you feel betrayed. Tell me why you feel so hurt. It's not like you
and I were ever in love." Behind him, Brennan shivered at the very thought. Jesse got a funny
look on his face. Charlotte shrugged. Watching his teammate, uncertain how to go on, Adam
had a thought. "Shalimar, are you upset because I'm with Emma, or because I'm with someone
period?"
Shalimar threw her hands in the air. "I don't know. My emotions are all over the place."
A thread of golden hair slipped down across her face. "I can't even blame it on my Feral side."
She grumbled.
"I think it's because I'm with Emma."
The look on Adam's face reminded her of all the times he'd solved impossible problems.
It was an expression of insightful comprehension. Something was clicking in his brain. "She's
your best friend and you view me almost as a parent, don't you?"
"I suppose." Shalimar muttered.
He smiled, very softly. "The two of us, together, it's like your losing the only two people
in world you really felt comfortable with."
She looked down at the floor. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that is it."
"Hey!" Jesse said, stepping into the emotional mess. "What about me? Aren't I a close
and dear friend?"
Shalimar looked to Brennan. He raised an eyebrow. Then, he lay back against the wall,
waiting for her to speak. In his eyes, there was love and hurt. The relationship they had wasn't
as strong as it could be, but he'd believed that she knew he accepted her and that she could tell
him anything. Listening to her, watching her reaction to Adam's psychoanalysis, he knew he'd
been wrong about that.
Before she could answer Brennan, she turned to Jesse. "You are my friend, Jesse. I just
always felt like Emma understood better what I was going through. She has to deal with other
people's emotions in her mind, I have to feel the feline in me, especially now. Sometimes, I'm not
sure if I'm a woman or a house cat. Emma gets that, better than you or Brennan or anyone else
could without being a Feral."
Her eyes went to Adam. "And you. There have been nights I just lay awake in bed,
wishing you were my father. You'd have done a hell of a lot better a job than my real one."
"What about me?" Brennan asked softly. "Do I matter to you?"
Shalimar wasn't entirely comfortable answering that question.
Her heart knew how to answer, but the head was a bit slower to believe the feelings she
had for this man were real. Yet, she couldn't stop herself from saying "you know you matter. I
care about you. A lot. More than I thought I would when we first met."
Brennan smiled and then winced as a searing pain passed through his head. "Okay, I'm
sitting down now." Breathing harder, fighting the need to faint, he looked back up at her. "Not
that this is the best place to say it, but I care too."
"So we all care about each other, then?" Charlotte asked. "That's all great and
everything, but there's just one problem." Standing at the cell door, the color draining from her
face, she was staring out at something in the hallway. Everyone went silent. Slowly, their ears
picked up an unmistakable sound.
Footsteps were drawing close. Not the careful steps of a technician or the stealthy ones of
saviors. This was marching, harsh footfalls striking cold fear in the heart. Precise and measured,
each meeting of floor and boot elicited an image of a firing squad. It was a death march.
Sheckt's killers were coming. Adam's heart grew cold. He realized suddenly that Emma
must be dead. They'd taken her first, now they were here for him and the rest of Mutant X.
"Get ready. When they open that door, we fight. There's a slight chance we can catch
them by surprise." He whispered furiously, hatred for Sheckt burning his soul.
The others could hear the pain in his voice, they realized the same terrible truth.
They got ready.
Better to go down as a team fighting than as prisoners weeping.
Charlotte took a place beside Jesse. They looked at each other. She smiled. "There's
never enough time, is there?" The words spoke volumes. He was chilled by them. They were
the last in her book, words written in a distant darkness now echoed at the twilight of Mutant X.
A brief brush with her fingertips was all the response he allowed himself.
"One last battle, huh?" Brennan muttered as he forced himself to his feet. "At least I
won't have to deal with this headache anymore."
"I'm sorry I was upset Adam. If we make it through this. . . I don't know. Just have hope.
Miracles happen sometimes." Shalimar said, reaching out to take Adam's hand and offer him a
sweet lie. "She's still here. We can't lose her. We can't lose."
Adam drew a deep breath. He gripped her hand so tightly that both winced. Brennan's
hand found her other, matching a desperate fear with equally desperate love. "We can do this."
Behind them, Jesse and Charlotte stood shoulder to shoulder for a moment, then took places on
opposite sides of the others. He beside Brennan, she beside Adam. All five waited, their breath
held deep. If this was going to be their end, they'd go out as a team.
Mutant X lives.
Outside the cell door, someone shouted in alarm. The sound of a weapon clattering to the
floor and of men stomping about as they moved suddenly came to their ears. Scuffling. A man
grunted. Something thumped to the floor. Gunfire. Yelling. A loud clash of metal on metal,
cursing following immediately. The sounds of fast movement and hard blows landed. A woman
snarled something vulgar that ended halfway. Another weapon clattering to the floor.
A man in uniform appeared at the door, a look of panic on his face as he drew a
diminutive walkie-talkie to his lips. "May day, repeat May day! We've got hostiles in the prison
wing! We need backup, now!" He threw the radio away suddenly and raised his rifle to his
shoulder. "Eat this!"
He opened fire but apparently missed, for mere second later, someone drove a powerful
uppercut into his chin. They moved away too fast. The team couldn't see a face. Somewhere
else outside, another thumping noise, probably someone falling.
Then silence.
Stillness.
Someone rushed to the door with clanking keys, unlocked it, and threw it open. They
stood in awe as Emma grinned at them, very much alive, baring only a few bruises. She beamed
at the sight of Adam and rushed into his open arms. Their embrace was powerful enough to blind
them to the world and reason. "I thought you were dead. Emma, I thought you were dead."
Adam said through tears of joy.
"They put a subdermal governor on me." She replied, stepping back to meet his eyes.
"You're hurt." Her gentle hand upon his face made him breathless.
"Now that you're here, I'm fine." Adam leaned in and kissed her, in front of everyone.
She gave no resistance and met his lips with equal desire.
When they separated, Devon appeared at the cell door, a newly acquired rifle in hand.
"Come on! We've got to move fast! Katherine said she'd jam their sensors but she wasn't sure
how much time we'd have." He spun this way and that, nervously watching for any approaching
guards. "If we're lucky, they might not realize we're dead. They might think that gunfire was us
dying. Katherine gave us a map of the base, we know how to get out. Follow us."
"You mean she's good?" Charlotte screamed in open mouthed surprise. Turning to
Jesse, she said "is everyone insane or just me?"
Grinning, helping Brennan to move fast out the door, Shalimar laughed. "Who cares, as
long as we're free! Let's get out of this nightmare." She jogged past, her man's arm over her
shoulders. Everyone followed them, each hoping the good fortune would hold out long enough
to escape the deadly clutches of Aaron Sheckt and his army of terrorists.
Running on his own, though his leg sent needles of fire into his heart, Adam was between
Emma and Devon. He looked to the man as he pointed down corridors. The Frost Lake base
might have been enormous, but it wouldn't take long to reach a way out. "Where's Katherine?
How is she a part of all this?" He asked, the question burning in his mind just ahead of a need to
know where to find the keys to his team's subdermal governors. A thought occurred to him
before Devon could answer. "Katherine's in an intelligence service, isn't she?"
"Classified top agent of the CIA. She's working under a woman named Christina. I just
found out." Devon said between gasps of breath. He wasn't much for running. "She infiltrated
Sheckt's organization to bring it down. It wasn't until tonight that she knew the location of this
base. She couldn't contact her handlers without blowing her cover."
Emma was pulling slightly ahead of the men. "She gave us a heart attack fooling a hidden
surveillance system in our cell. I thought we were dead for sure. Katherine saved us. But we've
got to get out, now, before it's too late."
"Too late for what?" Shalimar called from just behind them.
Devon glanced back as they turned a corner. "A loose end to tie up. Something
personal." The look on his face showed it was something very serious. "She's going to retire
Duncan. You know what that means."
*************************************************************************
Katherine Bowden sat at the desk, her hands folded neatly in her lap, while Duncan Ladd
spoke with his master, Aaron M. Sheckt. It seemed she'd waited through a thousand such
conferences, yet the mystery man's face remained just that, a mystery. In all the time Katherine
had worked at Frost Lake, she'd never once seen or heard Aaron Sheckt, not even in the most
limited capacity. His orders were always relayed through his liaison or the computer localized
computer network.
Part of her believed him to be a fabrication on Duncan's part, a bogeyman he used to
frighten subordinates into line, a mask he hid his own orders and mistakes behind. The mysterious
leader he'd blame for everything if ever caught by law enforcement. Just an insubstantial fairy
tale, no more harmful than a nightmare.
That was her wishful and childish side.
The rational part of Katherine's soul knew better. Sheckt was real. Ladd was afraid of
him, which made her ceratin that she never wanted to meet the big man himself. A man like
Duncan, a man who brutalized and tortured without any emotional display aside from glee, did
not scare easy. What kind of a man could terrorize a terrorist? The question kept at her and
gnawed at her resolve and cool.
Especially now.
Sheckt had locked down the base and she was certain he'd left.
The devil was going home to hell, abandoning his demons to purgatory.
Duncan came out of an office, a strange look on his face. His peremptory order was
simple. "Turn on the news." Katherine followed it quickly, activating the nearest computer and
calling up a national channel.
A very young looking woman was smiling at them. "Authorities are not saying at this time
if the incident is connected to this morning's raid on the Clark warehouse. To recap, there are six
confirmed dead, two of them police officers, in a brutal massacre. The place where it happened
was nothing more threatening than an apartment house, which has led local law enforcement to
believe this was another act of domestic terrorism. Our sources inside the federal government
have informed us that there are several leads."
"CIA counter terrorism efforts in the U.S. have been particularly successful as of late.
Expectations are high that the current situation will be resolved swiftly and effectively. A
government source sites Director Christina Bergl especially, for her brilliance in handling a rash of
unusual events. Though we stand now watching the world explode, our hopes and prayers are
with you Christina, and the President. Brings us through safe. This is Eve Frost, anchor and
American, signing off."
The screen went blank for a moment then switched to another story with a different
anchor, this time a man who looked old enough for the job. It didn't matter, Katherine already
knew that she'd seen what Sheckt had wanted seen.
The woman had been talking about the operation Simon and Duncan had undertaken.
She'd been talking about the safe house where Charlotte Cooke was nearly captured. If Ms.
Frost had known who those people were who'd died, would she still have reported it calmly?
Would she have celebrated or wept to know that mutants were dead?
"That's why we're having a review. He's not pleased."
A chill ran through Katherine's body, but she tried to hide it with an unconcerned shrug.
"What's there not to be pleased about? We've captured Mutant X, haven't we? Isn't that idiot
husband of mine already on his way to captivity?" She shook her head, the thick strands like silk
against her bare shoulders. The lie sounded unconvincing as she spoke it, but Duncan seemed
too unsettled to be thinking clearly. "What's his plan?"
Duncan sighed and sat down near here, rubbing his face with his hands. "I don't know
what he's planning now. That is my primary worry." For a time, he kept palms pressed to
countenance. Then, quite suddenly, he stared at her, eyes burrowing deep. "Why did you turn
on your husband?"
Katherine smiled, her lips sliding back from perfect teeth that shimmered in the light from
the overheads. "That's none of your business." She said calmly, trying not to feel her heart
suddenly start racing.
Something utterly inhuman entered Ladd's eyes. "I could kill you. Make it last for
months. It'd be worse than anything Simon could concoct." He cocked his head to one side and
regarded Katherine with that dark stare. "But I don't suppose that would bother you. You've
got ice water in your arteries. When you finally go, I expect hell's famed river of eternal fire to
freeze." He sat back and folded his hands together. "Sheckt feels that our status as a covert
agency has been compromised. He feels your plan has created an unnecessary risk of discovery.
That's why he wants a review. No one leaves the base until he's certain it's still secret."
Several strands of blonde hair had fallen across her face. Katherine reached up and
slowly brushed them back, then combed fingers through the rest, drawing it all into a pony tail
then letting it fall straight again. Delaying tactics.
She smiled and stretched slightly, as if her muscles were growing tired from sitting. "I
betrayed Devon because I was bored. I joined the organization because you told me I'd make a
lot of money and get to kill people for fun." Her hand rubbed at her right shoulder, as if an aching
muscle there was bothering her.
Duncan's face turned darker. He could tell she wasn't being honest with him. For the
first time since he'd recruited her, she was letting him hear the hatred and contempt she felt for
him. It was white-hot fury. "You don't like me very much do you?"
"No. I think you're the worst human being I know."
"I'm a new mutant. I'm better than human."
"That's a matter of opinion." Katherine kept her right hand on her shoulder. There was
no muscle ache, but there was a shoulder holster that was too cleverly concealed for even a
trained lunatic like Duncan to see. "So, is Sheckt a mutant?"
"No. Yes. Who cares?" Duncan's lips curled into an expression more sneer than smile.
"You've always asked a lot of questions. I don't know why I never noticed that before now."
"I'm inquisitive. Also overly curious." She smiled, hoping to keep him thinking he had
the upper hand. "Here's a question. Where's Sheckt gone to? Another one of your bases?"
Duncan shook his head. "Beautiful but not very bright. Mr. Sheckt doesn't trust me with
all of his secrets. Most people that ask so many questions, I kill. I'm surprised by the faith I've
shown you."
Her fingers brushed the weapon's small handle.
"I was surprised too. Maybe it has to do with my blonde good looks and hot body."
He laughed.
Katherine drew her pistol and shot him seven times.
"Or maybe you're just stupid."
*************************************************************************
At first, it was all darkness. Then, the first rays of light pierced the thick haze of Gabriel
Ashlocke's sleep. He squinted and tried to raise a hand to shield his face. In trying, he learned
that his arms were strapped down, thick leather restraints wrapped around bedside balustrades.
At first glance, he thought he'd been taken to a hospital, perhaps even the one where he'd
happily killed Dr. Clark.
Before clear thinking could banish such a ridiculous thought, someone stepped into Gabriel's
line of vision. She wore a lab coat. She knelt close to him and started checking his vitals. "Did
you sleep well, Mr. Ashlocke? I'm surprise the sedative we gave you lasted this long. Perhaps
you're too far gone to save."
He tried to speak but could manage only a barely coherent grumble.
"Don't strain yourself. The drugs are very dehydrating. Your body needs fluids, preferably
water. It may also take you some time to adjust to being powerless." The woman, by her voice
the doctor from before, Guevara, gently lifted his head and eased a cup of water to his lips.
"Procedurally speaking, I should be offering you ice chips from that carafe on the end table." She
helped Gabriel take a very small sip and waited for him to swallow. He choked slightly but was
able to drink the rest of the cup without incident.
"There now. I knew you could do it." Dr. Guevara smiled gently. "World's most
powerful mutant, the Patient Zero who started it all. I figured you could drink something without
dying on me."
"Where?" Gabriel asked, his voice sounded lazy and vaguely stupid to his ears.
He hated it. The weakness.
"You're being held captive by the Society of Supremacy. The where isn't important, even
if you think it is." The doctor turned away from him and started toward a nearby door. "Besides,
there's someone here who wants to see you."
As the lovely doctor turned away, her movement colored by a taste for sensual Spanish
dances, she gestured toward a man standing guard at the door. He nodded and opened it,
allowing Kelly to enter. The blonde was wearing a black T-shirt and tight jeans. Her face
sparked with life at the sight of Gabriel.
"Are you okay?" She asked, stepping closer. "I was so afraid that you weren't going to
make it. When I woke up, they had to restrain me for a while before I was convinced they hadn't
hurt you. Dr. Guevara is a very persuasive woman."
Kelly walked calmly to Gabriel's bedside and reached through the side bars to take his
hand. "She said Clark gave you a drug cocktail. Part of it started paralyzing your heart. If it
weren't for her and the others, well, they say you'd be dead. I tried explaining that all you really
needed was time to heal. You're a god and god's don't die."
As much as he wanted to affirm her words, Gabriel didn't feel particularly godlike at that
moment. More like an insignificant piece of garbage. Instead, he squeezed her hand reassuringly
and forced a smile to his lips. His empty eyes watched a tear slide down her cheek. He glanced
toward Dr. Guevara, who stood just a few feet from the door, as if worried that they might try to
escape. He was flattered by her fear.
"What's the verdict doctor?" Gabriel croaked, using most of his strength for just that one
question. His chest ached. There was blackness at the edges, a tunnel around all he saw. He
wondered if those symptoms weren't answer enough.
Dr. Guevara stepped forward, a dark smile coming to her lips. "That is an interesting
question Mr. Ashlocke. In all honesty, my actions have done little. I've delayed death but I can't
remove you from the Reaper's list." She stepped forward, moving with a dancer's certainty of
stride. "However, I am not your last hope. Our leader will be here soon. You're fate, ultimately,
resides with her."
"Mine too." Kelly said quietly, twisting her neck around for him to see the subdermal
governor there. "We're prisoners. The Society holds all the cards." She leaned down close to
kiss Gabriel's cheek, then whispered into his ear. "For now."
*************************************************************************
"Move it, damn you, move!"
"Geez, lady, you're gonna leave me deaf yelling like that. Stop barking and park it, will
you?" The cab driver shook his head in annoyance. "This is absolutely the last time I let that
cockamamie station of your's talk me into driving around the city with a crazed reporter
screaming in my ear. I don't care how much loot they throw."
"Shut up and drive! So help me God, if I miss this story, I'll sue your worthless ass from
here to the gates of heaven. I don't care if you have to run over every brain dead senior citizen
from here to Miami, just get me to the story!"
"Okay, okay, okay. Just relax, alright?"
"And for your information, I'm an anchorwoman. Not a reporter."
The cab driver glanced at the young woman in his back seat. "Um, there's a difference?"
He asked before realizing that his question was all to likely to trigger another explosion.
Sprawled on the seat, taking up all the room stretched from one end to the other, Eve
Frost glared at her driver. She twisted and sat up straight, leaned forward, and hissed through the
grated metal mesh separating them. "Hell, yes, there's a difference. About twenty thousand
differences. Not to mention benefits, plenty of face time, and the power to ruthlessly bitch and
order big, strong, men around. Like you, for instance."
Sighing, Eve flopped back and dramatically crossed her legs, flashing just enough skin
with her tight miniskirt to almost cause the cab driver to crash. Her beautiful smile showed how
she took the implicit complement. "Assuming we get there in time, I'll apologize for the major
bitch attitude. I'm always psycho in situations like this. That's why the station uses a cab for me."
She laughed girlishly, almost giggling. "There's that and the fact that every cameraman I've
worked with for any real length of time has quit. They try to minimize contact now."
"You schizophrenic or something?"
She blinked in surprise. "Excuse me? How do you mean?"
The cab driver shook his head, careful to keep his eyes on the road as he raced along.
"One second you're screaming like a banshee, next you're flirting with me!"
Eve leaned forward, letting the tight blouse she wore pull even tighter against her petite
frame and small breasts. "I'm getting in character. People don't tune in to watch the news, they
tune in to watch me tell them the news. That requires a certain charm. It's all about seduction. If
the viewers don't love you, they vote you off the island and have you jump a shark. You get it?"
"Yeah, sure." He made a sharp turn, causing the wheels to screech in anger. "So, that
means you're not interested?"
"Get me to Jacob's Memorial Hospital before any other networks get people out there to
cover the fire, maybe I'll buy you dinner."
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Man buys dinner, woman eats?"
Another laugh, this time sounding a bit more her true age. "If I wanted chivalry, dear man,
I'd have never left my hometown. Girl like me, proud of her accomplishments, likes to show
off in subtle ways. Now, stop fantasizing, watch the road, get me where I'm going, and maybe
there'll be a reward in it for you."
The cab driver shut up and drove like a madman. It was possible he reached the hospital
without breaking any of the laws of physics, but not very likely. They arrived a full minute ahead
of the camera crew in route, which should have arrived first. The moment the other vehicle pulled
up beside the taxi, before it even stopped moving, two men leapt out with large cameras while a
third inside switched on a transmission satellite relay on the van's roof.
All around the hospital, doctors and patients were milling about. The patients wore light
blue robes that billowed about their bodies, reminding Eve of wings. Some were strapped onto
rolling carts with portable machines all around them. A few just stood, transfixed by the dancing
flames and the snarling heat. Men and women in white coats went from person to person, trying
to make sure that everyone was accounted for and alive. Children from the pediatric ward
huddled together on the grassy lawn, too sick or too afraid to do anything else.
All of this would act as a backdrop for the newscast. As the camera crew finished setting
up, she glanced back at it all. So much destruction everyday, so much that she told the world
about, it always left her feeling sick.
Not that she ever let the audience see it.
'Hell,' Eve thought, 'I barely let myself feel it.'
The lead man pointed at her. "Going live in ten, Eve. Put on your game face."
She nodded, turning her attentions from the enormous raging inferno behind her. "Lord, I
hope they can get everyone out."
"Are you nuts?" One of the camera guys asked in a tone of stunned horror. "Do you
have any idea how many more people will watch if we've got live footage of someone toasting
their marshmallows? Better than sweeps!"
"I'll pretend you said something witty and empathetic." Eve watched for her cue. It
seemed to take a long time for the last second to hit. When the man pointed, she brought forth
her best smile. "This is Eve Frost. In a day filled with dark events and mysterious ties of blood
binding them, another tragedy is unfolding. Behind me is Jacob's Memorial Hospital, earlier today
the site of a brutal murder. With the passing of Dr. David Clark, fire claims this place, just as it
consumed his mansion, his daughter, and his warehouse." She raised her hand and gestured
toward the building as flames poured out from almost every window, the sounds of snapping
beams and exploding glass ringing into the night. "Is this another terrorist attack in our fair city?
Is there a conspiracy to destroy anything and everything touched by Dr. Clark? Does any of this
have anything to do with the growing reports worldwide of premonitions and strange
occurrences, all linked by a common time and date of exactly two weeks ago?"
Eve shrugged. The gesture was simple, realistic, and done with just enough sensual
movement to leave her male viewers a tad tingly. "We may never know the answers to these
questions. Yet, I am confident that our brave men and women in uniform will do their best for all
of us. I'm Eve Frost, and we will continue to bring you updates as events occur."
The lead cameraman jerked a hand across his throat. "That's it for now, babe. We'll get
some footage of Fire and Rescue when they get here. They're probably trapped in that jam back
across town."
"Hey, that was sweet putting that bit in about them. You're going to get some great
thank-you notes for the station." The other cameraman said. He was the one who'd made the
comment about people burning to death. Marshmallows.
She threw her hands up in the air and turned back toward the taxi she'd arrived in. The
driver was standing outside, watching spellbound as flames danced higher and higher, spinning
and twirling toward heaven. She smiled sweetly and ran a hand through her auburn locks,
breathing deep the scent of hospital smoke. It seemed cleaner, more antiseptic, than other
smoke, but that was probably just a bizarre quirk of her imagination.
As the sound of sirens filled her ears, Eve turned back to face her camera crew and to
watch flashing red lights winking in the distance. Traffic jam or not, they were arriving. "Maybe
they'll even save the building." Eve muttered to herself, "not that anyone will appreciate them if
they do. Hmm, I should talk to someone about doing a special. Might be a real ratings booster.
Not that 'burning hospital where mystery killer offs renowned doctor' isn't."
She glanced back at the inferno. Perhaps because she was already in a thoughtful mood,
Eve found herself entranced. Sparks gently rose as the wind pulsed by, heat radiated out like
comfortingly, like a grand old fireplace. It struck her, even with the doctors and frightened
patients milling about, how beautiful it all was.
"Hey! Hey, here comes the hose brigade Eve! We're going live so give us some poetry
gorgeous and see if we can't get a few extra Nielsens."
She sighed deeply. "Back on the clock."
With the cameras turned on the street, and all eyes on the fire trucks arriving, it passed
unseen and soundless from the rear parking garage of Jacob's Memorial Hospital. The black
limousine, baring no mark, reached asphalt and gently eased away, sleek as a serpent. Only after
it had disappeared, did the cameras turn back toward the building.
Eve would never know, nor would her crew, that one of the biggest stories in history had
left them without even a whisper.
In the back seat, sitting much the way Eve had in the taxi, that story would remain unknown
and secret for several more months.
Then would come storm.
*************************************************************************
"In here." Devon said as the team came to a door marked with strange symbols. "This is
where Katherine said they keep all their spare equipment. There should be a key to your
governors. I think."
Brennan laughed, then winced in pain and leaned hard on Shalimar. "Hey, we weren't
expecting to live through the last thirty minutes. Key or no key, we'll be fine, so long as we have
a way out." He needed a moment to catch his breath. His entire body felt like one gigantic
bruise. Every breath drawn made him grit teeth and groan inwardly. "When we get home, I'm
sleeping for a month of Sundays. Man my head hurts."
"Any chance there's an infirmary near here?" Adam asked calmly, meeting Shalimar's
concerned eyes with a reassuring nod. He felt Emma's hand in his and acknowledged her
support with a gentle squeeze. His own body could use first aid, six weeks vacation, and some
time to let his heart calm it's pounding. Until Emma was safe, until they were all safe, Adam
couldn't rest. For the moment, he thought Brennan might need treatment.
"Yeah. There's one back the way we came. Katherine's going to meet us here, though.
And your governors." He bent over and took in a breath. "Sorry, I'm not in the best of shape.
Most of my work the last few years involved stakeouts in a car with boxes of doughnuts."
"Adam, if we lose the element of surprise, we're dead. We can't fight these people
without our powers." Jesse said as he stepped to the storage room door. "I vote to get these
governors off first. If we can't fight back, there's no reason for any one of us to get patched up.
They'll just break us again."
"He's right." Brennan said quietly. "I'll keep. Get the key. It's just a headache. I'm fine,
really. No problems. Just like after that whole thing with those Russians and that gun of theirs.
Really, just ignore me."
Jesse raised an eyebrow. "You know, maybe we should check him out. He almost died
after being hit by the Pushka."
"It's just been one of those days. I mean, I learn the secrets of Adam and Emma's love life
and get repeatedly beaten senseless, and taken prisoner. Just one of those days."
His face was slightly pale when he spoke.
Brennan gave them a thumb's up, leaning on Shalimar though he was, and smiled warmly.
"Things have been rough. I'm going to have the battle scars to prove it, but I'm still ready for
action. You can count on me." He staggered ever so slightly, invalidating his words.
Ignoring Brennan's continued reassurances, and with Adam's help, Shalimar eased him to
the ground. "Rest here." She said softly, her hand on his chest. She glanced over at her leader.
Adam gave her an encouraging nod then rose to help Devon and Jesse open the storage room
door. Unfortunately, Katherine hadn't known the code for the electronic lock.
Emma knelt down beside Shalimar. "How is he?"
"Better than I should be." Brennan muttered, vaguely annoyed yet oddly enjoying the
attention. "With all the bashing my brain's taken, I count myself lucky to not be drooling on your
shoes." He tried a smile. It seemed out of place given his haggard expression.
"Shh, save your strength. Maybe you're okay but maybe not. Either way, you've earned a
little rest." Shalimar whispered before leaning down and kissing his cheek. She seemed surprised
by the gesture, then just pleased.
He stared up at her. "Guess you're feeling better, huh? Not so upset?"
Emma turned to Shalimar, a concerned glint in her eyes. "What happened to you? I thought
your injuries were mostly superficial."
"They are. Just a few bruises and cuts. Bloodied me up, but they didn't manage to break
anything important. I'm pretty hardheaded. About a lot of things." The blonde sighed, wishing
she could run from this conversation but deciding it was better to get it over with now. "Adam
told us about the two of you." She paused. "Not that we wouldn't have figured it out after the
way you kissed him during the rescue. Anyway, I didn't take the news very well. . . I was being a
real idiot."
"Hey, it's okay." Emma said quietly, though she wasn't sure it was. Her friend needed
comforting right then. "I didn't think any of you would take this well. That's why I swore Adam
to secrecy. I guess he had to tell you since I blabbed to Brennan."
"How is he?"
The two women turned around, faintly surprised to find another woman behind them.
Charlotte was leaning down toward them, her eyes on Brennan. For a moment, they stared, not
certain how to answer or even if they should. "Last time we met, you weren't exactly our best
friend. How did you get to be part of this anyway?" Emma asked, her mind flashing back to the
first time she met Charlotte Cooke and got clobbered by a flowerpot, then nearly given a
lobotomy by the man she was now sleeping with.
Until now, Emma hadn't realized just how strange that sounded.
"I called Jesse for help." Charlotte said as Emma thought about evil Adam and how worried
she'd been that he wouldn't come back from being turned dark. "How's Brennan doing? He's
got this really horrible bump on his head."
"He says he's fine." Shalimar said. She moved over a bit to make room and Charlotte
knelt down, squeezing in between the other two women. "I think we should check him out just to
be sure."
Staring up from the floor, Brennan rolled his eyes and muttered something about being
"treated like an idiot child." All three women checked him for injuries again, hoping to find
something visible and tangible to worry about. By all outward appearances, there was nothing
seriously wrong with their teammate. No one in the group needed reminding about how
deceiving appearances could be.
"I have the unlocking code." Adam said triumphantly, breaking everyone's chains of
worry. "It's a nine digit number. Pretty simple though. Jesse, key this sequence: one, three, one,
one, nine, one, five, one and four. That should deactivate the system."
Jesse plugged in the numbers and the door opened. With a grin, he turned on the light and
started searching for a governor key.
"How did you get that?" Devon asked, his voice filled with awe.
A blush came to Adam's face. "It's posted on that memo board." He pointed over
Devon's shoulder at a push pin cork board someone had set up a few feet from the storage room
door. He smiled. "Maybe it's not a genius solution, but it will do."
"Found one!" Jesse yelled, running out of the room with a strange looking device designed
to deactivate governors. He handed it to Adam. "Here, get this damn thing off of me. Sheckt's
people aren't going to be unaware of us forever."
"Just a second." Adam slipped the key into an almost imperceptible slot near the skin,
twisted, and was rewarded handsomely. With a click, Jesse's governor fell off.
Gunshots rang out from down a hallway. Katherine appeared, fired a round behind her,
then strode to them. "Company's coming. We've got big problems."
Jesse tested his powers by going intangible. They worked perfectly. He breathed out and
became solid. "No problem. I can shield us from the worst of it. Plus, if we run into a locked
door, I can get us through the wall instead." He smiled at Katherine, obviously waiting for her to
say something.
"Sorry I beat the crap out of you. Nothing personal and all that cliched bull. Now, cover
me with that rock power of your's so I can blow our friends to hell." She didn't wait for a reply.
Jesse had to run to keep up with her as she returned to the fight.
Adam turned to the others, quickly removing the subdermal governors from Emma,
Shalimar and Brennan. "Thanks, I was starting to have flashbacks to my vacation at Genomex.
Four star service if you like torture and pain." Brennan muttered as he allowed Shalimar to cradle
his head. Although he felt relatively okay, the pain in his head was getting worse by the moment.
"Devon, you said there was an infirmary back the way we came?" Adam asked as he bent
down to check his ailing friend. "Think you could lead us there?"
"Katherine gave me and Emma a map of the entire base, remember? I could lead you to
where they do the alien autopsies. The infirmary's straight back and to the left. Here, I'll lead the
way." Devon started moving while Shalimar and Emma lifted Brennan up between them.
The former thief rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to say it, ladies. I'm perfectly
okay. Seriously." He grimaced suddenly and brought a hand to his forehead. "Except for the
worst migraine in recorded history."
"Oh, let them fawn over you." Charlotte Cooke said as she followed close behind the
others. "Doesn't it feel nice to be the center of attention with two woman carrying you and a
gorgeous brunette talking your ear off?"
Brennan laughed. "I like your style."
The infirmary loomed as they turned a corner. Devon triumphantly reached for the door.
Before his fingers even touched the handle, the ground beneath his feet shuddered violently,
throwing all of them off balance.
"What's going—" Charlotte's question was cut short by a rush of sound.
The world exploded.
*****************************END OF PART SIX****************************
Deceptive Appearances
Charlotte was pacing in front of the cell door. "This whole situation is stupid." She
grumbled, turning on her heels to face everyone. "Seriously, are your lives always like this? I
mean, one minute mine was just fine, thank you. Then, out of nowhere, come two psychos who
kill all my friends and want to take me prisoner for some reason. God only knows why."
"I'll bet your winning personality wasn't it." The grumble came from Shalimar, who sat in
a corner with Brennan, cleaning his blooded face as best she could. Her eyes would have flashed
with fire if not for the governor, but the repressed Feral predator lashed out regardless. "Instead
of complaining, why don't you do something useful?"
Angrily, Charlotte stamped her foot. "Why don't you? Like cleaning your boyfriend up is
a major priority!"
"Oh and whining is?" Shalimar retorted.
Coming immediately to the side of the dark-haired outsider, Jesse placed a hand upon her
arm and stared down at his blonde teammate. He surprised her by saying "back off. She's got a
right to be upset. She didn't ask for this. We signed up, we wanted to play hero and make things
better for the world. No one bothered to ask Charlotte what she thought of having her life made
into a living hell."
His expression softened slightly. "I know you're worried. Brennan's hurt, we're caught
and Emma's out there with the husband of a traitorous psycho. Getting in Charlotte's face won't
change any of that." Jesse sighed. "How is Brennan?"
A groan was his answer. "I'll be fine if everyone will stop hissing at each other like a
bunch of alley cats."
Shalimar stared down at her friend with an air of indignance. "What exactly is that
supposed to mean?" She asked in that dangerous, quiet tone which only a woman can truly excel
at producing.
"You see, even her squeaky mouse thinks she's wasting time." Charlotte said with a
snort. She leaned into Jesse, laying her head against his shoulder for a moment. "Seriously, is it
always like this for you guys? Guns blazing, people dying, people betraying you left and right, the
team broken up like a shattered piece of sculpture."
Jesse sighed. "It's usually a bit more pulled together. Normally, we have one mission.
This feels like five or six. First Gabriel, then rescuing you while Adam, Emma, and Brennan were
nearly assassinated. Then searching for Shalimar and finding Katherine."
"Who's the wife of our buddy Devon. Great taste in women he's got." Brennan muttered
as Shalimar swiped at the dry blood on his face. She pressed down slightly, sending fire through
his afflicted flesh. "Ow! Hey, watch it. I'm bruised like a rotten grape." He turned toward Jesse
and Charlotte, narrowed eyes fixed. "What happened next anyway? You guys were caught off
guard by the blonde bombshell?"
Charlotte ran a hand through her black hair. Fatigue was evident on her face. Dark
circles had formed under each eye and she spoke with a methodical tone, as if she had to think
carefully about every word. "Actually, yeah. But before that, Jesse here revealed that you guys
travel through time now. Or at least Adam and Emma do."
"Now that was definitely not normal." Shalimar said as she finished cleaning Brennan's
face. "As good as it gets for now. I'll do a more thorough job later."
"If there is a later." He said quietly.
A silence descended like a spider to a quivering fly.
Jesse rolled his eyes and tried to put an upbeat tone to his voice. "Gee, Brennan,
whatever happened to the optimistic guy I used to know?"
"Uh, he got a rifle butt smashed into his skull." Brennan replied, throwing a gesture at his
beaten face. "That has a tendency to knock sense into a man. We're trapped here. The woman
we were coming to help is one of the bad guys. We're being held by professionals who know to
use subdermal governors and heavy metal doors. They're too good to just let us get away. Face
it, we are screwed." He raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I think that is the optimistic response to
a situation this dismal."
"That's exactly how I see it." Charlotte said as she started pacing again. "This whole day
has been one insane turn after another. It's like we're living in someone's twisted fantasy world
where everyone's out to kill us or use us for some twisted plan. And no one can be trusted
because they could be an enemy in disguise." As she spoke, she tapped her foot nervously and
folded her arms across her chest. "Everything's twisted and crazy."
Standing up, Shalimar regarded her with a cold face. She was tired of listening to
complaints. "Could you possibly use the word 'twisted' a few more times? Please, I never tire
of it." The anger was born of fatigue, as was Charlotte's. That did not, however, diminish it.
"Oh go to hell Rambo Barbie."
Both Brennan and Jesse took steps to keep the two women from killing each other. The
darker haired man grabbed the blonde's arm and drew her close, whispering quickly in her ear.
Jesse reached out and gently touched Charlotte's shoulder, recapturing the lady's attention. She
looked into his eyes, then sighed.
"Sorry. I'm being a bitch." Charlotte mumbled under her breath. "This mess is just
making me loony. I've got no right to take it out on you."
"Yeah. I'm sorry too." Speaking softly, Shalimar smiled. "Truce?"
A smile formed on the brunette's face. "Absolutely. I don't want to fight with you. You'll
totally kick my butt."
"I think you'd give as good as you'd get."
"Everyone be quiet, please, I'm trying to think."
They turned to Adam, who was lying on the floor, his eyes closed, looking like some sort
of meditating monk. He sat up briefly, regarding them with annoyance. Of all them, he seemed
the calmest and most hopeful. "Emma's here. And that Devon character. They're looking for us."
He frowned. "Our best chance of getting out of here comes from working together. Not acting
like children."
The all looked sheepish, especially Charlotte. "This is all my fault." She whispered.
"None of this would have happened if I hadn't called you, Jesse."
"That's not true and you know it. Sheckt has an agenda. It includes you. And us." Jesse
walked over to a wall. He leaned against the hard smooth stones, feeling like a train had run over
him several times. The day was catching up with all of them. Too much had happened in too few
hours. Charlotte, Katherine, Sheckt, Duncan, Gabriel and more. It wasn't over yet either, he
could feel it. "I'm so tired."
"You're not the only one brother." Those words from Brennan as he lay back against the
one of the walls, wincing as his bruised head touched rock. "When this is over, I'm sleeping for
a long time. One way or the other."
Adam lay back down. He closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. "Shut up. All
of you. I'm trying to contact Emma, to let her know where we are." The exhaustion in his voice
was greater than all the others combined. Being the leader, he'd been drained by the other's tales
of tribulation. He'd been beaten worse than Brennan, but no one had offered to clean his
wounds. Stoic and caring, Adam rarely got angry with his team. His patience did have limits
though.
Far worse than the wounds of flesh were those of mind. He'd felt something sharp and
disturbing moments before. It had come a few minutes earlier, when Sheckt's guards came to
deposit Jesse and Charlotte. The sensation had left him chilled to the core. He knew something
had happened to Emma, something bad.
The psychic bond they'd formed was very limited, little more than informed instinct. Yet,
it was something he treasured deeply. It's fragile power could only be severed by subdermal
governor or death. Adam was terrified that the feeling he'd had before was one of those things
occurring. He put on a brave face, but it was only a facade to protect his team.
Jesse turned to Brennan, a curious look on his face. "How can he contact Emma? I didn't
think she had a really good handle of that aspect of her powers. I know she found you once, but
wasn't that more fluke than focus?"
Pulling himself to a standing position was difficult, Shalimar had to help him, but Brennan
did it so that he could be face to face with his friend. He took a deep breath, gathering his
strength, then stopped himself from answering.
His eyes went to Adam, who was sitting up again. There was a strangely morose quality
to the older man's expression. He seemed weighted down, hesitant, as if his genius brain were
rendered completely unable to process the thought of Jesse and Shalimar learning the truth.
Perhaps, though he'd told Emma differently, he too harbored a certainty that they would not
understand nor accept.
An unspoken agreement passed between he and Brennan. The younger man nodded and
braced himself to remain standing but did not speak.
This wasn't his news to deliver.
Adam quietly rose. He reached a hand to his forehead and gravely traced the worry lines
and age creases. Absurdly, thinking of how many years he'd lived emboldened him, gave him an
odd measure of peaceful courage. Still, it was all he could do not to let the nervousness inside
him show. Emma had revealed the secret to Brennan, now it was his turn.
"The past two weeks. . . ." His voice trailed off. He sighed deeply. "The past two
weeks, Emma and I have grown. . . close. For a long time, we've been drawn to each other.
Somehow, we found something in that nightmare future. Something that brought us together."
He paused, searching his friend's eyes for any trace of a bad reaction. He wasn't sure what to
expect or why he might expect it. Fear was it's own meaning.
"I love her. We're in love."
Perhaps because she was an outsider, Charlotte Cooke needed only a few moments to
assimilate Adam's declaration. Her smile was as warm as she could manage under the
circumstances, surprisingly heartfelt and more than a little contagious. "Hey, that's great!" She
said, her expression kind. "You deserve to be happy."
The upbeat reaction reminded Adam just how far this woman had come. Her bitterness,
her anger, no longer ruled her heart, though he doubted they were erased. He was relieved by
Charlotte's response to his news.
"What did you say?" Shalimar asked in a voice filled with nothing less than utter
confusion.
Opened mouthed, Jesse turned to Brennan. He pointed a finger at the man. "Did you
know about this? How could you not tell me if you knew about this?" Facing Adam again, he
seemed truly irritated. "How did this happen?"
"Um, isn't this good news?" Charlotte asked, her head cocked, as she ran fingers through
her midnight locks. The stance she took was reminiscent of a fashion shoot. "Jesse, isn't this a
good thing no matter how it happened? Don't Adam and Emma deserve something? Even if,
maybe especially if, it's with each other?"
No words properly describe the glare Shalimar sent her.
At least, none known to humans. Certain large felines might have the vocabulary, though
not the means, to define.
Jesse's face was a mixture of uncertainty as he rubbed his chin. There had been ten
thousand signs that something was going on between them, yet he'd disregarded them all. Now,
memories of private conversations, distant expressions, and uncontrollable bright smiles when the
other was around filled his mind. Charlotte's words echoed within, a mantra focusing his soul.
'Don't Adam and Emma deserve something? Even if, maybe especially if, it's with each
other?' Those words drifted with Jesse's thoughts until he faced his leader and friend.
"When we first met, I remember thinking, you seemed sad. After working with you for so
long, I think I've learned a lot about you Adam." He took a breath before the plunge. "Emma's
a friend. So are you. If being together is what both of you want, then all I have to say is
congratulations. That, and I'm annoyed no one let me in on this one."
"Thank you Jesse." The words blew from Adam's lips as he let out a breath he hadn't
known he was holding. He turned to Shalimar, who seemed inscrutably Sphinx-like. Her
expression held nothing readable. Shifting emotions. An ocean of ambiguity. Not even at their
best could the most intricate cipher texts invented by the CIA be harder to decode than her
expression. Without wanting to know the answer, Adam reached out to her and asked "are you
alright with this Shalimar?"
At the question, she jerked, as if shocked by his words. Her stare was blank, all shell
shock without the shell.
"You and Emma?" Her voice was low, barely a whisper.
Shaking her head, as if the very idea horrified her, Shalimar just stared at him.
He withdrew his offered hand, worry clouding his face.
"Shalimar, I don't know how I expected you to react, but you're taking this hard."
Her laughter turned his fright to outright concerned fear. It sounded crazy.
"Hard? Hard?" A step back and she bumped into Brennan, who wrapped his arms around
her, though he was still unsteady on his feet. That touch calmed her. Her eyes closed so tightly
tears were forced out. Ever since he'd entered her life, she'd thought of Adam as a surrogate
father. Mutant X was like her family. Emma was her best friend. She stared at him, unable to
comprehend it all. "Adam, tell me we're being crazy here. Tell me we've just gone through too
much insanity today and this is all in our heads."
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough for both of them.
*************************************************************************
Duncan Ladd twitched at his desk, unable to fully keep a deep-rooted paranoia from
ensnaring his mind. The computer had locked down the base. It wasn't the first time that had
been done, but something felt different now. "Call me, Sheckt. Come on, just tell me what this
review is all about." He muttered to himself. The quiet fear needed some alleviation, even if it
amounted to no more than a whistled tune in a darkened graveyard.
The door opened. He looked up and Katherine was there. Her face was a mask of
emotionlessness, poorly cloaking sorrow.
"You look tired."
She sighed. "I am. Today hasn't exactly been as much fun as I expected."
"Tomorrow will be better. A victory always tastes bittersweet in the beginning, what with
the thrill of planning and execution out of the way. Like waking Christmas morning and opening
presents. At first, you're vaguely disappointed in what's in front of you, just because you could
anticipate anything in those boxes. Later, you realize how great it all is."
Katherine nodded, acknowledging the sage wisdom. "Sheckt locked us in, didn't he?"
She sat down in a small, grey cushioned chair, sighed and glanced around the room, her gaze
taking snapshots of everything. An old calendar with smiling children, a bit of trash in one corner,
file cabinets and hundreds of ghosts haunting the lair of a monster. She settled on Duncan's face,
finding his strange smile slightly disturbing. "Why do you think he did this?"
"I don't know. Perhaps he was worried." A laugh. "Imagine that, Aaron Sheckt worried.
No, forget that. He's a brilliant tactician. Likely, he's preparing for the next phase of his plan.
Once Mutant X is dead, I'm sure he'll inform us as to what exactly that is. Locking down the
base was just an easy way to get everyone together and make sure they're ready for action."
"You sound nervous."
Once, when she was very small, Katherine had come across a sick puppy. The animal had
been bitten by something rabid and, not understanding the danger, she'd tried to help it. She
remembered very vividly the way that dog's eyes shifted from sweet and terribly confused to
manically homicidal. She was reminded of it when Duncan glared at her. That was how he'd
always seemed to her: a mad dog.
His breathing was shallow but very deep at the same time. Nostrils flared with each
exhalation, lifelessly cruel eyes watched with inhuman patience. She'd never been exactly certain
how Sheckt came to control Duncan so completely, but Katherine always knew that control was
paper thin.
"Sometimes, I find myself very close to tearing you apart. I tolerate your bluntness
because you're the only one on this base, other than Mr. Sheckt, who dares talk to me like that.
It's refreshing in small doses." He sat back in his chair and set his hands down on the desk.
Quietly, he asked, "you have dealt with Emma DeLauro, correct?"
Katherine, unwilling to put her actions to words, didn't answer. She did, however, lower
her eyes ever so slightly.
Duncan nodded. "Good. It is as Sheckt wanted. The lady first."
"Strange. I thought I'd enjoy it more."
"Not to appear cliched, but practice makes perfect. You need to expand your repertoire
from simple gunshots to a more varied palette of torture." He smirked slightly. "Perhaps you're
feeling some remnant of conscience. Believe me, it passes with time." Duncan lowered his voice
to whisper conspiratorially. "What about your husband?"
Wrapping her arms around her shoulders, Katherine closed her eyes and let her head loll
back against her shoulders, plotting the words that came carefully. "He saw. It will take a while
to make him understand. He always was a bit too softhearted for his own good." She spoke in a
dull voice, not quite emotionless but touched by apathy. "I'm having him moved to better
quarters, or at least more enlightening ones, since he's to witness everything. The men escorting
Ms. DeLauro will take him."
A dark smirk formed on Duncan's lips. "You decided to economize and have the guards
bringing Emma's body back to her team drag your poor fool of a husband to Mutant X's cell with
them. That's sick."
"Coming from you, I'll take that as a complement."
"What does that mean?"
"You didn't really expect me not to notice those cameras you'd set up, did you?"
The most unusual expression came over Duncan's face, a mix of surprise and pride with a
gleeful undertone. "Strange how they stopped working after you fired that first shot. Audio
indicated a struggle." He raised an eyebrow, the glittering madness in his eyes more pronounced
than before as his voice grew chilled and deep. "Perhaps there's something of importance for you
to tell me?"
"No, not really." She said casually, as if discussing the event of opening a mundane bag of
groceries. "My husband tried to play hero, deflected my first round into your camera. Devon
failed to prevent my next shot. He hoped to protect Ms. DeLauro but wasn't very successful in
the end. I did not fail to accomplish my mission if that is what you're implying."
"Oh, no. I'd never imply any such thing."
She stared at Duncan with cold eyes. "I got the distinct feeling, upon noticing that
surveillance system, that you don't trust me."
He chuckled. "My dear lady, you worry too much."
The office seemed to grow momentarily icy, with Duncan leaning back, his eyes growing
less maniacal and more lethally intense. His movements were very nonchalant, as were his words,
but they did not ring with truth. Gifted as he was with torture, his skill with prevarication, the art
of crafting falsehoods, seemed lacking. When he looked at her and said "your paranoia was
merely my precaution," she knew that Duncan wasn't being honest.
He smiled oilily. "You have my complete confidence."
'Liar,' she thought coldly while saying. "I'm fortunate to have it."
Katherine was about to say something more, when a phone rang. At first, she could not
identify the source. Then Duncan stood up and set his palm against the wall behind him. A
hidden panel slid into the wall and revealed a small but lavish room, decorated in antiquities and
trophies from past victims, grisly things mixed with bits of torn cloth and jewelry. He stepped
back, blocking as much of it from sight as he could.
"Mr. Sheckt is calling. This conversation is still classified. Though, if we are to receive our
just reward for serving, perhaps soon you will be privy to such calls and I will be at his right hand.
Privy to everything else."
He closed the panel behind him, leaving Katherine in relative peace. Quietly, she
withdrew a tiny device from her pocket. Pressing a button left it blinking, a pulsing blue light that
seemed to smile and say "don't worry, be happy."
*************************************************************************
All five were standing in the cell, Brennan a tad shakily, as they talked and argued.
Adam's admission of a relationship with Emma had thrown Shalimar. In some strange way, she
felt betrayed. The others wanted to help her accept, but she didn't want to be helped. "I have a
right to be angry," she said quietly as she stared out the cell door window, watching the blank
walls beyond.
"Why? Shalimar, I don't understand why you're reacting this way."
She turned back, staring hard at Adam. "What? Did you think I'd throw you a party or
something? You knew we'd be upset or you would have said something long ago."
"That's true." Adam sighed and shook his head. "Emma believed all of you would turn
against us. Personally, I wanted to believe differently, although I have to admit feeling some
uncertainty. Jesse and Brennan seem fine though." He glanced over at the two were standing in a
group with Charlotte, not quite part of the conversation. "You're having a worse reaction than
either of them."
"I feel betrayed."
"And I don't understand that." Adam said, shaking his head. "I don't understand at all.
We've been friends for a long time. I took care of you, helped you, when your family rejected
you. Ever since she joined the team, Emma's been your best friend. We've both been there,
through the tears and the laughter, Shalimar."
"I know." She whispered.
"Then explain to me why you feel betrayed. Tell me why you feel so hurt. It's not like you
and I were ever in love." Behind him, Brennan shivered at the very thought. Jesse got a funny
look on his face. Charlotte shrugged. Watching his teammate, uncertain how to go on, Adam
had a thought. "Shalimar, are you upset because I'm with Emma, or because I'm with someone
period?"
Shalimar threw her hands in the air. "I don't know. My emotions are all over the place."
A thread of golden hair slipped down across her face. "I can't even blame it on my Feral side."
She grumbled.
"I think it's because I'm with Emma."
The look on Adam's face reminded her of all the times he'd solved impossible problems.
It was an expression of insightful comprehension. Something was clicking in his brain. "She's
your best friend and you view me almost as a parent, don't you?"
"I suppose." Shalimar muttered.
He smiled, very softly. "The two of us, together, it's like your losing the only two people
in world you really felt comfortable with."
She looked down at the floor. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that is it."
"Hey!" Jesse said, stepping into the emotional mess. "What about me? Aren't I a close
and dear friend?"
Shalimar looked to Brennan. He raised an eyebrow. Then, he lay back against the wall,
waiting for her to speak. In his eyes, there was love and hurt. The relationship they had wasn't
as strong as it could be, but he'd believed that she knew he accepted her and that she could tell
him anything. Listening to her, watching her reaction to Adam's psychoanalysis, he knew he'd
been wrong about that.
Before she could answer Brennan, she turned to Jesse. "You are my friend, Jesse. I just
always felt like Emma understood better what I was going through. She has to deal with other
people's emotions in her mind, I have to feel the feline in me, especially now. Sometimes, I'm not
sure if I'm a woman or a house cat. Emma gets that, better than you or Brennan or anyone else
could without being a Feral."
Her eyes went to Adam. "And you. There have been nights I just lay awake in bed,
wishing you were my father. You'd have done a hell of a lot better a job than my real one."
"What about me?" Brennan asked softly. "Do I matter to you?"
Shalimar wasn't entirely comfortable answering that question.
Her heart knew how to answer, but the head was a bit slower to believe the feelings she
had for this man were real. Yet, she couldn't stop herself from saying "you know you matter. I
care about you. A lot. More than I thought I would when we first met."
Brennan smiled and then winced as a searing pain passed through his head. "Okay, I'm
sitting down now." Breathing harder, fighting the need to faint, he looked back up at her. "Not
that this is the best place to say it, but I care too."
"So we all care about each other, then?" Charlotte asked. "That's all great and
everything, but there's just one problem." Standing at the cell door, the color draining from her
face, she was staring out at something in the hallway. Everyone went silent. Slowly, their ears
picked up an unmistakable sound.
Footsteps were drawing close. Not the careful steps of a technician or the stealthy ones of
saviors. This was marching, harsh footfalls striking cold fear in the heart. Precise and measured,
each meeting of floor and boot elicited an image of a firing squad. It was a death march.
Sheckt's killers were coming. Adam's heart grew cold. He realized suddenly that Emma
must be dead. They'd taken her first, now they were here for him and the rest of Mutant X.
"Get ready. When they open that door, we fight. There's a slight chance we can catch
them by surprise." He whispered furiously, hatred for Sheckt burning his soul.
The others could hear the pain in his voice, they realized the same terrible truth.
They got ready.
Better to go down as a team fighting than as prisoners weeping.
Charlotte took a place beside Jesse. They looked at each other. She smiled. "There's
never enough time, is there?" The words spoke volumes. He was chilled by them. They were
the last in her book, words written in a distant darkness now echoed at the twilight of Mutant X.
A brief brush with her fingertips was all the response he allowed himself.
"One last battle, huh?" Brennan muttered as he forced himself to his feet. "At least I
won't have to deal with this headache anymore."
"I'm sorry I was upset Adam. If we make it through this. . . I don't know. Just have hope.
Miracles happen sometimes." Shalimar said, reaching out to take Adam's hand and offer him a
sweet lie. "She's still here. We can't lose her. We can't lose."
Adam drew a deep breath. He gripped her hand so tightly that both winced. Brennan's
hand found her other, matching a desperate fear with equally desperate love. "We can do this."
Behind them, Jesse and Charlotte stood shoulder to shoulder for a moment, then took places on
opposite sides of the others. He beside Brennan, she beside Adam. All five waited, their breath
held deep. If this was going to be their end, they'd go out as a team.
Mutant X lives.
Outside the cell door, someone shouted in alarm. The sound of a weapon clattering to the
floor and of men stomping about as they moved suddenly came to their ears. Scuffling. A man
grunted. Something thumped to the floor. Gunfire. Yelling. A loud clash of metal on metal,
cursing following immediately. The sounds of fast movement and hard blows landed. A woman
snarled something vulgar that ended halfway. Another weapon clattering to the floor.
A man in uniform appeared at the door, a look of panic on his face as he drew a
diminutive walkie-talkie to his lips. "May day, repeat May day! We've got hostiles in the prison
wing! We need backup, now!" He threw the radio away suddenly and raised his rifle to his
shoulder. "Eat this!"
He opened fire but apparently missed, for mere second later, someone drove a powerful
uppercut into his chin. They moved away too fast. The team couldn't see a face. Somewhere
else outside, another thumping noise, probably someone falling.
Then silence.
Stillness.
Someone rushed to the door with clanking keys, unlocked it, and threw it open. They
stood in awe as Emma grinned at them, very much alive, baring only a few bruises. She beamed
at the sight of Adam and rushed into his open arms. Their embrace was powerful enough to blind
them to the world and reason. "I thought you were dead. Emma, I thought you were dead."
Adam said through tears of joy.
"They put a subdermal governor on me." She replied, stepping back to meet his eyes.
"You're hurt." Her gentle hand upon his face made him breathless.
"Now that you're here, I'm fine." Adam leaned in and kissed her, in front of everyone.
She gave no resistance and met his lips with equal desire.
When they separated, Devon appeared at the cell door, a newly acquired rifle in hand.
"Come on! We've got to move fast! Katherine said she'd jam their sensors but she wasn't sure
how much time we'd have." He spun this way and that, nervously watching for any approaching
guards. "If we're lucky, they might not realize we're dead. They might think that gunfire was us
dying. Katherine gave us a map of the base, we know how to get out. Follow us."
"You mean she's good?" Charlotte screamed in open mouthed surprise. Turning to
Jesse, she said "is everyone insane or just me?"
Grinning, helping Brennan to move fast out the door, Shalimar laughed. "Who cares, as
long as we're free! Let's get out of this nightmare." She jogged past, her man's arm over her
shoulders. Everyone followed them, each hoping the good fortune would hold out long enough
to escape the deadly clutches of Aaron Sheckt and his army of terrorists.
Running on his own, though his leg sent needles of fire into his heart, Adam was between
Emma and Devon. He looked to the man as he pointed down corridors. The Frost Lake base
might have been enormous, but it wouldn't take long to reach a way out. "Where's Katherine?
How is she a part of all this?" He asked, the question burning in his mind just ahead of a need to
know where to find the keys to his team's subdermal governors. A thought occurred to him
before Devon could answer. "Katherine's in an intelligence service, isn't she?"
"Classified top agent of the CIA. She's working under a woman named Christina. I just
found out." Devon said between gasps of breath. He wasn't much for running. "She infiltrated
Sheckt's organization to bring it down. It wasn't until tonight that she knew the location of this
base. She couldn't contact her handlers without blowing her cover."
Emma was pulling slightly ahead of the men. "She gave us a heart attack fooling a hidden
surveillance system in our cell. I thought we were dead for sure. Katherine saved us. But we've
got to get out, now, before it's too late."
"Too late for what?" Shalimar called from just behind them.
Devon glanced back as they turned a corner. "A loose end to tie up. Something
personal." The look on his face showed it was something very serious. "She's going to retire
Duncan. You know what that means."
*************************************************************************
Katherine Bowden sat at the desk, her hands folded neatly in her lap, while Duncan Ladd
spoke with his master, Aaron M. Sheckt. It seemed she'd waited through a thousand such
conferences, yet the mystery man's face remained just that, a mystery. In all the time Katherine
had worked at Frost Lake, she'd never once seen or heard Aaron Sheckt, not even in the most
limited capacity. His orders were always relayed through his liaison or the computer localized
computer network.
Part of her believed him to be a fabrication on Duncan's part, a bogeyman he used to
frighten subordinates into line, a mask he hid his own orders and mistakes behind. The mysterious
leader he'd blame for everything if ever caught by law enforcement. Just an insubstantial fairy
tale, no more harmful than a nightmare.
That was her wishful and childish side.
The rational part of Katherine's soul knew better. Sheckt was real. Ladd was afraid of
him, which made her ceratin that she never wanted to meet the big man himself. A man like
Duncan, a man who brutalized and tortured without any emotional display aside from glee, did
not scare easy. What kind of a man could terrorize a terrorist? The question kept at her and
gnawed at her resolve and cool.
Especially now.
Sheckt had locked down the base and she was certain he'd left.
The devil was going home to hell, abandoning his demons to purgatory.
Duncan came out of an office, a strange look on his face. His peremptory order was
simple. "Turn on the news." Katherine followed it quickly, activating the nearest computer and
calling up a national channel.
A very young looking woman was smiling at them. "Authorities are not saying at this time
if the incident is connected to this morning's raid on the Clark warehouse. To recap, there are six
confirmed dead, two of them police officers, in a brutal massacre. The place where it happened
was nothing more threatening than an apartment house, which has led local law enforcement to
believe this was another act of domestic terrorism. Our sources inside the federal government
have informed us that there are several leads."
"CIA counter terrorism efforts in the U.S. have been particularly successful as of late.
Expectations are high that the current situation will be resolved swiftly and effectively. A
government source sites Director Christina Bergl especially, for her brilliance in handling a rash of
unusual events. Though we stand now watching the world explode, our hopes and prayers are
with you Christina, and the President. Brings us through safe. This is Eve Frost, anchor and
American, signing off."
The screen went blank for a moment then switched to another story with a different
anchor, this time a man who looked old enough for the job. It didn't matter, Katherine already
knew that she'd seen what Sheckt had wanted seen.
The woman had been talking about the operation Simon and Duncan had undertaken.
She'd been talking about the safe house where Charlotte Cooke was nearly captured. If Ms.
Frost had known who those people were who'd died, would she still have reported it calmly?
Would she have celebrated or wept to know that mutants were dead?
"That's why we're having a review. He's not pleased."
A chill ran through Katherine's body, but she tried to hide it with an unconcerned shrug.
"What's there not to be pleased about? We've captured Mutant X, haven't we? Isn't that idiot
husband of mine already on his way to captivity?" She shook her head, the thick strands like silk
against her bare shoulders. The lie sounded unconvincing as she spoke it, but Duncan seemed
too unsettled to be thinking clearly. "What's his plan?"
Duncan sighed and sat down near here, rubbing his face with his hands. "I don't know
what he's planning now. That is my primary worry." For a time, he kept palms pressed to
countenance. Then, quite suddenly, he stared at her, eyes burrowing deep. "Why did you turn
on your husband?"
Katherine smiled, her lips sliding back from perfect teeth that shimmered in the light from
the overheads. "That's none of your business." She said calmly, trying not to feel her heart
suddenly start racing.
Something utterly inhuman entered Ladd's eyes. "I could kill you. Make it last for
months. It'd be worse than anything Simon could concoct." He cocked his head to one side and
regarded Katherine with that dark stare. "But I don't suppose that would bother you. You've
got ice water in your arteries. When you finally go, I expect hell's famed river of eternal fire to
freeze." He sat back and folded his hands together. "Sheckt feels that our status as a covert
agency has been compromised. He feels your plan has created an unnecessary risk of discovery.
That's why he wants a review. No one leaves the base until he's certain it's still secret."
Several strands of blonde hair had fallen across her face. Katherine reached up and
slowly brushed them back, then combed fingers through the rest, drawing it all into a pony tail
then letting it fall straight again. Delaying tactics.
She smiled and stretched slightly, as if her muscles were growing tired from sitting. "I
betrayed Devon because I was bored. I joined the organization because you told me I'd make a
lot of money and get to kill people for fun." Her hand rubbed at her right shoulder, as if an aching
muscle there was bothering her.
Duncan's face turned darker. He could tell she wasn't being honest with him. For the
first time since he'd recruited her, she was letting him hear the hatred and contempt she felt for
him. It was white-hot fury. "You don't like me very much do you?"
"No. I think you're the worst human being I know."
"I'm a new mutant. I'm better than human."
"That's a matter of opinion." Katherine kept her right hand on her shoulder. There was
no muscle ache, but there was a shoulder holster that was too cleverly concealed for even a
trained lunatic like Duncan to see. "So, is Sheckt a mutant?"
"No. Yes. Who cares?" Duncan's lips curled into an expression more sneer than smile.
"You've always asked a lot of questions. I don't know why I never noticed that before now."
"I'm inquisitive. Also overly curious." She smiled, hoping to keep him thinking he had
the upper hand. "Here's a question. Where's Sheckt gone to? Another one of your bases?"
Duncan shook his head. "Beautiful but not very bright. Mr. Sheckt doesn't trust me with
all of his secrets. Most people that ask so many questions, I kill. I'm surprised by the faith I've
shown you."
Her fingers brushed the weapon's small handle.
"I was surprised too. Maybe it has to do with my blonde good looks and hot body."
He laughed.
Katherine drew her pistol and shot him seven times.
"Or maybe you're just stupid."
*************************************************************************
At first, it was all darkness. Then, the first rays of light pierced the thick haze of Gabriel
Ashlocke's sleep. He squinted and tried to raise a hand to shield his face. In trying, he learned
that his arms were strapped down, thick leather restraints wrapped around bedside balustrades.
At first glance, he thought he'd been taken to a hospital, perhaps even the one where he'd
happily killed Dr. Clark.
Before clear thinking could banish such a ridiculous thought, someone stepped into Gabriel's
line of vision. She wore a lab coat. She knelt close to him and started checking his vitals. "Did
you sleep well, Mr. Ashlocke? I'm surprise the sedative we gave you lasted this long. Perhaps
you're too far gone to save."
He tried to speak but could manage only a barely coherent grumble.
"Don't strain yourself. The drugs are very dehydrating. Your body needs fluids, preferably
water. It may also take you some time to adjust to being powerless." The woman, by her voice
the doctor from before, Guevara, gently lifted his head and eased a cup of water to his lips.
"Procedurally speaking, I should be offering you ice chips from that carafe on the end table." She
helped Gabriel take a very small sip and waited for him to swallow. He choked slightly but was
able to drink the rest of the cup without incident.
"There now. I knew you could do it." Dr. Guevara smiled gently. "World's most
powerful mutant, the Patient Zero who started it all. I figured you could drink something without
dying on me."
"Where?" Gabriel asked, his voice sounded lazy and vaguely stupid to his ears.
He hated it. The weakness.
"You're being held captive by the Society of Supremacy. The where isn't important, even
if you think it is." The doctor turned away from him and started toward a nearby door. "Besides,
there's someone here who wants to see you."
As the lovely doctor turned away, her movement colored by a taste for sensual Spanish
dances, she gestured toward a man standing guard at the door. He nodded and opened it,
allowing Kelly to enter. The blonde was wearing a black T-shirt and tight jeans. Her face
sparked with life at the sight of Gabriel.
"Are you okay?" She asked, stepping closer. "I was so afraid that you weren't going to
make it. When I woke up, they had to restrain me for a while before I was convinced they hadn't
hurt you. Dr. Guevara is a very persuasive woman."
Kelly walked calmly to Gabriel's bedside and reached through the side bars to take his
hand. "She said Clark gave you a drug cocktail. Part of it started paralyzing your heart. If it
weren't for her and the others, well, they say you'd be dead. I tried explaining that all you really
needed was time to heal. You're a god and god's don't die."
As much as he wanted to affirm her words, Gabriel didn't feel particularly godlike at that
moment. More like an insignificant piece of garbage. Instead, he squeezed her hand reassuringly
and forced a smile to his lips. His empty eyes watched a tear slide down her cheek. He glanced
toward Dr. Guevara, who stood just a few feet from the door, as if worried that they might try to
escape. He was flattered by her fear.
"What's the verdict doctor?" Gabriel croaked, using most of his strength for just that one
question. His chest ached. There was blackness at the edges, a tunnel around all he saw. He
wondered if those symptoms weren't answer enough.
Dr. Guevara stepped forward, a dark smile coming to her lips. "That is an interesting
question Mr. Ashlocke. In all honesty, my actions have done little. I've delayed death but I can't
remove you from the Reaper's list." She stepped forward, moving with a dancer's certainty of
stride. "However, I am not your last hope. Our leader will be here soon. You're fate, ultimately,
resides with her."
"Mine too." Kelly said quietly, twisting her neck around for him to see the subdermal
governor there. "We're prisoners. The Society holds all the cards." She leaned down close to
kiss Gabriel's cheek, then whispered into his ear. "For now."
*************************************************************************
"Move it, damn you, move!"
"Geez, lady, you're gonna leave me deaf yelling like that. Stop barking and park it, will
you?" The cab driver shook his head in annoyance. "This is absolutely the last time I let that
cockamamie station of your's talk me into driving around the city with a crazed reporter
screaming in my ear. I don't care how much loot they throw."
"Shut up and drive! So help me God, if I miss this story, I'll sue your worthless ass from
here to the gates of heaven. I don't care if you have to run over every brain dead senior citizen
from here to Miami, just get me to the story!"
"Okay, okay, okay. Just relax, alright?"
"And for your information, I'm an anchorwoman. Not a reporter."
The cab driver glanced at the young woman in his back seat. "Um, there's a difference?"
He asked before realizing that his question was all to likely to trigger another explosion.
Sprawled on the seat, taking up all the room stretched from one end to the other, Eve
Frost glared at her driver. She twisted and sat up straight, leaned forward, and hissed through the
grated metal mesh separating them. "Hell, yes, there's a difference. About twenty thousand
differences. Not to mention benefits, plenty of face time, and the power to ruthlessly bitch and
order big, strong, men around. Like you, for instance."
Sighing, Eve flopped back and dramatically crossed her legs, flashing just enough skin
with her tight miniskirt to almost cause the cab driver to crash. Her beautiful smile showed how
she took the implicit complement. "Assuming we get there in time, I'll apologize for the major
bitch attitude. I'm always psycho in situations like this. That's why the station uses a cab for me."
She laughed girlishly, almost giggling. "There's that and the fact that every cameraman I've
worked with for any real length of time has quit. They try to minimize contact now."
"You schizophrenic or something?"
She blinked in surprise. "Excuse me? How do you mean?"
The cab driver shook his head, careful to keep his eyes on the road as he raced along.
"One second you're screaming like a banshee, next you're flirting with me!"
Eve leaned forward, letting the tight blouse she wore pull even tighter against her petite
frame and small breasts. "I'm getting in character. People don't tune in to watch the news, they
tune in to watch me tell them the news. That requires a certain charm. It's all about seduction. If
the viewers don't love you, they vote you off the island and have you jump a shark. You get it?"
"Yeah, sure." He made a sharp turn, causing the wheels to screech in anger. "So, that
means you're not interested?"
"Get me to Jacob's Memorial Hospital before any other networks get people out there to
cover the fire, maybe I'll buy you dinner."
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Man buys dinner, woman eats?"
Another laugh, this time sounding a bit more her true age. "If I wanted chivalry, dear man,
I'd have never left my hometown. Girl like me, proud of her accomplishments, likes to show
off in subtle ways. Now, stop fantasizing, watch the road, get me where I'm going, and maybe
there'll be a reward in it for you."
The cab driver shut up and drove like a madman. It was possible he reached the hospital
without breaking any of the laws of physics, but not very likely. They arrived a full minute ahead
of the camera crew in route, which should have arrived first. The moment the other vehicle pulled
up beside the taxi, before it even stopped moving, two men leapt out with large cameras while a
third inside switched on a transmission satellite relay on the van's roof.
All around the hospital, doctors and patients were milling about. The patients wore light
blue robes that billowed about their bodies, reminding Eve of wings. Some were strapped onto
rolling carts with portable machines all around them. A few just stood, transfixed by the dancing
flames and the snarling heat. Men and women in white coats went from person to person, trying
to make sure that everyone was accounted for and alive. Children from the pediatric ward
huddled together on the grassy lawn, too sick or too afraid to do anything else.
All of this would act as a backdrop for the newscast. As the camera crew finished setting
up, she glanced back at it all. So much destruction everyday, so much that she told the world
about, it always left her feeling sick.
Not that she ever let the audience see it.
'Hell,' Eve thought, 'I barely let myself feel it.'
The lead man pointed at her. "Going live in ten, Eve. Put on your game face."
She nodded, turning her attentions from the enormous raging inferno behind her. "Lord, I
hope they can get everyone out."
"Are you nuts?" One of the camera guys asked in a tone of stunned horror. "Do you
have any idea how many more people will watch if we've got live footage of someone toasting
their marshmallows? Better than sweeps!"
"I'll pretend you said something witty and empathetic." Eve watched for her cue. It
seemed to take a long time for the last second to hit. When the man pointed, she brought forth
her best smile. "This is Eve Frost. In a day filled with dark events and mysterious ties of blood
binding them, another tragedy is unfolding. Behind me is Jacob's Memorial Hospital, earlier today
the site of a brutal murder. With the passing of Dr. David Clark, fire claims this place, just as it
consumed his mansion, his daughter, and his warehouse." She raised her hand and gestured
toward the building as flames poured out from almost every window, the sounds of snapping
beams and exploding glass ringing into the night. "Is this another terrorist attack in our fair city?
Is there a conspiracy to destroy anything and everything touched by Dr. Clark? Does any of this
have anything to do with the growing reports worldwide of premonitions and strange
occurrences, all linked by a common time and date of exactly two weeks ago?"
Eve shrugged. The gesture was simple, realistic, and done with just enough sensual
movement to leave her male viewers a tad tingly. "We may never know the answers to these
questions. Yet, I am confident that our brave men and women in uniform will do their best for all
of us. I'm Eve Frost, and we will continue to bring you updates as events occur."
The lead cameraman jerked a hand across his throat. "That's it for now, babe. We'll get
some footage of Fire and Rescue when they get here. They're probably trapped in that jam back
across town."
"Hey, that was sweet putting that bit in about them. You're going to get some great
thank-you notes for the station." The other cameraman said. He was the one who'd made the
comment about people burning to death. Marshmallows.
She threw her hands up in the air and turned back toward the taxi she'd arrived in. The
driver was standing outside, watching spellbound as flames danced higher and higher, spinning
and twirling toward heaven. She smiled sweetly and ran a hand through her auburn locks,
breathing deep the scent of hospital smoke. It seemed cleaner, more antiseptic, than other
smoke, but that was probably just a bizarre quirk of her imagination.
As the sound of sirens filled her ears, Eve turned back to face her camera crew and to
watch flashing red lights winking in the distance. Traffic jam or not, they were arriving. "Maybe
they'll even save the building." Eve muttered to herself, "not that anyone will appreciate them if
they do. Hmm, I should talk to someone about doing a special. Might be a real ratings booster.
Not that 'burning hospital where mystery killer offs renowned doctor' isn't."
She glanced back at the inferno. Perhaps because she was already in a thoughtful mood,
Eve found herself entranced. Sparks gently rose as the wind pulsed by, heat radiated out like
comfortingly, like a grand old fireplace. It struck her, even with the doctors and frightened
patients milling about, how beautiful it all was.
"Hey! Hey, here comes the hose brigade Eve! We're going live so give us some poetry
gorgeous and see if we can't get a few extra Nielsens."
She sighed deeply. "Back on the clock."
With the cameras turned on the street, and all eyes on the fire trucks arriving, it passed
unseen and soundless from the rear parking garage of Jacob's Memorial Hospital. The black
limousine, baring no mark, reached asphalt and gently eased away, sleek as a serpent. Only after
it had disappeared, did the cameras turn back toward the building.
Eve would never know, nor would her crew, that one of the biggest stories in history had
left them without even a whisper.
In the back seat, sitting much the way Eve had in the taxi, that story would remain unknown
and secret for several more months.
Then would come storm.
*************************************************************************
"In here." Devon said as the team came to a door marked with strange symbols. "This is
where Katherine said they keep all their spare equipment. There should be a key to your
governors. I think."
Brennan laughed, then winced in pain and leaned hard on Shalimar. "Hey, we weren't
expecting to live through the last thirty minutes. Key or no key, we'll be fine, so long as we have
a way out." He needed a moment to catch his breath. His entire body felt like one gigantic
bruise. Every breath drawn made him grit teeth and groan inwardly. "When we get home, I'm
sleeping for a month of Sundays. Man my head hurts."
"Any chance there's an infirmary near here?" Adam asked calmly, meeting Shalimar's
concerned eyes with a reassuring nod. He felt Emma's hand in his and acknowledged her
support with a gentle squeeze. His own body could use first aid, six weeks vacation, and some
time to let his heart calm it's pounding. Until Emma was safe, until they were all safe, Adam
couldn't rest. For the moment, he thought Brennan might need treatment.
"Yeah. There's one back the way we came. Katherine's going to meet us here, though.
And your governors." He bent over and took in a breath. "Sorry, I'm not in the best of shape.
Most of my work the last few years involved stakeouts in a car with boxes of doughnuts."
"Adam, if we lose the element of surprise, we're dead. We can't fight these people
without our powers." Jesse said as he stepped to the storage room door. "I vote to get these
governors off first. If we can't fight back, there's no reason for any one of us to get patched up.
They'll just break us again."
"He's right." Brennan said quietly. "I'll keep. Get the key. It's just a headache. I'm fine,
really. No problems. Just like after that whole thing with those Russians and that gun of theirs.
Really, just ignore me."
Jesse raised an eyebrow. "You know, maybe we should check him out. He almost died
after being hit by the Pushka."
"It's just been one of those days. I mean, I learn the secrets of Adam and Emma's love life
and get repeatedly beaten senseless, and taken prisoner. Just one of those days."
His face was slightly pale when he spoke.
Brennan gave them a thumb's up, leaning on Shalimar though he was, and smiled warmly.
"Things have been rough. I'm going to have the battle scars to prove it, but I'm still ready for
action. You can count on me." He staggered ever so slightly, invalidating his words.
Ignoring Brennan's continued reassurances, and with Adam's help, Shalimar eased him to
the ground. "Rest here." She said softly, her hand on his chest. She glanced over at her leader.
Adam gave her an encouraging nod then rose to help Devon and Jesse open the storage room
door. Unfortunately, Katherine hadn't known the code for the electronic lock.
Emma knelt down beside Shalimar. "How is he?"
"Better than I should be." Brennan muttered, vaguely annoyed yet oddly enjoying the
attention. "With all the bashing my brain's taken, I count myself lucky to not be drooling on your
shoes." He tried a smile. It seemed out of place given his haggard expression.
"Shh, save your strength. Maybe you're okay but maybe not. Either way, you've earned a
little rest." Shalimar whispered before leaning down and kissing his cheek. She seemed surprised
by the gesture, then just pleased.
He stared up at her. "Guess you're feeling better, huh? Not so upset?"
Emma turned to Shalimar, a concerned glint in her eyes. "What happened to you? I thought
your injuries were mostly superficial."
"They are. Just a few bruises and cuts. Bloodied me up, but they didn't manage to break
anything important. I'm pretty hardheaded. About a lot of things." The blonde sighed, wishing
she could run from this conversation but deciding it was better to get it over with now. "Adam
told us about the two of you." She paused. "Not that we wouldn't have figured it out after the
way you kissed him during the rescue. Anyway, I didn't take the news very well. . . I was being a
real idiot."
"Hey, it's okay." Emma said quietly, though she wasn't sure it was. Her friend needed
comforting right then. "I didn't think any of you would take this well. That's why I swore Adam
to secrecy. I guess he had to tell you since I blabbed to Brennan."
"How is he?"
The two women turned around, faintly surprised to find another woman behind them.
Charlotte was leaning down toward them, her eyes on Brennan. For a moment, they stared, not
certain how to answer or even if they should. "Last time we met, you weren't exactly our best
friend. How did you get to be part of this anyway?" Emma asked, her mind flashing back to the
first time she met Charlotte Cooke and got clobbered by a flowerpot, then nearly given a
lobotomy by the man she was now sleeping with.
Until now, Emma hadn't realized just how strange that sounded.
"I called Jesse for help." Charlotte said as Emma thought about evil Adam and how worried
she'd been that he wouldn't come back from being turned dark. "How's Brennan doing? He's
got this really horrible bump on his head."
"He says he's fine." Shalimar said. She moved over a bit to make room and Charlotte
knelt down, squeezing in between the other two women. "I think we should check him out just to
be sure."
Staring up from the floor, Brennan rolled his eyes and muttered something about being
"treated like an idiot child." All three women checked him for injuries again, hoping to find
something visible and tangible to worry about. By all outward appearances, there was nothing
seriously wrong with their teammate. No one in the group needed reminding about how
deceiving appearances could be.
"I have the unlocking code." Adam said triumphantly, breaking everyone's chains of
worry. "It's a nine digit number. Pretty simple though. Jesse, key this sequence: one, three, one,
one, nine, one, five, one and four. That should deactivate the system."
Jesse plugged in the numbers and the door opened. With a grin, he turned on the light and
started searching for a governor key.
"How did you get that?" Devon asked, his voice filled with awe.
A blush came to Adam's face. "It's posted on that memo board." He pointed over
Devon's shoulder at a push pin cork board someone had set up a few feet from the storage room
door. He smiled. "Maybe it's not a genius solution, but it will do."
"Found one!" Jesse yelled, running out of the room with a strange looking device designed
to deactivate governors. He handed it to Adam. "Here, get this damn thing off of me. Sheckt's
people aren't going to be unaware of us forever."
"Just a second." Adam slipped the key into an almost imperceptible slot near the skin,
twisted, and was rewarded handsomely. With a click, Jesse's governor fell off.
Gunshots rang out from down a hallway. Katherine appeared, fired a round behind her,
then strode to them. "Company's coming. We've got big problems."
Jesse tested his powers by going intangible. They worked perfectly. He breathed out and
became solid. "No problem. I can shield us from the worst of it. Plus, if we run into a locked
door, I can get us through the wall instead." He smiled at Katherine, obviously waiting for her to
say something.
"Sorry I beat the crap out of you. Nothing personal and all that cliched bull. Now, cover
me with that rock power of your's so I can blow our friends to hell." She didn't wait for a reply.
Jesse had to run to keep up with her as she returned to the fight.
Adam turned to the others, quickly removing the subdermal governors from Emma,
Shalimar and Brennan. "Thanks, I was starting to have flashbacks to my vacation at Genomex.
Four star service if you like torture and pain." Brennan muttered as he allowed Shalimar to cradle
his head. Although he felt relatively okay, the pain in his head was getting worse by the moment.
"Devon, you said there was an infirmary back the way we came?" Adam asked as he bent
down to check his ailing friend. "Think you could lead us there?"
"Katherine gave me and Emma a map of the entire base, remember? I could lead you to
where they do the alien autopsies. The infirmary's straight back and to the left. Here, I'll lead the
way." Devon started moving while Shalimar and Emma lifted Brennan up between them.
The former thief rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to say it, ladies. I'm perfectly
okay. Seriously." He grimaced suddenly and brought a hand to his forehead. "Except for the
worst migraine in recorded history."
"Oh, let them fawn over you." Charlotte Cooke said as she followed close behind the
others. "Doesn't it feel nice to be the center of attention with two woman carrying you and a
gorgeous brunette talking your ear off?"
Brennan laughed. "I like your style."
The infirmary loomed as they turned a corner. Devon triumphantly reached for the door.
Before his fingers even touched the handle, the ground beneath his feet shuddered violently,
throwing all of them off balance.
"What's going—" Charlotte's question was cut short by a rush of sound.
The world exploded.
*****************************END OF PART SIX****************************