Jesse peeked into the kitchen, and turned his head surreptitiously from
side to side. When the only person he saw was Emma, he heaved a sigh of
relief. Had it been anyone else, a particular, over-protective, mother-bear
to be specific, whom he'd been trying to avoid since he got back, Jesse
would be in a serious trouble.
"Don't worry Jess, she's not here," Emma said with a smile, her hands flying over a potato, and miraculously long, golden brown peels dropped into the sink one by one. Women. No matter how they kicked ass in the battlefield, it was like an artwork to watch them in the kitchen. "Is something the matter? Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours."
Ugh, Jesse thought, resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose in disgust in the fear of offending Emma but the overwhelming smell of the beef stew she was preparing wafted through the air and assaulted his nostrils. It was sickening.
"It's okay, Emma. We ate on our way back," Jess lied. Well, he was not exactly lying, just stretching out the truth a little. The burger Brennan ordered looked and smelled sooo unappetizing it took Jesse sheer will to keep his stomach down. And after he was so rudely awakened from his sleep too!
Emma gave him a sharp look before picking up another potato. "You feeling alright, Jess?"
Jesse hesitated. "Yeah, except that my stomach's been kinda acting up a little. Do we have any Tums around here? Some aspirin maybe?" He walked into the spacious kitchen with a hand lightly holding his waist.
Emma opened an overhead cabinet and extracted a pink bottle filled with tablets. "Here." She handed him the bottle of antacids and watched warily as he popped the bottle open. Jesse's color was a little off and he seemed to be grimacing in pain when he downed two of the tablets in one go. Couldn't help feeling concerned, Emma went over to him.
"You sure you're feeling ok, Jesse? Do you have a fever?" Emma laid a hand on his forehead. No fever.
"I'm fine," Jesse said, pulling away from her touch gently. "It's just a stomach upset that's all. Nothing to worry about."
"Is it something you ate?"
Jesse shrugged. "Maybe."
"Do you feel nauseous or does it just hurt?"
Jesse narrowed his eyes. What is this, mother-bear in-training? "Emma, chill. It's nothing."
Emma couldn't shake the feeling that it was something more than that. She trusted Jesse well enough not to read him, unless it was absolutely necessary. SO for now, he just had to settle for 20 Questions.
"Jesse, did-" She paused, "-did anything happen that I should know about?"
Jesse stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"
"Did anything happen to you? Last night, at the club?" She asked suspiciously.
At first Jesse looked annoyed, but then he frowned. "Well. . . nothing much- The usual I guess, chatted with some girl, drank some, danced some- I didn't get into a fight or anything like that- Why do you ask?"
Emma was tempted to tell him that she sensed a little disturbance in him, like some kind of tremble in his metabolic activity, an imbalance but at last she decided to keep it to herself. She was being too paranoid. Jesse just had too much to drink, that was all.
"I just had too much to drink, Emma. You know how I get when I down one too many Margarita," Jesse said.
Emma smiled a little. "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Well, you'd better go lie down and give your poor tummy a rest then. I'll call you down when dinner's ready." After a moment's hesitation, Jesse leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Thanks, Em. Love ya." Feeling a tad better already, Jesse slipped out of the kitchen and left her to her cooking.
************************* "Hey, Brennan." The elemental looked up from his lap-top.
"Whatcha doing?" Shalimar bounded down the stairs, her golden hair flying gloriously behind her. She held what looked like a computer printout in one hand and her jacket in the other.
"Just replying some e-mails. What's up?"
"Well, I hooked up with some New Mutants from the Underground, asking around if they knew any other mutants who have reported sick from work for the past couple of days or those who they haven't seen in a while and I've printed out their home addresses. Thought I might go and check it out. You wanna come?"
********************** "Why is it that every time your face appears on the screen of my computer, I have a feeling that I am in for some serious heart-to-heart talk with you? And before you start, I just want to let you know that whatever propositions or accusations or petty ethical debates you just feel like having with me, I am not interested."
"Mason, you know me well. And unfortunately for you, the same goes for me. Now I want this latest scam of yours to stop. Whoever you're using, or whatever you're using to kidnap all these New Mutants from their homes, I want you to stop."
"Oh Adam, I seriously have no idea what you're talking about."
"Stop playing with me, Mason. My men are out looking for-"
"Your men, Adam? Well, I am delighted to share a secret with you, do you want to hear it?" He leaned in closer until his nose was a few inches away from the screen. "I have prepared 4 special pods right here at Genomex and I assure you, those pods will be filled in no time. And when that time comes, you will find yourself out of MEN, Adam." With that said, he terminated the connection with a smugness he hadn't felt for a very long time.
********************* Brennan slammed on the brakes just as soon as he saw the agents running out of the house in the eastern part of the city. The two-storey building belonged to a psionic who hadn't showed up at the computer company where he was working for a week.
"Come on!" Shalimar was already out of the car and running. She caught up with the first agent and easily knocked him down with a flying kick to his face. Another one approached her with a governor in hand. This one was skilled at least, and he managed to block most of her blows with one hand, while trying to get the governor close enough to her to give her a shot. Shalimar deliberately allowed him an opening, pulling his arm toward her front, while exposing her back toward him and when she felt the brush of he device against her hair aiming for her neck, she quickly flipped backward into the air, executing a perfect somersault over the agent's head. To her delight, he was violently wrenched to the back as well and the crack his arm made told her that she had broken it.
Brennan had also joined in the fight, deflecting the blows the agent kept raining on him with perfect, practiced ease. One man launched toward him, and he caught the man's booted foot in the middle of what would have been a perfect front kick if he hadn't caught it, and he violently wrenched the ankle to one side. The agent howled in pain.
"Who's next?"
Oh man.the next one came toward him, grinning savagely, brandishing what looked like a crowbar but with the familiar tendrils of electricity crawling up and down the edge. Brennan rolled his eyes and without hesitation, he fired a bolt which knocked the deadly tool out of the agent's hand.
"Brennan!" Shalimar was vaulting over the fence. He could see where she was heading; a woman dressed in black was helping a blond-haired young man who was obviously unsteady on his feet into a Cherokee, an agent with a governor close behind her. Breaking into a run, he could only guess that the guy was the New Mutant they were looking for.
"Hey!!!" Shalimar yelled, and put on more speed. But Brennan could see there was no way they could reach the four-wheeler in time; they were too far away and the kidnappers had already gotten into it, except for the lady.
The woman turned toward them and smirked, her long black hair framing a face which was too beautiful to be the product of a plastic surgery.
Brennan's eyes wet wide.
It wasn't so much as the face. He didn't get the chance to see it clearly that night.
But the hair. The build. They all appeared to be the same.
Could that be the girl who was with Jesse that night?
"Don't worry Jess, she's not here," Emma said with a smile, her hands flying over a potato, and miraculously long, golden brown peels dropped into the sink one by one. Women. No matter how they kicked ass in the battlefield, it was like an artwork to watch them in the kitchen. "Is something the matter? Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours."
Ugh, Jesse thought, resisting the urge to wrinkle his nose in disgust in the fear of offending Emma but the overwhelming smell of the beef stew she was preparing wafted through the air and assaulted his nostrils. It was sickening.
"It's okay, Emma. We ate on our way back," Jess lied. Well, he was not exactly lying, just stretching out the truth a little. The burger Brennan ordered looked and smelled sooo unappetizing it took Jesse sheer will to keep his stomach down. And after he was so rudely awakened from his sleep too!
Emma gave him a sharp look before picking up another potato. "You feeling alright, Jess?"
Jesse hesitated. "Yeah, except that my stomach's been kinda acting up a little. Do we have any Tums around here? Some aspirin maybe?" He walked into the spacious kitchen with a hand lightly holding his waist.
Emma opened an overhead cabinet and extracted a pink bottle filled with tablets. "Here." She handed him the bottle of antacids and watched warily as he popped the bottle open. Jesse's color was a little off and he seemed to be grimacing in pain when he downed two of the tablets in one go. Couldn't help feeling concerned, Emma went over to him.
"You sure you're feeling ok, Jesse? Do you have a fever?" Emma laid a hand on his forehead. No fever.
"I'm fine," Jesse said, pulling away from her touch gently. "It's just a stomach upset that's all. Nothing to worry about."
"Is it something you ate?"
Jesse shrugged. "Maybe."
"Do you feel nauseous or does it just hurt?"
Jesse narrowed his eyes. What is this, mother-bear in-training? "Emma, chill. It's nothing."
Emma couldn't shake the feeling that it was something more than that. She trusted Jesse well enough not to read him, unless it was absolutely necessary. SO for now, he just had to settle for 20 Questions.
"Jesse, did-" She paused, "-did anything happen that I should know about?"
Jesse stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"
"Did anything happen to you? Last night, at the club?" She asked suspiciously.
At first Jesse looked annoyed, but then he frowned. "Well. . . nothing much- The usual I guess, chatted with some girl, drank some, danced some- I didn't get into a fight or anything like that- Why do you ask?"
Emma was tempted to tell him that she sensed a little disturbance in him, like some kind of tremble in his metabolic activity, an imbalance but at last she decided to keep it to herself. She was being too paranoid. Jesse just had too much to drink, that was all.
"I just had too much to drink, Emma. You know how I get when I down one too many Margarita," Jesse said.
Emma smiled a little. "Yeah, that's what I thought too. Well, you'd better go lie down and give your poor tummy a rest then. I'll call you down when dinner's ready." After a moment's hesitation, Jesse leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Thanks, Em. Love ya." Feeling a tad better already, Jesse slipped out of the kitchen and left her to her cooking.
************************* "Hey, Brennan." The elemental looked up from his lap-top.
"Whatcha doing?" Shalimar bounded down the stairs, her golden hair flying gloriously behind her. She held what looked like a computer printout in one hand and her jacket in the other.
"Just replying some e-mails. What's up?"
"Well, I hooked up with some New Mutants from the Underground, asking around if they knew any other mutants who have reported sick from work for the past couple of days or those who they haven't seen in a while and I've printed out their home addresses. Thought I might go and check it out. You wanna come?"
********************** "Why is it that every time your face appears on the screen of my computer, I have a feeling that I am in for some serious heart-to-heart talk with you? And before you start, I just want to let you know that whatever propositions or accusations or petty ethical debates you just feel like having with me, I am not interested."
"Mason, you know me well. And unfortunately for you, the same goes for me. Now I want this latest scam of yours to stop. Whoever you're using, or whatever you're using to kidnap all these New Mutants from their homes, I want you to stop."
"Oh Adam, I seriously have no idea what you're talking about."
"Stop playing with me, Mason. My men are out looking for-"
"Your men, Adam? Well, I am delighted to share a secret with you, do you want to hear it?" He leaned in closer until his nose was a few inches away from the screen. "I have prepared 4 special pods right here at Genomex and I assure you, those pods will be filled in no time. And when that time comes, you will find yourself out of MEN, Adam." With that said, he terminated the connection with a smugness he hadn't felt for a very long time.
********************* Brennan slammed on the brakes just as soon as he saw the agents running out of the house in the eastern part of the city. The two-storey building belonged to a psionic who hadn't showed up at the computer company where he was working for a week.
"Come on!" Shalimar was already out of the car and running. She caught up with the first agent and easily knocked him down with a flying kick to his face. Another one approached her with a governor in hand. This one was skilled at least, and he managed to block most of her blows with one hand, while trying to get the governor close enough to her to give her a shot. Shalimar deliberately allowed him an opening, pulling his arm toward her front, while exposing her back toward him and when she felt the brush of he device against her hair aiming for her neck, she quickly flipped backward into the air, executing a perfect somersault over the agent's head. To her delight, he was violently wrenched to the back as well and the crack his arm made told her that she had broken it.
Brennan had also joined in the fight, deflecting the blows the agent kept raining on him with perfect, practiced ease. One man launched toward him, and he caught the man's booted foot in the middle of what would have been a perfect front kick if he hadn't caught it, and he violently wrenched the ankle to one side. The agent howled in pain.
"Who's next?"
Oh man.the next one came toward him, grinning savagely, brandishing what looked like a crowbar but with the familiar tendrils of electricity crawling up and down the edge. Brennan rolled his eyes and without hesitation, he fired a bolt which knocked the deadly tool out of the agent's hand.
"Brennan!" Shalimar was vaulting over the fence. He could see where she was heading; a woman dressed in black was helping a blond-haired young man who was obviously unsteady on his feet into a Cherokee, an agent with a governor close behind her. Breaking into a run, he could only guess that the guy was the New Mutant they were looking for.
"Hey!!!" Shalimar yelled, and put on more speed. But Brennan could see there was no way they could reach the four-wheeler in time; they were too far away and the kidnappers had already gotten into it, except for the lady.
The woman turned toward them and smirked, her long black hair framing a face which was too beautiful to be the product of a plastic surgery.
Brennan's eyes wet wide.
It wasn't so much as the face. He didn't get the chance to see it clearly that night.
But the hair. The build. They all appeared to be the same.
Could that be the girl who was with Jesse that night?