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"It should be easy for us to locate Jesse now too, right? Now that we know about this wavelength thing-" Shalimar asked hopefully.
Adam shook his head. "It's not that easy. I'm going to try but it's going to be like trying to find a needle through a haystack. Elaine's tracking system is so biologically specialized it's going to be very hard to imitate."
Shalimar bit her lower lip nervously. "But we've got to do something...Elaine's probably hunting Jesse down as we speak!"
"I know." Adam's face was grim. "Emma," he called over the com-link. "Have you sensed anything?"
A few seconds later, Emma walked into the computer room. She looked haggard and drained, her eyes pinched in pain. "No luck. Either he's too far gone from here that I can't reach him or his mental shields are too strong."
"Driven by sheer will and pain, I don't doubt that that is possible. We ARE talking about Jesse here," Brennan commented, clenching and unclenching his fist. He was clearly worried. He was worried that they wouldn't reach Jesse in time to save him. "We've got to do something."
"Wait." Emma's eyes brightened. "I've got an idea. Brennan, did you manage to find out where Jesse went?"
"Yeah, Safehouse 8 downtown, Kensington and Sheffield. Why?"
"All our safehouses are located not too far from each other, so I think that if we all go there, I might get something off Jesse and connect to him. We might even be very lucky and find Jesse there."
"Well, right now we don't exactly have a choice. Let's go," Brennan urged, grabbing his coat. Shalimar did the same.
Adam held up a hand. "Now guys, I want you to be careful. She is a very powerful mutant and I don't want any of you to even go near her, I don't want anyone getting hurt or sick or whatever. Be very careful. I'm going to stay here and see what I can do with the DNA Jesse extracted from Elaine and also from himself. Hopefully by the time you bring Jesse back, I'd have something ready for him."
IF we bring him back, Shalimar thought darkly.
Don't think like that, Emma shot her an angry glare, sensing her friend's fearful doubts.
"Come on, Jesse, I know you're in here," Elaine called. Exasperatedly, she tossed her glossy black hair over her shoulder. She was getting bored. Going through all this trouble just for one mutant-not just any mutant, he's Mutant X, she told herself. But still. . .it'd be so much easier if he'd just sit tight at one place.
She'd led her team to another wild-goose chase, arriving at Safehouse 8 just to find it empty and chained up. They'd messed the place up pretty good too, rendering it completely uninhabitable. Just to get a friendly message across to Mutant X.
They took their time to get to the third safehouse on their list.
And now she stood at the foot of the stairs, her eyes wary as she swept them across the living quarters. Computers covered with a long sheet of clear plastic clustered around one corner of the spacious room; upturned tables and chairs stacked up against the wall in another. But there was no sign of Jesse.
Elaine rolled her eyes. OF COURSE there's no sign of Jesse. What do you expect?
She tilted her head upward slightly, as if listening intently to something. All her six accompanying agents showed a rare sign of initiative and began to spread out, each brandishing his trusted stun gun, all of them cocky, confident; how hard could it be to catch one guy, one sick, dying mutant? OK fine, he's Mutant X, but still, terminally ill.
Elaine narrowed her eyes. Jesse was close, very close. She could sense it, feel it in her bones. "Search every room. Once you find him, bring him to me."
Jesse held his breath as the last agent walked in through the door, praying that he wouldn't see him hiding on the ledge just a floor above. He peered down carefully. Oh damn. There was still an agent down there, waiting outside, guarding the door.
Damn. Jesse pressed his back against the wall and suppressed a sigh of frustration. He would have to get rid of that one agent before he could carry on with his plan. He could still kick ass, no doubt he could; but he was having a hard enough time to even maintain his precarious footing on the 2-storey high ledge, the pain was bad enough to make him want to puke, even after he'd just taken another dose of painkillers not a half hour ago.
He inhaled deeply, the breeze brushing a strand of stray blond hair off his forehead. The height was enough to make him woozy.
Come on. You can do this. Don't chicken out now.
Pressing a protective hand against his belly, Jesse began to take small baby steps to the left, heading toward the edge of the ledge nearest to the door. The agent was about 3 yards away, his back to him. The icy air blew against his face. Man, was he cold.
Jesse closed his eyes and braced himself for the agonizing moves he knew he was going to make, his head throbbing in time with the waves of pain in his abdomen. Come on, get this over with. It's going to be over soon, anyway.
He gritted his teeth and pulled them back in grimace as he catapulted forward, executing a perfect somersault through the air which could make even Shalimar go green with envy and landed on the ground. Jesse involuntarily groaned in pain as his feet sent jarring sensations running up his body.
Surprised, the agent whirled around, his eyes going wide as he saw Jesse. But before he could scream out a warning to his friends inside, Jesse grabbed them around the waist and tackled him to the ground, and with a sudden burst of energy, drew back his fist, on second thought, massed it just for good measure, and sent loose a devastating punch to the face. The agent's head lolled lifelessly to the side.
Jesse doubled over slowly as he waited for the pangs of pain to pass, taking in slow, deep breaths. I can do this. I know I can.
One down, seven to go.
Safehouse 8, Kensington and Sheffield
"Something's wrong," Shalimar said uneasily as they neared the deserted building. They'd parked the Helix on the roof; the sensors showed no other vehicles, specifically black jeeps, were packed anywhere near the safehouse. But Brennan thought they should check it out anyway.
"What? What is it? Is there someone inside?" Brennan asked, frowning. Slowly he pushed the door leading to the stairwell open. He walked in first, followed by Shalimar, and then Emma. Emma said nothing, but they could see that she was tense as well.
"No. That's just it. There's no one in the building but I could smell them, you know, people," Shalimar whispered loudly as they carefully descended the steps. The air smelled dank and musky. "They were probably here a little while ago. That's probably why the scent still lingers."
"Probably." At last they reached the ground floor which used to be the main living quarters. "Here goes."
The door swung open lazily. Three pairs of eyes went wide with shock.
"Oh my God. . ." Emma gasped, her face contorted in utter dismay.
"What the hell-?" Brennan hissed, marching forward angrily, carefully side- stepping over-turned tables and chairs, broken wirings and pieces of junk that were strewn all over the place. Bullet holes riddled the walls; cushion covering slashed to shreds, every light-bulb, every window, every piece of glassware smashed to pieces. Computer monitors destroyed with the only thing left were gaping holes where the screens used to be, clouds of remnant smoke floating upward gently.
"I'm surprised they didn't just torch this place." Shalimar's voice was dangerously low; her eyes gleaming golden.
Brennan shook his head as he surveyed the damage. "This is unbelievable." He threw his hands in the air in a helpless gesture.
"Found anything?" Adam's voice suddenly resounded through the room.
"No," Brennan said sullenly. "They trashed the place up, Adam. It's really bad."
Adam sighed audibly. After a while, he said, "Let's just focus on the problem at hand, shall we? Any trace of Jesse?"
Emma grunted suddenly, her hand suddenly flying to her temple. Shalimar grabbed her arm. "Emma?"
In the eye of her mind, she was seeing through Jesse's eyes. In a flash, she could see where he was. But the connection was abruptly cut off and Emma found herself reeling backward.
"Emma?" Brennan peered at her worriedly.
She blinked.
She knew the place. She had been there before.
"I know where he is!"
"Come out, come out, wherever you are. . ." Elaine called out in a sing- song voice, mimicking the corny line she had heard thousands of times before in numerous horror movies. She smashed open a locked cabinet only to find nothing inside. "I'm getting bored, Jesse!"
Quietly, Jesse slipped inside the safehouse, closing the door carefully behind him. When the lock slid into place with a soft click, a chill ran down Jesse's spine. Now that he'd already sealed the safehouse, he knew he was actually sealing his fate.
He strode purposefully to the railing, and leaned forward casually, propping his elbows against the metal bar.
"Hey, Evie."
Elaine turned around slowly, and hid the glimmer of a smile before she lifted her face upward. Her piercing green eyes shone with delight. "There you are!!!"
Jesse returned her smile with a cold one of his own. "Been looking for me?" He walked slowly to the steps. Agents started rushing up the stairs; determined to bring him down. One was about ready to shock him with a stun- gun when Jesse stopped him dead in his tracks with a look.
"Take one more step and you're dead," he said icily.
Elaine threw her head back and laughed. "I don't think you're in any position to make threats, Jesse. I can see you're not feeling very well, right now. I'm the only one who can save you so just save it. You're not a threat to anyone." She smirked.
Jesse imitated her mocking laughter, much to her surprise. "You think so?" He reached into his pocket and extracted a small, rectangular box-shaped object. Gleefully, he pressed on the small red button on it.
A loud explosion tore through the whole safehouse and Elaine instinctively threw up her hands to shield her face, eliciting an involuntary scream. The couch on which she had sat earlier had exploded into bits; sending a few men sprawling with the force of the blast. She stared at Jesse in disbelief.
After a while, she regained control of herself and cocked her head. "Is that supposed to scare me?"
Jesse was still smiling as he walked down the stairs, taking one step at a time. This time the agents gave him a wide berth between them. "I thought I heard you scream. I bet you're new. Because Eckhart never sends anyone who screams."
With that, he pressed on the button again, and this time, a bomb strapped to the kitchen table went off with a deafening blast, and heavy debris rained down on them; Elaine took a couple of steps backward to avoid the flying pieces of wood. Jesse took the final step down the stairs and was safely on the ground.
"What the hell are you all waiting for? Get him!!!" She screamed.
Stupefied just a second ago, her men came back to life, and started to scramble down the stairs. Jesse rolled his eyes and calmly laid his hand on the railing. The whole staircase phased, and with muffled screams and cries, all six men fell through space, collapsing on top of each other in jumbled heaps.
"Idiots," he muttered. The phasing had taken a lot from him and Jesse could feel his strength flowing out of him as the pangs of pain got stronger and stronger by the minute. But he'd be damned if he were to let Elaine see that.
He let go of the railing. The staircase solidified.
Elaine was staring at him, her eyes unreadable. She was trying to figure out what Jesse got hidden up his sleeves.
"I've planted bombs of the kinds you'd never dare to imagine, and in the quantity you'd never to imagine around this safehouse. Guys, really, don't you think that's a fun way to die? Dying of cancer is so boring, don't you think?" He grinned.
"What's the matter, Evie? Are you scared now?"
"You're not seriously going to blow up your own safehouse, are you?" She asked challengingly, folding her arms across her chest.
Jesse fought the urge to double over in pain. Instead, he pasted a smile on his face. Sweat rolled down his back, matting his shirt to his skin.
"Well, according to you, no matter what I do, I'll end up dead anyway, so the answer is yes. Unlike you, I've got nothing to lose," Jesse said spitefully. He cocked his head upward as one of the agents had gotten up the stairs to try to pry the door open. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're locked in. There's no way out."
He turned to face Elaine, the woman who'd caused him so much pain and agony. "The way I see it, if I am going to die, so are you." He played with the detonator idly. "Guess I'll beat you at your own game after all huh?"
"You lie!!!" She hissed.
"Try me!" Jesse spat.
"You really should have stayed at your Sanctuary, Jesse. Since you're of no use to me now, I really don't have any qualms about killing you," she snarled, her hands charging up with deadly tendrils of energy. "You'll be begging me to finish you off by the time I'm done with you!"
With a roar, Elaine lunged toward Jesse, murder in her eyes.