Chapter 3

Legal Disclaimer- I dance in a universe that I do not own. Kari Spiritwalker is mine, you can have if you want her, she's for sale. As for the Mutant X gang, well, get on with it, people, we need another season...

Author notes-I know that some of you are getting this as two chapters at once, aren't you happy. Thank you more than you know for the reviews. Yes, I will get more to it, there's some scary stuff a coming folks, I warn you...not in this chapter-it's just the setup.

Kari Spiritwalker left the lives of the Mutant X team shortly after she entered it. She had been tossed into their lives as an earthquake in San Francisco destroyed the safehouse that she ran. She also had a surge in her own abilities that had dragged every single member of Mutant X into the dreamscape, providing them some much needed closure over the death of Emma deLauro. This surge had been studied by Jesse, but her controls had been sharpened by several months of time with Charles Xavier at his school for gifted students.

She was still the same Kari that Jesse had known from vids and emails though, she was quiet, tough, smarter than most and a whiz at programming. That was the biggest help as Jesse struggled to get the computers online. Her level of control was an entirely different issue.

She was still embarrassed by the night she was the channel for all of them to be in one dream. It had given her an insight into how they treated people, but at the same time, she felt like she had invaded their trust and she hated herself for it.

The only person who knew how she felt was Jesse. He had helped her. He studied her and her powers for a short time after that, growing closer to her than she had let someone be for quite a while.

They had a bond grow from that time, one that worked well in the rebuilding of the headquarters of Mutant X. Shalimar, Brennan and Lexa worked together in putting together the physical structure of the new base of operations, working out the logistics of entrances and exits, the stocking of foodstuffs, and trying to figure out a way to build a new vehicle. Luckily for their ground transport, Kari was able to line up a van, a truck and a small economy car for their travels.

Kari worried about Jesse though. Since her waking him up nearly a week ago, he had barely slept, spending hours re-wiring the mainframe that occupied the Underground, as they were now calling it. She helped him as much as she could, learning as much as she could from his work. He joked with her, laughed with her, but she could tell he needed to relax before he popped.

Brennan was the largest help with that. The elemental was more than a friend to Jesse, he was an older brother who knew when to pull the plug on the molecular's workaholic habits. He knew that it would take diversions to get him out of the lab, and with Kari's help, he set up a dojo inside the Underground. It was lit brightly, and reminded her of the one time that Uncle Logan let her see the Danger Room at Xavier's School. She did the programming of her own version of the danger room for this team, putting in more fights than Brennan could dream of, some cat and lion based fights for Shalimar, fights in the dark and with light refracted opponents for Lexa and a personal favorite for Jesse, Kari Spiritwalker's own Bruce Lee inspired programming. Brennan was itching to try it, but he waited for the day to test Kari.

She was also looking for a good stress release. She walked into the dojo and bowed, crouching into a defense position near the aikido pole that Brennan had left for her. She stood up and twirled it as Brennan brought his own to face him.

"So, what do you think it will take to get Jess out of that lab?" Brennan asked, stretching with the pole as he looked at her, "You think that he'll ever come out?"

"I told him I would make dinner if he did, and he seemed unaffected by that," Kari replied, tapping his pole slightly, "I thought you challenged me, Brennan Mulwray. If this is your idea of distraction, it's not working."

Brennan smiled. Kari was a fun opponent. He knew she was powerful in some ways, it would be great to see if she was a good fighter as well. He started toward her, the pole pulled in a defensive move, when he suddenly found himself sitting on his rear end. She put a hand out to help him up.

He laughed.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" he asked, more shocked than surprised.

"Grandpa," Kari laughed, "Needed to make sure his grandkids could defend themselves."

Brennan stood up and pulled back on his right foot.

"He's a good teacher," Brennan's reply was with a deadly smile, "You want to see how I learned?"

She smiled, tilted her head and went for it. The two of them turned and battled, poles making cracking sounds as they turned, back and forth, the battle perfectly matched. She turned back toward him, stopped as she saw a figure standing in the doorway and was hit in the head by Brennan's pole.

She dropped to ground instantly. She was conscious, but it hurt.

"Damn Kari, are you okay?" Brennan asked, dropping his pole with a thud and coming to her side.

She nodded, waiting for the ringing to stop. The figure in the doorway was at her other side.

"Christ, Kari, I didn't mean to distract you, you okay?" Jesse's apology was appreciated, but the sound of churchbells was messing with her reality.

She took a second longer then opened her eyes. Jesse and Brennan's faces met her pained glance.

"Well, that wasn't supposed to happen," she said, standing up slowly, "You got me good Brennan."

"Yeah, I guess I did. You sure you're okay?" Brennan met her dazed look with concern, "That was pretty hard. Jesse can be distracting."

"Yeah, when I am beating you," Jesse replied, putting a hand on the area where Kari was hit, "Are you really okay, Kari?"

The touch hurt badly.

"Actually, I'm not," Kari put her hand on Jesse's, "That hurt."

"Into the medlab with you then," Jesse put an arm around her shoulders and lead her from the cave, "Brennan, I could use some help."

Brennan shut down the room and followed them. Jesse gently led her to the medical bed that he had set up in the medical lab. He had her lay back and ran a medical scan. Brennan helped him by checking the wiring and keeping Kari laughing when it took a while. Jesse looked at the scans, frowned, then scanned again.

Kari noticed the look.

"That's way too intense a look, Jess, am I okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so, you said you heard bells when Brennan clocked you?" Jesse started, staring at the screen.

"Yep, sure did, loud bells," she turned her head to his comment, staring at him, "That's a sign of concussion, yes?"

"That's what I was looking for and there isn't one," Jesse said, "But you should have one, Kari. There's a lot of blood vessel damage but no concussion."

"Okay, so she follows the concussion protocol, and we wait and see, right?" Brennan had found a chair to sit and read the results, "I don't think I clocked her."

"Brennan, it was a stupid accident, no worries," Kari replied, "I'm just glad it's not one."

"Me too," Jesse interrupted, "We can't lose you."

"Have I become indispensable already?" Kari stretched, her back feeling stiff, "Or do you need someone else to data input?"

Brennan couldn't help but smile. Kari knew how to slam Jesse with the best of them. Jesse didn't look so good though. The lack of sleep was aging him more than he liked to see.

"No, no, Brennan can now type for you," Jesse yawned.

Kari stared at him.

"Jesse Kilmartin, when was the last time that you slept?" she asked it, knowing that the adrenaline from her accident probably pulled even more energy out of him.

"Yesterday, mother," Jesse replied, "Look, Kari I appreciate it, but..."

Kari took a second, stood up and faced him. Her head hurt, but the painkillers he gave her had kicked in, and she felt finally steady.

"Jesse, you need to sleep, do it, I have the computer system," she said, "Sleep please."

Jesse nodded. He knew she was right. He would go back to sleep.