Well, here's chapter two. It took a bit of time to finish, because I haven't had so much time to write, what with starting college and all. I was hoping to make the chapters about double the length of the first chapter (as that was the prologue), but then they'd take months to write. I think it'll be best to write a lot of chapters this length. Anyway, enough with my rambling, on with the story.
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Mason awoke confused and disorientated once again. He was somewhere different now, somewhere unfamiliar. Only this time it seemed much more pleasant. He was lying in a bed, and the relentless discomforting pain had disappeared, to be replaced with a sickly dizziness. He looked around the room and was surprised to see Emma DeLauro at his bedside. Her hair was longer, and a different colour, he noticed, but he still recognised her. How could he forget her? She was leaning on the rail at the side of the bed, staring blankly at the wall.
"Miss DeLauro?" He said, but not in his usual condescending tone. He had no need to be unpleasant. That made her jump, and she nearly fell backwards.
"O-oh, you're awake." She said, her voice quavering. She regretted agreeing to do this job for Adam. But, she thought, the way he asked her, he wasn't exactly going to take no for an answer.
"So this is Sanctuary." He said plainly. He felt as if he'd been there before, but whenever he thought of it, his mind drew a blank. Emma nodded her head and avoided eye contact. She wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to act around him. She couldn't understand why Adam brought him to Sanctuary after all the terrible things he had done.
Mason sighed. He was physically and mentally drained, and found is hard to comprehend what had happened to him over the past twenty four hours. He raised a hand to his face, and a wave of vague panic washed over him. His fake skin was peculiarly absent.
"What did Adam do to me?" He asked, the weariness showing in his voice.
"Adam saved your life, that's what he did." Emma said defensively. "He was working all day and half the night to save you!"
Mason closed his eyes, partly because he was tired, and partly because he didn't want to talk to Emma, and he was sure she didn't want to talk to him.
A little while later, Shalimar bounded into the lab. Being a feral, she rarely slept normal hours and was prone to midnight prowls.
"How's it goin' Em?" She asked cheerfully.
"Oh, just fine Shal, just fine." Said Emma, stifling a yawn.
Shalimar lent over the bed to look at Mason. "Is he dead?" She asked. His eyelids flickered open and he fixed his gaze on her.
"Don't get your hopes up, Miss Fox. I do not plan on dying any time soon." He stated calmly.
Shalimar looked up at Emma, a sly grin on her face. "Have you told him yet?" Emma shook her head, but before she had time to say anything, Shalimar blurted out. "You're a new mutant now." There was a long silence.
"What?" Mason said, a look of disbelief on his face. Emma was trying not to giggle, but Shalimar looked dead serious.
"Now you'll know how it is to be on the receiving end of hate and prejudice." She said malevolently. Mason wasn't sure whether to believe her. Her behaviour indicated that she was being truthful, but he'd seen far too many people who were extremely proficient at deception to be absolutely sure.
"She's telling the truth." Emma said, sensing his skepticism. He looked at the two of them patronizingly.
"Miss Fox, Miss DeLauro, you should both know by now that I do not like to be joked with." He said. But what if they weren't joking? He didn't want to believe that. He hoped they were joking.
"Look, I'll go and get Adam if you don't believe me. We're telling the truth." Emma said, crossing her arms. With that, she left the room. Shalimar followed, but not before glaring at Mason as her eyes flashed yellow.
Not joking. Perfect. Just perfect.
***
Adam walked quickly to the lab even though he was still half asleep. He didn't feel like dealing with Mason this early in the morning, but the girls had insisted.
"How are you feeling?" He asked as he entered. Mason ignored the question and gave him a look of utter contempt.
"How could you do this to me?" He said, his voice low. "I thought you might have changed. I should have expected this."
"I had no other option." Adam said plainly. He didn't want to get into an argument.
"No. You have not changed a bit. I have become the latest genetic aberration of yours. Thank you Adam. Never has anyone had such an impression on me. I can only be thankful that there is no further way that you could possibly ruin my life."
"Mason, I saved your life. It was the only way I could. Granted, sometimes I think you deserve it, but I couldn't bring myself to let you die."
"Ever so kind." He said neutrally. Adam thought he was probably being sarcastic, but with Mason it was sometimes hard to tell. After a short silence, he asked. "What month is it, Adam?"
"It's January."
"Four months." He almost whispered to himself. "How unfortunate for me. I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. What a disappointment." Adam couldn't help but smile. Back when they both worked at Genomex, Mason made a yearly tradition of telling everyone how he hated those holidays. Mason smiled for a moment, too, but it soon faded. "Tell me what has happened in that space of time. Where is Ashlocke?" He always found that concentrating on his work always seemed to take his mind off himself.
"Ashlocke is dead." Adam told him. "The Strand seems to have fallen apart without him, and is no longer a threat." Mason nodded. He wasn't surprised, but he was relieved.
"Is the general public now aware of the new mutant situation?"
"No. After Ashlocke's death, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Genomex. Your disappearance was on the news. But nobody got close to the truth. An immense cover-up was put into operation, Proxy Blue suddenly vanished, and tabloids, The Midnight Press and the like, were taken off shelves and the internet."
"So you weren't behind Proxy Blue's disappearance? Surprising."
"Of course I wasn't. Ninety nine percent of her viewers thought she spouted pure fiction. She never had any proof, and to the average person, her stories were totally unbelievable. But someone obviously thought otherwise." Mason thought about this for a minute. Adam was either withholding information, or he genuinely didn't know. Either way, he decided to change the subject.
"Have you had the pleasure of meeting any of my ex-employees?" He asked, thinking about those awful people. He hated every one of them, they deserved eternal suffering for their stupidity and lack of common sense, but he'd settle for never seeing any of them again.
"Strangely enough, no. I expected a huge surge in new mutant related crimes, but there's been no more than usual."
"I must have gotten through to them." He didn't feel any remorse for putting them in stasis. The lot of them were senseless and disobedient, and deserved a lot worse.
"Tell me, how are you feeling?" He asked, hoping for an answer this time.
"Unusually well."
"Good, the treatment must be working then. I'll need to monitor your condition for at least another two days, but I'm certain that you'll make at least a partial recovery."
"Adam, there is something I must ask you. Why are you going to all this trouble for me?" He cringed at what he had just said, he hadn't meant to phrase it like that. So he quickly added. "Or am I just another of your lab rats?" Adam gave him an indignant look, but refrained from making a malicious comeback. It was pointless arguing with him, he'd never win.
"I suppose I feel guilty. It's all my fault, and I have to put it right. You mean a lot to me, Mason." He paused and looked away. "I've got some things to do. I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so." He said while walking to the door. Mason felt his eyes closing, and he couldn't fight it. Before he knew it he had fallen into a dreamless sleep.
***
Adam walked over to join his team. He had called a meeting to discuss the situation. Or rather to hear their disapprovals and refute their reasons why this was a bad idea. He knew that they wouldn't understand. He didn't really expect them to. Mason had passed out in the car, so he'd had to carry him into Sanctuary. The looks on their faces had been simply priceless. He'd spent all morning trying to come up with a good explanation, but without much luck.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Brennan cut him off. "Adam, what do you think you're doing bringing that maniac in here? What the hell's gotten into you?"
"Well..." He began, desperately trying to come up with something, "...as you know, once upon a time Mason was a good friend of mine. I simply couldn't just let him die." He said, though he knew that wouldn't be a good enough explanation for them.
"What about all the people he's tortured and killed. Does that not matter?" Jesse demanded. He crossed his arms and leant back against the wall.
"I can't make excuses for him. We have all done things that we later regret..."
"But Adam, he doesn't regret a damn thing. It's almost as if...as if he does it for fun." Shalimar growled. "Anyway, now he'll see what it's like to be one of us. What do you reckon, Em?" Emma, who was sitting beside her had been very quiet up until now.
"I don't know. I don't agree with what you're doing, Adam. But if you think it is the right thing to do..." She just trailed off. Adam was glad to have an ally, but he couldn't help but notice that Emma was strangely distracted and gloomy.
"Emma, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting down next to her.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Adam looked at her disbelievingly. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all. If you don't mind I'm going to go and meditate." She didn't want to come to this meeting, she had other things on her mind. She stood up and made her way to her room.
"Wonder what's eating her?" Brennan said, turning round to watch her leave.
"You know Adam, you really shouldn't have made her watch Eckhart last night. Who knows what that's done to her. I know it'd drive me crazy. And you know Emma's sensitive to things." Shalimar stalked off after her, not waiting for another excuse from him.
"Well, I've got some work to do." Jesse said, heading up the stairs.
"Yeah, me too." Brennan followed.
Adam sat there and ran a hand through his hair. Well that went well, he thought. Emma was upset, and everyone else was violently against him.
***
Shalimar sniffed the air as she approached Emma's room. Incense.
"Emma?" She called and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so she opened the door and went in.
Emma was sitting in the lotus possition on the floor. The lights were out and she had lighted some candles. She opened her eyes.
"Oh, Shalimar it's you." She got up and sat on her bed.
"So you gonna tell me what's up?"
"Shal, it's horrible..." Tears began to well up in her eyes. Shalimar sat down and put her arm around her friend. "...I'm having visions again...I thought I'd learnt to block them...but it's not working this time..." She sniffed, and a tear ran down her cheek.
Shalimar leant her head on Emma's and squeezed her sympathetically. "Want to tell me about it?" She whispered softly.
She began to relate her visions, but could hardly speak through her sniffles. "I keep seeing small flashes...it doesn't make much sense. A young boy ...he was at a funeral...I've never lost anyone close to me...but I felt the loss...the sadness..." She stopped and wiped her eyes, which were now streaming with tears. "...then I saw a dead woman lying on a bed...he was staring at her...I felt a sense of panic...a sense of dread...then he was in a dark building...a mental hospital...I heard shouting and screaming. Shal...he's terrified...I don't know what this means..."
"Do you think this boy is somehow trying to connect with you? Maybe he's a psionic too. You should tell Adam."
"Maybe he is...but I just don't think it'll be much use. I only had a few glimpses...I didn't recognise anything."
"We've got to do something, Emma, I'm not going to let anyone else suffer like I did, and I hate seeing you like this. I'm not just gonna stand around and do nothing." She stood up and took a step towards the door, before turning back to face Emma. "I'm gonna tell Adam, you coming with me?"
Emma took a tissue and dried her eyes. She blinked a few times, then got up. "Yeah, I'm coming."
*****************************************************
Mason awoke confused and disorientated once again. He was somewhere different now, somewhere unfamiliar. Only this time it seemed much more pleasant. He was lying in a bed, and the relentless discomforting pain had disappeared, to be replaced with a sickly dizziness. He looked around the room and was surprised to see Emma DeLauro at his bedside. Her hair was longer, and a different colour, he noticed, but he still recognised her. How could he forget her? She was leaning on the rail at the side of the bed, staring blankly at the wall.
"Miss DeLauro?" He said, but not in his usual condescending tone. He had no need to be unpleasant. That made her jump, and she nearly fell backwards.
"O-oh, you're awake." She said, her voice quavering. She regretted agreeing to do this job for Adam. But, she thought, the way he asked her, he wasn't exactly going to take no for an answer.
"So this is Sanctuary." He said plainly. He felt as if he'd been there before, but whenever he thought of it, his mind drew a blank. Emma nodded her head and avoided eye contact. She wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to act around him. She couldn't understand why Adam brought him to Sanctuary after all the terrible things he had done.
Mason sighed. He was physically and mentally drained, and found is hard to comprehend what had happened to him over the past twenty four hours. He raised a hand to his face, and a wave of vague panic washed over him. His fake skin was peculiarly absent.
"What did Adam do to me?" He asked, the weariness showing in his voice.
"Adam saved your life, that's what he did." Emma said defensively. "He was working all day and half the night to save you!"
Mason closed his eyes, partly because he was tired, and partly because he didn't want to talk to Emma, and he was sure she didn't want to talk to him.
A little while later, Shalimar bounded into the lab. Being a feral, she rarely slept normal hours and was prone to midnight prowls.
"How's it goin' Em?" She asked cheerfully.
"Oh, just fine Shal, just fine." Said Emma, stifling a yawn.
Shalimar lent over the bed to look at Mason. "Is he dead?" She asked. His eyelids flickered open and he fixed his gaze on her.
"Don't get your hopes up, Miss Fox. I do not plan on dying any time soon." He stated calmly.
Shalimar looked up at Emma, a sly grin on her face. "Have you told him yet?" Emma shook her head, but before she had time to say anything, Shalimar blurted out. "You're a new mutant now." There was a long silence.
"What?" Mason said, a look of disbelief on his face. Emma was trying not to giggle, but Shalimar looked dead serious.
"Now you'll know how it is to be on the receiving end of hate and prejudice." She said malevolently. Mason wasn't sure whether to believe her. Her behaviour indicated that she was being truthful, but he'd seen far too many people who were extremely proficient at deception to be absolutely sure.
"She's telling the truth." Emma said, sensing his skepticism. He looked at the two of them patronizingly.
"Miss Fox, Miss DeLauro, you should both know by now that I do not like to be joked with." He said. But what if they weren't joking? He didn't want to believe that. He hoped they were joking.
"Look, I'll go and get Adam if you don't believe me. We're telling the truth." Emma said, crossing her arms. With that, she left the room. Shalimar followed, but not before glaring at Mason as her eyes flashed yellow.
Not joking. Perfect. Just perfect.
***
Adam walked quickly to the lab even though he was still half asleep. He didn't feel like dealing with Mason this early in the morning, but the girls had insisted.
"How are you feeling?" He asked as he entered. Mason ignored the question and gave him a look of utter contempt.
"How could you do this to me?" He said, his voice low. "I thought you might have changed. I should have expected this."
"I had no other option." Adam said plainly. He didn't want to get into an argument.
"No. You have not changed a bit. I have become the latest genetic aberration of yours. Thank you Adam. Never has anyone had such an impression on me. I can only be thankful that there is no further way that you could possibly ruin my life."
"Mason, I saved your life. It was the only way I could. Granted, sometimes I think you deserve it, but I couldn't bring myself to let you die."
"Ever so kind." He said neutrally. Adam thought he was probably being sarcastic, but with Mason it was sometimes hard to tell. After a short silence, he asked. "What month is it, Adam?"
"It's January."
"Four months." He almost whispered to himself. "How unfortunate for me. I missed Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. What a disappointment." Adam couldn't help but smile. Back when they both worked at Genomex, Mason made a yearly tradition of telling everyone how he hated those holidays. Mason smiled for a moment, too, but it soon faded. "Tell me what has happened in that space of time. Where is Ashlocke?" He always found that concentrating on his work always seemed to take his mind off himself.
"Ashlocke is dead." Adam told him. "The Strand seems to have fallen apart without him, and is no longer a threat." Mason nodded. He wasn't surprised, but he was relieved.
"Is the general public now aware of the new mutant situation?"
"No. After Ashlocke's death, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Genomex. Your disappearance was on the news. But nobody got close to the truth. An immense cover-up was put into operation, Proxy Blue suddenly vanished, and tabloids, The Midnight Press and the like, were taken off shelves and the internet."
"So you weren't behind Proxy Blue's disappearance? Surprising."
"Of course I wasn't. Ninety nine percent of her viewers thought she spouted pure fiction. She never had any proof, and to the average person, her stories were totally unbelievable. But someone obviously thought otherwise." Mason thought about this for a minute. Adam was either withholding information, or he genuinely didn't know. Either way, he decided to change the subject.
"Have you had the pleasure of meeting any of my ex-employees?" He asked, thinking about those awful people. He hated every one of them, they deserved eternal suffering for their stupidity and lack of common sense, but he'd settle for never seeing any of them again.
"Strangely enough, no. I expected a huge surge in new mutant related crimes, but there's been no more than usual."
"I must have gotten through to them." He didn't feel any remorse for putting them in stasis. The lot of them were senseless and disobedient, and deserved a lot worse.
"Tell me, how are you feeling?" He asked, hoping for an answer this time.
"Unusually well."
"Good, the treatment must be working then. I'll need to monitor your condition for at least another two days, but I'm certain that you'll make at least a partial recovery."
"Adam, there is something I must ask you. Why are you going to all this trouble for me?" He cringed at what he had just said, he hadn't meant to phrase it like that. So he quickly added. "Or am I just another of your lab rats?" Adam gave him an indignant look, but refrained from making a malicious comeback. It was pointless arguing with him, he'd never win.
"I suppose I feel guilty. It's all my fault, and I have to put it right. You mean a lot to me, Mason." He paused and looked away. "I've got some things to do. I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so." He said while walking to the door. Mason felt his eyes closing, and he couldn't fight it. Before he knew it he had fallen into a dreamless sleep.
***
Adam walked over to join his team. He had called a meeting to discuss the situation. Or rather to hear their disapprovals and refute their reasons why this was a bad idea. He knew that they wouldn't understand. He didn't really expect them to. Mason had passed out in the car, so he'd had to carry him into Sanctuary. The looks on their faces had been simply priceless. He'd spent all morning trying to come up with a good explanation, but without much luck.
He opened his mouth to say something, but Brennan cut him off. "Adam, what do you think you're doing bringing that maniac in here? What the hell's gotten into you?"
"Well..." He began, desperately trying to come up with something, "...as you know, once upon a time Mason was a good friend of mine. I simply couldn't just let him die." He said, though he knew that wouldn't be a good enough explanation for them.
"What about all the people he's tortured and killed. Does that not matter?" Jesse demanded. He crossed his arms and leant back against the wall.
"I can't make excuses for him. We have all done things that we later regret..."
"But Adam, he doesn't regret a damn thing. It's almost as if...as if he does it for fun." Shalimar growled. "Anyway, now he'll see what it's like to be one of us. What do you reckon, Em?" Emma, who was sitting beside her had been very quiet up until now.
"I don't know. I don't agree with what you're doing, Adam. But if you think it is the right thing to do..." She just trailed off. Adam was glad to have an ally, but he couldn't help but notice that Emma was strangely distracted and gloomy.
"Emma, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting down next to her.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Adam looked at her disbelievingly. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all. If you don't mind I'm going to go and meditate." She didn't want to come to this meeting, she had other things on her mind. She stood up and made her way to her room.
"Wonder what's eating her?" Brennan said, turning round to watch her leave.
"You know Adam, you really shouldn't have made her watch Eckhart last night. Who knows what that's done to her. I know it'd drive me crazy. And you know Emma's sensitive to things." Shalimar stalked off after her, not waiting for another excuse from him.
"Well, I've got some work to do." Jesse said, heading up the stairs.
"Yeah, me too." Brennan followed.
Adam sat there and ran a hand through his hair. Well that went well, he thought. Emma was upset, and everyone else was violently against him.
***
Shalimar sniffed the air as she approached Emma's room. Incense.
"Emma?" She called and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so she opened the door and went in.
Emma was sitting in the lotus possition on the floor. The lights were out and she had lighted some candles. She opened her eyes.
"Oh, Shalimar it's you." She got up and sat on her bed.
"So you gonna tell me what's up?"
"Shal, it's horrible..." Tears began to well up in her eyes. Shalimar sat down and put her arm around her friend. "...I'm having visions again...I thought I'd learnt to block them...but it's not working this time..." She sniffed, and a tear ran down her cheek.
Shalimar leant her head on Emma's and squeezed her sympathetically. "Want to tell me about it?" She whispered softly.
She began to relate her visions, but could hardly speak through her sniffles. "I keep seeing small flashes...it doesn't make much sense. A young boy ...he was at a funeral...I've never lost anyone close to me...but I felt the loss...the sadness..." She stopped and wiped her eyes, which were now streaming with tears. "...then I saw a dead woman lying on a bed...he was staring at her...I felt a sense of panic...a sense of dread...then he was in a dark building...a mental hospital...I heard shouting and screaming. Shal...he's terrified...I don't know what this means..."
"Do you think this boy is somehow trying to connect with you? Maybe he's a psionic too. You should tell Adam."
"Maybe he is...but I just don't think it'll be much use. I only had a few glimpses...I didn't recognise anything."
"We've got to do something, Emma, I'm not going to let anyone else suffer like I did, and I hate seeing you like this. I'm not just gonna stand around and do nothing." She stood up and took a step towards the door, before turning back to face Emma. "I'm gonna tell Adam, you coming with me?"
Emma took a tissue and dried her eyes. She blinked a few times, then got up. "Yeah, I'm coming."
