The sharp, echoing sound of Alanna's booted footsteps resonated down the otherwise empty corridor as she made her way down the hallway almost one year after coming to work at Genomex. Anyone who knew her a year before would hardly recognize her now; her hair had darkened to almost auburn, freckles now stood out against her pale skin. She was now extremely thin and wiry, her demeanor devoid of humor and hard.
The only thing that remained unchanged were her eyes, still that steel color that contained wells of untamed fire that burned freely.
She paused in front of a door briefly before opening it and stepping inside. "Miss Phillips, "Eckhart said, looking up from his computer screen as she approached his desk, gazing at her over the top of his thick-framed glasses.
"I see that your health has improved." He said, his manner brisk, as he critically looked her up and down. Alanna nodded slightly, "Much improved, Sir." Eckhart shifted, now regarding the girl through the yellow lenses silently. "Your skills have served you well here at Genomex, especially with dealing rogue New Mutants. I'm appointing you to the head of a team of agents."
Alanna blinked for a moment, startled. "Thank you Mr. Eckhart." She replied, quickly recovering. One of the many things that would put her under a sub dermal governor's control was reading and manipulating thoughts and emotions of her employer... not that that had ever been one idea that she had considered actually performing.
Mason Eckhart's sudden breaking of silence jolted her back to the present and out of her brown study.
"You will be using them tonight to capture a handful of New Mutants that are residing in an apartment downtown. I want them all Miss Phillips." "Yes, Mr. Eckhart." Alanna replied, her sharp gray eyes flashing into a brilliant golden haze with elliptical pupils as her feral instincts cried out, raging at her to leave and hide and hunt, to lead the life of a cat. She shut her eyes, willing them back to their normal state as a high, irritated growl escaped her throat.
A few moments later she opened her eyes, now back to their normal sharp metallic gray. "Perhaps I should assign another agent to this if you haven't gained full control of your recently enhanced powers." Mason said, his tone full of undercurrents to that train of thought.
"No sir. I have them under control." She hastily replied. Eckhart regarded her for a moment of silence to his hearing; a constant din of the background sounds of Genomex to Alanna. "You may continue as planned." Alanna nodded, pivoting on her heel sharply and quickly reaching the door. "And Miss Phillips..." Eckhart said as she had her hand on the doorknob. She turned and looked back. "Adam Kane and his New Mutants may be there." She nodded curtly, briefly allowing a flash of anger at the mention of the geneticist's name. There was a slight look of approval on Eckhart's face as he turned his attentions back to the computer monitor.
"Shalimar!" The feral grinned widely at Adam from her vintage point atop the Dojo as she waved his latest experiment results merrily around. Shalimar grinned even wider and put on her innocent look, and somehow managed to look like the cat who had eaten the canary, while still playing with a few of it's feathers. "Yes, Adam?"
"This isn't funny Shalimar." Adam warned, his dark eyes reflecting a storm of irritation. Jesse came around the corner heaped with grocery bags and oblivious to anything in his path.
Including Adam.
The crash was quite loud and Brennan came out of his room running. Just in time to see Adam wipe the remains of an egg off of his face, some of the bright yellow yolk still clinging to his hair. Shal must have been at it again Brennan thought, fondly smiling up at the shocked looking feral. Brennan smirked as he turned back to Adam, barely holding reign over his laughter as he offered Adam a hand up.
Someone was laughing very loudly, and by the vibe she got from the person it was quite amusing, so Emma decided to quit folding for the moment and go see what had happened. She quickly took a quick reading as she entered the room, glancing up at the top of the dojo, where Shalimar was literally rolling on the "floor" with laughter. Brennan was laughing pretty hard himself, and Jesse was wearing a somewhat sheepish smart-ass smile and laughing as he picked up a rather flattened loaf of bread.
When she saw Adam's face, she smiled and started laughing herself. Egg was smeared all over his sleep deprived face, coated parts of his clothing, and he still had a yolk in his dark curly hair. She pointed to his reflection in the glass enclosing the lab, showing Adam his appearance.
He studied his reflection for a moment, his annoyance ebbing as he noticed the comical arrangement of the eggs that had splattered onto him, then burst out laughing as a yolk slid off his head, plopping wetly onto the floor.
An hour later Adam had taken a shower, changed his clothing, and Jesse had collected the remnants of what food could still be used. Everyone was now watching Shalimar clean the remaining egg spatters off of the glass panels to the lab. With a final "squeak" Shalimar cleaned the last bit of egg off of a glass panel and flung the paper towel into the garbage, taking a seat with the rest of the team.
Suddenly Sanctuary's alarm rang out; it's keening wail making everyone jump to their feet. Adam ran for the computers, the rest racing for the Double Helix. "GSA are at Safe house four!" Adam's voice came over their comlinks as they dashed into the plane, Brennan and Jesse leaping into their seats, quickly getting the bird into the air.
Alanna ran into the Safe house, telepathically blocking all New Mutant brain signals to run, but a few were Psionics themselves and shielded.
Six people collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as the four Psionics ran for another exit. Three of her team of six started implanting governors on the unconscious New Mutants as the other half and Alanna ran after them, Alanna heading them off and combating a black haired woman as her group engaged the others.
Alanna crouched, sweeping her right leg out across the ground to trip up the woman when she was stopped abruptly, like she'd hit a brick wall. She quickly changed tactics, pitching a psi-blast at the woman instead of a physical attack. It hit the woman, sending her flying back against a wall to slide, unconscious, onto the floor.
Someone tapped her shoulder, expecting one of the agents she turned, only just avoiding a punch by ducking and leaping back. Looking up, she saw Mutant X. Brennan, Jesse, and Emma were working on taking the last two of her agents out of commission, and she was facing Shalimar.
Alanna immediately darted forward, ferociously kicking and punching at Shalimar. She landed one now and again, but Shalimar landed more. For one moment she left herself unguarded and got a hard roundhouse kick to her chest that sent her flying against the wall.
She got up shakily, her ankle sending shooting pains up her leg; now facing all four of Mutant X. Alanna panicked as they calmly walked over, shivering a little as Emma fired up a psi-blast and Brennan toyed with a telsa coil almost idly.
Suddenly her feral instincts sharply intensified, her eyes glowing gold and she crouched, ready to tear out the throats of her "attackers" as a scream tore itself out of her throat. Before she could leap and continue with that urge sharp pain hammered through her skull and her eyes suddenly turned black.
Fear, betrayal, pain, anger, and anguish paralyzed her; quaking with the range of intense emotion that needed to either burst out or explode. Thoughts from the four bombarded her mind, past, present, hopes, and fears melding into one.
Bright colors exploded in her mind's eye, pounding in her head; turning everything upside down. Hidden memories rushed back into living memory, memories that had until then lain dormant and inaccessible. Suddenly release came, as a black wave erupted from her small form, pulsing as it swept around the four newcomers.
Emma looked at the girl as she crouched, her eyes swiftly turned to a vivid gold, pulsing and wild with an intense fire that was directed at her and her teammates and friends. She felt the fear streaming off of the youth just as Shalimar stopped dead in her tracks and the girl screamed. An instant later the pale-faced girl's pupils expanded impossibly wide, not a speck of the previous gold showing.
The telempath stared in horror as she recognized the feelings the girl was rousing as she built a wall of emotion, and exactly who the girl had to be. The sheer impossibility stunned her.
Just as this realization hit her, a rolling wave of blackness hit them and the young psionic fell to the ground, her body convulsing and writhing.
The last thing Emma saw was Alanna's eyes return to their familiar steel color as she felt herself hit the hard floor of the Safe house.