THANK YOU to all of you that reviewed. Here's the next chapter. It'll have more hints of Jesse/Emma in it, so I hope that makes you happy!!

Disclaimer: NOT MINE, wish they were but THEY'RE NOT. However Corey and Analyn do belong to me along with a couple of others, if you use, ask first.

Bold indicates emphasis on a word.

Italics indicate thoughts, or time lapse

***** indicate time lapse or scene change

Chapter 4

Revenge is Too Sweet

Eckhart and agent Karyn Darnel watched Emma, she had been sitting perfectly still with her head on her hands for several hours now. She was just staring into space in the room opposite where Analyn was being held. It was the same room as before and if Analyn were conscious she still wouldn't be able to see Emma because on her side it was a mirror rather than a window.

"What is she doing?" Darnel asked in annoyance as she glared at Emma's image on the monitor of one of the security cameras. "Come one, she's been sitting there for hours. We—you should give her an assignment."

"There's one thing I've learned working with psionics, Miss Darnel. It's that there is more to them than meets the eye. It may appear she is staring into space but it is more than that, as she is probably in some way doing her job… mentally." Eckhart continued to watch Emma on screen as Darnel began to leave. "Oh, and Miss Darnel, one more thing." She looked back at him expectantly waiting for him to carry on. "Whatever you do I forbid you to disturb Miss DeLauro whenever she is in a state like this for half an hour or more. If you do… you'll be out faster than you can say telempath." Obviously keeping that in mind she exited with Eckhart still surveying any of Emma's actions.

************

The sun had already disappeared over the horizon as Jesse began to stir. Dizziness and confusion filled his head as he attempted to stand up. Bringing his eyes into focus, he squinted to see the time. He had been out for... six hours. Looking around him he saw Adam, Shalimar and Brennan were still out cold. Then putting things together he began to think out loud.

"Wait, this doesn't make sense. If I was the last one Emma hit with her psionic blast thing then how am I the first one to wake up?" He pondered this a bit and realized that Emma must've purposely used less force on him than the others. "It almost seemed like she didn't want to knock me out." Whilst he thought about this he began trying to awake his fellow teammates. Starting with Shal he went from one to the other trying to get them conscious again. He finally got an annoyed groan out of Brennan. "Come ON man! Get up!" Jesse yelled at him and forced him to stand despite the fact he almost tumbled back to the ground. He was barely able to get a movement out of Shal while he was trying to get Adam up.

"Man! I got a killer headache!" Brennan said grasping his forehead. "What the hell?" He looked around, noticing that it was night, when they had been knocked out in the afternoon.

"Come on, five more minutes mom…" Shal mumbled, obviously a little out of it. Brennan was getting a bit bothered that Shal was trying to sleep so he gave her a little jumpstart. "HEY! What was THAT for!" Shalimar yelled now on her feet and brushing herself off as some sparks could still be seen radiating.

"Adam, what's wrong?" Jesse said as he saw Adam looked pale and he held his head. It was the look of disaster. While Adam was getting it together Brennan kept on calling Emma some… not so nice names as he bitched to Shal about it.

"You know what, if I see her again anytime soon. I'm gonna give that…" Brennan paused a moment and then continued. "That bitch something to think about."

"You know what Brennan? You can stop. Badmouthing Emma isn't going to reverse anything so you might as well quit it. She bailed on all of us. Not just you." Shalimar had a look on her face that read 'I can't believe I'm going to say this'. "Look, we should've expected something like this." Both Brennan and Jesse looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm serious! We all know her power has been growing which has caused her to change, and I guess this last boost was too much for her."

"But going to Eckhart?!? That guy is a couple strings short of a guitar. Where did she ever get the idea to go to that maniac?? This isn't like you Shal, accepting this like it's a fact."

"Well it IS!!! And whether any of us like it or not she's on the other side of the fence now."

"How can you accept it so easily Shal?" asked Jesse. "None of us could have seen it coming." He spoke calmly before raising his voice; "It's EMMA for crying out loud!"

"She's right." Adam finally spoke.

"What?!?!" Jesse and Brennan both yelled in unison.

"How can she be right Adam?" Jesse continued.

"The question you asked me just a bit a go, 'what's wrong?' Shalimar is right, that's what's wrong." Seeing her face, "and I didn't mean it in that sort of way." He took a deep breath to get ready to explain this to his team. "Yes, Emma doesn't even seem like the type of person to resort to these levels but unfortunately it's completely understandable. Her growing psionic power leaves her open to drastic changes in lifestyle, or rather her way of thinking. I think we've all started to notice that she doesn't have much patience anymore, and that is due to the toll her abilities take on her." He took a pause so they could begin to absorb this. "There isn't anything we can do for her either."

"What? Can't you give her something, anything?!? To help her out." Brennan retorted, unable to grasp completely what Adam was saying.

"It doesn't work like that Brennan. What is happening to her is in no form genetic related; therefore, we cannot help her no matter how much we would like to."

"So… we'll just have to do without her right? That's what we can do." Shalimar struggled to stay calm cool and collected through Adam's talk.

"All of you DON'T seem to understand!!! We could not be in a more dangerous position and I was a fool to have not seen the signs! If we can't find a way to bring back some of the old Emma, then us and our cause could be LOST!!" Anger seemed to leave the group as tension rose. Shalimar actually shivered with what Adam was telling them. They still weren't totally getting it though.

"Adam… we can still get her back." Jesse almost mumbled, he said it so softly.

"I'm trying to make you understand! Emma… is one of the most powerful mutants on record, and with her abilities climbing everyday, the more dangerous she becomes." He stopped a second to let it sink in but not long enough for one of them to reply. "There is absolutely no chance any of you have when matched up against her telempathy. I have always worried whenever any of you underestimated her skills because despite the strength in our team, we must always have a strategy against one of our own if such a situation ever presented itself. Because of all of our own arrogance, Emma can and will be our downfall if can't figure something out.

"We could still fight, all of us are--" Shalimar spoke but Adam cut her off.

"Strong? Yes, but none of can mentally match Emma, not by a long shot. Please try to take in the seriousness of this situation. Emma has the power to manipulate others' sense of reality, all of you know that. But, did you ever actually think you were immune to that power. You always see her easily subdue enemies with not much more than a glance, she could very well do the same to any of you in battle. Shalimar, you may have conquered your greatest fear. But, you should know, very well, that she could make you think that you are afraid of it again, even more than before. She could get into each of your minds and take you through emotional hell and back again without even needing to see you our be near you. All of your abilities, in order to use them against someone, must be used when you are practically right next to them. Emma could be half way around the world and still make us all go mad because our emotions are the ones she recognizes the most."

"Making… us her easiest targets." Shalimar finished what she knew Adam would say. "I feel so foolish. We all knew Emma's powers but never figured she'd ever use them against us. My God!! She could very well kill us without even needing to be anywhere near us."

"I'm sorry that I am telling you all this now. I should've told you right when Emma joined Mutant X, but I didn't want to scare you or her for that matter. Emma knows what she can do and I suspect that even before her last growth spurt that she could do things she never showed us. We have to completely rethink our playbook if we want to even survive this, let alone conquer."

"Oh my… God. Shal's right." Started Jesse as he was coming to a realization. "The signs were all there, but I never figured this would happen. Lately she's been acting different and—it's our fault." Brennan still looked pissed as Jesse said this.

"I guess you're right." Brennan was actually agreeing with him but the look on his face was still there.

"That's odd they woke up two hours before they were supposed to." Emma thought to herself as she tuned into these very events. "They aren't supposed to react like this!" It wasn't like she could see or hear it but she felt what they were feeling and it was… remorse. "They're actually blaming themselves for this. Maybe I could—NO!!" She yelled to herself out loud. She was finally moving from her trance. She stood up as if about to leave and then sat back down again, and taking the same position she had been in for the past few hours. 'Time to play…" Emma thought to herself as she tuned back in.

"I'm glad you finally realize how drastic the situation has become, but that will not save any of us."

"Adam." Shalimar called, but he was already starting for the Double Helix.

"Someone needs to take the car Emma drove in." Adam said to them, gesturing towards the badly parked vehicle just sitting in the street. They watched him get in but it didn't take off yet.

"So… who's going to drive?" Shal asked, to change the subject from the conversation they just finished.

"I will." Both Jesse and Brennan said in the same tone at the same time. This caused them to look at each other and they began fighting over the keys. Both were struggling to get the keys and run to the driver's seat. Shal just stood where she was, laughing to herself at this sight. Then she began walking fast and forced her self between the two and grabbed the keys from them.

"Well if you two babies can't decide you can both ride in the back." Shalimar walked to the car and looked back at them and smiled. The two boys sulked in the back of the car as her amused laughter filled the car. "You guys are impossible, but now it's time to put the pedal to the metal." Shal floored the car as they pulled away at amazing speed.

Shalimar was just going on down an alleyway, back to Sanctuary, when out of nowhere she felt dizzy. It was almost like a trance and she wasn't quite aware of everything around her. Then suddenly…

"Hello Shalimar." Emma was now sitting in the passenger seat and it made Shal jump. Her eyes widened as she looked over and saw Emma with her own eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing." Shalimar said through many short breaths, as she continued driving.

"Paying you a visit."

"You know? I have every right to beat the crap out of you right now." She grumbled under her breath.

"Uhhh… Shal?" Brennan said, as he looked at Jesse and back at her. She was talking to an empty seat. He then turned to Jesse to talk, "What is she doing?" he whispered.

"Well… it seems she's talking to an empty seat." Jesse replied, smiling at his own wisecrack.

"Will you just shut up! Look at her, she, she's yelling at the car seat."

"Maybe if we listen we can hear what she's yelling at it." Jesse said, sarcastically.

"You know what? That isn't a bad idea." He patted Jesse's shoulder and leaned forward in the car to listen.

"I TOLD you already! Get the hell out!!!!" Shalimar yelled, continuing on in her conversation with 'Emma' that the guys already missed. The only thing they saw was a one sided conversation from Shal's point of view.

"Okay, lets think. The only other way Shal could be talking—think she is talking to someone else is if--" Brennan then finished Jesse's thought.

"There was someone else inside her head." Both men looked at each other before speaking in unison.

"Emma."

So the guys were trying to snap Shalimar back to reality, while Shalimar was almost screaming at Emma. Emma kept on smiling malevolently at Shalimar.

"They seem to want to know what's going on." Emma started, as she pointed with her eyes over at the guys.

"You know what? They don't need to know anything but the fact that you stabbed us in the back." Shal paused, thinking. " Why are you here?!? Do you want us to join you or something?!?!? No, no, no." Shal then said to keep Emma from saying anything. "You were the one who took a wrong turn! We'll never follow you!!"

"I'm not telling you to take a 'wrong turn', you just better take a turn and fast." Shalimar's face screwed up in confusion as Emma's image disappeared.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!?" Shalimar yelled after Emma who had quit making contact with her. Then it happened in a matter of seconds. Shal glanced at the car's path and saw they were moments away from a brick wall. "OH shi--" Her exclamation was broke off short, as they made collision with it. Jesse hadn't been watching the road; he was too busy arguing with Brennan, so he couldn't phase the vehicle in time.

The crash was fast and painful. Shal's head hit the dashboard and she was knocked out with a trickle of blood coming down her face from her scalp. Both Jesse and Brennan had not worn their seatbelts and were knocked out in odd positions against the backs of the two front seats. Back in the dark room where Emma was sitting, she opened her eyes and smiled.

In the surveillance room Eckhart and Darnel watched Emma get up and leave. As she was walking through the halls she decided to tune back in.

******

The Helix landed a little ways away from the crashed car. Adam hurriedly got out and came to his teammates' aid. Shalimar was jammed between her seat and the wheel of the car, so there was no hope right now of him getting her out himself. Brennan looked like he had dislocated his shoulder, so Adam had to get Jesse up. He was the one who had obtained the least amount of damage.

"Jesse, come on get up." He kept trying to get his molecular partner awake. Adam knew that Jesse would be the least hurt already because he is a molecular. Whether he used his power or not he still had the most protection. Adam was not about to give up on getting Jesse up.

******

Emma was still walking as she read the situation her 'friends' were in. When she reached Jesse she suddenly stopped and screamed, as she fell to her knees.

"Jesse," Emma cried out. Knowing that the main cause of his slumber was mental and not physical Emma gave Jesse an emotional nudge. She was afraid he was hurt so she released him from the pain. This in turn caused Jesse to wake up just as Adam had stopped for a minute.

******

"Okay, this is good. You're awake now. I need you to wake up Brennan and phase Shalimar out of her seat because she is stuck."

"Why can't you just wake Brennan up? You woke me up."

"Well I knew I could get you up," Adam replied as he helped Jesse up and they went around to the left side of the car to get Brennan.

"Why is that?" Asked Jesse.

"Well, you're molecular. All moleculars, over time, build up an immunity to most infections and altogether they have stronger white blood cells." Jesse looked up at Adam before he pulled Brennan out of the car.

"I didn't know that." He mumbled.

"Umhhh… what?" Brennan muttered as he began to stir.

"Come on, get up. We need to get Shal back to Sanctuary!" Jesse said hurriedly.

"Huh?!?" Brennan quickly got up; about to pull Shal out, but Adam stopped him.

"Jesse needs to get her out. He's the only one who can without hurting her." As Adam told Brennan this he looked pissed. "You can be the hero next time, Brennan."

"Careful!" Brennan said pointing.

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing." Jesse carefully phased Shal out of the seat and lifted her into Brennan's arms. "There, you can carry her."

"Lets go--" Adam began.

"Ouch!" Brennan almost collapsed, and he had barely taken a step.

"You better carry Shalimar, Jesse. Brennan needs to keep from using his shoulder until I can right it. Don't worry we'll fix it right up." Adam reassured Brennan, interpreting it was doubtful expression on his face.

The three of them hurried to the Double Helix, leaving the wrecked car behind. They then took off towards Sanctuary.

******

Emma's face showed a bit of disgust on it.

"I've got to stop this!! Every time I help Jesse the pain I inflict on the others seems to cancel out. Why? Why do I even care?!?" Emma thought, frustrated, to herself. She took a right into a small room that had a couple tables surrounded by chairs and a long table with a coffeepot and cups up against the wall on the left. She went in, sat in a chair and decided to rest for a bit, just to clear her head.

************

In Sanctuary the three men stood around the lab as they waited for the results of Shalimar's scan. Adam had tidied her up along with Brennan. The major problem was that Shal had taken quite a blow to the head. Hopefully what Adam did brought back some of her health. Brennan had been fixed up too; he had a bandage wrapped around his arm socket so it would cover his shoulder blade. According to Adam he'd still be able to move it, but he just should avoid any sudden movement.

"Wha….?" Shalimar mumbled as her eyes squinted when she opened them to let in the light. She blinked a couple times until she was more conscious of her surroundings. "ADAM! It wasn't my fault!! Emma was in my head and distracted me otherwise I would have seen the wall in time and we wouldn't have crashed and ow my head hurts and I should have ignored her and watched the road instead and then this mess wouldn't have gotten worse--"

"Slow down Shal. Take a breath between sentences." Brennan said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"He's right, take a few deep breaths and calm down. And don't worry; we believe you." Adam began. "You're going to be just fine. I've given you some painkillers, which should reduce your concussion to a mild headache. Now I want you to take it easy. You can still fight but no… no fancy stuff. For now." Shalimar put on a sulky face at this but then smiled as she agreed to what Adam asked of her.

The guys began to get to work when Shalimar started talking again.

"Wait… it was my fault." They all looked back over at her.

"What are you talking about? Emma messed with your mind. It wasn't your fault Shal!" Jesse assured her.

"But it was! Before Emma left my head… she said… Oh! She said 'I'm not telling you to take a wrong turn, you just better take a turn and fast'. She told me to turn."

"Yeah Shal, but she didn't exactly spell it out for you! She knew you wouldn't figure out what she meant until it was too late. Jesse's right, it wasn't your fault." Said Brennan.

All of them kept on telling Shalimar it wasn't her fault despite what she was saying. After some time she finally accepted it.

************

Analyn struggled to loosen her binds. She had been left alone for sometime now, no one had interrogated her again, yet. She appeared to be trying to use her telekinesis but with telekinesis you have to be able to see what you're moving.

"Okay now, I've done this before…" She told her self out loud. Then she closed her eyes and rested her head on her chest. Behind her the rope began undoing itself until it was completely off.

She wasted no time in her escape. Coming to the door it was locked, so once again she closed her eyes and focused. The sound of it unlocking pierced the air and she opened it and rushed down the halls. Off in her little corner Emma's eyes shot open.

Sensing Analyn's escape, Emma pinpointed her location and hurried to stop her. It wasn't long before Analyn was in sight. Emma slowly sneaked up behind Analyn who was taking any guards out in her path with telekinetic blows. Emma slowed down and reached out; about to grab her by the shoulder when in a flash she was flipped upside-down and stuck on the ceiling. Coursing with anger that Analyn escaped Emma fumed.

"How on EARTH did YOU get out?!? You are a telekinetic! Telekinetics can NOT move things with their minds unless what they are moving is in plain sight!" Emma yelled and wondered.

"You are right," Analyn began. "But maybe you have heard of a little something called psychokinesis! Telekinesis is one of my powers but it's not only! It's in good company. AND reading by the confused look on your face, psychokinesis is where the person can move things that they can't see. That power will only work when the object is not in view." She paused for a bit. "Got IT?!?"

Though taken aback, Emma regained her composure and concentrated to use her own telekinesis to right herself. Despite it being her new power, her version of telekinesis was much too weak to face off a full Telekinetic with developed abilities.

Lastly, she decided to rely on the power she's always had. An orb of light appeared in front of her forehead and she hit Analyn with the blast. This made her collapse and Emma fell towards the ground (upside-down). Emma saved herself with a quick bit of levitation, one more perk to her empathic telekinetic abilities. She strolled over and grabbed Analyn's unconscious form from under her arm.

"That'll teach you." Emma was about to move her when she felt a mental prick, "I don't want to do this, this isn't me!! I'm hurting the very people I used to help." Emma paused and stood up, it felt like a bunch of needles were piercing her mind. "What the hell? Those aren't my thoughts." She tried to convince herself, but "I've got to stop! I'm going to take her to safety, then I'll go make up with my teammates." Emma looked around from where she was standing as if a fly buzzed above her head. She looked suspiciously around from where she was standing. Then she yelled, "Who the HELL are you?!? And where are you?!?" She looked around some more, expecting to see some mutant turn a corner. "You can't play me. I'm a psionic. I know how these things work. You can't fool me!!" Emma started with overconfidence in her voice and triumph implied near the end.

"You don't want to do this Emma. Not only are you hurting others, you're hurting yourself. Stop it now while you can! Seek redemption from those you have hurt and then maybe, maybe they'll start on that road to trust again. It won't be easy but this is the intersection. You either go right or left and you can't turn back once you've made your decision." These thoughts echoed inside her head as if her own.

"WHO are you???" Just then a young man stepped out from a corner right ahead of where she and Analyn were. Analyn was still unconscious of course.

"You don't want to hurt these people Emma. Remember? In the beginning you thought Eckhart was putting people into prisons, just for being what they were born. Now you're helping that cause you've worked against for so long." This young man was younger than Emma was, but not by much (20 maybe). He had short dark hair and large eyes. His eyes were even bluer than hers were. "You know this isn't you. So don't make it so." The young man had lowered his voice to almost a whisper.

"You still haven't answered my question." Emma said this as if ignoring everything he had just told her.

"Fine. My name is Corey Monroe. You happy? I'm a psionic telepath, precog. That's how I was in side your mind." He spoke this as if Emma should already know who he was.

"Well your reputation does not proceed you. You speak as if I should know who you are and yet I've never heard the name before."

"HA! If you're working directly under Eckhart you probably know my whole life story!" He gathered by the look on her face she didn't quite know but assumed himself wrong about that.

"Just back away! I'll let you go, this time. But you better run." She powered up a psionic blast threateningly.

"I guess you really DON'T know. Otherwise you'd know that that," he pointed at the psionic orb she still held in position, "Would not work on me. Now aside from that I can't let you. I'm not leaving, not without Analyn." Emma just stared and for some reason instead of fighting she kept asking questions.

"Why? You're not related or I would have seen you on the charts. Plus, no Corey Monroe has been in contact with her for… for a long time."

"Not in any normal ways but I've kept in telepathic contact for several years. After She and I made a pact, or a deal as it may be called. And… Oh, but you know all about deals, don't you Emma? You made that deal with Eckhart and LOOK where it got you!" Corey began raising his voice.

"WHAT? What was the deal?" Corey threw her a look and decided to tell her.

"I promised Analyn that as long as she kept my whereabouts, and power progress hidden that I would be her guardian angel. I would look out for her, and all I'd need to do that was something I already had, telepathy."

"Well I won't let you take her!" Emma yelled, losing her coolness.

"LIKE I SAID!! I KNOW WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS!!!" He strode over and grabbed Emma by the neck. He held her ear right to his mouth and began speaking in the lowest whisper but it was an angry one, through gritted teeth. "Selfish, you inflict pain because you're blaming others for the pain you've only caused for yourself. You have no idea what pain is! All my teenage life I had to live with pain in my head, the very pain I still live with. Because of my 'gifts' I practically went insane. Do you have any idea what's like? Having to live your life day to day with everyone's thoughts filling your head? Not knowing whether the events you see are past present or future? Having to bear all these thoughts and visions at once without even a single moment to spare for yourself? Never knowing what is happening? Never knowing what you are thinking? That is my life from the last e-leve-en years! I LIVE with that and at least I have the decency to not punish others for everything that's gone wrong with my life!" He then loosened his grip on her neck, but staring daggers at her. Emma was breathing deeply out of panic. The emotions from Corey were so intense that she was scared out of her wits. "Remember that." He finished.

"AHH!" Emma screamed and woke with a jolt, dripping in cold sweat. She looked around, panic-stricken, and realized she had dozed off in the cramped lounge area with the single coffeemaker. "Oh, it was just a dream." She took a deep breath. It had been so vivid; she could remember every single feeling that coursed through the halls, she could even feel the pressure that 'what's his name, Corey' had put on her neck. "Weird," she started to herself, "It feels like my feet hurt from when they slammed into the ceiling. That was a dream, but… it did seem awfully clear to be a dream." She then reassured herself it was a dream by stating out loud, "Hey, I know no Corey Monroe! That's a relief."

TBC…

Another long chapter (not as long as the previous). The next one will be up sooner because it'll be shorter. It's kind of a bit to link this chapter and the one after next. But PLEASE reviews are always appreciated.