Chapter 23

By imjuzakyd

"You look like me."

Emma shot the others a confused look as she stared at her double. In which world did she come from? Why is she acting so… strange?

"She looks like me," the other Emma continued, glancing up at her Brennan and clutching his arm. "She looks like me."

"Yes, baby, she looks like you," Brennan tried to soothe the psionic, calm her fears lest she breaks down all over again. "But don't worry, she can't harm you." With that, Brennan wrapped a protective arm around his teammate, his best friend, the love of his life.

"And he looks like you," Emma continued, pointing at the other Brennan, who was staring at her.

"Yes, he looks like me," Brennan answered, gently caressing his Emma's hair. "But that's not me either. See? He doesn't have the silver bracelet you gave me for my birthday.

Emma looked down at Brennan's right arm, and smiled when she saw that the elemental had kept her present. "You're wearing it!" she chirped happily, wrapping her arms around him, as if forgetting the weight of the situation they were in.

Brennan forced a weak smile as the psionic rested her head on his chest, as if her whole life depended on him. He lovingly stroked her cheek, hoping that after all this was over, his beloved Emma would return to

normal.

"I hate to break your moment, Sparky," Lexa suddenly boomed from behind, "but we're in a situation here. And thanks to you, things are getting more and more out of hand."

"Oh shut up," Shalimar piped in, suddenly hitting Lexa in the face, causing the other mutant to fall face down the floor. The rest of them stared as the feral flipped her hair with her right hand. "Man, that feels so good!" she exclaimed, directing her statement to the Brennan from her world.

"Thanks," Brennan replied wearily, as he continued to caress Emma's hair. He was all too aware that the psionic finally fell asleep, from exhaustion or confusion, he wasn't really sure. But it gave him a sort of relief, knowing that whatever happens next, at least she didn't have to suffer as much as they would.

"What went wrong?" the other Brennan suddenly spoke, directing his question to Adam. Emma clutched his left hand, silently supporting him for whatever consequence his actions had, and preventing him from venting out his frustrations to the older man.

"You said that once I open the portal, everything would return to normal, that we would go back to our own worlds!" Brennan hissed, barely able to contain himself. If it hadn't been for Emma, he would have fried Adam in front of everybody. Luckily Emma was holding him in a way that prevented him from causing any harm to the people around him.

"Perhaps the impact of both your powers was too much for the portal to handle, and given the current unstable situation in all the different worlds, the barrier that separates our universes must have broken down," Adam tried to explain, seeking physical support from a fallen beam beside him.

"In layman's terms?" Brennan asked, his frustration mounting every second.

"It means our worlds have collided because both Brennans tried to open the portal at the same time," the injured Jesse answered for the older man.

"So you mean there's no more hope of fixing this mess?" the other Brennan asked in a calmer manner than his counterpart.

Before Adam could answer, a violent earthquake shook the building, causing the debris from the upper floors to fall down at them.

"Damn it!" both Brennans yelled at the same time, instinctively protecting their own Emmas from any injury.

Shalimar grabbed the injured Jesse tightly as she waited for a huge block of concrete to fall down on both of them. Jesse quickly pushed the feral beneath him and massed out, protecting his best friend's counterpart and saving her the way he wasn't able to save his own.

The other Jesse jumped towards Adam and massed out just in time to cover the older man from a shower of falling pipes that fell down from the third floor.

The Brennan with the insane Emma watched as a huge boulder of concrete starts to fall towards the unconscious Lexa. Although he would not have minded having the annoying molecular squished, he knew she was still needed to set things back in order. So he formed a tesla coil and shot the boulder before it reached the other mutant, causing the concrete to explode and shower the woman with white powdery dust. A small smile escaped his lips as he imagined how the molecular would react if she wakes up and finds her hair covered with dust.

"Bren, why is everything shaking?"

Shit. Brennan looked down and saw a pair of confused blue eyes stare at him. Emma, no doubt, was awoken because of the earthquake. "Don't worry baby, everything will be all right," he tried to assure her, zapping falling debris here and there.

"I'm scared," Emma whispered, tightening her grip on Brennan's shirt.

"Don't be, I'm here," Brennan answered.

The earthquake abruptly stopped, ending the shower of stones and boulders on them at the same time.

The other Emma looked up at Brennan, her Brennan. But he's not your Brennan, Emma. Remember? He's not from your world. "You ok?"

Brennan smiled as he caressed Emma's cheek. "I should be asking you that." He suddenly creased his forehead. "Why did you come here?"

Emma bit her lower lip. She wasn't really sure why she rushed inside the building. She had heard Jesse's yell, but refused to take heed. Instead, she risked her life just to see Brennan one last time. And look what she did. She had put Jesse's life in jeopardy because of her stupidity.

"I… I needed to see you one last time," she confessed, refusing to meet Brennan's eyes.

"You could have died."

"You could have too."

Brennan sighed as he looked up and glanced around. He saw Jesse, the injured Jesse, unmass and check if Shalimar was all right. "Thank you," he heard the feral say. He saw the molecular smile, and deep inside Brennan knew Jesse finally forgave himself for not saving his Shalimar's life.

Brennan then saw the other Jesse help Adam stand up. The molecular glanced toward their direction, and shot the elemental a reassuring smile. Brennan then saw the smile fade from Jesse's face as the other mutant quickly brought his commlink to his lips.

"Shal?"

No response.

"Shal?"

Brennan looked down at Emma and saw fear all over the psionic's face. They had left the feral at the Helix. She wasn't sure if Shalimar was able to follow them, or if she was still in the Helix when the barrier broke down.

"Shal!"

Emma kept on hearing Jesse's voice, pleading for the feral to answer. Somewhat Emma began blaming herself for whatever happened to her friend. She had no right to leave her because of Brennan. And he wasn't even from her world. The psionic slowly lifted her commlink to her lips and whispered, "Shal? Can you hear me?"

Still no response.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

"Shal, can you hear me?"

Emma's voice flooded the surroundings, but no one answered her. Nor were Jesse's frantic pleas heard by anyone. Just a few feet away from the Helix, a motionless figure lied down amidst the ruins of the Naxcom building. Her face was unrecognizable, her body covered with bits of odd-shaped stones and concrete, and her right hand hung limply at her side, blood trickling down from her ring to the ground.