Chapter 9

Apparently Charles Marlowe had discovered even before they landed that the information he was looking for had been well secured from him in the minds of Adam, Jesse, Brennan and Shalimar. He seemed to be content to let them rot in their cell at least for the first stage of interrogation. Presumably he was occupying himself with Emma, which worried them all. For the past week, they had been fed twice a day and taken one at a time for showers every two days. Changes of clothing had also been provided. Though they had debated and wracked their brains every waking hour, none of the Mutant X members could come up with an escape plan. They were always too well guarded by the Links.

"How long can Emma hold out?" Shalimar asked. It was the question all had asked themselves, but none had given voice to until now.

"I don't know," Adam said. "Emma's potential is off the scale. You can never underestimate her, but she can't hold out forever. No more than a month if they know what they are doing."

"So long?" Shalimar was surprised.

"Finding specific information in someone's brain against their will is difficult in a non-mutant, let alone in one of the most powerful Psionics every produced by Genomex. They will be going after her mind, which is her strength. To penetrate her cerebrum when she is prepared for it is near impossible. Imagine if you had to evade capture in a nearly infinite wilderness, Shalimar. How long would it take ten ferals to catch you, if you were given a full day's head start?"

"They might never," Shalimar said with a smirk.

"Exactly. That would be attacking your strength when you knew it was coming and had time to get ready. It will be the same for Emma. They will have to create an advantage through psychological or physical means. It could be sleep deprivation, noise, lights, drugs or even torture. They'll probably threaten to hurt us if Emma doesn't cooperate." Adam paused. "They may even do it."

Jesse was as protective of Emma as Shalimar. "They would torture her?"

"Maybe. I don't believe they would do her permanent physical harm, but they will hurt her until she talks. Hopefully, that's not just wishful thinking. Actually, I wish I had told her to just tell them anything they want to know," Adam said. "Eventually she will anyway. Of course, she wouldn't have listened."

"While there is life, there is hope," Brennan quoted. "We still might get our chance to bust out of here."

Later that day, the mirrored wall cleared again and Charles Marlowe was standing in front of them with Maria Raven at his side. They all recognized the African American former bartender. Apparently, she had come to the aid of a new monster after Shalimar killed the first one more than a year ago…twice.

"Taking up with new scum, I see, Maria," Shalimar said. "He's worse than Caleb. He doesn't even have any reason for what he is doing."

"Caleb killed New Mutants. I was afraid then, but now I am helping our kind. Charles just wants us to assume our proper place."

"You two ladies can catch up another time," Marlowe said, interrupting them. "Adam, we need your help."

"And why would I help you?"

"One of our most valuable members, Julia Lechner, has been feeling ill lately, and it is getting worse. I believe you know her."

"Yes, I know her," Adam said. "I believe she is undergoing a unique mutation. The heists led us to her and Fasergen and her. We actually came here to try and help her."

"And find out what we're up to? That was part of it too. You've never been terribly selfless, Adam." Marlowe's smirk was enough to anger anyone and Adam could feel his ire rising. "Well, you'll have your chance, at least for part one. Step toward the door and you three," he said indicating Jesse, Shalimar and Brennan, "stand on other side of the room."

"First, what have you done with Emma?" Adam demanded.

"She's alive and well." Suddenly, a section of the glass wall turned into a green-tinted image of Emma sitting against a wall. It disappeared. "I can't say that she's happy being locked away in a dark room by herself, but we haven't hurt her. At least not much."

"If you do…," Adam began, but he was interrupted.

"The only one I would kill is you, Adam," Marlowe said. "Eventually, I will convert your mutant friends." The door to the cell opened and two Links escorted Adam into the outer hallway. Marlowe and Raven joined him.

"I'll need to try and salvage some of my equipment from the Helix," Adam told Marlowe.

"We have it in our hangar. Maria will be your handler for this. She can contact me if there is anything you need that she cannot provide." With that, Charles Marlowe departed down the hallway and his assistant and an escort in front and behind brought Adam to the hangar.

"You do know your new boss is an amoral lunatic," Adam said in a tone halfway between question and statement.

"He's a man of vision and a worthy successor to Gabriel Ashlocke," Maria told him.

"Another lunatic."

"One man's lunatic is another man's messiah," Maria stated.

"Do you seriously believe in Marlowe's plan? I know the man. I don't think he even believes it." Ms. Raven made no response. "Humanity is not ready to openly embrace New Mutants and they sure as hell aren't going to let themselves be ruled by them."

"They won't have a choice in the face of our powers," she said.

"Normal humans outnumber mutants by as many as a million to one. Can you subjugate a million people by yourself? He's sold you on this ridiculous dream that will not happen. If New Mutants attempted to take control of this country or any country, they would face armed resistance. Non-mutants they may be, but if they are shooting to kill, their weapons make up for any disadvantage that might bring. Also, there are many mutants, like you for instance, whose mutations give them no true advantage over non-mutants. Trust me, Marlowe has something else planned and there is nothing you should fear more than a man who does not fear his own death."

Maria Raven did not respond to what Adam had said to her. He decided to let his words seep in and did not try to sell her on his beliefs any further. They came finally to the hangar and the Strand member who had been walking in front of them opened the door to let them in. Adam immediately located the wreckage of the Helix.

"We had to cut off the wings to bring your plane here by truck," Maria told him.

The wrecked rear of the plane had been cut off and a ramp set up allowing easy access to the inside of the Helix. Adam climbed in and began gathering the tools he would need to examine Julia Lechner thoroughly. Presumably, Fasergen would already have most of what he needed, so it was only his custom tools and software that he needed to retrieve. Raven and the two Link escorts watched him carefully the whole time to make sure he did not acquire a weapon of any kind.

"That should be all I need, at least at the diagnosis stage."

"All right then, we'll head to the lab and hopefully you will be able to help Julia." Following the twisting path of corridors, they came at last to a doorway with a sign outside that read 'Laboratory Four'. As they were about to enter, the entire wall the door was in began to crumble away before their very eyes.