Chapter 5: Taking Shape
Jesse lifted the sheet, covering Dan's body.
Brennan and Shalimar entered the room, having cleaned themselves up after Jesse had sent them away. Brennan quietly said Jesse's name, garnering the molecular's attention.
"Dan?" Shalimar's soft voice queried.
Jesse looked up at the sounds. Then he moved over to the nearby computer terminal and sat down, fighting the dizziness that accompanied the use of his healing powers. "He'll be fine in a few hours, once his body has a chance to replenish the blood he lost."
"What about you? Did you do any extracurricular activities?"
Jesse smiled softly. Shalimar was even more protective than Katie, making sure he didn't overuse his powers. Adam and Brennan had left the scolding to Shalimar and Katie. Lexa, typically, had been more subtle in her monitoring of Jesse. She used her actions and facial expressions to indicate her concern, occasionally using her words, usually when they were alone together. Between the five of them, Jesse had learned his lesson, and in the three months since he'd discovered his ability limited himself to healing only 3 mutants besides the members of Mutant X. All three of them had been dangerously close to their expiry dates, which had been the only reason they'd allowed him to go forward with the procedures.
Jerking himself back to the present, Jesse answered Shalimar's question. "No, his expiry date isn't for another four years. I followed the rules." Clearing his throat, he related Dan's condition back to Brennan, Shalimar and Lexa, whose heels clicking across the floor announced her presence. "The bullet nicked his spleen and his diaphragm, which caused a lot of bleeding, but they were easy to take care of. Like I said, he'll be fine once his blood counts are back up. Then I'd like to put him in the New York safehouse with Tyrone. I think they'll need each other after what happened to Ariah."
Lexa caught the solemn and dejected expressions on Brennan and Shalimar's faces when Jesse mentioned the name of the mutant that had died. "Hey," she said to them. "It's not your fault. We can't control everything. Yeah, it's sad that she died, but the best thing we can do is find out why she was killed and stop it from happening again."
From where he was sitting, Jesse reached out and took Lexa's hand and ran his thumb along her wrist. She had made great strides since accepting and embracing her life with Mutant X, and he was proud of her. She was now less likely to assign blame and more likely to encourage the other members of her team. Some of the perpetual optimism that Shalimar always said surrounded him must be rubbing off on her. "Lexa's right," he told the other two mutants, who seemed to feel better at Lexa's words. "I put the system diagnostic aside and did some research after Tyrone contacted us, and I think I've found something."
Brennan ran a hand through his hair, collecting himself. He felt as badly as Shalimar did. But he had seen death too many times, experienced the loss of people he barely knew as well as those close to him. The best medicine for grief, at least for him, was to get back to work, and be true to the memory of those who had died. "What have you got, Jess?"
"Well, there have an increase in the attacks on Mutants, seemingly for no reason. Tyrone, Ariah and Dan. Three mutants in the past three days. I wondered what the connection was between them. I mean, they're different ethnicities, from different parts of the country, different pasts. I got a clue when Tyrone said they had all been friends since Genomex. At Genomex, most mutants were kept isolated. There had to have been a project or something that put them together while they were there. Now, all three of them are psionics. I went through Genomex's records and found that there were three scientists who worked with psionics in groups. One of them dealt with telepaths, another dealt with telekinetics. But I think the third guy, Dr. Michael Jacobs, is the one we're dealing with."
"What type of research did he do?"
"Well, he didn't deal with a specific category of psionic, but basically, he worked with psionics that could potentially kill people from a distance."
"So basically he was training assassins." Shalimar's voice was bitter.
"Who would do the Dominion's dirty work," Lexa pointed out just as bitterly, reminding them all that Genomex had been under the Dominion's control all along.
Brennan sighed. "So Tyrone, Ariah and Dan were part of this group?"
"Based on what the mutant database says about their powers, I'd say it's a definite possibility. I haven't had a chance to decode the Genomex testing database yet, and find the names of the mutants in that group, but I'm working on it. But all three of them have a small degree of telepathy. Tyrone can make people think they're being burned alive. The body follows the mind, and the person burns to death from the inside out. Dan can literally make people's blood boil, and Ariah could induce panic attacks to the point that the person has a heart attack."
Shalimar frowned. "Then why didn't she just use her powers when she was attacked? She could have killed those men attacking her, or at least disabled them enough to get away."
Brennan put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "She probably didn't have time. They probably surprised her.
Jesse sent a sympathetic look towards both of them. "Based on what you tell me happened, that's likely the case. But even if she'd had time, she wouldn't have been able to use her abilities."
"Why?" Lexa asked.
"The program was put on hiatus before Genomex collapsed. There had been an accident of some kind. One of the subjects was killed. There weren't many details, but after the accident, they were all outfitted with custom subdermal governors – the predecessor to the wire implant that you were outfitted with, Lexa – which disabled their powers. Though these governors couldn't control them like yours did you, Lex. After a few months, the project was abandoned and the test subjects were slated for termination –"
Shalimar growled. The fact that Genomex and the Dominion had no compunctions against taking human life made her wish she could spit fire. If the Creator weren't already dead, she would hunt him down and kill him. The others heard Shalimar's reaction, but didn't say anything. They felt the same way.
"– but Mutant X managed to free them before that happened, and managed to make Genomex think they had been eliminated. But Adam couldn't find a way to disable the governors. So Ariah and the others still have them. She couldn't have used her powers if she wanted to."
Brennan started pacing. "Why weren't they in the underground?"
Jesse shook his head sadly. "The mutant underground wasn't well established at that time. There were only a couple of safehouses, and most mutants usually just got a new set of identification, maybe a new name, and disappeared into the world. It's only recently that we've managed to create better means for keeping mutants hidden."
Brennan came to a stop. "Okay, so we know why they're being targeted. Any idea who? Could it be this Jacobs guy?"
Jesse shook his head, his face grim. "Dr. Michael Jacobs died in an automobile accident five months ago. There's no way he's pulling the strings. There was nothing in the police report to indicate that it was more than a random accident."
Lexa frowned. Jesse's voice had taken on a spiteful tone. Even when he had talked to her about Dr. Harrison, and what had been done to him while he was a captive of Genomex, he hadn't had such a tone.
Apparently Shalimar notices the change in Jesse's attitude too. "What's with the tone, Jess? Did you know Jacobs?"
The corner of Jesse's mouth pulled back briefly in a wry, humorless smile, and his face held an iota of surprise and having the malice in his voice detected. "Not directly, but from what I knew about him he was a sadistic son of a bitch. I won't say I'm sorry he's dead, because I'm not."
Shalimar put a hand on Jesse's shoulder, letting him feel her concern and support. He gripped it tightly, showing her did. Jesse was the only one of them who had been held and experimented on by Genomex for any length of time. It was understandable that he wouldn't have sympathy for any of its scientists. Adam had been the exception, only because he had proved his intentions by helping Jesse with a new life. But Shalimar had noticed an increase in the tension between the two men. It had become noticeable when Adam had come back to help them with Lexa's implant and had escalated from there. The tension had eased somewhat since they had rescued Adam three months ago, but it was still there. Shalimar set aside the thoughts for the time being. There was nothing she could do about it at the present time. Adam's trip to work with Keith had been delayed by the system virus. But now that the majority of the system diagnostic was done, he had taken off, but had told them to contact him if they needed him. She made a mental note to ask both of the men about it later. "So who do we think is pulling the strings?"
"I don't think it's the Dominion per se," Lexa said. "From the intelligence we've been getting in the past weeks, it seems like they're still reeling from the Creator's death, trying to figure out up from down. So if this is coming from a Dominion agent, it's completely unsanctioned."
"What about some of the other groups out there? The Strand, maybe?"
Jesse's brow furrowed in thought for a moment. "I don't think it would be a group, at least no one we know about. A group that size would leave some sort of trace. And they'd probably use their own assassins – people they could trust. The evidence from the attacks on Tyrone, Ariah and Dan indicate three distinct methods of attack. Whoever's behind the attacks is hiring freelance killers."
Brennan sighed, frustrated. "Terrific. We know why and how, but we still don't know who. Any ideas?"
"How much longer until you get the list of subjects from Jacobs' testing group?" Lexa asked. "While we're looking for the source, we can pick up the others on the list, keep them safe."
"I should have more in a couple of hours. You might be able to make some pick-ups while you're flying Dan to New York. In the meantime," he said to Shalimar and Brennan as Lexa sat down at the terminal beside him to help. "Why don't guys get some sleep? You look beat. Some of us around here should get some sleep."
