Chapter 20: Occupational Hazards



"She had to have come in on the Helix with Brennan, but she's not here now." Lexa slammed her hand against the doorframe of the aforementioned aircraft as she spoke to the others over the com system. "There's not even a trace of her."

"It's too bad the security grids aren't still activated." Katie said from where she and David were searching the living quarters. "Then she'd at least be confined."

"I wish they were still up too, but all non essential shielding went kaput when the she had Brennan knock out the power," Jesse said from the dojo. "Whoever she is, she knows what she's doing. She obviously knew about Mutant X and had a plan for what she was going to do when she got here. Adam, any luck with the visual systems?"

Back in the computer lab, Adam shook his head. "I've got nothing so far, Jess. She's probably been trained to spot and avoid visual security measures. But I'm working on attaching a thermal filter to some of the holographic projectors, see if we can find her that way."

Jesse searched throughout the room, being sure to check in the equipment storage locker. "I really wish Shalimar were here right about now. She'd be able to find this chick in no time."

"I do too, Jesse," Adam said quietly over the comlink. They weren't using radio silence, but they were keeping their voices down. "But we can't risk going back out to get her until we've defused the current threat."

"Yeah, I know," Jesse grumbled after he turned his comring off. Quickly, but efficiently, he finished searching the room. Then he moved on to the weight room and the sauna. There were still no traces of anyone having been there recently.

On his way out of the workout area and toward the stairs to the science lab, Jesse couldn't help but grumble under his breath. The events of the last few days were starting to get on his nerves. They were hitting too close to home. A week ago, things had seemed to be settling down. The new Helix had all but been rebuilt, there had been a few kinks, but they'd been worked out. Safehouses had been updated; the security system had been re-evaluated and overhauled based on the most recent Intel. Life had seemed like it was settling back to normal. Well, as normal as life ever got for them. He'd been entertaining thoughts of asking Lexa out for a romantic dinner at a real restaurant, hoping to break from their newly acquired habit of flirting and making out over take out Chinese boxes and security schematics. He'd even thought of breaking out the infamous Tunnel Quest for entertainment, provided he could fix it so the game wouldn't try to kill them again.

"But noooo," Jesse muttered. Someone had to start attacking psionics. To make matters worse, it seemed that whoever it was now targeting Mutant X. Now their home had been violated. Again. Which meant they would have to review security again. Mentally he groaned at the thought. Before he did though, he made sure his mind was closed off to David. Wouldn't do for his friend to hear all the moaning and groaning Jesse was doing in his head. But hey, he thought, one good thing to come out of all this was that he did have his friend back. The sullen mood returned a moment later when Jesse realized that he would have met David eventually once Katie had gotten the two of them to step away from their work for a while.

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he was a good twenty feet beyond the storage/supply closet before he realized that he hadn't checked it. Cursing himself, he backtracked. Personal thoughts needed to be put aside right now. They were in a lockdown, and being unfocused meant someone could be hurt or killed. Carefully, he opened the door, following common protocol and staying outside while he reached his hand in to find the light switch.

And his hand came up against something that shouldn't be there. Jesse knew just about every inch of this place, and what his fingers found definitely did not belong here. He felt a hand grip his wrist.

"Aw, shit."


"The hanger and the garage are clear. Didn't even find so much as a trace of her." Lexa practically stalked into the common room, clearly frustrated.

"We struck out here too. We've checked the common room twice over, the bedrooms, everything on this level."

"This isn't going to work. We're never going to find her without Shalimar or adjusting the internal scanners. We could spend hours looking for her, and if she keeps moving, we'll just be chasing each other in circles." Lexa's left hand was dancing in the air, a testament to her frustration and uneasiness.

"She came here for a reason," Katie said, trying to be logical. "We might just have to wait for her to make her move if Adam can't alter the projectors in time."

"Right. So we wait for her to sabotage the security system or compromise our cover. Oh, joy. Come on, guys. There's got to be something else." Lexa started pacing the length of the room.

"Maybe Jesse found something," Katie said. Then, into her comring she said, "Jesse? Any luck?"

There was no response. Lexa stopped pacing and frowned. Thumbing her own comring, she spoke. "Jesse? Jesse, what's your status? Jesse, talk to me."

When there was still no response, Lexa looked up at David. "This isn't like him. I've never had to call Jesse twice. Can you, you know …talk to him?" She tapped the side of her head.

David would have smiled at Lexa's hesitancy had the look on her face betrayed her apprehension over Jesse's whereabouts. He closed his eyes, blocking out the sense of sight as if to give his 'sixth sense' better reception. Just as he made contact, he heard Lexa's voice.

"Jesse! Why didn't you answer us?"

Suppressing the impulse to open his eyes when he heard her voice, David tried harder. Something was wrong. He could reach Jesse, but he couldn't get a response.

His eyes flew open now, understanding. A surge of alarm flashed through his body when his visual cortex translated the image he was seeing. Lexa was approaching Jesse, who now stood in the doorway between the common room and the far hallway. He reached his arm out to stop Katie, who was stepping forward toward her brother. He opened his mouth to shout a warning to Lexa, but it was too late.

Lexa had reached Jesse's side. She reached out a hand, slapping Jesse on the shoulder, as he'd already seen her do many times when she was upset with him. Usually Jesse didn't even flinch, but this time the reaction was explosive. An arm flashed out, knocking away Lexa's hand; the other arm took a heavy swing, aiming for her head. Had Lexa been farther away, Jesse's fist would have connected solidly with Lexa's temple. As it was, the inside of Jesse's elbow cuffed her across the head. She went down hard, falling to her knees at Jesse's feet.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Lexa's voice was a combination of fear and fury. Her left hand was rubbing her temple and she was blinking away the stars that threatened to dance in front of her vision.

Jesse said nothing. He reached down to grab her shirtfront, but she spun away, quickly rising to her feet. He let his momentum carry him forward, and he sent several more punches heading her way. She managed to block or dodge all of them. But on the last one, Jesse's left leg swung out, hooking her behind her ankles, dropping her to the floor. Ignoring the pain that reverberated up her spine from her hip, Lexa looked up into Jesse's face. It was a mix of emotions. The fury was obvious, but behind it, there was evidence of a struggle. She didn't have time to ponder Jesse's emotions – heading her way was a massed fist. She tried to spin away again, but found that she was cornered against the couch. Looking up, she prepared herself for impact as she saw his fist swinging down towards her head.

The impact never came. Instead of smashing solidly against her body, Jesse passed through her, through the entire couch, in fact. Swiveling her head in disbelief, Lexa jumped to her feet and looked over the couch, where Jesse was scrambling to his feet. Fury still etched his features, but now confusion seemed to be there as well. Suddenly, Jesse closed his eyes, hard, as he was in excruciating pain.

"Run, Lex. Go!" Jesse's voice was sharp, a harsh bark.

Lexa wanted to shout out that she wasn't going to run away, that she wanted to know what the hell was happening. Before she could though, Jesse's eyes were wide open again, and he was charging, screaming a harsh, desperate, warrior's yell.

And once again, Jesse never made contact. This time it was David, who had practically jumped on Jesse's back, wrapping muscled arms around Jesse's shoulders, halting the molecular mid-run. "Lexa, he's right! Run. It's not him, it's her! She's close, find her!" David grunted as he struggled to hold Jesse back.

Lexa to a step back, torn between finding the person who was wreaking havoc on their home and sticking around to make sure Jesse didn't kill David. Or vice versa. Her choice was made for her when she heard Jesse give a loud yell. Looking over, she saw Jesse break David's hold, then throw his friend, who was about two inches taller and maybe 20 pounds heavier, across the room and onto the couch. Thinking quickly, Lexa stepped forward, striking her hands together. A huge white flash burst forth from her hands, effectively blinding the other three people in the room. While the others couldn't see her, Lexa took the necessary three steps to reach David. Grasping his arm as he struggled to right himself, she triggered her light-bending shield, effectively rendering both herself and David invisible.

Jesse stood in the middle of the room, brushing his hands across his eyes as if doing so could eliminate the white dots that danced in front of them. Finally recovering his sight, Jesse swiveled, searching for his now invisible prey. He didn't find them, but he found something else: Katie.

"Jesse, no. I saw you, you tried to warn Lexa. I know you're in there. You can fight her." His sister held out a hand, already taking a step back. "Come on, Jess. Fight it."

Jesse paid no attention to his sister, just continued to advance.

Katie skirted around the other couch in the room, while David and Lexa, invisible to the Kilmartin siblings, circled around behind them, searching for the right opportunity.

"You said you have lasers? Any way to bring him down that way?" David whispered to Lexa.

Lexa jumped when she realized that she had heard David in her mind. "What the hell?"

"Sorry. Occupational hazard of sorts. It'll last for about an hour, then I can break it off. Look, I can't do anything from here – she's figured out that I'm here and put a shield up. Do you have any way of knocking Jesse out? That would shake her loose."

Lexa shook her head, forgetting that David couldn't see her as they were both invisible. "Sorry. I don't have the concentration for that kind of thing. I can never be certain if I'll fire a lethal bolt. Jesse can block my lethal ones if he masses. But you saw how he phased right through that couch! He doesn't have control over his powers right now."

"He's fighting her for control. Look how he's circling Katie. If he was under her complete control he would have attacked by now."

Lexa watched Jesse. David was right. But Jesse was losing the fight with whoever controlled his mind. His body was getting closer, and a massed fist hovered ominously in the air. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, and no one moved. Stalemate.

And then everything happened quickly. Jesse charged, his face a mix of anger and anguish. Katie screamed. David and Lexa reached out, as if they could do something from where they stood across the room.

Jesse charged. Then he disappeared.