AN: Okay, the muse ran away again. That's the only viable excuse I can think of for why it took so long. And this one's for Alexis; thanks for hounding me.

Also, this is the next to last chapter. Just a little epilogue coming up. Let me know if you think there are some loose ends I forgot to tie up. However, as far as the tension betwen Adam and Jesse... that'll have to wait for the next story. I have plans for that. Mwa ha ha! So, with out further ado... the next chapter of The List


Chapter 35: Brave Punishments

Brennan let out a whistle as he lowered the Helix into its "parking spot" in the hanger. "Power off, clamps locked. All secure," he said, flipping a few last switches. He unsnapped the harness that he usually only remembered to wear when they weren't in a hurry, and followed the others as they gratefully stepped out of the aircraft and back into their home. He shook his head in disbelief yet again. "Man, I still can't believe she went out like that," he said as he stepped down into the hanger.

"Who went out like what?" Adam's voice rang out in the spacious and echoing hanger. Shalimar watched as he approached, the heels of his boots ringing out on the metal plated floors. She noted how his eyes swept over all four of them, as if assuring himself that everything was well, though they had already told him as much. And though he seemed careful not to reveal it, Shalimar also saw how his gaze lingered on Jesse, taking in his scorched jacket and hair, a fraction of frustration and displeasure entering his eyes for a half second. That's it, she thought. As soon as this gets wrapped up and we get some rest, I'm going to make those two talk to each other.

"Holly Jacobs," Brennan answered. "Definitely not a way I'd want to go. And it's so cliché."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Would someone care to elaborate?"

Lexa, who, although Jesse had mended her ankle, was still leaning against him, stopped, forcing Jesse to do the same. She looked over to Adam. "Holly got T-boned at the intersection half a block away from the house."

"The security camera at the convenience store on the corner confirms that she ran a red light," Jesse added. "I'm just glad the guy in the other car as wearing his seatbelt and got away with only a broken leg."

"It was weird," Brennan said. "And just like all those TV shows and movies where the bad guy seemingly gets away, but then BOOM! They get nailed by some random accident in some strange sense of poetic justice."

"Are you guys all okay?"

Brennan shrugged. "We're fine. Nothing we couldn't handle," he said casually as they resumed their walk back into the main areas of Sanctuary. Then he broke down. "Aw, you should have seen it, Adam," he said excitedly. "First we take out her little henchmen. Boom, boom, bam! They go down like that!" He snapped his fingers. "Then Holly gets away and we're trapped in one of those little anti-mutant power force fields, and there's this bomb ticking away with like two minutes left, right?" By now, Brennan had really gotten into the story, explaining it to both Adam and David, who had met them at the door to the hanger.

"Holly pulls her whole, 'I'm the villain, you can't win' spiel, but nothing can stop us. Shalimar figures out that the field only goes up, not over us. Then Lexa uses her lasers to take out the ceiling, and I jet propel us out of there, over the 50 foot barrier. We kicked some serious ass."

Adam frowned. He did another quick once over of all his charges. "All right, everyone into medbay. Even if Jesse did use his magic touch on all of you, I want to take a look, make sure you guys didn't get accidentally dosed by a strange chemical or something."

Shalimar looked over to Brennan, who shrugged. Might as well indulge him, the action seemed to say, as they continued their walk to the medbay.

Adam paused to push open the glass door. "You say that you used your power of propulsion to lift all four of you out of there? I didn't think you could generate that much force

Brennan blinked and shifted his weight. "Well, I can't. Not for all four of us, anyway. But I got the girls out and Mr. Invincible here stayed behind and massed himself through the fire after the explosion took out the force field."

"Not quite invincible," Jesse corrected, indicating the scorched suede coat he had slung over one shoulder.

Katie came over from where she had been monitoring Jessica's unmoving form. Putting a hand on her brother's shoulder, she, too, seemed to look Jesse over for injuries.

He put one hand over hers while putting his coat down with the other. "I'm fine, Katie. Jeez, I'm the only one here who can actually heal himself and everyone looks at me like I'm the walking wounded."

That statement seemed to get everyone off his back. Adam had Lexa hop up on the second biobed and began to double check Jesse's handiwork. "Did you guys get a chance to talk to any of the local authorities? Get an idea of what they're going to put in the report?"

Shalimar nodded. "Once we were out of the building and saw what had happened to Holly, Brennan went back and blew the gas main."

Jesse sat back in one of the chairs. "It should give the cops reason enough to believe that it was an accident, since Brennan fried the electrical panel next to the gas line. Plus, any the gas will burn or cover up any traces left of the C4 that she used. It should look like a simple accidental fire. I'll follow up on it tomorrow, just to make sure that's what the report says."

Adam nodded and finished scanning Lexa's ankle, which he proclaimed to be good as new.

"As far as the other bodies in the house, we took what was left of them to a safehouse. We can identify them there and notify their families later," Lexa said, flexing the joint and then hopping down from the bed. "And Jesse checked out Holly's car and body before the police and fire departments got there, cleared out anything that might lead them to us. When they asked why he was there, he told them he was trained in first aid and was trying to help."

Adam looked over to Jesse. "Did you come up with anything?"

Jesse nodded and dug into his coat pocket. "Just these," he said, holding up a small minidisk and cell phone. "I'll see what I can get off of them. Maybe we can figure out why the hell she was doing all this."

Adam sighed and had Shalimar hop up onto the bed next. "We may never know, Jess. That's one thing I really hate about all of this. About everything. People die before we can find out why."

"She did it because you're all mistakes. And you need to learn your place."

They whirled at the sound of Jessica's voice. The young woman was sitting up and sliding off the bed. For a moment, her knees seemed to buckle, but she caught herself.

"Jessica," David started to say.

"Shut up, Peter. You're the worse than all of them. You're the traitor."

"Jessica, you aren't thinking clearly. You're still off you're medication."

"You guys are the ones not thinking clearly. Don't you see? Mutants are dangerous, so there's an order, and they need to be controlled." She reached out and grabbed Shalimar's arm.

Shalimar looked at Jessica with sadness and pity in her eyes. "Your powers won't work with the governor in, Jessica," she said, pulling her arm away and putting her hands on Jessica's shoulders. "You're a mutant too, you know. Do you really want someone else controlling your life?"

Jessica remained tense, her gaze dancing over them. "Just relax," Brennan said, holding out a hand. "We want to help you."

"No," she shrieked, wrenching away from Shalimar's grip and backing into one corner of the room. "It's not the same for me. Only mother can help. She knows."

Jesse held took a step closer. "Jessica, I know how you're feeling. But your mother's gone."

"No!" she shrieked again. She flailed out, knocking some of the tools off the counter. "You killed her, I know you did!"

"Jessica!" Adam said authoritatively. "Just calm down. We didn't do anything to her. It was an accident."

"There was nothing they could have done," David said. He wondered if he should try to get close enough to touch her; maybe he could calm her down from the inside. He reached out…

"No." Jessica stated in an eerily calm and determined voice. "I'll never let you take me." Pulling her hand from her back, she revealed the small scalpel she had swiped from the countertop moments ago. Quickly, inelegantly, she stabbed herself in the neck and dragged the blade across her throat. Blood poured from the open wound, and she was down on the ground before anyone had a chance to get to her.

Jesse and Adam quickly turned her body over, both reaching to stop the flow and check for a pulse.

Two seconds passed, and they heard Adam say softly, "She's gone."

Brennan shook his head. "No way. Not that fast. Jesse can heal her, I can jump start her heart, right?"

There was silence for a few moments longer, and then Adam shook his head as he and Jesse lifted Jessica's now limp body onto the med bay. "Her body was already fragile. It doesn't take long to bleed out, either."

Brennan looked over at Jesse for confirmation.

Jesse nodded as he found something to clean his hands. "Adam's right. I'd have to repair all that damage before you could shock her. Given her current body chemistry, her weakened state, and the intensity of that wound… There was nothing we could do." He dried his hands with a cloth and tossed it violently into the biohazards box. "Damn. I hate when we lose."

Brennan felt Shalimar's arm snake around his back. "Me too," he said softly.