Disclaimer. Always the same, not mine although Brennan is begging me to keep him.

Note: I have Jesse right where I wanted him. No, that's wrong… Where Ezra wanted to have him, evil grin!

You have to read the last chapter again, I added a little important thing and you might not understand the part with Emma without it.

Oh and please leave some reviews. Ezra can be really mean if he won't get some!!! Runs and hides scared in the box under her bed

Chapter7: Captured

 Emma sat cross-legged on the floor, deep in meditation. Her hands were relaxed on her knees, her breathing calm and steady. She didn't mind Shalimar practising her kata close by. There was nothing that could disturb her concentration.

She let her mind float, reaching out for peace and balance.

Shalimar was concentrating, too. But hers was centred on her moves, powerful and exactly on point. Just as she executed a spin-kick, she heard Emma scream. A high, painful noise that filled the room.

Quickly she turned around to her friend, finding her outstretched on the floor, holding her head in agony. Tears watered her eyes, bringing no release from the pain.

"Emma, what happened? What is it Emma? Emma?"

She didn't answer, couldn't. Her body shook with cramps. Shalimar grabbed her by the shoulder, trying to calm and hold her down at the same time. She needed help.

"ADAM!!"

The door to the lab flung open and Adam came running. One look at the young Mutant on the floor and he went to his knees, placing a warm palm on Emma's forehead. He needed to get her attention.

"Emma, listen to me. Open your eyes. Look at me Emma!"

Sobbing from the sudden rush of pain she obeyed slowly. Her body was still convulsing with tremors but it slowly calmed down now that she was focused on Adam.

"That's good, relax. Deep breaths, slowly Emma!"

He took her pulse while he kept stroking her head. He sighed with relieve when her body finally lay still, breathing almost normally.

Adam gave her a little more time to recover from the attack before he asked his question.

"What happened?"

Emma wiped away her tears and sat up with some help from Shalimar.

"Brennan! Something is wrong. It was like he invaded my mind, trying to show me something. There was so much fear and pain in him. He is trapped somewhere but I don't know where…"

She stopped for a second, trying to relive the moment Brennan had connected with her.

"He seemed to be trapped in his body and thoughts. For a second the version was very clear. He couldn't move, couldn't talk or scream. I felt the pain all this brought him. But then his thoughts were blurring and ended up very confused before the connection broke."

A shadow of worry crossed Adam's eyes. Very quick but not unnoticed.

"Can you get up? Come on, I'll help you."

Adam and Shalimar took each one of Emma's arms and put her onto her feet. She felt a bit dizzy but after some deep breaths it was better and they all walked over to the computer. Shalimar was still holding Emma, in case she felt sick again but nothing happened.

Just when Adam was about to open a connection over the comm link, the door opened and Jesse, and to the surprise of the rest of them, Brennan came walking in.

Adam was the first to rush over to him. He took his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes.

"Are you ok? What happened to you?"

Surprised, Jesse looked at Brennan and then to Adam.

"What do you mean with 'what happened'? Nothing happened. We just came from a bar where we had some drinks."

Emma shook her head in disbelieve. Her eyes found Brennan's and she watched him carefully.

"I felt you calling out for help. I felt your pain… and you were so scared."

Brennan freed himself from Adam's grip. He shook his head, the look on his face slightly annoyed and… confused?

"What do you mean, you felt my pain? I didn't call for anybody. I am fine."

"Let's go to the lab and check you out then. Just to make sure, you're ok!" "The hell you will. Asked Jesse. I am all right. Nothing unusual happened!"

He turned around to leave but Shalimar stepped in his way.

"Don't get angry! But the way Emma reacted made us really worried about you."

He just snarled at her to leave him alone and hurried out of the room, leaving some confused people behind.

 "What happened? I want details!"

Adam turned his attention to Jesse but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"We had a couple of drinks, sat at the bar and talked. Brennan went to the bathroom and when he came back, we left."

"Nothing unusual?" Shalimar had asked him now. Jesse barely looked at her when he answered.

"The only thing unusual was, that I was allowed to drive home this time. He didn't even fight with me for the keys. That's no reason to call for help, though!"

"I'll go and talk to him."

Emma wanted to go but Jesse stopped her.

"Let me go. We…. We've been talking a lot today." He sent a quick glance over to Shalimar.

"He will tell me if something is wrong."

 Jesse found Brennan sitting in the kitchen on the table.

"I don't know what Emma had but when we go to the lab, we could find out."

Brennan didn't answer.

"If you don't want to go in the chair, we could put her in it and poke around in her brain a little bit."

Jesse tried to make a joke out of the situation to calm him down.

"That could be fun, don't you think?"

He just looked at Jesse lost in thought. A smile crept over his face when he nodded.

"All right."

 Adam was in the lab when the door opened and Jesse and Brennan came in. The Elemental looked around like he was seeing it for the first time, taking in every little detail. He looked back at Jesse, then at the chair. Adam could see the thoughts racing through his head.

 "You're ready to get checked out?"

 Brennan turned his attention towards him, staring at him for a moment. Then he shook his head.

"No, I am not."

Still, he sat down on the chair, his feet never leaving the floor. He looked ready to run if necessary.

"Come on Brennan, it won't hurt you and I don't bite, remember?"

He shook his head again.

"No, I don't want to!" His voice shook from suppressed anger.

"Leave us alone! I have to talk with Jesse."

Brennan's tone was unacceptably demanding and rude. Adam swallowed a harsh response, not allowing his anger to overtake his worries.

Jesse cut into their 'conversation' and his voice was as calm as Adam's actually needed to be.

"Maybe Brennan would feel better if we chat a bit first, Adam. I'll leave him to you in a few minutes. Let's say half an hour? Is that ok with you?"

"Of course." His voice was fairly calm.

"I'll go and get some coffee."

He looked one last time at Brennan before he turned around and left them alone.

Brennan smiled. Good, nobody had noticed anything. He, or rather Ezra, was right where he wanted to be. 

Alone with Jesse, amongst his friends and not one of them knew that he would be dead in 30 minutes…

Tbc