This is a very Shalimar centric chapter but the next chapter will get back to the rest of the team. Thanks, as always for the reviews and please review this chapter.

Rogue.

'Good morning Ms Bryant.'

Shalimar turned to find the source of the voice. She found herself staring at a short, rotund, balding man in his late forties. He was wearing a grey suit accompanied by a tie with bright purple polka dots (she successfully hid her grimace) and as he approached her he presented his hand. She smiled confidently, immediately getting into character. She gave him a hearty handshake, amused at the surprise which appeared in his eyes at the strength of her arm.

'Good morning Mr…' She trailed off, enjoying her new role as the incredibly busy, powerful businesswoman. If only he knew that behind the fake glasses and the red wig was a genetically enhanced woman currently working in conjunction with the CIA.

'Tippett,' he offered helpfully before leading her and the two agents, posing as her personal assistants through security in the foyer and then to the elevator. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that the man didn't need any encouragement to start talking, reciting the spiel he had used a thousand times before. The bank that took up a large amount of space within the building had been informed that a potential client would be swinging in early that morning, hoping to get the guided tour and a great deal of data from the manager in order to help her decide if she wanted to bring her business to them. It was the perfect cover because it happened so often. The ventilation shafts were placed all over the building, a fact gained from the blueprints and they were all interconnected so it didn't matter where she gained access. Mr Tippett, having just led them all through the main security barriers despite all the slightly odd equipment contained within their suitcases would now take them up, leading them all closer to the Dominion controlled floors. It was a time saving device, being closer to their target before they even started the mission and once they got there it was just a case of distracting Mr Tippett. And Shalimar's outfit was completely up for that job.

'So what business are you in exactly?' he asked politely as the elevator doors closed, shutting out the background noise of chatter and computers.

Shalimar's mind quickly flicked through the brief documents she had been given which had contained her characters entire back story. 'World domination,' she replied.

His eyes widened before Shalimar revealed a brilliant smile. After a moments pause he gave out a little laugh. Shalimar looked over at one of the agents as he raised his eyebrows at her. She missed working with Mutant X. Brennan would at least have had the decency to smirk at her less than appropriate humour.

'But seriously,' she continued, her tone charming, 'I work for a large firm which deals with…' Her own mind wandered shamelessly away from the conversation. She had read the brief so many times over that it was indelibly imprinted on her memory, she didn't even have to think about the words coming out of her mouth.

'Sir, we have a sighting.'

He looked across the room at the young man sitting in front of a bank of computer monitors. His eyes drifted past him, curiosity taking over in his mind as he looked at the black and white screen the man was gesturing to. He squinted slightly as he walked closer.

'Are you sure its one of them?' he asked, already knowing the answer as he studied the woman's face.

'Yes sir. Her face and gait have been matched by our computer. She's Shalimar Fox.'

'I want security on whatever floor they get off at. Whatever their objective is they're not going to get the chance to follow through,' he said, his voice rising as did his anger and fear. He knew why she had come and it was clear that she was back in with her old crowd, working with Mutant X, probably the CIA too given the groupies she had brought with her.

The doors slid open silently and Shalimar followed Mr Tippett out of the elevator. She looked up at the ceiling and breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed the ventilation shaft running along white plaster. They walked along the corridor, the two agents behind her both scouting out the area, making sure that there was a completel lack of Dominion agents around. There were none in sight. Now she just had to get the immensely boring banker to run along.

She frowned as she heard a mobile phone ringing from behind her. One of the agents, a tall brunette man, the one who had been so disapproving of her improvisation dug around in his pocket to find the cell and picked it up, his voice loud in the quiet corridor.

After a few seconds he held the phone out to her. 'Ms Bryant,' he said, indicating that the call needed to be taken by her.

'Would you give us a minute?' Shalimar said as she turned around towards the bank manager, a winning smile and a pair of sparkling eyes being aimed in his direction, that he clearly found difficult to resist.

'Of course,' he replied before walking along the hallway, out of earshot, out of sight.

'Find a room with a free computer on this floor. You should be able to get into the system from down here right?' Shalimar asked, her voice immediately becoming more businesslike.

'Yes. You need any help getting in? the brunette asked.

'Trust me, I'll be fine,' Shalimar answered, her voice portraying a confidence that she wasn't feeling. She watched as they turned and ran along the corridor away from her, looking in rooms as they went, their feet pounding the hard surface.

'Here goes,' she said to herself, breathing deeply as her eyes shifted focus from the floor to the ceiling and she began to ubbutton her jacket.

All around her was the feel of cold metal, a gloom only alleviated by the occasional air vent leading onto yet another room that she didn't want to be near. She had never been claustrophobic but if there was ever going to be a situation that left her with a life long fear this would be it. She had been squeezing her way along the intricate system of ventilation shafts for the past ten minutes and seemed to be getting no further. Her back was aching, her eyes were starting to feel strained because she kept on having to consult a blueprint of the building every time she reached a corner and she could feel a headache building up behind her eyeballs, blasting its way through her brain.

She stopped in her tracks and rolled over onto her side, leaning her chin in her hand. With the other hand she pulled a palmtop from her back pocket and, pressing a few buttons managed to call up diagrams detailing the route she would have to take. Her eyes glowed orange briefly as she scanned through the information. According to the computer she had to keep going straight before she would find a way of going up. In order to go up she had to use the elevators, climbing up the service stairs which were attached to one side of the elevator shaft. Once she got there it would be easy going until she reached her required floor. When she got there she would once again head into the dismal hell that was ventilation. She wasn't looking forward to that part but she quickly pulled herself together, knowing that if she was to have any hope of finishing her assignment and getting out of the building with all her limbs still safely attached to her body she would need to get moving.

As she started crawling once more her mind drifted. She wondered how everyone else was doing, whether everything was still going to plan or whether any of them had been discovered yet. From a page she had received a few minutes after first entering her particular mode of transport she had learned that she had been found out already. There was a high alert sending a good number of security guards to the same floor she had been on. What troubled her was that she was technically still on that floor. There were cameras all over the building and by now people would have discovered her discarded briefcase and glasses lying on the floor of the corridor. Everyone would have spread out, they would all be searching and she felt not unlike a lab rat, trapped in a box, unable to escape, at the mercy of whoever located her. The thoughts quickened her pace and she emerged from the shaft into a large open space. She was standing on a small metal walkway and as she looked down she could see the many floors below her. Anyone else would have turned and crawled as fast as they could away from the daunting sight but Shalimar was not anyone else. She looked around her and located the staircase she would have to use.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty space as she made her way as quickly and quietly as possible to the stairs. She looked down, her eyebrows raised as she again took in the drop that could face her. It wasn't that she was scared of the height, she actually kinda liked the thrill she got from looking over the edge, down at the ground, what seemed like miles below her. Plus she was happy to be given something other than her immediate mission to think about for at least a couple of seconds.

Her seconds over she proceeded onwards and upwards. She had to get to the right floor soon, she had to find the boss of the Dominion institution and she had to force him to give up or take him out of the game completely. It was an intimidating prospect but her adrenaline was starting to pump its way around her system, her body becoming more motivated as time ticked on.

'Shalimar?'

She became suddenly alert of the time period she was working under as she heard the voice of one of the agents on her team over her com link. They must have hacked into the system by now. She had been crawling around behind the scenes for quite some time and they were experts in their field. She had been moving too slowly, been taking too much time to think about things when she should have been doing them. She had wasted so much time.

'What's up?' she replied, running up the stairs two at a time until she reached her desired floor.

'We've hacked into the system. We encountered the kinds of obstacles we expected to come across but we've now finished uploading everything to the CIA database. We're just about to wipe it all from their hard drive but in order to do that we're gonna have to power down the building.'

'Okay, I'm on the right floor. I just have to find the right room now.'

'You're sure you'll be able to find the room with no power.'

She smirked. She wasn't sure if humans would ever fully understand the abilities of mutants.

Her feet hit the ground and she straightened herself, taking the time to look around her. She was in a long corridor identical to the one a few floors below. She was so happy to be vertical once more, her legs were aching, her back was killing her and she rolled her eyes as the strip lighting on the ceiling flickered once before failing completely. She waited a few seconds before an eerie green glow appeared, illuminating the corridor, the back up generators kicking in. The sounds of computers cut out, and the sound of people beginning to panic cut in. Shalimar looked around her as the noise became louder. People working for the Dominion were starting to come out of their offices, she had to find a particular room. She started jogging along the hallway, looking at the numbers on doors, her eyes searching frantically for the right one. Her heart sped up, her pulse racing with it.

She saw the number, her hand grabbed at the door handle in an attempt to stop herself in her tracks. She pulled up short and pushed the handle down. The door didn't budge and the sounds of people were getting louder.

'Damn it,' she muttered under her breath, looking around her erratically as doors the entire length of the corridor started opening, people spilling out to see what the problem was. Security wouldn't be too far behind them. She pushed the door handle down once more, gasping as it opened and a strong hand pulled her inside. The door slammed behind her and she was left in the room the dark absorbing her, capturing her, dragging her in.