Emma felt a sense of relief at having Zenger in Sanctuary at last. It kept distracting her from Ally's recount of events since she'd gone missing.
"I could hear it in his voice, Adam," Ally was saying. "Ashlocke's back in business."
Adam nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. "It's disconcerting to hear that, but I understand why you had to go through with it, Zenger. You also seemed to have prevented Ashlocke from inflicting any psychic influence over you."
"Which is good," Ally interjected. "Because it's a major headache overcoming."
Zenger smiled at her. "I'm sorry for stopping you the way I did, but sick or not, Ashlocke could have killed us both if you'd acted any sooner."
Ally nodded.
"Which reminds me," Brennan took Ally's ring out from his jeans pocket. "You dropped this when you took off on your little suicide mission."
"Brennan." Emma chided.
"It's okay, Emma. He was just afraid for me, right?" Ally's voice was dangerously calm. "I'm sorry I didn't stop to check in with you, Brennan, but I spotted a lingering Link and decided to follow. I left my ring to make it easier to sneak around their lair."
"Still, it would have been safer to leave it on so we'd known where you were." Jesse admonished.
Adam stepped in. "Ally knows she made a mistake. The point we need to focus on now, is that we have a dangerous Mutant out there at full power."
"What could his first move be now?" Emma asked.
"It might have something to do with Cavani Tech."
Everyone turned to Zenger, curious.
He continued. "I noticed a blueprint for their facility in Ashlocke's quarters. My school's been doing research for them lately, maybe there's a connection."
"I doubt it."
Now everyone looked at Adam, shocked at his response.
He didn't waiver. "It was probably the way they found you."
Emma frowned at the reasoning as Adam went on.
"Cavani's not involved in anything related to genetics or weaponry or anything useful to Ashlocke. I highly doubt it's anything we need to explore…but, I will look into it myself, just to be sure."
Without another word, Adam left them.
After a long silence, Jesse piped in. "Okay, well, in the meantime maybe we should—"
"Go check out the Museum of Cultural Diversity." Came another voice.
Shalimar and Tony had returned.
"Why there?" Emma asked Tony, who'd been the first to speak.
"We saw a group of probable Links headed in that direction in the way back."
"Probable?" Jesse questioned.
Shalimar explained. "I thought they seemed familiar but I didn't think much of it until I overheard all of you just now. Now I'm more certain they were Links and up to no good."
"It's better we came back then." Tony added. "More bodies decrease the risks."
Brennan's eyes narrowed in a meaningful look at Ally, which she promptly ignored.
"Hello." Shalimar was looking at Zenger.
"Oh! Shal, Tony, this is the person I've been talking to, Zen. He's one of us now…I think." Emma looked to Zenger for a response. "You never did tell us whether or not you'd decided."
Zenger appeared to consider this. "It would be an honor to aid you in helping others like us."
"Is that a yes?" Jesse asked, for which he was promptly slapped in the chest by Emma.
Zenger smiled gently. "Yes."
Brennan clapped his hands together. "All right, so let's get him accessorized and take in a night of culture."
Ally raised her hand to halt everyone. "Just give me a few minutes to change. I feel like a bouncer in these clothes."
As Ally hastily exited, Emma removed a jewelry box she'd been keeping in her pocket from the moment she'd sensed Zenger arriving at Sanctuary with Ally. She opened the box and showed Zenger the plain metallic circlet.
"Here, consider this your official initiation into the fold."
Zenger accepted it gratefully, taking the ring out and studying it. "It's amazing how something so simple can represent a movement so complicated." He slipped the ring onto his right index finger and watched as it changed to represent his DNA.
Brennan reached out and shook his hand. "Hope you're not disappointed, but you gave us kind of short notice for there to be a party!"
Zenger grinned.
