Disclaimer: Still don't own Mutant X, but I do claim rights to giving Adam a hobby in this story. Poor guy needed something other than genetics to occupy him. I also don't own the verse in here (you'll know it when you see it): it's a verse from the song "Wash it all Away" by Evanescence. Hope I didn't

Warning: A/M relationship, just mildly PG for now (there's too much tension between the two for them to have just been co-workers ;-))

Chapter 3 – Losing Control

When Emma came to, she found herself restrained on a bed next to Adam's. Her throat was raw and her mouth tasted of blood. She tried to talk, but a strangled sound came out instead. Her head ached horribly and her vision was blurry.

"Hey guys, she's awake," she heard Shalimar called out. Emma winced, the voice too loud for her aching head. "Emma, what the hell happened?" she questioned angrily. Again Emma tried to talk, but it was no use, her throat was too parched. She shook her head, indicating she couldn't say.

"Shalimar, relax. She's strapped down now, she can't hurt anyone else," she heard Jesse say calmly from behind her. Suddenly the world spun as the bed moved into a sitting position. "Here, drink this," he said softly, putting a straw in her mouth.

She nearly choked on the water, her aching throat too sore to handle much at all. 'What does he mean, anyone else?' she wondered blearily. "Thank you," she whispered. Some of the bloody taste was gone from her mouth. Had she split her lip? Why was she restrained? "Adam?" she managed to ask.

"He's fine now, no thanks to you," Shalimar hissed, her eyes flashing yellow. Emma reached out to their minds and found anger, hurt, betrayal… even physical pain from Jesse. "Do you even know what you did?" the feral asked incredulously.

"Saw Adam… Shal, he's not safe!" Emma said deliriously. "The red-head, with the voice… ask Eckhart…" A wave of dizziness hit her and she couldn't help but drift off into a restless half-sleep.

"I told you not to hit her too hard, Shalimar!" Jesse admonished her. "She could have permanent damage from that concussion," he sighed.

"She was hurting Adam, she attacked us, she bit you! What did you expect me to do, Jesse?" Shalimar fumed, pacing next to the psionic's bed. "Ask nicely?"

Brennan, towelling himself off, replied, "Well slamming her head-first into a concrete wall probably wasn't the best idea. I would have shocked her, but she threw that glass of water all over me," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Brennan," Jesse replied "What happened, Shalimar? From the beginning," he added.

"She asked me if there had been any change in Adam's condition, then she touched his hand," Shalimar began. "She spaced out like she was using her powers and a minute or two later Adam's heart rate skyrocketed and she was squeezing his hand hard. I was going give Adam something to calm his heart, but she grabbed my wrist and told me that if I tried it again she would kill Adam. I yelled for Brennan, I could hear him at the door, and when he tried to get her away from Adam, she let go of my hand, threw the glass of water at him and told him…" Shalimar trailed off, still unable to comprehend the changes that had come over a friend she thought she could trust with her life.

"She told me 'Stay out of things that don't concern you, childish brat,' like I had poked around in something personal…" Brennan trailed off, gawking at Emma who looked so peaceful in her unconscious state. She didn't seem capable of the violence they had just witnessed.

"So I hit the panic button, you phased through the wall, and when you touched her, she turned and bit you!" Shalimar exclaimed. "When you told me to subdue her, I did it the fastest way possible: I threw her into the wall. It seemed like a good idea at the time!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms into the air helplessly.

Jesse sighed. "I suppose… It did work well, at the time. But you didn't think of the after-effects." he concluded. "But what happens if we can't get her to tell us what happened. And you know that head injuries can affect a psionic badly… you thought it was bad when she was biting? Wait until she starts using her powers on us because she's disoriented."

"Well, Jesse, you're our acting leader. What should we do with her?" Brennan asked with the utmost seriousness.

Jesse blinked a few times. One of the most level-headed people he knew had just gone completely psychotic on her best friends. "I don't know," he stated simply. "We could lock her in her room," he suggested.

Brennan rolled his eyes and groaned. "She's a psionic. She doesn't need to leave her room to hurt us, or she could just trick us into letting her out," he reminded Jesse.

Shalimar chuckled. "That would be like locking you in a room, Jesse. Utterly pointless! No, we need a way to keep her from using her powers. She has been fine until she uses her abilities. There's no reason to believe that Emma is completely insane… she's just not in control," Shalimar guessed. If it was just control issues, then she knew how Emma felt. "We could tranquilize her?" When her feral side got out of control, Adam had given her tranquilizers; she knew from experience that they worked well.

"Pumping her full of drugs with a possible concussion isn't a good idea, in fact it is dangerous," Jesse replied.

Brennan groaned as he realized that there was an option none of them had dared consider yet. Drastic… degrading… but it would be the most effective. "I have an idea that will work, but you won't like it. I was snooping in here once and found something. It scared the shit out of me to find it in a drawer where only Adam should have been able to access it," he trailed off, realizing that he was babbling. He went over to a drawer with an electronic lock and shorted it.

The moment Jesse and Shalimar saw it they agreed: they didn't like it, but it was currently the safest option available to everyone – Emma included. As acting leader it was Jesse's decision to make. Looking at the various haggard faces in the room, he nodded. "Do it," he confirmed, disgusted at himself.

When Emma woke up, she was alone in her quarters. Her head was still killing her. What had happened to make it hurt this bad. Listening, she found that Sanctuary was quiet… 'Too quiet! Why can't I feel anyone either? Where is everyone?" she puzzled. Groaning, she sat up. She must have been out a long time if the others had left and taken Adam… unless Adam was better and they were tracking the mutant responsible. It was so rare that she was completely alone; she decided to lie back down.

Before she could, a knock at the door startled her. "Who's there?" she asked. As far as she could sense, there was no one there.

"It's Shalimar. Can I come in?" was the reply. Without waiting for Emma to answer, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Emma's eyes were wide with panic. "I… I can't sense you! What happened to me Shalimar, why does my head hurt?" Emma groaned and rubbed a sore spot on the back of her neck. Much to her surprise, she instead rubbed a large cool device. "What did you people do to me!" she shrieked, backing into the wall in terror. "Or tell me that Sanctuary was raided by GSA and they were good enough to let me sleep in my own bed… Please don't tell me…" she was terrified without her powers; they provided some safety for her. It was disorienting not to know if her friend felt bad about doing this to her, to not know who was around her.

"Emma, I can explain! You need to relax, please!" she begged the terrified psionic. "You were rampaging. You almost broke all of the bones in Adam's hand; you downed Brennan in seconds, bit Jesse so hard you drew blood… he phased out so that you wouldn't take out a chunk of flesh. You were out of control, Emma," she explained.

"So you put a Sub-dermal Governor on me? I expect that from the GSA, not from my own friends. That's what it took to take me down?" she hissed.

Shalimar sighed. "No, would you believe it actually to me ramming your head into a steel wall? I came to bring some pain relievers. Do you want Advil or Tylenol?" Shalimar offered, holding out a factory-sealed bottle of each. She had a hunch that Emma would be a little paranoid, unable to sense people's intentions.

"Advil, please. I'll take off the seal myself," she told Shalimar. "So how long do I have to wear this thing?" she asked, taking two pills. It was disconcerting not to have Shalimar's emotions known to her.

"How about we go down to the medical bay and discuss that with everyone. At this point we don't even know what's wrong with you," Shalimar replied. "Are you up for a walk?"

Emma nodded, but one question nagged at her. "How is Adam?" Now that she had seen the inside of Adam's mental prison, she knew that Adam's consciousness was still fighting.

Shalimar sighed. "He is getting worse than before. Now his heart races every so often. We're afraid his heart will fail if this keeps up," she divulged, being brutally honest.

When they walked into the room, the conversation between Jesse and Brennan stopped. "Hi, Emma. Did you sleep well?" Jesse asked cautiously. It was almost as if the psionic had shrunk since the Governor was put on her. It changed her somehow, making her less confident.

She nodded, eyes fixed on the bandage around Jesse's forearm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… At least, I don't remember meaning to…" she trailed off as tears threatened to fall.

"Have a seat Emma," Jesse told her in a no-nonsense tone. Emma sat immediately, and the other three pulled up chairs. "We need to talk about what happened. Shalimar, Brennan and I know what physically happened, but you don't recall it. So, we need to know what was going on up here," he explained, tapping her forehead.

'They're interrogating me? They're probably mad a me. I must be a liability to the team!' she thought in a panic. "What do you mean?" she asked carefully. "I'm not crazy!" she exclaimed. She scratched at the back of her neck, at the edges of the Governor. 'Maybe I could pull it out?' she pondered.

Shalimar put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We don't think you're crazy, Emma. You weren't in touch with the physical world, I could tell. You were trying to tell me something about Adam before you passed out. Do you remember that?" she asked.

Emma nodded, looking at the floor. "Adam is being tortured in his mind. Whoever is doing it is making relive his worst experiences. I saw part of one when I was in his mind, it was like I touched his hand and got sucked in," she explained briefly. "Next thing I knew, I was in restraints on a bed."

"Well, what did you see in Adam's head? What was he reliving?" Brennan asked, looking expectantly at her.

Emma looked at them warily. "I don't know. All Adam told me that it was 1991 and we were in Genomex. He was watching his younger self about to do something to Eckhart. Adam was yelling at me not to watch, and then that voice came, pushing me out of Adam's mind." That was all she dared tell them; Adam had, after all, asked her to be discrete.

The three looked at each other, as if not trusting Emma's story. "What do you suggest we do with you until we can find out why you keep having memory lapses and attacking us?" Brennan asked.

Emma didn't like the sound of this conversation. "You don't think you can trust me, even with a Governor?" she asked incredulously. Jesse and Shalimar at least had the decency to look ashamed, but Brennan just nodded. "Then you should do whatever you think would work best. In fact, let's keep this damn plug in my head, but just in case it doesn't work you should sedate me and lock me in my room," she told them with mock seriousness. "Shackles, perhaps, and a steel wall for Shalimar to ram my head against just in case you don't feel safe with all of those other security measures," she continued. Realizing that she was ranting Emma sighed. "You three just take care of Adam. I'm sure I can find something to do in my room. Catch up on my reading, or something like that," she offered.

Jesse stood up. "I'm sorry about the Governor, Emma. We just couldn't risk you harming anyone, even yourself. If Adam was awake, he would probably have a better solution for you, but…" he trailed off.

For some reason, Emma felt calmer than she had in ages. "You'll have a hard time getting through to Adam without me. But, if this is what the best option is, I'll have to bear with it for now," she agreed.

If anyone noticed Emma's sudden change they likely assumed she had realized that she was dangerous. "Do you want me to walk you back?" Shalimar offered.

Emma shook her head. "You should stay with Adam. I know my way back to my room," she said, subdued. She walked out without looking back. 'If Adam is going to have any chance of beating this he will need my help. And I can't help if I don't know what the incident is,' she told herself.

She locked the door behind her and started to prepare herself. There was only one person who would have the answers she needed. She quickly changed into a conservative black suit, low pumps, and pulled her hair into a slick bun. She went into her drawer and pulled out a standard issue GSA sidearm and a falsified security badge. From that moment until she gave up the ruse she would be Karen Anderson. 'At least this Governor makes me look credible,' she mused. As a final step she pulled off her locator ring and put it on her pillow.

Grabbing the book and photo she had borrowed from Adam's room, Emma went to the garage and borrowed one of the cars. As she drove down the highway towards Genomex, she shook her head and groaned. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered to herself.

Mason Eckhart stood with his back to his office door looking down at Podding Operations, waiting for the arrival of one of his Agents who claimed she had proof of where Adam Kane was in hiding. The door slid open and he listened to the sound of the woman's heels to enter the room. "You must excuse me, but I do not recall meeting you, Ms. Anderson," he noted in a polite but chilling tone.

"No, you haven't," a familiar female voice agreed, moving closer to him. "She doesn't exist," the voice added. Eckhart scowled as he felt the tip of a gun point into his back.

"Ah, now I recognize your voice, Ms. DeLauro. This isn't Adam's usual tactic," he noted. "And what, pray tell, brings you to here?" he asked.

"Turn around, Eckhart, very slowly," she calmly stated. Eckhart complied and noted with interest that she adjusted her aim to over his heart. "I have questions, and I know you have most of the answers I need. You'll either cooperate, or I will make you feel very unpleasant," she threatened.

"Is that so, Ms. DeLauro?" he asked in an arrogant tone. "Tell me: do you really think that you could shoot me before I could summon assistance?" he asked calmly putting his gloved hands into his pockets. He could see the gun shaking in her hand.

She steadied herself, trying to push away the panicked sensation in the pit of her stomach. 'I don't like this… I can't tell if he's being serious or if he's bluffing!' she worried. "At this range, even if you had ten guards burst through that door, I could still kill you before they could fire a shot," she assured him. Sudden, blinding pain shot through her, and she sank down to her knees in pain.

Eckhart pulled his hands back out of his pocket and showed the young psionic the small controller in his hand. "Did you really think I would let a mutant into my personal office without insurance?" He had created a master controller for the Governors, instead of trying to keep track of the multitude of controllers otherwise required. No mutant was allowed to enter this office without a Governor implanted.

Emma stood up and shook her head, trying to clear away the pain. She hadn't been expecting him to be able to control her Governor; it wasn't one from the GSA. "I still need answers," she told him coolly. "Sit down," she ordered, gesturing to the chair at his desk. 'This place is so… bare,' she noted. There was nothing on the desk, no shelves, nothing that could gather any dust or germs.

"I am curious, Ms. DeLauro, as to why Adam has given you a Governor," he mentioned casually, moving to sit behind his desk. "Are you troubled by it? I am told that it is excruciating for a telempathic psionic to be so isolated. Having only your own thoughts and feelings in your mind is a wish most psionics make throughout their lives."

She glared at him, still pointing the gun towards his chest. "It wasn't Adam who did it," she revealed. "However Adam is the reason I'm here. Why don't I put down this gun, you put that controller down, and we can talk like rational people," she suggested, lowering the gun and putting the book she carried on the table. "Besides," she said with a humourless smile, "I think you will be surprised with what I brought," she assured him. She may not have been able to feel his emotions, but shock was evident on his face as she flipped open to the nude drawing of him, putting the photograph down next to it. "Like I said, I have a few questions," she said.