"I'm coming down," Bartholomew called into the hole.

"Like hell you are," came the growled reply.

"Truce," was Bartholomew's response after dodging back to avoid a slash of lightning aimed at his nose. "White flag. I'm coming down to talk. Nothing more."

"You can talk from up there."

"Not like civilized men."

"The only civilized men around are the three of us. You don't qualify, and it's not because of the way you look."

Adam stopped the elemental. This was getting them nowhere. With Brennan armed and ready, they could allow the hawk feral to drop in for a chat; they had nothing to lose. "All right. You can come down."

"But one wrong move, and I'll singe your feathers so bad that you won't need a potion to get bare skin," Brennan vowed.

"Agreed." Bartholomew gave a satisfied chuckle. "You might want to clear away from directly under the opening." So saying, the hawk feral gracefully dropped through the hole, landing as elegantly on his feet as Shalimar could have done. Brennan scowled at him from under dark eyebrows.Score one for the feral.

Bartholomewlooked around the cavern, noting the stream, the boulders, and the significant lack of anything else to sustain life. He also observed the condition of the cavern's inhabitants: disheveled, bruised and broken, and in clear need of two weeks off from life in general. "Not much of a hide-out."

"Better than the accommodations that you offered," was Brennan's surly reply. "Room service was piss poor. And I'd fire the cleaning people, if I were you."

"Don't be so certain," Bartholomew admonished. "Listen to our offer." He gestured toward Jesse, still lying on the floor, trying to make himself comfortable with a small rock for a pillow, shivering even with Adam's own shirt as a dismal excuse for a blanket, looking pale and ill. "He's the one we want."

"You can't have him," Brennan said automatically. "Get that straight, bird brain."

"Give him to us," Bartholomew continued, as if Brennan hadn't spoken. "We'll allow the two of you to go free, even point you in the right direction to get to town. Leave, and two of you live. Defy us, and you all die. Everyone loses."

"Not a chance," Brennan said.

"We'll do it," Jesse contradicted.

"No, we won't," Adam jumped in. "Jesse, we're not going to let you throw your life away."

"Adam—"

"The answer is no, and that's final, Jesse." Adam turned back to the feral. "Get out. The answer is no."

Bartholomew shrugged his shoulders. "I thought you might say that, but the others insisted that you be given a chance." He jerked his chin at Brennan. "Don't try to leave. We'll have people watching the opening for any moves. And we can see a lot better in the night than you can." And with that, he made a standing leap straight up the twenty feet to the ceiling and outside. Shalimar Fox couldn't have done any better.

Jesse wasn't finished. "You should have taken their offer," he said bitterly. "You could have gotten out of this. Adam, I'm finished anyway. You said so yourself; this poison they made me drink will kill me."

"We don't know that for certain," Adam argued. "We need to get you back to Sanctuary, where I can run tests. I can come up with a cure."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"We won't know until I try. And that means all of us getting out of mess. That's 'all of us', Jesse. Not 'some of us.'"

"Besides," Brennan put in, "Ole Feather-head was lying."

Jesse's gaze flicked over to the elemental. "What do you mean?"

Brennan shrugged, stopping quickly as his arm reminded him not to engage in such antics. "He was lying. It was obvious."

"Not to me, Brennan."

"Was to me." Brennan leaned back against the cave wall, positioning himself where he could still see—and more importantly, aim—at the opening in the cave ceiling. "Jess, you're not the only mutant around."

"But I'm the only one that that devil's brew works on."

"But that's not what the geniuses upstairs think."

"Well, they're wrong."

"But they don't know that. Or if they do, they're in a huge state of denial. Remember, they now know that I'm a mutant, too, and once you're used up, bro, they'll be coming for a certain elemental that I happen to be very fond of. We're not leaving you, bro," Brennan added firmly. "Start thinking up ways for all three of us to escape. Until then, I don't want to hear anything else coming out of your mouth. Hear me?"

Jesse frowned, and turned his head away. He wouldn't answer.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shalimar fought back the tears. They wouldn't help, and they interfered with her ability to look at the map.

Emma came up behind her. The psionic laid a hand on the feral's shoulder. "We'll find them, Shalimar. It's only a matter of time."

"Which is time they may not have." Shalimar bit her lip to force the salty liquid to stay where it was. "There are three more mountains to go. But what if we've missed them? They told you that they were in a cave. What if I passed right by them, didn't know they were there? What happens, Emma, when there are no mountains left to search? What do we do then?"

"It won't come to that," Emma said forcefully. "It can't, and it won't! We will find them!" She looked at the map, then up at the three remaining mountains that they had left to search in the area that they thought that their missing teammates had gone down in. Two of the mountains were snow-capped, the third bare and still waiting for the winter white sale for clothing its peak. "We'll keep searching, Shalimar. I'll search tonight, see if there's anything that they can tell me in their dreams. Tomorrow we'll try that mountain." She pointed at one of the two snow-topped peaks. "That one. It looks the coldest. If the guys are on that one, they'll need rescuing faster to get out of the snow. Hopefully that will be the one, and we can get them home."

"Home," Shalimar echoed. "Home."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jesse peered up through the hole in the ceiling, careful to stay out of the line of fire. "It's getting dark."

"And cold." Brennan looked around for something to burn. There was no wood in the cave. His gaze lit briefly on the shirt that he had given up to make the rope out of, but sagged. The damp cloth not only would give off choking smoke but would burn to ashes within minutes, and that was assuming that he could get a flame started through the wet. Heat was out of the question from such meager rags. "I think the three of us are going to get a lot more intimate tonight than we usually do. What I wouldn't give for that survival blanket from the Helix. Next time, I vote we bring it along when a bunch of ferals grabs us and drags us back to their camp like a sack of moldy potatoes."

"While you're at it, ask for a cup of hot cocoa," Jesse suggested. "A fireplace, even a kerosene heater."

"A campfire will do nicely," Adam put in, craning his neck to see. The beast ferals were out of sight, but all three knew that their enemy was still there, waiting for an opportunity to snatch up a certain mutant or two. Every few minutes another pebble or two dripped into the hole, just to remind them that they were still prisoners.

"While we're at it, put in a heating system," Jesse quipped. "Gas or electric?" He pointed at the stream. "Steam heat, and we'll poach some fish for dinner while we're at it."

"No, really." Adam pointed out through the hole in the cave ceiling. "A campfire. Brennan, do you see that?"

Now Brennan looked, getting interested. "A tree. Pine, if I'm not mistaken. With large branches. Branches that are positioned right overhead."

Adam grinned. "How's your shooting eye, Sparky?"

"For something like this, damn good. Campfire with roaring fire? Even a chance to barbecue a few measly little fish from our underground stream? Stand back, and let the master show you how it's done." Brennan snapped his fingers, feeling the welcome electrons sizzle and dance over his fingers. He concentrated, letting the charge build up inside, the charge eager to rush forth. He eyed the branch over head: twenty feet to the cave opening, and then another twenty, perhaps more, to sever the limb and send it tumbling down to the three cold and hungry captives. Piece of cake.

Brennan send the lightning bolt flaming into the air. Neat as a pin, it sliced through the branch with a crack, and the piney scent of chopped wood filled the air. Brush came tumbling down, sliding right into the hole as Adam had requested. "Yes!" He started forward to collect the prize.

An arrow split the air, fired by a feral above. It almost missed Brennan—it took a bare slice of skin from his arm. Brennan yelped in surprise and pain.

But the next volley was already on its way. "Brennan!" Jesse yelled. He launched himself into the air, phasing solid as he did so. The arrow that would have gone through Brennan's heart instead bounced harmlessly off Jesse's diamond-hard surface to clatter to the floor of the cave. The next three, in rapid succession, did the same.

Brennan and Jesse toppled over into the small stream, sending a spray of water across the floor and sending the blind cave fish fleeing in terror. Brennan swallowed an unhealthy dose of H2O and came up sputtering, Jesse dragging him down with the sheer density of his mass. Instantly realizing what had happened, Jesse quickly relaxed the reflex and snapped back into normal density. Adam hastened to help them both out of the water before the ferals could re-load and send more arrows raining down at them.

"Missed," Brennan taunted the ferals above, ignoring the dribble of blood inching its slow way down his arm. Another arrow was the half-hearted response, but it came nowhere near to where the three huddled against the cave wall. Brennan turned to the others. "Everybody okay?"

"You got it the worst." Adam dabbed at the cut on Brennan' arm with the least dirty of their rags. "You could have been killed. Watch out."

"Not with Stonewall Kilmartin around," Brennan grinned. "What's all that training for that you make us do, if not for times like this? I'll admit, I never thought we'd use it while trapped in a cave waiting to get killed by a bunch of hairy mutants but hey—gotta live a little." Adrenaline taking its sweet time to vanish, guy.

Adam examined the pine branch that they had pulled out of the line of fire. "Green, but that's to be expected. The smoke should rise up through the opening in the roof of the cave and keep the ferals at bay. It might even smell good."

"Anything would smell good after three days in the same clothes," Jesse griped, crawling slowly back to his spot where he had been doing a good job of holding up the cave wall.

"Want me to try another run for it?" Brennan suggested. "If the smoke drives them back far enough, I'll be able to get away and bring back help. Ferals hate fire."

Adam considered, then shook his head. "No. These aren't normal ferals; they don't have Shalimar's fear of fire. They'll only be as far back as it takes to breathe, and they'll circle the area to prevent just what you're suggesting. No, let's break this wood up into manageable pieces. It'll take you a while to get a fire going with wood this green."

"Uh, Adam?"

"Yes, Brennan?"

"I fell in the stream."

Adam understood instantly, and his heart sank. A wet Brennan was an electrical current that would surge through all the water across the floor. A floor that a certain genetic scientist and a certain molecular mutant were positioned upon. With nothing to act as a ground circuit, if Brennan tried to use his powers, all three of them would be fried. Maybe as a last resort, but I don't recommend it for anything less.

Adam glanced up nervously at the hole in the cave roof. "I hope they don't figure out that we've lost our long distance weapon."

"Very bad," Brennan agreed. "Adam, those guys are not stupid. They may not figure it out right away, but they're going to get a pretty good idea that something has happened if I don't challenge them every now and again. What are we going to do?"

Adam searched both the surroundings and his brain, looking for inspiration. He lit upon the remnants of Brennan's shirt, doing double duty as a short length of rope. "A sling shot. I used to be pretty good at it as a kid. And we've got the rocks."

"Lots of rocks." Brennan tried to get enthusiastic. "You think that will convince them?" His voice held plenty of doubt.

"You've got to be kidding," was Jesse's contribution.

"Sure, it will." Adam wished that he were a better actor, to put more confidence into his voice. Neither mutant appeared to believe him.

"We need help," Jesse said.

"That goes without saying." Adam hefted a rock the size of his fist, estimating if the shirt would fling it the way he wanted or if the fabric would shred under the strain. "As soon as Brennan dries out, we can try smoke signals."

"Not funny, Adam." Jesse was through playing around. "I mean, we need to let Shalimar and Emma know where we are."

Adam stopped weighing the rocks, cocking his head. "And just how are we going to do that, Jesse? Our comm. links aren't working; clearly there's something magnetic under the earth that plays havoc with the signal. My guess is that there's a large deposit of iron nearby. And even if the comm. links did work, they wouldn't this far underground. And just what would we tell the girlsif we could call them? It's not as though we've been taking readings by starlight."

Jesse pointed at Brennan. "Him."

"Me?"

"You were outside, Brennan. What did you see?"

"Mountains," Brennan said. "Trees. Rocks. All very generic, Jess. Not a lot of help even for Shalimar."

"How many mountains? What shape?"

"Big mountains—" Brennan started to say, when he broke off in thought. Then: "Mountains with snow on them, the one to the north with snow down to the tree line and the other with snow only on one face, the west face. Our mountain, the one where we are, has no snow on it. We're located about a quarter mile down from our own tree line, on the eastern side of the mountain. There's a deep valley below us, and then nothing until another mountain far off in the distance. We must be on the eastern edge of this mountain range."

Jesse grinned approvingly. "And Shalimar always said you'd never amount to anything in the bush."

Brennan grinned back, hope glimmering. "Showed her." Then—"she really said that?"

Adam nodded, his own spirits rising. "'Fraid so, Brennan. You'll make her eat those words." Then he put a damper on things. "So we can help the girls find us, but how are we going to get this information to them? What I said to Brennan still goes: the comm. links are useless here. And the smoke signals I spoke of were a joke, Jesse."

"I'm not talking about smoke signals. I'm talking about me."

"You?" Adam got nervous.

"Me." Jesse took a deep breath. "Adam, when did you two see Emma, and talk with her? It was during a seizure, right?" he hurried on, not letting the older man speak. "I heard you earlier, while you thought I was asleep. Right after the seizure, while I'm sleeping it off, that gives Emma the opportunity to come through and communicate. That's what you said."

"That may be what I said, but you're not having any more seizures," Adam pointed out. "That was in response to that poison that the ferals gave you. And if you're thinking about drinking any more of it: don't. It will kill you. Your body can't take another dose of that stuff. I won't let you do it."

"Good, because that wasn't what I had in mind," Jesse replied. "Adam, what if I had another seizure, one not caused by the ferals' potion? Do you think that Emma could come through? You and Brennan could talk to her, tell her where we are."

"It's a possibility," Adam admitted, "but, Jesse, the point is academic. You're not going to have any more seizures. The poison is working its way out of your system. You're getting back to normal." I hope.

"There's another way to have a seizure." Jesse took a deep breath. "A seizure can be induced by electricity."

Adam stared. "That's dangerous. An electrically induced seizure will damage your mind, not to mention cause some serious pain. When it's used in therapeutic treatment, it's done under anesthesia. This is too risky, Jesse. He might accidentally kill you."

"And where we are right now is not? C'mon, Adam. Can you think of a better way to get out of this mess?" Jesse jerked his thumb upwards, indicating the waiting band of ferals. "They're not going to stay up there forever. As soon as they figure out that ole Hot Wire here has had his flames doused, they'll be down in a heartbeat. And hitting us with water balloons, or whatever they have that will do the same thing to keep him wet."

Adam cast around for more objections. "The equivalent concept applies, Jesse. If Brennan is wet, he can't use his powers. Which means he can't electrocute you." He deliberately let the term hang out there, trying to get a rise out of Jesse.

It didn't work. "There's a dry spot over there," Jesse pointed, indicating a small pile of rocks.

"He's still wet. All wet. And so is your idea."

Jesse let a small smile crawl across his face. "Don't take this the wrong way, Brennan, but—get naked."

"What?"

"You heard me. Take off your sopping clothes; they're keeping you wet. You'll dry off in moment or two. Cold, but dry. Then we do the death row electric chair thing, you talk to Emma, and we're home free." The smile drooped slightly. "I hope."

"Adam?" Brennan kept hoping for another objection from the senior member. This was seriously crazy!

But Adam was defeated by logic. "We need to come up with another way—" he started.

"Haven't heard any yet, Adam," Jesse said, deliberately calm. He sat up and folded his arms, trying to look healthier than he was. It almost worked. "I admit, the thought doesn't thrill me. And if you can come up with another idea in the time remaining before our friends up top decide to make their move…" He let the words trail off.

Adam shuddered. Jesse was right; there was no other option. Well, there was, but it involved Jesse taking another swig of the ferals' death potion and turning Bartholomew or one of the others back into a hairless ape and Jesse into a lifeless corpse with Brennan following shortly thereafter. If Jesse wanted to take a chance on going out at the hands of his teammate instead… Adam couldn't complete the thought. The world will be a very cold place without you, Jesse Kilmartin.

"All right," he said finally. "Brennan?"

Brennan closed his eyes in silent agony. "I can't do this, bro." To this man who was closer than a brother. Jesse was asking Brennan to hurt him, to save Brennan' own life along with Adam, and leave the molecular behind. "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can." Jesse understood, knew exactly what he was asking. "Brennan, this is the only way. We are not getting out of here on our own; we need Shalimar and Emma. Besides," and he flickered a smile, "you do this right and you'll cure me of all the craziness you're always accusing me of. Isn't that worth it? Dark clouds, silver linings?"

"This isn't funny, Jess. I could kill you."

"But you won't." Jesse too grew serious. "I trust you, Brennan. I can trust you with my life, and the lives of my team mates. Including yours. Please, Brennan. Do this for me."

"I must be crazy," Brennan muttered, giving in. Right now, he felt cold and wet and thoroughly unhappy. Could there be a worse spot for Mrs. Mulwray's little boy to be in? Brennan didn't think so.

"C'mon, you'll feel better in a moment. Just think of how it will be when Shal and Emma get here," Jesse coaxed. "One look at that broken wing of yours, and they'll be falling over each other nursing you back to health."

"Right." Brennan fumbled one-handedly with the belt buckle to his pants.

"Want some help?" Jesse teased gently. "I realize that you're used to having some girl do it for you…"

"Shut up, Jess." Savagely. "At least you could turn around," Brennan added bitterly.

"C'mon, Jesse." Adam turned the molecular to face the other side of the cave. "Let's give him some privacy. These fish in this stream here," he added conversationally, "what do you think? Convergent evolution to the guppy? The fins are similar."

"There's something very symbolic in the fact that my last discussion on Earth is about guppies," Jesse quipped. "Very humbling. I would have thought that it would be something more along the lines of nuclear fusion, or at least saving fifteen screaming kids from an overturned and burning bus about to explode. Somehow this seems anti-climactic."

"If I find a burning bus in this cave, I'll be sure to direct you to it," Adam assured him, then turned serious. "Are you certain that you want to do this?"

"Want to? No. Wrong phrase. Best option? That's a little more consistent with reality." Jesse too grew serious, and lowered his voice. "If I don't get out of this alive, Adam, don't let Brennan blame himself. He will, you know."

"Yes," Adam agreed, "he will. And so will I. I'm supposed to be the mastermind of all of this; I should be able to come up with a better solution."

"And, given time, I'm sure that you would," Jesse told him. "But that's the crunch point: time. We've been here three days now, going on a fourth. We're out of time."

Brennan crawled out of his pants, using the damp fabric to rub off any stray drops of moisture that he could. He would need all the control that he could muster for this little trick, and this was hardly the best of circumstances. He hesitated at the shorts, but Jesse was right: his clothes were soaked through and through, and that water would spread the electrical charge throughout the cavern and electrocute everyone instead of just Jesse. He snorted: Jesse. His best friend. His best friend who had just asked—no, demanded—that Brennan all but kill him. Brennan developed a sudden flash of insight and sympathy for the knights of old, the ones asked to deliver the coup de grace to a dying compatriot. Harder on the ones left behind, Jess. He rubbed harder, trying for heat, for friction, anything to warm away the chill that was settling onto his heart. It wasn't working. Not wearing a stitch of clothing wasn't helping.

Jesse came up behind, laid a warm hand on Brennan's shoulder. "Ready, bro?"

Brennan nearly jumped out of his cold naked skin. "No."

Jesse understood. "Yes, you are, bro." He smiled crookedly. "It's okay, Brennan. Just do the best you can." He seated himself amongst the rocks, crossing his legs and leaning back against the cold and uncomfortable cave wall. "What voltage you gonna use? One hundred? Two?"

"Just enough to shut you up." Brennan didn't feel the joke.

Jesse closed his eyes. To keep them open, to watch the elemental at work, would have been too much for Brennan; that much Jesse knew. "Fry away, bro."

Brennan placed both hands to either side of Jesse's head, ignoring the sudden stab that the broken bones send rushing through his nerves. It seemed fitting, somehow, that he not escape this ordeal unscathed himself. He could feel Adam's presence behind him, tall and reassuring and helpless, ready to rush in and—do what? What could the scientist/doctor do? For all of his education and brilliance, Adam was just as powerless as the rest of them. Damn ferals. Wish I could send them all to hell and back. Maybe not back. Just drop 'em off at the nearest bus stop in Purgatory.

"You're stalling." Jesse kept his eyes closed. "Do it, bro."

Electrons crackled. A cry wrenched itself from Jesse's throat, cut off by the sudden cessation of breath. Every muscle in the molecular's body clenched, drawing up into himself, eyelids flashing open with eyes rolling back into his head.

"Enough!" Adam commanded sharply. "That's it, Brennan!"

Brennan cut the flow off instantly, catching the limp body as Jesse slumped against the rocks. "Jesse?"

Adam swiftly checked the pulse at Jesse's neck. "He's alive. So far." He helped Brennan maneuver the man into the most comfortable position possible under the circumstances. "Now we'll see if he was right. Emma?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma could feel Jesse calling her from the moment she entered her trance. There was urgency in his call; clearly her teammate needed her as quickly as possible. "Jesse?"

"Emma!" Jesse came into view. It was like that on the Psychic Planes sometimes; once you connected, you could 'see' each other. Usually you saw each other as you wished to see them. This time Emma saw Jesse as she had the last time she'd actually seen him in the flesh: hair swept back, shirt open over a white tee and jeans trying not to slip down over narrow hips. Face open and welcoming, teeth flashing in a grin. He looked a lot better than last time, she reflected, when she had had to guide him back to his body. He had more purpose to him this time, and that gave him force in the Overworld.

This, however, could be worse. A pliant Jesse would go where she led him. This one? "Jesse, what are you doing here? This can be dangerous if you're not trained."

"Not too safe where we are now, either." Jesse giggled, the experience turning him drunk. That too was a common occurrence here. Emma herself had gotten 'tipsy', early on before she trained. "Gotta come get us soon. Or one of us isn't gonna be walking out at all."

"Brennan? I know he was injured."

"Nope." Jesse leaned over to confidentially announce and almost toppled himself onto the cloud ground, "me. That's why I've come. To tell you to hustle your pretty little asses." He giggled again. "Oops. That was rude. That's what Mom always used to say. Didn't mean to say that. I mean, I did. But I didn't. But I did. Hell, you know what I mean. Oops." He looked at his surroundings. Emma saw it as a cloud world, and wondered briefly what Jesse saw. It was different for each person. "Am I allowed to say that here? Hell, I mean? Oops, I said it again. Maybe I better get out of here."

"Not a bad idea." Emma supported him, catching him under the arms, knowing that this was only symbolic of the mental support she was giving. "Jesse, you need to stay with your body. You need to get back right away."

Jesse considered. "Not yet. They haven't finished torturing me yet. Think I'll stay here until it's all over. Feels better. You go instead. They're not gonna torture you. I don't think." He hiccupped.

"You can't do that, Jesse. You need to get back and watch over your body, fight to live. If you stay here, your body will collapse." Emma felt alarmed. This is what she had feared when she saw Jesse.

"Naw. Gonna croak anyway. Might as well go out in style." He leaped into the air to land on a soft bed that appeared behind him. Emma didn't blink. Materializing things in an instant was normal for the Psychic Planes where thought ruled. Nothing really existed. Either one of them could create whatever they wanted out of mere idea. "Ah. Much better." He grinned, folding his arms comfortably behind his head. "You go. Adam and Brennan need to talk to you. Just look for an unused body and hop in. I won't mind."

"Jesse, I can't do that. You have to come back with me."

"No, I don't. You found your way before; you can do it again."

"Jesse, you're going back. I can make you go back," Emma warned.

That penetrated his pseudo-drunkenness. "Emma, please don't." Jesse looked away frantically, searching for an escape through the clouds. "Emma, don't make me go back!"

"I'm sorry, Jesse," Emma whispered, and took careful aim.