Jesse ambled along the street, window-shopping and not interested in anything the vendors were offering. He felt at a loss; for the first time in years, he had no goal. Nothing to do, nothing to strive for, nothing to pursue. Nothing. Gone. All gone. Wiped out in the space of an overheard conversation. The home that he thought he had made for himself at Sanctuary had turned out to be a sham. They didn't want him there. That had been made plain.
He looked down at the simple gold ring on his finger. They could track him with that; he should get rid of it. No, that would be expecting too much from his former teammates. They wanted him gone; Mutant X wouldn't go to the trouble of finding him again. Not even to re-acquire one slightly used gold ring filled with high tech electronics.
But it might come alive at an awkward moment. Jesse could fix that: he turned off the communications part of the link. There; a simple twist and the ring turned into a plain gold band on his right hand. He again debated throwing it away, and decided not to. If needed, he could switch it to his left so that he wouldn't be pestered; make it look as though he were attached and unavailable.
Now, why should that thought come to mind? Jesse was unattached; he wanted to be pestered. He wanted to meet new people, start a new life for himself. He was available.
Maybe tomorrow. For today, for the rest of the day, Jesse walked. Something drew him along, some little nudge that persuaded him that this was the direction to take and not that. He really didn't have anything better to do. He gave in. Like it mattered.
Dusk. The streetlights were coming alive, filling in the spaces between the shadows. The dirt and grime along the roadways melted into the darkness, less noticeable, not that he had been noticing it anyway. His feet seemed to have a mind of their own, leading him to—where?
As if it made a difference in anything, to anyone. Sanctuary was gone from him; the rest of Mutant X didn't want him there. Jesse Kilmartin could go anywhere, do anything, and there was no one to say good job, Jesse. No one to care.
What to do, what to do? He supposed he'd have to find some sort of work, something where he could earn a living and not stand out from the crowd. Not particularly sensible, the look-at-me attitude, when Genomex is on the prowl. No, something quick and unassuming would be most sensible, perhaps even something that didn't require documentation and the filling out of a multitude of papers. Genomex had their claws into every database, it seemed. Jesse may not have known what he wanted out of life at the present time, but ending up in a pod certainly wasn't the best of futures.
His feet turned him into a small bar, the steps leading down to a dingy smoke-filled room beneath the street level. There was noise in the background that pretended to be music but Jesse, having been raised on something a little more coherent, wasn't about to dignify the sound with the title. Glasses clinked as beer suds foamed over onto a dark bar top to be wiped into a stained and wet rag. Three or four disinterested faces looked up briefly at him and then returned to the far more intriguing perusal of what was in their mug.
All except for one face, a face which didn't belong in an establishment of this type. The face belonged to someone longing to be a super-model, someone with long brown hair that normally danced around her shoulders, someone with big brown eyes that right now looked more than a little scared. Long legs stuck out of artfully torn shorts to tantalize and tease the men who were bellied up to the bar. The effect had been originally intentional, and was now regretted.
Denise Vetchner was scared.
Jesse recognized her immediately, and wasted no time in hustling to her side. "Denise, what are you doing here?" He looked around; more than one man in the bar had been considering making a move on the young girl and was disappointed that someone she knew had shown up. Snooze, you lose, guys. I'm getting her out of here. "And how did you get past the front door? You're underage."
"I get in all the time. Nobody cards me." Denise was telling the truth. With the swagger of an older woman—someone at least in her twenties—Denise had little trouble in getting past the doormen, most of whom were too busy looking at her assets to look at her ID. "Jesse, I'm scared. Some of the Genomex guys were after me."
"That would scare me, too." And did. It meant that somewhere nearby was a team of Genomex's finest, looking for a young girl. And if a member of Mutant X happened to be nearby? Icing on the cake.
No, wait. Jesse Kilmartin no longer belonged to Mutant X. The others had made that very plain.
Big deal. Genomex didn't know that. And would still be just as happy with a two for one sale on mutants. "What say we get out of here and some place a little safer?" Jesse suggested.
Denise nodded, taking hold of his arm as though letting go wasn't going to happen any time during the entire next millennium.
But some of the men in the bar had other ideas. They had other plans. One planted himself in front of the exit. The second planted himself in front of Jesse and Denise. "Just where are you taking the little lady?"
Jesse pushed Denise behind him. This looked like it was about to get ugly. "We're leaving."
"I can see that. I just don't like it."
"Sorry to hear that." Jesse was mentally tallying up the number of possible opponents. There was Big and Ugly in front of him, and Bigger and Uglier by the door. Would the others get involved? There were three more watching the scene play out with more than a little interest. "But it doesn't make any difference. You can get out of our way or we can walk over you."
"Oh, you can, can you?" Big and Ugly sneered. "You hear that, boys?" He flexed a bicep that a circus strong man would be proud to own. "Little boy toy here thinks he gonna take her outta here."
"Jesse?" Denise was beyond scared and working on terrified.
"Just stay behind me." Jesse didn't move his attention from the man in front of him, or the one by the door. "Look, we don't want any trouble here. Just let us past."
"Don't want any trouble, he says," Big and Ugly snorted. "Sonny, you bought yourself the trouble when you walked in here." He looked away, and when he looked back it was along with a ham-like fist aimed straight at Jesse's face.
Jesse was expecting it. Big and Ugly was big, ugly, and predictable. The punch was telegraphed from the moment he looked back at his buddy by the door. After routinely sparring with the likes of Shalimar and Brennan, it felt like his opponent was fighting in slow motion. Jesse threw up a block, mentally turning his arm to stone as he did so.
Big and Ugly likewise expected the block. What he didn't expect was the consistency of the block. He had expected to power through the block and ram his fist into Jesse's face. He had expected to loosen several of Jesse's teeth without benefit of anesthesia.
Life is full of little disappointments.
Jesse's expectations were more realistic. He expected the man's fist to crush itself into paste against the diamond-hard surface that his arm had become, and he was gratified to see that he hadn't lost his touch. The man's howl of pain had a few more decibels than Jesse was used to, but since Big and Ugly hadn't trained under the exacting standards of Mason Eckhart's School for Nasty Guys in Dark Suits Jesse was more than willing to forgive the transgression. In order to reduce the noise level, however, Jesse quickly helped the man down to the floor with a light tap from that densely massed arm. Actually, Jesse wanted to be ready for Bigger and Uglier coming in from the doorway without fear of interruption, but both reasons were pertinent.
Bigger and Uglier came on more cautiously. Having seen his buddy go down swiftly with just two blows from someone who looked significantly less than threatening, Bigger and Uglier was determined to prove that a) he was smarter than his buddy and b) he could avenge the humiliation as well as collect bragging rights for the next round of beer.
'A' was accomplished. Instead of going down in two blows, Bigger and Uglier managed to last three with a head butt. 'B' was never gonna happen.
The remaining three at the bar came to the conclusion that one on one were no longer acceptable odds. Three on one were now the house rules. They advanced.
"Out!" Jesse ordered Denise, backing up. "Get out now!"
"Jesse, look out!" Denise screamed.
Phasing was a two way street for the molecular. Instead of going solid, Jesse phased to insubstantial. The man who had sneaked up behind, picked up a chair, and swung it at Jesse's back found himself taking out all three of the remaining combatants instead of his prey. A quick shove with his foot, the chair-wielding man fell onto his rump, and Jesse escorted Denise out of the bar at top speed.
"C'mon!" The three men in dark suits down the street under the light may or may not have belonged to Genomex, but Jesse wasn't taking any chances. Genomex people had an uncanny way of showing up when least expected or wanted, and Jesse truly didn't want to have to deal with any more trouble right now. He grabbed Denise's arm and hustled her away through the back alleys.
"Where are we going?" she squeaked. If this had been fantasy, her voice would have been low and whiskey-touched. Instead, it came out like what it was: a terrified child.
"I'm not sure." Jesse looked swiftly around. Oops, the trio was from Genomex. There was no other reason that they would have entered this dark alley lined with trash, garbage, and rats. Time to beat a hasty retreat.
Damn. No exit. At least, no exit for the ordinary, every day, normal human. Jesse created his own. Exhaling, he phased the brick wall and pushed Denise through.
The wall snapped back to reality.
Admiration of the molecular's quick thinking would have to wait for a calmer moment. Jesse led Denise through the warehouse to the back of the building, dodging the multitude of shelves and boxes, and created their own personalized exit out the back wall, doors not included. From there it was an easy hop, skip, and a jump to three streets over where, Jesse hoped, the Genomex goons wouldn't be able to find them.
Hero worship lit up sixteen year old brown eyes, and Denise flung herself at her savior.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" Adam glared at the trio as if they were responsible for the bad news.
"Gone, as in not there," Brennan clarified. "Gone, as in vamoosed. Vanished. Elvis has left the building, and so has Jesse."
"I told him to stay in his room," Adam grumbled. "Wait till I get my hands on him. He shouldn't have left, not at a time like this."
"Adam, why did you lock the door to his room?" Emma wanted to know.
Adam gave her a puzzled stare. "Why would I do that? That would have to be the most ridiculous thing anyone could do. He's a molecular."
"Well, someone did." He couldn't find a bobby pin, so Brennan had grabbed a stray piece of wire to pick the lock to Jesse's room. Which is how they discovered that the fourth member of their team missing. He held up the thoroughly bent pseudo-key. "Someone locked the door to Jesse's room. And, Adam, it was locked from the outside. Jesse didn't do it. Not unless he did it on his way out, which wouldn't make sense, either."
"And he's not answering his comm. link," Shalimar added. "Adam, I'm worried."
"Did you try to track him?"
Emma nodded. "There's no signal. Either he's removed his ring or he's gone underground, some place where the signal won't penetrate."
A lesser man would have cursed. Adam merely pursed his lips, thinking. "We really don't need this right now. First Denise Vetchner, and now Jesse."
"You think there's a connection?"
"I don't see how." Adam began to pace. "Denise is a child with no powers whatsoever, despite her mutant heritage. You tested her yourself, Emma, and found nothing."
"That's right."
"The only connection between the two is that they're both missing right now. There's no reason to think that they planned this together. Is there?" Adam turned back to Mutant X.
Brennan shook his head. "He thought she was a cute kid, but nothing more than that. She's not Jesse's type, Adam, despite what Denise hoped."
"I can verify that, Adam," Emma agreed. "There was nothing in Jesse's mind to suggest that Jesse cared for the girl any more then a generalized affection for a fellow mutant. Denise had a crush on him; that's all. Harmless adolescent stuff."
More pacing. "I don't like this," Adam said finally. "The more I think about this, the stranger it becomes, and not just on Jesse's part. Guys, we've all been acting oddly. I mean, I haven't told Jesse to go to his room since he was a young teen-ager. And for all my data to crash and vanish from the computer hard drive isn't like Jesse. His technique is too good for that. Frankly, it sounds more like that time that the generators acted up and sent a massive electrical surge through all of Sanctuary. It wasn't just the computers that fried that time, if you recall, Shalimar."
The feral nodded. "Before your time, Emma, Brennan." She cocked her head. "I have to be honest, guys: I wouldn't want to swear in a court of law that I asked Jesse to search down that Shadling character. I mean, I was certain yesterday but now I'm not so sure."
Emma had her input. "And yesterday morning; I'm used to deflecting other people's thoughts. I don't know why I went off on Jesse." She colored. "It was actually more of a compliment." She bit her lip. "No wonder Jesse left. He probably thinks that we don't care about him any more."
"Not possible," Shalimar protested. "We've been through too much together! How could he possibly think that?"
Adam cut off the discussion. "No matter what the cause, bottom line is that Jesse has left Sanctuary and is unreachable. Maybe he'll come back, or maybe we'll have to go searching for him. But he's a grown man, trained in the use of his powers. Denise Vetchner is not, and Genomex is after her. Let's locate her and get her to safety, and then we'll find Jesse and set things right." He sat back. "What have you got? It sounds like nothing right now."
"Got it in one," Brennan admitted. "Man, what I wouldn't give to have Jesse at the computers right now, giving us a clue to go on. We need him."
"But we haven't got him," Adam reminded him. "I'll see what I can do. I'm no slouch, either, even though they're Jesse's search programs."
"Hey, what about your friend Kenny, Brennan?" Shalimar lit up. "Adam, he's a computer mutant. The way he tracked down that other lead, that Shadling guy, finding people is one of his specialties. Why don't we go to him?"
"He owes us, Adam," Brennan added. "I'll bet he'd help in a heart beat."
But Adam frowned. "We haven't checked him out, yet. And I haven't said yes to putting him on the team."
"What better way to test his abilities?" Brennan suggested. "We invite him here, have him do his thing, and then you have some first hand data to work with."
"Brennan, I am not bringing an unknown mutant to Sanctuary. It's too dangerous."
"He's not unknown," Brennan argued. "I've known him for years."
"Yes, and by your own admission haven't seen him for the last four."
"We bring other unknowns here," Shalimar put in. "Adam, we can use the optic paralyzer to make certain that he doesn't know where Sanctuary is. We've done it before with other strange mutants."
Adam looked from one to the other, and then appealed to Emma. "You worked with him, Emma. What's your sense of him?"
Emma shrugged. "He's a computer mutant, almost the opposite end of the spectrum from psionics. I have a tough time 'reading' him. But I haven't sensed anything bad about him. Everything I get says that he's just another mutant trying to make it in a world that doesn't like mutants." She shrugged again. "I won't say no."
Adam lifted his shoulders. "Okay, guys, bring him in. But keep an eye on him. A young girl's life is at stake."
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This is so not good.
Jesse woke up to find that sometime during the night, Denise had crawled into his arms and slept there, comforted by his warmth and closeness. Jesse decided on the spot to be grateful that neither one of them had elected to remove any clothing before turning in. Good thing it's cold out at night. If this were summer, I'd be up a creek without a paddle…
Dawn was hoisting itself out of bed, and clouds were heavy in the air, just barely visible through the dirt-spattered windows of the abandoned warehouse that Jesse had found for them late last night. He hadn't dared check them into a legitimate place for the night; his wallet was tapped out of green stuff, and the only source of funds would be a credit card and wouldn't their friends at Genomex be all over that some thirty seconds later? No, better to spend the night some place invisible to the bureaucratic eye. A little dirt never hurt anyone, even a sixteen year old with past delusions of a modeling career.
No, Denise's delusions now included a career with Mutant X, Jesse Kilmartin included. Never mind that she was still an under-age teen-ager. Never mind that her psionic powers hadn't yet manifested themselves. According to the Gospel of Emma as related by the prophet Denise herself, Denise's powers would arrive with the appropriate fireworks and meteor showers sometime within the next week, a month if Denise was slow to mature. Jesse found himself wishing that the empath had been a bit more blunt with the kid about her so-called gift. Not that he blamed Emma, but it would have made his current life a bit easier. Sorry, Denise, but a short and catastrophic life battling the forces of Evil is probably not in your future..
And never mind that Jesse himself was no longer a part of Mutant X. He felt a sudden pang at that thought, a sharp ache running through his heart that was almost physical in its intensity. The others had made that perfectly clear: they didn't want him.
Best to move on. He'd wait until they were up—not one of them cheerfully got up in the morning, and this cloudy day would only exacerbate that—and let them know where they could come and get Denise for delivery to her foster parents. Then, obligations met, Jesse could head to—where? Jesse found that he didn't have a clue of what he would do. Beyond the obvious, of course. Genomex was still out there. Maybe the Underground? The thought didn't thrill him. The Underground was still too close to Adam and Mutant X. He sighed. He'd think of something. Eventually.
He started to slide out from underneath the girl when she stirred. Jesse froze, hoping that she'd fall back asleep. No luck; big brown eyes opened lazily, followed by a beckoning smile that would toast the icicles off Mason Eckhart.
Kid doesn't even really know what she's doing. She's just aping what she sees on the tube. Never mind that she's tantalizing a healthy male in the prime of life. Damn, but she's hot!
She's jailbait, Kilmartin. She doesn't know what she's doing. She's trusting you to keep control for both of you, even if she doesn't realize it.
Great. Lovely compliment. Down, boy!
Jesse determinedly pulled his arm out from under, not stopping even at her half-awake murmur of protest. "Time to rise and shine," he told her. "New day, and all of that."
Denise burrowed back into the meager excuse for blankets with a noise that meant are you out of your freakin' skull? Does anyone even remotely human get up before noon if they don't have to?
"Yes," Jesse told the buried lump, "you do. Like it or not, Genomex is a 24/7 operation, and you can bet that they're still after us and probably closing in. We have to move, get you some place safe."
"Sanctuary?" The word was muffled by bedcovers, but Jesse understood it all too well. Another chest pang there, Kilmartin.
He ignored it. "The very place. I'll find you something to eat, and then contact the guys at Sanctuary. We'll have you safe in no time." They going to listen to you, Kilmartin, when you call in? After everything that's happened?
First things first: check out the area for signs of enemy activity, then obtain food for the growing girl he had taken responsibility for. After the lecture that Shalimar had delivered to the girl when they'd picked Denise up, Jesse had damn well better make sure that she ate properly.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Whoa! Way cool!" was the most printable of the things that Kenny Dickerson said upon arrival to Sanctuary after the optic paralyzer was removed. The rest of his verbiage was peppered with comments that would earn him an honorary membership in the Scatological Society but also indicated that the computer mutant was favorably impressed by the technological wizardry laid out before him. "And I get to play in this playground?"
"Well, not play, exactly," Brennan grinned, setting the optic paralyzer on the countertop. Behind him, Shalimar and Emma leaned back, at ease in Sanctuary, watching the computer mutant take in his surroundings. "Theoretically this is work. Think you can handle it, bro?"
"With my eyes closed," Kenny assured him. His head kept moving in circles, body following slowly behind, wanting to take in more and more of the computer lair, not knowing where to stop and focus. A kid in a candy store couldn't have been more pleased. "You want me to track down Jesse Kilmartin and a kid named Denise Vetchner, right?"
"That's right." Adam entered the computer room. "Hi, I'm Adam Kane. You must be Kenny Dickerson."
"Dr. Kane," Kenny greeted him, sticking out a hand.
"Adam," Adam corrected. "Nice to finally meet you. I've already met your gene structure. It's impressive."
Kenny blinked. "Uh, thanks." He gestured at the banks of computer firepower. "You built all of this?"
"Over the years," Adam nodded. "I've had a lot of help along the way. You like it?"
"Like it?" Kenny breathed. "Dr. K., this is like a wet dream come true! This rivals anything I saw at the Pentagon—"
"You hacked into the DoD's computers?" Shalimar sat up and took notice.
"Of course. Hey, if a twelve year old kid could hack in…" Kenny left the statement hanging, then grinned, white teeth showing. "I had to keep up the reputation of mutants everywhere. Would have made a tidy little bundle off of what I found in there except for two things."
"What two things?"
"One: I didn't know how to contact the right buyers and two: I didn't know how to keep the good guys from killing me once they learned what I'd done."
"You mean the bad guys."
"No, I mean the good guys." Kenny grinned again. "The stuff I found was very intriguing. They would have had my ass in a sling inside of twenty four hours if they'd known what I'd done. Let's just say that I got way further inside than that twelve year old." Then he turned all business. "Denise Vetchner, right? Sixteen year old, psionic? What'cha got?"
"Not much." Adam fired up the computer console. "I can give you her appearance—" and a picture appeared on the screen.
"That's sixteen years old?" Kenny whistled. "Could'a fooled me."
"Believe me, she's only sixteen," Adam said wryly. "She may not look it, but she acts it. Impulsive, head-strong—"
"Flirting with anything and everything in pants," Shalimar put in.
Adam winced. "I wouldn't put it so baldly—"
"I would," Shalimar assured him. "She's a kid with her hormones on high. Believe me when I say been there, done that. I wouldn't go back to that part of my life for the world." She snuck Adam a sideways look with a crooked grin attached. Surprisingly, he colored.
"She's just a kid, and she's all alone," Emma put in firmly. "Which means that we have to find her." The psionic corrected herself: "You have to find her, Kenny. We're coming up blank."
"Then I'll get right to it," the computer told her, then paused, doubt tingeing his posture. "Uh, this may be a bit more difficult than usual. Minors tend to be a little morechallenging to track down through cyber-space. They don't have access to as many credit cards and contracts as adults. You install the CAMS chip yet? That'll help speed up the search."
"Put it in last night," Adam told him. "Works even better than advertised."
"Just do your best, Kenny," Brennan said. "Right now, you're our best hope." He smirked. "Remember how good you keep telling me you are? Now's your chance to prove it, bro."