As Brennan fought to remain on the surface, he noticed that the level of the water had stopped rising. He located the alcove that he was now parallel with. He struggled across the chamber to its entrance. Once there, he realized that there was an opening, about five feet square, but a steel cage blocked access to the tunnel from which the water came. "God Damn it," Brennan cried under his breath. Truth was, he didn't have breath left to do anything let alone yell obscenities. He was, however, able to sit in the tunnel's entrance. While the water was still up to his knees at the entrance, he did notice that there was no more current. The water had ceased to come into the chamber. Here, Brennan remained. He collapsed against the gate, leaning up against it, and passed out.
XXX
"Emma!" Adam exclaimed. Tears were streaming down Emma's face as she awakened from her trance. "Emma, what happened? What did you see?" Adam continued.
"Did you see Brennan?" Jesse interrupted.
Emma silently looked at both of them and then at Shalimar, who was too frightened to ask. "You don't have to say it, Emma, it's OK," Shalimar whispered, finally finding her voice deep in her throat. After what seemed like a lifetime, Emma spoke.
"No, Shalimar, I do have to say it," Emma looked at Adam and Jesse. She was in such anguish. Tears were falling from her beautiful eyes as she was lost on how to describe what she saw. "He's drowning," was all Emma could get out. Adam didn't quite hear her whisper. "What, Emma?" Adam took her arm and gently sat her down on the medical bench in the Helix. "Emma, honey, it's OK, take your time. Tell me exactly what you saw."
"He is in some sort of chamber, Adam. It's full of water. He is so cold. He was fighting, though, when I left him. I…I …" Emma couldn't continue. She broke down into Adam's arms sobbing beyond even her control.
Jesse and Shalimar looked at Adam with accusation in both of their expressions. Jesse finally spoke. "Who is Draper, Adam?" Adam looked up at both of them. He didn't realize that they had heard him utter his name earlier. "Adam?" Jesse persisted. Shalimar walked over to Adam and Emma and eased Emma from Adam's arms and cradled her in her own. She was still sobbing. Shalimar was crying now as well while trying to soothe Emma's fears. Jesse was just angry. He had come to see Brennan as his brother. He loved him as one and felt very protective. While Brennan was stronger and more aggressive than Jesse, he was also more vulnerable. Jesse tried to protect Brennan from his erratic tendencies ever since day one. Now, all he knew was that his best friend/brother was in very deep trouble and Adam appeared to be hiding vital information that maybe could help save him. Worse yet, Jesse felt that whatever it was that Adam was hiding would reveal that what was happening to Brennan, was actually Adam's fault.
Adam looked up at his three remaining kids. He looked defeated in a way and that look frightened Shalimar. She'd seen it before and it usually meant that someone was going to die today no matter how hard Adam tried to stop it from happening. "Draper is Dr. Draper of Genomex and the Breedlove Foundation," Adam began.
"He works for Eckert?" Jesse exclaimed.
"No, No, not any more. He's dead, actually, or at least, he's supposed to be." Jesse just looked at Adam in disbelief. "What do you mean he's supposed to be dead?" Shalimar asked. Emma was now beginning to calm down and sat up. Shalimar kept her arm around her.
"About fifteen years ago, when Brennan was around eleven years old, there was an altercation in one of the experimental chambers at the Breedlove facility in Toronto. Dr. Draper was one of the main scientists working on Project, Elements. He had been working with Brennan for about four years. Brennan's parents brought him into the facility when he was seven years old because his immune system was hampered by his mother's drug use while she was pregnant with him. He was weak and sick and not likely to survive. Project Elements was designed to stimulate the natural growth of the immune system using genetic splicing techniques while applying a small electric charge to the patient's lymphatic system. This procedure stimulated Brennan's bone marrow to begin producing cells responsible for his immune system. But, at the same time, it caused a serious genetic mutation as well.
After we sent him back home, Brennan became very disruptive. His home-life was never very stable. His father was a criminal who had done time in prison and was running a drug operation out of their home. Brennan never had the power to fight them before. Let's just say that Brennan had some unexplained injuries when he was brought to Genomex. When he started throwing lighting bolts around his house, his father decided that it would be best not to have him around anymore. He was afraid he would ignite the chemicals he stored in the house for the drug operation. He obviously couldn't go to the police and he was equally afraid of the Breedlove Foundation. Brennan's mother was little more than useless due to drug abuse. Basically, Brennan's father tried to drown him in the tub when he was nine years old. However, somehow during the attack, there was a struggle and Brennan managed to electrocute him."
"Brennan killed his own father?" Shalimar asked in total disbelief. Jesse just swallowed hard. He remembered how he blew Brennan off before when Brennan had tried to talk to him about his father. Jesse was running after his own dad because of a disc he stole from Indegen. "Let's not get into who had a tougher childhood right now, Brennan," was all he said to him. Obviously, now, he realized that Brennan's childhood was indeed a lot worse than his.
"He had no choice, Shalimar. His dad was going to kill him. Brennan's mother proceeded to turn him into Genomex and walked out of his life forever. Dr. Draper took full responsibility for him. He locked him in a 12 x 12 cell that was kept wet and cold to keep Brennan from using his powers against us."
"You said 'us'," Jesse accused.
"Yes, Jesse," Adam admitted. His guilt was now so obvious that Shalimar thought he was going to break down and cry. "I was there too. I let Draper keep him in that cell. I let Brennan get sick, so many times. I let him abuse him. His experiments were so terrible. Monstrous. I was powerless to stop him; Eckert and Draper were inseparable. I never knew what they were doing to Brennan and the others until after it was over. Then, I would sneak into the chambers where the children were imprisoned during the night and do what ever I could to help them." He looked up at them and pleaded with them. "I tried to help him, you know. I did. Brennan was always special to me. Always. But then, one night, I didn't find Brennan in his chamber. I found Draper and Eckert, instead."
"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.
"Brennan had escaped. Except, while doing so, he seriously injured Mason, and he killed Dr. Draper."
"What?! No way! No, no, no. You just told us that Brennan has killed not one but two people? No. I don't believe you, Adam." Jesse exclaimed throwing his arms out at Adam and looking him straight in his eyes about an inch from his face.
"Yes, Brennan killed his father AND Dr. Draper, or at least we thought, Dr. Draper."
Jesse was infuriated. "How can you tell lies about him this way?! I thought you were our friend, Adam! And if you are telling the truth, how could you let that happen to a child? To Brennan?"
Adam was in tears now. He didn't know what else to say. He knew that these truths would come out eventually. He had just hoped that it would be on his terms.
"I can't believe you were such a monster, Adam. I can't. I saw you when we went back to 1978. You looked responsible, Adam. You acted like you cared, that you wanted to help people, not hurt them," Emma had finally composed herself and interjected into the argument. Someone needed to calm Jesse down before he went storming the facility below and got himself and Brennan killed.
"I looked for Brennan for years. You have to believe me. By the time Brennan had escaped, I had successfully compiled the database we have and I personally got the rest of the kids out of there shortly thereafter." Adam was trying his best to redeem himself. It wasn't working with Jesse.
Jesse had had enough, "Adam, we will discuss all of this later. Right now, you need to tell me how to get down there to get Brennan out. Emma, you said he was in a chamber full of water? That he was drowning? He can't live that way long. He can't swim! He gets weak in the water."
"He's also been shot," Emma squeaked.
"What?" Jesse exclaimed. "Adam, you said he had an implant. Why can't we talk to him? Why can't we hear him?"
"The implant was for location purposes only. I told you, Jesse, the GSA levied a hit on Brennan. I needed to have a backup to find him. That's all it was for. And it worked. We are here." Adam explained.
"But doing nothing!" Jesse argued back. "I'm going down there." Adam stopped Jesse by blocking the door to the Helix. Both Emma and Shalimar were speechless watching the fight between Adam and Jesse. Jesse never fought Adam, except for the time when he was poisoned and Adam kept him from going into the reactor. Other than that, it was Brennan who fought Adam, not Jesse. This was heartbreaking.
"Get out of my way, Adam, or I swear to God I will go through you," Jesse was out of control with worry for Brennan and anger at Adam. Jesse knew that Brennan would never leave him and he was determined to return the sentiment.
"Jesse, you can't!" Adam exclaimed while he pushed Jesse back. "There's more that none of you know about Draper! Now sit down, all of you and let me explain why we cannot just go storming that place!" Adam was aggressive now. His kids were all about to be killed if he did not stop them. He feared it was already too late for Brennan, anyway.
Adam calmed his voice. His tears were obvious now, streaking down his own cheeks. "If Draper is alive, and my guess is, he is, then we have a big problem. What you don't know is what Genomex's goal was with all of you kids." The three were silent now. They intently listened to Adam. Ever since meeting Adam, they wondered about the extent of Adam's involvement in the experiments and what the projects were really for. "The governments, yes, several, were researching genetic manipulations in order to make…" Adam exhaled and looked all three of them in the eye once before proceeding. He stared right at Jesse when he continued. "…To make the perfect fighting machine, the perfect soldier. We lied to all of your parents. And, while we were running the experiments on you, we were developing the final product and using it on ourselves. At least, some of us were."
"Adam, that doesn't make any sense. Why would you risk that stuff on yourselves?" Shalimar inquired.
"Ever heard of Dr Jeckl?" Jesse answered for Adam.
"That's right, Shalimar. Some of the scientists got crazy with the power and they wanted it for themselves." Adam looked at Jesse, who had now walked over to the controls to check on Brennan's position.
"So, are you telling us that Draper is one of them? What did he turn himself into, Adam. You said he worked on the Elementals. Is he one? Is he like Brennan?" Jesse was beginning to calm with Adam, but he was growing more and more angry with Genomex, if that was even possible.
"Yes, he is. Now do you see why we can't just go in there? He will electrify the water Brennan is in and likely kill him in front of our eyes, just like Brennan tried to kill him."
"Fucking great!" Jesse yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "How are we going to get him out, Adam? What are we going to do?" Jesse seemed hopeless.
"Don't worry, Jesse, I have a plan." Adam walked over to the control board of the Helix with the three team members on his heals.
XXXX
Brennan startled awake to a yell from above. "Did you drown?" Draper laughed from above. "Or are you hiding?" Brennan thought his voice sounded like that of a madman. Adam had always said that the times when Genomex attempted to alter the DNA of adults, the manipulations eventually caused them to lose their sanity or die, sometimes both. Obviously, this one had just gone nuts. But thinking back, Brennan knew that he always was.
As Brennan leaned out to see if he could see Draper and the exact position of the door, he slipped off the side and back into the water. "Oh, there you are. Tsk Tsk, you really shouldn't hide from me like that, Brennan. You know, you were always a thorn in my side. But now, you may offer me some type of amusement before I kill you. Your friends are here. I can't wait until they see you and try to rescue you. Then, well, then, we can all play a fun game of cat and mouse." With that, the door closed again and Brennan struggled to get back to the alcove. He was too late, though, the water was already receding and he was too low to reach it. Brennan noticed a current from below the surface now. It was pulling him under the water. Suddenly, Brennan finally realized where he was. That wasn't ocean water nor was it the tide coming in. It had been raining outside when Draper captured him. He was in one of the deep tunnels used to divert the rainwater to the river. He was in a flood-dike, holding tank. The water was being sucked out of the dike into tunnels and eventually to the river. He knew that there was another tunnel down below that was currently open. But he also knew that the current was beginning to pull him under the water again. In his weakened state, he knew that he could not stay above any longer. He was goin' down. He took one last gargled breath and slipped under the surface.
XXXX
Draper sat at his control panel watching the 100 or so television cameras he had set up at various positions around the compound. His plan was coming together. He was going to soon see how the strongest New Mutant team would do against some his toughest soldiers. The rest of the team just had to take the bait and attempt to rescue their fallen warrior. Then, the experiment would finally begin.