Thanks for the reviews! I will continue to update regularly now as we
approach an ending to this story. For those of you who have not read since
before October, read the last chapter before you read this one. Here we go
- I still don't own them.
"Adam, I can't see you!" Emma screamed. "The flashlights, Adam, I lost my flashlight!" Emma was in a panic.
"Emma, it's alright. I'm right here. Just concentrate on swimming!" Adam yelled back. The roar of the water entering the chamber was deafening and Adam had to yell in order for Emma to hear him. Adam shook Brennan who had gone limp in his arms and was dead weight for them to hold his head above the water.
"Brennan, Brennan! Stay with me Brennan!" Adam pleaded trying to rouse Brennan again. It worked.
"Adam," Brennan sputtered, "Adam." Brannan began coughing and struggling as he realized he was floating.
"Brennan, calm down," Adam ordered after he nearly lost Brennan from his grip. Emma was trying desperately to keep Brennan's mouth from going into the water. The last thing he needed now was to inhale more dirty water. "Brennan," Emma said in the calmest voice she could muster, "you have to help me, Brennan, you have to stay calm."
Brennan was coming to his senses more now. The cold water had helped clear his mind from the morphine cloud that it was in. "Adam, I can't see. I can't see!"
"It's OK, Brennan, we just lost the flashlight, that's all. Stay calm," Adam comforted.
"Ahhh," Brennan screamed as the pain began to hit him again. The swirling water and kicking legs under the surface were causing his leg and hip to move about and the feeling had returned. He started coughing again.
Adam couldn't believe this was happening. Ever since he was young all he ever wanted to do was help people. He became a doctor to relieve people of their suffering. Now, as he looked at Brennan, the man who had become like a son to him, he cursed himself for what he had done. He had caused this to happen to him and now couldn't do even the simplest medical duty of relieving his pain. Adam's own tears mixed with the rank, filthy drainage water that stained his face as he offered Brennan a promise he prayed he would be able to keep.
"Brennan, I know it hurts. I know it hurts. But I promise you; it will not hurt for long. I will fix it, Brennan. I will fix you. Just trust me. Don't give up. I can't do this without you, Brennan. I can't. I promise the pain will end and we will get out and by tomorrow, Brennan, by tomorrow, you will be warm and comfortable back at Sanctuary." Emma looked up in the direction of Adam's voice and silently prayed he was right.
Brennan took some solace in what Adam was promising and focused on a visions of himself laying in his bed in Sanctuary - warm and safe - surrounded by the people he loved. He knew he would be out of commission for awhile and that the others would not let him out on a mission again alone for a really long time but he didn't care. He just wanted to be home and that desire was enough to keep him hanging on.
"Adam," Brennan choked, "I don't hear the water as much. It must be stopping. The tunnel - just wait for the water to stop pouring - and, the tunnel will be at our surface - Adam." Brennan trailed off.
"I know, Brennan, you told us, son. I know from where the water was falling. It seems to be subsiding a little. I can't see but I will feel for the current. We'll find it." Adam promised. Adam swam both Emma and Brennan across the chamber to the wall. "Emma, can you hold him up by yourself?" Adam asked.
"Yes, Adam, I think so. Will you help me Brennan?" Emma asked Brennan in an encouraging way.
"Yeah," Brennan replied and shifted his body a little to lean somewhat against the wall.
"OK, then I am going to search along this wall. Emma, yell to me if you get tired or if Brennan drifts off."
"All right, Adam," Emma obeyed. Emma began cooing to Brennan to keep him in line with her voice and conscious.
Adam began clutching the wall with one of his hands and reaching up and out of the water groping for the opening. As he did this, he realized that water was still rising in the chamber even though it was no longer dumping on their heads. "The dump is under the water," Adam thought to himself.
XXX
Draper left his surveillance room and proceeded to the lower levels. He mused in his mind what Eckhart would think when he saw the captured Mutant X. He had dreamed of this day. The day he would be able to show Eckhart the experiments he had worked so hard on all of these years. He could finally prove himself a formidable scientist as Eckhart saw his mutants destroy the strongest of the strain that Eckhart and Adam had created. He could see the dome as well. Oh what a day this would be. Another side of him, though, wanted to kill Eckhart as much as impress him. He hated him for exiling him to this place - for cutting him off. He wanted to be part of Genomex again but he would like to run it - yes - take it away from Mason. What a day that would be. He thought about what he would say to Mason as he descended into the lower chambers:
"Oh, Mr. Eckhart, Sir, how nice of you to come. What do you think of my operation now? Why don't you go into the chamber to check on Mutant X yourself? Or, better yet, let Samuel take you to a more comfortable room while I bring them up myself? Oh, What Mr. Eckhart? You don't have time for this? You never had time! You never thought I knew what I was doing! You tried to stop me when I experimented on myself. You said it was too dangerous, but look at me now?" He mused how he would hit Mason with a psionic blast of some sort or an electricity bolt. "I should have been the one to run Breedlove! If it had been me in charge, these freaks would have been ours. We would have had our master race! But now, now I am the one with the master race, and you, you have nothing! You let wishy-washy Kane let them all go! You stupid Idiot!"
Draper had worked himself up into a full psychotic tantrum. He was not clear what was real and what wasn't. He noticed the storm at that point and remembered that he had not properly emptied the chambers from the first rainstorm. Last time when he forgot, he nearly flooded the entire compound. He needed to make his way to the flood control rooms and make certain the chambers were in proper working order. "My guests are going to get a little wet, it seems," Draper mused to himself and he laughed as he made his way to the control room.
XXX
"Emma, are you two alright?" Adam yelled to Emma and Brennan.
"Yes, Adam, did you find anything?" Emma yelled back - the hope obvious in the inflection in her voice. She was doing OK holding Brennan but was beginning to get really tired. She never had been a very powerful swimmer.
"No, Emma, not yet. The water is still rising! I need to go under a few times in order to find how far down the tunnel is!"
"Adam, if the tunnel is under water, what good will it is to us? We can't swim, Adam, there is no way we can get Brennan to hold his breath through a tunnel under the water!" Emma was adamant. There was no way she was going to risk Brennan under the water. If he slipped away or inhaled even one lungful, that would be it. Besides, the water had already weakened him considerably and that with his injuries . no way. "He'll drown! Adam, let me contact Draper again. I can get him to open the chamber, maybe. Adam, I can do it!"
"No, Emma, give me five minutes. It has taken about 20 minutes for the water to fill the chamber this way. We have a few minutes before it reaches the top. Give me a chance, Emma." Adam pleaded. He did not want Emma to contact Draper. She had done so once and now Draper would have an impression of her. Draper was also psionic and he was homicidal. He feared he would be waiting for her. Besides, if he could find the hatch, he would rather pass through it without Draper or his minions waiting for them.
As Emma awaited Adam's answer, a wave of pain hit Brennan. He convulsed in Emma's arms and she nearly lost her hold on him. They both went under the water together. Adam heard the gurgle in the last words Emma uttered and screamed back to them.
XXX
Shalimar and Jesse had made their way through the first two chambers and were standing at another tunnel entrance.
"Jesse," Shalimar said. "We have been coming in now for almost 45 minutes. It must be raining by now." Shalimar was worried.
"I know, Shal." Jesse responded. "Let's just keep moving. We'll find them, I promise." Just then, Jesse's flashlight beam illuminated what appeared to be a ladder ascending to a manhole about 20 feet above him. "Shal!" Jesse yelled.
Shalimar made her way over to Jesse and studied the ladder. "Do you think this is where Adam found Brennan the first time?" Shalimar asked.
"It's possible, Shal. And I know that Adam said Brennan had not traveled far in the water when he managed to grab onto this. We must be close!"
Just hen, Shalimar's hearing heard the distinct sound of approaching water. "Jesse, do you hear that?" Shalimar asked.
"Hear what?" Jesse asked as he contemplated the worried look on Shalimar's face.
Shal looked at Jesse, the terror in her eyes was obvious. "Jesse, that's Water!" Shalimar exclaimed.
Jesse immediately hopped into action and told Shalimar to climb. "We have to get to the top of this manhole, Shal! Hurry!" Both Jesse and Shalimar began to climb. They were completely unaware that they were mere inches from Adam and the others just on the other side of the wall.
XXX
"Emma! Brennan!" Adam began swimming back to the position where he had left them. Emma managed to come back up above the surface with Brennan in tow. He had taken in a mouthful of water in his anguish and was now coughing uncontrollably. Adam reached them just in time as they began to go under for a second time. He grabbed Brennan and took Emma's arm and pushed her up against the wall. He managed to get Brennan's face above the water again and noticed this time the coughing had stopped.
"Brennan!" Adam exclaimed as he hit him slightly between the shoulders. The second hit was a little harder and more productive. Brennan heaved filthy bloodstained water from deep in his lungs. He continued to heave and cough and Adam and Emma held him and soothed him as they tread water. Brennan was praying audibly now whenever he could manage to fit words in between his excruciating coughs. "Oh God!" he kept pleading.
"We have to get him out of this water, Emma!" Adam exclaimed. He knew Emma knew that but he needed to voice his thoughts out loud right now and she was the only person who could listen right now. Just then, Adam's head hit something. "What the?" Adam asked out loud. Emma noticed it too as the top of her head touched something. The two of them were terror- stricken at the same time as they realized what it was.
"Oh my God, Adam!" Emma screamed. They had been holding Brennan higher in the water and now his chin was being forced below the water. "Adam, the top of the chamber! We are at the top!" Emma was terrified that they were all going to drown after all.
Adam began feeling along the top of the chamber. Brennan tried to speak as he too realized what was happening but his lungs hurt so badly from the near drowning he had just experienced that it was not easy. Every syllable was like breathing fire and he had to swallow the cough that came with each word.
"Adam (cough), there is a hatch in the (cough, cough) center (cough)(gasp) of the chamber." Brennan got the words out and Adam began to look.
Emma had had enough of this. She decided that even though it was dangerous for her to contact Draper again, she would do so anyway. She looked in the direction of Adam's voice and uttered her intentions loud enough to be barely audible to even Brennan, "You no longer have a choice, Adam. Now we do this my way." She was a psionic and she was desperate. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She plowed through Brennan's mind again to find the impression of Draper and used Brennan's hatred to locate her target once again.
Had it not been so dark, if Adam had not been so focused on finding the chamber hatch, he would have seen the black ripple across Emma's eyes. He would have heard Brennan whimper as Emma invaded his fragile mind. He would have noticed Emma's normally caring, nurturing nature turn to one of vengeance and pure hate. Had be been paying attention to the one he too often ignored, he would have been able to stop her. But he wasn't, so he didn't, and now they were going to have to face Draper one on one whether they were ready to or not.
"Adam, I can't see you!" Emma screamed. "The flashlights, Adam, I lost my flashlight!" Emma was in a panic.
"Emma, it's alright. I'm right here. Just concentrate on swimming!" Adam yelled back. The roar of the water entering the chamber was deafening and Adam had to yell in order for Emma to hear him. Adam shook Brennan who had gone limp in his arms and was dead weight for them to hold his head above the water.
"Brennan, Brennan! Stay with me Brennan!" Adam pleaded trying to rouse Brennan again. It worked.
"Adam," Brennan sputtered, "Adam." Brannan began coughing and struggling as he realized he was floating.
"Brennan, calm down," Adam ordered after he nearly lost Brennan from his grip. Emma was trying desperately to keep Brennan's mouth from going into the water. The last thing he needed now was to inhale more dirty water. "Brennan," Emma said in the calmest voice she could muster, "you have to help me, Brennan, you have to stay calm."
Brennan was coming to his senses more now. The cold water had helped clear his mind from the morphine cloud that it was in. "Adam, I can't see. I can't see!"
"It's OK, Brennan, we just lost the flashlight, that's all. Stay calm," Adam comforted.
"Ahhh," Brennan screamed as the pain began to hit him again. The swirling water and kicking legs under the surface were causing his leg and hip to move about and the feeling had returned. He started coughing again.
Adam couldn't believe this was happening. Ever since he was young all he ever wanted to do was help people. He became a doctor to relieve people of their suffering. Now, as he looked at Brennan, the man who had become like a son to him, he cursed himself for what he had done. He had caused this to happen to him and now couldn't do even the simplest medical duty of relieving his pain. Adam's own tears mixed with the rank, filthy drainage water that stained his face as he offered Brennan a promise he prayed he would be able to keep.
"Brennan, I know it hurts. I know it hurts. But I promise you; it will not hurt for long. I will fix it, Brennan. I will fix you. Just trust me. Don't give up. I can't do this without you, Brennan. I can't. I promise the pain will end and we will get out and by tomorrow, Brennan, by tomorrow, you will be warm and comfortable back at Sanctuary." Emma looked up in the direction of Adam's voice and silently prayed he was right.
Brennan took some solace in what Adam was promising and focused on a visions of himself laying in his bed in Sanctuary - warm and safe - surrounded by the people he loved. He knew he would be out of commission for awhile and that the others would not let him out on a mission again alone for a really long time but he didn't care. He just wanted to be home and that desire was enough to keep him hanging on.
"Adam," Brennan choked, "I don't hear the water as much. It must be stopping. The tunnel - just wait for the water to stop pouring - and, the tunnel will be at our surface - Adam." Brennan trailed off.
"I know, Brennan, you told us, son. I know from where the water was falling. It seems to be subsiding a little. I can't see but I will feel for the current. We'll find it." Adam promised. Adam swam both Emma and Brennan across the chamber to the wall. "Emma, can you hold him up by yourself?" Adam asked.
"Yes, Adam, I think so. Will you help me Brennan?" Emma asked Brennan in an encouraging way.
"Yeah," Brennan replied and shifted his body a little to lean somewhat against the wall.
"OK, then I am going to search along this wall. Emma, yell to me if you get tired or if Brennan drifts off."
"All right, Adam," Emma obeyed. Emma began cooing to Brennan to keep him in line with her voice and conscious.
Adam began clutching the wall with one of his hands and reaching up and out of the water groping for the opening. As he did this, he realized that water was still rising in the chamber even though it was no longer dumping on their heads. "The dump is under the water," Adam thought to himself.
XXX
Draper left his surveillance room and proceeded to the lower levels. He mused in his mind what Eckhart would think when he saw the captured Mutant X. He had dreamed of this day. The day he would be able to show Eckhart the experiments he had worked so hard on all of these years. He could finally prove himself a formidable scientist as Eckhart saw his mutants destroy the strongest of the strain that Eckhart and Adam had created. He could see the dome as well. Oh what a day this would be. Another side of him, though, wanted to kill Eckhart as much as impress him. He hated him for exiling him to this place - for cutting him off. He wanted to be part of Genomex again but he would like to run it - yes - take it away from Mason. What a day that would be. He thought about what he would say to Mason as he descended into the lower chambers:
"Oh, Mr. Eckhart, Sir, how nice of you to come. What do you think of my operation now? Why don't you go into the chamber to check on Mutant X yourself? Or, better yet, let Samuel take you to a more comfortable room while I bring them up myself? Oh, What Mr. Eckhart? You don't have time for this? You never had time! You never thought I knew what I was doing! You tried to stop me when I experimented on myself. You said it was too dangerous, but look at me now?" He mused how he would hit Mason with a psionic blast of some sort or an electricity bolt. "I should have been the one to run Breedlove! If it had been me in charge, these freaks would have been ours. We would have had our master race! But now, now I am the one with the master race, and you, you have nothing! You let wishy-washy Kane let them all go! You stupid Idiot!"
Draper had worked himself up into a full psychotic tantrum. He was not clear what was real and what wasn't. He noticed the storm at that point and remembered that he had not properly emptied the chambers from the first rainstorm. Last time when he forgot, he nearly flooded the entire compound. He needed to make his way to the flood control rooms and make certain the chambers were in proper working order. "My guests are going to get a little wet, it seems," Draper mused to himself and he laughed as he made his way to the control room.
XXX
"Emma, are you two alright?" Adam yelled to Emma and Brennan.
"Yes, Adam, did you find anything?" Emma yelled back - the hope obvious in the inflection in her voice. She was doing OK holding Brennan but was beginning to get really tired. She never had been a very powerful swimmer.
"No, Emma, not yet. The water is still rising! I need to go under a few times in order to find how far down the tunnel is!"
"Adam, if the tunnel is under water, what good will it is to us? We can't swim, Adam, there is no way we can get Brennan to hold his breath through a tunnel under the water!" Emma was adamant. There was no way she was going to risk Brennan under the water. If he slipped away or inhaled even one lungful, that would be it. Besides, the water had already weakened him considerably and that with his injuries . no way. "He'll drown! Adam, let me contact Draper again. I can get him to open the chamber, maybe. Adam, I can do it!"
"No, Emma, give me five minutes. It has taken about 20 minutes for the water to fill the chamber this way. We have a few minutes before it reaches the top. Give me a chance, Emma." Adam pleaded. He did not want Emma to contact Draper. She had done so once and now Draper would have an impression of her. Draper was also psionic and he was homicidal. He feared he would be waiting for her. Besides, if he could find the hatch, he would rather pass through it without Draper or his minions waiting for them.
As Emma awaited Adam's answer, a wave of pain hit Brennan. He convulsed in Emma's arms and she nearly lost her hold on him. They both went under the water together. Adam heard the gurgle in the last words Emma uttered and screamed back to them.
XXX
Shalimar and Jesse had made their way through the first two chambers and were standing at another tunnel entrance.
"Jesse," Shalimar said. "We have been coming in now for almost 45 minutes. It must be raining by now." Shalimar was worried.
"I know, Shal." Jesse responded. "Let's just keep moving. We'll find them, I promise." Just then, Jesse's flashlight beam illuminated what appeared to be a ladder ascending to a manhole about 20 feet above him. "Shal!" Jesse yelled.
Shalimar made her way over to Jesse and studied the ladder. "Do you think this is where Adam found Brennan the first time?" Shalimar asked.
"It's possible, Shal. And I know that Adam said Brennan had not traveled far in the water when he managed to grab onto this. We must be close!"
Just hen, Shalimar's hearing heard the distinct sound of approaching water. "Jesse, do you hear that?" Shalimar asked.
"Hear what?" Jesse asked as he contemplated the worried look on Shalimar's face.
Shal looked at Jesse, the terror in her eyes was obvious. "Jesse, that's Water!" Shalimar exclaimed.
Jesse immediately hopped into action and told Shalimar to climb. "We have to get to the top of this manhole, Shal! Hurry!" Both Jesse and Shalimar began to climb. They were completely unaware that they were mere inches from Adam and the others just on the other side of the wall.
XXX
"Emma! Brennan!" Adam began swimming back to the position where he had left them. Emma managed to come back up above the surface with Brennan in tow. He had taken in a mouthful of water in his anguish and was now coughing uncontrollably. Adam reached them just in time as they began to go under for a second time. He grabbed Brennan and took Emma's arm and pushed her up against the wall. He managed to get Brennan's face above the water again and noticed this time the coughing had stopped.
"Brennan!" Adam exclaimed as he hit him slightly between the shoulders. The second hit was a little harder and more productive. Brennan heaved filthy bloodstained water from deep in his lungs. He continued to heave and cough and Adam and Emma held him and soothed him as they tread water. Brennan was praying audibly now whenever he could manage to fit words in between his excruciating coughs. "Oh God!" he kept pleading.
"We have to get him out of this water, Emma!" Adam exclaimed. He knew Emma knew that but he needed to voice his thoughts out loud right now and she was the only person who could listen right now. Just then, Adam's head hit something. "What the?" Adam asked out loud. Emma noticed it too as the top of her head touched something. The two of them were terror- stricken at the same time as they realized what it was.
"Oh my God, Adam!" Emma screamed. They had been holding Brennan higher in the water and now his chin was being forced below the water. "Adam, the top of the chamber! We are at the top!" Emma was terrified that they were all going to drown after all.
Adam began feeling along the top of the chamber. Brennan tried to speak as he too realized what was happening but his lungs hurt so badly from the near drowning he had just experienced that it was not easy. Every syllable was like breathing fire and he had to swallow the cough that came with each word.
"Adam (cough), there is a hatch in the (cough, cough) center (cough)(gasp) of the chamber." Brennan got the words out and Adam began to look.
Emma had had enough of this. She decided that even though it was dangerous for her to contact Draper again, she would do so anyway. She looked in the direction of Adam's voice and uttered her intentions loud enough to be barely audible to even Brennan, "You no longer have a choice, Adam. Now we do this my way." She was a psionic and she was desperate. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She plowed through Brennan's mind again to find the impression of Draper and used Brennan's hatred to locate her target once again.
Had it not been so dark, if Adam had not been so focused on finding the chamber hatch, he would have seen the black ripple across Emma's eyes. He would have heard Brennan whimper as Emma invaded his fragile mind. He would have noticed Emma's normally caring, nurturing nature turn to one of vengeance and pure hate. Had be been paying attention to the one he too often ignored, he would have been able to stop her. But he wasn't, so he didn't, and now they were going to have to face Draper one on one whether they were ready to or not.