Back Step-Chapter 8
Legal notice-This is fanficiton. Thisis not for profit and intend no work upon the copyrights held by Marvel, Alliance Atlantis, Fireworks or anyone else connected to the production of "Mutant X". This should satisfy your attorney, right? Please don't sue me, I don't have money for you.
Author Note-Hey there. It's me, your humble writer asking the following-Reviews? The usual cast of characters has left me in the cold. Sigh. I miss you guys. For my new reviewers-MutantX fan, thanks for the not so subtle kick in the pants. I know, I know, but I like I said, I can't do anything when real life invades. Will she overload…muhahahahaha….
Here's the next chapter
Jesse's eyes flipping open was the first thing that convinced Brennan his best friend was back. His massed fist nearly hitting the med table that Henry rested on was another. Jesse caught himself as his fist came down and tried not to yowl in frustration. He grabbed his friends fist, almost regretting it, but very thankful when the molecular stopped and glared at him.
"Chill man, you don't want to mess with Henry," Brennan said, under his breath, "What happened?"
"I got in contact with Pierce," Jesse said, "Thanks to Henry, he reconnected the link. Pierce is terrified though, and he pushed me out when their captor came in. I saw him though."
"Who is it?" Adam asked, from his perch in the medlab shadows, "The Creator?"
"No," Jesse replied coldly, "You remember the director of the Dominion?"
Adam nodded. The man wasn't like the Creator. This man followed every order the Creator issued, but he knew that something had happened the day that the Creator told Adam that they were going to work on something together, without the mysterious man's help. He had called the man "The Director" but all that Adam could remember was the look of Jesse and Lexa when they had been rescued. The man was vile and hated mutants of all kinds. He saw them as the genetic abnormalities that needed to be manipulated or pulled from the planet. He knew that the tests that the Creator was doing in putting together an army would work to anyone's benefit, anyone with the largest checkbook.
"He has her, but I don't believe he knows exactly who Pierce is," Adam calculated, "You know that the Creator kept Pierce's existence very secret."
"How much does he really know about Lexa?" Jesse asked, "Does he have the database?"
"It's a limited one why?" Adam replied.
Jesse swallowed and took a very deep breath. The fear that had radiated off of Lexa was of overload, something that they had talked about only once. He knew that she had too much light in her system, the results could be disastrous. Her powers of light uncontrolled could not only cause harm to those around her, but also to her sanity. She had feared losing it on someone, causing them harm would hurt her more than she admitted. The guilty deserved it, the innocent she would remember for the rest of her life. He feared what she would do if she was uncontrollable.
"They have her cuffed to metal in cell that is filled with unbelievable amounts of light," Jesse began, leaning on the edge of medbed where Henry slept, "She's fighting off the effects, but I think she's losing it. They're trying to deliberately overload her power Adam."
Shalimar grabbed a hold of Brennan's arm. While she listened to Jesse describe the room her friend was in, she knew that overloading a power was a horrible way to be tortured. Lexa was extremely strong willed, but Shalimar feared that she could be broken and hoped to never see that. Brennan remembered a time when they thought that his power was going to kill him and prayed it didn't happen to her. They had all been through a lot with her.
"She's been gone over 48 hours, so that means, she only has about 24 left before," Adam thought aloud, heading for his computer, "Guys, we have to go in and get her out of there. Jesse, do you have any idea what kind of light they were using? Any idea of where they are being kept?"
"Pierce could only figure out a warehouse, at least that what he keeps showing me," Jesse continued, his gaze on the wall, not on his friends or his wife, "They have no light source other than the ones they are using on Lex in there, and they also have water surrounding her."
"So, this guy knows how we work," Brennan said, "Me and water won't mix, so I can't go in to get her."
"Yeah, seems like he remembers you," Jesse replied, "He doesn't know about this new thing with me yet, and I know that Shal can tear the place up if need be."
"Screw the need be, Jess, we need to be in there now," Shalimar said, "Adam, what about places that the Dominion used as a front, maybe he has them in one of those."
"Maybe," Jesse thought aloud then went to the computer bank outside of the med lab. He started typing furiously, then came up with a photo. He closed his eyes, typed more on the keyboard then opened his eyes. He smiled.
"Good boy, Pierce, good boy," he said as the rest of the team joined him.
What the little boy did was what any little boy with an extreme telepathic gift would do. He sent the one person who could hear him the best description he could of where they were by putting the pictures in that person's head. Pierce had been scared to do it before since both Jesse and Emma had told him that he had to talk to the people around him, he couldn't send them thoughts since not all of them were able to send them back. It made perfect sense to him. Jesse saying it was okay had released a tide of pictures to the older man, half of which he expected, some of which took time to figure out.
The image of the warehouse was better defined by Pierce, because once he calmed down, he could remember when they put him in the van with Lexa, he could barely remember them grabbing him, but he had come to when they pulled him from the van. Through half open eyes he had studied the place, making notes of where it was if he went for a walk in his mind. He had to know how to get back to his body, just in case.
They were a distance away from the playground where they had been taken, but deeper into Virginia. Pierce had seen a mountain range, a radio tower with letters on it, and what looked like water symbols on the front of the building. That image he sent to Jesse, using everything his young mind had to make it work. He needed to make it right with his father, and Jesse felt that along with every image. It was good to get the message calmly, and not have Pierce's emotions overwhelm him. Jesse knew the little boy was scared, but his calmness with the message made it clearer to him. They were going to have to work on that when they got Pierce back.
Jesse stared at the picture in front of him. He loaded it into a picture finder program which he then uploaded to the internet.
"What's going on, Jess?" Brennan asked, "You bolted out of there."
"Oh, sorry," Jesse turned to meet Brennan's worried eyes, "Pierce kept sending me this image, so I put it together. I think this is where they are."
"Think or know?" Emma asked as she walked in, "You running a check?"
"Through all the major systems, yes," Jesse had grown quiet again, the program he ran it through would find the letters on the sign that Jesse had just simply created through the program he used, "This shouldn't take long."
The computer beeped as he looked at the screen. The water company in East Ridge West Virginia played across the screen. It matched the images that Pierce sent him. They knew where they were. It was time to go get them.
Time wasn't their friend. The lights had gone on in Lexa's cell once again, even as the Director entered. She knew as he entered that she didn't have much longer, the power kept building over and over again in her head, causing a headache she hoped to never have again. The pain built as the subdermal governor caused her hands to tremble.
"Ah, I see the timer is working, Ms. Pierce," The director touched her hand, "How's the tan coming along?"
Lexa tried not to scream, only to laugh. While the tan was an expected line, the constant battle with light was not. She knew if she tried to refract it, she would have more pain than the constant build that the light was giving her, thanks to the governor. This was an extremely cruel torture, because if she could use her power, it was going to be very bright and painful to whoever received it. She only hoped that she could do it the Director right then and there. She wouldn't mind taking him out and showing him every single property of the refraction of light. It would be her pleasure.
"You know, if I take that governor off, you can control all of this a little better," he said, walking back and forth in front of her, "I know you want to have the pain stop, don't you."
Lexa nodded. It was somehow okay to state the obvious; besides, the thought of speaking right then wasn't something that she was into. Her head hurt. Badly. The Director produced a pair of dark gloves which he put on her hands himself.
"This actually isn't for you, it's for those who get to handle you soon, Ms. Pierce," the man looked at her face and smiled, "This actually will keep the light in, not out."
Lexa took a moment. While he was trying to overload her, she couldn't grasp what he was getting at. Then, like a lightning bolt it hit her. They were going to use her as she overloaded and it seemed like he had sold her to the highest bidder.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice still but the intent buried in the effort.
"Because I can, Ms. Pierce," he continued, turning her face toward him with one hand, "You and all of your mutant friends are initially products of The Creator. Since the Dominion funded him for a number of years, we own all of you. You're our product."
"But I am a human being," Lexa muttered, her eyes barely opening, "You know you can't do this."
"Don't try the pity angle on me, Ms. Pierce," he met her eyes, "You wouldn't respect it in yourself. You're taking out someone we want you to."
Lexa closed her eyes. It made sense. They overload her to the point where she can no longer be helped then put her in a place where the team can pick her up. She would then explode, taking Adam and the rest of her friends with them. She couldn't have that happen. He had something else in mind. Telling her he wanted to take out Adam Kane would have her blood pressure spike and her power would intensify. He was using mind games to control her even more. If that pain would stop, she might want to believe him.
"Anyone but them, please," she asked, "They don't deserve to die because of me."
"They will die because of you, Ms. Pierce," the Director said, "But maybe not today. You're to take out the President."
"The President?" Lexa asked, "She'll see us coming. She knows Adam."
"Yes, and when you overload, she'll see him for the last time," the Director smiled.