Back Step-

Legal disclaimer-Okay, so I don't own them. If I did, we would have a fourth season.

Authors Note-I owe all of you a huge apology for not posting stuff sooner, but to say that real life invaded would be more than a misnomer. I have been hugely busy with other things and frankly had hit a wall with this. Then season three restarted and I have been cooking since then. There will be more to this, I promise. Thanks for the patience, and if you can, review. PLEASE. Thank you.

Chapter 9

Henry Voight knew this rebirth of Mutant X was not the naive bunch of people he once met years ago. They were together and very much like a family. The teamwork he had seen during his visits through their nightmares was evident, but this new sense of urgency was also intoxicating. He knew helping them was something that he needed to do, to forgive the events of his past with them, and now, even after helping Jesse find Lexa and Pierce, he knew he couldn't leave them. His nap had refreshed him to the point that he would go where needed to help the team, both physically and psychically. Jesse had willing volunteered to let Henry into his subconscious, knowing he could boost the link to Lexa. What he would find of Lexa still scared him. Henry knew that the woman was on the edge of her control. He just worried about when she would break. He hoped not to be one of her victims.

He helped Jesse plot the trip on the Strand, looked back at Adam, then followed the team in. He found a seat in the back of the craft and closed his eyes. He would be ready for whatever they needed. He hoped to dream.

The Strand flew at the fastest speed that they knew it could fly. Brennan was in the pilot seat, having grown quiet during takeoff. Jesse sat across from him, his fingers running over the systems check, but also letting his mind drift toward the thoughts of Pierce and Lexa. Emma was a calm force behind them, Shalimar doing everything she could to not scream from the impatience of waiting. She was worried about Lexa, worried about Pierce, but happy that Jesse was finally together. She hoped that her frustration over not being able to help Lexa wasn't causing him trouble.

"It's not," Jesse said aloud, looking back at her, "and thanks for caring."

Shalimar smiled while Emma gave him a half-stare, half-grin.

"Jesse Kilmartin, hasn't anyone ever told you it's not nice to read other people's thoughts when they are right in front of you," Emma said.

"Sorry," Jesse turned back around to the consoles.

She was right, but it did feel good to have the team behind him. He took a second and centered himself again, trying to sense the link that Pierce had tried to build between them. Pierce sent the image of the director to him, then a closer version of guards to him. Pierce had gotten good at this form of message sending, but suddenly, his voice had gotten much clearer. He was speaking to Jesse in his own way. It also meant that he was sleeping, or drugged beyond belief. Jesse found himself thinking about when he first met Pierce, in his own dreamscape that Emma had built for him. The images of needles filled his inner vision and he shuddered.

"Jesse, what is he saying?" Henry asked, watching the younger man's eyes pale, knowing the look too well, but also jarring Jesse back to reality.

"They've drugged him because they are doing something with Lexa," Jesse said softly, "Brennan, how long until we are there?"

"Not long," Brennan said, his glance back at the controls, "You tell him to hang in there."

"He knows that," Jesse replied, "We just need to go in and get them."

Going in and getting them out wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped. Pierce was unconscious, made that way by the IV that the Director's people had placed only moments earlier. Pierce was playing possum beforehand, being wide awake while the others thought he was asleep. He was lucky that The Director hadn't figured out that he was one of the children from the Amish compound. That was the only luck on his side.

As they landed, Henry opened his eyes once again. He had felt the craft land, felt Mulwray switch into battle mode, heard Shalimar's pulse quicken as the doors opened and quickly glanced at the faces he knew would be looking at his.

"Go on, Kilmartin," Voight replied audibly to the question, "You and Emma go, I'll watch the homefires here."

Jesse's answer was a quick grin while Emma lightly touched his hand. Henry was making sure no one bothered with their way out. Jesse remembered Henry angry and smiled. Whoever dealt them a bad card wouldn't know what hit them.

The newly reformed Mutant X traveled out of the Strand as fast as they could, thankful of the cover of brush that Brennan had landed the Strand in. Shalimar was ahead of them, playing point was her best game, and she was in her element. Jesse followed behind the rest of the team, watching for any sign of the director's people guarding the water plant.

It was pretty quiet.

Brennan was ahead of them, motioning to them quietly to hide in plain sight. It wasn't that hard, considering the alleyways that led to the building, but something tugged at Shalimar's senses. She could smell the fear that radiated off of Lexa, her senses attuned to her friend. She let it lead her toward the building, and toward the back door.

The rest of the group followed her. She stopped as they got closer, motioning for Jesse to join her, pointing to the large wall. Jesse knew what she wanted without reading her mind, as he centered himself, took a deep breath in and felt the wall. The wall opened with his touch and he held it open effortlessly. The team walked through the wall into the dimly lit, abandoned water plant.

Shalimar kept following her nose and Jesse cast out for Pierce. He kept trying to find the child, but he kept coming up with the same blank screen. It was almost like the clear link he had turned to static.

Shalimar's hand pulled him from the fog of his attuned senses. She had stopped him, Brennan's eyes barely visible as they stared at him from a darkened part of the hallway. Jesse touched him, letting the message that Pierce was quiet gently flood into his thoughts.

Damn, Brennan thought back to him, where the hell is he?

Jesse shrugged as Shalimar pointed to the door at the end of the hall. Jesse phased and ran through it, knowing that surprise would work in their favor. Emma had tried to stop him, but she knew as he did, surprise would work.

Shalimar took care of the door for those who couldn't phase through them and came upon the scene she feared. Jesse sat on the floor, cradling Pierce in his arms, checking to see if the child was breathing.

"How is he?" Shalimar asked, kneeling next to him, "Jesse?"

"Breathing," Jesse said, "From what I know he looks drugged out of his mind, but something is very wrong here."

Emma gasped. She looked across the room at the wall that only moments earlier held Lexa. She could still feel the essence of her in the room. She wasn't herself.

Brennan touched her shoulder. Emma was ice cold.

"You okay Em?" he breathed, knowing the look that came over her.

Emma nodded no and tried to hold onto the images that passed behind her eyes. Lexa had held on as long as she could, but the constant exposure to light had overridden her mind. She had blasted the wall behind Pierce, knowing that would cause the people who had her to drop him, which they did, and she had screamed to them that Mutant X was there and they were coming for her. She had become horribly irrational, and actually had blown out the lights surrounding them.

Jesse was the next person to touch her, gently on the wrist. Emma returned to reality. Pierce was in Brennan's arms, Shalimar was inspecting the room, and Jesse's look was a mix of confusion, pain and deep frustration at not being able to help Lexa.