Things moved entirely too fast after that, and Lexa was quite certain that she didn't like it. Not that she had seemed to have any choice in the matter: Ben summoned more help from somewhere, two brawny men who took the truck off of Mutant X's hands with instructions to pretend to be Brennan and a spare driver and deliver the load to its intended destination. "My reputation as a trucker is intact," Brennan muttered sardonically. "My career is secure."

The chopper, with Ben at the controls, ferried all four of them as well as Ben and his companion, back to home base. Lexa waited as patiently as she could for a private moment with either Jesse or Brennan as to just who the hell their rescuers were and if Mutant X was getting themselves into greater trouble than before. Trust did not come easily to Lexa Pierce, and trusting this giant of a man and his quiet companion seemed like an exercise in foolishness. She intended to discuss this minor point in detail at her first opportunity, but shouting over the racket of a chopper didn't qualify as an opportunity and certainly not within earshot of Ben Sutter.

The landing pad was a small square outside a large brick building more suited to a research facility than any living quarters but Ben set them down gently without so much as a backward glance. "I radioed ahead. Mother is waiting. You got her, Brennan?"

"I've got her." Brennan gathered Shalimar up in his arms, lifting the tiny woman easily, terror written large on his face. Shalimar clung to him, finally giving in to the inevitable: she was dying. The agony in her gut was overwhelming, and Brennan couldn't look her in the eye for fear that the feral would take her last breath. I've just found you; I can't let you go. Not yet. I can't! I can't! "Let's go."

Evidence of money was everywhere, in the marble tiled hall that they crossed that Brennan barely noticed with Shalimar in his arms, in the quantity of guards armed with discrete but deadly guns in holsters to the expensively coiffed—and therefore expensively paid—receptionist at the front desk who didn't do more than look with mild interest at the group rushing past her. Ben's presence smoothed the way, despite their wild appearance. That Lexa noticed.

"This way." Ben hustled them into an elevator, pressing one of the lowest buttons. Brennan willed the box to move faster. Shalimar had gone pale, barely able to look at him, her eyelids closing of their own volition. Brennan was scared. They piled out into a long corridor, rushing down to Ben's directions toward a room that reeked of antiseptic—and health care.

Dr. Beatrice Sutter looked much as she had two years ago to Brennan and Jesse, but better. No longer on the run, she now had time for such mundane activities as regular meals and a shower more than once a month. Even the gray had been removed from her hair, making her seem younger than she had when they'd first met her. But still the same was the gleam of intelligence, the need to decipher the secrets of the universe that they had all seen so often in Adam Kane. Dr. Sutter might not be on Adam's level, but she came damn close.

Brennan wasted no time in depositing Shalimar onto the waiting stretcher, cringing at the small whimper that even that little jolt eked out. "Doc?"

"Let me look." Dr. Sutter moved in, stethoscope in hand, competence in every gesture. "Here?"

Shalimar came alive, crying out in pain at the touch.

"I'll take that as a yes," Dr. Sutter muttered. "Ben, tell my staff that I need a complete profile and a flat plate of the abdomen, stat. Oh, and tell the OR team to scrub. We'll start as soon as the results are back."

"Surgery?" Lexa asked suspiciously. Who was this woman that the others accepted so easily?

Dr. Sutter favored her with an amused glance. "Well, yes, in this case I suspect it's indicated." She nodded at the distraught blonde on the stretcher. "This amount of discomfort, I'm hoping that her appendix hasn't ruptured." The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Just because Shalimar is a mutant doesn't mean that she's immune to regular diseases that we normal types get."

Lexa finished her scan of the Great Room where Ben had put them to wait for the outcome of the surgery. As a waiting area, it far outdid any hospital waiting room she'd ever been in but the mutant still wasn't satisfied. She ignored the heavy damask furniture, the velvet curtains that muffled the daylight outside, and the grand piano in one corner of the room. The vaulted ceiling did get her attention: there were three listening devices that she put out of operation with a short burst of photons, blistering them into seared blobs of metal and plastic, and she hoped that she'd gotten all of them. If there were three, there could be more and likely was but she couldn't wait any longer to scope out the rest of their situation. "Okay, guys. Give."

Jesse didn't pretend not to know what she was talking about. "Beatrice and Ben Sutter. We met them about one or two years ago, helped them out. Ben used to be a moron."

"Okay, so Mountain Man used to be a jerk. How does that play into the situation?"

"No, I mean he was really a moron," Jesse repeated patiently. "Mentally retarded. Benjamin Sutter had the mind of a four year old. As in, he couldn't tie his shoelaces without help. Just barely toilet-trained, which made going anywhere public a real challenge."

That did not square with the well-spoken man Lexa had met on the roof of the truck, and she said so.

"Like I said, we helped them out," Jesse started to repeat, when Brennan interrupted.

"What he means, Lexa, is that Ben Sutter is a product of a Genomex experiment gone wrong. They were going for a super-soldier; someone big, strong, and fast. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for the world, the results were a giant idiot. Ben was everything they wanted physically but mentally there was no one home. Ben's mother was a Genomex researcher who escaped Genomex's clutches and continued her research to restore her son's mind."

"Obviously she succeeded. And Adam helped."

"And Adam helped," Brennan agreed, "along with our own little Jesse here. The missing ingredient to the cure for Ben was a sample of molecular spinal fluid to stabilize the solution. Not our finest hour; Genomex tried to repossess their property right after Ben achieved genius status."

"Evidently they didn't."

"Nope," Jesse put in. "Dr. Sutter and Ben went into the Underground, and none of us have heard from them since. I always wondered where they'd ended up." He jerked his thumb at the luxurious surroundings. "I'd say that they did better for themselves than we did."

"A field mouse with a hawk overhead is better off than we are," Lexa groused. "So who's the sugar Daddy with the chopper? Unless you want to tell me that Sutter & Sutter won the lottery and stayed under the radar to buy this place as a coming out present for your friend Benjamin."

"Good question," Brennan shrugged. "Right now I'm just grateful that he happened along."

"And that all Shalimar had was appendicitis," Lexa added. "At least that's something that can be cured. Unlike an expiry date."

That statement trailed off into an awkward silence, each mutant inwardly contemplating their impending fate. The world was not a particularly good place to be at this point.

Ben came into the room, carrying a tray with coffee and edibles on it. He stopped to sniff at the vase of white and pink roses sending tender tendrils of scent into the room from their position on the side table by the door, then set the tray down. He looked a good deal more civilized at the moment than the super-soldier landing on the back of Brennan's rig; a shower and a change of clothing had turned him into something significantly less threatening-looking. Lexa promised herself not to be taken in.

Ben straightened up from depositing the tray with edibles on the table. "We've got some catching up to do, guys. And before you ask, Mother still has Shalimar in surgery but one of her staff popped out to say that it's going well. They should be done within the hour, and Mother will probably let you see Shalimar shortly after that." He dropped onto one of the over-stuffed sofas, draping his arms over the back, first snagging a pastry and taking a nibble that would qualify as a mouthful for a smaller person but didn't come close for the nearly seven foot giant. "I heard that you and the Dominion had a dust up. Sounded pretty nasty. I was sorry to hear about Sanctuary, and I lost track of what happened after that. I presume you guys wanted it that way, keeping a low profile. So, what's your history for the last few months?"

"Short on our end," Brennan told him. "Running, hiding, keeping under the radar from theremnants of the Dominion and associated clubs that want a piece of our genes, and I'm not talking designer denim. You? This looks pretty comfy, man. You own this?"

"Not hardly. We're paid employees, Mother and I. We were lucky," Ben acknowledged. "Mother set up a clinic in a small town not too far from here, started a private practice again treating colds and flu and runny noses to pay the bills."

"And during this time you—?" Lexa asked.

Ben smiled. "After twenty years of stupidity, I figured it was time to get an education. After devouring everything Mother could get for me, I decided to go to the university to study." He smirked. "I told them I was home-schooled. True, as far as it went, if a little shy on the time line. Acing the entrance exams didn't hurt."

"So what are you studying?" Lexa asked waspishly. "Ballistics? Nuclear physics and how to make things go boom?"

"Well…not exactly."

"What, exactly?" Lexa put the same emphasis on the word.

Ben shrugged sheepishly. "Would you believe English Lit?"

"No," Lexa said flatly.

"Well, I am," Ben said defensively. "Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Dickens, the early classics. I never had a chance to enjoy those things when I was younger. I was too busy making castles in my sandbox. All right, all right, I'm minoring in ballistics," he added grumpily, "just in case. And the damn ROTC cadets won't get off my case."

Lexa stared. "Life is tough when you're built like a tank."

"Literally," Ben agreed. "Everyone I meet keeps wanting to recruit me into some force or another. I'd really rather just study Sir Walter Scott. And they've got this really neat-sounding non-credit course on flower arranging…" he trailed off.

Lexa chose to take that at face value for the time being. "And all this?" She waved her hand to take in their opulent surroundings.

"This." Ben glanced around, picked up another pastry off of the silver tray that he'd brought in. He bought himself a moment to collect his thoughts by taking a small bite that demolished half of the confection. "This belongs to Dr. Abner Windom."

"And that means—?" Brennan let it hang in the air.

But Lexa knew, and reacted. "The Abner Windom, the one who discovered the initial stabilization techniques for monophasic moleculars with univariate genetic structures?"

"Yeah." Ben took another bite of his pastry and polished it off. He reached for another.

Brennan stared. "Did you just say what I thought you said, Lexa? I didn't think anyone could talk like that except for Adam."

"What? I can't know a little science?"

"So what is an initializing whatever it was you said?"

Lexa shrugged. "I speak it, I don't understand it. But believe me, Dr. Windom is on the Dominion's Most Wanted List, just a few names down from Adam himself. Another rogue scientist, according to them. I'll bet he wasn't overly unhappy when the Dominion went boom," she said to Ben.

"Won't say that he did a Happy Dance, but he did crack a smile," Ben allowed. He waved his hand in the air, indicating the luxurious and well-guarded surroundings. "They were a big part of why all of this, the guards, the security and stuff. He and the Dominion just went for a little truce toward the end. He didn't intrude on their stuff, and they let him alone. It worked, for the most part." He polished off the pastry and grabbed another. Jesse snatched his own second helping, since it looked like Ben was capable of scarfing down the entire lot. Ben continued, "Dr. Windom heard that Mother was practicing in the area, and invited her to come work for him. She agreed, on the condition that I be allowed to continue school. So here we are."

"Pretty lucky for you," Lexa said. "Windom must value Dr. Sutter pretty highly to pay for a college education."

"Oh, I help out here and there," Ben said. "I make my own way, and Dr. Windom hasn't had any reason to regret the bargain. Every now and again there's some task that needs a little muscle. I mean, just because I want an education doesn't mean that I have to forget all the martial arts training I did."

"Wouldn't want that," Brennan grunted, remembering the first time he'd sparred against 'Benji'. Benji, with the mind of a four year old, hadn't wanted to spar. Hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, 'cause his mommy told him not to. Then Brennan teased him onto the mat, tossed a bell-ringer that caused 'mommy's' admonition to fly out of the kid's mind, and Brennan ended up flat on his back with concussion. Oh, yeah, but Brennan remembered that.

Ben's face lit up. "Spar with me, Brennan? Most of the guys around here aren't any challenge. I have to go too easy."

The smile froze on Brennan's face. "Let's see how Shalimar makes out first," he temporized.

"Which brings us back to another problem," Jesse changed the subject. "When you picked us up, you talked about a price. Name it, Ben. We owe you Shalimar's life."

Ben hesitated. "It's not going to be easy."

Lexa began to get a bad feeling.

"I need help," Ben confessed.

The bad feeling turned into ice cubes in Lexa's stomach.

"I nearly flunked English in high school," Brennan warned him. "Trust me on this; you don't want me editing your term papers. I can screw up Spell Check."

That drew a small smile. "No, that I can handle. Although one of my other courses is a basic computer science class. Anybody able to tutor me in that? Both Mother and Dr. Windom are so far out of my league that they can't come down out of the skies to help."

"The Geek Wonder over here will do it," Lexa volunteered her team mate. "Jesse got us into this, he can do the tutoring. In fact, I'll get him into the hall to take your final for you. Is that all?"

"Uh…"

"In other words, no." Lexa put an end to the dithering. "Spit it out, Sutter. What do you need us to do?"

Ben squirmed, and Jesse was reminded of the man with the four year old's mind that he had originally met. "I, uh, need you to help me rescue someone. A girl. Dr. Windom's daughter."

More bad feelings in the pit ofLexa's stomach. The ice cubes mutated into dry ice. "And just why does she need rescuing? A runaway teenager, angry over not getting a raise in her allowance?"

Safer ground. They could see Ben relax. "She's a mutant, guys."

"Dominion take her? Genomex is long gone."

"No," Ben admitted, "it was the competition. A man named Hector Arrigo."

Lexa groaned. "Not more univariate mono-molecular stabilization."

Jesse leaned over to Brennan and dryly translated: "another mad scientist type."

"Thanks, bro. It was tough figuring that out."

"Actually," Ben said wryly, "we don't know what Dr. Arrigo is working on right now. Yes, we thought it was something to do with moleculars," and the former idiot didn't attempt to spit out the scientific gibberish that spilled off of Lexa's tongue so glibly, "but Dr. Windom's daughter is not a molecular."

"But she is a mutant." Brennan pounced on the end of the statement.

Ben nodded. "She's an empath." He collected himself. "She was taken two days ago. I led an assault team against Arrigo's stronghold and I'm ashamed to say that we got our collective butt kicked. It was me and a half dozen of Dr. Windom's finest. We weren't good enough."

"What happened?"

"We didn't even get past the front gate. We tried a frontal assault; they beat us back. We didn't get close to where they're keeping Amanda and I almost lost three men. I need help," Ben repeated. "Expert mutant help."

"We're in," Jesse said, then, "what?" as Lexa flung him a glare. "This is the price, Lexa. Shalimar is getting the finest of care right now because of Ben and Dr. Sutter. Even Adam said that Dr. Sutter was a good doctor. We're lucky Ben found us."

"Arrigo's security is not easy to get past," was Lexa's response. "I've never had the pleasure, but I've met a few survivors who have. They've declined a second crack at him."

"They haven't been mutants," Ben said immediately. "My mistake was not using mutants, mostly because my supply is limited. There's just me—and all I've got is an over-sized physique—and there's Dr. Windom's son, Treo."

"Treo?"

"Justin, actually, but Treo is his nickname."

"And this Treo is a mutant."

"A molecular, of sorts." Ben glanced around as if the son was about to show up. "Remember him? He was my co-pilot on the chopper. I'll let him introduce himself later. For now, let me show you the layout of Arrigo's stronghold. We'll plan to go as soon as it gets dark. Shalimar will be out of surgery by then; you'll see that she's all right with Mother, and we'll head out. Plan?"

"Plan," the others echoed.

But Lexa kept wondering why she still had that uneasy feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with the pastry she'd just eaten.