"Father…" Treo's voice trailed off.

The clinic was as sterile and as cold as ever, despite the numbers of men present: Windom senior torturing his specimen out of Jesse, Treo to help hold the instruments of torture, and three guards assigned to do whatever Windom needed at the moment. At present, their assignment was to watch without throwing up. Jesse took malicious comfort in their distress. They had already done enough by wrapping that damn inhibitor back around his head and by strapping him into this torture device.

"Don't go getting squeamish on me now, boy. Do as you're told." Windom did something to the harpoon in Jesse's back, and Jesse couldn't help but let out a moan. Not that he tried hard to repress it; not since he'd noticed that Treo turned a slightly more putrid shade of green each time he did. There was precious little that Jesse could do, but get Treo upset enough and maybe that would help. Any port in a storm…

"Haven't you gotten enough of the specimen?" Treo asked irritably. "Give it to Mother. Maybe it will work."

"Don't tell me what to do, boy. I've been studying this. All you've been doing is playing with your powers, trying to control them. Learn what I know, young man, and then you can have an opinion."

"But he's—"

"The switch, Justin. Turn it on."

"But—"

"I've got my hands full keeping this needle steady. Flip the switch and get it over with!"

Jesse had no voice left to scream. The electricity hit like a tsunami, washing over and through him and pushing away all coherent thought. No breath, no movement, no thought except for the heartfelt begging for it to stop!

Then it did. He could feel the tugging at his back, heard Windom murmuring, "steady, steady," to himself, felt Windom's harpoon wiggling in place.

Jesse wanted to say that he relaxed into the restraints, that there was no point in fighting yet. Yet. But the real answer was that he had nothing left to fight with. Windom had sapped every iota of energy from him. Jesse felt drenched in sweat, that unconsciousness was a slender thread away.

"Father, he's going out on us."

"Little bit more. Just a little bit more."

Where was Ben? The super-soldier had promised to come back for him. Little late, Ben, aren't we? Got what you wanted from me, now you've taken off? Maybe the rest of Mutant X has given me up for dead? Is that what you told them? Don't look back? Jesse felt a black despair wash over him. Even death wasn't an option, not with Windom pausing every time it felt like Jesse's heart was about to stop.

Hey, who said that death wasn't an option? Jesse felt the very air in the clinic get thick and hard to draw into his lungs. The world wavered on the edge of agony that the rest of him had become. Death was sounding better and better.

Then, all of a sudden, he was looking down at himself. Damn, but that didn't look good. Windom was withdrawing the needle from Jesse's spine—didn't know they made needles that big. That for a horse?—and shouting. Treo and a couple of other guard types were taking him down from the restraints. Unbuckling the straps. Damn, I used to be able to phase through those things, no problem. It's a bitch getting zapped with electricity. Remind me to avoid a certain elemental on his bad days.

Jesse, however, kept looking down at himself from somewhere at the top of the room. The men kept working over him, shouting although the sound was receding from Jesse's consciousness. Detached from my body? Must be. Feels a hell of a lot better from up here. Careful, you guys, you're going to break a rib. Is this what death feels like? I can live with this. Well, maybe not live. The English language was not designed to work with what's happening to me now.

"He's gone out!" Windom shouted. "Treo, get over here so that I can work on him. Dammit, get those leads on him! I need to see his heart rhythm immediately!"

Jesse watched as the men wrestled his limp and distressingly unresistant body onto a stretcher to more conveniently work. No rush to get back, guys. More torture? I can wait up here, no problem. Long as I can, I can wait.

Jesse, you have to go back.

Emma? Jesse couldn't really say that he 'saw' her, but there was no doubt in his mind that his former teammate was next to him, where ever that was. And, strangely enough, it felt right. I'm glad you're here. I've missed you. -psychic hug-

Emma smiled. Jesse, I haven't missed you and the others. I've been watching you all along. You've done good.

Don't know about that, Emma. Lost Sanctuary. Lost Adam. Just about lost ourselves. Getting ready to die, and that really doesn't sound like such a bad idea at the moment.

Emma shook her head. No, Jesse, you can't. The others need you. You can't come with me. Not yet. There are still things that you need to accomplish, you and Brennan and Shalimar. And Lexa.

You know about Lexa?

Jesse, I've been watching you. All of you. You have to go back and finish what you've started.

You sure?

Very. I'm sorry, Jesse.

Heavy sigh. There was a great big 'ouch' in his future. So am I.

And he really was, because no matter how bad the torture was, it was nothing compared to the feeling of suffocation. Even worse, because the suffocation really wasn't. Treo, at his father's behest, was holding a mask of oxygen firmly overJesse's face, forcing air into his lungs. Most people would welcome the gas. Jesse felt like it was choking him. He struggled. Hell of a thing, claustrophobia. You cured a lot of other stuff for me, Adam, why not this? Stupid little normal human thing. Not even mutant.

"Hold him down. Watch him, make sure that he doesn't phase. Shock him if he does. Justin, keep your hand on the inhibitor switch just in case."

Like that was an option. Phasing took energy and control, neither of which Jesse possessed at the moment. He gave up struggling, let the guards hold him flat on the stretcher. Breathing on his own would have to suffice.

He would have liked to close his eyes, but what Dr. Windom was doing held his interest. Just what the hell are you doing with the results of my torture? The scientist's back was to him, and he made no effort to cover up his actions. A small dollop of this was added to the clear fluid in the syringe, and the mixture turned blue. Then another drip changed it to purple, and Windom was ready.

Windom senior approached the tank of swirling psychedelic mist and inserted the syringe into a convenient port. He worked the plunger, instilling the serum into the interior of the mist.

It had an immediate effect: the mist whirled faster, the colors brighter, until it threatened Jesse with nausea. He closed his eyes, but only for a moment. He had to see what it was that Windom was doing, and if it was working. Has a definite impact on my future, dude!

The swirling had slowed. Long strands of matter coalesced into coherency. Jesse ached to be able to touch whatever it was inside the tank. The molecules called to him in a way that only a molecular could understand. Even Treo felt it, Jesse could tell. The water-mutant drifted closer to the tank, his hand outstretched to touch the cold glass.

"Careful, Justin," his father warned. "Not yet. She's not complete yet—damn!" he breathed. "So close! So close! We almost had it!" He looked back at Jesse with such a hungry look that it was almost painful in its intensity. "Another few drops, and we would have had it!" Windom's eyes glittered, calculating, running up and down Jesse's recumbent form. More icicles formed in Jesse's belly, icicles not put there by Treo. "Strap him in. We'll finish this."

"No, Father! You can't!" Treo protested. "Look at him! You'll kill him!"

"That won't matter, boy. We'll have your mother back. That's what's important."

"But what if we don't? What if we need more serum?" Treo cast around desperately. "What if we need constant infusions to keep Mother whole?"

That turned Windom around. It was a concept he hadn't considered. He ran the equations in his head. He thought. "No."

"What?"

"No," Windom repeated. "We will not require constant infusions. That is outside the realms of possibilities, given the research already acquired. We can proceed."

"Father—!"

"I do, however," and Windom rode roughshod over his son's protests, "wish to keep this mutant alive. I will not waste material without cause. We are applying electricity across the chest, and this is undoubtedly affecting his heart. Move the electrodes to his groin. That should keep him alive. You, there," to a guard, "take off his pants. Place the clips where you think they will cause the most discomfort. We'll start again as soon as you have him back in restraints."

Crap.

Ben poured over the computer console in the main Security office. His fingers danced like a pianist with a difficult etude to pound out. "Just another few moments, yes, there, got it," he finished triumphantly. "I've instructed the security computers to locate everyone on the facility. There are forty three guards—hey, did Riley call out sick again? I swear, I'm going to write his ass up and terminate him. The man's a week end drunk, and he's going to shoot one of us one of these days on a Monday morning hangover."

"Yeah, being a supervisor's a bitch," Lexa said. "Where's Jesse? Where's Brennan?"

"Getting to that. I'm not locating Dr. Windom, so that most likely means that he's in his lab where the Security cameras don't go. I'm not finding Mother, and she's probably stuck with him. We'll have to be careful when we break them all out. Where's Treo? I'm not finding him…" Ben's voice trailed off.

"Could he have left the grounds?"

"Possible. Not likely." Ben's fingers flew. "Not in his room. Not in the library. Not in the lounge." He looked up. "Windom may have forced him to help in the lab. Dr. Windom doesn't like many people to be down there, and certainly not people that he can't trust. This is too important for him. Treo hates science, hates the whole concept, but Dr. Windom is convinced that blood is thicker than water. If he couldn't find me, Windom would have his son help out. I think that Treo is downstairs with his father, with Jesse."

"How many guards are down there?" Lexa pulled them back to the heart of the matter.

"Hard to say. Best guess: four, with six more guarding the outside of the entrance to the lab. That many guards, we'll definitely need Brennan to get through. And, guys," Ben's eyes were full of hurt, "these guards are my people. They're only doing the job that Windom hired them to do. If they really knew what Windom was doing—how he was doing it—they'd up and quit on the spot. They're not bad people. Most of them, that is." And, "they're my people. Please don't hurt them."

Lexa was reluctantly impressed by the super-soldier's plea. Ben was just as much a mutant as any of them, and had been shoved around by life just as much, maybe more. Yet he still had the conscience to ask for mercy for the men under his command. Not all soldiers were heartless cannon-fodder…

"All right," she said, "we'll try. Where's Brennan? And little Miss Hot To Trot?"

Ben blushed again, and Lexa inwardly cringed. The super-soldier had it bad, and the adolescent empath wasn't even present. How far did the empath's range reach? But Ben again told the security computer to do its thing, and located the pair. "The Great Room. Both of them."

"Can it tell us what they're doing?" Lexa asked waspishly, just to see Ben blush again, and then regretted her hasty words. Shalimar's face hardened. It was her man that the empath had ensnared, and the feral intended to get him back even if she had to tear the man into bits to do it. Do I feel that way about Jesse? Do I even have it in me to feel that way? Let's not go there. Not right now. Got a job to do. Got a mission. Those goals are safer. "Never mind. Let's go get Sparky."

"Wait a minute." Ben tapped on the intercom. "Walters? Perry?"

"Yo, boss?"

"Listen, I'm getting a bogie on the north end. Take five men and check it out. It may be nothing, but right now I'm getting a little antsy. Check it out, will ya?"

"Got it, boss. We'll report back in thirty."

Lexa nodded approvingly, but Ben wasn't finished. "Alex? The sensors are going a little hinky to the west. Take a team and check out the sensors, okay? Take Williams with you; he's good at running the sensor checks. Call me back in thirty."

"On it. Report back in thirty."

Shalimar was moving toward a grin. "What about south and east? Those suddenly developing 'problems'?"

"Let's not forget about the roof top," Ben told her. "We've got a secondary heliport up there. By the time I finish assigning my men, I should have two-thirds of 'em elsewhere and out of harm's way. We'll only have the guards below to worry about. Those I can't pull. That would alert Dr. Windom."

"You leave them to us," Lexa said.

"Don't hurt them."

"Try our best," Shalimar assured him. "Let's go."

It didn't take long to get to the Great Room. The hallways outside the room were carpeted, and the noisiest one of the trio was Lexa, which meant that a pin dropping onto that carpet would have been easier to hear.

But Lexa held them back. "Amanda will know something's up as soon as I enter the room," she whispered, "or don't you remember what happened the last time I tried to extract ol' Sparky?"

Ben nodded. "She's right, Shalimar. We need a distraction." He thought for a moment. "Books. I need my books."

"I'm not really motivated to wait for you to go to your room, Super-Student."

"No, I think I left a text book in there. In the Great Room." Ben flashed a sideways grin at Shalimar. "It's War and Peace. I think I need to go in there to look for it."

"I think you need to stay out here," Lexa replied, "or am I mistaken in my belief that she can bowl you over with one come-hither look?"

"Oh, I think I can handle that," Ben said cryptically, and gathered up a half-dozen red roses from the vase sitting on the side table along the hallway. He inhaled the fragrance deeply. "What girl doesn't like flowers?"

"Ones with allergies," Lexa snarled quietly, but Ben had already eased the door open.

He straightened, and walked in, commanding his face to remain impassive as he noted that Brennan's shirt was long gone and the smudge of Pretty in Pink lipstick on his cheek was not. The elemental was lounging on the love seat, his head in Mandi's lap, staring up into her eyes as though there was nothing else in the world to look at. For her part, Mandi caressed his brow, moving stray dark hairs back from his forehead, going for a Mona Lisa smile and succeeding at looking bored.

Ben took another long whiff of the roses, enjoying the fragrance. He grinned, and held them out. "Mandi?"

"Ben?" Mandi was glad to see him: more entertainment. She brightened, dislodging Brennan from her lap. The elemental scowled, but rearranged his face into a pretense of welcome.

"Looking for my books," Ben said, unable to keep the smile on his face from heading toward fatuous. "There it is," he added, picking up the heavy tome from an end table. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"Yes," Brennan said.

"Of course not," Mandi beamed.

Ben moved into action. He extended the roses in his hand. "For you, Mandi. I picked them outside." Right. Picked 'em outside in the hallway from the vase.

Shalimar and Lexa chose that moment to enter, lasers blazing, intent on removing their teammate from his current predicament whether he wanted to be removed or not.

This alarmed Amanda Windom. Alarm activated her empathic gift. Sudden alarm activated her gift full force.

Brennan leaped to his feet, pouring out the electricity. Ben, for his part, dropped both book and flowers and dove head first for Shalimar.

The feral found herself in the fight of her life against a man that she had thought was on her side. Not doing well picking menfolk, are we, Shal? Before this, she would have sworn that only a feral could match another feral for speed and agility. Today she found out that a super-soldier in partial possession of his faculties could also match her, and Ben had a longer reach. And bigger and stronger muscles.

Wham! Shalimar went flying into the heavy velvet drapes, sliding to the thick pile carpet and dragging the afore-mentioned drapes with her. Bright sunlight darted into the room. She jumped up—only to be tripped by the fabric. Ben advanced.

Shalimar rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being pounced upon. One shapely leg flashed out, and Ben took his turn at whacking a hole in the wallpaper with his head.

Lexa went for Brennan, photons versus electrons. Brennan burned a hole in the sofa that Lexa hid behind, so Lexa set the love seat on fire. The fact that Mandi herself was on that love seat had nothing to do with it. The squeal, however, was gratifying to Lexa's ears. Special bonus, bitch! Brennan scowled, and put a little more oomph into the blast that sent the end table with the vase of white roses flying.

Rose petals shredded themselves from their blooms and cascaded down through the air as if over-zealous flower girls at a wedding had been given instructions to rid themselves of the petals as quickly as possible. The aroma of rose attar filled the room.

Lexa sneezed.

The effect on both Brennan and Ben was more pronounced. Ben slid down the wall from where Shalimar had bodily thrown him and sat on his rump, a dismayed look on his face. Brennan's emotional roller-coaster was a little more gratifying to Shalimar: the elemental started with shock as he stared at Amanda Windom, went to horror as he observed the woman that he professed to love watching him with something less than forgiveness, and ended up looking at the ripped up deep pile wishing that he could suddenly acquire his teammate's gifts and sink through the carpet. He gulped. "Shalimar?"

Lexa pulled back from the laser bolt she was about to part Brennan's hair with. "Are you back?"

Brennan swallowed again. And again. "I was gone. Wasn't I?"

"Yes, Brennan, you were." Shalimar folded her arms, declined to offer a hand to help Ben to his feet. The super-soldier wisely stayed where he was, on the floor and out of the fray both physically and verbally.

"I—" Brennan looked around for help. It wasn't forthcoming.

But Lexa hated a mystery. "What the hell just happened?" she demanded. "Ben? Amanda?"

Amanda pouted; no help there. Lexa focused on Ben and snapped her fingers. Little photons like sparks of flame jumped into the air. "Ben?" With a little more bite in her voice.

Ben winced. "Roses."

"I can see that. I think I need a clearer explanation, and I think I need it right now, Sutter."

More wincing. "You'll notice that there are vases filled with roses all over the living quarters," he offered.

"How nice," Shalimar said coldly. "I take it they're not for decoration and gracious living?"

"Nope." Ben winced again. "They're protection."

"Against Amanda."

"Against Amanda," Ben confirmed.

"Doesn't work very well."

"Does, too," Mandi pouted. "Look what happened. The place is a mess, and you upset both Ben and Brennan. This never would have happened if you hadn't barged in."

Shalimar rolled her eyes. "Let's go, Brennan. Unless you'd rather stay here and let Lexa and I rescue Jesse by ourselves?" The icicles dripping from her voice were far colder than anything Treo could hope to produce.

Grovel, Mulwray. Grovel good. Grovel for as long as it takes.