'Oh, I think I know somewhere,' Lexa smiled.
'What? Where?' Said Brennan in a somewhat disbelieving voice. Shalimar and Jesse were also giving her very puzzled looks.
'Well, I have a place up here. I suppose you could call it a cottage of sorts. It's up in the mountains, impossible to find unless you know exactly where to look. Its fully equipped, it has computers, a training room, even a small lab.' Lexa finished.
The rest of Mutant X sat staring at her in silence, not quite believing what they had just been told.
'Lexa, if you're messing with us right now I'm going to kick your ass,' said Brennan.
Lexa raised her arms up in her defence. 'I swear, it's true!'
There was another moments silence then Shalimar spoke up, 'Hang on a minute. How come the Dominion don't know about this place?' she asked.
'Come on Shal, you know me better than that.' Lexa said with a grin. 'I never reveal all my secrets.' Shalimar smiled at the truth of Lexa's last comment.
'So, the Dominion know nothing about this place? You're absolutely sure?' Brennan questioned.
'Yep, completely and absolutely sure.' Lexa affirmed.
'Because it'll be our lives on the line if you're wrong…'
'Brennan, shut up will you,' Lexa interrupted. 'I'm one hundred percent sure.'
Brennan crossed his arms in a huff at being told to shut up, amusing the others.
'So, that's why you transported us up here to Canada in the first place. You were trying to get us to your place?' Jesse half stated, half asked.
'Exactly. Although I was rustier than I anticipated. I was off on the location a bit, its further North than where we are now.'
'So, I figure that I try again in the morning, after we've all had a good night's sleep. Then once we get there we can recuperate from tonight's battle, there's no point in charging full blast ahead on an attack when we're all still weak like this. I'll get in touch with some of my non-dominion contacts on finding Adam and then we can figure out where we go from there.' Lexa finished.
The other three sat in awe. 'Wow Lex, you've got this all figured out haven't you!' Brennan said impressed. Lexa smiled proudly.
'You're amazing, you know that?' Said Jesse
'Well, I've been told that a couple of times but…' Lexa said imitating Jesse's earlier words. Jesse and Lexa both looked at each other and laughed.
Shalimar looked at Brennan who just shrugged.
'Well, as much as I enjoy seeing you two go all gooey eyed…' Brennan joked at the couple, 'I am in serious need of some shut-eye.' He got up from the table and collapsed onto one of the beds.
'I didn't think I'd ever say this, but for once Brennan, I agree with you!' Lexa quipped.
The others laughed and Brennan threw his pillow at Lexa. She caught it and threw it back, hitting him in the head. This caused them all to erupt in even more laughter.
Once they had calmed down they all began to climb wearily into bed. Shalimar was snuggling close to Brennan in one and Jesse had just pulled back the covers of the other.
'I'm just going to the bathroom.' Lexa said. Jesse nodded in acknowledgement and Lexa smiled warmly at him before closing the door behind her.
Lexa quickly brushed her teeth and then washed up. She was about to reach for the door handle when she noticed that her hand was shaking. She brought her other hand up in front of her; that was trembling to. As she watched her hands shake she could have sworn she saw them begin to glow slightly. She blinked and waved her hands about. 'It's been a long day and you're tired.' She told herself. 'You're imagining things.'
With that she opened the door and walked back into the main room. By the look of things Shalimar and Brennan were already asleep. She went over to the bed where Jesse was lying and climbed in next to him.
'Sweet dreams.' Jesse whispered to her. Lexa smiled to herself and moved to rest her head on Jesse's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. Feeling the safety and comfort of being in his arms Lexa felt her eyes grow heavy and close, and it wasn't long before all four of them were fast asleep.
Brennan was the first to wake up the next morning. He smiled when he saw Shalimar lying next to him. Brennan then looked over at Jesse and Lexa, and he couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw. Lexa was curled up close to Jesse with her head on his chest. 'Yep, she's snuggling!' Brennan laughed to himself. He smiled as he thought of how much Lexa had changed over the past year. When she had first joined Mutant X Lexa was cold and disconnected, she hadn't wanted to be there, she would never have dared to show any sign of affection towards anyone. But looking at the Lexa in front of him now he saw a completely different person. Now, curled up in Jesse's arms, she looked content and comfortable. She was one of the team.
Sensing Brennan's movement, Shalimar stirred gently from her sleep. She looked up to see Brennan smiling at the couple next to them. 'You're such a big softy!' She laughed.
'Oh come on, they're cute!' Brennan said defensively. Shalimar just gave him an amused look. 'Morning by the way.' He leant down and planted a kiss on her lips. 'Morning,' she smiled back.
'Do you think we should wake them?' Shalimar asked Brennan. 'I know Lex wanted to get going quite early.'
'It seems a shame to disturb them though.' Brennan said.
'See what did I tell you,' Shalimar laughed. 'You're soft!'
'Fine,' Brennan huffed, 'I'll wake them.'
An hour later all four members of Mutant X were dressed and ready to go.
'Everybody set?' Lexa asked looking around at her teammates. All three of them nodded in agreement. 'Everybody hold on tight then,' she said. With that the world around them disappeared and they were surrounded by light. Merely seconds later their feet hit the ground again and the world returned to normal. Lexa opened her eyes and looked around. Seeing the familiar mountain scene, she smiled to herself; it had worked. She felt staggered backwards slightly, again weakened from the use of that particular power. But this time she felt a hand on her back and she remained upright. She turned her head to see Jesse standing behind her.
'I've got you this time,' he said to her. Lexa took his hand and gave it a grateful squeeze.
Regaining her balance, Lexa looked around at her other teammates. Brennan stood rooted to spot, staring at his surroundings in awe. Shalimar on the other hands was walking around, beaming at her surroundings.
'Wow Lex, it's beautiful here.' She gasped.
Jesse, who had not yet taken in where they were, began to look around. They were fairly high up in the mountains, the air was fresh and crisp. They were standing in what appeared to be some kind of meadow. The grass was quite long; he could just about make out the path running through it. There were wild flowers dotted all around, all different colours; reds, yellows, purples, pinks, oranges, a rainbow-like assortment. There were patches of trees on both sides as well, and Jesse was sure he could here the trickling of a stream or river near by. Shalimar had been right; it was beautiful.
'Come on, it's this way,' said Lexa, who was amused by her friend's reactions. She started walking up the slight hill they were on and the others followed. A couple of minutes later they reached the top of the hill, and that's when they saw it. On the other side was Lexa's cottage, although she had been modest in calling it a cottage. It had two stories and was more the size of two very large cottages put together. It had old-fashioned cobblestone walls with ivy and flowers growing up them, a large wooden door and the windows had coloured, wooden shutters.
'It looks like it's come straight out of a fairytale book!' Shalimar said, still beaming.
'I suppose you want to see inside?' Lexa laughed.
'Hell yeah!' Said Brennan. He grabbed Shalimar's hand and set of at a run down the hill. Lexa and Jesse both laughed at the pair and they too set off towards the cottage. Once they had all gathered down in front of the house, Lexa stepped forwards toward the door. She reaches through the ivy covering the wall nearby and pressed a button that it concealed. One of the cobblestones slid aside revealing a keypad and some kind of scanner.
'Installed some of your own mod cons I see Lex!' Said Jesse in an impressed voice.
'You bet!' She replied typing a sequence into the keypad. A green light flashed and next the scanner came to life. It scanned horizontally across Lexa's eyes and then vertically. Then, a second green light flashed and there was the sound of locks turning and chains sliding. Lexa then reached for the door handle and turned it.
'Welcome to my humble abode,' She said opening the door and motioning them inside.
They went inside one by one. Although it still had the same quaint look as the outside, the décor of inside the house was more modern. In fact, as Shalimar looked around she was reminded of Sanctuary.
'Here is the living room and dining room, the kitchen is through the door straight ahead. Down the hall are the lab and computer room, one double bedroom and a bathroom. Upstairs we have two more bedrooms, another bathroom, the training room and the arsenal room.' Lexa finished.
'Lexa…this is so cool!' Brennan exclaimed causing the rest of them to laugh.
Half an hour later Lexa had given them the grand tour and each of them had set about their own business; Brennan had settled himself in front of the plasma television, Shalimar was in the gym and Jesse in the Lab and Computer room.
Lexa, meanwhile, was in her bedroom on the phone with one of her contacts.
'Yeah. And remember, finding Adam Kane is top priority right now. Yeah…uh huh…ok that'd be great. Thanks a lot, hope to hear from you soon. Bye.' She hung up the phone and threw it onto the bed. She had called all the non-dominion contacts she had, and all of them had promised to do all they could to locate Adam. Lexa felt pleased with herself; hopefully they were one step closer to finding Adam.
Later that night, the four of them were all sitting around the dining room table, just having finished their meal. Their new living arrangement was still the topic of conversation.
'I still can't believe you've been holding out on us all this time Lex. I mean, this place is sweet.' Brennan said admiringly. Before Lexa could reply she heard her cell phone ring from her bedroom.
'I'd better get that.' She got up and rushed to her room. She picked up the phone and answered. 'Hello? Yeah, you have? You've found Adam? That was fast! Where? Yep, hang on.' Lexa rummaged around in the drawer of her dresser for a pen and a piece of paper. 'Ok, shoot… Ok, got it.' Lexa scrawled down the address as her contact recited it. 'Listen, you have no idea what this means. Thank you so much. I owe you big time…yeah I'll remember that, don't you worry. Ok, thanks again.' She hung up and once again threw the phone back down on her bed.
Lexa couldn't help but smile to herself. They had Adam's location. She hadn't imagined that her contacts would get back to her so soon.
She began the walk across the room, eager to tell the others what she had just found out; they too would no doubt be delighted. But as she walked she began to feel light headed and dizzy. She stopped as she was hit with a wave of nausea. She looked down at her hands and they were once again shaking. However, it did not stop this time as it had done yesterday night. To her horror she felt the whole of her arms begin to tremor. She staggered backward and fell to the floor. As she hit the hard floor with a thud her whole body went into convulsions. Barely able to lift her head from the convulsions, Lexa looked down at the rest of her body. Her skin had turned translucent and there was a bright glow emanating from inside of her. Gradually the convulsions began to lessen and die down. Lexa's body continued twitching for a moment then her head rolled to the side and hit the floor and she lay there lifeless.