Control 18

Chapter title: Escort to mansion

Jesse and Emma were out the house in 5 minutes, and to their surprise, there was a small jeep sitting hidden just behind the clearing of trees. This brought a grin to both their faces.

The unknown man was sitting in the front seat, (driver seat) waiting patiently for his two passengers. He gave them an encouraging smile to say to get in, and when they did they drove off. The ride was bumpy but better than walking.

Emma sat back, sighing; she'd found some peace in the whole thing. She'd been worrying terribly on how the others were. She'd linked with Adam once and got the impression that trouble was kicking off and that they needed her there to calm people's emotions... that being Shalimar's emotions. Last time she had connected with the feral, the results had been a struggle for Emma to resurface and escape as fast as possible. All her attempts to calm her had sunk in the water surrounding her mind, so nothing else could distract her from her decisions.

Laying her head back on the surprisingly comfy and cushiony seat, she relaxed her mind, letting it wonder. If Adam were in trouble, even he would be able to sent off high amounts of stress levels for her to pick up on.

Jesse watched the driver with a curious glint in his eyes. He was happy they were going to find Adam, but some thing about the driver sent warning sirens screeching in his head. He couldn't pick out any thing different about the guy, but when he thought he was getting onto some thing, the man would turn and give him a bright smile, shattering all other thought of him being a danger to them.

He decided to watch where they were going, so he might have some clue should they want to get back to the mansion without a guide.

Brennan half carried Shalimar all the way out the cave. She was persistent on keeping tight hold of him, and refused him any space to walk freely. He asked her why, and she said he still looked sore with his injuries.

He didn't mind, but every time he tried to walk slower or faster, Shalimar insisted on keeping a normal pace. Before he lost his patience with her the 5 times she didn't move, he scooped her up, and carried her. She didn't even protest or ask why he did it, just layback watching Chris as he led them on ahead. Occasionally he saw her head loll to the side, to stare back at the group of men that had showed up after her little fight with Nick.

No matter how much Adam or Chris reassured her or Brennan that the others would do nothing to hurt them, Shalimar still watched with predator eyes, waiting for a weakness in there fake smiles, and fony acts.

She felt a sting of familiarity as she watched each one turn their heads to the side as if listening with intensity.

Adam walked ahead with Chris, listening to Chris's description of what Damien had. He had not hesitation in thinking the other men that had came along to be their escort, were able to hear what they were talking about. Chris gave no clues as to what they were, but by what Adam had seen so far, he believed that these people were... mutants... or feral's. They certainly acted like them.

He had to keep an open mind though. His own mind criticized him as he had thought them to be mutants earlier on, when Nick had growled, but now he believed they were not human.

He tried to steer Chris onto the subject of mutants, but he only referred to Mutant x, and the members being mutants, but never mentioning any thing at all about the others.

Adams mind was already working up a plot. ' Hiding secrets from me... well when we find Emma and Jesse, Emma will be able to give him a better heads up on what he was feeling. Chris wouldn't be able to hide behind his stone face complexion for long'.

Brennan ignored the overpowering feelings of the burning eyes into his back. All of them had been watching the two of them, while Adam whispered at the front with Chris. Did they expect him and Shal to put up a fight again, as if they saw some thing they did not like, a fight is what they would get.

He shifted Shalimar about, trying to get better hold on her, and her arms linked around his neck. A slow feeling of peace and happiness seemed to emit from her, making him almost miss a step. It had enveloped him, and swallowed him mind, turning his world all around, in a split second of hesitation. He continued on, whilst trying to figure out what was happening and what was going to happen when they got to the house.

Leaving the cave brought more heat onto her more than she liked. She shifted about uneasily in Brennan's hold, trying to find the coolness that had once been there before. She shied her eyes away from the sun, scrunching her self closer to Brennan. She didn't want any thing like the sun to interrupt her short and brief moments she shared with him. Such peace never happened in her world, and she wasn't going to let any of the new comers ruin it as well. She intended to show them how dangerous she was... later on.

Linking her arms more solidly around Brennan's neck, she sunk into his warm and caring embrace, ignoring the rest of the world.

Chris continued to lead them on, before long, Adam let out a small gasp of amazement as two jeeps sat in the darkness of the trees. The men following climbed into the other jeep, while Chris, Adam, Brennan and Shal all got into the first one of the group.

When rested in his seat, Brennan tried to be as gentle as possible in moving back to relax. Shalimar had been right about being sore, but he was to proud like every man to admit weakness.

He watched her with a close eye, examining the way she was acting. He knew she'd gone feral, and was greatly thankful he had not angered her at the time. He still could not get over the way she had ripped Nick apart, easily taking him down, and playing with him. She'd then turned her attack on Chris, but he was spared.

His eyes were pulled towards Chris, who drove with ease. His hands lightly rested on the wheel, while Adam was sitting staring at the direction they were taking. Brennan relaxed a bit. Hopefully the trouble was settled in the car behind them, and Adam would remember the path back.

He bit his lower lips suddenly, holding back a grunt of pain as Shalimar increased her hold around his chest, her arms compressing pressure onto his injured side.

She pulled back with a jerk, scolding her self for her own ignorance. She leaned off of him, instantly seeing the grateful smirk he gave her. She gave a small smirk back. Some thing was different about him. It reminded her of when he had been having the nightmares.

He worried about little things that really were nothing. He still looked worried, and in pain with his side.

Turning in her seat, Chris turned to her and she gave him a hard stare, while talking to Adam.
"Brennan needs his injuries looking at". She heard Brennan protest, but ignored him, looking straight at Adam. She received a nod of Adam, who quickly silenced Brennan with a stare.

Chris had been watching and gave a small smirk in Adam's direction. He was wondering if they thought of each other as he did his friends. Adam he knew took them for his own children, as Chris did with his friends.

He could sense Shalimar's intense glare on his back, but ignoring her attempts to catch some flicker of anger in him had all failed, just like the rest will.

A tall mansion about three stories high was coming into view. The two jeeps sped towards it, and parked up in front.

Adam looked up at the house marvelling at it. It resembled their house in many ways, but this one had a feel of age and warmth to it. The front of the mansion was painted in a pale white that had crisped in places where the weather's harsh judgment had been laid down on the house.

Chris walked now with more confidence and pride that even Adam saw it in his eyes. He couldn't mistake the look, nor could he deny he too would feel it for such a place. The house seemed not to exactly look over you, but reach out with its arms to welcome you.

Shalimar pulled Brennan out of the car in quite a hurry. When the other car joined them, and the remaining people in it, started to climb out, she pushed Brennan ahead of her to where Adam was waiting for them, whilst still staring back at them as if they still might attack them from behind.
Chris was leading them into the house, already waiting with the front door open, smiling at them. Slowly they all entered, even the men behind. To Shalimar's surprise, all but one all walked off into other rooms, talking away to each other and laughing a bit. The man who standing still, had been the one in the cave to tend to Nick. Now he looked at her with suspicious eyes, and yet, that was concealed to all but her, by the colour of his dark brown eyes.

Chris led them into a room, looking like an office, or a study. He seated him self behind the desk with familiarity and gestured for the others to sit as if it was over tea.

Both Brennan and Shalimar's jaws dropped as they saw Adam seat him self directly in front of Chris.

Brennan shifted about as Shalimar tensed. She was holding him up again, and nothing of his argument was heard. She stared at Chris, but he could tell she was reaching out with her senses, trying to find out where every one was so nothing surprised them.

Her head shot up, and she stared deeply into Brennan's eyes. He was stunned to see her eyes were back to normal, but they had a rim of gold, enhancing her brown eyes. Suddenly, her eyes focused, and she looked confused, but turned back to the others, Chris and Adam.

"Adam… I can sense Jess, and Em".

Their car pulled up out side, and they all eagerly climbed out of it. The trip had not been to there liking and each of their stomachs was wobbling and churning.

The supporting t Jess, who to swayed a bit, held Emma against him. They all leaned against the car, even the unknown man.

Jesse still managed to keep an eye on him all the time, never letting his guard down. But the unknown figure was making his way towards the large mansion. He opened the door, and gave a bright smile, and gesture for them to enter.

When they got in the house, Emma stuck close to Jesse, gripping his arm in a tight huck with hers. She told him of the amount of people in the house, "Jess, there are more people here, a lot more. But.. There's some thing weird, I don't know what it is..." Emma gripped her head, but another flicker sent her mind latching to familiar minds. "JESS... the others... there here".

They were lead to a room, where the doors already stood open, and when they entered, gasps were heard as an echo in the room.

Adam rose up from where he was, but gave Chris a hard look. Chris gave him a bright smile, and rose as well. "Good. Now you are, all, here. You are all welcome to relax here, as guests at my house if it pleases you. -" He turned to the man awaiting at the door, "Peter, thank you for that".

The other man who had brought Emma and Jesse smiled wide, like a dog that had been praised by its owner for bringing back a ball. "No problem Chris. Let me know if you need any thing".

With a grateful nod off Chris, Peter left.

They all stared at the leaving form of peter. He treated Chris as if he was an old man, and he was waiting to do any thing for him.

Adam watched and waited, before seeing the slightly pained expression on Brennan's face, and moving to check his chest.

As he walked over to him, all eyes pulled to him, with the sudden movement. He gave Jesse and Emma a small smile, which was returned, but he felt the smile never reached his eyes.

Brennan took a step back as Adam lifted the front of his shirt to examine the injuries that had, coincidently been made on his chest. His side burned and itched, and ached. All these things screamed the words directly into his ear that 'there was some thing wrong'.

Adam proceeded to check the damage, ignoring the small protest Brennan gave at fussing over him. Disapprovingly shaking his head, he stared up the elemental with a determined glint in his eyes. "I'll need to bandage that up, to make sure none of your ribs start to crack or stiffen".

Brennan stayed quiet, even though he really didn't want any of the people in the mansion, to know he was injured.

Shalimar stepped back to his arm, as soon as Adam moved away. She had a depth to her eyes he really didn't want to know what it was. Some thing told him it wouldn't be nice, or pain free.

Shalimar eyed Chris as he started on a small talk with Adam. She didn't really like what he was saying, but still wasn't in complete control of her self, so she kept quiet, and made sure she saw every thing that went on. She wouldn't have 'the team' injured just so Chris could help a friend of his.

Chris sat down as soon as Adam joined him. "Adam... I have tried all I know to help Damien get better, but I am afraid my medical skills are not as developed as yours. And also with your previous work on, new mutants, you may be able to help Damien".

Adam's mind tried to talk but his mouth relayed it to Chris first, "So Damien is a mutant then..." He wanted to leave it at that. Should he have asked if the rest of them were, would be pushing.

Chris lost the calm in his eyes, and now had curiosity sitting in plain sight, "some thing like that". He sat back in his chair for a moment, watching Adam intently, and slowly, his eyes ran over the rest of the anxious members of mutant x. He watched them all with predator eyes that waited for a weakness. He stared at Shalimar for a few moments longer, but that was a few moments too long. She growled and her eyes flashed a threatening gold, as she moved towards him.

The tension in the room seemed to amount only in Shalimar, as she saw a small smirk in Chris's face. It didn't really look mocking, but... determined.

Adam signalled for Brennan to help grab Shal, as Jesse moved in besides her, whispering to her comfort. She only relaxed when Brennan gently put an arm around her shoulder, reassuring her that Jesse was right.

Emma gave Shalimar a long and curious stare, lost in her own mind, and Shalimar's. A moment later her eyes lost the glaze but still she kept an eye on the feral.

Chris stood, oblivious to the dangerous glare Shalimar was giving him, and moved around the table, whilst walking to the door, he spoke to them. "Perhaps you better see for your selves. I'll take you to Damien. But I warn you, if you come you must keep this an absolute secret.". He gave them all a hard stare, which surprised them all with its sudden depth of coolness.

When they nodded, he gestured them all to follow, and started to lead them through the mansion.

Shalimar allowed her senses to reach out forwards, in the direction they were going. She didn't want to walk into any trouble or a trap.

She could smell scents of animals, all over the house. They were familiar, and she remembered the smell in the woods. It smelled like wolves.
Her eyes scanned every piece of darkness, waiting for an unknown threat to pounce out at them.
What ever had been through the mansion, she didn't like the idea that wolves ventured through it, and supposedly, frequently.

The smell of animals grew stronger, as they moved further on. She stayed near to the front, just in case some thing turned up, but Chris walked on with out any worry or any tension in his steps.

Brennan shuffled along behind Shalimar, not taking any offer of help off Jesse. Emma gave him a hard stare, as if directly calling him too cocky, but he went on.

He watched how Adam to seemed to hand back away from Chris, but made sure to stay ahead of Shalimar. He must have seen her reaction to some thing about, and made sure he kept him self in front of her.

Brennan sighed as they passed a seat of stares, leading up to the next floor, and went down a corridor just beyond the stairs. All their feet echoed in the corridor, making him take a quick glance back to see no one was following.
They all passed by doors, seemingly rooms of some sort, but they kept on to the end of the corridor, where a single door stood facing them. The door was very different from all the others. It showed its age, with the door handle slightly rusty, along with the hinges, and the pain crisping. The colour was very bleak and dark brown, giving a small jolt of dread to all the mutant x members. They all glanced at each other as soon as Chris opened the door and trotted down more steps.

They followed.

The stairs led down to a dimly lit basement, and Chris was leading them 5 feet away to another door. This had aged as well, but the whole door was thick metal, or iron Jesse guessed. The door made no noise as Chris opened it to a dark room. He walked in, and stood holding the door open for them.

Jesse couldn't help listening to the voice in his head, as it screamed some thing was wrong. He held back his protest as Adam slowly and wearily started to walk into the room.

When Adam was in, Shalimar confidently strode after him. To Jesse's surprise, Emma strode in with confidence as well.

There was just he and Brennan looking wearily into the pitch-black room. The darkness almost looked like it was reaching out to them, but when he blinked, it was the same as before.

Brennan sighed heavily before shrugging, and walking to the door, closely followed by Jesse. When they entered, Brennan tried to walk as far forwards as possible to leave room for Jesse, and walked straight into some thing, and froze when golden eyes stared up at him.

Jesse slid into his back, the same as Brennan had done to Shalimar... 'Hopefully'. He wished he could actually know it was her. He tried not to try and see his hand in front of his face, as he didn't want to panic frightfully when he couldn't.

Jesse gave him a quick pat on the back, before his hand disappeared and Brennan heard his steps to the left behind him.

Suddenly, bright lights flashed on, blinding Brennan for a few moments, before his eyes adjusted. Thick bars stood out around him, and some thing sat 5 feet away from him. He tried to think if it was an arm or a leg that was changed to the floor, of the thing. He noticed the door to the cage was open, and he quickly stumbled backwards out of it. Not a second later, Chris was shutting the cage with lightning speed, bouncing metal on metal. In that second, some thing had lunged at the cage door, and rebounded off it with a vicious growl.

Brennan felt his feet being sunk into the concrete floor, as golden eyes stared at him through the thick metal bars. He couldn't help but allow him self to shiver, but ceased as Chris turned and looked at him. Curious eyes almost searching his soul for an unknown secret hidden inside.

Brennan jumped as slender fingers hucked into his, and stared back at Shalimar; still stunned he had been so lucky.

Shalimar gave Brennan sympathetic eyes, before they bore an immediate stone look, digging into Chris three feet away.

She glared into the cage at the beast that had attempted to attack Brennan. She blinked in shock as the thing started to pace in the cage. It was a wolf, or an overgrown one. It was bigger than normal. But there was no mistaking it for a common mountain lion, or any other animal. She knew it wasn't a cat, since she smelled a canine, but still she couldn't help but give Brennan's hand a deathly grip back, as he gave small shudders.

Adam glared into the cage, disbelievingly. It looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where from. Chris was standing near the cage bars, but the animal didn't attack him as it did Brennan.

"... What is going on here Chris? You said you were taking us to Damien. I don't see how showing us a wolf is going to change any of our minds on this place".

Chris still seemed to be waiting for some thing, for them to see some thing. His eyes slid to Brennan once again, curious.

The beast of a wolf, walked towards the bars, leaning onto the bars, as if they would start to bend under its strength.

Shalimar kept a tight lock on Brennan, as he started to move about on his feet. She glanced back at him, questioningly, but his eyes diverted away, and he didn't link eyes with any one who did the same as Shal.

Emma glanced around as she started to see the room be aluminates by the rays of sunlight sinning through a window to there top right. She saw the interior of the room, and her mood slide down another slope. There were more cages around the room, all far away from each other, and stuck into the concrete floor. Each one was similar in size but slightly thinner than the one the wolf sat in.

Each resembled the other with their thick metal bars running straight down and close together. Every one had some dirt of grass in, as if animals had been there recently.

She didn't like the look of the place, and the unusual vibes she was getting off of the wolf in the cage.

Adam gave Chris a stern look before a small crackling noise caught his attention, coming from the cage.
They all watched as the wolf stopped pacing and seemed to hunch its back, as it crawled in on its self. It looked in a great deal of pain, letting small painful growls and yelp echo in the room.

Slowly, the crackling increased in volume, and the wolf started to change. At first all they saw its shape and then slowly, it started to take on a human form.

The answer struck Adam as hard as a brick to his head, nearly knocking off his feet, but unable to stop a small gasp of shock.

The gasp echoed through the members of Mutant x, but Chris still stood watching them all, with an interested glint in his eyes. It was like Adam's, except some thing about those eyes, screamed danger to any who chose to challenge him.

Shalimar's back hardened as she realised what she had been smelling, what she had been sensing all the time. A wolf that was actually human. She tried to puzzle out the dilemma. 'Could it be a transforming feral...' but yet her mind... her feral side, told her it wasn't. It seemed... too natural to the thing.

The thing slowly took on the skin and shape of a human, and when 'he' stood up, his eyes gave a shine of gold to them.

Finally he looked human again. He panted heavily and his skin had a shine of sweat whenever the sun hit him. His black hair was spiked due to the sweat, but it seemed to look more hair than fur like it did a few seconds ago. His brown eyes were so dark and full of mistrust to them, that they seemed almost black. A cold black. His age was hard to predict with those knowing eyes, but he might have been about Brennan's age. (26... only in my story).

His chest was muscular as the rest of him, but he wasn't too bulky, but the perfect bulk. He stood with confidence; his eyes never flickered with embarrassment of his lack of clothing.

Emma blushed brightly when she realised he was standing there rather naked, and swung around to look away. But to her shock, she still felt like his eyes were boring into her no matter what she did.

Chris opened the cage with quick hands, and walked back to the man when he had acquired a towel and some clothes from a table near by.

While the stranger dried him self, Chris stepped to Adam, with a glint of need in his eyes.

"Adam... this is Damien".

OK Guys. Sorry I took so long with this. But it may be the longest I've done.

Any ways. Tell me ur ideas on the Damien Character, an what u think may be going on.

Thx for the other replies.

They were amazing. But some more replies will help me along.

Thx 4 reading. Tunder28