"Well, everything looks fine. How do you two feel?" Adam asked Shalimar and Emma as they sat in the bio beds. Shalimar had been mumbling the entire time about how they were just wasting time, and that they needed to get over to Genomex right away. Emma, however, was silent. She was still a little shaken up from not one, but two sudden blasts from her powers. Brennan sat quietly off to the side, watching everything.

"I'm fine Adam! Like I've told you for the last twenty minutes! Why are we still here? They're hurting him!" Shalimar said, loudly. Adam just ignored it, and focused on Emma.

"Emma, how are you?"

"I feel so strange Adam," she said, putting her hand to he head. "I connected to someone, I mean, that blast that hit Shal and Brennan, that wasn't me. When I was meditating, I was concentrating so hard on Jess that I let everything else just drift away. I wasn't paying attention to any thing else. And I got so close to Jess, I mean, I was right there with him. I felt everything he was going through, mentally, and I…I saw it. He was on a table. There weren't straps or anything, but he couldn't move, and there were all these sensors attached to him, and Harrison had complete control…." Emma's breath came more haggard as she fought back the burst of emotion she felt.

"It's alright Emma, take your time," Adam said, putting his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Emma took a minute to calm herself. "I wasn't in Jesse Adam. I was in the same guy as before; it was the same mind, the same coldness…I can't explain it Adam. I was in a person, connected to someone in that room, but it wasn't Jesse."

Adam nodded, but remained silent. He had a serious problem right now: Jesse was being tortured by Eckhart, Shalimar was close to murder, Brennan was tearing himself apart from the inside out, and now Emma's powers were on the fritz. He wanted to run tests on her, to find out if what she was experiencing was just a growth spurt, but they didn't have the time. Getting to Jesse and bringing him home was the more important then anything to the rest of them. Adam sighed, and rubbed his head.

"Shalimar what did you find on Jesse's location?" he asked.

"From all the paper work and data I got, he's at Genomex. They're keeping him in the testing facility," she said bitterly.

"Emma, do you agree?"

"He's definitely in a lab. Yeah, I agree."

"Ok. I hate to say this, but you and Shalimar are the only ones who can go in there right now."

"Wait a minute Adam! What about me?" Brennan said for the first time since they got to the med lab.

"Brennan you're injured."

"Yeah, and Emma was just brought to her knees from a sudden power burst!" Brennan said, his voice raising.

"Emma, you said you connected with this mind before, right?" Adam asked, turning to her.

"Yes," she said.

"When?" Adam pressed.

"Once in the Helix, on our way to the factory. The other just now, meditating."

"Both times, were you relaxed? Did you let your walls drop even slightly?"

Emma nodded.

"Have you ever connected to this mind when your walls were up? When you had complete control?"

"No."

Adam turned back to Brennan, "As long as Emma has control, and her defenses stay up, she'll be fine. You on the other hand, depend on the movement of your arms to use your powers. And one of those arms has not only been shot, but has had its stitches torn, has been re-opened, and then used to toss you into a wall. On top of that, you were exposed to Vecuronium Bromide, where you were unconscious for god knows how long. Then were knocked out again, and remained unconscious for three hours. It's too dangerous to send you."

Brennan opened his mouth to say something, but Adam beat him to it. "Brennan, I understand. You want to help Jesse. You feel responsible, but getting yourself hurt, captured, or killed isn't going to help anyone."

Brennan just nodded, and before he said anything he'd regret, walked out.

Shalimar stood to go after him, but Emma stopped her. "Let him go Shal, he doesn't want anyone but Jess right now."

Shal just nodded, and stood by her friend, reluctantly letting Brennan go. "So what's the plan, Adam?"

Adam sighed, and looked at his two girls. "Go in and get him out. I don't know what else to tell you. My only order is that under no condition are you, Emma, to let your guard down. And Shal, under no condition are you to go completely feral. You're there to get Jesse, not go on a mass murder spree."

The two girls nodded their understanding.

Jesse lay in a blissful drug induced haze, which was quickly coming to an end. He had been left alone for the last thirty minutes, and was starting to let his defenses fall, just a little. 'It's probably the drug,' he thought to himself, knowing he could never feel comfortable in a Genomex facility.

As always, Jesse had spoken too soon. The door to the lab opened, and in stepped Laura. "Hello my darling Freak. How are you doing?" Jesse felt his stomach tighten as he heard her approach. "What? Cat has your tongue?" she said as she brushed her hand along his right leg, and up to his stomach. "That's alright, I like the silent types," she said as she leaned over him, her lips brushing agents his.

Jesse flinched, and tried to move his head, but her hand was holding it in place. "Oh, don't worry Freak, I don't bite on the first kiss," she said. Then she pressed her lips against his. When she pulled away, Jesse's face flashed with anger, and he spat in her face.

Laura pulled away stunned, and wiped the spit from her face. But then she laughed, and smacked Jesse across his face. She yanked his head up, by his hair, so he had no choice but to look at her. "You can spit, so that means you can talk. Harrison will be thrilled to hear that. So now we can resume the testing." With that she let his head fall, and kissed him one more time before she left.

As her footsteps drifted down the hall, Jesse tried to calm his hart. "Shit," he said, through a dry, sore throat. A few minutes later, Jesse heard the sounds of the lab door opening and closing. He started to panic, thinking that it was Laura returning with Harrison, but then he felt that same comforting hand take his.

"Hey, how you doing?" asked that gentle country voice.

Jesse turned his head, stiffly and slowly, towards her. "You didn't stop it…" he choked out.

Jessica gave him a soft smile, tears gleaming in her eyes. "I know, and I'm sorry. That agent, Witson, he was watching me the entire time. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Jesse closed his eyes, and swallowed. 'She sounds like she means it, but so did my dad when he use to tell me he loved me.' "A…Ad….Adam Cane…ca…ca…call…" Jesse said, breaking into a coughing fit.

"It's alright. It's ok, shh. Take a deep breath," Jessica said trying to help him. Jesse was able to breathe again after a moment, and he calmed down. "You want me to call someone for you?" she asked.

"Call Adam."

"Adam Cane? I can't do that…I…I don't know…." She asked, fear causing her voice to shake.

"Please…"

Jessica looked at Jesse. The face that she saw was more like a four year old's. He reminded her of a lost child. She couldn't help it; her heart went out to him, and she gave in. "Alright, I'll try. But I have no idea how to call him…."

"Number… 9…99…252…66…77" Jesse said before giving into another coughing fit.

"Ok, hang on…" Jessica said as she searched her pockets for a pen. She found one and began to write the number on a bare part of her arm. "999-252-6677, Right?" she glanced up at Jesse who was still trying to catch his breath. He gave her a quick nod.

"Alright, hang in there, Jesse, right? That's your name isn't it?"

Jesse looked at her, breathing heavily, and nodded.

"Ok, Harrison is going to be back any minute, and they're going to start it all again. This time they're going to question you, you know that right?"

Again, Jesse just nodded.

"Ok, I'll make the call as soon as I can, but right now I have to start going through the system checks. Do you need anything?"

Jesse shook his head, slowly, pain flashing across his face. Jessica squeezed his hand, and went back to work.

As Jessica predicted, Harrison, Laura, and the agent walked in. "Hello Mr. Kilmartin. I hear that you have deiced to grace us with your voice. Is that true?" Harrison said, now starting to examine Jesse. Jesse just glared at him.

"It'll do you some good to answer the doctor Mr. Kilmartin. It might be less painful you down the road," came the dry, calm voice of Agent Witson.

Inside Jesse's head he felt something trying to get in. He felt what he could only describe as a hand trying to push its way through him. And it hurt, a lot. "Stop…" was all Jesse could choke out, and the invisible hand disappeared.

"Ah, very good Mr. Kilmartin. Now, your vitals are strong, and you're speaking again, so we will continue with the test." Harrison looked up at Witson, challenging the agent to stop him.

"Before the test, one simple question; answer it and Harrison will give you a sedative before he begins," Harrison grumbled something, but Witson ignored him, "It would be far better for you."

"I can take his test," Jesse said, trying to look at Witson, who was in the habit of standing just outside of his visual range.

"Oh, yes, you have handled the experiments before very well, but that wasn't like this one. You see the electricity that you were experiencing was focused on the surface of your body. Now the electricity is going to be directly applied to your organs, like your lungs and your hart. It will be quite painful."

Jesse took a deep breath and tried to keep his heart calm.

"So, Jesse, you have a choice. You can stay fully alert, and I assure you, you will be fully alert, or you can give us the location of Mutant X."

Jesse didn't even hesitate before he gave his answer, "Go to hell."

There was a silence, and Jesse felt the strange hand trying to pry his mind open again. This time, though, he was ready for it, and quickly pushed it away. Though there was still a dull pain where the hand was, it wasn't like the sharp pain from before.

"Very well, Jesse," Witson said, with a hint of sorrow in his voice. "Go ahead, doctor."

Jesse felt a prick in his left arm as Laura hooked up an IV. "What my dear Laura is giving you know is a mixture of stimulants and sodium pentothal, truth serum. It'll take about five minutes for the drugs to start their way through your bloodstream, and we'll wait until then," Harrison said, as he removed the sensors on Jesse's body.

Jesse felt his mouth go dry, but still he remained stubborn. "Go to hell."

Laura began to attach straps to Jesse's arms and legs, and as she was tightening the straps on his arms, she leaned in close, and whispered, "You first," and smirked at Jesse's glare.

Jesse's glare quickly turned into a mask of pain as Harrison began to slice through his skin.

AN: Poor, poor Jesse, how crule can a gal get? Well, depends on how much coffee she had...