MX Sn4: Blitzkrieg

Shalimar exploded through the window, the point of one elbow and her other forearm smashing the glass out of her way as she dove through it.

It wasn't supposed to be like this... Shalimar thought to herself as she plummeted toward the ground.

Her Feral eyes blazing a furious gold as she fell, Shalimar reached out before herself, tensing her arms. She tucked her chin to her chest as she collided with the ground, the tension of her arms absorbing some of the impact and the backs of her shoulders taking the rest as she somersaulted forward, rolling up onto her feet, already running.

..We were supposed to rescue Adam... Shalimar thought as the adrenal fight-or-flight response fueled her sprint into the wilderness.

Only a quarter of a day earlier, in the wee hours of the morning, Mutant X had returned home to their Haven in various states of anxiety. Eve's carload had already left to return home from their night out when Josh and Kevin were accosted outside the bar, but Josh and Owen had used their Feral strength to convince the bigots they didn't want a fight. Kevin hadn't had to lift a finger much less a thoughtwave, but he suffered some bizarre bout of disorientation just after they had driven the men off. The group had hurried back to Haven so Eve could examine Kevin and determine what had happened, but as they went, Shalimar had received a mysterious text message. . .a message that had quite possibly come from Adam Kane, claiming he would be in touch soon.

Josh and Owen had both driven nigh recklessly to get back to Haven as quickly as they could, Owen driving half a block or so ahead of Josh so that he would spring any speed traps and occupy the police, leaving Josh free to get Kevin back to Haven. They had luckily not encountered any police, pulling into the Majestic's parking garage only minutes after Eve had. She and Chris had hurried ahead into Haven to begin prepping the medical lab, but Jesse and Shalimar had still been slowly making their way to the elevator, arguing about something as they supported Brennan's passed-out form between them.

Owen had his key to the elevator already out as he dashed up to Jesse and Shalimar's arguing forms, ready to override its normal function and take them past the ground floor, down to the subterranean access tunnel that led to Haven. Josh was immediately on Owen's heels, carrying a protesting Kevin, who admittedly couldn't have kept up with a sprinting Feral even on his best day. Jamie and Lexa brought up the rear after Jamie assisted Lexa in getting down from Owen's raised Jeep. She had been sobered up considerably by witnessing Kevin's collapse, but she was still inebriated and not wearing attire for climbing Jeeps.

"..Jesse, this could be the only chance we get; we have to try to track Adam down with this!" Shalimar was insisting as Owen, Josh, and Kevin reached them.

"I'm not arguing that part, Shal, but it can wait 'til morning," Jesse insisted back. "I think that was just Adam letting us know that he's all right, and he'll get back to us when he can." Jesse raised a hand to cut off Shalimar's interruption when she opened her mouth to protest. "No, I'm not waiting for that to happen, that's ridiculous, but Adam would have told us more if he could have. The way that message was phrased, he's maintaining plausible deniability. That means he's under watch; he must have managed to get his hands on a phone for a minute to text us, but he couldn't risk a call. If I track that phone down and it's actually a Dominion line, it might tell us where that line is, maybe where Adam is, but it would definitely tell the Dominion we were on to them. . .they'd just move again, yank Adam out of our reach just as we got close."

"But we have to try, Jess," Shalimar insisted as the elevator finally arrived and they all filed into it. "If he's under watch, who knows when he'll get another chance to contact us; we have to find him now, follow the lead while it's fresh, or he could be moved by the time we follow up, could be under more security. . .we have to go!"

"Shal, I agree," Jesse told her, turning to put Brennan's back to the corner of the elevator car so that he could half-step around Brennan and hug Shalimar with his other arm, continuing to speak to her, more quietly. "We do have to try. But if I try right now, when I'm tired and tipsy, odds are I'm going to make a mistake. And one small mistake here could ruin any chance of finding or rescuing Adam in the future. That's too big a risk, Shalimar. Don't ask me to do that, because I couldn't live with myself if it was my fault we didn't get Adam back. If I had to live with that, and you guys all, all wouldn't..."

Jesse cut himself off with a hard swallow as he met Shalimar's eyes, which were watering. He felt his own eyes threatening to fill, giving a wry frown instead when he glanced at Brennan, who had started snoring softly in the corner. He was propped up by Jesse and Shalimar's shoulders, forming an odd three-way hug as they held each other with one arm and supported Brennan with the other.

The Majestic's parking garage elevator was too small a space for any privacy; even though it was a generously-sized elevator car, it had eight people in it, two of whom were significantly larger than average and only one who was shorter. Owen was standing at the control panel to one side of the door with his key in the override switch; Josh and Kevin were in the corner behind the door, Jamie and Lexa in the middle of the car, and Jesse, Brennan, and Shalimar squeezed into the back corner past them.

Josh was leaning against the back of the elevator with Kevin in front of him, his arms wrapped protectively around Kevin as well as pulling him close for his own reassurance. Kevin had no doubt Josh would insist on picking him up again once the elevator opened to Haven's access tunnel, carrying him as quickly as possible to the medical lab, even though his symptoms had passed. His medical training meant that Kevin knew symptoms were only a sign indicating a bigger problem, so being examined to figure out what was wrong was certainly the thing to do, but he was still perfectly capable of walking himself to the medical lab, even if he didn't feel up to jogging. But he had to admit, if the shoe were on the other foot, if there was something wrong with Josh and they didn't know what, he would probably telekinetically pick Josh up and carry him to the med lab, too.

Kevin and Josh were standing there quietly, Kevin contemplating his thoughts on Josh's protective nature, Josh holding Kevin for mutual reassurance and support. Owen was also standing silently, merely waiting for the elevator to get to their destination, and so were Jamie and Lexa, so Josh had no trouble overhearing the original members of Mutant X's quiet conversation; he would have heard it clearly whether he wanted to or not due to his enhanced hearing. He had a momentary impulse to turn and stare at Jesse, at his group, wondering what exactly he meant, but Josh resisted it, contenting himself to merely listen. Staring was rude, and it was hardly eavesdropping when the conversation was less than ten feet away, especially when they all knew he could hear them. Josh simply listened, hoping to figure out what Jesse had meant through simple context.

Lexa was staring openly and sadly at Jesse and Shalimar's discussion and embrace. They were too caught up in their moment of hope and distress to notice Lexa, deliberately ignoring the rest of the elevator car just like they were ignoring Jesse and Shalimar to give them a façade of privacy, or at least acting like it. Jamie gave Lexa a sad smile of sympathy for her feeling on the outside of the original team's discussion, then pushed her forward into them and turned to face Owen as Lexa gasped in surprise.

Shalimar and Jesse both looked up in surprise as Lexa nearly stumbled into them, then Jesse lifted his arm from Shalimar's shoulders and took Lexa's hand, pulling her into their group hug. Shalimar put her own arm over Lexa's back, mouthing a 'Thanks!' at Jamie over Lexa's shoulder. Jamie gave Shalimar a tiny smirk and a nod of the head to acknowledge her thanks, the smirk spreading into a smile at Owen's smile of approval.

"We do need to get Adam as soon as possible, or at least I do," Lexa said even more quietly, her voice both sad and trembling the slightest bit with fear. She closed her eyes as she swallowed heavily to force the lump in her throat down, then forced them back open to meet Jesse and Shalimar's concerned gazes.

"What do you mean, you do; you specifically?" Jesse asked. "Is that why you were talking with Eve about our expiry dates earlier, assuming she knew about them?"

Lexa nodded jerkily, blinking back tears of her own as she struggled to find her voice.

"When the Dominion first captured me, before they got you, before I'd planted the virus, they told me my expiry date was 'rapidly approaching', their words. I figured they were just trying to convince me to cooperate, that 'rapidly approaching' could mean anything from hours to months, and there wasn't anything more I could do about it, so I just moved on." Lexa's eyes were wide with fear as she flicked her gaze from Jesse's worried blue eyes to Shalimar's brown ones. She cleared her throat and continued, her voice only fractionally stronger than it had been before. "But this morning when I got up, I could feel it starting. . .under my skin, like when I was on DXL. I don't have the tremors yet, but it feels the same. That's why I went to Eve."

Jesse gasped in dismay, the touch of his arm over Lexa's shoulders growing hesitant, as if he was worried she had become fragile. Shalimar whispered Lexa's name with equal dismay, but her grip around Lexa's side only grew stronger, Shalimar's Feral instincts driving her to protect her packmate, hold them close and keep them safe.

"What. . .exactly. . .is an 'expiry date'?" Josh asked with a worried frown, no longer bothering to pretend he wasn't listening to every word. He had turned his head to face the members of the original Mutant X team, staring at them expectantly, and Kevin had turned to face them as well. Jamie's gaze turned from Josh and Kevin in the one rear corner of the elevator car to the members of the original team in the other as the car came to a halt and its door slid open. Owen had turned to look over his shoulder at Jesse, Shalimar, and Lexa; the elevator wouldn't close its door and return to normal operation until he removed his key.

Lexa sighed heavily and turned around to face the Californian members of Mutant X, Jesse's hand still on her shoulder for reassurance and Shalimar's flat against the middle of her back for the same reason. Lexa remained silent for just a moment, shifting her gaze to meet each of the Californian New Mutants' eyes in turn. Josh was the farthest away and the farthest to Lexa's right; it seemed only appropriate that she was meeting his eyes as she answered, since it had been his question.

"You all know about the instability of New Mutants' genetic sequences, that they're constantly evolving, right?" Lexa asked with a raised eyebrow, waiting for four cautious nods before continuing. "Well, that instability will eventually kill us all; New Mutants are healthier and stronger than normal people, but we don't live as long."

"And a New Mutant's 'expiry date' is the day that the breakdown of their unstable genetic structure kills them," Kevin said, nodding in Josh's grasp as he realized what Lexa was telling them.

"Well, leave it to the GSA and Dominion jerkwads to refer to the end of a New Mutant's life as an 'expiry date', like we were bad quikie-mart product," Jamie said with a snort of disgust. Owen just lifted one corner of his upper lip in a snarl, the angry rumble of a growl resonating from his chest.

"Wait..." Josh said with an alarmed frown, his eyes in the middle distance for a second as he thought furiously, then seized Lexa's gaze with his own. "You said the Dominion told you your expiry date is rapidly approaching. . .that means they know when it is, even if they didn't actually tell you. They can. . .can figure out when our expirations are going to happen? Like, the exact date? 'Expiry Date'?" he asked with alarm.

"Yeah," Lexa nodded sadly. "That's why the Dominion was after Jesse, why they tested me when they caught me instead. . .Jesse's expiry date was a few weeks ago. Something Adam did properly stabilized his genes."

"Oh, shit," Jamie said with surprise.

"So, you've been trying to rescue Adam..." Owen began to say, trailing off as Lexa nodded.

"Because we need him to save the rest of us. Eve's testing Jesse, too, to see if she can figure out what Adam did and duplicate it, but Adam's already done it once; he'll be the best bet to figure out which procedure does the trick," she explained.

"Well, shit, then Hell Yeah, we need track down any leads we can!" Josh sputtered, meeting Kevin's eyes when he turned to stare at Josh in surprise. "What if that's what happened to you?" Josh quietly said to Kevin. "Lexa said hers is upcoming and feels like trembles, that's nervous system, what if your sensory distortion is the same thing?" he asked urgently, his eyes bright with the fear of Kevin being threatened by something they couldn't do anything about.

"You mean, like, my nervous system generating inaccurate sensory input 'cause my genes are breaking down, causing the false signals?" Kevin asked, leveling a look at Josh.

"Yes, exactly!" Josh said back, tightening his arms across Kevin's chest in his insistence.

"Well, I really doubt it, but if that is what's happening, that'll be easy for Eve to detect. She can just compare a genetic scan to my record; we're all already on file," Kevin answered, reaching up to pat the back of one of Josh's hands, wrapping his fingers over Josh's knuckles and giving his hand a squeezing grip of reassurance.

"Okay," Josh replied, closing his eyes and nodding, trying not to wonder what the next step was if Eve's tests indicated that was what had happened. "Okay, that's what we're here for, what we rushed back for, to get you checked out. Let's go."

"Oh, you're gonna let me walk?" Kevin asked with a smirking smile as he led the way out of the elevator, Josh immediately behind him and Owen and Jamie following.

"Sure. This is me, being better like I promised after the alley," Josh answered, then leveled a look of his own at Kevin. "But you collapse on me again and I'm just gonna start carrying you everywhere, got it?"

Kevin gave Josh a droll smirk that suggested he was contemplating either actually commenting on that proposal or telekinetically picking Josh up and carrying him to the medical lab. Kevin cleared his expression as he decided to do neither and companionably bumped his shoulder against Josh's as they entered Haven, instead.

The Creator was smiling.

He was still feeling the euphoria from yesterday's breakthrough, the triumph of Adam's solving a problem that the Creator had not been able to overcome. Adam's genes were the same as the Creator's, a perfect clone, an extension of himself and thus his life, the chance to complete his work. He had used his influence through the Dominion to shape his clone's life, to raise Adam up in his image as much as was possible. Times had changed significantly, of course, the clone was raised in the late twentieth century, not in the nineteenth as the Creator had been, but that had been for the best. The technological advances of the Industrial Age meant that his clone could be raised with science as part of his life from the beginning, making it even more a part of his being. That careful planning and preparation had obviously paid off; he had seen the problem from a different perspective, and was thus able to solve it. The Creator felt confident in his hopes that his cloned self could do the same in other areas of research that had similarly stagnated. His work would be completed; they would succeed!

And the Creator intended to live to see that day, and beyond; his plans were in place.
However, until the clone's unique perspective advanced their work a bit further, the Creator was required to maintain his own health. The excitement of yesterday's success had nearly put him in cardiac arrest; the medical technicians advised that he take a step back from his work, perhaps relax —for just a short while, they had been hasty add when his eyes had narrowed.

And of course, there were other problems to be dealt with, but the Creator was not the most brilliant man on the planet for nothing. A moment's thought had provided him with a way to deal with the most pressing of the immediate problems and gain some relaxation at the same time.

He smiled in anticipation.

"Well, there's good news and not-good news, but none of it is overwhelmingly bad," Eve told the gathered members of Mutant X a short while after they had arrived, once she had completed her examination of Kevin's genetic sequences. Jesse and Shalimar had put Brennan to bed, then returned to the medical lab to await the news with Lexa, who was waiting to hear if Kevin's condition was related to hers. Josh had of course not left Kevin's side, and Chris, Owen, and Jamie were waiting as well, everyone's tensions and worry too great to go to bed without getting some form of resolution.

"The good news is, your genetic structure is not breaking down, Kevin. Whatever happened to you, it wasn't the initial stage of your expiry date approaching."

Josh let the breath he had been unconsciously holding out in a rush of air at Eve's words, dropping his head forward onto Kevin's shoulder in relief. He was sitting on the examination table with Kevin, one arm around Kevin's shoulders and Kevin's hand gripping Josh's thigh just above his knee, the only outward sign that Kevin was nervous. Kevin relaxed the grip of his right hand and brought his left up to stroke the back of Josh's head as he looked at Eve with still-worried eyes, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"What's the not-good news?" he asked her, expectantly. " 'Cause that's just another way of saying 'bad', right?"

"Well, it's not bad bad, but it's not good, either," Eve confessed, giving Kevin a tiny apologetic shrug. "Your genes aren't breaking down, but they are evolving, actively. That means that until they stabilize, you're going to be feeling the effects of your body adapting to the new genetic sequences. Most likely you'll be fatigued easily and hungrier than usual as you adjust, but how you feel the actual effects we can't predict. Apparently they're sensory distortion now, but that could change as the evolution progresses and your body compensates and adjusts to it."

"Sounds like puberty," Josh muttered into Kevin's chest, making Kevin both laugh and blush slightly in embarrassment.

"New Mutant growth spurt," Jesse said with a nod, Shalimar also nodding along with him. Lexa turned her head to frown in confusion at them, as did the Californian Mutant X team.

"Growth spurt?" Eve asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Well, that's what Adam called it," Shalimar said with a shrug. "For us, it was our abilities expanding. My sensory acuity increased, Brennan got his propulsive blasts, Jesse started phasing things he was touching as well as himself. . .it took a little while to get used to, but it wasn't too bad. Brennan had it worse; his abilities were increasing faster than his mind could keep up with, kept losing control of his powers. Emma had to use her powers to– –to catch his brain up with his body, I guess." Shalimar shrugged one shoulder and gave Kevin a sympathetic look. "You might be going through something similar, but your powers are mental, since you're a Psionic, so who knows. Emma. . .gained her starbursts when her powers expanded, but at first, she couldn't turn them off, so I'd guess it's different for Psionics," Shalimar finished, her voice going quiet as she thought of Emma in more than passing.

"Well, we can talk with Brennan about it in the morning, but in the meanwhile, we should all go to bed," Eve declared. "Like I said, your body is going to be devoting resources to adapting to its changing genetic sequences, so you're going to need your rest and proper nutrition, Kevin," Eve said as she adjusted the settings on a hypospray before injecting Kevin's upper left arm. "This is a protein metabolic stimulator, should help speed that process along," she explained, giving Kevin's shoulder a brisk rub in reassurance, smiling at Josh where his head and arm were resting on Kevin's other shoulder. "We've got lots of work to do tomorrow, between unstable genes and trying to trace Adam's message, so I want everybody to go to sleep, got it?"

"I'm not sure I can sleep," Shalimar muttered in a huff.

"C'mon, cat-nap," Jesse said, pushing Shalimar's shoulder to urge her out of the medical lab and towards their rooms. "Just get a few hours rest, so you're good to go in the morning. I'm gonna get just enough to clear my head, then start tracing that message. If I find it, we need to be ready to move, so you shouldn't stay up."

"Yeah, yeah," Shalimar muttered fondly, rolling her head as well as her as her eyes, meeting Lexa's eyes over her shoulder. She flashed the other woman a warm smile, reassurance that they would do their best to find Adam the next day, save both of them, all of them other than Jesse.

"Hey," Owen said to Josh as he followed Josh and Kevin out of the medical lab. "You think you're gonna sleep?" he asked with a knowing chuckle, already conscious of the fact that Josh's nerves were too tightly wound to allow him sleep anytime soon.

"Uh, sure," Josh said with a scowl, knowing Owen was perfectly aware of his state of agitation. "Or I'll lie there and make sure Kev sleeps, anyway."

"You're comfy; I'll sleep," Kevin shot over his shoulder to Josh with a grin. Josh smiled back and shoved Kevin's shoulder before turning back when Owen spoke again:

"You wanna get up extra early, work out with me, wake ourselves up for the big day after getting no sleep?" Owen asked, his eyes hopeful and enormous frame practically vibrating with anticipation.

" 'Cause heaven forbid you miss a workout," Josh answered with a smirk. "Well, that's assuming Jesse and Jamie find anything for us to go on tomorrow, but sure, why not? You're right; I'm probably not sleeping much tonight, anyway."

"Cool," Owen answered happily. "So, six?" Owen smirked at the dirty look Josh scowled at him, then grinned when Josh over-exaggeratedly looked at his watch, pointing out that it was almost two in the morning. "Okay, six-thirty."

Josh rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine," he muttered, almost perfectly matching Shalimar's previous "Yeah, yeah." Eve shared an affectionate grin with Chris over the coincidence as she shut the medical lab computer down, the two of them following Jamie and the rest of the Californian team to the Majestic's elevator after bidding Jesse, Shalimar, and Lexa a good night.

Adam was startled awake by an insistent pounding on his so-called "bedroom" door.

His bedroom was really more of a cell, though perhaps more comfortable than any cell in any prison. It consisted of nothing more than a simple but nominally comfortable bed, an equally mediocre recliner, a side table with an alarm clock, a small closet for his few articles of clothing, a hamper for his laundry, and a tiny en suite bathroom, but the fact that it was a cell he could not leave until his captors came for him certainly did not surprise Adam, had not startled him.

The fact that up until this point he had always been allowed to wake at six AM with his alarm clock and begin his day on his own terms, as long as he was ready to be escorted to breakfast at six-thirty, was what had startled him. He'd had the rules explained to him the first night, en route to the Dominion installation they were currently working in. Admittedly, Adam had been the Dominion's captive for not quite a week, but he had never been forcibly wakened before.

The change in routine worried him, made him wonder what had caused it.

"Dr. Kane!" an urgent voice said loudly from the other side of his door. "Dr. Kane?" the voice continued, insisting on a response.

"Yes?" Adam called out, trying to ensure his voice conveyed irritation and confusion, as opposed to fear or worry. It wasn't too difficult, he was confused by the change, as well as irritated with himself for letting his unconscious reactions continue to influence his emotional state after waking.

"There's an emergency, Dr. Kane, we need to escort you and the Creator to a safer location," the voice claimed.

Adam's eyes narrowed as warning flags went up in his mind; something was wrong here. Or was he being too paranoid? It could be some sort of trick, possibly the corruption within the Dominion attempting to do away with both him and the Creator in one stroke, possibly in such a way as to make it look like a tragic accident or another party's fault, so as to maintain their control over the Dominion's power and influence. Or, it was also possible that Mutant X had managed to track his location down from the text message he had sent Shalimar. Could it be the team had arrived to rescue him, and his captors were whisking him away from beneath his rescuers' noses?

"One moment; I'm dressing," Adam called back to the voice on the other side of his door, throwing off his covers and rolling out of bed to his feet. He grabbed the set of clothes he had laid out on the recliner and dashed into his tiny bathroom. Hanging his slacks over the shower door and dropping his socks onto the closed lid of the toilet, Adam slithered into his shirt. He was thankful he had the habit of leaving his shirts buttoned on the hanger, meaning he could save precious seconds by pulling it over his head instead of spending time buttoning it.

Crouching in front of the modest sink and vanity, Adam opened its doors and reached up and back behind the sink's bowl, feeling for a tiny bundle he had secreted away there. Snug inside one of his socks and tucked up between the sink's bowl and the pipes leading to its faucets, the Treo smartphone Adam had stolen was securely pinned in place by its position. Wiggling it free, Adam set the bundle on the edge of the sink and snatched up his socks from the toilet. They were thin, dark, nylon socks, and Adam swiftly knotted their toes together, pulling the knot as tight as he could, to get it as small as possible. Adam wrapped the loose length of the sock bundle around the knot of the other two, suspending the Treo from his makeshift sling. Adam quickly tied the open ends of his socks around the top of his upper thigh, nestling the secret bundle into the crease between his thigh and groin. He flushed the toilet and grabbed his slacks, yanking them on and buttoning them, leaving his shirt untucked and flexing his right leg to make sure the Treo and socks didn't make an obviously questionable bulge. Satisfied with his hasty work, Adam turned the sink on and ran his hands under the water before grabbing the hand towel and exiting his bathroom.

Adam feigned surprise at finding two members of the security detail in his room as he entered, one having opened his closet.

"I'm sorry; I believe I told you I was dressing," Adam said curtly, coolly raising his eyebrows with an expression of distaste on his face as he turned and casually tossed the towel into the laundry hamper. The security detail did not seem to feel their forced entry was at all out of line, neither of them even bothering to respond. Adam crossed the small room to his closet, raising an eyebrow expectantly until the guard in front of it shifted uncomfortably and stepped back out of the way.

"If we're leaving, I'm going to need a coat, correct?" Adam asked as he grabbed a pair of socks and his shoes from the closet. The first guard nodded, and Adam reached back into the closet for a blazer. The guard in front of the closet reached out a hand to halt Adam, then frisked the jacket and checked its pockets. Adam rolled his eyes and tossed his shoes and socks onto the bed, then lifted his untucked shirt and turned to display the small of his back and the smooth lines of his undershirt there, obviously concealing nothing beneath it.

"Would you like to frisk me, as well?" Adam asked sarcastically, turning his head to sneer slightly at the guard. "I'm the clone of the smartest man in the world, and I'm quite possibly better-educated," Adam sighed as he tucked his shirt in and sat down on the edge of the bed to pull his socks and shoes on. "I lived on the run from government agencies for over a decade; I think I know how ridiculous it would be to attempt to conceal something under these conditions."

Adam shook his head as he finished tying his shoes and shrugged his blazer on.

"And what exactly do you think I would be concealing?" he asked, frowning at the guards as he buttoned his jacket. "You're apparently ready to search my closet, but I notice neither of you even looked at my work," Adam continued as he gathered up his notes and clipboard from the nightstand. "Since I'm only let out of this room for meals and to work, escorted from the dining hall to the lab of the day, exactly what would I be concealing? A steak knife? A scalpel, maybe?" Adam asked sarcastically as he lifted the papers pinned to his clipboard and allowed them to flip past the guards' eyes one by one as he held the clipboard up in front of them.

"I believe you said this was an emergency; shall we go?" Adam said with mocking pleasantry as he tucked the clipboard beneath his arm and raised a sarcastically expectant eyebrow.

"This way, Dr. Kane," the first guard said in abject humiliation as he opened the door and led the way down the hall.

Owen woke from a restless sleep shortly before six AM, blowing out an exasperated breath. He was frustrated with his body for simultaneously being exhausted and not letting him sleep properly, but he knew he could get through it. A nice endorphin high from his morning workout would wake him up, give him enough of a mental boost to make it through the day. He hadn't been sleeping very well for a little while now, but it would be okay.

Yawning so hugely his jaw cracked, Owen blinked in surprise at the sensation as he sat up, rubbing the heel of one palm against the twinging corner of his jaw. He hadn't actually had a proper night's sleep in almost a week, since the night when he and the others had been caught by the GSA. He had passed out when he had gotten to the secure comfort of his own room and bed that night, but it had mostly been due to the exhausted fatigue of having been through an emotional wringer. He had slept in the next morning, but since then he had been unable to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time, his sleeping mind fleeing from the nightmares before they could take hold.

So, Owen wasn't getting much sleep, not getting all the way to REM sleep or past it or however that worked, but he wasn't having nightmares, either. So that was okay. It would work itself out. Josh might make a little fun of him for all the extra workouts, but he didn't mean anything by it. Heck, he had agreed to join Owen this morning; Owen could show Josh how to push through the "runner's wall" and hit the endorphin high of a good workout, carry them both through their sleep-deprived day, hopefully rescue Adam while they were at it.

Owen quickly used the bathroom and brushed his teeth, then pulled on an old sleeveless tee shirt, a pair of gym shorts, and his wrestling shoes. He didn't bother washing up first, since he was only going to go get sweaty anyway, and his hair was only an eighth of an inch long, too short to need brushing. Owen figured he could start his workout without Josh; he normally worked out alone anyway, and he'd be happy to keep going as long as Josh wanted to besides. The way Owen saw it, his getting up early just meant he'd get a half hour's worth more reps in, so he grabbed his iPod, keys, and a towel, and left his rooms.

Pausing in the kitchenette corner of the Majestic's penthouse suite, Owen put a pair of cherry Pop-Tarts in the toaster for breakfast and grabbed a six pack of Gatorade from the fridge, replacing it with another from the cabinet. Pausing in contemplation as he waited for his breakfast to pop, Owen turned back to the cabinet and grabbed a six pack of Diet Coke, swapping it for the cold one in the fridge. Josh probably wouldn't drink a whole 72 ounces of soda in one workout the way Owen did with his Gatorade, because Owen pushed himself a lot harder, sweat a lot more. Then again, the way Josh drank soda, maybe he would, and an intact six-pack was easier to carry than one with loose cans flopping around, anyway. Josh could juggle any loose extras on his way back up.

The Pop-Tarts popped, and Owen flipped his towel over his fingers to carry the hot pastries, the iPod clipped to his shorts and carrying both the six pack of Gatorade and the six pack of Diet Coke for Josh in his other hand. Owen wondered if Josh would remember to bring his own music when he came down, or if he knew how to set up the intercom to play MP3s off the computer. Jamie had shown Owen more than once, but it never stuck; Owen shrugged as he left the penthouse and entered the elevator, deciding it wasn't important. He fumbled with his Pop-Tarts to keep from dropping them as he unhooked his keys from the other side of his shorts to activate the override switch in the elevator and descend to Haven's access tunnel. As the doors slid closed and the elevator car began to lower itself, Owen was munching on his breakfast and bobbing his head slightly to an AC/DC song.

Half an hour later, Owen was well into his routine, breath whistling through his clenched teeth and sweat streaming down his flushed face as he benched 1800 pounds. He had been going strong for almost ten minutes, his arms were beginning to tremble with exertion and he was going to need to pause soon to rehydrate, but he was going too well to stop just yet. He had broken through that repetitive motion wall and hit the endorphin high he sought; he was strong; he was powerful; Owen was pretty sure he could add another 100 pounds when he paused for a drink and still keep going just as smoothly, but he'd do that after he finished his current set of fifty reps, felt too good to stop. He could feel the burn in his muscles, that good burn of muscle fibers tearing only to rebuild themselves stronger than before. The endorphins made the pain good, made it a good burn, the rush of knowing his workout was working out; he was getting stronger. No pain, no gain, but nobody said it had to be bad pain. The burn was good, a gain in and of itself, making him bigger, stronger, more powerful.

Harder to hurt.

He'd never be hurt again, not by the GSA, or the Dominion, or by anybody else, if he was strong enough. Big enough. Powerful enough. And if he kept it up, worked out hard and long enough, he would be. Owen worked out with the range of motion limit on the weight machine deactivated, which was potentially risky, but it wasn't that big a deal. Owen would much preferred to have used free weights, but getting enough plates onto a barbell to reach Owen's upper limits really wasn't all that practical, to say the least. And it wasn't safe, since a standard barbell would actually start bending under that much weight. With the range of motion on Eve's superweight machine turned off, the grip bar would come down all the way to the floor for deadlifts, which meant Owen had to lift it all the way up and back onto the pins to put it down before he could get up and readjust the weight level or re-engage the range of motion limiting mechanism, just like free weights. It wasn't quite the same, looking like a welding robot or something and still completely unable to move from side to side, but that was technically a good thing. You didn't want your weights going to the sides, obviously, but Owen didn't like being limited by the machine, even if it was for the good —it just felt too artificial, not like when he had started lifting with free weights, back in high school, but he'd gotten lots stronger since then.

As he finished his set, Owen mentally counted off the last reps, 48. . .49. . .50!, before replacing the machine's "barbell" on the pins above and just behind his head. Owen raised his legs a bit and clenched his abdominals as he dropped his feet back to the floor, using both momentum and muscle to roll himself up into a seated position on the weight bench. He leaned forward and grabbed the second bottle of his six pack of Gatorade from the floor, ripping it open and guzzling it as he felt his heartbeat begin to slow. He didn't want that, or at least not for his pulse to drop too much, because then he'd have to build up to the rush a second time. Owen crushed the plastic bottle of Gatorade with his enormous hand to propel the last of its contents into his mouth faster than gravity would have pulled them there, then sprang to his feet and threw the crushed, empty bottle into the garbage can in the corner, a shot he had made dozens if not hundreds of times before.

Owen turned to the weight machine and dialed up another 100 pounds, frowning in annoyance at the pop-up "Range of Motion Limit Deactivated" notification on the screen and closing it with a jab of his finger. Glancing across the miniature gym to where he'd left his towel next to the door to the locker rooms, Owen shook his head, not wanting to take that long, let his heart rate fall further. He shook his head harder instead, making his iPod's earbuds fly free from his ears to dangle at the end of their cord as Owen stripped his tee shirt off. It was almost as soaked as he was, but Owen used the dry spot from the small of his back to briskly wipe his face, then dropped the tee shirt aside next to his Gatorade as he lay back down on the weight bench and reinserted his earbuds.

Okay, hundred pounds more, but that's not even a ton yet, no problem, my max is more than that, gotta push hard to get my heart rate back up, then smooth and steady from there, maintain the rush and ride the wave, no problem, Owen thought to himself as he settled his hands around the bar, carefully flexing his fingers to fit his grip securely before lifting. He was lifting 1900 pounds, almost a ton; the last thing he wanted was for his hands to slip, even if the bar could only go up and down and a few feet forward and back. It might not go side to side, but if one of Owen's hands slipped, he wouldn't be able to hold the bar up with only one arm, or even with a partial grip from the slipped hand. The bar would crash down into his chest or head, and at almost a ton of weight, that would be a problem, to say the least.

So Owen took the second longer to ensure his grip was secure and proper, smiling to himself as he felt his hands slide into place in the same positions they had been in before, the metal still comfortably warm from his previous grip. He took a deep, cleansing breath as he mentally prepared himself to go forward, push hard and harder and ride that high for as long as he could, make it last the rest of the day. He could feel a low tremor deep in his arms, but that was good, muscles already pushed, he'd get back to the rush right away. More endorphins were always a good thing, a natural high. Owen was pushing himself hard, normally this would be about his limit for the day's workout, but he was looking forward to pushing it farther; if he could go longer now, last all the way through Josh's workout too, then his normal workouts could last longer. Endurance was just like strength: the more you used the muscles, the more they could lift and the longer they could lift it.

Owen gave a grunt of effort and shoved the weight bar off its pins, pulling it into position over his chest as the tremendous weight bore down against his arms. Owen snarled wordlessly as he resisted the weight, forcing it to lower down to his chest instead of smashing into him the way gravity wanted it to. He allowed the bar to press into his chest for only the briefest of seconds; it weighed too much and might have cracked his ribs if Owen relaxed fully to let it, and he wanted to get his heart rate back up, besides. Owen thrust the bar back up to the height of his reach with a sharp exhalation, then let it drop back almost all the way to his chest again, still only resisting its descent enough to halt it in the nick of time. It was far faster than a bench press should be performed, but Owen was only trying to get his system back up to speed at the new weight level; he'd continue properly from there.

Even as he was sucking in a breath through his clenched teeth and exhaling it again to extend his arms a second time, Owen mentally frowned at what a difference another hundred pounds was making. He knew he hadn't taken too long between sets; he'd hurried for precisely that reason, but the tremble of exertion in his muscles was escalating almost as fast as his heart rate. O-kay, maybe only twenty-five reps this set... Owen frowned to himself as he lowered the bar once more, then forced it up again, not quite as quickly, because his arms were getting tired. He was thinking about lowering it more slowly this time; it would be more of a burn and even more so on the next press, but he didn't think his arms were going to take any more of the forcibly rapid extensions. And more burn was exactly what he wanted, so that just meant his plan was working, really. Owen's arms reached the height of their extension, elbows nearly locked; he was just going to begin the slower lowering of the bar, smoothly transitioning into his working pace, even if it was in the middle of a rep...

..when the pain hit him.

Owen made a wordless gasp of surprised agony, air being yanked into his just-emptied lungs as the shootingly intense pain caught him by surprise. It was like fire, stabbing, piercing. . .like someone had jabbed a white-hot poker into his left nut, maybe through it and up into him. Owen's hands involuntarily jerked towards his pained groin even as his arms gave out from the shock; his eyes tried to both widen in alarm and squint in pain at the same time as the weight bar came smashing down, not even into Owen's chest, because his hands had inadvertently pulled on it, but into his solar plexus. Owen snapped his teeth back together from his gasp and grit them hard as he focused on bearing through the pain, on preventing the bar from smashing through his middle. It still slammed into him, smashing the hastily drawn breath out of him and nearly making his arms collapse entirely, but Owen managed to hold on.

He couldn't do anything but hold on, couldn't even move, couldn't draw another breath to try to force the bar up again– –not even enough to slide it up to his chest and ribcage instead of his solar plexus, couldn't slide himself out from under it, couldn't breathe, couldn't even move his legs, hurt so fucking much...

Owen pursed his lips, trying to suck what minimal breath he could through them in a whistle, hoping maybe it could be loud enough to wake Shalimar, she wasn't that far away, Haven wasn't huge, not like Sanctuary...

The last thought to pass through Owen's mind before darkness began creeping in at the edges of his vision was that there was only two doors and a few dozen feet between him and Shalimar, but he was trembling too badly, couldn't breathe enough to whistle...

Josh moaned in protest when his alarm clock went off at six-twenty-five AM, rolling away from it and partially on top of Kevin, burying his face in Kevin's shoulder and the side of his neck. Kevin snickered and used the barest iota of his telekinesis to shut the alarm off, something he had done innumerable times and was completely capable of doing even while half asleep. Josh relaxed into Kevin's side when the noise stopped, bringing his hand up to hold the other side of Kevin's neck, his right forearm resting comfortably across the left side of Kevin's chest.

Kevin raised his left hand and stroked the back of Josh's forearm, turning his head slightly to murmur into Josh's ear.

"Time to up," Kevin said, then grinned when Josh gave another wordless protest, a vehement-yet-sleepy hum into Kevin's shoulder, not even bothering to open his mouth. "C'mon, time to get up. Big day, and you promised Owen you'd work out with him."

"Mmmmmmph," Josh insisted as he rolled his head to the side, his long hair trailing across Kevin's chest as Josh's skull turned. Kevin shivered at the sensation, and Josh grinned at the involuntary response, shifting his hand from the side of Kevin's neck to take his hand, interweaving their fingers together. "Owen's worked out without me a billion times before, won't miss me," Josh declared as Kevin kissed his forehead, then Josh turned forward again and pressed a small, open-mouthed kiss to the base of Kevin's neck, where it met his shoulder.

"Up," Kevin insisted, stretching his right arm where it was pinned beneath Josh's torso just a bit lower before making a fist and pulling, just a quick, sharp tug.

"AH!" Josh bellowed, scrabbling to brace his palms against the mattress and shoving himself up into a push-up away from Kevin. "Okay..." Josh said darkly, lowering his brow in a frown at his lover. "..Normally when you grab me down there, it's an encouragement to stay in bed, not get out of it."

"Sure, but normally I'm reaching a little bit lower than that, too," Kevin replied with a smirk, reaching up with his offending right hand to pinch Josh's abdominals, just to one side of his navel. "There's a reason the expression goes 'Got you by the short and curlies.' "

Josh was pretty sure he was glad Kevin could no longer reach his groin without sitting up. He bent back onto his knees and climbed off the bed before Kevin could sit up and reach him for more morning torment, then scowled when Kevin folded his hands behind his head with a grin and Josh realized climbing out of bed was exactly what Kevin had wanted him to do anyway.

"Lousy cheater," Josh muttered at him with a pout. "I don't care if Eve did say you need rest; she didn't order bedrest, so I'm not covering you back up," Josh proclaimed as he crossed the room to the dresser and pulled out a tee shirt and a pair of biker shorts, effortlessly using his Feral agility to keep his balance as he pulled his clothes on.

"Hah," Kevin called back with a smirk. "Telekinetic; I could totally tuck myself in, all the way up to my neck, if I wanted to," he declared as he sat up and threw the bedclothes the rest of the way off. "You're just lucky whatever Eve gave me put me out like a light, slept properly so I'm getting up anyway," Kevin finished as he grabbed a pair of sweats and a tee shirt of his own.

" 'Slike you said, I'm comfy," Josh replied with a smirk of his own as he shoved his feet into a pair of sandals and grabbed his keys. "You joining us?" Josh asked as he grabbed a can of Diet Coke from the mini-fridge in the corner. "I mean, is an early-morning workout after less than six hours sleep non-fatiguing?" he wondered, one eyebrow raised as he cracked the can open and took his first swig of the day.

"Probably not," Kevin laughed as he hastily tied his Converse and followed Josh out of their rooms. "But like I said, I'm wide awake for the moment, so that's that. I'll probably just watch you guys pump iron; that's always good."

"Hmm, Pervert," Josh accused good-naturedly as they crossed the living room. He cocked his head in the direction of Owen's room for just a moment, listening, then turned to the entryway. "Watching the big beefy guy as he works out, instead of your loving and devoted boyfriend..." he continued as they left.

"Oh, please," Kevin laughed as he pressed the button and they waited for the elevator to climb back up to the penthouse. "I like watching both of you work out, and I know damn well you like watching Owen."

"Well, I like watching you more," Josh smirked back.

"Even if I'm not as built, with ginormous muscles?" Kevin grinned in response. "N'awww, you make me feel so special," he said patronizingly as they filed into the elevator.

"Meep, meep," Josh replied with another smirk, holding his hands only a foot apart to indicate Kevin's "special" involved a bus that was short as well as presumably yellow. Kevin snickered even as he gently rammed an elbow into Josh's side for the wisecrack, making Josh's smirk spread into a happy grin.

"..So, like, load up both our playlists and one of Owen's, the one Jamie did for him has to be on there, then set it to 'randomize', and pipe that over the intercom," Josh was saying as he opened the door to the gym, looking over his shoulder at Kevin.

"Or, since I'll be the one setting it up, I'll set up whatever I want—" Kevin was teasing back, cutting himself off as he entered the miniature gym and saw Owen pinned beneath the weight bar. Josh's head snapped back around when he saw the shock hit Kevin's face: he saw Owen struggling to lift the weight bar, chest being crushed, arms trembling, face blue-tinged, right leg scrabbling feebly for purchase against the floor that didn't do him any good, his left clamping in against the side of the bench like it was hurting him; Josh knew if it was more weight than Owen could handle then he wouldn't be able to move it himself, too dangerous to let Kevin help, hadn't used his TK on anything big since the alley and that had almost killed him...

^"SHALIMAR!!!^" Josh screamed at the top of his lungs back into Haven proper, then whipped back around and leaped across the miniature gym to Owen's side at the superweight machine. He trilled off a piercing, extended kihap as he went, finishing the battle cry with a shout of effort as he grabbed the end of the weight bar and stood straight, heaving it up with all the force he could.

As he ran into the gym, Kevin realized Josh was making the noise for Shalimar to home in on, giving her Feral instincts and senses a guide to the emergency they needed her help with. He rolled his eyes even as he joined Josh; he understood what Josh was trying to do, but it wasn't necessary. Even if it brought on a migraine, a migraine that Kevin would recover from was a lot less important than Owen's life, for crying out loud. Grabbing the other end of the weight bar, Kevin ignored Josh's grunt of protest and focused on his telekinesis, concentrating both on moving the weight bar, which probably weighed around the maximum load Kevin could telekinetically move anyway, and on boosting his own strength with his TK, like he did when throwing a telekinetic punch.

Lifting the weight bar was different, a TK punch was a simple slam of force, more like he was telekinetically speeding up his fist, still guiding its trajectory with his arm muscles. Trying to raise the weight bar was a focused concentration on those muscles, using his telekinesis to make them pull harder than they could naturally while simultaneously trying to mentally lift the weight bar like he would anything else, but it was still easier than just trying to out-and-out lift the bar directly, or at least less draining. He couldn't actually raise the bar much that way, even with Josh's help on the other side, but they relieved enough of the pressure on Owen's chest that he gasped in a wheezing breath as Shalimar dashed into the gym with her robe tied on crooked, her hair streaming out behind her but bed-disheveled at the same time.

"Kev'sside," Josh grunted as Shalimar rushed up, jerking his chin at Kevin's end of the weight bar. She dashed past Owen's trembling knee to Kevin's side, gripping the bar with her left hand between Owen's right hand and Kevin's, her right between both of Kevin's hands. Shalimar was already in Feral mode, her eyes golden since before she'd run into the room; she braced herself with her feet planted wide and dropped into a crouch, the heels of her palms level with her collarbone. Exhaling steadily, Shalimar slowly stood up, raising the bar with her. Josh grunted as he struggled to shift from a deadlift position to curling his biceps, because his deadlift stance only barely cleared the bar from Owen's chest. Kevin shifted his focus to Josh's end of the bar, telekinetically giving him the assistance he needed to shift it up to his chest, dropping to one knee to brace himself under it, similar to what Shalimar had done.

Once the Feline Ferals had the bar up off of Owen and stable, Owen simply let his arms drop, his fingers twitching spasmodically as the muscles of his arms quivered, overstrained from the effort of keeping the massive weight from crushing his ribcage. He was gasping for breath, each panted exhalation coming out as a pained grunt. Kevin ducked around Shalimar and dashed to the foot of the weight bench, holding both hands out to focus his concentration on Owen as well as the bench he was lying on. Kevin telekinetically raised both Owen and the bench up just off the floor, less than half an inch, then took three careful steps backward, mentally carrying Owen and the bench with him. Kevin took care to gently set the bench down without jarring Owen as Shalimar and Josh carefully worked together to set the superweight machine's grip-bar down once Owen was clear. Owen still cried out in pain when the bench touched the floor, making Kevin wince and dash forward, crouching between Owen's knees at the foot of the weight bench.

"Shit! Owen, I've got you, man, I got ya, just hold still, lie still, I got ya..." Kevin consoled the big Feral as he smoothed his hands over Owen's sides, gently tracing Owen's ribs with his fingertips. Kevin frowned at the intense bruising, already bluish-purple and deepening toward black now that the pressure had been relieved and blood was re-suffusing the area. Owen's sides flinched at the contact as Kevin traced the upper curve of the ribs, where the bar had been pressing, but he didn't feel any obvious cracks. Kevin gently palpated the top of Owen's abdominal cavity, feeling just under the ribs and down to the sides of his abdominal muscles, feeling for any obvious swelling, possible signs of ruptured organs or internal bleeding. Finding nothing obvious, Kevin let his breath out in a relieved exhalation.

"Okay, you're okay man, maybe some hairline fractures to the ribs, but no serious breaks," Kevin told Owen as he sat back, putting his hand on Owen's left knee and patting it reassuringly. Owen yelped and thrashed his head from side to side, in violent negation, protesting Kevin's claim he was all right.

"No, hurt, groin. . .made me drop bar..." Owen ground out from between his clenched teeth, his left leg still tensed and pressed up against the side of the weight bench. He was still sweating, still trembling with pain, and it wasn't just in reaction to the overexertion he had applied to keep the machine's weight bar from killing him.

"FUCK, okay, hang on..." Kevin gasped as he leaned in again. He was frowning, furious with himself for not realizing that something had to have happened to get Owen into that predicament; he was too experienced to have just been caught off guard or something... "Owen, I need you to relax this leg; I'm not going to move it, not without telling you, I just need to. . .to get in there, to check things out," Kevin explained, gently touching Owen's left thigh to indicate what he needed to relax. Josh crouched at Owen's left side, kneading and massaging his forearm briefly before moving up to his triceps, then set Owen's hand on his own hip as he began gently, tentatively massaging the left side of Owen's chest.

"Okay?" Josh asked Owen as he worked, hoping he wasn't causing more pain. Owen closed his eyes as he nodded his head fractionally, slowly exhaling a relieved breath as he forced his left leg to relax and Shalimar mirrored Josh's position on Owen's other side, also massaging his overworked muscles. Owen's fingers shifted to clasp Josh's hip, giving it a squeeze of reassurance, of thanks.

"Okay, this is me being medical, not friendly," Kevin quipped uneasily as he slid his hand up Owen's inner thigh, the embarrasment audible in Kevin's voice as his fingers slipped under the hem of Owen's shorts. Kevin's full mouth twisted slightly in discomfort as he reached for Owen's groin, wishing he could be medically objective. Instead, he couldn't help appreciating the fact that he was running his hand up the bare leg of a very attractive and very well-built man. . .who just happened to be his teammate, practically family. Who just happened to be being massaged by another of their teammates, who was family, as far as Kevin was concerned, his boyfriend, his lover. Kevin glanced at Josh, not needing his eyes to feel up behind Owen's scrotum anyway, and certainly not needing to watch the vague outline of his own hand nearing the tell-tale bulges of Owen's genitals behind the thin red fabric of his gym shorts...

Josh was smirking at Kevin, his expression silently saying: Well, I've got my hands all over the good-looking big guy, but you've got the handful-and-then-some to appreciate there... When Kevin glanced at him, Josh waggled his eyebrows just once, as if to say So close, and yet so far. But hey, you're still touching the big guy, props to you. Prob'ly the closest either of us is ever getting, unless Owen has a sexual identity crisis of such epic proportions he wants a threesome. I'm up for that if you are.

Kevin tried to both frown and glare at his lover at the same time, wondering how on earth Josh managed to convey all of that in a single facial expression, but he had no doubt it had been exactly what his long-haired freak of a boyfriend had been silently saying. And he called Kevin the pervert; that was laughable. Kevin blinked and shook his head slightly as he broke eye contact with Josh, re-focusing his attention on his work, what he should be doing. And there it was, the tip of Kevin's middle finger finding a bulge where there shouldn't be one, just behind Owen's left testicle.

"This the part where I cough?" Owen asked weakly, lifting his head to give Kevin a grimace vaguely resembling a smile.

"Don't!" Kevin said sharply, sharper than he meant to, clapping his left hand onto Owen's right knee. "That, uh, that'd probably hurt like hell, actually. Like, lots worse than this already hurt you, and I really don't think you want to try that. I can feel it, the superficial ring of your inguinal canal's definitely swollen; I'm afraid you're going to need surgery," Kevin finished with a sympathetic wince as he withdrew his hand.

"My superwhat?" Owen asked with a frown, then let his head drop back to the bench as Josh snickered. "Did you just use ten-dollar biology words to tell me I have a hernia?" Owen gasped through the pain.

"Well, it's what everybody always calls a hernia, but technically it's not one," Kevin explained. "There's a couple of nerves that go through there; if it caused you that much pain, it was probably one of those getting entrapped where they don't belong. Hurts like hell, but one of the least unpleasant ways for things to go wrong down there, or at least easiest to repair and recover from. But there's a number of things it could be, so you're gonna be on light duty for a while, regardless, and that includes weightlifting," Kevin warned Owen as he stood, then telekinetically lifted Owen off the weight bench, holding him steady in mid-air.

"Aw, Hell," Owen muttered as Josh scrambled up to his feet.

"Hey, I can carry him," Josh insisted, stepping forward and trying to figure out how to get his arms under Owen's back and legs while Owen was floating away from him, toward the door. Kevin rolled his eyes as he shook his head, then nodded to Shalimar in thanks when she opened the miniature gym's door.

"Sure, you could," Kevin told Josh, scowling until Josh got the message and let his arms drop, which wasn't until Kevin had Owen through the doorway and almost a dozen feet away from it. "..If you wanted to put him through pain at least as bad as what he already went through. Flexing his hip and internal abdominal pressure are exactly the wrong things for Owen right now. Telekinesis is smoother transport than a stretcher, and we've got me and don't have a stretcher."

"But. . .he's heavy!" Josh protested, then finished with a hasty "–sorry, Owen," and glanced at Owen with an apologetic grimace for talking about him like he wasn't there.

Kevin paused in the middle of Haven, halfway between the gym and the medical lab, and turned to give Josh a dirty look.

"Compared to what?!" Kevin asked coldly, then jerked Josh into the air at the same time he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"HEY!" Josh cried out in surprise even as his body automatically twisted to keep his feet under him, ready to drop back down to the ground even though he was just hanging in mid-air. "Put me down!" Josh ordered once he was past the surprise of being yanked off his feet, his hands curling into angry fists at his sides.

"Why?" Kevin asked with a glare, his full lips pressed into a thin pout after snapping the one-word question out. He was furious with Josh's over-protective nature getting the better of his common sense. It was a habit that could be annoying at times, frustrating when he tried to limit Kevin for his own good, because Kevin knew his own limits better than Josh ever would, better than anyone who wasn't a telepath with an objective third-party view ever would. . .but it was beyond aggravating, it was infuriating, when Josh decided Kevin shouldn't use his abilities to help someone, and then acted like Kevin was being unreasonable for not wanting to put trivial needs of his own above the serious requirements of other people.

"Are you heavy, too, Josh?" Kevin asked, continuing his question. " 'Cause you know what? You weigh 175 pounds, practically all the time, because your metabolism is so fast it keeps up no matter what you do. And so is Owen's, and he weighs, what, 250? 275 maybe? ..I know he doesn't have more than a hundred pounds on you. So the two of you together weigh less than 500 pounds; man, I could throw that much across Haven without giving myself a headache, much less float half of it a few dozen feet to medical!"

"Sure you could. . .when your powers are stable," Josh said as calmly as he could, but he couldn't hide the tension in his shoulders or the fact his hands were still curled into fists, tension that was the slightest bit audible in his voice, as well. "But you're unstable right now, Kev; it just catches you out of the blue, so who knows what might make it worse? We don't know, so please put me down before you hurt yourself. You're right, Owen needs you right now, but I don't need you to prove yourself to me; you don't have to."

Kevin was ready to drop Owen in Shalimar's arms despite the pain it would cause his friend and give Josh a screaming match that would have had Brennan and Lexa shutting them up with lightning and lasers for waking them this early, but Josh did have one point: Owen needed him right now. But if Josh thought Kevin had dropped the arguement because Josh had a point, he was in for a serious surprise once Kevin was sure Owen was okay, or at least in Eve's hands and on the way to being okay, anyway.

As he turned away, Kevin gave Josh a look over his shoulder that clearly said the conversation was only postponed, not over. Josh closed his eyes and heaved a sigh of frustration, rolling his neck and shoulders to try to ease the tension building in them. Shalimar saw the flash of anger pass over Kevin's face at the sound of Josh's sigh; Kevin dropped Josh as he proceeded on to the medical lab with Owen, trying not to take inappropriate glee in the squawk of surprise Josh gave at being dropped to the floor while he had been disorienting himself trying to relieve his shoulders.

Josh sprang back up to his feet with an irritated snarl, glaring after Kevin, then glaring up at the ceiling as he tried to control himself. Kevin was risking himself, and risk was fine, risk was practically a daily part of their lives, but needless risk, when he didn't even know what the full extent of the risk was, drove Josh crazy. And Kevin's pointed refusal to consider it, pushing it by needlessly using his abilities on Josh too just made Josh furious. Not with Kevin, but with fate for putting them in the situation, with himself for not being able to get Kevin to understand, with Owen for being so stupid as to ask for trouble when life had no problem handing it out for free in the first place, maybe with Kevin just a little... Needing to vent his anger before he exploded and unsure who should actually be its recipient, Josh decided the wall was unlikely to complain and punched it, snarling "Dammit!" under his breath.

Shalimar had not followed Kevin and Owen to the medical lab; she met Josh's eyes as he turned away from the wall. She shook her head slightly at him, one eyebrow raised in a Didn't we already talk about this? expression, then went back to her room.

"DAMMIT!" Josh shouted, turning and punching the wall again, hard. He grimaced at the pain in his knuckles, lucky he hadn't broken one or more of them, then laid his left forearm against the wall at eye level, leaning forward and resting his forehead against it, swallowing. Josh knew Shalimar had to have heard his second outburst, Owen probably had, hell, even Kevin might have; he'd certainly yelled loud enough. Then he realized that Lexa, Jesse, and Brennan might have been wakened by his shout, too, which only made him feel worse.

"What's the matter with you and Josh?" Owen asked quietly as Kevin floated him over to an examination table in the medical lab, hissing in pain and wincing as Kevin set him down on it but trying not to flinch, not to move and make the pain that much worse.

"Damn, sorry, Owen," Kevin frowned; he had set Owen down as gently as he could. "And it's nothing, don't worry about it," he finished as he hurried to the intercom to page Eve and let her know they had a small emergency.

"Oh, screw nothing, man; you two are tight, always have been, so that wasn't nothing," Owen replied, his head cocking to one side as he heard Josh's outburst, but he didn't think Kevin had been able to. "I'm lying here in pain, man, distract me, share your own troubles," Owen insisted. His declaration surprised a mirthless bark of laughter out of Kevin; he held up one finger in a 'hold on' gesture as he punched the code to Eve's intercom in her penthouse suite into the medical lab's intercom with his other hand.

'Talk to me,' Eve's voice answered a moment later, sounding thick with sleep.

'Eve, sorry to wake you; we've got a problem down in medical,' Kevin answered.

'What is it?' Eve asked instantly, weariness banished from her voice.

'Owen's got a serious athletic pubalgia, probably an entrapped nerve, maybe more. I just put him on the med-bed; I'll start scans.'

'Oh, damn. Be right there,' Eve replied, and her intercom snapped off. Kevin turned back to Owen with a resigned expression.

"Okay, you're right, it's not nothing, but it's not really a big deal, either. I can't let it be," Kevin said with a shrug as he crossed the medical lab, flipping a few switches to turn on various pieces of equipment. Owen had tried to prop himself up on his elbows to speak with Kevin, but the pain caused by tightening his abdominals had been ridiculously huge, so he settled for craning his head forward again, straining his eyebrows almost as much as his neck as he raised them in surprise at Kevin's words. Kevin turned back to Owen and saw his expression, giving a rueful shrug of one shoulder as Owen shook his head and laid it back down again.

"It's just Josh, being who he is, and there's nothing I can do about that, so I have to let it be, can't let it be a big deal. I can't expect him to change just because something makes waves between us sometimes. Like I said, it's just. . .part of who he is, and that's the man I love, all parts of him. I wouldn't want to change him; that's just selfish," Kevin explained.

"Kevin..." Owen said softly, stunned, then raised his head again, trying to meet Kevin's eyes. "Kevin. . .I mean, holy crap, I come from about as dysfunctional a family background as you can, bi-polar raging father, drunk mother, all-star syndrome up the wazoo even when I joined a street gang instead of foster care at sixteen. . .I've never even had a real relationship, a healthy one, with another person until Mutant X, but even I know it's not selfish just to want something to change, if it's. . .if it's hurting you." Owen blinked at Kevin, his eyes still stunned and huge, and maybe watering, but maybe that was all just from the pain he was in. "I mean. . .you know Josh loves you, right? Dude, he loves you like crazy."

Kevin laughed softly, lowering his eyes and shaking his head. Owen wasn't sure if it was a laugh of bitter irony or just of pain, laughing instead of crying. The fact that things were that bad for Kevin in either case had Owen distinctly worried, though.

"Of COURSE I know that," Kevin answered as he looked up, his eyes wet and one side of his mouth pulled back in a mirthless smirk. "That's the problem, really."

"What—" Owen grunted as he used the strength of his triceps to pull his elbows back beneath his shoulders, propping himself up without using his stomach. Sure, he gave himself rugburn on his elbows, but that was a helluva lot better than white hot pokers through his groin, and it sounded like maybe Kevin's not-a-nothing was a lot more of a Something than Owen had realized, even if his super-bruised ribs didn't like the position either. "–What do you mean, that's the problem? Josh loves you Kevin; he'd never want to hurt you, even if you pissed him off. You know that."

"I do," Kevin nodded, jerkily, swallowing hard. "And it's not like he's trying to," he went on, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular, his eyes held rigidly open to keep the moisture in them from forming into tears. "But. . .he gets it into his head that he has to protect me from everything, and that's just not realistic. It's. . .smothering. I mean, I understand that he doesn't have any family, not that'll speak to him, that. . .that I'm pretty much all he has. I mean, sure, he's got you, the rest of the team, even the original team, now, but. . .I'm still the most important thing in his world."

There was a pause as Kevin took a deep breath, thinking about what he had just said and the point he was trying to make. He let it out and turned back to Owen, then continued: "And that's fine. I get that; hell, he's the most important thing in my world, too. But, Josh loves me. . .Josh's love for me..." Kevin's face screwed up in a grimace of frustration as he tried to express what he meant, to put it into words. Owen hoped Kevin found the words he was looking for on the next try; Josh had been standing in the doorway of the medical lab since just before Kevin's pause.

"..It's like he's got blinders on. 'Love makes you blind', right, that's the saying?" Kevin asked rhetorically, shaking his head. "I think that's supposed to mean we're blind to each others faults, but that's not it. Josh's blinders. . .he's got tunnel vision, when it comes to me. He can't see anything else, can't focus on anything else, including whether or not I need him to be that focused on me at the time, or if there's something more important at that moment. If..."

Kevin blinked, his face losing color as he met Owen's eyes, then finished in a very small voice: "..If we'd run in there, and I had tried to lift the bar off you telekinetically and I had collapsed or whatever? I'm really, really scared that Josh would've let you die, even if I had only passed out or something, maybe no big deal. . .but you'd be dead."

Owen winced as Kevin finished speaking, wishing Josh hadn't heard that, but at the same time, he could see Kevin's point. Josh wouldn't have deliberately left Owen to his fate; Owen couldn't even imagine how distraught and upset with himself Josh would have been afterward if such a thing had happened. . .but he could see it happening. Josh would've grabbed Kevin, hauled him to the medical lab, and screamed for Shalimar and hoped she could have saved Owen by herself. Sure, Shal would've just grabbed Jesse and have him phase the stupid bar, but all that back and forth. . .probably would have taken too long. Hell, Josh had made that freaking Xena-noise so Shal could find them in the gym; if he'd been dragging Kevin to the medlab when he yelled for Shal, she would've gone there first. Josh and Kevin had come into the gym just barely in the nick of time, sad but true.

There was a muffled thump as Josh dropped flat onto his ass, his jaw slack, his legs having simply given out. Kevin startled at the sound and spun around, flinching when he saw Josh there. The color had fallen out of Josh's face at the same time he fell to the floor; he stared up at Kevin with eyes so wide Owen and Kevin could both see the whites all the way around his irises.

"Josh... Josh, I—" Kevin began, but he didn't have any idea what he was going to say, didn't know how long Josh had been standing there, but it didn't matter, since Josh cut him off.

"No," Josh said sharply, closing his eyes and ducking his head like his own thoughts were hurting him, then shook his head once and lurched to his feet. He staggered at Kevin, taking a step or three to get his feet properly under himself, and by that point he was already colliding with Kevin. Kevin was trembling, unsure how Josh was reacting but knowing it was going to be even more intense than his Feral usual. Josh threw his arms around Kevin's ribs and back in a crushing embrace, practically hyperventilating into the side of Kevin's neck as he kept moving forward, pushing Kevin back until his waist collided with Owen's medical exam table.

"Owen, God, Owen, he's right, I am so sorry," Josh said, nearly choking on the words, on his anguish over realizing the truth of Kevin's statement, reaching with one hand to take Owen's, squeezing it hard in his grip as the other tangled in Kevin's hair over the back of his neck. "Jesus, Owen, Kev's right; if he fell, I woulda grabbed him in a second, would've left you. . .I would've left you there, man, and I wouldn't even have stopped to think about it until way too late. Holy God, I'm dangerous, I could get somebody killed, anybody, any of you guys..."

Josh cut himself off to swallow brokenly, eyes clenched tightly shut in remorse and guilt, shaking in Kevin's arms even as he clutched at Owen's hand, trying to communicate his sorrow. Owen squeezed back, trying to shush Josh even as Kevin was doing the same. Josh started babbling protests, denial, self-admonishment, torn between wanting to tear himself away from Kevin, afraid his all-consuming focus on his lover would cost someone their life, and wanting to cling to him, hide his face in Kevin's chest and wait for the storm to blow over. But this one wouldn't, which only made Josh want both to flee and to cling all the more.

Kevin silenced Josh by kissing him, running the fingers of one hand through Josh's long hair to wrap his hand over the back of Josh's skull and hold it still, hold it steady so he couldn't refuse the kiss, while his other arm wrapped tightly across Josh's back. Kevin kissed his lover hard, with all the passion and love he could, making Josh stop, making him pay attention to the kiss.

Josh relaxed infinitesimally, his breathing evening out once it was being forced through his nose, no longer trying to tear himself away from Kevin. He was still panicking, still trying to tug his hand free from Owen's, who felt like a voyeur and wasn't sure if he should be holding on or not, but he was pinned between Kevin's back where Josh had moved his hand and the fact he was still supporting himself on his elbows, unable to move without blinding pain.

Kevin ignored the murmurs of protest Josh was making in the back of his throat, just held him still and kissed him. He teased his tongue past Josh's lips, persuaded Josh's to follow it back into Kevin's mouth. Josh was still trying to protest, to deny, to talk, which was absolutely ridiculous while tongue-kissing. Kevin closed his teeth over the tip of Josh's tongue, pinning it in place. He held still, all over, just holding Josh and urging him to do the same, to stop. He simply stared ahead, into Josh's eyes, if he would just give in and open them, which he did once he realized Kevin was doing everything in his power to keep Josh from moving, short of paralyzing him with telekinesis.

They stood that way for just a moment, heads each tilted the slightest bit to their rights to get their mouths to reach without their noses in the way. They stared into each others eyes, so close together they could really only look into each others gazes with their left eyes, their right eyes looking at their partner's left temple. Josh finally gave an almost-amused huff of breath and went from not just holding still but relaxing, letting the tension drain out of him as his eyes slid closed. Kevin released Josh's tongue, closing his own eyes and leaning forward to press their foreheads together.

"We'll get through this," Kevin told Josh quietly. "We were together before Mutant X, maybe only just before, but we were, and we've lasted this long. We can be partners and teammates."

"We can," Josh repeated, nodding slightly but not breaking the contact of their foreheads.

"I'm not saying it'll be easy, I'm sure it won't be, but I know you can do it. You're smart, Josh, you know you are." Kevin grinned for a moment, opening his eyes as he smiled and looking into Josh's when he opened his at the silence. "We just have to get you to keep thinking with your head even when things head south in a serious way, keep your heart from hijacking all thought processes."

Josh closed his eyes as he smiled back, in embarrassment.

"Yeah. I can do that. Might take some practice, though."

"Might?" Kevin chuckled softly.

"Okay, definitely will," Josh corrected himself with a self-admonishing smirk, looking up as Eve rushed into the medical lab.

"Guys, what–" Eve cut herself short, frowning in puzzlement at the scene before her, Josh and Kevin holding each other and blocking her view of Owen, somehow looking both schmoopy and anguished at the same time. "What?" she asked again, a completely different question asked in utter confusion as she she moved past Josh and Kevin, around the foot of the examination table. She gasped in shock when she saw the livid bruises covering Owen's lower ribcage and upper abdomen.

"Owen!" she shouted in alarm, "Don't do that to your ribs! Lie down!" Josh and Kevin jumped in shock at Eve's outburst, Kevin gently pushing Josh away with one hand to his chest, Josh letting go of Owen's hand as he stepped back. Kevin spun in place, gasping when he looked down and saw the mass of bruising covering Owen's front, the purple and black having spread from the pressure Owen had put on his midsection by pushing himself up on his elbows. "What happened?" Eve asked as she turned to wheel over a scanner Kevin had switched on but then been distracted by his conversation with Owen and Josh's appearance before using it.

"Shit, you are bleeding internally, bruising spreading..." Kevin hissed in alarm, focusing on Owen and telekinetically lifting him back up into the air slightly, straightening his torso and elbows, then laying him back down. Owen clenched his teeth together, breath hissing back and forth between them rapidly as he hyperventilated through the pain of his body's movement, but he couldn't suppress a cry of pain as Kevin laid him back down on the table, even as gently as he could. "Dammit, sorry Owen, I really am..." Kevin winced, upset both that he had caused his friend more pain and that he had failed to do anything to actually help him since bringing him into the medical lab.

"Not your fault. . .I was stupid, I did it, then I asked you to talk, distracted you. . .could I have some codeine, please? Or whatever's fastest?" Owen asked through his gritting teeth, tears of pain running from the outer corners of his eyes down the sides of his face as he stared straight up at the ceiling.

Kevin grunted in further irritation at himself, turning and gesturing at the pharmaceuticals cabinet on one side of the medical lab. The cabinet's latch lifted and the door swung open, a hypospray and a whole shelf of vials flying across the room to hover over Owen's supine form. Kevin grabbed the hypospray and the powerful analgesic he was looking for from the floating array of items, fitting the vial into the device even as the other vials flew back into their places inside the cabinet.

"You. . .did that without looking," Josh said with a frown that was both impressed and confused. "Put the stuff away, I mean."

Kevin looked up from injecting the painkiller into the right side of Owen's neck, into his carotid artery so that it only took seconds to reach his brain. With his Feral metabolism, Owen's teeth unclenched and he breathed a sigh of relief from the drugs hitting his system even as Kevin was turning from Josh to look in surprise at the closed cabinet.

"Holy crap," Kevin muttered, shocked. "I..." he turned back to Josh, eyes wide with surprise; the cabinet was not only closed but latched, every vial back in place just as they had been before he moved them, other than the one in the hypospray and the hypospray itself. "..I wasn't even thinking about it; I was focusing on Owen, on helping him. . .I think I just reversed the previous movement. Like, a one-eighty," Kevin said with surprise, blinking at Josh.

"But not just reversed, not an automatic reversal, because you were using those," Josh said as he frowned in thought, nodding at the hypospray in Kevin's hands. "It's like you did it subconsciously; you weren't thinking about it." Josh looked up and frowned into Kevin's eyes. "Have you ever moved anything by accident like that before?"

"Well, sort of..." Kevin answered, his face twisting in confusion. "..I think, anyway. I was a late bloomer, as far as being a New Mutant is concerned; I didn't know I was a Psionic until I was in high school."

"Right, the football team thing," Josh said, frowning in distaste at what he knew had happened to Kevin as a teenager.

"Well, the football team was about the being gay thing, not being a New Mutant. I knew I was gay since I was eleven years old and my sex drive started waking up," Kevin said. "But I was already less-than-popular in high school before the whole outing thing, because I was 'accident prone', stuff was always falling down around me," he explained with a half-shrug. "It was my powers developing, before I'd figured them out. But even then, it happened because I happened to be focusing on something, staring at the slushee machine instead of some guy's ass when he turned around, almost caught me, and oops, the slushee machine just spilled on him," Kevin explained with a shrug.

"Oh, geeze," Josh said with an amused frown. "I mean, it happened when you switched focus, like, that's what triggered the TK? What if you accidentally shifted focus onto some hot guy when he walked by? Oops, phantom pantsing?"

"Uhm, yeah," Kevin answered, blushing and grinning at the same time. "Or close enough. Enough 'weird' stuff happened, and always when I was around, that I was just deemed a freak by teen society at large. But it was still focus, even if unintentional focus; I've never moved something without being focused on it before," Kevin finished, bringing the conversation back to the point at hand.

"So. . .something new with your abilities. That sounds like what Shalimar was talking about last night," Josh said, looking hopeful. "Your 'New Mutant Growth Spurt,' according to Adam."

"Yeah, I guess..." Kevin replied, frowning in thought. "I didn't. . .it didn't feel any different, any weirdness like last night, though. It just kinda happened."

"Guys," Eve said, interrupting them not quite sharply, but bordering on it. "I've got work to do here, and I could use a trained second pair of hands. I can see something went down, and you can take time for it if you need to, but you can't do it underfoot in here while Owen needs surgery. You didn't tell me he had thoracic trauma."

Kevin flinched, refocusing his scattershot attention back on Owen, looking down at his big friend and flushing guiltily.

"God, you're right, Eve, sorry; I didn't even do the scans, didn't even remember freaking pain killers till he said something..." Kevin said hurriedly as he scrambled for the scanner he had initially switched on, stopping short when he took in the situation and saw that Eve already had it set up and running. Unlike Kevin and Josh in their discussion of their issues and Kevin's abilities and potential condition, Eve was efficiently multitasking.

"Kev, you're okay; I'm okay, or I will be once you guys patch me up," Owen said without opening his eyes, already thoroughly doped up from the drugs Kevin had given him.

Kevin paused, closed his eyes and swallowed heavily, then opened them and focused on the counter holding the instruments he wanted. Drawers opened, a pair of scissors, a sterilizing unit, and a hand towel flew through the air to Kevin's hands. The drawers shut as Kevin turned away, murmuring: "That was conscious." He set the towel and sterilizer on the tray-table Eve had moved into position next to Owen's examination table, then fit the scissors to his fingers with hands that were shaking slightly.

"Kevin, are you sure you're up for this?" Eve asked with quiet concern, frowning as she realized Kevin was still worked up over whatever had happened before, or over the way it had thrown him off his normal efficiency. "I'm pretty sure Shalimar or Jesse have helped Adam enough they could do this; it's not so complicated..." Eve offered softly, worry on her face as she watched the way Kevin began to cut up one leg of Owen's shorts, his whole body trembling with the effort to restrain himself and keep his focus as he worked, to keep his hands steady.

Owen cracked his eyes at the concern he could hear in Eve's voice, frowning dizzily when he saw Kevin's distraught concentration.

"Dude, you're cutting my pants off, aren'tcha? You're shaking, man. Careful with scissors by my groin; it hurts enough already," Owen murmured, his expression confused.

Kevin closed his eyes as he finished cutting, lifting the elastic waistband of Owen's gym shorts to snip through it without ever bringing the scissors in contact with Owen's skin.

"It's okay, Owen. Eve," Kevin said, including her in his reassurance that he was up to the task ahead of him. "I am not letting you down here. No worries," he said as he began snipping up the right leg of Owen's shorts, more quickly since that wasn't the injured side. He frowned in discomfort again as he finished. "We're going to have to, um. . .move you out of the way, though. I'll cover you back up, right away," Kevin hurried on to say, the embarrassed blush moving up his neck and into his cheeks.

Owen slowly raised a lazy hand and flapped it dismissively, his consciousness mostly separated from his pain and discomfort, not to mention a fair portion of the world around him.

"Just be gentle, man, 'still hurts. Don' makit worse. Hell, I don' care if you look; use your TK if tha's best."

Kevin blushed harder, trying to pretend he wasn't as he glanced up at Eve.

"Position of his legs okay?" he asked, hoping she would say yes. They were fairly open, Owen's knees having been on either side of the weight bench when Kevin had telekinetically picked him up. They might be able to rearrange Owen's right leg and genitals without putting internal pressure on his abdomen so they could reach his left femoral triangle, but there was no way that they would be able to move his left leg without causing significant pain.

"Fine," Eve replied, watching Kevin's artificial, robot-like focus with concern. He was putting on a good performance, actually operating effectively enough now that he was focused, but it was visibly taking him far more effort than simple surgery prep should ever require. She gave Josh a significant look, both of them wondering how long Kevin could function as he was.

Kevin nodded, setting the scissors down on the tray-table and placing the towel on the bed next to Owen before grasping the inseams of his shorts between the fingers and thumbs of both his hands. He pulled steadily, and Owen's shorts gradually slid out from under his ass, the loose flaps of their sliced sides falling away from his hips and the middle tongue of cloth licking its way over Owen's impressive dick and balls as Kevin pulled the material free.

Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, Jesus, Tackleman! Kevin admonished himself for thinking that way as his injured friend was exposed, berated himself for losing his medical objectivity as he set the destroyed shorts aside. It was hard to be objective when the patient was more or less family, but that didn't excuse the improper direction his focus had turned in. 'Tongue' and 'licking,' for Christ's sake...

Frowning at himself, Kevin used that focus on Owen's genitals to shift them away from his left inner thigh, mentally holding their position but moving his eyes to the hand towel, telekinetically unfolding it and draping it over Owen. One corner of the towel tucked itself under his right thigh, the edge wrapping back around the left side of Owen's groin like a thong and holding it aside to his right as the rest of the towel spread and draped itself over Owen's hip, tucking itself under his side to hold his genitals up and out of the way.

Kevin blinked as he relaxed his telekinetic focus on the soft towel and released his mental 'grasp' of Owen's groin, then blinked more rapidly as the moment caught up with him. He had completed the immediate task but was so caught up in suppressing his duress he hadn't plotted the next one, couldn't remember, next he had to. . .had to...

Josh stepped forward as the tears slipped out from under Kevin's almost-fluttering eyelids, stepping up behind Kevin and reaching past his sides to grasp his aimlessly reaching wrists. Josh pulled Kevin's hands back to his chest, crossing both their arms over Kevin's chest and holding him as he spoke softly into Kevin's ear.

"Okay, Kev, you're done. Let's get Shalimar, we know she's up; she'll want to help Eve help Owen," he urged, gently pulling Kevin backward as he stepped away from the examination table.

"NO!" Kevin said hoarsely, his voice trying to be a shout of denial but too broken to achieve the volume. "I can do it! I can help Owen; I was just, just distracted, but I'm fine, I am, I can..."


              d  o  u  b  l  e  d     i-i-i-ima ges       


                 swirling
      colors
                                                            not      ^s _w ⁱ _r ^l _i ⁿ _g...    —shifting
                                                                               
                                       everything
                                 felt
                     strange

Kevin's denial was cut off by a wordless groan, his body going lax in Josh's arms.

"Shit!" Josh yelled, fumbling to grab Kevin properly and hold him up before he collapsed to the floor or fell on poor Owen. "Kev, Kevin– —dammit, SHALIMAR!!" Josh bellowed, hoping Owen wasn't so out of it he tried to move to see what was wrong or tried to get up to help, but he was also hoping his yell didn't surprise Owen, either, make him flinch and hurt himself that way...

"ShitshitshitshitshitSHIT, get a bucket, he didn't eat, but..." Josh cursed as he stooped to scoop Kevin up into his arms and turned him away from Owen's table, not wanting to make an already ridiculously bad situation stupidly worse by letting Kevin vomit on Owen when he couldn't be moved and was supposed to be undergoing surgery.

"You're a potty mouth," Eve commented distractedly as she held a container near Kevin's head as Josh put him down on the other examination table, trying to keep an eye on Owen at the same time. "Also, noisy."

"Fuck yeah I am, but I think today's giving me cause. . .and God, it's not even a quarter to seven yet, Jesus..." he answered, snatching the pan from Eve to hold for Kevin so she could try to find a way to help him. "And who're you calling noisy, Shriek Queen?" he asked, half-heartedly grinning at the smirk Eve gave him as she took Kevin's pulse.

"Mrrrruhgh," Kevin groaned, his eyes squinched half-open, bleary and peering around the room's ceiling. Josh and Eve snapped their direct attention back to Kevin as Shalimar ran into the medical lab, now wearing sweats and a sports top, with her hair its normal windblown self instead of disarrayed from sleep.

"What's–" Shalimar began, then cut herself off as she saw Eve and Josh standing over Kevin at the second examination table. "Oh. Kevin's your nurse, isn't he?" Josh frowned at Shalimar, trying to decide if he should be offended or not, deciding to ignore her instead and going back to trying to get Kevin's roving attention. "What?" she frowned. "Sorry, redundant question; I knew he was," Shalimar said, looking offended that her comment might have been taken as offensive. "That wasn't a gay crack, geeze," she finished with an aggrieved roll of her eyes.

"Kev? Kevin, you with me?" Josh asked, leaning over Kevin to put his face in Kevin's field of vision.

"Pulse is rapid but strong, not too elevated," Eve said as she released Kevin's wrist and turned to grab a miniature EEG scanner. "Shal, can you do minor surgery prep? We've already got the sterilizer by Owen," she asked as she connected two electrodes to both sides of Kevin's forehead, just below his hairline.

"yer so brigh'..." Kevin murmured. Josh blinked and glanced up at Eve, wondering if Kevin was refering to her genius intelligence, then Kevin reached a hand up to cup the side of Josh's face. He nearly missed, almost stabbing Josh in the eye with his fingers before Josh put his hand over the back of Kevin's, guiding it into position against his cheek.

"Yeah, I got it," Shalimar answered Eve after glancing at the tray-table next to Owen, then she dashed back to the door and stuck her head back out into Haven proper. "BRENNAN! Get In Here!" she called out, then hurried back to Owen's examination table. "He and Jesse are awake, Jess is starting on Adam's message," she said by way of explanation, but neither Josh nor Eve understood what she was explaining, why she had called Brennan.

" shining, " Kevin said as he stared at Josh, looking into his eyes but a million miles away at the same time. Josh frowned just the slightest bit in confusion, his mouth quirking and brows lowering only the tiniest amount, not enough to obscure his eyes as he shifted into Feral mode, his irises going bright jade green and his pupils converting to vertical slits.

Kevin grinned up at him.

" That doesn't make a difference, Silly, " Kevin said, his full lips smirking as he stroked the side of Josh's face. Josh frowned in deepening confusion as he let go of Kevin's moving hand and reached across him to take the other, then glanced aside at Eve as she made a thinking noise in the back of her throat.

"Kevin, can you hear me?" she asked, enunciating clearly and projecting her voice slightly, even though she was standing just behind Kevin's head.

" 'Course I can, " Kevin answered with a frown, tipping his eyes up like he was trying to see Eve through his own brow and the top of his head. Josh's frown of confusion deepened as Kevin's eyes moved, tracking Eve's hand as she pushed buttons to check a reading on her miniature EEG scanner.

"Okay, I've got some weird readings coming from your occipital lobe. . .I think. I don't have you on a full EEG, but that's what it looks like. I want you to close your eyes and tell me what you see." Eve glanced up from her scanner as Brennan entered the medical lab; she waved him over with her free hand.

Josh scrunched his face up at Eve, boggling at her in confusion before glancing down at Kevin again, wondering about his bizarrely tracking eyes. Kevin wrinkled his face in an expression Josh recognized as the facial equivalent of a shrug, then closed his eyes.

"Brennan, quickly please, log-on to the main computer there," Eve said to Brennan quietly as he approached. "Should just be waiting for the password, 'parallel'. Right-click on Kevin's file shortcut and Route To ETS #2." Brennan frowned in confusion at the bustle over Kevin while Shalimar shined a device over Owen's groin, who was naked but for a small towel and severely bruised. Brennan shook his head and moved to do as Eve asked, figuring the situation must be under control, whatever it was.

" Whoaaa. . .just rainbow vision, no more 3D movie, " Kevin said with surprise in his rambling voice when he closed his eyes. His eyebrows were reaching for his hairline even though his eyes remained closed, but they were roving beneath their lids, like he was still looking around.

"Oooo-kay, now we're getting somewhere," Eve said with satisfaction as she adjusted more settings on her scanner and turned to compare them with Kevin's file on the examination table's monitor screen. "Alright, Kevin, I can tell you're still disoriented, but I'm getting an idea of what's going on. I want you to just relax, then astral project, just for a second. Your eyes are already closed, just go whenever you're ready."

"Is that safe?" Josh asked with quick urgency, tightening his grip on Kevin's hand and his free hand flashing down from Kevin's shoulder to rest on his chest, over his heart. Josh blinked in surprise and looked down as Kevin took a deep breath; his heart rate wasn't much faster than normal, only a few beats faster than when they were curled up on the couch together to watch a movie or talk.

"I'm pretty sure he's fine, Josh, and if I'm wrong, anything happens, he's already here in medical and connected to an EEG monitor," Eve said as Kevin exhaled, his body stilling into its usual astral-projection coma. "No time like the present," she finished, then Kevin's body arched up off the examination table as he reacted, a piercing alarm squealing from Eve's scanner.

The Creator smiled as the security entourage hurriedly escorted him and his clone to an elevator. He knew others perceived him as mad, and he often displayed that persona just to mislead those who might be considering betrayal. If they thought he was senile and deranged, they would be more likely to make a mistake that would reveal their intentions, which would enable the Creator to justify their execution. It was a fine line to walk, appearing both insane and nigh-omniscient, revealing he knew others plots against his goals or to take advantage of them as if he were never surprised, yet appearing mad enough others might still be tempted to reveal their lack of total devotion.

It was a fine line indeed, balancing between madness and genius, but the Creator loved dancing it, keeping a step ahead of everyone else, yet able to take two steps back and sneak up behind them. It was his favorite game indeed.

"Well, this is exciting, isn't it?" the Creator said in a loud whispering voice as he leaned to one side of his powered wheelchair, speaking in conspiratorial fashion to Adam. "We seem to be under attack!"

"Attack?" Adam questioned with a frown, more worried than ever that it might be Mutant X coming for him, that he would be smuggled away from his rescuing teammates just as they arrived. "By whom?"

The Creator flapped a dismissive hand, apparently uncaring.

"Some military group or division. The Dominion has many enemies, Adam; we are constantly on the move." The Creator glanced up at Adam and grinned maniacally. "Keeps us safe. I haven't lived this long and made as many enemies as I have without learning the best ways to keep safe."

"No, I suppose you haven't," Adam agreed introspectively as they approached the end of the corridor.

The security entourage had hurried them into an elevator, the Creator's personal bodyguards swiping an ID badge through the elevator's controls to take them to the hallway they were now exiting. Adam had never been taken to this portion of the compound, but the circulated air had the feel of being subteranean, something Adam was quite familiar with after having lived in Sanctuary for more than a decade.

"Sir, Dr. Kane, we'll have to go quickly and quietly from here," the guard leading the security detail said at the door, anonymous behind his all-concealing black riot-gear armor. "The attacking force knows the enclosed route to the garage, they've focused their attack on the main entrance and that portion of the installation. There is a small, exterior side-access door that will take us into the garage from the opposite side; we should have no problems getting to a vehicle and escaping from there."

"Just a moment," Adam said, holding out a tentative hand in a belaying gesture. He was reconsidering the possibility of Mutant X being behind the attack, because he knew they would have no way of knowing the installation's layout. But that didn't mean it wasn't some sort of trap set up by the corruption within the Dominion, either. And if the attacking party knew where the garage was, how did they expect to get away?

"How are we going to escape, if they've covered access to the garage? Surely they'll be able to shift that coverage to our departing vehicle?" Adam asked, still frowning even as he considred other options and posibilities.

The Creator chuckled. All pieces of his current plan were falling into place, but his clone was smart enough to question.

"Not if they can't see it, dear boy," he rasped, patting at the back of Adam's elbow. "Come, let us hurry. Cover for a vehicle won't matter if they see us getting there."

The first guard opened the door, and a file of other fully armored guards fanned out into the open beyond, dashing for cover behind the low ridges and odd rock formations. To Adam's eye, it looked like they were somewhere in the arid northern zones of the Southwest, probably Nevada or Utah, possibly eastern California.

After a moment of surveying the surrounding area with some sort of high-tech binoculars, the guard at point raised an arm and circled his hand overhead. The other guards rose from their covered positions and either reconvened toward the point man or spread out back towards the door, meeting up with the other guards who preceeded Adam and the Creator, forming a line of armored cover.

"Quickly, Sir, Dr. Kane; they might find us at any time," the head bodyguard urged, motioning them out the door. His partner went first, the Creator's motorized chair rolling silently behind him. Adam followed, with two guards of his own that fanned out to his sides as he proceeded. Adam couldn't help a wry pursing of his lips into a hint of a smirk, knowing the guards weren't so much for his saftey, though they were surely that as well, as they were to ensure he didn't attempt to run now that he was out of doors. The head bodyguard brought up the rear, the door automatically closing behind them as his helmeted head scythed back and forth, his automatic rifle held at the ready.

The Creator let his smile of anticipation and approval show on his face as he went; the guards were on the lookout for aggressors and not paying any attention to him other than to make sure he proceeded safely, and even if they noted his glee, they all whispered he was mad behind his back anyway. The clone couldn't see his amusement; that was the important part. He knew they were safe; the entire area was riddled with redundant sensors of every kind so that no one could approach undetected, even if they were invisible, but the clone didn't need to know that.

There was a distant cry of alarm from a far ridge; even as the guards were reacting and the chatter of gunfire broke out in the distance and then from their men, the Creator was grinning malevolently as he rolled forward determinedly. He would have prefered to have been on foot, able to increase his pace at this dramatically appropriate moment, but the medics had insisted he not locomote during his relaxation period. The chair would have to do, carrying him silently forward as the guards attempted to sight on their attackers. It was one of the premier motorized conveyances in the world, after all, originally at the Dominion installation for the use of their council member in charge of contact with New Mutant organizations.

Adam stared in surprise at the military-fatigued commandos firing on them from the distance; he had been hoping until that moment that it truly had been his team coming for him. He had only sent the message to Shalimar to let her know he was alive and well, to be on the lookout for him when he could actully accomplish something towards gaining his freedom, but he trusted Jesse and Eve and Jamie to have tracked down his signal nonetheless, presuming his team had reached their Californian brethren by now. For another faction to have disrupted the work he had accomplished toward escape was disheartening, and Adam knew the shock was showing on his face.

He shook it off, sprinting after the Creator's chair at his bodyguards' insistence even as a high tech weapon of some sort produced a tiny explosion nearby, scorched arid earth flying up into the air in a narrow swath.

Kevin's eyes snapped open as he cried out, his voice cutting out in a strangled gurgle as his back collapsed down to the examination table again. His face was green, working in distress as he attempted to regain some control over himself and his movements. Josh seized him by the back of the neck and lifted him up, bending Kevin double over his own lap as Josh slipped the pan into it, just in time to catch Kevin's dry heaves of bitter stomach acid.

Josh rubbed Kevin's back with the hand he had lifted Kevin with, pointedly ignoring Eve's distressed complaints of the electrodes having been ripped off by the sudden movement. She hurried around the head of the examination table to reach Kevin's other side, trying to reattach the electrodes to see what his mental activity was after his violent response. She attached one electrode to the left side of Kevin's forehead as his body continued to heave, trying to vomit contents his stomach simply didn't have. When she tried to reach past his bowed head to its other side to attach the other electrode, it yanked itself out of her hand, its mate popping free of Kevin's forehead and both of them sailing across the room to clatter into the storage shelves, their plug being yanked out of the miniature EEG scanner in the process.

Eve blinked, then frowned at Kevin as he struggled to regain control and his breath, panting harshly as Josh murmured reassurances into his ear, obviously not focusing on her or what she was doing whatsoever. It had been another unconscious act of telekinesis on Kevin's part.

The look of cold anger Josh was giving Eve over Kevin's shuddering form suggested he was perfectly aware of what Kevin had just done. Eve sighed, then turned to connect the EEG scanner to the examination table so she could relay both sets of data to the medical computer for comparison.

Brennan stepped away from the computer and came up to take Eve's place at the examination table, suddenly realizing why Shal had called him in.

"Kevin, I know this is gonna sound stupid, but you need to relax," Brennan said as he approached, reaching with one hand to knead at one of Kevin's broad shoulders, meeting Josh's eyes and giving him a nod of reassurance that he knew what he was doing. "Clear your mind, think of your favorite song, whatever it is you do to relax, just do it," Brennan continued, taking the bile-filled pan from Josh and moving to grab a towel and glass of water for Kevin as Josh climbed up onto the examination table behind him. Josh fit his legs alongside Kevin's and Kevin's back to his own chest, placing one hand over the center of Kevin's chest, just above the solar plexus, and the other at his waist, between his navel and his groin.

"Easy, Kev, yoga breathing, with me, In..." Josh murmured in Kevin's ear in a low voice, audibly and slowly drawing in a breath, "..And out..." he went on, exhaling the same way.

"In..." Josh continued as Brennan returned with the towel and water, Kevin inhaling in sync with Josh. "..And out..." he said, Kevin still matching his pace, the tremors wracking Kevin's form fading even as Brennan watched.

After a moment of continuing their synchronous breathing, Kevin pulled his legs up into a basic lotus position, crossed at the calves and his ankles on the opposite inner thighs. Josh wrapped his own legs around Kevin's and beneath them, his knees under the bottoms of Kevin's thighs and his heels in front of where Kevin's shins were crossed. They breathed together for a moment more, Kevin's hands over the backs of Josh's, his right over Josh's left and left over Josh's right.

After that, Kevin opened his eyes, frowning in confusion at Brennan.

"I feel better," he said in surprise, nodding gratefully to Brennan as he took the towel and water, wiping at his mouth before taking just a sip to rinse his mouth with and then spitting it into the towel as well. Brennan nodded back knowingly as Kevin went on to slowly drink the entire bottle of water.

"You're going through what I did when my powers were unstable," Brennan explained. "Let me guess, right before this happened, your emotions were running high? Jesse said that's what Eve's discussion with you about last night sounded like, too."

Kevin made an uncomfortable face at Brennan and shifted in Josh's arms; Josh leaned his head to one side of Kevin's to glare at Brennan directly, a warning frown on his face.

"Easy, easy," Brennan said, holding both hands up placatingly. "I only know that because it's the same thing that happened to me. When my powers were evolving, unstable, any time I lost my temper, I would short out. Which of course just made me more irritable, whole vicious cycle thing," Brennan explained.

"Huh. That musta sucked," Josh said, frowning as he considered it but holding Kevin all the tighter just the same.

"It really did," Brennan nodded. "Now, I don't know specifically what's going on with your powers, Kevin, you'll have to let Eve figure that out, but for me, my powers were evolving faster than my mind could keep them under control. Our team Psionic, a telempath, had to use her powers to get my mind caught up with my new ability levels."

"Emma," Kevin nodded, knowing who she was from Owen and Jamie's stories. "So. . .you think I need to find a telempath?" he asked, his expressive hazel eyes peering up from beneath his furrowed brow and full lips looking all the moreso as he frowned slightly.

"No idea, man," Brennan said with an apologetic shrug. "It depends on how your powers are evolving, I guess. I mean, you're a Psionic, too; is it even possible for your powers to get ahead of your mind? –But until Eve gets it figured out or your genes all get settled and you get used to the new you, you've gotta keep your cool, or you'll keep losing control, having these attacks."

Josh let his head fall forward, his chin and bangs hanging over Kevin's shoulder as he spoke to Kevin's thigh.

"Okay, how 'bout you stay calm and I'll freak out for the both of us?" Josh suggested in a voice both weary and nervous.

"You could do that, couldn't you?" Kevin asked with a fond smile, leaning his head sideways to press against Josh's.

"I could TOTALLY do that," Josh confirmed, nodding against Kevin's shoulders as he tightened his arms around Kevin's torso.

"You good?" Eve asked Kevin as she approached again, having taken her time retrieving the EEG scanner's cord and electrodes. Kevin shrugged in response, still wrapped up in Josh like his boyfriend was a giant teddy bear for a toddler to snuggle into.

"I guess," Kevin said, not sounding very sure of it. "For now, anyway?"

"Well, let's record your current neural activity; if calmness is the appropriate counter, it'll be good to have a record of what your state of calm currently looks like," Eve explained as she reattached the electrodes. "On the other hand, Anne's empathy is strong enough for her to manifest psi-blasts; if your instability trigger is emotional, she may be able to do the Psionic equivalent of cauterizing it."

"That. . .doesn't exactly sound safe," Josh said with a worried, pouting frown as Kevin's eyebrows tensed with startlement.

"Well, I'd have to do some tests to verify that, of course," Eve said with a frown of her own.

"Of Course," Josh and Kevin repeated in sync, Josh rolling his eyes as Kevin raised a disparaging eyebrow. Eve didn't notice, already on her way back over to join Shalimar at Owen's side and finish prepping him for surgery.

'Brennan, Shal, Lexa, c'mere, quick, I think I've got something!' Jesse's excited voice came from Brennan and Shalimar's commrings. Brennan glanced at his right hand in surprise, then looked up at Shalimar.

"Go, be ready to fill me in later," Shalimar urged him as she and Eve were snapping on latex rubber gloves.

"What is it, Jesse?" Lexa asked as she stood behind Jesse at the main workstation, looking over his shoulder as Brennan jogged up.

"I think I've tracked Adam's text message, where it originated from," Jesse said as his fingers danced over the keyboard, various maps popping up on the screen and confirming his initial conclusion. "We got lucky, looks like it came from out in the middle of nowhere in western Nevada. It's not close enough to any towers to receive service signal, but it is close enough for a relay station to boost the signal enough for the east suburban Vegas towers to pick it up. Whoever set it up must have thought that the relay would mask where the signal was coming from, but I can hack the carrier network. Measuring the strength and time of signal reception at the three towers that picked up the signal, I can triangulate its point of origin," Jesse explained as he typed furiously, then sat back with a grin as a map of Nevada popped up on the screen, a point east and slightly north of Las Vegas lighting up with an indicator dot and coordinates. "Voila."

"Fantastic," Lexa said. "Ten minutes for breakfast, and let's go."

"Whoah, Eve and Shal are performing surgery on Owen, and Kevin's recovering from an instability attack. I don't think any of them are going anywhere soon," Brennan said.

"Surgery?!" Lexa asked with a frown of alarm. "What happened?" she asked, then turned to head for the medical lab without waiting for an answer.

"Whoa, Whoa!" Brennan said, snatching Lexa's arm with his tall reach before she could get away. "Uhm, sensitive surgery, that he'd rather not have witnesses to, okay?" Brennan said. Jesse squinted up at Brennan's face, wondering if Brennan was blushing slightly beneath his dusky complexion. "His, uh, his chest, hell, pretty much his whole front is all bruise. Let him make the decision if he wants you to see him like that, okay?" Brennan asked. "They only called me and Shal in 'cause Kevin's normally Eve's second pair of medical hands, y'know? So she's got Shal, and I helped talk Kevin through his attack."

Lexa frowned for a moment in thought but then nodded. "Okay," she said, still frowning but now in concern. "Well, let's call Chris and Jamie and Josh, wake them up, be ready to go as soon as we can."

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Brennan said. "Josh's with Kevin, but I bet the Nerd Wonder can figure out how to call the other two, right Jess?" he asked.

"You do both realize I am totally going to make you two pay for getting five or six more people to call me that, right?" Jesse asked with an aggrieved sigh as he closed his navmaps and called up the communications program.

"Sure, man, you get right on that," Brennan said with a grin, rubbing Jesse's shoulder and giving it a patronizing clap before turning away. "I'm making breakfast, tell the junior Nerd Wonder and his banshee leprechaun friend they can join us."

Jesse snorted laughter and gave Brennan a disapproving smirk.

"I will absolutely tell them you said that," he declared, making Lexa laugh.

An hour later, the team had arrived at the Dominion's Nevada installation, except for Eve and Owen.

Brennan had landed the cloaked Helix a mile away from the complex, the team sneaking into a bone-dry arroyo that ran to one side of the installation, hopefully enabling them to get fairly close without detection before relying on Lexa's light-cloak. She wouldn't be able to cloak all eight of them from sight for very long.

"Wait," Shalimar said as they got closer, one hand held up in a cautious gesture, her nostrils twitching as the wind breezed through the arroyo and fluttered her hair.

"What is that?" Josh asked, his eyes a bright green comparable to Shalimar's gold. "Sorta like cordite? Fireworks?"

"Cordite, all right," Shalimar said with a nod, gesturing the group on. "Automatic gunfire, a fair amount of it. Makes more cordite than you'd smell in a gang shooting," she explained. "And something else; you're right, smells kinda like July 4th. Like chemical smoke."

"It's old?" Josh asked, still sniffing at the air. "Pretty faint."

"Yeah. Couple hours," Shalimar replied as she carefully climbed over a rise in the dry river bed, keeping her head below the level of the ground above. "Lex, cloak me a second; I want to take a better look, now that we're closer," she said, pausing atop the high point. Lexa stepped forward past Brennan and Kevin, reaching down to hold Shalimar's ankle where she was perched on the rise.

Shalimar and Lexa vanished in the flare of Lexa's light-cloak; Shalimar stood and took a careful look around, particularly at the base in the near distance.

"Quiet," she said worriedly as she crouched down again and gently pulled her leg free of Lexa's grasp, both of them reappearing as Lexa dropped her cloak.

"Very," Josh nodded. "I don't hear a thing, not an exhaust fan, AC compressor. . .nothing."

"Is that good or bad?" Brennan asked with a frown.

"Suspicious, I'd call it," Chris said from the back of the group.

"Maybe," Lexa said. "But there's obviously nothing else out here. They wouldn't want to attract any attention; once anyone knows to look in this area, it's not like they could be anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if the roof of the place is textured and painted to match the desert around it, camoflauged from spyplanes and satellites."

"It is," Jesse said, nodding. "I checked the satellite views just to see if there were any roads."

"None?" Jamie asked. "What's the best approach, then? Best way for off-road vehicles to come in? They'd have to drive supplies in, air drops would be noticed."

Jesse nodded, smiling with pride at Jamie's deduction.

"This arroyo takes a curve away from the complex up ahead; the closest thing to a trail swings near at that point, then curves in to the complex, loops around to the side. Might even be an underground entrance or garage," he explained.

"I saw that curve, it's only a hundred yards or so ahead," Shalimar said, easing her way over and down from the rise before moving on down the gulley.

"How far is the complex from there, Jesse?" Kevin asked.

"Uhmm, a few hundred yards, maybe? Less than a thousand feet," he answered.

"Hang on, let me reconnoiter," Kevin said, tugging at Josh's shoulder. Josh sat down with an unhappy grimace, but he knew he couldn't expect Kevin to never astral project again. It was too useful an ability, but at least Kevin was relatively calm at the moment. Josh crossed his legs, and Kevin sat down a few feet in front of him, laying down with the back of his neck pillowed by Josh's calves.

Kevin closed his eyes and breathed deeply, his astral form projecting free of his body.

He glanced up into the sky at an angle, in roughly the direction of the Dominion's installation. Kevin's astral self flashed forward at the speed of thought, up into the sky at an angle that carried him closer to the complex. He paused, rotating in space to re-orient himself at his target, then flashed forward again, right up to it and taking a look around.

A moment later, Kevin inhaled more deeply than his shallow comatose breathing and opened his eyes, much to Josh's relief.

"It's weird," Kevin said as he sat up, Josh grabbing him under the arms and helping him rise from behind even as he stood up himself. "There's a big roll-up door open, obviously the garage, vehicles inside, but I didn't see any people."

"Well, you guys smelled a firefight," Chris suggested. "Maybe they left in a hurry? Left the door open?"

"That doesn't sound like any Dominion protocol I've ever heard of," Lexa said. "If they left like that, they would've had the place blow up behind them. If the fight was a few hours ago, that's not the case."

"Well, let's go then," Brennan said, motioning for Josh and Shalimar to continue scouting on point with their Feral senses. "Find out what's what, but stay sharp."

Ten or fifteen minutes later, the group was cautiously making their way across the open land between the arroyo and the Dominion's installation, having left the dried riverbed early to avoid crossing the non-existent road, which was far too likely to have sensors if not out-and-out booby traps. They were drawing closer, topping the rise nearest the last open stretch of land under the cover of Lexa's light-cloak when Shalimar and Josh both hissed a near-silent warning.

The group drew to a stop as a line of guards clad in the power-absorbing armored suits of the Dominion's shock troops fanned out between them and the Dominion building. After just a moment Lexa gasped quietly; she recognized the low movement behind the guards, the glide of her contact's electric wheelchair.

"Who's that?" Josh asked in shock, just as Shalimar hissed: "That's the Creator-!" then interrupted herself with an involuntary cry of:

"ADAM!"

The line of guards suddenly reacted, half of them dropping to one knee and all of them bringing their weapons to bear, unsure where to shoot since the team was still behind Lexa's light-cloak. A man in black the orignal team and Jamie could recognize as Adam had stopped, seemed to be staring in shock at their position. A second later, some of the guards opened fire.

Brennan and Chris let loose with their own abilities, Lexa not firing her lasers because it was too important to keep her cloak up. With that many fully-automatic guns aimed at them, it was a miracle none of them had been hit already, much less if the highly trained and no-doubt experienced troops could actually see them.

The Creator's chair kept carrying him towards the garage's waiting door, and Adam turned and sprinted after him between two guards as one of Brennan's electrical bolts blasted into the ground, trying to spray the shock troops with shrapnel since he knew their suits were proof against his electrical shocks as well as Lexa's lasers.

"ADAM, GET CLEAR! GET CLEAR!!" Chris shouted at the top of his power-enhanced voice, but Adam was on the other side of the line of heavily-armed troops, no chance to get past them. He would only be mowed down if he did.

Brennan stopped firing, the whole team crowding around Lexa and behind Brennan, Jesse, and Jamie's stretched-larger form as Jesse massed the three of them so they could get closer without fear of the bullets. As they closed the distance, the guard furthest from the garage's door stopped firing and sprinted for the door, the next one after him following in suit as he ran by. The guards continued each in turn, the line of guards retracting itself into the garage as Mutant X charged to close the distance before their target was taken away from them.

Brennan threw another bolt when there were only two guards left firing, close enough he knew he could hit them, hoping he could disable their guns if not the men themselves, so that the team could sprint all out to catch up to Adam.

The electrical blast had no effect, the last two guards following their fellows in perfect precision.

"Your bolt went through them!" Josh called out in disbelief as they charged forward, trying to reach the door before it closed.

"They had New Mutants at the installation we stole the Helix from, too!" Shalimar said as they ran for all they were worth, trying to catch the door, catch sight of where Adam had gone, what vehicle he had been put inside of.

The team ran up to the door, staggering to a worried halt when it didn't close as they approached. Josh and Shalimar turned back to their teammates with worried expressions as the rest of the group joined them.

"Nothing," Josh said.

"I didn't hear an engine, an elevator, echoing boots. . .nothing," Shalimar confirmed.

"Let me look, I can't trip any traps," Kevin said, throwing himself to the ground and sitting with his back against the building's wall, blowing out a steady breath as he closed his eyes, his head nodding forward toward his chest.

A moment later Kevin inhaled and raised his head, frowning.

"I checked the garage, poked my head through a few walls connecting to it, didn't see anyone or any concealed passages. The garage floor is solid rock, no elevator going lower," he said with a shrug as he stood up, taking Josh's assisting hand and clapping his free hand to Josh's shoulder. "There is a big, significant-looking intersection, all the walls lit with ominous red lights."

"Gee, that doesn't sound important," Lexa said sarcastically.

"Or like, oh, I dunno, a trap," Chris said in the same tone.

"We've got no choice," Jesse said with a despairing toss of his hands. "Unless you all want to take your bets on Eve figuring out how to duplicate Adam's work with me as a guinea pig. Eve's good, but I don't know if she's that good when she doesn't know what Adam did in the first place and you two are on a ticking clock," he finished, pointing from Lexa to Kevin.

"We're all on a clock, except you, Jess," Shalimar said. "Some are just closer to winding down than others."

"Nope. No," Brennan said, shaking his head. "Jesse's right, no choice. Let's go, quick, quiet, and alert," he finished, then slipped quietly into the dim garage, heading for the obvious main corridor on the other side.

They dashed as quietly as they could down the corridors, Josh and Shalimar keeping their Feral senses peeled for trouble and Brennan carrying Kevin's comatose form as he scouted for surprises.

"Nobody and nothing," Kevin said angrily, coming out of his astral coma as the group paused before the ominous red-lit intersection. "All labs and storerooms in this wing so far, all with computers, supplies, whatever in them, but no people. More labs ahead, garrisons to the left and mess hall to the right. It's just weird!" he snarled as Brennan set him down and they all slowly proceeded into the main intersection, wondering what was going to come next.

"Hey, calmly," Josh urged Kevin, laying an arm across his shoulders and trying to get Kevin to calm down even though Kevin's stress was only making Josh more worried. He was paying attention to Kevin, so only Shalimar noticed the miniscule vibration that passed through the floor before it clicked.

"MOVE!!!" she screamed as she leaped out of the intersection, but it was too late.

The giant trapdoor formed by the entirety of the main intersection dropped open beneath the feet of the rest of the team, plunging them into darkness as they fell, dropping out of Shalimar's line of sight.

Even as Shalimar ran to the edge to see what had happened to her team, the giant doors were being raised back into place again. She turned and leaped across the intersection while its floor was still tilted, leaping into the corridor to the right, building up speed as she ran and kicking her way through the door into the mess hall with one flying jump kick as she ran.

Shalimar breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the mess hall was indeed a large space, the far wall bearing a number of windows looking out onto the windswept desert wilderness of Nevada. She sprinted across the mess hall, leaping up onto the first table in her way and from it to the next, from one table to the next until she was across the room.

She jumped at the window.

Shalimar exploded through the window, the point of one elbow and her other forearm smashing the glass out of her way as she dove through it.

It wasn't supposed to be like this... Shalimar thought to herself as she plummeted toward the ground.

Her Feral eyes blazing a furious gold as she fell, Shalimar reached out before herself, tensing her arms. She tucked her chin to her chest as she collided with the ground, the tension of her arms absorbing some of the impact and the backs of her shoulders taking the rest as she somersaulted forward, rolling up onto her feet, already running.

..We were supposed to rescue Adam... Shalimar thought as the adrenal fight-or-flight response fueled her sprint into the wilderness.