"Gas!" Al said. "Behind us, but…" He hesitated until Jesse prompted him. "It's not normal gas, maybe nerve gas or something."

"Well, I guess running is our only option."

"You could phase," Al offered. as they sprinted forward.

Jesse shuddered involuntarily. "Only as a last resort," he replied.

Then they skidded into a narrow dead end. Embedded in the wall was an upright coffin not dissimilar to the one he'd been in before, complete with oxygen mask.

"Get in." Jesse's tone brooked no argument.

Al blinked at him. "B-but what about you?" he asked, slightly incredulously.

Jesse smiled wryly. "Remember what you said about my powers? I have a greater advantage than you." And there is no way in hell I'm getting in that box, he thought.

Al swallowed hard as he contemplated the coffin. "I, ah…"

Jesse shoved him hard. "Now is not the time to be shy!" Al stumbled toward the coffin and stepped inside. "If you get out before I do," he told the feral, "do me a favour and tell Mutant X, uh… tell them I miss them, okay?"

Al nodded as a door slammed down, cutting the feral off from him.

Jesse's eyes started to tear as the invisible gas started to reach him. He tried to phase into the walls but was repelled, and he sank to his knees as his breathing became laboured, trying to figure the odds of surviving phasing into the gas.

Fortunately, another door slammed down, separating him from the gas. Another door that repelled his phasing abilities as he discovered the bad news - the ambient lighting vanished and the walls, floor and ceiling quite literally closed in on him.

*****

Aluino wasn't entirely certain what happened next. One moment he was being shut in a coffin and breathing through the oxygen mask, and the next he was being forcibly ejected out into the night to roll down a short rocky incline and land in a heap at the bottom.

The building he'd come out from was low and small, certainly not even close to big enough to account for all the tunnels. It seemed to be just a small aluminium hut on a vacant lot in one of the industrial parks, and he figured that the coffin must have been an elevator of sorts.

But where was the other guy and what had all that been about anyhow?

He hesitated, hugging his bruises as he considered the Mutant X guy who was probably still down there. There was nothing he could do. Except maybe contact Mutant X.

But everything he'd ever been taught about Mutant x painted them as the bad guys.

Except that Jesse hadn't been.

Hitting the streets, Al didn't really know where he was going. Home to Genomex wasn't quite an option because that would eliminate any possibility of getting Mutant X to help their friend. Tired beyond belief, hurting, cold and miserable, he tried to recall what he'd heard about the group.

They ran the Underground and there was a way to contact them if you wanted help.

He should try that maybe.

*****

Cold metal walls pressed in on all sides, yet it was a cold that couldn't permeate the heat of the air, of his skin and blood, of his mind.

The walls had stopped moving once the space had reduced to this box, six foot high by three foot wide by two foot deep, but his mind kept imagining that they were still moving. The pure darkness, and absolute silence, the kind that soaked up the sounds he made himself, it was all suffocating even without the air getting thinner.

This wasn't the same coffin he'd been in before, wasn't the same coffin Al had vanished into. This was a box, but with the same field that repelled him as the coffin had done.

He was able to hold on for a while this time, sure that he'd be let out at some point. There had to be a purpose to all this lab rat stuff they'd been put through. The challenges presented had been geared towards Al and himself, which gave him food for thought, but didn't really help him right now.

Once again he searched for any weak points, called out, hit and kicked with massed foot and fist.

Once again to no effect.

And as time crawled by with no hint of respite, his throat dry and parched, the realisation crept home that he was trapped.

Terminally.

*****

Shalimar and Brennan met the new day with a new bout of optimism and hope as they started their search from scratch.

In a back alley, sometime around lunchtime, Shalimar scented something that was Jesse, yet not Jesse, and took off after it, Brennan hot on her heels

Came to a skip with cardboard boxes piled up next to it.

Found the body covered in rotting lettuce leaves. Wasn't Jesse, but there was his scent about. Touched the body lightly, life still there, but –

Flash of gold, teeth and claws, but Shalimar was ready, her own hackles on end with tension as the body sprang to life. Shalimar was almost disappointed when the body gave in so easily. She would love to have had an excuse to rip its head off, but at the same time she needed to find out why it smelled of her friend and teammate.

Brennan pulled her off it and she blinked, steadying herself as she realised that the young man was cowering, whimpering with fear. Convinced that there was no threat, her protective instinct came leaping out as she took in the battered and dirty frame, the drawn lines of his face and complete terror in his eyes.

She asked if he'd seen her friend and he asked if they were Mutant X. She nodded yes, and she didn't need Emma's powers to feel the relief pouring off him. He'd been coming to find them, but collapsed before getting very far.

That said, he promptly passed out again and, supported by Brennan's able grasp, they took him back to Sanctuary.

*****

With nothing left to focus on, other than the oppressive heat that had him sweating and shivering by turns, Jesse became lost in whatever memories and hallucinations his feverish mind chose to throw up.

While his air supply was low, it never actually seemed to disappear, but breathing was definitely something he had to work at. He had visions of himself massing and phasing uncontrollably, but was no longer aware enough to determine whether that was real or not.

Visions of being locked in the basement closet haunted him. He'd only ever been locked in there when he was bad, his mother trusting his sense of honour not to use his freaky powers to escape. And he'd only ever been forgotten the once. He'd kept calling and calling, much like he was now, and no one heard him then either.

And then there was the time the tree house fell out of the tree.  It was his special place, but it had got broken in a recent storm and he wasn't allowed in it until Dad had fixed it. But Dad was always away doing important stuff. so he went in it anyway, and when it collapsed all he could see was this tree falling on top of him.  He didn't get hurt but he was stuck, and that was before the phasing part of his power had developed. And he shouted for help but no one had come until after it stopped raining.

His throat was burning, and he couldn't hear himself any more. And the more he couldn't hear himself, the louder and more urgently he tried to shout.

He could feel sweat running down his face, but when he went to wipe it away there was only dry greasy skin.

He was having trouble working out which way was up; even stamping his feet didn't seem to help any more. And he couldn't stand it, and the more he couldn't stand it the more his mind delved into his well of unwanted memories.

*****

Shalimar checked out the lot that Aluino claimed to have escaped from. She researched the land's history and verified the fact that there were old disused tunnels below that entire part of town, but there was no trace of ownership of the property. It didn't even seem to exist electronically. Yet, there it was, between the Walmart and FedEx distribution hubs.

Aluino himself was doing fine, dehydration and exhaustion being his primary problems; the scrapes and bruises, which were quite alarming to look at, had proved to be mostly superficial. While Shalimar was researching, the other feral was inhaling sandwiches in the kitchen with Emma, but although the telempath seemed confident in Al's legitimacy, Shalimar couldn't help but feel somewhat suspicious. He was being far too helpful, even though everything he'd said so far had panned out.

Perhaps it was the dog in the other feral's DNA that produced the over-abundance of helpfulness at the same time as rubbing her feline side up the wrong way. Whatever the case may be, this was the only lead they had to get Jesse back and, with that prize at stake, she'd keep her suspicions to herself and watch Al very carefully.

*****

There was more than enough rough ground for the Double Helix. With the cloaking shield on they left it there, hidden and secure in the open, while they investigated the small silver shed.

There was no evidence of any presence, no one that Emma could feel or either of the ferals could scent. Only a simple padlocked door stood between them and entry, and Brennan built a small ball of energy inside the lock until it popped open from the force.

The inside was a single room permeated by a sickly sweet scent that had Shalimar wrinkling her nose at the overpowering aroma, bare but for a computer terminal and two more doors that couldn't possibly lead anywhere. Only when they opened the doors did they realise that one wall was false with enough depth to hold small elevators, like a man sized dumb waiter. Two of them.

One was brightly lit with LCD displays, while the other was dark and bare. It was the latter that had Aluino trembling, sweat breaking out on his upper lip as he identified it as being a part of his prison.

Adam worked the computer, but initially he could make neither head nor tail of the displays, the script being unfamiliar to him. More by trial and error he found himself looking at the coloured silhouettes of humanoid figures on the screen.  There were a handful of these figures in boxes, and Adam took an educated guess that if the thing was a thermal spectrograph, which seemed most likely, then in all probability most of the bodies were the bright green of cold death. Only one was bright red and moving.

*****

They had to use the elevator one at a time with Adam staying in the shed, just in case of anything going wrong. Aluino volunteered to stay too, but Shalimar was most insistent that he accompany them, citing his previous experience as a possible advantage, to which Adam agreed.

The elevator let them out at the wall of blank metal doors. The com rings didn't work down here, so they'd brought cell-phones which turned out to be equally useless. Without Adam to instruct them on which door Jesse was behind, they worked methodically from one end to the other.

When they opened the last occupied cell and Jesse fell to the floor, Emma cried out in pain. The cell was clearly shielded and the shock of the raging emotions that were pouring out of the young man convulsing on the floor was abrupt and almost too much for her to bear.

A sense of déjà vu hit Shalimar as she knelt over Jesse, trying to calm him down. His eyes were unfocussed, wild and terrified, his pallor grey with high fever spots as he shook violently, phasing and massing with random ferocity. She yelled at him to calm down, but he didn't seem to hear her. It was Brennan who brought the proceedings to a sudden halt with a carefully charged, timed and placed taser that stunned the molecular enough to give sufficient stability for Emma to administer a sedative.

*****

Brennan was the last back up, Shalimar having gone first followed by Jesse's unconscious form. Emma had taken a little time before she went to recompose herself, holding onto Brennan with her eyes closed as she'd fought to put her windswept emotions back in order.

Now he squashed himself into the miniature elevator and rode it back up to the surface. The relief that they'd felt upon finding Jesse alive had been severely tempered by his state. Brennan was born competitive and it had been natural for him to consider Jesse an opponent from the word go, but somehow, even when Brennan had the winning edge, the shorter, lither, faster man always managed to make him feel like some great lumbering elephant. And that had only stoked Brennan's determination and biting edge more.

Now, however, for all his strength and the power at his disposal, with that competitiveness gone he simply felt useless.

The elevator door opened, and Brennan was snapped out of his reverie by the set faces of his companions held at bay by the trench-coated agents of Genomex.

Mason Eckhart smiled benignly. "Finally, we've all arrived," he said.

******

Mom let him out of the closet, but she was crying again. She was always crying and he hated that. Hated that he did things to make her cry. Wasn't certain exactly what it was he did, but she'd yell at him and lock him away, and then she'd be crying.

It was usually when there were visitors. She always told him to keep out of the way. Let him do anything he liked so long as he kept out of the way. Sometimes her visitor would see him, and that's when she'd yell at him. Sometimes the visitor would hit her and he didn't like that, and that's when she got really upset and she'd lock him up and then go drink and forget to let him out.

There were different kinds of visitors, that much he figured out. Sometimes it didn't matter if he was seen, would even be introduced to them, but on those occasions Mom told him that he mustn't, not ever, show his secret powers. His grandparents told him that too.

As he grew older, he'd found it funny and not a little ironic that his punishment for any infractions, real or imagined, was to be locked up. The one thing that with his special talents he could escape from at any time.

But that didn't help him when he was scared and Mom was crying, and he wished that Dad could stop being a superhero for just one day because Dad knew how to make Mom smile, and Mom hadn't smiled for a very long time.

*****

The moment Eckhart showed up with the blind girl at his side, Emma could sense her. Could sense her connection with Brennan.

This was how Genomex knew to be here.

Then the anguish emanating from Aluino hit her, and she realised that this was his mate. 

Then the connection switched to her. There was nothing malevolent there, only a sense of wishful wanting. Emma projected her own love and worry for the people around her, channelled Aluino's anguish, and the girl withdrew, breaking her connection with both herself and Brennan.

*****

Brennan pulled up a ball of energy instinctively as he saw his team-mates held at bay.

"Don't be ridiculous," Eckhart sneered, dismissively, "you can't do anything to me that won't affect your little friends." He waved around, and Brennan had to admit that the metal didn't allow for much selective control.

Unless he made the charge smaller. Much smaller.

People often made judgments by appearance, often assumed that because he was big, he was therefore brainless. But, while he might be lacking in scientific terminology, he was far from stupid.

He flipped a spark through the fingers of his left hand while holding his right hand flat on the computer monitor, his intention clear.

"Ah." Eckhart considered a moment. "I could just shoot you, you know."

"Sure," Brennan shrugged. "Kinda like Russian roulette. Will I get a spark off before I die? Or would my death kick off a residual charge? Who knows?"

There was a very long silence through which all sorts of paranoid thoughts passed through Brennan's brain, though he let none of them show. He was relying heavily on the idea that Eckhart had a tendency towards information kleptomania and would therefore badly want whatever this computer held.

Eckhart finally broke the silence. "Fine," he said. "Just, just get out. There will be other opportunities, I'm sure."

*****

Adam helped Shalimar carry Jesse out while Emma, Al and Brennan warily flanked them. One thing that he was sure of; whatever Mason's faults, he would make sure that any family of those corpses downstairs would be informed and taken care of in the most appropriate manner. Not to mention that the research opportunities at Genomex were far better than his own at Sanctuary.

Eckhart's people were already into the computer before Mutant X had gone through the door, while others made the single trips down into the tunnels.

Once outside, it was only Emma who didn't seem to be surprised when Al declared his intention to stay with his mate and his pack. The blind girl supporting Eckhart appeared at the doorway to the shed, silently holding a hand out towards him.

Al seemed hesitant, but in the end his decision was made. He thanked them for their help, and moved back to the building to take her hand and draw her close. Al frowned slightly, then said, "Sanctuary's safe. Just get Jesse well, okay?"

*****

He'd reached that place where nothing could hurt him, put distance between his mind and thought. He could remain here forever if necessary; even recalled the first time he'd done it and how he'd thought it was going to be forever.

Then he saw the old wrinkled faces of his grandparents right in front of him, though they seemed a million miles away, telling him he could come out, that he didn't need to hide anymore. He remembered that. Remembered that that had been the last time he'd had to lock himself away so tightly he'd needed help to find his way back. And he felt a kind of peace knowing that.

That had been the time when they'd told him his mother would be going away for a little while, that he'd be staying with them. He'd never been able to figure out how his grandparents locking him in his bedroom had been any different from his mother locking him in the basement closet, but he figured that he must deserve it.

They hadn't let him see his mother then, but he'd snuck back inside after they'd told him to stay in the car. There had been shouting, Gramps telling her that what she was doing to the child was wrong, and he'd never forget her face just then. He'd seen her weep before, a lot of times, usually when she was saying sorry and right before she got the ice cream out. But this time she crying, really crying hard, and she was begging Gramps not to take him away, and he wanted to go and hug her like he knew she liked.

But the moment he stepped into the room, Nana swept him up and took him back out to the car. He could hear Mom calling for him, and called back. She needed him to hug her, he knew that, he tried to tell them that she'd be better then, but they wouldn't let him. He and Nana waited in the car until the ambulance came and took Mom away.

And then Nana and Gramps took him to their house and locked him in his new bedroom until he learned to behave. All he really learned to do was find other ways of escaping.

*****

"How's he doing?" Shalimar asked, as she joined Adam at the doorway to Jesse's bedroom.

"Same as the last time you asked," Adam sighed. "Sleeping, nightmares. Nothing unexpected."

She looked at the twitching form of her best friend and team-mate and remarked, "He looks a lot better. I guess he just needed the fluids."

"And sleep," Adam said. "He's beyond exhaustion. I just wish I knew what he was dreaming about. I get the feeling I should know."

"And that really bothers you." A statement, not a question. "What about the kidnappers. Do we have anything on them yet?"

Adam shook his head. "Emma and Brennan are still researching, but I don't think we'll ever know - until or unless we come across them again."

"Well, I've just had a couple of hour's sleep, so I'll go spell them."

"Don't want to stay here? Keep an eye on Jesse?" Adam asked surprised.

Shalimar hesitated. "No," she said, "I don't think I want to add paranoia to his nightmares. He's asleep, not comatose, and I think he needs to keep as much of his dignity intact as possible right now."

"You're probably right," Adam replied thoughtfully.  "I should go – "

"No, you stay. It's not the same, you're allowed to be here. Just let us know when he wakes up, okay?"

*****

He'd been bad. He knew he'd been bad, but thought it completely unfair because it wasn't something he could control.

His grandparents, like his mother before them, always told him never to show his powers to anyone. And that went double for luncheon today. They introduced him to someone who it would do him good to know, who'd make sure he was a shoe-in for Harvard. Not that he would be old enough to go for another few years, but it was good to network from as early as possible.

It wasn't his fault that his stupid powers had chosen to go on the fritz over the soufflé. He'd always been able to go hard, but this new ghost thing was happening too and he couldn't stop himself from ghosting and getting heavy again and he thought he was going to disappear forever and it hurt.

The second it had stopped, leaving him weak, shaking and disoriented on the floor, Gramps'd had his man take him up and lock him in the bathroom.  So that was how he knew he'd been bad.

Because he was locked up again.

And everything was going out of control again.

And it hurt. Again.

*****

"How are you holding up?" Brennan asked Emma, concerned by the dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm fine," she sighed. "I'll just be glad when Jesse wakes up. He's projecting so much."

"So much what?" Brennan asked, not because he was interested, but more because he was protective of Emma, everyone's little sister.

She shook her head. "Not for me to tell. Suffice to say that until he stops, I won't be walking into any dark closets."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter." Emma smiled as Shalimar glided in.

"So, what's up?" the feral asked. "Found anything?"

"Not a clue," Brennan grumped. "How's sleeping beauty?"

Shalimar grinned and batted her eyelashes directly at Brennan. "Why, waiting for Prince Charming to kiss him awake of course!"

"Oh Shal!" Brennan protested, "Ewww!"

Emma collapsed in a fit of giggles, and Brennan swapped a telling glance with Shalimar. Good timing, she needed the break.

*****

They left him hurting in the bathroom all night.

And then they sent him away.

He hadn't understood why no one wanted him at first.

But then Adam had taught him the word 'mutant' and promised him that he wouldn't let anyone lock him up anywhere ever again.

*****

"Jesse? Jesse, you back with us?" A blurry Adam was talking to him, and he tried to answer but his arched throat clicked dry.

A glass of water, and a brief instant's cold pain brought immeasurable relief. "You promised," he croaked.

"Promised what, Jesse?" Adam prompted, a faintly puzzled look on his face.

"You promised no one would lock me up again."

The light dawned on the older man's face right before it crumpled in regretful anguish. "Yeah, Jesse, I did. I tried, though, I did try."

"I know," said Jesse, "and it's okay. Really."

It had to be. Because he wasn't ten years old, his dad wasn't a superhero and, no matter what anyone promised, there were always people that wanted to lock freaks like him away.

*****

Two hooded figures stared at the view screen with some pleasure.

Their experiment had been a success, and they'd found the team they needed to help them accomplish their own goals. It only remained to be seen whether the ruling council would agree with their choice and condone their plan to ask for their aid.

But, assuming the council gave its agreement, approaching Mutant X would have to wait until much, much later.

Until such time as the team members reached their mutant maturity.

FINIS