"Brennan!" Adam shouted into the comm. link, slamming onto the brakes to stop the jeep and sending up a shower of freshly made mud. He jumped out, Y.J. beside him, running to the edge of the cliff. They both could hear the screams from the rock face, hear the animalistic growls of a beast savaging a human. Y.J. didn't understand the implications, but Adam did. "Brennan!" he yelled again. "Jesse!"

They heard a blast. Adam identified the sound immediately: "Brennan!"

"Who?" Y.J. had never met the elemental.

"Brennan," Adam tossed back over his shoulder. "C'mon, Y.J.! That's Shalimar down below! We have to get to her, to all of them!"

The rope that Brennan had tied to the boulder earlier told the whole story: Brennan descending to rescue Jesse. Shalimar, thwarting that rescue. And the shouts from below saying that the ending hadn't yet been written. Adam blessed that fact. He grabbed the packs out of the jeep, thrusting one at Y.J. and hustling them both to the edge of the cliff. He stopped short when the edge threatened to give way. Dirt scuttled loose and threw token pebbles away, offering to do the same for the two rescuers.

"Don't fall over," Adam hastily grabbed onto Y.J.'s shoulder and forced them both down flat so that they could safely see over the edge. "Where are they?"

The angle was bad, but not so bad that Adam couldn't see what was happening: Brennan trying to one-handedly crawl up over the edge of the ledge, fingers blackened and contorted with the backlash of a short circuit. There was a barely human figure with dirt-filthy hair pounding on a heap of senseless flesh. Blood leaked from both onto the narrow ledge, sinking into the hard rock of the cliff face. Little growls came from the inhuman beast.

"Shalimar!" Adam yelled, trying to force sense into the feral.

Shalimar looked up, snarled at him. Adam's heart quailed; there was nothing remotely sane about the tiny woman he cared so much about.

But Y.J. was there. "It's okay, Dr. Adam," he said seriously. "I got it." He stared at the tableau beneath them, screwing up his features with heartfelt concentration.

There was nothing visible, nothing to be seen rocketing between the empath and the feral, yet Adam would later swear that somehow something had connected from one to the other. Emma had had minimal success with controlling Shalimar's wildness, but Y.J. had the gift. First it was her bouncing around: Adam watched as Shalimar gradually sat back on her haunches, then backed away from her victim to lean tiredly against the cliff wall. Then the snarling abated, to drift off into wordless whimpering and finally into a restless sleep. The filthy blonde hair drooped over everything and obscured any view of her face. She sighed deeply.

It was astounding. It was better than Emma at her best, better than anything Adam had ever seen from any psionic. How far had this kid gone in three years? "How did you do that?" Adam tried to keep the suspicion out of his voice, replacing it with amazement.

Y.J. shrugged, the almost man melting into little boy under the obvious sense of accomplishment. "I dunno. It just sorta came. Shalimar's a girlfriend of mine."

A girlfriend? Adam wouldn't swear that he hadn't heard that possessive note in Y.J.'s tones. And the kid was a fifteen year old with hormones on full blast, ripe for all kinds of adolescent fantasies. But, first things first: "Can you keep her like that?" Adam jerked his thumb at Shalimar.

"Oh, yeah. She's all fixed, Dr. Adam." Y.J. looked serious. "There was something funny inside her mind. I can't really explain it; there aren't words to talk about it. But it's not gonna come out again. Shalimar's okay now. She's not gonna hurt anybody anymore. Not unless she wants to."

Down below, Brennan gingerly hauled himself up onto the narrow ledge, wincing as his burned palm rubbed against a loose rock. The drizzle of rain had stopped, leaving a coating of mud behind and a sun trying to peek between the disappearing clouds. The man himself looked covered in mud, sweat, and tears but thankfully, Adam realized, no blood. At least one mutant is intact. Sort of. Brennan kept his eyes on his sleeping feral teammate all the while he made his way over to check on Jesse, carefully skirting around Shalimar as far as he could without falling off the edge of the cliff. "He's still alive," he called up to the pair on the top of the cliff. "But he doesn't look good. His leg's bleeding again."

Adam sent up heartfelt thanks. We can work with this. "We have to get him out of there. Both of them," he amended. "How are you?"

"Alive, and happy not to be a smear on the rocks below. You bring along a crane to hoist us up, I hope?"

"I wish." Adam scanned the meager equipment in the jeep. There hadn't been much time; he'd thrown whatever was at hand and seemed even marginally worthwhile into the back before dashing off to get Y.J. and arrive here. There was plenty of rope, he'd brought that. And his medical kit with the emergency first aid stuff.

An inkling of a plan came together. He scanned Y.J. thoughtfully. "You driving yet?"

Y.J.'s eyes lit up. "No license yet. Not officially."

Adam took that to mean that yes, Y.J. believed that he could handle anything on road or off and would welcome the opportunity to put that belief into practice, experience not required. Fortunately, precise driving maneuvers were not what Adam had in mind. But: "You up to handling a stick shift?"

Y.J. went blank. "What's that?"

"Manual transmission."

Better, but not much. Then another idea hit Y.J. with the force of a small tsunami. "Not a problem, Dr. Adam." He reached over to touch Adam's head.

Next thing Adam knew, he was sitting on the hard and rocky ground, feeling like a substantial portion of his brains had been sucked out.

"Wow," Y.J. was saying. "That never happened before. That was so cool. You okay, Dr. Adam?"

Adam blinked, willing his thoughts to become coherent before his mouth went into action. He took a deep breath and asked calmly, "What did you do, Y.J.?"

Y.J. shrugged. "You said I needed to know how to work a manual transmission. There wasn't any time, so I got the knowledge straight from your brain. I can do that sometimes. Doesn't always work, and usually I've just tried it with little bits of stuff. This was a whole big chunk of knowledge. Did I hurt you?"

"No," Adam said, hoping that it wasn't a lie. It wasn't, really. Yes, he had this empty feeling inside his cranium, but the rest of him seemed to be intact. He searched; yes, he still remembered how to drive a stick. Whatever Y.J. had done, he hadn't damaged Adam. Y.J. had copied the knowledge rather than lifting it wholesale. Rather a useful talent; Adam would have to take the time to study it after this whole episode was over. Hm Keep the kid around to study his talent or move him on to a suitable foster family so that the inevitable in-fighting in Sanctuary that his presence would cause wouldn't occur? Decisions, decisions. Now Adam's head did hurt.

Y.J. had already moved on. He'd plucked the plan from Adam's mind as well, the scientist realized, going to tie one end of a long rope to the undercarriage of the jeep without being asked or directed. They didn't have the crane that Brennan had asked for, but they did have the jeep to provide the hoisting power. Adam crawled back onto his feet and grabbed the pneumatic splint from his kit, fastening it to the other end of the rope.

"Brennan," he called down. "I'm lowering a splint for Jesse's leg. Can you reach it?"

"Lower away. Got it in sight."

The splint was down in moments, swinging in the breeze rustling along the cliff edge. Adam paid out the line and Brennan grabbed for it, detaching the package from the rope and, eyeing the still quiescent Shalimar, approached his other teammate.

Jesse stirred enough to open his eyes. "Brennan?"

"Getting you out of here, bro. Unless you've got a pressing reason to stay."

But the molecular's gaze fastened on Shalimar. His recent tormentor was still quiet, but now her eyes had opened and were fastened vaguely on the pair. Brennan didn't need to ask a question to know what was going through Jesse's mind. "It's okay, bro. Got her under control."

"Right." Wanting to believe. Wanting to get off this ledge before a certain blonde bombshell exploded and took them with her. Brennan gently eased the pneumatic splint around Jesse's leg, trying not to wince every time the molecular did, trying not to quake every time the man stifled a groan of pain. It was clear that Jesse was at the end of his rope, no pun intended. Time for a rescue.

It was done. Brennan next tied the rope under Jesse's arms, making certain to secure it tightly enough so that the man wouldn't slip through the loop if he lost consciousness and went limp before the pair above hauled him to the top. He tugged twice on the line as a signal. "Haul away." He winked deliberately at Jesse, trying to keep up his spirits. "Next floor, ladies' lingerie."

Jesse smiled weakly, playing along. "Ugly sales clerks."

"Hey, is that any way to talk about the man who's about to shoot you full of pain-killers?"

But Jesse was already out of earshot, slowly being hoisted into the air, leg dangling at an awkward angle. Brennan shuddered as the leg accidentally jostled against the cliff. Damn. That's gotta hurt.

Movement caught his eye: Shalimar! He paid more attention.

Shalimar had opened her own eyes, was watching him with a decidedly unhappy look. One, he thought, that said more that she was horribly upset with what had just occurred than that she was dissatisfied with his current level of breathing. Good sign. "Shalimar?"

"Brennan?" Small little voice. Great big question.

Brennan looked her over thoroughly, weighing in his own mind what he ought to do if words failed. The feral was completely bedraggled, hair in filthy knots, clothing torn and tattered with scrapes and bruises dotting the usually flawless skin. There was an unhealthy amount of blood in her vicinity but most of it, he feared, belonged to a certain molecular that they both knew and loved. She was barefoot, the previously well-manicured toenails missing most of their polish; Brennan couldn't remember when the shoes had disappeared. But the eyes were coherent, and sane. "Feel like tearing me to shreds, Shal?"

"No." Then: "did I before?"

"Yes," Brennan admitted honestly.

"And… do I remember Jesse being here?"

"Well… yeah." Brennan looked around him. The ledge was as narrow as ever, and the leftover mud didn't make it any more enticing. Some of that mud had a suspiciously blood red look to it. "Feel like getting out of here?"

Shalimar nodded soberly. "You'd better trank me, Brennan. I don't remember much, but I'm really hoping that some of the stuff in my mind isn't real." She looked at him pleadingly, asking him to confirm that she hadn't done what she thought she had.

Brennan side-stepped the question and held out his empty hands. "Fresh out, Shal. No tranquilizers, no drugs, not even a stiff martini on the rocks. But Adam thinks he's got the answer up top."

"Emma?" Shalimar's eyes lit up.

Brennan took that as a positive sign and told himself to quit tensing up. "Not quite. But close. You want to go up next? Adam'll be sending the rope back down any time now."

Shalimar glanced around at her surroundings, spotted the short rope that Brennan had used to get himself down. "That's okay. I think I've caused enough trouble. This part I'll handle by myself." She started to bring her comm. ring to her face, and realized that somewhere in the melee she had lost the small gold circlet. "Tell Adam I'm on my way up." She grimaced. "Wouldn't want him to shoot me when I arrive. Even though I probably deserve it."

"Shal—"

"It's okay, Brennan. I'm myself. At least, I am right now." She looked incredibly unhappy. "I'm not going to try to hurt anyone again." She bunched the muscles of her legs, and sprang.

Shalimar soared up into the air and effortlessly latched onto the rope that Brennan had left hanging in his own inglorious descent to the ledge. The leap was several lengths above her head, too far for any normal human to achieve in a single bound, but Shalimar was a feral. She snatched the rope with both hands, and then 'walked' her way up the face of the cliff. Brennan watched her graceful ascent, realizing ruefully that he himself had more trouble climbing a flight of stairs. Up side of being a feral.

Brennan decided that a slow and sedate climb for himself at the end of a rope was also in no one's best interests. What if Shalimar went crazy again? They'd need him up above. Who would be up there if he wasn't? Just Adam, and that Y.J. kid he'd spoke of, the one with a mutant power like Emma's only not as grown up. He snorted. For a kid, he'd done pretty well. He'd pulled Shalimar back to normalcy when Emma couldn't. Pretty powerful for a mere kid. Let's not underestimate this one.

But getting up to the action was next on the agenda. Rain stopped, no heavy molecular to carry up with him and reduce the height he could achieve; Brennan fired up the electrons. And if the ledge crumbled after that? Not a big deal. Brennan had no intention of coming back here. Or letting anyone back here. No moleculars with broken legs, no crazy ferals.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Brennan used that particular Newtonian Law to propel himself skyward. The lightning bolt blasted from his fingertips and rocketed him up and over the edge of the cliff. With the skill of a natural athlete, with abilities honed to within an inch of his life, Brennan landed gracefully on the ground next to the others.

Shalimar disengaged from a heartfelt hug from what appeared to be an awkwardly tall and ungainly teen-ager. Brennan cleverly deduced that this was the Yves-Jacques that Adam had spoke of. The kid didn't reach up to Brennan's height, but Brennan would have trouble looking over that mop of unruly black hair unless standing on his toes. Not bad for fifteen, he decided. And an empath, able to figure out what any woman wanted just by looking at her? Brennan also decided on the spot not to go after any woman that this kid wanted for himself. There's such a thing as an unfair advantage, he told himself, even for a teen-ager

Brennan pushed himself forward, extending a welcoming hand. "Hey, man," he told Y.J. "We owe you, Jesse and me. And Shalimar."

"You've got that right," Shalimar echoed. She gave Y.J. another little squeeze. "You couldn't have turned up at a better time. When I think of what might have happened…" Her voice trailed off.

Y.J. shrugged, a pleased smile flickering over his lips. "That's okay."

"No, really, man." Brennan recognized the teen age shyness about praise. Praise hadn't happened to Brennan nearly enough in his own formative years, but then Brennan hadn't grown up where people tended to give each other compliments. This kid deserved better, and Brennan was happy to pitch in. "This was not a good place to be until you came along. The team owes you one."

Y.J. finally broke into a grin. "Always said that Dr. Adam needed a psionic on the team," he started to say, but both Brennan and Shalimar had already turned away to their teammate.

Adam opened the splint to examine Jesse's leg. The molecular was still on the ground where Adam and Y.J. had gently laid him down, the rope harness removed. The man was almost as filthy as his feral teammate but with the added attraction of far too much blood leaking from the sharp and jagged edges of bone sticking out from beneath the skin. Shalimar bit her lip, looking away uncomfortably. Adam ignored her. "I need to get him back to Sanctuary ASAP," was his opinion. "Surgery, antibiotics—"

"Pain-killers," Jesse slipped in, gasping. "Let's not forget that one."

"Pain-killers," Adam amended with a tight smile. "Let's do something about that right now. Y.J., get my kit from the jeep. Shalimar, Brennan, I want you to help hold Jesse still while I secure the splint again."

But no one missed the sudden terror on Jesse's face when Shalimar moved in to help. He automatically went to shield himself, throwing up his arms before he realized what he was doing. Shalimar drew back in dismay. "Jesse, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

Jesse swallowed gamely. "I know you didn't, Shal. This wasn't your fault." He forced himself to hold out a hand to her, mutely extending the apology. "Help me."

Y.J. hurried over with Adam's medical kit. "I can do it," he offered. "You don't need drugs, Jesse. Let me help you." He reached out both hands toward Jesse's head, intending to push the mutant into an empathic dreamland. "I told you that you needed a psionic on the team, Dr. Adam."

"Don't touch him."

The words cracked out like a whiplash. They all looked up, startled.

Emma was there, unseen sparks snapping around her like a halo. It didn't take a psionic to see them; the rest of Mutant X knew they were there. Just as they knew that the look of naked fury on Emma's face meant something very bad was happening.

"Emma—?" Adam started to rise.

"Don't let him touch Jesse." There was no mistaking the tone of Emma's voice. "He's the one."

"The one?" Adam was confused.

"He's the one who pushed Shalimar into insanity." Emma stalked forward.

"Emma, what are you talking about? He's been helping us—"

"You remember that I couldn't identify who was doing anything to her? That I thought that someone was, but there was no trace? It was because he wasn't pushing at her all the time. Only when Shalimar appeared to be crazy." She stopped in front of Yves-Jacques. "It's over. This is my team. You're not going to hurt them any more. Not Shalimar, not Adam, not Brennan or Jesse."

"Your team?" Y.J. looked at Adam in absolute shock. Color drained from his face. "I thought you didn't have a psionic!"

"Y.J., I'm sorry," Adam said, the dismay plain to see. "I was going to tell you once we got back to Sanctuary. There just wasn't time. This is Emma—"

"He knows who I am," Emma interrupted coldly. "Don't you, Yves-Jacques?"

Yves-Jacques straightened up, and Mutant X could almost but not quite 'see' the same sort of unseen sparks gathering around him as they didn't 'see' around Emma.

Disaster approached. It rumbled like thunder, deep and unrelenting. Adam tried again with desperation edging his voice. "We can talk this out. Emma, Y.J.—"

"We don't talk, Dr. Adam." The cold look was equally set on Y.J.'s face. "We're psionics. We don't talk. We think!" He hurled a psychic blast at Emma.

Emma threw up her own shields in time, but the force of Y.J.'s fury drove her back. It flung her into the air and she crumbled to the ground.

Brennan had seen enough. He powered up.

Not fast enough. Electricity moved quickly, but not as fast as the speed of thought. And not with the deviousness of an angry teen-ager. Y.J. struck not at Brennan but at Shalimar.

She hissed, suddenly insanely feral once again. Shalimar struck at Brennan, sending his lightning bolt not at their common enemy but careening toward Adam. Adam yelped and ducked, rolling frantically away with a new part in his hair.

It didn't stop. Brennan had routinely worked out with Shalimar, but this was a far cry from a practice session. The feral struck, not pulling any punches, and struck again. Brennan threw up a block, and another, and another just to keep his head on his shoulder. And, in between, Shalimar went after the other standing member of Mutant X. She slammed Adam against the jeep. He slumped, and went down, thoroughly out-classed.

Shalimar was completely insane. Emma cried out in frustration, unable to stop it, for Y.J. had turned his attention back to his own enemy, the one person of Mutant X who would prevent him from joining the group that he so desperately wanted. The mutant who held the position that Y.J. believed he deserved. With Emma there, Y.J. would never be allowed to stay. One of them had to go, and Y.J. determined that it would be Emma. He lashed out at her, eager to destroy the competition and win his place on Mutant X.

The feral pounced. Two pesky humans finished, one crumbled against the jeep and the other helplessly lying on the ground with a brokenhind legwaiting for her to torture and kill him. Shalimar bounced from boulder to tree, easily dodging the lightning bolts that the last annoying human flung at her, laughing as the ozone crackled past her shoulder. This was living! Living on the edge, death around the corner, fighting for survival! She slammed both feet into the chest of the lightning-throwing human, tumbling him head over heels. A slash of her claws, and he rolled over, senseless.

Hah! Kill the last human, the one she had played with earlier. Should she torment him longer? Yes! Torment him until he died, and wasn't fun to play with any longer. Then she could torment the next one, and the next one. How long could she make the playthings last?

Her head hurt so much—make it stop! Suddenly she saw not her prey, but Jesse Kilmartin, the mutant that she loved like a little brother. Shalimar looked up. "Emma?"

"Shalimar!" Emma shouted. "Don't give in to him! Don't—"

Y.J. again tightened his mental hold. "She's mine! They all are! Go away, before I kill you!"

Hot flesh, waiting for the feral to rip into it, sink her teeth into the blood-rich organs, feel hot meat to nourish her hunger. The feral advanced on the human with the blood leaking from his leg, determined to carry the carcass away where the scavengers couldn't steal it from her. This was her kill! She growled, excitement leaking out in little noises of eagerness.

Y.J. stood by, exerting his control over the crazed feral. "You see?" he taunted Emma. "They're mine. All of them. One move, and Jesse dies. I can have Shalimar kill all of them, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"That won't help you," Emma said grimly. "You can't join Mutant X if they're all dead."

"That's up to you," Y.J. told her. "It's in your hands. Do you love them enough to walk away? Or do we fight, you and I? While we're fighting, I'll release Shalimar's killer instincts, and there'll be nothing left to fight over. She'll kill Jesse first, then Dr. Adam and the elemental. There won't be enough for a burial when she gets through with the bodies. When she sees what she's done, she'll kill herself. Do you want that?"

Emma felt desperate. "They'll know what you've done. They won't want you."

"You know better than that," Y.J. scolded. "Once you're gone, I'll make them forget that you ever existed. I can do it; you know I can." He folded his arms. "What is it to be? Leave, and they live. Fight, and they die." He cocked his head. "I'm more powerful than you, and you know it. Either way: I win. Give up now, and let them live." He made a small gesture. Shalimar hissed in response and crouched at her little brother's side. She raised her hand to strike Jesse: a death blow.

Down, but not out. Jesse Kilmartin, molecular and not ready to give up, pulled Shalimar into an embrace and phased his arms solidly around her. Shalimar squalled. Jesse only tightened his grip. This was his team: his sister, his mentor, his brother, and he would die defending them however he could. He would defend them from themselves, if necessary, and right now it was: Shalimar was helpless in Jesse's arms. "Take him out, Emma!" Jesse yelled, still lying on the ground.

Shalimar hissed and spat. She head-butted her intended prey, she squirmed and struggled, to no avail. Jesse phased his entire body to rock hardness, engulfing the feral in an inescapable cage that would release only when Jesse allowed it—or when he ran out of breath.

There was no time to waste. Freed from constraints, no longer needing to be concerned for the safety of the rest of her team, Emma called upon all of her power.

Yves-Jacques flung bolt after bolt of psychic energy. Emma ignored them as though they were the merest tickle, her shields deflecting the blows into harmlessness.

She sent three of her own strikes, one after the other, slapping Yves-Jacques to the ground. He cried out, understanding for the first time the enormous power of the mutant that he had challenged for supremacy.

"Please!" Y.J. pleaded, holding his hands together in desperation. "I didn't mean it!"

"Yes, you did," Emma reminded him. She stood over him. "You can't lie to me, Yves-Jacques. Neither of us can lie to the other. It's over."

"Yes, it is. For you!" Y.J. tried one last assault, confident that he had suckered her in.

The world rocked.

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"You got here just in time, Emma." Brennan slipped an arm under Jesse's shoulder, helping Adam to hoist the molecular up into the air and carry him to the jeep. "I don't how we would have controlled Shalimar without you."

"I still don't know what caused it," Adam fretted. "Easy there, Brennan. Slide him into the back." Jesse gasped in sudden agony as the movement jostled the broken bones, causing them to grate against each other. "It's okay, Jesse. We'll have you back at Sanctuary in no time and the pain-killers should be kicking in at any minute now. Emma, you and Brennan bring Shalimar back along with the other vehicles. I need to run more tests, see what the problem was with Shalimar so that it doesn't happen again. Emma, you're certain that no psionics were involved? A problem of this nature, another psionic would be a very sensible explanation."

Emma shook her head firmly. "I scanned several times, Adam. There was no one. And there's no one here besides us." She put a reassuring hand on Adam's, touching bare skin to bare skin. "It had to have been something momentary inside Shalimar's DNA. It's gone now. There's nothing to find. It's over. We will probably never know what the exact cause was."

Adam nodded. "We'll probably never know what the exact cause was," he repeated.

"Jesse, I am so sorry." Shalimar was beside herself with remorse. She pushed the filthy curls back behind her ears, dashing a tear from her face. It left a streak of mud behind. "I could have killed you!"

"You wouldn't have." Jesse patted her hand, holding it firm so that she couldn't escape. "Shalimar, this wasn't your fault." He hoped that she didn't notice the terror that shook his hands at being so close to his tormentor. He knew that Shalimar wasn't to blame, but the memory of the bedraggled blonde curls framing the features about to tear into his throat…

Emma tightened her grasp on his shoulder, and a reassuring warmth seeped through Jesse, the fear receding with artificial speed. He glanced up at the empath, his eyes locking with hers, frowning. "Someone has to remember," he murmured, quietly enough so that the others couldn't hear.

"No, they don't." Emma carefully squeezed once more, including Adam in the tactile comfort. Jesse's eyes went blank, and she could all but see Adam's thoughts: the pain-killer must be kicking in. Emma then moved on to Brennan and Shalimar, taking them both by the hand. "We'll collect the other cars, Adam, and meet you back in Sanctuary. Take care of Jesse."

"Good." If Adam's eyes were slightly glazed, only one person noticed. "Don't take too long. I'll need help with fixing Jesse's leg. And running tests on Shalimar."

"The tests won't show anything. There's nothing to find."

"The tests won't show anything," Adam repeated obediently. "There's nothing to find."

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Lexa Pierce peered at the computer screen. It beeped at her once again, determined to frustrate the living daylights out of the chromatic. She pushed her long black hair behind her ears irritably. "The man kept secret after secret after secret! Was there no end to what he put in here?"

Jesse moved in to look over her shoulder, hanging a hand on her shoulder. "That's not Adam. That's from Emma." His face tightened. "I didn't know that she put anything into the computer. I thought that she hated them, wouldn't store any information there that she didn't have to." His lips turned downward, and he rubbed at a sudden old ache in his leg. "I miss her."

"Well, for someone who didn't like computers, she put a lot of protection on this particular file." Lexa tapped at the keyboard in annoyance. "This must have been important to her. Jesse? Jesse?" She looked around at her fellow mutant, only to see a puzzled look on his face.

"I know this file," he said slowly. "I know the passwords. I've never heard them before, never learned this, but somehow I remember the passwords." He pulled the keyboard from Lexa, hesitating only once as he typed in the codes to unlock the file.

A picture flashed up on the computer screen, that of a teen-age dark haired boy. The inscription read Yves-Jacques St. Legere, dead at age fifteen, body unrecoverable. And then Emma's voice floated out of the speakers, communicating from beyond the grave:

"You were right, Jesse; someone has to know. If you've found this file, then the psychic suggestion I left behind in your mind will have worked. You're remembering that day on the cliff, when Shalimar went insane. I'm sure that you remember it very well: Shalimar was crazy, you broke your leg in three places and were terrified of her for a week until I could get your nightmares to stop. Adam drove himself wild trying to figure what had caused Shalimar's madness, and Brennan wandered around Sanctuary like a lost child trying to decide whether to watch Shalimar for a setback or nurse you while you recovered. It was Yves-Jacques, all the way. He was the one behind Shalimar's madness. He staged it as a way to worm himself into Mutant X, after his father died and left him alone. He was dangerous, Jesse. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have been the next Gabriel Ashlocke. He had no sense of right or wrong, no concern for others. He thought only of himself. Don't tell Adam; he'll blame himself for not trying to keep the boy from his father and bringing him up as a responsible mutant. It wasn't Adam's fault; there are just some of us who aren't meant to live. Some of us have too much power to keep the world safe; I only hope that I'm not one of them. Just tell Adam that I loved him, that I loved you all. That I did this for him and for the rest of the world."

The file faded into blackness.