Final Judgment

A/N: The end at last!  And they said it couldn't be done.  Now maybe I can get some real work done.  ; ) and maybe a non-Eckhart fan-fic?  Stay tuned.  I have a couple in the works.

Once again, my thanks to Mutant X and Matrix writers and producers for their excellent work, and (sob) I don't own any of it!   And my thanks to all you who read this stuff and let me mess with your minds.  Have I converted anyone to Eckhartism?    LOL    Man! I almost fell over when he showed up in the S2-ender with short dark hair.  It IS amazing what a new hairstyle can do.  LOL.

This is Ruffyan's version of how Eckhart got the scoop on MX while he was locked away in a pod and how he came to report "the things that no one could know of Adam and his team" to the Tribunal.   Here endeth my Trilogy- In His Image- Dynasty- and Powers that Be.    As always, your reviews are welcome anytime.  Think of them as inspiration for a poor starving author…well, not really starving.   ; )

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SOMEWHERE IN OUR UNIVERSE….

A distinguished man and a short but regal woman stood over the stasis pod, looking in at the white-haired inhabitant.  They spoke in hushed tones.

"Of course he'll be adequate," the small, middle aged woman replied with a barracuda smile, "but you will have to convince your colleagues.  Mr. Eckhart and I share the same dislike for Dr. Kane.  We will provide your man with the information you need.  He must successfully present it to your Tribunal.  They will accomplish the rest."

The Justice looked sharply at Nicole Carter.  "Mr. Warren will handle the case.  How will you guarantee the accuracy of the information?"

Nicole smiled evilly.  "Mason will provide the dates and times.  This technology that Adam had so graciously invented is called Neural Imaging.  It captures the thoughts and memories of a person and puts it on audio-visual media.  I have learned how to use it to demonstrate the Truth to our advantage and will demonstrate its use to the Tribunal." She smiled again.  "Don't you think a donation of such a device to the Tribunal will facilitate its quest for Truth?  Adam's invention will rip the events from his own mind for all to see what 'really' happened.  I expect that you will look favorably upon our case and I expect Mr. Warren's most stellar performance.  Who will Mr. Warren be presenting against?"

"Oh, one of our stable-  Ms Janet Nichols," the Justice replied.  "She should pose no threat as she is not very pleased to be placed as Adam's defense attorney."

"Very well."  Nicole Carter said.  "I will have Mr. Eckhart contact Mr. Warren with the information he needs after we, eh, awaken him." 

The businessman inclined his head toward the stasis pod.  "Have him meet Mr. Warren at the usual place Tuesday at 0800 hours."  He left.

 Nicole looked up at the approaching physician. "Ah, Dr. Jensen," she acknowledged the tall, woman with dark, gold-streaked hair.  The doctor looked inquisitively at her employer then leaned casually against the pod.

"Is he ready?"  Nicole asked.

"Yes, Ms. Carter," the doctor replied as she peered into the pod and wrote a couple short notes on her clipboard.  "The compensations for the immune degradation have been made.  The implant is secure.  It is safe to release the subject from the stasis pod."

"Once he is awakened, I want him tested to make sure he has access."

"Of course," the scientist replied.

Nicole Carter examined the contents of the stasis pod one last time then brusquely turned away.  "Very well," she replied.  "Proceed with the re-awakening."

Dr. Jensen's hands moved rapidly over the panel, her impassive grey eyes taking every indicator into consideration at lightning speed.  Unbeknownst to her employer, Dr. Jensen, a cyber-telepath, had done far more than implant her invention, the cyber module, into the subject's nervous system. 

Early on, she had modified Mason Eckhart's DNA structure slightly to restore his failed immune system.  After implanting the Cyber Module, she established a cyber-telepathic link between them so that she could monitor this complex man closely and ensure that the cyber implant took.  She hadn't realized that complications could set in as a result of this bonding.  The doctor absently wondered if he would recognize her.  She shrugged inwardly. 

Almost 20 years ago, Nicole Carter had lured the young bio-engineer from Genomex.  The promise of unlimited resources and complete autonomy at Nexxogen had drawn her away from Genomex just as the same offer had drawn Adam Kane to Genomex.  Only, she thought, it should have been her, not Adam that was offered Genomex.  From the sheltered anonymity of Nexxogen, she watched Adam's triumphs and his mistakes.  The man led a charmed life, she thought.  That would change someday.  She would see to that.

Then there was Mason Eckhart.  Intrigued, she observed the dynamics between him and her boss, Ms. Carter as he sought and acquired power.  Ruthless people, she thought, living for the pursuit of power that they did not hold.  Jensen smiled amused at the turn-table tactics she observed; first Eckhart ousted Carter from Nexxogen.  Carter regrouped quickly and now it was she who was controlling Eckhart. 

And then there was the Adam-Eckhart relationship.  They were of a kind, these two.  When they initially met at Genomex, they hit it off like long lost brothers.  Both hopeless idealists, Adam was going to find the ultimate knowledge to save the world from disease and Eckhart, unswervingly patriotic to the government cause would find the ultimate weapon to promote world peace.  Both had hidden agendas.  As they set foot together on the road of their individual destinies, who would have known that Mason would break under the mental stress of Incident X and turn on his friend?  Had they really been friends, or were they simply pawns in a multi-dimensional chess-game, moving to and fro at the beck and call of the powers that be? 

Dr. Jensen's attention returned to the task at hand.  The transparent cover of the stasis pod slid open, revealing Mason Eckhart.  She pressed another button, shutting down the stasis beam.  The women watched as Mason Eckhart drew in a large breath of air.  He had been dreaming.  With a choked cry of rage, the white-haired man awakened, springing to a sitting up position. 

Nicole nodded at Dr. Jensen.  She pressed a button on a hand-held device.  Immediately, Eckhart stiffened, confused at the flood of images that flew through his mind.  Lines of light and darkness flew by at incredible speed in his mind.  "The Net!" he thought, "It was still there." 

'Natalia?" he called out hopefully into the Net with his mind.  Dr. Jensen's expression was a mask of clinical detachment as Nicole glanced at her.  Inwardly, she shivered with anticipation and longing.  It was much different with him conscious now.  He was much stronger than she had anticipated.

He paused, listening, all senses attuned to her.  He had watched her die with his own eyes, yet he could feel her presence so closely that he could almost touch her.  He thought he could hear her well-modulated voice.

"You must access Sanctuary's computer, Adam's personal log.  He will have made personal entries, retrieve three entries that occurred within the past 3 months."

Eckhart stared hard around him.  The matrix of light and dark was all around him and within him.  He understood the patterns.  He effortlessly accessed Sanctuary, as he did before to communicate with Adam and looked in at Adam's entries.  The boy had been busy, Mason thought.  The trip took only a moment in human terms.

He opened his eyes and blinked at a pair of ice blue eyes staring at him as if he was an exhibit in a zoo.  He started involuntarily, grasping the sides of the stasis pod.  Recovering quickly he said dryly,

'Miss Carter, I presume," meeting her icy gaze with one of his own.  Nicole smiled, pleased at having startled him and nodded. 

"Adam's log.  Did you access it?" Nicole asked him.  Eckhart looked at her defiantly and said nothing.  Carter nodded at Dr. Jensen behind him, who then turned to the control panel.  Eckhart was still wired to the monitoring system; the doctor activated the Neural Imager. 

"Tell us what you accessed in Adam Kane's log, Mr. Eckhart," Nicole commanded.  Blue light played about Eckhart's head and he froze.  His eyes glittered with rage and he fought as he felt his mind being accessed against his will.  The monitor displayed the three events that Mason had accessed in that short moment, events that had been verbally inputted by Adam into an encrypted file.  The computer converted them into visual form through the mental imaging media of Eckhart's mind.  Dr. Jensen downloaded the images so that Ms. Carter could review them and prepare the evidence against Adam Kane.

Nicole Carter smiled again, satisfied.  "Release him," she snapped.  Dr. Jensen nodded deferentially and complied.  Eckhart sat motionless with a blank, drained expression.

"Do you remember anything else, Mr. Eckhart?"  Nicole Carter asked.

Eckhart sighed.  "Dreams.  Just dreams," he grumbled, looking about his new surroundings.  Nicole had a triumphant expression on her face.

"Dr. Jensen has implanted you with a cyber module that she invented.  It will give you access to most mainframes." She told him, enjoying the look of discomfort on his face.  "Our little test showed that you are able to access Adam's system with little effort.  You will access Adam's system again and provide me with details of Mutant X's missions: I want dates, times and details."  Nicole held the small black device and pressed the button.  Once again, Eckhart froze where he still sat in the pod, his dark eyes glittered with a silvery light.  Lines of light and darkness whirled around and through him.  He resented being launched into the Net without warning against his will and determined that he would correct that situation as soon as possible when he got back—if he decided to come back.  He wondered if he would find Aari and Marlina somewhere out here?  He smiled to himself.  He would play along until the appropriate time came along.  Ah yes, Adam's log….  He resurfaced in Ms. Carter's facility a couple moments later. 

"I want to view them on the Neural Imager," she told the scientist.

Eckhart sensed hesitation from Ms. Carter's associate.  "M'am, too much exposure to Dr. Kane's technology could burn out his neural pathways and adversely affect the implant.  A chill ran down his spine as he recognized her voice.  "He can easily download the files into this database himself."

Carter sounded disappointed.  "Very well, Dr. Jensen.  Make it so."

Eckhart heard the doctor speaking to him, but at the same time, she was in his head, guiding him out of the stasis pod, to Nicole's terminal, showing him how to move the files that he had taken from Sanctuary's computer into the target database by physical contact.  His eyes had changed from their normal hazel-brown to a silvery glow as he accomplished this task.  When he had finished the task, his eyes became brown again and he stood, shaken, supporting himself against the terminal.  Ms. Carter grasped his upper arm to steady him.

"Are you all right?  How do you feel?" she asked.

The white-haired man nodded silently. "Violated," he thought, "thanks to Adam's device."

Carter straightened.  "You will meet with Mr. Warren tomorrow at 0800 hours with the information that I will select from that you have gathered for me." 

Eckhart stared at her sullenly.  Nicole Carter paced the room and turned suddenly to face him.  "Mr. Warren will present a case before the Tribunal, who in turn will judge Adam Kane to be guilty of engineering and developing Mutants for his own selfish purposes.  This Neural Imager, which you had the pleasure of trying out, will be the instrument used to take down Adam Kane.  Ironic that it is one of his own inventions."  She watched his sullen expression change to interest.  "You will not fail me, Mason."

Eckhart stared coolly back at the former executive that he had removed in a Genomex buyout.  "And why should I comply with your wishes?"

"Because I am funding your new operations," Carter replied.  "We have a common enemy in Adam Kane and a common vision.  You will be instrumental in bringing him down permanently.  We will improve Adam's aborted dream of perfecting the human race, prolonging life, eliminating sickness and disease."

Eckhart's eyes gleamed, imagining the possibilities.  Nicole smiled.  She knew she had made him an offer he couldn't refuse.  Eckhart allowed his gaze to drop to the floor and heaved a great sigh, and wondered, "Was this real?"

"Very well," he replied simply.  "Give me the details of the contract."  He studied Nicole Carter as she perused the monitor's readout of the information he just downloaded, smiling triumphantly to herself.  He stared searchingly at Dr. Jensen until she turned around and faced him.  At the eye contact, both Eckhart and Jensen gasped softly in recognition as their telepathic link activated again.  Recovering quickly, Dr. Jensen glanced down and began furiously typing data into the computer.  Eckhart refocused his attention on his benefactor, Nicole Carter.  He was under her thumb now, but that would change all in good time.  Ms. Carter detailed him on their agreement.  He was now genetically enhanced and could lead a fairly normal life.  He would head up a new covert operation designed to correct the already enhanced gene pool.  She would provide resources needed for research and for detaining New Mutants for study.  His first priority, however, would be to render Mutant X powerless and to bring them to justice.

Carter dismissed him with a nod of her head.  Eckhart would bring the information to Mr. Warren tomorrow.  She knew she had the right man for the job.  Dr. Jensen stood nearby to escort him to his new living quarters.  He glanced briefly at her and as they walked toward the door he paused, causing the doctor to collide gently into him.  In doing so, her hand brushed his arm lightly.  The touch tingled, all the way to the core of his being.  She looked quickly at him, her cheeks flushed, then looked away.

Eckhart stared searchingly at Dr. Jensen.  The woman walked past him without expression, her steel grey eyes full of mystery as she stepped past him out the door.  She paused several feet away, regarding him expectantly like a she-wolf waiting for him to join her.

Eckhart raised an eyebrow as he met her gaze with one of his own and waited.  It would be all right, he thought.  He always landed on his feet.  Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. 

 "Bring it on," he thought, as he quickened his pace to walk alongside the doctor.

THE END

A/N- For any one following the Trilogy, yes, he's REALLY awake this time.  Please review anytime- better late than never.  Thank you all who read and especially those who reviewed or emailed me.  I really needed and appreciated your support.  I love you all! 

          : )