A/N: I've had a severe lack of inspiration for this fic, as the long delay proves. I hope you guys can forgive me. I'll try to get back into the swing of things during the next few months.
4.08 Cry Me A River Of Blood
Jesse pressed his face to one of Sub Rosa's many glass windows. It was cool against his sweaty skin. For him, the last week without Shalimar had been a flood of emotions. He kept remembering how things had been when Emma had 'died.' They were took high above the city to see anything but puffy white clouds and the blue of the sky. As he stared at them in a daze, a familiar conversation drifted into his mind.
----Flashback----
Livern winced as she lowered her body onto the sofa.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," the albino feral-psionic assured. "I'm just more touchy that most people are. The albino genes make me more sensitive to physical things, while my psionic genes make me more susceptible to the emotional." She smiled regretfully. "It's not a good combination, if you know what I mean."
"Look…" Jesse shifted uncomfortably. "You were talking about the most powerful feral mutant. Do you think you can tell me any more about her?"
"Her?" Livern chuckled. "What makes you so sure that it's a her?"
"Because I know her," Jesse blurted out.
"Jess!"
"What?" Jesse flicked his eyes in Brennan's direction. "We have to tell them something if we want to learn about why they're killing ferals!"
"It's not a her," Livern suddenly spoke up. "The most powerful is not a her."
"So then it's a him?"
Livern nodded in confirmation.
"Who?"
Livern's almost see through, white lids shut over her pink irises. "He's unnamed right now."
Brennan clenched his fist. "Can you quit with the cryptic double talk?"
Livern ran a hand through her snow white hair. "I think you may want to talk to her. Shalimar, is it? I believe she has information that may prove useful to you. If, of course, you can find her."
Brennan cocked his head at her last statement. "What are you talking about?"
"Just what I said."
Blue sparks ignited on his fingertips. "I said-"
John's eyes flashed a deep orange, and he stepped between Brennan and Livern. "I think you should leave."
"Not until-"
"Brennan." Jesse placed his hand over Brennan's shoulder. "Let's go."
"We need to know what she's talking about!"
"We need to talk to Shalimar."
"But-"
"Let's go." Jesse's stomach was spinning like mad. He coaxed his partner to the door and gave a thankful nod in Livern and John's direction, and then he left.
----Flashback----
For the life of him, Jesse couldn't understand who this mysterious male feral could be. As far as he knew, Shalimar was the most powerful feral mutant ever recorded. Unless, of course, this other feral hadn't been recorded. Maybe he was more top secret than Shalimar? Could he have been part of the first Mutant X team that Lexa claimed she was in?
----
"How the hell did you find me?" Shalimar Fox groaned. She leaned up against the back of a cement wall. With her left hand, she held a soggy blue washcloth to her forehead and with her right, she held a cup of chamomile tea.
Lexa titled her head cockily. "I have contacts, remember?"
The feral glared. "Why do you always have to be so secretive, Lexa?" She touched the side of her severely flushed cheeks.
"You're sick," the elemental observed. "We need to get you back to Haven."
"Where are we now?" The blonde inquired.
"Someplace temporary…"
"Lexa!"
"Shh. You need to preserve your strength." The brunette shifted uncomfortably. She wouldn't tell Shalimar, but her ankle felt like it was on fire. On some level, she was wishing that she'd chosen never to leave Haven in the first place. On the other, she knew that she'd gotten there to save her friend in the nick of time. Her and Bailey, that is. Lexa Pierce twisted her head in the direction of the child. Maybe, she mused, the kid isn't so bad after all. She laced her fingers together, studying the little girl.
Bailey Kane perked her head up, feeling Lexa's eyes on her. She blinked her sparkling hazel eyes sweetly. "Boo?"
Lexa's interest plummeted. "Kids," she groaned. The elemental held up her hand, motioning to the child. "Bailey, c'mere."
"What're you doing?" Shalimar peeked her eyes out from under the blue cloth and watched as Bailey crawled over to Lexa. She would've smirked, had she not been feeling so awful. The blonde moved the ceramic cup to her lips, and lapped at the tart, golden liquid. It had no sugar, and she hated tea without sugar, but Lexa had insisted that since she'd taken the time to get some from a nearby Safeway, that Shalimar had to have it. The feral had been too tired to protest.
"We need to get out of here."
"Try telling me something I don't know."
"Before I can do that, I think you need to tell me about what I don't know."
"What're you talking about?"
"Why were you out here in the first place."
Shalimar pulled the cloth back over her eyes. "I don't have time for this."
"Shalimar-"
"I said I don't want to talk about it!"
Bailey quivered under the noise. She grabbed at the collar of Lexa's shirt and held on, whimpering softly.
"Shit! Now look what you've done," Lexa growled. She patted the child softly. "C'mon, kid, stop the crying. Shalimar's just having a bad day." She frowned, realizing her tactics weren't working. She patted Bailey's back in a vain attempt at comfort. "Come on now, nothing's wrong."
"Oh hell, Lexa. Do you not know anything?" The weakened feral scampered to her feet, and drug her body across the room. She tossed away the cloth and knelt down next to the child, which she gently wrapped her arms around. "Come here, baby. Come to Auntie Shalimar." She kissed the top of Bailey's silken red hair, and massaged her shoulders. "I'm sorry for yelling, sweetheart. Do you understand?"
Bailey's pink lip trembled under Shalimar's brunette gaze.
Shalimar's heart melted. "Oh sweetie…" She pulled the child close, and stroked her hair. "I didn't mean to scare you, honest baby girl."
The light elemental snorted irritably. "You sound almost as sappy as Emma."
Shalimar glowered. "Well you could be nicer to her, you know. If it wasn't for Bailey, you wouldn't even have gotten to me!" She sent a quirky glance at Bailey. "You don't happen to know how she found me, do you?"
Bailey opened and closed her mouth several times, and then blew a spit bubble in response. She blinked in all her innocence.
The feral sighed. "I didn't think so." She rubbed the tot's head and held her close. "Where's everyone else?" She suddenly asked, only beginning to wonder why Emma, Brennan, and Jesse hadn't followed. Her eyes flickered. "Wait a minute! They don't even know about this, do they?"
Lexa chewed her lip. "Well…"
"You took Emma's daughter without asking her!" It was more of a statement rather than a question. "I can't believe you did that! She's going to be furious! She'll…she'll probably send your ass flying into oblivion!"
"Like she could," Lexa snorted. Her dark eyes rolled back in her head, revealing the bright whites of her eyes. She looked almost demonic for about two whole seconds.
"We've got to get back to Haven." Shalimar blinked. "No. You've got to get back to Haven. With Bailey."
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"None of your business."
"You're sick," the elemental protested. "You can't just leave!"
"I have to!"
"You have to tell me what's going on!"
"Like you had to tell me how you found me? And where we are?" Shalimar Fox challenged. She set Bailey on the ground and pulled to her feet. "I've got to get going." She brushed her sweaty palm over her pink forehead, and headed for the only door in the room. It was rickety and wooden, full of miniature holes obviously caused by termites. Where ever we are, she thought, it's definitely been abandon for quite some time.
As Shalimar reached the door, she realized something wasn't right. She placed a hand to the pocket of her dark skirt. Nothing. She touched the opposite pocket. Again, nothing. She placed her hand to her chest, knowing she couldn't have stuffed anything under the white tube top she was wearing. "What the…"
"Looking for these?"
The feline feral whirled around to see Lexa proudly holding up a clump of mostly burnt documents. Her face reddened. "How dare you!"
"Now I can tell these are names," the elemental began, "I just don't know whose. Or why you have them. Or why they are obviously so important to you." Lexa waved the papers temptingly. "Why don't you sit down and explain?"
"Lexa…" Her voice dripped with warning.
"Ah ah." A bright point of light appeared on the elemental's left fingertip.
"You wouldn't!"
Lexa's glowing fingertip neared the stack of papers, searing one of the corners and disintegrating it instantly. "How can you be so sure?" She motioned her head back to the floor, next to Bailey. "Now why don't you come over here?"
Shalimar clenched her fists and stalked back over to her fellow Mutant X teammate, and Bailey. She slipped to the ground and sat Indian style. "What do you want to know?" Came her lowly growl.
"You can start by telling me what they are."
Shalimar pursed her lips. "Ferals." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "Names of ferals that have been hiding underground."
"How did you find them?"
"I," she winced, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" The brunette didn't look convinced in the least. "I know you can give me a better answer than that."
Shalimar placed her hands to her head. Sweat was glistening on her brow again, and her hands were beginning to rattle. "I-I followed their cries!"
"You followed their cries?" Lexa's face wrinkled. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know!" The feral shrieked.
Bailey quivered, and clamped her hands over her ears.
"Okay, okay," the brunette soothed. She grabbed the fallen washcloth and dabbed at Shalimar's sopping head. "Shh. Okay. You don't know." She gently took the feral's wrist and led her hand away from her face. "What about them? Do you know why you were hearing their cries?"
"They were in trouble."
"How so?"
"I d-don't know. When I got there, they were all dead. Massacred." She took the cloth from Lexa and dabbed the back of her neck. "I think someone's after them. Specifically the ferals. Whoever it is, is targeting feral hideouts."
"Shal, you said that you can hear their cries." Lexa's brow creased. "Can you hear them now?"
Shalimar shivered. Her white tube top was blotchy with sweat, and sticking to her pale skin. "Y-y-yes."
"Where are they?"
The feral's nails dug sharply into her scalp, and she elicited a small scream. "I don't know!"
Bailey followed suit, emitting an ear piercing scream. Following her outcry, the entire room shook with telekinetic fury. Tears bubbled in her hazel eyes.
"Get a grip, Shalimar!" Lexa grabbed her friend by the wrists and shook her.
"Get away from me!" Shalimar growled. She tore away from the elemental's grasp, and jumped to her feet. Her eyes glowed dangerously. "Give me the papers."
"Shal-"
"Give them to me!" The blonde's had taken on a dark tone; extremely huskily. She poised her hand above Bailey, like a cat willing to strike.
"Oh-okay," Lexa murmured. She maneuvered her hand, edging the papers towards Shalimar's hands. As she did so, she shared a quick glance with the young psionic.
As the papers connected with Shalimar's fingers, Bailey's head whirled around and she narrowed her small hazel eyes. A stream of invisible, telekinetic energy pummeled into Shalimar and sent her sailing across the room. The charred papers fell in a light flurry around her head.
"Good girl," Lexa quietly praised. She collected the papers and kept a sharp eye on her friend as she did so. From her peripheral vision, she could tell that Shalimar was struggling to simply gain her boundaries. What the hell is going on?
----
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
Emma's knuckles were white as she pulled back on a level. Sub Rosa creaked as it landed on the hot, barren terrain. "I'm sure."
"How?"
"I have my ways, Jess." The psionic clicked her seatbelt and jumped to her feet. She moved quickly down the center isle, and the back door of the craft opened for her like peasants to their queen. She strode out of the jet in confidence. Her eyes narrowed. Bailey's close. The psionic could sense her child's psychic energy. It was faint, meaning she was still a ways off. She could sense Jesse come up behind her.
"Any luck?"
Emma dipped her hand into her back pocket, retrieving what looked like a small tin object, about the size and shape of a credit card. Turning it over, she revealed that it had a tiny computer screen on one side. "This'll track their comm links." She tapped the center of the screen with her nail, and it jumped to life. A small red dot appeared, followed by an arrow. "This way," the female mutant instructed. She took off in the northwest direction.
Brennan and Jesse shared quizzical glances, and then took off after their long lost partner.
----
Bailey clasped her hands together in excitement.
"What're you so happy about?" Lexa grumbled. She peeked over at Shalimar, who was still struggling against the noises in her head. She quickly turned back to the papers at hand. "Norman Russe, Amelia Souracough, Stanford Little…" The mutant squinted her eyes, trying to read through the burnt names. All she could make out was 'An'. That could be anything! Annie, Andrea, Andrew. How the hell am I supposed to know?
Without Lexa noticing, the baby psionic began to crawl away from her and towards the door. A goofy smile was plastered on her face.
"Hey Bailey-" A gasp escaped her lips as she looked up. "Bailey! Get away from Shal!"
The little redhead ignored the command, and continued on her quest towards the door. She made it just feet away from Shalimar, when the door blew off its rusted hinges, via a power telsa coil. She clapped her hands excitedly. "Mommy!"
The world seemed to slow to a halt for Emma. All she could see right now was her daughter. "Oh sweetheart!" She slid to the floor, throwing her arms around the baby psionic and pulling the child into her lap. "Thank god you're okay!" She kissed the child's silky red hair and stroked her pink cheeks.
Suddenly Emma's eyes lifted. She pulled to her feet, Bailey still in her arms. "You!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the light elemental. "How dare you take my daughter!"
"I had no other option-"
"Liar!" Emma's eyes glittered dangerously. "You had every option! You could've asked me, but instead you took a vulnerable child with you!"
Lexa curled a fist. "She's not vulnerable! You and I both know the kind of power she has!"
A glowing sphere appeared above Emma's forehead. "I'm warning you, Lexa Pierce, don't you ever take my daughter again."
Behind Emma, Brennan was on his knees, cradling Shalimar. He was softly stroking away her sweat soaked hair and fanning her flushed cheeks. "Shal?"
At that, Emma whirled around. Until now, she hadn't even noticed Shalimar. She gasped. "Oh my god!"
"Something's seriously wrong with her," Jesse intervened. He moved around Brennan, and touched the side of the feral's face. "She's burning up. We need to get her medical care as soon as possible." He looked at Lexa. "How did you find her?"
"It's a long story," Lexa spat.
"We don't have time for your cryptic answers right now, Lexa," Brennan hissed. "Shalimar's suffering, so cut the crap and tell us everything you know!"
"This is going to take more than a few minutes," the light elemental replied. She folded the burnt papers. "We should get Shal on board first."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How did you even get here?" Jesse clarified.
Lexa's gaze traveled to the child in Emma's arms. "She's a telekinetic, remember?"
Jesse gawked. "You floated here?"
"In a matter of speaking."
The molecular sighed. "Well you're not floating back to Haven." He began to move towards her.
"What're you doing?" Lexa's eyes widened. "Jesse…"
"Sorry Lex, you got yourself into this…"
"Jesse!" Lexa squirmed, attempting to move backwards and away from him, but the pain in her ankle was too much. She bit her tongue to keep from crying out. It was a form of weakness in her mind. So is Jesse carrying me!
Jesse knelt down and scooped the struggling light elemental into his grasp, and secured her within his strong arms. Turning around, he noticed that Brennan and Shalimar were already gone. "We've got to hurry," he muttered more to himself than anyone else.
Emma shared another scowl with her replacement, and then turned swiftly on her heel and marched out of the room.
"You really pissed her off, Lexa." Jesse chastised. "And not only that, but you all could have been seriously hurt." He shook his head. "I can't believe you put Bailey in danger like you did." The molecular reached the door and stepped out into the glaring sunlight.
"Well if I hadn't gotten there at the exact moment I did," Lexa retorted, "Shalimar wouldn't even be alive! Maybe you should think about that before you go bitching at me next time."
"What exactly happened?"
"When?"
"When you found Shal."
"She was being attacked," Lexa paused, trying to remember the exact events. "I think it was another feral mutant. She resembled a panther, I think." Lexa absently chewed at her lower lip. "I hit her with a laser beam, and then the three of us got the hell out of there."
"What are those?"
"What are what?"
"Those papers." Jesse narrowed his eyes at her left hand. "The burnt ones."
"I don't know yet. I got them off Shal." Lexa bit her lower lip, wondering just how much she should tell him.
"You know more than that."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you always bite your lip when there's something you know you should be telling us, but aren't."
"I do not!"
The molecular just stared.
"Fine." Lexa waved the papers under his nose. "I think they're records. Shal said of feral undergrounds."
"Where'd she get them?"
"I don't know. But she did say she went to one of them, and she found them all massacred. She thinks someone is after them." Lexa raked a hand through her thick brown hair. "Or someone among them."
"How did you find her?"
"I have some contacts."
"Great."
"Don't whine, Jess. If I didn't, I wouldn't have found her in time."
"How did she end up out here anyway?"
"That's the strangest part," Lexa said, her voice much softer now. "She said she followed their cries."
"Followed their cries?" Jesse looked dumbfounded. "Whose cries?"
Lexa folded her arms as they reached Sub Rosa. "The ferals'."