Well here it is my long awaited Mutant X fic. Ok so the only people waiting for it were Nikko-chan and myself but its an awesome story anyway, so read and review!

Disclaimer: I do not any any way shape or form own Mutant X, but you already knew that.

oh and Rei is pronounced like Ray. and the title of the story may change if I can come up with something better, if it does i will be sure to let everyone know.


Shalimar and Brennan crouched in the shadows around the corner of an abandoned warehouse. Brennan fidgeted impatiently while Shal cased the building with her feral senses.

As far as she could tell there were nine people in the building, and there was a very heated argument taking place.

The feral female turned to face her elemental partner.

"You go in the back; I'll go in the front. There are eight men plus our target inside. Once we're in place we'll go on your signal."

"Got it."

Brennan crept almost silently down the alleyway before disappearing around the corner. At the same time Shalimar silently made her way to the front entrance.

There were no guards and she stealthily let herself in.

A dark hallway stretched for about thirty feet with office doors lining both sides. A thick layer of dust covered the floors, and Shal could hear several rats scurrying through the walls.

At the end of the thirty feet the hall turned to the right, revealing several more office doors. The last door on left had a tiny sliver of light peeking out from under it. That was where the voices were coming from.

She could clearly hear shouts and yelling on the other side of the thick door. The scent of fresh blood filled the air. The feral quickly covered the ground between her and the door and pushed it open just the tiniest bit to get a view of the room.

On the other side of the large open room that was littered with shipping crates, Shalimar could see the cluster of people. There were two men holding up a young woman by the arms, while a third man repeatedly backhanded her across the face. Four more men stood behind them cheering and yelling.

Shalimar quickly stepped into the room and hid behind one of the many large shipping crates that separated her from them.

Now the feral could see another man that was blocked from her view through the door. Hewas less disheveled than the rest of the men and it looked to herlike he was the guy in charge.

When he walked over to the men that held the girl every eye in the room was on him. At the gesture of his hand everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on him.

Shal moved closer, wanting to hear what this man was about to say. She chose a spot in the shadows about ten feet from the group, behind yet another cluster of shipping crates. From her vantage point she could clearly see the leader, the girl, and the rest of the men.

The evil grimace that clouded the leader's already dark features told Shalimar that this situation was about to take a bad turn.

"Bren, are you almost in place?" She whispered into her comm ring.

"Almost. Just give me five minutes."

"We may not have five minutes."

Shal's attention switched back to the man in charge as he told the man who was previously beating the girl to rejoin the group.

The girl struggled to get away as the leader walked toward her, but the men holding her didn't budge. The dark man hovered right in front of her and she began to sob, dropping her head.

She jerked away as the leader's hand brushed against her cheek. He grabbed her chin roughly and forced her to look up at him.

"Are you proud of yourself? That little stunt you pulled cost us three men and the money."

Tears were streaming down the young woman's face, but her eyes were fixed in a steely glare.

"I told you before Taylor. I will not be a part of this anymore. I'm done."

The leader, Taylor, whipped his freehand across her face. His ring split open her cheek, and crimson blood spilled down her face, dripping to the floor.

"That is not a decision you are able to make. In case you have forgotten… I OWN you!"

Taylor released her chin and gave a signal to the men holding her. They released her arms and without their support she fell to her hands and knees.

Turning his back to her, Taylor started to walk away. After only a few steps he charged back, throwing his foot into her side with the force of a freight train.

The power of the blow forced all of the air out of her body with a whoosh and sent her tumbling across the concrete floor. She finally came to a stop when she crashed into a row of the crates.

The young woman laid there face down, coughing and gasping for air as Taylor stalked over to her.

"Taylor… Please…" She panted, looking up at him with desperate eyes.

"No Rei. There is a price for you betrayal, and you WILL pay it." He laid into her again, his foot connecting solidly with her abdomen over and over.

Shalimar practically shouted into her comm ring. "BREN! Where ARE you? We gotta go NOW!"

"I'm almost there!"

Shal's heart raced. "He is going to kill her!"

"Shal just wait a few more seconds…"

"Brennan I can't. I'm going in."

Ignoring her teammate's protests, she charged in.

In a few quick movements, Shalimar was the only one left standing in the room. Brennan finally made it in, busting through the barricaded back door. He rushed over to the panting feral.

"Shal, are you okay?"

"Took you long enough." Shalimar sighed as she brushed past him and hurried over to the young woman.

Brennan wasgoingto respond, but he shut his mouth when Shal leaned over the injured girl. She had curled herself intoa fetal position, covering her head with her arms.

The young woman jumped when Shal touched her shoulder.

"It's okay. You're safe now." The feral said reassuringly.

The young woman lowered her arms and stared at the two Mutant X members with terrified eyes.

Shalimar helped her when she began to sit up. The girl's eyes flashed yellow as pain shot through her torso. She wrapped her left arm around her wounded ribs and used her right to shift into a sitting position.

Brennan stifled a gasp. He knew Adam had sent them to pick up a new mutant, but it hadn't occurred to him that it would be a feral.

"That man, Taylor, called you Rei. Is that your name?"

The woman eyed Shalimar for a moment before whipping the blood off her cheek and answering her.

"Yeah. Raina actually."

Brennan held out his hand. "Well Raina, how would you feel about getting out of here and heading back to a safe house with us?"

Rei laughed. "A safe house? What, are you guys cops or something?"

"No, we're like you and we're here to help." Shal said, her eyes flashing the same golden color that Rei's had.

Rei pulled back with a sharp gasp, her eyes betraying her intense fear.

"I'm not going back there! I won't!" She yelled scooting away from them.

Brennan pulled back his hand and glanced at Shal before moving closer to the terrified girl.

"It's alright, we're not going to hurt you." He said in a smooth tone, gingerly touching her arm.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Rei screamed, batting Brennan's hand away. "I'm not going back to Genomex!"

Shalimar and Brennan exchanged shocked glances. Rei's eyes darted back and forth between the two teammates nervously.

Brennan held his hands up in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa. Kid you got the wrong idea here. We're not with Genomex."

Rei let down her guard the slightest bit. "Really? You swear?"

Shalimar kneeled down next to the suspicious teenager. "I promise. Now let's get out of here before these guys wake up."

As if to accentuate her point, one of the downed men let out a guttural groan and rolled onto his side.

Shal helped Rei up and with a supportive arm wrapped around the girl's hip, they made their way back to the Helix a half block away.

As Brennan was guiding the aircraft through the sky, Shalimar studied Rei intently. The young woman sat in the back corner seat of the Helix, as far away from the other two new mutants as possible.

She had pulled her feet up onto the seat and hugged her knees to her chest. Her chin was rested on top of her knees and she stared blankly at the back of the seat in front of her.

Big swooping curls of deep reddish brown, almost maroon, hair spilled over her shoulders and framed her bruised face. The stark white bandage Shal had covered the deep gash on her cheek with was already soaked through with a crimson streak.

Rei's dark emerald eyes held so much pain and apprehension that Shalimar was almost overwhelmed and had to look away.

Shalimar spent the remainder of the ten minute trip to the safe house studying the flight panel.