I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes you might notice. English is not my native language and I no longer have someone to help me translate from French to English.

I hope this will not prevent understanding of this story.

These chapters have been waiting to be posted for over 15 years. I found the files recently while cleaning my computer and thought that maybe people would like to be able to read all this :)

Disclamer: The characters in Mutant X are not mine, I am only using them in my fiction.

An Eventful trip

Chapitre 22

Nasyski unlocks the door and stops on the doorstep to look at the young woman lying a few meters away on the auscultation chair. Disappeared the feline gaze, the aggressive posture, she is relaxed and calm ... waiting for his orders.

'Perfect… perfect' he said to himself as he closes the door behind him.

- " Follow me Miss Fox! It's time to get down to business." he said to her.

On this injunction, Shalimar straightens up and gets up, ready to follow him at his command.

- " We are going to join our friend Mr. Mulwray who must still be in the cafeteria and then we will go to the training room for the last checks." He continues, smiling at the thought that all is finally going according to plan.

He walks towards the door, followed closely by Shalimar, open it and leaves to the cafeteria.

Outside, the soldiers watch them pass, both surprised and interested in the young woman. Some saw her fight the day before and slaughter four men on her own and with one arm in a sling, some others heard the echoes of the battle which took place only a few hours earlier and where five of their comrades have lost some feathers. They look her from head to toe, wondering how the furious beast that she was few times ago, could have turned into such a docile lamb ...

Shalimar sees nothing other than Nasyski whom she follows without asking any questions. Arrived in front of the cafeteria, Nasyski stops and looks out the window. Brennan sits at a table with a tray in front of him, his back straight, and seems to be waiting for something. To his left Rafe and Al are in the middle of a discussion, animated as it seems. Rafe still holds his wrist and fidgets nervously in his seat as Al nods listening to him.

- " I'm telling you that this guy is sick!" Rafe launches at Al. " Do you realize she almost broke my wrist? It was he who asked her! And he was smiling! This bastard is not going to get away with that… believe me on this point, nobody makes fun of me like that!" He said, fidgeting more and more and raising his voice.

- " Come on, it was only a test and she succeeded. Do not forget who you're talking about, you're no match ... and now we're sure this fury has subsided. She really scared the hell out of me so I would rather know that she was under control. Don't be sissy, you're not dead that I know of!" Al reasoned.

Rafe mulls his anger, and his colleague's indifference infuriates him even more… his eyes darken and his jaws tighten.

- " chicken eh… you'll see what I'm going to do with his puppet. Next time she will not take me by surprise, believe me." He said with clenched teeth.

The door opens and the two men turn their heads to see the doctor enter, followed by Shalimar.

- " Finally here we are." Nasyski said as he approached their table. He looks in Brennan's direction, not seeming to notice Rafe's animated gaze.

Brennan's board is empty, which means he has fed and therefore recharged his batteries. Perfect.

- " Sit down Miss Fox. " he said, gesturing to a seat next to Brennan.

Shalimar sits in the place indicated and waits. Nasyski goes to the kitchens and retrieves two trays.

At table, Rafe throws hateful glances in the direction of Shalimar, not being able to prevent himself from feeling stitches of pain in his wrist recalling the hurt she had inflicted him ... seeing her there, docile, he has only one wish ... give her a good beating ... but patience ...

Nasyski returns and places a tray in front of Shalimar, then sits down in turn to eat.

- " So it's time to eat Miss Fox. You must take maximum strength for our mission. " He said all smiles.

And Shalimar eats ...

After half an hour, Nasyski gets up.

- " Let's get down to business now. " He looks at Brennan then Shalimar " Miss Fox and Mr Mulwray , we will take a little tour in the training room for the last preparations and then you will take the night to rest. We will attack early tomorrow. My sponsor gets a little impatient and asks for the mission to be activated as soon as possible. "

He walks towards the door while Brennan and Shalimar get up from the table to follow him.

- " Rafe, Al come with us, I need you to perfect the training of our friends. " He said giving Rafe a cold hard look.

All five leave the cafeteria and enter the training room.

- " Very well, I will explain to you how the mission will unfold and what your objective will be. " Nasyski said to Brennan and Shalimar.

In the back of the room, a screen has been stretched out and in front of it a projector is placed on a table. Five chairs are distributed on either side of the table.

- " Sit down, all of you! Rafe and Al too. You are also concerned with what I am going to show you. "

All move towards the chairs and settle down. Nasyski walks up to Brennan and begins to undo the bandage that still surrounds her head. He unrolls it slowly, the wounds haven't flowed and when everything is finally removed, he can see that Brennan's eyes are no longer infected, the wounds have healed. He runs his finger from side to side and smiles as he sees Brennan's gaze follow the movement.

- "Well ... perfect ... " he breathes, putting the bandages on the table. " Since everything is ready, we are going to start ".

Photos appear on the screen.

- " Miss Fox and Mr Mulwray, I'm not introducing these people to you, am I?" Nasyski said smiling. " For the others, here's Adam Kane on the left, our main target. Then Jesse Kilmartin, he is also a mutant who has the power to dematerialize himself or to make his body as solid as a rock, the last and not the least is Emma DeLauro. Not least because as a psionic mutant she has the power to control your thoughts and feel things. For your information, only Mr Kane is a priority target, Kilmartin and DeLauro will be a bonus because anyway we will never reach Kane without going through them. "

He scrolls through the images showing the rest of Mutant X in various locations, each time indicating the likelihood of intercepting them in those places they regularly visit.

- " We have been able to follow Mr Kilmartin on several occasions in recent months, as well as Mr Mulwray here present. This allowed us to discover some of their 'secure' places. Unfortunately we have been unable to determine the exact location of their 'Sanctuary', which is why we will need you Miss Fox and Mr. Mulwray." He said looking at them.

- " Why bother with these two?" Rafe asks surly " We only have to take care of Kane when he goes to a 'secure' place as you say. "

Nasyski looks him in the eye and sigh in exasperation ...

- " That's why you are only a henchman… You have to be much more subtle when you have to do with people like Adam Kane and his team. Do you think you are the first to want to give it a try? No! And I can tell you that the results have never been conclusive! As proof, Adam Kane is still alive and determined to stay that way. The only way to destroy them is from within. "

- " From the inside? But how since you have just said that we do not know where their 'sanctuary' is? Rafe asks

- " From the inside yes! We have in our two ranks of their's! Why do you think we set up this operation?" The exasperation more and more palpable in front of the stupidity and the arrogance of Rafe. If he was not one of his most efficient men at work, he would have let Shalimar settle his account for a long time ...

- " Good! I keep so! We need both of them to infiltrate the shrine." He said, reaching out to Shalimar and Brennan. " You two, " he said, pointing to Rafe and Al in turn, " you'll be on cover, ready to jump in on the cue. Once inside, you will have to lay explosives throughout the sanctuary, all connected to a detonator that I have in my possession, once this is done, you will have to place this " he said pointing to a small black box. " On the computers control console. During this time, Miss Fox and Mr. Mulwray will be responsible for looking after their friends Mr. Kilmartin and Miss DeLauro. I would take care of Adam Kane personally…" he finished, a gleam just lighting up in his eyes. " The plan is simple! Do you have any questions?" He asks for the attention of his two henchmen.

- " uh ... what will this box be used for? We will have already put all the explosives, right ?" Rafe asks.

- " This is not a destruction system, far from it ... this will allow us to recover all the data stored in the 'sanctuary' computer, all of Adam Kane's precious data on his research and his guinea pigs. "

He turns to Shalimar and Brennan, still motionless, staring straight ahead at the screen.

- "This is what I expect from you. Tomorrow you will drive us to your 'sanctuary', we will stay outside waiting for your signal. Signal that you will give us once you have entered inside and deactivated the security system. As soon as the alarms go off, you'll go and take care of Mr Kilmartin and Miss DeLauro while we do what we have planned. You have to neutralize them completely. Anyway, once our job is done, farewell to the 'sanctuary', we will explode everything, the bodies of your friends along with it. Of course, we will wait until we are all out of reach." He said, watching for reactions. " Is this understood?" He then asks Shalimar and Brennan.

The two then nod their heads in response.

- " Good! Since everything is clear, I would ask you to kindly accompany our two friends back to their barracks for the night, and do not forget to close the door with the padlock…" he said to Rafe and Al's attention. " Tomorrow, we will leave at dawn. "

He turns off the projector while Rafe roughly grabs Shalimar by the elbow to lift her up. She tries to free herself by reflex but finally lets herself go… Al calmer raises Brennan without abruptness and heads for the exit. Rafe felt a kind of resistance in Shalimar but thinks he was dreaming and pulls her unceremoniously after Al.

Al opens the door to the young mutant barracks and pushes Brennan inside, ordering him to sit down nicely on the bench. Rafe goes inside, pulling the feline by the arm. He stops and passes her in front of him, making her turn towards him so that she can see him in the face as he approaches her ear.

- " I swear to you that you will pay for what you did to me earlier my pretty." He growls through his teeth, fixing her in the eye. " When this is all over, I can tell you I'm going to have fun with you and you won't be able to escape me. I will make that superior air of yours disappear. But for now… take this! " He slips at her, sending her a nasty right in the ribs near the spot of her injury. A sharp and powerful blow. He pulls back slightly to see her reaction.

Shalimar did not flinch, she just folded in on herself slightly under the violence of the blow ... but what he does not see are the tears hidden at the corner of her eyes ... and the stain enlarging under the thick shirt ...

- " You're tough eh?" he then throws surprised that she has taken his blow so easily. " Keep your strength then, you will need it when I take care of you!" He finished turning to Al who had remained at the entrance to follow the scene.

- "What are you playing at here?" Al asks when Rafe joins him.

- " Don't worry about that, it's between her and me." Rafe answers, stopping to glance back. Then he turns around and leaves.

'It's going to end badly,' Al said to himself as he saw the hatred and at the same time lust shine in his colleague's eyes.

- " Go to sleep, both of you." He says to Shalimar and Brennan.

He pulls the door close and puts a big padlock on it. Then walks away from the barracks, following the path taken by Rafe a few seconds earlier.

In the barracks, Brennan lies down and closes his eyes, then falls asleep like a baby. Shalimar releases her breath which she had held in spite of herself after the blow to her ribs. She feels the pain that is spreading in her chest and in her bowels… this pain which allows her to be on the surface, this pain which helps her fight the poison of Nasyski …

The tears finally flow down her cheeks, tears of pain yes but also tears of relief… She finds the sensations of her body after having been the helpless witness of what Nasyski made her do. She still cannot move as she sees fit and therefore could not completely escape the control of the drug, but as long as the pain keeps her 'aware' she can think for herself and try to find a solution to their problem. She tries to make her limbs obey to lie down on the bed where Brennan already is... Brennan whom she knows is not himself but Nasyski's involuntary puppet. 'I have to get us out of this now because I don't know how long I'll be able to keep control…' she said to herself.

Slowly but surely, she lies down next to her 'friend'. The pain in her chest is persistent. 'He must have at least broken a rib or two,' she thinks, feeling the sharp pain spread all over her right side. Painfully she manages to lift the shirt that covers her belly and manages to see, despite the lack of light in the room, the mark left by Rafe's blow, the skin quickly darkens leaving her little doubt about the impact on her ribs. She also sees the dark spot, reminding her of the wound that Nasyski had sewn up and which under the violence of the shock has started to bleed again… probably by opening itself again.

She pulls the shirt down and closes her eyes for a few seconds trying to think. Fortunately, or unfortunately for her, the pain is intense and keeps her 'awake', she hopes for enough time to allow her to find a solution.

Few opportunities open to her, and she knows it ... without Brennan to help her, what could she do, facing her she does not know how many armed men in the camp, not counting Al, Rafe or Nasyski himself. Suddenly a thought crosses her mind!

'But even on! Why didn't I think about it sooner' she said to herself when she saw a possible way out…

Her eyes still closed, she concentrates very strongly on the Sanctuary and more particularly on Emma… she does not know if the power of her friend is sufficiently evolved to allow her to make contact with her but she must absolutely give it a try.

Under the effort of concentration, sweat trickles down her temples, she calls Emma as hard as her mind allows her, she has the impression of sending messages into nothingness and only hopes for one thing is that someone will hear them ...

She stays for a long time screaming, screaming by thought the first name of her young friend and is about to let go, exhausted by so many efforts to fight against drugs and concentration to contact her family ... when suddenly she feels like a presence in her head, hesitant at first, this presence grows until it takes shape in the young woman's mind. The form that appears is none other than Emma ...