Nalaniangel24
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Mutany
Mutany
By Nalaniangel
rated pg
Summary: A rogue agent tries to find help in Mutant X for her and her son.
"Ms. Porter, if I had any hope for you at all, it's gone," Eckhart said from behind his desk.
"And if you had any humanity left in you at all, you wouldn't be punishing innocent people!" she shouted.
"They're mutants, freaks, Ms. Porter. Their threat needs to be eliminated," he said.
"I see you read the handbook," she said, full of contempt. "Mr. Eckhart, can't you see that it's wrong no matter who you are?"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Porter, all I can see is you in a stasis pod," he answered coldly. Eckhart leaned over and pressed a button on his computer. "Mr. Salles, please escort Ms. Porter away."
A bigger man came in and stood in front of the door. He hit the wall with his stick, making the purple electricity go through it.
"You think I'm afraid of that?" she asked. "I had one of those. And they can't hurt me anyway, if you would remember my power."
"Yes, invulnerability," Eckhart said, half remembering and half forming a plan. "Mr. Salles, take her downstairs."
"Yes sir," he said, grabbing Ms. Porter's arm. She jerked it away, but followed him out.
Eckhart leaned back in his chair. If everything went well, she wouldn't be bothering him anymore.
"Emma?" Adam asked, walking into the garden. She looked up from her book.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Jesse just found a New Mutant," he said. "I want you and Shalimar to check it out."
"Okay," Emma said, getting up. "Any more information?"
They walked out and went down the hall to where the Double Helix was. Shalimar was already waiting for them.
"What took so long?" she asked, joining them.
"I was just about to tell Emma about the New Mutant," Adam said. "His name is Nick McCantis. He's 17. His mom's name is Kari McCantis."
"Why does that sound familiar?" Shalimar asked.
"Kari McCantis owns a third of Harbor Inc.," Adam answered.
"Oh yeah, its like a giant Bath and Body," Emma commented. "I love that place."
"And until recently it was a close partner with TriCor Botanicals. Which means-"
"It's probably crawling with GS agents," Shalimar finished.
"Right," Adam said. "So I want you to find Nick and bring him here before the GSA gets to him, if it's not too late already."
Emerald Porter sat tied to a chair in a large, dimly-lit room. The ropes keeping her down were starting to itch, not hurt, and there didn't seem to be any sign of people around. She tried to think of where she could be. Being a low level agent didn't give her many privileges, but she did know that Eckhart had more than one hidden, secret room below the basement of the GSA headquarters. But being hidden and secret meant that it was hard to get in or out, so escape could be a problem.
Mr. Salles walked in alone. He sat down in a chair across the room from her. "Mr. Eckhart has ordered me to keep an eye on you."
"He can't do much else to me," Emerald said. "Cold-hearted, ruthless, diseased-"
"Do you have a death wish over your head?" Mr. Salles shouted at her, cutting her off.
"Do you?" she shouted back. "You follow him blindly, obeying his every wish, but as soon as you mess up, you're stuck in a stasis pod, wasting away your life and praying that Mutant X, who you fought to kill, comes and rescues you."
Mr. Salles leaned back in his chair, bring silence back into the room.
"I do, by the way, when you've lived as long as I have…"
"You're younger than me," he snapped.
"Maybe, but in my mind, I'm older. My power is invulnerability. Do you know how much time people without my 'gift', and I use that term lightly, spend thinking about what will happen, what the consequences will be for an action, or how they should do something to get around the pain?"
"No," he said.
"It's a lot. But once I got into the mindset that nothing I could ever do could hurt me physically, I've had a lot of time to think about other things in life. I've realized a few things."
"Like?"
"Eckhart's wrong, for one." Emerald pulled again on the ropes. They were getting looser as she talked. "Two, I've decided I want to feel what pain is, what I've been missing out on."
"It's not great," Mr. Salles told her.
"Not just that, but concern, adventure, and that basic animal instinct to survive," Emerald said. "I'd rather have that than feel no pain."
Mr. Salles stopped talking again and started to teeter in his chair, making it squeak. She rubbed her hands back and forth until the rope snapped. Her guard stood up and pulled out his gun.
"Not a great listener, are you?" she asked, starting towards him. He shot her, but the bullet deflected off her chest and fell to the ground. She kicked the gun out of his hand and kneed him in the stomach. He slid down the wall, holding himself in pain.
Emerald ran out of the door that Mr. Salles had come in from and found herself in a long hallway. There weren't any doors as far as she could see. She went back into the room and pulled up Mr. Salles. "How do I get out?" she asked. He stood up on his own and was led out. They went over to a section of steel wall. He put his finger on it and a door slid open. 'Thanks," she said, sending him back to the floor.
Emerald stepped through and looked around. She realized that she was in an elevator headed up. When the doors opened, she found herself in the familiar old ground level headquarters. She passed the stasis pods in the middle or the room and headed towards the door.
"Which one is he?" Shalimar asked, looking around the cafeteria of Ormont High School.
"I think that's him," Emma told her, unsurely. "I'll wait here." Shalimar walked over to the boy Emma was talking about. He was wearing a white t-shirt with jeans and had hair that stuck up on its own.
"Nick McCantis?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah?" the boy asked, turning away from his group of friends.
"I'm Shalimar Fox," she said. "Can we talk somewhere privately?"
"Okay," he said, following Shalimar back to Emma. "What's going on?"
"We're from Mutant X," she explained. "You're a New Mutant, aren't you?" Nick got nervous and moved back a little.
"Yeah," Nick answered. "How did you know?"
"Can you come back to the sanctuary with us?" Emma asked.
"No," he said. "I'm busy."
"Okay," Emma said. "But if you ever want to contact us, just call." She gave him a small piece of shiny metal.
Nick walked back over to his friends. Shalimar sighed.
"Now what?"
"We should leave. If he doesn't want our help then its not good for us to be here," Emma said.
They both left the high school.
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4/24/2004, 7:40 pm
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Nalaniangel24
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Re: Mutany
"Keri?" Emerald asked, trying to hear her friend over the noise on the street. She held the phone closer to her ear. "Keri, I can't hear you."
"Come over to my place… do you need the address?" Keri asked. "Emerald, are you still there?"
"You're breaking up," she said.
"Okay, if you can hear this, then come over to my house. Bye Em," Keri said.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Emma asked as Shalimar slid open the lock of the McCantis residence.
"We have to know if Nick is already in the GSA and I can't think of any other way," Shalimar answered.
"What are we looking for?" Emma asked.
They both walked in. Thanks to Emma, they knew the apartment was empty. It looked like the average apartment, living room straight ahead, kitchen to the side, a hallway on the other leading to bedrooms and a bathroom.
"I don't know, a suspicious briefcase or something," Shalimar said, answering
Emma question. "I'll look in the rooms, you look around here."
"Okay," she agreed. Shalimar walked down the hall until she came to the first room. It was locked. The next room she came to wasn't and she walked in.
"Any luck?" Emma called to her.
"I think Nick's room was locked, but the master bedroom wasn't. It looks like his mom's. You?"
"Nothing. It's just- wait, Shal, come over here."
Shalimar was about to walk out when something in her jewelry box caught her eye. She picked it up.
"A picture taken in front of the GSA," Emma said, pointing to a picture on the refrigerator.
"I'm willing to bet this isn't a hearing aid," Shalimar said, holding an earpiece out in her palm.
"Okay, so this proves the mom works with the GSA, but what about Nick?" Emma asked. They both heard a small clink as the lock turned in the door.
"It's Nick," Shalimar told her.
"Okay, hold on," Emma said. She touched Shalimar on the shoulder and closed her eyes. Nick opened the door and went straight for his room.
Emma and Shalimar ran out.
"What do we do now?" Shalimar asked, safely on the other side of the door.
"I don't know, but if Nick's not in the GSA yet, he will be soon. He's almost 18," Emma said.
"Did you get any telempathic thoughts from him when he came home?" Shalimar asked.
Emma tried to concentrate. "I always get something, but I don't always remember… He was worried about something, a friend. A friend of his is in trouble."
"Any names?"
"I'm not sure," she said. The girls heard someone in the stairwell. Emma turned them invisible again. A woman came up and stopped next to them. She looked through her purse, then pulled out a key. She was about to put it in, when the door opened. She quickly ran in and closed the door again.
"Keri?" Shalimar asked.
Emma shook her head. "Someone else, but she looks like she could be a GS agents."
"Let's get back to the Sanctuary," Shalimar suggested. "Maybe Adam can help."
"Is your mom here?" Emerald asked.
"Not yet," Nick answered. "Does she know you're here?"
"She invited me," she said. Nick nodded and sat down on the couch. Emerald sat next to him.
"So whats up?" he asked.
"Talked to Eckhart recently?" she asked.
"I start my training next month," he told her. Emerald tried to restrain her anger. "Working together will be fun."
"I don't work there anymore," she said. "In fact, Eckhart will probably kill me or put me in stasis if I ever go back there."
"What did you do?" Nick asked.
"What did I do?" she repeated. "He's the bad guy, Nick. He's taking innocent people and putting them into stasis."
"They messed up-"
"The only thing they did wrong was trust Eckhart," she interrupted. "He's brainwashed the other agents, but it's not too late for you to get out."
"What about you? What about my mom? You two aren't brainwashed."
"Your mom is," Emerald said quietly. "As for me, I've had a lot of time to think my life through."
"Emerald Porter!" they heard through the door. "Open up!"
"Go to your room," Emerald told Nick.
"No way," he shouted. "I'm not missing this. I'm a Trainee, remember?"
Emerald grabbed Nick and pulled him off of the couch. "You aren't becoming a GS agent and I'm going to make sure of it if it's the last thing I do."
The door opened and both of them froze. Two women stepped through.
"We're Mutant X," one of them said. "We're here to help."
"Mutant X?" both repeated simultaneously.
"Think they're in shock?" the blonde asked.
The other one shrugged. Emerald pushed Nick forward.
"Take him to a safe house, please," she pleaded. "I have to stay here and wait for my friend."
"Keri McCants?" the blonde asked. Emerald nodded. "Sorry, can't let you do that. Emma?"
Emma stared directly into her eyes and Emerald felt herself falling asleep. Shalimar picked her up and they left.
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4/24/2004, 7:40 pm
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Nalaniangel24
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Re: Mutany
"You seem like a good friend," Adam said as he scanned Emerald.
"I try," she answered. "After I found out that the GSA and Eckhart weren't the good guys, I knew I had to take it down, which is easier said than done."
"Believe me, I know. What did you do?" Adam asked.
"I marched into Eckhart's office and demanded he let me and the New Mutants in stasis go or else. He took me down to some secret lab, but since I'm invulnerable, it was easy to escape. Being shot at doesn't really do much, you know."
"I bet everyone wanted your powers," Adam said. "I know I would, fighting the GSA can sometimes get very painful."
"No you don’t," she said quietly. "It's more like torture."
"Torture?"
"Not ever feeling anything. I mean, I can feel this chair and the wind and all, but no pain, no fear, no excitement, not even that animal instinct to survive. Never had an adreniline rush, never had that sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a marathon or even winning. In the back of my mind, I always knew that I couldn't feel the burning in my calves of the side stiches I must have had."
"You were a runner?" Adam guessed.
"My high school coach seemed to think I could win the gold medal, but after each meet, I ended up feeling guilty. That’s why I joined the GSA."
"To get rid of your powers," Adam concluded. "But you found out they're more than what you thought."
"Exactly," she said. "Is there a way to get rid of my powers?"
The question caught Adam off guard. "Rid of?" he repeated.
"I'm sick of living without any reason to. I can't even kill myself," she said.
"I'm not going to kill you," Adam said. "I thought you didn't want to die."
"I don't want to be put into stasis," she said. "At this point, I would rather die or get rid of my powers."
Adam sighed. He didn't like the idea of creating a "cure" for New Mutancy, but the alturnative of that was that she would find a way to kill herself. There was suffocation, starvation… bad ways to die, but the only way for her.
"There was a New Mutant a while ago who thought he 'cured' himself, but he died from his serum. I was able to cure… the other person who took the serum and she lived."
"So could you find out what went wrong and give it to me?"
"I don't know," Adam said. "Until we can get you a new idenity or a solution to your problem, you'll have to stay here."
"I understand," she said. Emerald got up and walked out.
Nick sat in front of a computer screen, slowly scrolling through a list of Eckhart's offences.
"How could he do all this?" Nick asked.
"His agents do it," Brennan answered.
"Like my mom," he said.
"That depends. She works in the lab. She has probably never seen a fight," Jesse said.
"Is there a way to get her to leave like me and Emerald did?" Nick asked.
"Me and Emerald," Shalimar repeated hopefully.
"I can't work for a guy like this, and I could never murder someone," he answered. "But can I talk to my mom? She's probably pretty worried."
"Maybe you could call your mom from here. I would have to ask Adam," Shalimar said, getting up.
"Once you start the injections, you can't stop," Adam warned.
"I know," she said.
"Nick's not joining the GSA and he's joining his mother to go home tomorrow, when you go into the underground," Adam said, stalling for time.
"Won't Eckhart still take him against his wishes?"
"We're going to keep a close eye on him. Eckhart won't be able to touch him without us knowing."
"Thanks," she said, leaning back in the chair. Adam brought over a needle filled with a blue liquid.
"Ready?"
"Ready," she said. Emerald put her hand over Adam's. "Really, I am."
"I can't help thinking I'm killing someone," he told her.
"You're bringing me to life," she assured him. She let go of his hand and he slid the needle in. The liquid slowly went into her system.
"Come back in two hours for another one. Six more shots to go."
The double helix set down in a secluded area of a park. Jesse, Brennan, Adam, Shalimar, Emma, Nick, and Emerald walked out.
Keri stepped out from behind a tree. "Nick!" she shouted. She ran to hug him.
"This could be a trap," Shalimar whispered to the others. "Be ready."
"It's not," she said. "I made sure I didn't tell anyone and nobody followed me."
"Emerald, down that way there is a man waiting to take you into the underground. Jesse, take her. Keri, Nick, here are your new Ids and information about your transport to your new address."
"Thanks," she said, taking the packet. "I don't know how to repay you."
"Stay away from the GSA," Brennan answered for them.
"No problem," Nick said. They went to opposite way, leaving Emma, Shalimar, Brennan, and Adam.
"Think that was a good idea?" Brennan asked.
"Nick definitely wanted to leave and I think Keri seemed like a good enough mom to get him out of the way. If she doesn't save herself, she just saved her son," Emma said.
Jesse came back and they went back to the Sanctuary.
"Adam," Emma whispered, walking through the empty halls of the Sanctuary.
"What?" he answered through the rings. "It's 3 am."
"We just got a call. Emerald is dying."
Adam ran into her room with a briefcase holding the antidote. She was lying on her bed, sweatsoaked and breathing hard, but she was smiling.
He walked over to her bed and sat down. He took her hand, which was hot. "You have a fever," he told her. "It's from the serum. I'm going to inject you with the antivirus."
"Then my powers will come back?" she whispered, which was all she could do.
"Yes," he answered. "But you'll live."
"Remember what I told you?" she asked. "My powers are like torture to me. Even though I only got to live a few days without my powers, it was the best in my life. You know what I did?"
"No," he said.
"I ran. I went to my old high school track and ran my old heats. I got a cramp before I finished my mile. It felt great. Then I went hang gliding. Have you ever been hang gliding?"
"No," he answered again.
"You should," she said. "And this, dying. I literally never thought I would."
"Don't you want more time to do what you what you've been doing?" Adam asked.
"Of course," she said. "But it wouldn't be the same. I could go hang gliding again, but what would be the point. If I lived, I wouldn't feel the rush of living life of the edge, and if I fell, then I would live. It's not worth it. I'm sorry, Adam."
"Me too," he said. "I thought I had the formula right."
"It's not your fault. Maybe New Mutants are just supposed to have their powers. Just promise me something, okay?"
"What?" he asked.
"If someone ever comes to you one day and asks you to get rid of their invulnerability powers, do it. Even if they'll die. This is the best pain ever."
Emerald closed her eyes and died.
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4/24/2004, 7:41 pm
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