Shalimar walked groggily to her door. She pulled it open, dragged herself inside, slammed it shut and threw herself on the bed.
“Ouch!” She growled. She got up and looked down at the offending object. A pen and a notebook lay in the middle of the black-sheathed bed. It had been a long day and she wanted nothing more than to sleep. It was two a.m. on a Saturday morning and they had just gotten back from a long day of rescuing mutants. Not that she didn’t like helping others like her, she just didn’t like when they were secretly working for the other side and tried to set her on fire. The others weren’t much help. The team had been walking on pins and needles and no one seemed to be able to agree. It was driving Shalimar nuts and rather than be forced to take sides, she just ignored them all, especially Jesse and Emma. She looked down and saw a small piece of paper and immediately recognized the scribbled handwriting as Adam’s. She picked up the note and squinted, trying to focus her tired eyes. It read:
Maybe it’s time we all sat down and just wrote. Talking doesn’t seem to be an option.
Shalimar turned the paper over, hoping to find something more than those few words. She put the paper back down and looked curiously at the notebook. Adam had some explaining to do. She walked to the door, turned the knob and… nothing. She tried again but still the door didn’t move. She pulled harder, turning the knob as far as it could go. She banged on the door and waited a few minutes but no one came. She activated her com link.
“Brennan, Jesse, Emma, my door won’t open. Anyone else having the same problem?” It was silent a few moments before she heard Jesse’s voice.
“Mine isn’t working either. Maybe the new locks are jammed.” She got similar responses from Emma and Brennan.
“Actually the locks aren’t jammed…they’re locked.” Adam’s voice interrupted through Sanctuary’s P.A. system.
“Adam, what’s going on?” Emma’s worried voice came over the com. She couldn’t get anything from him. In fact she couldn’t get anything from anyone. She was beginning to panic.
“Don’t worry Emma, I haven’t gone psycho again. There’s no mutant controlling me, or anything remotely close to that. And don’t worry about not sensing the others, as you can tell, they’re fine. I’ve just made some adjustments to the systems and your rooms.”
“What do you mean ‘adjustments’?” Shalimar pictured Brennan standing there with that little crease in his forehead, his arms crossed, teetering back and forth on his heels. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Well for one, no matter how many times you try to undo the wiring with whatever voltage, it won’t work. It absorbs all energy produced by your new mutant abilities. The room has a sort of dampening field so your powers aren’t any good.”
“What?!?!” He ignored Brennan’s outburst and continued.
“Shalimar, the door is reinforced so that even you can’t break it. You know the walls are at least a 6 inches of steel so you wont be getting through there. Jesse, there’s an em field surrounding the room so you cant phase through, not even through the floor, and Emma, you can’t read any of us so you cant get the codes to unlock the doors. There’s a dampening field around your room as well. None of this is permanent, of course, however it is necessary for the moment. In the event of an emergency, Sanctuary will prompt me for the codes and if I don’t answer, you will be released. You’re safe as safe can be.” Shalimar growled. She could practically hear the smile in his voice.
“Adam what the hell is going on?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, as all of you are preoccupied but this team is slowly tearing itself apart. This is the only way I could think of to try and rectify the situation.”
“Don’t you think this is a bit…” Jesse searched for a word.
“Childish?” Brennan supplied.
“I was going for extreme, but that too.”
“Really Adam, don’t you think a talk would’ve sufficed?”
“Emma, you know as well as I do that a talk would have been as effective as trying to talk Eckhart onto our side. When is the last time you guys have gotten along?”
“What are you talking about? We always get along. Me and Jess were playing basketball just yesterday, Emma and Shal were doing their girl stuff, Jesse and Shal played pool…”
“That’s just it Brennan. You and Jesse, Emma and Shal, Shal and Jesse! What happened to my team who used to go to clubs after a big save? The team that used to hang out until all hours of the night making fun of each other and watching crappy movies? They don’t exist anymore. Now it’s this person and that one. Emma and Jesse can barely be in the same room with each other. Better yet, Emma can barely be in the same room with any of us. You’ve read at least 6 books in the last week and we’ve been working from sunrise to sundown. You’ve barely picked up the remote to ritually watch your B-movie reruns. Shalimar hasn’t even been working out. She spends most of her time in her room sleeping or walking around at god-awful times. Jesse hasn’t slept in the last week and a half and none of you seem to see the problem.”
“Adam, it’s been a hard week. People deal with stress in different ways. We just need time to blow it off.”
“I’ve been trying Emma, believe me. But the glaring, the cold shoulders, the whispering. It has got to stop. Two weeks and no one has said so much as good morning to anyone. Matter of fact, when was the last time we had breakfast, or lunch, or dinner together? You can’t remember, can you? Mutant X is falling apart and I seem to be the only one seeing it. Left to your own devices, there would be no one left to help new mutants and Eckhart will have won.” There was silence for a few moments.
“So what, you’re gonna lock us in here until we kiss and make up?” Shalimar scolded herself as images of her and Brennan in compromising positions flashed through her mind.
“No. We’re going to do a little assignment. On everyone’s bed, there is a notebook with more than enough paper and a pen. Just in case, there’s another one under everyone’s left pillow. Sorry, no white out…” He chuckled to himself.
“What’s the assignment? I hate writing. That’s why I failed English in high school.”
“We’ve seen how you write Jesse…”
“Brennan, now is not the time.”
“The assignment, should you chose to accept it, and in this case, you have no choice, is just to write. Write anything you want. Write how much you hate me, how much you hate the world, write whatever is bothering you so much that you’ve closed yourself. Maybe it’d be easier if you wrote it in the form of a letter. Maybe there’s something that you want to say to a member of the team. No one will read what you wrote unless you chose to let them. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, hurting anyone’s feelings. Just write what you really feel.”
“So bare our souls to paper and we get out of here? Gee, you make this sound so simple.”
“Jesse, it’s not that hard. No ones grading it and no one’s reading it. I meant to tell you that there is food and drinks in the bathroom, customized to your individual tastes.”
“How long do we have?”
“As long as it takes. Also, I’ll be turning off your rings. You’ll only be able to talk to me and only if its important. I don’t want anyone being ‘influenced’, I suggest you begin now, otherwise tomorrow might be a long day.”
“What if we have a mission?”
“Well then, at least you’ll be aware that the team dynamic is under a lot of stress. I’ll be turning coms off now.” Shalimar heard Jesse groan before the transmission ended.
Brennan picked up the black notebook. He hadn’t touched a spiral notebook since his sophomore year in high school. He picked up the pen and opened the book. There was a little note scribbled on the inside. He sat down and began reading it.
I know you like poetry so maybe that might be the easier way to express yourself. I also know that you like drawing. Especially a blond feral who will go unnamed. So under your right pillow there are two pencils and a small sketchpad. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to write. It just means if all else fails, you can express yourself in some form. Sorry about all this but it’s the only way.
~Adam
Brennan leaned back and slid his hand under the pillow. As promised, there were the materials. He moved them to the left side of the bed and sat back against the headboard. He looked at the notebook, the two pens, pencils and sketchpad. He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair out of habit. He uncapped the pen and began to write.
Emma stood by the door a few moments longer before she violently pushed herself off. She glared at the book, hoping to develop the power to set it on fire. She couldn’t believe Adam would dare lock them in their rooms, like he was their father. The irony in it was sickening. So now he decided to be responsible? After he made them the freaks that they were, he decided to try and set things straight. She sat heavily on the bed and grabbed the purple book. She had barely noticed it when she came in. She was too upset and too tired to care. She opened it and looked on the first page. There was a small note from Adam.
Emma, I can’t begin to imagine how you’re feeling and I know that somewhere in there, I am the reason you’re feeling that way. I’m sorry for all the trouble your existence brings you and one day we will set things straight, but right now we have to be the good guys and work as a team. I hope this new system helps you sort things out, without everyone else in your head burying your own emotions.
Emma lay down on the bed, covering her eyes. She tried to stop the tears from falling but without everyone else’s thoughts, she had to deal with hers and frankly, she had forgotten how. Furiously wiping the tears away, she stretched out, her feet at the head of the bed, and set the notebook in front of her. She stretched her fingers and began to write.
Jesse was furious. That was to say the least. The dent in his bedside table begged to differ. He felt like he was back home with his father. When he was a little boy his father used to do the same thing until he finished his homework. He hated it more than anything and Adam knew that. It wasn’t claustrophobia exactly, but he did try to avoid closed, locked spaces. His bedroom door was almost always open. He looked at the book that he’d thrown on the floor minutes before. The pen peaked out from under the bed. At least it was a blue notebook. He loved blue. It was the color of freedom. He flipped through the pages. He stopped when he got to the last page.
Jesse I know how much you don’t like this. Probably more than Shalimar dislikes it. I know it’s hypocritical, especially since I know the history behind your ‘discomfort’, but it’s the only way I could think of. If it makes you feel any better, you can design your own bike and ill have it built for you? I know, you still want to punch me when your phased solid and I don’t blame you. I know you hate writing but for the team, please just try.
Jesse sat on his bed, his legs folded. He looked from the pen to the blank page in front of him and then back. Reluctantly he picked up the pen. He knew exactly where he was going to start his “letter”. He began writing vehemently, smiling sadistically as he continued.
‘I’m not mad, I just want to kill him, maybe just beat the crap out of him a few times.’ Shalimar reasoned with herself but to no avail. She still wanted to mangle Adam. Repeatedly. She tried to tell herself that he had done this for the good of the team but she couldn’t accept that as a good reason. They could have done it themselves, couldn’t they? She sat on the floor and slid the book down with her. The pen tumbled down, landing on the red notebook cover. Shalimar opened the book. She smiled at the sticker on the inside. It was a picture of a small kitten, no more than a few weeks old, and the words ‘forgive me’ scribbled above it. The kitten seemed to be talking to her as it rolled around with its ball of yarn. She remembered the years when she had an unnatural obsession with string and anything that she could chase. They hadn’t dissapated, she just hid the hobbies very well. She looked down and continued reading what Adam wrote.
Well, Shalimar, your book was the last one I picked out. I color-coded them. I don’t really know what to say to you except that I’m sorry that I did this. I know you’re animal side must be going crazy. The phrase ‘pacing like a caged animal’ just came to mind. If it makes it better, you can kick my ass before Jesse does. Hopefully he takes the bike and leaves me. I know you love to write almost as much as you like to hunt so I expect something a bit more profound than what Jesse is probably planning. Again I’m sorry. I know that will never make up for it but I’m trying my best to keep the team as the family it was becoming and should be. You know you’re my right hand... I’d never do anything without telling you but this... I’m sorry Shal.
Shalimar folded the cover back and picked up the pen. Notebooks had never been her strong point. Left-handed notebooks would have been so much better. At least it wasn’t a composition notebook. Those were hell. She lay out so that half of her was under the bed. She didn’t know when she developed the habit but she found that under her bed was as comforting as her dreams of someone else’s. She rested her head on her extended arm and began to write.
Adam sat in the lab. He looked back into the microscope. If his plan didn’t work then there would no longer be a need for Mutant X. He needed his team, his kids, at one hundred percent or this new threat would devour them all, mind, body, and soul.
Back To Mutant X
Email me: SarcasmsRival
