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A Matter of Honor	By : purenightshade Category: M through R > Mutant X Views: 1579 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
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Title: A matter of Honor

Author/pseudonym: Nightshade

Author websites: http://www.angelfire.com/anime/makosmusings

Characters: Adam, Jesse

Rating: The ratings vary from chapter to chapter, but it�s intended to be NC-17

Pairing: Non-shipper, non-slash, involves original characters

Status: incomplete

Series/Sequel: series
Spoilers: As of yet, no spoilers

Disclaimers: All Mutant X characters are copyright to their respective owners. Honor and Claudia are my original characters and should not be taken or used without my permission.

Summary:A New Mutant�s powers start to evolve out of control and it�s up to Adam and the team to help put them back under control. An old friend of Adam�s returns to haunt him.

Send all comments to nightshade@catlover.com
Episode 08: Old Friends
�How much further is it? I�m so tired.�

Adam tightened his grip on her. �It�s just around this corner,� he assured her. They made it to the edge of the building and peeked around. �On the other hand, this is going to be a great deal more difficult than we�d thought. It�s guarded.�

�That�s just perfect.�

�I don�t know how they could have found it. We put it in stealth mode just before we landed.�

�Now what?�

He looked around. �We hide in one of these buildings until the others get here. That one over there looks safe,� he said, taking her into one close by.

Inside, they saw that it was an abandoned warehouse. Crates were stacked all over the place. At the back was a staircase leading up to a single door. With a great deal of struggling, he helped her up into the room. It was furnished like an office with a desk, bookshelf, several filing cabinets with their drawers half open or falling out, and a broken down couch. He lay her down on the couch and sat down on the floor beside her head.

�It might be a good idea for you to get some sleep,� he said gently, smoothing her hair away from the cut on her forehead.

She laughed weakly. �Sleep? That�s a joke. Do you know how long it�s been since I�ve been able to sleep?�

�A few days?� he hazarded.

�Not even close. It�s been five years since the last time I was able to sleep.�

�How have you managed to stay alive without sleep?�

�Why do you care? There�s no point in me telling you.�

�I�m just curious.�

�Fine. I don�t have anything better to do at the moment anyways. When I first started to not be able to sleep, things got really strange. Hallucinations and the like. A friend of mine taught me a meditation that let my body rest. It didn�t put me to sleep, but it allowed me to reach a sleep-like state that was close enough. As time passed, I could do it lying down instead of sitting up.�

�What happened to you to cause this?�

She eyed him carefully. �You don�t know?� He shook his head. �I�ve always disapproved of your mucking about with genetics. That company you worked for, Genomex, decided that I�d make an ideal test subject. I was one of a large group of people. They�d designed a formula for making a psionic without having to fix a genetic defect and wanted to test it out. Why I was chosen for this particular one I don�t think I�ll ever know. As a result of this, my genes mutated, giving me these unwanted powers. The inability to sleep is a side effect of that.�

�I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am,� he began. His eyes showed his pain quite plainly. �If I�d known sooner, I could have prevented this. We could have rescued you.�

�There�s no use dwelling on it. What�s done is done. I�m a freak.�

�Not to me, you�re not.�

�Oh? And what am I to you?� Her voice was bitter as she sat up.

�You�re the girl who I grew up with. The girl who shared her box of crayons with me when I forgot my own at home, the girl who pretended to beat me up for my lunch money and returning it later to keep the school bullies from taking it. You�re the only person I could really trust to keep secrets, the one who helped me through my various broken hearts and infatuations. You kept me focused on my goal even though you didn�t approve of it. You were the one who took me to grad when the girl I liked at the time rejected me.� He placed his hand on the couch beside hers. �Claudia, you�re my best friend. I don�t recall what I did to hurt you, and I know you won�t tell me no matter how much I ask you to so I won�t, but whatever it was I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I never meant to hurt you.�

She stared at him for a few minutes. �I was your best friend before you did that to me. I�m not terribly surprised that you don�t remember it, but frankly I don�t care. That�s beyond the point.�

�So what is the point? Are you just going to hate me for the rest of your life?�

�Something like that, yes.�

�And there�s nothing I can do to make up for it, whatever it is?�

�That�s right.�

He rolled his eyes. �You haven�t changed at all, you know. You�re still as stubborn as I remember. You don�t forgive anything.� He wagged his finger at her. �I�m not giving up, not this time. I never realized how much I missed you until I saw you again. All of a sudden my life felt like it had meaning again. Mind you, that�s roughly about the same time I found out that you hated me.� He shrugged. �Bad timing I guess.�

�I suppose I have two questions to ask you then. If I meant that much to you, why did you do that to me? Why didn�t you come and find me?�

�I�ve already told you I don�t know what I did. I�m quite positive that I was drunker that I�d ever been in my life at the time. Secondly,� he chocked. �I heard about an accident the next day. From the description, I thought it was your car. The body was that of a Caucasian female, but the coroner wasn�t able to get a positive I.D. I tried calling you, but your mom said you were gone and weren�t coming back.� He closed his eyes and looked away. �I thought you were dead,� he whispered.

A heavy silence fell on the room. For a moment, Adam was positive that he�d said the wrong thing. He kicked himself. Idiot! You sound like a teenager, he scolded himself.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to look at her. �I guess that makes sense.�

He smiled tentatively. �Which part?�

�The second one.�

�And the first bit?�

�I�m thinking about that one still.�

�What is there to think about?�

�I�ve seen a lot of drunk people in my time. You really didn�t seem drunk at all to me that night.�

�We�d just graduated from college,� he pointed out. �I know you�d had something to drink. Not much, but some which was really unusual for you.�

�As you pointed out, we�d just finished four years of hell.�

�For you, it was hell. Not for me.�

�You�ve always been the bookish type.�

Adam paused. �You�re actually speaking to me, having a civil conversation instead of throwing jars at me.�

Claudia made a face. �It would be counter productive at this stage to try and hurt you. I have no strength, so you�ve effectively become my legs. I want to get out of here and get these wounds taken care of. When that�s done, I want to go back home and get my life back together.�

�Fair enough.� He joined her on the couch. �What did Ashlocke want with you anyways?�

�He wanted you. Foolishly, he made the fatal mistake of assuming that I was still in contact with you, that I was still your friend, and that I could actually remember where this Sanctuary of yours is. I was rather unconscious at the time and in the bloody awful contraption your friends call the Double Helix. That name is so like you, incidentally. You and your genetics.� She clutched her head in her hands, leaning forward.

�Are you ok?� He looked concerned.

�Suddenly, I don�t feel so well. Quite dizzy, actually.�

�You should lie down,� he suggested.

�This isn�t exactly the most comfortable thing to lie down on. Right where you are is a rather nasty spring that dug into the side of my head.�

�So use me as a pillow. You used to do that all the time, remember?�

She eyed him carefully. �Don�t you dare pull anything funny,� she warned him.

He rolled his eyes. �Even if I had the inclination to do so, this is hardly the ideal location or situation. Then there�s this hatred thing you have going. That�s not really a turn on.�

She smiled for the first time in what felt like ages and meant it. �Now that�s the Adam I remember. Always trying to make me laugh with lame comments like that.� She lay down with her head resting in his lap. It was quite convenient that he�d offered. The ache in her head had returned with a vengeance. Whatever Ashlocke had used to get rid of the pain had apparently worn off. Regardless of her feelings, she had to lie down or she would have collapsed and likely have wound up in his lap anyways whether by accident or from his putting her head their after she went unconscious. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pounding in her skull.

Adam leaned back on the couch, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. She didn�t seem to mind, so he didn�t move it. He sat as still as he could, not wanting to jar her head and make it hurt more than it did. So Ashlocke tried to get to me through her. How could he have found out about her? Certainly not from me; I thought she was dead. He went to a lot of trouble to find her.

Claudia moaned slightly, moving her injured right hand to rest on his thigh just in front of her face. He looked down at it and winced. She�d hurt it trying to hurt Jesse, who had massed just in time. Good for him, but bad for her. She was right handed, which made it all the more severe.

He sighed and shook his head. This is quite possibly the most confused I�ve been in years, he thought as he watched her lie there. She looked quite comfortable. That didn�t help him out at all. She hates me, but she apparently still trusts me enough to use me as a pillow. She wasn�t this enigmatic when we were growing up. What has her life been like in the last twenty years, I wonder? What happened to make her this way? The experiment on her surely didn�t help. Whatever I did to her� He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. Come on, Adam, think! What�s the good of this photographic memory if you can�t even remember how you hurt your best friend?

He shook his head and activated his com. �Jesse, are you there?� he asked, speaking in low tones.

�I�m here Adam,� came the tired reply. �Where are you?�

�We�re in an abandoned warehouse a few minutes away from the Helix. It was guarded, so we couldn�t get to it.�

�Right. We�ve got it prepped and ready to go. I�ll send Brennan and Emma to come get you two.�

�There�s no hurry. She�s resting right now. How is everyone?�

�Shalimar has a broken rib, I�ve got a black eye and a nasty bump on the head. All of us have a ton of bruises and the odd cut, but nothing serious.�

�Ok, Jesse, this is what I want you to do. Get the others back to Sanctuary and then come back from me and Claudia. We�re safe for the time being.�

�I don�t like this,� said Jesse, but he didn�t argue.

Adam ended the communication and turned his attention back to Claudia and got a surprise.

Her breathing pattern had changed. Remembering what she�d said about sleeping, it made him wonder. That particular pattern was that of someone in asleep. Did her breathing sound like that when she was meditating? She�d said that it was like sleep, but this was like a very deep sleep. Not having a frame of reference, he finally concluded that she had gone into a meditative state in order to get some rest.

Taking a gamble, he ran his finger across her face, tracing the surface of her lips. They felt dry, not surprising considering what she�d been through. He felt a little giddy doing so. He�d touched her face before but never her lips. It was odd, really. He�d never had the impulse to do so before now. Maybe it was how she was lying in his lap or maybe it was the long separation. He didn�t really want to dwell on it, preferring to enjoy it feeling certain that he�d never get another chance.

When Brennan and Emma came to get them, they found them like that. Claudia curled up seemingly asleep with her head in his lap and Adam sound asleep with one hand on her shoulder and the other propping his head up. Loathe as she was to disturb them, Emma woke them up anyways starting with Adam, giving him time to move his hand just in case Claudia would take offence. Once he was awake, they found that they couldn�t wake Claudia. Alarmed, they rushed her back to Sanctuary.
Adam put his equipment away, shaking his head. �I just don�t get it,� he told Honor. She was standing nearby looking very anxious. �I can�t find anything wrong with her. I�ve treated her injuries and bandaged her hand again, but I can�t get her to snap out of this. I don�t really want to give her any drugs without knowing more. Is there anything you can tell me that could be helpful?�

Honor shook her head. �She hasn�t had any problems aside from the sleeping and she doesn�t take medication unless it�s necessary.�

�What can you tell me about this meditation?�

�Not much. It looks a lot like sleep and apparently feels like it. It�s not as restful, though.�

�Can you tell me if this is what her meditation is like?� Adam asked, gesturing towards Claudia�s prone form.

Honor nodded and went over, grabbing her friend and guardian�s hand. She was silent for a moment. �It�s not like her meditation, but is it possible that she�s just unconscious from her injuries?�

�It�s possible even though they aren�t severe enough to cause that sort of thing. I�ll keep it in mind though.� He looked at her. �Honor, you should really get some rest. This has been really hard on you. Why don�t you go and see if Jesse�s doing anything?�

Honor gave him a strange look. �Why?�

�You could use a little relaxation. Tell him that I said he needs to give you a nice massage. One to your feet and back should help you unwind enough.�

�I�m not sure that�s such a good idea.�

�No arguments. What would Claudia tell you?�

Honor sighed in resignation. �That I need to relax.�

�What I�m suggesting will help you do just that. I�m suggesting Jesse because he has large hands and is very good at this.�

�Yeah, I know,� she mumbled under her breath.

�What was that?�

�Nothing. I�ll go see if he�s busy,� she said, leaving him alone with Claudia.

Adam smiled, feeling quite clever as he went about his work.
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A Matter of Honor